Summer so far

Our summer so far has consisted of approximately

225 sodas
59 pizzas
12 bags of Oreo's
20 trips to Baskin Robbins
360 hours of Xbox
1 trip to New England & New York City
1 Drivers Permit achieved
50 days sleeping in past 9
10 days sleeping in past 11
25 friends over
1 Comic Book Convention
10 sleepovers
20 family movie nights at home
2 trips to the movie theater
28 Nerf gun wars
1 church camp trip
8 pajama days
2 golf lessons
300 hours of watching tv
0 books read
0 math worksheets completed
0 supplies bought
0 brain cells developed

and you know what.....I don't care because it's summer!!!

In 3 weeks our life will be turned upside down with homework and tests and grades and homework and pop quiz's and packed lunches and forgotten instruments and homework.  So I have ZERO regret over any of it.

You get one chance to be a kid and I hope my kids remember that summer was the best.

Chicken Pasta with Roasted Peppers

 This is one of my husband's favorite meals and honestly, I don't make it often enough, but last night I did.  It was delicious!  Here is the recipe:

1 16 oz box of Penne noodles
4 Chicken Breasts cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
2 large cans diced tomatos
1 onion, diced
Garlic
5-6 peppers (red, green, yellow) roasted
Parmesan cheese




First, take peppers and cut into quarters, removing the stem and seeds.

Place quarter pieces on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet and place under the broiler for about 30 minutes or until the skin bubbles up.

As the peppers are roasting, prepare the pasta according to directions.

In a large deep skillet, cook the onion until done and remove.  Now here, if I had garlic, I would have added it.  But I didn't.  Moving on!

In the same skillet, cook the chicken until done.

Add back in the onion.

Slowly pour your cans of diced tomatoes over the chicken and onion mixture.  To be honest here, I didn't use two full cans as I don't like that many tomatoes in mine.  But I did use the juice from the second can and some of the tomatoes.  I also like the taste of tomatoes that are canned with garlic, oregano and/or basil.  There are all types so play around with it!

Once the peppers are finished roasting, remove them from the pan using tongs and place in ice water to help cool.

 Then take each pepper and start peeling off the skin.  Cut them into julienne strips and add to your tomato sauce.

 Combine the sauce with your finished pasta, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and you are finished!

Enjoy!

When thoughts turn in to monsters

Have you ever seen a garden gnome?  They seem cute right?  Well, some of them.  Some are kind of ugly, but the one I saw today was cute.  My boys were watching a cartoon this morning that had little cartoon gnomes that looked like this:  

Cute as they look, these little gnomes had an agenda.  They stood on top of each other, put a long black coat on and disguised themselves as a teenage boy to gain the love of a girl they wanted to be their queen.
    When the truth came out and the little girl didn't want to marry a bunch of creepy gnomes, it turned ugly.  These gnomes banded together to create an hideous monster that chased this little girl through the forest.  One sweet little gnome, grouped together working side by side for evil turned into this:

This cartoon reminded me a lot of my thought life.  I have a really bad tendency to beat myself up over a lot of things; bad parenting, not focusing on my marriage, my weight, my lack of obedience....the list goes on and on.  These thoughts, when they first begin, seem harmless enough.  "I wish I would have worked out today."  "I should have taken more time to talk to my son instead of reacting so poorly."  In and of themselves, those little thoughts can be used by the Lord to convict me to do something different the next time.  But I first have to confess them to Him and ask Him if they are coming from Him and what He wants me to do.  That's fail most of the time.  Much like the gnomes from the cartoon, I tend to allow these thoughts to pile on top of one another, never confessing them to the Lord.  Before I know it, they have turned into an ugly beast that takes me right down.  "You will never be good enough to be used by God".  "You will never be the Mom you want to be."   "You will always be overweight and depressed."   That is satan's agenda.......to keep me isolated; to keep me believing I am worthless so I do nothing.

My devotion this morning was from Jesus Calling and says "Rather than using your energy to judge yourself, redirect it to praising Me."  When these thoughts come, and they will, I must first confess them to the Lord.  "Lord, these bad thoughts are coming again.  Are they from you?  If so, tell me what I need to do.  If not, please remove them."  Then turn to Him and thank Him for who He is and who satan is not.  "Lord, thank you that You are the ruler of all things.  Thank you that satan has no power over me and my thoughts."  Then MOVE ON!  Just because a thought comes into my head doesn't mean I have to pull up a seat next to it and offer it tea and cookies.  Kick it out!  And one by one, the gnomes will disappear.

Conviction comes from the Lord.  Condemnation comes from satan.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"  Romans 8:1

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

"Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame."  Psalm 34:5

Why the Supreme Court decison gives me hope

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that marriage is no longer defined between a man and a women.  Gay couples can now marry in the United States and be recognized as a couple just like heterosexual couples have always been recognized.  I have watched my Facebook page blow up with everyone's opinions, for and against (mostly against on my feed) and many friends changed their profile pictures to a rainbow of colors for their profile pictures.

If I'm honest here, I was disappointed yesterday. I believe the Lord designed marriage to be between a man and a woman.  I don't think there is any question about that.  To see the White House lit up in gay colors gave me great pause.  But as I watched opinions fly back and forth on the news and on my Facebook feed, I wondered what God really wanted us, as Jesus followers, to do in this situation.

It's amazing how much I have bounced back and forth from being angry and fearful over this event, to being filled with love and compassion for the gay community.  I know what this decision means for our country....the path this puts us on at breakneck speed.  I know the whole Sodom and Gomorrah references and comparisons.  When I allow it, fear creeps in when I think about what my children will have to endure.  I see news about persecution of Christians and evangelicals predicting there is more to come and I believe them.  You can't be a Jesus lover in this country and not see the turn we are taking. A man can marry and man in a courthouse where no biblical reference is allowed.  I get it. 

I'm not gay, but I wonder what it has been like for them to be left out.  To be condemned.  To be told you don't belong because of who you love or how you feel.  When I stop being fearful and judgmental for a minute, I think about the people behind the label.  The people God loves.  The people Jesus died for.  I wonder if I were labeled because of my sin and was condemned by others the way we condemn them, would that make me want to be friends with them?  To know them?

Maybe if I stop judging and just love.  Maybe if I stop.  Maybe.  If I set down my fear and condemnation and "you're going to hell" attitude, maybe then I might have a chance to get to know them.  Get to be friends with them.  Maybe I will understand a little more and judge a little less.  And maybe then I can tell them about Jesus.

This is why yesterday gives me hope.  Because none of this comes as a surprise to the God I love.  I know how this all ends.  No Jesus follower wants sin and what the ramifications are on us as people and a country; but it's here.  Always has been since Eve listened to the snake and acted on it.  It's time I stop listening to the snake and focus my eyes on the God who makes all things and allows all things to happen. 

My how things change!

We took the boys to NewHampshire this summer and ate at our favorite place in Lincoln called "Flapjacks".  I am amazed at how much they have grown.  The first picture is from the summer of 2013 - the next one is just this summer - two years later.   Yowza!  David sure has grown!

Cairns

We recently took a vacation to the New England area and stayed in Vermont near the base of Mount Mansfield.  It's a beautiful mountain and the tallest in Vermont.  We drove up to the top and then hiked several miles from the parking lot to the peak, then back again.  These markers, or "cairn" as they are called (pronounced kern), helped mark our path.  They also had these little lines placed along paths you could take to the peak as you hiked.  We stayed on the white path, but there was also blue.
  These markers kept us on track.  We looked for them as we were walking, and noticed immediately if we were following the wrong marker.  The blue path was much more difficult and closer to the edge than I wanted to be, so I was always making sure I was following the white line.  If we went a little distance without seeing one, we would immediately stop and start looking.  There was even one time the white line went a little too close to the edge and I decided to move away from it.
These cairns parallel so closely the Lord's presence and direction in my life. How often I have stayed on path and looked for His direction, and how many times I have drifted away.  Sometimes, like on my hike, I deliberately kept away from His direction for fear of what it may hold.
Cairn's are also used as markers in life.  That what this blog is for me.  It's a way of remembering what God has done in our lives.  It's so easy to forget, so it's important to write things down; to remember.
God instructed His people to use cairns when they crossed over into the promised land.  He instructed Joshua to appoint 12 men, each from the tribes of Israel, to take a stone from the middle of the Jordan river they had just crossed.  Joshua placed them together at the place where the priests who had carried the ark had stood.  These stones were used as a memorial to what God had done.
I love that!  How quickly we forget!  And how important it is to remember - in what ever way we can - that God is faithful.

A year of great loss

Glenn, Arlene, Gram, Janice, Mom, Rich

It's been quite a while since I have posted.  A lot has been going on.  But it seems like every time this year I feel I need to update the old blog - so here goes!

This year has been a year of great loss for our family.  First, my sweet Uncle Glenn passed away of a sudden heart attack 18 months ago.  He was very special and made me laugh.  Even though I didn't get to see him very often, I miss him a lot.

My precious Grandmother passed away in August of 2011, just 3 days shy of her 96th birthday.  I still think of her every day and the huge impact she had on my life.  There just aren't words to describe how much I miss her; how much I long to talk to her again and hear her voice.  I am who I am today in large part because of her.  Everyone needs someone in their life that thinks that everything you do is phenomenal.  That's what she was to me.

A few months later, my sweet Aunt Arlene passed away after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer.  Almost a year to the day that her husband died.  I am incredibly sad for my cousins who have to struggle with the loss of both parents within a year and pray for them always.  Whenever I think of my aunt and uncle, I think of how they loved gospel music.  How happy they must be to be together again in heaven, in the presence of Jesus, with my grandmother and grandfather, with no pain and no worries.  Joy does come in the morning.

Earlier this year my mother suffered a severe heart attack.  We are grateful the Lord spared her life.

There are lots of lessons to be learned from all this tragedy and sadness.  I know all you can do is tell your family you love them, and do everything you can to live at peace with one another.  I realize that's not always possible, but I think a lot of times we don't try as hard as we should.  All you can do is your part; you can't change who other people are or how they act.  All you can do is love them, and stay away from them when you feel you can't love them anymore or they don't have love for you.  I also know that we can't take our health for granted.  My uncle and my mom's heart attacks came out of the blue.  Yet, I don't know how often they had their heart's checked.  It's something I will be looking out for that's for sure.

I miss each one of these precious people for different reasons.  I am grateful they were in my life and part of my family.  My hope is in the Lord that we will be together again one day.