Baking, Workouts, and Blessings

 Hi everyone,

I hope your week has been good. We were blessed with such good weather this week, one day even got up into the 80's! Blue skies, sunshine, it's been really nice.

Sharaya and Ally came over last weekend and Ally made crepes for us! She is the crepe master, I tell ya. She makes them from scratch and they are so good!

Beth and I went downtown on Monday to see the Veterans Memorial they have down there. I'm grateful our little town has something to honor the brave men and women of the military.

Then we headed down to the waterfront for a while.

For a couple weeks now Beth and I have been talking about making banana bread and we finally did it! I forgot to take a picture when it came out of the oven so you'll half to accept our half-eaten loaf. We actually made two, one with chocolate chips and one with walnuts.

We're still going to the gym. Learning about the different machines. It's something we've never done before but we're really enjoying it. Beth always goes to this one first and I get on the treadmill. 

That's about all from here. I hope you have a great weekend. And you know, I pray you feel truly loved, cherished, wanted. Because you already are. This weekend and this coming week I pray you tangibly feel it.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. Num 6:24-26

Honoring

Today is Memorial Day, when we honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. My grandpa fought in WWI, my dad in WWII, but they both came home.

I have no experience with the military, or war. I can only watch the images on TV and grimace and gasp at what those men and women have gone through.

We grieve with their families today and pray for those who are still out there serving and risking their lives for our freedom.

You're probably seeing this a lot because today it rings true more than any other -

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:13 

God bless everyone in our military. And comfort the families of those who didn't come home. I thank you for your service.

Shopping Like A Kid vs An Adult

You ever have one of those nights where you wake up very early and you just lay in bed thinking about life? Happens to me fairly often but I had an interesting one a couple months ago. It was a Thursday morning. Grocery Shopping Day.

I was thinking about Beth and the choices she makes while shopping. I thought about how it all seemed to start when we bought her a refrigerator, and some kitchen cabinets and a microwave. And we gave her the authority to start buying her own food.

And I thought about all the times, the years I've spent trying to advise her on what foods to buy, what foods are healthy and which foods are not. All the times I've coached her, encouraged her, got angry at her, educated her. And how tired I was of doing it. And how tired she was of hearing it.

There comes a time in your adult child's life where you have to take your hands off and allow them to make choices. Whether they're good choices or bad choices. Even choices that are different from what you would make in that situation. At some point you have to step back, and let your adult kids be adults. As hard as it might be. 

And as I laid in bed early that morning, I believe the Lord dropped an idea into my mind. An idea that might help Beth make better choices.

When we're kids we want the cookies and cake and ice cream and sugar. And we beg mom and dad to buy it for us. But as adults we realize those aren't healthy and we need to limit how much we eat of that stuff. 

I realized I've been trying to force Beth to shop like an adult. 

And we can't force anyone to do anything. Oh we can advise and encourage and educate, but we can't force. Not in a healthy relationship anyway. And shopping was becoming stressful for both of us.

So I apologized to her. Said I was sorry for trying to force her to buy certain foods. And I told her she's the only one who can choose what she's going to buy.

And a few times since then, as we're walking into the store, I remind both of us that it's that time again where we need to decide if we're going to shop like a kid or an adult.

And you know what? She's slowly making changes. And our grocery shopping is becoming much more fun!

Remembering On This Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day weekend and I'm remembering my mom even more this year. This Tuesday marks 20 years since she passed away: May 13, 2005. 

She married at 16, had two kids before she turned 19 and thought for sure she was too old and her life was over when she had me at 25.

She was elegant, trustworthy, and loved her family passionately. 

When my sisters and I were growing up she sewed all of our clothes. Every Easter brought new dresses, shoes and hats. She kept the house spotless and worked magic with the money my dad would give her to buy groceries each week. Meals weren't fancy but we ate well.

She married young (her mom was physically abusive) and never graduated from high school so when I started Kindergarten she went to night school and got her diploma. Even at that young age I remember being so proud of her.

She gave her heart to the Lord in her forties and walked with Him the rest of her life. She was only 69 when she died. 

I'm really missing her this year. I wish I could just sit down with her and talk about life. There's so much I understand now that I didn't when she was still alive. She would say things like: "The hardest part about raising kids comes after they turn 18." Or "Getting old isn't for sissies." I miss her advice. I miss her laugh.

If you're celebrating and/or remembering this year, I pray for peace, joyous memories and a very blessed weekend. 

There's Not a Lot Going On, So Why Am I So Busy?

Hi everyone, 

It dawned on me yesterday that I haven't posted in a while. Honestly, I'm in a season where it hasn't even crossed my mind. Yet when I think about everything I've been doing, it's not that much!

Looking through my phone for photos to share I realized I never showed you my classroom. We have a sensory room for kids who find our typical Sunday school classes overwhelming. The swing is the newest addition.

I snuck a picture of Beth at our coffee bar on Sunday. Every week she buys the same thing, a hot chocolate with soy milk and a fruit snack. 

I have an azalea in the backyard that has grown so much! We had a dog that used to pee on it when it was much smaller and it killed that part of the plant. I thought it was a goner. But then the dog passed away and now - it's probably been 10 years - it's gotten so big! I took this before it had bloomed completely. My watering can is there for reference.

Let's see... Diana sent this picture of Adelaide, they were going on a hike.

She's growing so tall! We get to see them again in August and I can't wait! First we have a family reunion in Iowa in... wait, next month! I was going to write 'in a few months' but no, it's next month. We're going in June.

Ummm, what else? We're having fantastic weather: blue skies and temps in the high 60's to low 70's. Speaking of which, I think I'll close this, head outside and get some Vitamin D! 

Do you have any vacations planned this year? Been on any hikes or walks? Do you have a garden?

Take care!