Excited to see

I was excited to learn a few weeks ago that a guy who I went on a mission trip to London with in high school has found success in the music industry. He was an amazing musician on the trip and it's no surprise that the Lord has blessed him. Back then, who knows if he would have ever thought he'd make it, but God was preparing him "for such a time as this."

Check out Ryan Tedder (the lead vocalist) in One Republic. I just heard this song of theirs while I was on hold and it made me think of him again.

Here's a link to the music video. He's an amazing Christian guy and I'd like to hear more of his music.

Birthday Bashes

Being the only female at my work, I decided to make the place a little more "homey" this year by celebrating everybody's birthday with cupcakes. I try to match the cupcake to that month's theme (i.e. holiday). Unfortuantely, some of them might be a little too feminine, but hey, it's hard to find at least 12 different masculine type of cupcakes!

Here are the ones I made for yesterday's party. I went with the Valentine theme, but I couldn't get the frosting the right red color so we went with an orange and then I covered it with multi-colored sugar crystals. I was going to use large conversation hearts, but I thought it might be a little bit awkward if somebody got one that said "Marry Me".

Last night we also had an early birthday party / going away party for my hubby's sister who is moving to London with her husband for a couple months for work. (I must admit I'm very jealous because England is one of my favorite countries; I would live there in a heartbeat!)

I made the poppy chicken that I read about on Carrie's blog yesterday. It was delicious! I tried to make it a little more healthy by using light sour cream, reduced fat ritz, 1/2 the amount of butter, and the healthy request versions of the soups. We served it over rice and loved it. You can get the recipe for it here.

Here's the pretty gift we gave her. Normally I like to handmake my cards & decorate the front of gift bags, but all my craft supplies are packed away for now until we convert my hubs old room to my craft room, so I had to settle for store-bought stuff. It still came out cute, though, I thought.

And, here's a picture of the birthday girl with Gram:

From my Bookshelf

Today I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on the two most recent books I've read. They were passed on to me by my mother-in-law who had them passed on to her.

The first is:

This book is based on a true story about a woman named Emma who moved to the Washington Territory with her husband, Christian, as part of a religious group move from Bethel, MO. It is a story of her independence and lack of relying on God, and how God used different circumstances in her life to bring her back to Him. Overall it was an okay read, but unless you like really slow moving books that take 2/3 of the 400 pages to get into, I don't recommend it. Once I was finally in to the book, it was over in no time. My mother-in-law had the same opinion. Have any of you read any of Jane Kirkpatrick's other books? Are they any better?


The other book I'm currently reading is this:

I'm only about half way through this book, but I've only been reading it for about 3 hours and it's had my attention since the beginning. It's about a young woman in her early 20s who's struggling to find a career that not only provides for her, but that she enjoys, all while trying to please her family members. She also is living with her parents who are about to move into a 55+ community, so she needs to find her own place. So far I'm to the point where she finds a job working as counter help in a French bakery and she loves it, but she doesn't know how it's going to provide for her financially. One thing I like about it is that it includes recipes throughout the book. I wouldn't say it's a deep and insightful read, but it does have some good reflections on Scripture and is an enjoyable and quick read. Anybody read any more of Sandra Byrd's books? If so, which ones would you recommend?

Finally, this book I haven't read recently, but it's the first book in my most favorite series EVER. That series is "The Mark of the Lion" by Francine Rivers. She focuses on a lot of historical religious fiction, and I would have to say she is my favorite author hands down. I highly recommend any of her books. It's funny because this book I got for free at a Christian bookstore when the series first came out and I remember thinking to myself, "It must not be any good if they're giving it away for free." Boy, was I wrong!

Heart Health

I am on this medicine for the next couple of months that can raise my cholesterol, so I have to have monthly blood work to check my levels. I must say I was surprised to learn that my LDL was already 2 points over the range they gave me even though I eat a pretty healthy diet and work out, and that was BEFORE starting the meds. I guess those commercials about cholesterol coming not only from the food you eat, but also from your "Aunt Sally" are pretty accurate because believe me we definitely have a history of heart disease in my family.

So, it looks like I get to be even more proactive about my heart health. I was previously diagnosed with hypoglycemia, so that means whenever I shop, I'm pretty conscientious about checking the nutrition labels for the amount of sugar in a certain product. However, after getting my first lab results back, I decided to be more consistent with checking the amount of saturated fat in a product too. It was surprising to learn that many items I was buying that were low in sugar, were not low in sat. fat. I guess that's how they make up for the taste difference. Thus, it looks like I'll be sticking to the oats, whole grains, Cheerios, and plant sterols diet! Yipee!!!

As a result, I've been on a salad kick and thought I'd share one of my favorites with you.

MANDARIN SALAD

¼ c. sliced almonds
1 T. sugar
1/2 head lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 bunch romaine, torn into bite-size pieces
2 medium stalks celery, chopped (about 1 c.)
2 green onions (with tops), thinly sliced (about 2 T.)
1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained

Sweet/Sour Dressing:
¼ c. canola oil (one of the healthiest for your heart)
2 T. sugar
2 T. vinegar
1 T. snipped parsley
½ t. salt
dash of pepper
dash of red pepper sauce (optional)

Shake all ingredients for dressing in tightly covered jar; refrigerate.

Cook almonds and sugar over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted and almonds are coated. Keep an eye on it so they don't burn! Cool and break apart. Store at room temp.

Place lettuce and romaine in bowl. Add celery and onions. Pour dressing over all. Add orange segments and mix well. Lightly stir in almonds.

Prayer Request

I know some of you out there are probably a lot better at being a prayer warrior than I am, so I thought I'd pass on the following request.

The husband of one of our couple friends was in a very bad car accident a week and a half ago. His wife is 5 months pregnant and she was recently elected to the NJ State Assembly. They are only a year or two older than my husband and me. The husband is in the hospital with several broken ribs, a bruised heart, and he had to have his spleen removed. He has also been on a respirator the whole time, and while they're trying to take him off it, they have not had success yet. It's very important that he's able to come off the respirator soon because the longer he's on it the more the infection grows. Please be keeping both of them (and their unborn baby) in your prayers.

Things that make me happy

Just wanted to share with you two things that brought me joy recently:

It always makes me so happy to see a fellow Coloradoan that I squeal with little kid joy! Call me crazy, I know, but it's a simple thing that makes me smile a lot.

The other thing that brought me joy was waking up to this beautiful sight this morning:

Our first official snow fall of the year! We're only supposed to get 4 - 6 inches, but we already had about 5 when I left at 7am and it was still coming down steady and is supposed to all day! It's perfect powder for skiing...if only I was back home.

I'm thankful for these little blessings God granted me the past 24 hours. It makes it much easier to endure the no water at the house, which means no showers for the past couple days. Guess that means I'll get to experience what it's like to shower in the men's bathroom here at work. Wish me luck because from what I hear, there's no hot water!

Hope you all receive many simple joys today and over the weekend.

I'm a Dash

You Are a Dash

Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly. You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well. You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.) You excel in: Anything to do with money You get along best with: the Exclamation Point

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Overcoming the Clutter - Part II

In addition to feeding all the animals last night, and running out to try and find a place still open to buy a Mega Millions ticket for my husband (no luck after three places), I also tried to get on top of some of the clutter that had accumulated in the kitchen and bathroom. It took a lot longer than I thought, but it's hard to find a place to squeeze two families worth of stuff in one kitchen and bath! Here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen...doesn't it look so much more welcoming?

BEFORE:





AFTER:





By the time I crawled in bed at 11:15pm I was so tired, I feel asleep before even reading 2 pages of my book. Farm work...good for the body and the soul.

A Genuine Farmgirl

If you had asked me 10 years ago if I ever pictured myself hauling feed through the muck to feed a bunch of cows I probably would have said, "Yeah, right!"

Looks like God had different plans! My hubby had to go out of town on a business trip all of a sudden, and Mom & Dad in-law are still on their way back from Florida, so that left me to make sure that 6 cows, 2 calves, 2 cats, and 1 giant dog got fed two times a day.

Boy was it a chore! But, I'm glad to say that I survived the day and a half. I only got stuck in the lovely cow manure muck three times and almost fell over once, but I successfully hauled 6 bales of hay, 2 buckets of grain, some cat food, some dog food and no one seems worse for wear! Now, if only there wasn't that water problem with the well that developed while everybody was gone. I don't know about you, but I'm not particularly fond of brushing my teeth with water that all of a sudden decides to turn brown for 30 seconds at a time.

Oh the joys of farm life. I guess I should have seen this coming, though, when I said I wanted to marry a "city/rancher" kinda guy! But you know what? I secretly enjoyed my time each morning with the animals - even if it did make me late for work both days. Don't get me wrong, though...I'm more than happy to hand it all back over to them this evening when everybody else gets home!

Here are some pictures of barnyard friends:

Overcoming the clutter

Okay...so I'm obviously new to this whole blogging thing. Case in point...it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to correct the spacing on my prior post, but I'm learning and moving along. Yeah...progress!

Hopefully you had a great weekend. Ours was spent trying to get on top of the overwhelming amount of clutter that seems to have gathered. I guess that's what happens when you downsize from a house into one bedroom at your in-laws for the time being! I must admit it gets a little (okay, let's be honest...a LOT) overwhelming when you just have piles and piles of stuff you once loved that you now dearly refer to as junk staring you in the face! But, for this moment in time, God has placed us here and we will learn to thrive and grow and be a light for Him in this situation.

I'm really looking forward to learning how to function as a wife while living under the roof of another wife/mother. It's a challenge to fit in cleaning, laundry, cooking, working out, and spending time with your husband all while being employeed full-time. I keep jokingly telling my hubbie that "I'll be such a better wife when I don't have to work," but this is the life-stage where God has us, and with his grace I'll learn to be content and creative as I find a way to fit it all in. If any of you have any great suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Welcome!

These lyrics describe perfectly why I chose the name I did for this blog. Ever since highschool it has been impressed upon my heart that every place we are, every situation we're in, is not by happenstance, but God-ordained. To take this even further, everything that happens now is serving to prepare us for a future "time as this." Join me as this blog is a place where I hope to share my spiritual journey, creative gifts, and other special times in life with those who will come to be called friends.

Now, all I have is now
To be faithful, To be holy
And to shine, Lighting
up the darkness
Right now, I really have no choice
But to voice the
truth to the nations
A generation looking for God

For such a time as this
I was placed upon the earth
To hear the voice of God
And do His will
Whatever it is
For such a time as this
For now and all the days he gives
I am here, I am here
And I am his
For such a time as this

You--do you ever wonder why
Seems like the grass is always greener
Under everybody else's sky
But right here, right here
For this time and place
You can live a mirror of His mercy
A forgiven image of grace

For such a time as this
I was placed upon the earth
To hear the
voice of God
And do His will
Whatever it is
For such a time as this
For now and all the days he gives
I am here, I am here
And I am his
For such a time as this

Can't change what's happened till now
But we can change what will be
By living in holiness
That the world
will see Jesus

For such a time as this
I was placed upon the earth
To hear the voice of God
And do His will
Whatever it is
For such a time as this
For now and all the days he gives
I am here, I am here
And I am his
For such a time as this

1998 Material Music
Words and Music by Wayne Watson