Three Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

1.5 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
1.5 shredded cheddar
3 ounce package of cream cheese (softened)
1 medium red or green bell pepper diced
.5 cup of sliced green onions
1 t. crushed cumin
.5 cup of picante/ salsa sauce
8 flour tortillas

combine the above ingredients with 2 or 3 cups of sauteed chicken breast cut up in small pieces. Put 1/3 cup or so on each tortilla. Roll them up. Place in 9/13 pan with seams down. Spoon extra saunce on top as well as sprinkled cheese, if you so desire.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, etc.

I usually make double the recipe and freeze the leftovers for lunches.

Enjoy.

Oh my goodness...

Have you seen kitty wigs? Check it out.

Nut needs this!

he's officially a hogan now

got skunked

Yesterday morning, Faith and Nalini and I rose early for some salmon fishing in Grand Haven. We got skunked, immediately, and literally. We arrived on the end of the pier and cast a line or two in the early morning light. I was still trying to net some bait when Faith said, "There's something down there in the water. It's alive. I think it's a skunk." I looked over the edge into the dark and saw some jetsam that looked amazingly like a two-striped skunk, sloshing around near the end of the pier. I assured my animal-loving wife that it was just a bag or who knows what and commenced with netting some bait. Two minutes or so passed. "No, it's alive and it's a skunk." I looked again. Somehow the bag had turned into a living skunk, which was in fact paddling around for dear life near the end of the pier. Now the end of the pier is several hundred yards from shore, and by all appearances this poor skunk has been sloshing around down there for the better part of a night. Faith, immediately compelled by the moral urgency of the situation, exclaims "We need to rescue it." I appealed to logic. "No, just leave it there. It will swim back to shore. You can't rescue a skunk." But she had already set down her pole, and judging by the look on her face, compassion and notions of restoring shalom had taken full control of her psyche. She grabbed the small bucket with a rope on it, meant for drawing water into the bait bucket, and proceeded to try bucketing the skunk. The skunk seemed to recognize that the bucket was a means to salvation and actually complied with the operation. However, the critter was so exhausted that it couldn't quite coordinate the rolling waves with a tipsy bucket. My sanguine hunter instincts kicked in again, and I went back to fishing for real fish. For a couple minutes. Then Faith said, "Now what should I do?" I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "With the skunk... where should I put it?" I looked over the edge and saw a bucketed, water-logged skunk critter. His two front paws grasped the edge of the bucket, barely able to hold his head and shoulders above water. An older fisherman, who was not at all in favor of the operation from the beginning, said, "Don't bring it up here. I don't want no skunk on the pier." I semi-honored his request. I hauled it carefully down the pier about 20 feet, expecting that at any moment it would jump out and spray me. I looked him in the eye to calculate his motives. He glanced back as if to say "It's all good." I then realized that the skunk was far too thankful to spray, or maybe too humiliated--not to mention that his butt was still under water in the bucket. I then readied myself for the worst, tipped the bucket and got the heck out of the way as he and the water washed out onto the pier. He was barely able to stand and just basked on solid footing for a while collecting his wits. Finally he took a tentative step toward real land, tried to shake the water off, walked about 15 feet down the pier and settled in for a rest. For the rest of the morning, we listened to the walker's comments about a skunk on the pier this morning. If only they knew.
(Pictures forthcoming)

you'll appreciate this...

Check out this video.

the naughtiest hogan

Check out Charlie's latest adventure.

Happy trails...

Hey Hogans, who's camping??? Should we bring dogs, or are we leaving Keith and Rita home? Hahahahah.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I celebrated my marriage to this poser over the weekend at this most-perfect campsite ever. It was like being on a deserted island... with a complete weirdo. What could be better?

Thank you!

Keith and Sara have saved the day again! Thank you two so much for your patience and care for us the when we were waylaid in the hospital... and for taking all our stuff. :) It was a long day, and we were so tired... we just wanted someone to be nice to us. Thanks!
Troy's ankle is continuing to blow up in vivid shades of black, purple, and green. We are so pleased at the timing as we have been offered a place to stay by CRWM that requires us out in two weeks... Thankfully, I have a family that has offered multiple times to help out. I will be calling in all my favors and putting everyone to work, but not without the benefit of being able to make off with any goods that strike your fancy. Anybody interested in guitar stool?

that other dog's not as cute as ours

The picture Keith used was just an example of Goldendoodles.
Here's a picture of our doodle, Dodger.

New Hogan?

Sunday afternoon in the paper there was an add in the classifieds advertising Goldendoodles. Sara and I are convinced that is the perfect dog for us. Temperament of a Golden Retriever and no shedding. They are normally very pricey but we found someone 2 hours up north who is selling puppies for cheap. I think Sara and I are going to take a road trip. So don't tell her until its for sure, but Rita might be an aunt.

some things are better left unsaid

I took the night off from unpacking last week to write thank you's. It was the perfect activity for a night when I had a stomach ache and Keith had a bee in his bonnet about assembling our new media cabinet.

Towards the end, however, I got a little out of sorts. I actually wrote a thank you to Troy and Faith that said, "I especially appreciate your willingness to come and do all the crappy jobs. No wonder God called you into the mission field."

I wasn't quite sure it was the best sentiment for a thank-you. However, it's good for a laugh here, eh?

Let's re-name this "Faith's Blog"

Hey fam,
Troy and I just ran away for the weekend to Traverse City for some wine-tasting-pool tanning- sleeping in late-good time. Though it was a blast, it left me wishing I could have stayed for another two days, at least. We are still in denial that our vacation is over, and we have been traipsing around all day in our jammies with the curtains drawn; tiptoeing around shutting windows behind the madly door bell ringing kids of our neighborhood. Can't anyone give a girl on unemployment a BREAK??!

love you all. Hope you had a good weekend too.
Peace

I love my new house!!!

Hey, K+S... a few days before you move into your new digs. I am so excited for you, and I can't wait to arrange furniture. I think the Lord gave you a killer house, that you can play with, grow into, build on, and enjoy! I'm so so sooooo happy for you. See you Saturday.
F

banglabanglabanglabanglabangla

Hello Hogans, I hope all is well with you. The interviews have been coming along swimmingly. There is just one more with Psychiatrist Brinks (gulp). Dad says he can 'read people' really well. I am already nervous that I will reveal something stupid by saying nothing at all. What questions do you think he will ask us? 1$ to the best reply.

(They aren't going to let THIS guy go, are they??!!)

I'm blogging, I'm blogging...

Here is my first picture

Mom's test

But how do you do pictures?

I'm trying this thing out...

Yikes! I'm blogging! What a metrotechnilogicalgeek I am. I don't know how to add a picture like the rest of you. Actually, I don't have a picture either. I'll learn that one another time. I'm just hoping to remember how to find this blog again on another day.

I'm so sorry you're ill, Sara. I'm praying for you and also that Keith won't damage you any further.

I hope to see all of you GR kids on Sunday. It's been a long time! I love you all. Mom

So. Sara is not feeling well. Her throat is swollen and sore and she is getting a cold.
This is bad news for her in more ways than you might think. It not only means she is feeling out of sorts and still has to work, It also means that I have to take care of her.
As a good husband I take this job seriously. Unfortunately I suck at it.
I have had to take care of a sick Sara twice before. The first time I managed to lock us out of our house when she was in her pajamas and was not wearing any shoes. The second time I thought I was being thoughtful and got her a large gatorade but as she took the first big gulp, I stepped on the gas and basically poured half of it down her shirt.
Last night I made a fine dinner of black charred brats and threw mustard at her.
Frankly, I am surprised she doesn't just go to her parents house at the first sign of illness.
Pray for her to get better soon and for safety from her loving husband.

My new job

Hey y'all. I had a fun day at work yesterday and I thought I would tell you about it.
Some people in NY are producing a show for Travelocity TV that is titled something like "The charm of Europe in America". So they called us looking for footage of dutch stuff. On Sunday Doug, Kristen and I went to the Dutch Village for their Queens Day celebration and yesterday John, Doug, Kristen and I went to Windmill Island.

John wanted a shot were the windmill in the background came into the frame. Normally we would do this by mounting the camera to a track but our track is only about 10 feet long. So we loaded the camera on top of the suburban and drove back and forth in the parking lot. Being the smallest and most nimble of the crew I was chosen to kneel on top of the suburban as John directed from the drivers seat. He had a monitor next to him so he could see what the camera saw. I could not hear anything John was saying so Doug stuck half his body out the side window and relayed what John was saying.

What John doesn't know is that earlier I had stepped in goose poop and did not know it until I tracked it over the roof of his car.

Guinea Trip

Hi all. I'm in, but I can't promise how often I will be able to check the blog.

I want to share a bit about my last trip to Guinea, West Africa. I arrived in Conakry after 34 hours on four different flights. I slept in a Christian and Missionary Alliance guesthouse and then left for a 7 hour drive up country to the city of Dalaba, where we held the meetings with all the Guinea CRWM missionaries. When we unloaded the 4-wheel vehicle, John Span was handing stuff to me and I was stacking it on the ground. He grabbed a rice sack off of the roof rack and threw it to me. I asked what was in the bag and he replied, "Cash." "Yeah, right," I replied. He responded, "Take a look for yourself." I opened the bag and found... stacks and stacks of cash. The Guniea franc is about 5,000 to one US Dollar, so it doesn't take all that much to be a millionaire in Guinea.

Then we had three days of meetings. Exciting for me but BORING for you! I will not bother to tell you about the meetings. I will just fill in a few more little stories. Next to the Catholic Retreat Center where we were meeting a huge (I mean really, really huge) home was being built. I was told that some Filipinos were working on it. I couldn't believe it so I walked over there during lunch break. Sure enough, a Tagalog from Quezon City, Manila, was the superintendant of the construction site. I blew him away when I walked up and started to speak Tagalog to him. He never in his wildest imagination guessed that an American in Guinea would know any Filipino dialects. We had a nice conversation. He told me that the architect and the engineer were also both Filipino, but they were not there that day.

I also found the nest of a very smart swallow. The nights get pretty cool up in Dalaba (60s while I was there, but it can get in the upper 40s at night for part of the year). A swallow had built a chambered mud nest on the ceiling of a garage with the main chamber built around a light bulb. To get the right perspective on the photo you have to rotate it so that the left side of the photo becomes the top. Besides swallows, I saw beautiful yellow birds, blue chested birds, sparrows and lots of vultures.

At an open air market in the city of Mamou, a group of vultures were hanging out on the roof and on a tree growing over the roof of the meat shop. They were lazy vultures waiting for the owner to close for the day so they could scavange bits of meat scraps left over. I like most birds, but there is a reason that the word "vulture" has derogatory connotations in the English vernacular. Tax collectors, panhandlers and high pressure salesmen are often called "vultures."

Finally, I want to reveal what kind of people we have in Guinea. Our Field Leader is Calvin Hofland. He seems like a real nice guy. He appears friendly, warm, caring, humble and kind. But never judge a book by its cover! I caught him with an official, goverment approved liscence to exploit people. It is hard to read the French title on his official certificate, but it says Licence D'Exploitation. I couldn't believe it. I kept an eye on him at all times, lest he exploit me. Actually, if you look at his eyes, notice how they are are squinty? And notice how his shoulders are slightly stooped? I should have noticed the non-verbal cues like that.

After six days in Guinea I started out on my 38 hour journey home. I arrived with all by baggage intact, but my brain and body shot. I can't wait for the next trip!

Here we go

Hello Family!

What an exciting time to be a Hogan - there are changes everywhere you look. How can we possibly keep up with it all? Call? E-mail? Sure. Here's another option - a family blog.

We can all be "authors" who post. We can also all comment on each others' posts. We can share news, funny stories, pictures, links, etc - and it will all be archived in one place, rather than random e-mails. It's also nice to have "group" discussions - rather than reply-all e-mails, I think. To be perfectly honest, I stole the idea from another family - look at theirs.

I just started blogging last month because I have a client forcing me to become more web savvy. I wrote about the easter egg hunt here.

It's one option - I'm not sure it will work for all of us. But definitely worth the effort if it does! What do you think?