Weekend Blurbs

This past weekend I had the privilege of being in a good friend's wedding. What a beautiful day it was to celebrate love and commitment and see two friends tie the knot. It was fun spending the morning with Kelsey and having everyone get ready together. The day went by so fast, before I knew it I was standing up on Kelsey's side during the ceremony supporting her Josh's decision to get married. What a simple and sweet ceremony it was. So much love was in the room. We ended the night by shaking it on the dance floor. Kelsey and her dad planned a choreographed father daughter dance and took everyone by surprise. We danced the night away and caught up with some good friends we don't get to see as often. Soon we were saying goodbye to Josh and Kelsey before they headed off to their honeymoon in Cancun. Kelsey and Josh, thanks so much for letting me be a part of your special day! I'm so excited for you guys to start your life together and see what the Lord has planned for you two! I can't wait to hear all about your honeymoon and see your house!

The bridesmaids reppin their tanks

Me and Rissa (One of Kelsey's high school friends)

The beautiful bride

Helping the bride use the restroom

Lovely bride

Liese helping Kels out

One of my college besties

The beautiful bride and I right before the ceremony

The shoes Josh gave her when he proposed… With her new last name on them!

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Drew and I decided to have a spontaneous little date night and visit the pumpkin patch. There is a church about a mile down the road from our apartment that sells pumpkins every year. The whole lawn is scattered with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. It was quite picked over being that Halloween is tomorrow, but we still found a gem. We decided to get one to carve together since we only have a day to enjoy it. It was a fun little excursion that I hope becomes a tradition every year. 

The winning pumpkin

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Andrew and Audrey

Last, but not least, we had to say our final goodbyes to our good friends last night. We are so excited for them to start their life in Japan and hear all about their adventures, but saying goodbye was hard. Luke is one of Andrew's best friends and mine and Laura's friendship has really grown into something beautiful over the last year. I am sad to not have a good friend like her close at hand for random hang outs and double dates. I will miss watching little Audrey grow and learn new things. They leave tomorrow for Washington and they leave Washington on Thursday for Japan. Please pray for them as they travel as it is not easy moving your life overseas with a 6 months old baby. Love you Luke and Laura! We will be praying for your travel and transition into your new life. We can't wait for you to get settled in so we can skype and see your new place!

Andrew, me, Laura, and Luke

Homemade Applesauce

Last Sunday my mother-in-law, Kathy, was kind enough to show me how to make and can homemade applesauce. Andrew and I both love applesauce, especially his mom's homemade applesauce so I was very thankful to learn from her. I took what I learned Sunday and put it to use on Tuesday to make my own homemade applesauce. It was the perfect fall day to do so. It was an overcast day, with a light drizzle coming down. It was a lovely morning to make some sauce.

It's best to use the not so pretty apples for sauce since you peel them anyways

Kathy always uses honeycrisp apples when she makes her sauce because they are sweet enough that you don't have to add any sugar. She peels and cores the apples by hand and slices the white fruit into little apple chips. once the pan is full of apple chips, simmer the fruit on the stove until its soft enough to mush. Kathy likes to throw in a large sprinkle of cinnamon and a small sprinkle of nutmeg and cloves. When I made mine I used a large sprinkle of cinnamon and a small sprinkle of just nutmeg. Cook your fruit until it is mushed to the consistency that you like. We both like ours with a few bigger chunks in it.

Cooked and ready to go

Once your fruit is cooked and ready to go, bring a big kettle of water to a boil. You'll use it to seal the lids of your jars. Fill a sauce pan with hot water and place both parts of your lids in the sauce pan of hot water and put it on the stove on medium heat to get them extra clean. Leave them on the burner until the water starts boiling, then turn off the burner. While you are waiting for your pans of water to heat up, wash your jars, fill the sink with hot water, and let the jars warm up in the water so you don't put hot fruit in cold jars.

Scoop the soft fruit into the jars, but make sure to not fill it to the brim, leave about a half inch at the top. Take a hot rag and wipe around the top of the jar to get any spills that may have happened. Once the top of the jar is clean, place the lid on the jar and screw it on tightly. Use tongs to place the sealed jar into the large, boiling pan of hot water. Make sure it is fully submerged under the boiling water. Place the lid on the pan and let it sit in there for 15 minutes. 

When 15 minutes are up, use the tongs to take the jars out and place them on a wire rack to cool. As the jars are cooling off you'll hear ping noises coming from the jars. If the jar pings it means that it sealed correctly. The jar can still seal without pinging, but you have to check and make sure when you push on the lid it doesn't bounce back. If it bounces back it didn't seal correctly. You can either try it in the water again or you can simple put the sauce in your fridge to eat within 4-5 days.

I am so thankful that Kathy took time out of her day to teach me how make her homemade applesauce and can it. We now have a few jars of applesauce for the winter and I learned something new in the process. I can't wait to do another batch!

A Bittersweet Celebration

On Saturday Andrew and I had the privilege to share in a celebration of new life and love as we said goodbye to our dear friends that will be moving to Japan in just a few short days. Although the evening had a bittersweet feel to it, it didn't stop us from enjoying our last hurrah with friends and dancing our legs off.

Laura's wedding hair

Our good friends Luke and Laura got married in a courthouse the day before Luke left the state for some military training. Since then, Luke and Laura have spent more time apart than they have together, Audrey (their daughter) has been born and they found out that Luke will be stationed in Japan. Before packing up their lives and moving over seas, they wanted to renew their vows with all their family and friends as witnesses and have the wedding celebration that they never had.

The day started out overcast and chilly, but that didn't dull the excitement everyone had. Everyone spent the morning getting ready and finishing last minute details. I had the privilege of doing Laura and a few of her girl's hair. What a lovely morning it was helping the bride prepare herself to meet her groom for pictures. Laura looked stunning, like a model right out of a bridal magazine. Not only was her dress, hair and makeup beautiful, but her smile radiated the happiness of the day. She was gorgeous. Audrey was looking pretty dang cute as well. The morning passed quickly and everyone was on their way to pictures. 

Before we knew it the ceremony was taking place. The pastor told the story of how Luke and Laura met, and everything that has happened since then. What an example their relationship is to us that even though times may get hard and life may throw you some surprises, love always overcomes anything. It was a beautiful vow renewal ceremony. Dinner was served shortly after with some delicious cake to follow. With Luke being in the Marines he wore his military dress blues with his sword. He decided to wear the sword so that him and Laura could cut the cake with it. I thought it was a sweet idea.

The sword is hard to see, but if you look closely that's what they're using to cut the cake.

After all the traditional wedding dances happened the real party began. The DJ played music until 1:30am and we danced the WHOLE time! It was the most fun I have had at a wedding possibly ever. There was a variety of music played and every song was danceable. I even learned how to polka. I could have danced all night if they would have let me. What a wonderful way to send Luke and Laura off.

The beautiful bride and me

Me, Laura, and Alice (one of the flower girls) 

Audrey and me

My new career might be in the military… just saying! I was wearing Andrew's coat before we left and decided to try on Luke's hat and gloves. I almost could pass huh?

Me and Karla

Me and my hot date

Luke and Laura, thank you so much for wanting us to be a part of your special day! We had a blast celebrating you guys, your love and your little family. Thank you for your friendship, you guys really  mean a lot to us. Even though we will miss you guys terribly, we are so excited to hear about your adventures in Japan and to see what God has in store for you. Love you guys!

Anxiety and Money

I've been thinking a lot about mine and Andrew's future lately. Thoughts and questions are constantly circling through my head. Thoughts and questions such as: "Where will we be in a year? Will Andrew find a contracted teaching job? Will we ever be able to afford an apartment, or will we be apartment managers forever? Will we ever pay off our debt? Will we ever own a house? Will we ever have money we can use to go on trips and see the world? How will we ever be able to afford children? Will we have to raise our children in an apartment? How do other people do all this?" All these questions spin through my head time and time again. It usually leads me to feeling anxious, almost like I'm drowning- like we can't move forward with our life or really start living life until our debt is paid off. I guess it basically boils down to the fact that I've been feeling anxious about money, jobs, and our current living situation. The Lord is always faithful though and he always knows to give us the right reminders when we need them.

Today the Lord reminded me that first of all, all of our money is His. We are just stewards of His money. He promises to provide us with what we need and doesn't promise us any more. He reminded me that anxiety is a result of envisioning the future without Him and the best defense against worry is staying in communication with Him. When I turn my thoughts towards the Lord, I can think much more positively. If we must consider upcoming events or future events, we should follow these rules:
1. Do not linger in the future because anxieties sprout up like weeds when you wander there.
2. Remember the promise of the Lord's continual presence; include Him in imagery that comes to mind.
This mental discipline does not come easily because we are accustomed to being god of our own fantasies. However, the reality of the Lord's presence with us, now and forever more, outshines any fantasy I could ever imagine. How thankful I am to have a faithful God that is able to communicate with us and tell us the truth we need to hear!

And He said to His disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?" - Luke 12:22-26

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21

Grand Ole Creamery

I have not forgotten about my ice cream quest. No worries, we (hopefully) still have a bit before winter comes! I was able to cross Grand Ole Creamery off my list of nine best ice cream shops in the Twin Cities. I crossed off HomeTown Creamery here, Conny's Creamy Cone here, and Sebastian Joe's here.

1. Adele's Frozen Custard in Excelsior
2. Conny's Creamy Cone in St. Paul
3. Edina Creamery in Edina
4. Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul
5. HomeTown Creamery in North St. Paul
6. Izzy's Ice Cream in St. Paul
7. Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis
8. Sebastian Joe's in Minneapolis
9. Crema Cafe in Minneapolis

On Sunday evening the Stokes ladies (Andrew's mom, sister, grandma, cousin, and sister-in-law) got together to get some ice cream. We visited the Grand Ole Creamery off of Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis. It is a cute little shop that you might miss driving by unless you were looking for it. The one in St. Paul is located on Grand Avenue and has been serving ice cream for over 25 years. The Grand Ole Creamery serves over 200 flavors of award-winning, freshly made ice cream (of course not at the same time) that is free of chemical additives. They are best known for their Black Hills Gold ice cream (caramel ice cream, Oreos and praline pecans). If you want to splurge try a hand-rolled malted waffle cone that has a   whopper in the bottom of each cone.

I tried the Black Hills Gold, Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet, Birthday Cake, and Snickers ice cream. All were very good (especially Black Hills Gold), but since it was a cooler fall night I was in the mood for something fall-ish. I ended up choosing a scoop of apple pie ice cream in a sugar cone. It was fantastic. I don't like apple pie, but the ice cream was delicious and hit the spot. Also, their one scoop of ice cream was actually two scoops. They make sure to fill the cone with ice cream, then they give you a generous one scoop on top of that. It was definitely worth the money.

I am slightly partial to Grand Ole Creamery because Andrew took me there on our very first date we ever went on (I remember thinking it was the best ice cream in Minneapolis then). But, I'd still have to say that Sebastian Joe's is in the lead and Grand Ole Creamery is a close second (especially with the apple pie ice cream!). It was a lovely evening with the Stokes women though. Where is your favorite place to get ice cream? Have you visited any of the places on my list?

Fall Cooking

Since fall is here I've been dying to get in the kitchen and cook some yummy food! However, with my new job and nannying two days a week I've been working around 45-50 hours a week. That doesn't leave a lot of time for cooking - especially when I get home around 6pm or later. I've really been wanting to try out some recipes in my crock pot, but I don't really have any besides pulled pork. You can only make pulled pork so many times before you get sick of it. The other day as I was searching the web I came across some easy crock pot recipes that you make ahead of time, put in a freezer bag, and freeze until you make them. All you have to do is unthaw them in the fridge for 24 hours before putting them in the crock pot. I made three of the recipes in under 30 minutes. They were so easy to do! I made french dip sandwiches, hearty beef stew, and cilantro lime chicken. If you are interested in trying the recipes yourself, here's what you do:

Lay out your gallon size freezer bags and label them. Put the date on the bag too so you know when you prepared the meals:

 French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients:

2-3 lb chuck roast

2 cans beef consommé (right next to the soups and beef broth)

6-8 hoagie buns

Directions:

Put the chuck roast in the freezer bag. Pour the cans of beef consommé over the meat and freeze.

When ready to cook:
Remove from the freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook in a crock pot on LOW for 8-11 hours (or HIGH for 5-7 hours). Remove the roast from the slow cooker and save the extra juice for dipping. With two forks, shred roast and serve meat on buns.

Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients:
1 lb beef stew cubes
4 carrots, sliced (I used a can of carrots)
4 red potatoes, cut into large cubes
1 package dry onion soup mix
2 cans 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (10 oz) package frozen green peas

Directions:
Put all ingredients in a freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

When ready to cook:

Remove from freezer and thaw in the fridge for 24 hours. Cook in a crock pot on LOW for 7-10 hours (or HIGH for 5-6).

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
Juice from 2 limes
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

When ready to cook:
Remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). Serve with tortillas and toppings such as sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and cheese.

Let me know how your recipes turn out and what you think!

My Father

My Father…

loves me

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16

cares for me

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? -Matthew 6:26

forgives me

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. -Psalm 103:12

is compassionate

Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. -Psalm 103:4-5

is giving

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? -Romans 8:32

is understanding

O Lord, you have searched me and know me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. -Psalm139:1-2

is accepting

O Lord, you have searched me and know me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. -Psalm 139:1-6

satisfies

For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. -Psalm 107:9

persistently pursues me

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. -Luke 19:10

is reason

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. -Isaiah 1:18

pardons

Bless the Lord who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases. -Psalm 103:3

heals

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. -Isaiah 53:5

redeems

for I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. -Job19:25

is loving-kindness

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. -Psalm 86:15

renews

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. -Isaiah 40:31

is righteous

Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. -Jeremiah 9:23-24

is gracious

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight. -Ephesians 1:7-8

is sovereign

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. -Psalm 103:19