A Taste of Italy: Tiramisu

Last year I went to Italy for 2 1/2 weeks. It was a fabulous trip and one of my favorite things that we did was a cooking class in Florence. We made Tagliatelle and Ravioli pasta from scratch as well as a Bolognese sauce, Butter and Sage sauce, and Tiramisu. I quite enjoyed learning how to make pasta from scratch, but I have made the Tiramisu more than the other recipes...maybe because it's so easy. Tiramisu is an Italian dessert that literally means "pick me up" and gets it's name from the small amount of caffeine found in the coffee and cocoa that is in the dessert.

Well, tonight a friend of mine and I broke out my recipe for Tiramisu and I thought I would share it.

Ingredients include 4 eggs (room temperature), 1 lb. Mascarpone cheese (room temperature), 24 small Lady Fingers, 12 spoons of sugar, 6-7 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup black coffee.

First, separate the egg yolks and whites into 2 separate bowls. Be sure that none of the yolk mixes with the whites. You can do this by moving the egg yolk from hand to hand and letting the egg white drip into the bowl. 

Combine the sugar with the yolks and mix until creamy. 

Then fold the cheese into the yolk mixture.

Whisk whites until soft peaks form. You may want to use a hand mixer for faster results. The peaks should be formed so that if you turned the bowl upside down, they would not fall or move.

Fold the egg whites into yolk and cheese mixture. 

Dip the cookies into the coffee one at a time.

Spread a layer of cream into chosen serving dish. Layer with cocoa and cookies. Layer again with cream. Keep going until everything is used up ending with cream on top. 

Dust with cocoa powder until covered. Add chocolate chips if desired. Chill 2 hours in the refrigerator. Keeps 1-2 days (no more than 2 days because of the raw eggs). Recipe makes 6 servings.

Bon Appetit!

Pepper Place

This past weekend I was blessed to spend time with two friends enjoying a purely Birmingham experience..Pepper Place Market. It was so fun to sample local produce/treats, enjoy live music, chat with friends, shop at booths from local venues, and observe the people of Birmingham enjoying this scene. It's definitely a fun way to spend a Saturday morning in the Steel City.

We sampled all sorts of yummy treats like goat cheese and spiced pecans.

We also discovered a neat local coffee house called Red Cat that was jumping with business. If I liked coffee, I would hit this place up frequently. The atmosphere is so fun! The worker I spoke with said that he visited the farm where this blend of Dominican Republic coffee came from and they get it direct without the middle man.

The live music at Pepper Place Market was probably my favorite part. I love the banjo!

And there is a plethora of beautiful fruits and veggies everywhere.

Not only am I a sucker for supporting local business, I love all things natural. So, I got a little carried away at this booth...Earth Garden Naturals. I've used their lip balm before and really liked it. But I cannot wait to try their Skeeter Beater bug spray I bought. I'm going to need it in Mexico!

And there was no way we could pass up on a Steel City Pop. This is probably one of my favorite local eats. If you're ever in Birmingham, it's worth a stop!

 We had a great time and I look forward to going again!

The Swan House

Several years ago mom gave me a book called The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser. It's a Christian fiction book set in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1960's, and it's about a young girl who learns about the Truth as she deals with the grief of a tragedy. The book captures many historical aspects of the city of Atlanta and highlights a particular house built in 1928 that still stands in Atlanta today...the Swan House. So, when mom and my sister and I were looking for fun things to do on a recent weekend visit to Atlanta visiting the Swan House was a must. We quite enjoyed our visit of the house and other attractions that the Atlantic History Center had to offer, including the Smith Family Farm and the Margaret Mitchell House.

We ate lunch at the Swan Couch House which is the sweetest little cafe located near the Swan House. The food was delicious and we even ended up going back to eat lunch there a 2nd time on our short trip!

This is a view from the back of the house. The house is referred to as the Swan House because of a little swan located in the iron work of the window above the back door.

The font of the Swan House

Micah quite enjoyed visiting the Smith Family Farm which is still in use today. They grow vegetables and have chickens laying eggs daily.

On Sunday we attended church and enjoyed lunch with one of Micah's friends who is from the Atlanta area.

While Micah was enjoying time with her friend, mom and I decided to tour the Margaret Mitchell House. It is actually an apartment located on the first floor of a house and is the location where Margaret Mitchell lived while she was writing Gone With the Wind. 

And what's a better way to end a girl's weekend than with the Melting Pot and a Pedicure? This was a real treat because it was mom's first time for both!

As much fun as we had touring old homes and spending time just the girls, my favorite part was the opportunity the Lord gave us to share our faith with a homeless lady and her son who approached us one evening. It was a divine appointment, humbling experience, and good reminder of the precious gift of grace the Lord has given me. I'm grateful that the Lord gave us this opportunity to proclaim His name and show me areas where I need to grow. It was good to be reminded of the importance of scripture memory and the need to be "prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15).  As I prepare to go to Mexico, I pray that the Lord gives me many more opportunities like this one to share with those I meet that He alone is worthy of our praise and obedience and that we are all sinners condemned to death until we trust in Christ who died in our place on the cross and turn away from our sin. I pray that Ever and her son and all that I meet will see their need for Christ and surrender their lives to Him. I'm grateful to the Lord for giving me the privilege of taking His message to the world, and I pray that He continues to show me His character, draw me near to Him, and transform my heart so that I reflect His image.

Preach and Heal

One of the books that I have been asked to read in preparation for Mexico is a book called Preach and Heal by Charles Fielding, MD. It is an easy, quick read with great perspective for missionaries seeking to model Christ's example of mission strategy. The author is a physician and church planter who shares his experiences and lessons learned regarding apostolic work. The book begins recognizing that most apostolic workers (missionaries) can be divided into one of two categories: the preachers and the healers. Preachers love teaching and evangelism, and they focus on transforming the community through those they teach. Healers love to heal in whatever capacity they are in whether it's a poor education system or physical/social/emotional pain, and they focus on transforming the community through individuals they serve. Both camps are skilled, passionate, called of God, and have biblical support for the work they focus on.

The preachers draw from scriptures such as: Romans 10:17 - "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ"; 1 Corinthians 9:16 - "For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because an obligation is placed on me. And woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"; and 1 Timothy 4:13 - "Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching."

The healers draw from scriptures such as: James 2:15-16 - "If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,' but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it?"; and Matthew 25:34-40 - "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me'."

So, if we are seeking to minister to the world, what approach do we take? preacher or healer? Well, our best option is to look at what Jesus did. Was he a preacher or a healer? We see throughout Christ's ministry recorded in the Gospels that Jesus was a preacher and a healer with no bias towards either camp. Matthew 9:35 states "Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness." Fielding states "Can you think of any example where Jesus complained about too many sick people getting in the way of His preaching or too many learners getting in the way of His healing ministry?" Jesus was the perfect preacher and the perfect healer. And Jesus encouraged His disciples and has instructed us in this model of ministry as well. Matthew 10:7-8 says "And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons." Luke 9:2 says "And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal." Mark 6:7, 12-13 states "And he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits...So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them."

The problem we encounter is that we don't have a divine nature and we are still battling the flesh. We come to the table biased. And we have a comfort level surrounding our identity as either a preacher or healer, so we look to others to pick up slack and handle responsibilities that we consider outside of our role. Academic achievement and specialization prior to being commissioned as an apostolic worker further contribute to the separations of preaching and healing roles. But this is not the Lord's design. The Lord has given us instruction and modeled for us a strategy to further His kingdom through both preaching and healing. Fielding states "Those who uphold the value of preaching or healing are focusing on mere activities rather than on the glorious kingdom. It doesn't matter which ministry is more important. What matters is obedience to the directives of Jesus. He is the master strategist. He knows what He is doing and has given us this tactic as a two-handled plow. Both handles must be held with equal pressure and commitment for the one plow blade to dig deep into the ground and transform the soil into a place best prepared for seed."

So, as believers we are all called to make disciples. And as we have seen here, we can best do that by imitating Christ as both a preacher and healer. We can find encouragement in knowing that Christ chose ordinary men to be his disciples - the men he spent the majority of His time with and the men that carried His message into all the world. These men had no special training. They were led by and enabled by the Holy Spirit...the same Spirit that is living in us. As Fielding says, "Our personal bias or training is irrelevant and must not be allowed to become an idol. Jesus gave all of us the strategic tactic to 'preach and heal' so that we may grip the lost through the power of the Holy Spirit, that disciples may be made of all nations, and that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord may cover the earth as the waters cover the seas."

As a nurse, I have a tendency to get caught in the healer camp. It's easy for me to get overwhelmed by the volume of homeless people lined up at the nurse's clinic I work at. It's also easy for me to get distracted with all the tasks I need to do for my patients at the hospital. And so I often get carried away with the serving part of making disciples and forget to take time for the preaching part. This is an area I have struggled with since I became a nurse, but I'm grateful that God in His grace has enabled me to see that I need growth in this area and that He has been helping me take steps out of my comfort zone and have more boldness in teaching the Word as I serve in healing ministries. As I think about what this model of preach and heal means for me in Mexico, I pray that our team will be imitators of Christ. I pray that the Lord will give us many opportunities to preach and heal, and that we will not neglect or value one side over the other. And as we seek to model after Christ's ministry, I pray that many will come to know the Lord, trusting that He is the One true God who came to this earth, lived the sinless life we could not live, died the death we could not die, taking the punishment of our sin upon Himself, freeing us from slavery to sin, and giving us His very own righteousness so that we could be united with the Lord for eternity. I pray that it won't stop there...I pray that these disciples will take what they learn into their communities and become disciple makers who preach and heal as we model for them and Christ modeled for us. May we live in such a way that we can exhort people to follow us as we follow Christ!

Hello Charleston!

This past weekend I was blessed to be able to spend a few days visiting the city of Charleston, South Carolina, with a couple of friends. We enjoyed lots of good conversations and laughter, had many people ask "where are y'all from?", ate a bunch of ice cream, and learned a few history lessons. It was a charming city with a beautiful downtown, fun beaches, and southern hospitality....needless to say, I quite enjoyed it! Here's a little picture recap:

After an 8 hour drive, we finally made it!

We ate a delicious dinner at Sesame Burger - my favorite was the bacon, peanut butter, and banana burger

 Welcome to Charleston!

 We spent a day on the beach at Sullivan's Island

This was my first time touching the Atlantic Ocean!

Eating Gelato after dinner downtown..yumm!

Apparently we look like "charleston girls"

Touring Boone Hall

The avenue of oaks at Boone Hall, planted in 1743 and almost 1 mile long

Loved the Butterfly Conservatory at Boone Hall

A salt water pond next to a fresh water pond at Boone Hall plantation

This is the Iron Gate that Ryan Gossling ran into when filming the Notebook. Apparently it was an accident that he hit the gate and the film company had to pay for the damages.

I'm thankful to my precious Lord for this precious time with precious friends.

Equipped

One of my prayers as I have been preparing to move to Oaxaca is that the Lord would show me favor in this season of preparation so that I will be most effective while I am there. I have been praying that the Lord would show me favor in learning Spanish and how to serve cross-culturally in this context. I was encouraged when I came across a passage in 2 Corinthians today: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” Paul is actually encouraging the Corinthians to be cheerfully generous in their giving, but this passage was encouraging to me as far as my preparations go for Mexico. We see in verse 6 that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” He is good and He is able to equip me with all that I need to do His work - and not just do it, to abound in it. Verse 11 says that He will “supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” It is encouraging to know that the Creator of the universe, the Sovereign King, the Author and Perfecter of my faith has not only called me to serve among the nations, but that He is equipping me with grace and supplying me in order to abound in the work He has called me to. And what’s neat is He desires my success in this mission because He desires the glory of His name to be known and the salvation of the lost. I'm so grateful that I can rest in and be fueled by His strength and grace!

Called To Go

 As I have begun to tell people that I will be moving to Mexico for 4 months this fall, I have gotten a variety of responses. Some people are concerned about safety. Some people look at me like they don’t really understand it. Some are just plain excited. The ones concerned about safety ask where exactly I will be going. The ones who don’t understand ask why I am going. And the ones who are excited ask what I will be doing. I can understand where all of these responses come from, but I want to share how the Lord has worked in me and brought me to this point.

This has been a long process in which the Lord has used distinct moments in my life to reveal His plan for me. The Lord began preparing me for missions when I was probably eleven or twelve years old. I distinctly remember having a desire to give all my things away and move to the jungle to live simply among the people there and share Christ with them. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, but as I look back, I can see that this was the Lord beginning to instill in me a heart for the nations and a desire to make His glorious name known. When I began taking Spanish classes in high school the Lord softened my heart and gave me a love for hispanic people. I loved practicing Spanish and would get so excited when I saw and heard Hispanics out in public. Fast forward a few years to college. One weekend I was home visiting, and as I was talking with my dad he told me that he thought I was going to be a missionary one day. At the time, I brushed it off even though I was thinking to myself that it was a possibility. Then I went to Ecuador on a mission trip with nursing school. It was my first trip out of the country. I loved the people of Ecuador and felt at home there. I was thousands of miles from home in a foreign place where I was no way near fluent in the language, and yet I felt like I was in my comfort zone - like I had come home. I went to Peru a year and a half later on a mission trip with my church, and the Lord deepened my love for hispanics and my desire to take the Gospel to the nations. Up to this point I recognized that the Lord was working in my heart, giving me a desire to serve cross-culturally but I didn’t really know what it meant. I didn’t know what missions would look like and so I just used that as an excuse to do nothing. Then, when two of the families from my church were commissioned to serve long-term in Ecuador, I felt the Spirit stirring in me and knew that I could no longer sit back and disobey the Lord's call for my life. I felt convicted that I had failed to be obedient in pursuing this and I began accepting the possibility that the Lord was preparing me for missions. Around that time (approximately two years ago), I began a serious relationship with a guy from Central America. We talked about eventually marrying and moving there. I was excited and desired to spend my life doing missions in that context. When the Lord closed that door I felt a moment of identity crisis. I thought this was the plan...it involved missions and seemed to suit me well. But, I realized that even though this wasn’t the plan the Lord had for me, it didn’t mean I couldn’t or shouldn’t continue to pursue missions. So, I met with a member of the global team at my church and over the next months the Lord opened up this opportunity for me to serve alongside missionaries in Oaxaca, Mexico. I am very grateful for this opportunity and feel privileged that the Lord is choosing to use me in this way.

When I think about my motivation for going, several things come to mind. The first is that I serve the one true God who created all things and is worthy of all of our praise and obedience. The people in Mexico are not excluded from this. I desire to take this Good News to them so that one day when I stand in the presence of my Savior there will be Mexicans from Oaxaca standing beside me, singing His praise. The next is that Christ has commanded me to go. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’.” This is a command that requires obedience for all believers. Wherever the Lord has us, He has commanded us to make disciples. Another motivation for me is that the Lord has clearly given me a heart for missions and for hispanics. He is my guide and I will follow where He leads. Isaiah 48:17 says “This is what the Lord says - Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go’.”

So, to all those concerned about safety asking where I will be going: I am going to the nations. I go knowing that this world is dangerous and that I may face hardship, but also knowing that He is worthy of suffering, even to the point of death, and that believers can rejoice in suffering, counting it a privilege to fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of the church (Colossians 1:24).  I go with confidence that the Lord is on my side: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39.

To all those who don’t understand and ask why I am going: I go to glorify the Lord because He is worthy of the praise of these people and because He has commanded me to. Romans 10:14-17 says “How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

To all those who are excited and ask what I will be doing: I will be making disciples. I will be spending 4 months building relationships with these people and ministering to their needs in order to show them who Christ is. May He work in the hearts of many people so that they will trust in Him. May I live in a way that most effectively makes disciples. And may the Lord be most glorified!