Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Josh treated me pretty stinking well - gave me a card, wrote me a poem (yes, a poem!), gave me a picture of us in a cute (mustard colored - my favorite!) picture frame, gave me sunflower seeds (the kind you plant, not eat) because he looked all over for sunflowers and couldn't find any, brought me a donut and coffee... I mean, seriously, that's good, right?
I also saw this cheesy sign that a church down the street put up. We've got quite a few churches around here who like to put cheesy sayings on their signs that they think will entice people to walk in the doors like, "Honk if you love " or "There are some questions that can't be answered by google." Anyway, this sign, as cheesy as it was, kind of struck me. It said:
"Since time began I have loved you. Happy Valentine's Day, Jesus."
Cheesy it may be... it was a good reminder of the ultimate love. Yes, love on this earth is great... but there is nothing that compares to the love of Jesus.
(P.S. The really cool print I got above is from Normal Human. Thanks for the tip, Valeria!)
I know you're not really supposed to have favorites... but my favorite Christmas present this year was from Josh - he got me an original painting from my dear friend and favorite artist Megan. Over the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to hang it and I found the piece on the left at a local art shop in St. Louis this past weekend and it all came together in my mind. I'd also seen the idea on Pinterest of an artist who had made some geometric pieces so I stole that idea to make something small that tied in the simplicity of the quote and the color of Megan's painting.
Anyway, it makes me happy every time a look at it so I thought I'd write about it. A big thanks to Josh and Megan for the lovely gift.
(To check out more of Meg's work, here are her Etsy, Minted, and Facebook pages. She's pretty amazing...)
I went and visited my friend Valeria in St. Louis this weekend. It was a way overdue trip and I spontaneously decided to make it happen the weekend before. Luckily Valeria (and her husband Jonathan who was out of town the majority of the weekend) are gracious and equally spontaneous hosts so it worked out!
V and Jon are special friends. We all became fast friends in the first weeks of our freshman year of college and despite the distance and time, the second I walked in their home and we were reunited it felt like old times. Confession: I suck at keeping in touch with people. But I am so thankful for good friends like them that you don't see forever but it feels like you didn't really skip a beat. I always thought it was funny when people said that about their friends - but Valeria and Jonathan are living proof that it can happen. I'm blessed enough to have friends like that!
Jon had to leave Saturday morning for a business trip but V and I got to do things that I love to do. Eat good food at some fun restaurants in the city, go shopping, watch chick flicks, catch up... It was just a great weekend. Thanks, V, for letting me come and visit!
My mom makes the best chicken noodle soup. My opinion may be a little biased because I grew up on the stuff, but I think it's pretty good. The only problem is, she doesn't really have a recipe for it so it's hard for me to make on my own. "Put in some chicken bouillon until it is the right shade of yellow..." That's a problem for a baker like me - we like exact instructions. So I've pretty much given up on trying to recreate my mom's chicken noodle soup. But occasionally I try other recipes, recipes with clear measurements and instructions, to satisfy my chicken noodle soup cravings until I can have my mom's.
Tonight was one of those nights. A crazy Saturday night as a 28-year-old - doing laundry, watching Cinderella, and trying out a new chicken noodle soup recipe. Lightened-Up Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup. It indeed was not my mom's, but it was still pretty dang good. Lots of flavor and I really liked the creaminess! If you don't have the pleasure of trying out my mom's - I'd say this is a good second place recipe for you to try out on your own.
I, like the majority of the population, tend to get a little nostalgic around New Year's. I like to look back over the year and see everything that God has done and everywhere that He has taken me. Thanks to social media, it's easy to see the highlights... the special things that were worthy of announcing to the world. But God did a lot through the non-Facebook/Instagram/Twitter moments in the last year - and I'm thankful for that.
Here are some of the social media highlights. If you want the good stuff, that's more of a conversation to be had over coffee. (Which I'm game for... you just say the word.)
I got to go on quite a few trips.
New York with the PAALs (Phillips, Agee, Abby, and Leongs). Yep - we're cool like that and have named ourselves.
Bahamas with three really cool ladies.
Colorado with the family.
Two of my brothers got married to some wonderful ladies and I had the pleasure of singing at both weddings.
Cory's wedding here in KC.
Joel's wedding outside of Austin.
Here's me trying to reminder the words. :)
I don't know if you heard, but the Royals won the World Series. This kind of took over our entire city for a month or so...
I got to go to the ALCS championship game!
I got to do life with this guy. He's teaching me a lot and I'm pretty lucky to have him by my side.
Other noteworthy things that I don't really have pictures for...
-I got a promotion at work on March and now manage a team. It's been a tough year at work but God is teaching me a lot through it.
-My roommate Becky and I moved to an apartment in May. No more dog Dietrich or old roommate Audra but it's not a bad place to live.
-I love my church - LifeConnection. It's given me such a cool place to learn, serve, and have community with others.
I'm sure I'm missing a lot... but 2015 was a good year.
This blog has taken a different turn lately, eh? It's been a while since I've written a post about something little like the way icicles form on street signs or something delicious like a new recipe I've tried. For some reason I've wanted to write about the stuff God is teaching me. I feel like he's really been laying it on thick lately so I thought I'd share some more.
I've mentioned before that my friend April and I are (slowly) going to through the book A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent. I have been convicted, in the best, most gracious way that only God can convict, that even though I don't want to admit it, I'm living for the world, not Christ and his kingdom. I've been reading about how the gospel isn't just a story of Christ's crucifixion but also the story of my own crucifixion. Here are some bits and pieces from the book because he says it way better than I ever could... why reinvent the wheel.
"The Bible tells me that I, too, was crucified on Christ's cross. My old self was slain there, and my love affair with the world was crucified there too."
"He insists that every hour be my dying hour, and He wants my death on the cross to be as central to my own life story as is Christ's death to the gospel story."
"Crucifixion hurts. In fact, its heart-wrenching brutality can numbs the senses. It is a gasping and bloody affair, and there is nothing nice, pretty, or easy about it. It is not merely death, but excruciating death."
"I should expect every day to encourage circumstantial evidence of God's commitment to my dying; and I must seize upon every God-given opportunity to be confirmed more fully to Christ's death, no matter the pain involved."
"These facts surrounding Christ's resurrection stand as proof positive that God will not leave me for dead, but will raise me similarly, if I would only allow myself to die."
This was one of the things that hit me hardest... It's so practical and relevant and shows me where I'm really struggling with dying to myself.
"When my flesh yearns for some prohibited thing, I must die. When called to do something I don't want to do, I must die. When I wish to be selfish and serve no one, I must die. When shattered by hardships that I despise, I must die. When wanting to cling to wrongs done against me, I must die. When enticed by allurements of the world, I must die. When wishing to keep besetting sins secret, I must die. When wants that are borderline needs are left unmet, I must die. When dreams that are good seem shoved aside, I must die."
"Not my will, but Yours be done."
This is what I'm learning. God's patiently chipping away at my sin... There's nothing "nice, pretty, or easy about it" - it's an "excruciating death" - but it's what needs to be done to help grow me into the godly woman I was created to be.
"So, come what may, I'll let no one take this death from me!"
Today was Christmas! I love Christmas. I love the traditions, the food, the gifts, the songs, the lights, the family... I love it all. This year felt a little different than most though. New people in the family, hard stuff going on in the world, some traditions being broken... I found myself feeling a little sad as I drove to my aunt and uncle's house for our traditional Christmas dinner. I was sad because I have made Christmas this sacred (unfortunately a secular version of sacred) thing in my head and I was really down when the reality didn't live up to the expectations. There I was, driving down 435, getting teary on the highway because my Christmas day wasn't everything I'd hoped.
Then "Joy To The World" came on the radio... and it hit me, smacked me in the face actually, that today (and every day) should be a day of joy because God sent his son Jesus to this earth to live, die, and be resurrected to save us! That's what Christmas is all about... Not about tradition, or family, or friends, or gifts, or any kind of perfection. It's about God fulfilling his promises and the birth of Christ and what that ultimately means for our salvation. That's something to be joyful about!
So there I was, driving down 435, still getting teary but for reasons of joy. Christ was born and that's something to celebrate! God was gracious enough to send me this gentle reminder on my drive today so I thought I'd pass it on just in case your Christmas day didn't go as you had hoped and you needed a gentle reminder as well.
I hope today was a Christmas day full of joy celebrating the birth of our gracious, wonderful Savior. And if it wasn't, it's not too late...
Merry Christmas!
(PS The version of Joy To The World That I was listening to is by Paul Baloche and it's a really good one. I included the cheesy YouTube video and lyrics, just for kicks.)
