This morning I woke with little pain.  WOOHOO!  Praise God!  I was truly grateful to get outta bed with a normal amount of effort.  Plus it’s a snow day again  Well, 1/3 of our family had to go back.  The rest of us bums are staying in the warm house.  It feels like it’s been a goofy start to my school semester.  Cancelled classes, study groups, laziness.  sigh.  I know I’ll pay for it in the weeks to come but I’m enjoying it now!!  On the agenda for today:  start the home made bread and pizza dough.  Yuppers, I successfully made bread last week and I was thrilled it tasted good.  Plus I found an awesome, easy pizza dough recipe that makes six thin crust pies.  They’re just the perfect size for lunch or cheezy bread.

What else is going on?  My friend’s little baby girl had a terrible accident involving hot tea.  We’re all praying for Maggie-moo, mom and dad, doctors, nurses, and the rest of the family.  I’m going thru more lab tests that should give me some kinda starting point.  Tell me something, at least.  I’m excited to get Life ministries underway at church with Linds and Jesse.  Not sure what we’re gonna do just yet, but I know it will be worthwhile.  PASS is doing great things to teach the sanctity of life and I’ve no doubt awesomeness will come of their work.  OOO, OO… and I’m such a geek, Joe and I are attending date night with the Parrotts tomorrow evening.  I just wish I would’ve looked into it a little earlier so we could’ve gotten a group going.  BUT, if any of you want to go, text me!!  Tix are $20/per couple before 10am tomorrow online.

Hmm… that’s just the tip of the ‘berg.  Enuff for now though.  Thoughts and prayers for my sis-in-law Gina.  I pray that God gives you strength through this time, love, and comfort.

God says we are supposed to forgive a million times over.  Forgive our loved ones, love our enemies.  Those aren’t easy things to do IRL, are they?  I’m understanding, or try to be.  I try to remain empathetic, but not necessarily sympathetic.  I’m usually looking for the optimistic explanation, sometimes to a fault.  But when I’ve been hurt, betrayed, or taken advantage of maliciously- I’ll cut you right out of my life.  There’s no need to keep false pretenses.  I don’t care for fakeness.  And that’s where I get stuck, tripping over what I should do versus what I choose to do.

If I’m supposed to forgive and love, then there should be no need to cut a person out of my life completely, right?  I mean, wth?  If I’m supposed to love EVEN my enemies, then what does it say that I cut my friend/ loved one out of my life?

I dunno.  I don’t really get how to do it.  I just know I should forgive and love.  That’s what God did for us.  That’s supposed to be the footsteps I follow, non c’est pas?    My Bo asked me what my 2011 resolution was going to be.  I might just have to work on that whole forgiveness thingy.  It may take me all year y’know?

It’s been a good year.  Fast and beautiful is her name.  Yes, my year is a ‘she’.  Despite the silly pettiness that plagued her begining, 2010 found her feet and made her strengthened debut by Feb.  Where did the months fly to afterwards?  New Orleans with a tribe of teens for one.  July brought this girl to a youth conference 25,000 strong.  Luckily, I look young enough to pass for an older sister;)  Sprinkled in 2010 were oodles of to-do’s.  Sweet 16′s and summer fun.  City trips and romantic getaways (finally). Tattoos and rat babies.  Yes.  Rat babies.   It wasn’t always fun and games.  2010 also had her lessons to teach.    She brought growth…..and growing pains.  From terrible 3′s to trusting others we experienced the gammut.  Our family took steps towards each other while our faith grew.  We learned the meaning of true love, forgiveness, excitement, trust, kindness, and so much more. We recognized the imperfect flaws that we carry and love each other despite them.   Oh 2010, you did good. 

Today I watched my boys be boys giggling at the blocks while they tossed them into the air, chasing each other across the house screeching.   I awed at my teenager’s demeanor while she recounted her finals and grades.  I boogied at my Bo’s dance party held in pajamas  (the little guys got funky with us, too).  And I baked.  I made dinner and the chaos stopped.  We openly prayed and gave thanks for what each of us needed and wanted to offer.  We laughed, played a goofy no-sense making game, told riddles and cleaned up together. 

these are the moments i choose to remember.

Like Mother, Like Daughters

Sisters

Handful of Love

Ingredients

2 yellow peppers

2 orange peppers

5 roma tomatoes

4 stalks celery

1/4 -1/2 small red onion

Kraft Tuscan Italian dressing

Italian blend shredded cheese

Here We Go

Dice the peppers, onion, and tomatoes.  Slice the celery into 1/4 inch pieces.  Combine in  a large bowl.  Add the Italian dressing, top with 1/4-1/2 cup of the shredded cheese.  Toss or stir carefully to mix.  This can be eaten right away and it keeps very well.

Ingredients

Fresh broccoli crowns cut up into nice edible size pieces, about 3 cups worth*

½ Red onion, chopped or diced depending on your preference

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

1 cup fresh strawberries sliced in half (optional)

Handful of walnuts, chopped or halved

Paul Newman’s Light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing

*you can either parboil the broccoli to make it a beautiful bright green with a slightly softer crisp texture OR you can do it a la natural for a crunchy raw texture

It’s This Simple

If you’re opting for the parboiled broccoli, read on.  Otherwise, skip this paragraph and jump down J  Bring water to boil in a large pot.  Prepare another large pot with ice water, heavy on the ice.  Set that aside.  Drop the cut broccoli into the boiling water and watch the color change!  It’ll turn to a bright beautiful green almost instantly.  Count to twenty.  Turn off heat.  Scoop the broccoli out of the pot and drop into the iced water bowl.  Viola.  Once all of the broccoli has been iced down, drain water and carry on.

Place the following ingredients into a large bowl:  broccoli, red onion, mandarin oranges, strawberries, and walnuts.  Pour dressing over ingredients and gently turn to coat.  Chill in refrigerator at least an hour.  My family likes to take this in their lunches.  Luckily it keeps for at least two days.

Variations:  My mom-in-law likes to add chicken to her version of this salad.  I’ve also tried it with a hard-boiled egg.  Tuna is a thought, but I haven’t tasted that myself.

Instead of walnuts, you can use pecans, almonds, or peanuts.  You could always throw this together with lettuce if you don’t have broccoli on hand.

I’m going to test run a strawberry muffin recipe in the next day or two, I’ll letcha know how it turned out

I made and served it with a side plate of sliced watermelon, fresh lemonade, and veggies with ranch dressing to dip.  Tasty summer perfection.

Ingredients

4 sirloins, thick cut

Yellow and/or red bell pepper cut in half lengthwise

Salad greens (enough for 4 generous servings)

Kraft Balsamic Vinigrette dressing 1 bottle

½ Red onion, sliced thin

2 medium tomatos cut into wedges

Let’s Go

First things first, start the coals or light the grill.  Bring it to medium-high heat.

Generously brush dressing over steaks and halved bell peppers.  Set aside.  Cut your tomatoes into wedges and slice the red onion.  Plate four salads.  Layer the greens, add the tomatoes and onions.

Place the sirloins and peppers dressing side down on the grill.  Brush the top of your steaks with dressing.  Cook for five minutes.  Flip the sirloins.  The peppers do not need to be turned over.  Cook five more minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reaches 160 for medium done steaks.  Bring them in and slice against the grain into strips.

Lay the steak over a bed of beautiful salad, drizzle with remaining dressing and enjoy.

That’s not to say losing isn’t without costs, obviously.  I recently lost years worth of photos and writing I’d kept on my laptop.  Hard work, treasured memories, and memoirs simply dissipated into the technological black hole that is my hard drive. But that loss pales in comparison to losing a child.  Perspective.  What I learned was to back up my hard drive.

We lose on a daily basis.  It’s unavoidable.  We lose arguments, we lose patience, we lose receipts.  But to keep track of our losses without celebrating the little victories would be tragic. Who is to say that the losses aren’t necessary in order to grow?

Sometimes, just for fun I think back on the events of my limited experiences in life.  Things that have happened to me- things that one might perceive as significant loss- were necessary for me to be who I am today.  Losing faith, losing a parent, losing a sibling, losing friendships add up to gaining.  Gaining a true faith, gaining perspective, gaining a healthy lifestyle, gaining honest friends.  Gains that couldn’t have come without experiencing loss.

So when I wake up late, losing time, I thank God for giving me another full day’s worth to catch up.  When I miss knowing the father I lost, I thank God for the example of a strong, independent mother.  When I lose my patience and my mind with these kids, I learn to triage and prioritize to care for what matters most.

What have you lost lately?