Content at Home

Here in the Roland household we have candles a burning, stockings a hanging, presents under the tree, and the table set for a festive dinner together as we celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple. We are so excited about what God has done in our lives this last year and are so blessed to be together!

Growing up in the Oliver household, our tradition was to always celebrate our immediate family Christmas time together on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas day we would gather with our families and join them. Then, when my older brother, Michael, got married to his wonderful wife, our traditions began to change slightly. They would still come to my parent's house for our traditional Chinese food dinner, then open gifts between our two families, with my Dad reading the Christmas story. Then Christmas morning Michael and Lisa enjoyed celebrating Christmas with their sweet little boys at their home... then they would join us with our extended family for later during the day.

Now that Kyle and I are married... we've changed up these traditions quite a bit due to us living 900+ miles away from my family! However, this year will be very special because we are spending Christmas with Kyle's parents and we are very excited about being with them! We decided to follow in a similar tradition as my family by celebrating our own family's Christmas tonight (since we both work long days tomorrow), exchanging our gifts for each other and my side of the family, then joining the Roland family on Thursday. It so happens that my family in Texas is also celebrating their "Christmas Eve" tonight because my sweet nephew, Logan (3), is having heart surgery tomorrow morning. (More to come on that tomorrow. Please be praying for him!) So we are hoping to skype the Oliver's tonight as they celebrate together.

Well, this is just a little update about what is going on here in the 'Ville. More to come soon...

Hello everyone! I apologize for the lapse in writing. Soon after my parents left to return to Texas my computer got attacked by a virus so it's been shut down for a while. Even now, I am writing from Kyle's computer while he is gone to his guys' accountability group/bible study this morning. Someone from my church is going to take a look at my laptop this weekend and will hopefully be able to easily fix it! I'm so grateful that I have it backed up!

These last couple weeks have been really busy yet exciting. Kyle started a new job last week at the Seminary. He is working part-time there until he finishes out his two weeks left (only 3 more days!) at Sherwin-Williams. Then he will transition into full-time and on January 1st, he will step into the actual position that he was asked to fill. He used to work on campus for the Media Services department running sound and video cameras for chapel, classrooms, events, etc... He stepped down from that job right before we got married in order to bring in more hours and pay. However, he has always desired to return to that line of work if a door ever opened. Well, about 3 weeks ago his boss from the Seminary called him offering him this full-time position of a media technician (I'm not sure what his exact title will be), starting in January. He was elated! We began praying through it and waiting as his boss had to get everything ok'ed through the "big guys" on campus. We waited for about a week, praying that God's will would be done.

So here we are, exited about this new transition for our family. It is such a provision that he will be on campus for work (approx. 2 miles from our apt.), and will be able to just step out of the office and go to class during the day. This will save us so much gas money as he was driving 20-25 minutes to work everyday at Sherwin-Williams. It will also provide us with health insurance that neither one of us are currently getting at our jobs.

Well, I need to head out to work, but I just wanted to send out a little update. We are so grateful for the Lord's provision and His faithfulness... His provisions are always worth sharing about! :-)

btw... it's 21 degrees here and we have snow flurries... burr... I'm loving this winter weather!

As I've been thinking about food for the holidays I found the magazine Delight at Whole Foods. It specializes in Gluten Free foods. I picked it up excited to learn some new recipes. It's a great magazine and has a lot of fun facts and tips for all cooks to enjoy. However, it does use a lot of dairy products in their recipes and since I am now also allergic to dairy, I may not be able to use a lot of them (or I'll substitute where I can with goats milk). However, it was still definitely worth the buy because I was just amazed at how informative it was!

Their website is also fun and looks very helpful. Check it out.




There is another magazine I've enjoyed looking through in the past as well that is gluten and dairy free! I love looking through Living Without and seeing what fun things can be made with allergies like mine. Many of the recipes use multiple kinds of flours so I tend to shy away from them and instead use recipes that call for fewer ingredients, yet I would like to try some of these various flours soon.

Here's a song I heard today on the radio and loved it! When we got home tonight I found a great video of it. It's Casting Crowns song: "While You Were Sleeping."

For breakfast I made pumpkin muffins and eggs...

Here are some beautiful flowers that Dad and Kyle bought Mom and I when they made a last minute run to the store Wednesday night to buy a turkey baster and meat thermometer. They were so sweet... even when they were having to fight people and traffic the night before Thanksgiving, they were still thinking of a way to bless us!

Here is our table all set today for lunch...

Close up...

Our Spread: Turkey and gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potato pie, cream corn, and rolls.

Pecan pie and Pumpkin bread for dessert...

Here we are... about to enjoy all our yummy food!

Tuesday Kyle and I were both off work so we started the day trying out a new restaurant called Wild Eggs that makes only breakfast food. It was very yummy!

Kyle got a breakfast burrito that was excellent and super filling.

I enjoyed eggs, hash browns, and a bowl of fruit (not shown).

Next we went to Hobby Lobby and enjoyed shopping for Christmas decorations.

Mom and I found these adorable little snowmen chefs... perfect for our kitchens for the holidays!

On Wednesday night Mom and I got the turkey ready to cook all night. It turned out really yummy and slightly sweet.

I have to admit I was a little disgusted when I saw the turkey neck still in the bird! Ugh! I told Mom that she would have to pull it out!

A patient where I work told me that when he cooks his turkey he stuffs an apple inside to keep the meat moist. We decided to try it and it gave a light sweetness the meat. I'll definitely be trying that again!

Here is our beautiful bird at 4:30am this morning! We baked it at 500 for one hour and then turned down the heat to 250 and cooked it for five hours. Kyle and I got up during the night to pull it from the oven.

Yeah for Thanksgiving Day preparations!

On Monday night we celebrated my Dad's birthday. We enjoyed a fun dinner together after I got home from work and then we went to the mall and went shopping.

Dad requested a Banana Pudding for his birthday dessert. He was so excited about it! (Kyle was too! They cleared the entire bowl off that night!)

Yummy goodness!

Since we didn't have candles, Kyle imaginatively thought of him blowing out the lighter! ;-) It was too cute!
While we were at the mall we couldn't resist getting a few Christmas photos in front of the tree.

I love this picture of Mom and Dad! It has been so much fun and such a blessing to have them here with us!
Our first Christmas together as a married couple!