Celebrating Life

My granddad (Gigi) passed away this Wednesday.

He was an extraordinary leader in his family and his community. The Atlanta Journal Constitution asked to write a short article on his life and accomplishments.

While it gives a run-down of all his accomplishments, it is too short to describe all he left his family and me with. I have fond memories of him coming to my second grade class to help teach us about human anatomy. He was just as engaging, and funny, to children as he was to the adults he taught. He had a wonderful, dry wit that my family has always appreciated.

Most of the time he showed us his love by spending time with us, and teaching us things about the world: fishing, landscape, billiards, etc. Every now and then he would write us a card or a letter that expressed to us just how proud he was of us, and how much he loved us. These letters have become so sweet, and important.

In his last few years of life he was confined to a wheelchair in a nursing home. He hated being apart from his wife, though she visited him every single day. He never lost his wit, his love for his wife and family, his knowledge of medicine, or his love and knowledge of God. The article says he had a mind like a magnet, and that doesn't even begin to describe how much he remembered! Often when I would visit he would see a mole on my hand, or hear me with a small cold, and diagnose exactly what was wrong with me. Would give me the medical term, explain what it meant for me, and tell me what type of doctor (and recommend a colleague in the field he respected) I should see (if it would be required). He also quoted scripture, expressed love for God, prayed every day, and sung hymns to pass the time. His hearing declined in these years, and so conversations became shorter and less involved. He always continued a game from our youth, where he would act like he forgot who one of us grandchildren were. The "forgotten" would alternate each time, but it always made us smile. He would say something like, "I remember this beautiful young lady (me) but I don't recognize this snaggle-tooth boy (my brother)." Winking, of course.

As I've grown, I've appreciated his role in our family more and more. The idea that 'my grandkids will know the same God as me, because my children will know the same God' has gained ever increasing importance for me and my husband. We not only want to raise our children to follow God, but we also want to raise them to raise their children to follow God. That is exactly what my grandfather did. My husband and I are so grateful for that legacy, and pray that God can continue it through us.

The only thing I wish were different, were that my husband could have met him in his prime. (I didn't meet my husband till after Gigi was in the nursing home). My husband was able to meet with him a few times while he was in the nursing home, but at that point it was too difficult for my granddad to get to know anyone new. Most visits became more about being there than speaking, since he couldn't hear much of anything and saw great disappointment in trying. One day while we were there, my husband wanted to get to know him as well as he could and got him to recall fond memories of fishing. After a while of sitting outside with him, he looked at my husband and said, "You're new here," we all smiled and chuckled a bit thinking he was cracking a joke, but he continued, "...but I want you to know that you are welcome." He later jokingly asked him if he was sure he wanted to join this crazy family.

His declaration of acceptance will probably resonate with us forever. I don't know if he knew it meant a lot to us, but it did. It's hard to explain exactly how thankful I was for his words, but when someone has left such a wonderful legacy as his, his acceptance and welcoming of our marriage is so important to us. For a few years, as he declined, it felt as if he was slowly fading from our lives. But for that moment he showed us he was still accepting his role as head of our family, even from his wheelchair. We couldn't have been more humbled. I saw him for the last time about a week before he died. But this is the visit (a few months before he died) I felt like he got to see me and my husband for one last time.

Rant vs. Respect

I've still been working on a post or two that I'm not sure how to write.

The ideas I want to talk about are issues that are near to my heart because they effect my friends and family. At the same time, these issues and/or actions cause painful consequences that aren't reversible. (though they are redeemable, praise God!)

Also, our actions are never outside of God's control. That doesn't mean that "God caused us to sin" but it does mean that God could (and probably did) plan on using that exact action, and that exact consequence to bring that person (and possibly several others) into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. With that in mind, I have a hard time figuring out how to (or even if I should) write about problems in the world, or problems in my own life.


I think I can read an article, like this one by Mark Driscoll, with two different sets of glasses:

• On the one hand, I would think "Wow! Glad somebody said it!", or "Isn't that so true, our world is so broken!- just look at these people".

• On the other hand, I think "Man, if someone is reading this that did any or all of these things, will they be more turned off to God than before?", or "What if that were me? There's not anything except Christ that would have stopped me from being that person."

Now, In my opinion Mark Driscoll does a great job of mourning the Sin in the world, and the broken patterns of behavior, but in the end respects the individuals who may have gotten it wrong by offering Jesus and His redeeming grace.

But it's got me to stop and think about how to write about sin. I keep thinking about the verse Matthew 7:5-- You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. I think there's a place and a time to write about the sin of the world, and of others. I think Mark Driscoll approaches this well. For today I'm not certain my writing has reached this level of maturity. So I'll just leave you to read the post Mark Driscoll wrote on having children out of wed-lock (same link as above).

If anyone cares to comment on Mark's article and explain why it is or is not offensive to them, I'd love to hear why!

Newly Wed Valentine's Day

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything, and today won't be very different. A lot's been going on lately, and I have a few blog posts in the "draft" stage. I guess you could say I'm trying to form my thoughts on different things. For today I'll leave you with a synopsis of our first married Valentine's Day! 

Valentine's Day is certainly the subject of controversy, and while I've never placed too much emphasis on the day itself, I've also never turned down lovingly gifted chocolates! Since we're newly-weds it seems that all our free time is date time, which doesn't make Valentine's Day super pivotal to our romance or relationship, but it's certainly fun to celebrate our love and have a bonus date! (I personally hope every valentine's day feels like an unnecessary, but very welcome celebration!) I want to remember that one single day out of the year has no more importance than any other day, because every day is important. I want to remember that we should love each other every day, we should connect every day, and we should spend time alone together every day. (and maybe eat chocolate everyday too! :)

Of course any excuse is a good excuse to celebrate the blessing of our marriage, and love for each other! And celebrate we will!-- or did :)

To start the day off, I made heart-shaped breakfast buiscuits, with egg, bacon, and gouda...yum! (and super simple)

Later, my husband came home early, promptly giving me the best box of chocolates ever!! Void of the random fruit and cream-filled sticky things, this heart was full of my favorite: turtles!! (so in gratitude, I quoted the little kid from this video) Of course I ate them too quickly to take a picture, but I'm sure you can all understand. :)

Then we ate dinner at a cozy restaurant in town, La Madeline. (you must try the Chicken Friand)! Then at home we ate dessert and played board! It sure is fun being married to your best friend!

From my perspective, there's nothing wrong with having a day to be cheesy, and celebrate the grace we've been given to love each other.

There is one problem I see with all the red, glittery decorations-- If you're not careful they could end up in the washing machine :( which unfortunately did happen to us. (Sorry honey!)

Dusty Days

This weekend we cleaned out my husband's old things from his childhood home. He reminiced while I listened to tons of funny stories that were being exchanged over old clothes, toys and pictures. We had a great time! We brought all 5 bins back to our place, complete with 15+ years of dust. Needless to say our apartment smelled like basement, and itched our eyes like one too. As one could only assume, getting these unpacked and dusted was my first priority the last couple of days.

I managed to find a place for all but 2 bins of things in our small first apartment! Took me a while, but today I finally got to dust and vaccuum since we brought the basement home with us. It feels (and smells) wonderful!

We've also been listening to the Real Marriage sermons lately from Mark Driscoll. It's been humbling to hear the ideas he's teaching about friendship, unity, and marriage. We've only been married 6 months (and are still firmly planted in the "honeymoon" phase) but it's always good to be working on your marriage, just like it's always good to be growing in Christ. (It's usually when you think you've got it figured out, that you need the most help.) Anyways, I highly reccomend them, even if you're single.

Today I also managed to create a new save the date. I've been swooning over all the chevron patterns lately, so that's what this was inspired by! As always, critiques are welcome!

(view in the shop)

Working a Latte

Lately I've been slacking.

I realized the other day, when we had my husband's grandparents over for dinner, that on a normal day, I can accomplish a basic clean of our home in 3 hours. (That's putting stuff away, sweeping, dusting, vaccuuming, cleaning counters after cooking, doing a couple loads of dishes, making up our bedroom for people to see, cleaning toilets, wiping down the tub/shower, cleaning the bathroom counters and mirrors and a couple loads of laundry). 

So why then, on a normal day, does it take me 8 hrs.? Because at the very core of it, I procrastinate. I take breaks. Nothing is rushed, because I have all day. 

Life at home didn't start this way. It really did use to take me 8 hours to do all of that, and cook dinner. But now, by the power of God, I've seen real progress! Which is great! But I don't think God would have me grow in this area just to sit around once I'm done with that part of my job.

So after talking to my husband, we decided I should put 3 hours a day towards my Etsy shop goals. This shop is something I started just for fun, and we aren't using it for income, but I have a long term goal of growing it as well. 

Creating this shop will, hopefully, help me learn to be proud of my work, and not shy away from saying "yes, I DID make that" when people ask. I started this blog as a part of this long term goal. It helps me think about marketing my shop, and myself. It helps me stand up for the lifestyle I believe in as well.

So today began my first day! :)

(I made myself a caramel macchiato -- ya know just to get the creative juices flowing)

Caramel Macchiato:

10 oz. of your fav. coffee, brewed
4 oz. of your fav. milk, steamed
A dash of caramel creamer (in the milk before steaming)
Caramel sauce to taste

Steamed Milk:
I don't know if this is the correct way to do this, but it seems to get the job done taste/texture wise.

• Put milk in a saucepan on high heat. 
• Whisk until a nice thick foam forms on top.
• Pour milk into coffee (will be liquid not foam)
• Spoon the foam off the top of leftover milk (in pan) to on top of the coffee. 

I did the cleaning before 11am today, so then by the time my "3 hrs." of design work were up, I felt like continuing! So I probably spent 6 hrs. working on stuff today.

I gave my online shop a makeover, and made business cards:

Then my dear friend, who is newly-engaged, called about ideas for wedding crafts, so I spent the rest of the time grabbing inspiration for that, and then of course writing this blog post.

Today feels way more productive than my recent days. I didn't watch any TV at all! :)


Praise GOD!

The real meaning of Christmas...

As our first Christmas as a married couple grew closer and closer, we weren't entirely sure how we wanted to celebrate. We knew we were going to do a few things differently once we had kids (for example, Santa is going to look completely different in our house. A good response about why, and how we believe about this issue is found here). But there is so much more to Christmas than celebrating with or without Santa! We want to celebrate and remember Jesus' coming.

With fewer and fewer days to really dive in and think about these things, we decided to go away for Christmas. It would be a great break and time of refreshment in our own lives, but it would also give us a chance to think about how the years to come might look at Christmas time in our home. There were a lot of things we talked about, so this might become several posts.

We try to make a habit of family worship time every day, and want to do the same for Christmas, with a little more tradition and intention.
Our church (which for those curious is a member of the PCA) likes to celebrate the liturgical calendar seasons, and so we've become interested in knowing those as well. It turns out that the color to mark the season of Advent (Christmas) is actually purple. Christmas day is white/gold (go jackets :) - just kidding!). Anyways we talked about incorporating some of these colors (not that color is everything) to remind us to be worshiping corporately as the body of Christ as well as individually and as a family.

My husband also created a worship service incorporating the advent candles. Which again aren't a necessary thing to do, but can be really fun, and worshipful. The candles consists of 5 candles (4 candles placed around 1 center candle). One of the 4 is to be lit for each Sunday in Advent, and then the one in the center on Christmas Day. (We did them all on Christmas day this first year). The first one loosely stands for Hope, second for Love, third for Joy, fourth for Peace, and the 5th stands for Christ. Each Sunday we'll talk about one of these topics, and how it relates to Christ's birth into the world, and His second coming. There are scripture readings and hymns to sing along with it. Maybe next year around Christmas time I'll post more details about this family worship service. But it was a wonderful time of talking together, reading God's word, being humbled through the remembrance of His initial birth into the world, and looking forward to celebrating His second coming! We sung wonderful, and well-related hymns through-out (like Come Thou long expected Jesus, Joy to the World, etc.) but my wonderfully creative husband ended the worship time with a song that shows a little bit of our own family's flair! Check it out! :)

We also remembered to bring our camera this time!! WOO!! Sorry some are side-ways. I will try to fix later.

Here are some pictures of the scenery, God gave us great weather all weekend!

One thing we KNOW we will be doing for Christmas, is CELEBRATING!! What better way to celebrate than with GREAT food and drinks! We ate like kings and queens this weekend!! And here is the wonderful food, I'll give recipes later:

Homemade Chocolate-mint chip cookies, and doulbe chocolate cookies, with our favorite celebration drink, Rosa Regale:

Philly Cheese Steaks & Sweet potato fries:

Some home-made cheese-its and local sodas for snacking:

Christmas Eve Shrimp & Gruyere Grits...INCREDIBLE:

Christmas Day Beef Wellington!! My favorite!! (Was supposed to also have some tasty veggies with it, but I felt a little under the weather this day, and so without me in the kitchen, my husband cooked the meat, and it was plenty!!)

We also watched Charlie Brown's Christmas movie!

Merry Christmas!

I'm Awake!

I generally feel pretty low when I don't wake up on time. My husband has an amazing (but what some might call "inhuman") ability to stay up late and jump out of bed early. Before we were married, I worked full time, and my schedule was: go to sleep at a reasonable time, wake up at the last possible minute to throw on clothes, grab food for lunch, and get to work on time. Goal: get 8 hours of sleep or more. I love sleep.


We've chosen that I will make the meals for our family, because this works best for our time together, and saves us money (plus I love to cook). We can get a few more minutes of sleep if I make breakfast and lunch while he gets ready for work. He's totally capable of making his own meals, but without me he'd most likely buy his meals (to save time).

I love to do this for him. When I'm on top of my game, I love being able to hand him a bag of food and give him a kiss at the door. It's sweet, he knows I love him, he is so grateful (which make me feel loved) and it makes us both countdown the hours till he's home again.

Yesterday morning though, I didn't wake up on time. I barely got a sandwich made and oatmeal thrown in a tupperware (w/o hot water) before it was time for him to leave. (I actually held him up). I feel bad when this happens, because it doesn't save us time, and he's still going to have to buy something else to eat with the sandwich (even though we have plenty of food in the house, and actually NEED to eat it so it won't go bad). Also because I'm rushed and he's clock-watching, neither of us feel super loved as he leaves. Don't get me wrong, we both love each other, and we both know that. He isn't mad at me when I don't get it right. Feeling loved is different than being loved, and as any married person will know, you don't always feel loved. When I don't wake up on time, it becomes one of those times. We learned about this in a couple of books you can find on the "Read" tab. (5 Love Languages & His Needs, Her Needs).

Anyways...

A few things I've learned about waking up when married:
I need my own alarm clock. Even if it goes off at the same time as his. I've realized it is false to believe I will wake up just because an alarm goes off, and my husband boldly jumps out of bed.

I need to set several alarms. Even if I wake up to the first one, I've realized it's also false to believe that I will get out of the bed once I wake up. I often fall back asleep. So I need to set a few alarms a couple minutes apart from each other.

Progress:
One thing I have gotten better at though, is timing. Once I'm awake and in the kitchen, I'm much better at cooking breakfast & lunch. I used to be slow at this, but now I've learned to cook multiple things simultaneously! So thankful that God is helping me learn! Getting better at waking up, is something I still want to do.

So anyways, this morning was much better than yesterday morning! Plus, it's Friday! I'll leave you with a couple of weekend songs:

One that's probably already stuck in your head because I said "It's Friday":

And, incase you accidentally watched the above video, here's a better one (to hopefully get that first out of your head):

Either way the weekend is finally here!

Go Jackets!

1st Thanksgiving, Pumpkin Pie

The 1st Thanksgiving & Christmas as the newlywed couple can be tricky. Both families want to see you, and if you live in the same state as your parents & in-laws (as we do) they expect to see you. Our families our great! We love hanging out with them, and they aren't in the least bit pushy. But you know that they want to have you there.

Many couples decide different ways of dealing with the holidays, and I'm sure we'll change our mind 5 years in and change the way we do things. But for this Thanksgiving we've decided to go to my mom's family's Thanksgiving for lunch, and my mother-in-law's family's Thanksgiving for dinner. (It's a lot- we know!) When we were engaged we did the same thing, and our stomachs paid the price! This year we think we'll do it again, except only eat half portions at each place. (Last year we got seconds & dessert at lunch time...bad idea when you have to go to dinner too!!)

This year though, since we have a little family and a little home, I get to contribute to the pot-luck style meals! At my in-laws I plan on bringing pies! I'm very interested in learning about food, and making food from scratch, so I had a test run of the pumpkin pie this week for my husband and sister-in-law. It went well! Carved the pumpkin and all! :)

The pie crust is really the part that confused me the most. I don't have a food processor or rolling pin yet, so my crust was kind of crummy. (no really- as in crumbs everywhere!) It held together, and provided a nice salty crunch to the sweet & spicy custardy filling. But I'm hoping to improve it.

Other than my problems with the texture of the crust (which are probably due to the fact that I didn't freeze the butter, and I don't have a food processor), this was one of the best pumpkin pies I've ever had! It went fast too! So these are the only pictures I grabbed:

It was even great 2 days after being in the fridge! I think the flavors mesh together nicely after it sits a while.

Enjoy!

Crust:
(Use your favorite dough crust! I don't have one yet, so I adapted one from the web):

Perfect Pie Crust Recipe
**I added a layer of crushed up Cinnamon Toast Crunch on top of the dough, once I formed the dough in the pan.


Filling:
(Again, I'm LEARNING, so I adapted one from Joy of Cooking)

• Start with a "Pie Pumpkin"- These are smaller than the ones used for jack-o-lanterns, and usually found in the produce section (with the other gourds). 
• Cut it into eighths.
• Place in an oiled baking dish (rind down), and bake in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours.
• Then scrape the pulp off the rind and set the pulp aside for later. 

• Preheat oven to 425*F
• Glaze the crust you made with an egg yolk
• Bake the crust for about 10-15 minutes (line the crust with aluminum foil, and add dry beans to keep it from bubbling).
• Whisk 2 eggs together in a large bowl
• Whisk into the eggs:
• 2 Cups of the pumpkin pulp
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Pour pumpkin mixture into a hot pie crust
• Bake 45 min. 

Cost-Saving