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 :)

Smell the Roses: Lovey's Market

Today I'm linking up with Jessica from Lovely Little Things for this week's Smell the Roses task:

Visit a place you've never been.

After work Wednesday night, I had an hour and a half to kill before I needed to be at a college small group.  I decided to try a local health store called Lovey's Market.

I walked in and made a beeline for the salad bar.

It did not disappoint.

Kale and edamame, quinoa salad, ginger tofu, shaved carrots, and tortellini.

I was on the phone with Bradley since it was midnight in Serbia, and therefore his actual birthday.  After we hung up I wrote down the twenty-two and a half reasons why I'm glad he was born.

This is only half of the store.  Beyond that orange wall are aisles and aisles of delicious organic goodness!

I am so glad I checked out this new place and will definitely be back again!

High Five for Friday!

It's Friday!
Which means one more week spend with my family, one more week until I see Bradley and my best friends who are overseas spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, and one LESS week for me to get prepared to move into my apartment--eek!

But it's Friday, which calls for me to reflect on how awesome of a week it was:

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

ONE.

Saturday morning my sister, Ashley and I had a coffee date.  Coffee dates are my fave thing to do. Especially when they're downtown.

We went to Port City Java and talked, laughed, and read.

And afterward we went shopping and found some awesome deals...and discovered just how eclectic downtown Wilmington is.

TWO.

I made this banana quinoa spread Tuesday morning for breakfast.

It was so good, I had some with dinner that night, and every breakfast since.

Be on the lookout for a new recipe post on Tuesday :)

THREE.

I've been eating up Romans lately...and chapter 8 hit my type-A, results-oriented heart like a ton of bricks.

FOUR.

Sunday lunch was spent with my family as per ush, and we went to Bluewater, a restaurant that is right on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The view from our table.

A and me.

FIVE.

Yesterday, Bradley turned 21!
I am SO excited to celebrate his birthday more when he returns from Serbia!

Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday!

Today is this man's 21st birthday!

He is spending his birthday in Belgrade, Serbia building relationships with kids, teenagers, and college students (aka not drinking).  

Since Serbia is so incredibly hostile to the gospel/any sort of religious talk, his group is encouraged to be patient and evangelistically winsome instead of shooting for the Romans road with every conversation (aka it's hard). 

There are several missionaries that have planted their lives in Belgrade along with a few Serbian Christians, so Brad's team is encouraged to cultivate relationships that can be developed with time in the hope that the Spirit would bring them to salvation in Jesus.

Bradley and I got to skype this morning (afternoon to him) and I read him 22 1/2 (I tried for 21 and couldn't narrow the list any more) reasons why I am glad he was born.  

I'll share just a few:

I miss him when he's not with me (especially for 2 months).

He's a good combination of strength and tenderness.

He makes me laugh/is not afraid to make a fool of himself.

He loves my family well.

He's super fashionable.

If you couldn't tell, I certainly love him a lot.

I am confused and thankful that the Lord has given me this man who loves and pursues me so well, yet daily makes Christ the center of his affection.

I am SO excited to hug him soon and hear detailed story after detailed story about how the Lord made Himself known on this trip.

Five Favorite Finds.

It's Thursday...you know what that means :)

You get to peer inside my brain/Safari tabs and see what I've been reading this week!

1.  Teach Children the Bible is Not About Them

Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of The Jesus Storybook Bible

via Desiring God

"When we drill a Bible story down into a moral lesson, we make it all about us.  But the Bible isn't mainly about us, and what we are supposed to be doing -- it's about God, and what He has done!"

2.  Missions and the Great Commission

Bradley Johnson (yes, this is my boyfriend)

"He alone knows how to best steward His glory.  

He will use you in the Great Commission exactly how He wants."

3.  Escape into Grey

Lori Byerly

"The problem is that reading erotic novels is like eating Twinkies to stop your hunger.  It's sweet.  It gives you a sugar high.  It makes good food taste bland.  It doesn't give your body the nutrition it needs and all you do is crave more sugar, more Twinkies."

4.  How the Gospel Changes Our Apologetics, Part 1

Tim Keller (aka Yoda)

"We need to be careful of saying, 'Just believe', because what we're really saying is, 'Believe because I say so."

5.  3 Reasons Why We Won't 'Be Still'

Josh Reich, via The Resurgence

"We don't stop because deep down, we want to be God."

What's the best article that you've read as of late?