grace and smelly garlic

odd title, i know, but those are the things on my mind right now. i have been doing some reading for this class i took last week, and i came across this quote..which i thought was noteworthy enough to write about in my paper..and thought-provoking enough to write about here:

Grace provides the daily strength for the Christian’s spiritual journey. The believer begins a relationship with God as one who is accepted, loved, and delighted in. Much as a new mother beams with joy when the infant is first placed in her arms, so God delights in each of us as a proud Father. In the security of unconditional love I am free to grow and develop my life with God. I am not hindered by a need to win approval because it has been freely given. I am not entangled by doubts of my worthiness, for God gives me worth in Christ. If God is for me, who can be against me? It is God who has declared me righteous; who can condemn me?

It's so thought-provoking that i don't even really have much to say about it. it was a good reminder for me (and much needed!), so hopefully it will do the same for someone out there!
now to the garlic...is it not crazy how you can't seem to get rid of that smell? i have made the mistake of cooking with garlic two nights in row now. last night, i put some in my enchiladas...and while i couldn't really smell it on me, i could smell it in ryan's breath as we woke up this morning. and let me just tell you: it's a lovely thing to wake up to! =) tonite, i made homemade hummus with the recipe from a sweet friend (thanks deena!)...and it was so yummy (though not quite as yummy as deena's-i'm going to have to keep practicing)! while making it, though, i had to mash some garlic, which probably wouldn't have been so bad if i had a masher...but i don't. so, i just used my knife (like sometimes they do on tv), which worked-but got garlic juices all over me! and now i cannot escape from them!! i tried the good old "rub a lemon on you" trick, but still have that faint smell stuck on me... =\ oh well!
today i worked my first shift by myself (if i knew how to play some background music, here begins "all by myselelelf) and it wasn't so bad! it was pretty busy, which i really enjoyed! it's super humbling being in a place where you don't have answers for people...in three hours, i probably said, "i'm so sorry, i'm new and i have no idea what the answer to that is..." like a hundred times!! but thankfully people today were gracious and kind!
well, it's back to reading for me...
until next time!

missing home!

we've had a pretty good day today. it's been kind of slow, but we got to enjoy each other's company, which is always nice. ryan had class this morning and i worked for a few hours...then we just kind of chilled at the house. i tried to make granola and failed miserably twice! i used a recipe from the barefoot contesa, and it burned. then i used a recipe from a fellow blogger's site and it just didn't really cook quite right-turned out overly floury, too! :\ i did, however, experience success with dinner tonite. we watched a show called rescue chef yesterday (or saturday) on tv and he made enchiladas with cilantro lime rice..it looked so yummy, so we decided to have it at home:


they turned out pretty yummy, if i do say so myself. =)
like i said earlier, i have really been missing home today, for some reason. we waited to check our mail until a few minutes ago and there was one lonely little letter in there-from two of the sweet little girls from king (that were flower girls in the wedding). the other little girl sent me a letter on saturday...anyway, it was SO precious to read their notes and to know that they haven't forgotten us! precious, precious girls... and i miss them so much! such a joy to be around. it was a sweet little gift from God to get a note tonite from them...

happy day!

happy father's day to my sweet daddy! i couldn't ask for a better one... love you, dad!

new haircut

i got it all chopped off yesterday... i wish i could have taken a picture of all the hair on the floor because there was a WHOLE lot of it-kinda crazy! anyway, here's the new doo:

just living the dream!

my dear little sister made it to denver yesterday, along with my stepdad!!! it was SO nice to get to be around people we really know for a while.. i know it's a little surprising, but we REALLY miss our family! i only wish my sweet mama could have made the trip with them..but alas, she is speaking at a conference this weekend in NC, which is GREAT for her really...we just miss her! we got to meet up with hannah and dale last night for denver (and sadly enough, we forgot our camera!)...we rode the light rail down and walked around a while trying to figure out where to eat. we finally decided on this place called "lime", supposedly an american cantina. the name really sounded great, but it was decent, at best. the meet tasted almost like chinese food (not a good thing, if you ask me) and i'm pretty sure they made the rice last week and just microwaved it for us. yuck! their chips and salsa were redeeming, though!
as ryan and i were driving to school this morning, i was thinking about how crazy it is that we are grad students now. he is working his way well through his first grad school class and i am very close to being finished with mine! i can't believe we actually made it...i told him that when people ask how we are doing, we should start responding, "just living the dream, dude!" of course, i was halfway kidding! it sounds so silly to say, but this really is something we dreamed about doing. we didn't want to settle in to mundane jobs that we didn't enjoy, we wanted to follow our dream-and we actually did! we are attending a top of the line seminary, preparing to embark on a new journey of education. so, as cliche and silly as it sounds, we really are living the dream, man....

quick update on the day

it's been a busy day! ryan and i both had class this morning, then we went out to lunch-i was feeling kind of blue and REALLY wanted mexican food (i don't know what they put in that stuff! ;))! so, we went to lunch, then ran back home and took a brief nap..then i had to head to my first day of work-which i'll get back to, then after work, we went out to dinner with one of my birthday giftcards (red robin-thanks mom!) and then came home and have been working on school stuff for the past 2 hours..and now we are pooped and about to head to bed...
but before we do, i just wanted to let all my readers know that my first day of work went really well (i only was there a few hours, just training and stuff). i have the same sense i did yesterday about it being a little outside easy for me, but i'm really very excited about it! i enjoyed the people i met that i will be working with-they seem very genuine, which is a trait i value!
i have had a really anxious feeling that i've been carrying with me for a while now, just general nervousness about life...i was nervous today about going to work-oddly enough, it was my first time not to be around ryan since we've moved here (a little scary!), anyway, as i was driving along i had this real feeling of peace within me..i know it was straight from the Lord. even as we've been talking in my class this week about the Lord going before us and with us...
well, ryan is ready for bed, so off i go!

yay!

i got the job! my interview went surprisingly well and ended with the guy saying, "well, i never do this, but i think you are a great fit for us, i want to offer you the job!" i was like "okay, great!" it's for a counseling office that offers help for people who have drug or alcohol addictions or domestic violence problems. almost all, if not all, of the people who go there go because the court is making them-so they aren't necessarily stoked about it. i will be working as a receptionist, kind of-greeting clients, making appointments, billing..that sort of thing. but, i will also do breath and urine tests...which is kind of crazy! anyway, i think the job is a little outside of my comfort zone, but it's a GREAT opportunity that i think the Lord has laid before me. ryan and i have dropped off resumes and applied at a handful of different places and have heard not a peep! i even applied for a waitressing job and heard NOTHING (which seems crazy to me...)! i happened upon the posting for this job, sent my resume late sunday evening and received an email back within a few hours... set up an interview yesterday afternoon and went in for it today-and bing-bang-boom! i now have a job!! and one i am really excited about, too. and, even better news, i start training tomorrow! =) now...we are just trying to find the right job for ryan!!
until...