Green Chile Chicken Chili

During the one cold week in San Antonio, our family enjoyed a pot of Green Chile Chicken Chili. It is adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe...we love it and it is so easy! This recipe is made with chicken, but I have a similar recipe with ground turkey.

2-3 cooked chicken breasts shredded
1 large can green chiles
1 large jar of salsa verde or two small cans
1 onion diced
3-4 garlic cloves minced
Chicken Stock...I made my own for this, but you can use a box stock also.
2-3 celery stalks diced
1 can of white hominy rinsed and drained
1 can of Great Northern Beans rinsed and drained
1-2 handfuls of tortilla chips crushed
salt & pepper
oregano
thyme
sage
2-3 green onions sliced
parsley...I prefer Italian parsley
Olive Oil
Sour Cream
Monterrey Jack cheese shredded

In a large dutch oven, coat the bottom with Olive Oil. Saute onion, garlic and celery with spices (not parsley) and salt and pepper until done. Add hominy and beans. Add chicken and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer. Add crushed tortilla chips to thicken to the consistency you like. Add green onion and parsley before serving. Top each bowl with sour cream and monterrey jack cheese. Yum-O!!!

Only in South Texas

Only in South Texas, is it sunny and 75 degrees in the middle of February. With that said, we headed off to Eisenhower Park after church on Sunday. It was a perfect day to walk and for Adrian to take a nap outside. We walked three trails, mainly because I couldn't remember the name of the one that sent you to the top to see the look out tower. You could see downtown San Antonio from where Cristian and Adrian were standing!

Adrian loves to be outside, so the better the weather, the better it is for our little family to enjoy our time together. Adrian turned 6 months old on Valentine's Day...how appropriate. He truly is our Valentine.

Right now he loves his walker that Ludee bought him. He sits/stands in it, and has discovered he can push himself backwards with his little toes!

He also loves his exersaucer. He is amazed by all the noises it can make especially when Daddy keeps pushing the buttons!!!

Passport time

Last week we got Adrian's passport in the mail...
he will have his 5 month old picture til he is 5 years old,
but we are planning to go to Romania in May to visit Cristian's family, so we had to have a passport now.

We can't wait. It has been 4 years since we visited his family.
Two summers ago,
Cristian got his internship that led to his current job,
nd last summer I was pregnant so we didn't travel. My how time flies.

Here is a picture of Adrian's Great-grandmother Baba, his Aunt Diana (Diu) and his grandmother Nuta (Nootza).
I have mailed pictures to them every couple of weeks,
but I know they can't wait to meet Adrian as much as
we can't wait to introduce him
to his family on the other side of the ocean.

It's been a while...

Life has been somewhat consuming. Adrian keeps me very busy. We have our daily and nightly rituals of eating, sleeping, playing and discovering the world around us. I believe, and my mom will strongly agree with me, that Adrian is a thinker...a very inquisitive little almost 6 month old! (Who indeed is not so little!)

He loves to study everything. He watches his hands, grips one wrist with the other hand and studies how he can move his fingers and twist his hand all by himself. He then goes on to study his feet. He has discovered they are attached and he can make them move, kick, rub his toes together and stretch them high up to his toys. He looks at the windows and the patterns the sun makes on the curtains or the ceiling or the walls. He clutches his fingers together like he is about to pray and studies how his fingers so magically fit one next to the other...sometimes I have to pry his hands apart because he has squeezed them so tight, I'm not sure he knows they can unsqueeze! He is so thoughtful.

He has also discovered the art of noise. I think Bill Cosby coined the phrase, 'the zerbert.' That oh so crazy slobbery kissing noise you can give someone else...along with the spit that comes with the zerbert... Adrian enjoys making any and every noise he can with his mouth. He laughs, squeals, hums, zerberts, spits, smacks, and I'm waiting for the next thing he will do! I tend to think that he will start talking next month. He seems to want to say something to me every time I look at him. We have 'conversations' all the time. I think he knows his mommy is a talker. He smiles when I make 'his noises' right back to him...it's like he is saying, "Yea, mommy, you get it...that's exactly what I was saying."

He has begun to cross his legs at his ankles when he lays on my lap to eat. Absolutely adorable. I can stare at his toes for hours in wonder and amazement.

Adrian has begun (finally) to sleep longer during the night. He usually goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 and sleeps til for 5 hours, wakes up, and then sleeps for another 4 hours or so. He has gone as long as 7 1/2 (after the super bowl!!!) but usually it is just 4 or 5. I await the day I can get 8 hours of sleep in one setting, but I don't think it will be very soon.

So little sleep, but so worth it. I wouldn't trade the last 6 months for all the sleep in the world. I am so blessed.

What my mommy loves about me...five months old

Today we were going to go the park for our church Park Day, but it was cold and rainy...not the greatest weather for a little boy and his Mommy.

So we dressed up in our warms duds and smiled for the camera! Adrian loves to sit up...with help. If he is not sitting, then he wants to stand on his feet!

He loves his voice...he loves to hum, laugh, scream, coo, mimic any and every noise he hears and make sure there is someone there to hear him.

Our growing boy

At our last Dr.'s appointment, the nurse asked me if Adrian was very verbal. I quickly said yes. She asked if I read and sang to him. I mentioned that I was an English teacher before he was born and he listened to me read things like Romeo and Juliet and To Kill a Mockingbird several times a day for weeks!! So you could say, I read to him. I was also in the church choir before he was born, so yes I sang to him often. She said that babies who are read and sung to are often more verbal at a much younger age. Go Mom! Who knew all that reading in the classroom was helping our little boy grow before we even knew him!!!

So this is one of our first videos of Adrian having a conversation with his Daddy.

It's amazing how quickly he learns new things. I just showed Cristian today how he is watching his hand...at just 5 months old, he is learning the idea of perception and depth. It is really amazing! I'll video the laughter and humming sessions soon. Adrian has discovered that he can still make noise with his lips closed and that Mommy is really funny:) So cute!! What a joy he is!!

Adrian Florin's Baptism

The Sacrament of Holy Baptism
Adrian Florin Moza
Covenant child of Cristian and Meredith Moza

On January 6, 2008, Adrian was baptized at our church,
Redeemer Presbyterian.
It is a symbol of how we, as his parents, have dedicated him to the Lord.
We can only pray that we will be the parents that God wants us to be.

Our pastor, Tom Gibbs, baptizes Adrian.

Adrian was talking to our pastor while Tom explains our roles as parents.
At our church, the pastors and elders take the babies
and walk them around the congregation
to show everyone who these babies are.
Take a good look, Tom says, because we as a congregation
have a role in helping these parents raise their children...
to bring them to a saving knowledge of who Christ is.
We are so very thankful for our church family.

We have the privilege of going to church with our pediatrician.
He is an elder at Redeemer. We were so thankful when we knew
that his practice was accepting new patients. I cannot tell you how
reassuring it was during our first Dr.'s visit to have our pediatrician
pray over the life of our son!
You can't see him in this picture, but Dr. Fitch is standing at the pulpit
praying for each of our babies and our roles as parents,
that God would guide and direct us and that we would follow his lead.