Thursday, March 29, 2012

Intentionality and Homemaking

Brilliant purples and the crisp scent of creation ever surrounds me.  Spring abounds!
 One thing the Lord has been laying on my heart lately is a burden for intentionality in my marriage, in my role as a woman, wife, and homemaker, friend, and child of God.  Before I was married, I focused only on my career, my dreams, and what I wanted out of life.  Marriage has taught me about selflessness, balance in priorities, how to love more fully, and of course--about the character of God.


In order to walk more fully in a joyful and God centered marriage, I have resolved to be more intentional.  These are some things I am learning to incorporate:


Spend plenty of time with girlfriends.
As a newlywed, it is really easy to get caught up in spending all my time with my husband.  I think a bit of that is definitely healthy and I would rather err on the side of loving him too much rather than too little.  However, for me to be the most healthy, I need time with the girls and someone other than my husband to lean on from time to time.  Gathering with sisters in Christ encourages me and reminds me how to be a woman of Christ, always seeking to serve others and my husband. 


Learn to take things to the Lord first, then if necessary-my husband.
Overburdening Matt with every trouble I encounter is not good for him or for me.  Instead, I hope to lean on the Lord solely, first, and foremost as the solution to my problems and the source of my strength and hope.


Spend about 2 hours a week and take time to pray about the week ahead, dedicating it to the Lord's plans, seeking Him and what he wants to do, planning appointments, meals, and a general schedule.
Aside from saving a great deal of time during the week, I absolutely love asking the Lord what he would have me do with my day and week ahead.  This helps me stay organized,  but also focused on the Lord's plans rather than my own.  Also, meal planning helps to keep the budget down by getting the right amount of food.  At the same time, it is important for me to plan, but keep the plans flexibly in favor of interruptions from God!

Establish a morning and evening routine.
Ever since I established these routines, I have started and ended the day with so much more peace and focus.  I am able to prioritize and accomplish the most important tasks first thing, and effectively wind down the day.  This is my morning routine (which can be changed depending on changing schedules/time of life):


Morning routine:
Wake up early (7am) and drink 1 full glass of water, daily planning for 5 minutes
Independent bible study, prayer, and meditation
Prayer walk and devotion with my hubby
Breakfast
Get ready
Pick up the house for 10  minutes
songwriting exercises for 10 minutes and/or yoga
(This is all done by about 9-10am)


Begin the day with devotions, prayer, and Bible study.
Doing this first focuses my sights on the Lord for the rest of the day.  I never want to go anywhere without Him.


Pray daily with my husband in prayer walks, and also on my own.  In my own prayers, I always pray for my husband.
This has strengthened our marriage so much as we learn about the Bible and pray for our ministry partners, our marriage, and what the Lord is doing around the world.  Praying for Matt in my independent prayer time helps to profess out loud my faith in him and his ability to lead our family.  We are one and this is one of the most important things I could do for him!  This is a resource I am using to pray for Matt on a regular basis.


Joyfully serve by keeping the home clean and desirable place to be.

It is all too tempting to complain about what isn't happening around the house, or about your husband.  Intentionally practicing a joyful heart through the strength of God always makes serving fun.  I find that when I keep the house clean and work hard to make our home a haven and have meals prepared, I enjoy the peace of The Lord and seeing my husband's grateful face brings me so much happiness!


Have one date night a week.
Matt is very protective over our date night.  This is non-negotiable to him, as a time where we choose to be together and romance each other, as opposed to being together because we are in the same class, we enjoy the same things, or because we live together.  It doesn't have to cost much, and it strengthens our marriage.


Plan ways to bless my husband, friends, children, and stranger each week.

This can manifest in the form of a letter of encouragement, a phone call, affirmation or act of service, or a gift!

Cultivate thankfulness.
Each day, I am trying to intentionally record 4-5 things I am thankful for throughout the day.  My goal is to reach 1000 recorded acts of thankfulness this year.  I am going to post them on this blog, and I encourage you to join me and many others in this!  Refer to the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp to read more on this journey!


 For each way I consume, find a way to produce.

 I'm a big reader and researcher, a lover of hobbies.  It is easy to consume WAY too much.  For each time I consume (read a blog, book, etc.), I try to produce something (blog post, practice guitar, photography, etc.).


Make time for hobbies.
It is really important to have hobbies and give yourself time to explore something just for fun!  On top of class and work, I try to make time to explore photography, songwriting, fitness, guitar, and culinary arts on a daily basis.


This morning, I told my husband that there are times when I feel like I am trying to give tips and ideas that I myself have not perfected, and it sort of makes me feel hypocritical.  In many ways, I am writing this for myself.  I am writing this because the Lord has prompted me to change some things in my life to make more room for Him.  I want to live a life of health so that I can bring Him more glory and know the Lord more fully.  As I learn to put the Lord first, honor my husband, find the beauty in life around me, cultivate my passions-I see more of God, and I hear his whispers more clearly.


What do you do to live intentionally?
What is the Lord prompting you to do to open up more space for Him in your life?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Saving time and money with home workouts (the missionary gym)

Hello!  I created a video to show you all what home equipment and strategies I use to work out on a regular basis.  If you are interested, I can start posting workouts too, so let me know!  I did this to save money, but also to be able to stay active!


Also, for those of you following along with our ministry with Wycliffe, we made a new post here!

What are your favorite home workout strategies? What else would you like to know about home workouts?

Monday, March 12, 2012

Cast Iron Chickpea Flour Pizza


Matt and I really love pizza and could EASILY down an entire large pizza all by ourselves.  What can I say?  I have a rather large appetite for my size.  Most pizzas are greasy and made with processed, nutritionally deficient ingredients.  To conquer this travesty, the hubs and I set about to make pizza crust out of chickpea flour.  But...we failed miserably.  We had a stiff and sticky dough, but decided to roll it out and bake the dough anyway and it came out as a flatbread of sorts.  It tasted delicious so we just dipped in some olive oil and herbs.  Yum!  Not so much of a fail, I suppose.  Anyhow, we started over and added more liquid to the flour and it came out wonderfully and resulted in a nice crust.  We decided to enact Friday nights as the official pizza night and have since made a mushroom, cheese, and grass-fed beef pizza, as well as a Thai inspired pizza.  I will tell you that the crust doesn't taste typical, but is much more filling, and has a nice hearty flavor about it.  I think I actually enjoy it more.

So here is a recipe for our Thai inspired pizza, but you can change the ingredients however you like!  Also, I made mine in a ridged cast iron, but you can use a different pan that is suitable for the stove top and to go in the oven under broil (Not a nonstick or plastic handle).

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/3 cup garbanzo flour
2/3 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup water
1 tsp rosemary (We used Bragg's Sprinkle)
Coconut oil (or pasture-raised butter) to coat the pan

Sauce:

 Crushed tomatoes, or organic tomato sauce
1 Tbs almond butter (optional)2 Tbs EVOO
Garlic, salt, and pepper

Toppings: (Do whatever you want.  We eyeballed everything so it was loaded to our contentment.)
Raw or Sheep/Goat cheese of your choice grated (we used a combination of raw cheddar and pecorino)
1-2 grated carrots (we used a food processor)
a handful of spinach
a handful of bean sprouts
cilantro
cashews
various spices of choice (red pepper flakes, srirachi sauce)

Directions:

Sift the chickpea flour and salt together in a medium bowl.  Slowly add in the water while whisking to incorporate.  Refrigerate for a half hour.  In a sauce pan, combine tomato sauce and almond butter until combined and warm.  Take it off the heat.  Preheat the broiler and stir the rosemary into the batter.  Heat up a cast iron skillet (or a different pan) and coat it with a small amount of coconut oil.  Once heated, pour the batter into the pan and spread it out to form your crust.  Cook the crust over medium high heat until the crust is set, about 2-3 minutes.  Next, add the tomato sauce mixture on top of the crust.  Then add the spinach, cheese, carrots, beansprouts (spinach on bottom so it doesn't burn).  Put the skillet into the oven under the broiler for 4 to 5 minutes.  Take it out, top off with nuts, cilantro and spices to taste.  Serve and eat! 

Note:  As far as the amount for toppings, you can just add the toppings according your personal preference.  Be creative! :)

I'm a happy girl...
What toppings are you going to try it with?

Friday, March 9, 2012

Sharing the love

This week has been filled with so many profound moments.  I find myself wanting to express myself through so many different mediums.  I am enjoying this exploration that has led me to the art of traditional cooking, photography, guitar lessons, song writing, and planting.  I am captivated by beauty, addicted to it even.  Here are a few things I found this week in my daily reading...

This soup is perfect for the chilly days we have had lately.  It is my favorite kind of soup and the addition of coconut milk sounds incredible!

A beautiful dessert.  Pavlova.  I have never had a bad recipe from this blog, and the photography is gorgeous.


I have definitely been working on eating more mindfully as of late.  Trying to discern when I'm hungry, when I'm bored, or when I just want to eat for the fun of it.



One facet of traditional cooking: Soaking nuts


How to break a cookie habit.

Have a lovely weekend, beautiful friends. :)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

What Jesus taught me about health


In America, the grocery stores are riddled with highly processed foods, ingredients with names that we couldn’t possibly recognize, low-fat this, low sodium that, fruit juices that don’t actually contain fruit, vegetables sprayed with poisonous chemical substances. On top of that, there are SO many fad diets that the pursuit of health is now a relatively challenging goal to achieve. There is so much information to sift through and everyone seems to have a well-supported opinion as to why you should follow THEIR advice.
picture courtesy of roostblog.com
The other day, I got discouraged. I am highly motivated to be healthy and to do the research, attempting to go straight to the facts. But what about those who aren’t motivated? What about those who want the easiest, fastest way to health even if it compromises quality and long-term benefits? There is just too much information. Then I began to think about what my top two tips would be, if I could only chose two, to those looking for optimum health. Here is what I came up with


1. Cut out all processed foods. Eat foods that do not have labels.

This alone will automatically force you to cook more, which will require planning ahead and more effort. For the most part, this will rule out restaurants. Salt intake will be lower, without having to limit the amount of salt you cook with. You’ll increase in awareness of what goes into your food. You will no longer be taking in harmful chemicals, artificial flavors, and additives with dubious effects on our bodies. This will take us back to the art of cooking. I realize this turns a lot of people off. Many are not willing to make this a priority, and that is certainly a choice that you can make, but that doesn’t really change the fact that this is one of the most important factors in losing weight, achieving health (both short and long term), and gaining a lifestyle that will promote fullness of life.

2. Drink water.
  
We tend to drink anything but water. We drink soda, fruit juice, vegetable juice (not necessarily bad), coffee, tea, etc. Water is life giving, bringing oxygen and nutrients, regulates body temperature, and boosts metabolism, among many other benefits. While coffee and tea are still regular visitors in my daily life, water is what I seek to consume the most of. 

You see, I have this overwhelming desire to help people attain the health they desire. My discouragement that I talked about earlier nearly brought me to tears as I talked to Matt about it, but then I felt the Lord telling me that like anything else, this hope of a healthier nation is a process. I felt Him impress upon me the beauty of process and the idea that shortcuts are usually something to be avoided. Fad diets or quick weight loss solutions might work for some, but they are (practically speaking) not the healthiest or the safest option. Jesus didn’t take the shortcuts. As He sat in the boat telling the crowds parables and teaching them how to live life, he said offensive things. Many left and never returned, even talked badly about Him. He, by no means, did the popular thing by directly challenging the Pharisees, the rich, and the complacent. This required His followers to pursue Him, to stick around, to ask questions, and to take an honest look at their lives and what needed to change. His parables required thought and study, as they still do. The Christian life is an active pursuit. Jesus really gave me peace in this. It is okay that achieving health and honoring our bodies takes research, sacrifice, effort, and perhaps a little more work. Our God is not a God of convenience and don’t you think if God cares about every hair on your head, he obviously cares about the health of your body? We have people to reach, and great, MIGHTY things to do for the kingdom-bigger things to take care of (widows, orphans, the poor, to name a few...).

I guess I’m trying to encourage you to live the life worthy of the calling ahead of you. To take responsibility for that, to think of more than instant gratification, and to press on into the fruit that God has for you. It is worth the effort and for me, cooking and health even became a passion-something fun! And as if I already haven’t gotten sappy enough, you are not in this alone. We are in it together, by his grace and through His strength, in community. To end, here is a recipe of brilliance to tickle your tastebuds:

Sweet Potato and Lentil Chili

Ingredients: (makes 8 servings)
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 red pepper
  • 4 cups chicken broth (preferably home-made)
  • 1.5 cups green lentils (soaked overnight with 3 tbsp. lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar)
  • 28 oz crushed or diced tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • salt to taste
Directions:
In a large pot, heat 2 tbsp of coconut oil on medium heat. Add the onion, sweet potatoes, carrots, and red pepper. Sauté for a few minutes. Then add in the spices (chili powder, paprika, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, cayenne). Sauté and stir everything together for about 8-10 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the chicken broth, lentils, and tomatoes. Stir and bring to a boil. Take it down to a simmer and stir occasionally. The chili is done when the lentils are cooked through. This usually takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Feel free to add more liquid or tomatoes to suit the consistency you like. Salt to taste.

Bon Appetite!