Hey Daddy

Happy Father's Day Daddy! I just wanted to take a minute and tell you all the reasons I am so thankful to have you as my father:

Thank you for teaching me the value of learning. I love hearing you talk to people and listen to their stories and learn from their lives. I love the way you easily transition from being a leader for your troops and in our family, to being a student to those you respect and can learn from. You've taught me through your actions that being a good leader also means being a good student and it inspires me to be better at both. As far as formal education goes, I cannot tell you how much respect I have for you for finishing your degree. I am so incredibly proud of your hard work. 

I love how you refer to different seasons of life as adventures. You've shown me that when life changes direction, it's just the start of a new adventure.  I will never forget the morning you and Mom and Alex and Katy took me to the airport when I left CA for college. Even though I was no longer a minor and you did not have a ticket, the lady at the ticket counter could tell from my red eyes and splotchy cheeks that I needed my daddy to walk me to the gate. I remember you holding me in those seats and we were watching the planes leave, knowing I would be on one soon. You held me and said that we have had so many great adventures together and now it was time to go out and have my own adventures. Thank you for showing me the world and thank you for the beautiful adventure that you have taken me on in the past 20 years. I don't know where I would be if you were not the man that you are. My favorite adventures have always had you by my side. 

Dad. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for your patience and grace in raising me. I know I was/am a handful. Thank you for not losing your temper when I "made biscuits" in my toy kitchen. Thank you for helping me clean my room when I was little, after telling me to do it "everytime". Thank you for the day in 6th grade when my school project just seemed like more than I could do, and you and I snuck out of the house and you took me to the movies to see What a Girl Wants. Just you and me. You always take the time to make sure I know you love me, especially when I don't deserve it. Thank you for always trying to be understanding of the fights I got into with my friends as a teenager. Thank you for encouraging me when I failed my first college class or when I changed my major for the millionth time. You always told us that you and Mom are different parents to me, Alex, and Katy because each of us are totally different people. I cannot thank you enough for recognizing each of us as individuals and having a personal relationship with each of us. 

Thank you for keeping this family together. Always. Your humor and your stubborn nature I think are the glue in this family. Thank you for making us laugh and for letting us always have fun. Thank you also for knowing when one of us needs space and when one of us needs just a little bit more attention. Thank you for teaching us how to love each other and how to enjoy having each other around. 

I love you so much Daddy! I can't wait for the next time I get to see you!!! 

Love, 

La

Haiti Baby!

Hello. I know It's been a while. I've missed this. So much change is going on lately and I could not be more thrilled about it! God is so good. I hear that all the time, but sometimes I forget to see it. I think a lot of times I get caught up in my own circumstance and I get my feelings hurt when people are less than encouraging. I forget to remember that my savior has conquered the world and that his hand is in my life. He loves me though I don't deserve it. He loves me without asking for it. He loves me and wants me to glorify him. How cool is that?

And I am so so so excited to say that he has blessed my with the opportunity to share his love in Haiti!!! I am so excited about this trip and that I get to go love on these kids. I love them already. I feel like my heart is just going to burst from my chest every time I think about it!

The countdown: 30 days!!!

If you are interested in supporting my trip financially,  you can donate through THIS website. On the first pulldown tab, select "Haiti", then "Special Projects".  At the bottom of the form, make sure you write "For Lauren's Haiti trip" in the comment box. If you choose this method, just let me know so that I can let my group leader know to be looking for it. 

To mail it in, make the check out to Hope for the Hungry, and attach a note to it that it is for Lauren’s Haiti trip.  
Send it to:
Hope for the Hungry 
PO Box 786 
Belton, TX 76513.

Thank you so much for your support!!!

♥L

Chicken Pot Pie {for two}

Okay so I really love the recipe for the crust used in this post. It is very versitile because you can pretty much put anything you like in a crust and call it a meal. Being a poor college student, this is a great tool to making food that is filling and cheap. So since I used this crust with hamburger meat, now I'm going to use it with chicken. I'm not claiming to invent chicken pot pie, but this is a cool way to make two cute individual pot pies, and it's a new favorite of mine.

Your going to need two stoneware coffee mugs. Most coffee mugs are safe to use in the oven. The key to this though is to NOT preheat your oven. you need to heat the oven with the mug. You're also going to need to prepare the dough for the onion pastry crust. 

You will also need:

-1 cup of frozen vegetables

-1 cup of fat free cream of mushroom soup

-1/4 cup of fat free milk

-1 cup of chicken 

So after you prepare your crust, you are just going to half your dough (one half for each coffee mug) then set 1/3 of your half aside. This is going to be the top of the pie. Next you are going to treat your crust like play-dough and press it on the bottom and the sides of the inside of the mug. It doesn't have to be pretty and smooth on the inside because you are going to fill it anyway! Make sure your dough comes all the way to the top of the mug so that the top of your pie has that dough to close to. 

You can use any kind of vegetable you like, I used the GV kind because it was was $0.77 and it had all the pretty traditional pot pie veggies (carrots, corn, peas and green beans). You can also add potatoes if that floats your boat. I don't care for them to much, so I left them out. Also, might I add that rotisserie chicken is a new food staple of mine! They are like five dollars and they are super easy to use. Future hubby, look out, you're going to see rotisserie chicken pretty often. I have enough chicken left over from this recipe for a yummy chicken salad sandwich for lunch tomorrow :)

Next, mix your chicken, veggies, soup and milk together. (and anything else you added!) Sprinkle some pepper in if you like.

So close! Now just fill it! You want the filling to be level with the top of your mug.

Next take that dough you set aside and flatten it out. Lay it on top of your filling. If it overlaps your mug, an easy fix is to just take a knife around your mug and trim it off. Now, take a fork and press around the edges of your mug. This will seal the edges of the crust shut. You're also going to want to cut slits in the top of your crust to let it the air out while baking. I had some left over dough so I cut out a little butterfly. Totally unnecessary, but I couldn't help myself...

I put my mug on a cookie sheet because I didn't want a huge mess to clean up in case the filling came out the top. (it didn't!) But make sure you DO NOT preheat the oven. turn your oven on 400 when you put the mug in. Leave it in there for 40 minutes. check on it often though. You don't want it to think you don't love it!

Take it out when you see a golden brown crust. Let your mug cool before serving or placing it on a cool surface. You don't want to burn yourself of break your mug!

Friday Fellowship

Hello reader! Sorry I know I'm behind. I was supposed to post yesterday but I was spending the beautiful day in Austin with these gorgeous girls...

Started the day with picking the lovely Victoria up from school and we had lunch at Chuy's. So yummy. We got our regular Chicken Flautas. Folks, they are amazing. Also, if you are a visitor to the area and you ever get the opportunity to eat at a Chuy's, you absolutely must order creamy jalapeno dip. It is the bomb. Then we went and laid out at the pool. What is it about laying in your swim suit with your best friend and having the sun kiss your face, that is so awesome? I don't know what it is, but I just love it so much <3

Later I went and picked up Abbysan and we went and had Boba Tea. I just love that girl. She has such a sweet spirit and delicate way about her. She think she is really tough and sassy, but I don't think she has any idea what a blessing she has been in life. I love and cherish our quirky relationship and I just adore her. 

Oh Father Abraham

Let me start this post off with a little biology lecture. Did you know that if you try to help a moth out of its cocoon (even if it looks like it's trying to come out) it can die and have all kinds of deformities? They say its because the moth needs to be strong enough to push through the cocoon  on its own or else it won't be strong enough to survive in the wild. 

I've been doing a lot of reading on Abraham lately. Most of us are familiar with the story of how God made him a promise, that he would be a great nation, and he would be greatly blessed. "Father Abraham, had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham..." I know you want to sing it ;D But in learning about Abraham's life and his walk through his covenant with God, it's easy to see that it wasn't easy for Abraham to trust him. This story is so rich and has so much in it that I can talk about, but tomorrow I'm going to start with Sarah. I hope you love her as much as I do. 

Things to do for summer

1. See every movie on my list

2.Sit in splash zone @ sea world

3. Go to a baseball game

4. Go to a concert

5. Go Dancing

What's on your list? 

<3

Hamburger Pot Pie

Some of my favorite advice ever given to me has been, "Learn to cook one thing really well". I think it's a great rule of thumb. So today I am going to share with you one of my favorite recipes that my Memaw taught me and it's pretty easy and really yummy. I'm not a pro quite yet, but I'm getting there!

Hamburger Pot Pie

Onion Pastry:
2 cups sifted All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Crisco Vegetable Shortening
1 teaspoon onion salt
6 to 9 tablespoons cold water

Hamburger Pie Filling:
1 tablespoon Crisco Vegetable Shortening
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 to 16 ounces) green beans drained, or 2 cups fresh or frozen
1 can (10 ounces) tomato soup
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon oregano

1. Preheat oven to 400o F. (for glass pie plate 400o F). Sift flour before measuring; spoon lightly into measuring 

cup and level without shaking down. Cut Crisco into flour with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture is uniform. Mix onion salt and water, sprinkle on one tablespoon at a time; toss lightly with fork. Work dough into a firm ball with your hands.

2. Divide dough in half and form two flat circles. On lightly floured surface, roll out bottom crust until 1 1/2 inches larger than inverted 9 inch pie plate. Fold circle in half, lift dough into pie plate. Trim even with edge. 

3. In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of Crisco. Add ground beef and onion; cook just until meat is brown. Stir in green beans, soup and seasonings. Pour filling into onion pastry-lined pie plate.

4. Roll out top crust the same way as the first. Cover filling with top crust; trim 1/2 inch beyond edge. Fold top crust under edge of bottom crust; seal and flute with fingers or fork. Cut slits in top of crust. 

5. Bake at 400o F. for 25 minutes. 

<3

Hurry Up Valentines Day!

I really hope this is good...

::some more of my favorite things::

Hello World,

Here are twenty things you might want to know about me:

1) my favorite color is
glitter.
2)I love, love, love the rain! 
3)I get restless if I live in one place too long.
4) I have to live near a body of water.
5) I love my family more than you will ever know. 
6) My sister and I are secretly the same person.
7) I get exhausted easily. 
8) I love love love coffee.
9) If i'm totally serious about something, i repeat it 3 times.
10) I love presents.
11) My love language is Words of Affirmation. Seriously, seriously, seriously.
12) I get sick very very very easily.
13) My favorite movies are tangled and Ramona and Beezus, Baby Mama, and Pretty Woman.
14) I really really really love being a crusader. 
15) I don't feel like I'm supposed to live in America.
16) I want everyone to know the Gospel. 
17) I am pretty girly, but I hate shopping and I would go on a hike anyday.
18) I love the outdoors.
19) I am very spontaneous.
20) I have a heart for people.