Mmm Mmm good.

i tried another recipe from The Noble Pig and it was just as good, if not better than the last! this one was jumbo stuffed shells with vodka sauce... seriously, SO good.

it had this weird cheese in it that was so expensive.... gruyere cheese! but it added so much flavor to the sauce. i loved it!

when i was getting the groceries to make this at publix, i slowly started realizing how expensive it is to eat good. i never really appreciated having a home cooked, from scratch, dinner every night. but now that i see how much is behind just one meal it makes me really appreciate all the cooking, cleaning, preparing... that my mom has done for all these years.

i wish someone would invent dishes that cleaned themselves or something. after boiling, straining, mixing, pouring, stuffing, baking, serving, and eating there is a butt ton of dishes to do! and i will be the first to tell you that i am not the cleanest of people and so i would definitly prefer to just not do them! but, with 8 other girls in the house... that just wouldn't fly. so 3 loads in the dishwasher later and im done..

it was well worth it though because we only have about 1 serving of leftovers and it was SO yummy!

abc.

yearn.

holy design

this place in time

that i might seek and find my God

my God

Lord i want to yearn for You

i want to burn with passion

over You and only You

Lord i want to yearn

Your joy is mine

yet why am i fine

with all my singing and bringing grain

in light of Him

oh You give life and breath

through Him You give all things

in Him we live and move

that's why i sing

- Yearn by Shane and Shane

acts 17:25-28:

"...nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all he face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of the dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'in Him we live and move and have your being' as even some of your own poets have said, 'we are indeed His offspring'"...

hebrews 12:28-29:

"...therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shakem, and thus let us offer to Fos acceptable worship, with reverance and awe, for our God is a consuming fire..."

this has been my prayer lately - that i would seek the Lord with a whole heart... that i would yearn for this God whose will cannot be shaken.

abc.

um, whats a skillet.

i love weekends. i love them because i finally have time to do what i want. if i want to sleep, i can. if i want to paint, i can. if i want to study (which i never want too...), i can. and if i want to do nothing, i can! so this weekend was one of those were i just wanted to chill... and chill i did. my friend, katie, and i decided we were not going to do anything friday night but hang out on the couch and it has been one of my most favorite nights here yet.

i found this awesome blog called The Noble Pig and it has some baller recipes on it that are pretty easy. i love it. so katie and i decided to cook a good dinner and watch a good movie.... we found this recipe called Noodle Pie and it was SO good.

we boiled our pasta, browned our meet, crushed our own garlic.... the whole shebang. the dish looked really cool because the noodles stood straight up. funny story.. as we were stacking them in there we kept eating the noodles too and then we realized we probably shouldn't have done that.....

So we had to open another box of noodles and boil 12 more.... it was pretty funny.
another funny thing that happened... when we finished browning the meat i told katie "i know theres something we are supposed to do about the fat but i cant remember" and she was like "ya my mom always does something with a paper towel? ...i dont really know" and that was how alot of the night went... trying to remember what to do from what we had seen our moms doing all growing up.

my personal favorite was when i asked katie to hand me a skillet to start the meat in and all i hear is a long pause and finally katie goes, "uhhh, whats that again?"

but we made it through it and anded up with a gourmet meal!! this was what it looked like when we were all done! we both were so proud of it!
it was seriously so yummy!!! (i dont know if you can see it in this picture, but after you make the meat sauce, you pour it on top and then stuff it into the center of each noodle. so its this whole dish of stuffed noodles with melted cheese on top... Mmmm)
and dont worry mom, thats sparkling grape juice:)

after eating our de-lish dinner, we plopped on the couch to watch 500 Days of Summer and paint. it was such a fun, relaxing, chill night with some great friends!!

abc.

can't teach this.

i came across these 2 videos and like yesterday, they blew me away! it amazes me 1. the amount of talent these people have and 2. the amount of time they have to spend/waste (depending on your perspective) on perfecting these talents. i find it fascinating.

WATCH THIS

&

WATCH THIS

happy middle of the week!

abc.

a little entertainment.

not many of you may find this as- cool/mind-blowing/incredible/awesome/literally the coolest thing you've seen in a while- as i did, but since i found it to be those and all the above... i decided to share it with you. i want something like this in my house one day! maybe not chinese looking animals... but a big wall with something cool on it that i made. anyways.... click the link below and Happy Tuesday!!

WATCH THIS

ps. i love the ending. when the artist is just standing there, nodding his head in approval of his work. i kinda feel like thats what God did when he was finished creating the ultimate piece of art. he just stood back, admired, and nodded his head in the utmost approval... i dont know. just a thought.

abc.

a tripy kind of day.

Well, today has just been a really funny day.

it all started at 5:45 this morning. Yes, i woke up at 5:45. i got a wake-up call from my mom saying 'time to goooo' so i jumped out of bed, confused, because i had forgotten that i was at home. i slept the entire way back to auburn and my mom dropped my off, just like the good ole days, right in front of my class.

so as i start walking into my class, i quickly lose my balance and slip and fall, completely on my butt, in front of TONS of people, and get many "oh that just made my day" looks. i then precede to my Global Consumer Affairs class, which will be the death of me, only to type all my notes and forget to press Save... so i lost them all.

i then remember, 'Oh ya, i am teaching today and forgot i have to rent out instruments!"

so i scurry on over to haley center and rent out "music sticks" then go to the Education Library to rent a CD for the class. after taking up, literally, 30 min of the librarians time, a girl from my class walks in to inform me she checked out the CD and has a burned copy for me.... which she told me in class last week, i had just forgotten. whats new.

so i head out to the school to teach a Pre-K class about Loud and Soft sounds.. and when i ask "what is a really loud sound in nature that you can think of?" one little, very precious, boy says, "ooo ooo ooo pick me! pick me! a butterfly!!" no, im sorry... butterflies are silent. and i had MANY other answers just like that during the entire lesson!

also, while i was in the middle of teaching, another little boy (my personal favorite) raises his hand and says in his cute little voice, "Ms. Cunninham can i go gets some stishus? i gots some buggies!" and sure enough, his finger is COVERED in green boogers. i tried not to laugh, but i couldn't help it.

i then head back to my house to sit down and get some homework done, but fall asleep and take a 4 hour nap. oops. and it wasn't until i put my hands down to sit up that i realized how bad my hands hurt from falling this morning and just started laughing at my ridiculous day.

all that being said, the classroom was incredible. i absolutely loved it. the kids were the cutest little kids i have ever seen. and all they wanted was to the center of attention. i can't wait to have a classroom of my own!

abc.

i am second.

i know, i know.. i already blogged once today. but whatever.

there's this website that i think is so cool called "i am second." you should check it out... today i was on it and came across this little girl's clip . it was amazing to me that a girl this young could actually get it.

but what blew me away was when i came across Brian Welch's clip. this guy used to be in the band Korn and his testimony is incredible.

but what REALLY blew me away was how these two people- literally as opposite as they come- are talking about the same God. thats amazing.

abc.

instruments in His hands.

"The good news of the kingdom is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss.

It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself.

His rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities.

The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners.

He makes cripples walk again.

In him we can face life and respond with faith, love, and hope.

And as he changes us, he allows us to be a part of what he is doing in the lives of others.

As you respond to the Redeemer’s work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands."

-Paul David Tripp

abc.

here with me.

"I long for your embrace

Every single day

To meet you in this place

And see you face to face

Will you show me?

Reveal yourself to me?

Because of your mercy

I fall down on my knees

And I can feel your presence here with me

Suddenly I'm lost within your beauty

Caught up in the wonder of your touch

Here in this moment I surrender to your love

You're everywhere I go

I am not alone

You call me as your own

To know you and be known

You are holy

And I fall down on my knees

I can feel your presence here with me

Suddenly I'm lost within your beauty

Caught up in the wonder of your touch

Here in this moment I surrender to your love

I surrender to your grace

I surrender to the one who took my place

I can feel your presence here with me

Suddenly I'm lost within your beauty

Caught up in the wonder of your touch

Here in this moment I surrender to your love."

i have a huge nutrition test tomorrow. the last test i had in there, i studied 5 days in advance, made over 300 notecards (which i knew EVERY SINGLE ONE), and took every practice quiz/test i could, and rewrote ALL my notes. annnnd i ended up with a 62 on that test.

our test tomorrow, according to our teacher, is supposed to be ALOT harder...

i met with my advisor today about classes for next semester and how im doing in this one. it was then that she informed me that the cohort im applying for only accepts the top 25 students and so if i wanted to have a fair chance at even getting considered then i needed to have AT LEAST a 3.0 by the end of this semester.

so, ever since that meeting, i have been absolutely freaking out about my test tomorrow. if i studied that much for my test last time and got that bad of a grade and this one is supposedly harder- how the heck am i supposed to get a good enough grade in this class to bring my GPA up even more?! i feel like there is SO much pressure on me to be perfect. i feel like i have absolutely no room for error.

i know that i am a smart girl. but after my last test in this class, i have zero confidence in myself regarding my capability to know, understand, and do well on my test tomorrow.

so as im sitting in barns and nobel silently feeling like my world is crashing down on me so hard i want to just give up, this song comes on my shuffle and it hits me. that verse i have heard a million and one times...

"i can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me."

does that mean i no long have to study? no. does that mean that i can do the bare minimum and he'll take care of the rest? no. God is no magical genie that i can just make a wish and he bow to my every desire. (thank goodness!)

BUT- it does mean that i can rest secure in the knowledge that God is here- with me. and in the grande scheme of things, though my test tomorrow is very important, there are bigger things at work here. and God sovereign so this whole stressin' to the max about my future, and applying for this school, and finding cohorts, or pre-teaching, or WHATEVER- that God is in total control of this. "...You're everywhere I go- I am not alone. You call me as your own , to know you and be known..." i am not alone in this because Christ has had my life intricately planned out since before i was knit together in my mothers womb.

again, this blog was for me. to preach to myself the gospel that God is in total control of my life. and stressing like i have been does nothing but suck every last drop of joy out of this entire process.

pray for me as i study and take this test, because i do need to do really good on it! but also pray that i will constantly be reminded that my identity is not in my grades, and that the Lord is so beautifully sovereign.

abc.