The day I met Ree.

Today was packed with firsts for me. Juli and I started our adventure to meet The Pioneer Woman at 7:30 AM. On my wait to meet Juli I experienced seeing the huge, beautiful, bright moon on one horizon and the sun bursting up above the other horizon, It was beautiful!



We drove to Columbus and headed straight to the Barnes and Noble to get our tickets. After we had tickets in hand we had time to kill. The Pioneer Woman wasn't scheduled to be there until 2 PM. So Juli and I headed out to make some essential Columbus stops.

Once our stops were made we headed to The North Market. I had never been there. WOW, what an experience. The market was very busy today. It was very hard to move around and see all that the vendors had to offer. While we were there we had some lunch. I had never had Sushi or Indian food so Juli talked me into trying it. I don't try a lot of new things so this really was a big deal. She ordered a California Roll which consists of crab, avocado, cucumber, rice, and nori. Juli also ordered a Dragon Roll. I am not sure what all is in it but I do know it has fresh water Eel in it.


The Sushi wasn't bad. I thought that it would be horrible and that I would hate it but I didn't.
We also got some Indian food but I cannot even begin to tell you what I got to eat. Here's a pic:

It wasn't bad but not my favorite.

While at The North Market we had to partake in dessert. I've never had Jeni's Ice Cream so it was a must. I tried several different kinds but settled on the Poached Pear Riesling. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! That is the best sorbet I have ever had. Juli said my face was priceless when I tried it. It was simply amazing. I often watch the show "Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Food Network. As I watch I often think there is nothing that I would be bragging about on this show. Well that changed today! I cannot describe to you how simply amazing this sorbet was. I can't stop thinking about it. It was soooooo AMAZING!

So while eating the amazing sorbet we headed back to the Barnes and Noble to meet The Pioneer Woman. When we go there it was so crazy. There were like 500-600 people in the store. When she walked it it was just an awesome moment. She is so beautiful! Her smile just glimmers. Luckily Juli and I had gotten there early to get a ticket. We only had to wait an hour in line. We were able to talk with her for a moment while she was signing our books. It was a precious moment. Here are some pics from Barnes and Noble:




What a splendid day it was.

Why do I work with Youth?

This question has be in the back of my head for a while. I think that I have come up with an answer.

I work with youth because I love teenagers. They are amazing individuals and they have so much to offer.

I want to encourage them.
I want to praise them.
I want to cheer them on.
I want to help to open their eyes and their hearts.
I want to listen when they need to talk.
I want to hug them.
I want to give them a shoulder to cry on.
I want to show them Christ.
I want to help them to discover their passions.

More than anything though,
I want to help them grow closer to Jesus.
I want to help them see and experience,
His Love
His Forgiveness
His Mercy
His Peace
His Grace
His Power

I want to introduce them to things that I was never introduced to when I was a teenager.
Prayer Paths
Imaginative Prayer
Community
and other things.

I want to be able to love them like Jesus does. I want the girls to realize they are beautiful. I hope that through my interactions with them I can help them to see how important they are. I love "my kids"!

I know that the other night when I was speaking all this in the car on my way home it didn't come out the same as it did now. I am sure as I grow and change and as they grow and change this may change a bit and that's ok.

Unknown Facts about me-6&7

WOW, It's Friday! I guess that means I have two unknown facts about me to reveal. I think I will go for a fun fact and a serious fact. So here we go!

When I was in college I worked at Cedar Point. I was the person that took your picture when you walked in the gate. It was a lot of fun. It was fun to meet the people as they were coming to the park for the day. I won many awards during that summer for things like most rolls of film taken and most purchase of pics you took.

so more serious, maybe not so much but related to the first.

Years later Eli and I were going through things and found some of the view finders that I had kept. If we had some funny pics we were allowed to keep them if they didn't get bought that day. So we were looking at them and Eli was in one of the view finders. No, I didn't know him when I worked there. He was still in High school. It was a funny discovery that I had taken his picture and kept it and then years later we were married.

MMMM, COOKIES!

Double White Chocolate and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies…with Sea Salt
1 stick softened butter, 8 tablespoons
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips, to melt
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter (reserve 2 tablespoons to add to melting white chips)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup broken pretzel pieces
1 Cup additional white chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Melt white chocolate chips and 2 Tablespoons peanut butter over a double boiler until melted. Add melted chocolate chips and remaining peanut butter to beaten butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Place flour, baking soda and salt in bowl; mix to combine. Add to wet ingredients until just combined then pour in pretzels and additional white chocolate chips. With a cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. With the palms of your hand, gently press down each cookie to about 1/2 inch in thickness. Sprinkle each cookie with a touch of sea salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges become golden and slightly crisp. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet before removing.

Unknown Facts about me-5

The song Cirlce by Edie Berkel plays in my head at least once a week.



"I quit, I give up, nothing's good enough for anybody else,
It seems
And being alone is the best way to be
When I'm by myself it's the best way to be
When I'm all alone it's the best way to be
When I'm by myself, nobody else can say goodbye
Everything is temporary anyway"

Unknown Facts about me-4

Wow, I've gotten to Tuesday before posting this.

So here is a good one.

I am really good at hiding.

This is something that I learned very recently. I really didn't see it when someone pointed it out and I was kind of offended when they did. But then I stepped back and thought about it. It's true. Sometimes hiding isn't a bad thing. I like to hid sometimes. I like to sit back and watch and listen.