Provisions

In this season of thanksgiving I have been trying to think of all the things I have to be thankful for, and I must say there are far too many to count. God provides for me every single day, from when I take my first breath in the morning to when I close my eyes at night and every single thing in between. With every breath I take I should be thanking the Lord, because his provisions are unending. I do find it a little sad that we take only one day a year to be thankful.  Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving, it really is a special time and the food is fabulous. But shouldn't thanksgiving be more than just one day out of the year? Shouldn't we be living our lives in thanksgiving every day? Easier said than done, I know. I will be the first to admit I am guilty of not being thankful enough because I get caught up in my own life on my own time. I suffer from an extreme case of selfishness.  But thankfully, over the past couple of years God has really been challenging me in this area.

So, in honor of Thanksgiving here are some things my Savior has given me to be thankful for.

1. Number on my list...That He saved me and has given me new life, in Him I am a new creation.

2. My wonderful family that loves me despite my short comings. A patient father, a giving mother, 2 very encouraging sister's, a younger brother who has a big heart (even if he doesn't like to show it) and my dog who is STILL with us after 14 (almost 15) years. 

3. Functioning feet. They may not be the most stable, but I am able to run!

4.My friends who are so different from each other and yet so compatible with me. Friends who I love, adore, and can't get enough of.

5. Financial provisions. Always at the times when I need it the most.  It always blows my mind when I have an unexpected and important expense and money just shows up at my door step.

6. My job. Even if I am not working at the moment because it isn't quite wedding season, I have the greatest job. God provided when I needed it the most even though I was the least qualified.. I'm so blessed that I get to be surrounded by gorgeous flowers and help make someones wedding beautiful. I love getting to see the brides face when she see's her flowers it's very special.

7. Polly my car. She is a trooper!. My grandmother, one of the most generous people I know, gave my parents her old car for me to use when she got a new one. 125,00 miles and still going strong!

8. College. I may not like Cal Poly and school may not be my "thing", but the life lessons I have learned these past 5 years I will take away with me and use years from now. I will say, I will probably be more thankful once I graduate though :)

9. My mistakes. Most of which have ended in a broken heart, but thankfully I can look back on them now and see that with out them I would not have learned to fully rely on God.

10. My bible study. The best part of my week.

11. Being an aunt. I am so in love with my baby niece, she is such a gift from God who has blessed not only her parents, but me as well.

"Give thanks to the Lord our God and King, His love endures forever."

Things I'm Digging

This past week has been full of it all! Big decisions, babies, family, friends, tons of school, roommates, Harry Potter, more school, long nights, early mornings, lots of car time, oh, and way more school...

Here are some things I dug this week:

1) I got to spend a couple extra days in So Cal snuggling this little one...

2) I got to visit with my best friend Jodi.

3) My cousin Lauren drove up from San Diego to meet Adelyn and we had a wonderful time catching up on life.

4) I baked my first homemade pie, pumpkin with graham cracker crust!

5) I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with my roommates on Wednesday night. Complete with a turkey and all the fixings! 

And what is dinner at the Shire without dancing?...

And some of Bercha's Bruschetta!

6)Had my last working Disease and Pest Management Lab on Thursday. I will miss it though, I mean who doesn't want to wear outfits like this?!

Me and my group for the quarter.

7) Had a great bible study Tuesday night on being content. It was a biggie!

8) Had a wonderful Friday coffee date with the beautiful woman I get to disciple.

9) Got to go on a beautiful run with my roommate Caitlin.

10) My roommates hosted a Harry Potter Party at our house complete with goodies and treats to eat from the movie, costumes, and the H.P. soundtrack in the background. The night culminated with going to see the movie, and it was good! May not be the best movie for little children though. None the less, I loved it!

Compliments of Steph

Dobby is by far my favorite.

Enjoying the company :)

So excited!

11) Last, but certainly NOT least. God has really been answering my prayers by showing me and giving me confidence in decisions I have to make. I am about 99% sure where I will be applying to Intern with Crusade next year and I couldn't be more excited. Can't wait to see what God has in store!

Hope you dig your Monday!

Inspired

This past week I was (and still am) extremely inspired by my sister's. If you know me, then you know how much I adore my wonderful parents and younger brother and look up to my older sisters. Well, in the span of three days my sister's both did some amazing things. To start with, on Sunday, November 7, my oldest sister Reese ran the New York Marathon!

Reese with 1 mile to go!

She did awesome too, this woman is a maniac! With horrible asthma, cold  weather, a time change and 26 miles against her, she dominated! I couldn't be more proud of her. We spent that entire morning tracking her, her husband was running all over the course to see her and give us updates at every checkpoint. There was so much excitement in the air! I was training for a Marathon in high school, but had to back out due to an injury, I was bummed.  But, after watching my sister complete this marathon it reignited my desire!

Then, Tuesday provided to be an exciting day as well, I became an Aunt!!!!  My sister Beth had a rough pregnancy. She has had HG (Hyperemesis gravidarum) and I have to admit, it was very hard to watch my sister have to go through that. She was sick her ENTIRE pregnancy and was on Zofran, an anti nausea medicine for chemo patients. Even with the medicine she was just plain sick. I spent the first 9 weeks of her pregnancy pretty much living with her and her husband and taking care of her while she was on bed rest and unable to do anything. We have all been counting down the days to when the little one would arrive.  So after a very long and painful 9 months and 39 long hours of labor Adelyn Grace Brady was welcomed into the world with open arms.

7 lbs. 4 oz. and absolutely perfect!

First time holding my niece! 

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing God is. I look at Adelyn and think to myself how on earth do you do this God?  How did this intricate, little being start from nothing bigger than a sesame seed? She has been handmade, knit together, and wonderfully made by our creator. That just blows my mind! I could go on and on about all the little things I have seen and learned about pregnancy and post pregnancy and how crazy it all is, but we would most likely be here for a long time. I can tell you that whenever I have this beautiful baby in my arms, I can't help but ask myself how people can witness the miracle of life and not believe that there is a God who created it? Only God knows why I guess.  

I can't get enough of her, I am in love.

I think it is safe to say that my sister's are amazing and that I have a lot to live up to! I love how different both of them are from each other and I love to think I have a little bit of both of them in me.  I have and always will look up to them, love and adore them.

 After watching each of them this past week it really got me thinking of things I would love to be apart of and do during my time here on earth.  Now that college is coming to a close (FINALLY) I have a real life to start living and I am so excited for what the Lord has in store. A while ago I came up with a "Life To Do List" of all the things that I would love to be able to do, some of which I actually have been able to! Here are just some of the things I have in mind (in no particular order).

"Life to Do List"

Marry a wonderful, Godly man

Get over my fear of heights

Get over my fear of flying

Have my own garden (complete with a water feature)

Go to New York City

Run a Marathon on the East and West Coast

See a show on Broadway

Travel through Italy

Graduate college (SO CLOSE!!)

Swim in the Jordan

Walk where Jesus walked

Intern for a year for Campus Crusade for Christ (NEXT YEAR!)

Be a mom

Be a (good) mom

Climb Mt. Whitney

Hike half dome

Speak another language fluently

Experience an East Coast Autumn

Play piano again

Have a white Christmas

Experience another culture
Be a good Auntie

Learn to love more and forgive easier

What inspires you and what are you inspired to do?

Seven Years Ago...

This past weekend was wonderful, just what my heart needed to get me through my mid quarter lull.  Along with getting to spend a little time with my parents and brother I got to spend Saturday afternoon with a dear dear friend of mine.

Jackie and I have been friends since high school. We met my sophomore year of high school and her freshman year when I decided to go out for the track team.  Somehow, we ended up being "running buddies" for the rest of my high school career.  Every run we ran (except for races, she was faster than me) we ran them together. Which made training so fun! Not to mention, she was such an encouragement to me when my races were rough. I graduated and went off to Cal Poly while she finished her last year of high school.

Then....

(high school throwback)

We have kept in touch these past few years and it has made for a beautiful friendship. This past weekend, we sat in Starbucks for three and a half hours talking about everything, and I mean everything. But a big portion of our conversation was about something very specific, wedding plans! Jackie got engaged earlier this year and will be getting married in May of 2011 and I could not be more thrilled for her. I'm so honored she has asked me to be apart of her wedding, to stand up with her as one of her bridesmaids as she marries the man of her dreams!

Now...

Here's to 7 years of friendship and many many more!

Riding Off Into The Sunset

I had a long week. Today I was walking out of my BioResource Agricultural Engineering class (it's as exciting as it sounds) and decided I needed to go home...to Los Angeles. I drove home, threw all the clothes lying all over my floor into my hamper and put it in my car, grabbed a couple miscellaneous items, made my bed, and hit the road. I can't forget to mention I had to grab a $1 Sweet Tea from McDonalds for the ride, they are delicious!

I arrived promptly in Santa Barbara at 5pm, just in time for their awful traffic. I was finally able to pass through Santa Barbara and let me tell you, my God's timing could not have been more perfect. I got to witness a breath taking sunset. It was so refreshing to see. I love sunsets, I love that every single one is different. There has never been a sunset, in all of existence that has been like another. Sunsets are also a good reminder of God's consistency. The sun rises and sets every day without fail, no questions asked. A good reminder of how God will always be constant in my life. He is always there, always taking care of me. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. Here are some snap shots of what I got to watch while heading down the 101...

I will leave you with this, the face that greeted me when I got home.

Hope you dig your weekend!

I Don't Dig School, But I am Trying.

I'm going to be quite frank with you, I don't enjoy school and I really have not enjoyed Cal Poly.  I have had a very rough time here and all I want is to be done. I want to leave this place and move on with my life. My relationship with school reminds me of an unhealthy relationship that a lot of women find themselves in with guys. I have been bruised, battered, put down, rejected, left heartbroken and I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have been left in tears. Goodness, I have never cried this much in my entire life. Embarrassing, but true. It is quite unfortunate I can't end my relationship with Poly until June.

A few weeks ago in Bible Study we talked about God's provisions and finding our satisfaction in Him. We read through Exodus 16, Deuteronomy 8:2-10 and John 6:46-51.  I feel like my time here slightly resembles the Israelites 40 years in the Desert. Thank the Lord I don't have to spend 40 years here, but 5 is more than enough for me! I think God is trying to teach me that His provisions are enough, that all I need and will ever need is Him.  I don't think of myself as extremely stubborn, but sometimes I wonder if I am so stubborn that this was the only way that the Lord could reveal himself to me. Definitely something to think about....

These past few years have been long and I have seriously been praying that God would change my attitude and heart toward school. I'm sad to admit that my heart is still hardened (I am a work in progress). But, the Lord as shown me that without being here there are a lot of things that would be lacking in my life. I would never met the people I did...

Specifically these one's :)

Oh, and these one's too!

(I think God has truly blessed me with amazing women in my life)

Along with the wonderful people God has blessed me with I would have never learned about who I am, and most of all my relationship with the Lord would be drastically different. That maybe the greatest thing I have to be thankful for in my college years; discovering who God is, how much he loves and cherishes me, keeping an eternal perspective, loving others, not living in guilt, and how living my life for Him is the only way to live.  If school was what I needed to learn how to live my life for the Lord, then I would do it all over again for Him! Now, Cal Poly is not what saved my life, that was all God. But if I hadn't come here I would have never been a part of Campus Crusade, never had gone to the middle east on a summer project...

(see picture below) 

...and had my world turned upside down. I would have never allowed my walls to come down and let the Lord in.

It is very clear to me that I am where God wanted me to be, even if I don't understand everything, I am confident in that. I never expected school to be this hard and challenging, but I have learned who God wants me to be. I wake up every morning and unwillingly go to my classes, but I know God has a greater purpose in all of this. I would not trade a single one of his provisions for anything!

Now I can walk into my six hours of lab in the morning confident that God is doing his work and shaping me into the woman of God He as created me to be.

Wonderful Wednesday's!

Wednesday nights are one of the things I look forward to most every week, all because I get to spend it with my roommates. These nights are family dinner nights, we switch off making dinner each week and we get to make and try new, delicious recipe's (which we hope to compile and make into a cookbook at the end of the year). Best of all we get to spend time together and hear what is going on in each other's lives; struggles, excitement, what we will be doing over the weekend. You name it, we talk about it. We just get to be women and I absolutely love it! These are the moments with the girls that I want to cherish because time is quickly slipping away. Before we know it, this year will be over and we will be moving out and beginning the rest of our lives.

These nights also give me the opportunity to work on my cooking skills, which I am excited to say are progressing!  I have been researching new recipe's and taking a swing at some of my mom's recipe's (which are fabulous by the way). Here is the recipe that I got from my mom to make last Wednesday. It's quick, easy, delicious and I think it is safe to say that it was a hit (even with a picky eater in the mix).

Swiss Cheese Pie

Ingredients: 

1 ½ Tbsp flour

 1 ½ Cup milk

1 ½ Tsp salt

A pinch of Lawry's seasoned salt

5 Eggs

1 Cup shredded Swiss Cheese

1 Deep dish 9” pie crust

Bacon 

Broccoli 

Shredded carrots

(Add as much of the bacon, broccoli, and carrots as desired).

1) Cook bacon and shred to tiny pieces.

2) Cut broccoli into tiny pieces.

3) Cook broccoli and shredded carrots (microwaving works).

4) Add flour, milk, eggs, salt and seasoned salt in a bowl and mix well.                  

5)Layer Swiss cheese on bottom of pie crust.

6) Add bacon, broccoli and carrots on the top of the cheese.

7) Top off by pouring the flour and egg mixture over the filled pie.

8) Bake at 400 for 15 minutes...

9) Then, turn down oven to 325 and bake for 30 to 40 minutes (until golden brown and bubbly on top).

10) Serve and Enjoy!
(I served with dinner rolls and cut up fruit).

It quickly began to disappear! 

Domination.

None left for our late roommate. You snooze,you loose :P

Wednesday nights make getting through the week that much easier. I love the cooking, eating and even more than those, the company!