Hitched!!

Unbelievable it seems to me that I have not written in 11 months!! (Ok, maybe not so unbelievable if you look at my blogging history!) .  But the most unbelievable things are all the events that have happened since I last blogged.  I'll give you a quick rewind/fast-forward version of my life in those 11 months... Two months prior to my last post I began dating a wonderful man (my sister's brother-in-law to be precise) who I had admired and silently prayed about for some time (a long time!).  That November he flew down to my family to visit and in January 2015 we were engaged.  Six months simultaneously flew and crawled by until June 6th 2015 rolled around and we were married! (It's horivle of my to fly so quickly over a good love story.  And believe me, this one is a good one.  Details to come later).  Honestly, our wedding day was one of the best days of my life as I celebrated God's kindness and design and said goodbye to friends and family alike. Good byes?  Yes, I had to say many goodbyes as my new husband was taking me to a completely different state and way of life!  This City--born girl with a Country-heart has now been transplanted and is living in the country!
We landed back into our new home at the beginning go of summer which, as I came to discover, is one of THE busiest times in the life of any Country person.  Chickens, gardens, roses, weeds, unpacking, figuring out a budget, learning new geography and places to shop, family events, cooking and housecleaning, digging out old bushes, wedding thank you notes, canning and freezing produce....the list goes on and on.  It was like jumping into a whirl wind.  But is was wonderful and my Husband was (and continues to be) great at helping me transition and giving me the needed space to do so.  Now that fall has arrived, things are slowing down.  The boxes that were set aside for the canning and freezing activities (and summer fun!) are now almost finished being unpacked. A more steady routine is setting in.  As we look to the delights that fall has to bring, we are also trying to decide the wisest use of my time in this season of our marriage.  Work? Volunteering? While we figure all of that out, I thought that it was about time to get back to blogging.  Hopefully, I can stay steady enough so that another 11 months will pass with more that one or two posts in the archive!

While, I normally don't post pictures of myself or family, I felt compelled to post this one as it is one of my absolute favorites from our wedding!  It says so much of the bright blessing and joy of the day!

One Year Later

I almost can’t believe it.

An entire 365 day cycle has turned over from the thyroid surgery on Oct 7^th, 2013.  Two days prior to my surgery I wrote in my journal…

“It’s almost overwhelming how many people are praying for me.  I feel like God is telling me that whatever happens in and as a result of Monday (my surgery day) is a part of God’s pre-determined, good plan for me.  May I have the strength and courage and faith to believe that what the difficult times come!

I’ve given post-surgery updates since my surgery in which I thank God and marvel at how He has brought healing into my life.   Now, a year later, I continue to express thankfulness for the energy and balance resulting from the surgery.  There are moments in which I am almost haunted but the memory of how things used to be…almost staggering beneath the weight of the challenge that was my “normal, everyday.”  But what haunts me more are the lessons that the difficult years and the “unknown” of the surgery pressed into my life.  They are like priceless gems that I keep pulling out to look at, watching them sparkle and never tiring of their stunning beauty.  The two that stand out to me are…..

Nothing about this (thing, unknown, person or circumstance) changes anything about God.Anticipate God’s Grace.

Like soul- tattoos, they are forever inked into my being.  And I pray that will always be the case. 

 I never want to stop being haunted by the memory of God’s faithfulness.

 I never want to forget the two-sided coin of God’s sovereign goodness. 

May I always cultivate a heart that recalls and delights in His great love for me.

 May there be many more 365 days in which I can recount God’s….what shall I call it other than shear WONDERFULNESS! 

I have been anxiously awaiting today…the day in which I could post some of my Christmas gift projects.  I have had so much fun creating and preparing these gifts. 

Mom's Gift 

Mom has always loved a particular verse from a hymn by Ana Leticia Waring—“Content to fill a space, if Thou be glorified.”  Yet somehow this year, this stanza has seemed to bring increasing blessing and encouragement.  I wanted to bring this quote to her in a new way; a way that would continue to bless her. For the last two years I had also wanted to make a wooden sign similar to one I saw on a blog once upon a time.  So the time seemed right to marry these two ideas into a Christmas gift.  I really didn’t know what I was doing but I picked up some scrap wood and stain.  I played with different fonts on the computer, printed them out and was crazy enough to make my own stencils (I had never stenciled before and yes, now I know I was a little crazy to do make my own on my first try.  But looking at the result, I think it was completely worth it!).  After hours of cutting stencils, staining, formatting, painting, sealing and screwing, THIS was born (click to enlarge collage)…..

I must say I LOVE how this piece turned out!  I can’t stop looking at the glowing warmth of the wood and the brightness and comfort of the words.  Mom hung it in the guest room and it adds even greater comfort to the room that already inspires a creative and calm.

This quote-sign gift is what ultimately inspired my woodworking endeavors that I have previously posted about.  Through the sign project I realized that I didn’t even know how to drill a pilot hole or screw in a screw!  That’s when I decided to educate myself a little bit on wood and power tools.  After the picture ledge projects these two sleeve boards for my sisters. (Below). 

The Sister's Gift 

 Whenever I tell people that I made sleeve boards for my sisters they ask “sleeve WHAT?”   I guess people either go wrinkly sleeves or don’t feel the need to iron them.  I copied the sleeve board that my dad made from my mom years ago, expect I thought I would add some personalized flare by painting each of them a unique and playful  color.   I love these too! 

Did anyone else make some of their Christmas gifts?  Please share!

Heart of the Matter Monday: The Right Kind of Concern

Food Fact Fridays: Quiona Granola

One of my favorite blogs is InspriedRD.  She has wonderful recipes and a great perspective on life and faith.  She also has monthly contributors speak on fitness and  ethics in the field of dietetics.  It is worth multiple visits to her blog each month, but I couldn't help also bringing over one of her recipes over here.   It is Quionoa (KEEn-WA) granola .  It certainly is different than your regular oatmeal granola and may not be for all people, but I found myself really liking (ok,so I  thought it was delicious and had a hard time with portion control!). For people who are gluten-free and/or who wish to avoid any kind of oatmeal (even the gluten-free kind) this is worthy of trying.  Keep up your healthy, holiday eating goals with this unique recipe!

Cathryn's Variations:
Soak Quiona and walnuts for 2 hours or overnight.  Drain both before using.  Note that this adds ~ 20 minutes to the cook time.  Why soak the grains and walnuts?  Well, it helps to activate the enzymes that take care of a pesky little anti-nutrient in both nuts,seeds and grains called phytic acid.  Phytic acid binds to the vitamins and minerals in your food, inhibiting your own absorption of them.

Crunchy Quinoa Granola

Recipe type: Breakfast, Snack

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  25 mins

A fun twist on granola. Gluten-free and oat free. Super easy and delicious!

Ingredients

• ¾ cup pre-rinsed quinoa
• 1 cup walnut halves
• ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• ½ tsp. Celtic sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ½ cup unsweetened dried cherries (I used dried blueberries...yum!)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine quinoa, walnut halves, coconut, salt, coconut oil and maple syrup. Spread quinoa mixture into a thin layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Toss with dried cherries and cool. Store in an airtight container.

Gainfully Employed

Today I kind of feel like a little girl who goes to kindergarten for the first time—the little girl who suddenly feels like a like a “big girl.”  You know the feeling right (Or if you are a homeschool-all-the-way girl like me then you only pretend you know the feeling because you never really had a true first-day-of kindgarten-smile)  The girl-child has all the big girl stuff: the shoes, the lunch box, the piggy tails or French braid. Everything that says “big girl.”   Everything, that is, except for the little feeling of “small girl” that is still inside. I guess this feeling can be just called “the new experience feeling.”

Today I feel a sense of the big girl-little girl feeling because today I start my first job as a Registered Dietitian (RD). 

Scary.  Exciting. Crazy.  The rate at which the whole job-finding and hiring process went truly astonished me.  It once again makes me truly thankful for God’s many kindnesses to me. 

A week after my surgery I started putting out applications for clinical RD jobs.  I wasn’t trying to be overly ambitious (although I was feeling pretty good) I just figured that the job search process was going to take a while so why not start sooner than later?  Three weeks later, I submitted my third job application to a long term care agency.  I never really thought of starting my career in that sort of environment since most of the RDs there are “on their own” and I am a new RD who wouldn’t mind some mentoring relationship with my “superiors.”  Somehow, when I saw the job posting I just thought I would go ahead and give it a shot.  My stomach gave a complete lurch when they called me back the same afternoon I had applied, wanting to know if they could schedule an interview for the next week.  One week and three interviews later, I accepted the full time position. 

Scary.  Exciting. Crazy.

So today I begin a new journey.  I will be working for a company that owns five long term care facilities ranging from 20 to 53 miles from my home.    The Senior RD and I will visit a different facility each day, conducting initial and follow-up nutrition assessments for 700 patients in addition to supervising some of the food service operations in each of the kitchens.  (Note: NOT all 700 patients need assessments each week. There are monthly and quarterly assessments as well as special circumstances that call for them). 

Past experience has taught me that nothing in life is easy.  So my expectations for this job run along those same lines.  I am excited and scared and expect some hard days/seasons (whether it be the > 1 hour commute each day, or co-workers, patients etc) but I also bank on Gods Faithfulness.   

In a time when many I know are having some difficulty with finding suitable jobs, I am thankful that God has provided for me.  Health-wise I am feeling great and in many ways feel as though a page…perhaps a new volume, has been started.  Thank you Lord.