Chicken Pesto Pizza

I made this deliciousness for dinner last night. I made some adjustments to the recipe, so here's what I did...


ingredients
pesto*
whole chicken breast, cooked and shredded
italian-blend shredded cheese (the recipe calls for fontina, but I already had this in the house)
I eliminated the artichoke hearts
pizza crust (I use these crusts from Boboli, because you can freeze them and they don't have to thaw before you put them in the oven to cook!)
optional: garlic clove


directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Slice the garlic clove, and rub it on the pizza crust.
3. Spread the pesto on the crust. Place the pieces of chicken on top of the pesto, and sprinkle the cheese.
4. Bake 8-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and slightly browned at the edges.


**If I had one in the house yesterday, I probably would have sliced up a tomato to add to this. It was a little dry, but still delicious. :) 


*pesto recipe:
I made pesto a few weeks ago (using the recipe below) and froze portions of it in an ice cube tray. So for this recipe, I popped out a few cubes (I think 5) and set them on  a plate on top of the oven while it was preheating to thaw.


2 c. firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1/3 c. pine nuts
3 tbsp. grated parmesan
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil


1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients, except the oil. Pulse until a thick paste forms. Add oil until mixture is well combined.
2. Transfer to an airtight container. Press plastic wrap (I used wax paper) directly onto pesto--to keep basil from browning. Cover with lid; refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 2 months.
(From Woman's Day magazine.)

A modest critique.

I'm no music expert... and I'm hesitant to admit this...

But I think, after a few listens to Taylor's Swifts new album Speak Now, I actually prefer her second album Fearless. 

I think.

is it cheesy to link to my husband's blog?

oh well, i'm doing it anyway.

"If I Die Young", The Band Perry.

I've had this song in my head for weeks....







I think it's honest, and sad, and beautiful... and I really love it.


But I think it's good for me to remember that while this song is sad and beautiful, there's no hope. And I, because I know Christ, have hope at the end of my life on earth. If I die young, nothing's lost, because I have hope beyond this life.

Pre-Wedding Musings... Post-Wedding.

I stumbled upon this post dated August 3rd, that I never published:

"There are a lot of things about marriage that are going to be a significant adjustment for me. 

I mean, duh. Right? That may have been the biggest understatement of the year. But the point is that there are lots of things that are going to change, that will be hard, that I won't necessarily like right away. But there is one that I know will be extra hard. Because it's hard already. Because I feel the stress and the weight of it even in the planning to be married. 

It's that I will no longer be an "I"; I will be a "We". 

For the most part, that's exciting. I'm going to be married! There will be companionship, love, encouragement... I like the idea of being a "we" when it comes to the white picket fence and Saturday mornings with the newspaper and coffee. 

But becoming a "we" means that I no longer get to make decisions on a whim. I am accountable to and responsible for another human being. I can't just walk into the mall and decide to buy a computer. I can't just decide to apply for a job in North Carolina for a summer. I can't pick up one day and move to California. Granted, I wouldn't necessarily move across the country without telling anyone even if I was single. And, obviously, these aren't very important things... mostly they're just outrageous examples. But I'm essentially giving up some of my independence. I'm deciding to be "tied down" in a sense, tied to another person. Tied to his desires and dreams... not just my own. 

Please don't misunderstand me--these are good things. God designed marriage for good reasons. God designed marriage as two individuals becoming a pair, "one flesh", for good reasons--for His glory and our joy, and for so many other things I'm sure I'll learn.

I'm just saying that it's going to be hard, because I've gotten used to being an "I". But, even though I'm a little nervous about the transition, I am excited about becoming a "we". :)"

That was written three weeks before I got married, but a lot of it I think is still true. There's a lot of life-merging that's happening... the two "I"s becoming one "we". There's accountability and humility, learning to be less self-focused. Even just learning to share a bed was more challenging than I expected. :) But there's so much goodness, too. For one, it's so much fun to live with your best friend. And even in the accountability and humility, learning to be selfless... there's goodness. It's sanctifying. This is the way God chose to sanctify us, through marriage to the other person.

And it's good. 

Too good to not pass along.

Last week I was scrambling to find an easy main course for dinner. The meal I had been planning all day fell through at the last minute (I can't remember why), and I didn't have much time (or many ingredients) to come up with a new one.

I'd been given this little cookbook for one of my bridal showers, and so I quickly flipped through it until I found an option for which I had all the ingredients.

1/2 c. mayonnaise-type salad dressing

1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

3/4 t. garlic powder

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3/4 c. italian-flavored dry bread crumbs

Combine salad dressing, parmesan cheese and garlic powder in a mixing bowl. Coat chicken with mixture; cover each with bread crumbs. Arrange chicken in an ungreased baking dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly golden and juices run clear when chicken is pierced.

Super easy to make. Pretty common ingredients. And Brett told me it was the best thing I've made since we've been married.

I'd give it an A+ on all counts. :)

remember me?

remember how i used to write on this thing? more than once a month?

yeah, i can barely remember that far back either. sorry about that. well, i'm back in the real world again. i have a new apartment, a new husband, and an entirely new normal. and i'm hoping i'll be able to get back in the habit of blogging.

but, first things first. breaking news: yesterday, i made my own salad dressing. i know, i know. most of you are shocked, in disbelief, and mostly wondering if it was edible. i was all of those things yesterday, too. but it was pretty easy, and tasted pretty great, too. 

stay tuned for more culinary adventures... as well as what i learned from getting married (note: i didn't not say being married), what i'm learning in the Word, and how i'm adjusting to being a mrs.

i'm getting married

in 4 days.




woah.


p.s. yes, i will write a real blog post again. just not tonight.

oh, hi

it's been awhile since i've visited this here blog. i've been caught up in a whirlwind of last-minute wedding planning and it's only getting more last-minute.


here are some of the things that have happened recently, or just things that have been on my mind...

• andrew peterson, dancing in the minefields. yes, brett posted it already and i know there's a lot of overlap in readers, but it deserves another shout out.
• i have been hanging out in 1 peter in my quiet times lately, and 1 peter 2:16 has been on my mind. haven't quite figured out why, or even figured it out... so i'll just keep hanging out there.
• i was baptized on sunday.
• brett and i had engagement pictures taken (yeah, most people get engagement pictures taken right around when they get engaged... we got ours done 2 months before we got married. :) no harm done, right?) you can view them by visiting this website, click "wedding", click "proofing", and use the password "Wendle".
• starbucks started offering free wi-fi.
• i'm coming up on my last week of work. this means two things: 1. i'll have a lot more time to devote to wedding details and packing(!) and 2. we are getting really close to the wedding!
• this is just fun.
  

hopefully my next post will actually have a point and be somewhat significant. until then, i hope this was, at the very least, entertaining. :)


edit: if i had waited just one more day to post, it would have been a full month... i'm not sure how i feel about missing it by one day.

A very honest post.

Some days (if I'm being totally honest--most days) I want to scrap this whole wedding and start over.


Okay, not the whole wedding. I'd like to keep the groom.


I don't know about you, but ever since I learned what a wedding was--so, about six years old--I started planning mine. Granted, it has been an ever-changing sort of "planning"... but it has never been far from my mind. I would see a wedding on TV/in a movie and I would make sure to note what I did or did not like. I would attend a wedding and imagine myself in a pretty white dress. I would help friends plan their weddings and think "I wonder which flowers I would choose..."


So when it came time for me to actually plan a wedding, I thought I was ahead of the game. I knew the flowers, I knew the cake. I was already reading the blogs and the magazines. I'd watched plenty of weddings being planned. I was waiting for me to fall in love with my wedding, the wedding of my six-year-old dreams.


But then, I realized that it wasn't just my wedding. Other people had been planning this wedding! Not only was I getting married to someone who obviously had a say in the plans, but I'm an only daughter! My mother and grandmother had probably been imagining this day longer than I had.


Enter a lot of compromise, give-and-take, and just plain disappointment.


I kept reminding myself that this day is not about me, in any sense of the word. In the littlest sense, this day is about family. Of course my mom and grandma would have dreams about my wedding! Of course I'll compromise with them!


In the biggest sense, this day is about the gospel. It is about Brett and I being joined together in a covenant that is representative of Christ and the church. It is about servanthood, love, humility. It is about tangibly displaying Christ's love to the world. It is not about getting what I want.


And honestly, I think that this is just real life. I think that this is what happens to most of us. Most brides don't choose absolutely every detail--most brides compromise with their family and loved ones. Most brides don't get everything they've ever dreamed of--most brides compromise based on what is practical. Most brides aren't thrilled and in love with every part of their wedding. It's not realistic to think otherwise.


But the wedding blogs and the magazines won't tell you this. They won't tell you that you might not have your six-year-old dream wedding. They won't tell you that after compromising and merging different tastes, styles, and dreams there will be some things you're just... not a fan of. They won't tell you that because it's not as glamorous.


But it is just as beautiful. I am still getting marry Brett on August 21st. I am still getting to stand in front of my friends and family and vow to love him for the rest of my life. I am still going to have the wedding of my dreams because it is going to be my wedding! The wedding in which not only my plans come to life, but my plans and dreams are merged with those of all the people I love; the wedding in which I get to marry Brett and on that day, I probably won't care about any of the other details. :)

Titus 3:4-7

Sometimes... since Titus 2 is such a big deal... I think I forget that there is a Titus 3.


Today was a good reminder. :)

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Happy Father's Day

Things I've Learned  from my Father

1. Keeping the A/C on while the windows are rolled down creates the perfect blend of wind in your hair and comfortable breeze. 

2. The art of tailgating.

3. That it is okay for your musical preferences to span genres. (e.g. Kanye West and Neil Diamond)

4. To get dressed every morning like you're going to be somewhere important.

5. To laugh. :)

One reason that I'm longing for Heaven.

A few months ago I was in a discussion about longing for heaven. It wasn't just about the fact that we're longing for heaven. It was about the things, people, ideas on earth that makes us recognize that we long for heaven. Some people mentioned that there are certain songs or certain types of music that stir something inside of them--something awakens that realizes there's more of that. Some people mentioned the beauty of nature as that agent of longing.


One person mentioned something that really struck me--obviously, since I've been thinking about it ever since. He mentioned relationships, friendships. We experience this longing for deep relationships with other people. We hear and read about what fellowship in the church should look like, what gospel community should look like, what the body of Christ should look like... so we search for it, we long for it, we attempt to have it. But, we always fall short. Either the frienships aren't reciprocated. Or sin damages the community. Or it just isn't quite what we thought it would be.


So we keep longing.
Not because are friendships aren't good. We're longing for real fellowship. Friendship that isn't hindered by sin. The kind of intimacy in community for which we were created. We long for more.


Honestly, I have no idea what heaven is going to be like. I don't know what "friendships" will look like, or what kind of "community" we'll have. I don't know if these words will even make sense in eternity. But I'm pretty sure that all of our longings for this real fellowship will be met there.
And if there weren't hundreds of reasons to be excited and hopeful and longing for heaven already... here's just another one that keeps me hoping. :)

A little story about my morning.

In the morning I would ALWAYS look in the same drawer for my hairbrush. The wrong drawer, though.

Yesterday, I decided I would just move the hairbrush to that drawer. 

Not to be dramatic or anything, but this has revolutionized my mornings. Obviously, I'm not going to create a life mantra or anything out of this... but I think I should at least take some organizational cues from it.

"Marriage refers to Christ and the church--every marriage, no matter how pendulum-like because of our sin; every marriage, even if the couple doesn't care a bit about Jesus."


--Noel Piper, Foreword to This Momentary Marriage by John Piper

Things I Learned Today

(Bridal Shower Edition)


1. No matter how old I get, funfetti will always be my favorite cake flavor.
2. Having the groom come for "present opening" (i.e. opening presents in front of people while everyone stares at you [yes, I know I'm being dramatic... but sometimes it feels this way!]) makes the time slightly less awkward.
3. It is possible to have a bridal shower without any of those cheesy/typical bridal shower games.
4. It is apparently possible to get married to someone without knowing basic things about their life. [e.g. "If he could go anywhere in the world, where would he go?"]
5. Bridal showers, while sometimes awkward, are so totally worth it. Especially when they are with my friends. :)

Explanation: I'm the type of person that gets awkward when there's lots of attention on me, and so an entire party devoted to talking about me, encouraging me, praying for me, giving me presents, opening presents in front of people, being the only one playing a game, etc. always intimidated me. BUT -- not saying today wasn't awkward at times, or that I was totally comfortable with all of the attention -- but, I feel loved. I feel cherished and ushered towards marriage with love and prayer and a body of women who care about me. I totally get why bridal showers exist, and it is so totally worth it to be sent off into marriage with a group of women spending a day lifting you up to the Lord and just loving you. I am so blessed.

Things I Learned

Since I'm a seminary dropout, the series ("You know you're in seminary when...") I began and very rarely updated must also end. 


So, in honor of my dear friend Paul (who, in all likelihood, has no idea this blog even exists) I'm going to start a new series, "Things I Learned". This is pretty obviously about things I learn. I'll update randomly, just when I have a day, or week, or other chunk of time that I feel like I have taken something away from. 


Stay tuned for the first installment... The Bridal Shower Edition.

Just Do Something

So I just started reading Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung (yes, it seems that I am a on a Kevin DeYoung kick).


I'm not even half-way through the book, but I already decided I'm going to read it again when I'm done.


That's how good it is.

No cap, no gown, no ceremony.

Over the past few days I have attempted more than once to write this post. To announce to the world that I'm a drop out. To reflect on the ending of the past seventeen years of my life. To find closure; to make it seem real.


But I just haven't been able to find the words. It's not that I'm ashamed. I've been able to tell plenty of people that I'm not finishing my program. (More on why in a later post.) Many of them comment on how much I smile when I explain why I chose not to return. I feel lighter, less anxious, more alive. It's a good thing.


But how do you find closure to seventeen years of your life? For seventeen years of my life I have been a student. I have structured my life around August-May. I have had summers off. I have attended classes, done homework, taken tests. I have learned how to miss just enough class. I have learned about myself, about life, and about God.


I have gone from Kindergarten -- in Orland Park... where I almost always wore a white sweater and I met Joanna, who later became my roommate during my freshman year of college.


To Elementary School -- where I thought I was the best speller ever, but I never really picked up anything pertaining to geography.


And then to Junior High -- in Mundelein... where I thought boys and how popular I was really were the most important things.


And to High School -- when I realized what was important, devoted my life to Christ, and fell in love with the local church.


Then to College -- in my beloved Champaign-Urbana... where I learned more outside of the classroom than inside.


And to my year at Seminary -- in Deerfield... where I met my fiance and learned that I really do learn best outside of the classroom.


And now, I'm leaving the student life, the single life--even my Illinois life!


No cap, no gown, no ceremony. Just an ending.

On when to share the gospel...

"...Test yourself to see whether or not Jesus is really precious to you, and whether you believe this person is really lost without him and that it would be the best thing in the world for them to know this, believe this, and be redeemed by this. And if you really believe that, then probably sooner rather than later you're going to find some way to share this with the person that you know."


--John Piper

I'm far from knowing anything about parenting...

but I read this blog post about a mother explaining why she's letting her 11-year-old daughter dye her hair pink.


You hear people say "pick your battles" a lot, and she's presenting a similar case--not picking battles out of exhaustion or defeat, but out of a realization of what's important and what isn't.


Just something to file away...


HT: Abraham Piper

Brokenhearted Love

Molly Piper writes a beautiful, and beautifully accurate, blog post about how to grieve with those who grieve. 

Book Review: Freedom and Boundaries

I don’t often recommend books… I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid if I suggest a book that someone then doesn’t like, they’ll judge my literary taste. Maybe it’s because I haven’t come across very many books that I think need to be read. Regardless, I’m recommending a book. On the internet. This might be a big deal.

I recently read Kevin DeYoung’s Freedom and Boundaries, and it has been easily been one of the most helpful books (aside from the Bible, obviously) that I have read during my Christian life. It is a short, simply written (and understood) distillation of the issues surrounding women in the church—primarily whether women should be in leadership roles in the church. DeYoung holds a firm complementarian stance, but defends it gently and graciously. He takes the reader through six Bible passages (or groupings of similar passages) and explains what they say regarding the topic, and then navigates some common objections to complementarianism.

DeYoung explains in the beginning of the book that he set out with intentions to write a book “that explained the Bible’s teaching about men and women in the church in a way that the interested layperson could understand and in a size that she could read in a few hours” (xiii). He succeeded. He takes complicated passages to exegete, and explains them in a way that is simple to understand and yet not demeaning. One could tell that the book had been researched and toiled over at a scholarly level, but written in a way that anyone could pick it up.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book was the section on 1 Timothy 3:1-13. This is a tricky section, and it had caught my eye a few months prior to picking up the book. I was taking a class on the Pastoral Epistles, and in my study I came across a word which was causing me some trouble in my study.   The greek word for “wife” and “woman” is the same, and translation depends on the context.  In 1 Timothy 3:11, we come across this word, gynaikas. Depending on translation, the sentence will read either as introducing women deacons, or explaining the character of the wives of deacons. This is a significant difference. The class I was in never discussed it, and the commentaries I had glossed right over it. Nobody seemed to notice the issue! So the section focusing on this issue in the book was an answer to prayer. It was not overlooked.

This is a thorough, easy-to-read book on the role of women in the church. With practical help at the end of the book, as in “what should women do in the church?”, it left no rock unturned in my mind. I would recommend it to anyone who is a woman in the church, leaders in the church, or anyone who is still unclear on their beliefs regarding women in the church.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I receive a small portion of anything purchased by a link in this post.

This is a lie:

If I am just a little more organized, I will not be anxious anymore.

So is this:

I don't need to pray, I just need to make a to-do list.

Lord, let me remember that you are the Sovereign One. The One that controls my day and the outcome of all the details within it. May I look to you for peace and not to my own efforts.

a fleeting, yet significant, moment.

Driving my car this morning, I had a moment. I mean, for a second, I just...got what "being made new" in Jesus means. Not that I totally grasped every aspect of the concept, or that I will ever be able to articulate the understanding to anyone again, but I just had a moment.

Have you ever had one of those? When everything about what is happening aligns perfectly... the song you're listening to, the activity you're doing... it's all perfect so that God can use it to help you just... get something.

Well this morning, I was driving my car--

this is the first thing that set the stage for the moment.

I crashed my car two and a half weeks ago.

The front end was almost unrecognizable... crunched metal,

broken plastic, parts jostled around under the hood, pieces leaking...

it was a mess.

But here I was this morning, driving a car that looked like nothing had happened.

Brand new headlights, all the parts were where they were supposed to be,

with a shiny, fresh coat of paint.

I was driving a car that had been made new.

So this morning, I was driving my car to school, listening to Andrew Peterson's song, "All Things New"--

here's the second part of the moment.

If you really want to feel like you were there,

you can click on this and hear the song.

But the main thing is that

"My Jesus makes all things new"

is repeated throughout this song.

So this morning, I was driving my car to school, listening to Andrew Peterson's song, "All Things New". I had been thinking about re-creation and redemption... and then the combination of hearing "My Jesus makes all things new" repeated while driving my car that had been made new just made things click. I had a tangible example of something being made new, something that had been re-created.

In that same way, Jesus takes us as we are broken and makes us new. We can be as broken, crushed, and useless as my car after I had crashed it... but Jesus still takes us. He can mend what's broken, fix what's wrong, replace what's missing... and He'll set us back on course with a new hope, a right thinking, forgiven sin, a Lord that we can trust.

"And He who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." -Revelation 21:5a

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." -2 Corinthians 5:17

remembering this today.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not your life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:25-32 (emphasis mine)

this has to mean more than just what it says

"Can you comprehend that some of those stars are billions of years old?"

"You know what else is crazy?

source

The sky doesn't actually look like this... some of that light is from a billion years ago, and some of it is just a few days old."

Hebrews

So I'm (slowly) studying Hebrews.

One of my favorite things about studying through a book of the Bible is noticing patterns. So far in studying Hebrews I've noticed the "Jesus is better than..." pattern, which is pretty awesome. Jesus is superior than the angels, He is greater than Moses, etc. Pretty sweet.

But another thing I've started noticing is that the author of Hebrews seems to be emphasizing the idea of doing in order to not do.

One place I see it is in 2:1: "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." The author is urging the readers to give special attention and concern to the gospel message that they have heard, more than simply acknowledging this. Otherwise, they will drift away from the gospel. They cannot be passive; they must do something ["pay much closer attention"] in order to not do something ["drift away from (the gospel)"].

And again, in 3:12-14: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

Reading the author's train of thought, I picture this in my head:

sin --> hardened believer --> evil, unbelieving heart --> fall away from God

But he offers exhorting one another every day as the preventative for being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin... it cuts this whole thing off at the start. Exhorting one another daily seems to only happen in fellowship and community with other believers, an open and honest kind of community. So in this instruction, the author is urging his readers to be in fellowship with and exhort one another (do) in order to not get deceived by sin which (in time) leads to falling away from God (not do).

So often I'm tempted to think that it's to just not do things. "Well of course I'm not going to forget the gospel." "Fall away from God? That won't happen." I take a passive approach. But it's exactly that passive approach that is the danger. It's by getting lazy in our Christian walks that will lead us down the wrong path. The author of Hebrews sets up as an active, offensive approach that we must take. By being passive, these things [sin, forgetting the gospel, hardened hearts, etc.] will happen, so we must be on the offense... we must be actively pursuing the opposite of these things, in order to not do them. We must pursue fellowship, we must be in community and be exhorting one another, we must be paying close attention--studying the message, understanding the message, letting it change us.

We must do in order to not do.

Justin Taylor's Holy Week series

Last week, Justin Taylor did a series on week leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. He arranged all the accounts of Holy Week in a day-by-day format. I thought it was really helpful, and I know that Easter was last week... but it's never a bad time to reflect on what happened that week--that Jesus died for our sins and rose again.

Here are the links to the blog posts:

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Sunday

just a simple reminder of God's provision..

I didn't work at all this week because the family I babysit for is on vacation. I was a little worried because I had a few unexpected expenses, and my checking account was getting pretty low. I get paid weekly, so I was going to have to go another week without a paycheck.

I just checked my account online, worried that I would see single digits (at best!)... and saw that my tax refund had been deposited yesterday--the day I would have been paid--in an amount significantly higher than my paycheck is normally. :)

If (read: when) I doubt God's ability and desire to provide for me again... remind me that He is there even in the mundane, in the instances that we forget to pray about because we think it's "no big deal".

What a wonderful gracious God we have!

today is pi day!

If my memory serves me correctly, three years ago today some of my dearest college friends and I celebrated Pi(e) Day. :)

A wonderful friend and I were leading a Bible Study, and it happened to land on 3.14 -- "Pi Day", which we decided to celebrate by taking our girls off campus for pie! What a delightful idea, we thought. We would give them a break in the middle of the week, enjoy some pie and fellowship. They would love it.

However, we did not anticipate the resistance we would encounter when we told the girls we had a "surprise" for them. We didn't take into account that we had gotten to the point in our bible study where our group was comfortable enough to come in sweatpants, no makeup, and pulled-back hair. Comfortable attire, but certainly not ready for a night out. By saying we had a "surprise", they were suddenly no longer comfortable with their attire... what if we were planning a surprise group date!

By the time we calmed their nerves, told them it was just us girls, and got to the restaurant, it was such a sweet time. Clearly, pie & great friends is a combination to fight for. :)

A gentle reminder on my facebook wall today that today is Pi Day reminded me of this story... I love this story. It is such a sweet memory. But it makes me nostalgic; it makes me miss college. The sweet relationships I formed, the fellowship and bonds formed over studying the Bible, the ease and spontaneity of both friendship and fellowship.

Growing up is good. I'm not sure I can emphasize that enough--God is good in bringing me out of college and into this new chapter of my life. Coming to seminary, entering a semi-adulthood, understanding what being part of a local church really looks like, the relationships I've formed, even getting engaged have happened since college. I'm grateful that I'm in a new part of my life. But at the same time, I miss college and all its goodness.

So I'm nostalgic for Pi(e) Day, and all that it means for me.

you know you're in seminary when...

you're only allowing yourself one day of not doing homework during spring break.... and you don't even have anything due the week you get back to school.

some tuesday grace

This afternoon I was driving and I realized that my mind was racing with wedding planning thoughts, I was anxious and didn't even realize it. So I stopped to pray. God was so gracious in that moment to meet me with some truth.

A few days ago I was chatting with a friend who encouraged me by telling me that something that she tried to remember while she was planning her wedding was that God even knew what the font on her invitations was going to be, He knew the details. When she first told me, it was a good reminder--so comforting to hear. And while I was praying today, the Lord brought that back to mind. He has already planned my wedding. He knows where it will be, who will come, what flowers we'll go with, etc. And it will all be to accomplish His purposes. It's not my job to choose the one option that is going to make the gospel apparent or not. He's already done it.

As hard as it is for me to believe, God is sovereign even in the tiny details of wedding planning. And I just need to seek Him in it, and everything will fall into place. Somehow, I'm planning a wedding that has already been planned. And praise God for that!

Finally... pictures of my ring. :)

Make sure to tell Brett what a wonderfully perfect job he did.

wedding & marriage planning.

Chocolate brown dresses + black tuxes = an unhappy bride.

This is the current dilemma in my wedding planning life... and with the amount of hours i have spent thinking about this (more than i'd like to admit!) it has migrated from the "wedding planning only" portion of my brain to a more prominent spot. Ugh.

Last week, it was something else. And next week, i'm sure, it will be something new. I spend hours and hours of my life planning tiny little--some may say petty--details about a wedding. a wedding--the means by which I get married.

I feel like I should be spending hours and hours of my life planning all the details of how I'm going to be married. That seems like a way bigger deal to me. Married?? How the heck do i do that? I don't know how to be a wife!

Ephesians 5:22-34 tells me:

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives submit in everything to their husbands.

The passage continues talking about marriage, using the image of Christ and the Church. Whether the relationship of Christ and the Church is supposed to the example for how marriage should function, or if marriage should point to the relationship between Christ and the Church, (actually, it's probably both) all I know is that it's a pretty tall order.

And I feel like I should be spending wayyyy more time planning for that than I am the wedding. I want to focus my time planning to be married rather than to get married. And maybe the potential color clashing should be a significantly lower priority. :)

i decided to start a series on my blog. i don't know how often i'll actually contribute to it. but i'm going to call it: "you know you're in seminary when..."

to start us off, here's three:

a. you're doing homework on a friday night.

b. you're reading a dissertation from 1968.

c. you're reading a book in which the author uses german and doesn't translate it.

*sigh*

so i subscribe to the RealSimple blog

... don't make fun of me.

anyways, i read this post the other day, and it got me thinking... about several things. (remind me not to use any more ellipses in this post.) [i really encourage you to read (at least skim!) the article, but a brief overview is that you should ask several questions about every item you think about purchasing (is it necessary? do i have something else that is similar? etc.) basically to keep your life simple by means of less stuff and clutter. she uses an anecdote/analogy about how she had a set of rules for her romantic relationships that she would inform potential suitors on each first date.]

alright, so first: her rules for dating really impress me. it seems that she is using them to accomplish the same purpose as the rules/questions for purchases. she wants simplicity, a life free from clutter, from unnecessary things. she doesn't want unnecessary dating relationships. she wants to rule out the relationships that aren't going to work right away--the ones that are going to be dysfunctional, unhealthy, incompatible, directionless. she doesn't want to clutter her life with unnecessary pain from romantic relationships that could have been avoided with clear communication about expectations at the very beginning.

this is impressive in a generation of people that almost crave directionless, unhealthy, and communication-deprived relationships. (note: i'm not trying to offend or make generalized assumptions, i'm just speaking out of observation and former experience.) to see someone desire fruitful relationships, and to respect herself enough to fight for that--impressive.

second (and let's be honest, less important): she takes the same kind of approach to what she brings into her home. she takes every purchase seriously. she doesn't want unnecessary things in her home, clutter. she's spending her money wisely.

gosh, what my life might be like if i took that same approach. if i took seriously how i spend money. if i asked myself questions before i made a purchase. if i wanted to steward the money i have so graciously been blessed with...

and to think, i'm being convicted about my money-spending habits by a blog post on the real.simple blog. :)

so what are your thoughts? do you think she has good points? does she think about money and purchases well? what about her "dating rules"?

encouraged by the chandlers

when i first heard this sermon, it was one of the most influential in my life.

it was preached less than two weeks before matt chandler suffered a seizure, and a grade 3 tumor was discovered in his brain.

this video was recorded at the end of his second week of chemotherapy. it shows his great faith in the Lord, trusting that God is sovereign and good despite the suffering that has--and will--take place in his life.

and then today, i read this article about the chandlers; a realistic picture of family walking well through suffering.

i have literally nothing to add to anything of this. i just am so encouraged by it all, and i want to encourage all of you to be encouraged by this family. because God is good--all the time.