Church Plant Update

I wanted to go ahead and fill everyone in on our plans so far for a church plant:

Matt and I had moved up to KC 2 1/2 years ago for Seminary. We had hopes of finding a position at a church as a Sr. pastor...a youth pastor...really whatever... God on the other hand had other plans. To make a somewhat long story short after much prayer we decided to lead a church plant in the KC area. The Southern Baptist Convention in KC had pinpointed several areas in the metro where they would like to see a Southern Baptist Church planted. We attended a meeting that was sort of an overview of the areas, that was when I knew that planting a church is what God was calling us to. Immediately it seemed as if things were just falling into place...

In the fall we began meeting weekly w/ a core group of people who are committed to the church plant. We spend time in Bible study, prayer and fellowship. It has been awesome getting to know these people as we work together to see what God has in store. Matt is also working full time on getting this church plant off the ground... He has been meeting with city leaders as well as w/ other churches in the area who are interested in being apart of this work. This past weekend a church from Arkansas came to visit w/ us and we set up the beginning plans for a Sports Camp to be held this summer. It is very exciting thinking of what could take place.. We keep praying and ask for your prayers as this is something completely new to us.
Also, this past week Matt went and met with the staff at a youth center in the community. They really hit it off and the staff was VERY excited about the church plant. They even offered us their facility to use, which by the way is amazing! They have a large area which can seat 250-300 people, w/ a stage, chairs and sound equipment. They also have a really neat area set up like a soda shop with tables and booths. It is evident that God is opening doors for us daily.

I will continue to post updates as time goes on...

Have a great day!

Cooking Chicken w/ my Hubby

Last night my husband and I spent some time in the kitchen together cooking dinner. I had found a recipe for chicken w/ sundried tomatoes in the newest Rachel Ray magazine that looked pretty tasty! I wanted to include a picture, but no batteries in camera sadly equals no pictures. The meal turned out great though. It's the type of recipe I like with little prep and not to many ingredients! We had a some difficulty figuring out the correct way to assemble the chicken and had to cook the chicken a little longer than it said, but other than that..delicious!

Heres the recipe!

Sundried Tomato Chicken Roll-Ups (Rachel Ray)

SERVINGS:4
Prep Time: 30 min
Bake Time: 20 min

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
8 chicken breast cutlets (1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 pound deli-sliced provolone cheese
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400°. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease the foil.
2. Place the beaten eggs and bread crumbs into separate shallow bowls. In another bowl, mix the ricotta and sundried tomatoes. Dip the chicken cutlets into the egg, then coat with the bread crumbs and place on a work surface. Place a slice of provolone and a heaping tablespoon of ricotta mixture on each cutlet. Roll up and secure with toothpicks.
3. Place the chicken roll-ups side by side on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake until the chicken is golden and the cheese is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

*We served the chicken w/ a simple pasta - Bow tie pasta, a little olive oil, basil and fresh garlic

A Few Favorites in Downtown KC

My husband and I are always talking about where we want to take our friends/family when they come to visit us... We try to limit it to say our "Top 5" or our "Top 10".. easier said than done when you are talking Kansas City!!

Since we have found so many I'll start w/ a few favorites in the River Market/Arts District:

The City Market- We love to go on a Saturday morning, eat breakfast at a great place, Succotash. The atmostphere has its own flair. During the summer the restaurant is "open air". I recommend eating outside, but thats just me. The coffee mugs are all different, sort of like they went to a few garage sales and picked some up. The first time we went our waiter brought my husband a First Nazarene mug... said he can always spot the Nazarenes. Lol, not quite but still pretty comical. The menu has some old favorites w/ unique names as well as some more orignal entrees. My husband loves to get the "Kitchen Sink", I usually opt for one of their special french toasts. Everything is always wonderful! After a big filling breakfast we like to walk around and pick up some things to make dinner w/ that night... We love the Pasta Man!! The produce and veggies always look wonderful and are always a good price. All this talk makes me excited for the spring!!

First Fridays- We love going to Manny's to eat dinner... probably our favorite Mexican restaurant in the area. The food is wonderful, the queso to die for and on the weekends they have a Mariachi Band playing music! So fun! Also, we have never had to wait toooo long b/c the place is huge! After a very filling dinner it is nice to hit the streets visiting the various shops and art exibits. There is always plenty of live music as well!

La Bodega- Another place to hit while downtown is La Bodega. We have only been there once but Wow did it leave us impressed! We were fortunate enough to go in during Happy hour, there is one during the afternoon as well as a late night hour. All of their tapas are 1/2 price! We ordered 5 between the two of us to share... it was enough for when we were there (in the middle of the afternoon), for a dinner you might want to order a little more depending on how hungry you are. We tried one that consisted of marinara w/ goat cheese served w/ crostinis, another one was more of a hummus. We had pork and apple skewers, garlic meatballs, and steak crusted in bleu cheese. YUM!! I can't wait to go back and try more of their wonderful creations!

First Post

Hello! My name is Jessica and my husband, Matt, and I live in the KC area. We have been here for about 2 1/2 years now. Crazy how time has flown! We moved here so that Matt could pursue a masters degree in seminary. (next december he will be done!!!) We have grown to really love Kansas City and all that it offers. Since it is still just the two of us we tend to treat the city as if we are tourists....always looking for new places to go and see. This city has been a really growing place for Matt and I as well. We came here not knowing what to expect and nothing has really changed in the past couple years! This is why I finally decided that it would be nice to have a place to share what is going on with us. I hope to discuss all sorts of topics on here as our interests are wide and varied.

I suppose that is enough of an introduction.... you will be getting to know us more and time goes on... Have a wonderful Friday!