Merry Christmas!

What a special FIRST Christmas for Paul and I. A day we will never forget. Our first Christmas with snow. (never thought it could happen!)

(yes, we had to have one of these cheesy kissy ones!)

Hope everyone had a wonderful day filled with blessings and joy!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!!

Smoky Chicken Chili

As Christmas gets closer, I find myself getting a little sad. I mean, I love Christmas so much, that I despise the day after. It's the worst feeling in the world. It goes from extreme happiness to extreme sadness. Am I the only one? Is this crazy or what?

On my happier Christmas note, I am ready to make this wonderful recipe for Christmas dinner. I had it at my aunt's house on Thanksgiving and it was absolutely delicous. YUMMMMM...

SMOKY CHICKEN CHILI (recipe from Southern Living)

Pick up smoked chicken from your favorite barbecue restaurant to make this dish, or use a barbecue-flavored rotisserie chicken from your local supermarket.Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Yield: Makes 9 cups

Ingredients

• 2  poblano chile peppers, chopped
• 1  large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1  medium-size sweet onion, chopped
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  tablespoons  olive oil
• 2  (14 1/2-oz.) cans zesty chili-style diced tomatoes
• 3  cups  shredded or chopped smoked chicken (about 1 lb.)
• 1  (16-oz.) can navy beans
• 1  (15-oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1  (12-oz.) can beer*
• 1  (1.25-oz.) envelope white chicken chili seasoning mix
• Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream, lime wedges, baby corn, sliced black olives, chopped red onion, tortilla chips

Preparation

1. Sauté first 4 ingredients in hot oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in diced tomatoes and next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Serve with desired toppings.

*1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth may be substituted.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Del Monte Diced Tomatoes Zesty Chili Style and McCormick White Chicken Chili Seasoning Mix.

3 things.

3 things I need (slash want) right about now.

1. A nice, big ole' cup of hot chocolate.

2. Our new sofa!!! Which we get on Saturday. 

I. can. not. wait.

3. Homemade Christmas sugar cookies all decorated and delicious.

(If you can get me any of these things immediately, I would greatly appresh. )

my heart.

I just had to share a few things that have touched my heart this week.

For those of you that don't know, I work with Kindergarden at Hickory Hills Elementary. It is a district 1 school, which means a lot of them may not be able to afford food, so the school let's them eat breakfast and lunch free. So as you can imagine, there are quite a few kids that may not be as blessed as us. It truly breaks my heart daily to see/hear what some of these kids go through. But boy can they brighten my days too!

As I was walking up to the office the other day, I noticed a girl staring at the tree that we have set up in the front. Now let me tell you, it's pretty... but it ain't that purdy, if you know what I mean. Nothing special at all. But she sure thought so....

I looked at her and whispered "beautiful tree, huh?" She looked at me with the biggest eyes... "I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. .. I just hope one day I can have something this beautiful in my house". My heart broke (of course, I instantly go home begging Paul to give our tree to this family, which he kindly tells me no, but maybe we can buy them one when the sales go on after Christmas) :)

A lot of our kids have never seen Christmas trees, and it's so exciting to get to see their little faces light up around this time of year.

(Another sweet thing that happened) Today when I walked into my class, Ms. Russell had bought my favorite cake (red velvet), had the kids sing happy birthday to me, and had each kid make me a card. They were SOOO excited to share their cards with me they could hardly stand it (aka: had to put a few kids in time-out unfortunately, for pushing and whatnot). I had a few kids they came over and hugged me for so long, I had to literally pull them off with all my might. "Mrs. Stippich, I love you so much and hate when you aren't here." (Heart breaking again). It was so special of them to think of me, and I made sure to tell them that they were my best birthday gift this year. 

(first of all, like how I am creepily poking from behind the card??)

This card was from one of my students. One of the reasons I loved this card (well obviously I love it cause he drew a picture of him and I, DUH) But the other reason is because he couldn't even spell his name at the beginnning of the year, and in the card, ALL by himself he wrote.. "happy birthday Mrs. Stippich. I love you. Have a great day- (and signed his name)" WOW. How awesome is that!?!?!

Hope this brings some joy to your heart, and remember how blessed we are for all we have!

Creatively Christmas

I. am. inspired. Truly inspired people...

First of all love THIS idea from one of my old college aquaintence's blog's. (Really great blog by the way)

And love all of HER ideas for making a fun//cheap//creative//decorative Christmassy home.

I am going to do it. I am going to make my own decorations. I will be creative. I WILL!!!!

So anyways, check their blogs out for some kewl (yes, I really did spell it like that) Christmas ideas..

encouragement & faith

Encouragement is such a wonderful feeling, and it really does keep me going.

At school today I got to hear these encouraging words from some students:

"Mrs. Stippich... thank you so much for teaching me"
"I think you would be a really good dance teacher"

And my favorite... "You're my favorite kind of teacher"... wow. makes my heart melt.

I love encouraging and getting encouraged. If we all help encourage each other and lift each other up, think of how confident and proud we could be :)

This video encourages me to be strong in my faith, and that miracles can happen. You never know what purpose God has for your life. This video is of my Aunt Penny and Uncle Robin.
(I also nannied for their daughter, Meghan's, kids which are shown in the video as well.)

Be Encouraged... ----> click here to see their AMAZING story of faith.

happiness.

I'll tell you one bad thing I'm really good at... when I'm having a hard time, everyone knows. It's something I'm working on... that, and finding happiness in my job. How do you find happiness in a job? Are you suppose to enjoy it all the time? or everyday?

wouldn't it be nice if God just told us exactly what we'd be great at and love. But God knows better than that. My goal is to find happiness in all that I do, what is something that makes you happy?

For me:

1. Living a life for Jesus, knowing that I am not in control (something I still struggle with daily).

2. My husband. Couldn't be more thankful for that relationship.

Those 2 things are something to be happy about daily. What are some things that make you happy?

28 days!

Oh Christmas twee, Oh Christmas twee...

How handsome is my hubs?

My favorite time of year is OFFICIALLY here. I can now listen to Christmas music, drink hot chocolate, sit by our non-existant fire, and... I get to celebrate my first Christmas with my love! Couldn't ask for more. What are you excited about this Christmas?

Here's a recipe I can't wait to try for the Holidays from Southern Living...

Nutty Oatmeal-Chocolate Chunk Cookies (family favorite)


2.5 cups uncooked regular oats
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 or 4 (1.55 ounce) milk chocolate candy bars, chopped
1.5 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Process oats in a blender or food processor until ground.

Beat butter and sugars at meduim speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla; beat until blended.

Combine ground oats, flour, and next 3 ingredients. Add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in chocolate candy bars and pecans.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool... yield: 6 dozen.


Happy Holidays!!

I'm thankful for...

1. Let's state the obvious first. My husband, Family, Jesus Christ, and my Friends. Couldn't do life without any of 'em. (Well maybe some of the family... KIDDING!)

 (Paul singing sweet, sweet music to me I'm sure!)

 (I'd be jealous too of my awesome friends)

(doesn't get much better than family at Thanksgivin'!)

2. my ability to have never cooked in my life, to becoming a professional chef. Okay okay... not "professional" but pretty darn good. I make my own bread now, that's got to count as being a good cook right? I mean, I went to a professional cooking class with mom once...

(I mean... just look at that look on my face. It tells it all..(aka: sheer terror))

3. Getting to stay in the Everswick's house. I know I just talked about them, but it is dreamy living under their roof. I feel like we should just change our last name to Everswicks, and we are automatically awesome everywhere we go. (They're a pretty big deal around here)

And lastly... I am thankful for my freedom, my job, and for all the blessings that I have!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING... or as Paul said at the end of his professional phone interview... HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

My Mom's Sundried Tomato Dip

I think it's been over a week since I've written in here? Waaaay too long.

Soo this is one of my favorite appetizers that my mom would make. I love eating this with fritos, but you can eat it with raw veggies as well (I always automatically go for the unhealthy, but who doesn't?). I made this recipe on July 4th for our friends, Rachel and Matt Solik, and I must admit... it was not as good as mom's. (But I guess that's just the way it is) Enjoy!

Mom's Sundried Tomato Dip

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes in oil drained and chopped (8 tomatoes)
8 oz. of softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 Hellmann's Mayo
10 dashes of Tabasco
1 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)

Puree the tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, Tabasco, salt and pepper in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the scallions and pulse 2 or 3 times. Serve at room temperature with Fritos or raw veggies.


ALSO, I don't know if you've noticed but at the top, lefthand of my page, I have a tab for recipes if you wanna check them out. Thanks!

Only Jesus walked on water, right?

So get this! There is this group of guys that have started a new sport where you RUN ON WATER.(yes, you heard me right). Now, I know Jesus was literally walking on water, (and no human will ever be able to do that), but never thought I'd see the day for running on water...

Watch this and be amazed!!

quick post

soo randomly searching northmetro church, I stumbled across a friend of mine's, Matt Solik's, video. Wow. Get a box of tissues ready!

Engaged, 1 year later

1 year ago today, I got engaged to the love of my life, Paul Michael Stippich aka PMS.(best initials ever)

What an incredible blessing he has been. I feel like after we got married I really got to know him, REAL fast. ;) Here are some of my favorite things about Paul:

(I love this picture!)

1. Well I am sure most of your remember that the summer of 2009, Paul went to China for over a month, and wrote me a letter for everyday he was gone. I love that even today he STILL surprises me... whether it's bringing home flowers or my favorite candy (he just brought me some sour patch kids!), or writing notes all over our apartment, or giving me a foot massage every night (I know... I am one lucky gal!)

2. He is the most selfless man I know. Always putting me and others before himself. He is a true servant at heart. I am learning all about how to serve, through God and through Paul.

3. Paul is my best friend. I mean... if you walk in to our place, you will find us laughing or just having fun together. He makes me laugh like nobody else can. He is also caring, and drops everything for me. Prime example: I usually fall asleep way earlier than Paul (Yes, I am an old lady and if you know me, you are fully aware of this), he always lays down in bed with me until I fall asleep. After I fall asleep, he goes in the den and plays "Call of Duty" (my least favorite game in the entire universe) with all his buddies online on the PS3. If I call his name at all, no matter what he is doing in the game, he stops immediately to come to my rescue. He is my hero :)

(Wasn't too thrilled that I looked like a little boy when he proposed, but still so THRILLED!)

Ok, I could go on for hours, but I'll stop there. If you know Paul, you know I married a one of a kind, and a truly loving, great man that loves Christ and me more than anything in the world. A year ago today, I had no idea what I was getting into, but man... I sure am glad I did. Being with Paul has been the happiest time of my life.

Did I mention we live in a basement?

I love our second family, The Everswicks (or as Paul likes to call them.. the Ever-so-slicks) upstairs, aren't they precious?

(Rick, Emily, Max and Riley livin it up in East Asia baby!)

I just have to brag on them because they play such a huge role in our marriage. What an incredible influence they've been in our lives. They are always setting a great example of the lives we want to lead, which is a life full of love, living for Jesus!

Here are some of my favorite things about living in their basement.

1. Emily's delicious baked goods. She is always baking (she's one of the one's that's helped my decision to bake bread). And she always shares her goods with us :)

2. Hearing Max play guitar above our bedroom. I mean, I love it. It's just so beautiful.

3. Getting to relive my days of "sleepovers" with Riley. I still love all that little girl stuff, and I get to relive it again. duh. love it.

4. I don't know if you know the Everswicks, but they are known to be the "near perfect" family. I mean, I hope to just take away an ounce of their amazingness.

and lastly, 5. We get to be a big part of these wonderful kid's lives, and I couldn't ask for more.

(on another note, am I an old woman for watching Monk? That show is my obsession. Anyone? Anyone at all?)

Chocolate Trifle

But first...(you are going to love me for showing this to you)

Here is one of our family's favorite. We usually make it for a dessert on Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's always a hit, it's easy as pie (pun intended), and it's extremely bad for you. What more could you want?

My Mama's Chocolate Trifle

1 pckg of chocolate fudge cake mix

1 pkg. (6 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup of strong coffee

1 carton (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

6 heath bars (1.4 oz each) crushed

Directions:  Bake cake according to package directions. Cool. Prepare pudding according to package directions; set aside. Crumble cake; reserve 1/2 cup. Place half of the remaining cake crumbs in the bottom of a 4-1/2 or 5 qt trifle dish or decorative glass bowl (duh, we use the decorative glass bowl!). Layer with half coffee, half of the pudding, half of the whipped topping and half of the crushed candy bars. Repeat the layers and combine remaining crushed candy bars with reserved cake crumbs; sprinkle over top. Refrigerate 4-5 hours before serving.

Yup....  I know. Sounds delicious especially if you're craving some chocolate. Enjoy!!

trick or treat!

trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat, if you don't I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear! Does anyone remember this from their childhood? I used to sing this every halloween and I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. I hope my Kindergardener's don't discover this.

Just thought I'd share some pictures from our trip with the Waldens to Burt's Farm for the Halloween!

Paul and I and our first pumpkin!

Happy HOOlaween! 

Lemon Tilapia

Ok, I have to share this recipe. This is possibly one of the easiest things I've ever made. Ok so probably not the healthiest, but it's delicious, one of the staples in our house, and one of Paul's favorites! The only thing I don't like about it is you have to make a side. I am a big proponent of putting all my veggies and meat together for one big meal so I don't have to make sides. Anyone else??

Lisa Hatcher's Lemon Tilapia

1 lemon thinly sliced (take seeds out)

3-4 tilapia fillets

1 roll of RITZ crackers ( you know it's good now, right?)

1/2 stick of butter melted (I warned you this wasn't healthy)

salt/pepper

dried dillweed to taste

Place lemon slices at the bottom of rectanfular glass dish. Sprinkle tilapia with salt/pepper/dillweed and place on top of lemons. Sprinkle crushed Ritz on top of fish (I usually smash my Ritz in a ziploc bag). Drizzle melted butter over top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15-25 minutes until fish flakes with fork.

My mouth is watering as I read this! Enjoy!!

Roasted Chicken and Pineapple Quesadilla

It's been a while. Life has been crazy with a new job and lots of sickness(I have gotten every single sickness that has gone through our classroom, apparently I have a weak immune system, any suggestions? I am currently trying to conquer a cold).

So last week, or the week before (like I said, things have been crazy) I decided to try a chicken, bbq, pineapple quesadilla. Now let me say this... I have three qualifications for my meals:

1. quick

2. healthy

3. tasty

(this doesn't seem like too much to ask? Am I right ladies?)

I loved this recipe. It's from one of my favorite blogs (click here to check her out). Emily Everswick, who I'm pretty sure has the best recipes I know, told me to try this one. We loved it! Deliciouso! Here it is..

Roasted Chicken and Pineapple Quesadilla

• Corn tortillas (you can use flour too)
• Roasted chicken, chopped
• Fresh pineapple, sliced thinly
• Jack cheese
• Barbecue sauce

Spread a bit of barbecue sauce over one tortilla then top it with roasted chicken, pineapple slices, and jack cheese. Place the other tortilla on top and place in a hot skillet and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes then carefully flip over and cook the other side for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a minute before slicing. Enjoy.

Southwest Chicken Soup

One of my favorite recipes, because... it is SO EASY. And it's delicious

Again, I got this recipe from my favorite blogger, so click here to check her out!

Southwest Chicken Soup

Are you ready for this....

1 jar of salsa verde (I used the Pace that is pictured above)
1 rotisserie chicken
1 (15 oz) can of navy beans drained (I used Bush’s)
1 (large 49oz) can of chicken stock (I only used about 2/3 of the can)

garnish: shredded cheddar, sour cream & tortilla chips

Remove skin from chicken and shred meat with forks. Combine all ingredients into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 mins. I used the entire jar of salsa verde and it’s “make-your-nose-sweat hot”… if medium salsa is too hot for you… just add 1/2 the jar of salsa.

THAT IS ALL. HOW EASY IS THAT!??! If you really want to get fancy with it, you can check out her blog to see how to make homemade tortilla chips. Haven't felt the need to do that yet :)

You will love this, try it and let me know what you think!!

day 1- fudge pie

Today is one of my dearest friends birthday, Claire :) I wanted to do something special for her today and decided that I would make her a fudge pie. I know she likes this because she borrowed my grandmother's recipe from me once. But I decided to try this lady's recipe. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeesy is what it is.

First of all I have tried a couple of Darby's recipes before and LOVED it because it's delicious and easy as pie (yes, I did that on purpose).

Fudge Pie

1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/4 C. cocoa
1/4 C. self-rising flour
1 C. sugar
1 ready to bake regular size pie shell {not deep dish}

(This is darby's final picture)

Mix ingredients together in bowl with fork until well combined. Avoid using a mixer if possible, over beating the filling will cause the top to rise and crack after baking. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. Let sit for 10-15 or as long as you possibly can resist. Feel free to double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, sextuple, septuple, or even get crazy and octuple this recipe. But I can’t find the word for 9-fold so you’ll have to stop at octuple.

Ok, so I am a little nervous about how this one will turn out because I accidentally spilt the vanilla into my batch, so I have NO idea how much went in. I am sure it will still be great!

(conclusion- DELICIOUS!!!)

The Julie/Julia Project

Ok, I have been inspired by Julie and Julia (one of my favorite "must-see" movies). I have been having trouble deciding on what to blog about, but when watching this movie for the 93 billionth time, I thought maybe I could also blog about my cooking experiences.

If you don't know, I have had ZERO cooking experience before I got married three months ago. And I mean squat. I was constantly made fun of by friends and family for different things, like when I would "take credit" for different meals at Thanksgiving... " Yes, I made those! I put them in the kitchen aid mixer and pressed GO".... "Yes, my mom finished making it, but that's only because I was busy welcoming guests"(or I would think of some excuse for why I wasn't really cooking or helping out). I am probably the dead last person you would want cooking your meal. I remember in college, when I actually thought I was cooking by putting a veggie burger from the freezer (that was already pre-cooked) and cooking it on the stove for 1o minutes.

And sometimes I would even put some mushrooms on the stove and cook it. WITH NO DIRECTIONS.

So for example, my blog for tonight's dinner would look like this: Subway. I pulled into Subway around 4 where there was a very strange long line, I then had to choose what sub I wanted, and what I wanted on that sub. With choosing the bread, meat, toppings, (and deciding if I wanted to add a drink or bag of chips), it took me around 5-10 minutes.

Ok so I will blog about the food that I am literally cooking myself.

this will be me soon. Smiling ear to ear, not because there is a naked bird with it's legs spread open by my face, but because I'll be a master chef!

I GOT A REAL JOB.

A lot of exciting things have been happening lately. Including getting a new JOB, Paul and I getting off facebook (listen, it's a lot harder than it sounds!), and just doing some major adjusting.

This past Thursday, I got a call from my mom's good friend, Dollie, the assistant principle at Hickory Hills elementary, wondering if I was interested in becoming a kindergarten paraprofessional. Of course I said YES! They had me in THAT day for an interview. PTL Meghan (the lady I nanny for) let me borrow her cute dress, makeup, and borrowed some shoes from a neighbor (her feet are a tad large compared to mine). So I swung on by the elementary school for an interview, and they offered me the JOB! All in one day!! This is such a blessing to us, I get paid full-time as well as benefits and paid vacations. And the craziest part is that I have been feeling for the past two months that God wanted me to be a school teacher. I've had it on my heart, and this position fell into my hands. Coincidence? Definitely not, God had His hand all in this for His plan. I have been trusting Him into getting Paul and I where to be, and maybe where we need to be is here for right now. Who knows....

As wonderful as this blessing is, it is so hard for me to leave the family I nanny for. Meghan has become one of my really good friends, and she's always there for me to vent! I hate that I can't be a helping hand for her anymore, but I know it's probably best for the both of us. I sure will miss those kiddos though. They will always hold a special place in my heart.

Well, this is my life update for now.

OH, and not to mention I got this job this past Thursday... well I start THIS Monday!!!!

love & war.

So let me start out by saying that marriage is GREAT. I truly have loved it, and I wouldn't want to be with any other than man than Paul. He is kind, loving, selfless, romantic, a leader, extremely handsome, and has all the qualities a woman like me would want. I am truly blessed by Paul and this marriage. But can I just say HALLELUJAH for Stasi and John Elderidge who wrote the book "Love and War" that I am currently reading...

I have been struggling lately, and it has been a personal struggle. I find myself trying to be this perfect wife. There are so many "duties" that a wife must fulfill. And I'm just going to be honest, MARRIAGE IS HARD WORK. I never thought I'd admit that, but it is. It is so compleltely different that anything I've ever done in my entire life. Putting someone else before me, serving someone else, seeing that person every day and night of your life. It's a lot to ask of a man of woman and cannot be done without God. I cannot even comprehend how any marriage can work without Jesus being the center and pulling our ropes. Praise the Lord I happened to stumble across this book, because all I've been thinking to myself lately is "I'm just never going to be good enough, I'm not perfect for Paul, how could anybody fully love me?" How could I possibly forget God's love for me, and the whole point of marriage is to show God's love. God knows marriage is hard, but He is showing you a "true love" that you can only grasp through marriage.

Did you know that the Bible begins AND ends with marriage? Marriage is SUCH a huge lesson that God is teaching us with our time here on earth. I will not lie and say that marriage is great all the time, because it's just not. But I love Paul more than I've ever loved anyone, and I love the fact that we get to go through this together. What a wonderful blessing that is.

life, life, life.

Soo.... I'm having a vision. A vision of SELLING my homemade bread? Crazy? Probably. But what do you think of a HOME delivery service? I can make all different kinds of breads, muffins, bagels, rolls, etc. I mean... aren't there some mom's out there that would love to make homemade bread but don't have the time? I work as a nanny, and KNOW there are some mom's that would love this. Thoughts??

Also, Paul will be meeting with the director on Tuesday, and I think we will leave soon for a week to St. Mary's to film THE PILOT episode. Please continue to pray for our future, as it is ALL up in the air!

lifelong goal completed.

why am I so bad at keeping this updated? I am sorry to all my fans (all three of you) haha. Oh goodness, anyshways, I am sure most of you have seen my twitter or facebook, but I completed one of my life goals last week. And it was INCREDIBLE.

So, my bff had invited me to go to the braves game and go to the suntrust club. Let me tell you... once you go suntrust, you won't wanna go back to normal seating. It is AWESOME. You get free food the whole time (dinner, ballpark food, drinks, etc). You have your own personal waiter. You have a flat screen tv in front of you (just incase you can't see what's going on from the 2nd row) and it's just an experience you'll never forget.

So I have always always ALWAYS wanted to catch a baseball at a Braves game. I mean who hasn't? Soo.... I am sitting there and I make eye contact with one of the Mets coaches (and this is during the game people). I signal him to throw me a ball. He then points to me and throws it to me! UNREAL. I even got on NATIONAL tv and on the bigscreen. Lifechanging really. The best, is when I listened to what they were saying they said "Mets coach makes a friend behind the net" I mean seriously great. I can check that one off the list!

Mr. Bags

Isn't life crazy sometimes, and I mean crazy as in ... God throws something in your face that was the last thing in the WORLD you'd think you would be doing.

I have been learning SO much recently from my Savior. I've been learning how to really become a selfless wife and person, how to put someone else before myself, and to just TRUST in whatever God has in store for us.

I have been mentally preparing myself that there's a good chance I could start living as a missionary with Paul. I mean, I've been preparing myself mentally, praying for peace, and had finally felt ready to say, "God, take us where you want us!" But little did I know, maybe I wasn't quite ready for his response..

Like I said, I was preparing myself for some sort of mission work, since Paul's passion was there. I was finally getting excited to see where God would take us, and this is the LAST thing I expected.

Paul got a phone call about a month ago from a man named, Jeff Franklin, interested in casting Paul in a NEW TV SERIES. When this first came up all I could do was laugh. "Well, we KNOW this is NOT what God has in store for us Paul, He has something much better, like working at a church or something" I mean I was totally NOT for this idea at all. It was WAY too out there, I have NOT been mentally preparing myself for this, and this is definitely NOT what God wants us to do.

So, we've been praying, and praying a lot over this past month and decided to give the first day of filming for the pilot a try. As we were in the car driving to the next filming location, I start balling. "Paul, this CAN'T be what God has in store. It is way too risky, it's something you do when your single! This is absolutely crazy. How can we do this??" And then I realized, how is this being selfless at all? Paul has one of the biggest opportunities of his life to STAR in a new CHRISTIAN tv series that could change people's lives! This is EXCITING! And something we may never get the chance to do again.

We talked to Jeff afterwards, and what a great man of God he was. He was supportive of whatever choice we made. But he knew, from when he laid eyes on Paul over 2 years ago, that Paul was the character, Billy Bags. He was meant to play this part. And at that moment, I realized for the first time, that this really maybe what God has in store for us. Wow.

So right now I just want to ask that you pray about this exciting, crazy, life changing adventure we could be a part of! I will make sure to keep everyone updated on the big decision we are about to make. Isn't it crazy that you think God is preparing you for something, when really, he might have been preparing you for something else?

our little place :)

So here's some pictures I finally took of our place :) I wanted to take pictures because I know that this will be something special we will always remember. For those of you that don't know, we are currently living in the basement of our great friends and mentors, Rick and Emily Everswick.

Rick married us, and both of them counseled us through our engagement time. They have been SUCH a blessing to us in so many ways. This being one of the biggest. It's been a great way for us to save money as we are trying to figure out WHAT in the world we are going to do. I will probably update on Thursday about a HUGE opportunity for Paul, and possibly me ;) Some of you may already know, we haven't told many people yet, but it's verrrry EXCITING!!

Here are some pictures of our new place:

our entrance

the kitchen

the den

the dining area

Right by the dining room

the bedroom, obvi

I LOVE the floors, probs my fave part!
the bathroom (can't figure out how to rotate)
(the bathroom again)

the daily grind.

So I have to talk about my new obsession: the daily grind...

What a great place. It's a Christian owned, coffee shop and I swear that every person you run into there is THE nicest person of my entire life. When I was there the other day, I asked for a blueberry muffin, and the guy told me they had just sold out. The man infront of me that had bought insisted that I have his, not in a creepy "i'm hitting on you way" btw, but in a genuine way. It made my day. And of course I told him no, cause it was even more of an excuse for me to get the AMAZING cinnamon roll (props to Caroline Fidell for showing me this place slash opening my stomach up for the cinnamon roll experience)

I would also like to say that I am currently dying from bronchitis which I am pretty sure has turned into pneumonia. Ok so I have no clue if it really has, but I feel HORRIBLE so please pray for me, and our medical bills :)

05/29/10

cook this, not that.

Cooking from "Cook this, not that" is probably the greatest idea ever. And I mean ever... you got your brown sugar sauce for the salmon and some lemon asparagus, some healthy, and I mean healthy, fajitias. Sure, let me go ahead and try this gnocchi...

First of all, off the top of your head, do you even know what gnocchi is? Don't be lame and look it up on the internet. Well let me tell you. It is apparently some potato ball that you cook in water. Kind of weird, I know. So I decided to make this pesto gnocchi from the cookbook.. and it looked a little something like this:

{bite sized tomatos, the wrong kind of green beans, accidently using the entire block of mozerella cheese, and putting in too many gnocchi balls.} DISGUST. (that's the abbreviation for disgusting by the way.)

Needless to say, I won't be cooking that again, nor do I think my husband and I will ever eat gnocchi (which I awkwardly pronounced it as "GA-NOCH-IE" when it's suppose to be "NO-KEY" to the woman at the grocery store that could NOT seem to grasp what I was looking for. And I will not be eating mozzarella cheese again. Well, until I eat pizza that is...