"Fear will look us in the face and

tell us as many lies as our insecurity will buy.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

It's okay to stare."

This is fantastic. So many times I am consumed and even paralyzed by fear and insecurity and uncertainty. I love adventure and fun, but sometimes my perfectionist personality and lofty expectations of myself get the best of me...and convince me otherwise. That its not okay to risk. Those fears are unfounded because the Lord has every millisecond of my life planned out. He has me in the palm of His hand. What's there really to be afraid of? This quote is intentional. And I love that.

Blessings

Katie randomly brought me this on Thursday. She's the best. I look at it every day at work now.

Funny thing is, she's MY blessing. I love sisters. I have two fabulous ones. Try to contain your jealousy.

Ladybugs

Here's an update of our little lady bugs.

This picture was from March 21:

And this is the most recent picture! Look at how much they've grown like little flowers in springtime. Same pose, but they both have more chops and wrinkles coming in. LOVE.

From March 26:

And so you can see their beautiful coats! (Am I bragging too much?)

Brooks:

Boone:

Get this! We found out they can come home even earlier. Holllllaa.
I'm just giddy with excitement. April 9. Just under 2 weeks till they'll be cruising down 85? 77? I don't know how to get there...Casey is the driver. But we'll be cruising down some interstate in NC with our little lambs stowed in the back seat!

Cars

Reason #537 that I do not like cars and driving:

People break into them.

Some D-Bag broke into mine. It was right under a blazing bright lamp post too. And it wasn't even dark outside. And it was in the front row of the parking lot next to the gym. They just get bolder and bolder.

Sigh. And dumber. Joke's really on him (except for the fact that he stole my grandma's necklace and insurance didn't cover my completely shattered window) because he got my workout bag. Totally left my purse for me. Thanks, dude. you missed the GPS in my car too. You probably would've wanted that. Good thing I was wearing my Garmin, reading my Nook, wearing my rings, and running in my running shoes or his fare would've been way more valuable.

You made a huge hassle for me, but all you won out with is a scratched digital camera and my fancy pants watch. I hope you also enjoy my brand new VS bra, my cute red shoes, and my lunch box. Insurance should cover my belongings so I'm just bummed about the glass in the crevices of my car (yes, still) and my grandma's necklace . That can never be replaced. Casey and I may go search some pawn shops for that.

Anyways, the picture quality has decreased because I'm not using our nice digital camera. When we get our insurance money, we'll replace that. Crazily enough, everything they stole adds up to about $800. It's surprising how all your belongings add up so quickly. Really bummed. But it's just stuff. It'll all burn in the end anyways, right?!

Summer fare

I know I haven't blogged in forever. Life has been super busy. Between our girls, and jam-packed work schedules, and jobs, and birthdays, and traveling, I feel like I've been running 300 miles an hour. Constantly. That's fast.

So, anyways, last night when we finally settled down after a busy weekend (We didn't even get to clean the house--horrors! I like cleaning every single weekend. A clean house is a happy house.) we made this amazeballs Blackened Salmon with Fresh Tomato Salad. We threw in a cheese biscuit for each of us for good measure. It was all so good, that I HAVE to share the recipe with you. It's super easy too. And if salmon is on sale at your local grocer, even better. Or if you're a good stream fisherman, the best situation. It was not on sale at HT yesterday (booo), but given the hot-to-trot weather lately, fish and fresh veggies just seemed like it fit right in on a warm Sunday night. Summer time food. I gathered lots of new recipes last week that I feel like are appropriate for hot weather. So, yes, I have a menu made for two months out. That's not overkill is it?? The homemade soups are on hold till Fall, and I'm breaking out more of the fresh fish and fresh veggie and fresh fruit recipes.

Here you go. Grab a bib first, you may salivate. Just a warning.

Casey made the fish and Kate and I made the tomato salad. Casey is an awesome cook and always super helpful (I make sure I try to tell him all the time how much I appreciate his help). I need to get him an apron that says "Kiss the Cook". Because I can kiss him. Since he's mine.

Blackened Salmon Fillets
1 T ground paprika
1/2 T cayenne pepper
1/2 T onion powder (we used minced onion because we didn't have onion powder)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
2 salmon fillets, skin removed (and bones...shouldn't that go without saying?)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

In a small bowl, mix paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, salt, peppers, thyme, basil, and oregano.
Brush salmon fillets on both sides with 1/2 melted butter. Sprinkle evenly with the spice mixture. Drizzle one side of each fillet with 1/2 remaining butter.
In a large skillet, over high heat, cook salmon, butter side down, until blackened (2-5 minutes). Turn fillets, drizzle with remaining butter, and continue to cook until blackened and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Fresh Tomato Salad
2 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, chopped (I just realized I totes forgot to add this. We even bought it at the store yesterday, and it sat in front of the cutting board in our fruit and veggie basket staring at us. Oh well. Would be a nice touch I'm sure, but was delish without!)
1 cucumber, sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c chopped fresh basil
1/2 c chopped parsley
2 T crushed garlic
salt/pepper to taste
2 T white wine vinegar

In a large bowl, combine tomato, onion, cucumber, pepper, basil, parsley, garlic, and vinegar. Toss and add salt and pepper to taste. Chill and serve.

P.S. Get this! Only 42 calories per serving. Eat up.

I like to keep a stash of cheese biscuits in the freezer for random meals. When I'm feeling ambitious, I'll make a batch and keep the whole thing in the freezer to use as necessary. That makes life easy. And we don't need to eat them all at one meal anyhow.

Here's the whole meal plated up. This is my plate. Casey and Kate ran upstairs before I could even get the camera back out.

(Kate and I split one fillet, that's why it looks all jagged.)

Jonah

One thing I've learned from Jonah and the big fish featured in the Bible (you may have heard of that book?...):

God, where you lead me, I will go. And what you ask of me, I will do.

Off to run in this beautiful weather with Vegetable Lasagna in the crock pot! Yay. Have I blogged that recipe yet? Hmmm. If not, I need to do that ASAP. It's so delish! And super easy. Let's be honest, anything in the crock pot is walk in the park. And its got like 346 servings of veggies in it. Polyphenol, flavenoid, and antioxidant overload!

Happy Friday, ya'll!

Paris

So, we did not go to Paris (boooooooooo), but Katie did!

How fun, right?

Here's what she brought back for me and Casey!

French Chocolate:
They look so fancy, right?!

French Jam:

It is strawberry and passion fruit with rose petals. Wow oh wow. Kate said the man let her taste it in the store, and it's delish. PB&J here I come.

French Wine:

It's gray wine. How cool. Like a rose wine here. But the gray wine is only native to France. The girl that Kate and Ashley stayed with in Paris said it was one of her favs. We are excited to try.

A big thank you to Kate for being the best! We LOVE her.

Casey and I were talking about our pups. Surprised? 

Didn't think so. Anyhow, here's what went down.

Casey: I want to bring you and them with me everywhere and be like "these are my girls and they're the prettiest and coolest."

I don't think you can even have a response to that. So I don't know that I said anything after cause it was just so cute, and my heart may have melted. I think all I squeaked out was "I love you." 

Summer beer (in the winter time). We had these the other night.

Ace is where it's at. No joke. Delish.

The raspberry ale was very subtle and actually not too beer-y. Is that a word? But it was still good.

I'd definitely buy the pear one again. Yum.

When we checked out at the store, the lady told me about this apricot beer. How incredible does that sound? She said it's seasonal and amazing on a hot summer day. Sounds like music to my ears on a hot summer day!

I found it online. It looks like this.

I'm pretty sure we'll be trying this. I feel like we need a hammock in our backyard now. Too much?

Angel Update

Our angels really need no introduction at this point...am I right or am I right?

Brooks' front shot.

 Boone's front shot.

 Boone's profile shot (such a model).

Brooks is ultra squirmy still so all the photos didn't exactly turn out. Haha. Love her little white toes.
Boone's little wrinkles and chops are coming in. And look at that eager little face.
Oh my word. We just want to cuddle them so badly!! They are both growing like weeds right now, which is why Brooks hasn't caught up to Boone. She told us they won't catch up to each other until about 9 months even though they are only 1.5 weeks apart! WOAH!

Anyhow, we love them already. Everything about them. They are so precious. 

I love...

freshly washed sheets and freshly made beds. Why do they always look so much more inviting than just regularly made beds?

We could NOT have been more excited to jump in on Saturday night.

Our very own Velcro Puppies.

We went shopping again! Just a couple things.

For the girls of course.

You know,...a frisbee (cause they will be so active, right?), nail clippers, and a little toy basket. We legit looked at purchasing a skateboard (this is the reason we went shopping...so they can be on Tillman's crew) but they were $40...maybe later on the skateboard. I was all about getting one for our girls. Casey is the more rational one when it comes to the puppies.

We did buy a Bulldog Bible. My family is all, "Don't you already know everything in that book?" Well, yes, basically I do. But, I've never had my own puppies. And Casey has never his own bulldogs either. So it's comforting to have a reference. I'm sailing through the book pretty quickly and have already dog-earred (no pun intended) some very important pages. Are you surprised?

Here's the book:

We also were fishing through a couple other options. But we really liked this one. I mean it has a DVD with it. What more could you want? We will be watching that. Also, how cute is the face on the front of that book?

As I mentioned, we were looking through some other books, and one of them had a list of why a bulldog should not be your first puppy. Of course, we absolutely, without-a-doubt know that we are into bulldogs, but we read the list for kicks. One of the criteria was if you do not want a velcro puppy. Seriously? I love this. Not only the name, but the meaning. Because bulldogs love cuddling and loving you. So they always want to be touching you, near you, or on you. If you are not the type of a person who wants this, then bulldogs are not for you.

We are all about some velcro puppies.

P.S. We finally got Boone's blanket in. How precious.

Some nights...

Some nights are grilled cheese and (canned) soup kinda nights. Saturday was one of those nights.

Casey is an expert grilled cheese maker. Look at that grilled cheese below.

I only get half. He gets a whole. Cause he's a boy.

I'm a self-professed animal lover. All animals, but more specifically dogs. My heart breaks for those without a home and for wondering if I'll be a good mom for our puppies (I was nesting yesterday by the way) and if people are good to their dogs and worrying when I see dogs trouncing around outside with cars around and no leash or owners near by or when I see dogs with matted fur and who look like they need a meal or news stories of puppy mills. I'm fully aware that that was a terrible run on sentence, but that's how it goes in my mind. Total stream of consciousness.  It really all makes my heart hurt. When we picked out our precious girls, I was even worried over choosing Brooks and Boone because I was afraid the other puppies there wouldn't end up with a home or a good home. I wanted them all!

Casey now knows better than to point out stray dogs and now turns the sad puppy commercials and news stories, or I'll go off for at least ten or twenty minutes about how worried I am. And then I'll usually randomly bring it up later.

Wednesday morning he was driving me to work (cause he's so awesome and sweet). He had picked me up Tuesday night from work after my eye episode because it's difficult to see in the sunlight and to focus. Painful to the point where I can't even keep my eyes open. That doesn't exactly bode well for driving. So Wednesday morning, he was driving me to work in the early morning hours when it was still dark. We saw a dog race across the street. Noooooooooo. What in the world?

So, Casey hurriedly says "I bet that dog is just out having a good time. He lives around here. He probably thought, 'I'm staying out late tonight and I'm not going home.'" He made me laugh and made me feel better. Otherwise we surely would have been chasing that dog down.

I love Casey.

Purple!

I spontaneously got a manicure yesterday. Sometimes it just makes a girl feel better.

I was going to get a pretty silvery champagne color, but I tried on this purple, and it just popped. I knew it was it.

Or maybe it's because deep down I like all things purple. Evidence as follows.

I noticed when I got home. Purple nails. Purple Brooks. Purple shorts. There's even purple on my shirt (of course), you just can't see it. This was totally unplanned.

So when I picked out my clothes for today, you guessed it. I'm wearing a scarf with purple in it. To match my nails. And purple underwear. I just can't help it.

On another note, TGIF.

Eggcellent

Is that title cheesy? Yeah, I know it is. But it's still appropriate.

Look what I bought yesterday!

Who's excited for Easter Egg Dying? This girl is.

Tie-Dye no less.

Compassion

This is Shabani Amani Shabani. He has AIDS. He lives in Tanzania (home to Mount Kilimanjaro). His birthday is December 31, 2004.

Casey and I have adopted him through Compassion International.

We wanted to adopt all of the kids. No joke. We absolutely did. Some of them have been waiting nearly a year for sponsorship. This breaks my heart into pieces.

But for now, we'll just start with one. And Shabani just "spoke" to us. What a precious little soul. I want to give him the biggest hug. And make him cookies and lemonade to have after soccer games with his friends.  They told us he likes soccer, playing with cars, and hide-and-seek. How cute!

We think his name sounds a little like Chobani. We like that.One of his chores for his family is to tote water.

When Compassion sent us the info packet on Shabani, they also sent a bookmark with his picture and a list of 31 things to pray for for him--one for each day of the month. I love that. His darling little picture is hanging on our fridge.

1 John 5:14
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...

Did I get that right? You remember that book from when you were little, right? Now I want to go search the internet real quick. I'll be right back...

Okay, I'm here. This book:

Don't actually click to look inside. That was part of the image that I copied.

Anyhow, I feel like that's how my day was today. Unfortunately, it seems like I have these days once a month.

Since March just started, here's to hoping that this is my one time for March.

I have a corneal abrasion AGAIN (Casey didn't know exactly what he was getting into when he vowed "in sickness and in health" huh?). I know the exact symptoms now and can diagnose myself. I'm not even kidding. Extreme sensitivity to light, teary, red, pain (like sandpaper-slash-shards-of-glass-in-your-eye pain), blurred vision, sensitivity to focusing.

It's these terrible Acuvue Oasis contacts. Ever since I was prescribed them last December, I've had this happen every couple months. Thankfully I have some antibiotic drops leftover from last time I'm using. The last two times have been the worst. I'm done with these contacts after this. Eye appointment scheduled. Some trash tossing will happen. I refused to go before since I still have some unopened pairs. Contacts are so expensive. But I guess I'd rather dish on some new contacts than lose my eyeball. Sigh. This is me giving in. I've been wearing contacts since I was 14 and have never had the problems I've had in the last year with these Acuvue Oasis.  Consider this your warning: Do not let them suck you in.

I actually curled up under my desk, with my jacket as a pillow, to close my eyes and just be. Darkness and closed eyes is relief. Driving is killer on my eyes. When it's light out, the sun is brutal. When it's dark out, other cars' headlights coming at me or in my rear view mirror are blinding. I literally cannot keep my eyes open, they automatically start to close because of the pain it causes.

Aside from that, I dripped coffee on my white tank top. Yes, the tiny, little bit peeking out from under my purple sweater. Shout stick, where are you? And I dropped a tomato on my freshly washed and ironed pants. Portable tide pen?

That's not even the worst of it. Lately, (because of our super long days at work) I've been waking up earlier than the birds to come to work to run or bike then shower then I'm already at work sans traffic. So I have to pack my little bag for work. Well, today, today I forgot a bra. One of the most important necessities in a girl's wardrobe if she has any God given extras is a bra. It's funny (not funny-ha-ha, but funny-ironic) because last night I was packing my bag, and I told Casey that I better go iron my pants so I don't forget to add them to my bag. I said it would be the most terrible thing to not have any pants. WRONG. A bra is probably the most terrible thing to forget. Especially since I don't exactly have a set of A's on me. I totally ate my words. What's funnier is that last night when I took it off, I said to myself, "Do not forget to put this in your bag...that's why you're taking it off right now because if you don't, you'll put it right back in your drawer at bedtime." I should've just packed a different one when I was getting all my things ready for work today, but no, I apparently had to have that one. The one that is still sitting in my drawer at home right now.

I've forgotten socks before. A sports bra. Underwear. A camisole to go under a shirt (thankfully, not a completely sheer one). But never a bra. Honestly, I'm kinda surprised, I guess.

I was devastated. I wore my jacket all over until I could go out and buy one. Remember how painful driving is? Yeah, I basically drove to Carolina Mall with my eyes closed.

Who knew Kannapolis would have a Victoria's Secret though? Thank you! I've been meaning to get another from VS anyhow...not exactly in this month's budget.  Oh well, I guess it is now! Thank you for VS-bra-fitting-consultant for helping me find the perfect one months and months ago. I marched right in and said exactly what I want. Style. Size. Color. They had one left. One. Again, thank you, God.

On the bright side, I feel like a million bucks. Except for my eye, of course. There is nothing like a new bra!

Thank you, God, for the last dark nude Dream Angels Demi Lace bra in a 30-something-something-something. Thank you, God, for prompting me to bring my jacket to work today. Thank you, God, for no scheduled meetings today (one of the only days all week). Thank you, God, for Victoria's Secret. Thank you, God, for extra money this month to allow me to purchase this. Thank you, God, for watching over my car as I drove blindly to the mall.

Oh, and thank you, thank you for leftover Cipro Eye Drops that have not expired. Yay.

Thank you, God, for the not so fabulous days, to remind me to be thankful for the good days.

Despite all the troubles today, thank you, God, for being God and for knowing exactly what I can handle.

I Corinthians 10:13 


No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 

Update!

And it's our puppy picture from this week!

It's crazy how much bigger Boone is! We thinks Brooks will grow like a weed this week.

They are so precious. We love them so much already.

Walmart.

One of the reasons Wal-Mart is so fun is because you often leave with at least one item that wasn't on your list.

Casey and I went on Saturday to buy the rest of the items for our puppy first aid kit. It was a successful trip.

Other miscellaneous things we got:

Jumbo size box of oatmeal packets, a super cute shirt, wine, face masks, and new loofahs.

This is the first time we've ever had separate loofahs. It's strange. To go in the shower and see two loofahs. We like sharing things. These are called gumdrop sponges. How fun!

Here are the face masks. We all did one last night. We got five cause we just could not pick while we were in Wal-Mart. Talk about intense life decision. Plus we didn't know which one Kate would be in the mood for. Now there's two extra for Casey and I to do one more!

Cool flavors, huh? I used the pineapple revitalizing one, Kate opted for the stress-relieving deep sea mask, and Casey picked the cucumber peel. I, truthfully, think I could've benefited from all of them. Layer up? Quintuple the effectiveness? Who knows. Yay for fresh faces.

Rum is Fun

These pictures are for Sal Blair, Casey Krasen, and Katie Lambeth.

They'll understand.

Before:

And after:

Hahaha. It's funny, trust me.