Blogger Challenge Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

I cheated a little on this one. J Since everyone in our family uses the same iTunes account, everyone’s music is on my iPod. So technically, I put my iPod on MY playlist and then hit shuffle. Just to clarify! J

1. “To God Alone” by Aaron Shust

2. “City On Our Knees” by Toby Mac

3. “I Belong” by Kathryn Scott

4. “Hallelujah” by Seven Stories Up

5. “Only Grace” by Matthew West

6. “Sing” by Josh Wilson

7. “Lift Us Up to Fall” by Tenth Avenue North

8. “More Beautiful You” by Jonny Diaz

9. “The Words I would Say” by Sidewalk Prophets

10. “Until the Whole World Hears” by Casting Crowns

Bianca's Birthday, Continued

Although we had a special celebration for my birthday over the weekend, we still celebrated on my actual birthday!

I had to work that morning, but I arrived at work to a sweet birthday surprise. J Cupcakes, cake balls, a sweet card, a new mug, snickerdoodle coffee, and “Happy Birthday” sung to me by their family. I felt so special and loved! J

That evening, we celebrated as a family at home.

We had my favorite meal for dinner that night: homemade tomato soup with double decker grilled cheese sandwiches! We gave it southern flair by serving sweet tea with it. J By the way, that is birthday confetti on the table…we are not just messy eaters! J

Photo Credit: Roma.

For my birthday cake, I chose a spice cake served with peach sauce (recipe coming soon.) It reminded us of Michigan fall!

Then it was time for gifts!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

My family blessed me with some great books, a study guide I wanted, a new movie, funds to purchase cowgirl boots and a new bike helmet, a Ugandan bracelet, and sweet cards. I am so blessed by my family!

Bianca's Birthday Trip, Part 2

I tend to be a bit of a foodie. So while we were in Galveston, I had a choice of where we went out to eat for dinner. I took that responsibility very seriously and looked around for a new place to try (one of my rules is to try something new as often as I can.)

I saw a brochure on a place called “The Gumbo Diner.” It looked fairly inexpensive, yet tasty and unique at the same time. So we went for it!

The diner was fairly small, and we ended up squished into a cozy corner booth. But that’s ok; we’re a close-knit family. J

For an appetizer, the foodies in the family won out. J We ordered barbequed oysters with bleu cheese and lemon sauce. Surprisingly, everyone in the family liked them!

The birthday girl. J You can see my lovely sunburn in this picture. :-)P

Photo Credit: Betsy

For dinner, we all stepped out of our comfort zones. Ben was brave and tried a crawfish Po-boy. Yes, he ate all 12 inches of that sandwich!! He worked up quite an appetite swimming.

I tried the chicken and waffles. Let me just say, don’t knock it ‘till you try it! I still have those on my mind. . . I really believe I was born a southern belle, I just lived up north for most of my life. J 

Some of the other family members tried the seafood gumbo, which was also good! Now I’m thinking our family needs to take a trip over to Louisiana and get some New Orleans cooking . . .

For dessert, we split orders of beignets. They are like a delicious cross between a donut, a funnel cake, and a sopapilla. Light, yet full and chewy.

With all that delicious food in our stomachs, we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

The next morning, we had breakfast, packed up, and went out for Daddy’s part of the birthday trip. J We found ourselves at the Ocean Star Museum. The Ocean Star is an old oil rig that has been converted into a museum all about the oil industry.

The Ocean Star.

Ready to tour!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Walking up the gangway, we stopped to admire the Pelicans and dolphins hanging around the fishing wharf. 

One thing that amazed me was learning how basically everything in life—from food, to medicine, to toys, cosmetics, and clothing—all depend on the oil industry in some way, shape, or form. Now that’s a recipe for a conspiracy theory right there! J

Josiah in the basket used to hoist workers up onto oil rigs and platforms.

I found the history of diving to be quite fascinating. The suit pictured above is called a WASP or an atmospheric diving system. This suit allows divers to work up to 2,300 feet below sea level while remaining at atmospheric pressure. Divers can work longer and do not need to decompress when they come up.

As we were looking at a timeline on the oil industry, we found out that the first U.S. oil well was built not too far from where my Dad grew up!

A more sobering piece of oil industry history is the Deepwater Horizon explosion, fire, and 11 fatalities. There was a memorial display in honor of those that died on that day in early 2010.

After a couple hours of touring the rig, we headed back for home. We stopped at Subway for lunch and Braum’s for dinner. In between, we read, slept, listened to music, and rehashed the fun parts of our trip. I’m so thankful for my family and the opportunity to celebrate my birthday with them!

Bianca's Birthday Trip, Part 1

This past weekend, we took a special birthday trip. I am celebrating an extra-special birthday this month, and so we took an extended birthday trip; for an entire weekend!

As usual, it was a secret to us kids. But we suspected that water and potentially the beach would be involved as we were told to pack towels, swim suits, etc. So we packed up, and Friday afternoon, we headed out and turned the car southwards. . .

Driving through downtown Houston. I had a pretty good idea where we were headed at this point. J

We stopped for dinner at Chick-fil-A.

Photo Credit: Roma.

After dinner was when it came out where we were going. We saw lots of signs pointing towards Galveston, Texas. We started driving over a bridge. I had no idea Galveston was actually an island! I could tell that beautiful beaches would be part of our weekend!

We arrived at our hotel, which was literally across the street from Stewart Beach. We unloaded our things, and then Dad took us kids on a beach walk.

It was beautiful! Of course we kids couldn’t resist wading. J The Gulf of Mexico feels like bath water this time of year.

Daddy and I enjoying the beach.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Several of us hinted that ice cream would be a nice treat. J We walked across the street to Walgreens and picked out some frozen treats. Then it was back to the hotel and off to bed before a day at the beach on Saturday!

Photo Credit: Mark.

We slept in a bit, but still made it down to breakfast by about 9:00 a.m.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Then we suited up and walked over to the beach! The weather turned out perfect; temperatures in the 90’s and not a cloud in the sky. We rented a few chairs with umbrellas to house all our things and then headed out to the water!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

 

As I said, the water was very warm and the sand went out really far. We older ones had fun swimming out as far as we could.

Josiah and Mom had fun making some sand sculptures.

Mom’s crocodile and turtle.

We had only intended to stay at the beach a few hours, but we had so much fun that we ended up staying until late in the afternoon. We bought lunch at the Subway across the street and the snack shop on the beach, and enjoyed an afternoon reading, sleeping, swimming, and playing.

Once we were all thoroughly sunburned, we headed back to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped at a playground so Josiah could burn off his remaining steam. The rest of us watched the beach volleyball tournaments going on.

We got back to the hotel and took quick showers and freshened up for dinner. As the birthday girl, I got to pick where we went. After much research and deliberation, I chose . . . you’ll just have to come back tomorrow to find out! J

"The Essential Guide to the Short Term Mission Trip" Book Review

When I became the missions trip coordinator for A Child’s Hope, I started reading one of my Dad’s books called “The Essential Guide to the Short Term Mission Trip” by David C. Forward.

Chock-full of valuable guidance, information, and counsel, this book gives a great overview of a mission team leader’s responsibilities. There were so many things that I wouldn’t have thought about which are covered in the book. One of the greatest nuggets I gleaned from this book is “You cannot possibly be responsible for all aspects of a mission trip yourself.” J

This book addresses everything from the very baby stages of planning a mission trip, to presenting the trip to the governing church bodies, forming a team, developing the team, team meeting schedules and samples, dealing with conflicts during a trip, travel essentials and information, debriefing, and lots more!

My only complaint about the book would be that the information is slightly outdated, as it was written in the late 90’s—early 2000’s. But aside from that, this book provides a great wealth of beginning information for a mission team leader, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering leading a short-term mission team.

Nothing

Photo Credit: Roma.

“God created the world out of nothing

And as long as we are nothing

He can make something out of us.”

--Martin Luther

Recipe--Watermelon Bombe

In celebration of the fourth of July, our family enjoyed this festive dessert, made by Roma. This Watermelon “Bomb” made out of sherbet, was a perfectly refreshing way to end a hot day! You can substitute other ice creams or sherbets in this recipe based on personal preference. Try pistachio ice cream instead of the lime sherbet, lemon sherbet in place of the pineapple, etc!

Watermelon Bombe

½ gallon lime sherbet, slightly softened

1 pint pineapple sherbet, slightly softened

1 ½ pints raspberry sherbet

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Line 3-quart bowl or decorative mold with plastic wrap, leaving overhang; smooth out as many wrinkles from wrap as possible. Chill in freezer about 30 minutes. Spoon softened lime sherbet into chilled bowl, pressing with back of spoon into even 1-inch layer, to line bowl completely. Freeze, covered with foil or plastic wrap, about 1 ½ hours until firm.

Remove bowl from freezer. Spoon pineapple sherbet into bowl over ice cream; press into even layer about ½ inch thick to cover ice cream completely. Cover again with foil or plastic wrap; freeze about 1 hour until sherbet layer is completely firm.

Stir raspberry sherbet in small bowl to soften slightly; stir in chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Spoon sherbet into center of ice cream-lined bowl to fill completely; smooth top of all three layers. Freeze, covered, at least 3 hours or overnight until firm. Thirty minutes before serving time, chill round serving platter in freezer. At serving time, remove bowl from freezer. Insert end of metal spatula between plastic wrap and bowl to loosen bombe. Invert bombe onto chilled platter; peel off plastic wrap. If necessary, use warm spatula to smooth out wrinkles on outside of bombe. For easy serving, use sharp serrated knife to cut bombe in half and then into slices. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Enjoy this refreshing treat!

"One Thousand Gifts" Book Review

After my Grandparents died earlier this year, I thought it would be an appropriate time to pick up a book that had been given to my Mom for Christmas. “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp is subtitled “A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.” While living fully is something I’m strongly convicted about, what really drew me to the book was the concept of finding joy outside of our circumstances.

Voskamp’s book is pure poetry. It goes deep and is truly a book that needs to be digested in small parts. It took me a full 5 months to read it, because I could literally read one paragraph and have enough to think about for an entire day!

The book is written in the form of vignettes from Ann’s life, followed by her ponderings. This book has challenged me immensely, to think more often of the gifts and graces God gives me each and every day.

There were so many quotes from the book that stuck with me long after I turned the last page. Here are a few of them (emphasis mine):

“God gives us time. And who has time for God? Which makes no sense. In Christ, don’t we have everlasting existence? Don’t Christians have all the time in eternity, life everlasting? If Christians run out of time—wouldn’t we lose our very own existence? If anyone should have time, isn’t it the Christ-followers?”

“I only see it because I’m looking . . .”

“The real problem of life is never a lack of time. The real problem of life—in my life—is lack of thanksgiving.”

“Is it only when our lives are emptied that we’re surprised by how truly full our lives were? Instead of filling with expectations, the joy-filled expect nothing—and are filled.”

“While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving. True saints know that the place where all the joy comes from is far deeper than that of feelings; joy comes from the place of the very presence of God. Joy is God and God is joy and joy doesn’t negate all other emotions—joy transcends all other emotions.”

“Thankfully, God never gives what is deserved, but instead, God graciously, passionately offers gifts, our bodies, our time, our very lives. God does not give rights but imparts responsibilities—response-abilities—inviting us to respond to His love-gifts. And I know and can feel it tight: I’m responding miserably to the gift of this moment. In fact, I’m refusing it. Proudly refusing to accept this moment, dismissing it as no gift at all, I refuse God. I reject God. Why is this eucharisteo always so hard?”

“Eucharisteo means ‘to give thanks,’ and give is a verb, something that we do. God calls me to do thanks. To give the thanks away. That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living. That our lives become the very blessings we have received. I am blessed. I can bless. Imagine! I could let Him make me the gift! I could be the joy!”

“It’s impossible to give thanks and simultaneously feel fear. This is the anti-anxiety medicine I try to lay in my wide-open palm every day.”

“‘Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are. . . a divine choice,’ wrote Henri Nouwen. A divine choice! He chooses His children to fully live! Fully live the fullest life: the astonished gratitude, the awed joy, the flying and the free. The discipline of giving thanks, of unwrapping one thousand gifts, unwraps God’s heart bare: I choose you. Live!”

“I step over the darks and lights sorted. Why doubt the dare to fully live? Now and right here. Why not let all of life be penetrated by grace, gratitude, joy? This is the only way to welcome the Kingdom of God. I drop the basket on the wooden ironing board in the mudroom, pick my way through to the oven. Every breath’s a battle between grudgery and gratitude and we must keep thanks on the lips so we can sip from the holy grail of joy. Nowhere else in the whole tilting universe lies the joy of the Lord but in that one word.”

I highly recommend this book for 13 years and older. It probably appeals more to women, but that certainly doesn’t mean men won’t benefit from reading it! We can all learn to be more grateful, joyful, and awe-inspired by our great God!