Social Media: Building Community Part Two

Evite In part one, we discussed how social media can be used to build community. These subsequent posts will take you through three tutorials to help you get started. I think perhaps the easiest tool to use to get your group connected and plan events is a free website called Evite. It is free because it is ad driven, so like Facebook, you will have to put up with advertisements. Evite features included: Organizing your contacts into groups Create and send invitations to meetings Built in map features RSVP section... Read The Rest →

Social Media: Building Community Part One

People are meant to be connected. If we float through life socially un-tethered we lose what it is to be human, or rather, we fail to experience humanity. This experience of humanity is what gives life meaning. The same is true for Jesus followers. We have difficulty connecting to Jesus when unconnected to his community, and the best way to live and experience life with others is through small groups. According to social scientists, individual satisfaction within a group tends to decline when the group reaches between 9 and 12... Read The Rest →

Ethiopian Doro Wat

Please note the previous posts for information on how to serve Ethiopian food and where to get ingredients in Houston. Ingredients: 2 lbs Chicken Legs – Skinned 1 Lemon – Juiced 2 tsp Salt 2 Onions 4 Garlic Cloves 1 Tbs Ginger ¼ C Niter Kebbeh 1 T Paprika ¼ C Berbere Paste ½ C Chicken Stock ½ C Red Wine ¼ tsp Fenugreek ½ tsp Cardamom ½ tsp Nutmeg 1 Small Tomato Salt and pepper to taste 4 Hard boiled eggs Directions: Mix the chicken legs, lemon juice and... Read The Rest →

Ethiopian Beef Tibs

We had lots of folks over last night to share an Ethiopian meal.  If you are a germ-a-phobe, sharing an Ethiopian meal may not be as appealing to you.  Traditionally everyone sits around a single large platter of injera, a sour bread made of teff, piled with various meat and vegetable dishes and eats with their hands.  You could serve everything on individual plates but I think you would be missing out in the experience. Ethiopian food requires some special ingredients.  If you live in Houston, you can find most... Read The Rest →

Some Things On My Mind

So I haven’t posted in a very long while.  I’ve been busy buying and remodeling a house in Katy and spent some time traveling this summer.  This is just a post to get me back in the swing of things and to keep my handful of readers updated, so please bear with the random string of thoughts and upcoming posts. On the top of mind right now is Sudan.   We don’t hear much about what is going on there now because the news has been dominated by Libya, but... Read The Rest →

Thai Cottage

After our first full day in Houston, we were hungry for pub food or more specifically, for some decent fish and chips and a beer. When dropping off our moving truck we passed a Sherlocks Baker Street Pub and thought we could get what we were looking for there. However, after awkwardly standing in what we thought was a line but was actually a group of friends for some time, we found out that with the exception of wings actual food wasn’t to be had. Fortunately Thai Cottage was in... Read The Rest →

First Impressions

I’m pleasantly surprised.  I was hoping I would be and I am. We had planned on moving on Monday.  I took a look at our stuff, told my husband to go get the truck, and fully expected to be loaded and on the road two hours later.  Eight hours later we were still loading the cars and cleaning the house.  We decided to spend the night with my in-laws and head out in the morning, and after a few hiccups with the car trailer, we were off.  On a side... Read The Rest →

5:00 a.m.

It’s 5:00 a.m. and I can’t sleep.  I keep packing boxes in my head and making to do lists.  I dropped my two year old with chicken pox at my mother’s yesterday and I keep worrying about her too.  We are moving to Houston in about 27 hours.  I am going to really miss Austin.  The top ten things I love about Austin are: The hills. I grew up in West Texas and always wanted to live in a place with some variance in elevation. The trees.  Houston has trees... Read The Rest →

Moving To Houston Part Two

I’m 28 and this is the first time I’ve ever apartment shopped. In Africa we relied on word of mouth and waited three months for utilities. In Abilene there wasn’t much to choose from. Houston is a different story. There are hundreds of apartment complexes in our price range. Our plan was to find a relatively cheap apartment to save a little more for a down payment on a house but after half a dozen visits to apartments in the Westchase area, we realized that we should up our ante... Read The Rest →

Moving to Houston Part One

It all began about two years ago in a sleepy East African village on the Indian ocean.  We were quietly going about our lives with our dog, Amos when I got an amoeba, or so I thought.  After several weeks of nausea and vomiting, we discovered that my parasite was the kind that took nine months to come out and stayed with you for a lifetime.  So we came home to Texas to give our little amoeba a more stable life.  She was born in November and our life hasn’t... Read The Rest →