i've been cooking a lot lately . . .

and tonight, i'm cooking out of this book:

when it comes to family heirlooms, most girls get fancy jewelry, silver, antique dressers or fur coats.* me? i get Cotton Country Cooking and my great grandmother's well seasoned iron skillet. and i. love. that.

food is quite the tradition in our family, and having this well used, written-in copy of staples in southern cooking and entertaining. tonight's recipe? chicken divan. it involves mayo and cream of chicken soup. i can't go wrong, right? i'll let you know how it goes. until then - happy dinner time!

* also food related, my grandmother did give me a set of crystal salt and pepper cellars with sterling silver mini spoons. they're beautiful, and her message with them was more beautiful "I just wanted your new home to have something that has always been a part of our meals together in my home"

So so thankful

i know, it's been a while since thanksgiving. but i have so much to be thankful for that i still had to do a post about it. (besides, beggars can't be choosers and if you actually look forward to new posts on this site, you qualify as a beggar) we were with Justin's family for the great feast, and it was, truly, a great feast. i held on tight to my purnell roots and took mostly pictures of food (seriously, its like a disorder in our family - at least my brother married a professional photographer who can do it well) and a few pictures of people with food in the background.

First there is the best chocolate bundt cake in the world. i would HIGHLY recommend it. super easy and pretty impressive. oh, and so good that i could probably eat it for every meal.

Marie, justin's grandmother, made almost everything. we ran around drinking wine, taking pictures and stealing bites. she's a great grandmother though because she didn't care that i ate almost a whole can of olives before we even sat down.

Me and my Dr. Quinn bangs. they look better now. oh - and becca (the other twin's wife) and dori (the mother-in-law, who i am so so thankful for).

and dori and all of her boys.

besides all this there was turkey and stuffing and SNOW!! best of all there were people who are thankful for each other. and besides the chocolate cake and olives, that's what thanksgiving is all about, right?

from where i was to where i am. . .

step 1: move to st. Louis, mo.

step 2: become a full time grad student

step 3: get artsy barista job at locally owned coffee shop

step 4: get bangs.

(i apologize for the grainy picture and the expression on my face. i just left it because, well, that's the expression usually on my face these days)

and there you have it - from where I was when i last posted to where I am now.

this will be a fun game:

can you guess what this picture is inspiring in me right now?

ps - this is the girl from 'a fine frenzy' in case you were wondering.

oh! oh! real quick . . .

i would be ENTIRELY remiss if i didn't say a big ol'

happy birthday!!

to the amazing kelley kirker. here's how things would be going if we were celebrating together. . .

there are no words to sum up how i love that girl. so i'll just leave it at that.

the view from here

i know i haven't written much - i've been busy. there has been city to expolore, people to meet, and lots of reading to be read. at last, though, right now, this evening - there is pie crust to be made, an andrew peterson cd to be absorbed, whiskey to be drank (or is it drunk?) and a post to be blogged. honestly - life feels almost as good as i know it is.

the past two weeks have been a blur. school is much more consuming than i expected for both justin and myself. we both spend a lot of time reading. any spare time i've had has been spent looking for a job and attempting to make this apartment my own.

for those of you who know me well, i seriously doubted this school thing at first. now, i can't imagine why. every day i get to go to class and talk about things that matter. my primary responsiblity right now is to come home and read works by these great men of God about the One who truly matters most. already i've had to read the likes of os guinness, sinclair ferguson and lesslie newbigin - i'm talking whole books, people. not to mention articles by guys you won't know but probably should. it's almost not like school (until i hit 11 pm and i've been reading since 3 with only minor breaks - then it's exactly like school). my favorite thing for now has been ferguson's book on the Holy Spirit. it's hundreds of pages on the person of the Holy Spirit and it's so intriguing and genuinely life changing. i challenge you to read about the person of the Holy Spirit and it not rock your world at least a little bit.

besides that there's the job search. after only one week i've gotten to the point of desperation. what does that mean? it means i've started thinking that manual labor jobs don't sound so bad after all. it means that youth ministry doesn't look that good on an application for a high-end cookware store. it means that i've gotten really good at writing down my last three employers and their contact info. it means that i have to rest in God's provision in a way that i only had to talk about before moving here. i'm really thankful for the whole thing.

for now, i'll leave you with this:

" The Spirit's role in Jesus' ministry is now evident, He serves as the heavenly cartographer and divine stratagist who maps out the battle terrain and directs the Warrior-King to the strategic point of conflict. he is Christ's adjutant-general in the holy war which is waged throughout the incarnation." - s.f., The Holy Spirit

just a few minor adjustments

that's right, city of a thousand sights. you know what that means? it's magic code for sprawling metropolis with more interstates than my gps can handle. it means the sheer amount to explore is exhilarating and overwhelming. it also means that it can take up to 45 minutes to get somewhere in the same town. for me - it's an adjustment.

so that's where we are - here in st. louis. so far, i like it. it's not alabama, it's not south carolina, it's not home yet. but, i love our apartment (pics to come soon) and everyone has been almost over the top friendly - even the babies, and there are millions of those here in seminary housing. (by the way, i'm not drinking the water. literally, i'll only drink it if it's been through the brita filter. my scientific brain know it's biologically impossible for this kid thing to be 'in the water' and yet, there are SO many babies). i've already found a running route, two trader joe's and a dozen frozen custard places. there are also a few familiar faces here, even a couple who have known me since before i was a mrs. and that has made this whole thing much easier.

we're adjusting: adjusting to being away from the only home we've know as a married couple, adjusting to not having cable (i watched the wendy williams show today)or a spare bathroom, adjusting to washing all dishes by hand, adjusting to being full time students and not in full time youth ministry. it all just feels really different, a little foreign and like it will be normal soon enough.

fun things - like picture of my vintage oven - coming soon. until then, i'll just be here adjusting.