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Posted on: Thursday, August 16, 2012

TASTE: I am a peanut butter lover, perhaps to a fault.  When I was a kid my mom used to spread peanut butter and maple syrup over my pancakes and then roll them up like crepes and put them in my lunch:)  Peanut butter is just one of those foods that makes everything taste that much better.  And it seems to go with most anything... or at least my taste buds seem to think so.  I slab it on my fruits, veggies, rice cakes, bread, bars, and in my oatmeal, yogurt, rice pudding, s'mores, banana boats, smoothies, ect.  It just seems to spread so nicely on most anything.  Even the dullest of foods (ie. celery) come to life with a little PB.  Peanut Butter is kind of like the Holy Spirit.  Both bring sweetness out of blandness, and both stick like glue.


SEE: And then God said, "Let there be light!!!" Our brand new beautiful track how now come to life and light!  Last night a bunch of my teammates, alumni, Oregon State athletes, coaches, staff, and donors all meet at our brand new 48 inch 9 lane beautiful BEAVER track!! What an incredible dream that I have been blessed to witness come to life!  I cannot wait for the next two years of turning left on this bad boy:)    


Posted on: Thursday, August 9, 2012


TASTE: GF Lemon-Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread

I ate an entire loaf today. Umm.. Jesus is the bread of life?...




  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/3 cups sugar
  • large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups tapioca/rice flour combo
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup shredded zucchini
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Preparation


  1. 1. Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
  2. 2. Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in zucchini and next 2 ingredients. Spoon batter into 3 greased and floured 5- x 3-inch disposable aluminum foil loaf pans (about 1 1/3 cups batter per pan).
  3. 3. Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes).

  4. SEE: WORLD RECORDS!!!

Berries and bright lights

Posted on: Thursday, August 2, 2012





TASTE:  Blackberry peach cobbler is my absolute favorite food.  Finally the time has come! Blackberry season.  But I admire more than the sweet flavor.  I love how they grow wild and free.  The cost is simple: a mix of blood and berry stains.  The best ones are always the hardest to reach and require the most risk of pain to pluck.  I think of this as similar to striving towards a dream.   Although our dreams often seem so far off, and the way seems blocked by thorns,  when we achieve them the sweetness is surpasses all the pain and struggle. Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."



SEE: No I did not take this picture, but isn't it clever!?  The moon has been so full and bright the past few nights.  I like that it's so hard to capture a good picture of the moon.  I think of taking pictures of the moon like taking pictures of fireworks, it just doesn't work... Nowadays everyone is so concerned with capturing a good picture, that they forgo the moment.  Instead of staring at God's beauty in awe and praise, humans have adopted an inclination to capture God's beauty and then share it as their own.  I think God just looks down at us and laughs sometimes when we whip out our cameras to take a picture of a sunset, the stars, or the moon.  These are some of the most beautiful and breathtaking things in our world, and yet humans could never convey them better than the Lord created them.  I think it's His way of asking for our attention for just a moment of praise.  Deuteronomy 4:19 And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don't look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. God set them out for everybody's benefit, everywhere.

You are more.

Posted on: Friday, July 13, 2012


TASTE: Key lime pie with my breakfast the past three days... mmmm.  I love double cream lemon and key lime pie.  Oh the sweet creamy combo.  All I have to say about this is THANK YOU JESUS. YUM! 


SEE: I was at OHSU waiting in the deserted hospital till 9 pm for my MRI and CT scan last night.  I wandered around the vacant halls until I stumbled upon a glass bridge that connected two separate wards of the hospital.  There was a little table with a couple chairs conveniently located in the middle of it.  I sat down and this is what I was staring at... breathtaking.  My phone had died on the drive over, so I had no way of talking to anyone or starring at a 2x5 screen to make the time pass.  It was like the Lord was saying "hey Audrey, I'm much bigger than that iphone of yours... look!"  I sat in silence staring out over the city in all it's God breathed beauty.  I'm so thankful for the blessed time I was able to spend in peaceful prayer.  





Honey holes and white lines

Posted on: Thursday, July 12, 2012


TASTE: Raspberries are the only berries that are hollow on the inside.  Unlike all the other berries, raspberries have holes in the tops of them, and aren't holes meant to be filled? It only seems logical to me to fill these holes with sweet honey:)  I thought of how raspberries can be related to the human heart.  Both are red, squishy, sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, and sometimes empty and hollow.  But both can be filled with a sweetness that sticks! Just like the honey that I intricately pour into each of the raspberry holes, the Holy Spirit pours into our hollow hearts and fills us with His oh so sweet joy and peace.  I am so thankful for the simple sweetness of honey filled raspberries, and I am evermore thankful for the sticky consistency of Christ filling my heart and making it "whole."



SEE: Yay! I now have a bike to ride, thanks to my high school cross country and track coach:)  Since I haven't been able to run for a month and 10 days (whose counting...) I have been on a mad hunt to find a bike.  I haven't been able to do any kind of cross training other than aqua jogging, and even that has been minimal.  Although riding a bike outside will not help much in terms of fitness, it will help in terms of sanity.  I rode out into the fields of hay and corn on Springville road.  It was delightful to feel the wind at my face, and it was thrilling to fly down the hills faster than the cars.  I'm not used to riding a bike at high speeds out on the roads, and it required more balance than I expected.  I had to be careful not so swerve out into the road on my left, or onto the loose gravel on my right.  I hugged tight to the white line, focusing on remaining as close to it as I possibly could.  I got to thinking about how that white line represents Christ's consistent guidance and presence.  Even though it was difficult at times to remain close to those 3 inches of paint, those white lines never failed to lead the way.  I was reminded of a piece of scripture, "..narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:14).  Narrow is the road that leads to life.  I thought of how riding on the white line relates to this verse because in the same way if I stray away from the narrow white line, my life is on the line.... no pun intended.  It is a fine balance to stay on the line and road that leads to life, but we are promised that He will keep our wheels turning in the right direction if we choose to follow Him.


Keep on keepin' on

Posted on: Tuesday, July 10, 2012



SEE: Yesterday I spent the afternoon treasure hunting and finding treasures in antique shops in Sellwood.   There is so much to see, but so much that goes unseen.  Each store is cram packed full of old heroic items just waiting to be discovered. While I was walking around examining all the authentic treasures I kept hearing these words ringing in my ears, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (esv)" Matthew 7:7  I memorized this verse long ago, but today I read this translation of it and it seemed to resonate more with where I am at right now.  "KEEP ON asking, and you will receive what you ask for. KEEP ON seeking, and you will find. KEEP ON knocking, and the door will be opened to you (NLT)." The "keep on" part is what stood out to me the most.  Sometimes I ask the Lord for things, and I seek His truth, and I wait for a door to open.... but when it doesn't, I just stand there at the door waiting.  In thinking about all this "door knocking," I was reminded of my childhood door knocking days.  After dinner, my siblings and I would bike around the neighborhood knocking on doors to invite kids to come out and build forts, or play games.  The process of recruiting kids to come out and play did not stop when one door didn't open; we simply would make our rounds to the other houses, and then come back later.  In the same way, when I was walking through the antique shops I didn't just walk through the store once.  In order to even SEE everything, I had to walk through a couple times.  I think that this is similar to how the Lord desires for us to ask and seek Him.  Sometimes when I lay my requests before the Lord I ask once, and then I get frustrated when I feel like He doesn't answer.  I want my "asking and seeking" to be more like my approach to antique hunting and knocking on the neighborhood kids's doors.  I want to KEEP ON asking and KEEP ON seeking, so that my hope of future treasures remains alive!  I want to "keep on keepin' on." 


TASTE: My best friend Ellen surprised me with two packs of Kool-Aid bursts yesterday!  Man do I miss sippin' on these.  I really just love old things and old ways.  Something as simple as drinkin one of these brought such a smile to my face.  I was talkin with Ellen about how I used to love these the other day, and then she remembered and surprised me with them!  This was just such minor testament to the major blessing that Ellen is to my life.  I am so insanely thankful to have a best friends who listens to all my silly comments and cravings, as well as my rambling unfiltered thoughts about life. Whata Budlife.  

Found this toothpaste green (fav color) gem at one of the antique stores.  It's an old hand mixer!! The apron skirt was also among my findings:) Guess I better get to bakin! 







TASTE and SEE

Posted on: Sunday, July 8, 2012

"Open your mouth and TASTE, open your eyes and SEE, how good God is.  Blessed are you who RUN to him." Psalm 34:8 (msg)





Over the past few months, this verse has clung to my heart and heightened my awareness of the Lord's abiding presence.  Taking refuge in the Lord translates to “running to him.”  We are invited to taste and see the goodness of the Lord each day, if we are willing. We get to run recklessly abandoned into his arms, towards what we taste and see. And when we do this we are blessed!  I want to notice the Lord's goodness increasingly with each minute of each day.  I want to uncover the mysterious and creative ways that the Lord allow us to SEE Him and TASE Him, in all things.  He is revealed in so many MORE ways that we have the willingness to open our eyes to see, or the obedience to open our mouths and taste.  This reality both saddens and excites me.  I don't want my distracted attention span, or concern for the future, to prevent me from experiencing the Lord's present goodness.  So often I define "good" by my own selfish desires.  In doing so, I am prevented from experiencing the the "best" that the Lord strives for me to receive.   
In "light" of summer, I had this idea to start blogging again.  My idea is to write about one thing that I SEE, and one thing that I TASTE, that reminds me of the goodness of the Lord.  I find such joy in the blooming beauty of Oregon summers, and such delight in the deliciousness of all the seasonal foods.  I stand in awe of the sun setting over the golden wheat fields, and can't help but smile after stuffing my mouth with burnt mallows, and looking down at my blackberry stained hands.   I want to train my mind to think about the way that the Lord loves me through each sunset, and each plumply ripe berry.  I want to be wide-eyed to the work of His hands all around me.  
My idea is to take two pictures each day. One picture that captures something that I saw that screamed God's beauty, and another picture of one thing I tasted, cooked, or baked that revealed God's glory.  My Aunt Holly is one of the most Godly women I know, and I admire her awareness of the Lord's presence.  She has such a genuine intimacy with creation.  She lives on a vineyard in Corvallis, and every morning she walks the dogs around the farm, and takes pictures of things on the farm that the Lord uses to speak to her through His creation.   One time while I was at her house this year, she was showing me pictures on her phone from that morning's walk.  She showed me a picture of the vineyard, and she pointed out the good branches and the bad branches.  She then began to explain how one of the branches is chaotically dispersed, but it is still growing and producing fruit.  Then she pointed at the branch next to it that was well kept and pruned, and producing fruit as well.  Both branches remain in the same vine. (John 15:5).  I admired her ability to immediately connect scripture with with creation.  Her willingness to look deeper at was right in front of her, allowed her to be reminded of a powerful truth.
Her pictures got my thoughts churning like butter, especially because John 15 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  I love the promises that it teaches, and how the Lord is faithful to produce fruit in our lives on HIS TIMING.  Fruit doesn’t produce during it’s offseason, otherwise it would taste bad and not be desirable, but fruit that is perfectly ripe is attractive and delicious.  Much like the blueberries right now:) Sometimes I feel like I am the chaotic branch that twists and tangles about without direction, but I am still producing good fruit as long as I remain in "The vine."  When we remain in the Lord, He produces perfectly ripe fruit according to His timing.  I don't want to be eating fruit that is not yet ripe, when I know that if I wait, it will taste much sweeter.  I've heard it said before, "Good is the enemy of best."  I don’t want to let my impatience compel me to eat unripened fruit and end up spitting it out in sour disgust.   
Challenge: Each day take a picture of one way that I saw the Lord's grace abound, and one way that I tasted of His grace and goodness. 




"It is not what you look at that matters. It is what you see." Henry David Thoreau


"Keep your eyes open"
Needtobreathe 




Hope floats without drifting

Posted on: Saturday, June 16, 2012



The Rock

Posted on: Thursday, February 23, 2012

"From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I, yes, a rock that is too high for me." Psalm 61:2

Praise and Prayer

Posted on: Wednesday, February 22, 2012


The season of lent has brought me back to the blog. I decided to give up chocolate, social mediums on my phone, and I'm gonna shoot for no make up too, cept for special occasions. But mainly I have this idea to write out a list of 40 people I am thankful for, and each day pick one person to write a thank you note to them for how they have blessed my life! Although Lent is not a Biblical tradition, it is essentially fasting. And the Bible does have a lot to say about that! In particular the emphasis on fasting is to realize your dependance on the Lord, allowing you to focus more on His presence. Fasting is also a time to pray and praise God. In addition to my continual prayers and praise each day, my Lent idea is a clear way for me to praise God for 1 person that He has blessed my life with, and then send them a note of thankful praise! I will also commit to praying for that person throughout that day, hence the pray and praise.

Another thing I am going to try to give up (which will take some habit breaking) is responding to the question "how are you" with "good." I have always cringed at this dull routine way of checking in with someone. Asking someone how they are has lost its sense of genuineness. And aren't we all a bunch of liars more than half the time when responding to that question? I challenge myself to answer this question with the truth about how I actually am. My boyfriend and I had a conversation about this once, and I asked Him "what do you think Jesus would have said to the question 'how are you?' or how would He want us to respond to it?" And the answer seemed to just roll off his tongue: "forgivin' and livin." Despite your circumstances ain't that ALWAYS the truth? We are forgiven and called to forgive, and we have been given life and called to live! So if anything... when I'm hesitant to express how I really am, I'm going to try to respond with a simple "forgivin' and livin'," and a smile:)


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