Thai Peanut Chicken

Check out this recipe!  It is our absolute favorite!!  A peanutty, delicious sauce with a bit of cilantro and lime... mmmm!!!  So easy and so yummy!!!  Thanks ourbestbites.com!  =)

Thai Peanut Chicken

1/2 c. chicken broth
3 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1-2 tsp. Sriracha chili sauce (1 is mild with a bite, 1.5 is medium, 2 is hot)
1 1/2 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh minced ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
8 oz. Udon or linguine noodles
Chopped green onions
Chopped cilantro
2 limes, cut into quarters
Chopped peanuts

Cook noodles in salted water. In the meantime, combine chicken broth, peanut butter, chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk until smooth and remove from heat. Toss cooked noodles with sauce and divide among 4 bowls. Sprinkle with green onions, cilantro, chopped peanuts, and garnish each serving with 2 lime quarters. Before eating, squeeze lime juice over noodles and stir to combine.

If desired, you can add meat to this dish by stir-frying shrimp or very thinly-sliced chicken (partially freeze it first) in some olive oil with a couple cloves of garlic, some fresh ginger, some green onions, soy sauce, and a small squirt or two of Sriracha chili sauce.

What are your dreams and aspirations?

Last night we were at a friend's birthday dinner.  Two of our friends, who hadn't previously met, were getting to know each other, asking the normal questions.  "What are your interests?"  "What do you do for work?"  Then came the big one.  One had the boldness to ask "And what are your dreams and aspirations?"  Woah!  Loaded question.  He came back with an answer I had not heard before, and one which has me thinking and contemplating.  "To live life well," he responded.


I've often been asked this question, and recently have been mulling it over and over in my mind.  "What do I want to do?"  "What are my dreams?"  "What has God called me to?"  At work, fellow employees consistently ask me what I want to do, seeking to find whether or not they have competition if a Supervisor role opens up. :)  I don't know.  I don't know what to tell them.


It seems I've been programmed to think and to say "things" when others ask of my dreams and aspirations, as though they're expecting some great response of "I want to start this" or "I want to do this," "In the future I'd love to be doing this."  I've been thinking of all the answers I can give... start a retreat center?  Lead youth missions trips?  Write curriculum?  Human resources?  Management?  Nursing?  What do I say?!


"To live well."  What a confident, genuine response.  If I put aside people's expectations or my own expectations of what I think people want to hear, he's right.  I want to live well.  My dreams and aspirations are ultimately to live a life that glorifies God.  To make the most of life and to help others make the most of theirs.  


So Father, help us not to be caught up in the ways and the thinking of this world.  May we be who YOU want us to be, doing what YOU want us to do.  And in this, we are thankful for a life full of joy, of peace, and of meaning.  May we live well... for You.

Here's the Real Stuff

After writing e-mails to dear friends and family tonight, I realized I can post about things I am learning, and avoid the vulnerable and honest truth... which I very much want to share and be real about.

The Father is doing a great work in me, to say the least.  I came kicking and screaming to Kelowna, and haven't stopped ever since.  I knew I needed to be here, and yet, my heart and my desires were very much not here... especially as things grew more and more discouraging.  The lack of community, ministry opportunities, and jobs were the primary things that disheartened me, and continued my rant of "God, WHAT?!!"  However, God, in all His patience and graciousness, has (and continues to) gently lead me to a place of peace and rest.  This move has been tough, to say the least, yet He is opening my eyes to His faithfulness, and His goodness.

Jobs... The job is going well (I am working 25ish hours as a Front Desk person at a Gym and Aquatic Center), though at this point, I certainly do not see myself staying there forever.  My desire is to be working with, encouraging, challenging, and equipping people in their faith, however at this time I can certainly see how He may be using me in this dark place.  I have yet to meet a co-worker or staff (out of 150 people) who may be a follower.  So to say the least, I certainly have the opportunity to be light in a dark place... and for that I am thankful.
As for Mark... still no job or word.  He has recently had another interview and 2nd "interview" for an After School Kid's program where he would be the leader planning and organizing all the games, crafts, and whatever else you do with kids for Kindergarten through Grade 4ish.  We should hear soon, but pray that the person who is most fit to lead and make a difference in those kids' lives, would be the one who gets the job.  Though it would certainly be nice for Mark to have something to put his heart and hands to. :)

Church... We still have yet to find a place where we can serve and connect.  We know there are options, and will continue to seek and to pray.  We pray that God will continue to open doors, and will lead us to a place where we can both use our gifts and abilities to encourage and build up the Body, and we trust He will do this.

Overall, (now) though this place and this time has been hard, we pray that the Father will indeed do a great work in us and then through us.  We are starting to see His work in transforming us (or maybe it's just me! Mark was fine all along!), and indeed I pray as a friend prayed for me, that I would be in His will and led by His Spirit...

Thank you for your many prayers, your support, your e-mails, and your love.  You are missed greatly!  Yet we are trusting the Father for great things in us and through us, wherever and whenever He may take us.  May the kicking and screaming cease, and His name be lifted high. :)

Something To Live For

Having nothing to live for sucks.  You have time, and energy, and nowhere to put it.  You put your time and effort into the menial things of a job (merely so you can keep surviving), and the trivial facebook.  You come to the end of your night, still filled with energy, minus time, and with utter frustration.  "I have spent my day for what?!!!"  Frustration rises and fists are clenched with anger at the meaninglessness and loss of it all!  You hit the bed and feel like kicking and punching.  You feel like you wanna take the world out, and yet, what good will it do?  You have no hope for tomorrow.  Wishes only that maybe tomorrow might not come.  That maybe you wouldn't have to do the things you know are pointless, merely to fill time and make the day pass.  Utter frustration.  Utter hopelessness.


As Followers and Servants of the Most High King, we have something to live for.  Some days are filled with frustration, and with seemingly unimportant activity, with mundane or trivial tasks merely for time to pass.  And yet, we have the King to live for.  We have a reason to rise from the mundane, to wake in the morning, and to continue on.  We have Jesus.  


So "let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."  Let us "run the race with perseverance," and cling to hope for "the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him."  


Let us live with purpose, and keep our eyes focused on Him, trusting that He has the bigger picture in mind, and knowing that there is a world who needs to know Him, to praise Him, and to serve Him.  


So Father, this is our prayer... that we might live with purpose in every step and moment.  That we would remember WHO we live for, and that we have a purpose... an eternal purpose. May we not grow weary, and may we continue to seek and to follow You.  We trust that You know the bigger picture and that Your ways are best.  So we cling to You and we trust You.  We surrender.  Lord, have Your way in and through us...

Untitled: Where We're At

Thank you dear friends for your prayers and many words of encouragement.  Though we are far, we certainly feel and know your support, and we are very thankful.  What an interesting journey we're on.  Never have I left a meeting with a Pastor feeling so discouraged, and so un-needed for any role within the church, or what is happening there.  The journey as of recent goes like this...


Yesterday I read the story of the paralyzed man.  You know it... the man was paralyzed, Jesus was teaching, the place was crowded, so his friends took him through the roof so he could meet with Jesus and be healed.  Instantly after beginning the read I thought, "That's me.  I am the paralyzed man.  Paralyzed with discouragement, paralyzed with lack of opportunities, paralyzed.  And in this time when I can't seem to think or act clearly, I need my friends to take me to Jesus in order to be healed."  I was struck at this paralysis, and struck at the thought of our family and friends bringing us before the Lord.


Then today I read the story of the fisherman.  Yet another familiar one... Jesus climbs in the fisherman's boat.  He's talking to a group of some seriously discouraged fishermen.  Just earlier they were out in the water, couldn't catch a darn thing, and yet He says to them, "Do it again."  And so, they trust him, and these seriously discouraged guys go out, put out their nets, and lo and behold end up with heaps of fish!  So I was encouraged, things may not have worked so far, but we just need to keep putting out our feelers, and trust that God will provide, and that doors and opportunities will open up.


So we go to meet with our pastor this afternoon, and I am feeling encouraged that we're at least trying, that we're putting our feelers out there, and that God has asked us to do this and He will provide.  However, apparently His timing and His ideas are different.  We left the meeting and never have I felt so much like I had no place in a church.  They tell us there's lots of opportunities to get involved, but really no needs.  I guess that's the case for a big church?  Let me tell you though, I didn't go to Bible school so I could be a Welcome Host once a month.  I want to be in Kingdom work.  I want to fully immersed in ministry, fully immersed in making a difference for the Father and living a radical life.


So, Lord, yet again, we wait.  We pray and we wait.  And we trust that You will indeed open doors and bring opportunities for us that are far beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.  Father, use us for YOU!  We are willing, and ready, and waiting.

In other notes... this is also where we're at.  

It's things like this that remind us God is still very much with us, and at work.

(The morning sunrise from our B&B balcony... isn't it beautiful?)

Tough Places

This has been a tough place, to say the very least.  We are only partially unemployed now, but still lack the ministry and the true community we so desire.  This has been a place of desert and barrenness for us, which is such an irony in a place where growth, fruit, and water abound.  I suppose these are all merely physical things.  And the dryness, the barrenness, is of every other dimension... but still such an irony.  With family so far, friends so few, opportunities lacking, and ministry unfound, I suppose you can see why this for us is one tough place.


Today some lifelong Kelownans, and others that had moved here in the past several years for school, reassured me, "Oh, and Kelowna's a VERY cliquey place anyways."  So it's hard for us to meet anyone, and then you tell me it's just full of cliques (like we hadn't noticed... but now I guess we are supposed to believe).  So why are we here?  God?  We are searching for answers.  And praying for something far greater then we could EVER ask or imagine.  Please Father, we are seeking for answers.