Simple Arugula Salad

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I used to not be a fan of arugula but lately I am loving a good, simple arugula salad! I love this recipe because it’s light, refreshing, and flavorful. I eat it at least once a week these days!

Hope you like it! Have a wonderful weekend!

With love,

Monika

Ingredients

• Arugula

• Shaved Parmesan

• Pine Nuts

• Heirloom tomatoes

• Sliced Chicken (though also delicious with flank steak)

• Olive Oil 

• Half a lemon

• Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1. Place desired amount of salad in a bowl and top with parmesan, pine nuts, tomatoes, and chicken. Add desired amount of olive oil and squeeze the lemon all over. Add a little salt & pepper to taste and enjoy! 

Our Home

Every year of our marriage we have had to move for one reason or another. It seems by the time we finally feel settled and “home” we end up moving again. But not this time. We were just able to renew our lease for another year! Hip Hip Hooray! Moving every year has been emotionally & physically exhausting (not to mention expensive). I am really just so relieved. So, in honor of that I thought I’d share a few pictures of our space. It’s a continual work in progress, and there’s still a lot I would want to do, but we love it so much and feel so blessed to get to live here for as long as we’re able!

This house is so above & beyond what we ever could’ve hoped for. Our good friend Monty saw that his neighbor was moving, and asked her whether she was renting or selling. When she said that she was renting, Monty said he knew of some people who may be interested (and loved the idea of finding some awesome people to be his new neighbors). It was way out of our price range but Monty showed it to us anyway and was trying to convince us we could do it with a roommate. But we were newly pregnant with our second, and my brothers had just moved back with their mom, and I really needed to have a place to ourselves again. So when we saw it and met the owner we told her we loved the place but that is was over our max budget and so it wouldn’t work out. So several weeks went by and we kept looking, and found a little two bedroom/two bathroom condo in a nearby town and were just about to sign the lease &  put our deposit down. But then that very day who should we get a call from?! The owner of the house… saying she felt like she was supposed to rent to our family AND that she would come down to what we could afford (even though it would be losing money for her)!!

I had been longing for a home with a little more space for our growing family, but everything in Southern California is just so expensive, so we’ve only ever lived in condos. I never really even prayed & asked for it, because it felt selfish. Like I should just be happy with wherever we live and not be so set upon “a house.” But God totally provided and knew the desires of my heart & completely blew us away. So for the same price as a condo we get this amazing three bedroom/three bathroom house by the beach with an ocean view! And the most amazing part is that we are literally neighbors to some of our best friends! We all get to do life together & live in community — which is really what it’s all about!

We are so incredibly thankful and love to share the story because it is such an awesome testimony of God’s amazing provision!

With love,

Monika

Created to Create: Embracing Your Inner Artist

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Earlier this week I went to a creative gathering for our church and it really fed my soul. I believe the church is a beautiful breeding ground for creativity, and that when we as the church embrace creativity & the arts, God is truly glorified.

God is the ultimate creator. The ultimate artist. And WE are made in HIS image, meaning we are all creatives.

We are not only works of art, but artists ourselves.

And God lives in us and works through us – giving us access & the ability to tap into supernatural creativity.

I believe it is woven into the fabric of our beings to create. I believe creating helps us to live life F U L L Y & A B U N T A N T L Y. It helps us to be in tune and in alignment with our Creator. I believe that we are designed to pursue a creative, art filled life.

And when you embrace your creative spirit, everything becomes not only a work of art but an act of creative worship. Whether it’s a painting, a poem, a song, a dance – or simply the way you cook for your family, make up games with your children, journal about your day, decorate your home, engage in intentional conversation, or take a picture of the sunset.

Live life beautifully, creatively, and in tune with the artist that lives within you. Break agreement with the lie that you aren’t creative. That you aren’t an artist.  Make space and room in your life to allow creativity to flow freely. Let us not be so lost in the mundane of the day to day that we lose opportunities to create. Let us allow ourselves to fail, to experiment, try new things, and to take risks. Let us be pushed into realms of creativity within ourselves that we didn’t even know existed.

And so, my creative friends, let me leave you with a few practical steps to help foster creativity within you…

1.) Make time for things that inspire you. Maybe it’s going to a museum, seeing a great film, watching the sunset, or listening to a new record. Do something that feeds you, and then try to set aside time after to journal or reflect upon how it felt and any ideas/thoughts it may have spawned.

2.) Do “free flow” writing… sit and write and just see what comes out. Don’t think. Don’t edit. Don’t force it. Just let it flow. Some days it might be nothing, but some days it may turn into something truly beautiful.

3.) Don’t compare. Comparison is the thief of joy. You can’t get started on your creative journey and give up because you are not immediately where you want to be. And if you compare your work to other people’s work, you may give up prematurely and not allow yourself the space & time you need to grow.

Now go and unleash your creativity and make the world a more beautiful, inspiring place!

In love,

Monika

First Fruits

Over the years God has slowly been encouraging me and teaching me how to live a generous life. If I’m totally honest, it’s something I’ve had to work a lot at, because it didn’t always come naturally to me. My guess is it started when I was a child… That “mine” complex we all start out with as children, and that few of us ever really grow out of.

As I got older it manifested itself through our finances. I grew up with money always being pretty scarce. Because of this, even as I grew into adulthood and got married, I had a lot of fear surrounding our finances and I held on so tightly to our income. For the longest time I didn’t give it over to God. I couldn’t let go, didn’t have faith that He would provide for us. Our budget was tight and I felt like we couldn’t afford to both tithe & pay our bills, so we didn’t give at all. Ryan later came to me and told me he felt like we were supposed to start giving, and I resisted… hard. “But we can’t! We’re broke!”

And we were.

But the tithe isn’t supposed to be giving some of your leftovers. It’s the first fruits. Giving helps us to increase our faith – and it doesn’t really require much faith to give God our leftovers.

I love this verse in Proverbs: 24 “The world of the generous gets larger & larger. The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.” It may seem cheesy at first, but this has been so true in my life. As I’ve learned to give and to live generously, openhandedly, my world has gotten larger and larger. I’ve been entrusted with more financially, I’ve had more opportunities, I’ve been able to travel more. But before, I was always anxious and not living generously and my world was truly smaller.

Even now, though I cheerfully tithe, God continues to teach me about generosity. Now it just looks a little bit differently, and is actually regarding my time. As a busy mom of two it feels as though I rarely get a moment to breathe, let alone try to get any work done. I often feel overwhelmed with my never ending to-do list, and frequently think “there just aren’t enough hours in the the day!”

But then I hear the whisper of the Spirit say to me “give to me the first fruits of your time, and you will have plenty.” So I’ve been working to do that. To start my day with praying, reading, and learning. Giving God the first fruits of my day.
And this amazing thing happens where I am then able to go throughout my day and check off my to-do list with a happy, calm spirit instead of an anxious one. Starting my day off seeking after Him, posturing myself in an open & humble way to allow God to work in me and through me.

I want to be someone who is generous with her time & gifts, and doesn’t cower back in fear or excuses. Even when they seem justifiable. Earlier this year, I was working with a friend on launching a new MOPS group at our church. I really feel called to encourage moms & do life with fellow moms in this crazy season with littles, and I was really excited to launch this program at our church. But after having our second baby in February, I was completely overwhelmed. I had a very hard c-section recovery, I was completely exhausted, adjusting to life with two, dealing with Cora’s acid reflux & tummy troubles, and trying to find our new normal. To be honest, the idea of leading MOPS was completely overwhelming and every part of me wanted to retreat. It felt like too much. I had one foot out the door and wasn’t sure I wanted to be the one to head this thing up.

But then one day when I was praying, God asked me to just try it. To just commit to it for a season and see what it felt like. My co-coordinator who was leading our little group was going out of town – and so I decided to just commit and go “all in” and fully plan & lead our last several meetings. Sometimes for me… I just have to decide. Decide to dive in and surrender my doubt. And so I did. And this amazing thing happened where I had a renewed passion & fervor for MOPS. I saw the potential of the ministry and I was really excited to launch our full program in the Fall. I felt full of ideas & inspiration. And instead of it being draining, it was life giving.

Sometimes, we just have to decide.

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So I ask you this: is there an area you feel God speaking to you or challenging you in or maybe you feel a nudging of the spirit… but you come up with excuses? Every part of you wants to retreat? Thanks, but no thanks? I want to challenge you to just try it. Just commit to it for a time, and see how God uses you. How God can change your heart, and maybe even what blessings may come your way if you surrender that part of your life to him.

In Love,

Monika

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Life Lately

 

[Evie got a big girl bed! Seriously, she LOVED it and is doing so great in it!]

A whole lotta coffee & a whole lotta Jesus getting me through these past few weeks. Some of the hardest weeks of my parenting life thus far. Mostly due to my sweet Cora and her never ending tummy troubles, leading me to many sleepless nights.

But, on the hard days, I know to focus on what I am grateful for and keep my eyes fixed on HIM. So much beauty and so much to be thankful for. So just going to keep on keeping on and enjoy time with my sweet family!