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Sunday, September 19, 2010

Eat. Pray. Love. And a Sketch Van.

I made my dear friend Krissie's amazing mac and cheese recipe a few weeks ago, took pictures and figured I'd save it for a time when I didn't have much to blog about.  Or a time (like now) when I feel like I have TOO much to blog about and just want to sit in a corner somewhere and eat lots of cheesy, yummy comfort goodness.

Yesterday, Hope Church received final approval from Sunnybrae Elementary School to meet there on Sunday mornings.  Which means our little church will be moving out of Grandmums house and into a good-sized multi-purpose room with a second room for our children's program.  Our first service there will be on 10/10/10 @ 10 AM.  (Dave's always been a geek about numbers so he is especially thrilled...) THREE weeks from today.  Which means  a ridiculous amount of work to be done in a very short amount of time.

The guys left at 5:45 this morning and headed up to a certain white trash region of our state to purchase a super sketchy van which will act as our church storage unit.  A van that will remain parked somewhere FAR away from our house.  This van that my husband just texted me a picture of with "Bam" as the subject.


A super creative and talented friend is in the process of creating our logo and website design.  We'll then have banner signs and flyers to be printed and sandwich boards to be made.  There are details to be finalized for our children's program.  Tote bags to be made for those children.  Insurance, instruments and sound equipment to purchase.  Books to order.  Communion sets and a pulpit to decide on.

And I'm sure a zillion other things I can't remember or we haven't thought of yet.

Also, Jesse Sloan is bringing 10 students up from Masters College to help with the launch.  They arrive on October 6th and will stay until Sunday night, October 10.  We're super excited to welcome and meet them, pray with them and fellowship with them.  And more than thrilled to have the extra support because there is so much work to be done.  And I'm hoping, for their sake, that none of it involves driving in the sketch van.  Because that would just be mean.

We've been "planning" for quite some time.  But now it's all SO very real.  And the work that is ahead of us can only be completed with much prayer for God's help and provision.  He has been SO faithful so far that we are able to proceed with confidence that it will remain so.  And for that reason, this  is a very exciting time for us.   And one that makes me want to eat lots of mac and cheese.  Because cheesy carb amazingness makes exciting times all the better.


Ingredients: salt, 1 lb elbow macaroni, 6 tbs. unsalted butter, 1/4 cup flour, 3 cups milk (heated to simmering), 1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese (shredded), 1/2 lb. jack cheese (shredded), Tapatio hot sauce, 3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter a glass baking dish.    Bring a large pot three-fourths full of salted water to boil.  Add the macaroni.  Stir well and cook for about 6 minutes.  The macaroni will still be quite al dente; it will cook further in the oven.  DO NOT overcook.  Drain thoroughly.

While the pasta is draining, return the pot to the stove.  Add 4 tablespoons of the butter and melt over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and reduce the heat to low.  Let the flour mixture bubble, whisking occasionally, without browning, for 2 minutes.  Gradually whisk in hot milk, raise the heat to medium and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat, add the cheeses and stir until cheese are melted.  Return the macaroni to the pot with the melted cheese sauce and mix together.  Season to taste with salt and hot pepper sauce.

In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  Spread the macaroni evenly in the prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs.  Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the bread crumbs and macaroni.  Bake about 40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is browned.

Serve hot, directly from the baking dish.

Enjoy!  And pray for us while you eat it.


5 comments:

  1. Congratulations and let us know what we can do to help. What time does service start?

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  2. Love that you remembered about sandwich boards! No church is complete without them....I mean....

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  3. If this is the picture of the van you are buying not bad and how is Master's college associated with your church? Your excitement blesses my soul

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  4. Hi Lynne! A family that attends our church has a daughter that is a senior at Masters. She is leading the outreach team that is coming up to help us. So no direct affiliation :) . Hope you guys are well and enjoying those precious twins grandbabies!!!

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  5. Jess- I'm so happy that I stumbled upon your blog. It's fun to see how big your girls are and I just love the way you write. :)

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