This week in my kitchen...

We're heading into our third week of Lent, and for the most part, we're really enjoying trying a bunch of new things! Last week we enjoyed the Red & Green Winter Stoup (Charles' comment was, "wow, that doesn't look like something I'd like, but it tasted way better than I expected!). I enjoyed the Pasta Primavera but my hubby wasn't such a fan. Which is okay, it wasn't phenomenal, so I'm okay with not making it again. The Black Bean soup was pretty good also. This week here's what we're trying:

Monday: Red Lentil Curry (I am SO excited for this, I've tasted it, I know it's yummy!)

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Pesto tortellini with red pepper & veggie marinara

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: date night

Saturday: Bean burritos with brown spanish rice

Hunger

I'm finding myself growing more and more hungry lately. Hungry for Jesus. Hungry to know him more, to follow him, even when that feels terrifying. There's a stirring deep in my soul for more. It's been a long, long time since I've felt this, felt such a desire to not just talk about Jesus, or write about Jesus, but to really know him, to see him, to touch him, to follow in his footsteps. And I am longing to see others know him, and come to love him too.

I long for this world to be different, I deeply desire to see change, to see those who have nothing finally receive their fair share, to see those who are wealthy give freely of their abundance instead of storing up treasures on earth while so many go hungry.

I wish with all my heart that the impression the world has of Christians was different. I hope for the day when the "religious right" would stop yelling about abortion and homosexuality and begin to see that "family values" and being "pro-life" should mean just as much energy and anger towards the fact that millions of children don't have food, or health care, or clean water in this world--that these are family issues too, these are pro-life issues as well.

This world is a mess, and this past week I have been hit hard with a desire to pray for change, for something to happen, for things to be different. I want to see our churches start to BE the people of God, to stop worrying about church attendance and the latest ways to "grow" or be "relevant" and start thinking deeply about the fact that "liturgy" actually means "service"--our worship service ought to be just that, serving. I had this sense while at youth group last week that I wanted more for these kids. I wasn't interested in their whining about playing link-arm tag one more time, I want to see them go deeper, and I don't know how to help them do that, and that bothers me. I'm sick of the status quo. God's calling us to a new place, and even though I am scared, I want to follow. I want to be part of something new, something bigger than myself, something eternal. And I don't know what to do with this, other than say "okay God, I'm here, I'm willing, and I'm ready to do what you call me to." And then to pray I hear him when he calls.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Happy weekend everyone! March is here! Which means this month we get to enjoy spring break and celebrate our 1 year anniversary by going up the coast for two nights, which I am VERY excited about! Enjoy your Friday my friends!

**1**
After being under the weather all week I finally have my energy back, which is wonderful. I spent several lazy days this past weekend and into the beginning of the week feeling like I couldn't get off the couch very easily but thankfully that feeling is gone. I felt so lazy! Even though it was kind of a nice excuse to do nothing :)

**2**
When I met with the committee members from the Seattle Presbytery a week and a 1/2 ago, they wanted to "encourage" me to develop the personal devotional discipline of reading through the lectionary texts each day for my own devotions. (For those who aren't familiar with this, it's a way of dividing up the bible for personal use and for preaching making sure the whole bible gets covered in a 3 year cycle. So each day there are two Psalms, one Old Testament passage, one New Testament passage, and one Gospels passage to read. It is used across almost all mainline denominations and Catholic churches and has been used for centuries). Many pastors use this for their devotions, to give themselves a wide variety in their personal scripture reading. I've always steered away from it because it feels choppy to me, jumping around too much, but when your committee "encourages" something, that's not really the time to ignore it! So I've been reading the lectionary texts and I have to be honest, I'm starting to enjoy it! I think it is going to give me a richer view of scripture than I would get if I were just trying to read straight through the bible. For anyone who'd like to see what the texts are for a given day, you can click on this link: http://www.pcusa.org/devotions/lectionary/index.htm

**3**
My dear niece, Helen, turns 12 today and while we can't be there to celebrate with her, I loved having a 12 year old girl to shop for! I gave her several small things, but one thing that was especially fun for me is that I made her 3 mixed CDs with a variety of music on them. I included some current popular stuff with the tween crowd (several Miley Cyrus songs and stuff from the Glee soundtracks), some country, some worship, and even a few from musicals I loved when I was her age. It was very fun to work on, I hope she enjoys them!

**4**
As a teaching assistant for the preaching classes, I get to hear several sermons a week of students. A few are definitely terrible (although I haven't had any of those this quarter thankfully!) but every now and then I'll hear a sermon from a student that blows me away. I got to hear one of these yesterday. What was fun is that it was given by a woman probably in her late 30s, who is Korean and English is very much her second language. I happen to know she was terrified going into this class. She didn't need to be. She was phenomenal. With her thick Korean accent, she preached on Jesus clearing the temple and made some incredible connections between the temple and His body, and how by clearing out the temple, the place where people can come to be a worshiping body he was rebuking the sacrificial system for failing to create a space where people could encounter him. Then, she drops this on us: "if Jesus came into your ministry today, what would he overturn? Where would he rebuke you for not being his body?" You could have heard a pin drop. It was a remarkable sermon, one I know I'll remember for a long time.

**5**
I am almost finished with my next book on my reading list, "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" by Rob Bell, and I gotta be honest, it's wrecking me. It's pushing my theology, my political views, my views of what the church & ministry should be in ways I haven't encountered in a long time. I have a few different posts in mind that I'll write about later, but that's what my mind has been occupied with this week.

**6**
I've decided this year off from being in a seminary classroom every day, reading nothing but theology, has been so good for me. I tried reading Rob Bell's book last year, while still in school, and while I thought the beginning was good, I put it down. I couldn't enter into another book about God at that point. But now, having been away from it for awhile (not God, just the constant reading about him!) I find that I am hungry for it again. I'm soaking up this book and thinking about it and reflecting on it in ways I didn't have time or energy to do with most of my seminary reading. I'm so thankful for this break, and if I end up in a church I think I'll have a renewed sense of energy for thinking deeply about things again.

**7**
Tonight we get to celebrate my dear friend, Ryan's birthday with a dinner party and Settlers of Catan tournament (we'll have about 3 games going for about 12 people). I love that after all these years of friendship I am still in his life and am able to be present to celebrate him for yet another year. Happy Birthday Ryan!

Adventures in Vegetarianism--week 2!

I am loving this new way of eating! Granted, I've completely forgotten a few times that I'm not supposed to be eating meat and will randomly find myself with a meatball on my plate at a party, but for the most part we've both done really well and have enjoyed trying some new things. Here's what's for dinner this week:

Sunday: Salmon Burgers and Spinach Salad
Monday: Red & Green Winter Stoup, Asiago Cheese Bread, Salad
Tuesday: Black Bean Soup (I'm making this for my small group)
Wednesday: Left overs
Thursday: Pasta Primavera, Salad
Friday: Date night
Saturday: Left overs

1,000 Gifts week 7 & 8

With winter camp last Friday I never got a chance to post things I was thankful for last week, so this week the list is a bit longer since I'm covering two weeks at once! I've been at this for two months now, and am at 160 things I'm thankful for this year, which has been so fun! Here are just a few from my thankfulness journal:

123. Getting to enjoy delicious salmon burgers made by my good friend Ryan.

125. Playing Settlers of Catan with Ryan and Alethia

126. Getting to preach on Ash Wednesday

132. Dancing with high school kids at winter camp.

137. Watching the freshmen girls go deeper in their relationships with each other and God.

140. Singing the GLEE sound track loudly with the girls in the car on the way to (and from!) camp.

141. A great meeting with my Presbytery folks Monday

142. SPU has a res life job posted that I applied for! (So does Whitworth, Westmont, and Fresno Pacific--I'm working on applications a lot these days!)

144. Megan's funny Lily stories on her facebook status that make me laugh :)

147. Sharing lunch with Alethia

150. Delicious vegetarian meals

152. Watching Harry Potter with my husband as it rains outside.

155. Having lunch with Jenn to catch up!

159. Beautiful Trader Joe's tulips :)

7 Quick Takes Friday

Happy weekend everyone! I can't believe next week we'll be in March already! Where did February go?? Yikes! Here's the latest from our corner of the world this week!

**1**
My dear husband lost his phone Monday night, which has launched us into much conversation about whether or not we have the best cell plan for us. We feel like we are paying a ridiculous amount of money with Verizon, so we're working on shopping around. Or rather, I have been working on shopping around. I have been to a ridiculous number of cell phone stores this week and we still don't know what exactly we are going to do. But he's still without a phone, so we'll see what we do tonight at the Verizon store and how that plays out. I'll be glad when we have made a decision!

**2**
We had a college student over for dinner last night because he had wanted to have a conversation with us about some theological stuff. It was quite the conversation, which got a little heated at times, but we were honored to be invited into his life in this way--he mentioned Chuck has made a big impact on him in the past year, which I know was so encouraging for Chuck to hear. We have been co-leading a small group at Cal Tech all year of a group of guys (yes, it's kind of strange being the only girl but still fun!) and it's been great being part of their journeys.

**3**
The job hunt is going, slowly, but it's going. I applied for several residence hall director positions around the west coast this past week which was great, there are even some openings at both mine and my sister's alma maters, which would be amazing and so fun to be back in the northwest--so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I also have a couple church positions in the works in a couple locations throughout the country, so we'll see what comes of those conversations.

**4**
Trader Joes has their first batches of beautiful spring tulips out! I bought some incredible orange/yellow tulips on Monday which have been making me smile all week!

**5**
Our church has been doing a Wednesday evening Lenten Eve series, which is going to be wonderful! We had week 1 this week, and each week is going to center around a particular character who encountered Jesus on his way to the cross. This past week was the Samaritan leper who Jesus healed, and our friend George gave a monologue in full costume as the leper. It was wonderful, and I can't wait for next week.

**6**
Bragging moment--my husband is awesome :) He has so much work to do between now and spring break, he works so hard, he does such a good job, and he still insists on taking me out for date nights even in the midst of his busy time of the quarter. I really love him :)

**7**
Tomorrow I get to go to the installation of the Reverend Becca at her new job! So proud of her, she's officially a pastor!

Adventures in Vegetarianism--week 1!

I have really enjoyed this challenge! And it hasn't been easy being at winter camp last weekend and having no control over the menu (I was so hungry one day I gave in and ate the chicken sandwich, I'll admit!). But it has been so fun thinking creatively about what I eat and thinking a little differently. For instance, I used to have turkey sandwiches for lunch and have had to think differently about that, and what I've found is that I have actually incorporated more variety into my diet. Some days I'll make a black bean and rice quesadilla, or today I made a delicious pita sandwich, stuffed with hummus, red peppers, onions, cheese, and tomatoes. SO yummy! Yesterday I hate a HUGE plate of sliced veggies dipped in hummus, a whole wheat pita with hummus, string cheese, and an apple with peanut butter. I was full all afternoon and it was SO delicious! Chuck has been awesome, he is right on board with all this, even telling me he's excited about the next meal to try. I'm sure I'll manage to make a few things he doesn't love, but he's been such a great partner :) (he was already partially vegetarian on his own, as we never eat meat at breakfast, and he'd been doing vegetarian lunches for the last several months, so he's on board with trying this new diet).

Sundays during Lent are considered "mini Easters" where we remember the resurrection in the midst of our season of giving something up, so typically on Sundays you can break your fast, which we are by eating some type of fish for dinner Sunday evening. We have found an incredible salmon recipe that was SO easy and delicious that we've made twice this month, so I've linked to that below. Here are a couple other things we've cooked this week that we've both enjoyed:

Baked Salmon
Vegetarian Spaghetti (served with salad and garlic bread)
Chili with Cashews (served over brown rice with corn bread and salad)

Next week I'll give you the new recipes we're trying!