"Babe, can I write on your blog?" His birthday tribute.

Before Jess and I, got married; I lived in the missions apartment, in the downstairs, of the parsonage. I slept in a sleeping bag, on my mattress. That's a guy, for ya. When I moved out of my mom's; I had a backpack with clothes, a box of some sentimental stuff, and my sleeping bag. That's it. I could move myself in/out in around 10 minutes. I lived downstairs, for just about a year and a half, and the only thing I really changed was my clothes. Didn't decorate, just microwaved meals, and ate with plastic ware. After we got married, EVERYTHING changed. Of course we moved upstairs, but then painted the walls, re-did the flooring, re-decorated everything, fixed up the landscape out front, put a deck on the back, and adopted two yellow labs. Everything changed. Not all overnight of course, but it continues to change, almost every other week lol. Now all of a sudden, there is just stuff everywhere. Some of which, is very confusing to me, I must say. Like, there's two of us, but we probably have enough coffee mugs to give out one to every member of both our extended families. What I'm getting at is this; Up until we got married, I was just living there. It was just a house, to me. Now, since we have been living together there, and doing life together there...That house, has become a home. It is now full of very rich, sweet, and precious memories. It's never easy when two sinners live together under the same roof, but it is beautiful to see the manifold grace of God in each other every day. I believe this is why we are told "Two, are better than one." Ecclesiastes 4:9 

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Marvel Man Room

Sometimes you just need to brag on your husband and this is one of those times. Last winter he set out to totally redo our basement. He told me I decorate everything else and that he wanted to decorate the basement-fair enough since I only go down there to do laundry. Last summer while we were at the beach in August, there was a small flood in our town and our basement didn't flood but it got wet and we couldn't get the smell out of the carpet so we set out to rip that up first. I say we but it was really HIM. I honestly could count on one hand that amount of things I did in this room.

Let me start with a before picture...

Yucky carpet and terrible walls. If your reading this post and you by chance were the one that decorated this room-forgive me!

Now on to the coolness of this Marvel/Music Room and everything that makes my husband happy-Reminds me that I must add a picture of myself. ;)

Yoda Floor Mat

Notice we ripped up the yucky brown carpet and painted the concrete BROWN.

Where else do super hero keep their clothes?

Still trying to convince him to put my American Girl dolls on the bottom shelves.

The first edition of all of his favorite comic books.

Here Definition

PEZ people

Bat Light and Batmobile

His craft self even made this.

Comic Book Rack, made by David too

Thor's Hammer

Can'f forget a spot for his sidekicks, Ronin and Fitz

On to the music corner of the room...

So happy that he created a space all of his own and all on his own! Now to turn it into a playroom/family room in a few years may result in a few shed tears, but we are enjoying it for now!

Summer Steak Salad and Balsamic Dressing Recipe

Super depressed that this is the last little bit of Summer. One of my favorite things about Summer besides the sun, and the outdoors, and swimming, and vacations, is the garden veggies. David and I never, ever, ever eat red meat, we cut it our of our diets a long time ago, me much longer than David, but upon starting a c l e a n eating diet, we were growing tired of eating so much chicken and decided to bite the bullet and find the leanest beef possible to make a summer salad. We have since not eaten red meat-we are ground turkey lovers.

Our favorite summer dinner is by far a good salad with all the yummy veggies, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and red and orange bell peppers. We also add olives and feta cheese, some steak (this time anyway), and some homage balsamic dressing.

Balsamic Dressing

1/3 c. balsamic vinegar

1 small onion, chopped finely

2 tbs. brown sugar

1/2 c. olive oil

1 tbs. honey mustard

Destroying your critical eye-Psalm 103

Psalm 103
1Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

We see imperfection after imperfection when we look in the mirror or go to a doctors appointment.

The Lord only sees perfection when He looks at us, He crafted us.

Over the past year I have struggled with some of the things the Lord has placed in my life. I have questioned God wrestled with hate towards my own body and the way that it functions. I was failing the Lord daily in this matter.  It wasn't until recently that the passage in Psalms grabbed ahold of my heart.

I fully surrendered these damaging thoughts over to the Lord and every time I began thinking such things I simply prayed and asked the Lord to remove them from my thoughts.

I am just as susceptible to cancer or some other disease as you are. So whatever it is that you might be dealing with, your weight, your appearance, an un healthy self esteem, a diagnosis of some sort I challenge you to give it over to the Lord. Our bodies are a gift for us to be thankful for. Being faithful in taking care of this gift by walking according to God's plan, no matter your weight or any other issue, the Lord knows because It passed his desk before the doctors or before the scale. This thought gives me renewed strength to keep a healthy view of my body. 

Like the psalmist, I can pray this prayer of thanksgiving over my body and mean it.

Read psalm 103 again

It is so easy to zero in on what is wrong with our bodies. Maybe you hate your nose and it may seem like a shallow concern to others. But when we allow our brains to park and fixate on this place of dissatisfaction it gives Satan just enough room to share his lie that will strip you of any motivation. "Your body is never going to look the way you want it to look, or work the way you want it to" is what he says.

This is why We have to seek the Lords perspective. Psalm 103 says "forget not all his benefits."

God has not cursed you and I think it is safe to say that you offend God when you think negatively about yourself in any manner. 

I know that the Lord is going to show himself faithful in my particular situation, I don't know when but it is such a sweet gift to my soul to know and brings my heart great satisfaction.

Psalm 103 again affirms, God satisfies your desires "with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's"

Read psalm 103 again, and again, as many times as you need too.

When I studied this verse out and decided to also live it out I began thanking God daily for making me exactly the way He did. I don't hold myself up to others with a critical eye of judgement.

I challenge you to examine what the hidden benefits of those things you hold as negative in your life and bring them to the feet of Jesus, it is truly liberating.

Fresh Green Bean Dinner

I've bought fresh green beans this summer and I've had them given to be by the bag load! I love em! Give me all the green beans, because I know before long they will be sparse. I'm all about quick dinners and this tops the list of quick and easy.

Coconut oil 

Fresh green beans

Chicken

Teriyaki sauce

Garlic

Brown rice

Cook chicken in skillet with a tablespoon of coconut oil. Once cooked add teriyaki sauce, green beans, and garlic. While you have all of that in the skillet cook your brown rice separately. Easy, peasy, all done, serve your family! 

TBT: The EIGHT things you will miss about college.

The EIGHT things you will miss about college.

1. You will miss having several wardrobe choices on any given day. Don't feel like being you today, no problem!

2. You will miss lazy Sundays of knitting and studying by the fire. Talk about a lively bunch.

College, where I learned to knit.

3. You will miss sharing your bed and binge watching OTH and Glee. Sleepover everyday, homework tomorrow.

4. You will miss having someone to force you to workout and also cook you junk food. Cookies were our Last Supper on several occasions. 

5. You will miss traveling in a pact. No really, you go no where without at least two friends and you always, always take 700 selfies before you leave.

6. You will miss celebrating holidays with them. Of course you went home for the holidays, but not before celebrating with this family.

Happy Halloween

Happy Thanksgiving, complete with turkey dinner! Okay maybe it was a rotisserie chicken...

Merry Christmas

7. You will miss kidnapping kittens from the dorm five buildings down. We were great kitten moms for about two hours.

8. Mostly, you'll just miss them. A lot.

TURNING SADNESS INTO THANKFULNESS

I woke up the other morning with that surprising ache of sadness. Not the kind of sadness that pairs with hopelessness, it's the sadness that catches you off guard, resting in your eyes and filling your lungs before you even know it's there, almost more of a physical sadness than a mental sadness. It's the sadness that is paired with His presence and peace, yet the emotion is real and the breaths seem a little shorter as you try to hold it together. These days always catch me off guard, hitting me when I least expect it and yet bring a gentle comfort with them as I know bringing my sadness to His feet is powerful and that He will rest with me in a no-reason tough day like today. It's days like this when I have to be keenly aware and tuned into my blessings, otherwise the sadness can run wild and free and do far more damage that it should. So today I am thankful for my husband, the sun shining, the kitchen sink that was empty when I came home, the liquid caffeine my husband has waiting for me each morning. If your caught off guard by an emotion today acknowledge it and bring it to his feet. Worship Him and thank Him despite the hardships and ask Him to walk with you. He is faithful to meet us. What are you thankful for today?