Time for a Career Change

I've been doing some thinking. After five years in ministry, maybe it is time for a career change. I have decided to become a professional, tv cook - ya know, like Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray. Can't you see it now - The Amber Carter Cooking Hour?

Well, I'm not really changing careers, but for the sake of this blog, let's pretend I am a famous cook. Here are my homemade bread bowls. Ever been to Panera and gotten your soup in a bread bowl? My favorite! Except the bread is so chewy I don't usually end up eating much of it. I made these french bread bowls and baked them in pot pie foil pans. Perfect! Not too chewy and not quite as large, so I didn't feel bad eating it all up! Ryan cut out the centers for me.


In the bread bowls, I served Shrimp Potato Chowder. A recipe from my former co-worker and office buddy, Sharon. (Sharon is currently battling cancer so it was bitter sweet to think of her as I served this dish.)
Shrimp Potato Chowder is not a very photogenic food, but it sure tasted good.

I also served a caesar salad with almonds and craisins and lots of cheese and crutons, but didn't snap a picture of it.

Dessert: Apple dumplins. I have been craving these for a while and I found this fabulous recipe online. YUM. It was so easy. And look how delicious it is. The apples I bought were so big that Ryan and I had to share a dumplin. No problem - that means leftovers.

Now, the worst part of me not actually being a famous chef is that I still have to do all my dishes. We had a couple over for dinner when I fixed this spread. They didn't confirm that they were coming until 3pm and it just happened that I was low on quite a few things in my pantry, so I had to run to the store. I got home at 3:30pm and had all this on the table by 5:30pm. Fantastic, I know. But, I didn't have time to wash all my prep dishes. I rinsed them, but they weren't washed. (Remember, we don't have a dish washer which is good for washing and for hiding dirty things.)

And, we invited them because the four of us are taking a first year missionary training class with World Impact. That started at 7pm. So, we barely finished dinner and dessert before it was time to jet out the door, run across the street to work, and attend this training class. So, all the dishes were just piled on the counter. Gross. By the time we got home later in the evening, I didn't feel like washing all those dishes. So, I did something I try not to ever do - I waited until morning. Ryan had to leave at 7:30am this morning to help some people move, so I had the privilege of spending an hour doing the dishes. Woohoo. But, the dinner was worth it.

Here are all the recipes, just like on famous cook's blogs.

French Bread Bowls

1 T sugar
2 tsp salt
2 pkgs yeast
5 C flour

Combine sugar, salt and yeast. Add 1 3/4 C hot water. Stir until disolved. Add 2 C flour until combined. Then, add remaining 3 C flour.
Cover and set in warm place to rise (about 20-30 minutes).
Grease 4 pot pie foil pans. Divide dough into four equal parts and put in pans. Place all four pans in warm place, uncovered to rise until doubled in size.
Bake in oven preheated to 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
(Use same measurements to make 2 loafs of french bread, but bake for 20-22 minutes.)

Sharon's Shrimp Potato Chowder

1/4 C chopped green onion
1 clove garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 T butter

Saute together.

Add:
2 cans cream of potato soup
3 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 soup cans of milk
2 C cooked shrimp (I prefer the small, salad shrimp in the frozen section for convenience.)

Simmer 10 minutes.

Old Fashioned Apple Dumplins

4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
1/3 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 C water
1 1/3 C white sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 recipe pie crust (make your own or buy one in the refrigerated section)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8x8 baking dish.

On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a large rectangle. Cut into 4 square pieces. Place an apple on each pastry square with the cored opening facing upward. Cut butter into 6 pieces. Place 1 piece of butter in the opening of each apple; reserve remaining butter for sauce. Divide brown sugar between apples, poking some inside each cored opening and the rest around the base of each apple. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the apples.

With slightly wet fingertips, bring one corner of pastry square up to the top of the apple, then bring the opposite corner to the top and press together. Bring up the two remaining corners, and seal. Slightly pinch the dough at the sides to completely seal in the apple. Repeat with the remaining apples. Place in prepared baking dish.

In a saucepan, combine water, white sugar, vanilla extract and reserved butter. Place over medium heat, and bring to a boil in a large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Carefully pour over dumplings.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Place each apple dumpling in a dessert bowl, and spoon some sauce over the top.

Corn Maze & 16 Week Update

Fall is coming to Kansas. Having lived in Houston and Dallas for the last 9 years, I have no memory of fall. The changing of the leaves is something that only happens in far away place. But, now, there is a sign of fall just outside my window. Not having a dishwasher, I stand at my kitchen sink a lot and discovered I have quite a lovely view. This picture is what I see looking out the window towards the neighbor's house. Isn't it great!
We also tried another Kansas thing. Remember, our first was the volleyball game where we totally wore the wrong color. I saw a commercial for a corn maze and just had to look into it. We went to a corn maze about 30 minutes south of Wichita. I really didn't know what to expect and must admit I was a little hesitant when we drove up to it. It is a 'mom and pop' type place. The people were thrilled that this was our first time there. I guess they get a lot of regulars. This aerial shot and lights in the dark are things I stole from their website. Cool, huh. This picture of us is very unflattering, but it was a good idea, so I thought I would share it anyway. The corn was about two feet taller than us, so once you were in, you really couldn't see much. They did give us a map and there were 150 trivia questions on posters throughout the maze. We used to map (well, Ryan used the map) to get us from trivia to trivia. We had a fun time laughing at the questions and trying to figure them out. If you get 2/3 of the questions right, you win a pumpkin. So, we worked really hard and only missed 29 questions, so we won these two little pumpkins. Ahhh. We went before the sun went down. Apparently, the trend is to go in the dark and maneuver the maze with a flashlight. The whole maze took us about two hours, so it was pretty dark by the time we finished. It seemed like screaming 12-15 year olds came out of the corn in the dark! Quite literally at times. So, we were happy with our choice to be boring, old people and come early. We were just finishing when they were all arriving. And, the dark freaked me out a little. I am not a big fan of scary stuff, so I was more than ready to go once it got dark. But, if we live in Kansas for a while, I will definitely try new mazes every year! This last picture is a little better. Ah, baby's first field trip to a corn maze. I think he/she had a fabulous time.


OK - now for the stuff many of you really want to know. The 16 week check-up!
Mom and baby are doing great. Remember, at the last check-up they couldn't find the heartbeat and the doctor had to do a sonogram and I was completely freaked out. This time, the nurse prodded on my tummy a couple of second, put the doppler down and immediately we heard the heartbeat. It was great. The heartrate was 147 bpm. That is much lower than the previous times and I think that is all attributed to me being calm this time around so that my heart rate was normal. Weight gain is going great. I never can remember what I weigh (or maybe I subconsciously try to forget), so I asked the nurse how I was doing. She looked at the computer screen and said, "Oh WOW!" Now, normally, when I hear a reaction like that, I think negative things. I said, "WHAT?" and she immediately said, "Oh no, that was a good wow." But then she left it at that. So, when the doctor came into the room, I asked again about the weight gain and she said I actually haven't gained anything since my 12 week appointment and have only gained 9 pounds total. Yeah. I really feel like I eat just like I did before getting pregnant with the absence of guilt if I do splurge for an ice cream or other wonderful treat. But, really I am just trying to keep doing what I was doing.
I am scheduled for the gender-telling sonogram in two weeks - mark your calendars - Oct 20th. The doctor said I could have done it next Monday because I am already 16 1/2 weeks, but I wanted to wait just to give it that extra bit of time to prepare the baby to participate and show us everything we need to see! Ryan and I will begin our parenting techniques now in telling the baby just how we expect him or her to behave in the sono room :) We will let you know how that works out for us!

Random Stuff

I guess I have missed filling you all in on our day-to-day lives, so I felt like blogging. The problem is, I don't really have much to talk about. But, I will give it my best shot.

Since finding out I was pregnant and enduring the sickness of the first trimester, I have not been responsible for many things around World Impact. The one thing that I did put my personal touch on was our recent 100 Hole Golf Marathon. Many of you that know me well might know that I know nothing about golf and really have no interest in the sport. But, I do know how to organize things, so that is where I helped. I helped with details stuff and coordinated things on the day of the event. Here is the picture postcard I created to send to all the people that financially supported the golfers. We are on the far right!Ryan has started teaching a class here! I am thrilled about it because he is loving it so much. The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) is a part of World Impact. Wichita has a TUMI satellite and the missionaries in Wichita teach the classes (well, those that are qualified...never fear, I will never teach a class). The satellite in Wichita is new and this is only the second class they have offered. Ryan is teaching The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom. He has six students total. Four of them are fellow missionaries (including me) and the other two are community people that have a relationship with World Impact missionaries and are desiring to be in a more leadership position in their church. Here is a picture from our first day of class. That is me in the cute yellow and black maternity top, but my back was itching right when she took the picture. Oh well.Since I don't work outside the home much, I have tried really hard to be a good housewife. Ryan comes home for lunch everyday and I like to have it ready when he walks in the door. And, I have gotten more adventurous with my cooking skills. I am still learning. I was a pretty good cook in college because I did most of the cooking. But, once we were married, I quickly realized Ryan was the better cook and gave in to the life of a dish-washer. Well, now I am both. But, I don't have a picture to share of myself cooking. However, I do have this great photo. The stove we were given for our house was previously cooked on and took some special cleaning. However, I could never get the stove drip pans (what are those things really called) sparkling clean and I like them to be sparking clean. So, I invested in some new ones and thought you should see them too. The old, dirty ones in the middle don't look too bad in the picture, but they just wouldn't come clean. I promise!
One last thing...
Have you ever had sour towels? Oh, I despise sour towels. We don't even live in a wet climate, but it is our tiny little bathroom that causes me this frustration. The bathroom is so small that the towel rack was hung behind the door. So, when we are finished in the bathroom and leave the door open, as one would naturally do, the towels are smushed (yes, that is a word) behind the door. It took me a while to put two and two together, but that was causing the terrible smelling towels. So, I got out the tape measure, found another place for the towel rack. Got my screwdriver set (yes, Ryan bought me one because he was tired of me using his) and went to work on my bathroom. It isn't ideal. I would love to redo that whole bathroom (but that will never happen). However, I am hopeful for fresher smelling towels. Maybe if I can remember, I will do a little scientific study and sniff them for you each day and report back later!

Smushed Towels


Unsmushed Towels


Pregnancy News: We go for our 16 week appointment next Monday, so we will have some news for you then. Right now, my tummy is just getting bigger and bigger!

Christmas Came Early

I love the Christmas season. I love buying gifts for others and (I must be honest), I love opening gifts too. I have a good friend in Dallas named Jill who welcome her third child to their family this past May. She has no plans for more children, so I asked if I could have her maternity clothes. She was thrilled to send them to me and yesterday, I was thrilled to receive them! My closet has just grown exponentially. Thanks, Jill!

But, there was just one problem with getting all these wonderful clothes: laundry. I did eight loads of laundry yesterday and have one more to go today plus the sheets. Friday is my usual laundry day, so I had all the new stuff and our week's worth of laundry. I guess it was a good problem to have. Now, I can see my glaring pile of ironing. I know many of my friends don't iron, but I do! I hang-dry all my clothes or else the legs of pants get too short or the arms of shirts get too short. The pain of being slightly taller than the average woman.


This weekend we tried a little Wichita culture by going to the Wichita State University Volleyball game. I love volleyball and we have heard that the Lady Wheat Shockers (you don't hear that name in Texas) are very good. The tickets were cheap and the parking was free - even better. We knew the team color was a very bright yellow because we have seen it in every store at the check-out counter, but that day we just both happened to wear red, not really thinking about going to the game. And, neither of us have any yellow. We got to the game and realized that we were two of maybe ten people NOT in Shocker Yellow. Oops. If we go again, we might invest in a Wal-Mart $4 Shocker t-shirt. We took the picture to hopefully remind us of just how wrong our Cougar Red (University of Houston) looked among the Shocker Yellow. The picture is mostly our faces, so you don't really get a good view of just how much yellow was in the stadium, but you can imagine.


Pregnancy Update: Morning sickness ended just after 12 weeks, so that was a great change. My struggle now is that there is no real evidence that I am pregnant. I can't tell that my belly is getting bigger each day and I don't visit the toilet anymore, so what 'proves' that I am pregnant? I am just anxiously waiting for my next appointment (Oct 8) to hear the heartbeat again. I do feel pretty normal though - almost normal amount of energy and not starving all the time. I still forget everything, so I try to write it down. Even yesterday at the grocery store, with a list in hand of only five items, I would look at this list, take a couple of steps and then have to stop and look at the list again. Crazy!

First Baby Gift and Losing My DVR

FUN! Baby Carter received his/her first gift today. My grandma sent this gorgeous blanket for the baby in which he/she can come home from the hospital. The pictures don't do it justice because it is so soft. I love it! I have been telling everyone that I want pink if it's a girl and blue if it's a boy, no green and yellow. So, my grandma bought white! I think that is hilarious. This will be her first great grandchild! I hope she continues to feel the need to shower my baby with gifts (I know you read my blog Grandma!).
In other pregnant news, I have lost my internal DVR. We don't own a DVR for the TV, I am talking about my memory. I have always been known as the person that can remember anything - just ask Ryan how that works when we disagree on what one of us said :) I can rewind any instance and play it back for you as if you were right there when it happened. But, not anymore. At work, I have been forgetting to do things or confusing what people said to me. It is driving me crazy. I have not forgotten that I usually don't forget things! But, I was so relieved when I opened my daily email from WhatToExpect.com entitled Forgetfulness:

Forget about it: Pregnancy forgetfulness isn't in your imagination. Like so many other pesky pregnancy symptoms, it's in your hormones (and there are studies to back that up — just in case your partner doesn't buy that there is a legitimate physical cause you neglected to pick up his prescription on the way home). Even the most organized type A personality can take a disconcerting turn for the scatterbrained during pregnancy.

(I can't seem to turn off the italics) I felt better about myself after reading that. I have many friends that were recently pregnant and I heard them talk about this. I must admit, I thought they were just making excuses. But, I sincerely apologize to all of them now, because I am a believer - pregnancy makes me forget everything.

Other than that, my belly keep growing and we are getting more and more excited. Ryan finally said to me this week, "You are really starting to look pregnant!" I tired to suck in my tummy and it didn't go very far! I have embraced the joys of pregnancy and love shopping for maternity clothes - even though I usually don't buy. I don't want Ryan thinking I spend all his hard-earned money at once.

Brief Fright

Ah, in all my preparation and trying to plan for everything, I was not quite ready for this doctor's appointment. Ryan and I just got home from my 12 week appointment with my doctor. At first, the nurse thought my blood pressure was too high. She took it again and it was fine. Whew. Then, she was listening for the heart beat and she kept listening and listening and listening and nothing! I was getting scared! It seemed like forever. She changed machines and tried again. Nothing. A tear slid down my cheek as I realized I hadn't thought about the "what if's" of this situation.

So, they moved me into the sonogram room and my doctor came in to try to listen. She and Ryan thought they both heard the heartbeat, but I couldn't hear it. She did an actual sonogram to let me hear it and it was loud and clear! And a bit fast because mom's heart rate was through the roof by this time! I'm even getting a little emotional as I sit and type this. It was scary. But, all is well with Baby Carter. We got to see him/her moving all over the place which was fun. His/Her little arms and legs were pretty spastic. Oh, another thing, my hemoglobin level was just barely in the safe zone, so she told me to start taking iron pills just to be careful of getting anemic. I don't care how many pills I have to take as long as it keeps that little heart beating strong!

By the way, I really like my doctor. She is very kind and seems to really care (even though she probably doesn't even remember me yet) and they are very fast. I have always been accustomed to waiting about 30 minutes to even get back to a room and then another half hour sitting there in those lovely paper clothes while my toes are freezing. At this doctor (I have been twice now) and we were in and out of the office in 30 minutes total! And, they are cloth clothes, not paper. Life is good!So, I thought I couldn't blog this long without a picture to keep you interested. We just took this picture of ourselves standing in our backyard. We are wearing jackets! Yes, today is September 8 and we have had yet another cold front come through and it is currently 64 degrees outside. We love it! It has been very cool for a couple of weeks now. We even made a soup and some chili over the weekend while we watched the US Open.

My next doctor's appointment is in 4 weeks. It will just be a regular appointment and then I will probably have another sonogram at 18 weeks and then we will be able to find out the gender!
Keep praying for Baby Carter!

Gettin' Bigger

8 Week Belly & 12 Week Belly (and a haircut)

I am not very good at blogging yet. I will practice and try to get better!