Share Four Somethings - January 2023

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. 

 We are beginning a new year of sharing Something Loved, Something I'm Reading, Something I'm Learning and Something I'm Eating. This link-up has a new home and hostess, thanks to Jennifer at Overflowing With Thankfulness. Share a cup of coffee with me as I share four or more somethings!

Something Loved

Y'know what? I loved having the freedom to just head on up to Ontario to visit my husband's family on short notice. There's something to be said for not having a bunch of commitments to keep us tied down here every weekend. Don't get me wrong, I desperately want to find a church home and get settled, but it's also very freeing to be able to say, "hey, this is a good weekend to go visit family," and pack a few things and go. What I would also love is to go visit our family and friends in Maryland on a weekend soon, so maybe in February that will happen. 

And speaking of a church home, while we're still deciding, I love that we can participate in a variety of  worship services and hear the Word preached in different styles, and not fear persecution or danger as we openly attend different churches. I love that even though we might be in a worship service with people we don't know at all, we do know that they are brothers and sisters. I also love that technology allows us to watch livestreams of church services too far away for us to attend, so that we can hear and see our own kids leading worship back home.

Something I'm Reading

I read all kinds of blogs and news articles and just random stuff all over the internet, and every now and again I fall into a rabbit hole. Here are just a couple of the articles that I found interesting and thought-provoking:

In Honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King at LifeNotes

Five Lessons Learned From a Church Embedded in the Walt Disney Company at Fresh Expressions

And here are the books I'm currently reading:

What I Would Tell You by Liz Tolsma

In Spotlight and Shadow by Rachel Scott McDaniel

  

They look like a matching set, don't they? They're not from the same series, although both are dual timeline stories. I hope I'll be able to keep the details straight! It might not have been the smartest idea to read two similar stories at the same time. Anyway, all the rest of my reading news is at Just A Second if you want to see what I've recently reviewed and what I have coming up.

Something I'm Learning

I'm working on learning my way around the Columbus area, the most convenient places for me to shop, and what fun things we can do around here. I do not care much for driving on busy highways or in crowded urban areas - I can do it, I just prefer not to - so I've tried to stick to our local neighborhood and what's between here and the town my husband works in. I like being so close to several good places to buy groceries and necessities, and I've started scouting parks, walking trails, and restaurants. We have a fantastic library nearby which is awesome!

I've been learning German for over a year now with the Duolingo app. I don't know if I could carry on much of a conversation, because I still feel like it's much easier to understand when reading than just hearing. Why German? Well, German was actually my first language! Low German, or Plaut Dietsche as we call it, was what I first learned to speak, although I started learning English in plenty of time to be ready for school. My parents and that generation of my family still speak Low German and I understand that very well and use a lot of the words, but don't feel comfortable speaking. I decided awhile ago that I needed to learn proper German and to get better at speaking Low German so I could keep the mother tongue alive for at least one more generation. Also, I think it's really important to always be learning new things! I've started looking for my next thing to learn or relearn - maybe it's time to pick up knitting again or to finally learn how to crochet. 

I've started thinking about foods I want to learn to cook. Just learning to cook for two people and in a compact kitchen is an adventure! I'm thinking about trying Plan To Eat - it's a subscription that gives you tools to help meal plan and prep. It's very reasonably priced, and does have a free trial, so I think I'm going to give it a shot for the next few weeks. Has anyone got experience with it? Share something about it in the comments!

Something I'm Eating

I don't usually take pictures of my food. I don't think it ever looks quite as appetizing in a photo, and I'm not great at creating beautiful plates. (Perhaps something I'll get better at as I learn how to cook new dishes - after all, I'll want to have a record of our culinary adventures!) Recently our meals included Chicken Cordon Bleu, spaghetti with meat sauce, chorizo and potatoes, chicken and stuffing, and a tavern style pot roast. The Chicken Cordon Bleu was a meal shortcut - I did not make that from scratch! The meat sauce turned out really well and I hope I can recreate it. I'd intended to make meatballs but didn't have the time so I told my husband it was Deconstructed Meatballs! I do wish I'd taken a photo of the pot roast, because it was SO good! It was done in the crockpot with a packaged sauce that made it a super easy meal.

Our treats for the past couple weeks have been the Canadian cookies we brought back from Ontario - yummy!

And at my husband's urging, I finally remembered to hunt down a recipe for English Muffin Bread since I don't know where mine is. I baked a couple loaves on Thursday and it is amazing stuff if I do say so myself.

This post will be linked at Overflowing With Thankfulness in the Share Four Somethings link party.

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

 ©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.