Death.

So real. So tangible. 

Every person will touch death.

Then what?

If not the Lord, nothing.

You will have everything but Him.

What death.

But for the believer...what death does is strip you of every temporary earthly thing and you are left with nothing but Jesus.

Yaweh.

Sweet Redeemer.

Wonderful Savior.

Triune God.

I will one day gaze upon the face of the God-Man who bought my life.

Took my place; on my cross.

Now we are one.

Forever.

My bridegroom and me.

Give me eternity.

I long for Jesus today.

Grind.

"There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech.  We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service.  We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them... 

"Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slower advances in the divine life?  Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word.  They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it.  From such folly deliver us, O Lord..."

- Charles H. Spurgeon

Only Ten Days Late...

Bradley turned 21 on July 12th, but he has been loving and sharing Jesus with people in Serbia!

So we finally got to celebrate his birthday this weekend (ten days after his actual birthday)!

Saturday evening I drove to Raleigh to surprise Bradley at the airport.

They were supposed to land at 8:15pm and didn't land until 11:30pm.  

I was a nervous wreck.

I was so happy to see him!

After we got his luggage we wanted to talk.  Not many places are open around midnight that have relatively nutritious food...so we parked at Sheetz beside our church, snacked, and chatted.

My pretzels and hummus container was adorable and very accurate.

He dropped me off at the purple house full of exhausted and revived women...and I woke up the next morning to my best friend in the whole world jumping on my bed fold-out couch! 

So so great.

Trip Lee, Bradley's favorite Christian hip hop artist, preached at Summit!

After church we grabbed Panera to go and went to Duke Gardens!

 I gave him a homemade coffee mug and homemade mint chocolate chip cookies with the 21 reasons why I am glad he was born :)

In the midst of sweet conversation...Bradley got another surprise!

Then we headed to Frankie's!

On our drive Bradley gave me gifts from Serbia!

A beautiful handmade mug, Serbian keychain as a reminder to pray for the country, and about three dollars!

We played a round of putt putt...

We don't joke around.

...except when there's an opportunity to Tebow of course.

We're pretty competitive.

Especially when we hit each others balls into the grass.

We headed to the Brier Creek area and enjoyed some coffee and God's Word.

And later grabbed a yummy dinner and he opened his last gift:

confusion.

It still needs some tweaking with the push pins, but this verse eerily sovereignly relates to what God told him on his last flight home.

I am so grateful for that special time together, since I won't see him for five more days.

I gained a deeper repentance and thankfulness for God's character, design for humanity, and the community He has given me.

Tasty Tuesday: Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sunday I was finally able to celebrate Bradley's birthday after not seeing him for three weeks since he's been in Serbia!

More on our sweet time together tomorrow :)

Today I want to share with you this piece of divine deliciousness.

Bradley's favorite flavor is mint chocolate chip (very important girlfriend information).

This flavor, however, is most often found in ice cream and milkshakes.  I couldn't exactly drive for two and a half hours in July with frozen milk in my car, so I found this recipe for mint chocolate chip cookies (via Pinterest, of course).

Here's my altered version:

Ingredients:

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup Smart Balance Buttery Spread, softened (or butter)

1/2 teaspoon mint extract

1 egg

5 drops of green food color

 1 cup dark chocolate chips

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 Andes mint per cookie (the recipe makes 24)

Directions:

1.  Mix the sugar cookie mix, buttery spread, extract, egg, and food color together in a mixing bowl.

2.  Stir in the dark chocolate and semi sweet chocolate chips (not the Andes mints).

3.  Scoop 24 dough rounds an inch or two apart on two baking sheets.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12.5 minutes.

5.  Let cool for 5 minutes.

6.  Gently press a single Andes mint into the top of each cookie.

If you want to add some extra sweetness, write down a certain number of reasons why you're glad someone you love was born, cut out each of the reasons, tape them to toothpicks, and stick one toothpick in the middle of each cookie :)

HF4F: Britt's Donuts.

It's Friday y'all.

Halleluyer.

I'm linking up with Lauren today for High Five for Friday!

Last Sunday night my parents, my cousin Katherine, and I ventured fifteen minutes to another world -- Carolina Beach.

We went for the legendary Britt's Donuts.

ONE.

The adorable/slightly trashy street where Britt's is located.

TWO.

Melt in your mouth sugary goodness.

THREE.

We found a henna shop directly across from donut heaven.

Nothing says "I love Jesus" like a tramp stamp.

FOUR.

The super cute/life-risking ferris wheel.

FIVE.

And the people who parked beside us even left a gift.

Hoping your Friday is this fun and entertaining! 

Happy Crappy.

At the beginning of the college women's small group that I lead during the school year, we start off with "Happy Crappy" -- one happy thing and one crappy thing that happened since the last small group meeting.

So here's my "Happy Crappy" from yesterday:

Every Wednesday at the daycare at which I work, we take the kids to a nearby pool.

This little one forgot her bathing suit bottoms yesterday...tears were shed over that one.

Fortunately for her, her teacher thinks she's utterly adorable and will play with her all day long.

HAPPY:

After she got too hot from sitting beside the pool, we hung out under the shade and played with my camera.

CRAPPY:

The fun was short lived when about five minutes later her stomach started hurting.

And about five seconds after that her lunch was on the ground.

HAPPY 2.0:

Felt much better today :)

Tasty Tuesday: Banana Quinoa Breakfast Spread

Late last week I was searching the interwebs for a simple breakfast recipe with bananas, oatmeal, and quinoa.  I never found one.

So I decided to think for myself and create my own!

Experimental baking makes me nervous, so I made a breakfast spread!

Ingredients:

2 bananas

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 - 1 cup uncooked quinoa

~ 1 1/2 tbs honey

Extremely Complicated Directions:

Mash bananas;

peel bananas;

combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

I later decided to throw in a handful of dried cranberries to the mix.

It was a good decision.

This spread is great on a toasted bagel.

Or just by the spoonful :)