Link updates!

These links below have been sparking my interest lately . . . .

This definitely made me think about how much I have been given.

I absolutely LOVED all of these ideas!!  Next year I really want to do the vase with the branches :)

The letters in that frame were adorable.  If we had more room in our small apt I would totally do something like that!

I really wish Daniel liked mushrooms.  These sound sooooo good.

This sermon got me thinking last week.

Happy Monday!!!  Christmas is almost here!

Kitchen Table Counseling

I always get very drained from textbooks.  I truly believed in college that if I was reading about something (other than business) that I really enjoyed I would be able to stay more focused and not end up asleep after 3 pages.  But, now that I'm in seminary, I realized nothing has changed.  For some reason that academic writing that uses big words, long sentences, and philosophical ideas is VERY difficult for me to process. I wish that I could pick up any D.A. Carson book and plow through it like I did Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist but unfortunately I can't.  This was really difficult for me to swallow when I got to seminary.  I had lots of friends at Miami who were wonderful at debating Calvinism and Arminianism, and asked very deep questions about the existence of God, the problem of evil, and evolution, and I desperately wanted that.  It was more prideful than anything- not to know God deeper, but for people to view me as that smart-intellectual type.  Let's just say the Lord did a great work in my heart during my Apologetics class in the summer of '09 and I have come to realize that I was not created to be the next female Alvin Plantinga.  I've realized that I'm not as academic/ insightful as I desperately wanted to be, but that I'm gifted in other areas. 

Anyway, this is leading to my discussion of the recent book that I finished, Kitchen Table Counseling.  I have to admit, most of my counseling books aren't super philosophical, but they're still academic textbooks.  What I love about this book is that it is practical, useful, and tells lots of stories about Muriel and Shelly's experiences meeting with women going through various things in their life.  They break down what it looks like to counsel women, even if you're not a counselor.  We are going to have friends that approach us everyday needing guidance and I want to be prepared to give them Biblical, truth filled advice, which I know is life changing.  The authors give useful advice for how to talk with women going through depression, grief, thoughts of divorce, singleness, and worth.  It's neat how God places books in your life at the right time- my brother, Jon, bought me this book in college and I never picked it up until a couple weeks ago, but it was something I really needed right now in my life.  I have a pretty big book list for Christmas (even though I know I won't get all of them) but Christmas break is when we do a lot of traveling and I have plenty of time to catch up on reading books that I really want to read even though I can't during classes.  I'll keep you updated about the next one :)

Blogs

Things I've been reading lately . . .

I love this blog - it is one that I visit every day, and they have such great advice.  In the midst of the crazy holiday season coming up, I found this piece of advice very helpf ul :)

Kevin DeYoung is pretty great.  Here he explains some great advice given by Ed Welch about counseling.

And who doesn't struggle with people pleasing to some extent?!  Of course some of us struggle with it more than others . . . but I LOVE Lina's explanation of our culture and people pleasing in her blog post.

On a cooking note . . . I made this recipe and absolutely loved it!  But, note that if you are making it for only you and one other person... you may be eating it for a while (I made it Sunday and we have had it every night this week for dinner . . . and probably don't plan on stopping for a couple more days.  I have such a great husband that is so thankful with anything... let alone chili for 7 days in a row lol)  At least we like it!

Annnnd on a girly note . . . I have always wanted to be daring and do something like this but never have . . . maybe I'll be risky some time and try to pull it off :)

Happy Wednesday!

Summer Reading

Today I officially used the last of my PTO hours and took off half the day. Dan doesn't know where this all comes from, but I'm very thankful for it :) So, I decided to camp out at Panera (surprise surprise) and first, redo the blog (I saw SO many other great blogs I figured I would do some searching to see what new "gadgets" are out there!) and then continue reading the book I just recently started! Since we're going to Florida next week, I wanted a book that I could work on while I'm there, so hopefully I can give you a better "review" of it in a couple weeks, seeing as I'm on page 27. But, the book I started is called Seeing With new Eyes by David Powlison. It actually was recommended in one of our counseling classes back in the Spring, but we never got around to reading it because of the 5 other books we were assigned to read. This is going to be the first of a couple books that Powlison hopes to write helping us to see what God sees, hear what He hears, and do what He does. I hope this will help me become more thoughtful in understanding and caring for the people I am and will minister to in the future. (whether it be in counseling, ministry, family, etc!) And, on another note, I finished Hebrews and am onto Proverbs :) I hope to gain LOTS of wisdom this summer! Stay tuned. And lastly, I promise, Dan and I are house sitting for some cats this week . . . and I actually think Dan likes the cats :) It's cute.

Seminary

It is seriously SUCH a blessing to be able to take classes at Trinity. Dan and I just finished our counseling class for the summer (well... we still have two papers and a final to take.. but the class portion is over!) and after sitting in class from 8:30am to 2:15pm and attempting to get in some time to work so we didn't run through our PTO, is it weird that I was actually SAD that class was over?! We probably had to read through close to 2,000 pages and although it was a lot, I loved every bit of it. God has me (and Dan) at a place where He is showing us what it looks like to love people well, and how the church is called to love and care for the body well. Christians have just as many issues as the next person, and grasping the gospel is not an easy concept to take a hold of. We have a spiritual formation project due Wednesday... I'm sure I'll have more to say on this :)

Also, probably the fact that we only had 10 people in our class helped. I was thinking as I was walking on campus Friday how neat it is to be at Trinity where it draws people from all over the world who are living out the call God has on their lives. One guy is here only for a year to finish his degree from Brazil. Another works at a church in downtown Chicago and is running an ULTRA marathon.. 56 miles.. in South Africa with World Vision. Actually.. he's running it right as I'm typing this! Another guy was a pastor in Indiana.. another a french pastry chef in Rockford. I feel so privelaged to be at a place where we are all at this unique place in this short life where God is preparing to send us out. And, we had our last jr high last night for the year :( Aloha night always comes with mixed emotions... relieved to have Sunday afternoons back, but sad to not see the leaders and kids every week! I will post pictures later this week! On a lighter note.. I had to post this video... there is another one, too if you want to watch it... I just love the ending. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM&feature=related

Trinity

So Dan and I moved up to Chicago after we graduated and got married because of his job with Kraft Foods. Although we requested Georgia (where Dan did his internship the summer before his senior year) mainly because of the warm weather and Andy Stanley's church, we ended up in Chicago. (which we're definitely thankful for now- even though at the time we weren't thrilled!) Once we got up here, I started the wonderful job search, and heard about Trinity International University through Mark Brown, our campus director for Crusade, because he was working on his Masters of Divinity here. After awkwardly applying to the college instead of the Undergraduate Admissions job posting, I got the job and started working! I honestly can't imagine having a better first job!

One of the perks of working for a University is that you can take classes for free- and we had NO idea we could do that! It was really great when we found that out, because before Dan took the job with Kraft, we made an important decision to hold off on going into ministry of any sort (whether at a church or raising support for an organization like Crusade) because we had a good chunk of undergraduate debt left to pay off (even though we both felt a calling into full time ministry). So, for the past year and a half Dan and I have been verrrrry slowly working through the seminary here at Trinity. We have both learned a ton and I am sure we will talk about that later on, but currently we are both in a counseling class. Although Dan was skeptical at first because he found out that people potentially cry during our practice counseling sessions, I have really enjoyed the class and am pretty sure I am going to change my Masters from Christian Studies to Counseling Ministries. Not only did this class show me the importance of counseling as a profession and the practicality of counseling skills in every day life, but the book "Peacemaking Women" by Tara Klena and Judy Dabler showed me the importance of Biblical thinking and how to embrace the principles in the Gospel every day. Now, my Monday night study is going through a video series led by Tara and I am super excited to learn more from her! I'll keep you updated on what I'm learning through that series and the book :)