weekend recap + a recipe.

Rainy days. 

Friends over for dinner.

Grilling out in December.

Christmas candles. 

Christmas lights.

Christmas socks. 

Christmas carols at church.
Enjoying our cozy home.

Chai Tea. 

Coffee. Lots of coffee. 

Naps. (yes, plural)

Sushi take out. 

Pumpkin, cranberry, chocolate bread. 

Movie watching. 

Couch laying. 

Low productivity.

No agenda. 

The kind of weekend I spend my weeks dreaming about. 

The kind of weekend that is full of the little things that make life sweet.

The kind of weekend we need every now and then.

This bread was moist and delicious and was born out of cleaning out Thanksgivingy foods from my fridge. I found 2 half cans of pumpkin and come fresh cranberries. Mix that with some pecans and dark chocolate and BOOM. This lovely little treat. I just used my favorite pumpkin bread recipe and then added some cranberries, some dark choco chips, and a handful of pecans. 

Cranberry/Pumpkin/Chocolate/Pecan Bread

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs, beaten well

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 cup fresh cranberries

how ever much chocolate makes your heart happy

a handful of nuts (pecans, walnut, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the dry. Mix the wet. Mix them together. Add cranberries and chocolate and nuts. Pour in a buttered bread pan. Throw in the oven. Enjoy the smells coming from your oven. Bake for 5-60 mins. Take out of oven. Devour. 

Enjoy! I don't know why this is the first recipe I have ever posted. I love cooking (well, mostly baking) and want to start posting recipes more often. We will see what I come up with! Hope your weekends were wonderful.

//

Linking up with Lindsay!

thankfulness.

Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Although I truly believe thankfulness is a lifestyle, sometimes it's nice to have one whole day devoted to recognizing all the little blessings in life that call us to be thankful. The things that quickly become expected and deserved, rather than evidences of God's grace on our lives. This verse is one that I frequently have to call to mind, as thankfulness is not always free flowing from my heart. But yet, thankfulness is something God commands from us. And not just in the good times, but in ALL circumstances. If we believe, truly truly believe, that God works all things for the good-- then we are free to be thankful in all circumstances knowing with full confidence that He makes everything work together for our good. Is this how I always feel in my heart? No. Not at all. But I can decide in my mind to be thankful before my heart even feels it, and I can pray that God would soften my heart. And He is faithful, He always does. Thankfulness is not a feeling, it's a decision. 

And we have so, so much to be thankful for. 

I am thankful for God's grace on my life. That He chose to save me before I even knew Him. That because of Jesus my sinful nature was replaced with holiness, righteousness, purity, and grace. That He is all sufficient and more than I could ever need. That I could study His Word all day everyday and still not know all there is to know about His character. That I am constantly in amazement of His ways. That because of his full, perfect love and unconditional forgiveness that I never deserve, I am able to forgive freely and give love to others. 

I am thankful for my marriage, my husband. My best friend. My confidant. My fellow adventurer. The goofiest man in the world that follows hard after Jesus. The man that loves his family and desires to obey the Lord in all aspects of life. The one who works long days and comes home to serve me in any way that he can. The man who's life pushes me to Jesus as he desires to live a life fully dependent on Christ. The one that never complains and can find joy in even the darkest moments. The one full of corny jokes that everyone can't help but love. I am thankful for a man who is easy to love, and a man who finds it so easy to love others. 

I am thankful for our family. Parents and inlaws. Brothers and sisters. BILs and SILs. Grandparents. Girlfriends. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. Nieces and nephews. And I'm not just saying this because I know they will all read this post. I'm saying it because it's true. They are loud and crazy and a little bit wild sometimes-- but Brian and I have never ever had to question whether or not our families loved us. We are thankful for 2 sets of parents that try hard to obey God, walk in righteousness, love each other well, and love their family well. We know for a fact that the reason we love marriage so much is because of God's grace and because of parents and grandparents who modeled healthy marriage to us for our first 22 years of life. And we kind of love how crazy our families are, wouldn't want it any other way.

I am thankful for technology and that even though it hurt our hearts to be away from our families physically, we got to see all their faces and feel like we were there in person. Facetime makes the distance from America to Japan feel a little bit smaller. That I can call my mom and see her face whenever I need to. That I can have coffee dates with friends back home. That I can watch my dear friend's pregnant belly grow. That we don't have to miss out on those things because of distance and a 14 hour time difference. 

I am thankful for community-- far and near. For how God has provided for Brian and I since day one in the Marine Corps. Since moving away from the only homes and families we had ever known, the Lord has never ceased to place people in our lives exactly when we needed them. People to do life with. People to pour into us and speak truth into our lives. We are thankful for our church here and our community group that has loved us like they have known us their whole lives. We are thankful for dear friends who are only an elevator ride away (or the stairs if I'm feeling sporty). That if we can't be with our family during the holidays, we get to be with friends who feel like family. 

I am thankful for this beautiful place we get to live. For our home that is more than we need. For this adventure that we will look back on nostalgically for the rest of our lives. For a time to be away from comfort and really find out who we are, how we do marriage, and be fully dependent on God. I am thankful for the turquoise water, the white sand, and the warm breeze. 

//

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend full with 2 whole Thanksgiving dinners, lots of time together, cooking and baking, Christmas tree putting uping, black friday shopping, board game playing, fresh flower picking, beach dinner eating, and so much more. Why can't every weekend be 4 days long?

Happy Thanksgiving friends. I'm thankful for you. 

Also: side note. It's ironic that after writing a whole post on thankfulness and then pressing publish, and then realizing that my entire post had been lost, I immediately began cursing my computer and blogger and anything in my direct line of vision. 

I would say the Lord still has a lot of work to do on my heart in this area :)

weekend recap (fish, dolphins, whale sharks-- oh my)

Oh my goodness. This weekend, on a whim, we decided to hit up the aquarium in the northern part of the island. We were on the fence about going because we just moved into our sweet little home, and have not even finished unpacking. Boxes are still full, and curtains have yet to be hung-- but an AQUARIUM! We couldn't pass it up.

So we set off early Saturday morning with some friends and really had no idea where we were headed. People in Okinawa rarely use road names or numbers, they prefer to give directions based on land marks and "drive until you see this" and "it's up north, you can't miss it." Luckily, if (when) you get lost, the scenery is breathtaking. Getting lost on this island is kind of a welcome treat.

Anyways, the aquarium! We found it. And it was awesome (trust me, I worked at Seaworld for 2 summers-- I'm a pretty big deal in the underwater world). Tons of awesome fish, a dolphin show that was completely in Japanese, and 3 ginormous whale sharks. I was in awe. So much so that we bought the annual pass-- that's commitment people.

And now here are a lot of pictures of fish that were shot in bad lighting through a foot of glass.. Enjoy!

Happy Monday, friends!

snapshots of a time well spent

Soaking up the last few hours of family, friends, and America. Our time at home flew by, but at the same time we feel like the Lord was so gracious to us in how the timing of everything worked out-- we truly feel like our time was maximized and used in the best way possible. We got to spend so much time with the people we love, although it could never really be enough time.

So here is a million and one pictures of our time with our people. So thankful. Our hearts our so full and we are leaving for Japan feeling refreshed, filled up, and covered in prayer.

(also, I am well aware that I used the word "time" 7 times. now 8.)

weekend recap

This weekend was busy, but refreshing. We didn't wake up this morning feeling exhausted, rather, we woke up feeling full and thankful. We got to spend the whole weekend with our people. Our family. From all over. That drove to Charlotte just to see us and celebrate us and hug us one last time before we leave. We took about a million and 1 pictures this weekend because we don't want to forget a single moment of our last couple of weeks in America.

Both of our sets of parents offered to throw us a little family shindig, so that we could see everyone all together. See, Brian and I both have huge families and it would be nearly impossible to see every person 1 by 1. So seeing everyone together was the perfect solution. With Brian's family we got to have a little Welcome Home Kirk/Goodbye Brian and McKenzie combo party at a nearby park. And with my family, we had a Saturday evening cookout with family.

Literally, there are about 150 pictures we took. And they are all of Brian and I with different sets of people. These will be the pictures that we pull out when we are feeling homesick and need a little reminder that even if we feel lonely, we aren't alone. I'll share all those pictures later this week, but for now.. just a few.

Brian's family.

 My family.

 Oh yeah, and we got to go to a Panther's game. That's a sad, sad story for another day. But it was fun!

 A downtown, Panther's stadium sunset.

 And our friend Perry came to visit and say goodbye! 

It was a great weekend, spent with great people. 

weekend recap

Our last weekend in Jacksonville. That was a quick 3 months. 

We spent a good part of this weekend saying good bye to good friends that we wont see for the next three years. It's sad, but also exciting! Everyone is setting out on new adventures and ready for change. 

We also got to eat Saudi Arabian food prepared for us by the wife of an international officer in Brian's supply school. I wish I had pictures of this night. It was an experience. Fun. But an experience. As in, the men and women don't eat together so I ate with 4 other women who only spoke Arabic. But somehow we figured out a way to talk about Jesus, so it was all worth it. 

Somewhere in between the goodbyes and the Saudi Arabian food, Brian and I snuck a little time for a couples massage. We had been given a gift certificate by the family I nannied for in Virginia and had been itching to use it ever since we got to NC. This weekend was the perfect time. And it was glorious. Worth the wait. 

And now I sit here watching a random man in my hotel room pack up my things. Kind of awkward.
 Whadaya gunna do? 

This is a boring post. Sorry bout that. I reward you with subpar pictures.

//

We packed (made a complete mess) of our things. And ate cupcakes. Twice. 

Said goodbye to friends that have become so dear to us. 

Got a massage. And looked really tired afterwards. How is it that the laziest things make me the most tired ever?

Brian made lists for me. And this random guy packed up our hotel. Like that is my view right now. As I type. And no, I don't know why I took a picture of him. And I hope he never finds my blog. 

Happy Monday Yall.