We have been entirely gluten free for about 5 1/2 years now. At first, I was gun-ho about figuring out how to make life taste normal again. I worked tirelessly to perfect a bread recipe here, brownie recipe there, biscuit, muffin, cookie, etc.
Overall, our food tastes really good. People who don't know we are gluten free will ask for recipes and be surprised. And there is very little food I miss or pine away for. Croissants, while I might miss them, I am not willing to invest the time or energy necessary to do anything about it... so no pig-in-a-blankets for us. And while I adore Popeye's Spicy Fried Chicken, I despise deep frying food in my house, so I will have to only dream about it. :P
However, after smelling all the amazing pastries that we served for the Women's Seminar this past weekend, I was convicted not only by the amazing teaching, but also by the fact that I have not tried any new recipes in months and maybe even years. I have been thankful to have our "favorites" covered and too busy or tired to do anything more exotic. But the kolaches... and the butterfly rolls... and the butter pecan snails... the thumbprint cookies and other goodies...
So, I wonder what would happen if I set aside a day a week to try a new recipe... hmmm... might be yummmmmm...
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Martha Peace...
... was awesome on Saturday.
I will blog more about the wonderful Women's Seminar, the great worship time, profitable teaching and encouraging fellowship in a few days. Right now I need sleep...
And, I will let you know when the sessions are up on our church website so you can enjoy the fantastic biblical teaching as well!
I will blog more about the wonderful Women's Seminar, the great worship time, profitable teaching and encouraging fellowship in a few days. Right now I need sleep...
And, I will let you know when the sessions are up on our church website so you can enjoy the fantastic biblical teaching as well!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
My love of ellipses...
If you have read my blog for any time at all, you may have noticed my severe overuse of ellipses. If you know I am a homeschooler, you may wonder at what I will teach my children come time to learn proper punctuation usage. But more than anything, if you have ever spent more than 10 minutes in my house when all six of my little blessings are awake, you will understand the ellipses.
I marvel at the number of times I can be distracted in the middle of a sentence or thought... insert ellipse here... I will be standing in the kitchen preparing a meal and hear a THUD followed quickly by a strangely loud scream... another ellipse... I will strut into a room with great purpose and not have any idea why I am there... my mind is full of ellipses... I will be giving an instruction to a child when the phone rings or there is a knock at the door... here I will insert a smiley face and to cover up the fact that I can't remember what we were talking about... :) ... or maybe, I just decide to ask you if you are interested in a coffee because that is what I do... right after an ellipse... and it gives us something new to talk about... yummy coffee... something else I probably talk too much about...
But I also like ellipses as I dwell on the Word of God. I use them to journal, when I am more concerned with thinking on God, who He is and what He is like, than I am about proper grammar.
God is powerful... to heal... to save... over the wildfires... to change my heart...
Jesus is my example... to walk in love... to encourage and guide... to admonish in love... in all things...
God's Word is truth... is infallible... is sufficient... is comforting...
What love is... 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a... and why do I struggle so much to love like this...
What love looks like in action... Romans 12:9-21...and how am I doing...
The key is to eventually fill in the ellipses... I have to regularly remind myself to not forget to finish the sentence, the thought, the conversation... to do that, I will probably need to meet you for coffee after bedtime... just tell me when is good for you... :)
I marvel at the number of times I can be distracted in the middle of a sentence or thought... insert ellipse here... I will be standing in the kitchen preparing a meal and hear a THUD followed quickly by a strangely loud scream... another ellipse... I will strut into a room with great purpose and not have any idea why I am there... my mind is full of ellipses... I will be giving an instruction to a child when the phone rings or there is a knock at the door... here I will insert a smiley face and to cover up the fact that I can't remember what we were talking about... :) ... or maybe, I just decide to ask you if you are interested in a coffee because that is what I do... right after an ellipse... and it gives us something new to talk about... yummy coffee... something else I probably talk too much about...
But I also like ellipses as I dwell on the Word of God. I use them to journal, when I am more concerned with thinking on God, who He is and what He is like, than I am about proper grammar.
God is powerful... to heal... to save... over the wildfires... to change my heart...
Jesus is my example... to walk in love... to encourage and guide... to admonish in love... in all things...
God's Word is truth... is infallible... is sufficient... is comforting...
What love is... 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a... and why do I struggle so much to love like this...
What love looks like in action... Romans 12:9-21...and how am I doing...
The key is to eventually fill in the ellipses... I have to regularly remind myself to not forget to finish the sentence, the thought, the conversation... to do that, I will probably need to meet you for coffee after bedtime... just tell me when is good for you... :)
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Planning and implementing...
Anyone who knows me at all knows I love planning and organizing. Love may not be a strong enough word. :) I really do cherish using my brain to make charts, put to-do lists into spreadsheets to keep track of progress, rearrange a room and divide toys into well paired sets and close them all within a clear plastic bin... ahhhhh... talking about it gets me all excited!
But there are two steps to doing a project well. Planning is important, we all know the quote, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." And that is true, without a plan, the urgent and unimportant take precedence over the important things. You flounder for lack of direction, being tossed about by the waves of someone else's agenda.
As much as I love the planning step, my closest friends will know that I struggle on the second step, the implementing. It is almost like I use up all my energy getting the "perfect" plan made and I run out of steam before I even get to the doing part. Maybe it is because when I finally get started on the implementing step, things don't go according to plan and I get discouraged or overwhelmed and I just quit. Sad, but true.
Thankfully, the Lord has chosen recently to work on my perseverance. I have been blessed to be working on a committee that is planning a Women's Seminar at our church. It is an all-day event including breakfast and lunch. It is next Saturday. We have been planning for months and months and months. I have compiled pages and pages and pages of documents, created to help us stay on task. I have used parts of my brain not exercised since I worked in project management over 8 years ago. It has been AWESOME! I have been so blessed.
There have been challenges. I have been stretched to learn how to deal with fellow believers in a God-honoring way, even in the midst of conflict. At times, I have failed, I have spoken harshly or not pursued peace, and I have been humbled and learned to be quick to repent and seek forgiveness, restoring peace. I have been tempted to quit. Instead, the Lord chose to teach me to stick with it, persevere. Even through the trials. Especially through the trials.
There have been deadlines for decisions or actions, I have been early with some, and late with others. I have learned new ways of getting Word and Excel to do what I want it to do. It has been wonderful. I have learned so much through the process which I would not have learned without going through it.
This week is crunch time. There are many meetings, many "to-do" list items that need to be checked off. Over 200 women will come to our church to spend the day being taught faithfully from God's Word about how to Think Biblically. And even if everything falls apart, and the food is late (which I hope it isn't), or the coffee pots don't perk (which I hope they do), or there is feedback in the speakers (please, not that!), whatever happens... God has used this time to bless me in two specific ways... He has shown me a way I can serve in my local church using the gifts He has given me, and He has stretched me and taught me to be humble and keep working, to not give up, but to serve in all ways as I am serving unto Him.
Soli Deo Gloria!
But there are two steps to doing a project well. Planning is important, we all know the quote, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." And that is true, without a plan, the urgent and unimportant take precedence over the important things. You flounder for lack of direction, being tossed about by the waves of someone else's agenda.
As much as I love the planning step, my closest friends will know that I struggle on the second step, the implementing. It is almost like I use up all my energy getting the "perfect" plan made and I run out of steam before I even get to the doing part. Maybe it is because when I finally get started on the implementing step, things don't go according to plan and I get discouraged or overwhelmed and I just quit. Sad, but true.
Thankfully, the Lord has chosen recently to work on my perseverance. I have been blessed to be working on a committee that is planning a Women's Seminar at our church. It is an all-day event including breakfast and lunch. It is next Saturday. We have been planning for months and months and months. I have compiled pages and pages and pages of documents, created to help us stay on task. I have used parts of my brain not exercised since I worked in project management over 8 years ago. It has been AWESOME! I have been so blessed.
There have been challenges. I have been stretched to learn how to deal with fellow believers in a God-honoring way, even in the midst of conflict. At times, I have failed, I have spoken harshly or not pursued peace, and I have been humbled and learned to be quick to repent and seek forgiveness, restoring peace. I have been tempted to quit. Instead, the Lord chose to teach me to stick with it, persevere. Even through the trials. Especially through the trials.
There have been deadlines for decisions or actions, I have been early with some, and late with others. I have learned new ways of getting Word and Excel to do what I want it to do. It has been wonderful. I have learned so much through the process which I would not have learned without going through it.
This week is crunch time. There are many meetings, many "to-do" list items that need to be checked off. Over 200 women will come to our church to spend the day being taught faithfully from God's Word about how to Think Biblically. And even if everything falls apart, and the food is late (which I hope it isn't), or the coffee pots don't perk (which I hope they do), or there is feedback in the speakers (please, not that!), whatever happens... God has used this time to bless me in two specific ways... He has shown me a way I can serve in my local church using the gifts He has given me, and He has stretched me and taught me to be humble and keep working, to not give up, but to serve in all ways as I am serving unto Him.
Soli Deo Gloria!
When your daughter reads your blog...
You are curious as to why she is laughing so much in the other room...
You wonder for a few moments if there is anything you have posted which could be embarrassing to her, and hoping not...
You begin to realize that she is growing up and becoming interested in new and different, more grown-up things...
You are thankful and hope that she may understand you better, seeing your heart poured out...
You realize that this opens up new channels of communication between the two of you...
You pray that what you do decide to post will be edifying and encouraging for others to read, your daughter included...
You laugh at yourself knowing your daughter is laughing at you...
You wonder for a few moments if there is anything you have posted which could be embarrassing to her, and hoping not...
You begin to realize that she is growing up and becoming interested in new and different, more grown-up things...
You are thankful and hope that she may understand you better, seeing your heart poured out...
You realize that this opens up new channels of communication between the two of you...
You pray that what you do decide to post will be edifying and encouraging for others to read, your daughter included...
You laugh at yourself knowing your daughter is laughing at you...
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Amongst the busyiness...
Our Sunday School class had a swim party at our pool...
School started this week...
The Women's Seminar I am helping to plan is in less than two weeks...
My house is relatively clean...
All the laundry is washed and mostly put away...
We've shared dinner with friends who are moving...
The kids and I swam at our neighbors...
I went on a date with my husband (to Lowes)...
And, so, I haven't blogged much.
I hope to be back soon. :)
School started this week...
The Women's Seminar I am helping to plan is in less than two weeks...
My house is relatively clean...
All the laundry is washed and mostly put away...
We've shared dinner with friends who are moving...
The kids and I swam at our neighbors...
I went on a date with my husband (to Lowes)...
And, so, I haven't blogged much.
I hope to be back soon. :)
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Good for a laugh...
Tonight we had a "Family Fun Night" at church. My husband was in a skit. He is the "K".
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
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