Dinner with the Darnells: Southwest Pasta

One of the things I have loved about marriage is learning how to cook each night. Don't get me wrong, I knew how to cook before getting married but I didn't cook on a regular basis. I hadn't learned yet how to manage working a full-time job then coming home and cooking a meal. But, marriage means two people to feed which means eating out on a regular basis is no longer feasible. Plus, my husband really likes it when I cook dinner for him. So, we devised a system - I come home and almost immediately start cooking then Mike cleans up the kitchen afterwards. I have to start cooking right when I walk in the door because if I sit down with a book or start watching Gilmore Girls my motivation to cook dinner decreases exponentially. Mike and I believe in sharing the duties of the home, especially since we both work full-time. Knowing that I don't have to clean up the kitchen after the meal makes cooking after work a much less daunting task. Plus it's incredible attractive when my husband serves me that way.

The other big piece of the puzzle that needed to come together before I could fall into a good rhythm of cooking dinner every night was finding recipes that I could whip together in 30 minutes or less. More than that and fatigue from the day sets in and the task becomes over-whelming and out we go.

I've received lots of requests asking about the recipes I use so I thought I would start posting some of our favorite recipes on the blog. Dinner with the Darnells! :) Now before I share more with you I must let you know that (1) none of the recipes are really my own, I find them on blogs and make a few modifications occasionally, (2) I have a strong preference toward meals that will easily make lots of left overs so that Mike and I will have left overs to take for lunch the next day, and (3) we try to keep it generally healthy - no cream of anything.

Our first meal tonight is One Pot Wonder Southwest Pasta from The Wholesome Dish! This dish is originally meatless but my husband is not one to love meatless meals so I typically cook some ground turkey in a separate skillet while this cooks and then I mix it in with the pasta at the end. Since the reliable weatherman predicted ice and sleet for Dallas today (Monday) I knew there would be a major run on the grocery stores Sunday (that's what Dallas does...every time). So, I preempted the run on the grocery stores and did my weekly shopping on Saturday evening instead. Well, I wasn't the only one and the store was already out of a few things I needed, including ground turkey. So, on Sunday afternoon I fed my husband to the lions and sent him to the other Central Market to get ground turkey. No such luck so he came home with extra lean ground beef instead. That'll do!

The only other modification I typically make is using whatever noodles I have on hand. Somehow I always end up with an assortment of half-used boxes of noodles. Not sure how that happens. So, whatever noodles are in the pantry are what's used for the dish. Another reason to love the dish - it helps clean out the pantry!

Delicious with the smallest hint of heat.

The dish is a big hit with Mike and holds up extremely well when re-heated. I love how the cooking process creates a wonderfully thick sauce coating everything. And, Mike loves that there in minimal clean up! We usually have left overs for a few days which is fabulous if (1) I want to cook a meal the next day that won't make good leftovers or (2) this is the last meal I cook for the weekend since I have a fairly strict no-cooking-on-the-weekends policy. We hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do!

Happy News and the Big Reveal

Oh, I wish I could explain to you how elated I was when I saw a phone number from Illinois pop up on my phone. I had read enough blogs to know that if you are denied from a program (or "dinged") they simply send you an email but if you are accepted to a program...phone call! With an Illinois phone number it could be Kellogg or Booth but either way I knew it was going to be happy news.

Mike and I talked and prayed and talked and prayed and finally agreed that if I was accepted to Booth that would be our first choice. Both programs are amazing and I am honored to even be considered for admission to either program. As a frame of reference, Booth is currently the #4 business school in the country (right behind the three tied for first - Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton) and Kellogg is a few spots behind at #6.

Woah! Those are some incredible rankings.

I was a bit intimidated by these rankings - you don't become the best in the country without having a very rigorous admissions process along with a very rigorous curriculum. I attended Texas A&M for undergrad and they are currently ranked #68 overall (as it relates to undergrad programs) and have a 69.2% acceptance rate. Booth has a 24% acceptance rate - yikes, A&M turns away a higher percentage of students than Booth accepts.

So, without further ado...

Mike and I will be spending the next few years in CHICAGO as I earn my MBA from
CHICAGO BOOTH!

We are so happy to have made this decision and are so thankful for the way God has orchestrated everything.

A Quick Timeline

9/4: Email Mike asking if he will support me in going back to school
9/27: Begin studying for the GMAT
12/6: Take GMAT
12/7: Begin researching top 10 MBA programs
12/29: Schedule Booth interview
12/30: Submit application to Kellogg
1/1: Submit application to Booth (Side note: I actually didn't want to submit my application to Booth at this point, I wanted a few more pairs of eyes on my essays. But, God asked me to trust him and submit my application, so I obeyed. I later found a few errors in my essays that would have been easily caught had I waited; but, obedience is so much better than perfection.)
1/12: Schedule Kellogg interview
1/16: Kellogg interview
1/25: Booth interview
1/27: Acceptance to Booth
2/6: Acceptance to Kellogg

As you can see above, I was accepted into both the Booth and Kellogg MBA programs. Mike and I spent a good amount of time talking through the pros and cons of each option but we ultimately felt the Lord leading us to Booth.

I promise another post in the near future explaining why Booth. For now, just know that we are so at peace and excited to be attending Booth this summer!

The Day My Husband Made Me Cry

Now many of you might think that Mike making me cry is a bad thing. However, I promise this is a really, really good thing.

I want to first talk briefly about God's vision for marriage. This is not a sermon but a reminder and frame of reference for the rest of this post. God designed us in his image and desired for us to marry, male and female, for it is not good for us to be alone. Marriage brings us closer to Christ as our spouse models for us the life-saving love that God has for us. We are still humans and imperfect, only Christ's love is perfect, but our spouse comes closest to modeling this perfect love for us. In his book, The Meaning of Marriage, Tim Keller says that to be fully known and fully loved is our greatest desire. Our spouse sees everything, all of our crazy parts that we are ashamed to show the rest of the world - and our spouse still loves us deeply.

So, with that in mind, I want to share with you about a recent glimpse of the way Mike loves me that can bring me to my knees in awe of our perfect God.

Praying together before our wedding ceremony.

I had my first admissions interview with Northwestern. The interview kind of "snuck up" on us - I received an email to sign up for my interview on a Friday at which point I realized the only available time slot was the following Friday. I flew out the Thursday before my interview and so as I packed and prepared on Wednesday I was a bit of a mess. I did not feel confident in my preparations, in my appearance, and in my chances of getting into the program. Mike suggested that I go to the mall and buy something to wear that will help me to outwardly reflect the inner confidence he knows I possess. Those tracking with us know that we started using the envelope system this month and so our "Clothing" envelope (which is intended to be a rolling envelope where we slowly save some money for clothes) did not have enough in it to purchase anything for the interview. Mike went in our room and counted how much money was in the envelope then went to his wallet and grabbed his Christmas money and handed it to me.

I'm crying now just thinking about this moment. My sweet, sweet husband desired to see me succeed in my interview and believed in me so much that he actively sacrificed something of his (the gift he had received, Christmas money) to support me. I wish I could explain to you just how powerfully this hit me. This is a picture of what marriage is made to be - a daily sacrificing and dying to ourselves in support of the other person.

If you are unfamiliar with this picture of marriage, I invite you to explore it. First, take a look at the Bible - read Genesis 2 and Ephesians 5. Then, check out some of the books below all written by amazing dudes and their wives. I would argue that none of these books are perfect (they are written by imperfect humans, after all) but they nail it on the key points.

• The Meaning of Marriage - Timothy Keller
• Sacred Marriage - Gary Thomas
• You and Me Forever - Francis and Lisa Chan
• The Mingling of Souls - Matt and Lauren Chandler (Disclaimer: I haven't had a chance to read this one yet but I definitely respect the Chandlers and feel certain this one won't disappoint).

We are praying for you - we are praying that those of you who are married may know this deep, sacrificial love both with your spouse and the Lord and those of you who are single may receive this love from the Father who gives perfectly and that it will compel you to love others in a brave, new way. Trust me, it's worth giving up your own comforts to stand alongside your spouse and show them that you love them so much that you will make personal sacrifices to support them.

Why Booth?

It's not an easy process to decide which MBA program to pursue - there are so many factors (and other people's opinions involved) that it can feel overwhelming at times. I cannot express the weight we felt lifted off of our shoulders when we formally accepted the offer from Booth and paid the deposit.

You may be wondering, "Why Booth?" Good question! Mike and I have a lot of reasons as to why we believe this is the right decision for us but I'll try to be concise (although I've never been known for my brevity).

1. Teach Me Quant!
By nature, I tend to be more of a qualitative thinker (known as a "poet" in MBA circles). When making decisions I rely on common rules of thumb, intuition, past experience, etc. Booth has a long history of being the school for the "quant jocks." If you want to be an IBanker (Investment Banker, the people who work on Wall Street and the likes) then you go to Booth. Booth has incorporated a quant focus across all disciplines. When I sat in on a class at Booth I attended "Managing the Firm in the Global Economy." What do you think of when you hear that course title? Maybe you think about M&As, FDI, etc. Maybe you think about understanding different cultures and the nuisances of doing business in various countries. But, do you think about lengthy equations to determine royalty payments and when you should license versus franchise? Probably not. But, alas, that is exactly where we ended up during my class visit. We had a great lecture and discussion about licensing and franchising, the difference between the two, typical applications, etc. Then, the professor wrote several equations on the board as we worked through different problems. If that isn't a quant focus then I don't know what is.

2014 Booth Employment Statistics by Job Function

Now, you may be thinking, "Didn't Samantha start off by saying that she isn't naturally inclined to quant? I'm confused." You're right - my first instinct is to focus on the qualitative aspects of a decision. I want a school that will push me out of my comfort zone and get me to consider the quantitative aspects of a decision, as well. I want to learn a different way of thinking - we're not paying someone a lot of money just to affirm that I have a nice way of thinking presently. Not going to happen.

2. The Soft Factor
I was told early on in my MBA journey that I needed to resist the temptation to do too much research and instead go visit the schools I was interested in pursuing. While I wasn't always perfect at heeding the former part of that sage advice, I did respect the latter. You can read all of the blogs out there (although I highly urge anyone considering an MBA to not pour over MBA blogs - you will only drive yourself insane, comparison is the stealer of joy) but at the end of the day there is no substitute for sitting in a class on campus with real students and real professors and getting a first-hand look at the program. When I was on-campus at Booth I felt comfortable and in my natural element. Booth was a match for me on the soft factors, and that is not quantifiable (see what I did there...).

Inside a classroom in the Gleacher Center.

3. Jesus
You all know by now that Jesus is the true head of the Darnell household. Mike and I have prayed together over this decision again and again. God answered some big prayers for us specifically related to Booth. One of the biggest things involved submitting my Booth application. On New Years Day I was waiting to hear back from some people who were reviewing my application essays and so I sat and prayed and journaled for a bit. I felt God strongly say to me, "Submit your application." I was hesitant because I wanted to submit perfect essays and a perfect application (ha!) but I obeyed. Mike was taking a nap and I didn't even wake him up because I knew I wouldn't obey if I stopped to think about it for even a minute. I hit submit and sat back and prayed - I prayed that God would honor my obedience and that if Booth was where He wanted me that He would provide grace and favor with the AdCom. Sure enough, Booth called me almost immediately after I interviewed to accept me into their program (I interviewed on Saturday at 10 AM and had been accepted by Monday at 12 PM). This was such a clear answer and fulfillment of a promise. Funny enough, I later re-read my essays and found two or three grammatical errors that were caused by the "Accept Changes" monster - even with a few errors I was still accepted. God is in control.

Also, the Christian community at Booth is currently smaller than that at Kellogg. This had us confused and struggling for a while but God provided great clarity here. God is already doing something great at Kellogg and He has faithful workers on the ground there. God needs workers at Booth to grow the Christian community. We choose to obey.

Jeremiah 29:11

Well, there you have it folks. The summarized version of why Team Darnell is heading north to Chicago this summer!