Ramblings about today

Tonight's dinner was leftover soup. I used frozen turkey left over from Thanksgiving and frozen chicken broth as my base. Then I chopped up broccoli, orange bell peppers, and an onion and tossed it in the oven all together with olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to roast a while. I also roasted some garlic and some cherry tomatoes. After roasting the veggies I tossed them in with the broth and turkey meat and presto... Turkey and roasted veggie soup. Along with it I served very small portions of leftover mexican torta. Oh, I added a sprikling of cheddar cheese on top of my soup and a little extra salt. I liked it and two of my kids said it was pretty good. But one refused to even touch it. Guess it's gonna be a long day tomorrow because now he gets it for breakfast and probably lunch too. He seems to be heading towards a no breakfast person. Well, we will all have it for lunch then because there is enough for leftovers!!

This afternoon the younger two were pirates. Cushions off the couch and pillows strewn all over the living room. They were jumping from cushion to pillow and not touching the ground. Who knows the adventures they were having!

The kids played in the "snow". Well, they called it snow but it was really just ice all over the ground. But the older two had fun. Charlie went out for a while but it was too cold for much fun for him.

After snow playing, we had sugar cookie tea with Agave Nectar. I was hoping maybe we can change the hot chocolate tradition to a hot tea tradition when we come in from being really cold. But I know I will turn to hot chocolate from time to time. I love it! It is a comfort drink for me. Grandma makes a special mix that really isn't that chocolatey but you know... it just brings up feel good memories.

Hubby just started a fire. I was frustrated with him coming home later (over an hour) than he said he would but I think I will be ok. Just got really disappointed for a while and had some bad attitudes and irritating behaviors to deal with today. Plus our schedule is in a toss up while I am trying to figure out how to make needed adjustments. Honestly, I don't want to sit down and think about it but I feel convicted that is what I must do for everyone's sanity. So.... I will enjoy the fire and whatever else comes with the evening. And I will look over tomorrow's plans a bit better than I did for today.

Well, thanks for listening! Have a great day or evening!

Fourth folder, Fourth picture

A friend of mine tagged me to post the fourth picture from my fourth photo folder on my computer and explain it. I am supposed to tag four people to do the same but I'm not sure I have four other blogger friends other than those she tagged. So, here is the picture. This is one of my senior pictures from 1993 (15 years ago!). Jeff scanned these into the computer in December just for fun! We were not dating at the time of the picture but by the end of our senior year we were dating again and married about 2 years later. We had been off and on dating since 9th grade! What a treasure to know someone and be known by someone through so many seasons of life!

A Day in the Life of a Lego Guy

Benjamin and Allen's first Movie Creation

Christmas tomorrow!

I know tomorrow is December 23 but it is our Christmas day! We wanted to get to our out of state family and still have one whole day with just the 5 of us at home. So, we asked Santa to come early. Tonight's the night! I am excited and calm at the same time. I don't have any expectations that I have looming over me. That was yesterday. All things are ready!

Expectations

I have realized today that my expectations are often quite silly. Well, truthfully I realize this many times and then go right back to the silliness that I came from! Anyway, today's silly expectation that I am letting go of is the one that says I must finish school by lunchtime in order to get everything taken care of. The one that says we can't take breaks and jump back in where we were after the break is over. Right now, obviously, we are all taking a break!! It feels quite lovely to sip my candy apple hot tea and type a few thoughts and read a few thoughts of my friends! Now I have 3 more minutes to see if we can jump back in where we were!

questions

Tonight Jeff asked Benjamin, "How many questions can you ask in an hour?" Benjamin, who just bought himself a new watch, replied, "I don't know. Let's time it!"

Moses and God sure went round and round at the burning bush! Here we have God telling Moses, "You are the one I want. I'm going to use you to deliver my people from their oppression." Then Moses says, "Who me? Why me? They won't believe me. I can't speak well enough." (Notice all the me in his responses.) It was like telling God, "You don't know what you're doing." Moses must have been overwhelmed, shocked, and scared. Isn't that how we feel when God asks us to do something out of our comfort zone? Our response is often, "You want me to do what? Are you sure? There are certainly many areas where I know God has asked me to be his servant. He says, " I want you to nurture and train these three boys to be men after my heart." To be honest, sometimes that seems like a more daunting task than leading the Israelites across the desert. But who am I to compare my task with any other task given to any other person by God. We all have something God is asking us to do. What will our answer be? Do we trust that God is faithful to give us everything we need to fulfill the task he has given? Or do we get stuck on what we believe our abilities will allow us to do? It comes down to trusting or not trusting in God's ability to use me for His glory. It may be scary. There will be days filled with heartache and others full of joy. I will most certainly reach the point again of thinking I can't do this. It is then that I will remember - I can't! But God can!