Random

Well, I am locked out of the house again so I figured why not blog a little? Thank goodness for this nifty iPhone... We'll see how long the battery holds out! I sometimes share recipes on here but today I will share something I do NOT suggest making. Crock pot broccoli cheese soup. Ick, weirdest looking stuff ever. Actually didn't taste too horribly though. Just not something I'll try again.

I received a call today from the national bone marrow registry saying that I am a possible match for someone with a rare form of leukemia. Transplant is usually a last ditch effort when all other treatments have failed. When I joined the registry last spring they told us that we would most likely never be called so when it happened I was quite taken aback. I have decided to go forward with the process for now to see if I might be a suitable donor for this person. There is about a 5% chance, I am told. So, I will leave it in God's hands. After all, he made me... And him.

Not much is going on in my life right now other than work, which I do enjoy. I have lived here long enough that it is officially past time for me to find some friends and hobbies. Not sure what that will entail, because I don't just want to jump into something for the sake of doing something. I want to find something that I am passionate about that has Purpose. I'm keeping my mind open and waiting to see what is next. If it's not getting married and having kids, that is fine, but what is it? I know that is blunt but that's where I am right now. A real life grown up without a real sense of purpose. And I hate that.

So anyway, that's it for now. I guess it's about time to hide a key!! :)

Monterey

I just got back from a whirlwind weekend in Monterey, CA!

Check out the pictures in my Picasa album. Hint: it's the 'my Photos' link --->

mine!

Homemade hummus

I am not the person who would normally create my own homemade hummus, but this week I decided to try this new recipe from MckMama. Long story short, I ended up cooking my own garbanzo beans. I know, strange. (P.S. Did you know beans take like 10 hrs to make if you use the proper method?) Anyway, I ended up with extra beans because, low and behold, after you cook them they practically triple in size. So,.. in the process I found out that garbanzo beans are the same as chickpeas which meant that I could try this recipe for hummus. I'm not sure how it really tasted because A) I didn't have any tahini, and B) the three cheese panetini crackers I ate it with were really tasty!

Oh, and the corn and bean salad turned out okay, too.

Ransom

A couple of weeks ago when I heard this song on the radio, one particular word popped out at me. It's a word I've heard probably hundreds of times in this context, but that time it really grabbed my attention and I've been thinking about it ever since. The word is ransom. We hear it in church all the time, that Jesus paid our ransom. If you're like me and you've been in church your whole life, a lot of these words and phrases, what I like to call Christianese, sound so familiar and casual that we can easily miss the impact of these foundational words. I started thinking about the literal definition of the word "ransom" and I suddenly saw the picture of Christ in a whole new light. Miriam Webster defines ransom as a price paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity.

The truth of the matter is this: all of us have been held captive by the enemy. Imagine for just a moment being kidnapped and held captive against your will. In order to be released from this bondage, a price must be paid: our ransom. What is the ransom, in this case? Life. Blood. Jesus. A life for a life. "For it is blood that makes an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11b) God in his mercy offered his Son as the ransom (or payment) for me. When I deserved God's wrath and punishment, he instead offered to pay my ransom. He set me free.