Sorry it's been forever and a day since I've posted anything buuuuut we've been busy. AND. I don't have anything profound to talk about (ha. do I ever? no.) BUT lately I've been recognizing all these things that we use and love and I figured I'd share because sharing is caring!

COCONUT OIL.
I realize I just wrote a post about making toothpaste with this for Chris but seriously. No. The possibilities are way more endless than that. Lotion. Facial moisturizer (I know. Just trust me.) Deep hair conditioner. Treatment for burns (learned that one the hard way.) Cooking ANYTHING. So just go get some.
IMPORTANT: Don't get the "refined" unless you don't like the smell/taste of coconut oil. Why would you want to buy coconut oil if you don't like coconuts? I don't know. But refined coconut oil is deodorized and bleached. Why? I have no idea. We got some by mistake and we are disappointed.

OUR FRENCH PRESS.
So I thought these bad boys were pretty standard but a lot of people come over and ask us how to make coffee with them. We've had a french press since we've been married and clearly these things are far from new but I find that I get on these french press "kicks" and now is one of them. I literally want to hug our french press every morning. Problems, I know.

CERTAIN PHONE APPS (sorry. vague. read on.)
I've never been a smart phone advocate and we were UBER late to the smartphone game, but alas, I am just starting to appreciate the variety of awesome things it has to offer. I try to stay away from mindless apps like twitter..my one vice is definitely instagram...but people. I am literally using my phone to re-teach myself spanish. With a free app! FREE! That's crazytown! We'll see if my extreme type B brain can stick with it. If you know of any time worthy apps let me know! The app store is a confusing place and I'm not into games or time-wasting..but I'm just feeling so productive lately so why not learn a second language, right!? (Kidding about that productive part. I get stuff done but I mean..I can only be this passionate about a phone app for so long.)

RECORDING VIDEOS.
Totally not good at it but man...I am so happy we're finally getting into the habit of recording random clips from life because how fun is that? We're not professionals but I can hold a camera and attempt to capture Chris being weird allDAY. Again, we're mostly just practicing for when we have babies because we have large families and we want them to share in the baby glory in a way that > than pictures.

TRADER JOES.
I can't say enough how happy I am that we live 5 minutes away from this place. Everything there is good. That is all.

NOT THIS WEATHER.
Sorry buuuuut our closet is a hot mess because we can't put away our winter clothes if the winter doesn't stinking go away. Right now I'm wearing shorts AND a hoodie because my body is confused.

 OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU pandora radio.
Do it. Just do it.

FACETIME.
I am just thankful. So cool to be able to catch up with family and friends whilst staring at their actual face. I literally remember being super young (pre-cell phones) and hearing my super hip granddad talk about how "video phone calls" were going to be the norm one day and I literally remember being like. Psh. Whatever. BUT ITS TRUE AND ITS AWESOME. Hit me up on facetime, you guys. Don't even call me, just facetime call me. Because why not?

NOT HAVING A TV.
Still love it.

NOT HAVING INTERNET.
Still love it.

Andddddddddddddd, done.

That's how I feel about my girl.
That's all.

I'm not publicly posting what I gave up for lent (it's not that crazy) BUT I will say that it's funny what happens when you ask God what you should give up instead of just picking yourself (which there is nothing wrong with.) I realized, quite frankly, that I never would have picked what the Lord wanted me to hand over...probably mostly because it's hard to realize the effect something seemingly harmless has on you until it's gone. Oh, the pruning, it hurts.

Hurts so good.

Chris has to work two weeks (6 shifts total) of night shift and I'm just going to complain for two seconds because I can't stand it. I don't know how people do it forever and I am super lucky that I can go into work at night if needed so we're not on completely opposite schedules.

2 seconds over. Sorry.

I've been feeling soooo weird lately because this weather is outrageous and bipolar! My body is like WHATAREWEDOING..and we have winter clothes and summer clothes and spring clothes all over our house because we don't want to pack anything away at this point. Crazytown. I'm taking vitamins like I'm getting payed for it because ain't nobody got time to be sick up in here.

Happy Ash Wednesday. I'm majorly sad that we are missing, for the first time in years, our Ash Wednesday service at the Lilleypad. It was always one of my favorites. Thinking of you guys, Kim and Aaron!

I never gave up anything for lent until college..I'm not sure why. It wasn't a big thing in our house growing up and I never really thought about it..but I grew to love it once I studied fasting in general..not just during this season. While fasting from a variety of "things" can still be considered fasting, scriptural fasting meant giving up food and/or drink. There are so many cultures in which fasting is done regularly..and ours just isn't one of them. (Actually, I was just talking to Liz about this as she's in Africa and living in community with people who fast regularly.) But I was fortunate to live amongst community in my later college years that made it a habit for a variety of reasons (prayer, worship, etc.) I was blown away by the significance and beauty of fasting in a way I hadn't been before..so when lent came around I was excited to engage in a specific type of fasting to prepare for Easter. We don't give up things for lent because we feel like we have to, but we desire to use fasting as a form of worship and prayer in a way that is much more physical, which I love. It's a re-orientation and "turning" back towards God..and it's amazing how abstaining from something you eat/drink/do frequently really reminds you so much more throughout the day of your purpose here and the one who brought you.

I'm a fan. Thanks, Jesus. If you've never fasted before, I recommend researching fasting in scripture first to get grounded. You'll love it, promise.

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen3:19) are typically the words spoken when marked with ash, and in the past I always found this beautiful..but nowhere NEAR as beautiful as it is this year after Ellie. Those words just really hit a special place in my heart today because of her short life. I don't know how to describe the way it makes me feel--but I am surely reminded that our time here is so short...whether 9 months long or 90 years.......I want my whole life to be a turning towards the only Love that matters.

We got back from universal a couple hours ago and I can't sleep because if I'm in the car for longer than an hour I fall asleep..unless Chris plays would you rather with me but he was too busy listening to someone literally read him the bible through head phones because he's a saint or a married monk or something and so I had no choice but to fall asleep and dream about Tate babies. Typical.