Good Soup

GREEN CHILE CHICKEN CHOWDER

2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (1 large breast)

I large potato

1 can evaporated milk

1 can chopped green chile

2 cups water

2 chicken bullion cubes

1 can creamed corn

Sprinkling of parsley

Bring water to boil and cook the chicken

Take it out and chop it into bite sized pieces

Chop potato into bite sized pieces and put into boiling water to cook while cutting up chicken.(tender not soft)

Add bouillon cubes

Return chicken,

Add corn, milk, green chile (the longer you cook the green chile the hotter it gets) even mild.)

Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crackers, chips, or hard rolls to dunk.



Ps. If you leave out the chicken you can add shrimp or crab for a fishy chowder.

Happy Birthday all you Februaryites

TRAV”LIN

I think t’would be fun to be on a train
To ride through the woods and
Then home again
The clackity clack of the wheels
On the rails
The cinders that fly from the
Smoke stacks like sails
The mountains and trees are
All covered with snow.
The riders are bundled to keep
Out the cold.
Lets go for a ride on the old 8.8.4.
I guess they don’t make them like that
Anymore.

FEBRUARY

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Be sure and tell someone you love them.
I had a nice visit in January with some someones I love. My children came to D.C. in time for the Inauguration, and we celebrated Christmas late. My son was telling us about his cats.
Mariah use to live here with us, and was always getting into trouble. She fell off the balcony three floors up and only had a cut lip. Then she swallowed a piece of yarn which unfortunately had a large yarn needle attached and needed surgery. Needless to say our vet always asks about her. Bernanke was inherited from the next door neighbor in Wisconsin.

Mariah was always a quiet cat. She never meowed loudly like the others, but politely expressed herself occasionally with a small mew. Bernanke, on the other hand was a kitten and a little boy. He thought he was Top Dog. We have pictures of him doing back flips through the air. When its feeding time he goes into a vocal frenzy . My son puts the dish down—he meows loudly—the dish goes back up—Mariah swats him—the dish goes down—MEOW—swat. The dish goes down………he’s learned his lesson and they eat Even though she’s not Bernanke’s mother, she has taught him a lesson, at least for a day!
I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for a talk I read once about mothering others than our own children. Essentially it said that there are many times we can teach and influence others. Whether we be teachers, co-workers or friends, we can be a positive influence on those around us. Sheri Dew said “As daughters of our Heavenly Father, and as daughters of Eve, we are all mothers, and we have always been mothers. And we each have the responsibility to love and help lead the rising generation. How will our young women learn to live as women of God unless they see what women of God look like, meaning what we wear, watch and read; how we fill our time and our minds; how we face temptation and uncertainty; where we find true joy; and why modesty and femininity are hallmarks of righteous women? How will our young men learn to value women of God if we don’t show them the virtue of our virtues?
Every one of us has an overarching obligation to model righteous womanhood because our youth may not see it anywhere else…. Every one of us can mother someone—beginning of course with the children in our own families, but extending far beyond. Every one of us can show by word and by deed that the work of women in the Lord’s kingdom is magnificent and holy. I repeat:We are all mothers in Israel, and our calling is to love and help lead the rising generation through the dangerous streets of mortality. “Who and how are you going to influence this week?
Maggi, my old cat is sitting on my ironing board and won’t get off even when I spray her with the spray bottle. I guess as long as she stays off the counters and the table I can, as any mother, pick my battles. I can always iron while she’s asleep.
With love,
Wendy Hauer

PANDA PARTY

Looks like drizzle in DC today.
That’s normal cold weather in China they say.
The panda’s contentedly having his lunch
Of piles of wet soggy bamboo to munch.
I hope for your birthday you’ll get to have cake.
I think that bamboo would be a mistake.

still can't figure out the pictures!!

Christmas 2008 To all our friends and loved ones
Our warmest greetings from Washington, on the eve of momentous changes both here and our nation. At this time of challenge for our nation and the world, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those in need. Kevin, Amanda and her husband Kelly will be joining us at inauguration time. Just getting around Washington at that time will be a challenge but we still look forward to their visit.

We started the year with a trip to Wisconsin to visit Kevin in LaCrosse. It’s
truly amazing to see major portions of the Mississippi frozen over. We weren’t ready to join the ice fishermen though !

A bald eagle braves the frozen
Wisconsin winter while this
Guy proves that some long horns live north
of Texas !




For Memorial day we spent the long weekend at a 19th century B and B on the Maryland shore at St. Michaels. While relaxing on the shore these guys zipped by as if to entertain us


“We don’t care which way you guys are going
We’re racing this way “



In June we took what could be called a “nostalgia” trip. Instead of a plane, we hopped a train at Union Station and got off in Bridgeport CT. Because of Dad’s life long job with the railroad, trains have a special place in the heart. From Bridgeport we made our way to Naugatuck where Arletta, Dorine, Jana and the family had a wonderful dinner waiting for us on the lawn of Arletta’s house- a real treat. From there it was back to Bridgeport and a train into New York for 2 days. The first night we went to a Broadway show called “Jersey Boys” – ringing musical reprise of the life of Frankie Valie and the Four Seasons – talk about Sixties nostalgia ! We followed the next day with a picnic in Central Park. Our roof top garden continues to give us a touch of the outdoors right in the middle of the city. We had fresh tomatos, squash and herbs all summer. Our cat Maggie prefers to lounge in the middle of the flowers as can be seen in the middle of this picture
Warm wishes and love to all
Allan & Wendy

Polar Bear Hugs

I love to go slipping and sliding
On hills white and covered with snow
With skates to the music go gliding
On ice at the lake with my beau.

I love to be warm by the fire
With cocoa and friends filled with cheer.
I hope that your birthday is all that you wish for
Today and throughout the whole year.
Wendy

December 2008

Signed, sealed and waiting to deliver—I turned the keys over to the realtor and walked away, feeling strangely homeless. I have a place to live—I’m fortunate, but it’s a way station—waiting for the next phase of my life.

In the plane back to Virginia I was reading a book about the truly homeless living underground in Manhattan. How blessed I really am.
Finishing the book with a two hour flight still ahead of me I turned on my Ipod to a collection of religious songs. The first one that came up, funnily enough was “Homeless “ from Michael McLean’s Album Forgotten Carols

Homeless, homeless, like the Christ child was.
Homeless, homeless, but there is hope because
He came down to earth to lead us
He vowed He’d never leave us
Homeless, homeless. For in His love there is a home.
Homeless, homeless, was His humble birth
He was homeless, homeless, and still He changed the earth.
Nothing kept His heart from giving
Though most of His life was living
Homeless, homeless. He showed it’s how we live, not where.
When His homeless days on earth were done,
(when His homeless days were done)
He went home to where we all came from.
And He went to prepare a mansion for us there.
He gave his whole life to lead us,
And I know He’ll never leave us
Homeless, homeless for in His love there is a home
We are not homeless, homeless, like the Christ child was,
For in His love there is a home

As we enter the Christmas season, where we remember Christ’s birth, I hope we can do that—Remember Christ’s birth.

I got an e-mail this week from a friend in Los Alamos. Her last child went to college this year. Even though he will be home for the holidays, she and her husband are looking for some way to celebrate the season with a gift of service. Asking for ideas, we brainstormed things available in her area. (Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross, helping people rebuild in Galveston TX after the hurricane this year, United Way, Stakes in poorer areas of the state, Food kitchens, and even asking my brother who works with several of the Indian Pueblos in the area.)
What are you doing for Christmas?

Wishing you a Merry Christmas! And hoping we can all come home to Christ.
Love.
Wendy