Holly Starr - Psalm 23

Trip Lee - I'm Good Ft. Lecrae (@triplee116 @Lecrae)

Fridays Letters

dear fears I really want to kick you to the curb, I'm a punk when you're around.

dear australia I'm thinking & praying about coming, get ready! dear laptop I am very thankful for you, because of your existence in my life my job is so much easier to do. dear apples I am sad that the price that is required in order to purchase you has gone so high, so I suppose it shall be pumpkin everything for fall! dear boots your inagural wear on saturday was great, I was looking good! However the combination of extensive heel wearing, running on the tredmill (I don't usually do the tredmill) and wearing new shoes (for 6+ hours) made me so sore! dear treadmill I am not a runner, but I am rather proud of the fact that I ran longer then 5 consecutive minutes today, more like 10 so you know...

dear kb/lecrae/trip lee/andy mineo I'm brushing up on my gangtsa, you have no idea how geeked I am about the concert in a week. I COULD WEEP! dear job I've had enough of you this week, it's been real. I'm grateful for my two days off and the lesser work week next week. dear kid at work you are sweet, I love how you want to go and read Revelation before bed, and that you know the books of the Bible and that your favorite is Jeremiah! dear Bible good stuff...

Nehemiah 9:28

²⁸ “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.

Hebrews 9:28

New International Version (NIV)

²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Part of letting go...

You'll have to excuse me, I am about to do something I have never done before;

but maybe it's necessary every now and then, to let go & try not to control everything. 

 

Lately I feel like everything has been crazy busy,

I've been running here & there,

editing like a mad women!

As of last week I had five shoots to edit

& added another Saturday.

I've made progress on that...

Once I finished one, two others were completed.

I love photography,

but I hate the stress of deadlines;

especially when people keep bothering me about it.

As much as I would love it,

photography is not my main job

& I only have so much time.

Before going to South Africa

& since coming back I have been under a lot of pressure.

Some of it is brought upon by my own doing

& the expectations I seem to have for myself.

Which makes that pressure totally unnessessary.

 

 

When one puts so much expectation on oneself,

guilt is inevitable.

I need to practice being more of a "Mary" then a "Martha"

(Luke 10:38-42)

{I've been listening to a sermon series on the book of Luke,  by Mark Driscoll} 

Martha is a doer, a full schedule, active, planner, Type A, task orientated, all about the presents for Jesus rather then Mary who is concerned with the presence of Jesus.

Mary is contemplative, word based, Type B, relational, full heart.

Don't get me wrong, the Bible says "...but be ye doers of the Word not hearers only."

so there is something to be said about accomplishing things,

but when you run & run & run for God but never have time with the Lord,

you might as well be a hearer only & you (I am included) decieve yourself.

This has been something God has been teaching me for some time!

Since returning from Africa God has been pointing things out in my life that He is working on. For awhile I was so focused on "these things I have to work on" but as I was talking with a friend, I felt discouraged, my friend suggested that I look at it as things God is developing in me. God has been developing a lot, it's rough!

If you try to be both a "Mary" & "Martha" you are exhausted, a "Martha's" day begins early in the morning & goes until sundown, trying to squeeze a "Mary" moment (prayerful time with the Lord) it's not worth anything.

Lord, give me a "Mary's heart" & "Martha's hands",

help me to let go of the unimportant & get my priorities in order.

 

I've also been reading (yes, reading! btw if you didn't know, I rarely read anything but the Bible. Not that nothing else is worth reading, I just don't have time.)I

've been reading "Radical" by David Platt,

if you haven't read it, go find it and read it.

This book will wreck your life & your view of "the church".

But I'll get into that & what it says at a later time...

but seriously, go read it!

____________

 

One thing I have made time for, other then editing, is cooking/baking with my dear friend Heather.

She was in Mozambique all summer so our days of cooking & baking took a 3 month sabatical.

Since she came back we have had 3 days together of baking & cooking gooness.

We've made Blueberry cupcakes with lemond curd,

pumpkin cinnamon rolls, lettuce wraps. We tried making a spinach/tomato orzo soup, it was more like an orzo dish with no broth...oops!

 

This week we made baked apples with an oatmeal, struesel topping.

&

Spinach/feta bake.

_______

 

| BAKED APPLES |

 

The baked apples were so easy.

This is how it goes...

Large Apples  (I used Gala appples)

*We cut the apples in half & used a small ice cream scoop to take out the core/stem & make a "bowl" for the topping to go in.

*for the topping I mixed butter, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, ginger & all spice together. (I didn't have quite enough butter so I added some EVOO)

I used the small ice cream scoop to scoop the topping onto the apples,

then baked them @ 350 for about 35 min.

 

They came out so great! Tastes like apple crisp, with more apple. 

 

| Spinach & Feta Bake | 

 

This was so good!

 

1st step: Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray.

2nd step: In medium sauce pan cook onion & garlic in hot oil until onion is tender.

 3rd step: combine 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup crumbled feta, 1 egg in a bowl & mix it all together.

4th step: combined cooked onions to the mixture of cottage cheese, feta & egg.

5th step: cook spinach in light oil and garlic (we used about12-18 oz of fresh spinach)

6th step: when spinach is cooked combine with the cottage cheese, feta, egg & onion mixture. Mix together & put in 9-inch pie plate.

7th step: mix bread crumbs and parmesan cheese together & sprinkle on top.

8th step: bake @ 350 for 30-35 min.

Makes about 6 servings.

 

I am not usually a leftovers fan, but for this I was!

Enjoy.

 

__________

 

*By the way, the thing I did that I have never done before is...

posting photos without editing them.

The photos in the post are 100% unedited, straight from the camera.

(That is so scary to me...)

Honestly, the photos look good {breathe} part of letting go....

mrs. hall

Mrs. Hall,
A beauitful, little bird told me you like to read my blog and look at my pictures. I do apologize for the lack of content lately. Life has been hectic, however I hope to have somethings to say. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy what is to come. Thanks for being a great mom to my dear friend!
-B

ughhh

 

feeling so overwhelmed really needing

 encouragement from the Lord today.

I guess I better get down to business...

*to defeat the Huns*

how PIN-teresting

via

Snickerdoodle cake! I think this would make an excellent wedding cake!

via

via

via

Recipes for homemade vitamin water.

via

via

Coffee cake pancakes.

via

via

23+1=24

It was my 24th birthday today.
It was a good day. Pretty adult. :)

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain and storms. I love.love.love the sound of rain.
Laying in bed when it's dark outside just hearing the soft or rough sound of rain. LOVE IT.
Recently I read Hosea 6:3, hearing the rain reminded me of that.







"Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear....

Hosea 6:3

As I sat listening to the rain that verse was in my head,
rain is refreshing, and it saturates the ground.
Oh that I would press in and acknowledge Jesus.
He will appear!

______
Today went a little like so...

Went to the gym.
breakfast. computer work.
had lunch with my parents.
wandered around some stores.
met friend for time at mall & sushi.
and fro yo!
then target!
Found some cute things!!

(*I would have pics but my phone pics didn't load, maybe I'll post them tomorrow)

I must go for tomorrow will start early.
Babysitting my favorite little guy all day!

On the eve of 24...

I'm taking a tiny break from posting about Africa 

to write something personal about life lately.(I have at least one more installment to come)

Today is the eve of my 24th birthday.... I know 24 really isn't that old, & most of the time I feel like I am still 17. My expectations of what will happen each year are always great, what I think will happen never usually does yet each year I am learning more and more.
This year I decided my theme verse would be 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 "rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." I haven't been doing so great at rejoicing or praying always or giving thanks in all things.
My prayer for the next year of life is to rejoice, to pray always and to give thanks.
Maybe instead of having so many expectations I'll just go with the flow, doing whatever God puts in my heart to do. There are a lot of things I would like to do, but if in a year I can look back and say "yes I rejoiced and prayed and gave thanks" it will be worth it.

The past year has been so much of something... frustrations, surprises, joys, good memories, growth, revelations. I hope this next year there is way more growth - in faith and trust in the Lord. I want a deeper relationship with Jesus. I am seeing so much how important relationships are, it is so hard for me to be relational. (that shows my selfishness and pride) I so desperately want that to be pruned from these branches!
In the midst of all this I know God is good and He has a plan for me. Oh that I would let go, that the wall of selfishness, vanity, pride be broken down. May Gods love and peace reign in my heart and life!

At the end of 2011/beginning of 2012 I made the following list, as for how I am doing with it well....

A. A little spontanaity
I think I have done better at this, if spontanaity and crazy are the same thing. lol
I did go to Paris...like out into Paris on the way to Africa.
B. Be content
at times, at times I feel content. 
C. Creativity. Do crafty/creative things each week.
Eh, so so. I haven't had a lot of time the last few months. I did mod podge maps on to journal books!
D. Do Something Cool
Went to Africa=WAY COOL; Went to Paris=ALSO WAY COOL; went on a safari= SUPER COOL; went hiking up a hill to a waterfall=REALLY COOL
E. "Era" photo shoot
Haven't done this yet.
F. Food, try new recipes & photograph & write them down.
Tried a lot of new ones thanks to cooking/baking days with Heather.
G. Greek. Be able to read Scripture passaged in Greek & translate into English by Christmas of 2012.
OOOH I better start working on this!
H. Have fun.
eh so so
I. Increase skills in photography by researching & trying new things.
New camera has helped this!
J. Jesus time, more often. Be more intentional and carry it out.
Really need to work harder at this.
K. Knit more, create more things.
Yeah that dream went out the window.
L. Live by 1 Thes. 5:16-18.. Rejoice always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances.
Did ok at the beginning of the year (like basically January) but haven't done so hot lately.
M. Make memories.
YES...AFRICA counts as a ton of really really great memories!!!
O. Open a can.....
oh whoop .... (lol) idk or one of worms... eh hope not... [I have no idea what I meant by this]
P. Productive & positive yet restful & relaxed. Live with balance.
eh maybe? most of the time.
Q. Quit making excuses for everything!
no comment...anything I think of to write here sounds like an excuse (like what I just wrote) so apparently I need to keep working on this.
R. Run more. Be more of a runner on 12/31/12 then I am now.
I'm no Marion Jones but..... I'm definitely more of a runner now then I was in Dec of '12...
S. Save money by staying away from "just because" trips to...Target/Biggby?hobby Lobby
The last two weeks have been ok!

T. Take a lot of pictures.

1,800 in Africa alone, I have been taking a lot of pictures! Plus 2 weddings, and some other stuff..