I married the easiest man to please when it comes to kitchen creations. Of all the recipes I try, and the yummy ideas I experiment with he is rarely happier than when I fix a big pot of veggie soup and serve it with salad and bread.

Not only that, but when I asked what he wanted for lunches, he suggested that I should fix a big pot of the simplest soup I’ve ever made.

Chopped Vegetables.

•  Potato
• carrot
• onion
• corn
• green beans
• I had asparagus this time so that went in too.

Salt.

Drizzle of Olive Oil when it is cooked.

And that’s all. 

I’m the one who has to have variety. I’m the one who thinks elaborate meals=a point on the check list of being a good wife. 

And yet…if it was up to him, as long as there is plenty of bread and tomatoes, he’d probably live on two or three things indefinitely. How’d I get so lucky? I’m not big on using processed foods very often, and I don’t think cooking can get any more unprocessed than chopping a handful of garden veggies and adding the tiniest touch of salt and oil.

Plus, it is delicious. I can’t wait for supper!

Today is Mother’s day. It is the day that I take a moment to sit back and celebrate the amazing miracle of new life, and the way that it can change a woman into a mother over night. It is the day that I rejoice with my mommy friends, the day that I thank God for my own mother’s love and devotion.

But today, I think of you.

There’s so many things I don’t know right now. Like the color of your skin, or the way you’ll smile. I wonder if you’ll have blue eyes, or if they could be brown, like mine. I wonder if your hair will have curls in it, or if it will be smooth and silky and soft. I wonder what your name will be, and if you’ll be a boy or a girl.

Will you like to be rocked and will you feel loved when I sing to you? Would you grow up to be a bookworm and writer? Would you be fascinated with electronics and tools? Maybe you’ll like engine grease and be driven to figure out what makes things tick. Perhaps you’ll like baking. I hope you’d like to feel the grass on your bare feet and to watch birds build their nests and how ants live in the world beneath our feet. Most of all I hope you’d learn to love the One who made all things, who made you to be the perfect little person I know you would be one day.

Often, I wonder if I’ll ever get a chance to feel you flutter beneath my heart. If I’ll get to watch you grow, if our voices will be the first you ever hear. More often, I wonder if a stranger will put you in our arms, and when we’ll finally get to meet you.

But in the end, those things aren’t important. It doesn’t matter how God chooses to put you into our lives. If one day it is God’s will for us to meet, I hope you will know that you are already loved. You are already wanted. So very much. 

I don’t know when or how or if, but today, I think of you and think of how much I look forward to being your mommy…perhaps someday.

<3

I have a confession: coming out of March’s reading high with the March of Books excitement, I took a bit of a reading break in April. Instead of finishing books, I went on a starting books spurt. I think I’ve started at least half a dozen! After starting them, I’ve read a few sentences here and there, but have barely made it out of the first chapters. My little reading challenge widget is probably thanking me that last month, I managed to pull ahead by four books.

In March I read more story books than I’ve read for years. This month I’m going heavy on motivational and educational. I amuse myself by the way I have been tending to group my books in to trends and topics this year. It is unintentional and sometimes makes for a little bit of a mental overload. That’s why I tossed in a bit of humor in the form of The hair-raising joys of Raising boys”.  I don’t know if it is all good, but the parts I’ve read have been hilarious and provided a much needed break from the heavy stuff.

My goals for May are to finish my stack and to not start any new ones until I do! Plus, I have three book reviews in the works. I’ve read a lot of good stuff this year, and am looking forward to sharing some more of that with you guys in the days ahead.

Now it is your turn! How did April work out for you all reading wise?

What is your favorite just-read book? (Even if I’m not starting new ones this month, it doesn’t mean I can’t plan ahead for next month, right? ;))

Write up your comment or post and link up and share!

If you aren’t currently a part of Reading Challenge 2012, take a peek at the official guidelines and see if you want to jump on in and join us. We’re always happy to have new friends!

And this house is a mess.

I haven’t felt very well.  Like Toad, all I wanted to do was crawl back in bed for a nap and “do it all tomorrow.” I didn’t even write a to-do list!

The problem with tomorrow is that in terms of house work, it will never get any easier.

 Tomorrow there will be more dishes than there are today.

Tomorrow the laundry won’t have gone anywhere and will still need to be folded. It will still take the same amount of time.

Tomorrow the weeds in the garden will only be bigger weeds. And knowing weeds, there’ll probably be twice as many.

Tomorrow the menu won’t write its self any faster than it will today.

Tomorrow dusting and vacuuming will take just as much time and energy.

Tomorrow I’ll still have to scrub the shower and wash that shower curtain.

Tomorrow, I’m still going to have to do it all, and putting it off doesn’t change that.

Today, I woke up to discover my headache has finally vanished. I don’t feel quite so much like taking a nap as I did yesterday, but I don’t feel like cleaning the house either. 

Looking about at the left-over piles of laundry (that I didn’t finish the other night), and the dishes from yesterday and this morning, and the books that didn’t get picked up from the last time Shayla and I had an extended story time, I thought of what Toad would have said if this was his house: if I do it all today, I won’t have to do it tomorrow, will I?

Well, probably.  That’s the nature of actually, you know, living in a house.

But tonight, I aim to have my to-do list checked off. That’ll mean a clean house (thank goodness for small houses!) a clean fridge, a menu plan for the weekend and lots of computer work checked off the list. 
It’s going to feel good.

And tomorrow? Maybe I’ll take a nap. I guess we’ll see.

My life is filled with myriads of little things. They make up my days. They fill up my heart with precious glimpses of beauty and goodness given from my Father’s hand. They make me realize just how much of the good things in this life aren’t dependent on how much money is in the bank or the place that I life. The real happiness comes from making the most of what I have right now, in this moment and cherishing it as a gift. Because that is what they were meant to be, after all. And in this, I realize I am incredibly rich.

+ snuggling up on the couch with my niece to read stories.

+ watching the morning glow on the lake.

+ the way the spider never gives up weaving her webs

+ mist rising from the hills on a perfect morning

+ the scent of honeysuckle filling the air…and my house through the open windows

+ how the garden seems to grow right before my very eyes

+ fresh produce for next to nothing. (we’ve had so many yummy meals as a result!)

+ beautiful, intricately patterned moths and butterflies

+ hearing the birds begin to sing every single morning. It never gets old.

+ learning about the incredible people and wildlife in all corners of this globe. It amazes me.

+ teaching little people patience by learning it myself first

+ feeling the dew on my feet as I run to the garden in the early morning

+ watching a tiny rabbit nibble at grass

+ fresh asparagus

+ inspiring, encouraging friends who make me dare to believe that I can

+ more new books (and how the one I didn’t really want ended up being one of the best)

+ cool, refreshing water.

+ a pretty “new” (to me) shirt. Just what I needed!

+ lots of time to play in a tub of water with Shayla

+ coupons

+ rain so I don’t have to water my garden as often

+ time together after a long week

It seems like every time I look outside, those spuds have put on another inch. The beans look taller and bigger. The squash has more leaves. The tomatoes are shooting up like weeds.

It is probably getting old to everyone who has lived in this land of plenty for a long time, but I am amazed. Every little thing fascinates me, and I run to the window every morning like a little girl, just to look at it again.

It doesn’t matter how many times I plant, my gardens will always speak hope to me. They will always remind me that I serve a God of miracles. A God who makes things new again.

I have no idea if I’ll get a single thing out of the garden. It’s too early to tell what bugs, heat and deer are in store in the days ahead.

But for now, I’m dreaming of fresh garden produce, and delighting in every moment I get to spend watching this garden grow.

April 27, 2011

Today it has been a year since my town began picking up the tornado shattered pieces of their lives and trying to put them back together again. A lot has changed since then, but the land and lives of families from here to Ringgold and beyond will always carry the scars of that night.

Sometimes I’m still in awe of it all. That first day, looking at all the damage, and trying to find a through street that would let us make sure our family was okay, all we could manage was a choked up “Wow.” or two as we saw so much devastation. All we could do was thank God for His protection as realization gripped us as we looked at flattened homes and remnants of someone’s life spread across the fields that this could have been our home, this could have been us. We spent the evening of the storm in the living room, oblivious to what was going on outside until the wind slammed into the house, and everything went dark before the sirens started. God truly had His hand over us.

But more than all the shattered homes, and all the broken trees, the thing that I’ll remember the most about the tornado of 2011 is the community. It was when I saw a tornado stricken home put a tent in their yard, and a sign offering food, water and a place to sit, and saw one tornado victim helping another one to salvage what they could of their possessions and homes that I realized that this tragedy had awakened the bonds of the heart and rallied people together in a way that the beautiful, lazy spring evenings of the past never could.

The tornado may have destroyed homes and taken lives. But it could not destroy the spirit of community. It could not crush out the strength of heart to rise up, and to build again with what was left…together.

It brought tears to my eyes as I saw older couples holding hands and smiling over the ruins of the home of their old age, saying “It’s okay. We’re just thankful we’re here today…together.”

And in the middle of disaster, that is what always matters. Being thankful, not for what you lost, or what was destroyed, but for being together. It is about getting up again, together. It is about rebuilding hopes and dreams and homes, together.

So today, on the one year anniversary of that F4+ tornado, I’m celebrating the progress that’s been made, and the community that’s been built. And I’m thankful, more than ever, that we’re all here together.

written for five minute friday. Photographs are from news articles and do not belong to me.

I’ve always cooked quite a bit, but the day I got married, was the day that I not only took a new last name, and a new role as wife and helpmeet,  it was also the day that I became the full time chef in our newly established home.

That first year, I spent time learning what kinds of food my husband and our housemates liked best. I tried out new things and made menu plans and shopping lists like a pro. After all, I’d grown up cooking from scratch and feeding four was suppose to be easier than feeding six or eight! In all actuality, it took a whole year to figure out how to cook small enough portions that we could eat in a reasonable time frame, but I enjoyed it all.

Lately, though, I’ve gotten out of my cooking groove. Somewhere along the way, I stopped planning menus and writing shopping lists and just sort of started cooking on the spur of the moment. I was deep into Chef’s burnout when I finally opened Trina Holden’s eBook, Real {Fast} Food, and began to read.

Trina’s book was fabulous. It started out right with what I needed to hear the most: what makes real food, “fast” food isn’t necessarily the ingredients, but the planning ahead. It reminded me of all the reasons why menu planning is the “stitch in time that saves nine” in the kitchen, and why it will make my life and yours so much easier if we will just take the time to do it.

Trina, in her book, not just told me why menu planning would save me time in the long run, but she made menu planning for an entire month sound so easy, with step-by-step instructions on how to make it work. There’s even printable in the back to write on!

She talked about master shopping lists & buying in bulk. She shared tips for cooking extra for later, and saving time with organizing your day so that you spend less time in the kitchen with greater results. She shares simple recipes and tucked in things that gave me some good food for thought about sprouting and soaking grains more regularly.

Trina used Real {Fast} Food as a way to inspire busy housewives like myself with tips for successfully feeding our families well, and having a life outside of our kitchens and away from washing dishes. And that’s exactly how I felt when I got done reading it— truly inspired.

Scott and I are vegetarians, mostly vegan, in fact, and thus while not every little detail of Real {Fast} Food applies to the way we eat personally, the principles of eating healthfully, and as close to the way God created food as possible, and the methods for planning that Trina shared are all things that I could relate to, and use in my own kitchen. There is no pressure whatsoever that one way of eating is the only way to eat. As a vegan-Vegetarian, whose dietary choices are often misunderstood, it was refreshing to read another perspective without feeling like the main point of the book was to tell me that I was wrong. Instead, Real {Fast} Food is all about sharing, and encouraging all of us to make better choices for the food we put on our tables whenever possible.

(Watch for a post in the near future on how I use the cooking in bulk and other principles that Trina shares to make my Vegetarian and Vegan cooking faster and more simple on a daily basis.)

Planning ahead is a must for every kitchen, no matter what the particulars of your diet and lifestyle are.

If you are looking for inspiration and how-tos for cooking more healthfully, and for feeding your family more real food, you need to read this book.

Available in PDF, Nook & Kindle Formats, you can read it on the go or print it off to pour over in your kitchen. If you have an iPad or smartphone, consider getting the kindle app. It makes it super easy to refer to no matter where you are!

Best of all, you’ll have a chance to get a copy for free!

Trina is giving away a PDF copy of Real {Fast} Food to a reader of life, laughter & little things.

• Just leave a comment telling me about one of your favorite “real” foods to enter.
• Giveaway ends May 1st at 11:59p.m EST
• Enter some of the other giveaways on the Real {Fast} Food Blog Tour for more chances to win this book!

from Gretchen at Little Pink House (ends April 30th!)

from Jessica at Something Simple (ends May 2nd!)

from Laurie at Homemaker’s Challenge (ends April 26th!)

• Read more reviews of Real {Fast} Food:

@ the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship

@ Homemaker’s Challenge

@ Dandelion Haven

@ Life in the White House

@ To Live for Him

• Be sure to “like” the Real {Fast} Food Facebook Page for all sorts of real food tips and photos.
• Buy a copy for yourself or a friend! At only $6, it makes a great, affordable gift!

on Trina’s website (PDF format, and links to nook and kindle versions)

on amazon.com (iPad and smart phone users, don’t forget you can use the kindle app to get this!)

on nook.com

with my affiliate link

I little dreamed that life would turn our two paths into one, or that we’d walk down Lover’s Lane, hand in hand. But we did, and when he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, I said yes.

That first day we met, I never dreamed we’d be walking down another aisle, pledging to stick out this unpredictable adventure called life and set out together on our own happily ever after. 

That was three years ago now. I still feel butterflies when he says my name, when he takes my hand. I miss him when he’s at work; everything is so much better when we’re together. He is my best friend. More now than ever before.

Oh, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Every life is going to have bumps along the way. But I’m thankful that it is him and me. I’m glad that when God wrote our stories, He decided that we were better together than apart.

I’m just glad that he + I= together.

written for five minute friday

Pink flowers, too.

I see them grow, for you and me.

and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Our spring day has been glorious. Gardens growing, tubs of water to play in, pink nail polish and pretty clover.

What about yours?

Today will Never come again. 

Be a blessing. Be a friend. Encourage someone.

Take time to care. Let your words heal, and not wound.

Today will Never come again.

~*~*~*~*~

I’d only seen her once or twice, the woman who lived next door. From a distance, I could read pain in her face and a life that has been too tough and left too many scars. Sometimes, when we passed her on our road, it seemed like she was in another world, a world created by drugs and alcohol and abuse. When I waved, sometimes all I got was a blank stare, sometimes she never even looked.

But she caught at my heart, and I wondered what her story was and if she had anyone to care what path she took.

Then she went away. Left in her run down brown car, and only came back once in a while to pick up a cat or to walk around the house once or twice. I thought she’d moved away and no one lived there anymore. I guess they don’t.

But two days ago, I was walking up the hill to the mailbox when I saw her standing in the rain. For the first time, she waved when she saw me, and when I walked by started to talk. It was pouring rain, and she looked a little strange. It is hard to know how much to risk with a stranger, but that moment, I knew I had to stop.
Her keys were locked in her trunk, and no amount of pushing or prying on either of our parts could budge the lock or pick it open. And while I tried to pick the lock, she stood beside me and poured out some of her heart. Looking into her face, I saw the same scars that I’d seen at a distance. I saw the hard lines and yet I saw beautiful blue eyes that craved love. I saw a broken, lonely woman who needed someone to care enough to stop. She needed someone to listen.

I didn’t get the trunk open. I didn’t talk about my LORD and Savior. I didn’t pray with her, but I prayed for her, every moment that I stood there. I didn’t even catch her name.

But I caught a little glimpse of her heart. Behind all those layers, she wasn’t so different from me. Why do we hesitate so much to reach out and touch? Why are we so afraid to listen and to love?

I walked home wet and with a full heart. Wishing I could do more, wondering if I did enough, praying that what I could not do, God would keep doing.

I may not see her again, but I will remember her eyes for a long time. I’ll remember the fragment of her heart that I saw. I will remember that sometimes, touching the world starts with something as small as reaching out to the lonely woman who use to live next door. I’ll remember that sometimes, the greatest sermons aren’t preached, but acted.

Every day I pray that God will use my little bit of life to be a blessing. Every day, I ask Him to keep me humble, and to let me see the world through His eyes. Often, I am afraid of what He asks me to stop for. It cuts close to my heart, and sometimes causes me pain. But through the pain, I see a little more clearly what Love is, and how much I need this Love. I don’t have it on my own.

So, I’ll think of her, and remember that only through loving and touching can we reach the World. And only by His grace can my feeble efforts to love be worth anything…anything at all.

There are those days when pages fill with ink by the pair and words are still left unsaid, unwritten.

There are those days when the good and the beautiful overwhelm and there aren’t enough songs to sing, days when the rain and the wind of confusion and uncertainty need to be written away.

There are those days, I write because I simply must write, not just because I want to.

But there are those days. With pen and journal in hand, I sit a long time just staring at empty pages. The only words that I write is the date at the top of the page.

Not because the day is hard, but because the day is good.

Not because the heart is too full or too empty, but because it is content.

Not because life is painful, but because in spite of pain, it is beautiful too.

Not because there is nothing to say, but because some times, even words and paper journals just can’t capture life as it really is.

So there are those days when the pages stay blank, and the words stay tucked away in my heart, but the life in those days is lived rich and full.

And those days, even for those who must write, are good days.

Will you love Jesus more
When we go our different ways
When this moment is a memory
Will you remember His face
Will you look back and realize
You sensed His love more than you did before
I’d pray for nothing less
Than for you to love Jesus more

May this always be THE reason I keep writing.

We do not remember days, we remember  moments.”

Cesare Pavese

If it weren’t for the moments, I guess every day would more or less be a blur in memory. I guess that’s why it is so important to live life for the moments, and not for days. To take store of good memories and happy moments and milestones from the not-so-happy so that we can look back and realize how far we’ve really gone, and how much good Time and God can do for pains and hurts.

These are some of the moments I think have shaped my life, directly or indirectly. As an introvert, I find that sometimes the smaller, or perhaps less significant things affect me more than others.

~ My first childish understanding of the Cross the at 4 years old.

~ Moving to Alaska, the beginning of a whole new life, in a way.

~ Learning to read, the beginning of a thirst for knowledge and information that remains unquenched.

~ My first diary. Though embarrassingly detailed in unimportant things and childish in every way, it was the beginning of a love relationship with writing and words.

~ Loosing a friend after they moved far away. It was a loss I felt for years.

~ Making a friend. She’s now my sister in law; we married brothers.

~ My baptism. My public testimony of a choice I’d made years earlier.

~ Graduating from high school. I think I would have panicked a little if I’d known how different life would be from how I thought it was going to be the day I held my diploma and looked forward to college.

~ Starting my blog. I had no idea that 8 years later, I’d still be here.

~ Moving to Colorado. Uprooting is never easy.

~ Tasting heartache in a very personal way. It taught me …so much.

~ Meeting the man I would marry. Never would have believed it if you’d told me that day…

~ Getting my first professional, full time job. 12 hour shifts and a lot of phone calls stacked up in those years.

~ Falling in love. The most scary and beautiful experience of my entire life.

~Engagement. Wedding Planning. First Kisses. Walking down the aisle and then driving away as a married couple. I still get a little thrill when I think of those things.

~ The moments when they put my first nephew in my arms for the first time and looked at his little face and six months later when I held my first niece for the first time. Absolutely priceless.

~ Every moment that I get to spend with Scott. He’s my best friend and we’ve shared a lot of bumps and laughs over the past three years.

These are only a few. Some of the moments I haven’t quite processed yet. Some are just meant for tucking into the heart. Others would just make this list a little too endless. But they are all important, and all very special. What are some of your moments?

I will say one thing, March of Books is pretty motivating when it comes to reading. It has been great for my goals as a part of this reading challenge! I started, read and finished a couple books in March. I really did more or less read four books this month; in fact I’m a few pages out from finishing another. I reviewed six different books this month, two of which are giveaways! Plus, it was fun to participate in the event with a lot of bookish posts (and vlogs) of my own.

I’m not going to say that I’ll keep up my 4-books-ahead streak that my challenge widget is showing through April, but I hope I can finish at least one book this month. My to-read pile is always growing, and I’m anxious to get to some of the “new” titles near the bottom of this month’s stack!

Here’s my list of book reviews. Be Sure to check out the giveaways and enter if you haven’t! Also, my Sis-in-law, Kandace, has a book giveaway for a copy of Miracle for Jen ending on her blog tonight! It has super low entries, so you have a good chance of winning if you go and enter now. There’s also some great giveaways still going on on YLCF. You can check out the sidebar for links to all the current ones!

Relentless

Little Bear

Miracle for Jen {giveaway ends April 2nd}

Hind’s Feet on High Places

Then Sings My Soul

The Abolitionist {giveaway ends April 9th}

Now its your turn. What did you read in March?

As always, if you are reading about this for the first time, and would like to join, check out some of the guidelines here and drop me a note. It is never too late to jump in!