God Saves

Friends!

I have just finished listening to this sermon preached by Pastor Matt Chandler and I found it to be very touching. I wanted to share it with you so that your joy could be increased as you see God as the one who saves us.

Some of what Jesus taught me are as follows:

1. The more awesome I think I am and that God "partners" with me in my awesomeness, the more frustrated I will be.

2. God doesn't force people to love him, he reveals himself to them and they do.

3. We will always be battling sin and the flesh. God will always be chiseling away the parts of us that are not of him and replacing it with what is.

4. There is often times JOY in the battle against sin and every time I repent I can experience the forgiveness of God more deeply, my lament over sin quickly turns into rejoicing that God loved me and IS conforming me to the image of his son.

5. God saves. We do not.

Please listen to it - while your making dinner or driving to work. I just listened to it while I made a cheesecake.

God Saves    (October 2011)

Let me know what you think.

Mom's Monster Cookies

Monster cookies, or whatever you want to call them are my new favorite thing. Why? I love them because they've got it all chewy oatmeal, peanut butter and of course, chocolate! Another stunningly amazing thing about them is that they are GLUTEN FREE! Which means I can make a cookie that I adore, at the same time I am making something that Caleb can have. It's a win-win in my book. I love them so very much that I try not to make them all at one time, if I do, my self control goes out the window and all the calories I had previously burned on the elliptical are obsolete. To combat that and help myself out, I cook up a dozen or so of these little beauties for the week (or as long as they last)....

Then, I roll them rest of them up into balls and put them in a tupperware that goes into the freezer...
With a little note on the top reminding me what they are (as if I'd forget!) and the baking instructions.
That way if I'm dying for a little sweet with my coffee or want to put a treat in Caleb's lunch or we happen to have an impromptu counseling session - I've got a quick and no mess solution! I hope you enjoy these guys as much as I do.

Mom's Monster Cookies:

From Mom

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups peanut butter, smooth or crunchy

3 eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 1/2 cups oats, make sure they are gluten free if you are sensitive to gluten!

2 cups chocolate chips or m&m's (or one cup of each)

Cream together the first three ingredients and add in eggs, beating well to combine. stir in the soda, vanilla, oats and chips until combined. Bake on a greased cookie sheet (or use a silpat like me) at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

**This cookie recipe is wonderfully forgiving and as long as you stick to the basic idea you can add in whatever you want. Mom recommends nuts, raisins (I don't like raisins so I would never do that, but some people do like them) peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips or other candies like reeses pieces. Sky's the limit! I think next time I make them I will try to incorporate caramel! Let me know what you add into yours!

Breakfast is served!

I love breakfast! Now that I am not working I am able to make hot breakfast much more then I used to. This is a major bonus for me because I love, love, love eggs. I like them scrambled, fried, hard boiled but my most favorite way to eat them is in breakfast casserole type things. Last week I made these little beauties for breakfast and they were wonderful! I could eat breakfast for dinner at least once per week although Caleb is not so into it....!

Bacon and Asparagus Cups

4-6 strips bacon, diced

half an onion, diced

8-10 asparagus spears, cut into 1in pieces

8 eggs

1/4c milk or half n half

1/2c (or more) cheese, any variety I like cheddar or swiss, grated

1. cook bacon and onion together in frying pan until bacon is cooked to desired crispiness and onion is soft and golden. Add in asparagus pieces and cook one minute more. Pour mixture into a GREASED pie pan (or individual ramikens if you have them)

2. In a bowl whisk together 8 eggs with milk or half n half and season with salt and pepper. Pour eggs over the bacon mixture in the pie pan. Top with shredded cheese.

3. bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until the eggs are set and the top is browned.

If mornings are rushed for you, make this the night before and microwave a piece in the morning - it tastes great and you can eat it just as fast as a bowl of cereal!

Enjoy! This little dish is very versatile, change the ingredients to fit your family's tastes or what you have in the fridge. Would be delicious with mushrooms, sausage, ham, spinach, kale etc!

Happy Breakfast! Remember - it's the most important meal of the day!

Can I have a piece of your Sourdough Starter?

Calling all Seattle area friends! This week I would like to make sourdough pizza. I have been doing a lot of research about making my own starter but I am weary.... I know it's best if it's been going for a while and I won't have too much time to feed it before I want to make the pizza. Does anyone already have one going that I could have a piece of? If so, I'd be very grateful!

I may also check to see if I can buy one from Macrina or QFC but I figured I'd ask my friends first!

Thank you! <3 Sara

One of those days....

Today is seriously one of those days. Nothing crazy is happening, I'm not sick, I'm not even really that tired. I'm just being lazy. There are literally three or four things on my list to do this afternoon and I've done just about everything but those things.

I know that in my sin, I desire comfort. I desire to sit in my bed with my laptop, look at Pinterest and blogs and recipes and do literally nothing. That needs to end. It is 4:25pm right now and it's time to repent.

There is so much sweet joy in repentance. I can, in this moment confess to Jesus my sin of laziness and comfort that stems from a worship of myself and ask for His forgiveness. I can rejoice knowing that He is gracious to me, that He paid the price for my every sin on the cross.

1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Let me encourage you to go to Jesus with your sin. Your "big" sin, your "little" sin the sin that you try and downplay and ignore, the sins that are so big that you can't ignore. Go to Jesus. He is a loving and gracious Father. He loves you. He wants you to come to Him.

I am going to spend time with my Savior right now, and I would ask you to consider what you may need to go to him in prayer about right now as well.

Bye-Bye for now.

Chores = Games!

When was the last time you unloaded the dishwasher with pure joy? If you're like me then you love a clean kitchen - no dishes in the sink, no grime on the counter tops - just beautiful, lovely, pristine kitchen. For anyone who has lived on their own for even 1 hour knows that it is impossible to have a clean kitchen all the time unless you never use it. If you read this blog, then you know I use my kitchen!

Ok, about making chores a game: this morning I wanted to eat some oatmeal because I've already had 2 cups of coffee and no food which is not a very good combination. Also, it's snowing and it just feels like oatmeal is fun to have when the weather is cold. The oatmeal I make takes 5-7 mins to cook and I ran my dishwasher last night before bed. You do the math: full dishwasher of clean dishes and sink filled with dirty dishes, ready to go into the dish washer. Ah! That is my least favorite situation! So, while the oatmeal was cooking, I thought I'd make a game out of. I will race myself at unloading the dishwasher! I got this idea from Brittany Cooley who is my dearest friend. She did this with her laundry folding - brilliant!

This was my starting point: a dishwasher stuffed with clean, sparkling dishes, ready to be put in their respective homes.

This was my ending point: an attractive dishwasher, ready to wash the vessels from today's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My time? I know you're dying to know. 4 minutes and 31 seconds. All the while stirring my oatmeal and putting away my dishes in a meticulous fashion (as I have been known to do...)

Now you try! I'm sure that you either have a full dishwasher right now or will have one in the next 24 hours. Once you do it for the first time, you'll want to beat your time so you'll do it over and over. Let me know your score! One more household chore made fun!

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24

One Regular Day...

One day not too long ago it was pouring down rain. My dear friend Trina was leaving for a trip and she needed me to swing by and pick up the keys to her house. I was at the doctor so I couldn't come over right away but I stopped by on my way home. When I got there our friend Lauren was there with one of her cutie pie sons Simon. Trina and Lauren were running around the house packing up clothes and ice chests for Trina's trip. I had just had a lot of blood drawn so I wasn't feeling like helping much (mean, I know!) so I plopped myself down on the floor to play with the babies. Lillian is getting SO big and she is so fun to play with. Simon was playing a fun game on the iphone and he came over to show it to me. While all this fun was going on Trina snapped a picture of me sitting on the floor playing with the kids. Just thought I'd share a random snapshot of a regular morning for me.