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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Creativity
I have been meaning to post this recipe for a while since it was a delicious make-ahead breakfast and would be a tasty snack as well. The quiches are lined with meat instead of pastry, so it is low-carb and very flavorful. I modified this recipe and was happy with the results, although it is extremely flexible and could be modified according to whatever ingredients you have on hand.
To start, I sauteed half a cup each of minced onion and mushrooms in about a tablespoon of butter.
While that was going, I whisked 6 eggs, some cream and a half cup of chopped spinach.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
Matt preached a phenomenal sermon on Sunday, and I was lucky enough to talk things through with him earlier in the week, so the truths have had extra time to sink in to my blown mind (unrelated: if pastors' kids are called PKs, does it make sense to call pastors' wives PWs? Or is that too close to POWs?). Fresh excitement for God's goodness and power is still settling into the corners of my soul, and I've been trying to figure out how to boil the big ideas down into something the size of a blog post.... here goes.
Luke 24:1-12 - On the first Easter morning, the women who had gone to attend to Jesus' corpse tell the disciples that the body is gone from the tomb and an angel says Jesus is risen from the dead. Confusion ensues, and Peter runs to the tomb to see what he finds.
Peter is not the first person in the Bible to run and see proof that God has done an incredible thing. In Daniel 6, King Darius throws Daniel into a lions den with the prayer "May your God, whom you serve continuously, deliver you!" The next morning he runs to the den and shouts down into the pit, where, miraculously, Daniel is alive.
Both of these stories feature miracles that people run to see, but we don't always feel the excitement when we read in our Bibles because we know the end of the story. It is amazing what happens, but it is not a surprise to us.
Enter Paul and his first letter to the Corinthians. Misinformation has been spread about the resurrection, which Paul sets out to correct. In chapter 15 he writes, "For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins...But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
The promise of eternal life is a huge piece of the gospel, and Jesus' resurrection proves that it is possible, that we're not just hoping in a vague idea or a theoretical possibility. On Easter, God demonstrated his absolute power to not only save life (as he did with Daniel in the lions' den) but to restore life where it has been completely stomped out. Paul says that looking back on what God did for Jesus helps us look forward to what God will do for us when we trust in him. I totally buy in to this, BUT I think I have missed out on part of this promise for... ages. Possibly the whole time.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Every once in a while I dabble in setting goals, and it's happening again. My friend Beth issued a challenge on her blog to commit to some goals for the month of April, and I thought that coincided very nicely with my new membership at fit2b.us so I am planning to do at least one video each day. I also had a dental checkup this month, which was horrible and therefore inspiring.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
It's been six weeks since Torre was born, and I am starting to feel like I have my body back. I was surprised at how weak I felt in the weeks after delivery since I had carried this baby for nine months and pushed him out over the course of a whole day. I expected to have built up strength, not lost it!
Well, it turns out that pushing a stroller through slush and lifting an ever-growing baby repeatedly through the day builds more strength than pregnancy does, and my stamina is improving simply through the rigours of daily life. Six weeks postpartum is generally the earliest time that women are suggested to resume exercise, and I would be really happy to find a routine that works for me in the new realities of my life. Previously I have loved doing kickboxing, and I almost kind of got into running for a few months before becoming pregnant, but we have no money for a gym membership, and I don't have the willpower to rebuild my cardio endurance up from nothing.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Five and a half weeks in, I still love spending my days with my baby. I think a big part of that is being okay with taking each day on its own terms as it comes. At 10am I might think it will be a super productive day, but at 3pm I'm staring at the exact same to-do list I started with. On the other hand, at 10 am I might resign myself to a day with nothing accomplished apart from the continued survival of my offspring, only to be happily surprised at 3pm to have grocery shopped and done laundry. I'm learning over and over that you never can tell quite what a day will bring.
Of course, some days
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I was struck by Esslesiastes 1:7 this week:
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
Endless cycles are part of nature - the sun rises and sets, seasons change, the rain falls and the wind blows. I remember when I was in grade 5 or 6 being amazed at the idea that I could be breathing air molecules that Cleopatra had breathed, or Shakespeare. It still kind of grosses me out to think about sharing air with all the people on a bus.
But that's reality, and it applies to our human lives as well as to nature. We breathe in and out all day long, but it's never enough;
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I was hanging out with Torre the other day (as I do every day now) and got a little nostalgic thinking about how quickly he'll grow up. He already holds his head up when we hold him against our chests, and he is so strong in body and will that I doubt it will be long before he can roll over and crawl around and start causing mischief. Part of me is excited and proud in advance for how he'll develop, but I know it will be bittersweet as he becomes more independent and more challenging to parent.
As I was thinking all this though, I wondered to myself why this tinge of sadness accompanies the milestones we celebrate. When we see the beauty of a blooming flower or a towering tree, nobody thinks to mourn the seed.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Parenthood
My baby is one month old today! This must be the fastest a month has ever passed in my life, and I know it's only a taste of what's to come.
I am mind-blown,
since he came into the world,
this son in my arms,
who grew in my belly.
How can it be
that every person on the planet came from a seed
planted in a womb,
nourished by blood, and
ripened in water?
Delivered alien,
helpless.
How can it be that my flesh,
born from flesh,
has borne flesh?
Conception created the
inception of a human being:
belly within a belly,
my eyes in his face,
my heart in his hands,
captured with his first wavering cry
as his slippery skin turned pink
and his ten toes wiggled.
And now he sighs,
asleep on my lap,
too perfect to stay this small,
I know he will grow as fast as my wonder.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Natural Living
In the basement of our apartment building there is a "free room" where tenants leave stuff they don't want and other tenants take it for themselves. Sometimes books or magazines get shared through the free room, or clothes/household items are left for someone who has use for them. With the eclectic mix of people and families in our building, there are not many things that get left in the free room that won't eventually find a home. Matt and I abandoned a ton of clutter-to-us in the great purge of March two years ago, and within hours of taking it down, most items had been picked up.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Scripture
Matt was home a bit longer than usual this morning, which meant I had time not only to eat breakfast but also to read my Bible! I read the first part of Joshua 8 - God's instructions for the Israelites to ambush a city that had brutally defeated them in Joshua 7. The first time the Israelites attacked the city of Ai, they didn't realize one of the men with them had kept plunder which should have been set apart for God in a previous battle. God didn't help them in this battle and they were forced to a humiliating retreat.