The Hamburger Chef

Have you ever wondered if you might be the owner of a secret talent that not even you know you have? I don't have any glaring talents so I kind of always hope one day I'll wake up and be able to draw beautiful, life-like pictures, sing like a female version of Josh Groban, or craft Martha Stewart right under the table. I'd even settle for being able to solve the Rubics Cube or complete an entire crossword puzzle in the Jasper Journal in ink. I'm still looking for secret superpower...however, I have discovered Kevin's hidden talent (other than mopping - he is wonderful at mopping and vacuuming)....

He is an AMAZING hamburger chef. Now anytime we're having burgers for dinner he takes over the kitchen. All I have to do is put the french fries in the oven and get out the ketchup! This all started recently when we had watched one too many episodes of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel and he watched the host attempt and succeed at eating a cheeseburger with 12 patties and 12 pieces of cheese (Yes, its his backup plan if this pastoring thing doesn't work out). While some might think eating that much is just plain ridiculous it actually makes for some interesting late-night television. Anyway, the inspiration was instantaneous. Immediately after that Kevin decided to try his hand at being a Burger Artist and while the results were delicious...the initial burger making process was hilarious. I really never thought I'd have to explain that using the actual lid for my skillet is much more beneficial for the cooking process than laying a cookie sheet on top of the pan. Then again I have to remember that in cooking years he's still a baby. :) I don't have his recipe exactly right (because its different every time and we don't measure stuff very often) but we'll give you the gist and you can try it at home with your own unique twists:

**NOTE** We're not responsible for any accidental weight gain or broken New Year's resolutions created by the following recipe.**

1 lb 80/20 lean ground beef

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Big dash of hot sauce (or more if you like it spicy!)

Big dash of worchestershire sauce

Form your beef into 3 big patties (or in our case 2 Kevin-size ones and 1 - Mandy size one) and put your skillet on medium high heat so it sizzles when you put the burgers in. Let it sear well on both sides then turn down the heat and put a lid on your skillet for about 5 minutes. Add your favorite toppings and some french fries and you'll be set! Enjoy!

Expecting a call from Throwdown with Bobby Flay any day now,

Mandy and Chef Kevin

O Christmas Tree...

The Monday after Thanksgiving the Christmas tree went up. This is our first year to actually have a tree and I was determined it would be a real one. Mom always has a real one and I love the way they look and smell. However, I'd have to drive to at least Chattanooga to find one with no guarantees of finding anything better than a Charlie Brown special. So, I went ahead with this cute little fake one loaned to us by friends. Its only about 5 1/2 ft. tall so I can reach the top. It turned out pretty! I had no idea we had at least 5 "Our First Christmas: 2005" ornaments. (Its a good thing or our tree would be naked). I had fun pulling out the ornaments because I remember when I received or made most of them. My favorite is a red ball ornament I made at Brownies when I was six....its definately covered in multi-colored glittery, six year old handwriting. I don't have many other decorations in the house, but the ones I do have I love!


We also had snow last Saturday. I was surprised because that's unusual around here...AND...I thought I left that all behind in the great Midwest. It wasn't much and it was all melted by 10am...kind of pitiful really. The kids around here get so excited. It seems so unnatural to me to not grow up playing in the snow on snow days. Not to mention, their snow man making skills are just plain sad.



I hope you're enjoying the holiday season. We're approaching the 3rd Sunday in Advent and Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! All of our Christmas shopping is done as of yesterday and it feels good not to have to rush at the last minute. I decided this year that I would not stress over gift buying because the fabled "Perfect Gift" simply does not exist. Instead I'm enjoying the Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel, listening to Christmas music, and searching for good holiday recipes. I hope you are able to take some time and relax this season too. May we not get so busy in our going that we miss Christ in his coming.



Happy Holidays!

Mandy and Kevin

Tree and Nativity

The stockings were hung by the flatscreen with care, In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there....(ignore the vitamin commercial)

First Snow

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow!...look at that...I'm only 1 week behind. Holiday miracles really do happen! Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving in the Knight household. This year was our year to spend it with my family, but instead of us traveling to Indiana - my family made their way to Jasper this year. We thought it might be fun to try something new and it was really nice not to be the ones on the road for the holiday. Mom, Dad, Kate, Lee, and Jacie arrived at about 1pm on Wednesday and stayed until Saturday morning. Wednesday afternoon we spent getting settled in and doing a little hiking at Foster Falls and down the Fiery Gizzard Trail (I KNOW...that's the best name for ANYTHING you've ever heard. What can I say...we do things up right here in East Tennessee). That evening we all went to dinner at Rafael's...the local pizza, pasta, burger/anything else you could want restaurant (Don't knock it til you try it...). Thursday morning we started cooking. A friend of mine smoked our turkey (I wasn't brave enough to cook my own...baby steps folks) and another couple in the church had brought me a delicious Honey Baked Ham so the meats were taken care of. Lee, Jacie, and Mom helped fix all the trimmings and by 12pm it was time to dig in. I didn't get any pictures of us stuffing our faces...partially because that's not flattering and because I was too busy shoveling it in myself. After we could hold no more (we didn't even have room for pie until the next day...GASP!) it was nap time. Once our food had settled we went back up to Foster Falls to hike off some of that turkey and stuffing. We had no idea how out of shape we were until we were hiking back up...yikes. Lee was in heaven...he LOVED hiking. I fully expect he'll grow up to be a forest ranger, Smokey the Bear impersonator, or environmental forestry engineer (lets hope for the last one).

Although she liked climbing rocks in the woods, Jacie had been waiting for Friday to roll around because that was the day we planned to visit the Chattanooga Aquarium where she could see Nemo and Dory from the movie Finding Nemo. The aquarium is great for both the young and young at heart and we all had a good time....That would be a terrible understatement for Jacie....it made her day! Lee and Jacie (okay, the rest of us did it too) petted and fed sting rays and sharks. They had a great time in the butterfly house too. I was just trying to capture those elusive Kodak moments and make sure no butterflies were harmed in the process. When I put Jacie to bed that night I was playing with her hair and as she was drifting off she was still telling me, "I love giant turtles, and fish with pink fins, and the sharks....". When we got back from the aquarium Lee and Dad headed back to Foster Falls without us girls to climb things and stand too close to the edge of cliffs...(you know stuff that would give Mom a heart attack). That evening we played several games of Uno Attack (I was the proud winner of at least 2) whick included healthy doses of heckling, harrassment, and good-natured ribbing. Let's face it...board games aren't much fun otherwise. Everyone was worn out by the time we went to bed. Saturday everyone got up for breakfast (Jacie gets up at 5:30am so it doesn't take long before we're all up :) and then they headed back home. The Thanksgiving holiday was great...I would definately do it again! We missed seeing all the rest of the family (grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and my sister Emily and her family) but sometimes its nice to shake things up. They (and you!) are welcome to come visit any time...me casa es su casa. We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends! Check out our Kodak moments below.

Next post....the Christmas tree.

Love to all,

The Knights

Kate and Jacie....they got their fair share of the pretty genes.

I said pretty genes...not smart ones. Just kidding...Nurse Kate is the brain in the family.

He's a 10 year old boy...what did you expect when I said "Say cheese?"

Lee and Jacie: typical sibling behavior. Someone is almost always screaming and hanging on for for dear life....unfortunately its usually Mom :)

My tiny kitchen staff....my apron covered her whole body.

She makes a mean Green Bean Casserole

Lee: excellent at chopping celery but he draws the line at onions

Anything that resembles a chicken leg is fair game at the Knight house

Favorite post-Thankgiving meal activity

Foster Falls from the overlook

Dad is up on the rock and Jacie is the pink spot on the right..you guessed it...she was headed up to see Dad. No way.

It was way easier going down than coming up

Jacie - Wii Fishing Champion of the World. She can work that thing better than I can and she doesn't know how to read yet.
Petting the sharks and sting rays

Must be sweet

Is that the face of excitement or what?!!!! She had been walking up to EVERY butterfly just waiting for one to land on her....made her day.
He may not show it but Lee was as excited as Jacie when one landed on him

I think the crab was bigger than Jacie

Checking out the fish

Youth Weekend

I know I'm always running 2 or 3 weeks behind on this thing, but we might as well all get used to it. Its the same way with laundry, Christmas shopping, dusting, and cleaning all of Kevin's junk out of the car...it all keeps getting shifted to the bottom of the to-do list. The weekend of November 13th was our designated Youth Weekend (I know you've slept since then but so have I so hang with me). This can be classified in the "good" category of blog posts. The TNU group "Rooted" drove over from Nashville on that Friday afternoon and set up their band equipment in the sanctuary and then joined us for pizza in the fellowship hall. I've discovered that youth gatherings of any kind are really similar to middle school dances....everyone separates into gender-based groups and the two sides never meet. Mingling is a completely foreign concept when it comes to junior high kids meeting new people. Lookout Valley Church of the Nazrene brought about 16 kids up for the Friday night service and we loved having them! Friday night's music was really loud in our little sanctuary so the kids had a hard time following along but we got all the kinks worked out in time for the Saturday evening service.

Saturday morning at 7:30am we met 9 of our kids at the church to take them down to the Chattanooga Rescue Mission. We don't have a church van so some of our parents joined the mayhem to serve as chauffers for the day. A few of our friends from Lookout Valley got up early to meet us down there. We spent the morning cleaning the laundry room, organizing the food pantry, mopping, sweeping, raking leaves, and lugging in supplies. I'm sure it sounds like we worked them to death, but believe me when I say they had a good time (and I have the blackmail pictures to prove it!) The mission is in the process of remodeling and moving into a recently purchased school building. They were running behind schedule so there wasn't too much for us to do that day. Right now the mission is cramming about 75 people a night into a place meant to house about 35 at the most. Until they can move into the new building they'll continue to put mattresses on the floor in the chapel and hallways to get people out of the cold.

On Sundays, Sunday School begins at 10am and morning worship begins at 10:45am. At about 10:15am some people in the parking lot heard a loud pop and the lights went out all over the neighborhood. Yep - a transformer blew. So we had Sunday School in the dark. The TNU kids came to my class and after a short lesson on "joy" I gave them all a chance to talk and get to know one another better. I think it shed a little light on some options my high school kids hadn't every considered. Most of them have never even visited Trevecca. Although its not for everyone, we want them to have the option of seeing what its all about. We're planning a trip in February to take them all to a TNU basketball game.

After Sunday School we were preparing to have church in the dark and the musicians were going to play acoustically since the electric guitars, bass, and keyboards were out of commission. Just as things were getting started the lights came back on and everyone cheered. I think the kids enjoyed experiencing a new music style and having a speaker focused mainly on them. The parents and older folks in our church enjoyed it also and were faithful to support our youth throughout the weekend. We look forward to more events like this in the future.

Regrouping once the lights came back on

Sure Dylan, Matthew, and Brandon (aka: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil) look innocent...but don't let them fool you.

Group shot in front of the mission

What's raking without a little air guitar?

Josh (pastor at Lookout Valley) and me being stupid with the camera.

I know the tree looks pretty but its FAKE. Who plants fake trees in the front yard?

Chattanooga Rescue Mission: The building on your left is the mission kitchen and housing for the men in the Christian Discipleship Program and the one on the right houses the women.

Blake, Christy, and Dixie...laundry room cleaning crew

Laura, Sawyer, and Hahhah serving lunch

Do you know how to use an industrial deep fryer? Neither did we...but we do now. Trial by fire...or deepfrying.

Still to come..Thanksgiving.

See you next time...

Mandy

Tennessee vs. Alabama

On October 24th we had all the teens and college kids over to the house for a Football Party and cookout. We had about 11 people show up. We grilled hotdogs and had plenty of chili, chips, and cookies to go with them. The kids really wanted to schedule it for the Tennessee vs. Georgia game (in order to heckle Pastor Kevin) but that one was the day after the slumber party and I just didn't think I could handle that all in one weekend. So they settled for Tennessee vs. Alabama since we border that state and have a few Alabama fans among us. Its way more fun to watch a sporting event if you can harrass those around you. Its actually the only part of the sport that I like. I have a previously unknown talent for heckling. We had one lone Alabama fan and everyone else was rooting for Tennessee. Even Kevin was hoping the Volunteers would win (gasp! I know!) because they were the underdog and he thought Alabama was over rated. I didn't really care either way (I figure neutral is good...just look at Switzerland - no one bothers them and they have great skiing and the worlds best chocolate). I guess I'm a Georgia fan by marriage, but I really just like to socialize.

Hannah Shea has not had a quiet moment since the day she was born. I did not duct tape her....the kids did it. I did confiscate her cell phone til half time so she would stop texting. I'm pretty sure she's going to have carpal tunnel.

Josh, Christy, and Blake. Christy was voted most spirited...just look at her socks. Festive AND team appropriate.

Haley had a Halloween party to go to after the game so she modeled her costume for me. Best go-go girl I've seen lately.

Keep our kiddos on your prayer list. We have a youth revival scheduled for them this weekend - Friday thru Sunday. A team from TNU is coming to preach for them and introduce them to some contemporary worship. The services will be at 7pm Friday and Saturday night. We're feeding them pizza Friday before the service so they can mingle with the TNU kids. On Saturday we hauling them down to the Chattanooga Rescue Mission so they can participate in a service project. We want to slowly open their eyes to the hardships many people face and how they can help. They'll be doing light maintenance and serving a meal as well as eating with the homeless so that they have a chance to talk to them. That part may get interesting...I talked to them about what we would be doing last week and I was surprised to find that they're all scared of homeless people. Its not something they see much in their little town of Jasper, TN. I hope they will begin to see that there isn't anything to be afraid of. Maybe someday they'll realize the scariest thing would be not to care or help those in our community who find themselves on the outside looking in. We'll let you know how it goes and post pictures. I'll try not to make it a month late this time!

Mandy

Crow Creek Pumpkin Patch

Most of you know that I have been working as a substitute teacher at Jasper Elementary School until God decides to fill me in on my future place of employment. About 90% of the time I work in the special education class. Is it my calling in life? No way...neither is 3rd grade or teaching elementary school music (anyone who knows me KNOWS I can't carry a tune in a bucket) but it gives me something to do and it doesn't take up weekends or holidays. I have discovered that I like special ed way better than subing in a regular classroom. The student to teacher ratio is way lower....about 12 students, 1 teacher, and 3 aids. The chances of surviving the day in one piece are way higher and I am smart enough to appreciate that. Sometimes I sub for the teacher and sometimes I sub for an aid. It gets chaotic and messy and frustrating sometimes but it doesn't really bother me....just another day in the life of CDC. If you go into any classroom expecting anything less you're asking for punishment.

A few weeks ago it was their turn to head to Alabama for a visit to Crow Creek Pumpkin Patch. We took our elementary school kids, the middle school and high school special ed classes, and the students from Whitwell, TN (yes, those eyes in the back of my head came in handy). When we arrived they loaded us on wagons and gave us a tour of the farm. Besides pumpkins they also grow cabbage and some other stuff. When we reached the back of the farm where the pumpkin patch is we let the kids out, paired them each with an adult, and sent them off to choose their own pumpkins. The only rule was that you had to be able to carry whatever you picked out. Because we've had a REALLY wet autumn...most of the pumpkins had rotted in the fields so the farm owners shipped pumpkins in from elsewhere and scattered them around for kids to find...sort of like hunting really big Easter eggs. After all the pretty pumpkins were chosen, we climbed back in our wagons and made our way to the petting zoo. They had a goat, miniature pony, chickens, and some other smelly animals in too-small pens.

The kids really liked it and they must have completely lost their sense of smell beforehand because it was NASTY. Purell hand sanitizer became mandatory after that because lunch was next on our list. We made our way to the picnic tables only to discover that they were all in use. So we made the best of it and let them all take off their shoes and jump in the corn pit. Yes, you read that right...the pumpkin patch has a 3 ft deep pit of shelled corn, complete with decking around the sides and a slide. I'm pretty sure we could have skipped everything else we did and gone straight for the corn. It was their favorite part and made me extremely nervous. There is no way that can be sanitary or safe. I kept waiting for someone to start bleeding or screaming. It just seems to me that small, hard, pellet-like objects that are easily thrown, swallowed, or stuck in bodily orifices is a bad idea. But what do I know?...I don't have any kids remember. Anyway, we found corn in the classroom for days afterwards and I was real tired of saying "Stop throwing corn!" by the time lunch rolled around. After getting all the shoes on the correct feet we set them down for lunch....they ate at lightning speed or didn't eat at all because of that silly corn pit. As soon as they were done they dove back in. We let them play until the bus came to pick us up and then it was back home to Tennessee. We wore them out pretty good....a couple fell asleep on the way home.

Picking our pumpkins. Isn't that view amazing? The day was just perfect!

Nikki...my pumpkin pickin' partner. There were just way too many choices.

The smelliest goat....ever. N-A-S-T-Y.

The corn pit! Excited does not begin to describe their reaction. There is a smaller (not pictured) corn pit to the left....it was all the same to me.

This sign did NOTHING to stop the corn projectiles. A bull horn or speaker system with a looped "PUT THAT CORN DOWN! ITS ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE GETS AN EYE OUT!" would have been much more effective.

Okay, so even though I don't relish jumping in a pit of corn as an adult I probably would have thought it was awesome when I was a kid. Will I let my kids do it?....probably. I'll just have 911 on speed dial - just in case.

I hope you get to do something this week that makes you laugh and play as hard as they did at Crow Creek!

Mandy

The Fall Foliage Is Here!

One of my favorite things about living in Tennessee is the changing of the seasons. Its all made grander by the mountain views. Now, we know we don't have Rocky Mountain grandeur or anything but we love to look out the window all the same! When you have lived in the flatness of Kansas City any hill or valley is exciting stuff.

Now we know why they're the Smokey Mountains

Our front porch view

I know its hard to tell (hey, I'm no professional) but the leaves really were bright and beautiful.

This time of year its easy to see that someone (yep, you guessed it...God) is behind the creation of our beautiful landscapes. I think he gets a kick out of our "ooohhh's" and "aaahhhh's" over the things he's made. So go ahead, tell him how great you think it is....or better yet - How great you think he is.

Mandy