Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My life as of now...

Ok, so I made this blog to be about what God is doing in my life in Memphis, but that isn't fair, it should be about my life where ever I am. Like I went to Hawaii, Florida, etc. My life is probably the weirdest and most complicated thing ever. I still don't understand what God is trying to do with and in me but I guess that's good. Only He can see the bigger picture and all I can do is sit back and trust in Him. Easier said then done. So why have I not blogged in forever??? First excuse: Time. Second: I have no idea how to put into words what God is saying to me, I'm just trying to focus on seeking Him and finding His will. Third: Don't have a computer. I guess the first and third excuses don't hold water but the second is true. There is just so much God is showing me right now that it's confusing. With the Ingathering coming up I'm trying to search myself and my things, trying to figure out what is keeping me back from going further with God. Is it clothes? Stuff? Mind set? It is just so hard. I don't want to miss God anywhere, especially at the Ingathering. I know He's going to be there with us and I want to be ready for Him. I want to meet Him with total abandonment. I am His. He has done more for me than I could ever imagine.
So that's what I have for now. I think the best way to put into words what God is doing is that He is setting me free to be who I really am in Him.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Carrot cake/muffins

Okay. My sister officially has a camera so the next time she makes those carrot cake/muffins she is going to take pictures of them and blog about them. Hopefully that is soon but with her busy schedule I don't know. Probably sometime next week. Anyway, I can't wait until she puts the recipe up. They are soooo good, easy, and you have to try them!!!

Job

I never seem to find time to blog. It takes too long and I can't think of anything to write. Dassi on the other hand always has these amazing three page long blogs every week or more and I don't know how in the world she finds time. She is like three times as busy as I am! So I decided to make myself sit down tonight even though it is 10pm and try to think up something to write. It wasn't too hard once I put my brain to it. I'm gonna try harder to find things in my life to write about. I think it helps me.

Last month I read through the book of Job. It wasn't the first time but I definitely got more out of it this time. Job was amazing! He went through soooo much and yet he never lost his faith in God or became bitter towards Him. And here I am, whining because I'm struggling a little. I don't have as much going on as Job did and yet my attitude is worse. I had a really good talk with Stephen last night and He was talking about everything, bad and good, that comes to us in our lives is from the hand of God, to help us grow and make us into a better person. Wow. That's hard to chew on, but it's true. If I could take just a little of what Job had with God for myself than I would be in a whole lot better situation than I am.
Another thing that was wow was how God told Job that if he didn't forgive his friends, God wouldn't. Ouch! Imagine God saying that to you! That's a lot of pressure!
I had a lot more planned to write about this but that's all I can think of for now. :(

Friday, August 27, 2010

Reentry into life!...

This morning was a bit of a learning experience for me. It was the first day of reentering into a life of having parents. You see, they have been gone for almost two weeks and I've totally become independent and my own woman. So you can only imagine what sort of fire works happened! :( The main thing that happened was that I failed to communicate what I was planning to do this morning so school was thrown off. So because of that, everybody got irritated and frustrated and fried...mainly me. I didn't know what to do with myself so I went into the kitchen and made some more of that homemade salsa. It wasn't until I was done that I was cooled off and everything seemed to be normal again. It is funny because I realized that that is what I do when I'm uptight or stressed...I cook. Isn't that funny? That is totally not me, it's my sister. It's weird because once I make one thing, I usually can't stop there, so I took a carrot cake recipe my sister showed me last night and made them into muffins. Everybody loves them! They're already almost gone and it hasn't even been 12hrs! (i only used 1/4 the sugar too!) I would love to put the recipe up here for all of you to try but I'll have to check with my sister to see if she wants to put the recipe on her blog since it is her recipe. :( If she wants to use it I will put a link on my blog for you. So today was a very good day actually, despite how terrible I may have made it sound. My dad went shopping with me this afternoon so we could spend some time together so I guess that helped pull me back into the role of daughter-hood. :) 

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Living in a higher realm.

I was on my way to bed last night when my sister pulled me aside and said she wanted to talk to me. Basically she just wanted to check on me and see how I'm doing with life. We ended up having a very good talk. We both pored out what we have been thinking and feeling lately and it just lifted something off me. We both felt 100% better afterwards. Something she brought up was how she felt like she has been living in the natural realm always worrying about money and life. She said she felt like she had lost her joy in life. She said that whenever she feels like that, she knows that she has left God. Somewhere, in something she did, she missed Him. Right when she said that something clicked, that was exactly what I've been feeling; like somewhere I had missed God. I have been worrying about my life and my so called lack of money and stuff. God says that He doesn't want us to worry about tomorrow for we do not even know if there will be a tomorrow. If we busy ourselves with giving to others and making sure they have what they need, somewhere, someone will take care of you. So why do we need to worry about self? If we are then we are missing God.
I had another moment this morning on my way to the Farmers Market. I usually leave around 5:50am and go to Starbucks, get a drink, then head to work. So this morning I did what I normally do not really thinking anything about it. When I was almost there I had to stop for a red light. I reached down and took a sip of my wonderful drink that I needed to keep me awake today. As I was drinking I saw an older looking man crossing the road in front of me. He glanced at me then looked away. I stopped drinking and looked at him. He looked worn, his clothes were old, he looked homeless. And here I was, having a wonderful time, drinking coffee and singing along with the radio...something was wrong. It totally convicted me. I didn't NEED coffee. In fact I don't really NEED anything. If I love God, draw near to Him, and obey Him, then I am lacking in nothing. I just thought it was a really neat experience. I have everything I need.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Amazingly fresh salsa!

Ok, so my sister came up with this salsa recipe and gave it to me. I made it and, of course, took pictures. :) I emailed the pictures to my sister so she could blog about her recipe. I told her she had to mention the fact that  I made the salsa in the pictures. So she put a little 'side note' at the very bottom of her post... :( I am holding up on my end of the deal by blogging about the salsa and putting a link to her blog here... http://cooksinglive.wordpress.com/ ... I really hope someone who reads this, if anyone does anymore, will make this salsa. It is truly the best thing u will put in your mouth!!! No kidding! Have fun making it! :)

Friday, July 30, 2010

Visiting the 'Hi Ho the DairyO' !!! :)


Last Tuesday my mom and I took the boys from the Gatehouse to Evergreen Farms in Middleton. Autumn really wanted to come but she was sick so I took lots of pictures for her and Gavin took videos of everything.  We had a fun hour and a half ride there with the boys making hilarious comments! When my mom asked the boys where we were going Noah said, "The DairyO!!" It made us all double over with laughter. My mom said something about their nice green house when we got there and Noah looked up and said, "O, the president must live here." We all looked around not knowing what he was talking about but then we got it and reminded him that the president lives in the white house...not the green house. :) Again we were all dying of laughter!!! The boys loved walking around the dairy but their favorite part was the chicken coop. Noah took one look at the rooster and pronounced that he was the "King!" And when he saw a white chicken in her box laying an egg he knew right away that she was the "Queen!" 


Filling the jars with milk...



Where they milk the cows...


The squeeze chute where they put the cow when it gets hurt or needs medicine.


The cows...

Rikki the friendly jersey :)





Yay! This is sooo much fun!!!


Where they cool the milk


The boys had fun!!!


The best part... :)

Free range chickens!


In the bottom left corner the 'Queen' sits on her nest. (look real close)


The 'King' with his crown is the second from the left and the rest are just his loyal subjects. :)






The sooo cute baby cows!!! 



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

God, Your will be done!

Living out here in Memphis is a struggle. Every day something happens to try to turn my focus off of God and onto myself and the world. Sadly it sometimes works. :( Lately I've been more connected with my friends and talking to them has helped immensely! They encourage me and just to know that someone is thinking about you and cares means the world!!! One thing that has happened lately out here is that we are trying to become one house, not literally but spiritually. We eat together 2x a week, have devotions together, see each other a lot. That's wonderful but we have recently realized that in order to be together everyone has to be clear with each other. Everyone is working on that and we also are getting together, men and ladies, and praying. We usually get together separately twice a week in the mornings to pray but we were told to pray together. So far we have done that once. Some of the things we prayed for was that God would show us why He has us in Memphis and what He wants us to be doing. That's all well and good but if we aren't willing to do what God wants us to do than that prayer means nothing. So we prayed and this happened...

There is this 11yr old girl who lives in our neighborhood and she has been coming over here a lot lately. I gave her my number a while ago so she could call me about something that day and she has pretty much called me every day since then. She asks to come over a lot and usually I'm not home but when I am I reluctantly say yes. She has never ending questions. :) I dread my phone ringing some days and have actually thought about giving her a different ring tone so I would know when it was her. :( Whenever she's here she follows me around like a puppy dog...

Ok, so there are two different ways to look at this situation, one is everything I just said about her being annoying and the other is to think that God put her on our doorstep (literally) and this is His will for me. The second is the harder of the two to look at but with the help of the people around me, I have changed my view on her. She lives with her mom, two older sisters, one younger brother and a step dad who isn't nice to any of them. Every time she comes over she has a new story to tell either about her family or this neighborhood. She is such a lonely girl and neither one of her big sisters care about her. She is needy for a big sister and God has placed that huge responsibility in my lap. She comes over here and ooohs and aaaahs over my jewelry, clothes, stuff, etc. Yesterday and today when she came over she brought me a shawl and some lotion. Today she brought a 9yr old girl with her and they both ended up playing with my hair. I have been praying lately not that God would tell me what to do in this neighborhood, but that He would give me grace and patience for the girls when they come over. I had a super amount today b/cause I ended up letting them put my hair in pig tails and then straightening and curling it! I was scared stiff to let a 9yr old girl put a hot curling iron anywhere near my head! But thankfully none of my hair was fried and my forehead and ears are still intact. :) We ended up having them over for dinner and making it a fun experience with music and random seating at the table.
All of this has just taught me that I need to mean what I say when I pray. God isn't afraid to take you seriously. :) I'm really glad God has put me through this. I have grown a lot. Please if you get time, pray for us out here, that we would be willing and able to do anything and everything that God asks of us and that we would become more together!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Who has the cooking blog now???...???...

So I made these amazing fish tacos last night for dinner using about four different recipes. :) A bit complicated yes but I made it through alive. I made myself a plate of it and took it outside to our picnic table and did a mini photo shoot with it. Now I know how to take pictures and make sure the lighting is okay but I'm not too good at food presentation, that's my sisters forte. :( So here goes...
Does this look yummy or what?


Basically I marinaded the talapia in oil, fresh squeezed lime juice, and fresh chopped cilantro. Then I cooked them in a frying pan. All you have to do is put some sour cream on a tortilla, put the fish on and add your choice of toppings (tomatoes, avocadoes, cheese, salsa, red onions, lettuce) Tada!!!! 



I was in another amazing mood tonight, well not really but I was the one who did the menu last week so I put all this wacky food on it, and I made lentil burgers, (my dad says that doesn't sound appetizing so I think I'll call them... Ashley's Vegan Burger). I used about four different recipes and about drove my mom crazy with all the approximate amounts I gave her. Again I made a pretty plate of it and put some fresh tomato/cuke salad from our garden (and Abby's) on the side with a slice of water melon in the back round! 
Yum!! 


I sautéed an onion and carrots in the frying pan until the carrots were tender then added, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and thyme until everything was nicely seasoned. After that it was just smashing the cooked lentils and adding the frying pan mixture, fresh chopped up parsley, soy sauce, homemade bread crumbs, oats, and eggs. Then came the molding of the mixture into paddies and frying them. It was a bit dry so next time I will put less oats and bread crumbs and more eggs. All that's left is to put your favorite condiments on a some whole wheat sandwich thins, add burger, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and whatever else you heart desires! 

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Memphis meal time

Funny picture I know. Story is... we decided to put the oven on self clean so it smoked and smelled up our ENTIRE house! On top of that we had to cut some onions for dinner...not too smart combination. :( So Autumn decided her eyes wouldn't sting so bad if she put on her goggles... lo and behold everybody followed the trend giving you this hilarious picture of our household at dinner time. :)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Scones!!!

My family, well...part of it, is going on a trip to Pennsylvania leaving early tomorrow morning. My granddad turns 90 in October but there is a early b-day party for him this weekend since this is the only time my relatives can get off work. It should be a lot of fun but the dreaded part is packing and getting ready. Today was our major quick bake everything and throw your clothes in a suitcase day (unless you're Micaiah who has to make sure every shirt is perfectly folded so it won't be wrinkled when he puts it on). My mom made banana bread and deviled eggs while I made scones. Not just any scones but my sister Alaina's famous blueberry, raspberry scones made with fresh blue and raspberries from the village!!! She made it in November last year when she came out to visit me. I tried to help but all I did was take pictures while she made them. :) (so today was officially my first time making scones!!!) I ended up sending her the pictures and she blogged about it. So....here is a link to her blog which, lucky you, has pictures documenting the whole baking process!!!
 

I really hope you take the time to try and make these. They are super easy and extremely delicious!!! Have fun while you're at it and let me know how it goes!! Cheers! 

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Memphis Water Day



Last Saturday the Memphis Gatehouse hosted a water day for the kids in our neighborhood. We've actually been trying to plan it for a while but every weekend something was happening to prevent it. Finally, Friday night my mom got an okay from the guys out here to go ahead and do it. So she and Micaiah went out late that night and bought a bunch of things for it. I worked Saturday morning so I wasn't home to help with all the prep but Miss Mala, Miss Mary, Auna, and Naqi were here. It started with only two neighborhood boys but then a lady brought over a bunch of her grandkids and even went and got more kids. We had three legged races, sack races, a relay race with eggs, a relay race with apples, toss the water balloon into a hoop, and a couple more. 







Sofia and Autumn

Miss Mala entertaining the kids with story songs


 Autumn and her new friends singing 'Cast your burdens'


It was a very fun day and we ended with a huge water balloon fight! The water day was a great way to meet new kids. This morning in our ladies meeting we talked about doing a block party in our neighborhood. I am excited and can't wait to meet more people!



Thursday, June 24, 2010

Amazing Cobblers!!!

I was in the village last weekend for the June Conference and ended up picking about two gallons of blueberries and a bag of peaches!!! When I got home I didn't really know what to do with them, so we put the peaches in the fruit basket and the blueberries in the freezer. Monday night my mother made blueberry muffins for Tuesday morning breakfast, using some of the berries, and that Tuesday night Gavin, Autumn, and I made blueberry cobbler!!! It was a total hit! We served it with Vanilla ice cream and everybody loved it!!!















Fresh Blueberry Cobbler

1/4 cup sugar
1 T cornstarch
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp honey
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 T butter
1/2 cup farm fresh milk

Blend 1/4 cup sugar and the cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Pour mixture into 2-quart casserole.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together flour, 1 1/2 tsp honey, baking powder and salt. Add melted butter and milk. Stir until mixed but not too much. Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto hot fruit. Bake 25-30 minutes or until biscuit topping is golden brown.   6 to 8 servings.




We ate about half of the peaches but the other half were starting to go a little bad so I wanted to do something with them last night and remembered that I was on breakfast cook this morning, so I opened a cookbook and found a peach cobbler recipe! So this morning the kids jumped out of bed looking forward to peach cobbler for breakfast!!! Of course I only used half the sugar so it wasn't too bad for us. Besides, everybody needs to change their diet around every once in a while. :) When I was waking Autumn up this morning and told her what we were having her first question was, "With ice cream?"














I know that these pictures are with ice cream but I promise we didn't have ice cream for breakfast! I just put some on the plate with the last piece to try to get a good shot. Personally, I liked the peach cobbler better than the blueberry.

Fresh Peach Cobbler

Approx 10 med fresh peaches
1 1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 T cornstarch
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 T sugar or 1 1/2 tsp honey
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 T butter
1/2 cup farm fresh milk

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In saucepan combine peaches, 1 1/2 tsp honey, cinnamon and cornstarch. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Pour into 1 1/2-quart casserole.
Stir together flour, sugar (or honey), baking powder and salt. Add  melted butter and milk. Stir until mixed but not too much. Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto hot fruit. Bake 25-30 minutes or until biscuit topping is golden brown.   6 servings.

Animals...

Here is Brandon's leopard gecko, Joe...


Rustie's bunnies are growing up...





Hammy is pretty much all grown up. We now leave his cage open 24/7 and he runs around in the trees all day! I'm pretty sure Mic is going to take him somewhere to let him go today. He is a bit too friendly with the kids. He only likes my mom, Mic, Aya, and myself. Everybody else he will bite.





 He wanted to come to me :)


 Loves my camera!






 
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