This week I...

followed a recipe for banana bread
made up a stromboli type meal with a friend
threw chicken, veggies, and marinade in the crockpot
made my usual foccacia
experimented with my usual amazing cinnamon roll recipe


And that is just the kitchen stuff that I did!


this week I also...
went running several times
went to the dog park
went to the beach
went hiking
GOT A JOB!
told my boss about my new job
went to dinner with my new boss and his family

Its been a GREAT week! I love that we have so much more daylight these days. It helps me get up earlier, and just gives me more motivation to go outside and enjoy it. As you can see with the aforementioned activities.

My current boss was really gracious. That is a HUGE answer to prayer. I wanted to make sure I was leaving there on good terms, as I would A) need her as a reference in the future, and B) wouldn't mind picking up a few shifts there at some point, just to get my discount back :) She was really excited for me, and even gave me a hug. There have been ups and downs working for her, but it couldn't be a more gracious parting.

Oh, the job! I will be working for a part 135 operation. The main "hub" is out in the bush, at a fishing lodge (owned by the same person). Also there is an awesome Bible camp, with volunteers from all over the lower 48 coming up to work for a couple weeks at a time. While the main hangar and everything is in the bush, a large number of summer passengers come up through anchorage to go either to the lodge, or the Bible Camp. Up to 120 passengers a day come through Anchorage in the summer. With the biggest plane seating 9, that creates a lot of work.

During the summer, I will be working here in town doing everything from customer service, answering phones, and scheduling to fueling planes, loading baggage, and maybe even an oil change every once in a while.
In the fall, the plan is to head out to the bush to do some maintenance and ground crew work. From there, we see where the Lord takes me. I am REALLY excited about this whole new path the Lord has taken me on.

The owner and family are all really strong Christians. I went out to dinner with them last night, and was able to share about my aspirations to return to Africa. It was great to be able to be open and honest about who I am and what I want to do with my life with my employer. He knows several of the missionaries I worked with in Africa, and even mentioned that he is trying to get one of the mechanics up here, as soon as paperwork works out. Did I mention that God is AMAZING to put this all together??

busy busy busy...

who would have thought working 6 days in one week would be so crazy? Well, I guess I didn't really think before offering to take a co-worker's shift. In light of not having anything else exciting to share about this week, I will leave you with a few things to do:

-be adventurous in the kitchen
Find a meal you have never made before, find a recipe, and make it. It is liberating. I find myself not making things because I have never made it before. But the recipes tell you what to do.
Or, if you have conquered all the meals you care to eat, go without a recipe. Throw random vegetables in a pasta sauce. It won't alter the flavor enough to keep the family from eating it. Or if it does, its only one meal.
Make something from scratch. Sure I like to buy things all made up in a jar. The best foods come from you controlling what goes into it. If I can't pronounce something on the list of ingredients, I don't know that I want to put it in my body.

-shake up the old 'do
Part your hair differently. Let it air dry instead of blow drying. Find a different product to put in it. Let it go all natural. Or for the truly radical, get it cut. Just find something a little different to do with it.

-pray purposefully and dangerously
A lot of people don't really know what they are asking for when they pray for a virtue, such as patience. God generally gives the petitioner an opportunity to stretch their current level of that virtue. I jokingly say that I don't pray for patience anymore, cause I don't want to have to practice it. Or maybe someone asks for guidance, but doesn't like the direction that they are given. Prayer isn't effective unless you know that it will be answered and you seek the fulfillment of that request. A couple friends of mine have requested prayers for boldness. That is a dangerous request, asking God for an opportunity for them to exhibit their boldness. And I am excited to pray that for them. My current request is for discernment. A line has been drawn with some of my friends, a very clear line between those who are living a life in love with Jesus, and those who are not. I want to know how to encourage the former, and witness to the latter. It's a bold prayer. It's a dangerous prayer. And it's a fulfilling prayer.

Its definitely spring!! Spring is the season of new growth, of things changing. Maybe that's why I feel the need to shake things up a bit!

breaking bread: enchilada casserole

I have been participating in a Bible study called "Experiencing God" with my Sunday school class at church. It has been a great study so far, and I look forward to getting deeper into it. Because the weekly meetings take longer than the allotted hour and a half of sunday school time, we came up with the idea to "break bread together." So the eight of us meet for Sunday school at 9:30, go to the main service at 11, and come back together to make lunch, finish the study, eat, and fellowship together. I am blessed with the opportunity to coordinate the food efforts. One week, we made an enchilada casserole. in addition to tasting amazing, it is one of the easiest things in the world to throw together.

Here's what you do:
before hand, someone makes up taco meat. I did two pounds. Have someone grate cheese, someone else chop up onions, while the assembler starts the assembly process. Fill a pie pan with enchilada sauce. Dip tortillas one at a time in enchilada sauce and line the bottom of dish (5 qt rectangular baker in my case). Cover with a layer of cheese. Have someone open a can of black beans, as assembler's hands will be very messy at this point. Mix half the meat, onions, and can of black beans on the next layer. Add another layer of tortillas dipped in enchilada sauce. At some point, the assembler will probably need another can of enchilada sauce opened and dumped in the pie dish. Add another layer each of cheese and meat/beans/onion mix, and tortillas dipped in the sauce. Top with remaining cheese, cover with foil, and bake in the oven. Since there is no meat that has to cook, the whole baking process is just to get the cheese to melt and really blend the filling together.
I love this dish because you can assemble the casserole any time, and pull it out of the fridge and throw it in the oven. 30 minutes later you have a really yummy meal. But in this instance, we assembled it together. The point was to do something together, and enjoy each other's company in the process of making the meal.

Usually when I prepare this dish, I just do meat, cheese, tortillas, and enchilada sauce. One of the others had the idea to add the fresh chopped onion and black beans. And it tasted really really good. That's the biggest blessing for me in coordinating this. I get the ball rolling. Gather ideas from the rest of the group, find a recipe, and get a shopping list. Everyone volunteers to bring a couple things, and we cook it together. It always comes out great-better than I could make it on my own.

I will not give up

Its written in big letters across my journal from several weeks ago. I had to remind myself of that fact today. I admire so many characters in the Bible for there perseverance. Through impossible circumstances, they remained faithful. Even when they didn't know what to do, even when their circumstances were not their fault, they got through whatever came to them.

Maybe my problem is that I picture them with a bubble around them. Because I know the end, I know that they should have hope. No matter how tough, how rotten, how unfair their troubles may be, I know that they are going to be ok because the end was already decided. Why should they fret? Anything is easier to handle when you know the end result.

Because of this, I didn't feel like I could relate. As to-do lists grow longer, work schedule continues to be unpredictable/unsteady at best, and more nightmares crop up, I feel pretty hopeless. And I get to thinking about the lucky characters in the Bible who had it so much better, with their story already written.

Are you getting the foolishness of my thought process? There are two big flaws that I see here. Feel free to point out more. Number one: the Bible characters didn't know the ending. The only thing they knew was what had already happened and what was currently happening. They didn't know the whole story like I do. And that leads to number two: The end of my story HAS been written. It doesn't make the trials that I face any different. I still have to face them. But the end is in place, and the battle is already won.

I will NOT give up.

home again

I had a great time in Texas. It might have been more work than play getting ready for the wedding, but the time I got to spend in LeTourneau land certainly made up for that. All in all, it was entirely refreshing for several reasons:

-it wasn't the normal work I do to pay rent
-Sunshine!
-A really pretty storm came through, complete with torrential downpour and a brilliant lightening display
-I was around people just about 24/7
-I wasn't doing any of the wedding stuff (4 LONG days of prep) for me
-I got about a million hugs from LeTourneau people
-The reactions from people that didn't know I was coming
-Several friends who dropped all their weekend plans just to hang out with me
-The new Aviation facility, or airport campus as they call it
-When it was all said and done, I had a home in Anchorage to come back to

I never realized how awesome it is to have a real home to come back to. When I moved around every two weeks last year, living out of suitcases, I didn't have a definite home to return to, I was always moving on to somewhere new. When I returned to school, my apartment had been taken over. Even though I lived there four months, someone else had taken up my space, and it was no longer home to me. I hadn't lived in my room in my parents house for 4 years. Even though its where I grew up, it felt like I was visiting. And I had huge piles of re-organization to do, as most of my stuff was in some stage of moving back from college. It was a weird time, because I didn't have anywhere I was rooted. It is definitely a good feeling to be able to return to my home, the place I have established as my own. I can only imagine how much more exciting it will be to move to my eternal home someday.