stayin' alive.

we're still alive.  just busy.  it feels good to  be busy.  i like it.  we've had visitors since the 14th of Novemeber.  It was so refreshing!  Marilyn, Paul's boss from Mercersburg, was here for a week and then my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were here until black friday!  it was an awesome time and filled me up.  we went to the ducks game yesterday. after a horrible game last week, we played a little better.  We took one of my friends and her husband to the game with us.  Thank you to one of the girl's in Paul's cohort for the tickets!

oh and all of you Michigan fans... I bet it won't take the Buckeyes 7 years to win against Michigan again!

strong & courageous

i have an incredibly sensitive heart.  this can be a blessing at times, but also a curse.  when your comforts are taken away, it's more of a curse.  but right now, i'm where He wants me.  it's not easy.  and today i need to be reminded of his promises.  I don't really know how to be strong & courageous. I don't feel that these characteristics come naturally for me. but where i am weak, He is strong.  please pray that i will trust that and recognize His strength. (But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9)

source

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, of love and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7

source

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, But take heart! I have over come the world." John 16:33

weird photo, but true

source

a really long blog post about jonah, vines and hippie vans.

At church last Sunday, pastor taught from the book of Jonah chapter 4. 

Oh, how the conviction trickled into my heart...

One of my favorite sermons ever taught was by my mentor, Kristi Payne.  She talked about how Jonah is quite a sad story.  The Lord called him to minister to the Ninevites and he fled!  He had such a bad attitude about it and finally when he decided to listen to the Lord, all he said to Nineveh was, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned”.  Sounds like a big change in heart Jonah, NOT!  What a spoiled little brat.  it also reminds me of the people who hand out the gospel tracks - i don't think they've ever actually cared about my thoughts and my heart.  take me to coffee and talk to me about this passion in your life (sorry this is something that i really struggle with - especially because i use to be one of those people).  And from that, the Ninevites repented and mourned because of their sin.  Talk about God being the one to transcend the human heart!  That’s all Jonah said and it was with hate in his heart toward Nineveh.  And an entire city repented of their sins!  God works in mighty ways.

Jonah & The Vine

In chapter 4 Jonah is angry that God is forgiving Nineveh.  God asks Jonah, “do you have a right to be angry?”.  As Jonah was sulking, God grew a vine around him for shade.  Jonah was very happy about the vine because it eased his discomfort from the heat.  Then over night, God sent a worm to eat the vine and Jonah no longer had shade.  Along came a scorching East wind and Jonah grew faint – he was miserable in the heat again.  Jonah threw a fit again, “It would be better for me to die than to live” – come on Jonah, that’s a little bit dramatic.  I mean, even I throw temper tantrums, but not over being hot.  But God said to Jonah, “Do you have any right to be angry about the vine?”

Jonah is gutsy here, “I do”, he said, “I am angry enough to die”.

Now comes the conviction…

“But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow.  It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city?’”

1^st thought– I wonder if the writer of Jonah knew he was going to be post modern.  I mean, ending a book in a question instead of a yes or no answer… so po-mo. 

2^nd thought – Sunday we learned that there are only 2 books in the bible that end in a question – Nahum and Jonah – both are about Nineveh (but that’s irrelevant to this blog post). 

3^rd thought – HOLY  SMOKES!! I am Jonah.

God blessed Jonah with a vine for shade.  He gave him this vine as a gift.  Then he took Jonah’s comfort away.  He took Jonah’s undeserving comfort away… and Jonah was angry as if he deserved that comfort.  It is so easy for me to judge Jonah here.  

Pastor gave the analogy, it’s a HOT summer day and you’re given an AC.  That AC brings you comfort and then the AC is taken away.  You thorw a fit… I am soooo angry I would rather be dead.  That’s quite a stretch.  But how often do we as Americans do this.  I don’t have the nicest car or the best clothes and I don’t own a house… i am so depressed, i want to die.  oh no, where is the Zoloft?!?  (side note: depression is a very serious and very real thing and some people do need medicated - however, it's definitely over diagnosed in our country because we are prideful and spoiled) We don’t deserve those comforts, we are blessed to have those comforts.

So my heart is incredibly convicted about this.  Since the thought of moving to Oregon was laid in my lap.  I have fought it tooth and nail!  Kicking and screaming not wanting to come.  –  Just like Jonah with Nineveh.  Except I didn’t flee from the Lord and get eaten by a whale.  Thank you Jesus for having mercy on my sinful soul.

My comforts were taken away.  My family, my friends, my community, my job, etc.  The blessings in my life, freely given to me, were taken away.  And I lament.  I am still lamenting.  It is really freaking hard.  I am throwing a fit.

And the Lord says to me, 'Kylee! You have been lamenting brokenhearted selfishly consumed concerned about these comforts of yours, though you did not tend them or make them grow – they were a gift to you from me. But Eugene has a population of 140,000  who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many hippie vans as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city?’

Yes Lord, I am sooooooooo sorry. Sooo sooo sorry.  Please change my heart.  I am lamenting over comforts that I’ve experienced, please change my heart.  Make it like yours.  Show me your way.  Give me a heart for your people.  Help me to be gentle and loving.  Be my comfort.  Be my purpose.  Help me to be okay with this because I am not.

source

*Those TV preachers are full of crap.  When you walk with Jesus, you aren't promised earthly riches and that things are always going to be peachy keen.  My comfort clings to Jesus's promise, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

slippers

remember my knitting post?  i asked you guys what you thought i was making?!?!?  i made the warmest wool slippers!

what do you think?  I am so pleased with them.  it is only the second thing i've ever knitted. i knit a scarf about 4 years ago for the first time.  but these were even easier!

all you have to do is knit 7 squares (you don't even have to purl stitch) and fold it a certain way, throw them in the washer to felt them.  and viola! slippers!

here is the pattern for the slippers and a great video tutorial on how to fold them up to form the slippers.  and i don't know what i would've done without my mamaw giving me advice on these!

tips

-i used patton's wool yarn because it was on sale at joanns (make sure you get wool yarn)!

-i used a size 11 needle.

-i only did 15 stitches across and 20 rows for a size 8-9 shoe.

-the washers in my complex are front loading washers so i had to felt them twice.

*this was a fun and great for a beginner project of you are wanting to learn to knit.  youtube has some fantastic videos to help you out.*

pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin!

i love autumn for a lot of reasons, but especially for the yummy sweets we get to bake!  pumpkin is one of my favorite things.  so i have been trying out some recipes that i found on pinterest.

PUMPKIN BROWNIES!

click above link for source and recipe

CINNAMON ROLL PUMPKIN VANILLA SHEET CAKE!

click above link for source and recipe

so i made them to take over to our friends house for the duck game.  they were both huge hits!  i didn't have the milk chocolate chips for the brownies, so i used white chocolate... EXCELLENT CHOICE. they were so good.

but what i really want you to try is the pumpkin vanilla sheet cake.  holy doodle! i will most definitely be making that again.  everyone LOVED them and just raved about them  you need to try them this holiday while pumpkin is in season!

 mine doesn't look nearly as good, but it definitely tastes even better than she leads on.  

i made the brownies and the cake at the same time because i had pumpkin left over and they bake at the same temperature.  let me know if you try them out!

freezing soup

remember when i blogged about the cauliflower soup?  I told about the idea i found on pinterest.  I wanted to try it out... and boy did I ever try it out.  I've been making a huge batch of soup every week and freezing some of the left overs. i originally thought you needed a silicon muffin tin, because that's what pinterest said.  but you don't!

 here is my frozen soup, i know this picture isn't very pretty, sorry i didn't have time to figure something eye catching out.  so you freeze your soup.  then you put a strainer in the sink to catch the soup pucks, turn over the frozen muffin tin and just run hot water over it.  it is super fast so the soup doesn't unfreeze and it's super easy.  then bag up the frozen pucks of soup, label and freeze.  it's a wonderful thing, i tell ya!

and i've been eating these delicious soups almost everyday for lunch.  they are so quick and easy to grab and fix.  i've been packing them for work as well.  so great!  i highly recommend it!

Peru

So I am raising support for a mission trip to PERU!  I am so excited about it!  I am doing all kinds of fundraisers with my church here in Eugene.  We are having a huge auction on December 3rd and we're hoping to raise enough support for all of us going.  So let me know if you want to donate anything to the auction!  


It is a 2 week trip to Cusco, Peru with extreme nazarene.  We will be doing a lot on this project.  It is an official Jesus film project, we will be building a chapel, and it's a medical mission trip!  i'm excited about the medical part.  i've never witnessed healthcare in an underprivileged area.


one of the ways we're raising support is by selling pastries at our cafe on sunday mornings.  so i made some pumpkin whoopie pies.  they are a recipe from my mother-in-law.  they are soooo yummy.  and not hard to make.  

yummm.

Recipe

(makes about 3 dozen)

preheat oven to 350

cookie part

-2egg yoke

-2 c. brown sugar

-1 c. oil

-2 c. pumpkin

-1 tsp vanilla

(beat together those 3 ingredients)

then combine dry ingredients in another bowl, then add them to above.

- 1 tsp cloves

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp salt (can leave this out)

-1 tsp baking soda

-1 tsp baking powder

-3 c. flour 

bake at 350 for 10 minutes

allow to cool and put cookies together with icing.

icing part

-3/4 c. butter

-3 c. powdered sugar

-14 oz of marshmallow cream (comes in jars in baking section)

If you'd like to support me on this trip I'd really appreciate it!  I have quite a way to go.  Of course, prayers are always appreciated.