A Final Thought…

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  James 1:2-4

This is Guy’s first finals week.  Although his Greek class is a 2-month-long class, it’s broken down as if he’s taking Greek 1 and Greek 2.  So, this week is the final for Greek 1.  He’s already had a portion of the final on Monday, concentrating solely on all the vocabulary.  Wednesday will be focused on verb tenses, endings, etc.

As we were happy to report last week, Guy will be starting a new job next week on the 9th.  He’s been getting fishing books from the library, trying to research and learn more about the fishing locally.  Missouri flyfishing, in particular, places heavy emphasis on fishing for trout.  Texas, on the other hand, seems to be more about fishing for bass and carp, although there is a decent amount of crappie in the area as well.  Here, most of the trout fishing is in the hills, which is a ways away from the DFW area.

Jessi’s up to her eyeballs in knitting and crocheting, what with starting work on Christmas gifts (yes, I know it’s only July, but these projects take a while to get done!) for the family and making nice things for the apartment.  She’s been learning how to knit intarsia, which is the knitting of pictures or motifs into a knitted panel.  She’s hoping to work her way up from that to more traditional Fair Isle projects.  Mittens, anyone?

We’re still waiting for the results of the MRIs she had done last week.  However, the x-rays showed that she is developing arthritis in her knees and that she has at least a small amount of osteopenia there as well.  Osteopenia is decreased bone density, but not as bad as osteoporosis.  Her doctor is scheduling her for a bone density test to see to what extent the osteopenia is.  If it’s enough to worry about, then we’ll be discussing medication to treat this.  It’s kind of surprising to have osteopenia at her age, which has the doctor a little concerned.

Jessi has found a group of ladies that meet every 2 weeks to knit at the Barnes and Noble on Hulen St.  She went two weeks ago, and plans to go again on Tuesday evening.  Everyone just brings their project and enjoys the chance to socialize – we don’t make any promises on the level of productivity, though!  Guy also recently discovered that a group of fly fishers also have a club, and he plans to attend that meeting, also on Tuesday evening.

We’ve come to a decision regarding which church to join.  Seminary policy decrees that we must join a local church within our first year here, so we’ve been looking at a few over the last couple of months.  We really like Travis Avenue Baptist Church.  The Adult Bible Fellowship class is friendly, with people our age and several Seminary grads.  The church also has both a traditional and a contemporary service, with plenty of opportunities to participate in music and men’s ministries.  We’ve been attending a class on spiritual gifts (Wednesday nights), and just started  a class on “The 7 Summits in Church History” on Sunday nights.  Guy and I are planning to wait until August to join, due to my needing to take off a Sunday morning from the Methodist Church I play piano for.  We’ll wait until our family is down here, since I plan to take that Sunday of anyway.  We hate to leave Crossway Baptist back home, but we’re glad to be finding a nice Bible-based church here.

Prayer Requests:

*  Friendships to develop down here, with finding good people that we can feel we can talk to and discuss the deeper issues with.

*  Finals week for Guy for Greek 1

*  Waiting MRI results and upcoming medical tests for Jessi

*  Financial concerns

*  Preparations for family’s visit in August

*  Good sleep for both of us – dealing with insomnia issues

From the Kitchen – Oatmeal Scones

I (Jessi) must say that I’ve been becoming a huge fan of blogs.  I’ve found a few, written by lovely ladies who knit and garden and cook, that I check on frequently, loving their pithy comments, beautiful pictures, and practical advice – and recipes!  I thought then about our blog.  While our primary intent is to keep everyone posted on our latest goings-on in Seminary, I thought it would also be nice to share an occasional recipe – something we’ve been enjoying lately.  I think that I’ll title these “From the Kitchen”.  Happy eating!

Oatmeal Scones

The last few!

 

Rich and Tender Oatmeal Scones

from Cook’s Illustrated

1 1/2 cups (4 1/2 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats (I find that using a little more oats for dusting purposes is better!)

1/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled

1.  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.  Spread oats evenly on baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant and lightly browned, 7 to 9 minutes; let cool on wire rack.  Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.  When oats are cooled, measure out 2 tablespoons for dusting counter and set aside.  Line second baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.  Whisk milk, cream, and egg in large measuring cup until incorporated.  Reserve 1 tablespoon in small bowl for glazing and set aside.

3.  Pulse flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until combined, about 4 pulses.  Scatter butter evenly over dry ingredients and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, 12 to 14 pulses.  Transfer mixture to medium bowl and stir in cooled oats.  Using rubber spatula, fold in liquid ingredients until large clumps form.  Mix dough by hand in bowl until dough forms cohesive mass.

4.  Dust counter with 1 tablespoon reserved oats, turn dough out onto counter, and dust top with remaining 1 tablespoon reserved oats.  Gently pat dough into 7-inch circle about 1 inch thick.  Using bench scraper or chef’s knife, cut dough into 8 wedges and place on prepared baking sheet spacing wedges about 2 inches apart.  Brush tops with reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.  Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.  Let scones cool on baking sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer scones to wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.  Serve.