The 3 C's

What a busy weekend!

Friday started everything off with a bang. With my sister Kate's wedding coming up in June, there have been lots of things to do. I had offered to make a ring bearer pillow for Kate, much like the one I had made for my own wedding back in July '10. So with less than a month away, I figured I better get to work on it. 

Here is the  pillow I made for my wedding last year...



...and now the pillow for my sister's wedding coming up

I don't know, but I'm thinking I already like hers better than mine. Oh well.

Saturday morning I got up and went for a short run, came home and almost immediately left for Farragut State Park for an overnight camp trip with Berean Bible's highschool and college aged kids. As soon as we got our tents pitched the rain started to come down... and down...and down...

Only Greta (and a very few others) were brave enough to stay out in the rain

The whole day it rained and didn't really give up until we left the next day. Go figure. Fortunately for us, we had reserved a space that had a covered patio area, so we were able to stay dry for most of it.

Sunday, we packed up and left. Came home, showered, took a nap and I left for a bridal shower. Phew, I need a weekend from my weekend!

Graduation Weekend

My brother-in-law’s graduation from the University of Idaho was this weekend and we drove over to celebrate with him. It started out to what might prove a dreary day, with the skies full of clouds and raindrops that threatened to fall.  What was forecasted to be a gloomy, drizzly day turned out to be a bright, warm, slightly windy, afternoon. Our morning started out in the early hours of the day, setting off for Moscow at 7:15am. The drive was a pleasant one, with decent weather and not a lot of traffic on the road. Soon we arrived at the U of I and found our seats to watch commencement. The sun soon became very warm, but we were refreshed with the light, cool breeze around us. The ceremony proved to be long, as is the normal custom for graduations, but we all endured and were soon off to enjoy lunch at Mc D’s. After sitting down in the restaurant and noticing our sunburns, we all started to realize what a mistake it was to assume the weather was going to be cool. Most of us wished we had thought to bring sunscreen. With most of the day still in front of us, we started our trip back home and enjoyed the rest of the day at the Przybylski house.



Drew and I before the sunburns



Ouch, That Hurt!

This last week in Bible study, we discussed the sin of pride and how it affects so much of our daily life.  In one portion of the study, we were asked to rate on a scale of 1% to 100% how many of our everyday troubles have to do with the issue of pride. Wow! That was a hard thing to think about. I never really understood or realized how many of my problems have to do with pride, I mean I know I have sin problems, but ouch, that hurt! The two verses from the study that have really been sticking with me are from Isaiah and James:

Isaiah 57:15 "For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

James 4:6 "But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. "

The days following our discussion have left me to really think about my attitudes towards others. Just the day after our discussion, (not even 24 hours later) I got into an argument with one of the new interns at work. It was really a petty thing, not even worth arguing over, but I found myself going to a different source after the fact to prove to myself that I was right. A couple hours later, I was thinking about my attitude and was amazed at how much trouble I went to, just to prove that he was wrong. All I could think was, "wow, how trivial can I get?" After the initial awakening, I have seen other times where I have had to prove myself. Let’s just say I feel like all I’ve been doing the last few days is confessing my sin of pride and asking for God to continue His work in this particular area in my life, but He is so good! He forgives even when I keep committing the same sin time and time again. What a merciful and patient God we serve!

Healthy Snacks for Runners at Runner's World

Useful and interesting article on munchies for runners, thought I would pass it along.

Healthy Snacks for Runners at Runner's World

Chocolate Oatmeal "No Bake" Bars

One of my favorite sweet treats that are so easy to make. A great recipe to make during warmer weather because you don't have to turn on your oven!

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 (1 stick) margarine or butter
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 cups quick oats

Butter 9-inch square pan. In medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cocoa and salt. Stir in milk; add margarine. Heat to a rolling boil; boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until blended. Stir in oats. Pour into pan and spread evenly. Cool and cut into squares.

Bloomsday Weekend 2011

I made it! It seems like Bloomsday weekend just snuck up on me this year. I don't know if it's just because I'm married now and I have a lot more to occupy my time or if it was my lack of training that decided to finally catch up with me. Either way, I was still able to finish Bloomsday in good time and injury free! It actually took me a little longer this year  (3 minutes) compared to last year, but hey I'm just glad I made it. :) Now on to my training for the Coeur d'Alene 1/2 in a few weeks, I can hardly wait! Here is a pic with some fellow runners who also ran the whole way, way to go ladies!

Sing, Sing, Sing...

This past weekend my sister Rachel and I drove to Seattle to meet up with our friend Jen and see Chris Tomlin and speaker Louie Giglio. It was amazing! We had such a fantastic time worshiping with Chris and we were reminded by Louie how God loves to hear us worship. We left feeling refreshed and inspired to worship God in everything we do! The opening band, Rend Collective played some great music. One of the songs, called "You Bled" really spoke to me and made me think about how boundless God's love for us really is. He is so good!

Rend Collective's "You Bled"

Roasted Lemon Herb Chicken

My first experience with roasting a whole chicken and it turned out so well! This recipe is super easy and tastes great, my husband went back for seconds and thirds.

Roasted Lemon Herb Chicken

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1-1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3-4 lb whole chicken
• The juice of 2 lemons (about 2/3 cup)
• 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Combine the seasoning, salt, mustard powder, garlic powder and black pepper; set aside. Rinse the chicken thoroughly, and remove the giblets. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons of the spice mixture inside the chicken. Rub the remaining mixture on the outside of the chicken.
3. Squeeze the juice of the 2 lemons into a small bowl or cup, and mix with the olive oil. Place what is left of  the lemons inside the chicken cavity. Drizzle the oil/juice mixture over the chicken.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until juices run clear, basting several times with the remaining oil mixture.

The Cold That Keeps on Giving

As some of you may know, my husband Drew and I are signed up to run in Bloomsday this year and though our training started just a few short weeks ago, we are definitely making some progress. Due to past knee injuries, Drew hasn't run more than a couple miles for a very long time. So we started out slow. I knew that we had given ourselves plenty of time to build up the miles. What I hadn't counted on was getting massive cramping in my calf in week three. "It's okay", I tried to encourage myself, "I built time into the training for this sort of thing and it will be fine". (If you haven't already noticed, I'm a planner and I don't like getting off schedule!) That was last week and after missing a good two days of running, the painful spasming went away. Saturday morning rolls around and I'm feeling alright. Three miles later I'm feeling great, okay I can do this! Then Saturday afternoon hit me, literally. I started getting a mild sore throat, but didn't think it was that big of a deal. After all, I had just attended a very emotional memorial service and thought it was probably all the crying I did. "It'll go away" I told myself, "it's nothing to worry about". Saturday night comes around and my sore throat is still there, along with some congestion in my head and a runny nose. That night only got worse. I hardly slept, I probably blew my nose 50 times, drank gallons of water, popped some vitamin c and my symptoms would not go away, they didn't even seem to lessen! I didn't go to church on Sunday, which is not something I usually skip unless I have a really good reason. Sunday afternoon seemed to get better and then Monday rolled around. I was feeling better so I went to work (I hate missing work). No sooner than I got to work that I realized that it was a mistake. I stuck it out for a few hours and left early. Came home and went directly to bed, which is where I stayed for the rest of the day and all of the next. I was supposed to run yesterday, didn't. I thought about going today, again I didn't. Tomorrow is a possibility, but we'll see. I've been getting really frustrated that I can seem to stay on schedule with my runs. <Insert disappointed sigh>

What is the point to all my rambling you may ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Like I said before, I'm a big planner. I like things to be organized. I come up with something that I think is a pretty good plan and then I (sometimes) remember God has a better one. Over the last few months I have been doing a Bible study on "Breaking Free". I am finding that I get caught up in what Beth Moore calls "captivity of activity", I'm constantly needing to be busy. I often forget to just be quiet before Him and listen to His Word. I've yet to see what His plan was in all of this, but I have a feeling God is trying to tell me to rest in Him, something I am not very good at doing. I've had several hours over the last few days to "rest" and think about slowing down and saving more time to spend with my Savior, I would encourage you to do the same.

Join Me & Take the Pound for Pound Challenge!

Join the Central YMCA of Spokane and me as we help fight hunger with supporting local food banks.Take the Pound for Pound Challenge pledge and 11 cents per pound lost will be donated to food banks in our communities to help those in need. Even if you are at a healthy weight, you can pledge to maintain that weight and Pound for Pound will still donate for 5lbs. There is no catch, you have nothing to lose...er, except for maybe a few pounds?

https://www.pfpchallenge.com/