Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Nathan and I had a couple from church over for dinner one night, and I was so excited to make this Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake. It pretty much took all day to make, but it turned out great. Each layer is made one at a time, chilled, and set, before you chill the whole cake hours before serving. But it was worth it. It's really rich, but very light at the same time, and each layer has its own flavor and texture. I will definitely be making it again, maybe for Christmas.....I will have to add it to the list of about 50 desserts that are on the "possible Christmas dessert" list. :)

Scarves at the bookstore

These are pictures of the scarves that are now sold at the bookstore. The line is called "Knits of Grace."

Here they are, up on the wall and ready to be sold.

My hand-knit scarves now to be sold at your local Christian bookstore!

I have been knitting and crocheting since I was a little girl when my Grandma B taught me how. I have so many memories of her lessons and the different things I would come up with to try to make. When I was 12 it was headbands and belts that were the "cool" things I made, even though most of them looked awful. :) Now it is scarves, mittens, and sweaters in my file of patterns. A few weeks ago, I saw some scarves come in with a clothing order at the Christian bookstore where I work. My adrenaline level must have shot through the roof with how excited I was when I attempted to convince the manager of the store that I could knit a scarf just as beautiful (and for much less money) as the scarves that were ordered. I was absolutely thrilled when he encouraged me to bring my scarves in to be sold at the store. So, for the last few weeks, I have been knitting non-stop, trying to make scarves and mittens in time for the cool weather fast approaching.
I do not know how well the scarves will sell, or how many years I will have this opportunity, but I'm trying to make the most of this season. These are just a few pictures of what I've been working on. I wish my Grandma B were still alive to see this happen, but I still treasure the sweet memories of her knitting lessons.

I loooooove Cheesecake

Cheesecake is definitely one of the best things this world has to offer. My two favorite cheesecake recipes so far are Oreo Cheesecake and White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. So, I was thinking, what would be cuter than mini cheesecakes for serving or hosting or.....well pretty much anything. I also was thinking it would be a great idea to come up with a recipe to make two different kinds at the same time. So, as bold as it might sound, I wrote my own cheesecake recipe. I looked at a ton of recipes in my cookbooks and online and came up with a base that would work for both the oreo and white chocolate raspberry recipes and baked them in my muffin pans. I just needed to divide the cheesecake in half towards the end and add a couple of individual ingredients. I was really careful while baking them, and I discovered something that surprised me. Even though they were pretty much the same recipe (except for a couple of things), the oreo cheesecakes baked slightly quicker than the white chocolate raspberry. Go figure.....They were all delicious, but because they were so different, I decided they shouldn't be baked together. So, instead of one recipe, I have two now, and I kind of wrote them both myself, I guess...... :) Next time, I'll know what to do differently.

Date night 10-02-10

Nathan and I had our date night on Saturday! We had some wine, and for dinner, pork loin stuffed with apple stuffing, seasoned potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Then we went for a walk around the grounds by our apartment. We live by a castle! So it was fun to look around, but too dark to get any good pictures. After that, we came back and had chocolate souffle for dessert and watched a movie. It was a great night. We love being together!

Pumpkin Cake Roll

A while back, my mom made this pumpkin cake roll, and I remembered it being amazing. So, for our church small group lunch tomorrow, I thought it would be a great fall dessert. Plus, it's so pretty. :) Not to mention, I now have a new holiday dessert recipe. Nathan and I tried a little piece of it, and it is really good. Hopefully, it will hold up until lunch after sitting in the car during church tomorrow morning....

Our new couch cover! Yay!

New York Marathon canceled

Sad news!
I will not be running the New York Marathon this year. As the time drew closer, the process and cost involved in getting to NYC for the race (as well as the day before to get my race packet) were becoming very complicated. I am hoping to do a race in the spring, and perhaps New York will work out next year. I am disappointed, but I know I will enjoy the race more when things work out to make it happen.
In the meantime, I will keep running and build a solid base for the next race I decide to run.
This weekend I will definitely fit in a good run on Saturday, and the rest of the day will be spent preparing for my date night in with Nathan.
I told him I will cook something amazing for us to eat. I enjoy cooking so much, having the time to actually make an extravagant meal will be fun. Not to mention, save us some money by not eating out. :) I am making stuffed pork tenderloin, seasoned potatoes, and chocolate souffle. I am really excited about it. With Nathan in classes, we don't get the chance to plan much time together, so this should be fun. :)

So, I love this time of year, when all the apple and pumpkin recipes are floating around. A new one I wanted to to try was Mini Apple Crostatas with Caramel Sauce. I found it on Pillsbury's website. I found a homemade caramel recipe too. These were really yummy, and so cute looking.

The new pumpkin recipe I want to try this year is a Pumpkin Cake roll with Cream Cheese filling. My mom has made it before and it is absolutely delicious and pretty too. That one is soon to come. :)

French Silk Pie

I spent a long time trying to come up with a good French Silk Pie Recipe. True French Silk Pie has raw eggs in it, about 4, which is a lot. Considering the recent egg recalls, I was hesistant to try using raw eggs. So, I finally found a recipe that heated the eggs in a saucapan over low heat, just until warm enough to cook out any bacteria, but not enough to compromise the pie recipe. This particular recipe had heavy cream in it, so it was pretty creamy and absolutely delicious. I will definitely be making it again.

Look what I made!

Chicken and dumpling soup. Mmmm.

Time with our families in MN

Nathan and I finally went home to Minnesota at the end of August! I can't even describe how wonderful it was to spend time with our families. We spent the first 5 days with my family and another 5 days with Nathan's family. One of my brothers from California and my sister-in-law and niece were also visiting, which was fun. Plus my newest nephew was born 9 days before we got there, so it was great to see him. We were able to connect with a few friends, which was also great. We mostly just hung out with our families, which is exactly what we wanted. However, the time still went by too fast and we're back in Philadelphia now. Being back in MN made us realize how much we've missed it and how different things are from out here.
When we got back Nathan started classes at Westminster, which we are both really excited about. It helps us feel more purposeful in why we're living here and what we're working towards (with the grace of God to help us).
It is scary to be starting a phase in our lives that has so many unknowns. It is also scary to know that there will most likely be some very difficult things to deal with along the way. But we feel secure in that even though we might fail, God is gracious and faithful.

Grocery Shopping at ALDI

So, I have officially decided that I am going to do my grocery shopping at ALDI from now on.
There is an ALDI close by to our new apartment, and I had been meaning to go there for quite some time. So, on my day off from work, I finally had the chance to go. I got everything on my list, quite quickly seeing how ALDI is a pretty small store. When I was finished, I went to check out and the total came to $49. I was psyched. Until I swiped my debit card and it didn't go through. So, I tried again. The lady at the checkout asked me what type of card it was. So, I asked if I could ring it through as credit, seeing how that's what normally has been the case since we moved to Philadelphia. Then she told me, as she sat in her chair eating strawberries while talking to me (kind of weird, I thought), that they only take debit or cash. When I told her my card was in fact a debit card, she saw that it was Wells Fargo, and told me that's an unknown bank......interesting......(welcome to the east coast, huh). However, I knew it wasn't her fault and there was no point in complaining about it. So, I asked her if I could just leave my cart and she nodded, so I left. Then I had to drive over to the oversized, crazy, busy, Shoprite across the street and get my groceries. It took 3 times as long and cost $83 dollars for the same things on my grocery list.
So, after an entire afternoon of grocery shopping, and seeing the obvious difference it makes to our budget to shop at ALDI, that is where I'll be doing my grocery shopping from now on.
Now, if I could only locate and ATM nearby.......

4th of July in Philadelphia

I know these are poor pictures, but they're all we've got.
On the 4th of July this year, Nathan and I went to Penn's landing in downtown Philly to watch the fireworks and listen to the Philadelphia Orchestra play.

Braciole

I love cooking! There is an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" where Debra makes braciole and everyone loves it. So, I looked the recipe up online. It is a pounded out slab of beef, stuffed with seasonings, currants, pine nuts, provolone, and prosciutto, and then simmered in a tomato/red wine sauce. It turned out really well and was very yummy, but it was kind of a complicated and lengthy process.
The bruschetta was amazing too. Nathan said, "I love it when you make this!" And that recipe I made up myself. :)

The Legitimacy of Scholarship and Writing in Christian Ministry

In the past couple of weeks I have been wrestling through whether or not the radical nature of New Testament Christian ministry allows for a Christian academic, or publishing ministry. What sparked this turmoil was the report of a short-term missions team upon their return from Uganda. It forced me to consider whether spending a large portion of my time working at studying and being a scholar was something that could exist simultaneously with all the other needs of Christians around the world.

While there is no necessary dichotomy between Christian scholarship and radical Christ exalting self-denial. I had to (and still need to) work through whether my desire to be a scholar is a self gratifying desire to live the American dream.

I am very grateful for C.E. Hill and E. Randolph Richards for their insights into the apostolic mission as a writing ministry. While many may believe that writing and scholarship has no place in the radical ministry of the New Testament, Paul did not believe so.

In the approximately 14,000 private letters from Greco-Roman antiquity the average length was about 87 words....The letters of the literary masters, like
Cicero and Seneca, were considerably longer. Nonetheless, Paul stands apart from
them all. (Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, 163 [quoted
in C.E. Hill, God's Speech in These Last Days)

The average length of Cicero's letters is 295 words; the average length of
Seneca's is a whopping 995. But the average length of Paul's letters is
2,495! Even Colossians, short by Paul's standards, is (by my count, according to
the NA27 text) 1416. ( C.E. Hill, "God's Speech in These Last Days" in Resurrection and Eschatology, 226.

E. Randolph Richards estimates that even after the time and effort Paul and Timothy put into writing Colossians (including pre-writing discussion and possible note-taking and production of multiple drafts) each copy of Colossians would have consumed about half a day of a scribe's work and that Paul would have spent, by conservative estimates, the equivalent of $502. Implying that his longer letters would have
cost even more.

Thus, for Paul writing was not a waste of his time and money, when he should have been visiting or planting a church, but a vital part in his role as the apostle to the Gentiles, and so it should not be considered a waste of time for you or I today.

Racism

Check out this helpful article on the challenges faced by theological institutions.

http://online.worldmag.com/2010/07/07/no-racism-does-not-explain-everything/

Our New Apartment

So, we are finally all moved into our new apartment at CLC. We love it here. The area is beautiful and after a little paint and lots of arranging furniture, we are feeling very at home. Other than the exhaustion we both feel from moving, we feel much more settled and relaxed. There are still some things to organize and re-organize, but we'll get there. My husband even allowed me to go to IKEA and get some new decorating items. (woohoo!)
However, being a Minnesotan up to this point, I was shocked at the dangers that came with running around here. I pictured these roads in the hills surrounded by trees, as being quiet with low traffic. Not quite...My first attempt at running, I ended up hovering by a tree on a road with no shoulder and uphill on the side, so I couldn't even balance on the curb, with semis and cars driving by probably wondering what I was thinking...it was pretty scary. My second attempt, I ran up and down the short section of road that actually had a shoulder, and then did hill sprints up the driveway to the CLC campus. LUCKILY, someone informed me of a park nearby that has a 1 mile loop of a trail around it. It's perfect! With distance markers each quarter of a mile. So, now I can proceed getting ready for the NYC Marathon. :)
So, who would have thought getting a P.O. Box would be such an ordeal? After 5 trips, about 10 forms of ID, and 3 different clerk's, we finally have one. After much difficulty, we also finally have our new diver's licenses. Now, if we can just get our new car registration, we'll be all set. There are so many moments, where I wonder if we'll ever have the ambition to move again! But hopefully, this challenging experience with help make future moves easier.
And I am thankful to have a working oven.... (sigh) even if it is so small that my cookie sheets don't fit in it and the temperature dial is off so it gets much hotter than it should. And I'm thankful for electricity and air conditioning, even if, ever time I blow dry my hair, we blow a fuse and one of us has to run down stairs to flip the switch and then we proceed to re-set all the clocks in our home. I am realizing my lack of patience with things that are inconvenient, and I've been very convicted of not being grateful for the blessings we do have.
So, praise God for his care for us, and that He is faithful to remind me of my sin and selfishness! He has given us so much, and even if He had not, what He has done for me on the cross is far beyond anything I deserve. Meditating on that truth gives me so much joy and puts things in perspective. I really have nothing to complain about. Praise God He loves me even though I continually make much out of things that should not be.

Newton on Controversy

Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace. Yea, I would add, the best of men are not wholly free from this leaven; and therefore are too apt to be pleased with such representations as hold up our adversaries to ridicule, and by consequence flatter our own superior judgments. Controversies, for the most part, are so managed as to indulge rather than to repress his wrong disposition; and therefore, generally speaking, they are productive of little good. They provoke those whom they should convince, and puff up those whom they should edify.

--John Newton

If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all.

Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. A
Jesus, ready, stands to save you, Full of pity joined with power. B
He is able, He is able; He is willing; Doubt no more. A

Come ye needy, come and welcome; God's free bounty glorify; A
True belief and true repentance every grace that brings you nigh. A
Without money, without money Come to Jesus Christ and buy. A

Come ye weary, heavy laden, Bruised and broken by the fall. A
If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. A
Not the righteous, not the righteous; Sinners Jesus came to call. A

Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. A
All the fitness He requires is to feel your need of Him. B
This He gives you, this He gives you, tis the Spirit's rising beam. A

Lo! The Incarnate God, ascended; pleads the merit of His blood. A
Venture on Him; venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude. B
None but Jesus, none but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good. A

--Joseph Hart

Warfield on the Purpose of the Seminary

Whenever I read B.B. Warfield, I get help plain and simple. Here is something he said with regard to the purpose of the seminary and the task I have before me (and so does anyone else who is in ministry) --

What precisely must be taught in a theological seminary will be determined by our conception of the ministry for the exercise of the functions for which it offers preparation. And that will be determined ultimately by our conception of the Church.......On the evangelical view, the Church is the communion of saints, gathered out of a lost world; and the business of the minister is to apply the saving gospel to lost men for their salvation from sin -- from its guilt and from its corruption and power. Palpably, what he needs for this is just the gospel; and if he is to perform his functions at all, he must know this gospel, know it thoroughly, know it in all its details, and in all its power. It is the business of the seminary to give him this knowledge of the gospel. That is the real purpose of the seminary. -- Selected Shorter Writings Vol. 1, p. 376

Thanking God for my Eustace Adventure

In his The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis gives us a very telling picture of where all of us are in life post-conversion. Until this point, the young boy name Eustace has been a quite unbearable companion for those unfortunate enough to be on board the Dawn Treader. In an episode of the story where Eustace sneaks away to avoid helping repair the ship, he finds himself outwardly what he has always been in his heart: a dragon. This is quite disturbing to Eustace, because he can longer talk and feels desperately lonely. It seems that Eustace will forever be condemned to go on alone, when suddenly (Thanks to Aslan) he is turned back into a boy. Everyone around him notices the being a dragon has done Eustace some good. Summing up Eustace's little adventure Lewis writes, "It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that 'from that time forth Eustace was a different boy'. To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun. "

Colossians 1:27 tells us of this cure. "Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Hold fast to the Gospel and do not despair of glory (holiness) because by the grace of God you are what you are, and his grace toward you is not in vain. On the contrary, work harder than before, because it is not you, but the grace of God that is with you. (1 Cor 15).

Gospel Poem

O ye sons of men be wise,trust no longer dreams and lies,

Out of Christ, almighty pow'r can do nothing but devour.

God you say is good. 'Tis true.But he's pure and hold too;

just and jealous is his ire,burning with vindictive fire.

This of old himself declared:Israel trembled when they heard.

But the proof of proofs indeed is he sent his Son to bleed.

When the blessed Jesus died God was clearly justified:

Sin to pardon without blood never in his nature stood.

Worship God, then, in his Son,there he's love and there alone.

Think not that he will, or may, pardon any other way.

See the suff'ring Son of God,panting, groaning, sweating
blood!

Brethren, this had never been had not God detested sin.

Be his mercy therefore sought in the way himself has taught:

There his clemency is such,we can never trust too much.

He that better knows than we,bids us all to Jesus flee.

Humbly take him at his Word and your souls will bless the
Lord!

--Joseph Hart

Piper on the Racism of Abortion and the Pro-choice movement

Here is a very cogent case that abortion is one of the societal structures that consistant social liberals should hate. If pro-choice folks really valued true freedom (i.e. the freedom to not sin, and to be righteous), then they would hate abortion.
(It should be noted that I am not a Republican posting for the party platform. I am a human, a creature created in the image of God, posting for the party platform.)

A Third Way for Jekyll

This past couple of weeks I have been plodding my way through Keller's The Reason for God, and it has been very helpful on a variety of levels. However, the sine qua non of Keller's stuff is his insight into the depravity of our own righteousness. Particularly clear on the matter is his exposition of this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,

I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good. You know how earnestly, in the last months of the last year, I labored to relieve suffering; you know that much was done for others....[But as] I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect...at the very moment of that vain-glorious thought, a qualm came over ma, a horrid nausea and the most dreadful shuddering....I looked down...I was once more Edward Hyde.

Keller goes on to explain "Like so many people Jekyll knows he is a sinner, so he tries desperately to cover his sin with great piles of good works. Yet his efforts do not actually shrivel his pride and self-centeredness, they only aggravate it. They lead him to superiority, self-righteousness, pride and suddenly -- look! Jekyll becomes Hyde, not in spite of his goodness, but because of his goodness." (p. 182-3)

Those who know the story know that Dr. Jekyll despairs and takes his own life when he comes to the horrifyingly insightful realization that his attempts to atone for his sins merely fuel the fire. But there is another way, a miraculous way that would have healed the sickness inside of Jekyll. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus makes the Jekyll in all of us an over that would have stopped the tragic end to that story. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (ESV)

I plead with you who do not know the Savior, Unload!

The treadmill

Recently, we purchased a new treadmill! I cannot even express my excitment. It's so nice to be running and look out the window at the 20 inches of snow falling from the sky and below freezing temperatures, and still be sweating away in shorts and a T-shirt on the treadmill.

However, as I was running the other day, wearing the heart rate monitor Nathan gave me for Christmas, I was completely baffled at how high my heart rate was at the speed at which I was running (which I will not make public... ehem). Anyway, I convinced myself that the treadmill must be at an incline or uphill or something. Because I certainly couldn't be THAT out of shape. I ran a half marathon last summer and a 10k in October and off and on since then. Getting into it again since moving, hadn't been that long.....and you'd think all the progress I made would have kept me in somewhat good shape. As embarrassing as it was, I told Nathan, "I think this treadmill makes me run up hill; I'm so out of breath so easily and my heart rate is so high, even for the sporadic running these last few months." To which he smirked, and said, "Are you sure it's the treadmill? Maybe it's supposed to be that way to compensate for the difference between running outside and on a treadmill?" I didn't think so......So, I spent the next 24 hours walking by the treadmill, examining the angle at which it bottom sat. And I was convinced it was slanted. Not sure, if it was the floor or the treadmill, but I was sure of it.

So, while Nathan wasn't looking, at the risk of looking ridiculous, I put a tennis ball on it and watched. And sure enough............AHA!!! It rolled pretty quickly right off the back!

No wonder, I'm so relieved. Even though, I might be out of shape and have hopes of running a marathon this year, I'm not crazy or just making excuses.

Mystery solved, the treadmill is slanted.

Now we just have to figure out how to fix it as it lacks a reverse incline. And I can find out how out of shape I REALLY am and how much training is ahead of me.

Welcome

Welcome to Nathan and Anna's blog. Although we may be bookworms, we hope we're not too boring for at least our closest friends and family to read about our interesting adventures as we begin this transition to living in Philadelphia.