Black Bean Tostadas

I made this for dinner last night, it was really good! I made it in under 30 minutes, so it's good when you need something fast. I am going to try and hit up the Farmer's Market for organic produce this weekend. I will let everyone know how it fairs.

Needed:

4 Whole Wheat Tortillas

150z can of sodium free black beans rinsed and drained

2 Tbsp of canola oil

2 tsp of paprika

1/2 tsp of dried oregano

1 cup of diced onion

1 cup of shredded mozarella cheese (I use the vegan mozerella, but if you can have dairy, get the best mozarella)

1 cup of fresh salsa

1 lb of swiss chard chopped (I used about four big leaves)

4 tsp of minced garlic

bunch cilantro chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 and spray each side of the tortillas with cooking spray. Cook for 8-10 minutes on a cookie sheet, until crispy. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a skillet on medium high heat, add onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the beans, paprika, and oregano and turn heat down to medium and cook for about 10 minutes. I addded the cheese in after 8 minutes. Chop the swiss chard and heat the other tbsp of oil in another skillet and add garlic. Cook until garlic begins to brown, then add chard and cover for 5 minutes. Top the tostadas with the cheesy-beans, garlic-greens, salsa, cilantro, and whatever else you desire.

These are colorful and really good for you! Best of all, its fast! Enjoy!

Survery-Get to Know Your Friends!

I saw this on Becky Kiser's blog and thought it sounded fun, so thank you Becky! If you read my blog, I'd love for you to do this as well.

1. High heels or boots? Heels, I have three inch black patent on right now
2. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00am
3. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds are a girl's best friend
4. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Curious Life of Benjamin Button-highly recommend it!
5. What is your favorite TV show? Grey's ( I know, guilty!), Biggest Loser, and The Office.
6. What do you usually have for breakfast? Steel but oats with almond milk and brown rice syrup with hot tea
7. What is your middle name? Lynn
8. What food do you dislike? liver and most meat
9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Roger's CD, awesome worship music
10. Favorite sandwich? veggie burger with avocado and sprouts
11. What characteristic do you despise? cheating to get ahead in life and sarcasm
12. Clothing? I love Banana Republic....that's probably where I get most of my clothing
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Greek Isles
14. Are you an organized person? very, but lately I feel that I am slipping
15. Where would you like to retire to? California or Austin
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? this last one with my family and grandmother before she was sick
17. What are you going to do when you finish this? get back to work
18. Furthest place you are sending this? not sure
19. Person you expect to send it back first? also not sure
20. When is your birthday? July 24th
21. Morning person or a night person? Night, but some days I wake up a morning person
22. What is your shoe size? 7
23. Pets? Pups, Bailey and Lola
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? No, just glad Jacob is home.
25. What did you want to be when you were little? a veteranarian
27. What is your favorite flower? Sunflowers are up there and pink roses.
28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? March 3rd
29.What was the last thing you ate? Other than breakfast.....dinner was Korean mung bean pancakes with dipping sauce, steamed brocolli, and soft brown rice
31. Do you wish on stars? When I was a little girl I did
32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? pink
33. How is the weather right now? nasty!
34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? hubby
35. Favorite soft drink? I gave them up and haven't had one since June. Man, I miss Coke! However, I do have the organic GingerAles on an as need basis
36. Favorite restaurant? Azuma
37. Hair color? dirty blonde
38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Teddy Rupskin or my Cabbage Patch dolls
39. Summer or winter? Summer before we breach 100 degrees
40. Chocolate or vanilla? vanilla. I am the only woman in the world who doesn't care for chocolate
41. Coffee or tea? hot tea
42. Do you want your friends to do this also? absolutely
43. When was the last time you cried? Last night when Jacob was reading me Streams in the Desert...it was really sweet
44. What is under your bed? the box for our TV, so we could repack it when needed....maybe some dog toys too
45. What did you do last night? made dinner and hung out with Jacob, then watched Three Amigos (I had never seen it).
46. What are you afraid of? spiders=terrified
47. Salty or sweet? Sweet, but I love salty too! In fact, both at the same time!
48. How many keys on your key ring? 3
49. How many years at your current job? 4 years
50. Favorite day of the week? Friday night
51. Positive or negative? positive always!
52. How many people will you send this to? who knows!
53. How many will respond? i hope some
54. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? absolutely

One Year!

What a milestone! I can't believe we've been married for one year. It's amazing!

This year has been the best year of my life, as well as the hardest. As much as I wish I could say we had a wonderful year, we had a tough year, but it was still such a blessed year.

Let me recount the blessings of God:

1) My health went from being the poorest it's ever been to now where I am the healthiest I have ever been.
2) Our wedding day was spectacular and I will never forget the fun, joy, and love I felt that day.
3) We had a rough honeymoon, but an amazing redo honeymoon in California.
4) We got our two little blessings, Bailey and Lola who make us laugh and who are always thrilled to see us.
5) I have learned more in the my first year of marriage about trusting God when it's hard to see what lies ahead than I did my whole Christian life.
6) I am more in love with Jacob than I have ever been. He's such a rock and an encourager. What a precious gift he is to me.
7) The time that Jacob was gone made me treasure every moment with him. We spent a Sunday evening enjoying each other instead of saying goodbye. We got ready for work together today and drove in together. How awesome it was!
8) My love for the Lord has grown deeper as I have learned what it means to "become one flesh."
9) The relationship between my Jacob and my parents has grown significantly. They deeply love him and cherish him as a son-in-law.
10) I see God's hand in our lives and I feel that he is doing something in us and through us. It's such a peace to be in His will.


I love you Jacob Martin, thank you for pursuing me from the very beginning, for romancing me, and for giving me the moon!

Jacob Is Coming Home!

I can't believe I am writing this! God, you are so good! It was literally the day I wrote my last post on hope that Jacob called me to tell me that they were sending him home off the Pittsburgh project. He had done all that he could and they needed someone with a different expertise to finish this part of the project. SO in 48 hours, he will be here in my arms and my prayer is that we can go back to being "full-time" married people! Certainly, I am his wife all the time, but what I mean is now we can sleep in the same bed every night and not just three nights a week! Now, we can wake up together every morning! I can't wait to watch him put a tie on for work! Or maybe one Saturday we can actually do something together other than watch him work. I know this sounds silly, but the last four months have been super hard. I have never seen a man work so hard, spending every weekend pining away at the millions of items on his "to-do for work" list. I have prayed and begged God to some how bring him home, even though I honestly felt like I was asking for something impossible. I mean, how could anyone find a job in this economy with everyone on a hiring freeze? Oh, but our Lord is mighty and is bigger than a lost economy. He brought him home in a way I never thought possible! Praise you Lord!

Now, we are still trusting that God is in all things and will continue to hold us up. There is always a possibility that he could be sent on another out of town project meaning six months away starts over. There is always the worry that he could lose his job, as we watched 75,000 jobs go yesterday. But my heart and everything in me says, "trust." BE STILL AND KNOW....


Please keep us in your prayers. We serve a God who is capable of the incapable, He is limitless in the midst of limits, he is El Shaddai, all-sufficient! I can honestly say that I have felt Him so close to me these last months. I feel His power and I see it displayed in answered prayers. I am not afraid, I keep holding on to His promises. "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus."

Our Hope Endures

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for & certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

I feel like God is reminding me of hope lately. Do I have enough faith? In the midst of trials and storms, am I putting my hope in Him? Am I declaring that truth? Am I shouting that from the mountain tops? Hope is a spiritual gift, one of the three virtues, next to faith and love. I feel as though I need to preach it to myself everyday, my hope in Christ has to be maintained. I have borrowed this definition of Biblical hope from John Piper, "biblical hope is not just a desire for something good in the future, but rather, biblical hope is: a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future." It's saying this will happen!

"We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 6:18-20 (The Message)

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope." Psalm 130:5

I can hope in His Word and find hope in His Word as I wait for Him.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13

I believe God is mighty and I cling to His promises. Hope and faith are synonymous. Hope looks towards the future, directed by faith. I have so many hopes, esp. now during this season of struggle. I miss my husband desperately and I hope that the Lord can make another way so we can be together. I have hope for children. I have hope that God will use my life for His glory.

Macrobiotics and Me!

Many of you know that Jacob and I started a special diet back in June. We started this because I was really struggling with my health and looking for a natural way to control my stomach disease. Having the disease for 15 years, I was tired of the medicines that were used to treat it. I began to pray again that I could find a "natural way" to control and maybe even put this disease in remission for good. Even my doctor didn't believe this was possible. I began to really pray for an answer from the Lord because I had to do something or I would have to take the drugs the doctor wanted me to take. It has been a long time since I had ordered any new reading on Crohn's, so I typed in the words "Crohn's Disease" on Amazon and there staring back at me was Ginny Harper's book. I ordered it right away, and checked the mail everyday until it arrived. As soon, as it came I didn't put it down. Her story was painfully familiar and Ginny suffered so much through her young adult life, but her father introduced her to the diet and it changed her life. I went to TN and stayed with this wonderful lady who's book was titled, Controlling Crohn's Disease: The Natural Way. She has such a ministry to sick and hurting people. I was overwhelmed by all the stories I heard there of hope and healing. My own health improved dramatically while there, and I finally learned what was causing all of my issues. I felt like my eyes had been opened. Everything I thought about Western medicine was shared by others who had truly been let down by their doctors. People with all kinds of ailments had walked through the doors of Ginny's Center, cancer, stomach issues, weight issues, the list goes on and on.

The word "macro" means full and "bio" means life, full life! Isn't that what God has called us to! Please know that I am not on a soap box of any kind. This diet isn't weird or wacky to us because it makes sense for my body and my health has improved dramatically. Maybe it isn't for everyone because it requires people to drastically change their eating habits. I think the basis of this diet is simple for anyone to follow, everything in moderation, eat with the seasons (no watermelon in winter), and when you are feeling bad "eat in the middle" as much as possible. This means eating whole grains (brown rice, barley, corn, whole oats, etc.), beans, green leafy veggies, and other vegetables. Eat organic as much as you can, avoid refined and processed foods and foods packed with preservatives. There is so much more to all of this, so I will have to blog more about it, but in studying this I have really had my eyes opened to how the food I used to eat affected my health and well-being.

Jacob lost 30 lbs from the diet along with running and he will tell you that he feels amazing! I have my health back and my God to thank for that. I believe 100% that He led us on this path. I have used other alternative things in conjunction with the diet. There isn't a day that I am not praising God for answering my prayer.

Mary Arlene Walker

Mimi went to be with the Lord on Wednesday December 31, 2008. She had a hard three month battle with stomach cancer. The chemo was especially hard on her precious body and her heart is what finally gave out.

Today, I am reflecting on the blessings of her, her life, and her death. I treasure these things in my heart. I have so many fantastic memories with her. When you have such a young grandmother, she gets to do all kinds of fun things with you. In 2004, mom, Mimi, and me went to Acapulco on a girl's trip together. We had such a great time. She came to Cabo twice with us, I have fond memories of laying by the pool sipping ice tea and reading. She came to see me sing in church, she came to graduations and birthdays (even my most recent July birthday). I even had the sweet blessing of living with her for three months after college. I am reminded in that of what a simple woman she was, loved her bridge ladies, loved Wheel of Fortune and Jag. She was the most amazing grandmother, and I never doubted the love she had for me.

Tuesday morning we were all called into MD Anderson to say our goodbyes. It was surreal, as I thought she would surely beat this disease and be here many more years, but God, in his divine plan had this in mind. I held her sweet hand and saw how the cancer had taken 60 pounds of her and the bruises from IV's and ports all over her arms. I told her how much I loved her and what she meant to me and the legacy she left behind. I told her to go to Jesus. We read Psalm 23 over her. I felt led to read that one in particular, not knowing it was one of her favorites. I know she heard and I pray it was great comfort over her. We prayed over her. We waited. She made it through the day, as the most important people came to say their goodbyes. Wednesday morning at 8:30, she took her last breath and left her frail body to the most wonderful banquet. I know she was greeted by the Lord and given a cancer-free body. I know that she is free from burden and pure as snow. All these things, I have no doubts of.

It was a blessing that we were all in town, my brother and Meredith still on holiday, Jacob here. It is a blessing that I am living with my parents and can support my mother and be there with her. There are so many blessings that come out of this. I know people were blessed by the service, it was beautiful and the Word of God radiated over us. We sung Great is Thy Faithfulness, one of her favorites. Truly, Lord you are great and your mercy is new every day.

I will miss her, her smile, her grace. I will miss the woman that gave so much to this world and to me. I will see her again one day! Rejoice, for she is with her King!