Chronological Order

Have you ever read through the Bible?  The whole thing?  I am a little embarrassed to say that I am almost 29 and have never read it cover to cover.  Last January I decided to do it this year.  While I have eased up a little on my timeline, I am on track to finish it still , just in 13.5 months instead of 12.  I have always let myself get caught up in the timeline and if I got behind I would give up.  I decided this time that it would be better to finish it in a little over a year, than to stop because I got behind.  It was a good decision.  There have been parts of the Bible where I have been ahead, and parts where I have been behind, but It is happening!  I decided to do a chronological reading of the Bible...I have loved it!  At times it has been a little hard to get through, but It has giving me such a different perspective on the Bible.  I just had a major milestone, I finished the Old Testament.  I am now officially 74.8% of the way through the Bible.  If you have never read through the Bible, I really encourage you to do it.  I consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the Bible, but I have learned so much.  There are so many passages that we just never get to, or that we never read in context and add in the historical/chronological aspect that puts it all in perspective as far as the historical big picture...I have grown so much in my Bible knowledge this year.  More importantly I have grown leaps and bounds in my Christian walk!  I have been using YouVersion which is great because it gives you what to read each day and it has a phone app which has made it easy for me to read anywhere and everywhere.  Find a way to read that makes it easy for you and do it, I promise you won't regret it. 

Thanksgiving Menu...

Have you guys started your Thanksgiving Menu yet?  Are you hosting or are you guesting (is that a word?)?  I sat down and made my menu earlier this week and I already got my turkeys!  That's right, plural...I am making two turkeys, or rather turkey two ways!  I will be making a traditional turkey with stuffing and I will also be making a bacon wrapped turkey breast!  Yes, I said BACON....WRAPPED...TURKEY!!! 

Check out that hand woven Bacon Lattice!  Mike was drooling!

This was last years turkey.

I made this last year and it was a HUGE hit!  I actually have a friend who had it and he said that no matter where I live or when it is, if I ever make it again, he will be there!  Yes, he is coming too!  Here is the rest of the menu starting with breakfast:

Breakfast:
Homemade Caramel Pecan Rolls


Lunch:
An Array of appetizers including:
Veggie tray and dip
Fruit tray with pumpkin dip
Sweet and sour meatballs
Cheese and crackers
Maybe some mini quiches

Dinner:
Mixed greens salad with pears and feta and a balsamic vinagerette
Turkey two ways :)
Stuffing (turkey sausage and vegetarian)
Green Bean casserole (homemade...ie: not canned soup)
Bacon wrapped asparagus (special request of Mary Kate, and really...when your daughter requests asparagus, you just can't say no!)
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Gravy (both turkey and vegetarian)
Whole wheat rolls

Dessert:
Easy Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie (with fresh pumpkin!)
Pecan Pie

I am so excited!  I think if you love cooking like I do, Thanksgiving is like the super bowl!!!  What is on your menu?  Do you keep it super traditional? Or do you experiment with different flavors and recipes?  I like to experiment with different Thanksgiving recipes, but my family is more purist/traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving.  And since they humored me last time I hosted Thanksgiving, I figured I would keep it MORE traditional.  I think it is going to be DEEE-LICIOUS!   I will post pics from our big day next week, but for now, keep dreaming about my awesome menu and share your menu plans!!!

Some turkey tomfoolery

Today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving at the Preschool I teach at.  We had some fun!  We made these super cute apple turkeys.  So easy, and so much fun!  The kids all colored the turkey face themselves and then we let them stick the head, the gummy worm feathers and the gummy bear feet on.  They were fascinated and loved them.  I love my job and I love my class! 

Bribery...We are not above it!

As the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler and the newness of the school year has set in and of course the onset of cold season, it has become increasingly harder to get MK out of bed in the morning for school.  She is so sluggish!  More and more I am having to pick her up and carry her out to the living room...God is so good to give me an opportunity to do some weight lifting in my busy schedule...I am dead-lifting 50 lbs every morning!  Then once she gets to the living room it takes her a good 20 minutes to wake up and get dressed.  Then breakfast is a whole other issue...deciding what she wants, slowly slowly nibbling away at her cereal.  And don't even get me started on shoes...The girl will have a melt down in the front hallway because she can't decide which ones to wear.  I worry about the teen years!  This is not EVERY morning, however it is at least once or twice a week that it is this bad.  Other mornings she is slow, but not full on meltdown slowpoke mode.  I finally found a motivator...Bribe, if you will...to avoid all of this!  On mornings when I can tell it is going to be rough, all I have to do is lean down and whisper in her ear: "if you get dressed quick and are ready to go in XX minutes then we will stop and get a donut on the way to school!"  IT WORKS EVERY TIME!!!  I try not to use it more than once a week, but man I never see her move that fast!  Decisive, quick...It is like magic! 

In other news, I think we have all finally adjusted to the time change.  I remember loving it when I was a kid, but man, I am not as young as I once was.  I just don't adjust as quickly.  Also, the girls have fallen in love with a new yogurt.  Chobani started making a kids greek yogurt.  The girls LOVE it, and I love that they get a little more protien, esp Bria since it is so hard to get her to eat anything with protein.  The best part of this is that Sams Club already started selling it which makes it more palatable for the budget.  Look for it, Chobani Champions!

http://chobanichampions.com/

Too Much Thanksgiving...NEVER!

Tonight we had the pleasure of celebrating Thanksgiving with some of our good friends: the Andersons.  Dominique and I met when we were both pregnant 3 years ago, our daughters, Brianna and Cheyenne are 2 weeks apart.  They are best friends!  I watch Cheyenne during the week and we got the opportunity to hang out tonight!  The patriots were playing sunday night football and Dominique made some AHH.MAZ.ING food!  Thanksgiving is only one day and usually you only get to celebrate it with your family.  I think everyone should have as many Thanksgivings during the month of November as they can with as many of their friends as they can.  It was a lot of fun!  I am so thankful that God has given us such sweet friends here in Texas!  Thank you Dom and Trey for kicking off our Thanksgiving season right!!! 

Bully Trouble...Sort of

I picked up Mary Kate from school  the other day and I heard the words I had been dreading since she started school:  "Jordan was being a bully to me today."  Now admittedly I did not know it would be Jordan specifically, but I have been dreading this.  I am probably too overprotective, although I am not sure there is such a thing, but I wanted to go hunt down this Jordan person and give her what for...or go talk to the teacher...or I don't know...SOMETHING.

I controlled myself and what happened next is one of my proudest moments as a mom.  A moment that I would not have gotten to experience had I overreacted.  A moment where I saw my daughter not as a little girl, but as a christian who is starting to bear fruit...a christian faithful to the call to tell everyone about Jesus and love your enemies!

As Mary Kate started telling me about what happened, she mentioned that she asked Jordan to forgive her for anything she might have done, but that Jordan kept saying it was too late.  We talked about why it is that someone wouldn't want to forgive.  I told her that she probably didn't know Jesus if she didn't want to forgive.  Almost instantly, something changed in Mary Kate.  She no longer cared that she was bullied.  Her only concern was that Jordan didn't know Jesus.  She was heartbroken and immediately began rattling off several plans to remedy this.  I didn't think too much of it except that she wasn't feeling down about being bullied.

The next day I picked up MK from school and before I could even ask her how her day went she told me: "Mom, Jordan bullied me again, but this afternoon when we were at bathroom breaks and I had a chance to talk I told Jordan that the only people who get to go to Heaven are Christians and that if she wanted to go to Heaven then she needed to believe in Jesus, otherwise she would go to Hell.  I told her it is her choice and that she can go to Hell if she wants to, but she should choose Jesus because He is God! and she said that she didn't want to go to Hell.  And she was nice to me."  Wow....What 6 year old does this?  I know I didn't do that as a child...goodness, I have a hard time doing that as an adult!  It doesn't stop there...

Since that day she hasn't been bullied anymore.  Since that day she has been praying for Jordan to accept Jesus and for her family to find a "good church that doesn't teach bad things" almost every night.  On Halloween, one of our neighbors handed out little comic book evangelical tracks for kids.  They were super cute and me and Mike were very impressed with them.  They broke down sin and the Gospel...they were great.  So, two days ago, I picked up MK from school and she told me "Mom, I took that comic book that tells about Jesus and how to become a Christian to school and when my teacher wasn't looking I snuck it out and gave it to Jordan and started reading it to her some!"  She is consumed with building a relationship with this little girl and telling her about Jesus.

This last part of the story makes me tear up every time I think about it.  We were driving yesterday and talking about Jordan and MK mentioned that she hopes Jordan becomes a Christian soon.  I told her that she might or she might not, but that MK had played a very important role in Jordan's life.  I said that maybe she wouldn't be a christian right now or maybe never, but maybe someday she will remember and think back to when MK gave her the track and she might become one then.  Or maybe she will become one now and God will use her and when she looks back she will be so grateful that you were in her class and told her about Jesus because that got her started on her Faith journey to be used by God.  When I said this last part, MK looked up at me with tears in her eyes, and said "You know what, that makes me so happy that I am crying tears of happines!"  The joy that it brought her to see her friend (yes...i said friend now, no longer bully) start to show an interest in Jesus and the thought that she might become a christian was overwhelming for her!  Amazing!  Have I mentioned how much I love that girl?  How proud I am of her?

On the flip side...how many of you are feeling a little guilty now for not having a fraction of the concern for your non christian friends as MK had for hers....oh, if you didn't see that, both of my hands went up.  To live in such total abandonment to Christ like her that I would "pray for those who persecute me" and "love your enemies", that I would put my desires and hurts and feelings behind me and worry more about the spiritual health of others.  That girl is teaching me a thing or two...For sure!

Confession...

Confession: I am terrified of playdates!!!

Don't get me wrong, my kids have playdates and I love them and they love them...I am terrified of the playdates with kids that I don't know.  One of MK's friends from school wants to have playdates.  Her mom sent her phone number home with MK and I now have given her mine.  I don't have a problem having the girls here.  I am TERRIFIED of sending my baby over to someone else' house that I don't know...I don't know the mom or the dad or anything about them.  how are you supposed to handle this as a mom?  I really don't know how to work this...I don't want to offend them, but I want to look out for my daughter.  Suggestions?  Please...

Control...

*Disclaimer:  I am about to do some combination of rambling/ranting/soap boxing that may give you a little peek into the inner workings of my brain/heart...if you can't handle it or aren't interested, stop reading now*

Control...This word has been weighing heavy on my heart/mind lately.  What is it?  Do we really have it?  Do we even understand it?  

Society would tell us as women, as mothers, that we need to be the master of control.  
Control your family's schedule
Control your household
Control your children
Control your destiny
Control what other people think of you
Control your job
Control your husband
We are told that we can work 40+ hours per week, have the perfect house, the perfect family, the perfect body,  that we can be the PTA mom, and the CEO, and the attentive trophy wife, and have a spotless house.  We are not only told these things, we are expected to fit into this mold.  CONTROL.  And society doesn't handle it well if you don't.  Look at the Duggar Family...They announced today that they are expecting their 20th child.  The Bible explicitly states that children are a blessing from the LORD and yet even fellow Christians that I know would look down on them for their choice to trust God with their fertility.  I truly think that most of the public outcry that is occurring right now has more to do with the expectation that we CONTROL our fertility.  That we be "responsible" with how many children we have and when we have them, that to trust anyone other than yourself is foolish. We are told to make sure we use birth control so that we don't have kids until we are ready (ie: controlled circumstances).  We are told that once we are ready to have kids that it should happen on our time table and if it doesn't we should go see a Dr. to make it happen (ie: controlled circumstances).  I could go on and on about my views on Birth control and believe me, I have already typed and erased several paragraphs, but I want to get into the root of the problem: OUR INCESSANT NEED TO CONTROL EVERYTHING.

I said at the beginning of this post that this has been weighing on my heart and mind.  Lately we have had a lot on our plates and I have been trying desperately to hold it all together.  But as hard as I try, I can't.  I have been confronted with so many situations that I simply cannot control.
-Mike is taking Turbo Hebrew which is a very fast paced intensive language class, and it is going to come down to Dec. to see if he is going to pass and graduate in Dec....I can't pass the class for him
-Mike is just starting to look for jobs as a pastor...I cannot control WHERE or WHEN we get a job
-Our Landlords are planning on putting our rental home on the market, this would be great for them to have it sold, but added stress for me with having all the kids I watch here making a mess everyday and having to leave for showings and all that that entails along with Mike's crazy work and school schedule...I have no control over any of this
-We are ready to have another child, but it hasn't happened yet, but we are committed to trusting God to give us children when he has planned for us and to trust in his plan for our family,  I can't control this.
-My aunt died unexpectedly a month ago, age 53.  I cannot control life and death.
 These are just a few of the MANY MANY things that I have been dealing with the past month.  But it all boils down to this:
THERE IS NOTHING, LITERALLY NOTHING I CAN DO TO RESOLVE THESE ISSUES. 

Except this:
Lamentations 3:25 "The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him"

Isaiah 30:18 " Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him"

Jeremiah 17:7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord"

AND HERE'S THE VERSES WHERE I KINDA SAY 'OUCH!'

Proverbs 3:5-7 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  be not wise in your own eyes" 

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 " And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers. to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you-with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant- and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery"

Just like the Isrealites who were given the promised land and everything in it were prone to forget God and get caught up in their own sense of control and provision, I think we (especially when things are going good) get caught up in all that God has given us and blessed us with and we take credit for it, we try to pretend that we were somehow capable of control.  My friends, my life is living proof that you can't control everything or anything. 

So where does this leave me...Well, God is good.  He has been faithful to remind me daily through different scripture passages that he is trustworthy and faithful and that waiting on his timing and control is more peaceful and profitable than trying to control it myself.  It is a daily struggle having to wake up and pray for God to take control of my life.  One by one, I have to submit my concerns, worries, desires to him and let go.  And Let me tell you, it is not easy.  As soon as you tell God that He can have control, He will take it and push you to trust in Him.  It is not fun.  I teeter between peace and chaos most of the day.  But I find as I trust him more, I am feeling less chaotic and more peaceful. 

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid"

If you have made it this far, thanks for sticking with me.  I would love to hear your thoughts.  What do you think about control?  Societies view of it and what the Bible commands?  Thoughts?  I honestly don't even know if I pulled all of this together into a cohesive post, but it feels good to get some of this out.