Top 10 Junk Food Obsessions

I will be the second to tell you (my wife will be the first) that I am a sucker for junk food.  When it comes to junk food i am a simple man...  I like it sweet and sugary.  Christmas is one time of the year when I go absolutely nuts on an assortment of tasty treats, often leading to sleepless nights and tooth aches.  So in light of this candy eating season I have created my top ten list of junk food greatness...

10.  Skittles.  A safe choice for adults and children everywhere.  High in sugar and even higher in fruitiness, this timeless candy joins generations by helping everyone get a little taste of the rainbow.

9.  Reese's.  I have never eaten a Reese's and not had an overload of saliva in my mouth.  This mouth watering snack is perfect for that chocolate or peanut butter crave.  And seeing as how there is two in a pack, it is the perfect snack to share with a friend.

8.  Twizzlers.  The perfect name for the perfect snack.  Twizzlers is the type of candy that makes you say "just one more" then realize later that you destroyed an entire bag in 5 minutes.

7.  Almond Joy. This gift from God perfectly combines two of my favorite foods, coconuts and almonds.  Add in the delicious chocolate outer shell and this snack is sure to send your taste buds into orbit.

6.  Jolly Ranchers.  Whether its in sucker form, a jelly bean, a chewable, or regular hard candy it never lets me down.  A great snack to eat in class or church because of its ability to remain quiet makes this snack ideal for on the go circumstances.  Just throw a pack in your book bag or stuff a few in your pocket and you have mouth watering goodness all day long.

5.  Peanut butter cookies.  Anything with peanut butter is good, but these cookies take that peanut butter taste to a new level.  Perfect with a glass of milk and some conversation with family, this treat never disappoints.

4.  German Chocolate Cake.  I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake but there is something about the icing that makes this cake great.  Add a glass of cold milk sit back and feel your stomach begin to grow.

3. Twix.  A cookie bar with both caramel and chocolate goodness.  This junk food is smooth and creamy as well as rich and chewy at the same time.

2.  Starbursts.  I usually hate the color pink, but not when it comes to starbursts.  With many different assortments of flavors to choose from there is a color for everyone.  Warning: Extremely Chewy!

And finally, the best junk food snack of all time...

1.  No Bake Cookies.  If God was hungry this is what he would breathe into existence.  With oats, peanut butter and cocoa this snack delivers every time.  Sit down with a gigantic glass of milk and enjoy an entire batch...don't worry, they are good for you too (ok I might have lied about that, but who cares, the taste is worth every pound.)

You may not agree with my list, but you have to agree with one thing...Junk food is good.
What is your favorite junk food?

JG

Dearly Loved

  Last night I was reminded of God's love and joy that comes from being in ministry. Especially youth ministry! We had our practice of the Christmas service, made some fun videos, worked on skits, and all that good stuff. Just being filled with Christams spirit puts a huge smile on my face! But what touched me last night happened on the car ride home. Jordan and I pieck up Dalton, Andrew, and Alischa for every chruch and youth event! They love coming to church and have come so far in their faith. Dalton had told me he wanted to sing "Dearly Loved" by Jimmy Needham in church sometime. Honestly I just laughed...it was a great thought but I had no clue he was serious, even liked his music and could even sing at all. So I told him he had to sing to me in the car so I could hear his voice. Jordan and I pray over this kids life, that God will set a spark in his heart. So to hear this boy without hesitation sing a song so beautiful and with words so true made my heart sing with Joy! The words say..."Dont you know that you are, dearly loved."

 As he sang, his brother and  sister began to sing as well. All 3 of them have wonderful voices and as they were singing I could not hold back the tears. I looked back and saw something in each of their faces. I saw 3 kids who have just begun their journey walking with Christ who now know that they are "Dearly Loved." We ask God for a spark but last night I saw a flame! My heart is filled with Joy! I pray that you watch people...if you have kids or hear anyone talk about God, soften your heart and be alert because knowing that a child knows our maker can be one of the sweetest blessings we can receive and you don't want to miss out on that!

Listen to this song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3IdRkylxaI


"Please lay down your arrows
For they're sure to pierce the skin
And water from a broken well
Will make you thirst again
When all things you've acquired
Are tested by the flames
And you can see them melting
Then will you call his name

It's worth it brothers
It's worth it friends
To know your maker
To lose your sin
Did you know that you are dearly loved

To the slaughters you are being led
Being told that it's a party
That this God is in your head
And every single lie
Sounds just like the greatest truth
But the one truth you're not hearing
Is that he died for you

No greater joy
No greater peace
No greater love than this

It's worth it brothers
It's worth it friends
To know your maker
To lose your sin
Did you know that you are dearly loved "

KG

"Conversations with God"

There is a book out that in recent weeks has been on the top of the New York Times bestseller list. It is there not because of its title which contains "God" in it, but probably because it is backed and pushed by Oprah. In this book there is a series of questions each followed by an answer that more often than not has nothing to do with Biblical truth. For example, one question asks about God's forgiveness of sin, to which the author replies that there is nothing to forgive because there is no such thing as absolute truth. Another question asks "Why am I a lesbian?" to which the author answers she was born that way (just as if she was born right handed or with brown eyes. The author also says she should go out and "celebrate" her differences. Another question is about a couple living together before marriage. The authors answer is that they have sinned against no one because they have done nothing wrong in living together before marriage.

Get the point yet? This book is a straight up attack from the devil. It teaches New Age spirituality and implies there is no sin and that recognizing God only comes from recognizing ourselves. It also teaches that the death of Christ has no meaning and that the Creator and creation come only from your wholeness, sanity, and limitless power. Did I mention it was a New York Times bestseller?

This book is even being sold in schools through the Scholastics Book Club. It is a book that on the outside may look good, but on the inside is filled with lies. This is an extremely dangerous book, both to our faith and to our world. It is the devil's way of getting sinners to justify their actions. Don't fall into this trap. There is only one way to truly obtain Life and that is through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." As Christians, we must be aware of these lies so we don't fall into the trap of the devil. It is sad to hear of books like this polluting the minds of our culture.

Let me know what you think...

JG

The Wild Adventure

Today has been the best day of our honeymoon by far. Since we are both avid outdoor lovers, we decided to take a nature hike in the wild of northern Michigan. So we parked our car and began on our way. As we were walking, no further than 100 feet from our car, this wild pheasant hopped across the trail right in front of us.

Karen being the quick thinker that she is picked up a small stone and flung it at the defenseless creature. It then flew away in a hurry into the clear blue sky.

Not knowing what we were in for during this hike, we nonchalantly continued on our way, until...Karen began screaming because she felt a long, warm, fuzzy thing going up her pants. "Stop it Jordan!" she exclaimed, before realizing it wasn't Jordan at all. She shook her leg and what came crawling out was simply amazing. It was this...

...a baby opossum, and it was scared so Jordan placed him in his coat and we set off to find his family. And we did, they were frantically searching for him only 100 yards away. They were so happy that we returned him to them, they jumped for joy, and Karen happened to have her camera ready...

...our good deed of the day was finished, so hand in hand we continued walking. Our walk was uninterfered for a while until Karen noticed some tracks. They were bigger than both our hands and we couldn't figure out what animal made them...

...but it didn't take long for us to stumble across the source of these tracks. It was a black bear, but not a normal black bear. This black bear was a friendly little bear. He even allowed us to take a picture with him...

We stopped for lunch on down the trail. I was eating a turkey and ham sandwich on wheat bread and Karen was enjoying a delicious tossed salad. Apparently someone else wanted some lunch too. One moment we were enjoying our food and the next we were staring straight into the jaws of death, and it looked like this...

...it was a mountain lion, and he was hungry! We were frozen in our tracks waiting for the beast to make a move. When luckily a distraction happened. Just in the distance there were two moose fighting in the thicket...

...The commotion scared away the mountain lion and we were once again safe. We decided it was getting a little dangerous out, so we turned around and returned to our car. This was definitely the best adventure we have been on yet. The end...

OK so its not true, we just took a tour in a museum with a bunch of fake wild animals. It was actually really entertaining. We learned a lot about animal calls and tracks. But the best part was spending the day as spouses. But that wasn't the only adventure of the day, check out these real pics we took at a place called Elk Park, which is a huge Elk viewing area in north Michigan. These ones are real, we promise...

JG and KG

yahtzee, deer, and bowling

Today has been a day of challenges. It has also been the day of losing. But not for me, for Karen. All day long we have been competing at everything. This morning we played like 2 hours of yahtzee, and we still haven't finished. The final deciding round is waiting for us when we get home. But we got tired of staying cooped up inside so we figured we would get out of the house and compete at something else. Karen decided she wanted to go bowling, which on a normal occasion would have been smart because she usually beats me. On the way to the bowling alley we saw about 5 deer eating apples. We pulled the car up to within about 15 feet of them and they didn't seem to care.
We admired the deer for about 2 minutes then continued on to the bowling alley. Karen was talking smack the whole way with the assurance in her mind that she was going to win. I even let her come up with the rules we were going to play by. She decided to make it best out of three events: highest overall score, most games won, and most strikes bowled. Going into the battle she was so stoked that she would dominate me in at least two of the three categories. However, it did not go the way she planned. Here is our score card. Notice the circles under my name.

So needless to say I came out victorious. Now we are heading back to the house so I can put my finishing touches on our game of yahtzee (which at this point I am ahead by 500 points so I am not too worried.) I would say this day of competitions goes to me, which I have to boast about because it doesn't happen often. Don't tell Karen I said that, it would go straight to her head).

JG

please God send snow. please

Remember how I said the only disappointing part of the honeymoon was the lack of snow? Well last night it snowed so now there is nothing to complain about. The first thing we did when we saw the snow was take pictures in it.
Our cottage is sweet. It is about 20 feet from the lake which makes for an incredible view in the morning. One of those views cut out of a magazine, where the water is motionless and the sun is creeping over the trees. Amazing.

Today has been a great day. Right now we are back in the coffee shop because it is the only place we know that has free wifi. We came into town today and walked down the strip of shops and stores but found nothing worthy enough to buy. Tonight we are going out to dinner then catching a flick at the movie theater. Not sure what movie though.

Today is our third full day of marriage, and it is better than the first and second. I can't imagine how awesome marriage is gonna be after a lifetime if it keeps getting better every day. What a gift. Time to go. I hope it snows more.

JG

honeymooning it up

At this moment I am sitting in "Brothers Coffee Shop" in Gaylord, Michigan with the most beautiful woman in the world, my wife. Ya it's definitely weird to call Karen my wife, but i still find the word continually coming out of my mouth. I can't believe we are finally married. Just over a year ago I met Karen, a few weeks later she became my best friend, a few months after that I fell in love with her, half a year later I asked her to marry me, and now here we are on our honeymoon. Marriage is a surreal feeling, one that can't be described with any amount of words. It must be experienced. I have only been married for one full day and I can already feel a difference in my life.

Our wedding was simply amazing. It was the most stunningly beautiful wedding I have ever been to (of course I am biased). You can see these pictures of Karen on our wedding day but you had to be there to truly witness how gorgeous she was. It's an interesting feeling being in a room with over 300 people and only being able to focus on one of them. I could not take my eyes off of her. Over the past few months I have had many images of her on our wedding day, but they all fell short of how magnificent she looked. Below is the happiest moment of my life, and judging by the look on Karen's face it was hers too.

So now we are on our honeymoon in northern Michigan. It's beautiful up here. We are staying in a cottage on a lake and the view is amazing from the living room. The only disappointment so far is the lack of snow on the ground. I thought that December in north Michigan always meant snow but i guess not. It is nice to just have a whole week off of doing nothing. So far our days have consisted only of games, sleep, and you know what ;)

I feel so close to Karen already, connected in a way that only a few days ago didn't exist. There is a mystifying power in marriage, one that can be felt immediately after the sacred union. It is no longer just Jordan, it is forever Karen and Jordan.

Our honeymoon is amazing, but part of me can't wait to get back to start our real lives with each other. Continue to pray for us as we start our family, the Gardners. Now its time for me to go, Karen wants to go get some cough medicine. We are heading back to the cottage for a nice dinner, some popcorn and a movie, a relaxing fire...and I can't tell you where it will go from there!!

The Engagement Adventure

Clearly all you of you know that me and Jordan are getting married :) But it is hard to keep in contact with all of you who maybe want to know the details of our lives. Because I am so proud to have a fiance who is blessed with the ability to be the most romantic man I know but still keep that tough man-cool guy appearance...I am going to let you in on our adventure to engagement.

I first of all want to inform you all that I was not totally surprised this event was going to take place, I knew that one day it would happen since the first day I ever met Jordan. I just didn't know when and how :) After spending 3 months apart for the summer we had the chance to spend a

week in the mountains together doing the thing

we both love so much, CAMPING! Grandma and Grandpa Hash, Josh, Jordan's mom, Casey, Corbin and Chad all had a blast camping out

in the Blueridge Mountains in Gracin Highlands Park in Virginia.

It was beautiful and such a relaxing time to sit by a campfire, cook

some pizza pudgy pies, and enjoy some of Grams campin' food. All of us took a bike trip down the famous Virginia Creeper Trail.

I believe it was almost 20 miles but it seemed effortless because of the gradual decline throughout the whole trip. Jordan is convinced that if you pedaled hard in the beginning, you could make it to Damascus (our ending location) without pedaling again. We also spent alot of our time hiking the trails and picking blueberries with Grandpa. Here are some pictures of our hikes to the Twin Pinnacles and up to some sweet waterfalls. However, the pictures do not give the beauty

we saw any justice. This place truly painted the picture of God's greatness.

At this point I was pretty sure that I was the happiest girl in the world. I mean getting

to enjoy the mountains, God's creation, and spending time getting to know the man that I love and family that I love. Whew, I thought this camping trip could not get any better. However on August 5th 2009...I truly became the happiest girl in the world. We set out on a hike which is

part of the Appalachian Trail (which we both want to hike the whole trail one day!) So we were pumped. We started out and on our first big adventure and within 5 minutes of walking over the hill we ran in to some wild cattle. Right on our path was a bull! It was neat but honestly, I was nervous. But we walked around them and headed into the woods. Other than the soggy ground from all the rain and the pesky spiders who spun their webs right in Jordan's face, it was perfect weather and such a beautiful day for a hike. After trudging trough the mud for a little bit Jordan was in the lead and stop suddenly...at first all he could see was a big black thing moving in the trees right on our path. Ha, we looked a little harder and it

was a wild pony! (Again I was a bit nervous) So Jordan politely asked him to get off our trail and he would not move. But when Jordan started yelling at him in a stern voice to get the heck off our trail he slowly moved off our trail...and that was that. We

ran into some more wild ponies and some bear tracks along the way. But we kept hiking on. I think back now and laugh knowing that through the 8 hours we were hiking Jordan had this ring in his back pack the whole time. He tells me that he was so anxious the whole time, every rock we came to, ever pretty place we were at he thought about pulling it out and getting on his knee. But I am glad that he was patient and waited. He once told me about his favorite place in the world. It is a big rock that is part of Massies Gap, along the trail that we were on. So we had about 30 minutes of hiking left and we finally stopped on this rock I had heard so much about to eat some lunch. It was perfect because the whole hike I was thanking God for my best friend and how much fun we have together. I prayed like I also do that we get to have many adventures just like that one and get to spend the rest of our lives together. Anyway, we are sitting there talking about how beautiful it was and how good our smashed, tin-foil wrapped pb&j sandwiches are as he goes

to "grab another one" out of his bag. I had my back turned but heard him say, "hey babe, check this out". I thought that maybe he saw a bug or some kind of animal because he said it so calmly like there was something really neat that I needed to look at. I turned around saw the ring! He stared at me and I was so excited that I almost fell back...off the cliff! I was in no REAL danger but it makes for a good story. I cant even explain the feeling in my heart at this point. My best friend, the man that I have fallen so deeply in love asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. Next to being loved by God, being loved by Jordan Gardner is the best feeling ever! We made a commitment to God that day that we were going to love each other and as a couple live for Him and use our engagement/marriage/relationship to touch lives and to build his kingdom.

I am now the luckiest girl in the world.

-KRS (soon to be KRG)

We are getting married in 52 days, but we thought we would get a jump start on the ever so popular Couple Blogging. So this is our blog, check it out if you want to know what's up with our new family.