PSALM 84

Really loving this passage: Psalm 84- highlighted some of my favorite verses, but I love it all. 

biblegateway

English Standard Version (ESV)

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)The Gittith.^[a] A Psalm of ^(B)the Sons of Korah.

84 

How ^(C)lovely is your ^(D)dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!

² 

My soul ^(E)longs, yes, ^(F)faints

    for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

    to ^(G)the living God.

³ 

Even the sparrow finds a home,

   and the swallow a nest for herself,

    where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

    ^(H)my King and my God.

⁴ 

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

    ever ^(J)singing your praise! Selah

⁵ 

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

^(K)in whose heart are the highways to Zion.^[b]
6 

As they go through the Valley of Baca

    they make it a place of springs;

    ^(L)the early rain also covers it with ^(M)pools.

⁷ 

They go ^(N)from strength to strength;

    each one ^(O)appears before God in Zion.

⁸ 

O ^(P)Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
⁹ 

^(Q)Behold our ^(R)shield, O God;

    look on the face of your anointed!

¹⁰ 

For a day ^(S)in your courts is better
 than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be ^(T)a doorkeeper in the house of my God

    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹ 

For the Lord God is ^(U)a sun and ^(V)shield;

    the Lord bestows favor and honor.

^(W)No good thing does he withhold

    from those who ^(X)walk uprightly.

¹² 

O Lord of hosts,
 ^(Y)blessed is the one who trusts in you!

4th Annual CCC-San Marcos Iron Chef Competition

 Ding, ding, ding.....Let's get ready to rumblllllleeeee!
That's right, Oct 20 was our 4th annual  women's cooking war, and it was delicioso!

What is this all about you ask?  Well, let me fill you in....


The women of Christ Community Church- San Marcos love to cook, chat, and bond, and what better way to bond than over some great meals. In fact, we love bonding so much that we decided to make a little competition of it, so for the past 4 years we have successfully used this competition as an opportunity to get to know the women of our church. From high school ,college, and young adults, to married and experienced moms and wives, we come together to learn life skills, hear encouraging stories and build community....

Titus 2: 3 says this, "^3 (C)Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, ^(D)not slanderers ^(E)or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, ^(F)pure, ^(G)working at home, kind, and ^(H)submissive to their own husbands, ^(I)that the word of God may not be reviled. 

Our goal is to put into practice the word of God, using Titus 2:3-5 as a premise to why we do what we do, and to have a blast  while teaching and learning from  each other our different tricks of the trade when it comes to  not just cooking, but life as well.  It is so encouraging to see such a diverse group of women working together in the kitchen, trying new and challenging recipes and having fun . Plus, many of our experienced cooks have cool  gadgets that I will be putting on my wish list of  kitchen essentials, because every girl needs cool kitchen gadgets.

This was my fourth year participating in CCC-iron chef and I teamed up with Kendra and used her kitchen. Our team name was the e-LEMON-ators. Our ingredients were: ginger snaps cookies, kale, peppermint, and rice paper. We threw down, chopped up, sliced, diced, and shredded our way through the kitchen to cook up some tasty creations for our judges to enjoy. In the end- we lost! haha- but at least we had an intimidating name, sort of. Here are some pics of the day. Enjoy and I'm sure we'll get a KO ( knockout) next time.

our team: The e-LEMON-ators- taken with instagram

the ingredients- taken with instagram

the RUMBLE- taken with instagram

the THROWDOWN-  (we made the spring rolls) taken with instagram

the Lovely Ladies

the WINNERS: THE INTIMIDATION APRONS
my roomate, Kristin ( in the middle), was on this team