Cinnamon Dolce and God's Will

I went down the street to Starbucks at 7pm tonight to get a cinnamon dolce latte, this fabulous new discovery Megan and I made last Wednesday on our weekly date. As I arrived at the store on the corner in downtown Wheaton, I noticed that it was not well lit, and as I pulled on the locked door it became all too clear. They were closed due to some entirely unforeseeable reason. My only information was that there were around a dozen people inside all talking and wearing black shirts (employees?). I was frustrated.

Never fear, I hopped in my car and up Main Street I went to the newish and not-at-all-far-away Geneva Road store, ONLY TO FIND THE SAME SITUATION. The lights were dimmed, but this time when I tried the door, it wasn't locked. Simultaneously, about 15 inquisitive faces (there were those black shirts again) turned toward me. This time the person that was standing and seemingly in charge apologized and offered me a free cup of brewed coffee. I THINK NOT. I want a dulce latte and I want one now.

I exited, filled with the determination a predatory animal must feel when stalking prey. Stopping at nothing, I decided that desperate times call for driving to the Danada Square store. There's NO way all Starbucks within 5 miles are closed in the middle of the evening.

3 minutes later, I stood in disbelief, forehead against a glass door, peering into a dark-ish Danada Starbucks full of black-shirted employees, conferencing.

I can see no explanation but this: God will go to great lengths to stop me from having a latte if He so wills.

I also acknowledge this: if my biggest problem in a day is that Starbucks in the greater western suburbs simultaneously close, leaving me without my latte, I am a very privileged girl.

Who needs restaurants?

On Valentine's Day, I actually had a meeting until 7pm for Breakaway Ministry. So with a bad time frame coupled with a small budget, Dan decided to cook dinner for me. I told him I thought it would be nice to have something "that would be served at a restaurant" - you know, so he didn't make his signature a) Mac and Cheese b) pancakes c) frozen pizza. I was optimistically expecting some fettuccine noodles, alfredo sauce from a jar, and a bag of salad. Those expectations were far exceeded by the fancy meal I was served - on our china no less!

Le Menu

Appetizer
Cheese biscuits

Main course
Pork in a garlic apricot glaze served with
Acini de Pepe with butter sauce and steamed asparagus

Dessert
molten chocolate cake

How does a girl get so lucky?! I don't think I've ever cooked anything this nice for him. I guess the bar has been raised. I wasn't entirely useless though; I did the dishes.

$5 highlights

Being young and married certainly has its advantages. Larger tax break and automatic off campus housing aside, life is such an adventure at this stage and I feel blessed to have an amazing travel companion. However, it has also come with a fair share of obstacles. Boys can create some pretty smelly odors, and we do have to keep a close watch on our budget. This last factor is tough on me sometimes (read: all the stinking time) when I want things that I don't need. Case in point: highlighting my hair since I was 15 years old has cost me approximately $1750. Ouch. Something had to be done but I REFUSE to quit cold turkey and have a straight line of bright blond v. roots growing out for the next dozen years.


Solution one: dye my hair back to natural, boring, lame, generic "dirty blond"(professionally). Cost: $45 Result: My hair is exactly 28 shades darker than anything that naturally grows out of my head and my skin looks alabaster next to it. I start using a darker color of foundation.

After 4 weeks of listening to me complain every morning about how "my hair does NOT look natural" and the fact that "it totally washes me out", Dan conceives a possibly nightmarish situation:


Solution two: we buy a boxed highlight kit and Dan becomes my life-long hair stylist. Cost: $5 on sale. Result: Not bad! He is so precise and meticulous about everything, and he did a pretty good job. The color of the highlights is a 7 on a scale of 10, but hey - for less than the cost of 2 grande chai tea lattes, I absolutely can't complain.

By the way, don't tell Dan's guy friends that he dabbles in hairstyling.

un. Certainty.

Never in my life have I felt like God has said "no." to my plans more loudly or more profoundly.

Plan 1: I absolutely love children - playing with them, talking to them, teaching them. So I go into the field of elementary education, get a degree and a certification for teaching grades K-8 and dream of having my own classroom. My student teaching experience was great in many respects, but the overwhelming feeling I had when I finished was that I cannot allow myself to have a career that pulls me mentally and physically away from home to the extent that teaching does. I was exhausted, over-committed and emotionally unavailable. I know that I am not called to pour myself fully into something to the neglect of all other (and higher) priorities. I don't know what I will be doing in the fall for a career, but I do know that I am afraid of what would happen to me if I take a full-time teaching position.

Plan 2: Last year I went to Salt Lake City for spring break to meet with friends and dialogue with them about theology and what God is doing in our generation. I made some wonderful friendships that continue today, and I got the chance to go back in October to see many of the people out there that I love. It was full steam ahead for spring break this year, and I am even on the planning committee of the Utah trip (among others). Then, because not enough students signed up to go on the trip, it got canceled. I felt as though I had been buried under a ton of bricks. My heart is in SLC and my passion for what is happening there is HUGE. I know that I don't understand how the Lord is working in this and through this. It just seems like a grand disappointment to me.

Plan 3: Dan-Dan the Doctor man... probably won't be going to medical school in the fall. He did not get into his #1 choice school, and of the 3 where he still has the possibility of getting in, he's really only willing to attend one of them. What a roller coaster ride of acceptance and rejection letters. I am learning how to support him and encourage him through this, all the while knowing that he will have to make some difficult decisions soon. It's hard to plan your future when everything you've planned on up until this point has fallen though.

One huge reassuring factor is that I trust Dan and I believe in him, knowing that he is so incredibly talented and will be successful at things for which he as a passion, and if he isn't, I'm along for the ride anyway.

But our greatest assurance is this: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot figure out what our future holds (heck, we don't even know where we're moving when our lease is up in >3 months). However, we do know that the God that is deserving of all glory and honor today will still be so in our future. If in 5 months we are at a place in life that is entirely inconceivable to us now, we will be there with the purpose of giving glory to our Father, regardless of action or location.

AMEN

Shopping in Naperville

What better way is there to spend a day without classes?

"Forget love! I'd rather fall in chocolate"

So true.

"Wine is bottled poetry"

I didn't get the memo.

Special thanks to: Sur la Table, for being the most amazing store ever.

Cupcakes Make the World Go Round

Last weekend we had some lovely ladies over for a little impromptu cupcake making and decorating party! The artistic creations turned out beautiful AND delicious. Here's how it went down:













We were hardcore decorators. Note the sprinkles, toothpicks, and 6+ colors of frosting, both in piping bags AND spreadable. Credit to Laura for the fabulous butter frosting. The creative juices were flowing. We had some polka-dots, plaid, flowers, a butterfly, a yin-yang symbol... but the most creative award goes to *drum roll*




Allison T. for her "End of the Jurassic Period" cupcake! Sorry for the darkening of the picture, but the original is too bright and I wanted you to be able to see the dinosaur sprinkles coupled with the growing inferno on the bottom of the cupcake. What a nerd.

Call me Martha

Dan and I have really been enjoying playing house these last 9 months, and I wanted to show off some of our handy work. The amazing things Dan has done:


I saw these leaning book shelves at Crate and Barrel and fell in love with everything but the price tag, so Dan whipped me up a couple. There's a shelf for that bottom right part, but we slide Pearl's crate right in there for now.
He added these plate slots (BEST space saving decision EVER) as well as those bowl corner shelves on the right!


This Dan original creation tamed the chaos that was my baking dish cupboard. He's a genius.

Allison's domestication skill:

I made the valences before I got my wonderful sewing machine, so they are 100% steam-a-seam made. Just me and my iron.


These are my post-sewing machine creations. Only slightly less simple. I'm still learning :).


I painted this chair and recovered the cushions this summer. The pillow is also an Allison creation.

Pearl's contributions:




















She helps around the house with the laundry... by keeping it warm, and she thought our blinds needed updating. Note the minuscule teeth marks and the one piece that she conquered.