cookin' and a workin'

ok you guys...i am in a rut. a dinner makin rut. i started working almost three months ago, and since then, the number of times i make dinner on a weekly basis went down to about, ummm one time?? i know, its pretty sad. jas has started to wonder when i would come back to life in kitchen. hasn't happened yet. i do like to cook, but the spark has kind of died because when i come home from work i don't feel like scrounging up something creative or tasty. i'd like to eat something tasty, but i just want it to sort of appear on the table on its own. not very realistic, i know.

i think part of the problem lies in my lack of planning for my weekly grocery trips. i end up buying all snack food...yogurt, granola, doritos (jas), double stuff oreos (jas), fruit, and then i forget i am supposed to make meals and not just have food for our every day lunches. got any tips for this??

so tonight i made enchiladas...they are in the oven as we speak. perhaps we'll have some leftovers for lunch or dinner this week? but even still, we're talking left overs here... so my question to you is this-- anyone have any simple, yet fun and tasty recipes that want to pass along from one working girl to another?? help a sister out!

3 years!!

can't believe we got married three years ago today! happy anniversary to my main man!!

and happy anniversary to my parents, good 'ol mark and tamra parks, who also got married on this same day, 31 years ago!!

Home Group!

Jas and I are so blessed by the Biblical community we are apart of. Jason always says that our home group is "stacked"...which makes me laugh cause I'm like "can you say that??" But it is pretty true... we've been a group since Dec 2008 and it is has been such a journey and joy to walk with everyone along the way. Nate and Andrea, a couple in our group, have been engaged for about a year & finally got married a couple of weeks ago. We all went to the wedding and it was SO FUN. So here are some pics of home group at the wedding... i love these people!!

Prayer

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. -- Joseph Scriven

the topic of prayer is one that has been on my heart lately and it just so happens that Matt also preached on it today at church. i love when the Lord is leading you in a direction and it just continually comes up so that you are forced to think/meditate on it...especially when in your flesh you'd rather just push it aside. anyway, since May i have been reading Desiring God by John Piper. i just felt that it was about time i tried to tackle that big ol' book and i finished it today. woot woot! even though there are several appendices so i don't really feel finished....this book has challenged me big time in a lot of different ways, but especially in the area of prayer. i think a lot of the time i do not take prayer as seriously because i'm aware of how deeply i need Him. or things get so busy at work, i don't take a minute to breathe and consider God and what He is saying or trying to teach me. i know i am missing out on a deeper joy and satisfaction in Christ....

at the end of the chapter on prayer, john piper ends by exhorting the reader to make a plan to pray. he uses the comparison that we do not just get up one day and take a vacation, but we plan it way in advance and then make it happen. this idea has stuck with me and it is so true. i am a sucker for practicals, too....so i always needs a good practical application to help me out. so i need to be more serious about making prayer a priority and making a plan of action!

and then from the sermon today--two of the things that stuck out to me from Matt's sermon is 1.) we don't pray like we are at war...and as much as we can deny that statement, we are at war, we just don't view life through that lens, ** insert conviction here!** and then 2.) God asks us to give him no rest when it comes to praying and seeking him. This is from Isaiah 62 (which is one of my fave chapters in Isaiah, btw)...verse 6 says

"on your walls, o jerusalem, i have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. you who put the Lord in remembrance; take no rest and GIVE HIM NO REST until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth."

God wants us to be petitioning him day and night...he does not ask that we leave him alone so he can take a nap or watch the football game. i love this....

sooo all this to say, i hope you are encouraged to spend time to pray today...and to make it more of your spiritual disciplines consistently. i also pray that you don't feel shame or guilt because of your lack of prayer. i know i was feeling this way and I feel like that guilt and shame is one way the enemy could prevent me/you from engaging God in prayer. welp, there's my little tid bit...thanks for reading! have a good week! :)