Friday, December 14, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
P90X Protein Bars
Kyle and I were /sort of are on the P90X excercize program and diet. I found this blog http://myp90xnutritionplan.com/p90xrecipes/melissas-homemade-protein-bars/
(And no, I didn't come up with this recipe.)
I saved a considerable about in groceries each week by making my own protein bars. And since I've always wanted to do one of the those picture recipe blog posts....here you go!
Ingredients:
I put a tiny amount of oil into the measuring cup first so that the syrup would come out smoothly, and the utensil would be easy to clean afterwards. This is a little trick first taught to me during Bob Likes bread making class at Keepers years ago. :)
I roasted the almonds. Definitely encourage you to do this! It enhances the flavor sooooo much!
Wet and dry ingredients. I also used the oil in the measuring cup trick for measuring the peanut butter. So glad that I did!
Mixed:
What it looks like together. :/ And yes, I did this all by hand. It wasn't half as hard as I thought it would be. I just didn't want to kill my hand mixer.
This is a no bake recipe. I like it this way because it makes the bars more moist than any baked protein bar I have ever had. The first time I made these I froze them first then left them in the fridge uncovered for a few days until they had dried out a bit. This batch I put some in the freezer and some in the fridge both wrapped in plastic or in baggies. They have staid moist and have not melted into puddles in Kyle's lunch box. :) Enjoy!
(And no, I didn't come up with this recipe.)
I saved a considerable about in groceries each week by making my own protein bars. And since I've always wanted to do one of the those picture recipe blog posts....here you go!
Ingredients:
Friday, August 31, 2012
August
It has been a wonderfully crazy month!
August 3rd I went blueberry picking. A few other people that I knew from the chapel and the teens ministry came as well. We visited a Japanese to English school for elementary aged children first. Then together we all picked blueberries and had a Japanese style BBQ for lunch. I scared myself half to death almost reaching my hand into a huge spiderweb guarded by the largest spider I have ever seen in my life. It was only about three inches across but still it was scary! The Japanese children came up to us and asked for our signature as part of their assignment for the day. This trip was a great opportunity to see a little more of Japan and make new friends.
Sunday, August 5th, Kyle and I endeavored to find our way to Atsugi Air Force Base by car in order to help set up for VBS the following week. We eventually did make it to our destination, but not without great difficulty. Fun times!
I was a Bonfire Bible teacher for the Beach Bash Vacation Bible School. Ridding the bus back and forth with the children from SHA each day was the highlight of my week. Loads of fun! It was great to be back teaching again!
The Saturday following the VBS Kyle and I successfully coordinated our first event together. Firsts are so much fun! :) We took the teens of the chapel to Tama Hills for a day of recreation. I enjoyed a 40min. horseback ride in the hardest saddle ever, an amazing game of ultimate Frisbee, and paintball in the woods with my amazing paintball obsessed husband.
Sunday the 19th and the 26th Kyle and I facilitated teacher training for the teachers that will be running the Children's Church program. I love watching my husband teach!!! He is so amazing!
Watching Kyle play softball, evening ladies summer bible study, an appointment to the vet for Seirra, a trip to Machida by myself, and preparation for the upcoming ministries conclude the record of this month's events.
Congratulations to Alissa-Jo and Brian on getting hitched!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Hello My Dear Friends,
I know that I haven't been posting anything, but life has been a little busy!!! :) Kyle is home from his training trip to Washington D.C. It is so good to have him back! I was reading an article today written by an Army Wife called What I wish my civilian friends knew a letter from a military wife.
What struck me the most was the paragraph stating, "We are not that different. My husband just took a job where the uncertainty of life is simply in our faces all the time. You sometimes can pretend you are in control of your life. I know I am not. God can use that as a launching pad for an incredible faith and trust in Him. Or Satan can use that to send me into a whirlwind of fear. Help me out of the spiral of anxiety if you see me spinning in it."
This military wife was writing this letter while her husband was deployed. Although Kyle is not deployed and it doesn't look like he will be any time soon, this woman accurately spelled out my feelings in this statement.
You can pray that I would not allow fear or anxiety to control me. Thank you for your prayers!
Love in Christ,
Melissa
I know that I haven't been posting anything, but life has been a little busy!!! :) Kyle is home from his training trip to Washington D.C. It is so good to have him back! I was reading an article today written by an Army Wife called What I wish my civilian friends knew a letter from a military wife.
What struck me the most was the paragraph stating, "We are not that different. My husband just took a job where the uncertainty of life is simply in our faces all the time. You sometimes can pretend you are in control of your life. I know I am not. God can use that as a launching pad for an incredible faith and trust in Him. Or Satan can use that to send me into a whirlwind of fear. Help me out of the spiral of anxiety if you see me spinning in it."
This military wife was writing this letter while her husband was deployed. Although Kyle is not deployed and it doesn't look like he will be any time soon, this woman accurately spelled out my feelings in this statement.
You can pray that I would not allow fear or anxiety to control me. Thank you for your prayers!
Love in Christ,
Melissa
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Romans 8: 1-8 - Bible Memory
Hey! I'm doing well! I know I haven't posted in ages. Japan is amazing. Life is wonderful. God is good! Right now Kyle is in D.C for a 5 1/2 week training class. He will be coming back home on June 17th, which is now in less than a month away!!! Celebrations! The goal was for me to use my new found "free" time to work on my relationship with the Lord. It hasn't quite worked out like I planned it, but hey, what does??? Inspite of feeling really lazy in this area, I have managed to work on my Bible memory a little bit. It has been quite a while since I made any progress in this area. If you wish to have a Bible Memory Accountability partner, please let me know! I need all the help I can get! Enough rambling from me. Please allow these scripture verses (typed from memory) to soak in. We are no longer condemned! If the King of the universe declairs you free then nothing in this world can make you guilty!!!
Romans 8:1-8 (ESV)
1. There is therefore now no comdemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2. For the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free, in Christ Jesus, from the law of sin and death.
3. For God has done what the law, weekend bysinful the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4. in order that the rightous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot.
8. Those wholive are in the flesh cannot please God.
ok.....now to check and see how I did.....I'll add corrections in red, and take away mistakes in green.
Wow! Not perfect but better than I though!
The only words I can comfortably say in Japanese are "sumimasen" (Excuse me) and Kon-nichi wa (Good Afternoon).
But from reading off of my little cheat sheet here let me ask you a question.
Genki desuka? (How are you?)
Love,
Melissa
Romans 8:1-8 (ESV)
1. There is therefore now no comdemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2. For the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free, in Christ Jesus, from the law of sin and death.
3. For God has done what the law, weekend by
4. in order that the rightous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot.
8. Those who
ok.....now to check and see how I did.....I'll add corrections in red, and take away mistakes in green.
Wow! Not perfect but better than I though!
The only words I can comfortably say in Japanese are "sumimasen" (Excuse me) and Kon-nichi wa (Good Afternoon).
But from reading off of my little cheat sheet here let me ask you a question.
Genki desuka? (How are you?)
Love,
Melissa
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Dress
Over and over again God has shown Himself to be interested in the little details of my life. Not that a wedding dress is a little thing. But sometimes it amazes me that God would be interested in something as menial compared to Himself and His glory as female clothing.
The story goes like this.....A very good friend of ours, who is now living in Panama, was married last year. We thought that her dress which she was and is trying to sell would be a good place to start. My goal was to find a dress that was modest and beautiful yet cheep. My cousin Katie-Jane was staying with us the week before. The day we needed to take her back to Camarillo seemed like the perfect opportunity to stop in and see if the dress would work.Since it was a two hour drive, we stopped at the thrift store in Simi. While we didn't find any good wedding dresses there, we did met a friend from church who suggested that we visit Camarillo Bridal. We were blessed and encouraged by our family friend from Panama who owned the dress, but unfortunately the dress didn't fit.
So we decided to go to Camarillo Bridal. I walked into the shop completely unprepared for the exciting experience that followed. The owner of the store just happens to serve the Mormon community in the area in regards to their required "wedding dresses." Therefore the store had 30-40 dresses that were relativity modest. As a bonus, these dresses just happened to be on sale! To top things off, the dresses were normally at another location AND there just happened to be an opening in one of the ladies schedules such that they were able to help me try on dresses.
There is pretty much no other feeling that matches having a gorgeous gargantuan pure white dress pulled on over your head. It makes you want to walk on air! The third dress I tried on was THE ONE. We took it home with us that day. It is such a blessing to sit back and watch how God has brought so many things together. Oh! And Veils! I've never wanted to have a veil, but Beth pulled on out that was simply a dream! So....yes! I will have a veil! I think I was almost as excited about finding a style of veil that I liked as finding a wedding dress!
As with almost all wedding dresses it needs to be hemmed, and adjusted in a few places. After a few weeks of thinking, and thinking, experimenting, and adjusting, we have found the most efficient and hassle free way to adjust the dress so it is perfect.
"And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, O
you of little faith?"
Matthew 6:28-30
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