Serving Cookies

Although a month delayed in posting, these thoughts have been 

consuming my mind lately. While preparing these cookies for 

a cookie exchange party with friends… 

{Recipe for Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies}

… my thoughts wandered.

{3/4 stick Crisco baking sticks- butter flavored}

{3/4 cup sugar}

{3/4 cup packed brown sugar}

 Enjoying time alone in the kitchen, is an act… 

… of service, of joy, of friendship.

{2 large eggs}

{2 teaspoons vanilla extract}

Taking quite moments even in the midst of a busy season… 

{1 cup flour}

{1 teaspoon baking soda}

{1 teaspoon ground cinnamon}

{1/4 teaspoon salt}

… to serve, to enjoy, to be together. 

{2 2/4 old-fashioned rolled oats}

{1 cup dried cranberries}

{1 cup chopped walnuts}

{optional: substitute white chocolate chips for walnuts}

 Friends are worth it! Slowing down is worth it! Being creative is worth it!

{Beat Crisco stick, sugar, brown sugar in large bowl}

{Beat in eggs and vanilla}

{Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt in small bowl}

{Combine flour combination with sugar combination}

 It's necessary for us to slow down, take time to remember…

{stir in oats, cranberries, white chocolate chips}

{drop a tablespoon or so of dough 2 inches apart}

{Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes}

… this life is not about us, but about knowing Christ 

and making Him known to others. 

{melt additional white chocolate chips to make icing}

Sometimes this is done by making cookies in your kitchen, 

worshipping Christ while you sing aloud as you bake.

{use wax paper to make an icing bag}

{drizzle over cookies to your liking}

Sometimes it's taking the moments to reflect on what Christ is 

doing in your life amidst good friends.

 {serve to friends}

{enjoy a few yourself}

Sometimes it's serving others even when we'd rather be 

eating cookies curled up on our own couch. 

~ this is about so much more than just cookies… it's about living our lives~

~worthy of the calling we have received~

A long while…

So it's almost been two years since I've written on here… I'd say that's too long to be absent from a blog. Well a lot has happened in the last two years… here's a recap:

-Brett graduated from KU with a Master in Nursing
-He now works as a Nurse Practitioner at a local urgent care clinic
-Alyson graduated from KU with a Master in Occupational Therapy
-She now works prn (part-time) at a local rehabilitation clinic
-We've continued to update our kitchen and it's nearly finished (just a few last minute touches)
-We have started attending a new church, which we love!
-This past September we traveled overseas to explore opportunities for our future
-We also celebrated our four year anniversary in September

Upcoming…
-Long awaited vacation to a beach resort after both of us having been in school for the last 3-4 years

Well that gives a brief yet comprehensive overview of our last two years!
Hopefully I'll keep this blog more updated in the coming months!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Eternal Perspective

So here we are at the end of January and life keeps passing us by. Recently Brett and I have been praying and thinking about future plans. With Brett finishing school in 7 months and me finishing in 18 months, we've been thinking about what comes after school. We're still unsure, but the one thing we are absolutely sure about is that we want to follow God's will for our lives. So that's where we are on a day to day basis… praying for His will to be revealed to us and praying we will be obedient each and every day. Although school keeps our minds preoccupied with the daily tasks, we are trying to keep an eternal perspective because we know our ultimate purpose in life is to bring God glory and make His glory known among the nations (in whatever capacity He would have us doing this).

Feel free to pray for us in these ways:

-faithfulness in where God has us right now (school, work, etc.)

-commitment to reading/hearing the Bible daily

-obedience to His will

-reliance on Him to love each other and those around us more purely

Finish the Mission

Last weekend, Brett and I attended a conference hosted by Desiring God (DG) Ministries. We traveled and enjoyed the conference with our good friends R & S. The theme of this year's conference was "Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples." The topics of the break session were Frontier Missions and Church Planting. The main sessions were focused on pointing people to the Gospel of Christ and opening our eyes to God's heart for the nations. I encourage you to visit the DG website and listen to the main speaker sessions. The Lord used all of the speakers to really capture my heart and mind. Overall Brett and I had an incredible experience and we are thankful to have been apart of the DG conference this year! I'll write more about the impact it had on me personally in another post.

The four of us in front of the DG stage.

I randomly ran into my good friend from Camp Barnabas!!

Also... we definitely enjoyed our first visit to Minneapolis. We hope there are more visits to come. R & S showed us around Minneapolis. We visited this wonderful park with a great waterfall!

I encourage you to visit the Desiring God website!

A New Kitchen :: A Long Process

While I was out of town a couple of weeks ago, Brett and some friends of ours (Jacob and Leah) tiled our kitchen floor and entry way!!

There will definitely be more pictures to come of the new kitchen... it's been a process, but we are so thankful to have so many friends and family willing to walk through this time with us! Thanks EVERYONE!

School Has Started

It is obvious when school has started in our house::

:: the dishes are stacked in the sink

:: the laundry sits in the dryer for an extra day

:: floors are dirty

:: time with friends is short

:: time with classmates is long

:: the alarm clock goes off too early

:: I start drinking more coffee

:: Brett and I have to be intentional with our time together

:: leisure activities are sparse

:: time with the Lord is much needed

:: I wear a long sleeve shirt everyday even though it's 100* outside (because the building are 0*)

:: tons of money is spent on books (or tons of decisions about which books NOT to buy)

:: our schedule is full, but we do like having a schedule!

It's obvious:: School has Started!

Wishing...

Today I'm wishing I lived in the above picture! Colorado!!