Running as fast as I can...

...and I can't seem to catch up. That's a good thing though. "We're trying to keep up with all that the Lord is doing." This was a sentence written in some friends' prayer letter from the University of Idaho, and I feel exactly the same way. The past 2 weeks, we've been going nonstop with ministry (events on campus, following up with literally hundreds of freshmen, catching up with the leaders, equipping the student leaders, coaching a newer ministry within our ministry, planning and executing 2 weekly meetings, and lots, lots more!) I finally crashed come last Friday when 2ish pm hit and gravity from tiredness made my body just want to get as close to the ground as possible. My brain was mush.  Really, you should have tried talking to me.  BUT it was worth it! In all of this, the Lord is doing INCREDIBLE things! For example, we prayed for 200 students to attend our first week of Bible Studies and 206 showed up all over the campus and around the city!!!! The number is great, but more than that, that means 206 people get to hear/study and grow in their relationship with the Lord!!!! We have 4 running and thriving ministries reaching out to all kinds of pockets of campus so that so many can hear about Christ. It's exciting!

SOOO...that means my recipes for last week were a little thrown together. Well not really, but when Saturday came around and I'd thought about zero minutes about what I should do, I had to get creative. I mean I had to eat lunch and then what better way to be forced to accomplish your goal than to volunteer to bring dessert to dinner.  So they were what I call "Joy's Italian Salad" and what Quaker calls "Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies." I'm not sure I even have pictures for these things. The salad is one of my new favorites since I LOVE tuna and the cookies really were vanishing. So here you go.

Upcoming this week...Wicked Blueberry Coffee Cake (it was Wicked Good!) and something that fits into a Tea Party theme my roommmate is having.  I'm thinking miniature sandwiches.  Mmmm...

Joy's Italian Salad
Baby Spinach
1 can tuna
1 can of corn
olives
blue cheese
olive oil
salt

Arrange spinach, tuna, corn, olives and cheese on plate each separately.  Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt on all of it.  Eat.  Or you can do my method and just put everything on top of each other in realistic proportions, mix and then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle salt on top.  It's a salad.  Put your own personality in it.

Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins (I don't do that because I think raisins are gross in things)

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F
2.  Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy.
3.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4.  Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5.  Stir in oats and raisins (or chocolate chips, or candied walnuts or something better than raisins); mix well.
6.  Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8.  Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack. 
Makes about 4 dozen.