FFF....."No Faces!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home"

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What are you most thankful for today?

Happy Thanksgiving! The Baking/Cooking Has Begun In Earnest Around Here.....

Ummm.......a little over done, but still yummy!

(love Ana's tounge!)

How Do You Prioritize?

I have to confess….this one has me a bit stumped.

I start off my day with my Bible & my cup of coffee (& yes, the coffee IS non-negotiable!)

But, after that, I feel like most days, I am just floundering through the moments.

What should come first?

My health?

My kids?-who probably need me on average 150 times a day! (“Mom?!!” “Moooooommmmmy!!!!”)

My hubby?

My sisters?

My relationships with my friends?

My house?

Ooops…..& I almost forgot-the laundry? (I’m always forgetting the laundry-just ask my hubby!!!)

I love what Steady Mom had to say about this in her blog post a few days ago.

She asks herself these questions at the end of the day:

* Did I spend enough time with my kids today?

* Did I have any eye-to-eye conversations with them?

* What did they tell me, or try to tell me, today?

* Did I slow down enough to enjoy them, or was my day too rushed?

* How have they changed from yesterday?

* Did I kiss my husband today?

* Did I treat him as my husband or as the hired help?

* What memories did I make for our family today?

* How can I do better tomorrow?

How do you decide what needs to be done? How do set priorities?




P.S The cooking is done! Anyone want to come over for dinner?

So, How Crazy Do You Think This Is??!?

Using this book........

........this morning, I am digging in & making 2 weeks worth of food.

I shopped for it all (& all the Thanksgiving food) on Saturday.

This book, "Once-A-Month Cooking," has several different menu plans available, & I have done this once before-but with a different menu.

It comes complete with step by step instructions & shopping lists for each menu.

I will let you know how it goes cooking for this-& then moving straight into holiday cooking, but I figured-might as well do it all at once.

Ana is looking forward to helping me-& Sunday, under close supervision, she already made our mashed potatos for Thanksgiving. She has also made significant headway on the sweet potato casserole.

I have a few tips for you if you try this:
1. Wear good shoes.
2. Use a cookbook like the one above, or like this, or this.
3. Enlist some help-I am having Ana help as long as she can stand it today. We aren't schooling this week-so that works.
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I have had the privialge of hearing one of the authors of this book, Mimi Wilson, speak on several occasions-& she is an inspiration. She has also written the book, "Holy Habits" which has been such a help to me.

So, what-cha-think? Have I lost my mind to attempt this all? I'm thinking that come the begining of December, I'm gonna be super thankful I did it!

Giving Thanks for.........pain.....

Yep......you read that right.........& I promise my title will make more sense by the end of this blog post! :)

A few weeks ago, I sliced open my thumb on my right hand-& yes, like most of the public, I am right-handed.

I am not going to tell you how-it’s too embarrassing & complicated to explain anyway.

But, for several days, it was a major pain to do anything!!!

I put that Neosporin+ Painkiller & a bandaide on it, but if you have ever done something similar, you know just how painful recovery is when you have to use it all the time!!

(I promise I’m not being a hypochondriac-it really was a pretty deep cut!)

Anyway, one morning, as I tried to protect my injury & write at the same time, I had a brainstorm on “A Lesson Learned Though Pain.” (I promise if you hang with me, I’ll make this interesting-just keep reading!)

Really, pain is a gift.

"Huh? What in the world can she mean by THAT?!?" I know some of you are thinking that,right?

The pain on my thumb taught me not to be quite so careless again!!

Pain in life can be a gift, too.

Yes……even the HARDEST pain one can ever endure-saying a forever goodbye to one of your children.

Back in November of 2004……..I couldn’t have said pain was a blessing.

Nope, not at all.

We buried a baby that I carried in my womb for 16 weeks-a baby we had prayed & longed for-for over a year.

Ah, the agony & pain of those few weeks & months!!!

After almost 5 years (& yes, my thoughts always turn toward my baby I won’t know until heaven each November), I can finally say that, yes, pain truly is one of the biggest blessings I have ever been given.

Through our pain, we learned many things....

Mostly, of course, we understood a bit more of what it meant for God the Father when He WILLINGLY gave His ONLY SON to die in our place.

Romans 8:32 (New Living Translation)
Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else?

But, also:

~It reminded us of our blessings-Ana was, at one point, our only reason to keep going.
~It forced us to depend on others (which I struggle with).
~It brought us to a point where the grief of others’ no longer scares us as much, & we can more easily comfort those going through pain.
~It drew Dave & I together. He was the ONLY other person on the planet who truly grasped my sorrow-because that baby was a part of him, too.
~The moment I held my baby & said goodbye-made me (for the first time in my life) long for heaven & home……death is such a stinky, rotten deal, you know? But, in heaven, I will see my baby again-where there is “neither sorrow, nor crying & no more pain.”
~It brought us to a point where we KNEW we needed more children. We had the desire before, but after loosing our baby, the desire burned in us like a flame!


We lost our baby right after Thanksgiving 5 years ago. Yes, I still choke back tears when I begin talking about her. (Ana is convinced it was a girl, so we have always said, “her.”)

But, this Thanksgiving, I can truly say-this pain God has allowed in my life has given me much more than it took away!!!

Have you experienced pain that ended up being a gift?

Care to share?

Guatemala City, February 25, 2008, the night before our early morning appointment at the US Embassy!
(Here's more reasons for "Giving Thanks!")

Studying The "Hibbo-bonomous!"

He couldn't get enough of those hippopotamuses.....hippopotomi.......hipppo-ahhh-I give up!

(Whatever the plural of "hippo" is!!!)