“I know you’re disappointed in how I turned out.”

Oh that cuts to the quick of a mom’s heart.

One of my kids actually said those very words to me. Oh the pain to realize that one of my kids, my precious baby, knows this isn’t what I expected.

This child of mine is making choices I don’t love. But there is no way I could love the child anymore than I do.

All of our kids are smart, bright, funny, and questioning. They have grown up with parents who love them, but have not always loved perfectly. They grew up with parents who were broken, and some of that brokenness passed down to them.

When my precious baby said that to me, I had to think for a moment. Did I love where they were at in their life? Did I love the choices they were making? Did I approve of the steps they were making? No. Not so much.But that wasn’t the most important thing I needed to say.

What I did say, (after saying a silent prayer,) was this: “No, I don’t love some of your decisions, but I love you. And I know that you have not “turned out” you are “turning out”. God is far from done with you. You are smart, and funny and amazing, but you are far, far from “done”.”

I have to keep remembering: I’m in the middle of the story.

My favorite author has this to  say about where we are with him:  “God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things.” – Richard Foster.

As a mom. As a wife. As a woman. I’m in the middle of the story, and so are my kids. So is my husband. When we love God, when we are in fellowship with Him, we need to remember: This is just the middle.

At church, we have been studying 1 John. What a weird and complicated book. It’s a hard book, because while it is so full of life, it is so full of challenges. Here is one of the life-giving parts that I desperately needed to be reminded of:

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are God’s children. What we will be isn’t completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is.

We are still living in a fallen world, and thing don’t go according to plan. We blow it, our kids blow it. But this is not the end. We can pray that Christ would become real to our kids – and to ourselves.  While we wait on God, we get to call ourselves his children. We don’t have to be perfect, our kids don’t have to be perfect, God still is with us – because he meets us where we’re at and moves us closer to him.

We are Not Finished Yet

What is the number one reason you don’t have your time with God in the morning?

I know the obvious answer is time, but I think there is a different reason: It’s our overwhelming need to do it “right”.

I feel like if I can’t have a “good” quiet time – one with prayer, meditation, Bible reading and reading a devotional, then why bother? So I let my overwhelming need for perfection keep me from having a meaningful relationship with God. If I can’t take the time to do it right, then I guess I won’t do it at all.

I kept thinking that I would have a chunk of time to really do the kind of devotion I wanted. But that chunk of time never magically happened. And my quiet time suffered. Or didn’t happen.

One Minute Can Change Everything

Menu Planning – Before I write anything in ink on the actual menu, I put the meals I want on small Post-its so that I can move them around to accomodate my family’s schedule. No sense putting stir-fry on Wednesday night when everyone is going to be in and out of the house. Better to have a pot of Chili so people can grab-and-go.

• Blue – Things to delegate
• Orange – To Put on My Calendar and then in my Tickler File
• Green – To put on my to-do list
• Pink – To put in my filing system

Now tell me: What is your favorite way to use Post-its? Next Monday, I will randomly choose one winner to recieve a copy of my new book THE GET YOURSELF ORGANIZED PROJECT!

My 5 Favorite Ways to Use Post-its

But this time, it was personal…

You see, I gave up on stainless steel cookware a long time ago. Because in my experience, while it didn’t stain, it did stick. And there is nothing worse than lovingly cooking an egg white omelet and having the finished product stick to the pan. (OK, maybe gout is worse than a sticky omelet, but you get my point.) And since we are trying to cut back on our cholesterol  (Doctor’s recommendation) and lowering our food bill be 15% this year, every egg white counts.

So my friends and I are divided into two camps, Stainless Steel vs. Non-stick. And I swore I would never buy stainless steel again. But I have friends who gently persuaded me (IE: mocked me mercilessly) to give it another try. They were convinced that the pans I used before were cheap and ineffective.  (Hey, my stuff has been called worse.)

So All Clad sent me a fry pan in exchange for my honest review. And I was ready to give it to them, both eggbeaters a-blazzing….

But I have to say – this pan ROCKS. My eggs don’t stick. Huzzah. And the best thing is that everything cooks so evenly. My chicken didn’t dry out on the ends and stay raw in the middle. Which of course, would never happen to me. (Let’s just say I’ve been known to sneak back to the kitchen to re-cook a piece of chicken that was so pink I could’ve slapped a Hello Kitty sticker on it and sold it to a seven year-old.)

In my book, The What’s for Dinner Project, I talk about building up your kitchen equipment to the best you can afford. Let me tell you, these pans are now on that wish list!

Oh, and I have a gift for you as well. This Chicken Marsala recipe is the best I’ve ever tasted. Easy to make (or for Mother’s Day, may I suggest you have the recipe and ingredients lying around for someone else to make?)

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – pounded 1/4 inch thick
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
3/4 cup Marsala wine
Fresh Parsley to garnish

Directions

In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano.

Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.

In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms and onions. Pour in wine. Simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Garnish.

Pans, Poultry and a Happier Mother’s Day Recipe

I started by flying to New York on Thursday and speaking on Fort Hood Army Base on Friday and Saturday, followed by church on Saturday night, and then a flight from New York to Arizona to speak to a group this morning, and will be speaking at one of my favorite groups, La Casa de Cristo on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Whew.

In between, I am meeting with fellow writers, event planners, answering emails.

There have been time changes, eating at weird times, traveling in tiny airplanes (when I have to bend down to get into an airplane, you know it’s small,) sleeping in three different hotels, and washing my clothes in sinks.

It’s been a little crazy.

We all have our own version of crazy. Maybe it’s a new routine for your kids, a move, or a change to a summer schedule. Maybe you have out of town guests, an illness in the family, or something else that’s throwing you off kilter.

As I get a few more punches on my life card, I’m realizing that no day is going to be a “normal” day. I need to make myself a heaping bowl of normal especially on the days what are SO not normal.

1 Corinthians 14:40
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Um. Yeah. Order. Routine. These are words that scared me in my 20s. Now, they are what I need to live.

Here are some of my “routine” things that help me keep my life in order when my schedule is anything but:

• Devotions I need something, everyday. Right now, I’m reading Jesus calling on my phone ever day. It may not be perfect, but it’s something.
• Stretching OK – I am not actually exercising when I’m at my craziest, but I do stretch with large, rubber bands with a video on my iPad. Even ten minutes makes me wake up in the morning.
• Schedule the Love Roger sends me a picture of my puggle, Jake, everyday, while I’m traveling. I also make sure there is a chance to talk with Roger even on my busiest days.
• Quiet Time Whether I’m crazed at home or on the road, I need to have a little quite time.Research shows that if you can take a nap, even for 20 minutes, it’s the best thing you can do  for your health, productivity, and energy. Even if you don’t sleep, just resting will help your day.

Is there anything you do, even when life is at it’s craziest, that brings you peace and joy? How do you keep your routine when life is anything but?

Creating Routine when Life is Anything But