Today I was on Facebook and a thought came to me. As I was looking at pictures of people, in a non stalking way, I began to think about how this journey called "life" is such a funny thing. It's interesting to look at some of these people and remember the time in life when I knew them so well, but now only know things about them based off of what their status says. And how much more distant would we be and what all would I not know about them, if there was no Facebook. This thought has entered my mind a couple of times when I log into this Internet connection world. How did I go from being actively involved in their lives to just a spectator who gets glimpses of it from pictures and status's. Every time I've had this thought, my heart breaks a little. I so wish that I could be where they are, wrap them in my arms, and be close to them like I used to be. What was it in life that causes us to drift apart. I know that their have been moves that have caused physical distances, but what has caused the emotional distance? Was it something I said or did to make these people feel like they could not trust me anymore or can that physical distance be really all it is? To me it feels deeper than just physical distance. I know that God brings people to us at different stages of life, but what I do not understand is how you can be so close to certain people in those stages and then hardly know them in the next one. This is particularly hard for me to grasp when there wasn't anything major that would have caused this gap such as a fight or a specific event that caused this drift.
Of course with some of these people there is still the occasional catch up of our lives, but the depth we once shared doesn't seem to be there anymore. As I sit here and think about a question comes to my mind? Is this just the cycle that relationships go through? Even in my relationship with the Lord I see times where I have been so close and vulnerable to Him, and other times where I am just "catching" up with Him. I know that if this part of life pains me, how much more so it pains Him. After all, I am just a human desiring human friendships and He is our Heavenly Father desiring a relationship with His children whom He has created to be intimate with. Do friends not come or talk to me anymore because they are afraid I will judge them just like how we sometimes don't go to the Father and talk to Him because we are afraid He will judge us. And yet, because we do not trust Him or because of the stage of life we are in, we loose the depth and intimacy with Him we once had. Even if it's just for a season, we miss out in that season.
Anyways, I didn't know this post was going to come out like this, but this is just something that I'm thinking about on this Wednesday morning. I just cherish all my friendships, both past and present, and have a heart to really connect deeply with each one of them because I love them so much and desire a friendship with them that is so much more than what is on the surface. That's all. Wow, who knew Facebook could cause such deep and thought provoking ideas! :)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Mud Pie and Tea Time
This past Friday we had some of our dear friends, Griff and Michelle, over for dinner. It was kind of a last minute decision so as I was thinking of what to do for dessert I got really excited because this gave me the opportunity to make one of favorite desserts, mud pie. I came up with this recipe about two months ago based off of the mud pie that my family always got from Baskin-Robbins. This recipe is so simple and quick but oh so good! Here's what you do, although you'll have to bare with me because I didn't really "measure" the ingredients out.
You take about half a bag of Oreo cookies and put them into a food processor until they are just crumbs. Then you melt about 4 Tbsp. of butter and mix that in with the Oreo crumbs. Again my measurements are not accurate, but you will want the mixture to be a good consistency for your crust. Then you just put the mixture into a pie pan and spread it evenly along the bottom and sides of the pan. Make sure that there are no holes anywhere and that the pie pan is completely covered. Then pop that in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until it is hard. In the mean time, set out a container of Breyers coffee ice cream and let that get really soft. When the crust has hardened, scoop out the ice cream and spread it evenly over the crust. You won't use all the ice cream but the majority of it. Then place it back in the freezer for about another 10-15 minutes until the ice cream is frozen again. While that is in the freezer place about 2 cups or so of whole almonds on a cookie sheet and toast them at 350 degrees for about 5-7 minutes or until you can smell them. Place them on a cooling sheet and chop them once they've cooled. Once the ice cream has set, take a can of fudge topping and pour it all over the top of the ice cream. I recommend being very generous with it because it will only make the pie that much better. Then put it back in the freezer till that has set. Once it is set, take a can of whip cream and make little mounds all around and in the middle of the pie, sprinkle with almonds and put back in the freezer till your ready to serve it. The end result looks a little something like this.
It is so yummy!!! I could seriously eat the entire thing by myself!
That same weekend my sister, Hope, and Seth took me to the Wisdom Tea House in Monument for a belated birthday present. If you live in the Colorado Springs/Monument area and have not been there you must plan a trip soon. This is my new favorite place! It is this adorable tea house and you go order your tea, pick out your tea cup and saucer, and then they bring you your tea. You can also order food and scones to go with your tea. I absolutely love it! I got the peach vanilla tea and it was heaven in a cup! It beats Starbucks any day of the week in my opinion. Stop by and see what I mean. Here is a picture of Hope and I with our tea cups. Well, actually she is holding the cream cup. She seemed to like that better than her actually tea cup! :)
You take about half a bag of Oreo cookies and put them into a food processor until they are just crumbs. Then you melt about 4 Tbsp. of butter and mix that in with the Oreo crumbs. Again my measurements are not accurate, but you will want the mixture to be a good consistency for your crust. Then you just put the mixture into a pie pan and spread it evenly along the bottom and sides of the pan. Make sure that there are no holes anywhere and that the pie pan is completely covered. Then pop that in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until it is hard. In the mean time, set out a container of Breyers coffee ice cream and let that get really soft. When the crust has hardened, scoop out the ice cream and spread it evenly over the crust. You won't use all the ice cream but the majority of it. Then place it back in the freezer for about another 10-15 minutes until the ice cream is frozen again. While that is in the freezer place about 2 cups or so of whole almonds on a cookie sheet and toast them at 350 degrees for about 5-7 minutes or until you can smell them. Place them on a cooling sheet and chop them once they've cooled. Once the ice cream has set, take a can of fudge topping and pour it all over the top of the ice cream. I recommend being very generous with it because it will only make the pie that much better. Then put it back in the freezer till that has set. Once it is set, take a can of whip cream and make little mounds all around and in the middle of the pie, sprinkle with almonds and put back in the freezer till your ready to serve it. The end result looks a little something like this.
It is so yummy!!! I could seriously eat the entire thing by myself!
That same weekend my sister, Hope, and Seth took me to the Wisdom Tea House in Monument for a belated birthday present. If you live in the Colorado Springs/Monument area and have not been there you must plan a trip soon. This is my new favorite place! It is this adorable tea house and you go order your tea, pick out your tea cup and saucer, and then they bring you your tea. You can also order food and scones to go with your tea. I absolutely love it! I got the peach vanilla tea and it was heaven in a cup! It beats Starbucks any day of the week in my opinion. Stop by and see what I mean. Here is a picture of Hope and I with our tea cups. Well, actually she is holding the cream cup. She seemed to like that better than her actually tea cup! :)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Mail Update
Well, we finally started getting our mail again. This Tuesday I opened my mailbox and there it was! The good news is that I did get my birthday cards that family sent me. The not so good news is that I still have yet to see my Martha Stewart or Julia Child cookbook. I contacted both sellers and the Martha people told me that if I don't get my magazine by May 1st, then I should call them and they will send me the April edition. So, I will still get it but just have to wait a bit longer, and I don't know about you, but I have a hard time waiting. Oh, well I'm sure I'll live somehow! :) As for the cookbook, I contacted the sender and he told me he was sending me another one today UPS so I should get that sometime at the beginning of next week. So, it all worked out ok, as things usually always do, it all is just taking a little bit longer than expected.
Ok, on to something that is much more exciting to me. Recently I changed my major to Human Resources from Elementary Education. This was such a wonderful decisions for so many reasons, one being that I had all of my credits from my previous school count towards my degree. That equals less time and less money!! Anyway, when I switched it my evaluation told me that I only had one elective to finish to be done with my general education part. Well at the time I was registered for a history class and thought, great I'll just take this class and be done!. Well, then I thought, this is silly I should just test out of some class since it's only an elective credit that I need, so I dropped the class. Well, my advisor called me the other day and told me that I actually have all my electives completed!! I guess their system only shows classes up to how many you need and any additional classes it doesn't bring up. So, since I was registered for that history class it must have pushed one of my previous classes out of the way so it made it seem like I needed one more classs for my electives, and when I dropped it, that class showed up. Needless to say I am one happy camper!! So now I will actually have a little over a week and a half of school off before I start my summer semester!! Thank you Lord Jesus for that unexpected blessing!!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Ok, on to something that is much more exciting to me. Recently I changed my major to Human Resources from Elementary Education. This was such a wonderful decisions for so many reasons, one being that I had all of my credits from my previous school count towards my degree. That equals less time and less money!! Anyway, when I switched it my evaluation told me that I only had one elective to finish to be done with my general education part. Well at the time I was registered for a history class and thought, great I'll just take this class and be done!. Well, then I thought, this is silly I should just test out of some class since it's only an elective credit that I need, so I dropped the class. Well, my advisor called me the other day and told me that I actually have all my electives completed!! I guess their system only shows classes up to how many you need and any additional classes it doesn't bring up. So, since I was registered for that history class it must have pushed one of my previous classes out of the way so it made it seem like I needed one more classs for my electives, and when I dropped it, that class showed up. Needless to say I am one happy camper!! So now I will actually have a little over a week and a half of school off before I start my summer semester!! Thank you Lord Jesus for that unexpected blessing!!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
US Postal Service
So, I have a little bit of a bone to pick with the US postal service. For a little over a week now, Jordan and I have not been receiving our mail. At first, we were getting our neighbors mail but ever since last Wednesday, we have not been getting a single piece of mail. This is odd because we always get at least junk mail. What makes it even more odd is that it is really only us and at least one of our neighbors that this has been happening to. On top of that, what makes the situation even more annoying is this. Last week was my birthday so my mom, grandma, sister, and uncle all sent me a birthday card which I haven't gotten and don't know if I ever will. In addition to that, my mom got me the Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook by Julia Child, which I have been DYING to have, and I that might have come this last week. Plus, my Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine was supposed to come this last week as well. All of which I have yet to posses and am convinced one of my neighbors is just hording my Martha and Julia literature from me and cooking amazing things in the meantime. :) Of course we also have bills and that stuff, but those aren't nearly as important as my cooking material! ;) Yea, I'm sure that's exactly what my husband is thinking too. I know it may seem like a childish thing but I've been super bummed this entire week and everyday I eagerly run to the mailbox to see if any of it has come. Why is it that it's always when you're really excited for something to come in the mail that your mail person decides to take a vacation and you have a sub?
But seriously, I have been convicted about my attitude towards this mail sub and was praying this morning for God to give me a more gracious heart towards whoever this person is. No matter what has happened I have no right to think such wretched things of that person in my mind. I'm just praying that our mail is in a pile somewhere in the post office and that they haven't just put it in someone else's box, because if that's the case, I don't think I'll ever see it. Lord willing if one of our neighbors does have our mail though, they will return it to us soon.
Sorry this wasn't a very upbeat blog, but thanks for letting me whine about it in writing! :)
But seriously, I have been convicted about my attitude towards this mail sub and was praying this morning for God to give me a more gracious heart towards whoever this person is. No matter what has happened I have no right to think such wretched things of that person in my mind. I'm just praying that our mail is in a pile somewhere in the post office and that they haven't just put it in someone else's box, because if that's the case, I don't think I'll ever see it. Lord willing if one of our neighbors does have our mail though, they will return it to us soon.
Sorry this wasn't a very upbeat blog, but thanks for letting me whine about it in writing! :)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Fruit Anyone?
Ok, so this past Tuesday I received a whopping 56 pounds of lushes fruit! Down the street from my house there is a wonderful all natural market called Taste of Life. The woman who owns it is such a doll and she is where Stacey and I order all of our grain that we grind to make flour. Well, she also places bulk orders for the most wonderful frozen fruit from Bithell Farms in Oregon. This fruit is great for making smoothies, pies, ice cream, and jam (which I am going to make whenever I finally buy the jars). Anyway, this farm is all natural and doesn't use any pesticides on their fruit. The result, beautiful, great tasting, and healthy fruit! Each type of fruit you order comes in a 14 lb. box. This time around I ordered strawberries, red raspberries, blueberries, and peaches! This is how I was able to acquire 56 lbs. of fruit. Totally it took me 12 and a half gallon and 2 quart sized freezer bags. Here is the final result when it was all said and done.
Just look at how vibrant the color of that fruit is!! You can just tell it's going to taste better(And it really does. I snacked on some while I was bagging! :)).
Don't these peaches look amazing?! I can't wait to make some homemade peach ice cream this summer! And look how red those raspberries and strawberries are!
So, if your in the Colorado Springs/Monument area and have not yet been to Taste of Life, I HIGHLY recommend you go. The taste and quality of the food is amazing. Plus, since it is small and quaint, it allows you to step back into time when people actually talked to and knew their customers, and vice-versa. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy my delicious fruit! All 56 lbs of it! :)
Just look at how vibrant the color of that fruit is!! You can just tell it's going to taste better(And it really does. I snacked on some while I was bagging! :)).
Don't these peaches look amazing?! I can't wait to make some homemade peach ice cream this summer! And look how red those raspberries and strawberries are!
So, if your in the Colorado Springs/Monument area and have not yet been to Taste of Life, I HIGHLY recommend you go. The taste and quality of the food is amazing. Plus, since it is small and quaint, it allows you to step back into time when people actually talked to and knew their customers, and vice-versa. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy my delicious fruit! All 56 lbs of it! :)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Easter Weekend and Breakfast
We had such a wonderful Easter this past weekend! Both Jordan and I had off of work on Friday, one of the great perks of working for a Christian non-profit ministry. Friday and Saturday Jordan went snowboarding with his brother so I hung out with my sister, her husband, niece, and nephew on Friday. We had so much fun! We went up to the Children's Museum up in Denver and boy is that place amazing! I can just imagine being a kid playing there, probably because I enjoyed so much as an adult! :) I pretty much spent our time there running after Miss Hope, my niece, which was very entertaining!
Later that night I got to hang out with a wonderful friend of mine, Kristin. I really don't like staying by myself when Jordan is not there, so Kristin humored me and spent the night with me. It was so much fun! We just hung out, watched a movie, looked at her Julia Child cookbook(which my mom got me for my birthday and I can't wait till it comes! It's amazing!!) and chatted. I absolutely love getting to have some quality girl time!
The next day was baking galore day! I had to make some stuff to take to an Easter lunch that we went to on Sunday and our dear friends', Charlie and Shelby, house. These are some of the outcomes that came from this day.
This is the pound cake I made which I used for this strawberry shortcake dessert that I made. I forgot to take a picture of the actual finished strawberry shortcake dessert but you can find it here. Let me just say that this dessert is AMAZING!!!! Everyone loved it so much that there was none left at the end of the day. If your looking for a quick and wonderful dessert, you must try this! There really are no words for how delicious this dessert is! So, I used the pound cake in the recipe in replace of angel food cake because I just like it better! This pound cake is also delicious just by itself.
This was the quiche I made. I made a basic pie crust for this dish, but you could always use a premade pie crust as well. I grind my own flour and the flour that I used for this was the soft white wheat. It makes this the most flaky and wonderful crust! Then I really just threw stuff in the quiche, no real recipe. I used crispy turkey bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, caramelized about 5 shallots and half a small yellow onion, spinach, and then sprinkled the top with Swiss cheese. For the egg part I broke 5 eggs into a 4 cup holder and whisked those together and then added milk till it got to the 2 cup line (This is a trick I got from my friend Kristin the night before)and poured that over all the other ingredients. Then I baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes. It turned out pretty darn good if you ask me!
Our Easter service at church was amazing! We are so blessed to go to such a wonderful church and have such an amazing pastor! The Easter message is really what it is all about. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity would be like every other religion. Praise the Lord that it is not!! My God is a living God and reigns in Heaven, and because of that I am able to be His daughter! There really isn't anything better!
These next two picture are what I made Jordan and I for breakfast this morning with the leftover ingredients I had from the quiche.
I just used 2 eggs for this omelet and added turkey bacon, tomatoes, spinach, and Swiss and Parmesan cheese! Great way to use up the rest of the leftovers I had in the frig. Jordan loved it!
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Rejoice that our Savior has risen!!
Later that night I got to hang out with a wonderful friend of mine, Kristin. I really don't like staying by myself when Jordan is not there, so Kristin humored me and spent the night with me. It was so much fun! We just hung out, watched a movie, looked at her Julia Child cookbook(which my mom got me for my birthday and I can't wait till it comes! It's amazing!!) and chatted. I absolutely love getting to have some quality girl time!
The next day was baking galore day! I had to make some stuff to take to an Easter lunch that we went to on Sunday and our dear friends', Charlie and Shelby, house. These are some of the outcomes that came from this day.
This is the pound cake I made which I used for this strawberry shortcake dessert that I made. I forgot to take a picture of the actual finished strawberry shortcake dessert but you can find it here. Let me just say that this dessert is AMAZING!!!! Everyone loved it so much that there was none left at the end of the day. If your looking for a quick and wonderful dessert, you must try this! There really are no words for how delicious this dessert is! So, I used the pound cake in the recipe in replace of angel food cake because I just like it better! This pound cake is also delicious just by itself.
This was the quiche I made. I made a basic pie crust for this dish, but you could always use a premade pie crust as well. I grind my own flour and the flour that I used for this was the soft white wheat. It makes this the most flaky and wonderful crust! Then I really just threw stuff in the quiche, no real recipe. I used crispy turkey bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, caramelized about 5 shallots and half a small yellow onion, spinach, and then sprinkled the top with Swiss cheese. For the egg part I broke 5 eggs into a 4 cup holder and whisked those together and then added milk till it got to the 2 cup line (This is a trick I got from my friend Kristin the night before)and poured that over all the other ingredients. Then I baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes. It turned out pretty darn good if you ask me!
Our Easter service at church was amazing! We are so blessed to go to such a wonderful church and have such an amazing pastor! The Easter message is really what it is all about. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity would be like every other religion. Praise the Lord that it is not!! My God is a living God and reigns in Heaven, and because of that I am able to be His daughter! There really isn't anything better!
These next two picture are what I made Jordan and I for breakfast this morning with the leftover ingredients I had from the quiche.
I just used 2 eggs for this omelet and added turkey bacon, tomatoes, spinach, and Swiss and Parmesan cheese! Great way to use up the rest of the leftovers I had in the frig. Jordan loved it!
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Rejoice that our Savior has risen!!
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