long time no see {+ tag questions}

Hello, everyone. I'm so sorry it's been awhile since I've blogged - the "two posts per month" goal that seemed so miniscule and easily surpass-able at the beginning suddenly looked like conquering Mount Everest during the month of June. Junior Camp was the same week as VBS and we had a Saturday and Sunday between that week and our week-long Youth Camp. The Sunday we got back, we sent a group of 12 people over to Moldova for a 10 day missions trip. (Let me tell you, I wish I was there! It's so fun seeing their pictures, and I can. not. wait. to hear their stories!) We're sitting on G waiting on O for the new baby to get here, and next weekend we're going to a tent meeting, which is also tied into the fourth of July. The Monday after that Music School begins. I could go on and on, but I won't bore you with any more of what really is just a normal summer.

There are so many posts I want to write. I'd like to share some of my favorite things about southern summers, I want to write about small town life. My heart broke this morning as I read about the Supreme Court ruling, and I can't decide if I want to share my thoughts on that eventually or not. I want to write about taking a stand, about Christians finding our voices, and I want to write about finding the God lovers in our mixed up world. Of course, it's about time for a June recap and definitely some pictures! But mostly, I just want to enjoy every minute of this life that I can. If I can share some of it with you, BONUS! But if I have to choose between sitting on the porch swing when it cools off in the evenings or sitting in front of my laptop telling you about it...the swing is going to win.

Iris from The Blue Birdhouse nominated me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award (thank you, Iris!) a couple of weeks ago, and I'm just getting around to doing it. I've never been nominated for something like this so I don't know if I'm too late to link up, and I know nothing about this award! (Maybe I'm not worthy of the nomination after all! :/) BUT...y'all know I love answering questions, and Iris asked some fun, specific ones, so I thought I'd include it in this post because I really wanted to do it.

So for a very informal, I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing tag, here goes!

1. What was your favorite food as a child? 

I think it was pizza or spaghetti. To be honest I really don't remember, but I think my baby book says spaghetti.

2. What is your favorite indoor or outdoor activity?

Reading, both indoor and outdoor. Is that an activity though? I'll change it to swimming if it's not.

3. If you could learn to do anything what would it be?

THIS QUESTION IS STRESSING ME OUT! Can I just say learn how to do a cartwheel? I can't think of anything big and exciting and it's just too much pressure and I'm 22 and can't turn a cartwheel so I need to learn.

Phew. That was the hardest question I've been asked in awhile. ;)

4. When you have 30 minutes of free time- how do you pass the time?

Check my messages, browse Pinterest, snap one of my friends. If you're surprised I didn't say read, it's because 30 minutes is just enough time to leave me genuinely frustrated when I have to put the book down.

5. What did you do growing up that got you in trouble?

Reading when I was supposed to be doing something else, being mean to Amie or back talking my mom. Other than that I was a pretty decent kid.

6. What do you miss most about being a kid?

Everything. Lack of responsibility, so much free time, tons of sleep, and someone else did my hair.

7. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?

The Advocate by Randy Singer. I'm not even in the middle of the book yet and I sob about every other page.

8. Which Bible verse helped you through a hard time?

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

9. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?

Any one of Jesus' miracles.

10. What is your favorite time of day/day of the week/month of the year?

Around 6 - 8 pm on Friday, late July. 

(Just so happens that's what time it is tonight, which is Friday. I'm not influenced by my circumstances at all.)

(Also it's raining.)

(I like afterthoughts.)

If I was doing this tag like I'm supposed to, I would tag about 5 - 10 more blogs right now and make up 10 questions for them. However, I only have time to keep up with two or three, and the only one that's open to the public is Iris, and I don't know if I'm allowed to tag her back or not. SO, I'm just going to open this up to all of you that are reading this. (ALL. OF. YOU.) And ask you three questions to answer in the comments:

1. What's your favorite thing about summer? It can be an activity, a holiday, a tradition, a food, it doesn't matter!

2. What was your favorite book as a child?

3. What's something you wish you knew how to do? (Don't worry, I would probably wimp out on this question, too.)

Rules: be careful in the comments! Please, please answer the questions (it'll be fun!) but remember that this is the internet - the less personal information about yourself the better!

(Also, I reserve the right to remove comments I disagree with or feel uncomfortable about.)

 

Happy summer!

 

may 2015 recap

Hello, everyone! It's been a minute, so while I sit here waiting for an email to come in, let me update you on what happened around here in May!

The beginning of the month we were in lower Alabama for a missions conference. Every year we try to eat at David's Catfish house - I highly recommend you try it if you're ever near one!

We then drove to another place in Alabama for decoration day. I don't love pictures of headstones or a cemetery, but this is where my dad's parents are buried. We will usually meet everyone at the cemetery, then go our separate ways for church. We then have lunch together with that side of our family.

After that, we jumped into summer with both feet! Swimming, bike riding, Jace's first piano recital, and my parents got our garden planted! I don't have pictures of Mother's Day, but we all got together at our house and Amie and I prepared lunch.

Summer is only getting started, but it's going to be as busy as ever with back to back camps and a new baby due very soon! If my posts become even more few and far between, it's just a side affect of the summer we're going to have.

some more of my favorite pictures from may:

FROM THE BLOG:

A Call to Prayer

Leaving It - sometimes, there's nothing more for us to do.

I hope everyone had a wonderful May, and that y'all will have a very happy June!

What were some of your favorite moments from May?

leaving it

 "Lord...I don't even know how to pray for this. I don't know what to ask, I don't know what to offer. Lord...Lord..."

Pauses. Silence. Broken prayers.

Have you ever been here? You go to pray, you have a designated time, spot, and miraculously it works out that you are alone in the quiet with the Lord. The time you've been waiting for. You get on your knees, still your heart, and...

"Lord..."

Quiet. For the next several moments you listen to your breathing, your heartbeat.

And so many times, words escape you. You have prayed the same prayers over and over until you feel like a broken record. The repetition of your pleas have become monotonous, and honestly, you're just tired of praying for them.

"I know you hear me, Lord. I know you're here."

More silence as you struggle to express the things in your heart that don't want to be described with words.

"Let me make a difference. Don't let this be in vain. Show me what to do. Let my voice be heard."

As I pray for America, I find that I don't know what to say.

"Show mercy, continue to give us grace. Turn the hearts of the leaders to you. Protect my country. Show mercy..."

Over. And over. And over again.

So lately, I've been silent. I've stopped letting words just spill out and I've given them some thought.

"Right now, the voices of the wicked are so loud. They fill the news and make me feel small, weak, and terrified. Let Christians regain their voice. Give us the courage to stand and fight for what's right. The wicked have drowned us out for far to long. Fill us with boldness for you. Fill us with courage, strengthen our voices and our stand. Let us be heard."

I may only pray for 15 minutes. But I will sit in silence for many more than that. I want Him to know that when I stand and go my way, I have left it all in His hands. I gather all the worries and fears and doubts and insecurities in a nice little package and I leave it there before Him.

Sometimes I go and pick a few things back up, but every day, I will gather it again, lay it down, and turn my back.

I will continuously beg for mercy. I will not stop asking for another chance. I will beseech on behalf of my nation.

And then I will leave it with Him.

A Call to Prayer

"And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned."  Nehemiah 1:5-6

A Call to Prayer

A church I'm very familiar with has put out a call for prayer for our nation. A petition for 50,000 American Christians to spend the next five days fasting and praying for the United States of America. At my church last night we were encouraged to commit to at least one day of fasting, and we'll be meeting at church every day to pray. Anonymously, with no one looking around, we had commitments for every day of the fast, and at the end, a few commitments for multiple days.

I believe fasting is very personal, I believe it's between a person and the Lord, and I believe it works. It worked for Nineveh, it can work for America.

Here is the link and information for the petition. Will you join us in the war room of prayer for America?

A Call to Prayer

april 2015 recap

It's hard to believe we're beginning the month of May. April zipped right on by in a flurry of raindrops. We had some hard, sad days at the beginning of the month. As a family in our church went through an incredibly difficult time, my memories of the beginning of the month are of tears and so much prayer as our church banded together at heaven's door for them. God is faithful, and through it all He is good and sovereign. When we don't understand His plan, and question why He allows certain things to happen, He comes to us in whispers. Gently comforting us when we face the cruel realities of life on this earth. All in all, April was a good month.

This isn't a great picture because it was taken with a phone but it's the only one I have right now. This is all of the girl cousins on my mom's side of the family. We had a baby shower for my cousin (the brunette in the middle) and her baby boy due on May 4. I love spending time with family, and it was a happy day. We can't wait to meet our new little cousin!

Easter Sunday was cloudy but pleasantly warm. As per tradition, out came the dressy spring clothes and lots of ham and sweet potatoes were consumed. We don't celebrate Easter like most people - no easter bunny! - and while we know that it's not the actual date of Christ's resurrection, it's nice to set an entire day aside to appreciate and celebrate that blessing.

Sisters! We all ended up matching - can you tell which pair of sisters belongs to each other? ;)

We celebrated the sunshine with trips to the park, bike rides, and picnics. It's still just spring here, but it's slowly getting warmer and I love it! The boys and I have lots of big plans for this summer - the  new niece or nephew is due to be here early July, so we'll be making our own summer bucket list!

I'm not sure what's gotten into me, but I cooked up a storm in April! The majority of my Saturdays have been spent in the kitchen and I'm loving it! I'm not sure if recipe posts are a thing y'all enjoy on here or not, but if you see something in the above picture that you'd like the recipe for let me know and I'll try to get around to sharing it! (They were all quite good, if I do say so myself!)

FROM THE BLOG

ending - my one and only April Fool's Day joke. Turns out it really did fool some people! 

summer bucket list - an early start on some practical plans for Summer 2015

grilled salmon & avocado salsa | recipe - a heart healthy meal with recipes and pictures included

And that was April in a nutshell. I'm playing around with the layout for my recap posts, still not sure what I like best but I'll find an easy-to-read format soon! I hope your April was beautiful, and that God was there in every day.

What were some of your favorite moments from April?

grilled salmon & avocado salsa | recipe

some facts I looked up before making this meal:

1. Salmon is one of the most heart healthy foods you can eat.

2. Avocados are great for your skin, and are also very heart healthy.

3. Carrots are good for you all around (seriously, Google their benefits sometime!).

(According to my nephews, while they're chewing a carrot they can see our church from their house. It's several miles away.)

I have been in the biggest cooking mood all month. It started with desserts. I decided to spend part of my Saturdays experimenting with sweets and so far I've had one hit and one miss. Then it was muffins. Last week we had five different types of muffins in our house and I don't know how but they were all gone by Wednesday.

Monday evening it was just me, my mom, and my sister at home so I decided to try a new recipe. It turned into two recipes, and then the final count was three new recipes. I'm always pleasantly surprised at how relaxing and enjoyable cooking is when I'm not on a time crunch and can set my own pace. This meal was much easier than I anticipated, and didn't take very long at all. I'd say about 40 minutes total - that's because there's a marinading time and a roasting time. You'll see.

I started out with the salmon. It came frozen, individually wrapped. (Nowhere around us sells fresh fish that I know of, and I wouldn't know how to pick it out anyway.) I put four of the wrapped pieces in a bowl of hot water. They were completely thawed in about 15-20 minutes. While they were thawing I made the marinade:

• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper

I rubbed olive oil on each piece of salmon and then distributed the marinade evenly between them. It took about 1 T. of olive oil.

I put the fish in the fridge and let it marinate for no less than 30 minutes. This was the perfect amount of time to prep my carrots for the final recipe.

Because we don't have a wooden plank or fish rack for our grill, I used heavy duty aluminum foil and sprayed four pieces of it really well with cooking spray. I placed the marinated salmon skin down on the foil, and then  brought up the long sides of the foil and folded them over together, and then folded up the short sides. My mom grilled them for me, and I believe it took about 10 minutes. She grilled it until it was around 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and then unfolded the top of the foil to let some of the "grill flavor" in.

During this time I was making the avocado salsa. You will need...

• 1 avocado, chunked 
• 1/4 small red onion, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 1-2 T. finely chopped cilantro (depending on how much you like cilantro. I think I used about 2 1/2 T.)
• salt to taste

My favorite thing about this salsa is you literally just put it all in a bowl and mix it up, and viola, you're done! It was SO. GOOD.

 While the salmon was marinating, I was slicing 3 cups of baby carrots. You could skip this step, but my personal preference when it comes to cooked vegetables is that they be as soft as possible without being mush, so I thought slicing them would help make the softening process a little quicker.

 

Here's what you'll need...

• 3 cups of carrots
• 1 T. honey
• 1 T. olive oil (or some cooking spray if you're out like I was)
• sea salt
• ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Put your carrots in a bowl and coat generously with 1 T. oil or cooking spray, salt, and pepper (this is to your taste). Arrange carrots on a baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes. Shake/rearrange carrots about halfway through so they can roast and get crispy on all sides.

Return the carrots to the bowl and add the honey. Stir to coat well and then taste to see if they need any more salt and pepper...or just put them on the table and let each individual decide!

We often have a big bowl full of salad in the fridge that we'll eat for lunch or pull out for an extra side, so I added that to this meal. My mom and Amie make an Asian dressing that they love and they added some cuties to their bowl. I kept mine simple with a few croutons and a spicy dressing that I make. 

Here's the finished plate:

honey roasted carrots | grilled salmon & avocado salsa | fresh salad | sweet tea because...sweet tea

My "dessert" for this meal was my drink. I'll drink my sweets any day over dessert or candy.

I hope if any of you are able to try this you like it! In case you were wondering - all of these recipes make exactly four servings. I couldn't have orchestrated it better! I tweaked a few things, but the general idea behind them is not my own. Maybe one day I'll be creative and come up with my own recipe, but for now I rely on Google and Pinterest!

Let me know if you get around to trying any of these!

How do you try to stay healthy?

What's your favorite spring time meal?

summer bucket list | 2015

Two years ago I made a summer bucket list and shared it with y'all. I didn't accomplish much on it, but I had a lot of fun referencing it and crossing things off when I had spare time. This summer I've decided to do that again, especially since I've already started it and have been really good at keeping up with it so far. It's a bit more practical and hopefully by mid October (hallelujah for long southern summers!) everything will be crossed off. It's not quite summer yet, and we're getting our daily dose of April Showers, but I've always been a plan ahead kind of person, so I enjoyed putting this list together early!

cook 2+ meals per month

I know, I'm 22 and this number should probably be much bigger - that's why the plus symbol is there. My mom really loves to cook, and meal time still naturally falls under her category. However, she also loves when we cook for her, and lately I've really started enjoying it. I've been putting my Pinterest boards to work, so if you want to see some of the recipes I've decided are good enough to make again, take a look at my Tried & True board. There's not much on there yet, but hopefully it'll be full soon!

try new recipes

This goes along with the one above. I really like trying my hand at something new - and who wants their cooking to be compared to "how Mama does it" every time they make something anyway? I will still learn some of our favorite dishes, but for now, the newer, the weirder, the more flavorful, the healthier (this is a BIG one for us this summer), the better!

 

 make weekly breakfast & dessert for Sunday

Who else comes home after church and has a lovely family Sunday dinner? We do, every week. We don't eat out on Sundays, and 75% of the time we eat with Jacob and his family. Usually it's at our house, but sometimes it's at theirs. My mom has really mastered the art of having a large, delicious meal on Sunday afternoon without anyone ever having to wait more than about 10 - 15 minutes before we ask the blessing. My goal is to contribute to the meal by making dessert every Saturday. It has to be either a brand new recipe, or a traditional southern dessert that I need to learn to make because I need to know those things. I'm also committing to making breakfast for Sunday ahead of time on Saturday as well. We have one family breakfast every week - Saturday morning biscuits and gravy brunch. During the week my dad leaves before Amie and I are up and we all eat pretty light in the mornings. Sunday is free-for-all, and we try to have muffins or some kind of bread sitting out and easy to grab. My job now!

(that was my last cooking item, I promise!)

learn to sew clothes

I know how to make a quilt (kind of), and an apron, and a bag, and other things like that, but I want to learn to make clothes - modest dresses (with sleeves), in particular. As part of purging my wardrobe and getting started on creating a capsule closet, I discovered I needed/wanted about 3 summer dresses that were a cross between dressy and casual - perfect for summer - and didn't require layering. (Having to wear a cardigan on a 100 degree, humid day kind of defeats the purpose of wearing a dress in the first place.) So far I have two new homemade summer dresses, and another in the making. I've been ironing the seams while my mom explains the process. I've made dresses and skirts before, but this time I want to really get it engrained in my mind. By the end of summer, my goal is to make a dress on my own - for my sister, which is a little weird, but I want to know how to tailor it well, and it's easier to practice on someone else than on yourself.

have a cookout with friends

It looks like this one will probably happen mid to late August, but I really, really want it to happen. Down here where I live, hospitality is bred in us, and the desire to entertain, host, and visit with good friends is close to my heart. Summer is very busy around here with church related things and family centered holidays, but at least once before it gets chilly again I want to have a bunch of people over for food and fun. Some of my friends are married now, and some of them are in relationships, so the bigger the group the better!

take a trip

Anywhere, with anyone. It has to be non-church related (as in, not a special meeting or camp). It has to be fun. And it has to take up an entire day. Or two. Or week.

have a yard sale

Sooner rather than later. I am a sentimental baby when it comes to letting go of things. I only recently got rid of a whole bunch of socks because having an entire toy chest full of socks I rarely wear is just ridiculous. (It was only 3/4 full, ok?) I am naturally cold natured and my feet are always freezing so I still have a ton of socks, but it was just getting silly. I had formed some strange sentimental attachments and could tell you where each pair came from. I once had a friend tell me she was going to always give me socks for presents because she knew I would love them and keep them forever. Luckily she gave quality pairs, so when it came time to purge, they stayed with me. ;) This is the year though that I realize that I'm 22 and even though that shirt I loved when I was 16 still fits, it's time to let go.

Seven things for a Summer Bucket List. It seems reasonable, attainable, and, well...perfect! I will blog along the way - be on the lookout for those recipe posts! This evening's supper will be up this weekend!

Is it getting warm where you live? 

What's on your bucket list for this summer?