Life...Will You Please Just Slow Down?

If you have been wondering what's going on in my life (probably not, but you never know!), then I am here to tell you that April has been a crazy, busy month for the Gale's. We have kind of been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I don't know if it's the spring weather, or Easter, or all of the activities culminating before we hit summer...but life has flown by these past couple of months. I know people say the older you get time seems to speed up, and I can testify that there is truth to that!

Although we have been very busy, everything is going well. Josh is finishing up his second year of seminary and only has one year to go (hallelujah!). We are still loving our church and Josh has been working so hard there. He has preached multiple times and I can say that there aren't many other moments in which I am prouder of him than when I watch him preach. I believe he is a natural. I have been at Land Rover for a year and a half and am finally settling into the routine of commuting which I started back in December. I still don't love it, but my despise-o-meter is slowly going down. Our house is finally coming together and I am so relieved. For some reason, I was very intimidated at the thought of decorating our house and putting each room together. I'm not quite sure why. Isn't this every girl's dream?! Well I can say I am happy with how everything is turning out and it's been easier/more fun than I anticipated. I am also going to do a House Tour on this blog soon. Let me know if anyone would be interested in that? My domestic skills (ahm...cooking) have majorly improved! I have been cooking more and more and I rarely reuse a recipe. I have been trying different things and making meals that are out of my comfort zone. So far I haven't burned the house down and Josh has only turned down one of my creations...which is impressive if you know how picky he is!

Summer is right around the corner and don't be fooled into thinking that we will slow down any, in fact, between a new Bible study, youth group trips, our mission trip to Costa Rica, and more work and school...we will be filled to the brim! (If you don't know much about our Costa Rica trip, please visit http://www.gofundme.com/JOSHANDBRITTANYTOCR to find out more! I am also going to do a blog post about this trip specifically before and after our visit. I will be sure to share the details and photos with you all.)

Well I think that is it for now. Life is moving quickly, but I'm thankful that at the end of each day, I go to bed happy and content with where I am. As trite as this phrase is, I am seriously blessed. God has taught me more about flexibility and going with the flow this year, and I am trying to put it to use. (I'm getting a lot of practice.) I'll leave you with some of our family Easter photos and April favorites.

My family -- I love this photo more than words can say...and also because of Cedric's goofy expression.

 

My love...so thankful for this guy and proud of all he has accomplished this year. We treated ourselves to new Easter outfits this year (we never buy clothes for ourselves) and it was a nice treat.

 

                            Easter Sunday with my mom after church. 

         My brother came home for Easter weekend! We loved having him.

 

 

 Announcing our trip to Costa Rica this summer...we are excited! (We even made a fun video.)

Our trip to the zoo -- Josh had never been to the Atlanta Zoo and I felt like this was unacceptable, so I took him on a surprise date there!
 

I'm still coaching 3 year old soccer each week and I absolutely love it. At this age, it has nothing to do with skill (which is why they let me coach), but it is more about team work and patience with the young learners. They are the funniest kids and so sweet! They have the best manners and are so pure with their words (truly saying exactly what they are thinking). I love seeing them encourage each other and give each other high fives after scoring goals. It's truly the 1 hour each week that I do something for myself. It may seem like it's for them, but really, I know I get so much more out of it!

Pinterest Pumpkin Bread

So I know what you are probably thinking, why in the world is this girl making pumpkin bread during the springtime? Well, first off I have always loved pumpkin bread. I love the spicy and sweet combination it holds. I prefer it year round, not just in the fall.  Secondly, I found an awesome 3 ingredient pumpkin bread recipe on Pinterest and felt challenged to bake my first loaf of bread. I looked at this particular recipe and cooking instructions, then I thought, hey, I can actually do that! This is a very uncomplicated recipe, but it turned out tasting delicious and appeared like I spent a lot more time making it than I actually did. So if you are interested in 3 ingredient pumpkin bread, stay tuned!

 

 

 

So the ingredients are very simple and easy to find. The price of everything including the loaf pan (Like I said, I've never baked bread before) was only $12 at Wal-Mart. To make the pumpkin bread you will need: 

 

~1 box of Spice Cake mix

~1 can of pumpkin (around 15 oz.)

~2 tbsp. of Pumpkin Pie Spice

~Loaf Pan

~Cooking Spray

~Mixing Bowl

 

**Before getting started, you will need to preheat your over to 350 degrees.

After gathering your ingredients, you will need to combine the spice cake mix, can of pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice into a large mixing bowl. I used my electric hand mixer to thoroughly blend all ingredients into a cohesive (very thick) batter.

 

 

The next step is to grease your loaf pan with cooking spray and then pour the pumpkin batter into the pan. The oven should be preheated to 350 by now, so go ahead and stick the pan in.

 

The instructions I used said to cook the bread at 350 degrees for 28 minutes, but I found that it took more like 43-45 minutes for my bread to be completely cooked.

 

Side note: I have a weird obsession of watching food cook while it is in the oven. I am that person that opens the oven 10 times while things are cooking just to see what's going on. I guess it's fun for me to watch the food progress from raw to a delicious dish right before my eyes. So here is my pumpkin bread...baking!

Here is the finished product: 3 ingredient pumpkin bread! I would recommend this recipe to anyone who is pressed for time, doesn't want to use 15 ingredients, and wants the pumpkin bread to taste like a well put together recipe without all the hassle. This bread is very moist and fluffy. I really liked it and so did my husband (that's a win in my book)! It makes a lot of bread (a full loaf) and it's going to take us a while to eat it all. Another plus to this recipe! I have also attached the link to the recipe I used below. Happy baking!

http://blog.aroundcampus.com/3-ingredient-pumpkin-bread/

My Library -- Book Recommendations

Hey guys! I'm back for another blog post. I have been trying to switch things up lately and write about a variety of topics. Today I decided that I wanted to share my current library with you. This is only a small portion of my entire collection of books, but these are the books that I have read in the last 6 months. I have read a few of them on my own and a few of them with a group (my Bible study and Sunday School class). Either way, I would highly recommend all of these books and believe that they will strengthen your walk with the Lord. So, let me tell you about each of them!

 

My Sunday School class has been on a C. S. Lewis kick this year. We have read a few of his books and we started out the year reading through the Chronicles of Narnia series. Many of you may have read this classic series as children. I know I read a few of the books growing up. The awesome thing about C. S. Lewis is that he can write novels that appeal to both children and adults. His words carry weight although presented in a simple fashion. As our class read through each book, we were amazed at how he weaved the words together to really dig deep into the Christian faith. The books were beautifully written in order to challenge the adult mind to see God within these children's stories. Each book displays a different part of the Bible including creation, the redemption story, and Heaven. It really challenged my class to find the meaning behind the pictures he builds throughout his stories. We used the study guide pictured above to navigate our discussions throughout the books and also reveal truths that we may not have seen otherwise. I would highly recommend this series and I think you will be surprised by how much you fall in love with not only the characters, but also Lewis' style of writing.

 

Next is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. If you haven't heard of this book, I would honestly be surprised. This book came to me with very high recommendations and was actually a gift from my husband (he had also heard great things). The book starts out in an odd fashion if you are expecting the traditional cookie cutter Christian novel. It is Biblically based though and actually focuses on the story of Hosea. It starts off with an emotionally and physically beaten down girl named Angel who makes a living as a prostitute. She has no self-worth and a very ugly past. A man named Michael Hosea sees her one night and feels God telling him to marry this girl. He is immediately very confused and doesn't want much to do with Angel based on her outer appearance and her lifestyle. Michael ends up obeying God and marrying her and from there, things take a turn for the crazy. All sorts of events happen and many that are very surprising. This is a very, very powerful story of redemption. I know I personally started tearing up while reading it because of the way it shows God's unconditional love for us. I would say this is a must read for any woman and is a great example of God's extravagant, over the top, beyond anything we could ever understand, love for us. This book keeps you on your toes the entire time!

  This book is an oldie, but goodie. Its Beth Moore's Breaking Free. If you aren't familiar with Beth Moore, then you are missing out. She is a phenomenal teacher especially when it comes to women's studies. I actually read this book a few years ago and it came at the perfect time for me, a time where I was feeling very captivated and almost trapped by certain strongholds in my life. I reread this book recently and was surprised at how much I got out of it considering I had already gone through it once. Breaking Free is about the obvious: breaking free from the things that hold us captive and finding freedom in Christ. But this book also offers more healing than you would expect and dives into exploring the abundant life God intends for us. The book goes through the benefits and challenges to finding our liberty in Jesus, our past and how to mend our wounds for the future, obedience through the obstacles, God's unfailing love, and the joy that comes with freedom. This book is full of encouragement and you can only walk away from it feeling God's presence and fullness in your life. I personally really connected with this particular Beth Moore writing, but I find that most everything she puts out is something worth reading.

 

Like I said, my Sunday School class is very into C. S. Lewis right now. That being said, they chose to read Mere Christianity after reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm not going to lie, I was a little concerned that we would all go into a Lewis coma and be quickly burnt out by reading another Lewis book, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is probably one of my top favorite Christian books. It is so good. This book is different than the Narnia series because he is talking directly about his faith instead of using characters and stories to portray it. These "talks" by Lewis were originally done on the radio in the 1940’s. He was asked to share little segments about faith every week and to explain why he thought Christianity was the way to go. In some ways, Mere Christianity is like an apologetics book (defending a position through the use of information). Lewis defends Christianity and explains how it works. What makes this book really interesting is that Lewis was not always a Christian. He didn't convert until later in his life, so hearing his position on Christianity and non-believers is a unique and inspiring one. He writes in such a captivating way and he explains a religion that can be a tangled web with a completely simplistic approach. He uses logic to explain Christianity in such a profound and powerful way. I can't recommend this book enough!

 

The last book is my most recent read and I am not quite finished with it yet. I am part of a girl's Bible study and we are currently reading Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. The book focuses on 11 spiritual disciples and each chapter entails why this discipline is important to our faith. Obviously, discipline isn't the most fun topic to discuss and it's rarely easy, but Whitney reveals that discipline actually brings freedom. This book has exceeded my expectations so far and challenged my walk. It is a great catalyst for discussions and has allowed me to dig deeper into my faith. So far we have discussed the discipline of Bible Intake, Prayer, Worship and Evangelism and I have yet to be disappointed. If you are looking for a challenge and a way to grow in your spiritual life, this book is for you!

Thanks for sticking with me on this journey through literature. I hope you enjoyed learning more about what is in my library and that you will pick up one of these great books in the future. I promise you will not be disappointed!

"God Made Dirt, Dirt Don't Hurt"

Happy Tuesday, everyone! If you live in Georgia, then I'm sure you are doing the happy dance right along with me because the sun is out today! After a gloomy, stormy day yesterday, it is refreshing and encouraging to see some sunshine.

This weekend was quite a busy one for me and I got a lot done. My biggest accomplishment by far was cleaning the house. I don't say the world cleaning lightly. To be more accurate, I should probably say I spent all of Saturday scrubbing the house.  I am the kind of person who likes organization and for everything to be in its place. I don't like things on the floors and I can say that most of the time my house is picked up and not a disaster zone. But, I don't enjoy actually cleaning: wiping things off, vacuuming, mopping, sweeping, getting down on my hands and knees and scrubbing the bathroom, etc. Nope, that's not really my thing. One of the joys of our new home is the space while one of the challenges of our new home is the space. We love having more room, but every wife knows the more space you have, the more there is to clean. Let's just say I haven't made this "deep cleaning" thing a ritual or a weekly ordeal. I definitely should, but I'm just not there yet. With all that being said, although the laundry was done and everything around the house was picked up, I was shocked at how long it took me to clean a seemingly put together home. I literally cleaned every surface of our house (knowing that it will be some time before this "spring cleaning fever" strikes again).  Throughout my cleaning venture, I discovered my house was a lot dirtier than I expected and the process of really getting the house to really "shine" was much more time consuming than I would have guessed.

The process of "deep cleaning" my house reminded so much of life, especially our spiritual lives. How often do we breeze through without taking the time to focus on the details?  It's easier to skip over the mess and hard work that we know would be involved in cleaning it up. You can glance at your spiritual life like I glanced around my house and convince yourself that there's nothing more to be done, but we all know that's not true. It takes courage and honesty to take a self-inventory of our spiritual lives and it's scary to see what we might find. We know that God is calling us to dip deeper and push harder, but that requires facing what can sometimes be a dirty mess.We would rather go on in ignorant bliss than deal with all the emotions and fears that lie within those crevasses and cracks. God is challenging us to stop going through the motions and really let Him prune us and put us through the fire, so that we can come out molded into something even better on the other side. Exposing the buildup of gunk in your life to God is scary, but that's where the blessing is. We don't want Him to be like a guest in our house and pile all of the junk under the bed before He comes over. We need to be transparent about our spiritual lives with the Lord in order to be transformed. In the Bible it says that God "makes beauty from ashes". He takes the "dirt" in our lives and turns it into something beautiful. He looks at the things we aren't proud of, the things we regret, and the things we aren't very good at and then smiles at us, reassuring us that He loves us no matter what. That love is what makes us whole again. That love is what cleanses and renews us. Only God has the power to do that. Hiding those darker spots in our lives won't give God the opportunity to do something great with them.

Like I said, it's easy to go through the motions when it comes to your faith. It's easy to do the parts that come easily for you and avoid steps of faith that you know will be hard and require work.  It's easy to hide from the "dirt" in our lives without ever exposing it to God because we just don't want to deal with it. And it was easy for me to go on for months glancing at my house convincing myself that it was "clean". I knew how much work it would require to get it where it needed to be. I knew I would find spots along that way that I wasn't proud of. I knew I would find more dirt than I cared to see. But at the end of my Saturday, my house looked good! After a lot of scrubbing and accepting that I really don't do it as much as I need to, those dirty spots were washed away. The awesome thing about Jesus is that the hard work is only found in getting up the guts to share our whole selves with Him, dirt and all. After that, He does the work. He loves us. He accepts us. He transforms us. All we have to be is willing to "clean our house".