CHOOSING JOY...

is not always easy.  Sometimes it takes a while.

After some unexpected news from the doctor, I have to think about it, talk to some friends about it, complain about it, and finally pray about it (which should have been my first response).  Then I can think about JOY.

I've been blessed with 30 + years of a normal female cycle and 3 healthy pregnancies.  So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that something weird might happen.  Without going into too much detail (don't mind sharing in person if you are wondering), I thought I was going through some kind of early menopause.  But after problems for nearly a year, the doctor is recommending removal of ovaries and uterus, of course, in DECEMBER.

But, why not?  I can see the Lord prepared for it to happen now.  A women's event I'm helping with is happening this Saturday.  It will be done.  Many years I have a Christmas party at my house between the Bunko group, Bible class or family.  This year everyone else is hosting - my sister's had the party planned for a year!  And the trip we thought we might take between Christmas and New Year's hadn't really materialized yet.  So no reservations to cancel or anything.  Hopefully my husband and kids will step up and do all the Christmas things for me while I'm physically down!

I don't think it's a mistake that Verse of the Day today was Phillippians 2:14, 15.  "Do everything without grumbling or complaining."

So, please, REMIND ME if you don't see me smiling.  "CHOOSE JOY."

IF YOU LIKE STARBUCKS SALTED CARAMEL HOT CHOCOLATE...

you'll LOVE these!  I made them as something new to take to Thanksgiving - besides the old standards.  I really liked them but I did learn something.  You cannot stack them - even between sheets of wax paper!  They weren't as popular as Puppy Chow or my sister-in-law's iced sugar cookies, or even pie, but that's okay.  Fun for something different.  Here's the RECIPE!

A NEW ADDITION TO THE ANNUAL PUMPKIN BASH...

was gourds!  We found out that green gourds are pretty juicy!  Click on that picture for a closer look!  Nasty.

Other than that, we had a wonderful holiday, filled with all the things we love:

9 a.m. Turkey Trot - The green team!

Lori always surprises us with a different cheesecake to add to the Thanksgiving meal!  Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake is pretty fantastic.

4 different tables of chaos, I mean games, going on at once! We are especially blessed to have my father-in-law still with us this holiday, after a rough year of cancer treatment.  

Annual Cousin Pumpkin Bash - wow, are they growing up! (see previous posts under Thanksgiving if you're wondering what a pumpkin bash is)

Their traditional photo on top the biggest pumpkin

Well it's hard for me to pick one favorite thing about this special time with the family but I have to say what means the most to  me is the Wednesday night All Church Singing time. Not only do we sing for an entire hour, but each song is led and chosen by a different song leader.  Young and old, big and small, and I think if I counted right, 13 of the song leaders were from our family.  It's hard to not watch them the entire song, but I'm getting better at worshipping during this time.  Love watching these young men growing up getting involved in worship!  Yes, we are truly blessed.  

HOW TO EAT A FLAMING MARSHMELLOW...

Without hesitation, of course!  This young man and two others from HU recently stayed at our house on the way to Colorado for Thanksgiving break.  When we were outside making S'mores, his marshmellow was on fire and he promptly ate it!  I about freaked out.  When I asked him how he did that, he said he had been doing it a long time.  One of the other boys asked his secret, and he said, and I quote, "DO NOT HESITATE."  That was it.  Then I expressed my disappointment at not getting a picture and he said for me to go get my camera.  So he ate a total of 3 flaming marshmellows that night!

Here's all 3 of them acting half-way normal...

They are friends of our daughter from HU and International students.  Let me just say that my daughter has some interesting friends.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and a word of caution:  DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.  Or anywhere else, for that matter.

SPONTANEOUS SATURDAY...

I had great plans for Saturday...putting up Christmas lights!

Well, my husband and daughter (who just got home for Thanksgiving break) started talking Saturday morning and one thing led to another, and well, before I knew it they were headed to bike around the lake.  Yes, 9 miles around Lake Hefner with the winds blustering at 20 or more mph!  Fine, you guys go do that.  They asked me to go, to be polite, to which I declined.  Then my son decided to go...and well, you know, I felt compelled to join them no matter how it might affect me later.  And I got to ride the bike that nobody claimed.  Nice!  Really, this bike just showed up in our garage and belongs to somebody's friends' family.  The seat was as hard as a rock.  (I won't tell you how I padded my bottom but you can probably figure it out!)

The first 15 minutes was a KILLER!  I considered turning around, just sitting in the car, and waiting on them.  Riding into the wind, pedaling that bike, felt like I was going nowhere.  But it got better.  We even coasted a little at some points.  My son dropped back and rode beside me and let my husband go faster for a while.  Then my daughter doubled back and rode the last mile or so with me.  So I got some time to visit with my college kids and that made it all worth it.

Not only that, our daughter had never been to Big Truck Tacos, so my son really wanted to take her there for lunch.  We got some great Mexican food and sat outside at their picnic tables, just enjoying the day.  There's something really great about enjoying a meal after a good workout!  No guilt whatsoever!

And do you know I still got the Christmas lights up?  Hubby helped me.  It was a great spontaneous Saturday.

THE EDITOR...

Homework with a tenth grader

Editing a research paper

Learning more about a topic

A rough draft

Examining the thesis

Gently encouraging

Correcting misspelled words

Taking out yous

Replacing overused words

Checking for plagiarism

Quoting the sources

Citing information correctly

Reading again and again

A final copy

Acceptable

I am a rough draft

Everyday I need editing

Full of errors

Gently encourage me

I fumble my words

Misstep

I need correcting

What is my theme

Take out I's
Replace my wants

Examine the source

Read me again and again

Perfect in me

A final copy

Acceptable

Pure

WHAT COLLEGE KIDS DO IN THEIR SPARE TIME, II

My husband and I were kicked out of the bedroom and bathroom the other night.  Here's what came out of that:  ELF reenactment

Next time I hope he will give me a heads up and I'll get all my clutter off the bathroom cabinet!  But of course those sweet college girls remind me that my mess makes me MORE REAL.

BE REAL TODAY!

MEXICAN LASAGNA (VEGETARIAN)

Made this for my family the other night and we had forgotten how good it is!  Pretty healthy too, only 4 g fat per serving.  Looks like I got it from bhg.com:

2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 14 oz. can chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup picante sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
2 t. ground cumin
2 15 oz. cans black beans, drained
10 7 inch corn tortillas
2 cups reduced fat cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce

In a large skillet, combine first six ingredients.  Bring to boiling, then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in beans.

Spray a 13 x 9 pan with nonstick coating.  Spread 1/3 of bean mixture over bottom of dish.  Top with half of the tortillas, and half of cheese.  Layer another 1/3 of beans, then remaining tortillas and cheese.  Finish with beans on top.  Cover and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

Garnish with shredded lettuce, lowfat sour cream.

BOSSYPANTS ME...

I don't often preach on my blog, but I had a crazy week last week  with repairmen in my house for 3 days.  In fact my husband told me as he went out of town, "there will be a repairman here about 4 o'clock."  Fine with me.  Well 4 o'clock came and went of course.  About 6:20 p.m. I receive a call from the repairman to see if I was expecting him and I told him "yes, but I thought around 4, " to which he said, "4 to 7."  So I said for him to come on, realizing it might infringe on my Wednesday night 7 p.m. church class.  Meanwhile my son and I dive headfirst into editing his research paper which is due in two days.  Long story short, the repair went long and my son and I had some quality time together and got that paper nearly complete.  AND I felt terribly guilty over missing my church class.  I can't remember the last time I missed.  We never miss because of homework, either.  Not a good feeling.  Then I wondered if anybody missed me.  And I started thinking I should check up on people more.  Not make excuses why they probably weren't there...

Which leads me to my main pet peeve about parents and Wednesday night church:  Not attending because their kid has homework.  Give me a break!  People make time for what they want to make time for...and I guarantee if you have a policy in your home that you attend your church's midweek service unless you are sick and dying, your kids will find a way to get that homework done at other times.  So you see, it will actually help them to manage their time better and become more efficient.  In the long run, what really matters?  Head knowledge or the heart?  If tiredness or something else is your issue, I urge you to  make a change so that you can attend.  I can't tell you how many times I went when I was dog tired because of the example for my kids.  But I was always glad  I did because I either gained insight into scripture or was encouraged in song or just talked to someone.  

So, I'm telling you now, the next time a repairman shows up at 6:20 p.m. on a Wednesday night, I am sending him away.  No matter how bad I want my internet fixed!  A little good guilt goes a long way.  

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25

FLASHBACK FRIDAY...

One of my favorites...it's in a frame and I put it out every fall!  These are my little darlings, 15 years ago.  The baby's sweatshirt was bought somewhere, but the others were ones they made themselves.  I assisted with the cutting of a print fabric, Wonder Under and slick paint.  You can tell I had nothing to do with the design on my middle son's - who would put a little circle of ghosts off center on a sweatshirt?!  This was taken in the Homeland parking lot and I see that beautiful minivan of ours -  blue with woodgrain panels in the background.  Fun times!

LEAVES OF GOLD...

While walking the other day, I was just praying about God's beautiful creation and then about how much more beautiful the place He is preparing for us.  Streets of gold - hard to imagine - and as I walked a really cool thing happened.  I realized leaves of gold were fluttering down like snowflakes all around me.  They covered the sidewalk, too.  The weird thing was, there wasn't even a breeze.  I didn't notice any other trees doing this at the  moment.  Maybe the overnight freeze made the leaves give up their hold on the tree.  But it was really a beautiful moment for me.  It would have made a nice poem or song!  

I feel like I've had a lot more God moments in my life the last year, and I think it's due to so many of you!  So many of you share the joys of being God's child with me.  I love your "thankful" posts on facebook and also posts from my blog buddies, EVERYDAY BLESSINGS  and SHINE LIKE STARS. They open my eyes to see blessings in so many things!  Also, to another favorite site, VERSE OF THE DAY - what a help to get a verse, commentary, and a prayer of application.  I go to you guys for daily encouragement and insight.  To my younger friends, what a joy to relive those days through your blogs!  I can't wait to see what you are posting tomorrow!

LOVE YOU ALL!

MY UNUSUAL WEEKEND...

About the time you think you've experienced all that life has to give, you get surprised!  Lately there's been a lot of blessings with our college kids.  Last weekend, my husband and daughter got to be a part of Harding homecoming, this weekend my son and I were a part of OC homecoming!

Homecoming chapel is a longstanding tradition and my son and I both were in it!  I was asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and my son to lead songs.  I figured it might be my one and only chance to EVER be on a stage with my son so I said I would do it.  We were one of three alumni parent/child groups to participate.  It was a priviledge and honor and I didn't trip or anything!!!

Another fun thing was my sister-in-law planned a Girls Weekend in Texas.  They planned to shop at Canton then spend the night at her house in Frisco.  Unfortunately I couldn't go down Friday night because  of Saturday morning chapel and I had to miss Canton, but I went down and shopped all the stores we don't have here and met up with them Saturday night.  We ate and chatted until midnight and got to hear about the earthquake from our relatives back in OK!  Then we worshipped together Sunday morning at McDermott Rd. congregation where my brother in law preaches.  The shopping wasn't over, however, we hit The Container Store before heading home!

One of my sis-in-laws and fellow blogger SHINE LIKE STARS!   Check out her blog if you want to see more about Canton.  (Wow, that late night is telling on me!)








Oh, and the perfect weekend has to include this, of course!

I'm sure you would have been disappointed if I didn't have a picture of this!

Great start to  my week!  Have a wonderful one and count your blessings!

TOO BAD...

I'm leaving for Big D in a few hours...you've got a job to do, my son.

ALMOST AS GOOD AS A LOVE NOTE...

TRUE COLORS...

I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow


Steinberg & Kelly


Saturday I walked under this gorgeous tree.  I had to take a picture.  Then I remembered something I read recently about how fall reveals the true colors of the leaves.  (Sorry if that was your post!)  You can read more about the science behind it HERE. The beautiful reds, golds, and oranges are their TRUE color.  Not the green leaves of summer. Those are immature leaves.  It made me think how we slowly mature into what God wants us to be.  What's your TRUE color?  Is your color beautiful?  Or are you still a little green?