Any Given Sunday

Happy Sunday!  The following pictures are for my sister!  We have been living in our house for about 9 months and she has not been able to come and see it yet (understandably- she has had few other things going on, like giving birth).  Anyway- here is the "before & after" of our living roomm and the guest bedroom.  Just like this post, there is a kitty hiding in one of these pictures, look closely, & you'll find Stella!

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:

Guest Bedroom Before:

Guest Bedroom After:

That white couch is a hide-a-bed.  We thought about putting a full bed in there, but we figured a crib might go in that same room as some point, ergo we needed something that would allow for crib space.  PS- I'm not pregnant. 

I baked some of these this afternoon: 

These are Joe's Grandma's recipe, passed onto me by Joe's Mom- thanks Judy!

Zucchini Muffins

2 cups sugar

3eggs
1 cup oil
3 cups flour
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp vanilla
Directions:
1. Grease and flour bread pan or muffin pan
2. Mix all ingredients
3. Bake bread at 350 degrees for 60 minutes (muffins bake for 30 minutes)

I started school again this week.  I've finished one semester and I have 5 to go- woot.  I have class on Wednesdays which means I work from 8:30AM-3:00 PM and then I spend the next seven hours traveling to Columbia, sitting in class, and then traveling back home.  It makes for a bit of a long day, but I know people have done much more difficult things in the interest of furthering their educations.  I'm lucky to be doing this.
 I was talking to an old friend/higher-ed colleague on the phone  last weekend.  Her husband started working at a church this past year and she shared that she had observed how similar their jobs were.  She works at the University of Minnesota, which obviously doesn't have any religious affiliation.  I can't say I was too surprised by this, education and ministry have a history of being intertwined.  As a result, similarities are intuitive.  People that know better, do better.  Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had followed my original plan of working in ministry.  I guess I'll never really know.  But, I'd like to think that if you're in the business of challenging people to expand their knowledge, you're probably making the world an exponentially better place.  Knowledge will always be greater than ignorance.