Permanent Post-It Notes

So, I like to (when I had a dorm room and/or apartment) post notes with scriptures or "brian food" on mirrors, bed posts, cabinets, so I can be reminded of God and His word throughout the day...

I think I found a new, more permanent Post-It note!

Coffee mugs!

This is one of my new favorites.

It just makes me smile!

I get encouraged every time I look at it. :)

The reason I like this mug is because I feel like it is a reminder of who I am to the person who gave it to me, and also who God made me. That reminding me of how one day, I was thinking about how, it is such a blessing to those in your life, WHEN YOU begin to just be secure in their heart for you. When you know who God says you are, and are secure in that. It is a blessing to others when they don't have to always reassure you of that their heart is for you. When we begin to just operate from the TRUTH that we ARE LOVED...

(Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.)

and accepted, there is freedom!

John 8:32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Notice anything about the photo?

A Glimpse of God's heart

Have you ever had a longing to belong?

Like...to be apart of a family?

What's weird, is that, I know I am part of a family. Many families.

I have many loving people around me, blood relatives and more.

But today I just felt that longing, to belong.

A longing to be a part.

And I felt like, for a moment, that must have been a glimpse at what God felt like.

And then He sent His Son Jesus, to die for us, so that He could have a family.

Maybe He was longing to belong too?

Maybe He felt longing to be close and to be a part.

So He paid the ultimate price:

" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16.

Soups Galore

I have been loving making soups. I have always loved soups. But never really had the kitchen or the know how to make them good. But, just recently, a local Fairbanks chef, who has volunteered his time to cook for our Benefit Dinners, came over to the Pratt's to help us with cooking...and in the process, taught this amateur some culinary basics, such as:

How to cut an onion

Mise on plays, all at once!

Don't leave out the fond!

Spicy is not hot

Making a soup stock

These simple tips were just the tools I needed to create some healthy and tasty soups...

Kale and cabbage chicken soup

Kale and cabbage mongolian soup

Kale and cabbage moose sausage soup

Kale and cabbage veggie soup

Kale and cabbage ground moose soup

And a few more. :)

Thanks to Chef J and the encouragement of my friend Alicia, I am on my way to a lifetime of soup eating.

This has been the ULTIMATE tastiness for me...Kale, cabbage, onion, little bit of potato, carrot, garbanzo beans, little bit of cauliflower, little bit of tomato, little bit of Ortega chili with the chicken, noodles, and spice.

Wisdom of this world...

I am sitting here at a local coffee shop, trying to get my Etsy store up and running...

And this verse came to me, as I overheard a group of college students sharing their thoughts on math, science, and whatever else.

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,

'He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness'"

1 Corinthians 3:19 (New Living Translation).

No matter how many years upon years someone studies and goes to the most elite schools of learning...

Man's wisdom is foolishness to God.

That is a humbling thought.

ByKeeley Jewelry!

This past Sunday was ByKeeley's first time ever being featured at a holiday bazaar. It was definitely a learning experience! And fun! This Saturday, we will be there again, selling jewelry. Whatever doesn't sell, goes on the Tour with us! This is a pair of earrings I sold at Camp Nahshii this summer, to a couple from Atlanta, that came as "scouts" from their church, to see if their church could/would bring a missions team up in the future. Let me just say, to comment on how the bazaar went, selling jewelry in the remote bush wilderness, surprisingly proved to be more lucrative than jewelry sales in the city, so far.

2010-Come and gone, now on to 2011!

So, it has been a while. But I figured, since a lot has happened this past year, and so much more is to come, I better get started! 2010 has been come and gone in a flash. Missions in AK with TGM has expanded, with work teams coming up to help build Camp Nahshii, and everyone one of us on the TGM team becoming full-time, "job-less" missionary volunteers. Now, with the year almost completely behind me, I reflect on God's faithfulness. He provided for each on of us to richly. I reflect on His wisdom--even with unexpected changes, and new opportunities, He knew the timing of it all. We leave for our first ever, TGM to the Nation Tour, 2011, in 26 days. I am preparing my heart. I want to be in the right place for God to use me. More to come on that.