Soul Food potluck!

For the last Sunday of Black History month, Bethany Lutheran had a Soul Food Potluck! Yum! You never saw so much good food: greens, sweet potatoes, chicken, turkey, chicken curry, corn bread, green beans, sweet rolls, succotash...and about 5 kinds of cake! I'm sure there was more that I'm not remembering, but that's what was on my plate.
This is me with my friend Angie Khabeb (a fellow seminarian).
And here are Pastor Powell's kids: Evan, Maya, and Dion!
When I got home, it started to snow big time. Caleb says he is sick of snow. I agree! February in the South is so much nicer. Come on, Spring!!

Zion's international luncheon

On Friday Zion's class had an International Luncheon. All the students brought food from their own family's heritage, and the parents came to celebrate. Here is Zion with his buddies Julian and Henry!
We decided to focus on Zion's Swedish heritage, because we thought Swedish pancakes would be a fun food to bring. Here is Zion hiding behind a plate that says "Thank you" in Swedish!
Zion knows that he was born in Nebraska, so he had made a picture in class that said "My family is from Nebraska" and had little corn cobs all over it! We had to laugh. I would not say our family is "from" Nebraska...but oh well!

We convinced him to get a picture without the plate in front of his face...here he is with his friend Jadyn, who sits next to him at his table.
Notice the class had decorated with special flags for the Chinese New Year!
I had to get a close up of this artwork! The class has been learning about Rosa Parks. Here Zion drew her and wrote: When Rosa Parks didn't get off the bus she got arrested..."

We think he's a great artist! Check out the difference with the picture on the left! He he.

SLUSH...February in Chicago

February in Chicago means SLUSH...lots of it! The kids (and Mom) are tired of weaving between puddles, hopping over mud, and parking in snow drifts! Here are the boys in their matching coats (hey, they were on sale!!) and their friend Rene, walking to school the other day.

It was getting to be above freezing, so we thought we should get a picture with the courtyard snowman. As you can see, Caleb was THRILLED to be in this picture. :-)

Here is Robert, in the spot where he can usually be found lately! His doctoral exams are coming up the 3rd week in March, so his life is all about reading, reading, reading. On the upside, Sophie the cat is happy to have a lap to sit in most of the time.

It is hard to catch Caleb in a mood to be photographed! I caught him in the hallway and got a decent smile from him...he is getting so big! People tell me he is looking more like me everyday.

Ahhh...Zion! Our friend Jennie gave him a SpongeBob shaving set last week, which has been a big hit. He says he thinks he might have a beard like Papa when he grows up. I love that, but I have to admit I'm a little sad that he doesn't say he wants to be a Mommy when he grows up (as he used to say!).