♫ "Summer's Here" ♫

I thought I'd give an update about the goings-on in my life...

I woke up this morning with James Taylor's "Summer's Here" stuck in my head - go ahead, give it a listen (you know you want to...).  Sing along with me:

♫ "Summer's here, I'm for that, 

Got my rubber sandals got my straw hat...

It's my favorite time of the year, and I'm glad that it's here" ♫

You did pretty well!  Haha.  Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), it was a good morning.  :)

It's a long story, but I'm looking for a job.  So far so good.  I have a few interviews in the next week, and I just got back from a temp agency in hopes of finding something to hold me over for a while.  I'm feeling good about it though.  The Lord has me in high spirits.

I've been recently going through a book called "Lies Women Believe" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and I've really been confronted by some things in my life because of it.  God has taught me so much about what I believe and what the evidence of my beliefs is.  And I've also learned a ton about what it means to be a woman of God and a wife and mom, even though I'm neither of the latter two yet.  There are so many things that I've thought and believed about my own life as a woman that so do not line up with what God's Word says.  I have to say that I haven't agreed with some of the things she said, particularly the chapter about children, but overall it's been a nice journey.  I've been using it as part of my morning devo, and I feel like my whole spirit is refreshed.  It's nice replacing the lies with the Truth and no longer living in bondage because I am free in Christ!

Okay.  I just had to get that out of my system!  I've decided from now on, in this blog, to call my boyfriend "Chewie."  It's not his real name, in case you were wondering.  Just a nickname.  But in reading other blogs I've found that, for legal disclosure policy-ish reasons, it's better not to use his real name but a nickname instead.  So, yeah.

Anyway, Chewie has a big-time interview next week, and we are praying that Jesus gives him that job!  The pay is decent, and he'll have pretty decent benefits, as well.  Plus, don't you think a guy this cheesy deserves a great job???  :D

My small group, that we fondly call "Quarterlifers," is going so so so well.  I love this group.  They have become my best friends, my accountability, somewhere I go for wisdom and encouragement, and so much more.  I am so thankful that Jesus put this group of people in my life.  And I'm so excited about how the Holy Spirit is moving amongst us.  One of the things we are praying for right now is revival in the hearts of those in our group and in our church.  Our church has been through some t.o.u.g.h. stuff in the past 6 months, and I believe we're ready for some major Jesus-movement.

Also, the Quarterlifers have been challenged by the youth group to weekly Sunday morning events, like relay races and basketball games.  If we win, they have to wash our cars.  Holler!  And if they win - Jesus, help us - we have to host a lock-in for them.  Now, I'm not sure if you're familiar with youth lock-ins (and, believe me, you should be grateful for that), but I definitely am familiar with them.  Therefore, I am praying - hard - that we will beat their tushies (sp???)!  All-in-all, though, it should be really fun, and I am really excited.

There are so many good things stirring right now that I can't help but to be dizzy with excitement.  I feel a new adventure coming on with my career, as well as Chewie's, and God is definitely working in and around my life right now.  He is so good.  I just can't say it enough.

Finale Friday: Sweet Stuff

This week has been a pretty good one, except for the fact that I'm one day ahead of myself - I woke up Wednesday and thought it was Thursday (same goes for Thursday thinking it was Friday).  Talk about a bummer!  Oh well.  :)

Probably the most exciting thing about this last week was our singles small group.  The first week kind of got off to a rocky-ish start because there wasn't a very big turnout.  So that was sad.  Going into this last week (our second week), I was anxious about whether or not we took the right approach for the group.  Boy did God ever turn that thought away!

Our meeting this week was SO fun!  I decided to take a fellowship approach with it this week since the singles group concept is really new at our church, and we had a game night.  Cindy, our lovely host, made amazing turkey chili, and we played "The Game of Things."  And it couldn't have gone better!  We had a blast with that.  After a little while Cindy's son, who is also in the group but had to work that night, got home, and we all sat around joking, laughing, tearing up from laughing, and chatting.  In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn't leave until 11 pm!  Thank goodness Cindy loves the company!  I feel so blessed about this group and can't wait to see where the Lord takes us next!

I also scored a fabulous deal this week!  Only problem is I can't tell you about it until next Friday because it's going to be a gift for someone super sweet...and it's not Matthew!  I bet you're eager to find out that one.  I can't wait to tell you either!

Matthew gave me my Valentine's gift the other night, and he sure knows me!

It's a cupcake stand with Valentine cupcake liners filled with candy!  He may have had a few - accidental - hints.  We were shopping together one day when I saw the cupcake stand and raved about it.  And there's no hiding how much I love candy.  Seriously.  He's a smart one.  And since I now have cupcake liners and a cupcake stand, I had to buy Valentine cupcake mix and Valentine frosting!  I think I'm going to make them for our small group!  Can't wait to post pics for you!

The only other thing I'd like to mention - the last thing, I promise - is that my birthday is only 12 days away.  Just in case you need a reminder.  ;)

Have a great weekend!

Tasteful Tuesday: Valentine's Marshmallow Treats

Happy February!  I love February - not so much because of Valentine's Day, but mostly because it's my birthday month.  :)  Today I have a "treat" for you - pun intended.  I decided to make some marshmallow treats and jazz them up a little for Valentine's.  Hope you like them!

"Valentine's Marshmallow Treats"

What you'll need:

• 4 cups of mini marshmallows
• 5 cups of crispy rice cereal
• 1/4 cup of butter + a little extra to grease your pan
• 9x13 in pan
• Red food coloring
• Red sprinkles
• 1 square of chocolate flavored almond bark
• Foil or wax paper
• Heart cookie cutter

What you'll do:

First thing's first - rub down your pan with some butter.  Make sure the bottom is covered.  The sides don't matter so much.

Melt the 1/4 c of butter on low heat and then add the marshmallows, stirring often until they're all melted.

While your marshmallows are melting, measure out your cereal.  

Once your marshmallows are completely melted, add your red food coloring.  I used 10 drops.

This is what mine looked like...sort of.  It actually turned out a lot more pink than this pic gives it credit, which is what I wanted.

Take your pink marshmallows off the heat, add your cereal quickly, and then spread into your buttered pan.  Use the back of a rubber spatula (not a wooden spoon - doesn't work too great) to flatten out your treat.  Then sprinkle the top with the red sprinkles.  It should look something like this.  

Allow your treat to cool completely.  Once that's done, slide the marshmallow treat onto a piece of foil or waxed paper.  It should slide out pretty easily if you buttered it.  Use your cookie cutter to cut out hearts from your sheet of treat (I should make a profession out of rhyming).  :)

I managed to get 12 heart treats out of the 9x13 pan with a bunch of scraps.  I'm not sure if there's a way to position the cookie cutter to get more, but I tried my best (feel free to let me know if you have a good method).  

Next, melt your chocolate square in a microwave safe dish and drizzle over your hearts.  I decided to only do half of my hearts with chocolate.

My favorite step is next - eat 'em up!!!  I think these would also be pretty neat as a bouquet of treats - just add a cookie stick or lollipop stick and stick them in a pot with styrofoam in it.  Mine didn't it make it that far...I saved 2 for Matthew and took the rest to my small group leaders' meeting on Sunday night, where they were definitely enjoyed!  Hope you enjoy them too!

Finale Friday: Quiet Week

Hey-howdy-hey there!  Week one of daily blogging ends today, and I can't believe I made it through!  I find myself constantly seeking out blog ideas everywhere I look now - I think we call this border-line obsessed.  Lol.

As far as life goes, things are swell.  This week has gone by exceptionally slow.  I find myself thinking, "Is it really  only  Friday?!"  It hasn't been a particularly bad week or anything - just SLOW.

Some pretty exciting things are going on as far as my leadership roles at church.  I'm the Children's Ministry Coordinator (or something to that effect), and I just met with our associate pastor and the nursery ministry leader to discuss our mission and goals, etc., for our ministries and how they can work together.  I'm super excited about what's going to be happening there.  AND we're hosting a pancake breakfast for our teams to thank them for all their hard work and get some feedback from them.  So much to be excited about!

Another rather new thing going on is that I am now the teacher for our new Singles' Small Group - that Matthew has fondly dubbed "The Quarter-Lifers".  Our church has suddenly had a huge influx of single people come through,, which is super awesome since Matthew and I have been two of the few there for a while.  Matthew has taken on the role of "Shepherd" for our group, which basically means he plans/coordinates our fellowships and service projects - the more social role of the two.  On top of all this, we've had a wonderful new(er) family in our church offer up their home to host our mid-week group!  So our group starts this coming Tuesday, and I can't wait (and any prayers offered up for this budding ministry are much appreciated)!

Other than that, I've been working.  On the up side, I'm in love with my job.  The Lord definitely has me in the right place, or, at least, the right state of mind for what I'm doing.  I've also been reading a lot.  My  parents got me "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" - the book that was the inspiration for "The Sound of Music" - for Christmas, and I absolutely love it!  I can't put it down.

One last thing, Matthew is trying to get a job at the shipyard up here.  It would be a really great career move for him - really great, actually.  We worked on his resume on Monday, and he'll be going to the career fair at the shipyard at the end of the month.  If you wouldn't mind offering up a prayer for him regarding this pursuit, he - and I - would really appreciate it.

And that's about it for this week.  Nothing too-super-exciting has happened, which I can't say is necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes quiet weeks are good.  :)

Hope you all have a great end to your week, and look forward to this weekend's "Word-free Weekend" post!