Summer Squash Casserole

This recipe is AMAZING. I almost couldn't imagine a combination better than squash, zucchini and cheese. Toss in a little garlic powder and other spices of your own choice, and wa-la! Yumm. I owe it to Pinterest.

2 squash sliced thin
1 zucchini sliced thin
1/4 onion chopped into rings
garlic powder
pinch of salt
as much cheese as you want!

Throw everything but the cheese into a baking dish. With hands, toss it covering the veggies with the seasoning. Top with cheese and bake covered on 375 for 25 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 10 more minutes or until cheese is golden and veggies are done!

Another good day at work, and another good meal.  :)

Week 1 Wrap-Up

This has been such an eventful week! I moved into my first ever apartment. Below are some of the highlights in photo format. :)

My sweet little dining area... 

...complete with fresh flowers from the best boyfriend in the world.

A sample of my first attempt to cook here--homemade jumbalaya!

Mom gave me a hand blender & it didn't take me long to whip out my first cake!! (I also tried making cake in a mug as seen on Pinterest! It worked--just zap regular mix in the microwave for 40 seconds!)

  Perfect snack for 1. 

My first cake turned out well!

I was even able to share it with the Smiths who were extremely kind, letting me spend part of the weekend at their house!

Mom, dad & Cam stopped by for lunch Sunday!

Another highlight was being able to go to church today with a friend, Courtney. My roommate is arriving any minute, and the summer is now officially in full-swing. It has been a good week.

hello, summer

Summer 2013 brings me to a new adventure and what seems to be the next stage of my life -- the working world. This summer, God has blessed me with the opportunity to see first-hand what it would look like to work in the engineering field after I graduate. For the first time, I am working a 40-hour week as an intern for a medical device manufacturing company. I am not sure how God pulled the strings to get me this job. But what I do know is that He orchestrated it perfectly and He made this obvious to me quickly. I was nervous about many things coming in, and let me tell you, He took care of every single one of them. For example, I was worried about being in the minority as a girl. The first day, I was told that the company consists of 80% females. The list goes on.

I have spent time pleading with God that He would show me where He wants me after college. Whether or not He shows me beforehand, I am trusting that He is guiding me there. It is rather foggy. But I am excited because He is definitely placing me in situations where I am being stretched and grown. I am constantly learning more about the gifts God has graciously given me and how I can use them strategically to advance the kingdom.

Currently, I am most excited because He is teaching me that He is ultimate. Ultimately, He is my protector, my father, my constant companion. Although I often look to other people to fill these roles, they are only an imitation. My earthly father can save me from a robber, but he falls far short of the One who made the universe and holds it together. My biological father's protection is only meant to point me to the safe, loving arms of my true Father. A best friend can keep me from being lonely, but can never satisfy the longings of my soul that are only satiated by the presence of God.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time and forevermore."  Psalm 121

I have one request. Please pray for me--that my light might shine among my coworkers this summer so that they might one day know and worship the only one who is worthy.

Valley Life

At the beginning of the summer I was bummed. I wanted to do something big. Something big in the name of Jesus or in the name of my academic ambitions or in the health field, anything. I wanted to be a part of something noteworthy. Something I would be proud to share with the millions who would ask. I wanted to to feel significant. Like I had made an impact.


One by one, my applications for camps got turned down and no internship opportunities arose. Although I felt God's hand in the situation the entire time, I was still distraught. I was facing my worst fear--a regular summer.


Well, it happened. They all asked. And all I had to say was "a little work & a little school," and it was always onto the next topic of conversation.


Out of the monotony, God has allowed me to see some beautiful things. This experience has been so humbling. My unfulfilled longing to feel important has been the biggest blessing. Through the insignificance of my activities, God has taught me something huge about the nature of my role in the Kingdom. Compared to the King of kings, every one of us is insignificant. Yea, you may have invented the iPhone or built the tallest skyscraper. You may have even led thousands to Christ. But have you constructed a breathtaking waterfall or hurled a planet into orbit? When was the last time you shook the earth or calmed the sea with a simple word? How did you choose to save the world from the pits of death? 


He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. (Isaiah 40:22)


The crazy paradox is this: God does not do small things. If His fingerprint is on it, it is HUGE. It is eternal. When you let Him use you to speak truth into the girl next door or stop to help someone with a flat tire, it is not small if it is done in His name.


Anything that you lay at His feet suddenly becomes MASSIVE. 


You never know how much influence you might have on a person. Coming through the telephone from a complete stranger after taking a sandwich order at a sub shop, those 12 simple words are definitely some that I won't ever forget. After a summer of fearing that I am barely serving the Lord, that sentence hit my ears like water bursting through a dam.


Every word, tone, inflection. Every action, movement, breath. Every bad day, mood swing, attitude. You have a choice to make. Claim each moment for yourself. Or give it back to the One who gave it to you in the beginning.


The past three months have been amazing. In the most incredibly mundane way. I am so thankful for this summer. Oswald Chambers wrote a lot about "life in the valley." I will wrap up this post with his incite into the daily Christian life. 


"It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time."