Did I put the grammatically correct amount of hyphens in this post title? I have no idea. What I do know, however, is that stuffing dates with goat cheese and wrapping them in bacon is an excellent idea.
When my dad asked me to bring an appetizer for his birthday celebrations last weekend, I decided to flip through Bread and Wine to find a recipe. I’m not one of those people who thinks that everything under the sun is enhanced by bacon, but this recipe caught my eye because I am a sucker for anything even remotely sweet and salty. Plus, the fact that it called for only 3 ingredients was nothing to argue about.
These were a little more time-consuming than I anticipated, but on the whole, it was a relatively simple and delicious appetizer recipe. I definitely want to make these for a Christmas or New Years party- they just have that feel to them!
Happy Monday! Josh and I had a fun weekend visiting Lake Norman to celebrate my dad’s birthday. I made a deeeelicious appetizer recipe that I want to share here later this week, but for now, here are a few things making me happy lately:
1. Fresh figs. I cannot explain to you how much I love fresh figs. It must be an acquired taste or something because a lot of people I know don’t like them, but I think they’re actually one of my favorite fruits (besides cantaloupe- yummm). They are only in season for a short time and they cost approximately ten dollars per fig, but it’s totally worth it. Run don’t walk to your nearest farmers market and snag some!
2. The Shauna Niequist podcast. As if I wasn’t already obsessed enough with this lady, she comes out with a podcast! She just recently featured Jen Hatmaker, who is another one of my favorite authors (see #4). I’m pretty sure I audibly squealed with delight when I saw it pop up in my podcasts app. Yay for listening to wise and hilarious people on my drive to work!
3. “The Sound of Sunshine” Pandora station. A friend had this playing during a 4th of July cookout we went to last week, and since then I have been listening to it nonstop. One of my favorite songs that pops up is “Life is Better With You” by Michael Franti. Fun + upbeat music is my favorite in the summertime!
4. 7 by Jen Hatmaker. This book is messing me up in the best way possible. Jen basically challenges the American church by asking if we are truly living out the gospel or if we have reduced it to a “self-improvement program” for the rich and powerful. Read this excerpt and then waste no more time finding this book at the library/buying it on Amazon:
“Please, don’t miss it because the American Dream seems a reasonable substitute, countering the apparent downside to living simply so others can live at all. Do not be fooled by the luxuries of this world; they cripple our faith. As Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live- we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self-preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love.”
5. So You Think You Can Dance. Disclaimer: I rarely watch TV because it doesn’t hold my interest for very long, but this show is the absolute best. It also reminds me that I am about ten to fifteen years behind on my life goal of becoming a professional dancer (…or at least one who can hold her own in zumba), but it’s still fun to live vicariously through these people. (True story: one year my mom and sister and I went to see the SYTCD tour live and it made all my dancing dreams come true!)
My sweet husband is now 26! Woohoo! That means I am slightly less of a cougar now. I’ll take it.
This weekend was so full of fun + joy that I felt like it was my own birthday weekend. On Friday evening two of our best friends came over to the spend the night. We grilled out and then stayed up late (well, late for me) talking and playing games. In the morning they made us an amazing breakfast- eggs, monkey bread, and iced coffee. I think I could have that for breakfast every day forever. Then we all went on a morning hike at Umstead!
In the afternoon Josh and I went over to his parents’ house (they live about 45 minutes away from us) for dinner and games and such. Also their new dog is the cutest and clearly loves Josh a lot. đ
On Sunday we did our usual church + prayer group in the morning, then relaxed in the afternoon before small group came over. It was super hot and sunny outside so I went and lounged by the pool and started rereading Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. I don’t know why, but I feel compelled to reread this book nearly every summer!
I love to nerd out over summer reading. I think it dates back to my elementary school days- my mom would take us to the library to get a sticker chart thingy to keep track of our reading, and then at the end of the summer we would earn prizes based on how many books we read. Can we bring that back as adults, please?!
If you’re a book lover, then you know that it’s next to impossible to choose a favorite. So, in the spirit of summer reading and indecisiveness, I decided to share a list of my current top 20 favorite books of all time!
1. Life Together – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
2. The Hiding Place – Corrie ten Boom
3. Hacker – Ted Dekker
4. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Love Does – Bob Goff
6. The Kitchen House – Kathleen Grissom
7. Seabiscuit – Laura Hillenbrand
8. Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
9. High Tide in Tucson – Barbara Kingsolver
10. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
11. The Giver – Lois Lowry
12. Ruthless Trust- Brennan Manning
13. Blue Like Jazz – Donald Miller
14. Bittersweet – Shauna Niequist
15. Bread & Wine – Shauna Niequist
16. Cold Tangerines – Shauna Niequist
17. Present Over Perfect – Shauna Niequist
18. Wonder – RJ Palacio
19. The Pact – Jodi Picoult
20. Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells
There are so many more that come to mind (just realized I left out Harry Potter…), but I will leave it at that for now. Tell me something you’re reading this summer!
As summer begins to envelop us in its haze of humidity and dripping popsicles and splashing at the pool, I want the sweetness of the longer days to point me to Christ. Summer is so unique- the heat, the cookouts, the lightheartedness that seems to permeate evenings as people stroll and bike and enjoy the “cooler” weather after a long day of work or play. I love remembering that these small joys are just a tiny glimpse of our future in heaven!
Jesus Christ is the refreshing center of summer. He is pre-eminent in all things (Colossians 1:18), including vacations and picnics and softball and long walks and cookouts. He invites us this summer: âCome to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.â (Matthew 11:28). This is serious summer refreshment.”
Alternate title: That time I had an amazing time at my friend’s wedding but also Ubered to the wrong location, missed the rehearsal, and then regrettably smashed my phone against a railing in a fit of rage, damaging it beyond repair.
Waiting at the train station (with our homemade PB&J! đ )
First things first- my friend’s wedding was incredible. It was at the Highlands Country Club in upstate New York, and the whole thing felt like a fairy tale. It was so so so much fun to catch up with college friends, dance all night, enjoy amazing food + wine, and of course, stand beside my friend as she married the love of her life.
During the Jewish “hora”- so much fun!
I also want to share the not-so-great parts of the weekend, which, to be perfectly clear, had nothing to do with my friend’s wedding and everything to do with myself. I so desperately want my writing to be genuine, and I never want to gloss over the imperfect and messy parts of life or curate some unrealistic view of myself. If I ever begin doing that, husband and best friends: please let me know!
So basically on Friday evening, I completely messed up and had Josh and I Uber out to the wedding venue instead of the restaurant for the rehearsal, and once we got there we realized we were an hour away from where we were supposed to be. We tried using Uber/Lyft again but neither were available in that area, and our first Uber driver was already long gone. A very kind staff member at the country club drove us to a nearby train station, but then we realized trains only came every hour and went to Manhattan, which was still far away from where we needed to be. If we had utilized the trains, it would have been cheaper, but we also would have gotten back way after the rehearsal + dinner had finished.
I was so mad at myself. I had made a dumb mistake and it made me miss my friend’s wedding rehearsal. We also soon discovered that the only way to make it to the restaurant in time (and by “in time” I mean 2 hours late instead of missing it completely) was to take a taxi, which was going to cost us triple digits. Cue the hysterics. As I was throwing a temper tantrum and acting a fool, Josh was calmly calling a taxi service and trying to make sure his wife maintained some semblance of dignity. Unfortunately, before he could talk sense into me I whacked my handbag angrily against a railing, not thinking that my phone was in there and would be smashed into several pieces. Whoops. (The silver lining? It was actually really nice having a phone-free weekend!)
Cocktail hour đ
Once we finally got into the taxi and were headed towards the restaurant, my sweet husband took my hand and looked me in the eye and said, “Megan. What really matters here?”
In that moment I realized how silly my little freak-out was. I had been so mad at my own mistake, worried that it had hurt my friend, and also angry about spending unnecessary money. But guess what? My friend was so gracious about it. The money doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. And, God’s grace is big enough to cover all of my mistakes and sins, even if I am unable to muster up the grace to forgive myself.
 “But he said to me, âMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.â Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christâs power may rest on me.” -2 Corinthians 12:9
My handsome wedding date!
All in all, it was such a lovely weekend and Josh and I both had a blast at the wedding. I feel like God brought something really beautiful out of my own sin and selfishness, and that was a renewed perspective on the enormity of His grace and on what truly matters as we live life here on earth. Despite the fact that I apparently have anger management issues and an often graceless heart, Jesus continues to pursue me in my brokenness, and for that I am thankful.
Summer is officially upon us (!!!), which means I pretty much crave smoothie bowls nonstop. Instead of spending a fortune on tiny acai bowls at coffee shops, I love making them myself at home and then adding whatever toppings I have on hand. Here is the basic “recipe” I use:
-1 cup(ish) frozen fruit
-1 frozen banana
-frozen spinach (maybe 1/2 cup?)
-protein powder if you have it (keeps me fuller longer + adds flavor)
-cinnamon (duh)
-enough milk to mostly cover all the ingredients in the blender
Blend, pour into a bowl, add toppings and enjoy! Easy peasy. đ
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Josh and I are headed to a friend’s wedding up in New York and are super excited to celebrate with them!
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” -1 John 4:18
I have to confess: I forget this truth so often. I can spend hours and even days wallowing in fear- fear of the future and the unknown, fear of failure, fear of the opinions of others- without ever stopping to remember the solution. The solution to my fear isn’t knowing how my future will turn out or having all the answers, but instead resting in Christ’s perfect love.
[Photo Credit]Thinking on the above verse always leads me to Romans 8…
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ “ -Romans 8:15
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39
[Photo Credit]These beautiful truths resonate with my spirit every time I read them, but it doesn’t mean I always fully believe them. When anxiety wells up in me and my mind seems to override what I know in my heart to be true, I want to pray these Scriptures back to God. Do I trust His word, or do I not? Do I trust that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ, or do I not? In those moments of fear that can come so unexpectedly, I want to practice remembering my identity and what it means:
I do not have the spirit of slavery, but the Spirit of adoption as God’s child.
Nothing in all creation can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
I grew up riding horses and have been missing it so much lately! On Saturday I went to a volunteer orientation at this place called Shepherd Youth Ranch in Creedmoor, NC (just outside of Raleigh). They basically use horses as “therapists” of sorts in order to help a variety of kids- those who have been abused and are recovering from trauma, and also those with autism.
I am so into their mission statement:
“Our mission is to provide restoration and hope to those in need, through the unconditional love of Christ and a unique relationship with horses.”Â
It seems like an amazing organization that genuinely seeks to love and serve others, not to mention it would be a great way to get my horse fix. đ Hoping to get involved there soon!
“Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet.” -John Flavel
I heard this quote in church last week and just had to share. So beautiful!
