RANDOM

Some random items come to mind today...

1)  I made THESE amazing cake batter truffles the other day.  Her's look way better than mine, but MAN they tasted amazing.  Great recipe.

2)  I found the recipe originally on pinterest.  Have you heard of pinterest?  I'm sure you probably have...it's all the rage these days!  Here's where you can find me there :)

3)  We took our first language test!!  It wasn't as bad as we thought, though we are anxiously awaiting the results.  We'll see how it went!

4)  We're off to Poland for a conference and then we'll be helping with an English camp here in Slovakia.  Blogging may be somewhat sporadic over the next week and a half...but we'll be back!

5)  Have a splendid week and a half :)

28 weeks!

Today is 28 weeks for the lil one growing in my belly...which is super exciting because that means we're in the home stretch.  Hello, Third Trimester :)

This week baby has eyes that can open and close and her lashes are even formed. Amazing. She is just working on chunking up now...gotta get that fat!

Oddly enough this week my body has decided to forego any nausea and so I'm thinking I was just supposed to endure it for 2 trimesters and not the third??  I guess we'll see.  Other than that, back pain and not sleeping well are the only other things going on and I won't complain about that!

In (Lord-willing) 11 to 12 weeks we'll get to meet our baby girl.  Lots of things to do between now and then.  We're thankful, hopeful, and continuing in prayer for a healthy delivery and baby.

Yikes! Our First Exam!

Tomorrow we have our first Slovak exam for our course downtown.  We're, well, how would you say it....nervous!

We've been studying like it's nobody's business. 

A little sampling of what we've been studying.  Fruit and veggie vocab, ah we got that in the bag.  Grammar, however, not as much!  It's tough!

Pray for us :)  We hope to do well!

Coming Soon: Cukes!

Remember back when I posted this photo (or a similar one) as progress of Jason's growing garden?

Well, his green thumb has proven fruitful and we have seen much growth since then.

Such as the budding of these lovely pepper plants...

But the most exciting thing happening in our little balcony garden is the likes of this cucumber plant.

It has really taken off and so much so that we feared for it's life and Jas had to string it up so it wouldn't bend under its own weight.

Seven lil tiny cucumbers have sprouted out and I so look forward (and hope) they'll continue to grow into Big Daddy Cukes!

Yessss!  Proud of my man :)

Today We Serve!

We have been planning for weeks for this one day, today. Today was the day that we were going to serve the people of Bratislava by participating in a city-wide service project. There are different projects all around the city that you can volunteer for, so we decided to do one that was close to our home. Therefore, we get to serve our local community with people living close by. So we got up early, ate breakfast, packed a small bag, prayed together and walked to the project closest to our home. The one where we would be cleaning a local gymnastics gym. Foam pit, HERE I COME!!

So what do we find when we arrive? A sign on the door promoting the service project with yesterday and todays dates on it. GREAT!! But one problem. A man inside tells us that it is finished.  HUH? But the website and the paper on your door says it is Friday and Saturday. "Nope, we finished it yesterday."[In Slovak of course]. So much for serving here... So we decided to go to another site close to our home. Once again, they finished it yesterday. What kind of 2-day service projects are these?? Seriously, don't people use Friday to the prep work for the actual projects on Saturday? Nope. Not here. You get it done on Friday and if there is anything left over then you do it on Saturday.

Oh well, at least we still have a whole day ahead of us. Let's take our brand new frisbee outside and try to meet new people from our apartment complex. Great idea! Except for the part where the rain clouds come out and the people go in. NO!!!!

Well, since it is raining lets go ask our neighbors across the hall to hang out and play cards. Great idea! That is the way to take the initiative. "You want to play?" "Ummm...don't want to."

Man!! serving is a hard thing to do...

Jason

Meatball Zucchini Cream Pasta

We are major pasta eaters.  We Palmers know how to devour some pasta.

So at an attempt on creativity in the kitchen the other night, this is what I came up with...

Meatball Zucchini Cream Pasta

You need:

your favorite type of pasta 

one zucchini

meatballs (homemade = Giada de Laurentis style/frozen = Charity style)

one package garlic & herb cream cheese

a little blob of butter

garlic

oregano

shredded mozzarella cheese

salt

pepper

1.  Cut your zucchini into small chunks and start your water boiling.

2. Place meatballs in pan with a little oil on low to medium heat.  Let them get going for a couple minutes, then add zucchini chunks.

3. Meanwhile, boil your pasta according to package.

4. In another pan add your butter, cream cheese, garlic, and oregano over medium heat.  Let it all melt together, stirring often.  Add cheese.  Check consistency for how you like it (you can add flour to bulk it up or milk to make it thinner). 

5. Add cream sauce to meatballs and zucchini mix.

6. Drain pasta well.  Add a little salt and some pepper to pasta, then mix meatballs, zucchini, and cream sauce with pasta in large bowl.

Plate that yumminess and eat it up!

Yay, Baliky!

Baliky = a new word taught by our tutor to us on Monday.

Why she taught us this word on Monday, you're wondering?

Well, we got two baliky (or PACKAGES) in the mail while she was here that day!

And it was exciting.  One came from my sweet grandma and another one came from a small group at Redemption Hill Church.  They were both filled with goodies and very thoughtful.

THANK YOU!!  We really appreciate it!

Now for a visual of our loot:

Nursery Sneak Peak

Little by little over here we have been getting things done for the baby's nursery.  It's pretty exciting!

But, I guess I should be honest, we really have done very little.  I have the picture of how it will look in my mind, but we just bought a dresser today and that's all we have going for the room furniture wise. We will get more soon...like in the next few months we'll be making Ikea trips, for sure.

I have however been working on a few craft projects for baby girl's room.

Want a sneak peak?

Since we can't paint the walls, lots of color will be incorporated.  We hope it'll be a place she will love!  Full room post to come towards the end of the summer :)

26 weeks!

26 weeks of life in the womb for baby girl...yahoo!!

We went to the doctor this week and found out she is nearly 2 pounds now.  She's also measuring a week ahead and looks as if she'll be a "big baby," according to the doc.  Yikes!  But exciting (though likely painful come time for birth ;)

She's quite the kicker, we may have a women's soccer champ on our hands, we'll see!

Nausea is still my constant companion, but hey, it will all be worth the toilet-hugging come September.  We're just praying for a healthy delivery, and most importantly, a healthy baby.  Thanks for joining us in prayer!!

P.S.- we've decided to hold off on sharing her name (cruel, I know).  Yes, we have one that we love, but we want to introduce her to the world when she comes into it ;) 

Good Conversation with a Side of Tea

Tuesday night of this past week we got together with some Slovaks (and fellow American) for some conversation over tea.

We all ordered some type of tea (Jas had some very strange tea that tasted like bread...odd, indeed).  Then we chatted about church, community, and Christ.  I mostly listened due to some stretching pains I was feeling in my belly (yay baby!), but it was good stuff.

It's a good time each Tuesday night and I'm hoping next week there will be some girls there (Marina, what do you say? :)

And the whole time I was thinking of this verse:
"Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house."  Matthew 5:15

We're called to share...let's do it!

Speaking of lamps, I found this awesome one there at the tea house...

Pirohy

So we received a package not long ago (thank you Chambers class!) and in it was one of my favorite magazines, Real Simple.

I was perusing through it the other day and I stumbled upon this ad:

An ad for Mrs. T's Pierogies! HA! Why is this funny, you ask?  Well, you see here in Slovakia pirohy (as it's said here) is served quite commonly as a traditional dish.  I looked up it's origins and it's a dish found in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc.  And I just couldn't help but think it was funny that you can find them in America (according to my research this is due to Eastern Europeans being in America and now they're marketed)!

What made it even more humorous was the fact I had them the night before.  I only wish I had taken a picture!  They're delicious.

This is kind of what they look like served here:

source: found here

So go ahead and head to the store and grab you some pirohy (or pierogies).  They're great and you'll feel like you're in Europe :)

Vibrant

When Jas came home the other day he brought with him a gift.

A beautiful, vibrant, quite thoughtful gift.

Isn't the color AMAZING?  And look at the detail.  Ah, it's the small things made by a BIG God that often amaze me most.

He knows I can't keep flowers alive for very long, but this one I can at least put in water and admire daily.  And I can take pictures of it without killing it! It's a win-win situation.

Thanks, babes :)

The Man I Married

I came in to the living room the other night to find this...

When asked what he was doing he said "looking for the 3D channel!"  (Those are 3D glasses obtained from a trip to the movies he took...and we really do have a 3D channel here...occasionally it'll come on)

That's the man I married!  And I'm sure glad I did :)