Contentment

WORD
Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the bosting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Our culture constantly bombards us with the thought that we need what we do not have and that we never have enough. Before we know it our focused attention is on the temporary things of this world instead of the eternal things that will last forever.
As we begin to seek God every day through his word and through prayer, He begins to give us a new perspective of contentment in this life. His greatest desire is that we love Him and seek Him above all else and that we love others as He has loved us! God and people’s souls are the only things that are going to last for eternity!

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father I thank you that you are my creator and the creator of this beautiful world in which I live! I know that it is your desire for me to enjoy this life to the fullest, but for me to fully live my life I must love you above all else. As I go throughout this day I pray that you will help me make a priority of the eternal things! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This passage, and the thought that accompanies it reminds me so much of our life right now, and our desires vs. our needs.  Having a small child, we would LOVE to be able to find a single-family home, or even a townhome in our price range, and in the area we would like to live.  Do we NEED a new place to live?  The answer is quite simple...NO.  But the world keeps telling us the opposite.  It is a daily struggle for us to be content in our situation.  To be content in our housing situation, and in life in general.  God's ways and plans are bigger and better than our own.  A hard concept to deal with at times, but one that is important to remember.

Happy Valentine's Day

Last night I decided to have a Valentine's Day "photoshoot" with James because I didn't quite get cards with pictures into the mail this year.  Here are the pictures.

James was a trooper, and I was able to send pictures off to family last night.

Rails of Life

WORD
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:9

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Rick Warren has said that he feels that life can be likened to a railroad track with the two rails. You have something good going and something bad going on at the same time. As you begin this day, this statement is probably true of you. Just remember that God’s ways are not our ways. What our culture might say is a “set back” God may be using as a “set up” for your greatest days ahead.
Be encouraged today knowing that God is using all things to work together for your good as you are seeking him on this journey to ReThink your life from his perspective. These things that seem to weigh heavy on you today are some of your greatest opportunities to grow!

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I thank you that your perspective is so much more vast than mine! I thank you that as I seek you, you have promised in your word that I will find you and you promise to give me wisdom for today! I commit this day to have an attitude of trusting you my awesome, all knowing and all-powerful God! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This morning I was reminded of the observation I have coming up (that has been rescheduled twice).  It is during my worst class this year, one where half the class is a behavior problem, and unfortunately means that the other half of the class does not get the attention they need, or deserve.  I can think of this as an opportunity for administration to find something wrong with my teaching, or I can think of it as a way for God to strengthen me and help me grow as a teacher.  This verse is a reminder to me that I need to work not to please man, but to please God, and to be that example for my students.  There are days when it is difficult to be the example, and then I remember that we are not told that being a Christian will be easy.  In fact we are promised it will be difficult...a constant reminder that God's ways are higher and better than our ways. 

Thinking of Rick Warren's example, isn't it nice that when we seem to be on the "bad track" that there are those ties that connect the good to the bad, and we have the choice to keep going along the bad, or have the choice to cross to the other rail.  What an attitude and game changer.

Lenten Fast

After much thought, I have felt convicted to spend more time in the Word during this Lenten season.  I have decided to employ the help of YouVersion and one of the reading plans from their site called, "ReThink Life: 40 Day Devotional," which has readings for 40 days (allowing Sundays to be a day of rest, as is traditional).  Normally I wouldn't publicize my study for all to see, but as a measure of accountability, I have decided to share here.

There are three parts, Scripture, Thought and Prayer.  I will post them directly from the reading plan in italics, then add my own throughts after.

Today's Scripture
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death."
Proverbs 14:12

Today's Thought
As we begin the 40 Day ReThink Life Devotional, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Which road am I on?” So many times we go so quickly through our days that we never take the time to stop and get a true perspective of what path we are on in life and where it is taking us. God loves us so much and wants us to spend time with Him everyday.
He is “the way, the truth and the life”. He wants to guide and direct our steps on the way that he has for us, but so many times his ways challenge the norm of our culture! Don’t be afraid to begin this journey with him. He can be trusted and He has a great purpose for this day and everyday of your life. If you seek him every day you will find him and He will show you the right way!

Today's Prayer
Father, I thank you that you love me and you have great plans for me. I thank you that I do not have to walk alone even though the path you have for me is sometimes completely different than the course my culture takes. I pray you would speak to me over the next 40 days and show me your way! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This morning I was talking with my department chair about what is coming next year, and all the new demands that are being put on us from "higher ups."  I mentioned in passing that "they" are making it very difficult to want to stay in education, which he agreed with, then realized that it's not "them" that I need to worry about pleasing, it's Him.  I am pretty confident that the "path" that I am on at work is not the path the I should be on.  Too frequently I allow my own motivations get in the way, and don't trust that He does have a great purpose for every day of my life.  This Lent I want to change that.  I understand that I need to do my job, and complete the tasks set before me, but instead of working for "them," I need to change my attitude and work for the Lord.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide.

Chicken Soup

Yesterday I was very excited when I arrived home to find a box waiting for me at the mailbox.  I opened it and found a sample of Campbell's Roasted Chicken & Chardonnay Slow Kettle Soup with roasted tomatoes, aged parmasean and pasta waiting for me. 

http://www.campbellsoup.com/Products/Slow-Kettle/All/121295

Paul was excited because it made his lunch making job easier, I was excited when I looked at the ingredients and realized there was no MSG in it.  This is one of the only chicken soups, and the only in a convenient heatable package, that I can eat due to a MSG allergy that gives me killer migraines.  I was especially excited to have this soup coming right out of an observation (which, by the way, didn't happen due to the two hour rain delay we experienced this morning).

I am not typically a big fan of pre-made soups, especially recently, but will admit that I would probably get this again if I found a great deal on it.  It had a great flavor, not too chardonnay-y, but just a hint, and the fire roasted tomatoes provided a great smokey balance to the soup.  The chicken was better than most processed, soup chicken, it actually looked like chicken, not foamy chunks of "meat."

A down side would be the salt.  Almost 3 hours later and I still feel like I licked a salt lick.  I realize that part of that is to enhance the flavor, part is to preserve, especially since they advertise "no preservatives" in big letters on the packaging.
Long story short, would I buy this product again?  Yes, for occasional eating.  Would I recommend it to a friend?  Yes, as long as they don't have high blood pressure.



**I was compensated with a free sample of the Campbell's soup, along with socks and coupons through Smiley360.

Baby Sweet Potatoes

Paul and I made the decision shortly after finding out that we were expecting that we wanted to make our own baby food with as much local produce as possible.  Since Little Man is going to start "eating" soon, and well, it is February, it is difficult to find fresh, local produce, but we are still committing to making food.

We have started with sweet potatoes because they were $0.59 per pound last week at one of the grocery stores, so we picked up these two beauties for less than $2.00.

The next step was to cook them, and because they were so large, I had to pull out our large stock pot.  

I cooked them according to The Betty Crocker Cookbook (10th edition).  Cover them with water, then boil for 20-25 minutes, until they are soft.  Once they were cooled, I was able to pull off the skins.

Then into the Baby Bullet (Thanks Nynna!  Best Christmas present ever!).  One sweet potato, one cup of water, pulsed for about 10 seconds, or until smooth.

Then into single portion containers.  One sweet potato made 16 approximately 1 tablespoon portions (give or take, I used a large cereal spoon to measure).  Tomorrow I will tackle the second (mostly because I have more containers to wash).  It still blows me away, approximately 32 portions of sweet potatoes for less than $2.00!

What is...

For as long as I can remember I wanted to teach.  In high school I had a couple amazing science teachers, and decided to pursue chemistry.  Looking back, the first year was great.  I had a full course load of six chemistry classes.  I planned one night, graded papers the next night, and had a little bit of a life outside the classroom.  Then I was transferred.  The school I was teaching at had a decrease in population due to redistricting to accommodate a new building that was opening.  This meant positions had to be cut, and positions were cut based on seniority, not the grades taught.  The year I left there were enough students taking chemistry to need a second chemistry teacher, but because I was the newest hire, I was the one who was moved.  Fortunately there was an opening at another building, so there I went.

I went from a school where most of the students had some ambition in life to either go to community college, a four year college or a tech school right out of high school to a school where almost half the students just want to graduate HIGH SCHOOL.  Some of these students would be the first in their family to graduate high school.  Most squeak by passing classes with straight Ds, very few want to pursue some sort of higher education.  I was lucky enough my first year with the Warriors to teach two sections of chemistry, the rest biology.  My attitude that year was different.  Instead of thinking that teaching would be cake, that these kids could go far in chemistry, I realized that I had to not only teach chemistry, but also math.  This was 2007, and I am still a Warrior.  Over the years I have realized that I am in this particular building for a reason.  Some of the kids need an adult who will listen to them and encourage them.  Some need a safe place to be during the day, but almost all still need me to teach them algebra.  I have never been able to cover as much content as I did my first year.  I have had more students fail as a Warrior.  I have never felt more defeated than I do this year, and wondered what has changed over the years.

In the seven years that I have been teaching I have grown seven years older, watched my first group of Warriors graduate high school, and many of them are heading into their senior year of college, gotten married, and had a child.  Of all those things, I have thought about which one or ones have changed me the most.  It was having a child.  I knew being a working mother was going to be hard.  Not just dropping off Little Man every morning with someone, but knowing that in the evening I would have a short amount of time with him before he went to bed, only to start thinking about work for the next day.  The work of a teacher is never ending.  This year I haven't brought a lot of work home, but I am always thinking about what's next.  What I am teaching, which kids I would love to see stay home, how I will impress administration if they HAPPEN to pop into my room.  It's exhausting.  Lately I've even been thinking about how I can manage to stay home next year.  That's the hardest for me.  Knowing that for my family I need to work, knowing that for my family I need to be home with our son.  If it weren't so vital that I replace my entire salary, it would be easy for me to stay home, work part time tutoring, but I can't make enough money tutoring to stay home.

It's not that I think Little Man isn't being well taken care of at day care.  I know he is.  The family watching him are wonderful friends of ours.  They are his godparents, and love him like one of their own sons.  My attitude needs an adjustment.  Not only does my amazing son need me, but so do my 100 students.  They need me to be present every day, I need to be focused on them, not on my new dream.  I am confident that eventually I WILL be able to be home with Little Man, and maybe at that point we will start thinking about more children of our own.  One of my dreams is to be home with Little Man and to be able to homeschool him.  I am sure that this will happen, at some point.  Right now my patience is being tested, and instead of focused on the "what could be," I need to start focusing on the "what is."

Bang Bang

In August we visited Bonefish Grill for Paul's birthday.  Everyone shared some of their Bang Bang Shrimp appetizer and raved about it.  Since this weekend is the Super Bowl, I decided that I would try to recreate this treat for some game time deliciousness.  Because I don't eat shrimp, I also decided to try making Bang Bang Chicken as well.

After looking at many recipes, I found one that I would use as a jumping off point.  It comes from Fake Ginger.  I liked the sweet, spicy, salty balance of the sauce from Fake Ginger, but wasn't keen on the heaviness of the coating for the shrimp, so I decided to use cornstarch instead. 

We chose to purchase unchooked shrimp that were already shelled and deveined, to save on time, but I did have to take the tails off.  After cutting off the tails, and cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces, the dredging and frying began.  First the shrimp, then the chicken.  We initially thought to pan-fry the meat instead of deep frying it, but because we made hush puppies for lunch and already had oil in a pan, we decided to deep fry the meat.

For about 3 and a half pounds of meat, the made the following sauce, and split it evenly between the chicken and the shrimp.

Lilley Bang Bang Sauce
1 cup mayonaise
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
~1 teaspoon minced garlic (from the jar)

It was a HUGE hit.  My mother-in-law, who doesn't particularly care for much spice, commented about how nice the flavor was without being super spicy.  While being fairly labor intensive with the frying, it was a pretty easy recipe, and definitely a keeper!

Quilt Passion

I have gone through phases of craftiness in the past. For a while it was scrapbooking, then crocheting and knitting, back to scrapbooking and card making, and most recently, quilting and other sewing projects. My sewing and quilting obsession has become so great that my husband cleaned out a closet so that my machine and other sewing essentials would be handy. I can honestly say that my machine has not seen much of the inside of the closet. It has not been used as much as I would like, but having a 3 month old at home will do that to you I guess.

Thinking back to what started my love for quilts and other fabric crafts, I realized it was Mom-mom, my maternal grandmother. She had a whole room dedicated to sewing, and she is the one who helped me with my first quilt. During my elementary school years, I would spend a couple weeks every summer with them, and during one summer, she introduced me to quilts. Well, that's not 100% true. Mom-mom made me a quilt when I was born. A beautiful orange and green number with floating baby blocks. It seems to have been well loved, although I don't remember ever using it. At some point, it was put into the cedar chest, and it wasn't until I was pregnant with my first child that I saw it again.

Back to the summer quilt. It was during, what I like to call, my purple period. Everything had to be purple. My bedroom was purple, I wanted all purple clothes and of course, when I was asked what color I wanted this new quilt to be, I decided purple. Thinking about it now, purple is not a very practical color, but I can say that the purple quilt has brought me so much joy and comfort over the years, and quickly became very treasured. You see, Mom-mom died shortly after that quilt was made, and the year that quilt was made was the last year that I spend in Wisconsin with Mom-mom and Pop-pop.

A few years ago began my own quilting journey. My husband had just moved into the condo that I knew would be our home (when he finally married me). In all the excitement of him picking out room colors and furniture, I wanted something that was uniquely me, and frankly, I thought he needed a little feminine touch in the place. That's I decided that I wanted to make a quilt for what would become our bedroom. Paul picked out a beautiful shade of blue for the walls, and I knew we needed something warm to cover the bed. Remembering the summer project with Mom-mom, I thought, "This will be no problem, I can have this done for his birthday." This was February, his birthday is in August, the end of August, but still August. Paul picked a pattern, and we picked out fabric, then I started working. I really thought I would be able to get the quilt done by his birthday, but all I was able to accomplish was 5 blocks that we used for throw pillow covers. My next goal was to have it done by our anniversary in November, and that came and went. Finally, after 10 months of working, I was able to wrap it up and give it to him for Christmas. Perhaps a queen, almost king, sized quilt was not ideal for my first project, but I had lots of encouragement along the way, and kept remembering Mom-mom.

Since then I have also made a quilt for our son, and that didn't take nearly as long. Perhaps because it was crib-sized, perhaps it was because it was a much easier pattern, perhaps because I had the summer to work on it and could dedicate entire days, perhaps because I was 6 months pregnant and starting to nest. Regardless, it turned out beautiful, and I can only hope that he treasures it as much as I have treasured my quilts.

I have a few couple projects in the works. A baby quit for a friend who is expecting her first, and a surprise for a special person in my life. Pictures and updates will follow.