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....