Some excerpts from Psalm 104:

"O Lord my God, how great you are!...You cause plants to grow for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth--wine to make them glad, olive oil as lotion for their skin (love that one!).... You made the moon to mark the seasons.... Then the young lions roar for their food, but they are dependent on God.... O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.... Every one of these depends on you to give them their food as they need it.... You open your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied.... I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the Lord"

Oh yeah...I think David and I could've hung out and wrote songs together and praised together. Maybe someday...

When I think of standing in awe of God's creation, I think of photographs of animals that my brother has taken. I'll have to see if he'll send me one to post on this entry. They are incredible. They show such detail of the uniqueness of each creature. They make me aware of the incredible creativity of God. They make me sit back and say, "Wow!" One of my plans is to get a few of these pictures and frame them and hang them around our home. Not only will they make me stop in awe and wonder, they will make me think of my brother, and that will make me smile.

Happy Monday

I love days alone at home. I think that I am a homebody. I'm also an introvert. I get recharged by creative and productive time alone. For a very large part of my life, I fought this part of my nature. I have tried to force myself to be an extrovert and spend lots of time with others. Just recently, I have begun embracing the precious gift of quiet. One of my favorite quotes is hanging on my living room wall. It is hanging for the purpose of reminding me to take time to be quiet and turn off all the noise that comes into our home through various means. I think Ralph Waldo Emerson and I would have gotten along just fine. One of my other favorite places to get quiet is out in nature where I can look up at the trees and the vast expanse of the sky above.

Today has been about catching up on a few things. Scrubbing the kitchen floor was long overdue. I think of the movies where they are looking for a nanny to hire. Almost inevitably, you hear, "I don't do floors and I don't do windows!" Me either! But it was time.

I also mixed up some stir-fry sauce and put it in the fridge. Later today, I will stir fry sugar-snap peas, broccoli, carrots and chicken. Then I will add my stir-fry sauce and serve it over rice. It's been a while since we have had this. Not sure if Dave will eat it...maybe the chicken and rice part. The sauce is so easy to make! It is:

2-3 T cornstarch

1/4 C brown sugar

1/4 t ginger

1/2 C soy sauce

1/4 C cider or white vinegar

1/2 C water

1 1/2 C broth (beef, chicken, or veggie)

Combine ingredients in glass jar with lid. Shake well and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Stir fry veggies and meat and then add sauce. So easy!

Today I am making a meal for Josiah's 1st grade teacher. His teacher was diagnosed with cancer and has been getting chemo treatments throughout the school year. Even though he has been struggling with this, he has continued teaching, just missing every other week for his treatments. Kudos to the teachers and parents who decided to organize meals for him and his family. I didn't realize this was happening until a couple of weeks ago when I was called.

I am making one of our favorite family recipes--stromboli. My friend Julie gave me the recipe and Dave and I have been enjoying it for years. (It is not gluten free or dairy free though!)

Stromboli

2 frozen bread loaves, thawed.

Spread these out on greased cookie sheets.

2 egg yolks

1 T parmesan cheese

1 T dried parsley

1/2 t dried oregano

1/4 t black pepper

2 T oil (I use olive oil)

Mix the above and spread it over bread dough with a spatula.

1-1/2 lb. ham (or ham and pepperoni combined). I use cooked ham from the deli.

Place ham down the center of the bread dough (1/2-3/4 lb. meat per stromboli).

Top with 1/2 lb (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese.

Pull sides of stromboli to meet in the middle and fold over snugly. Fold the ends in also. Roll up and brush with egg whites.

Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. We use red sauce for dipping. Mmmm.....

I am also waiting for apples to cook down into applesauce at the moment and I made some brownies. I'm praying that Josiah's teacher and family will be blessed and that his teacher's body will continue to heal and be strengthened.

Our experiences in life surely affect us and our future decision-making. There is a drive at school

called "pennies for patients". This is to raise money for kids with leukemia and lymphoma. We've been doing Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace Jr." with our kids. Part of that program is teaching them to save. They pick an item that they would like and you find a picture of it (or make one) and post it somewhere. The kids have jobs that they do and get paid for them, job by job. If they do the job, they get paid. If they do not, they do not get paid. When they get their weekly "commissions", they place some of the money into giving, some into saving and some into spending. Josiah has been saving for the Wii Lego Star Wars game. The game costs about $50.00. He was up to $45.00 when this program at school came about. He blessed me by asking if he could give all of his savings for "pennies for patients". Dave and I, of course, said "Wonderful, go for it!"

I wonder how much of Josiah's desire to help those with cancer is related to his own teacher going through the same thing this year.

We learn so much from our kids! Once again, Little Man has challenged me to be more giving.

"All along, I was looking for something else. You're something else.
All along, I was looking for something more. You're SO MUCH more!"

These lyrics by Remedy Drive spoke to my heart this morning. How long did I go through life looking for so much more than I had? How long did I long for so much more? Never did I dream that I could meet God and know His presence in such a way that I am taken beyond this world into His holy presence. All else in this world falls away as I worship Him.

Hillsong sings, "When I sing, I speak to Jesus. When I sing, He speaks to me."

Yes, He speaks to my heart, and there is nothing else on this earth that compares. How sweet. How undeserved. How grateful am I.

Random Thoughts

Well, this blogging thing needs to become a habit, whether I have something in particular to say or not! After 10 days of sickness, the boys were finally well enough for a trip to West Chester. Since they had Friday and Monday off from school, we made the trip to my parents' house. It was a great visit. The boys had some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, and they had play time with their cousins, Nicholas and Lauren. It is so fun to see the kids play together. They play nonstop.

Josiah and Grandpa played basketball for hours. John helped Grandma fix her bird feeder that had been destroyed by the squirrels. They also made homemade suet to put out for the birds. Ingredients are: lard, peanut butter, raisins, sunflower seeds, flour, cornmeal and birdseed. John thinks that Grandma should sell this. It is fun to stand at Grandma's window with her binoculars and watch the different birds that come to their feeders. The weather was so nice--40's, but with a spring-like feel in the air. The kids even left their coats behind and ran around without them.

OK, so this picture is 3 years old, but too cute to pass up. John and Nicholas are both 10 now. Josiah is 7 and Lauren will be 7 in 2 more months. Sometimes Lauren feels left out being the only girl, but she keeps up for the most part. She adores her big cousin John. Lauren loves fashion and likes to spend time on girlsgogames.com. She likes to put different outfits together. I decided that I am going to start going to that site so I can figure out what matches and what to put together to wear each day! Nicholas loves animals and animal facts and he spends lots of time creating and designing a zoo with the computer game "Zoo Tycoon 2". He has the other computer games that go along with it so he has a huge selection of animals to add to his zoo. It is quite the cool game, and very educational too. I am thinking it will make a nice birthday gift for our guys this year.