While We Are Waiting...

I figured it was time for a little life update here on the blog. Unfortunately, Jared did not make it through first stage of Web.Com Tour Q-School this year. While it was extremely difficult to process immediately afterwards, Jared has gotten his emotions out and let them go. 

Right now, we are in what seems like a long waiting season, but, what most people might not know is that we are doing our best to LOVE it. We don't want to stay in a constant state of sadness just because ONE ROUTE of making it back on the Web.Com tour didn't work out. God is showing us each and every day that there are TOO MANY BLESSINGS to miss out on right now!  Jared and I have been doing the best we can to serve God and serve others around us. Here's just a few of the things we have been doing lately. 

We are cheering on our friends who made it through first stage and want to see them succeed and make it to finals! Our good friends, Zack and Katie Fischer, were headed to the Web.Com Tour Championship and unfortunately, the hurricane caused the cancellation of the tournament. But, I was so blessed to be able to hangout with Katie for a little while during their stay close by before everyone evacuated. It's always nice to be able to talk to someone who is in the same boat and can relate! I was so grateful for that one on one time with her! 

We are still doing our part to help spread the word about our favorite snack, Fig Bars! This company has gone above and beyond to not only supply Jared with a healthy snack on the course, but encourages us and cheers for us on along the way! We are so grateful to work with such a supportive company! 

When Jared is home, we've been enjoying as much time as possible with each other. We cherish the days we can wake up together, (when I'm not working my morning babysitting job) read our couples devotional together, and workout at the start of our day. 

On the days where I only watch Christopher when he gets out of school, I sometimes tag along with Jared at the course and help watch his swing, see if his shoulder is moving a lot while putting, or video taping for him. I also like to practice my putting too. (It is getting better every time!) 

One weekend, our friends asked if we wanted to do a double date to a nice course so Jared could still practice, but we could get some quality time together! It was such a perfect day! Plus, the girls did a lot better than the guys thought we would! 

We had family come and stay with us one night on their way to Disney World. We enjoyed making homemade pizza and just hanging out together. 

An unexpected 'lemon turned into lemonade' was when hurricane Matthew came on my birthday and I had to evacuate. Fortunately, I was able to stay in Tallahassee with family. My cousin even got me my FAVORITE protein cookie, put a candle in it and sang happy birthday to me!!!!  It was such a fun surprise and it made my day! 

 

I also got to see all of my family that lives in Tallahassee at some point during my stay. It was a trip that wasn't planned, but turned out pretty awesome!  

I also got to see Jared's parents for one meal before they flew home. The hurricane made all the schedules out of whack! They were supposed to stay with us the weekend after my birthday, but all the flights messed up with the weather so they flew out of Tallahassee. 

When I came back after all the hurricane madness was over, I rescheduled my birthday dinner with friends and it was still just as fun! We had dinner at my favorite place, Zoe's Kitchen, and since Jared wasn't there, HE CALLED ZOE'S KITCHEN AND ASKED THEM TO SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! It was the sweetest thing and I couldn't stop smiling after they told me he called! 

Lastly, Jared has really been working hard at the course and has decided to finish out the year trying the rest of the PGA Tour Monday Qualifiers because he can still skip the pre-qualifier and has a discounted entry fee until the end of 2016. We've prayed and prayed and still feel like making it to the PGA Tour one day is what God has in store for Jared. He is going to give it his all these next few weeks and see what happens. Then, we will decide what route to take for the next year. Most likely, he will be going back to the Canada Tour and fighting his way to earn a spot on the Web.Com ASAP! 

Wife Brag: I am SO incredibly proud of my husband. He sacrifices so much time and puts his body through so much when he repeats the same motions over and over again every single day at practice. He works HARD for us and I want more than ANYTHING for his lifelong dream to come true! 

But, even though we are hoping and waiting for Jared to make it to the PGA Tour, it doesn't mean we aren't thoroughly enjoying the ride to get there!!! These tough seasons make us appreciate the little things more. Our prayer is that even though we may not have a lot according to the world's standards,  that we share what we DO HAVE and bless other people around us as much as we can. Please pray for us to make the most of every opportunity and share God's love wherever we are. Thanks for your support!

*Edit: TWO hours after I wrote this post, I read this for my nighttime devotional....* 

It's so amazing how God shows us that He is ALWAYS here with us!!!!

 

Friday Faves

Hello! It's been a while since we've done our Friday Faves, so here we go! 

Zim's Crack Creme 

Zim's CRACK Creme Creamy Daytime Formula is an herbal formula that softens and moisturizes dry, cracked skin. Developed by a pharmacist. Recommended for daytime use, complimenting nighttime use of the Original Liquid Formula . Use on Hands, Feet, Elbows, Cuticles & More. Our original liquid and creamy daytime products are ideal for the dry split fingers often associated with dry atmosphere weather in wintertime or southwestern climates.

We thought this creme was super moisturizing and it really helped our dry hands the most! You can find more info on all of Zim's products on their website, Twitter, and Facebook too!  

SmashMallow  

SmashMallow is a premium snacking marshmallow made with Organic cane sugar and all-natural ingredients! SmashMallow is a sweet pick-me-up for every-day, anytime-of-day! 

I brought all of the flavors out for my church small group meeting one night, and they were a huge hit! Everyone couldn't believe how tasty they were! Everyone thought they were the perfect treat for those times you want something sweet to eat, but just a bite. We also decided that they would make really good rice krispie treats, so I tried to make some the next day and you can find the recipe at the bottom of this post! YAY! 

You can find out more about these awesome marshmallows on their website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

KYVAN Foods 

Retired NFL Pro, Reggie Kelly, and his wife Sheila created this company after They held football camps in their hometown of Aberdeen. The football camps were designed to reward the kids who have excelled academically in the classroom. Reggie also invited fellow NFL stars & coaches to volunteer and make the events special for the kids. True to form, after the camps, Reggie’s family cooked for the volunteers and they raved about the flavor and goodness of the meals. “Their responses were overwhelming and brought a smile to my face when they expressed their enjoyment of the meals and the difficulty of finding flavorful meals like these anywhere else”, said Reggie. Those compliments started the ‘wheels to churn’ in my mind and a light bulb flashed, prompting my wife and I to ‘come up’ with a great idea… a Soul Food Line!

They were very kind to send us their BBQ Sauce, Hot Sauce, Honey Apple Salsa, and Honey Apple Butter. We LOVE all of these! They're so tasty and definitely spice up our meals. Jared puts the hot sauce on practically EVERYTHING. :) My Man loves his food spicy! 

 I made a BBQ Veggie "Meatloaf" I guess we can call it, haha.  I just browned ground beef then added BBQ sauce to simmer it. Meanwhile, I put a bag of broccoli and an egg in the food processor and let it whirl. Then, I added the broccoli mix to the BBQ Beef skillet and mixed thoroughly. Lastly, I topped it with some Munster cheese and baked it at 400*F for about 20 min with aluminum foil on top. Then, I removed the foil for an additional five minutes to brown the cheese a little. 

It was hubby approved so that's always a good sign! :) We can't wait for the apple butter on our weekend waffles!!!! 

KYVAN's website has a TON of recipes, so please check them out and you can also follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

HeartBars 

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know that Jared and I love trying new on -the-go bars that we can take with us to the golf course! These bars were filled with good ingredients that are good for heart health! 

Check out their website, Instagram, and Twitter.

Now, for the DELICIOUS treat I mentioned earlier in this post.... I adapted this recipe from Golden Barrel slightly to make these tropical treats! 

Ingredients:

2 Bags of Smashmallows (I used Coconut Pineapple and Strawberries-n-Cream flavors) 

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil 

1/4 scoop Purely Inspired Whey Protein 

5 Cups Puffed Kamut 

Directions:

Pour Coconut Oil and Smashmallows into a medium pot on medium heat. Keep stirring until the mixture is smooth and add the scoop of protein powder while continuing to stir. Then, take the pot off the heat and stir in the kamut puffs. Finally, pour the mixture into a baking pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray and push down until smooth. 

Talk about a delicious treat that isn't filled with artificial ingredients! I've made rice krispie type treats before, but without the marshmallows, they just don't have that same exact texture, so we are super excited we can have that texture back without eating stuff that's not real! 

Purely Inspired is providing us with protein in exchange for recipes each month. We are not compensated for these posts, just sent product.