Thanksgiving: Not Just For Turkey

Hello blog world! I realized as I was about to write this Thanksgiving post that the last post I wrote was also a thankful post. But I want to write another one. It is so uplifting to give thanks to the one that makes all things possible. If we treated everyday like Thanksgiving, this world would be a happier place.

Here is what I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

I got asked to make the pumpkin pie, a pumpkin roll, and the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner this year. :)

My husband who shows me he loves me in his leading as well as simple things like going back to our apartment to get my crock pot when I realized I forgot it this morning.

And he loves kittens. :)

My parents who so lovingly have supported me in truth and grace.

My brothers both being HOME for Thanksgiving. Steven flew from Indiana.

Then...

And now.

The official Christmas music kick-off today. :)

My new in-laws. I wish we could spend Thanksgiving with them and my family today.

I don't have access to my picture of all my new in-laws. These are my gorgeous new sisters. :)

Being told by a mom that her daughter loves me so much that they need to keep in touch even though she is exiting OCC.

The Lord has directed our steps to Keynote.

Support calls, because they mean catching up with loved ones as well as giving opportunities to invest in the eternal.

My extended family who are too far away for my liking. 

Cardigans in an array of colors. :)

My sweet little cousin, who will probably never know how much her love has blessed me.

Finding so many wonderful recipes on Pinterest.

Getting the opportunity to lead worship 3 different times since Corey and I got married.

Reconnecting with an old friend from college.

All my friends both near and far. 

Technology making it possible to stay in touch with my dear friends far away.

A job where I get free artwork, hugs, kisses, laughter, and "I love you"s even on the hard days.

My adorable "nephew". I only wish he loved me as much as he loves his "Uncle Corey". :)

The smell of onion and sausage cooking.

Laughing at Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan with Corey until our sides hurt.

That because of Jesus perfect sacrifice I can stand before God holy and blameless, as if I never sinned. There is no greater love than this.

What are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day?

Until next time!

--Hannah

What Are You Thankful For?

Hello blog world!

It's been a while since I have blogged--as per usual. But I saw a blog post from a friend who was calling it "Thankful Thursday". I thought that it would be a great idea to do the same thing. It's always good to remind yourself what you're thankful for. God is always faithful to provide good things, and if we took more time to thank Him (even for the small things) we'd all be much happier. :)

I'm thankful that a little over 2 months ago, I married my best friend. :)



I'm thankful that I have supportive parents.

 

I'm thankful for brothers that make me laugh.

 

I'm thankful for a brand new oven.

 

I'm thankful for the kids' smiles and hugs at work.

 

I'm thankful for an apartment with air conditioning and efficient management.

 

I'm thankful for friends who like to play "Munchkin".

 

I'm thankful for long phone calls with my Summer Project sister.

 

(this picture makes me laugh)

 

I'm thankful for cell phones, because it keeps even the long distance people in touch.

 

I'm thankful that going to college in Irvine taught me to love the beach.

 

I'm thankful for sunflowers.

 

I'm thankful for my baby cousin (and her brother), and that she drew me this picture a little while ago.

 

I'm thankful for rain, even though it's a rare occurance here.

 

I'm thankful for Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

 

I'm thankful for Jesus Christ, who died so that I may have life--and have it abundantly.

 

So...what are you thankful for?

 

--Hannah



And I Said, "Yes!"

As most of you have already heard, Corey and I are officially engaged! :) I have had the full story request a lot of times, and not enough time to tell every single person, so I promised a blog post with all the details. :) And here we go...

On Tuesday, March 20, it was an ordinary day at work. Well, not super ordinary, because let's face it every day at my job is just slightly different. However, relatively normal all the same.

After the kids had lunch, we let them outside to play before we put them down for naptime. I was manning my post at the girls' bathroom, when one of co-directors (and my pastor's wife) approached me. She said, "Hannah, can you have some spot you? Pastor Gary needs to talk to you."

"Oh, OK," I said. I didn't find this weird at all, since a friend from church and I have been working with Pastor Gary to start a young adult group, so we've been in contact with him a lot recently. I asked one of my co-workers to spot me, and headed upstairs.

"He's in the sanctuary," Lori Barber said.

"OK," I said and headed up the stairs. I thought it was weird that he was in the sanctuary instead of his office, but again not unheard of. For a split second, I found myself wondering, "Maybe Corey's here...No! He's not. That's ridiculous."

Corey had convinced me weeks ago, and in the weeks building up to this day, that he had to work all spring break. He even told me that his staff interview was on Friday. I wholeheartedly believed him.

I walked into the sanctuary to find it empty. Thinking Pastor Gary was up in the sound booth, out of sight, I called out, "Hello? Pastor Gary?"

And a familiar voice responded. "Hey, stranger!"

I looked up and Corey was sitting on the stage, tucked in a back corner, so I wouldn't see him when I first walked in.

I think my heart stopped. Corey said my face looked like I'd seen a ghost. I was seriously so shocked, I was shaking. I kept saying things like, "What? Are you seriously here right now?" I headed up to the stage, very aware of the fact that I looked like I work at a Pre-School. Grimy and exhausted.

Corey had a very nice speech prepared, which I wish I remembered more of. I was in so much shock, that my brain kind of blanked out. I know he said that I encourage him to be a more Christ-like man. And then he asked me to marry him, down on one knee, of course.

I was still so stunned, that I didn't even cry. I just said, "Yes!" Corey was so surprised that I didn't get emotional that he asked again. Haha! The answer was the same. :)

The craziest thing? He had the ring and the plane tickets for a month. He and my parents have been planning his surprise proposal for a MONTH! My mom even called my boss to ask for some days off work without my knowledge. I was so excited. :)

He was actually supposed to arrive the night before he did, but his flight out of Kansas City got delayed due to storming. But I thought "Plan B" was perfect. :)

 He spent the whole week here, and we had a great time. I'm so happy that he and my family get along so well. We took some pictures (just holding the camera ourselves, though I thought they came out pretty well).

We're planning our wedding for August, and he is moving out here after graduation. Hallelujah! We are planning on attending New Staff Training for Keynote in January of 2013.

I drove him to the airport early this morning, and while it was a bummer as always, it was such a huge relief to know that this is the last time we will ever have to do this. :) Please be praying for us over the next two months as we work to start planning our wedding over long distance, that God would use this time to grow us closer together and closer to Himself, and that we would be able to locate Corey a place to live this summer as well as a job. There are a lot of details, but I am so grateful that God provided for us, and that He will continue to provide for us. We are infinitely blessed. :)

I hope this post was satisfactory for those of you who wanted to hear the story. :) Until next time!

--Hannah

Disappointment is a Failed Recipe

Seven weeks ago, I started a new "diet" where I have switched over to whole wheat and cut out sugar, including sugar in other things. I have been feeling a lot better, and have seen some nice weight loss results. It's all been rather exciting. :)

However, I am a baker at heart. I genuinely love the craft. In fact, I think I enjoy the baking process more than the actual eating of baked goods. I love that it has specific rules, but if you know enough about baking science, you can adapt those rules to create and improve new recipes. Thanks to the internet and Food Network, this has been made possible. It's truly a stress release for me. It's my happy place. Being in the kitchen, some music playing, measuring ingredients, and coming out with a product that makes everyone in the house go, "Mmmm...that smell's amazing."

So honestly, the thought that I cannot eat anything sweet isn't a huge disappointment to me when it comes to baking. However, it does make it a little more difficult to find a reason to bake. My parents aren't eating sweets very much right now either, neither are my friends, and it's very difficult to mail anything except for cookies or brownies to Corey or Steven.

Nevertheless, I had a desire, no, a need, to bake a cake today. Every once in a while I get this need. It's strange. It comes over me in a giant wave, and I can't rest until I've made it. But cakes are extremely irritating, because who just makes a cake for no reason? It needs to be for a party, right? After, wracking my brain for an excuse, I decided I would just make one, feed it to my parents, and pawn the rest off on their Bible study tomorrow.

I decided on yellow cake with chocolate frosting. That's one of my favorites. However, I have never found a yellow cake recipe that I love. Upon purusing the internet, I found a recipe that had met rave reviews from everyone who had tried it. One woman said it was so good that her husband's coworker had asked how much the baker would charge to buy the recipe! Wow. I was convinced. I printed it out, and went to work.

I was hesistant, because the directions didn't follow the methods I was used to seeing. But the woman who wrote the recipe swore up and down, that she thought her lack of using the "creaming method" was the key to her cake's success. I decided to take her word on it. Now I'm wishing I hadn't.

When I removed the three layers from the oven, they were dense and thin. "Odd," I thought, "But maybe they're supposed to be like that."

After letting them cool, I assembled them with some homemade Chocolate Buttercream. Actually, the frosting came out beautifully. It might be my new go to chocolate frosting. :)

I assembled the cake, and it looked nice. Short, but nice. :)

I cut my parents a slice, and I could feel the denseness as the knife went through. Oh no...

My parents said it tasted good, but it felt like poundcake, and kind of tough. I took a very miniscule bite, and was saddened. All my hard work and the result was tasty, but strangely spongy and dense.

For a recipe that was so wildly raved about, I wonder what went wrong. It's almost like the cake didn't rise. My only thought is that my baking powder was bad. Weird stuff. I was all excited to blog about a triumphant cake, and give credit to the website where I found it, but as it is, I think I'll skip that. I wouldn't want a terrible review of what was clearly supposed to be a wonderful cake. Maybe our oven's on the fritz...

So my quest remains, and my deep need to bake a cake has been quenched until next time. For now, I will search and search until I have found another recipe I can try. Until then, our house shall be cake-less. But that's not so bad for me. I guess I'll just eat my sugar-free ice cream. ;)

--Hannah

One Step Closer

Hey friends! As usual, it's been a pretty long time. However, I figured it was about time I announced some pretty exciting news. :)

What you see above is the front page of my Keynote acceptance packet. Yes, that's right friends. I am officially a new staff member with Cru! Or as it is officially called "New Staff Trainee". :) I won't be an official staff member until after New Staff Training. It's all very exciting.

Now starts the process of writing support letters, making contact lists, and lots and lots of prayer. It's crazy, because I feel like so much prayer has already gone into the process, but looking through the packet is a reminder of how much we have to trust on God for His provision.

As most of you know, it's hard for me to not have a concrete plan, or even not having a basic plan with "wiggle room". God has asked me to step outside of my comfort zone so many times in this area over the past year. I know that He has grown me through it, but that does not mean that it comes easily by any means. I thought I was graduating from school early, so that I could attend New Staff Training (NST) this year in January. Clearly, God did not want that.

Right now, I'm beginning the process of raising the $3,330 for New Staff Training. The Summer 2012 training is from June 15 to July 15, however it's possible that life circumstances could dictate going to Winter 2013. I whole-heartedly believe that God will make that clear within the next couple of months. Please be praying for guidance and clarity in that area. Also, if anyone would like to hear more about Keynote and what I hope to be doing there, and how you could be involved in getting me there, let me know so I can send you a letter. :)

I'm super excited about this process, even if it a little daunting. I hope that you guys are excited too, and will join me on my journey!

Until next time!

--Hannah

Christmas With Corey

Hey Internet World. I apologize for my hiatus. It's been pointed out to be by several people.

I want to give you a brief overview of my trip to Kansas, since to go into all the details would take forever. So here are the highlights.

I arrived on Christmas Day! We spent a few days in Lenexa with Corey's family before heading to Manhattan to visit some of his friends. There I got to experience the true beauty of...

A Maple-Bacon Donut. :)

Oh yes, they do exisit. And they are delicious. Note the amount of bacon on that bad boy. I do not want to think about how many calories were in those things. Man, were they good, though.

After we spent some time with Corey's friends (unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of them. We're kind of bad at that...) we went to see the Manhattan sign. It's kind of like the Hollywood sign...only Manhattan. We took some fun woodsy pictures.

I didn't want to venture down the hill in my boots. But that is the MA in Manhattan.

Corey and I. :)

On New Year's Eve, Corey and I got to have a Triple Date Game Night with some of our favorite people. :)

Left to Right: Corey Tindall, Me, Kory Myrick, Natasha Jackson, Tim Esau, and Erica Smith.

It brought so much warmth to my heart to see them. I hadn't seen Natasha and Kory in 6 months, and Tim in a year. And I had never met his girlfriend, Erica. We played Balderdash until midnight. It was such a blessing to ring in the New Year with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Just looking at this picture makes me want to cry a little bit. It was such a wonderful time. Only God knows when I'll see them again, but I trust that it will be sooner than any of us think. :)

Corey and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary while I was in Kansas. That man is such a blessing. He planned a super fun day for us--all of which was a surprise. First we went ice skating at this gorgeous downtown area of Kansas City.

I didn't fall a single time! Corey did...but I didn't get to witness it. ;)

Afterwards we went to the mall and walked around. We saw some huge REAL gingerbread houses and some silly Wizard of Oz toys--both of which I found picture worthy. :)

That night we got all dressed up and Corey took me to a dinner theatre!They were showing this comedy called "Game Show" which was SUPER funny and starred the lead Brittish guy from that old TV show "The Nanny". It was a little bit awesome.

When we got there this was a big card on our table from the theatre. :)

It was signed by the cast! :)

The show was fantastic. Hilarious and audience interactive. Although, I was very glad that they didn't interact with us. For all the performing I've done, I do not like to be picked on in an audience setting.

Corey and I took a two mile walk one day, because even though it was January it was a glorious 65 degrees outside. :)

It was so beautiful. :)

The Friday before I left we went back over to Natasha's apartment for dinner with her and Kory. My heart was so happy that I got to see her twice in 2 weeks. :) She made this amazing tortellini soup with spinach and meatballs. Oooh, I want to make that for dinner tonight...

Corey and I made some brownies for dessert. Natasha liked them. :)

Sooner rather than later it was time for me to go back to California. I was on the 5:40 flight from Kansas City to Houston out of Continental. Corey and I packed up the car and drove the 30 minutes out to the airport. We got there an hour early, plenty of time for my flight.

I went to check-in, but according to the machine...it was too late to check-in. What?

The rather irritated airport lady informed me that I was on the 5:10 to Denver on United Airlines. What??

Then she informed me that I needed to go to a different terminal to see if I could check in, because she couldn't help me. She figured it was a lost cause, because I was less than 30 minutes away from that flight leaving. WHAT???

Corey and I booked it to the United Terminal. I was hysterical. I was just sure that I would have to buy a completely different ticket with $800 I didn't have. Corey assured me that it was going to be OK.

We got to the United Terminal, and sure enough it was too late for me to board the plane. The told me they would have to rebook me. I was horrified, but there was nothing I could do at that point. I would have to pay.

The woman informed me that she could put me on a flight the next day at 4:17PM to San Francisco, then on the 6:22 to LA, then on the 10:45 to Bakersfield. I would be getting home until midnight. 

"That's what we can do. It'll be $75," she said.

I was stunned. "Only $75?"

"Yes."

Needless to say, I took it. I was rather traumatic. Let me tell you right now, all those songs and movies that make missing flights sound so romantic, they're lying. I was a mess. But in the end it was nice to spend one more day with Corey. I was so grateful that he was with me throughout that entire ordeal. God has really blessed me with him. :)

This is us right after all the trauma was over. Haha! :)

Ultimately, the trip was a wonderful success. I miss Corey and the rest of the Tindalls a lot. Right now, we don't know when we're going to see each other again, which is kind of scary. But we're trusting that God will provide the money and the time to make it sooner than we think. :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me, friends! Until next time.

--Hannah

Snips, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

"Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails;
That's what little boys are made of." --Mother Goose

The following story is about a little 3 year old boy (we'll call him Matt). Now Matt is magazine caliber adorable. He's blond with bright blue eyes, and is constantly smiling. He has one of the brightest faces I have ever seen. His mom dresses him in a kind of "3-year-old-skater" look. He is so cute. Even though he's not one of my students, I know him relatively well. I've gotten to know the 3-year olds pretty well, since we all play together at recess time.

Matt is rarely in trouble. He's a good listener and very nice. I don't think I've ever seen him on the giving end of a troublesome act. He's just an all around good kid. I'm a huge fan of Matt.

So on Friday I happened to be working with the 2 year olds for about an hour. One of the teacher's was out on vacation, so they needed someone to fill in for a short amount of time. On Fridays we take the kids to gymnastics, which involves two teachers--one in the front of the line and one in the back--because we have to climb a staircase that curves around a corner. It's important to make sure all the kids can be monitored at any given time, in case they fall.

It was my job to gather of the 2 and 3 year olds that were enrolled to go to gymnastics. (Not an easy task. Haha.) We were already about 15 minutes late, due to some other factors, so tensions were running high. I was getting them together, when Matt walked up to the group. I was just about to call over to him, "Matt, get in line! We're going to gymnastics!" when I saw him. His hands, arms, and shins were covered with packed wet sand and dirt.

"Matt! What happened to you?" I cried out.

He looked at me, thrust his arms and hands in front of him and answered, "I'll wash my hands!" and hurried over to the drinking fountain.

Choking back exasperation and laughter (a rather odd combination, but ask anyone with kids or who works with kids and they will tell you they've experienced it) I said, "No, Matt, come here. We need to go to the bathroom."

I ushered him into the bathroom, followed by the 10 or so other children that were supposed to go to gymnastics. I shooed them out of the bathroom to wait with the gymnastics teacher and her assistant, while Matt rinsed wave after wave of dirt off of his hands and arms.

"Matt, what happened to you?" I asked again, while I wetted three sheets of paper towels in an attempt to deal with his muddy shins.

"I played in the dirt!" he answered, grinning from ear to ear.

Again, laughing to myself and lamenting the mess, I worked on wiping the mud off his shins. The paper towels at work are a joke. I think I was only succeeding in moving the mud around.

Just then the gymnastics assistant looked into the bathroom and laughed. "If I were you, " she said, "I'd just take off his shoes and socks and put him in the sink."

I paused for about two seconds, as Matt continued to rinse his hands. "You know, that's not a bad idea."

I started to undo Matt's converse and socks (which were equally caked with mud).

"What are you doing?" asked Matt.

"Putting you in the sink. Here, I'm going to pick you up, just hold on to me."

I picked him up and stuck his feet in the sink. With one arm secured tightly around his waist, I scrubbed the mud and dirt off one leg and then the other with my other hand. Matt was positively beaming.

Since we can't have the kids walking around with bare feet, I had to carry him up the stairs to gymnastics, and back down again when we were done. I laughed the entire way. Matt was ecstatic.

The best part? They couldn't get his shoes and socks clean for him to wear the rest of the day. So he had to wear the girl's faux leather costume boots from the dress-up box. When his dad came to pick him up, he didn't want to take them off...so he went home like that--all the while smiling his heart out.

I love my job. I love little boys, and I love that God created them to love making messes.

It sounds funny, but it was the moment that I hoisted Matt into the sink that made me 100% sure that one day I want to have sons just as much as I want to have daughters. They are so much fun. I found it extremely encouraging. :)
I hope this story brought as much joy to you as it brought to me...and to Matt. :)

Until next time!

Hannah