God loves us the way we are...

 God is good. He loves us so much. And when we choose to walk with Him, He takes the time to change us from the inside out. He purges old thoughts, habits and behaviors that will no longer serve us. 

If we let Him.

The purging process isn't easy. It means letting go of things that we once clung to that may have helped us in the past. Things like anger or control or manipulation...things that may have been a way to protect ourselves. Or things like habits, addictions...smoking, alcohol, drugs...or whatever you may use to escape from reality. Maybe learned behaviors passed down through generations.

As many of us know, the purging process isn't easy. And can sometimes be downright painful. Change is rarely easy. But it's necessary to make room for the new things God has for us. 

When God enters our hearts, He wants to fill us with new, GOOD things. But if we are full of old habits and behaviors, there isn't any room for Him. That's where the purging comes in. He wants to get rid of those things that, while helpful at one time in our lives (or so we thought), are unhealthy and sometimes quite damaging. 

The good news is that when God begins the process of cleaning us up, and purging things that no longer benefit us, He doesn't just leave those places void. He doesn't just remove those things from our lives without replacing them with something GOOD. He will fill the emptiness with love, grace, joy, hope and peace. He will fill those voids with HIMSELF. 

If we let Him.

 

Psalm 143:8-10 

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, 

for I have put my trust in you. 

Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, for I hide myself in you.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; 

may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

"The Difference"

 I attended my first women's retreat in 2002. While I was there I was given a bookmark and it has been tucked in my bible ever since. It is titled, "The Difference" and this is what it says...

I got up early one morning, and rushed right into the day: I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray. 

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. "Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered, "You didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn't show me. He said, "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day; I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.

Dusting off the blog...

Hi.

Has it really been nine years since I last posted? NINE YEARS? 

Time sure flies...

A lot has happened since I last posted in 2015...

I started working full-time for the school district. I finally earned my bachelor's degree. I accepted a job teaching special education. I fumbled my way through the 'vid. I resigned from my teaching job. We sold our home of 23 years. And we moved to East Tennessee.

So yeah...you could say things have changed a bit. 

I am glad to be back in this space. I've missed it. I am looking forward to dusting off this little old blog and writing again. I am looking forward to dusting off my Canon and doing photography again. (I put it away when I got a "smart phone".) 

I don't know if blogs are still a thing. At least blogs that are actually written by a real person and not generated by the big, crazy internet. But I'm hopeful. And I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes... 

Sunday morning.

one word for 2015

in·ten·tion

inˈten(t)SH(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   a thing intended; an aim or plan.

   "she was full of good intentions"
2. 2.

   MEDICINE

   the healing process of a wound.
3. 
   

For the past several years I've chosen a word to live by, or rather, the word seems to choose me. I don't think about it every single day...and I need to write it on a sticky note so I even remember it...but still I choose one, and still it seems to play out in my life.

This year the word that popped into my head (without hesitation) as I considered what the word for 2015 would be is...intention.

This year I will focus on living with intention...spending time intentionally...aiming for things, setting goals, and planning my time better.

Originally I thought the word was intent...but when I looked up the definition for intention it included that part about "the healing process of a wound". It kind of caught me off guard...I'd never heard of the word intention used in that way before. But it caught my attention immediately, and I knew that intention was the word, and that part of the plan for 2015 is to heal some old wounds. Apparently it's time.

How about you? Have you chosen a word for 2015? Care to share what it is? Leave a comment and let me know what word you chose...or what word chose you. If you blogged about it...please leave a link to your blog, I'd love to visit!

on this last day of 2014...

I don't make resolutions. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I feel like they are a set up for failure. I'm not going to join a gym tomorrow, I'm not going to start a diet tomorrow, I'm not going to give anything up tomorrow.

I am, however, going to choose a word for the year. (I'm still thinking on it...) I've done this for the past few years and it's been good...a good reminder to do something intentionally and a good reminder to continually try to improve myself...whether it's January 1st or any other day of the year.  Rather than resolve to quit something I'd rather work toward something...

For the past several years I couldn't wait to ring in the New Year, I was ready for the new start that January 1st always promises because I was SO done with the prior year. But this year I'm not feeling that way...I mean, I'm fine that the New Year is here, but I'm not looking forward to it in as desperate of a way...if that makes sense. I guess I don't feel like things need to change so drastically as I've wanted them to in past years...my feeling is that if we keep on this upward trend we'll be doing good. Our jobs are good, our health is good, our roof doesn't leak, our heater works, our cars run, we've got food (and plenty of it!) in the freezer...life is good. I can't complain, ya know?

So here's to a safe and healthy and prosperous New Year...see you next year!

xo

Good Sunday morning...

Good morning. It's Sunday and still quiet around here. I'm the only one up...Food Network on in the background (do you ever watch Heartland Table? It's my new fave.), essential oil books open beside me, coffee within reach...it's a good start to a lazy Sunday.

Things have settled down now that Christmas has passed...it was a good time. Lots of presents, family, food...oh my, the food!...and now...quiet. Time to settle in for January and I can't wait.

I know some people don't do Winter, but it is my favorite season, and January might possibly be my favorite month. It's cold and gray and wet and perfect. It calls for warm meals and layers of cozy clothing and time spent indoors. I love it. And it's time for homegrown citrus...aren't they gorgeous? They're from my friend's tree and she is more than generous. They are so good and juicy...you can almost feel the Vitamin C seeping into your body.

January is also the time to plan the summer garden, but I can't ever seem to get it together enough to plan that far in advance. Each year I have the fantasy of planning an amazing garden, then starting my own seeds in plenty of time and planting our own seedlings come March or April. But the reality of this whole thing is...I don't have anywhere to start said seeds, nor do I have (or make) the time to actually do it and tend to them. The reality is I don't have a lot of space, let alone extra space for seed trays and grow lights and now that I am working full-time I don't have a lot of extra time, either.

So...the reality is...we will probably be buying 4 inch potted veggies come Spring time, and if it's like past years, we will buy them a tad too late. Luckily for us we live in California and have a long growing season.

And just because it's on my mind, I bought a couple tomatoes a week or so ago and they were AWFUL. So dry and mealy...terrible. Horrible. So bad I almost didn't even give them to the chickens. What a disappointment. I will try again because a BLT is just not the same with the T, but my goodness, I hope they're better than the last batch. Ick.

I've been off for a week and have another week to go...it sure is nice. Have I mentioned how much I love working for the school district? It's the best. This next week will involve tidying up the Christmas mess, finding space for new things and taking the tree down and putting away decorations. I am really enjoying the decorations this year...I will miss them, if I'm honest. The lights are my favorite. This year I decided to have a better attitude about Christmas...no more dread, no more Grinch...and it really helped. A lot. Christmas was good...

And now it's time to think about ringing in the New Year...2015. Wow. Crazy. A whole year has passed again...and fast. I've been thinking of my New Year word the past couple of days...it hasn't come to me yet, but it will. Matter of fact, one just popped into my head as I'm typing...I'll sit on it a bit and see what happens. I choose a word for the year, and then I don't really think about it much. But every now and then, as the year goes by, I am reminded of my chosen word, usually during a moment that I am actually doing it. And it reminds me that I am doing what I said I was going to do, but maybe not as often as I should be. But...that's OK. I don't want to live with "should's"...they're condemning. And I don't like that. I want to try and keep it positive.

Speaking of positive, today involves a pedicure...and I'm so happy about this. My feet are...well, um...let's just say they are terribly neglected as of late. So this will be really, really nice.

How about you? How was Christmas? Do you still have your tree up? (I do. It'll come down this week, though...I'll miss the lights.)

xo

12-13-14

Nellie and Sweetie...still going strong.

Hey...it's 12-13-14! That's kinda cool, eh?

I feel like life has been so busy lately...go, go, go all week long and when the weekend rolls around I'm toast. I went to bed at 9 last night! On a Friday! Party animal, right?

We were supposed to have "the storm of the decade" (or something like that) midweek. As it turns out, it rained. Just...rained. I mean, it rained a lot. But still, it just...rained. We were warned to batten down the hatches, prepare with extra food, water, candles...clean those gutters and rake those leaves. People panicked...kept their kids home from school...called in sick to work...closed schools. And in the end? It rained. Admittedly, some areas of California did get hit pretty hard...flooding and trees uprooting...but our area? Rain. That's it. For the record, we cleaned the gutters and battened down the hatches and made sure we had supplies in case the power went out. But we also went to work and we went to school and...we survived.

On a sad note, we lost one of our chickens a little over a week ago. I came home from work and went out to check on the girls and there was Betty, tucked into the corner of the coop, beak nestled in her wing, gone. It looked like she just went to sleep and didn't wake up. At least I'm hoping it was that peaceful. Of course, I cried. And then went in the house and told Ian...he helped me so much...it was hard to reach where she was tucked away so he crawled back and got her then dug a nice big hole in the garden, by flashlight, so she could have a proper burial. I wrapped her up and placed her in a brown bag then made a cross out of pecan twigs. I don't like that part of animal keeping. I'm not good at it.

On an exciting note, I became a doTERRA Wellness Advocate a few weeks ago.  I am SO excited I just had to say something now...but I'll share more details in a separate post soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to place an order, feel free to follow the link above to my web store.

We're going to get our tree this weekend...I'm actually looking forward to it which is strange as I'm kind of a Grinch at Christmas time. But I decided this year to be cheerful and to enjoy the holiday season...so that's what I'm doing. I gotta say, it's a lot better than being grouchy! So we'll get some lights up and decorate a little tree and set up the nativity scene and hang my favorite miniature wreaths on the kitchen hutch and I'll think to myself, "This IS kinda nice...Christmas isn't that bad."

What have you got going this weekend? Do you already have your tree? Whatever it is you choose to do, make it a great day while doing it!

xo

God planned you, and has a plan FOR you...xo

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

15 

My frame was not hidden from you

    when I was made in the secret place,

    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

Wednesday in the Word

Sunday morning. ..

Happy Thanksgiving....

Being grateful for... 

loved ones

good jobs

good health

benefits

everyone under one roof

(a sturdy roof)

reliable cars

plenty

(more than enough, really)

good friends

(really good)

Thanksgiving day will be full of...

Family...

Eating...a lot.

Laughing...a lot.

Catching up.

Picking up where we left off as if time hasn't slipped by.

Happy Thanksgiving...xo

(it's my favorite...)

ps...A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on tonight at 8pm!

I can't wait!

Monday, Monday...

It's Monday...and I'm not at work. That is a glorious thing, isn't it? Have I ever mentioned how much I love working for the school district?

The weather has finally turned...the leaves are just about done falling from the liquid maple, but the pecan tree just keeps on giving. That darn thing...leaves, sticky sap, seed pod thingys that explode when they hit the ground and disintegrate into a chartreuse powder that gets e-ve-ry-where...oh, and of course, pecans. You name it, it drops it. All.year.long. It's a huge pain...but I'd miss it if it were gone. Isn't that so like a person...complain and complain about something or someone...but when it's gone, you miss it...

So I'm still in jammies (no surprise), sipping coffee (no surprise) and watching bad made-for-tv movies (no surprise). The only thing that must be done today is a doctor appointment...a teen and his knees, unfortunately I'm thinking he's getting that from me. Why must we pass on the bad stuff?

But there's good stuff, too...we'll focus on that instead. xo

Sunday morning...

Heading to church today...fourth week in a row. 

One week at a time... 

So far, so good.

Do you ever wonder about the history of food?

Homemade croutons to accompany French Onion soup. Yes.

Do you ever wonder about the history of food? I do. Especially simple, delicious recipes. I think my fascination began years ago when I first started reading about the "simple life"...self-sufficiency, making food from scratch, growing your own, raising chickens, that kind of thing. It could get a bit overwhelming, I'll admit, but some of the info stuck with me.

I think what struck me most was the ability people had to make a little stretch a long way to feed a family. There is a video series I love, Great Depression Cooking. Clara is adorable, rest her soul. She had some great ways to make food stretch. This is another interesting video series, people really worked hard to feed their families. We've got it pretty good, I'd say.

Some of the foods that got me thinking recently were French toast and French onion soup. They are so simple and made with such few ingredients I can't help but think these were recipes born out of necessity...out of lack...someone used what they had in an effort to feed their hungry family and created something delicious. This utilizes two of my favorite things...good food and resourcefulness.

I decided to do a quick search and came across a site that lists the history of food... Food Timeline. I instantly knew I wanted to share it. I can't wait to really take some time to dig in and look around. I am intrigued with food history. A couple of summer's ago I read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder...partly because I hadn't read it since childhood and partly because I wanted to see if there was reference to how they cooked, what types of foods they prepared, what they ate during that time period. And she did...she wrote of making cheese and of making maple candy by freezing syrup in the snow, just two I can think of off the top of my head.

Feeding our families is a big job. And if we want to feed them good, healthy food, it's an even bigger job. I'm not gonna lie, working full-time puts a damper on the "make from scratch" ideal. I prepare my family convenience foods more often than I'd like to admit. But I try to balance it out...boxed mac and cheese with a fresh salad...or instant mashed potatoes (yes, you read that right!) with fresh steamed green beans and a seared steak. (I'm telling you, this meal can be ready in like 15 minutes!) I figure it's a good compromise. And my family's not complaining!

Wednesday in the Word

possum in the hen house!

We've had our chickens for about 5 years now. And for the most part it has been easy. Feed them, give them fresh water, clean their coop now and then, let them out to free-range and forage from time to time. Simple, really. Not much to it. And in exchange they give us fresh, beautiful, brown eggs.

Sadly, last year we lost one of our girls. She got sick and we couldn't figure out why. We tried our hardest to save her...but after almost three weeks it was obvious that she wasn't going to get better. So we made the decision to let her go humanely. It broke my heart, but it was the right thing to do.

Other than that, keeping chickens has been good.

Well, at about 3am Sunday morning I was jerked out of a sound sleep by the sound of something screeching...an animal of some sort screaming almost. I was half asleep so I couldn't discern exactly what it was but I was hopped up out of bed before I had a second chance to think about it. I asked Chris if he heard it and he sleepily replied, "Yes. It's a cat."

But I knew it wasn't a cat. And then I heard it again...this loud screech screech screech screech...over and over again. This time I was just about sure it was the chickens. I put on my robe, slipped on my flip flops and grabbed the flash light. I shone it out the back door to the chicken coop and there I could see my two golden Buff Orpington's, Nellie and Sweetie, cowering in the corner of the chicken run. I knew right away something was terribly wrong.

Number one, the girls go into their cozy coop at night. So for them to be out in the run at 3am was extremely abnormal.

Number two, where was Betty? She wasn't with the others.

I ran back to the bedroom and frantically told Chris, "Honey! It's the chickens!" He hopped out of bed immediately and we ran out to the backyard, me in my robe and him in socks. Chris cautiously peeked inside the coop and there hissed a HUGE possum. (I'm not kidding, he was HUGE.)

We formulated a plan, pretty much looking like The Three Stooges, but in the end it worked. Chris grabbed a rake and got that ugly possum out of the coop and I grabbed the girls one by one and took them to safety in the garage.

Poor things, they were so terrified and so groggy...ya know, chickens go into a trance-like state at night while they sleep. That's why they're so easy to pick off. Fortunately, the possum didn't hurt any of them. It wasn't looking good for Betty, however, as she was still trapped in the coop with him. She's lucky her frantic sister squawked like crazy to call for help, and she's lucky we heard it! Who knows what we could have woken up to? Chances are the possum was just looking for some eggs. But he was big enough to eat a chicken if he felt like it, so it's possible we caught him in time.

At one point, when we first got out to the backyard, we heard rustling in the trees and we thought for sure that whoever the intruder was had made off with Betty. We were SO relieved when we saw that she was still in the coop.

In the middle of all the craziness our phone began to ring. I didn't have time to answer it as I was running back and forth getting the chickens to safety and trying to keep an eye on Chris, making sure he wasn't attacked by a rabid possum. As it turned out it was our neighbor two houses down, "Michelle! Something's attacking your chickens! Wake up! Something is attacking them, bad!" That goes to show you how loud the squawks were.

In the end...all was well. The chickens were snug and safe and at peace in the garage. And Chris and I went back to bed...eventually. I gotta tell ya, that got our blood pumping!

could it be?

Could autumn finally actually be here? 

The leaves are falling...that's a good sign. 

The temperatures are cooling...that's another good sign. 

Oh...and...it's raining today! My favorite sign ever. 

We're getting there...slowly but surely. Welcome to California.

Wednesday in the Word

Follow Him close

Do not stray

xo

wooden spoons.

making Malt-O-Meal with Noni's wooden spoon

After Papa passed away, and Noni had been gone from us for two years or so, it was time to go through their hard-earned belongings, deciding what to keep, deciding who wanted what, what was to be sold and what was to be donated.

This was no simple task. Noni and Papa had a lot of stuff. Like, a lot a lot. It took months of sorting and organizing and remembering and crying and laughing and reminiscing. After the "valuable" items had been gone through and divvied up among the kids (the kids being my mom and her three siblings, and then on to us grandkids) it was time to hold an Estate Sale. As we were readying for it we had to go through all of their daily household items...kitchen gadgets, sewing notions, tools, paintings, linens, books...and decide what was to be sold and what was to be donated. Essentially, we were figuring out what held value, and what didn't. For me, this question turned out to be relative.

Value, as it turns out, holds different meaning for me. Some of my favorite treasures are everyday items from Noni's kitchen that I ended up taking on a whim...a set of Pyrex bowls, the yellow one that I use almost daily...an oval cutting board that serves as a backdrop to her old glass canisters that now sit on my countertop and hold sustenance for my family...and her dented aluminum salt and pepper shakers that I swear make food taste better when I use them. Especially soup.

But the items that are quite possibly my favorite are a handful of her wooden spoons. They were overlooked and in the donation pile. On a whim I grabbed them and took them home, adding them to my own crock of much used wooden utensils.

It wasn't until I pulled one out one day to use while cooking dinner that I noticed something. One edge of Noni's wooden spoon had been worn down to an angle...the exact angle I was holding it at to stir the food I was preparing. And it made me happy...to imagine Noni standing at her stove, as I was standing at mine, preparing food for her family, as I was mine, and stirring with that very spoon. We were connected.

Who knew something as simple and mundane as an old wooden spoon could be so special? Or that the sight of that yellow Pyrex bowl in my dish drainer would make me smile each time I see it. But every time I see that cheery yellow, or use the spoons, it's as if Noni is right there with me...in my kitchen, spending time, doing one of the many things that we had in common...taking good care of our families.

Value...it's a relative term, isn't it? What one person may see as old and useless could mean the world to someone else. To think I almost overlooked these everyday items of Noni's...and now they are some of my most treasured possessions.

Thank you, Noni...for everything. I miss you every day.