Wrapping Up the Semester

Where has the time gone? I am now almost done with my first semester of graduate school. A year ago, even the first part of this summer, the thought of continuing my education still seemed like just a dream, and here I am with 3 courses behind me! It has definitely not been an easy semester. There were moments when the reading list and assignments for the week seemed so overwhelming and of course those were the weeks when work was also crazy, leaving me little time for homework. But, I have survived, and I hope that I have learned a few things a long the way. I confess I am not always the best at truly soaking up information; often I just work to get it all done and I don't take the time to let what I'm studying stick with me. But, here are a few things I will take away from the semester.

~ I now have the route memorized to DBU and could probably do it in my sleep (although I wouldn't advise this method as Texas drivers are slightly crazy). But, in the drive to school I have experienced wielding my way through the bottleneck traffic of 2 accidents, 3 drives during rush hour, and countless times of defensive driving when some of the afore mentioned crazy drivers have decided they just had to be in my lane. This might sound pretty insignificant, but for a farm girl these were milestones of my driving career.

~ I am mastering the art of writing in the Turabian style, after writing 3 research papers this semester. Considering I had never heard of this style before starting at DBU, I have progressed greatly in footnoting and referencing!

~ I was really inspired this semester by the international students in my class on campus. They are so passionate about taking what they are learning back to their countries and sharing the hope of Christ there.

~ I had taken a theology class in my undergraduate days, but I think this time I cared a little bit more about what I was learning. It's funny, but I went to a college that celebrated John Calvin's birthday, had entire semester classes on Calvinism, and I also attended a Reformed church for 2 years, but I finally have started to understand some of the concepts of Calvin's ideas on justification and predestination this semester. I have also learned that we think our denominations are so different and there are the Reformed distinctives and the Baptist distinctives, but really when you look at it we are a lot more the same than we might think. There might be some traditions that are different across the denominations, but the heart of the Gospel, the Lordship of Christ, the death and resurrection and atoning sacrifice of Jesus, the working of the Holy Spirit, that is what should unite us. I'm not sure if this was something the professor would have wanted me to take away from the semester, but I've seen how as Christians we can get very caught up in the wrong things and miss out on the most important things. This isn't just a problem today, but through the centuries an incorrect perspective has caused so many problems.

~ Our spiritual growth needs to be both personal and in community. In my Spiritual Formation class we studied the spiritual disciplines, and I saw this semester the importance of holding each other accountable in the practice of the disciplines. This shouldn't be done in a rigid way, but the disciplines point us to Christ (or they should) and encourage us to dig deeper in our faith.

~ I now know where to park on campus when the main parking lot is full, saving hours of driving around trying to find a parking place.

It will be good to have a new round of classes next semester and to continue to learn what God has for me. I hope that I will be able to soak up more of the information that is provided for me, as God prepares me for the next season He has in store.

My Life in a Blog-Shell Part #3

Well, dear blog-readers, I have no capers in the kitchen to report to you today. I think I've had about all the baking I can take for a little while. :) Although I must admit, I keep thinking of from-scratch delights I could whip up and then I remember my aching back, the mounds of dishes and the hours of baking, and I change my mind pretty quickly.

The big news of the day, okay the whole week, is that I'M DONE WITH PAPERS FOR THE SEMESTER! I handed in my last one yesterday, and oh it was a lovely feeling! Now I just have 2 finals and I discovered yesterday that the final for my class on campus will be something we hand in online, so no more driving out to DBU for me! Well, until mid-January.

Today was exhausting, but it was fun. I had MOPS this morning, so I played ball, read books, held crying 2-year olds and overall had a jolly time. :) This evening we had a little party in my girls' Bible study, and they chowed down on my Christmas cookies like there was no tomorrow. That made all those hours and hours of baking completely worth it! After Bible study I decided to drive around and look at Christmas lights. I'm not sure if I was feeling nostalgic, adventurous or what, but it was lovely! I didn't really know where to go but was just praying for one really beautiful house. And God answered that prayer with several amazing houses dressed to the nines. There is something about white icicles, and red, blue, and whatever other colors of bulbs strung around rooftops and treetops and porch railings that makes the heart happy, at least this little heart.

Well, this will probably be the last in this series of adventurous blogs. The house will fill back up this weekend, and until then my activities will be cleaning the house (I have a lot more experience in this area than cooking) and getting ready for those finals! I have enjoyed this window of adventure and independence and I hope you have at least been a bit entertained.

So, if you know of a 20-something bachelor looking for a young woman to cook fabulous 5-course meals....um, well, I will introduce him to my sister. But if he would settle for gal who can follow a recipe and wash dishes and make a pretty stellar Christmas cookie , I just might be the one. ;) That is, if he's willing to go to deepest, darkest Africa to help me share Jesus with whatever tribes I can find there! Okay, you know I'm just kidding about the whole bachelor thing! :)

Alright, dear blog-readers, this is over and out until next time! Blessings to you!

My Life in a Blog-Shell Part #2

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (and Christmas Cookies)

Hello, my lovely blog readers! Are you ready for part two of my adventures while Lena is away?

So, for my supper Monday night I was in the mood for a little something Italian, and the meal of choice was Spaghetti and Meatballs. I didn't have a recipe for meatballs in hand so Sunday night I did what any self-respecting, twenty-three year old would do in that situation- I googled Meatball recipes! After perusing suggestions from Rachel Ray, the Italian dood on the Food Network and others, I put together my very own version of a meatball recipe. Last night I fashioned this fabulous fare with some beef, ground crackers, crushed red pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, chopped jalapeno pepper, and a little Parmesan cheese, and prepared my little meatball wonders. The aroma as they were baking was simply tantalizing! My lack of tons of experience in the kitchen makes it a little difficult to do a bunch of things at once, so I thought I might have a minor catastrophe as I cooked the angel hair pasta, prepared the garlic bread and heated the sauce all at the same time, but it all came together beautifully, and there was no one was harmed in the making of this meal. For your viewing pleasure here is a picture of my full meal: angel hair pasta with sauce and Meatballs a la Sarah, spinach salad with Feta cheese, garlic bread, and a little sparkling grape juice.

So now, on to Christmas cookies! Growing up, there were several Christmas cookies that got made every year. New ones were added along the way that became family favorites, but there were those that were the tried and true essentials to the Christmas season. One such recipe was for Vanilla Butter Sugar cookies. So convenient to the have the main ingredients listed in the title! I decided that it would be fun to whip up a batch of these holiday morsels for the girls in my Bible study and others to enjoy.

First of all, do you know how hard it is to find cookie cutters in Wal-mart? Perhaps you would know exactly where to go, but I did not. I searched in the baking mix area where they have food coloring and sprinkles and such, then I checked out the baking utensil area, and finally the seasonal displays near the front. Nothing! I had almost given up , but I headed back to the craft area to get some glue, when, what did I see, not just one but several choices even in cookie cutters! They were located by the themed plates and party favors in the craft area. So, if you are ever in need of Christmas cookie cutters, try there first and save yourself from wandering all over Wal-mart!

As soon as I got home last night from work and errands, I began mixing up the dough for the cookies. You see, it has to chill in order to ease the experience of cutting out the shapes. I made my meatballs, which I have already described to you, while the dough got good and ready to be cut out into trees, snowmen and candy canes. Here is a snapshot of the mixing process.

After supper and the first round of dishes for the evening, I pulled the dough out of the fridge ready to create some festive cookies. In order to roll out the dough you must place it on a floured surface using a floured rolling pin and floured cookie cutters. In most things in life I consider myself pretty conservative, and I guess I am also conservative when it comes to flour. My first few attempts at cutting out stocking shapes ended up in some pretty sorry-looking socks, I'm afraid. I decided to throw caution to the wind and dumped out the flour with wild abandon. I also gave up on the rolling pin and went to using my fingers (don't worry they were quite clean). Here are some pictures of the dough going through the cutting-out and shaping process.

After baking my cookies, it was time to frost and sprinkle! This is the fun part and normally at my house it's a family affair. We fight over who gets the cool sprinkles or who has to frost. It takes a whole lot longer when you have to do it by yourself! But, I got it done, and they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Here is the finished product.

After doing dishes for about the fourth time of the evening, it was only 9:30 p.m. and I was inspired. So, I looked in the pantry for what other Christmas concoction I could come up with. We had a bag of peanut butter cookie mix and so I thought I could make those and if we had some kisses or chocolate chips I could add those to the top for a little decoration. As I searched the candy jar, I discovered we only had one chocolate kiss, but we did have about 18 peanut butter cups! With the creative juices flowing, I checked out Lena's pan supply and discovered she had a mini-muffin tin, and the complete idea hatched. I decided to make a version of a treat called Fudge puddles that my family often makes for the holidays. After calling my mother for affirmation of my plan, I whipped up the cookie dough and baked it in the muffin tin. As soon as it came out of the oven, I pushed the peanut butter cup down in the center of the dough, forming a yummy chocolaty, peanut butter treat. I also had some leftover dough to make regular cookies.

Well, you have probably heard enough about my capers in the kitchen. I don't know what adventures I am going to tackle next, but I hope you will stay tuned! Over and out!

My Life in a Blog-Shell Part #1

From December 4th through 12th, Lena is gone visiting Branson with her siblings, thus leaving me to fend for myself here at home. :) To preserve my sanity amongst final papers, final tests, and any other final things that happen at this time of the semester, I am going to tell you my lovely blog-readers and anyone else who might wish to know just exactly what I'm up to while Lena is gone! Perhaps you might find that my life is mundane and the littlest things amuse me, but that is just fine with me. I do hope you will enjoy a little something different from me on this blog while Lena is gone.

For starters, normally Lena cooks all of our meals (or we go out to eat). Of course, being a good farm-girl, raised in the Midwest and attaining the ranks of 10 years in 4-H, I am not without knowledge in the kitchen. I am a bit inexperienced and out of practice, but I was determined to skip the easy route of frozen dinners (no offense to anyone who eats these time-saving wonders)and cook for myself this week! Please take note of exhibit 1.

My meal of choice last night was Baked Chicken Chimichangas, a little Mexican delight I made completely from scratch (except I guess for the prepared salsa). I even cooked the chicken breasts, leading to the only minor snafu of the evening when the pot boiled over slightly. But, no worries, everything cleaned up just fine and the chicken was not harmed in the least! To complete my meal I dined on Southwestern rice, and added a little lettuce and sour cream to take a little off of the chili powder-induced kick to the chimichangas. In case you would like to enjoy these as I did, I am including the recipe.

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. olive oil

1/3 cup chili powder

16 oz. jar salsa

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 lb. cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded

6 10-inch flour tortillas

1 cup refried beans

Olive oil

Sour cream

Guacamole

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 15 x 10-in. baking pan. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in chili powder, 2/3 jar salsa, water, cumin, and cinnamon. Pour the mixture into a blender; process until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan; stir in chicken. Add salt to taste. Working with one tortilla at a time, spoon a heaping Tablespoon of refried beans down the center of the tortilla. Top with about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture. Place in a greased baking pan, seam-side down. Brush all sides with oil. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp, turning every 5 minutes. Serve with remaining salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

Yield: 6 servings (if you are a bachelorette such as myself this recipe is quite easy to cut in half)

And there you have it! A little Mexican meal to tantalize your taste buds.

What else might be occupying my time other than working marvels in the kitchen? I alluded to it at the beginning of this post: paperwriting! I am in full force mode, blasting my way to the finish line of papers for this semester. I will turn in one this evening, and then if procrastination does not get the best of me, I will finish up my last paper to turn in during class on Tuesday night. Perhaps this will give a little picture of what my paper-writing looks like: books piled high, papers strewn about, and a cup of joe to keep me going.

So, here ends my first installment in this series. Please stay tuned for further cooking/studying/whatever-else-I-can-come-up-with adventures!

A Grateful Thanksgiving

Last week I got to drive up to Nebraska to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I came back on Monday with a heart full of gratefulness, and even though Thanksgiving was almost a week ago I'm going to share a list of what I'm especially thankful for this season.

- My family! Staying up late talking with my siblings, wonderful Thanksgiving meals, the provision of the small and big things by my parents, a 3-hour Apples to Apples game with cousins, and refreshing, healing laughter.

- My home church! Like any body of imperfect human beings they have their faults and I don't always agree with everything they do, but they support me faithfully, and I was encouraged by a wonderful worship service and sermon while I was home.

- My work in Texas! God opened up this door for me to work in Texas, and I enjoy the work he was given me to do. The last couple of days in the office have been busy, but I have been reminded that although I might not be on the front lines of ministry in regards to being on the field, I still play a role in taking the Gospel to the people who still need to hear it.

- Lena and my home in Texas! From food every day to a listening ear, I'm so thankful for Lena's provision for me and for her friendship.

- Reminders of God's love! In the last couple of days God has provided in cool ways for paying for next semester of school. This morning it snowed (yes, in Texas!) and for some reason, I suppose because being from the Midwest this is a familiar sight, I just was filled with joy. It was a fun reminder of home and of God's provision of safety.

Here is a picture of the Plano office: Kent and Erika Parks, Eric Eldridge, and me