Easter Days

Today was Easter. Whoop whoop. Honestly, I think today is the best day of the year. How could it not be? Jesus defeated death and has given us life forever. Without this, what would the meaning of life be? Where would the hope be?

Because of today, because of Jesus there is hope for the future, purpose for the present and power over the past. Can I just say that God wants a relationship with you. He died for you. He is crazy about you. YOU matter to him. I hope today, on the day he gave his life for you, you will choose him too!

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

“Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, we spent the morning at church celebrating this awesome victory. Let me tell you, the music was rockin'. If I do say so myself, Kris killed it. :D Of course, God has completely blessed him and gifted him musically. Church was so packed that we were out of chairs at one point. Praise God! What a good problem to have! There was music, there was drama, there was a sermon, choir and of course, food. It really was just a joyous celebration day. 

Afterwards we swung by our good friends' house and hung out with them for a bit before heading over to another friend's house for Easter dinner. We then walked home in time to catch The Amazing Race and do a couple loads of laundry. What a goooood day. Hope you had a wonderful day as well! 

Happy Easter! He has risen! 

My Baby Sister

Today, is this awesome girl's birthday! As long as I can remember, I wanted a sister. Finally, when I was 10 years old (2 weeks shy of 11) I got one! I remember going to the hospital and holding her for the first time. I remember babysitting her, terrorizing her and loving her more than anybody else as I grew up. I taught her how to hop up and down on one foot. I went to her school carnival days. I considered her a best friend- despite the age difference.

One of the hardest parts of living away from home is missing this girl grow up. Never in my life have I felt so distant from her and it truly breaks my heart if I allow myself to sit around and think about it.

She is one of the funniest people you will ever meet. She makes everybody smile and is genuinely nice to everybody as well. People love to be around her! She sings constantly, making up her own songs about whatever she is doing at the moment. She is not very good at hiding things, especially her money, which I sometimes took on occasion when I needed a few extra bucks. She is obsessed with her hair, which is gorgeous by the way, and I don't think she realizes how beautiful she is.

Dear Ali, I love you so much and I am so proud of the person you have become. Never change for somebody else and anybody who doesn't appreciate you for who you are is absolutely crazy. 

Pastoral Love

One thing I didn't anticipate when I became a pastor was how much I was going to love the people in my church. Their stories have become my stories. Their lives have become my life. Their concerns, my concerns.
Their joys, my joys. Their suffering, my suffering.

I wish I could expound more on what has brought this on, but tonight is not the time. Just know, if you are one of them members of the church, we love you and care for you very much.

Passport: Part 2 - Jokes

So...Monday. I had a pretty bad start to my day. I was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with trying to keep everything straight with the mission trip. I came home from work in the afternoon and began to spend time in prayer. The last thing I prayed about was my passport. It had been a couple of weeks since I sent all my information in and I received no phone call and received no news one way or the other. At the end of my prayer I felt like I should just step out in faith and go check the mailbox and believe that God was going to send me my passport that afternoon. I should say, I never check the mail (my hubs does it every night) and I don't even know what time our mail comes.

But, out the mailbox I went, thinking about how awesome it would be if my passport came. Trot, trot, trot, scrunch, scrunch scrunch (that is the gravel under my feet as I traveled across my driveway).
Popped open the mailbox and it was loaded with mail. I shuffled through it quickly and lo and behold... a large letter from the State Department! I was SOOO excited! I could feel the passport inside and the whole way back to the house I kept thinking about how cool God is. He knew my need even before I prayed, he prompted me to go and look in the box. I was dreaming about how I would blog about this moment and then...

I ripped open the letter, dumped out the contents, snatched up the passport and gasped when I realized it was just my old one sent back to me. I quickly scoured the date on it and sure enough, this was not what I needed. I grabbed the envelope and looked inside again, hoping and praying that somehow I had missed the new one. Nada. My heart began to sink and that's when I saw the slip of paper sitting on the counter that fell out of my State Department envelope. I picked it up, about to cry knowing that this letter was going to confirm my worst fear: I was denied.

It read:

"Your passport application has been

... APPROVED!" 

WHOOP WHOOP! Praise God! The rest of the letter informed me that it would be shipped separately. Talk about making your heart stop! Holla! I tore through the rest of the mail and praise God! it was there! I could only imagine God watching me and just laughing at the roller coaster of emotions I had experienced in a matter of minutes. God's got jokes, that's what's up.

I can now officially say that I am going on the trip and have a legal passport! Please, join me in my happy dance! 

Passport: Part 1 - Woes

This summer, I am taking a group of 15  people (10 teenagers and 5 adults) to Thailand on a mission trip. Let me hear you say, "Whoop Whoop!" It is going to be a blast. Thailand is an awesome country and it is one that I have wanted to go to for a long time. However, that is not the point of this story.

Today, I am talking passports. Besides raising the money to go, passports were the number one requirement for anybody interested. Not only were they required, but they were required by April 15th so we could book tickets and ensure a better group rate price. Everybody was informed of this in December.

At the beginning of February, I finally made my appointment to get my passport done. My old one had expired and since then I had changed my name. I filled all the forms out, included a copy of my marriage license, took my picture three times and happily mailed it all off.

About three weeks later is when I first got wind that there was a problem. A letter appeared in my mail box from the State Department informing me that they could no longer process my passport because I had included a copy of my marriage license and not my actual license. I about died. They told me to send back the real form along with their letter and they would continue to process my request.

At this point, I realized there was another potential problem. My name change. My husband and I discussed at length what my/our last name would be when we got married. I was pretty adamant about wanting to keep my maiden name and perhaps hyphenate. This did not interest my husband. Finally, on the day of our wedding, I decided that because it was something I could do to show honor for him (and after all, I was vowing to love him more than myself) I would change my name. We signed our marriage license as part of the ceremony and so I wrote my name. First, middle and new last. To actually make my name official, I had to go to the Social Security Office and  legally change it. This took place a few weeks after we tied the knot. Somehow during that time my dear husband told me that if I wanted to keep my maiden name as part of my name he really didn't have a problem with it.

Okay, here's were the story gets dicey and why it matters today. When I stepped up to the man's cubical and presented him with my marriage license he said, "Do you want to keep your maiden name at all? You could make it a second middle name." Out of nowhere. He had no idea about any of the conversations my husband and I had. So, I took it as a sign from God. I said, "Can I do that? Even though I didn't write it on my marriage license?" He affirmed that this was possible so I said great. My new name. First, middle, maiden, last. My Social Security Card proves that this is officially true.

Fast forward a year, we move to California. I had to get a new driver's license. Well, there weren't enough boxes for my new lengthy name so I omitted my maiden name while filling out that form. My driver's license officially reads. First name, middle, new last name. (No maiden name)

Let's do a quick recap.
Marriage license: first, middle, new last
Social Security Card: first, middle, maiden, new last
Driver's License: first, middle, new last

annnd Passport Application: first, middle, maiden, new last.

Do you see the problem? My official documents don't match. All of a sudden I realized that I may not get approved for a passport because my application doesn't match my marriage license and my marriage license doesn't match my social security card. Uh... Yikes!

I called the State Department in a tizzy and the nice man helping me suggested I write a note asking them to strike my maiden name from my passport application and include it with my actual marriage license I was sending back to them. He said I should put my phone number on it too, in case they had any questions.

So I sent this all in and waited...

To Be Continued 

Baked Brown Rice... Easy!

Okay friends, I have the best recipe for you today. This recipe has very few ingredients, is simple to execute and you only have to work for about five minutes top. Basically, my favorite kind of recipe to make.

Here we go. Do you have brown rice? You should, it's good for you. It is full of B vitamins, iron, magnesium  and fiber. Want to know how I know? Wikipedia told me so! Ha! I can use Wikipedia as a reliable source now that I'm not in grad school and I don't have to face the fiery wrath of angry professors who shout from their pulpits about how unprofessional Wikipedia is. BTW, I actually love Wikipedia. It is my number one go to website. I digress. 

Brown rice. YUMMMMM. Seriously, I love it and I promise you, cooking it my way gives it a very nice flavor. Why? Because you add just a pinch of salt and a dab of butter. Look at the pic. 

Wa la! Those are you ingredients. Brown rice, salt, butter and aluminum foil. 

To be fair, this recipe is not one that I made up. I got it from this master here. 

So, let's get started. 

Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice

Ingredients/Measurements

1 1/2 C. Brown Rice

2 1/2 C. Water

1 Tablespoon Butter (or margarine or whatever you use) 

1 Teaspoon. Salt 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put brown rice in an 8x8 baking dish. In a small pot, bring water butter and salt to boil. When it boils, pour over rice. Cover rice with foil (I do a double layer) and put in oven for 65 minutes. Boom. Done. Pull it out, fluff it with a fork and enjoy! 

Alton says that it makes four servings. I think it can make 6-8. 

Here are some suggestions for how you can enjoy this delicious treat! 

1. Eat it plain, seriously it is awesome! 

2. Splash a bit of  teriyaki sauce on it. 

3. Mix in some spices. When you are boiling the water, salt and butter add a dash of rosemary, thyme and/or garlic. 

4. Want cheesy rice? Melt some cheese on top (my favorite is garlic parmesan or pesto jack). 

5. Want to make into a larger meal? Cube and grill up some chicken and pineapple, toss in raw broccoli and mix all together with some teriyaki. 

I promise, this recipe is so simple. The longest part is waiting for the water to boil and really... that takes a mere minute or two. Pop it it in the oven and don't worry about babysitting it. When that timer goes off, pull it out and enjoy! Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!  

Happy Birthday Mom!

Though we have had our ups and downs, my mom is one of the most awesome people I know. Here are a few reasons why:

1. She is a prayer warrior. She has prayed for me my whole life. From the beginning when my arm was paralyzed to when I call her up today and tell her about something in my life that is getting me down. And, it's not just me. She prays for a lot of people daily and weekly. Not only does she pray, but she has taught others how to pray and I believe the largest reason I am where I am today is because of her (and my dad's) prayers.

2. She is awesome because she always gives the best advice. No matter what you are going through...go talk to her, I promise she won't let you down. 

3. She is so fun to be around, she is a great cook (which I have only begun to appreciate since moving out), she and my dad have been married for over 30 years, she will tell you the truth... even if you don't want to hear it, she gives great hugs, she lets you pick out a sugary cereal to eat on your birthday (seriously, only one day a year growing up), she is a great encourager, she has told me to pursue my dreams, she cheers me on, she works incredibly hard...she really is the best.

I love you Mom! 

Taking Back Life

I used to seriously judge people who had Pinterest pages. Like, seriously judge them. I couldn't understand why somebody would want to spend all their time dreaming of things they couldn't have: perfect homes, nails, crafts, clothes etc. To me Pinterest was a fairy tale land for people dissatisfied with their lives. I should mention, I had a Pinterest page, but rarely used it.

About a month ago, my husband and I started to make some changes in our lifestyle. We realized that we watch WAY too much t.v. I mean, we had known this for a long time, but t.v. is just soooo entertaining! TV had become our #1 hobby and we were feeling so bored with life. We made the decision to quit watching the majority of "our" shows and focus on other activities such as reading,  basketball, cooking, making household cleaners (me). It has been seriously awesome.

Now that I have taken a major step back from t.v., I have realized how much t.v. was like my Pinterest page. I used it as an escape and as a means to dream through. Instead of decorating my house, I watched decorating shows. Instead of learning to cook, I watched cooking shows. Instead of traveling, I watched travel shows. Instead of investing in my marriage, I watched romance shows... You get the picture.

Now, after I pulled that log out of my own eye (Matthew 7:4-5) I realized how much I am loving life even more than I did before. I mean I still do love t.v.... my life was awesome even with it....but I'm just choosing other things over it now :).  

Here are things I will be blogging about in the future. (Oh and I should mention, I have become much more active at eating crow on Pinterest because it has allowed me to expand and utilize my new hobbies! I should say, I still don't like the idea of Pinterest just to dream about things I don't have, but there is plenty on there that I can "Pin" and use today.)

1. Cooking: And, by cooking I mean awesome crock-pot and blender recipes. I actually really hate cooking, but I am in love with anything and everything that makes great food easy! I have come across some really fantastic and simple stuff and I'm excited to share.

2. Cleaning: Again, not to thrilled with cleaning... UNTIL I found that I can make my own stuff. I realized that I LOVE being able to make my own products and they work fabulously! So far, I have made laundry detergent  dryer sheets, microwave cleaner, grout cleaner, counter-top cleaner, bathroom cleaner and make-up remover. Seriously, when you hear how I "made" some of this stuff, you'll die at how easy it is.

3. Basketball: Never been my sport, but it has been a blast playing. I may or may not talk about this on here. Or, I may just share funny stories from it...like how I tackled Kris one game and well sometimes when you're 5'2 you have to do what you can to get ahead.

4. Books! This has been one of the best rediscoveries of my life. After grad-school I never wanted to see a book again. However, I have been reading some pretty fabulous stuff which you can find on my Pinterest page and I can't wait to talk about it. Everything from women in ministry to what reality t.v. is doing to our culture.

Now to leave you with some pictures of things I have been doing around the house to make it feel more like home.

Wedding pics above bed.

Our wedding rings. This hangs right above our bedroom door, our bed faces it. It is a daily visual reminder of our commitment to one another right before we leave in the morning and right before we go to bed at night. 

Our beautiful new kitchen table! We have been waiting to buy one for a long long time. We finally buckled down and made the purchase and I am so glad we did! We can actually seat 8-10 people at this table which is great for friends and family! 

Wall art around the table. The pictures on the left are of each set of grandparents and parents. On the right are all of our siblings/significant others. It makes us feel so much closer to everybody, although sad at the same time as we miss them so much!