what do you see?

Last weekend, I had a sleepover with two of my close girlfriends (yes, we're all in our 20's, but you're never too old for sleepovers, right?!).  We hung out at a neat coffee shop, ate cupcakes at  11:30 at night, stayed up late talking, and hiked a mountain the next day.  Fun stuff.

That night as we sat on the bed chatting, somehow we started talking about how well we know each other and the characteristics that we see in each other.  One of them grabbed some paper and Sharpies, and we spontaneously started writing down descriptive words and phrases to describe one another.  I was a little nervous about this at first, but it turned out to be both a fun and uplifting activity!  It was good to intentionally focus on my friends' personalities and qualities, and to call out the things I appreciate in them.  We laughed as we read the funny things our friends had written about us, and were encouraged by the positive, affirming ones.

It's really interesting to see yourself from someone else's perspective.
A few things made it onto BOTH of my friends' lists about me, including
Jesus
traveling
camp
country music
cowboy boots
deep thinker

And those common-denominator items describe me pretty well, I think :-)  It kinda makes me stop and consider, what do I WANT people to see in me?  Mostly, the first one listed above.... Jesus.  And love.  Those are the two primary things I want my friends, family, and acquaintances to think of when they interact with me.  That I loved them and somehow showed them Jesus.

So the next question is, how do I need to be living and interacting every day to make that a reality?

peaceful day.

I'm currently listening to my iPod playlist titled "Quiet My Soul."
Current song playing:  "Broken Hallelujah" by The Afters. 

Today has been restful.  I woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm this morning, which was nice -- to wake up on my own.  Side note:  something I've always remembered from psychology class is that when you wake up on your own without an alarm or something startling you awake, it's called "waking consciousness."  And there's your random fact of the day.  

Anyway, I was off work today and didn't have to go anywhere, but wanted to be productive and not waste the day.  Originally, I had intended to go to the courthouse to pay my car tag registration and renew my passport.  But yesterday I acquired three -- not one, not two, but THREE -- terrible zits on my face, and there was no way I was going to get my passport photo made in this condition!  I mean, come on.  I have to show that picture to people for the next ten years.  You understand, right?  

So when I woke up, I grabbed my iPod, opened the Notes app, and sleepily typed out a to-do list entitled "On this rainy Wednesday..."  It wasn't actually raining at the time; in fact, the sun was peeking through the clouds, but I knew rain was in the forecast for the day.  Hence, the to-do list title.  Six simple items made it onto the list -- enough to keep me focused and somewhat productive on my day off. 

After going downstairs and making my coffee, I remembered an email I needed to send to a friend, so I took care of that, browsed Facebook for a bit, then settled onto my couch for some Jesus time.  I journaled a brief prayer to the Lord, mostly thoughts about the 2-month countdown to Alaska, and then Psalms 18 and 19 were today's reading.  A few excerpts that grabbed my heart's attention today:  

"For You light my lamp; the Lord my God illumines my darkness. For by You I can run upon a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall."  (18:28-29)
"You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great."  (18:35)
"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."  (19:1)
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer."  (19:14) 

Presumably, the rest of today should have been spent doing the rest of the things on my to-do list, but in all honesty, it's 5:20pm and I've only done two of the six.  Nevertheless, the day hasn't been wasted.  I've communicated with a couple of friends, conversations that were "unplanned," and went on a long walk with my 12-year-old sister.  As it turned out, it hasn't rained at all today (so my list, by its title, was null anyway, right?!) and was actually beautiful weather.  It's February 19th, but it felt like a spring day -- or a summer day in Alaska!  It was refreshing to be outside, and good to spend that time with my baby sister.  She's growing up fast into a young lady.  

The point to this blog post?  I guess there isn't one.  Just that I'm thankful for days of restfulness, days of soul-refilling, days of little expectation but much expectancy.  May you have some of those days soon, too.  Look for Jesus in the little things.... He is there.  

Current song playing on the "Quiet My Soul" playlist:  "10,000 Reasons" by Rend Collective.

Recipe: BBQ Chicken Apple Bacon Cheddar Quesadillas

First blog post of 2014..... on February 18th?!  Oops.  Yeah, I'm kind of bad at blogging.

I'll try to get a better / deeper / more entertaining / more thought-provoking post up really soon, but for now, how about this recipe I made for family dinner last night?  It comes from this website originally.

BBQ Chicken Apple Bacon Cheddar Quesadillas
Ingredients:
10 chicken breast strip tenderloins
1 package of bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1 and 1/2 apples
about 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup bbq sauce

Cook and cut up the chicken.  While chicken is cooking, chop the apples into small chunks, and fry the bacon and cut into small pieces.   Assemble everything in a large skillet -- chopped up chicken, apples, and bacon, the cheese, and the bbq sauce.  Cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cheese is melted and everything is hot.
Serve up a big spoonful and eat as is, or wrap in a tortilla and toast in the oven for a few minutes if you want a quesadilla!  This is very easy and very yummy.

(picture from iowagirleats.com)

Well, I'm off to work to sell stuff and make commission!  Okay, who am I kidding?  It's a Tuesday in February, so let's be real; I'm off to work to clean the store all day while no one is out shopping.

Have a great day!