Why, yes, as a matter of fact I have finally downloaded the Rhonna Designs app. I may have spent about an hour making inspirational pictures ... and then realized that HOW AWESOME WOULD IT BE IF THESE WERE MAGNETS?

Very awesome.

There's the ...

• high quality Stickygram that costs $14.99/20 magnets;
• and the slightly cheaper MagnetiGram for $13/20 magnets;
• and the totally DIY route that, let's be honest, will probably result in lots of tears of frustration and unusable photos;
• and the semi-DIY route that would cost $20/20 magnets.

And, do you know what would be EVEN MORE AWESOME?

If these were magnets with inspirational quotes and nice photos and they came attached to a package of homemade baked goods delivered by the Baking Brigade.

so, i've been busy.

+ baking. We tried something new this month and enlisted the help of some who stayed for the potluck. We prepped the bags while people ate and then asked them to take some to the gate guards on their way home. The lead chaplain was hoping that this would show the chapel what we do and encourage them to become more involved. Next month, I'd love to visit the hospital staff, but that might be a logistical challenge (although I was told that we have two hospital chaplains in the service). Over 350 cookies, mini cupcakes, muffins, and cakes were donated. I made chocolate chip cookie dough whoopie pies. I forgot to take photos but they were delicious.

+ reading. I recently purchased Annie Downs' Speak Love, which seems like it will be a younger version of Sharon Jaynes' The Power of a Woman's Words. I'm excited about it. I'm also reading Faith Deployed ... Again, which a friend loaned to me, and I'm working through Angie Smith's Mended. Mended is powerful, by the way. At least for me. It's really speaking to my heart right now. ...

+ healing. I don't share much by way of health issues current or past on here, but lately I've been having some health issues. However, in the past year I've noticed a shift in the way I react. After sharing my issues while visiting a classmate, she handed Mended to me and I began to read it as soon as I returned home. So far, I've only made it through two chapters because I was crying and praying so much, but one section spoke to my heart more than the others:

I prayed this verse and poured out my heart to God. He spoke to me and even though He didn't give me the answer I wanted Him to, I felt more at peace than ever. In that moment, I felt as though my relationship with Him grew substantially.

+ crafting. Also, look at our newest DIY project! I fell in love with a similar but better wreath on Etsy but couldn't justify the cost. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some materials. It took me a little over an evening to complete (I was also making the whoopie pies at the same time) and I ended up replacing white burlap with the uniform material. Also, the flags were a lot brighter, so I dyed them with tea.

+ shopping. For the first time in a very long time (actually, maybe ever), two of my friends and I had a girls' day while their husbands watched their children. It was refreshing and relaxing and wonderful. There needs to be more intentional, let's-build-each-other-up time.

speak love, do life.

Lately, speaking love, speaking life, has been on my heart a lot. Partly because of the More Love Letters movement and the ways that I've intertwined that with my life, partly because of the Baking Brigade, partly because I recently had a revelation that I need to do more to share Christ with others regardless of whether I feel that prompting from the Holy Spirit or not.

Because I have a tendency to buy food, to approach someone, only when I feel that heaviness on my chest and know that I will feel like a horrible person for the rest of the day if I don't obey.

Did you notice that? It's not first and foremost because I want to do what God tells me to do because I love Him, it's because I don't want to disappoint Him and feel guilty. So, lately I've been pondering that more. What does that--loving others because He loves me--look like in my life? What should it look like in my life?

I think it looks like helping whenever and wherever I see a need. I think it looks like not being afraid to give to someone who might not really need those bags of groceries when I could have used that money for something else because what they do and how they do it is between them and God, not me (i.e. in Pennsylvania, alcohol can only be purchased in stores that specifically sell alcohol while in Texas, alcohol is sold in grocery stores).

It looks like seeing others the way God sees them. Seeing them as His creations. Seeing them as human beings. Not judging them by whether they really need something. Because honestly, don't we all really need something? Maybe more food on the pantry shelves. Maybe more compassion for the hurting.

Basically, I've been feeling a prompting to do more to live like and for Christ every day. I feel like I'm failing Him, like I could be doing more but I let things hold me back--time, money, season of life.

Take the Baking Brigade, for example. I want to do more, I want to reach more, I want to speak to the hearts of the congregation more so they feel a stirring in their souls to get involved and support others in our military community, regardless of whether or not they share the same faith.

I want this to be about community and building up one another and creating connection and letting others know that they aren't alone in the world, that they are seen and heard and cared about. I want hope.

And I don't know how to go about doing this. And so then I wonder: Is this about what God wants or this about me? Wouldn't God make this happen if He wants it to happen? (By the way, I told God that if ever there's a month when we don't have enough baked goods for the soldiers, I'll know that that is His way of telling me that this has run its course and it's time to move on so the focus is always on Him and not me.)

But, then I also think: God will only do so much. He requires actions on my part, too. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to do it?

So, I suppose this is the part where I turn this over to you. How can I build up community where I am right now (because I also recently had the epiphany that the mission field, my mission field, is here) and reflect Christ more and more each day while using my God-given gifts to advance His kingdom? I need some practical advice. Or book recommendations. Or verses. Or names of people I should be looking to. Or something.

bucket list: lemon pound cake

Lemon Pound Cake

based on Starbucks Lemon Loaf

I basically followed the recipe except:

• I doubled it;
• I forgot to add oil;
• I substituted 1/2 C. of honey for 1/2 C. of sugar because I ran out of sugar;
• I didn't have any lemon extract, so I used almost 1 C. of lemon juice in the cake and about a tablespoon of lemon juice in the icing; and,
• I used skim milk because you will very rarely find any animal milk other than skim in my fridge.

The cake turned out flatter than the photo, but it tasted good, so everything else is irrelevant. I made two, tasted one for quality control, and sliced them up for the Baking Brigade.

In the future, I might consider adding:

• ginger,
• poppy seeds,
• the right ingredients.

are you sure you don't have to go to the bathroom?

 + your house looks like you have kids. i feel better now. This quote sums up our life pretty well, right now. Without going into much detail, Alan and I became temporary foster parents for the children of a friend (hence the lack of updates). You can imagine what our house looks like.

I recently read and loved this book. Our younger foster child and I spent the morning outside, eating breakfast and playing.

+ how do you wake up so early? Hearing this question from our oldest foster child reminded me of my pre-college school years. I could never understand how my mom, aunt, or grandmother could be so chipper/relentless/creative/annoying while trying to rouse me at 6:30 a.m. Yet, here I am, waking at 5:30 a.m. and having to stop myself from loudly greeting everyone with, "Time to make the doughnuts!" Which my aunt used to say.

A week after we became foster parents, Alan sent me to a local spa for a massage--at the end, the therapist said that I still needed more work. Also, I love Aveda Comforting Tea.

+ mind if i pray? Something else from childhood that I've incorporated into our foster children's lives is morning prayer. My mom used to pray for my sister and me before we walked to the bus stop, or, if she drove us to school, she prayed in the car on the way to school. (Honestly, at the time I didn't really care, as I saw it as just another prayer/something else to make me late--in my mind, because we were almost never late for the bus--but now I appreciate it so much more.) And, since I drop off and pick up our oldest foster child from school every day, I've started praying as we turn onto the street where the school is. I can't remember my mom's prayer verbatim, but I pray for some of the same things--wisdom on tests, making good friends, safety, guidance, and a Godly influence in the lives of friends.

Last month, the Baking Brigade connected with soldiers--some about to deploy and some who had arrived at Ft. Hood just the day before. We used Whisker Graphics' Air Mail Divine Twine.

 + dinosaurs and man. Alan arranged for Mike Riddle to come to Chapel Next and hold a Creation Training Initiative class on Saturday. Mike also taught during Sunday Morning Life Group (about dinosaurs and man), and during the church service (about Genesis and discernment). Having attended a mostly secular college, I never received any apologetics teaching (nor did I ever receive any from my home church--that I recall--which I attended until I moved to Texas last summer), so hearing that dinosaurs only recently (hundreds-ish) became extinct was interesting. I also wish churches would teach more about a Biblical worldview.

 

the baking brigade

1,046 cookies, brownies, and muffins, baked by at least 14 people.

300 boxes assembled and filled with baked goods and Chapel Next business cards or handwritten words of encouragement, all prepared by 20-ish people.

5 barracks buildings and almost 300 soldiers uplifted and greeted by 15 people with heartfelt conversation and the love of Christ and community.

1 amazing and blessed first outreach by the Baking Brigade.

Sadly, there is only one photo of Alan because he was our photographer for the event.

I intended to blog about this earlier, but I couldn't find the right words to describe what an amazing, God-filled experience this was. I still don't have all of the words, but if I wait for "perfect," I'll never hit the "Publish" button.

The night before the Baking Brigade outreach, I prayed myself to sleep. I was ridiculously nervous and kept grabbing my phone from the nightstand so I could add quick reminders--don't forget scissors for cutting the twine, and markers for decorating boxes, and print off your notes for Sunday Morning Life Group!

So, while I was casting my cares on the Lord, I was also making sure that I was doing absolutely everything in my power to be prepared. You know--just in case. (read: I was really just paying lip service to God.)

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. -Psalms 55:22

I was afraid that we wouldn't have enough cookies, that even though the list of people who signed up looked decent, people would forget or not bother or not make enough. It was almost 1 a.m. when I toyed with the idea of getting up and making even more cookies (one of my closest friends down here arrived home on Saturday after visiting family on the East Coast, so we went to dinner with them and then they came over so she could bake muffins).

And I was reminded of Jesus feeding the five thousand.

I told myself that if Jesus could do that, then He would make sure that we would have enough to go around. His will would be done. I had to keep myself in check.

Sometimes, we have to live by faith and trust that God will provide. I told God that I was entrusting Him with the entire outreach. That if it succeeded, it was only because He is good and that all the glory went to Him. That if it failed, I knew that this was a me-thing, and not a God-thing. I asked Him to use me as a vessel to minister to others and advance His kingdom.

Coincidentally--or not--I taught about leadership in Life Group the next morning. Leaders have extraordinary faith because they trust that their visions will be fulfilled, as long as people are motivated and God will provide.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:19

And I thought to myself, "Wow, I wish I had that kind of faith!" Instead, I was too busy worrying, and had clearly forgotten the prayer I'd said the previous night. I wanted to end class fifteen minutes early, so I could check on cookies and one of the other ladies could go home to pick up a forgotten Children's Church lesson plan--we barely finished praying by the usual end of class. At that point, I decided to recommit my cares to God.

Would more people drop off cookies? Would we have twine to finish the boxes? Would enough people volunteer to package, to go to the barracks? Was I forgetting something? What if we didn't have enough cookies? What if, in spite of my heart for this mission and my excitement, it failed?

I sometimes get the impression that I--as a woman? as a young woman? as an introvert who hates to be acknowledged in the congregation?--am dismissed by some of the men, and if this failed, well, it would just be proof that women should sit down and be quiet and listen.

So, I prayed some more.

After Life Group, Alan and I went to the mall to pick up a classmate who'd volunteered to help (and, the day before, we drove to the university to pick up cookies another classmate had baked). We grabbed lunch in the food court and then returned to chapel to assemble 300 kraft boxes. Around 2 p.m., more people started to show up and we began to start packaging and talking about our plan for the barracks. And there was prayer. Lots of prayer.

The process went quickly with so much help, and by 3:30, we were ready to drive over to the barracks. We divided the boxes into three garbage bags to make everything easier to carry. It was awesome to see a caravan of eight vehicles pull into the barracks parking lot.

We met some really great men and women while we made our rounds in five buildings, and the experience opened my eyes to the fact that more of this is needed. More time. More conversation. More love. More community. More God.

Sunday was one soldier's birthday. A box of cookies was the first birthday present he'd received all day.

Two soldiers were so excited about the cookies that they opened their boxes and started eating while the four (some of us paired off) of us stood in their doorway, chatting.

Countless soldiers were in disbelief that someone was offering free homemade treats, that someone cared. One soldier desperately needed someone to talk to.

One soldier asked if it was finally his turn for a box of cookies, because he'd seen so many other guys with them.

Some of them asked if this was a church outreach. And, from what church? Where? When is service?

However, several knocks went unanswered. On the upside, the chaplain's response to that was to make this a monthly event--the soldiers will know to be home on the last Sunday of the month if they want free baked goods.

And who doesn't want free cookies baked with love?