a lazy saturday

It felt so great to sleep in!  Andrew was so sweet to lay around with me for a long time this morning!  After actually getting up, we just did a few errands and hung out around the house (cleaning up the kitchen, some spring cleaning + goodwill piles, baking, reading, etc).

I made more scones.  I think we're addicted.  This time- since I'm married to a chocoholic- I made part of the batch with chocolate chips also.  He was very excited. 

Here they are on the cooling rack. 

A few days ago the college girls I meet with came over for dinner and our small group.  I bought some daisies to give them and had a few left over so I put them out around the house. 

dining area

kitchen

And...here's the pillow I made last week!  It's burlap with a thicker lining and a ruffle.  

I was a little rusty and it took a while, but I was so glad to get it done!

I also recently reorganized my husband's desk while he was gone.  I tried to think of a way to serve him and relieve him because he lives (and thrives) off of having 50 different projects going on at once.  And he loves organization.  There were lots of piles and stacks of books.  I took him with me to find a masculine basket to put on his desk and he picked this one out.  It was on sale for $1! 

 Here's the bulletin board to the left of his desk.  I cleaned it up some too.  And I made a little pocket for notes and pictures I've given him.

I made it with a fabric sample while searching for new pillow fabric.  

Then I just tacked each side to the board.  It was basically a tiny bag and I hemmed the edges.  So easy. 

Mom would be proud. :)

jinx.

Oh the irony.  I've loved the hints of spring lately.  And now all those hints are buried under a layer of snow, freezing rain, sleet, hail and severe storm warnings.

Just thought I would share that with you.  And now you will be so much more grateful of your weather...that AT LEAST it's not 35 and switching in between wet snow and sleet.  Ha.  Just trying to give you a little perspective :)

Good thing my hope isn't in the weather...

spring + I'm a (hispanic) domestic queen

Today is officially spring.  Seriously- March 20 ends winter and starts spring.  Here it means melting snow, warmer weather, melting lakes, longer days, more sunshine, and rain- which we haven't had in quite a while.  There's still a few snow flurries in the forecast, but it's a lot warmer!  Spring for me here also means no more boots- finally I can wear flats(!), no more wool socks or long underware under my clothes, no more warming up my car forever, no gloves, no big puffy jackets, and no more gloomy day after gloomy day.  Sunshine makes the biggest difference!

Yeah, so we're nowhere near this, but at least the snow is patchy now, not thick!

So officially, I love spring. Though a few years ago if I came up here I would have said it was the dead of winter as I knew it.  Thankful for these "small" victories though!

It's been our spring break which has been super nice.  And I've been going domestically crazy!  Baking, cooking, sewing and geneology (what?!).  Who knew they'd be such outlets?! I've also been cleaning, shopping, and makin' some money! Woo consignment store!

Here are some good recipes I've made this week:

• Cinnamon Chip Scones from Pioneer Woman: 5 stars.  I think I'm going to make them again tonight since I ate the last one this morning... My grocery didn't have cinnamon chips so I got caramel chips.  Super good.  She kept saying it was very dry but my ingredients were quite wet, but they still came out ok.  This time I'll triple check the measurements again (though I did the first time too!)
• Pork Chops with Dijon Cream Sauce from Simply Recipes: OMG.  Would make again in a heart beat.  Pork chops are moist and it's easy to get the rest of the meal together while they're cooking.  Yum!
• Tomato and Sausage Lasagna from Mrs. Martha Stewart: I made this while I was out of town for hubby.  He had some guys over and they demolished it.  I thought it was pretty good, but they loved it.  I would make it again, but adding much more tomatoes, sauce and sausage.  
• Made this jambalaya tonight.  I couldn't find my mom's recipe so I settled for a combo of Emeril's and one from River Road Recipes III, a family staple.  I'll be subbing smoked sausage for shrimp and doulbing the recipe for our couples' small group tonight. Yum!
• Corn Pudding: We had this with the jambalaya and it was totally gone at the end of the night. 

And I've been working on a few sewing things...a quick pocket for Andrew's bulletin board, burlap pillow, starting to reupholster some chair cushions. Updates to come.

Yesterday Andrew and I stopped by a home goods consigment store and picked up a $30 check!  A few months ago I dropped off some random things we'd picked up along the way that we wouldn't be using any more in our house.  So I brought them to the store and a few months later we got 45% of what they sold for in cash.  Though I'm usually the spender (at least on clothing and house things), I was glad to actually contribute something to our money pot this time.  So was Andrew!

I've also been digging some a bunch of family history stuff while doing a free trial over at Ancestry.com.  It all started with Andrew took me on a date to the Minneapolis History Museum in St. Paul.  They had a genealogy area and it sparked my curiosity for learn more.  And Andrew always teases me that I'm Latina so I wanted to finally quiet his little quips!  It was neat to see the actual immigration papers my great, great, great paternal grandfather and grandmother came over from Germany with.  I got to find some pictures of Manuel Martinez, my great, great maternal grandfather and his parents Juanita and Esteban Martinez.  On my mom's side super far down the line (think like seven or eight generations and 1600-1700s are Spanish and even some Mexican lineage) and on my Dad's side is German (and I think Dutch, but I haven't gotten there yet).  Anyway, it was so fun!  I'll hopefully share more about this later too!

Here's ol' Juanita and Esteban

...and Manuel as a kid.  

Well I should get back to channeling my Latina roots now.  And giving Andrew a reason to attempt to speak to me in Spanish (more like Spanglish...or repeating words like taco, burrito and agua since he never took the language.)

Viva Mexico

We flew out of Mexico Monday morning.  Sunny, warm, bright. We flew above the clouds almost the whole way back.  Then we could see Missouri and Iowa with all their corn fields.  Then I knew we were getting close to home when everything was white again.  It was crazy to take a 3-4 hour flight and be in totally different worlds.  I pulled out my puffy warm jacket and replaced my sandals with flats as we headed off the plane in Minneapolis.  Here are some fun memories from our quick trip to Playa del Carmen.  And by the way, my husband is the greatest, isn't he?! What a great surprise!

The first morning we got there

Hubs!

We saw iguanas everywhere!

Beautiful!

The resort

Taking a break from the beach

Climbing around the rocks and ruins

Another camouflaged iguana

The resort had its own flamingos

Palm trees everywhere

Yummy food! This was french toast and granola 

The resort lobby at night

We love traveling, warm weather, beaches.  I can't believe we got to go.  It was so fun

Thirst

Every other Wednesday night some girls come over for a Bible study and we've been going through different sayings of Christ on the cross.  When I came across "I thirst," I was a little baffled compared to the more common "It is finished"-like phrases that you'd normally think of about the subject.

But it was so encouraging!  God brought my heart to worship!  Here's some of what we went through:
We first asked what it means to thirst- longing, unmet desires, wanting more, etc.  Then we talked about other places in Scripture where thirst or hunger are talked about.

Psalm 143 helped us to realize first that it's our souls that thirst.  So the Bible isn't just talking about physical thirst, but spiritual longing!  My soul does thirst.  I do long for God (and often other lesser things).

Then we looked at Revelation 22:12-18 and Isaiah 55:1

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!' Let anyone who hears say, 'Come!' And let anyone who is thirsty come - let anyone who wishes, take the water of life free of charge." I warn everyone hearing the words of the prophecy in this book that if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written in this book."

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare."

How sweet that anyone who thirsts can come to God.  The only requirement is thirst- need, humility, knowing you need God and can't do it on your own.   A good record, morality, past relationships, church attendance are not necessary.  Just need.  And we don't have to pay.  Without money and without price.  We don't do anything for it.  We simply get to "delight in the richest of fare."  God wants us to enjoy feeling full!  Christ is so different than any other call!

And it's God who invites us to come.  He says "Come."  It's the Spirit and the Bride (Jesus) who beckon us.  God invites us to Himself.  He invites us to be satisfied and to be full- full in Himself.  We eat being satisfied in Jesus that he’s satisfied our debt and we get excited that though we don’t deserve God but we get Him for free.  I been loving thinking that being a Christian means simply 1) seeing our thirst, 2) delighting in the fact that we can come, buy, and eat without pay!  John 6:35 and John 4:13 also remind us that it's Jesus ALONE that will quench our thirst and never make us thirsty again.

But now, what does it mean that He said "I thirst" on the cross?  Thirst is in an ultimate sense longing and desire put in our hearts to be united with God! So thirst is an expression not being with God.  So eternal thirst is hell (see Luke 16 for more).  Scripture says we’re apart from Christ until we realize our thirst and we come and drink…and that we deserve never-satisfied thirst.  So eternal thirst, never quenched is hell.  And Christ on the cross is bearing the wrath of for us and took all the separation from God that we deserved, for us.  Christ went and endured everything that we should’ve endured! How incredibly gracious!  So on the cross He was feeling the separation from God that we should’ve gotten.  All of eternity for everyone in an instant!

This was so worshipful for my heart and reminded me of the gospel in a fresh way.  God is gracious.  

And in a few hours, A and I will be off in Mexico...a taste of heaven!  Time with the hubs, sunny 80s, unending guacamole, and beautiful beaches.  Can't wait.  

Whirlwind

Just dropped hubs off at the airport.  Cannot wait to see him Thursday.  Cannot wait to head to Mexico with him the next day.  Can wait to pack again.  And do more laundry.  And sit on a plane and eat airport food.

But first things first, India was great.  Physically draining, but encouraging in every other way.  Seeing friends, giving them gifts, encouraging them was so so sweet.  Actually knowing my way around north Delhi was weird, but great.  It was like my mind went into auto-pilot.  All those Hindi phrases I'd learned came back and the experiences of rickshaws, the metro, saris, lentils, smell of authentic Indian food, easily spotting all the white people super easily, looking and feeling like an outsider, Indian showers (aka buckets), the necessity of carrying toilet paper with you, and my idea of a "roomy" car re-shifting again.  A and I went to help acclimate 2 staff leading a team of students this summer.  We connected with school officials, met with students we had relationships with, toured the school, reconnected with church leaders, exchanged money, showed them all the transportation how tos, Hindi phrases, cultural dos and donts, and showed them how to get to major tourist sites: India Gate, Chandni chowk, Red Fort, Bangla Sahib (hu-mongo Sihk temple), arranging a trip to the Taj Mahal and palaces in beautiful Rajasthan.  Can I tell you how much a frilly coffee drink can make me feel at home?  We splurged a couple of times and went to Barista- a Euro version of Starbucks that are all over Delhi.  So good.  Yum.  I praise God that coffee is a universal treat.  And I think Hubs was grateful that he knows a secret to temporarily soothe me/wake me up/quiet me down/generally make me happy no matter where we go :)

Me and Remya in her dorm in India.  Yes, that ghost on the right is me...it's been a while since my skin has seen the sun (a little side effect of being a Minnesotan)!

So after getting used to the 11.5 hour time change in India, it was time to come back.  And I've been fighting to stay awake past 9 pm and sleep in later than 6 am.  Ha.  That sounds crazy.  Lame for a 25 year old without kids!

But I'm also feeling better.  Or at least starting too.  The fever is long gone, but a cough has stayed and continues to fade away.  Sadly though I think I forgot what it feels like to be in 20 degree weather and it hit me when I was filling up for gas one day.  I'd forgot what it feels like to have frozen ears and dry hands and wet sludgy shoes.  Here's when you know you're back in Minnesota or at the Minneapolis airport:

Yes, that's snow in the walkway from the gate to the plane.  It's everywhere!!!

And here is the view of my city from the plane. Yes, that's all dead trees and snow.  Ha.  

As soon as we got back from India, I left with al the staff women I work with for a little weekend retreat.  It was so great!  I love these friends.  One gave a little devo Saturday morning and it was so sweet for my heart.  She talked about how the gospel is not just Jesus' death, but His perfect life, perfect death, perfect resurrection and perfect glorification in heaven now.  Man I couldn't journal enough.  Thinking on Jesus' absolutely perfect life made me realize how crappy I am at living even a semi-good life here.  I felt convicted about all the jealousy, impatience, superiority, false humility, manipulation, pride, rudeness, selfishness in wanting my way, control, and gluttony that day.  It was only 10 am.  Shoot.

She also talked about what it will be like to stand in front of God in judgement and having satan read off all the accusations against us.  I picture myself feeling so little, so overwhelmed.  It would all be true.  Everything I've done, satan knows too and he's ready to throw it at me.  He's the great accuser.  That's his job.  But, though I'll stand there forever and satan will be yelling and insulting me and revealing all my sin, I will be able to lift up my head and point to Jesus.  Satan is right, I've done all that.  And I deserve to be with him and never with God- forever.  But I'll say Jesus is true.  He's my only hope for knowing and being with God.  And I'll say that Jesus said He was the way and the truth and the life.  And that the only possible way to get into heaven is to be clothed with His righteousness.  And He's promised it to me.  It will be overwhelming to see black and white all I've done to accrue destruction, but that Christ will hold out His hand. Wow.  What an insane gesture to me.  How worshipful it will be!

It makes me sad that I have to fight to remember this sweet news.  And that a lot of times it isn't sweet.  But how amazing will it be to constantly worship in heaven.  The reality of my unworthiness and God's perfect holiness, mercy, love and grace will be undeniable and ever present.  That's heaven: constant worship. I can't forget or screw it up.

I can't wait.  That's Christ-centered joy and hope: longing for heaven and having confidence in it.

This verse has been sweet since that morning: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us"
2 Corinthians 4:6-7