Transitions

A transition is defined as movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change. I'd say this sums up my life right now-- a life in transition. Although my particular life is not the one in direct change, I feel like everything and everyone around me is moving, liquid, rearranging itself. Therefore, each of those changes does affect my life. Some to note are: one of my best friends is moving-- the results of this are yet to be determined. She hasn't moved yet, but will be very soon. I already miss her at work and that has definitely been an adjustment to not have her to talk to each day! Another: my supervisor has accepted a new job. He will be leaving and I am left here at work trying to run a program with my one year of experience and someone else's (whoever takes his place) brand new knowledge and training. More you ask? We have been getting involved with the college group at church and just yesterday the couple that is in charge of our group announced that they would be leaving to accept a position with FCA here in Fort Worth. We have been getting new neighbors at our apartment...louder, unfamiliar, different. The girl I worked with at the nursery on Wednesday night decided to quit. Many, MANY, of the girls I originally started working here with have had babies, graduated, and/or moved. I'm talking... let's see... eight or nine, maybe even ten!

All of this to say, it's a challenging time in my life. I'm choosing to stay optimistic because I know I can grow through these changes, learn more about myself, meet new people, etc. I am not opposed to change, especially when I know it is positively effectiving someone else's life: promotion, job, baby, graduation! How can I be sad when those are such positive things for my friends? I choose to remain faithful to the tasks God has given me while we live here in Fort Worth. I choose to remain positive and put my best foot forward each day to embrace changes at the work place. I choose to encourage my friends and truly feel joy and happiness for them. I choose to rely on God and fall in His arms when it all feels too overwhelming!

"For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him. In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them." Philippians 2:13-15

To life...full of current transitions and more to come!

It's starting to sink in...

I really miss you!

I Reedz Rill Guhd!

I've been reading more recently... and I like it. For a long time I felt I could only read one book at a time. I needed to focus. I didn't want distractions. I didn't want to confuse plots, storylines, and characters between books. I wanted to digest every detail that I read. But now, I'm moving on to bigger things: multiple books at one time! Currently, I'm reading, "Girls Gone Wise" for a Bible Study I'm about to start up on Friday, "Having a Mary Spirit" by Joanna Weaver (reading it with a friend), and "Moment of Weakness" by Karen Kingsbury (have to throw in a little fiction over-the-top drama!). I like the new challenge it is providing me, especially when I have certain time-lines to complete chapters by, review, answer questions, etc. I have to be more aware of how much I'm reading and make sure I'm completing my "assignments" on time. I like the challenge because from time to time I feel inklings of wishing I was taking a class or at least doing something to stimulate my learning and cause me to do some critical thinking. And I love how some times, the books align and reinforce the material I'm learning. And to top it off, I've been reading from Ezekiel recently and some of what I've been reading in there conincides with the material from my books. How cool! Now granted, I've gotten to the point where I'm starting to need to write something down somewhere to show how all of the ideas/goals/concepts relate, so I'm a little overwhelmed. But overall, instead of being frustrated at too many details going into too many directions, it's been great to see it all come together. I love when trying something new pays off!

To life... full of books to read and thoughts to share!

Prayers

Today I had a thought cross my mind that had never occurred to me before. As I was saying, "Lord, please keep Jeremiah safe" for the 254th time, I wondered, is God tired of me asking the same thing?

My fleshly side said, "Yes, don't you get annoyed when people ask and say the same things over and over?" But the Bible tells us:

"Pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17

"In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God." Luke 6:12

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." Mark 1:35

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philipians 4:6-7

These promises tell me that, No, God will never tire of my prayers. I believe that it is important to pray continually, especially when it replaces my tendency to worry about things beyond my control. It is also important that I am praying my prayers in faith and believe that they will be answered and not just saying things or speaking words that mean nothing or don't resound in my heart. "Lord, please keep Jeremiah safe. I am confident you will. Amen."

"Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." Job 14:5

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22

Birthday Party!

As has been the case for a few years now, my birthday celebrations are starting to last closer to a week rather than just one day of intense celebration. I like it! It's fun to have something to look forward to every day for awhile rather than one day that may or may not go according to plan. Friday kicked off my birthday week/10+ days. Jeremiah and I went to eat at Charleston's again-- I'm pretty sure it will be our new celebration restaurant! I got an awesome sandwich that had chicken, swiss, tomatoes, bacon, avocado, sprouts, and honey mustard-- shocking even myself, I didn't remove any of those items from it! It was all wonderful. Then I got some birthday ice cream!



Granted, it was a scoop of vanilla ice cream with (probably) spray can whipped cream and some chocolate sauce and a blue candle. But I ate it all-- minus the candle ;-) Oh, and I let Jeremiah have a couple bites, but not much more. It made me happy



As you know from the previous post, I decided to make my own birthday cake this year. And boy did I pick a winner.



Doesn't it look like it needs a bright blue ribbon on it? No? Well it definitely looks like it needs to be in my belly. Let me tell you a little about this cake. I started by sifting (yes, I was very particular about following the directions precisely) all the dry ingredients. Then I added in all the wet and ingredients and whisked away (yes, I mixed it up by hand too!)



Then I poured it into three, greased 9" pans and baked it. I probably checked it more than necessary, but I really didn't want to burn it or mess it up. Then I made this:



Delicious, glorious, wonderful peanut butter cream cheese frosting! I put it in the middle and all over the cake... see?





This was my first try at a three layer cake. But we aren't done yet. Now we need to add some peanut butter chocolate ganache...



Oh yeah, that's the stuff! We had to leave it alone for a few hours. So we went to Red Robin and got awesome hamburgers and bottomless fries! Then we came back and played Mario Party 8-- my new Wii game from hubby before we ate the cake. Now if I wasn't so in to trying new things, this cake would be my birthday cake for the rest of my life! It was amazing and everyone should get a chance to try it sometime. Definitely worth 5 stars in my book! After cake and ice cream, we played Cranium. It was a lot of fun and we had a great night. Thanks to my friends who came and spent the evening with us! It was a great birthday weekend and my birthday's not even here yet! To life... full of birthday celebrations!

Ice Cream and Cookies

Last week I decided to try something new: ice cream sandwiches. Now you may be thinking, "New? Ice cream sandwiches are new?" and the answer is no, I have heard of ice cream sandwiches plenty of times and I've eaten many in my lifetime. But I have never MADE them. And, boy, am I glad I did! For my first excursion I started out pretty basic, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and used a cookie scoop so the cookies would be fairly uniform and round. Once I had let them cool, I scooped a good amount of vanilla ice cream in the middle, wrapped them up in tin foil, then I put them in the freezer to harden. They were easy and delicious! A perfect treat for the summer (sadly I have no picture... sorry)! Then one night I added a bit of peanut butter to one of my bites and it was awesome! That got my mind going and I started thinking of all the combinations I could try: peanut butter cookies with chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip cookies with coffee ice cream, adding in a layer of peanut butter between the cookies and the ice cream, the possibilites are limitless!! Now I'm very excited to try out new combinations throughout the summer. It is so nice to just be able to reach into the freezer and pull out a cold, yummy treat on a hot day! Any other combinations you'd like to see me try or that you've tried yourself? Let me know, I'd be happy to hear some more.
My birthday is coming up soon and I decided it'd be fun to make my own cake this year. These two stopped me in my tracks and I keep going back to re-visit them ever since I found them. I have one that I'm leaning toward, but I'd enjoy getting your input as to what you think I should try for my birthday this year.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake from Smitten Kitchen
OR
Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake from Smitten Kitchen
I'll be making it soon, so let me know what you think! To life... full of many sweet, summer days!

Another Random Post

It's been awhile folks, and for that, I apologize. Even today, I'm not sure what I will write about. So I'm thinking maybe I'll just look through some of the pictures I've taken recently and that will give you a little insight into what we've been up to these first days of May.

One of my best friends had her baby. We got to visit her in the hospital. She's less than 24 hrs. old here!


Jeremiah even got in on the baby-holding action


I made Carrot Cake Cookies. They are pretty darn delicious!


Last weekend we went to the Celebration of Life Gala put on by Pregnancy Lifeline. It was at the Museum of Modern Art which was featuring an Andy Warhol exhibit. So we got to tour the exhibit, have an amazing dinner, and hear from the director of Pregnancy Lifeline about some of the statistics from last year. It was a great night!


To Life... and all its ups and downs.