sat afternoon drive

Sat we decided to get out and take a drive. We have always loved going for drives and just becuz I’m the driver now that hasn’t changed. we are a bit limited in the hinterlands of Idaho as to where we can go that is a short drive away, but we decided we’d head north to sun valley. It was a somewhat cloudy day, but a great time nonetheless. Mike and I had a great conversation as I asked him: what spiritual gift would you ask from the Lord if you could have anything?

We hunted down the side streets to find the tulley’s coffeehouse---mmm, good! A decaf carmel macchiato and all is good in life.

my very own bucket list

i want to go see the movie "the bucket list" from what i've heard its heartwarming as well as hilarious. from the previews it sounds like these 2 men make a list of what they want to do before they kick the bucket. i've always liked lists and over the years have had my own ideas of what i'd like to accomplish before i leave this earth.

today i think it would be good to put it down in writing :

*** take a road trip around the united states with my family, see the historical sites as well as all the touristy places.

*** learn how to quilt

*** learn a 2nd language, either spanish or italian

*** visit new zealand, australia and europe

*** take up the piano again

*** write a book (subject to be determined)

*** perfect my knitting skills so i could actually knit a sweater or a pair of socks

what about you? do you have a bucket list?

my golden child

Last Sunday at church, pastor briefly spoke about the idols In our lives. He mentioned the normal ones you think of, $$, power, physical idols like they had in the old testement. And then he mentioned “family”. that we can put our families before the Lord. Having dealt with years of infertility and being of the “lots of kids, home schooling, back to the land mindset,” I always thot that my desire for a child was a noble desire. I never equated it with idolatry. But now looking back at the last 15 years I’m pondering my desires, past and present …

I remember reading about how when a couple has an only child later in life that was greatly anticipated, the experts that know these things label it “the golden child”. this concept was made perfectly clear when Josiah was born that indeed he was our golden child. We had great hopes and dreams for him. We weren’t content to let him be who the Lord might have him be, we wanted him to be great! Successful, handsome, talented. We had placed all our hopes and dreams into our golden child. While we hoped for more children, we knew that that might not be possible with my history of infertility, miscarriages and our aging bodies.

As time went on and we discovered that Josiah was not developing on track, depression settled in. what a jolt to our golden child dream. Then learning about the extent of our son’s disabilities shut the door on all our dreams of a normal life for him. But as we’ve let go of those dreams, God has replaced them with other joys, laughter and family fun. As we’ve accepted what the Lord has brought we have blossomed in a way I didn’t think was possible. God has been faithful even when our dreams didn’t turn out the way I thot they would.

So do you have a dream that hasn’t come about? Has the Lord given you something else to replace it? Do you have a “golden child” that you need to give over to the Lord? I’d love to hear your stories.

down for the count

the crud hit our house this week. hubby started coughing and a couple hours later i joined in the chorus. usually a cold comes on slowly, but this one barrelled down like the bullet train. sore throat, sinus headache, chills and sweats has laid us low for the past 2 days. i'm hoping that as fast as it came on that it will leave that quickly. hope springs eternal.

monday meanderings

don't have much to chat about here on the blog, but that doesn't stop me!

i've been thinking about narrowing down my focus on my blog. what do you think? would you rather i put the crafty pics and patterns on a different site? yes? no? don't care?

would you like to see more recipes? less? more pics? more stories about our family?

i have my other blog, seed stories where i ponder on what the Lord is showing me in life so i don't want to duplicate that here, but would you like to see more bible verses, book reviews, or something else???

i'm listening!

Thankful Thursday

time for some pics from Christmas. i am so thankful for the time i had with my family over the holidays. my mom and both sisters and hubbies got together for a Christmas dinner at Olive Garden while we were in the Seattle area. we don't have a n Olive Garden here in our small town so its always a fun treat for us.





so here's a couple pics of our fun evening together.

National De-Lurking Week

i just found out that tomorrow is the last day of delurking week! where have i been? anyway, i'm going to jump on this bandwagon, cuz its a marvelous opportunity to beg for comments. so if you read my blog regularly or have just found it today, please leave a comment. that way i won't have to sick my jack russell terrier on you!

one cool blog

i heard about this website a couple days ago, but didn't check it out. its a blog about crockpot cooking. this gal is posting about using her crockpot every day of 2008. at first i thot it was a bit of overkill. i love my crockpot and i use it regularly, but really, every day??? but then i stumbled upon a review of the site and thot i should at least give it a look. and what do you know? its a great site!

crockpot lady has been true to her word, posting her experiments and showing the evidence in bold big color. i like that she hasn't limited her crockpotting to just dinner entrees. she has tried desserts, breakfast breads, and other ideas. so go check out the crockpot lady and see what she's cooking up next.

Thankful Thursday

is it thursday already? how can that be? this week has been whizzing by here in my world.

this week i'm going to be a little shallow (or maybe alot!) and share with you my 13 fav tv shows for which i'm thankful.

1. Psyche is back!!! wooo hooo! if you haven't caught pysche on USA you are missing a treat of 2 funny fellows and a fun mystery every time. its labeled as a comedy and mystery series and it lives up to its name. gus and shawn are 2 longtime friends who start up a detective agency based on shawn's "psychic" abilities. in actuality shawn is no psychic at all, just a guy with great observant abilities and the ability to come up with answer before the police dept they work with can. check it out!

2. Burn Notice. also on USA, but not on til summer! aaaack! i can't wait that long to see what happens to michael, fiona and sam. michael was a spy for the govt that was let go, or in the spy lingo "got burned". he uses his skills and wits to help others while trying to figure out who burned him. fiona and sam are friends who help him along the way.

3. Star Trek Voyager (reruns) ever since i was a kid i loved star trek and as an adult i haven't been able to let that obsession go. captain janeway, commander chakotay, tuvok, lt paris and who could forget the doctor or seven of nine.

4. Fox News Channel

especially Special Report with Brit Hume.
Fair and Balanced News Coverage---need i say more

5. HGTV's Design on a Dime i like the older ones rather than the new ones
Decorating Cents with Joan Steffends. its so cool that they can redo a whole room with $500 or less. i always catch myself saying, "i could do that!"
Designed to Sell clive's accent is to die for, and i love the way they transform the ugly duckling house with a little sweat and $$ into a sumptious swan.

6. ok,if the fox new channel didn't cement my geek status then this surely will. i like my local news at 5pm, 6pm and 10pm. i often watch different channels at the different times just to get more news.

7. Chuck. how could i forget chuck? the best new show last fall.
i just saw on the official website that chuch will be returning on jan 24th! yippee now we can get back to chuck and find out what happens to our hapless, geek turned spy.

8. ok i'm really stretching here, with this entry you'll finally realize you are reading the blog of a very boring woman. but i really do enjoy this next show.
kim possible. never heard of it? i'm not suprised. its on the disney channel. i could blame it on my son, but he doesn't even really like it much. but in terms of kids shows its not too bad. cute redhead, straight A student, cheerleader, who saves the world with her geeky chum turned boyfriend, ron and techy friend, wade who never leaves his room.


9. now we will enter the outer extreme zone of tv. reruns who aren't even showing in my area. but really, the last 20 years i have loved watching perry mason reruns. every so often i'll catch one when i'm somewhere else. they are classic, the fashions are great, and where would perry be without his della street and that other guy, the tall blonde one. shhhh! i even liked the made for tv movies they put out in the 80;s and 90's.

10. every once in awhile i catch an hour of "what not to wear". great show. wish i had a $5000 credit card to spend in the trendy shops of NYC. good inspriration tho.

11. football.

12. mariner's baseball or other baseball games.

13. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
good for a tear or two, and a happy ending. they amaze me each time i watch it.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

i tried the recipe for the chicken pot pie that is listed in the recipe box on the right. #1 son not only wanted 2nds he wanted 3rds as well! a sure sign that its a keeper recipe. i had to tweak it a bit, adding extra minutes to bake it and i think next time i'll cook it at a higher temp. didn't take any pics of it, bad blogger!

so if you're in the mood for an easy dinner, try it out. i'd love to hear what easy recipes you like to use when you're not in the mood to cook or you don't have anything in the house to eat.

fun stuff

Quiz
I always think these are fun...so I decided to blog it. And I tag any willing participant to do the same. :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? my middle name was after my grandmother and mother's middle name.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? dont' remember, probably awhile ago
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? it's ok, but i'm not too fond of it
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? pastrami! mmmm
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? a 10 yr old son
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? i like to think so, but i don't really know.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? sometimes
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? no!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? raisin bran
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? no i just kick em off
12. DO YOU THINK YOU'RE STRONG? some people seem to think so, but i dont' see myself as very strong, stubborn maybe?
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? chocolate, caramel adn vanilla
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? their eyes
15. RED OR PINK? both, definitely both
16. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? my sis lives 10 hours away and i miss seeing her.
17. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? black jeans and black slipon shoes
18. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? leftover lasagna for lunch
19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? fox news
20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? soft pink
21. FAVORITE SMELLS? vanilla, cinnamin, baked bread, apple cidar
22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? a friend
23. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? baseball with football being 2nd
24. HAIR COLOR? brown
25. Eye color? brown
26. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? sometimes
27 FAVORITE FOOD? chocolate! mmmm
28. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? definitely happy endings
29. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? national treasure, book of secrets
30. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? black
31. SUMMER OR WINTER? i like all the seasons
32. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
33. FAVORITE DESSERT? too hard to choose ... cheesecake, pie, brownies, candy, pudding, burnt cream ...
34. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? nothing at the moment
35. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? no mouse at the moment, i have a laptop
36. FAVORITE SOUND? quiet
38 WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? north carolina
39. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? nah, i'm just an ordinary woman

now its your turn! let me know if you decide to do this.

the dead raised ...

as i was looking at blogs over the past couple days, i stumbled across a blog i had not seen before. meandering through .... is the work of christin, a lovely christian gal with a beautiful family. but what caught my attention was her post about a letter she had recieved from a ywam friend of hers. she gave me permission to post a few paragraphs of it and to link to the whole post. i strongly recommend you take the time to jump over to christin's blog and read the whole thing. i was greatly blessed to see how the Lord worked in the situation. i can only imagine the impact for the kingdom this must be having in the village and surrounding areas as word gets out of what the Lord has done!

This is a testimony from an old YWAM friend, Lubens. I'm going to set the stage before using his words....

Lubens, a Native Haitian, was leading a SST (Season of Service and Training...a ywam summer "camp"geared towards middle- and high-schoolers) to Jacmel, Haiti. The first morning they were in Jacmel, a man came to Lubens asking him for help.

The man was a witch doctor.

His wife was extremely sick, having been cursed by another witch doctor. This man had done everything he could...seen all sorts of doctors, spent all of his money. But nothing worked. Feeling great shame that he could not heal his own wife, he left his town to move to the town of Jacmel.

and here is the link to the rest of the story, please go read it! you won't be sorry you took the time ....

the first week of 08

so how did your first week of 2008 go? 51 weeks left!

hubby was home for part of the time since school doesn't start til the 14th. he did have some clients so that was good. i'm not ready for a hubby who is home 24/7. first born son went back to school and seemed to be happy about it. the last day before he went back we could tell he was getting bored with mom and dad.

i have a long honey-do list for hubby for this next week before school starts. we'll see if anything on the list gets accomplished! honey isn't partial to the honey-do list. for some reason he finds his sudoku book more interesting.

new blog title box

i have been wanting to change my blog header box for awhile now, but didn't know how to go about it. i finally figured it out and am so happy i can now create my own titles with my own pics. let me know what you think, k?

Thankful Thursday

Today i'm thankful for: (in no particular order)

~~~ a roof over my head, even if it needs to be reroofed
~~~ hot water, gas heat, electric lights ...
~~~ a free country with free elections, even if i can't decide on a candidate
~~~ a grocery store full of food, even if most of it is overprocessed junk
~~~ my van that takes me too and fro, even if it needs to be "scrubbed and tubbed" **
~~~ my neurotic, needy, hungry dog.
~~~ doctors, medicine, insurance, hospitals, even if ... don't get me started!
~~~ clothes to keep me warm. the amazing gift of clothes my sister gave to me.
shirts, blouses, vests, pants, capris, skirts, dresses, coats and more!
i'm overwhelmed with gratitude for this unexpected gift. and looking for more hangers ...
~~~ freedom to speak, to sing, to remain silent, to laugh, to cry, to pray ...

** bonus points to you if you know what movie that phrase comes from!

Lord, let me never take for granted these things again ...

Welcome 2008

is anyone else having a hard time believing it is 2008 already? wasn't y2k just a while back? weren't we just partying like it was 1999 a few days ago? nope? me neither. i just have this feeling that the years are racing by, and i've been snoozing up in the grandstand.

but i am glad its a new year. i've always loved this time of year, and i love making new years resolutions, even if i don't keep them. i always have a bunch of resolutions and feel that at least by havign them, i get closer to the goal even if i don't accomplish them 100%.

for this year, nutrition and fitness are on the list again, along with praying for my family and friends. i started this in the fall and have really benefitted from the times i accomplish it. over the last month it got passed over way too often, so i'm hoping that by putting it on my list it'll become a priority again.

other than those, i'm still thinking and pondering on what to add to the list.

about 5 years ago, i also started choosing a word for the year. the first year i choose the word gratitude little did i know how appropo that word would be for me that entire year. God gave me lots of things to be grateful for. each year it has been awesome to see how the Lord has intertwined the word i've chosen into my life and shown Himself to me thru it.

this years word is freedom. freedom in Christ, freedom from bondage and slavery to the flesh. i'm excited to see how the Lord uses freedom this year in my life. what about you? have you ever chosen a word for a year? if not, what about this year? want to come along?