sweet potato oat drop cookies

ladies and gentlemen, today i present you with the product of a new favorite pastime.  dun duh duh duh!!!

the recipe for these sweet potato oat drops is actually a spinoff of this recipe that i found on pinterest.  i love the original recipe because they do not have sugar, butter, eggs, milk or flour but they have lots of protein and are really filling.  plus, they taste awesome.  i've already made them twice with dried cherries and they get gobbled up quick!

my recipe is a little different than the original and it does cheat by using 1 egg for binding purposes but they are still super healthy.  my aunt did some research about a condition that we both have and found out that sweet potatoes are good to eat to help the condition.  well that got me thinking that maybe i could change the recipe a little and make it with sweet potatoes instead of bananas as the "wet" part of the recipe.  sometimes i just have the best ideas.

the recipe calls for almond meal, which almost stopped me from making these at first because i had no idea where to get it.  then i discovered that it's very easy to make almond meal if you own a blender or a food processor.  just measure out a little more than the required amount of almonds and pulse them in the appliance of choice until the almonds are a grainy consistency.  don't let them run for too long though cause otherwise you'll end up with almond butter, and that's not what you want!

these cookies are soft, just sweet enough, and have a nice texture.  they can be refrigerated and either reheated or eaten cold (my favorite) as a quick, filling breakfast or snack.  enjoy!

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 medium sweet potato
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons honey

preheat oven to 350 F.  line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.

start by cutting the ends off the sweet potato.  cook the potato by wrapping in a wet paper towel and nuking it in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes, depending on how big it is.  let it cool before peeling and mashing to a smooth consistency.

in a large bowl combine rolled oats, coconut flakes, almond meal, and pecans.  stir in cinnamon and raisins.

in another bowl combine mashed sweet potato, egg, oil, vanilla, and honey.  pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

take a large cookie cutter (i used a canning ring) and use an ice cream scoop with a lever to press batter into the cookie cutter on the cookie sheet.  these cookies do not spread so you can fit them close together on the sheet.  bake for 20 minutes or until cookies are firm and golden brown.

DIY bleach art

so i know that i haven't posted anything in many, many moons and i don't really have a good excuse for it except that i didn't have anything too interesting to say.  i also know that i never post DIY or "hey, look what i made!" style posts but this is an exception, so i hope you won't mind :)

pretty much anyone who knows me (or reads my blog posts) knows that i am a complete night owl.  it's definitely when i do my best thinking and working and planning and all that.  as it happens, it is 3:03AM while i'm typing this sentence so i'm staying true to form.  all that to say that i completed a couple of projects very late this evening and i couldn't wait to share the results!  ready?!?!

tada!  i completely reinvigorated an old pair of shorts with the help of a little bleach gel, a stencil or two, and a lot of patience.  i got the idea from a t-shirt that i made at a jungle-themed vacation bible school when i was little.  it involved using a bleach pen to create animal designs on a colored shirt.  i wish i had a picture of it, but as far as i know there are none to be found.

anyway, i always loved that shirt and wanted to try it again...so i did and i'm pretty pleased with the result.  be forewarned that it did take me a few hours to complete this project, partly because it's just time consuming, and partly because my back was killing me from leaning over the project so i took a few breaks.  i think the time it took was totally worth it though! 

i started my project at Michael's, where many good projects start.  i bought some cheap angled paint brushes and a cute rose stencil.  i already had the shorts, paper plate, and bleach pen at home.

i decided to go with the paintbrush technique instead of just squirting the gel straight from the pen so i could have more control of the product.  i found that working with the gel in "batches" worked better than squirting it all out on the plate at the same time.  i would dole out a quarter sized blob onto the plate and let it sit there for about 10 minutes before using it so that it could firm up a bit, cause other wise it was too watery and would spread on the fabric.

i thought it would be good to have a good template of what i wanted the design to look like since i was only using bits and pieces of the stencil (which i eventually cut up).  it's not too fancy but it gave me a good starting point.

after that it was just a lot of stencil work.  i made sure to stay within the boundaries of the stencil and to wipe the stencil after each use so that i wouldn't transfer bleach to any unwanted places.  in this picture the more pinky design on the left is "fresh" and still wet.  the gel dries to a chalky white color, which you can see on the right.

these are the shorts right before i rinsed the dried gel off with cold water to deactivate the bleach.

after i rinsed the shorts i put them on a short cycle by themselves in the washer with a smidge of detergent and then dried them for about 15-20 minutes.

here's a close-up shot of one of the better designs.

i even did some detail work on the back pockets!  it's really easy to go overboard though, so be careful!

anyway, that's my amateur DIY for ya!  comment if you have any questions!  sometimes it's hard to know what makes sense to others.  enjoy and have fun :)

natural hearts

i'm about to get on a soapbox, so if you don't want to read a rant feel free to follow this link to a video of 4 incredibly cute puppies the WCNC team encountered on the Cherokee, NC indian reservation.  you should watch the video anyway though, even if you don't mind reading my rant.  go ahead and watch it now.  i'll wait.

oh good.  you're back!  so here is my main point of interest for this post: intensely devoted followers of belief systems contrary to that which the Lord calls us to should not be comended for their ability to be so devoted; it's not hard to follow the devil away from the Lord.

this consolidated idea came from a conversation between me and two very good friends, holley and kelsey.  we were watching the tlc show "Sister Wives" and every now and then we would pause the show and talk about how ridiculous we thought the whole thing was.  this lead to us discussing something that is a point of conviction in my life, and probably also in the lives of other christians.  that is simply that we often see people of other religions (i.e. muslims, mormons, buddhists, etc.) so devoted to their faiths.  they consistently pray, fight for what they believe, act on precedents, and make huge sacrifices.  i honestly can't say that i've ever abided by that kind of devotion and dedication, and it's easy to envy their "faith".  why can't i put forth that kind of effort?  why can't i be that devoted?  why can't i make the same sacrifices?

then i was reminded of a verse that brings a lot of this confusion i was feeling into the light.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"  that, right there, is a huge part of why a person's faith in Jesus Christ is so valuable.  the natural tendency of a human heart is to be cold, wicked, deceitful, self-seeking, merciless, corrupt, bent toward sin and a number of other characteristics that are in direct opposition to the life and character that Christ followers are called to have.  just think of a small child.  you don't have to teach a 3 year old to lie or a 2 year old to pitch a fit when they don't get what they want.  you don't have to teach a 6 year old to act impulsively.  they are merely acting on their human nature and must be taught to do the opposite.

it is work to follow Christ.  it requires denying what comes naturally and choosing a different path.  it requires answering the call of the Holy Spirit and allowing it to completely take over.  it requires letting that which is unseen control what we so desperately want to be in control of.  if faith in the Lord was easy and natural, there wouldn't be a need for Christ.  man would not have fallen.  our response to and our relationship with God would be perfect and universal among all people.

if we can believe what the Bible says is true (which i whole-heartedly do), then we know that there is a devil who comes to steal, kill, and destroy us (John 10:10).  his goal is to lead us from the Lord and into a life of pain, ill-will, and sin.  he knows our weaknesses and manipulates them to suit his agenda, and for some, that manipulation comes in the form of the temptation to follow a religion or faith that is in the opposite direction of Christ.

here's where i bring it all together, so stay with me!  if it is natural for us to give into temptation and that temptation is to follow a path away from the Lord, then intense devotion to that path is not extraordinary and has no value.  but, if by the work of the Holy Spirit we feel and answer the call to follow Christ, we can have assurance that our faith is so much more worthy of comendation and holds great, great value, and that value remains despite the sin and struggles we deal with, including hypocrisy.

my question to you now is, will you choose human nature, or will you choose God's nature?  will your faith be utterly unextraordinary, or will it have great value?  will you be intensely devoted to not following Christ, or will you answer the call and return to your heavenly father?  let me know what you think.  i'd love to hear your opinion!

altar call

my job this summer has taught me many things.  things like the importance of alphabetical order, how much sleep deprevation sucks, and how to back a trailer around a corner.  these things all pale in comparison to what i learned in regard to the altar, and it only took me all summer to learn it!  wooohooo!

being a "church kid" i grew up having a familiarity with altars.  the idea of altars is widespread throughout the bible.  it's a place to lay burdens down, offer sacrifices, sing praises and, most importantly, commune with our God.  there's one in virtually every church i've ever attended, but i can't say that i really ever took advantage of their power.

one of my jobs this summer was to be a part of making the "concert of prayer" happen at our projects.  i read from a script over a microphone at the back of the worship center.  at one point during this time i stepped out and stood in front of our screen and facilitated spoken prayer for the nations.  at almost every project i was just the guider of prayer, but i didn't partake in it too often.  now, don't get me wrong.  i had my time with the Lord, but during this concert of prayer, this sweet time of intimacy with the Spirit, i was very uninvolved.  i was more focused on completing my task rather than spending time with my God.

something at our last project was different though.  usually that time in front of the screen is the last thing that happens before everyone is dismissed, and that is the time that i leave also, but this time i stayed at the altar, and WHOA!  it was powerful.  i was so able to lay everything down at that time.  it was sweet and pure and wonderful.  i never would have thought i would feel such a tug on my heart.  there's a reason why altars are mentioned so many times in the bible.  the Spirit definitely resides there.

my encouragement to you is to take a gander at the altar available to you.  step out of the pew and step up to the altar and call on the Lord.  awesome things happen there.

genesis 25:26 - isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

nuts

my job is nuts.  i wake up before 6 and i'm usually not in bed until 12:30 or later, i live out of 2 suitcases, i take showers in school locker rooms, i eat cafeteria food almost every day, and i spend more time printing out documents than i do getting ready in the morning.  but honestly, i wouldn't want to be spending my summer any other way.  i have been blessed with such an amazing job and ministry opportunity with some of the coolest people on the planet.  it only takes hearing stories about 1 person's salvation out on a work site or seeing the joy on a homeowner's face when a project is complete to make all the work i do completely worth while.

that's all i have to say...

except for this, "As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work." - John 9:4

oasis

i love writing.  blogs, short stories, poems, comments on facebook; you name it, i'll write it.  i almost always have some piece that i'm working on.  the following is a...well, i don't really know what you would call it, but it's just a reflection of some feelings i was meditating on in april. 

i think the idea was prompted by the fact that i had been on a water binge and had been drinking buckets and buckets of water everyday, but i still felt so thirsty all the time.  i had also been really dry (ironic, no?) in my relationship with God during that time and i desperately needed an oasis, both for my physical body and for my spirit.  the Lord in his mercy showed himself to me in a way that slapped me in the face!  duh!  the LORD is my oasis, forever and always.  God is so cool in the way that he uses the seemingly insignificant events in my life to reveal more of his character to me.  i love that!  so, without furthur ado...oasis:

where is my oasis?  certainly not in water.  there is darkness even in the shallowest of waters.  depth only increases the darkness that begins directly below the surface.  sometimes it feels safer to just keep my distance.  but sometimes i get thirsty.  like really, really thirsty.  so thirsty that i forget about the danger.  i drink and i drink and i drink but i can never quench the horrible thirst.  endless glasses of water meet my lips to no avail.  in a sea of dryness water is supposed to be a cool oasis, but it isn't always for me.  instead of quenching my thirst and providing sanctuary, it becomes the ocean i drown in; an unforgiving prison, devoid of air and comfort.  this elixir of life can make life hell.  one wrong move and i could easily be sputtering and struggling for breath.  it baffles me to think that the substance that keeps me living and breathing could also just as easily take away that life and breath.

so where is my oasis?  certainly not in air.  the air is fickle as a child.  ever changing, ever moving, never sitting still.  it's relentless blowing whips the world at its whim.  there can be no peace when air is around.  there can be no relief.  even my deepest of breaths cannot provide strength.  the wind carries with it the secrets of each town it blows through, each lonely cry, each shameful event.  there is no escape from the air.

so where is my oasis?  certainly not in people.  people let you down.  people are imperfect. people ruin beautiful things.  it is at the hands of many people that nations crumble and innocent are left for dead.  the meek are trampled by the prideful, the gentle are overpowered by the rough.  i will most definitely not find my oasis in people.

so where is my oasis?  certainly, in my Lord.  his people are made perfect in his image and their deepest stains are washed as white as snow.  his breath of life fills my lungs.  his fountain provides sustaining water, water that will becomes in me a spring welling up to eternal life.  he fills me so that i overflow.  the Lord is certainly my oasis.

sloppy wet kisses

play this song as you're reading!

i think it's probably pretty safe to assume that when most people imagine a perfect kiss it isn't sloppy and wet.  it doesn't leave them wiping the residual slobber and germs from their mouths.  it's probably a little more neat; more respectful and thoughtful.  the perfect kiss leaves you loving the kisser even more than before.


well what about a kiss from a baby?  those kisses certainly aren't neat and clean.  they are uncontrolled, sloppy, and usually pretty wet.  the baby who has just learned to kiss isn't concerned with form or technique, but that kiss, the only way they know to express love, is still so beautiful and perfect.


our lives are nowhere close to neat and tidy.  i know that my live is a testament to that.  we stumble and fall over our own shortcomings and we let ourselves be led down the wrong path.  but you wanna know what's great about that?  God loves us anyway.  he chooses to meet us where we are in our lives.  his heavenly kingdom meets our world with such reckeless abandon.  he so greatly desires to be intimately involved in the lives of his children.  how awesome is that?!


so why do we care so much about keeping up these appearances?!  so often i see others, and most often myself, faking my faith, and not only so others will think i'm great, but so God will think i'm great too.  that's about the stupidest thing i could do.  who the corn do i think i am?!  he knows every inch of my being.  he sees my greatest faults.  he knows the darkest parts of my heart.  how could i fake who i am to him?

 
this blog is a culmination of thoughts that i've been meditating on for a while that came together perfectly when i heard this song in church this morning.  i've know and loved this song for quite some time, but i felt a definite pull of the spirit today that prompted all this.  i also know that the original lyrics for this song in the bridge do not say "when heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss" they actually say "sloppy wet kiss".  i'm not so much interested in the reasons behind why the lyrics were changed, although if you are you can read this blog post by the songwriter.  i'm more interested in how beautiful and pure that thought is.  how great is it that despite how aweful and sinful our world is, heaven and earth can still meet in a wonderful, albeit sloppy, way that brings us redemption.  i'd take a million heartfelt, pure, genuine sloppy wet kisses over one "perfect" kiss any day!  bring em on!