nostalgia.

Remember those days when I used to blog every day? I miss it. Ithink i just miss writing and quoting and sharing, but I also used to share Bible verses everyday. This was my way of being accountable for my Bible reading and sharing the wonderful words of God with my friends.

I think I may start doing that again, the verses, that is. And I'll try to blog more often. It's not really for you. I don't suppose people really care that much about anything I write in here. It's mostly for me, therapy and what-not. It's cheaper than the real thing [haha]. So here are today's verses.

Somehow, I've ended up back in the Psalms, which is where I started when I last posted verses every day. It is still one of my favorite books, simply for the honesty and emotion in them. You can't help but be moved by them. And these verses really struck me today.

Psalm 119: 174-176

I long for your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my delight. Let my soul live that it may praise You, and let Your ordinances help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.

Okay. So here's what I love about these verses. They show David's innate longing for the Lord, especially with regard to His word/law. The more David knows of God's word, the more he lives for and seeks God, and the more his heart desires to be with him. God's word is his "delight," and it helps him love and praise the Lord. It increases David's desire for the Lord so much so that he wants his soul to "live that it may praise" God. I think that may be my prayer today and perhaps always, that my soul may live to praise God.

Is there really any other life to be had?

-lovingly-
k

extraordinary love.

"We must grow in love and in order to do this we must go on loving and loving and giving and giving until it hurts-- the way Jesus did. Do ordinary things with extraordinary love."

--Mother Theresa

wow. when you think about the love that God has for us, and the amazing ways in which He's shown it to us, through Jesus, through people, through life. i can't help but be just speechless and in awe of my Creator and Master. it makes me love Him even more. and i am so thankful that He chose me to be an instrument of His love as one of His children and that He has given me so many people to love. i only pray that i learn to do so more deeply and more extraordinarily as He does for me each moment.

i am so blessed to be so loved.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." [amen.]

-The Apostle Paul, Ephesians 3:14-19, NIV

-lovingly-

k

so much food. so little time.

everyone knows of my enthusiasm for the great state fair of texas. in fact, i believe that around this time last year i wrote an entire blog solely dedicated to it. and after being asked this year by a canadian fellow what i would eat at the fair, i decided to dedicate another blog to just that after his suggestion for making a list.

so here is my list of the top ten new foods that i am hoping to try at the fair this year [in no particular order].

1) chicken fried bacon- how can you make bacon better? batter it and fry it again, of course.
2) deep fried s'mores- the campfire classic has been taken a step further, and who doesn't like fried things, really?
3) fried chocolate truffles- i don't think this needs an explanation
4) chocolate covered strawberry waffle balls- fried chocolate covered strawberries. yum-o, as rachael ray would say.
5) texas barbeque egg rolls- i decided that i didn't need to try just sweets this year, so i'm balancing it with texas barbeque.
6) fried apple iPie and deep fried apple bites- i love fruit-filled fried pies (thank you, ham's), so this seemed like a no-brainer to me.
7) beefy fried queso bites- it's like cheese dip, fried. c'mon.
8) fried cake on a stick- this one could go either way, but i'm going to be optimistic.
9) mini chicken fried steak slider- what balances sweets out better than gravy?
10) dessert shooters- miniature desserts. just enough at the end of the day to top it all off. besides i needed at least one non-fried item.

of course, there are some other foods that are just tradition for me to eat at the fair. i always start with a turkey leg (i recommend sharing, pace yourself). corny dogs are good around lunch time. fletcher's is the only way to go. fried cheesecake is a newer tradition, but is on it's way to being one of my favorites. it's amazing. and at the end of the day, nothing beats a funnel cake. i recommend sharing this too. you'll likely be too full from all of the food you've eatent the rest of the day.

it may seem like a lot of food, but i figure if you're walking around the fair all day long it's bound to balance out somehow, right? well, i hope this may have helped some of you. if not, at least it gave me a chance to make a plan of attack for my day at the great state fair of texas.