Bacon for Dinner

The past few weeks have been an assortment of exciting things and lots of studying.  For both of us.  I'll start with this week and work backwards.  And then bring it back to this week again at the end.

So guess where I got to go for work on Tuesday?  It took two hours to get there from the office.  We magically had cellular service while we were there.  And for lunch we ate at The Kountry Kitchen.  any guesses?

We had to put on covers for our clothes.  For two reasons - stench and piles.  Guesses?

That's me and Gina, a co-worker on the CommonGround team.  Needless to say, we were a little beside ourselves with excitement over our day.  And I imagine not everyone would feel that way.  Which is why God lead us to our jobs!  I'll give you another little hint.  I'll bet very few of you have ever been to one either.  Still guessing?

We went to a hog farm!  And this is one of his grain contraptions.  See, this farmer grows his own grains (mainly soybeans and corn) to feed his hogs.  He has many silos where he holds the grains.  And from his laptop he can tell this machine above to mix feed for pigs in any growth stage he desires.  Then he can pick it up and go feed his hogs.  So cool!

Look at them pigs!  Gina said she just couldn't look at them and think about dinner.  I appreciate what she's saying.  But I beg to differ. :)  After two days of thinking about nothing but the deliciousness of crispy bacon, I gave in and made 'breakfast for dinner' tonight.  David's favorite.  And I grew up on it.  Dad, David is always impressed with fried eggs made "Bob-style".  Thanks for teaching me!

Speaking of David...He is in the midst of cramming for finals.  His last day of this rotation in internal medicine was Wednesday.  And guess what?!  He got a A!  Today he had a physical exam final and tomorrow is the actual test.  Praise God for blessing him with a great brain and time to study.  And please pray if you get a chance that he can get through all the material he needs to review and have excellent recall tomorrow.  Doesn't he look handsome when he studies?  Sorry about the iron in the background.  We are running on low here and didn't much feel like moving it this morning knowing we would just need it again tonight. Roomba ran today and couldn't get through the piles of laundry I had left on the floor for us to start when we got home.  Poor thing got stuck in the darks!

It hasn't been all work and studying around here.  I promise.  Last Friday night we did what people do here in St. Louis.  We went to a Cardinals game, courtesy of our buddies Autumn and Dave.  So fun!  Dave's parents, whom we finally met, get season tickets and had some extras.  They even got free shirts for being the first 2,500 people there (or something like that).  And they gave them to us!  So sweet!  We ate nachos, a turkey leg and ridiculous amounts of Coke Zero at an unreasonable hour to be consuming so much caffeine.  It was fabulous.  Oh, and the Cardinals did great.  13-1 against Milwaukee.  Good times, good times.

And that's about as exciting as we get around here.  Between his exams and BSF, we are all books and study breaks.  He might kill me for this, but really...who could resist the opportunity?  He has some new game that he streams from his phone onto the tv.  Takes place in space or something.  Very intense!  I was in the middle of a brow-furrowing game of Word Scramble against none other than my sweet sister when I looked up to see this...

We don't kid around when it comes to games.  Or studying.  Or pork. Or Coke Zero. 

Everyone have a fabulous evening.  Know that we love you.  And we thank the Good Lord for you!

Missy Morgan 

Easter Was Too Short

As soon as we knew that we were both free from school and work duties for Good Friday, our plans were set.  Sea salt and cracked pepper pistachios for me, sweet and sour chicken for David, and we were off, en route to Ed and Bobbie's place in Bella Vista.  Did you know that day was Mikel's birthday?  Too much fun - Bobbie made a most delicious meatloaf with green chilis (totally yummo).  Ed and Bobbie, thank you so much for having us at your place for the night.  And for our delicious breakfast!  We always love spending time with you two.  

We headed over to Mikel and Debbie's for the rest of the weekend.  Debbie and I got in a nice bike ride before the rest of the St. Louis crew arrived.  And what a blessing, because we hopped over to Jim and Dianne Campbell's house and caught them both before the grandbabies were headed over.  For those of you who didn't meet them at the wedding, they are my sweet friends from our Israel trip. Aren't they too cute?!  Before I even knew them, they were already friends of Debbie and Mikel. 

 We also got to spend some quality time with Miss Felix.  Not familiar? We became great pals during my stay with Debbie and Mikel.  David and I miss her terribly!  She is fifteen years old and still going strong.  With a little extra help regarding jumping on laps.  And the vet gave her a clean bill of health.  Isn't she a beauty?

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of food and quality time.  Girls went shopping, guys went shooting, Joseph came over and joined us for the afternoon and dinner on Saturday.  And David showed off his new culinary specialty, Bananas Foster.  Where there's food to be lit on fire, there my husband will be.  So tasty!

My favorite part was attending UBC with the family on Easter Sunday.  Mike Lumpkin, the pastor who married us, is the head pastor there.  He taught out of Hebrews 12 about our inheritance, the unshakeable kingdom of God.  From verse 28 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire.""  It was a great reminder to clear ourselves of serving out of guilt to serve in love and gratitude for the cross, which we did nothing to gain.  We can't serve with gratitude if we are serving out of guilt!  And I am ever grateful for the freedom of that cross. 

Back at the Morgan Major household (where, by the way, they hosted 11 of us for dinner), the place was aflutter with food-centered action.  And the results made my belly very, very happy.  Ham, a green salad, fruit salad, asparagus, smashed potatoes (delightful).  Great pic of David and Debbie during meal prep, eh?  And another of Carolyn and Toodie. If you are loving Debbie's ensemble, be sure to hit Versona's at The Promenade.  We spent two hours there on Saturday.  Fabulous clothes and accessories, light on the pocketbook.  Very envelope friendly.

And then, of course, we started gathering for the big family photo.  Great job, Mikel, on always getting that camera set up.  Please send the final photo when you get a sec!  In the meanwhile, this is what we all look like trying to get organized. Note, as usual, Bobbie and Carolyn are ahead of schedule.  I love timeliness.

And then the sad part.  We had to leave.  Debbie was so sweet to give us two huge chocolate bunnies.  I am certain her intention was that they would each last us at least a few days.  And we had good intentions, too.   But five hours in a car with limited food options will drive you to do very bad things.

We love all of you.  To the Egert side - we miss you bunches!  Can't wait to see you hopefully soon.

Hugs - Missy Morgan

Whassup with the Minors?

I always said I wouldn't be one of those bloggers who says "sorry it's been so long since I updated...".  So much for that adorable idea.

PA Update!  David is just beginning his fourth rotation in Internal Medicine this week.  Location - SLU Hospital.  So far so good.  I like 'em already for selfish reasons.  They just approved us to be off from Good Friday through Easter Sunday!  And guess who else is free the same days?!  So our plans are set - We will be in northwest Arkansas all three days.  Can't wait!  And thanks for lifting David up in prayers during his last rotation in Hematology/Oncology.  He got an A!  And worked with an incredible doctor who taught him well.  And from the sounds of it, his presentation of a patient case study went over with flying colors.  Phew, praise God!  That was a pretty intense two weeks in this little apartment.

I just got back from a Bible Study Fellowship retreat in Milwaukee.  Try to picture 2600+ men and women in one place, studying 2 Timothy.  And imagine the sound when we all belted out "In Christ Alone" on the last morning.  Now, that was something!  If you can't picture it, maybe this will help.  This is after our evening session on Saturday.  And a great pic of some fellow leaders in my class next to Lake Michigan (taken in the hour we had between a session and dinner).  Love these gals!

Wondering how we all got there?  Check it out.  And follow my advice...If you ever run across a restroom on a bus, use it while it's NOT moving.  That's all I'm sayin'.  Meanwhile, I have a cool stat to share.  BSF has over 244,000 adults attending classes worldwide.  And over 55,000 children.  Which is my new department.  Yes, I am teaching children.  We know that was a call from God.  So far they haven't caught on that I have no idea what to do with kids.  Mostly because I have an awesome topic to focus on!  Not to mention a great team of leaders and a sharp, fantastic supervisor to observe.

The weather, as you are all aware, has been fantastic.  Therefore, we have been quite the little bikers.  I took Monday off of work and David got out of his rotation early, so we went for a bike ride followed by a trip to Chill, a local frozen yogurt bar.  One lap around Forest Park, and then about a mile down to the yogurt shop.  Not bad for a Monday!  Wondering how absolutely ridiculous we look in our helmets?  Wonder no more, loved ones.  

Most of you are probably relieved you don't have to claim us due to distance.  I don't blame you.  When Debbie was in town we did the same loop around the park.  But Debbie rode David's bike, which seemed stuck in very high gears.  If you knew the hills we took, you would knuckle-bump her five times.  Debbie - You are in GREAT shape.  

I had better scoot and start working on dinner so I can spend some time with David.  He is on call tomorrow, which means we don't know what time he will get home.  And I just learned that I will be teaching the Bible lesson on Tuesday to our 5th and 6th graders.  That's 25 minutes of lecture time. Yikes!  Prayers are appreciated!  It's the last study out of Ephesians.  And then I think we go back to the book of Acts.  I will let you know how that goes.  

Have I mentioned how much we miss all of you?  It's a fact!  

Missy Morgan

The Long Lost Morgans

Between a crazy holiday schedule, David's new year of rotations and my conference planning I must apologize for a lack of staying in touch. Inexcusable!  Please forgive me. Now, onto the good stuff.

I had to share funny photos.  The Newberry side of the family (Debbie's side) gathered in St. Louis for Christmas weekend.  I believe there were 20 of us in Dave and Melissa's house.  A Pyrex pan holding ham exploded in the kitchen while ornaments were flying like torpedos off of the Christmas tree.  Carolyn looks a little guilty in her photo.  Hmmm...she is sitting by the tree...It was indeed a bit chaotic, but lovely nonetheless.  To add to the excitement, we (of course) went shooting.  And I somehow broke the target holder.  How embarrassing.

Immediately after Christmas, we hopped in my car and drove down to San Antonio.  Thank the good Lord for sweet grandparents - Ed and Bobbie let us stay the night with them, complete with a turkey dinner and loads of laughs.  Then we finished our trek and landed at the Gloege household the next evening.  What a blast!  That's me and David somewhere in Arkansas.  Love the pic of Amy, Mom and little Gus at the River Walk.  Unfortunately, I am a loser aunt.  Forgot to get a picture of Matthew when he and Rob  met us for lunch in Allen.  Darn!  The child is precious.  Next time. :)

David started his rotations on January 3rd.  First stop, women's health.  Yes, friends.  That was no typo.  Pelvic exams and STDs (hope you are not eating) were the core of his first three weeks last month.  And then he moved onto psych for another three weeks.  Needless to say, I can't wait to get home everyday and hear his top story.  Be impressed - David Mikel Morgan has been waking up everyday at 5:15 a.m. to be out the door by 6:20 a.m.  I have evidence that he is surviving quite well.  Enter into evidence exhibit A, an iPhone pic of him about to head out the door, PA smock and all.  I married a handsome early-riser.

Once we got into the swing of things after the holidays, me and my team were working fast and furious on the annual conference.  My job is way cool.  35 farm women gathered with 35 staffers in Charleston, South Carolina last week to talk about farming and food.  Ladies, if you grocery shop and you have heard of the "Dirty Dozen" list, you will want to hear this!  We had a guest lecturer and scientist, Dr. Carl Winter, from UC Davis speak to us about his research regarding pesticides and their true effect on human health, most specifically the study done that created "The Dirty Dozen" list.  My takeaway - unless you are planning on eating a full truckload (or 34,000 pounds) of any fruits or vegetables in one day yourself, you need not worry the tiniest fraction about insecticides impacting your health.  If you did eat that much, you would still be in the clear!  Check out http://www.safefruitsandveggies.com/ - it has a cool calculator tool.  Makes me feel better about what I feed our little family.  Anywho, cool pic of Dr. Carl and a group of us at the airport afterwards.  We look energized, but I think we all collapsed once the plane took off. Also might've been the cheese popcorn.

My last bit of news is pretty exciting!  David and I had been praying about how to be serving God with our time.  We even discussed being open to me serving in BSF leadership again if God so desired.  After much prayer, I knew where God was leading me.  Um, not where I wanted to go!  But there it was...not going away.  I ended up sitting down with my BSF teaching leader here in St. Louis.  We had both been praying for God's guidance.  She asked me where I felt God leading me to serve.  I felt like I had glue on my tongue, but I did indeed obey and say, "I can't believe I am saying this out loud because it would never be a desire from my heart, but I feel strongly that God is leading me to working with children."  If you know me at all, you know that what I said is crazy!!!  I love the little people, but I have no idea what you are supposed to do with them. 

As God would have it, there was one opening in leadership.  In the Children's Program.  So my first day in training will be this Friday evening.  Pray for the children!  All kidding aside, please pray that God will equip me to know what to do.  I am walking into this with nothing but a willing heart!  I can't wait to see what He has in store.  I imagine we will all share a few great laughs along the way.  Big thanks to Julia and Jan for encouraging me.  And to Debbie for praying for God's guidance.

That's it for now.  We miss you and love you.  Quite a bit!

Missy Morgan

Season's Greetings!

Tonight is a typical one for the Morgan Minors.  David is pacing the apartment floors memorizing page after page of information like "95 percent of polio...something or other...is asymptomatic" and "rubella...RNA..." in his hoodie and tennis shoes.  He completed test one today and has another one tomorrow, then the last on Friday.  And then he is officially done with classroom studies!  If you haven't heard, his first rotation is rather humorous.  Women's Health - East St. Louis.  He'll know everything in the book!

No one walks around here without layers of clothing and shoes.  We are toughing it out to keep energy costs down, and neither one of us will accept defeat!  I think it's about 62 in here right now, but I wouldn't know it.  I have on 3 layers, huge fuzzy slippers and the space heater blasting warm air in my general direction as I type.  We just finished eating spiral pasta with meat sauce, salad, and homemade buckeyes and cookies.  My poor husband has been eating wings for lunch everyday this week, so he was salivating while dinner was on the stove.  I love cooking for him because he always makes even my lamest attempts seem like gold.  I married well!

David in study mode.  Pretty serious.

I do have an important prayer request for my sweet friend, Jenise (the gorgeous red-headed bridesmaid in our wedding).  She is having extremely high-risk surgery tomorrow to do some repair to her damaged spinal cord.   This is a good thing, as it seems to be the only hope for heading toward recovery.  Please pray for a successful surgery, for miraculous healing, and for comfort for her family.  And for peace and endurance for Jenise.  Her surgery is at 5 a.m. and should go for 4 hours.  Here is a great pic of her from the wedding.  You can't tell even a bit that she is in pain, huh?

My apologies for the tardiness in getting Thanksgiving news out to you.  We had a BLAST in Arizona!  It was my very first holiday spent with the Morgan side of the family.  Loved it!  One thing I learned quick - This is not a lazy group.  We were on the move, active, and having non-stop fun.  We stayed with Karen, Mikel's youngest sister, and her husband, John as well as their son, Kyle in their beautiful home.  There were 12 of us in total, and our hosts never missed a beat.  The agenda included Jazzercise for us gals while the men golfed, a trip to Carefree for dinner (this is where Ed and Bobbie lived for many years when Ed was mayor...yes, I am related to hugely important people), three hikes, a successful shopping trip to the best consignment shop in existence, pool time, ping pong, a gift exchange, and plenty of eating.  Phew!  Check out these pics.  Thanks, Karen and John!  And to all the Morgans.  We so appreciate all of your kindness. :)  I thank God for letting me join the fun.  Happy Wednesday!

Me, David, Bobbie, Debbie and Mikel in Carefree

Thanksgiving Day hikers:  David, Me, John, Karen, Mikel,
Debbie, Kathy and Steve

Me and my sweetheart - Camelback behind us

A fabulous fall weekend in St. Louis

Greetings from the last hours of a fantastic weekend.  I'll start from the top for you.

Our Friday night started out just right.  We browned some hamburger meat to add to our carton of cheese dip and finished off every last drop with baked Tostitos Scoops.  Along with a side of fresh pineapple, of course.  Yes, it is exactly like going to McDonald's and ordering a Big Mac and large fries with a Diet Coke.  We were rushing because we had plans to see the movie "Courageous" with Dave and Melissa.  So naturally David made a bag of Kettle corn to sneak into the theatre via my oober-large red purse that could easily double as a bowling bag.  We literally walked in right at 7, which was the movie start time.  Poor Dave and Melissa were waiting on us.  Story of our lives.  For all of you trying to decide your next movie, look no more.  It was so great!  We laughed and cried (at least Dave and David did) and it was such a joy to not have to worry about inappropriate content.  Most importantly, I love seeing stories of how much of a difference Christ makes in people's lives.  Gold star.

Saturday morning we woke up to our usual Saturday routine, which is now even more exciting as Castle has started back up.  We woke up close to 10:00 a.m. (we should probably be embarrassed by that, but it was a relief to get so much sleep), ate breakfast in bed, watched Castle, ate a little lunch and then hopped on our bikes and rode to Bissinger's in the Central West End via Forest Park.  Oh, bike?  Yes, I did say that hopped on a bike willingly.  Check out my new wheels!  Which we purchased alongside Mr. Stuff (aka Mikel) and Debbie last weekend.  Odd...it was David's birthday, yet I got a new bike...Feels funny typing that.  Evidence that I have a very sweet husband.  This has been a topic of great discussion since our trip to Hilton Head, where we rode bikes at every chance possible.  The inspiration never left.  We got it used at a place called Bikeworks in Soulard where people donate old bikes and they fix them back up.  There was even a cute cat inside while we were shopping.  

So back to the topic at hand.  We biked, stopped for chocolate (salted caramel apple ghost chili is the best) and then rode back home in time for David to head off to his tennis match and for me to meet my friend Jen at Chill.  Awesome news...David won his match!  His coach had taken some time out to spend with David earlier this week and gave him some advice on his back hand.  It gave David a little confidence and he won.  Against a guy who is going to nationals!  I was so happy to get that phone call. I ended up riding my bike to Chill (frozen yogurt place - delicious) because it was so close.  Only took me 12 minutes, and it was so fun because it had a lot of hills.  Me and Jen made the decision that we are going to have a girl's night here at our apartment the Saturday night when David is in Florida.  So thank you to everyone who prayed for me to have friends.  I really love my friends here!  God is so good.

Today we went to Sunday school, which for us is a marrieds class called Mad About You.  The teacher has been taking us through the Jewish Feasts and we are walking through their meaning in the OT and now after Christ has ascended.  And we are greeting at the front doors now, which is great fun.  Toodie came all the way from the side to the front to be greeted.  Now that is support.  Our pastor, Dan, is taking us through James.  I had never studied James before.  It has caused me to really consider my actions and behavior.  And we are starting Proverbs in 2 weeks.  Toodie and Frank are sweethearts and took us out to brunch after the service, which was great fun.  Thanks again, you two!  We came home and David hit the books.  He has an OSCE (or physical exam test) that is comprehensive over every module they have studied.  Yikes.  I ran a few errands and have been working on my BSF lesson until typing this.

But now I must go as David needs to pretend I have something wrong with me.  I will let you know what it is.  Usually he gives me a few illness options, I choose one and research it, and then I get to pretend I am visiting him at a clinic with the ailment of my choice.  Much fun.  Today, unfortunately, I was told not to study anything.  Darn!

Debbie and Mikel, we look forward to seeing you two next weekend.  David has class until 5 pm on Friday, so it will be a late night.  But we would love to ride bikes with you on Saturday before the wedding!  David mentioned Hobbs State Park.  Thoughts?!  And we always look forward to seeing Bobbie and Ed, Felix, and Pastor Lumpkin at church.

Please pray for safe travels and for David's test.  We love all of you and miss you!

Missy and David

Morgan Minors - Our First Post

Greetings on a lazy fall day.  Lazy for me, at least.  David had to work the Cardinals game for his class again, which meant the day did not start out in our usual Saturday fashion (i.e. late start, breakfast and Castle or Meerkat Manor episodes in bed).  Bless his heart, he was out the door by 8:20.  I got to head over to the computer for a little catch-up time on Facebook, then run over to Julie's to help her oil boards while Bill was at The Strange Folk Festival.  Always fun times when I get to hang with Jules.  


When David got home tonight he was on a frantic search for junk food, more specifically some chips.  No score - Our pantry is a little sad right now.  I need to take the grocery envelope and march on over to Walmart pronto.  But I did mention that this is a lazy day, right?  The good news is that our good friend John taught us how to make kettle corn right here in our own little kitchen.  Friends, this knowledge is dangerous and the results are addicting.  And I am finding that it is causing us to be on a sweets binger.  The evidence?  We ate dinner on Thursday night and we were so excited that David didn't have to study and we had time to hang out that we rewarded ourselves by making Betty Crocker gluten free cupcakes and homemade kettle corn.  Ay, ay, ay. 

Sugar-Binge Thursday

We ate both that night.  So tonight David made kettle corn and I managed to limit myself to a small serving and an apple.  We snacked and watched a show about Yellowstone winters.  Just looking at those poor bison use their heads to dig through snow for grass with absolutely no nutritional value while the wind whipped through the valley in minus thirty temperatures gave us a chill, so we threw on a blanket.  Somewhere towards the end we both fell asleep.  Hard.  We have no idea how long we were out, but it was dark when we woke up.  Shockingly, were hungry again and pulled together a really lame dinner on account of this lazy Saturday.  David popped a pizza in the oven.  I made a Poor Man's Pizza (shredded mozzarella, turkey pepperoni and pizza sauce - microwave for 1.5 minutes and voila) and a small salad with the spinach and cherry tomatoes that Carolyn gifted us.  Thank you, Carolyn!  How do you always know when I run out of salad makings?  You bless us!  David ate the last cupcake, thankfully.  Small miracle - we managed to talk ourselves down from making another batch.   

We haven't shared pictures with you from the symphony at Forest Park two weeks ago or Balloon Glow last week.  Both nights were so wonderful.  We are loving St. Louis, indeed.  That's all for now.  Please keep lifting David up in prayer for school.  He has three finals this week!  We love all of you!