My Pinterest Problem

I was introduced to Pinterest by a dear friend of mine. It's a great tool for the crafty person (crafty in the "I like to make things" kind of way), and it's a super fun website to browse! However, I'm realizing that any project I find on this site - no matter how great an idea it might be - takes way longer than I anticipate to actually complete. I keep thinking, "Once I get the hang of it, I can whip this out in no time".

That time has yet to come.

Working on Christmas gifts today, thanks to Pinterest. I can't give away too much, since there are people who read my blog who might be the recipient of such a gift. But here are some pics for now. :)

Thanks, Mom!

My mom had my Christmas present delivered early, and it arrived on my doorstep today. This is a camera bag I've had my eye on for awhile, and she remembered a conversation we had about it months ago! I LOVE it.

Look how everything fits so snuggly! :) Thanks, Mom!

Quelf

This is most certainly a new favorite game of mine! We had our home group over tonight, and we decided to try a game one of the girls brought over. I love it for several reasons:

1. It's called Quelf.

2. The description on the box says it's "the game that gives random a new name".

3. Take a look at the picture below. The people you play with set the tone for the whole game. How could I not love it?

4. Each of the pieces has a name. This one is called "Mrs. Picklefeather".

5. During the game, I got to serenade my roommate, opera-style.

6. Kim had to make a mask out of household items and wear it until she landed on a green space.

7. She never landed on green.

8. Rebekah had to lay under the table until her next turn.

9. For awhile, anytime someone passed Rachel on the board, she had to scream, fall over, and shout "You thwarted us again, you vile beast"!

10. It was a great time with great girls.

Too Early?

Family plans fell through this weekend, so I was left with some extra time. I really was going to wait until after Thanksgiving to put this up. But with an entire evening staring me in the face, what was I supposed to do??? To me, the choice was clear.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Love this...pine cones, cinnamon sticks, and cranberries. This would be fun to make!

The tree topper...my favorite!

Mom relaxing with a cup of apple mint tea - after working hard! :)

A Turkey's Perspective

The assignment: Write about Thanksgiving from a turkey's perspective.

The result: Brilliance.

These are my two favorites:

Fried Turkey

Hi! My name is Wings. I am here to tell my perspective of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a very sad holiday. Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce. Those are the words that make me shiver. Humans are so lucky. They don't have the risk of being on the dinner table! One Thanksgiving I almost got fried! Who fries a turkey? There are other ways to cook a turkey! Anyway, I was about to get fried when the human turned around. I climbed out an open window and flew out. Yes, I really flew! Thank you for coming to hear this lecture. Now I better go hide. It's almost Thanksgiving!

Turkey Interview

Before we start, let me get one thing straight: I'm not a turkey. I am interviewing Bob the turkey, so he is the turkey, not me! Okay - as most turkeys are, Bob is very nervous about Thanksgiving. It appears that the turkeys are teaming up with the cows. They want people to eat more chicken. (Poor chicken.) For Bob's safety I'm not going to say where Bob lives, but he feels it is a safe place, and even though he is hiding, he wants to enjoy himself. I can understand that. Thanks for tuning in to Journal News, I'm J.W. and this is Bob. So good day and Happy Thanksgiving!

Meet Jean.

In the midst of a whirlwind of busy schedules, Jean and I meet in her home every week or two to go through the Bible study I'm involved in this semester.

We talk about sin. We talk about our struggle with it. We talk about forgiveness. We talk about our Savior's perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection that makes forgiveness possible. We talk about God's grace, and how it's only by this grace - through faith in His Son - that we can know Him at all.

It's an encouraging time. And...Jean always has something ready for me to eat. :) On this particular evening, she brought home some delicious Jason's Deli for us to enjoy.

I'm grateful for my time with her - for her words of wisdom and encouragement, for her boldness in reminding me of truths I often forget.

"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God." ~2 Corinthians 5:21

Game Night!

...with the home group. :) Love it.

Pumpkin Bread Attempt #1: Fail

We were supposed to make this. Cinnamon sugar pumpkin bread. Isn't it lovely? Moist and gooey and pumpkiny...

Gena and I were both so motivated to make this beautiful loaf of bread - we set aside a whole evening in order to bake together. Note the excitement on Gena's face as she prepared the starter for the bread!

We stumbled through the recipe, sort of skimming through what we didn't understand. *First mistake*. Did we have a way to measure the temperature of the water before we put in the yeast? No. Did we have the correct kitchen appliances for this recipe? No. Did we have the pureed pumpkin that was needed? No, but we had pumpkin butter - that's almost the same thing, right?

The dough looked great, kneaded and ready to rise...

Unfortunately our yeast didn't activate properly, so half an hour later it didn't look much different than when we stared.

So what did we do? Were we discouraged? Never! We formed the dough into balls, rolled them in cinnamon sugar, and baked them for a half an hour, knowing full well they wouldn't rise.

Gena was the brave one to try the first bite of what we affectionately call "Pumpkin Balls". Was it any good?...

...Meh.

But at least we had fun. It was a good bonding experience. And we'll know next time to be a little more prepared. :)

Tuesdays

This semester, I look forward to Tuesdays simply because of good, quality time with my dear friend Megan.

For this friend I am grateful. She's beautiful. She's real. She's a great encouragement to me.

After my work at school is complete, I head over to join the Myers family for the evening. It's a privilege to jump into their lives - which on this particular Tuesday involved me making acorn-shaped biscuits. Obviously. When there is no biscuit cutter around, always, always go for the cookie cutters. The acorn shape was a nice touch for the fall.

After dinner and fellowship, Kc leaves for the remainder of the evening, and Bennett and the girls are left to hold down the fort...

"What is this large, black object with flashing lights she holds?"

"I do not know about this whole situation.

Mother, what should I do?"

There's that smile! Isn't he precious?

After a bath, it's bonding time with Mama! I loved hearing "Caps for Sale", a favorite of Bennett's. Megan's not really mad, it was just a very dramatic reading. :)

And after the little one is fast asleep, Megan and I have our own bonding time! Post-catching-up-on-each-others-lives, we pull out "Anne of Green Gables", which Megan recently found out I had never seen.

Unacceptable.

We are taking care of that, one Tuesday at a time.

Cooking with Fungus

Tonight I made stir-fry with shiitake mushrooms. This might not seem like a big deal, but for one who is typically grossed out by mushrooms, it was a huge step!

If you've never seen one, a shiitake mushroom looks like this:

It's weird. It's fuzzy. It's ginormous. And it's fungus.

It's hard to get past the fact that it's fungus. It grows on TREES. And as my roommate so thoughtfully and tactfully stated tonight, "You wouldn't want to eat fungus off of someone's foot. It IS weird."

But...thrown in with some soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, red pepper, shrimp, and snow peas? Delicious! I'd cook with fungus again in a heartbeat.

Ridiculous

The motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be prepared". I know this because I was one. A Boy Scout, I mean. We can have that conversation later.

So, I'm not sure if this falls under the motto, or if I just have a problem.

This week I have realized I have 4 bags of almonds in the pantry:

A multitude of chaptick:

And a plethora of hand products, most of which I pulled out of my purse the other day. Do you even know what a plethora is? (Name that movie!)

All this to say...these things will be used and will not go to waste, but I'm not sure it's necessary to...you know...have all of the above.

Just trying to do my duty as a Boy Scout, I guess.

Seriously.

A new favorite. Seriously, so good.

All natural with only five ingredients - milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and [insert flavor here]. Still crazy high in fat, but hey...sometimes it's just an ice cream kind of day!

A Bouquet of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

Freshly sharpened pencils. Brand new books. Notebook paper straight out of the package. There’s something about the smell of the start of school that just makes me happy.

Tomorrow I meet my 8^th group of kiddos that I get to spend the next 10 months with. We’ll spend the day getting to know each other, discussing procedures, and learning a bit about what life in 3^rd grade will look like...

I can’t wait.

Tomorrow I’ll greet students that might be feeling anxious, shy, ecstatic, energized, apprehensive, terrified, or giddy. All will be on their best behavior for the first day…maybe for the first three. They’ll sit up straight, raise their hands, and follow directions perfectly. But by next week true colors will begin to shine as they become more comfortable...

I can’t wait.

Tomorrow the tone of the year will be set as the students get a glimpse into the heart of their teacher. Who is this lady that will teach me? Will she be strict? Will she like me? Will she make learning fun?...

I can’t wait.

Tomorrow I’d love your prayers. See, God has given me 23 students this year on purpose. He’s given me a job to do, and I don't take that lightly. And it's only by His grace that I can do it. So please pray.

• Pray that I’ll depend on the Lord for strength, patience, and joy.
• Pray that I’ll love my students well, because God first loved me.
• Pray that I’ll extend grace to these children, since God has shown me amazing grace in His Son.
• Pray that I’ll affirm them in their strengths, help them in their weaknesses, and point them to their Creator who made them uniquely who they are.
• Pray that I won’t fall into complacency or mundane routine, but that each day would be seen as an opportunity to minister to 23 children made in the image of God.
• Pray that even in the times when I’m most exhausted, I'll remember His grace is sufficient for me.
• Pray that my students will see that I don’t have it all together.
• Pray that I’ll point them to Jesus every chance I get.
• Pray that the Lord will work in their hearts, even now softening them toward the truth of the gospel.

Tomorrow is my 8^th first day of school.

I can’t wait to see what God will do. Lord, be glorified in me.

Smile

Mourning Christian, why are you weeping?

Are you mourning over your own sins and failings?

Look to your perfect Lord,

and remember, you are complete in Him. You are in God's sight as perfect as if you had never sinned...you have the righteousness of God...remember, none of your sins can condemn you. Your standing is not in yourself, but in your Lord. So I urge you, take hold of this precious thought - perfection in Christ! Christian, let your heart rejoice, for you are "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6) - what do you have to fear?

Keep a smile on your face!

~C. Spurgeon~

So Excited!

A preview of their new album, coming out October 4th (not that I'm a fan or anything...).

....Or, you can get it early here....which is what I did.

Not that I'm a fan or anything. :)

I couldn't figure out how to get the full picture on here - sorry it's cut off! Enjoy!

A New Leaf

My brother has inspired me. Since I got back from Colorado, I have decided to change some eating habits. After a visit to the grocery store, I have begun eating more of these:

Some of these:

And even a bit of these:

I've got fish and chicken in the freezer for when I actually cook something. We'll see how it goes. Already this afternoon I had frozen yogurt (Reese's PB, espresso, and cookies & cream flavored - yum!), but that's healthy, right? It's yogurt!

Obviously I'm not following all the rules, but a girl's got to enjoy some fro-yo during the summer.

If you're someone I chat with often, I'd love for you to ask me how this is going. Trying to be a better steward of the body God's given me...a little more energy wouldn't hurt for the work He's given me!

20 Lessons Learned in Guatemala

1(a). Responding with "si" to every question you don't understand at Wendy's is ineffective. You will end up with a bottled water, when what you really wanted was a chicken nugget meal.

1(b). God humbles us in humorous ways sometimes.

2. Roosters do exist. They crow very loudly in the morning.

3. A genuine hug from a complete stranger has the potential to bring forth tears.

4. A language barrier does, in fact, result in a huge communication problem. It does not, however, prevent the display of Christ's love and His gospel.

5. Cleaning dishes is one of my favorite chores, especially when a handful of teenaged girls works with me - smiling, hugging, giggling, and chattering - repeatedly asking "Como te llamas?" and "Cuantos anos tienes?".

6. Weather conditions change more rapidly in Guatemala than they do in Texas. Who would have thought that possible?

7. I could hold babies all day long (this was not learned...fun fact for free!).

8. There are fascinating people in this world who are brothers and sisters in Christ.

9. I think about myself far too often. FAR too often.

10. Praising God in acapella with complete strangers is a beautiful thing.

11. Guatemala has an equivalent to Costco. It's called Price Smart. We went there, and It. Was. Awesome.

12. God is faithful to strengthen, provide, and bring peace, even in the moments when I feel sick, asking myself "What in the world have I gotten myself into?". Standing in front of 50 strangers - expected to teach them and desiring so badly to share Jesus with them (and having opportunity to do so, praise Him!) - is a scenario I never would have imagined.

13. The money I spent on my North Face rain jacket is money well spent.

14. Translators are a gift.

15. Fundaninos is an incredible place. The people there serve an awesome God, and they love those kids.

16. Being disconnected from the world of technology for 10 days was very good for me.

17. Guatemalan coffee. That's all.

18. There are sad, horrific things going on in this world. My eyes have been opened this week, and my heart is broken.

19. Watching people walk in their gifts while serving the Lord brings joy to my heart.

20. Dios es bueno, todo el tiempo. Todo el tiempo, Dios es bueno.

Guatemala

Okay, friends. I promised Guatemala updates, but I'm redirecting you for now...

Beginning today (and continuing through the end of our trip), you can find detailed updates here. The first post - with prayer requests - can be found here!

Please join us in praying over this 10-day trip to Guatemala. For me personally (and specifically), you can pray that I won't be anxious about the teacher training part of it. God is pulling me way out of my comfort zone on this trip, and I'm excited to see what HE will do! Please pray that I'll use my time this week well in order to take care of last minute preparations.

We leave on June 16th. :)

Playdate

Today was a good day.

Megan and I had a playdate. Megan has a 1-year-old son, so you might be wondering if the playdate had anything to do with him...

Kind of. But it was mainly for us. :)

Yes, we are adults.

We started the day off at their house, playing and chatting. Chick-fil-a was next (obviously), where we enjoyed a fabulous lunch.

That's about what I looked like, too, whilst enjoying my meal!

Touchdown! Isn't his mama beautiful?

In the afternoon, we went outside to swing. Bennett was obviously thrilled with this activity.

We played in the sandbox...

And by the time all was said and done, Bennett was ready for the camera to be out of his face...

Ha! Not really, I just caught him at a bad moment. He really is a smiley child! :)

I had a blast hanging out with these two for the day. Megan, I'm thankful for you!