A Tune for a Tuesday: All things New - Grayson Kessenich

I must admit . . . I'm a One Tree Hill addict. In defense, if you took out all the crazy unrealistic drama that happens, it's got some great characters . . . alright, I'll stop defending myself. :)

Anyway, on Tuesday's episode, the background music caught me when I heard the lyric "praise father, praise the son, praise spirit three in one". It didn't take me long to look up the song and find an amazing Christian artist! Who would have thought that One Tree Hill would be the place to find him?

The artist is Grayson Kessenich and the song on the episode was "All Things New". I stronly suggest listening to not just this great song, but all of them! The entire "From the Treehouse" album is wonderful and it's on itunes!


Color the morning bright
Paint all the black of night
Warmth in a ray of light
You are God on high

You made the restless cease
Then made the clever seas
All the wonder beneath
And still you care for me

You’re beautiful
And in our hearts we hold
The one who takes the old
And makes all things new

You hear the sinner’s call
Love both the great and small
To you we give our all
To praise the all in all

Praise father, praise the son
Praise spirit three in one
Come see what love has done
Through death our life’s been won

You’re beautiful
And in our hearts we hold
The one who takes the old
And makes all . . .

You’re beautiful
And in our hearts we hold
The one who takes the old
And makes all things new

You make all things new

"All Things New" - Grayson Kessenich

http://taximusic.com/hosting/home.php?userid=32131

From a Bride-to-be's Kitchen!

If you were sitting with me as I write this, you'd smell the aroma of fresh-baked banana bread coming from the kitchen! It is such a joy to have a kitchen! You may be accustomed to your own, and think I'm a little crazy for being so excited about mine, but this is my first kitchen! During my four years of college, I lived in the dorms and never had a kitchen past a refrigerator and microwave. When i moved to California, my tiny garage-renovated apartment had a small stove, but no oven and little counter space. (Is it silly that I miss that little space anyway? It was perfectly cozy!) Now, in the townhouse that will become the home for my fiance and I in just 25 days, I'm sitting at the kitchen table (borrowed from my wonderful cousin) waiting for the loaf of banana bread to be ready to come out of the oven!

Ask anyone that knows me well and they'll tell you that I'm not a cook. I would argue that this has less to do with my ability to cook and more to do with my lack of opportunity to cook. I have loved making new recipes since I've moved into the new place! And I think my lovely fiance would agree that most of them have turned out to be quite delicious!

Be prepared for my new blog, coming soon: From the Newly Wed's Table . . . or something like that!

I'll leave you with this delicious, and very simple, recipe from the Alpha-bakery Cookbook by Betty Crocker!

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 large bananas)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. Mix sugar, bananas, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pan. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaf from pan and remove from pan. Let cool completely before slicing.
 

Living a New Life . . . still for Christ

Some of you may have been wondering what happened to me . . . or maybe no one did! Regardless, I'm going to let you know. :-)

I have gone through so many life changes since my last post that I could write a whole blog just about them! In short, I have said goodbye to California (the place I had just learned to call home), packed up my little apartment, drove cross-country with my fiance back to Missouri, lived with my parents while begging God to give me and my fiance jobs, we both found jobs in Kansas City, and I moved to Kansas City and started my new job. Whew, that's a lot in just over a month! I've been completely consumed ever since with preparing for my wedding that is just less than a month away! It's been such a whirlwind since I left California that I can hardly comprehend it all.

Leaving California was heart-breaking. There were small sobbs at my last Mass at StP2 and quiet tears as I watched the last car filled with my friends pull out of the parking lot from my going away party, knowing it was likely the last time I would see them for quite a long time. Saying goodbye to friends and the parish that became my family was something surreal at the time, but is slowly setting in these days. Some days I still feel like I'm just on vacation . . . that's lasted a long time. Other days it hits me like a freight train that I'm not going back to California, at least not any time soon. :-\ Looking back, I don't think I realized how much of a family I had found in the parish. I often find myself wishing the parish I am now at was as warmly welcoming as StP2. Most of all, I miss the friends I made.

Now don't misunderstand, I love being close to my family again, seeing my close college friends again, and most of all, seeing my fiance on a regular basis for the first time since we started dating in 2004. Regardless, I left a piece of my heart in California, and it has not gone unnoticed.

This is to you Cali, thanks for welcoming me as family and sending me off with much love!