New Kitchen Table!

So we found this trestle table across the street at an estate sale for like $120. We talked the brotha' down to $100 and the plan is to put some new fabric across the benches (as you can see they are hideous) and refinish the table. So we'll see what it looks like when we are done (probably gonna be a while)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Slap Yo' Granny Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Carrie made this little diddly the other night and my oh my was it good. Perfect might be a better descriptor. It was a work of art. In fact it was so good that we ate some of it!!!!!!!!!!

What you need:

• 15 ounce can pumpkin puree (we had to use yams and puree them b/c we couldn't find pumpkin anywhere, squash should work fine as well!)
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups of sugar
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 bag of semisweet chocolate chips (About two cups, or more really. The more the merrier!)

How to Concoct:

Heat up the oven to 350 degrees. Mix up the pumpkin (or yams or squash), eggs, canola oil, sugar and water in a bowl until smooth. Now stir in the rest of the ingredients. We used two 9x3 pans to put the dough stuff in. Make sure you grease the pans or the bread will stick to them. You could also use coffee cans and the bread will be in a perfect shape to wrap up and give as a gift!

Bake for 1hr - 1hr 30min checking to make sure the middle of the bread is not still doughy. Let the bread cool before you take them out of the pans (This step is not advisable however. It is much more gratifying/delectable/economical/wwwwaaaaayyyyyy better to try and get them out while they are still warm and the chocolate chips are still gooey. Enjoy!

Why Clarksville is So Awesome

And this my friends is why the city of Clarksville is so great: they sell Minuter doberman pups!!

Veggies on The Roof!

The veggies are lookin' good. We have about 7 tomatoes that are coming right along. The squash and the red bell peppers are in full bloom so we shall soon be feasting.

On the Pteradactyl front, we haven't had anymore sightings. But we are starting to think that some Pteradactyl cordon bleu might not be too bad!

Day 24

Crookneck squash are blooming! OM NOM NOM NOM!

So is dem' bell pepps!

Theory of a Dead Man

I have really learned a lot working in a funeral home, and maybe even more importantly, I have grown in ways I really never thought I would have. Our God is so good, even in the midst of tragedy. Our God is good when we are overjoyed. Our God is good when we have no idea ‘what we are going to do with our lives’. Our God is good when He gives us an overwhelming peace about a major decision we are facing. Our God is good when He seems to be utterly silent, even though we hound Him for answers or direction. Our God is good when we hate our jobs. Our God is good when we love our jobs. Our God is good when we can’t find a job. Our God is good.

Some might think it would be depressing to be around death all the time. And I guess to some it would be. To those whose hope is in the world I’m sure it would be tantalizingly painful to think about death, to which end all the worldly things that were worked so hard to obtain will no longer matter. But to those of us whose hope is in Christ, it is almost sweet to be reminded that one day too our voices shall join with ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of angels around the throne of our everlasting King singing “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (on a side note, if you haven’t read Revelation 5, go do so, and try to picture in your head all that it says, it is humbling). There is, however, a little bitterness to go along with the sweet: I am reminded that my life here on earth is so short. It truly is a vapor in the wind. Honestly, can you even compare the 80 or 90 years we will live on this earth (if we are lucky and eat healthy our whole lives!) to the eternity we will spend afterwards??? I can’t, because I can’t comprehend an eternity. But that goes to show how long it really is, longer than any amount of time I can even conjure up. I am not only reminded that my life is short and that I could be taken from this life literally any moment, but that everything I have ever lived for and worked to accomplish, everything I currently live for and hope to accomplish, everything I will ever live for and will hope to accomplish, if not for the Glory of God, is utterly worthless.

I want you to do something if you are willing. Take just a moment to think about your own death. I know it’s not something we like to think about, but we will all be there one day, some of us very, very soon. Imagine first you on your death bed. If you were there right now, would you be recalling all the times that you heard God tell you to go heal the broken, all the times He beckoned you to fall headlong into His arms and give up everything you have, all the times He asked you to go feed the hungry, clothe the naked, share the good news of the freedom and salvation we have in Christ to the lost, all the times He asked you to let go of your fears, to step out of your comfortable life, all the times He asked you to give, to give of your money and your time, all the times He told you to go serve, all the times He told you that if you will only completely give Him your life, that He will give you life to the fullest extent, and all the times you chose your own comfortable life over His kingdom? Now think of your funeral. What would your service look like? Would it be full of people who are ready to praise an Almighty God because of the lives He had changed through a servant who was willing to forego the pleasures and comforts of this world for the Glory and Honor of his or her God?

Our God is good, and yet, He is frightening at the same time. Describing Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis writes:

"Safe?...Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

I think that’s what scares me the most about God. He isn’t safe. I don’t mean He isn’t safe to trust, because our God will always be with us (Joshua 1:9). But when did Jesus do anything that was safe? He lived such a radical life so very different from that of the world. And it’s just not safe to do so. Not so much that it’s not physically safe to follow God, although Christ certainly obeyed God to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:8), but truly living in abandon for the Glory of God’s kingdom means so much more than just having to give up the rest of our Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights so we can go do the church thing. It means that the bank accounts we find so much comfort and security in will no longer be safe. All of our toys, our fancy cars, boats, motorcycles, and big screen TVs that we so pride ourselves over will be in jeopardy. If we want to get over the lukewarmness of our Christian comfort, we have to know that God is going to ask us to do things that are going to make us downright uncomfortable.

Malachi 3:10 - “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

How many of us are content (or maybe even disheartened) to just hand over 10% of our paycheck every other week just to get it over with? I certainly am guilty of this. But God wants our everything. All of our time, all of our money, all of our effort, all of our hopes, all of our dreams, all of our desires, all of our love, all of us. And what does He want to do for us? He wants to pour out for us such a blessing that we won’t even know what to do with it! So why do we settle for so so so much less? Why do we settle for the empty pleasures of sex outside of marriage? Why do we settle for the hollow joy of shiny new cars, big houses, and flashy clothes? Why do we settle for the deceptive security of big bank accounts and diversified portfolios? Why do we settle for anything less than the God who brought us out of the slimy pit of our messed up lives and set us on solid ground? Why do we settle for anything less than the God that put a new song in our mouth, a song of freedom and hope? Why do we settle for anything less than the God that loves us unfathomably, endlessly, and unconditionally? Why do we settle for anything less than the God who died for us while we were still happily choosing sin and offers us eternal life, hope and healing not because we have ever done anything good at all, but simply because He is so ridiculously Good???

It is scary to think what God will do with my life when I finally give everything to Him. It’s honestly a little frightening to think about what my life will look like when I let God radically change me. Truthfully I haven’t done that yet. I don’t mean that I am questioning my salvation or anything of that sort because I know I have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and have been completely forgiven for everything I have ever done and everything I will ever do, but what I do mean is that some part of me is still hanging on desperately to this safe and comfortable life that I live. And believe me, it is a comfortable life. I don’t mean to say that I am wealthy or that I have a bunch of nice stuff to show off. But I do mean that I cannot point to any part of my life and honestly tell you that I am absolutely having to trust in the Lord to come through for me. Don’t you think sometimes God just wants us to confess that we don’t love Him like we should? That we love many other things more than we love Him? But that we want to love Him so much that we would willingly and joyfully sell everything we have for the treasure of His kingdom? All God wants me to do is to trust Him. He just wants me to trust that if I will give to the point that it scares me, He will pour out His blessings on me in ways I can’t even understand. That if I will go to the point that I don’t think I can go any further, He will carry me. That if I will love like I have never loved that I will not be disappointed. That if I will give up more than I have ever given, I will gain more than I have ever gained. And honestly I am ready. I am tired of striving for comfort. I am sick of being content with safety. And all God wants us to do is allow Him to change us. Bring it on God, I am ready. I am scared, but I am willing.

Do you want to live in abandon for God’s kingdom? He simply wants us to give all to Him. And He is waiting to pour out His blessing upon us. I urge you not to forget about eternity. Don’t forget that one day those of us who have given our lives to our Savior will gather around the throne of God with 100 million plus angels and saints and sing praises to His name for an eternity! And that’s all that matters. God’s glory is all that matters. God’s glory is all that will ever matter. In the end, where we worked and if we liked our jobs or not won’t matter. It won’t matter if we got married or had children. It won’t matter if we had a college education or a GED. It won’t matter if we drove a porsche or a pinto. It won’t matter if our stocks were diversified or if we lived on food stamps. It won’t matter if we wore gucci or goodwill. It won’t matter. It will not matter. The only thing that will matter is if we loved God and if we loved people (and ourselves don’t count). Close your eyes and picture yourself in a sea of millions of saints and angels singing with all of your heart, shouting as loud as you can praises to God. Hear the roar of hundreds of millions of voices crying out “Worthy is the Lamb!” That’s all that matters in this life.

And so is the Theory of a Dead Man: For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, and they have no reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.

Carrie's Deliriously Delicious Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

You are about to embark on a quest to make easily the best cookies this side of the universe. Please don't make over 10 at one time (unless you have company) because you will eat all of them in about 4 minutes. You were warned.

What you Need:

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips (Kroger brand tastes awesome and they are like 1/2 the price of some of the other companies!)

How to Concoct:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Now mix all the wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla, butter) and sugars in a mixing bowl until smooth. Next gradually add all the dry ingredients (baking soda, flour, and salt) one at a time until mixed smooth. Now add in the bag of chocolate chips, mix it all up, and put your cookies on a baking sheet (The smaller the cookie the better it usually cooks). When the oven is preheated put in your cookies for 8-10 minutes, get them out, and eat all of them in one sitting!

The Veggie Saga Continues

Well we have a little hoodlum invading our roof garden. We went out there this morning to check on the plants and give them a drink when we saw this:

NOOOO!!!!! Our Squash!!!!!!!!!

Day 18

After careful investigation we believe the assailant to be either a squirrel, raccoon, pterodactyl, or some other kind of dinosaur. We have ruled out the squirrel because we don't think squirrels like crookneck squash. Raccoons are pretty much just like big squirrels so they are out. Plus, we didn't see any 'coon tracks. So that leaves either a pterodactyl or some other type of dinosaur, perhaps an ankylosaurus or a diplodocus. Personally I think it's a pterodactyl. I'm imagining something like this:

But on the tomato and bell pepper front we are making good ground:

Tomato!!

Bell Pepper Buds!!

A Djyklawesome Canopy Bed

Well the lil' lady (that would be Mrs. Corinne Chance) has always wanted a canopy bed but hasn't had the luxurious opportunity of owning one. We have a queen size poster bed and I took it upon myself to make her a suitable alternative. So after some careful measurements and number crunching we mosied on over to Bed, Bath and Beyond (where we still had like $300 on gift cards leftover from the wedding) and picked out a couple of curtain rods and curtains. After we bought that and some kettle corn (of course) we made our way by Lowe's to get some hangers for the curtain rods. Installation was super simple. The tops of the posters on our bed screw on and off, so all's that had to be done was unscrew the tops and wedge the hangers under them and screw them back down. Then just had to hang the rods and curtains and voila! A djyklawesome canopy bed!

Postscript: In case you were wondering, djyklawesome means three times as awesome as awesome and is pronounced 'ja-claw-sum'. Thanks to Urban Dictionary for putting some pizazz into an otherwise dull language (as if we don't have enough words we can't already pronounce) http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=djyklawesome&defid=1681753

Before

After

Tantalizingly Tasty Guacamole Dip

This ain't yo' grandmother's guacamole. This is the real deal guac!

What You Need:

2 Avocados

1 Medium Tomato

1/2 a Poblano Pepper

1/4 cup Green Pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp lime juice

2-3 Cloves of Garlic (we use the kind that is already minced where 1/2 tsp = 1 clove)

1/2 cup of chopped onion (it's even better if you saute it first)

1/2 cup of roasted red peppers (pureed)

1 tsp salt

How to Concoct:

Puree your roasted red peppers in the blender and leave them there. Chop up your onion, green pepper, poblano pepper and tomato (the smaller the better), saute them (with the garlic), and add them to the blender. Add in your lemon and lime juices and salt. Now peel and pit your avocados and mash them up. Squish them up a lil' bit, add them to the blender and puree all of your ingredients. I usually have to puree them for a few seconds, stop the blender, and use a spoon to stir it up and then puree again. Continue pureeing until desired consistency is reached. Now eat the heck out of it.

We Have a Fruit!!!

So we are on day 11 of our little veggie tale and we finally have a fruit!!! (tomatoes are fruit remember?)

Soon we will be down at the farmer's market reaping the benefits of our crop!

Day 11

Postscript: Something is getting into our plants and digging them up. If we find the culprit we shall surely slay and eat it/him/her.

My God is Good

Well as many of you know I (Nathan) work at a funeral home and today we held a funeral for a 4 year-old little boy at a local church, and to say the least, it really tore me up. His name was Jacob and I watched the service from the balcony and cried through the whole thing. I had no idea who this little boy was nor did I know his family or anyone else that was involved in his life. But I heard testimony after testimony about this child. He had some sort of heart disease that ultimately led to heart failure and he had to wear a black backpack with his medical equipment in it everywhere he went. I watched a picture slideshow that played his favorite songs: You got a friend in me (Toy Story) and Jesus Loves Me (Veggie Tales). And I saw him wearing two things in every picture: that little black backpack and a big smile. Both preachers during the service attained to the joy this child had for life and how he never once complained about anything. Ever. I can’t imagine that. I like to complain when things don’t go my way, when I don’t get to work where I want or get to go do what I want. But this kid had to wear a backpack all day every day and undoubtedly had to be exhausted. But he just kept smiling and living with joy the life God had given him.

The pastors talked about David and how he lost his son (2 Samuel 12). He fasted, wept, and spent the nights lying on the ground until his son passed. And when his son died, he entered into the house of the Lord and worshipped. I don’t have any children, but I absolutely cannot imagine losing your 4 year-old son. One of the pastors told how he was with the family at Vanderbilt Medical Center when Jacob passed and he was in a position to overhear Jacob’s final conversation with his mother and father. They held their son in their arms and explained to him that it was time for them to let him go. It was time for Jacob to be healed. As I said earlier, I cannot imagine the overwhelming grief that must come upon you when you lose a child, but I cannot even begin to fathom having to hold your son in your arms and tell him that it is time for him to go. But that is exactly what God did. He told His own Son that it was time for Him to go, that it was time for Him to go so that we could have healing.

Christ died for us so that we could be forgiven and that we could be healed from all the hurt and pain and evil in this world. We can be healed from abuse we have suffered, from addictions we have given into over and over again, from our parents’ divorce, from a cheating spouse. Little Jacob’s death was certainly sad, but it was also such a beautiful picture of God’s love for us. I pray that I could have such a faith and joy as this little child:

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

-Matthew 18:2-5


It was easy to see Jesus in little Jacob, in a faith so simple, so loving, and so trusting. Let us strive to have a faith such as this, a faith that trusts, believes, hopes, loves, and endures. And let us praise our God in all that we do, in all that we say, in all that we think. Let us praise Him when our world seems like it is crashing in, when we lose our children, or our parents, or our husband or wife, or our job, or our bank account, or our health. Our God certainly deserves all of our praise at all times, not just when everything is going good for us.

If you have not tasted the goodness of our Holy and Sovereign God, know this: He held is own Son in His arms and told Him that it was time for Him to go that you might have forgiveness and healing, healing from anything you have ever done, thought or said, or anything that anyone has ever done to you. My God is good. He is good all the time. All the time He is good. He is good when a precious 4 year-old boy dies. He is good when a family is starving in a foreign country. He is good when a family is starving in our own country. He is good when you lose your job. He is good when you are diagnosed with cancer. He is good when your parents get a divorce. He is good when you get a divorce. He is good in the midst of abuse. He is good. He is good.

And my He has already won. He will come back (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and He will be victorious. And those of us who have tasted the goodness of His Spirit and given our lives to Him will have victory too. We will have healing in this life. And one day we will gather around His throne and sing praise to His name for all of eternity!

God is good all the time and all the time God is good!

Sumptuous Corn on The Cob

Wow! This might just win the “Best Corn On The Cob in Existence” award.

This is what you need:
Corn on the cob, already shucked and cleaned
Aluminum foil
Olive oil (or canola oil)
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Minced Garlic
Butter
Tony’s Cajun Creole Seasoning (optional, but stupid good)

Here’s how to make it:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place each ear of corn on a square of aluminum foil and drizzle some olive or canola oil on them. Now sprinkle them with some salt, pepper, and cumin (turning the corn while doing so) and scoop out some of the minced garlic and rub each ear down with it. Sprinkle your Cajun Creole seasoning (if you dare), put just a little butter on them, and roll up each ear in the aluminum foil. When oven is preheated, place each ear on the middle rack for about 20 minutes (turn them over after 10 minutes). Take them out of the oven and feast on some of the best corn on the cob in existence!

Kroger Has Some Sensationally Superb Store Policy

We went to Kroger tonight (it’s the beginning of the month and we just got our food budget $) to buy the essentials, milk, cheese, ice cream and dark chocolate. We generally go through the self-checkout lines (ever think that you are working for Kroger for free when you do this?) because many times we will have to do separate orders, like if we are buying toiletries and food, we have to ring up the toiletries separate and pay with the toiletry money and then ring the food up and pay for it with food money. Plus you don’t ever have any of those awkward conversations with that guy you went to elementary school with but haven’t seen in over a decade.

So anyways, we are owning Kroger like the shopping champs we are, corralling all the good deals, throwing items across 4 aisles into the buggy, finding and eating all the free food, you get the idea. We come across our favorite cereal (Kashi GoLean Crunch) and the smaller boxes are on sale, about a dollar off. So of course we buy two boxes. We do the rest of our rat killin’ and then make our way to the golden self-checkout lines. We scan our Kroger card (pretty sure we will be able to pay cash for a yacht someday with all the money we save) and hear that sweet angelic voice (whom will now be referred to as Miss Tetrasaur) say “Welcome valued customer”. So we start scanning our food through, being careful to place each item in a bag before we scan the next item so sweet Miss Tetrasaur won’t start belittling us and threaten to notify the attendant. We get to our cereal boxes and scan them in only to discover that they aren’t on sale!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we run back to where the “healthy” cereal is and discover that the sale actually ended like 2 weeks ago, they just hadn’t taken down the signs for it. The huge box of GoLean crunch is on sale, however, but only like 40 cents off. So we just count our losses, grab a big box, and take it back to our checkout line.

If you have ever gone through a self-checkout and had to cancel an item after it has already been scanned, you know exactly the frustration and blood pressure changes your body experiences during the course of the cancellation. You have to select the item, remove ONLY the canceled item (otherwise Miss Tetrasaur will surely voice her opinion), and then give it to the attendant, who is usually asleep or talking to their significant other over on aisle 6.

So we get out big box of cereal, scan it through and place it with the other groceries. Then we delete one of the smaller boxes of cereal that were no longer on sale and living a lie. Miss Tetrasaur makes us give the cereal to the attendant and we notify him that we have another box of cereal that we must delete so he might as well hang around. He asks us if everything was ok and why we were deleting both small boxes of cereal. We explained the entire situation to him and he informs us that both of our small boxes of cereal are free! It’s Kroger policy, he says. If something is advertised for sale in the store but the sale has actually already ended (false advertising, now that I think of it) then you get the item for free!!!

Well this completely changes everything!! No longer shall we shop at Kroger so much as we will be scouring every aisle for all the sales to find out which ones have expired and not been taken down properly. Hey, we don’t make the policy!