In Case You've Caught the Mondays

Happy Monday everyone!

After two posts on Friday, I decided to take the weekend off from blogging. But don't worry, I have plenty to share today!

I will catch you up on my weekend really quickly (meh, kind of quickly).

Friday, I left work a little early because Jason and I had friends in town.

When I arrived home, a birthday/wedding present was waiting for me.

At first it was a mystery, and then on Saturday my sisters called and told me that the gift was from them! I love it (and so does Jason)!

We took our friends to New York Pizza, which was really fun. Jason and I just hung out for the rest of the evening.

Saturday was a busy day. We started out at the 5K Walk for Foster Care. I took us to the wrong park...oops! But once we got there, we had a great time. The weather was perfect and it was nice to start the day out early.

From there, we attempted to run some errands, but it honestly didn't happen. Everything we needed to do was closed. So...we went to lunch.

We hit up Stix by the Galleria thinking that they had a lunch menu, but they didn't. I got the teriyaki chicken with double veggies and no rice. I'm slowly but surely learning how to spell teriyaki (even though it's showing up as misspelled on my computer right now...uh oh).

Saturday was my sweet little neighbor's 87th birthday. Jason and I bought him a cupcake, card, plant, and balloon and left it for him Saturday morning. I ran into him as I was coming home from the grocery store on Saturday though and he said he didn't have dinner plans.

I was making dinner for Jason and myself, so I took some over to him.

Then...he told Jason that I need to go into the catering business.

Not sure what to think about that!

Anyway, here's what I made for dinner:

Jason's dinner is on top - Ziti Bake - and my sandwich and salad is below.

Once again, Jason and I ate together but separately. His dinner wasn't unhealthy, but I really wanted some frozen yogurt Saturday night, so I decided to use the remainder of the turkey from last week to make a sandwich.

I adapted the recipe for Jason's ziti bake from a recipe I found on Dashing Dish.

Three Cheese Ziti Bake (or, Three Cheese Pasta Bake):
Ingredients

• 3 c. cooked whole wheat penne pasta
• 1 c. fresh spinach leaves
• 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• 1.5 jars three cheese marinara sauce
• 2 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened 
• 1 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano 
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a large casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile cook ground turkey in a large nonstick skillet, until meat is cooked through, (no longer pink). Stir in cream cheese, crushed tomatoes, spinach, and spices and turn off heat. When pasta is done, pour into a colander to drain. Add pasta to sauce mixture.
3. Pour everything into prepared casserole dish, and sprinkle mozzarella over the pasta. Cover casserole dish with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, remove foil, and bake an additional 5-7 minutes, or until mozzarella is melted.

My sandwich consisted of whole wheat bread, an avocado, black forest turkey, and colby jack cheese. I grilled it on the skillet for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

I had a blast cooking Saturday night, as you can see. Usually, I'm alone on Saturday nights, so I either just make something quick for myself or go out to dinner with friends. Have I mentioned lately how much I love having Jason home?!? 

After dinner, Jason and I went to go see The Avengers...finally!! We are huge fans of the Edge Theater in Crestwood. We started going there when Sharing Spree sold tickets for less than $2. We bought tons of them...and unfortunately they're all used up/expired now. We still have coupons and Sharing Spree deals that are $5 for $10 worth of tickets or concessions. So, for two tickets and a popcorn, Jason paid the difference of $2 for us to see an incredible movie!! That's what I call a deal!

I loved everything about Saturday night. The food, the company, the movie, the price...absolutely everything...except for the kid who sat behind us in the movie and coughed, sneezed, and sniffled the ENTIRE 2.5 hour long movie! By the end of it, I felt like I needed to wash my hands for 15 minutes straight...or maybe take a shower.

Sunday was a normal Sunday for me. Jason went back to volunteering at church working the lights during all three services. I taught my 8th grade girls small group. We went home for lunch, ate leftovers, and watched Property Virgins. Then we went to the Summit to look for some colorful jeans for Jessica and we hit up Target on our way back to church. Church was great, our pastor and his wife are pregnant with their 4th child! We're so excited for them!

After church we went to Maki Fresh where I ordered a salmon salad. It was great, but I'm usually not all the way full after eating that. That shouldn't be the case for a salad that costs almost $10 from a counter-service restaurant. Oh well...

After church, Jason and I went home and read. We've never done that before and I'm not sure why. We both enjoy reading. So, we sat on my couch, Jason with book in hand and me with my Kindle. We read for about and hour...and then I fell asleep on the couch. Have I mentioned that Jason and I are glad we're done with school? I don't have the stamina to read like I had to in college anymore!

So, that about sums up my weekend. This morning I got up and went for a run around my apartment complex for about 30 minutes. I saw Jason's Asian next door neighbor doing tai chi or something in the parking lot.

GOAL: Get a picture of that for tomorrow's blog!

Also, isn't always more fun to get ready for a Monday with new things?

New matching red and black lunch box and tumbler.

QUESTION: Do you prefer a busy weekend or a laid back weekend at home?

Enough rambling for this Monday morning. Let us turn our focus to prayer...

Prayer Focus for the Day: May is National Foster Care Mother. Yesterday, the Alabama Baptist Children's Homes held their annual day of prayer. Will you join with me in praying for the fatherless both domestically and internationally? Here is a printable 40 day prayer guide: http://www.pearpod.com/oc/downloads/40DaysofPrayer.pdf

Chasing Rabbits

You're probably thinking, "Great, 'chasing rabbits' is just another way to say I'm going to ramble on and on and on. I think I'll skip out on this post." And you're probably right. But, the story I'm about to tell did happen on Easter weekend, and it's just poetic irony that I'm could potentially define the meaning of "chasing rabbits" in this blog post. But please, read on! This is my most exciting post yet. And you never know, it could end up being short and sweet :) ...but probably not.

The day before Easter, Jason worked in our hometown. He travels with Casting Crowns doing their merchandise and they were playing at the local arena here in Birmingham. I was so excited because it was the first Saturday we've been in the same town since we've been engaged. I packed a bag full of snacks and different weighted cardigans and I headed up to the BJCC where the concert would be taking place that night.

I tried to strategically arrive when Jason was ending the set up process (Sidenote: If you are going to a concert in the future, please appreciate all of the crew members and band members that make it possible. They were 12-16 hour days to make the experience perfect for you and they usually don't get to have their families with them).  So I arrived around lunchtime and just kind of hung around until it was time to go eat.

Over the last year and a half, I've become pretty familiar with a lot of the guys Jason tours with. So as we walked around we said hi to people, we (but mainly I) got asked how the wedding planning was going, and I just had a nice time getting to see everyone Jason lives with out on the road.

After lunch, we returned to the arena and Jason took my purse to the crew dressing room so I didn't have to lug it around with me all day. While I was waiting for him, I was leaning up against a wall just kind of halfway paying attention to what was going on around me.

The security woman who works for the building was sitting there by the backstage/dressing room area entrance. She was very friendly and heard us talking about eating at Surin West (our favorite little Thai place downtown). We'd gone there for lunch, but I guess she assumed we were from out of town and we hadn't eaten yet. She offered me a BOGO coupon for Surin, which was so thoughtful. I told her that we actually live in Birmingham, and I had the same coupon that we were able to use for our lunch. She said that Jason looked familiar, then Jason came out of his dressing room, I said thank you for the coupon offer, and we went on our way. Little did I know, my interaction with her was just beginning.

Later that afternoon, Jason and I walked by the same security guard and there was another crew guy talking to her. Jason leaned over and whispered to me, "I bet he's sharing the gospel with her." I asked why he thought that and this is how he responded: "He shares the gospel with at least one person every day."

My response: "I need to be more like that guy."

His name was John Fry. He's an older-teenager who travels with the band and just loves sharing the gospel with people that he meets on the road. 

A little while later, Jason and I were going to go get coffee so I needed my purse. While I was waiting outside of the dressing room again, John Fry was still talking to the security guard. She seemed so engaged and was asking questions. I was trying not to creep on the conversation too much, but I really wanted to just stand there and listen. About a minute later, the security guard's relief came and she went on her break.

I stood there as John Fry walked around the corner and waiting for her to come back. I stood there and prayed that she would receive the truth that John Fry was telling her and the she would come to know Jesus as her Savior right then and there. I teared up and had to stop myself from crying. I could feel how powerful the Word of God is while I was just standing there.

Well, Jason came out of his dressing room and we walked back up to the merch booth.

A few hours passed and Jason got radioed to come down to the side of the stage during the show. So we walked down there and one of the other crew members asked if we could meet this woman who John Fry shared the gospel with. She had just become a believer! They wanted to introduce Jason and me to her officially since we're local and we're plugged in to a local church. Jason sent me up to get some CDs for her and a few minutes later we were introducing ourselves, talking about churches in the area, talking about concerts and her job, and finally, I gave her my phone number.

I told her that she better call me. She is single and she said that she just needs friends to do things with. I explained to her that I live here and my fiancé travels for work so I'm alone a lot too. I've been praying for her, and I hope so badly that she calls!

The next morning Jason and I met at my car to go to church. This was my first holiday away from home, and I was nervous about being lonely. Even though Jason and I would be together I was worried because I'm from a large family so holidays are big events for us. So, to ensure that Jason and I would not be lonely, and to serve our church, I volunteered us to help with the preschoolers during church.

Jason and I were ready for the three-year-old class that we were assigned to. We had the craft ready, our Spring colors on, and we had read over all of the material. When we arrived, there was one kid to every adult, so we got sent to the baby room.

Now, Jason is an only child. And even though I'm the oldest child and have younger siblings, they're in high school. I've done some baby sitting here and there over the years, but not very recently. I'm sure that when we walked in the door to the baby room, our two sets of eyes looked like big brown golf balls.

I'm pretty sure Jason has never held a baby before. As soon as we walked in, they made Jason a "walker". That meant that he walked a stroller with two babies in it around the lobby area so that they wouldn't cry. Jason gladly accepted so that he had a job to do, but that also meant that if anything went wrong, he was all alone.

I stayed behind to help the other volunteers. I offered to make a bottle for one of the babies, but I made it wrong. It seemed like every time I held a baby, they cried. It didn't take long before I became a walker too (now that I think about it, they made me a walker after I told them Jason and I are engaged and we do not have kids).

All in all, being with the babies was a great experience. We got to serve our church. We got to play with babies. And we realized that we definitely want to wait a little while before we have our own babies.

We ended our independent Easter by attended the evening service at church. How incredible it was to worship our Savoir after such an eventful weekend!

Although we didn't partake in any of the usual Easter "festivities", I truly believe that our weekend was better for it. We were able to serve the Lord this holiday weekend and focus on His Son and what He did for us on the cross.

So,  no we did not end up chasing rabbits this weekend, but we do know that at least one person is no longer running.