No shame in my game! ;)

On the left at a wedding this summer! 

Hi, my name is Laura and there is no shame in my game! I am linking up with Kelly's Korner today for her "Show us your Single's Day!" 

I am 30 years old and just moved to Nashville, TN less than a month ago! I love Jesus, life, and people!

With my newborn niece Claire! 

I am a campus missionary so I love young people. Since I got saved as a freshman in college, I have had a heart for the next generation! I love to mentor girls, lead bible studies, put on women’s events, and throw parties! Working at East Carolina suited me well! ;) Now in Nashville I will be doing campus ministry at Belmont and Lipscomb.

In Charleston this summer! I'm on the far right... green shirt!

I am a pretty typical Southern girl. I love shopping, cooking, and decorating etc. I love to have fun, try new things and travel. But I am not a thrill seeker ie no bungee jumping or tattoos for me! 

In my new town! Nashville!!

Would love to meet a fun guy who loves Jesus and lives in the Nashvilleish  area! If you know any send them my way! You can leave a comment here and include your email!

From Greenville, NC to Nashville, TN

So I know I haven’t written in forever… but have some news: I moved to Nashville, TN!!!

Let me give a little back story: for a few years I have felt the Lord stirring something in my heart as far as a transition goes. I have been doing campus ministry at ECU, my alma mater for years and loved it! But knew the Lord had something else for me up His sleeve too. So I tried doing a few other things at our local church to see if those were the transitions but they never were really fruitful or amounted to anything substantial.

On the pedestrian bridge overlooking downtown Nashville!

I have always thought about moving, but the timing has never been right, until now! J Last fall I started the conversations with my campus director and kept him in the loop the whole time during the “figure out what my transition is” period! Lots of prayer, fasting, and conversations took place for me to reach my decision to move out to Nashville, even a trip out here over spring break! 

I am so excited about this new chapter of my life! I will be working in campus ministry at Belmont and Lipscomb! I went on campus this week! Eeek I felt a freshman because I didn't know where anything was! I decided to give myself a 6 month window to just learn the ropes and build relationally!

Another cool part of this move is who I moved with! Kendall, a friend for the past 5 years was also wanting to move to a bigger city. She flew out here to interview and found us a super cute apartment all in the same weekend! Praise God it was her and not me! I would have been so nervous! She found the apartment in just a few hours!

Decorating has been so much fun!

So life in Nashville is good so far, definitely an adjustment though! The packing up and moving part was hard emotionally and physically! I have never had so many bruises all over my body! Ha!! I am also a packrat so it was hard to decided what to take/get rid of/ throw away etc! I still would like to get new bedding and a secretary style desk, but other than that I am mostly settled in!

Kendall Anne had this awesome living room furniture! Pay no attention to my coffee table and end table! ;)

I know the next few months will an adjustment too; meeting new friends, find my niche on campus, and learning my way around the city! I have only had a real meltdown once since the move, which is great for me! I keep reminding myself that it will get easier. And it has! Today I found a great local grocery store and went in the ever familiar Fresh Market. I grew up in the town where Fresh Market had their first store! So it was very nice to go somewhere familiar!! Doing more and more "normal" every day life things really helps this feel real and not just vacation! It is slowly sinking in that this is my new home! 

2 Soup Recipes for You! (GERD friendly)

Here are 2 Soup Recipes for You!

So I am linking up again with Kelly’s Korner. Here are a few of my favorite soup recipes. I was recently doing a Daniel Fast and these were two of the recipes I came across. They were so yummy that I now make these recipes all the time, especially the White Bean Chili one! 

Just a side note, I suffer from GERD and have a hard time eating onions, garlic, & tomatoes. Which makes it difficult to cook in the wintertime because a lot of yummy soups and recipes contain those things. These two recipes are delicious to me with leaving out the problem inducing ingredients! 

Sweet Potato & Black Bean soup. 

I know it sounds a little funny, but it is sooooo good! PS I don't puree the soup, too messy!

Ingredients:
8 cups Vegetable Broth (I Just use water) 
1 pound sweet potatoes (about 3 cups), peeled and diced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion (I omit this)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Place all ingredients in a large stock pot. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Place half of soup in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. (You may need to do this in two batches, because filling your processor or blender more than half full could cause the hot soup to pop the lid.) Return to stock pot, and cook 10 more minutes.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups) 

http://www.ultimatedanielfast.com/a-hearty-soup/

My fave: White Bean Chili!

I have looked for a really long time for a white bean chili that didn't contain diary and finally found this one! For some reason the only soup I think should have diary is regular yummy white potato soup. In my book, chili doesn't have dairy. If you love it great, but for some reason the thought of it just grosses me out! 

Click here for recipe!

Adjustments I made:

1.) I leave out the corn, bell peppers, jalapenos, shallots, & chili powder 

2.) I use one can of white northern beans, navy beans, & cannelloni beans. (I like the different shapes and shades of white.)

3.) I used 3/4 tsp of dried cilantro (Simply b/c it keeps longer than fresh.)

4.)  I didn't puree this recipe either

5.) I used extra lime b/c it is soooo good in the soup! I squeeze some right in my bowl right before I eat it ! 

Hope you enjoy and if you know any other GERD free recipes you want to send my way please do!