HEB adventures

here are some of the latest sights around the classy town of del rio...


People in Del Rio think it's socially acceptable to throw away poopy diapers in the parking lot. Not a garbage receptacle, but the actual ground where you park your car. If you're lucky enough, you may back over one when leaving the parking lot and pop it, resulting in feces on your tires. Classy



Paul Blart Mall Cop DOES indeed exist. Sighting was made at the HEB when grocery shopping this evening. Clearly I have little to no shame and laughed openly in his face.



Finally folks, here in Texas, there is no such thing as a Christmas Tree Farm. They ship beautiful Douglas Firs from OREGON (the greatest state on Earth) and sell them for TWENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS at the HEB. Ridiculous.

meditations on thanks

my annual e-mail of thanks to my parents. they are the best.

"Happy Thanksgiving from Texas!

On a scale of one to ten, my wish to be home is hovering around an eleven. As with the ONE other Thanksgiving I didn’t come home (only to learn my lesson as I rotted in misery on Bainbridge Island), I am writing to share with you, the best parents to ever orbit the sun, my meditations on thanks for the past year.

More than anything, I am thankful for you. I know I still take you for granted. I do. I don’t realize how fortunate I am to have parents willing to walk with me through an engagement gone awry, college graduation, a tough decision to move thousands of miles away, homesickness, bad dreams of potentially catastrophic in-laws, occupational woes, dreaming aloud and all the minutiae in between. I am thankful for parents willing to support my every decision, even if it takes me far, far away from them. Parents willing to turn the other cheek and be beyond cordial to the Franklands at graduation. To send me flowers when I call at 5:30 am over bad dreams. To parade me across the country with four seasons of The Office, a bat named Jansen and a broken heart. To listen to me cry over college loans, grad school, a boring job and more. Even more so, I am thankful for parents that celebrate my victories with me as well. Four years of SPU well done. A job offer across the country. An engagement on the beach (just because it didn’t end as planned, doesn’t mean it wasn’t WONDERFUL in the moment, right?). Finding THE DRESS for the right price (it will get used one day, I promise). For you, I am thankful.

This year I am thankful for Christ’s provision. I have learned layered lessons on trust this year. To trust that He knows what is right for me. Always. To trust that He will take care of me. Always. To trust that He has my best interests in mind. Always. God has been good this year. It may have been harder to see at some times, but He has been so good. I was blessed with the perfect job opportunity when I needed it in University Ministries. I got to work 8 hours a day with my mentors and BEST friends! Persistence paid off with a job in Del Rio with insurance, benefits and enough time off to come home for TEN DAYS at Christmas! I have maintained rich friendships from Seattle and have begun to puts down roots in Del Rio. Living here has stretched me, tested me, healed me and encouraged me that I am a work in progress. Del Rio isn’t the end-all. It’s not my destination but it’s been a necessary part of my journey. It was my escape and a huge step of obedience. If I don’t learn anything else at all from being here, I can leave here knowing that I had to come here simply because it was what God wanted me to do.

I am excited for our future as a family. This year we will increase by one, I will finally have my sister! The first Barnes wedding of our generation! Spencer will graduate and take the world by storm. Rem and Ashly will move forward and be REAL pilots! Who knows where I will be...as Mary Lou King always tells me, “The world is your oyster.” Maybe this year I’ll figure out exactly where He wants me and what I’ll be doing. Maybe this will be the year! This year, fingers crossed, mom will wrap up an incredible teaching career – only to launch on to bigger and better things. Who knows where God will take our family next.

I love you guys so much. My heart is with you every day, but especially this one. Even though your ragamuffins are far from the nest, we are always with you.

Happy Thanksgiving to the loves of my life...."

and a Happy Thanksgiving to YOU

life in a border town...

a photographic tour of a wee bit of my wee town.

gives me hope

God is not a man, that he should lie. He is not a human, that he should change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

...numbers 23:19...

oktoberfest & spooktacular

amidst your clouded sense of purpose, He is the God of uncertainty.

in all those broken little places, He is the God of the whole.

within each doubt and every fear, He is the spark of hope.

JAM-balaya

since my schweetie was working late tonight, it was my turn to whip up dinner. something matt said about shrimp got me curious about how i could muster up a jambalaya quick and dirty-like. i found a killer recipe on real simple and fiddled around with it a lot to fit my tastes. all four of my taste testers seemed to like it so me thinks it was 2 thumbs up.

Ingredients
1 T. olive oil
20 oz. turkey italian sausage (WAAAAY healthier than beef))
1, 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/2 c. water
1 box red beans and rice
1-1.5 lbs of shrimp, shelled & deveined
cayenne pepper
cholula/tobasco sauce
pepper

1. cut sausage into 1/2" slices and cook in olive oil (medium heat) until browned
2. add water & tomatoes, cover and bring to a boil
3. add red beans and rice, decrease heat to simmer & cover. cook for ~25 minutes
4. add cayenne pepper, cholula and black ground pepper to taste
5. toss in shrimp (i cut mine in half to make smaller pieces) and cook until pink (~5-6 minutes on medium heat)

there you have it. don't count on many more posts of this nature. i'm no at-home maven, but this was actually fun to cook and super easy.

wouldn't it be nice if we all did this?

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

...kahlil gibran, the prophet...

The Prophet

courtesy of my near and dear nathanael henry berends. very rilke-esque.