BORSCH!!

so today i went to visit gramma burkey... and this is how one makes borsch!! it's really yummy. i'm going to buy a beet and a cabbage sometime soon and make myself some. :) you should try it too.

from the kitchen of gramma burkey
BORSCH!!!
shred carrots and beets together and saute with a little butter
while these are cooking, boil chicken and an onion in a pot until the chicken is nice and tender. remove chicken and onion.
chop up potatoes and put them into the chicken onion broth and bring to a boil.
during this chop up your cabbage... oh and check those beets and carrots that they don't burn... and just set them aside (press pause!)
when the potatoes are boiling add in the cabbage and bring to a boil... the soup is almost done!!
you don't want to overcook the cabbage, so turn it off when you've brought it to a boil and add the meat and other vegetables.
sprinkle fresh dill and parsley over the top, stir and enjoy!
it's really good with a spoonful of sourcream stirred down into the soup. it will warm you down to your toes... the russian way!!

:) and that, my dear friends, is how my gramma taught me to make borsch today! hope your saturday was well!!

(keep praying for gramma and the cancer as the chemo treatments begin to get more difficult.)

nashville!!! fall break!!

so last weekend we roadtriped it to nashville for fall break... it was sooo much fun!! rachel and karin's brother and sister just got married (rach's bro david and karin's sis heather) and had a baby and moved to nashville... so we went and stayed with them... it was the first time the girls had seen the baby. and amy's boyfriend chris just transferred to belmont so she stayed with him and friends all weekend and i stayed with them on friday night. it was an amazing time. i'll comment-tate as you go through the pictures... oh, and hopefully i'll get some more soon from tommy bailey... cuz, yeah... i totally got to hang out with him and his girlfriend emily this weekend and thad hawk... totally random but oh so much fun!!! i miss them and love them!!! so here we go... away with jane and joe! ;) he he.

sunglasses!!! left to right... amy, karin, rachel me!

hooray for starbucks and roadtrips!

ha ha!! friday night i went out on the town with chris and jimmy davis and amy... and this is chris and amy talking... i thought it was hillarious! still do, just so you know. :)

awe, i love my amester!

this is us at sams. it was fun!

this is rachel's brother david and baby savannah sleeping!

here's mommy heather and rach brushing savannah's hair getting her all ready for church sunday... which... by the way... AAHH!!!
so we went to peoples church, apparently it's rebecca st. james' home church and i was all disappointed cuz she had led worship last weekend... but!!! i saw her!!! she walked past us like 4 times and then sat right behind her so the whole service i could see her out of the corner of my eye and hear her laughing and whatnot. i about wet my pants. :) no, i didn't say hi... rach wanted to ask her to lunch, but i was afraid to be giddy like a crazy fan. someday though, i shall meet her and we shall have a real conversation and it shall be hot! :)
i spent a lot of time by myself, just being still and quiet, exploring nashville, driving around, going to libraries and just being. it was so amazing. i hung out with the olson's and grilled out with their neighbors and played with the cute neighbor kids, cody, kirsten and riley. they were sooo much fun!! wish i could babysit them!! :) we went shopping with heather's friend at opryland mall, and then i hung out with tommy and emily and thad and thad's friend from work saturday night. it was an amazing weekend!!

on the way home we stopped at trevecca. i wanted rach to see the waterfall/lake/fountain i'd discovered and i purchased a trevecca nazarene university hoody... i have this goal in life to get a hooded sweatshirt from all the nazarene schools (maybe even brazil or korea!!) so far i have olivet, southern and trevecca. weird, huh? i don't have a mt. vernon one!! but i will soon, i have no doubt. :)

and this is a picture of the porch swing that i am oh so jealous of that is on trevecca's campus... they have several of them, just around. and i am going to email this photo to building and grounds... wouldn't that be totally hot if olivet got some porch swings?? oh to just swing!! :)


ah yes... the way home... ame took tons of pictures of us dancing tand doing motions to my little kiddy music. enjoy... and check out my hot sweatshirt!! :)

being!!! :)

oh... what a beautiful day it is!!!
today i am in nashville. i stayed last night with some friends from ohio that are now here in nasville... chris and jimmy davis and then amy slonecker. chris goes to belmont and jimmy to lipscomb, so it was kewl to see their schools and just hang out. it was so much fun. jimmy took us out on the town last night and drove all around. that was really kewl. then tonight i'll be staying with rachel's brother and wife david and heather, and their new baby savannah and karin, heather's sister will be there too. so i'm headed there in about an hour... but, ah, today has been wonderful and it has been mine!!
i got up around 10, showered, said goodbye to friends and headed out to discover nashville. i was looking for some quiet place to get coffee, read, study and just BE. i wound up at trevecca. and it was SO pretty!!! i sat outside by this rocky/waterfall thingy (LAKE! ha ha) and then chilled in the library for a while and then sat on a swing... like a porch swing. dude, olivet needs some of those!! :) then i made my way to downtown nashville where i am now at the nashville public library working on some sister 2 sister stuff, chilling, studying and just being. it is so much fun to me to just drive around, to explore, and to just chill. i feel so refreshed already. the rest of the weekend will be amazing too but oh, Praise Jesus for a day of wonderful nothingness!!!
these are the focusing thoughts of my day thus far...

PEACE.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.
-John 14:1

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
-John 14:27

Like the River that runs to the Sea
The Oceans speak of Your love for me
It's deeper than I can imagine
And I don't have to ever be afraid
Cuz nothing in the Universe

rest is coming

praise Jesus that fall break is this weekend.
NASHVILLE HERE WE COME!!
i am at the place where i have so much to do that i am not doing anything. i took a three hour nap today. i seek i long i yearn for rest.

in the calm of your presence
i am listening Lord
i am still
i am quiet
i am yours
let your word speak to me
let your spirit draw near
i will obey the truth that i hear
in the calm of your presence
i am listening Lord
i am still
i am quiet
i am yours
i am still
i am quiet
i am yours

what's up with the weather???

so it's super warm today. crazy. last night the sirens went off. they terrify me. no joke. we had to go out and sit in the halfway for like 20 minutes.. it was super annoying. i was scared and allison was totally making fun of me. this is me hiding and her pretending to be afraid, but she was really just laughing at me. crazy kansas girl who goes out in hail storms just to see how big
the hail is. crazy person. who does that?

Gloria Ann Burkey

Yesterday we went to Grandma Burkey. She has cancer all throughout her body and starts chemo today. This was the last time that we'll see her healthy for quite a while. I was so amazed by her strength and courage and faith and love for Jesus. I want to have faith in Jesus like my Grandma does and be as in love with Jesus like my Grandma is. We came in and Jonathan played her the song, "You are so Beautiful to Me" and she said, "Now, do it again and I'll sing it." And she changed the words to how he is beautiful because he loves Jesus. And then Jonathan put his arms around Grandma and asked about the cancer and tears just flowed down my face as she replied... because she's so in love with Jesus, because this sickness is very real and will hurt a lot, but she's so at peace and trusting Jesus. These are the things she told us...

Psalm 119:165
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with my right hand of my righteousness.

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know, thus sayeth the Lord
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus
O for Grace to trust Him more.

Once, when Grandma was flying into Germany she had forgotten to take bottled water with her and the airports are different there than they are here and there are no places to get food or water as you wait to go through customs. So she's waiting and had walked around looking for water and couldn't find any. She never asked out loud, and I know my Grandma... you wouldn't know she needed or wanted water. She said that she stated to Jesus, didn't really even ask or pray, just said, "Jesus, it'd sure be nice to have some water." Not long after a lady came and had a big thing of water on top of her suit-case and said to Grandma, "Here, would you like some water? I have more in my case." Awestruck, Grandma thanked the lady and took the water and thought, "Why did she give me that water?" Afterwards, Grandma followed the lady out and went up to her and said, "Excuse me, thank you again for the water, but why did you give it to me?" And the lady said, "God told me to." Grandma said, "I know that God hears my prayers and he IS the same God now that he was back then. I've proved him over and over again. If he wants to heal me then he will. Completley, for his glory. But I don't know what he's up to. I'm ready to be with him if he takes me home, or if he heals me I would rejoice in that too. And I'm ready to fight, and just like the little girl at church this morning prayed over me, I want to use this sickness to tell more people about Jesus and that this may bring glory to his name."

At one point, she was telling us about how the people of the church prayed over her and about halfway through she couldn't take it anymore... it was focused on her, so she interupted their prayers and began talking about Jesus. I LOVE how my Grandma loves Jesus. It's not about her... it's ALL about him. That's so beautiful. I want to love him like that.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Pray for Grandma Burkey and praise Jesus for the way that he is working. Pray that He will continue to use her life to touch those around her. And pray that we, the Burkey family, would trust in Jesus the way that Grandma does.

anna came to visit!!

anna came to visit this weekend!!
it was so much fun... amy slonecker went with me to pick her up and we got to see grandma nelson. then that night we worked the matthew west, down here, and BARLOW GIRL concert. it was amazing. here we are in our shine tshirts getting ready to tear everybody's tickets. :)

rachel and karin worked the downhere merch table.

jonny and anna bana danced in the bleachers during the concert. :)

they're so cute!

and then... anna got to meet barlow girl!!! :) there they are... lauren, alyssa, anna and rebecca!!

we had a roadkill/puppy chow party... check out all the friends!! :)

and then we had a mini party with the boys in ludwig... me and tim and ty

anna baby and joshie

this morning before tomorrow played for red carpet days... josh, me and matt... it was fun.

me and my sissy!!

ew yuck... don't kiss me!!!

after we hung out today... went to red lobster, the mall, linz's apartment, and walmart we went to jimmy johns... anna and smelling the free smells sign. :)

yummy!!! we love jimmy johns!!! :)

erin my buddy went with me to the fall of icarus show. it was amazing. feature presentation and pushmode rocked as well. it was an amazing show.

ann and jill... our red carpeters that stayed with us... hanging out with anna in the warming house. :)


tomorrow i'll take her back... except, i'm going to grandma's house. she has cancer and starts chemo treatments on monday. so i'll meet mom and cabes in indiana and give anna to them and love on grama for a while. pray for her. pray for me. pray for our family. i'm scared.