Hey everyone!! It's been a little while since i've been on this blog here. School got a bit crazy for a while and I was barely having time to eat and sleep, so my blog got a little neglected. I really wanted to post but just didn't have the time unfortunately. I'll throw in a few random pictures of what my life has been in the last month or so.

Coconut Poke Cake I made about a month ago for small group

Finally! A picture of Malik & I actually exists!

During this little unintentional hiatus, I have been doing a lot of thinking and have dealing with some things that I hope to share with you all at some point. It has kind of been a bit of a crazy month and a half! So many things have happened.

Lots of group meetings for projects the last couple weeks

Beginning of break...homemade pancakes, turkey bacon, & coffee with Anna

Well I obviously had Spring Break. I was here for the weekends, but was in St. Louis for the week days. The weekend at the end of break I helped with Children's Ministry Day. It was a long day but it was also a ton of fun. So glad to have been able to help with this event that helps provide children with a way to serve the community. The next day I got a little bit off my route on the way to Midway to pick my roommate up when she got in from Boston. Then the last couple weeks have been full and I feel like I have been running non-stop.

Enjoying 80 degree weather :)

My cousin Keziah thought my ankles made a great seat! :)

Also, in the last month my grades for the fall semester for officially entered and guess what?!? I made the Dean's List!!!! :) I was so excited since this is the first semester that I have made it. I have worked my butt off to get to this point and am proud of my accomplishments. Even if I come up short the rest of my semesters here, I will be proud that I made it just this once!

Volleyball every Saturday which means time with Noah :)

FOCUS Child Care Conference....It was a good but long day!

Oh and I got my cartilage pierced finally!! It was supposed to be my 18th birthday present, but clearly that didn't happen. It was just kind of a spur of the moment decision and i'm happy with it.

About 20 minutes after getting it done

Since Sunday I have been prepping the dessert I am making for Journey Group (small group) tonight. With our dinner for the night being hot dogs, baked bean, and chips, I didn't want to do anything fancy despite my craving Orange Brownies. So I finally decided to do a recipe that my mom and I have done many of times before for bake sales and just because. I made Mini Pies or Hand Pies. I used Strawberries for the ones pictured and am baking Triple Berry ones while we speak.

I made up a double batch of the pie crust on Sunday night. All that is in it is flour, salt, cinnamon/nutmeg, butter, and water. Fairly easy with the exception of cutting the butter in. That should be considered an arm workout in and of itself!!

Yesterday afternoon I rolled out the dough and made the cutouts, which I did with a flower cookie cutter that was about 3 1/2in. in diameter. I made about 22 pies with all of the flowers I cut out of the pie crust dough.

Last night after my Chemistry Lab, I came home and made the strawberry filling. I used one container of fresh strawberries that I rinsed and sliced thin. I then added a few tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of flour. I mixed it all up and there was more than enough for all of the pies. I had no hesitation in finishing off the leftovers!

This is what they looked like after I filled them and pressed them together with a fork. I put a few holes in the tops with a fork so that they could breathe and wouldn't explode in the oven. I then beat an egg in a bowl real quick and used a pastry brush to rub it on the tops of the pies. Then I put some of my homemade colored sugar on top. It happens to be purple sugar. I then put them in the oven and let them cook until they were perfect!

Don't they just look delicious?? I had to try one out to make sure they were good to share tonight and of course they were! A couple friends tried them as well and said they were really good! I also think I will have to write up an official recipe at some point... My mom and I just eyeball it. They looked, smelled, and tasted delicious! So I will take that as a success.

I'm sorry this is such a long post. If you made it this far then bless you. Hopefully you got to see the yummy food!! :)

Have a great week!! :)

Church In The Park

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!

The weather today, while cloudy & overcast, was absolutely gorgeous!

I was blessed to be able to spend the morning having church outside at the State Park.

It was a wonderful day to have church outside at the park.

From left: Mike, Nate, Malik, & Andy

The guys put together an awesome acoustic set for this morning.

They played some of my favorite worship songs this morning which just made it that much better.

Only a few songs were played/sung, but it was perfect.

Chad then preached a short sermon/message.

Kallie bug listening to Pastor Chad.

After the message we had a cookout.

Hotdogs & hamburgers, chips, cookies, and an assortment of other food brought by various people.

Cooking up the burgers & dogs

 Some of us adults walked a handful of the kids down the river.

One family brought their dog and he was enjoying the cool water in the river.

A prayer was said and lunch was eaten.

It was a great time of fellowship with the church family.

After lunch one of the girls from youth group, Erin, wanted to go on the trail, so Andy and I hopped on bikes and went with her.

It was a lot of fun.

Lots of silly moments followed by laughs and silly comments.

It was definitely a good time.

When we got back we said goodbye to Erin, her sister Emily, & Emily's boyfriend Andrew.

We then started to pack things up & we headed to Pastor Chad's house.

We hung out for a bit and then had dinner at Aurelio's.

Now i'm relaxing and watching some movies by myself.

All in all it was a great day with an awesome church family!

I am so blessed to be a part of such an awesome church & to get to share these moments with them.

It was a great way to spend the Memorial Day Weekend.

Tomorrow there will be some more festivities.

Looking forward to spending the day & evening with everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful & relaxing Memorial Day Weekend so far!!

God bless!

**Pictures taken by Rachel Ozee.