Moving into a season of abundance.

Before I go into the past few days, we have some great news! David and I are both ending our jobs this week and both moving into brand new ones!! We feel like these ones have been hand-tailored for us..just so excited in general for what God has for us both. My job at the hospital working in the food and nutrition dept. has given me a skill, lots of knowledge and a better understanding of working with the public..lots of downsides, too, but I am keeping it postive 😉 And David..while working at his restaurant job, he has grown in character, also grown in grace in working with the public..it HAS been a good thing..

Well now I will be working at a full time job as a clinical coordinator at a small, local dentist. It is basically doing a little bit of everything from ordering supplies, doing x-rays on the patients and helping with my manager’s schedule to just learning again another skill and being stretched in a new work envrionment. I am sososo excited.

This past weekend at work was pretty bad..we were short-staffed in alot of areas and it was just..bad..yesterday wasn’t as bad..it was still strenuous..I got home, made a lemon cake and celebrated with David when he got home about my last weekend working at the hospital. It was great.

So David is going to start working as an Isagenix Associate, selling and recruiting for the company’s products. This is SO him..he can be his own boss, he can’t wait to sell and be a go-getter. And the commission is 50% so it looks and sounds promising.

A verse that comes to mind is Psalm 66:10-12:

“For you have tried us, oh God; you hae refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; you laid and oppressive burden upon our loins. You made men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water, YET YOU brought us into a place of abundance.”

The hospital work was definitely my oppressive burden..gosh..this weekend..the shit hit the fan..all over the place basically..but God is so gracious to have my time end there and be brought into a wayyyy better place..the same with David, too..we are so excited.

I haven’t been able to work a ton on my Etsy shop but I have three scarves up in my shop now! One large burgundy scarf, one for a little girl with the remnant yarn and a nice long navy blue one! The link for it is: http://www.sunnydayscarves.etsy.com

Thanks for reading and being apart of our celebratory month of new things!

xxxx

Chelsea

 

 

Passports and Scarves and Little Shops.

Another week almost down..wow. I have some great news to report from my last post:

Money came in to get my passport in a few days!!!!!!!! Thank you for giving and for giving to my trip as a whole through purchasing scarves through my Etsy shop: SunnyDayScarves!!  I have had so much fun turning the yarn into a finished product to adorn your neck. My shop will be continuously running even after my trip is paid for. I still want to crochet scarves for my friend Oksana’s mission trip to Russia to do kidscamp this summer. So when you buy one of my scarves, it will either go to my trip or hers..but all in all- MISSIONS.

So now that my passport is going to be all set (the application just has to be turned in soon with the money) all that is left is the visa and the plane ticket to pay for! Now, I cannot crochet my way to Turkey..that is over a 100 scarves to make..so I am going to need your help. I have enough money for the visa..it is only 20 or 30 dollars..so my next big task is the t i c k e t! I am budgeting about $1,000 just to be on the safe side..that includes taxes..baggage..food in the airport, etc 🙂 Now gofundme has always fared super well in the past..you get to see the progress and all..but I am finding that paypal barely takes out a fee..the last person to send me money didn’t have any money taken out at all..so I have a personal paypal link that would be the best. Or even a check would work the best since that is no fee whatsover..but not as convenient for sure! So my personal link is:

http://www.paypal.me/chelsealeathers

Pretty easy. My deadline to get it all paid for by is March at the latest I would say..so that will mean one hefty month of February to get it all in. Which God has done that before so I know He can do it again.

Thank you..Thank you for your continued support and super generosity. And thank you for reading!I keep a spreadsheet of you who give so I can send you thank yous, notes and little gifts from my travels. So I appreciate you more than you know..Thank you for making me the happiest traveler/world changer/little person out there! You’re all the best.

If you don’t want to donate online and want to avoid any fees, just message me on FB and I can send you my address since we moved.

xxxxxx

all my love and thanks,

Chelsea

 

Tight.

So this week has been funky..lots of little things happening..little pebbles in your shoe that just irritate and frustrate. Last night after work, it all came to one moment. Hahaa I was going to the laundromat to do laundry right next to David’s work..my purse had fallen in water.. my hot chocolate spilled in the car..the change machine ripped my dollar, making it out of order..I forgot my quarters for the wash in the first place, then David said I received some minor results from a dr. apt..I saw David, hugged him..put my head on his shoulder and just said, grrrrrr. He, being wonderful, chose to pray with me in that moment. It became sacred and my night was muchh more awesome. I got to video chat with my amazing sister in law which made my night.

My soul has felt so tight this week..closed in and surrounded. But today, I read a verse that really breathed life into my soul:

“When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” -Psalm 37:24.

Holds his hand. How intimate and tender. He won’t basically die because the Lord is the One who is holding her..that really blossomed to me. That mental picture. I am going to hold onto that throughout today.

I’m really blessed by community, too, this week! A dear friend gave me some vitamins that filled me up and healed a bunch of my sickness..she touched me.

On a really beautiful note, I have a new sweet little nephew who was born yesterday. In the midst of frustrations, life still happens. ❤ Beautiful, baby boy life.

Also, my wonderful husband’s birthday was a few days ago and celebrating his life was truly enjoyable. I truly am s o beyond blessed. Tight days and weeks and moments happen..but praise Jesus for celebration and for moments where He gets to hold my hand.

Travel.

Hello friends.

I haven’t written on here in a long time. I made this blog last year to document my recipes that I pinned on my boards..but baking in Peru was harder than I thought and not all of my recipes came out..so I got discouraged and stopped.

But enter this post. Instead of having another gofundme page, desperately yearning for money for my upcoming trip, which I will tell you all about in a second, I would rather this feel more personal (As much as a blog post can) and act as if I was talking to you over a cup of coffee in a cafe about this trip.

So my hubby and I were hoping to go on a trip this year together but we made the mutual decision not to. But that desire to go somewhere was still within me. So I prayed about it. After talking with my best friends who are working overseas and are expecting their first beautiful baby girl and would love someone to come and help them when she is born..the opportunity to go back overseas was there. After praying about it and talking with David, I told them that Y E S, I would go. Now the details are as follows:

• It would be for about 10 days in April.
• I only need to funraise for my ticket, visa and passport. All else will be covered.
• This is a member care trip – blessing and  serving my friends who are working there. But it is still m. work for sure.
• I am projecting the cost to be $1,150 for everything.

Did I mention that this baby girl is my god-daughter?! I am so excited.

So if you would like to give to this, would you email or FB msg me? If not, you can cover everything in prayer. And there is no obligation. God always provides.

Also, my dear friend from work planning on going on a mission trip to Russia this summer with her church to do a kids camp with orphans in a rural village. So I am crocheting scarves both for my costs and to help give some to her, too. I have been under the weather lately so I have not been able to stock my little scarf store through Etsy lately..but once I feel better, I will be crochet more scarves and then you can look through one to see if you would like to purchase one for either one of our trips. All proceeds go to missions.

Thank you for reading. I hope this feels a little more personal than just a link screaming, GIVE NOW. 🙂 I am so e x c i t e d and just expectant about what God is going to do. 🙂

Have a wonderful day!

xoxoxo, Chelsea

Cinnamon-sugar pretzels

So. In light of Valentine’s Day, I have had so much fun planning a yummy breakfast brunch for my roomies and I tomorrow! And I planned some fun games for my students today and gave them valentines and chocolate and candy and yummy things! It was fun!

These pretzels were sosososososo good when they were piping hot..a day later from the fridge..they were still yummy but they lost some of their warm charm. But they were still wonderful! And of course, they are hearts!

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/12/25/30-minute-whole-wheat-pretzels/

Crepes

So I awoke on this lovely Sunday morning to a desire for crepes and coffee..so I knew I had a crepe recipe on my pinterest board so I used it..my burner was too hot so it didn’t flip as perfectly as the picture said to..(that’s no surprise there, though!) but they were still yummy as I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and slabbed some nutella on them! along with my coffee that I drank during church, they were lovely!

http://littleyellowbarn.com/2012/06/darn-good-crepe/

/ /Nutella Brownies

Umm, with a title like that, they’re bound to be good, right?!

One of the highlights of teaching here is obviously my students! We have been breezing through our material at a pretty fast pace..so I am giving them another test tomorrow which they expressed their delight in with moans and complaints. So I told them that if they don’t complain and get it done, I would offer them a treat! And one of my go-to sayings whenever one of them does something extraordinary is: “You get brownie points!” So cue nutella brownies..except our muffin pans are so old and rusty..so I decided to put it into a cake pan instead..and I added nuts inside the recipe and on top. So it looks superrrr yummy..and I think they will like it, too. Anddd this was from my board so double win!

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/08/4-ingredients-nutella-brownies/

Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

So each recipe I make either has a quirk or a story behind it. SO. I bought original greek yogurt at the store here..or so I thought.. when I was about to put it in my salad, it turned out it had strawberries in it… sooooo… I used mayonaise instead.

So my greek yogurt chicken salad ended up just being chicken salad.But in the words of my zealous roomie who loves all things food and ate two chicken salad sandwiches: “THIS IS AMAZINGGGGGG.” So it was superrrr delicioso and all of the ingredients made for a beautiful conglamoration of deliciousness in our mouths.

Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Sandwich

//home-made nutella pop-tarts!

Now. I know these don’t seem like much..but these are home-made POP TARTS! with nutella in them! I am so excited to have one for breakfast tomorrow! The fact that it is a home made pop tart is cool..but it is NUTELLA just one ups it.

So these are all around beautiful.

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/05/homemade-pop-tarts/

Fresh Apple Cinnamon Scones

We are out of yummy breakfast pastries so I decided to bake some yummy apple scones. I added some chocolate chips in there just for fun!

A bit crumbly but all around tasty.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/fresh-apple-cinnamon-scones-recipe