Home Sweet Home

I apologize for my absence this week, but we have been visiting family in the Deep South. We had a wonderful time, and are completely worn out! (It's a loooong trip from the Midwest-10 hours to be exact. It feels even longer with two small children!)

To illustrate my complete exhaustion, I'd like to share with you a story my aunt e-mailed me tonight...so appropriate!

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep. An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out. The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks. Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.' The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'

--Anonymous

I will be back soon with stories and pictures of our trip...goodnight!

In Memorium...

Today, on this United States Memorial Day, I want to briefly pause from the excitement of family activity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who serve this great country...and, especially to those who have given their lives to do so. I had two grandfathers and a step-grandfather who not only served in the military, but bravely fought for their country on foreign land (and sea). They have all gone on to be with the Lord, and I wish I had realized before now what a huge sacrifice they made in their younger years. I wish I could tell them "thank you" for fighting to ensure I would live in freedom. Just as I wish I could personally shake the hand of every military personnel fighting for our country today. I wish I could look them each in the eye and say, "Thank you for serving my country and preserving the freedom we often take for granted." I am humbled by their commitment, their fortitude, and their willingness to sacrifice time, energy, and their very lives so that my family can enjoy the "land of the free."

To all who serve in our armed forces, and to the dedicated families who wait and pray for their return...THANK YOU!!!

Happy Memorial Day.

My Condolences to and Prayers for the Chapman Family

A few weeks ago, I posted the lyrics to my most recently favorite song, "One Hearbeat At A Time" by Steven Curtis Chapman. (Click here to see my original post.) I am a long-time fan of SCC and his music. So I was heartbroken to find out today that his youngest daughter was in a tragic and fatal accident. For the whole story, click here.

I cannot imagine the pain the Chapman family must be feeling. My heart aches for them. Please join me in praying that God will give them peace, strength, faith, and guidance at this difficult time.

Calling All Chinese Food Lovers!

I meant to post this recipe last week when I made it, but life got crazy, and I never got to it. So, for all you Chinese-food lovers, here's something different. I admit, I was a bit skeptical at first. The town I live in happens to be Chinese food mecca...seriously there is a Chinese restaurant on almost every block. And legend has it that the Chinese-American dish, Cashew Chicken, originated right here in my humble, little, college town. Thus, the reason for my apprehension. But I do love me a good casserole, so I made the dish nonetheless. And it turned out really good! Even my 3-year-old gobbled it up! It's a keeper, so I thought I'd share it with you! (I forgot to take a picture of the dish before the family dug in, and by then it would not have been an appetizing picture, trust me!)

CASHEW CHICKEN CASSEROLE
¼ cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery (this is optional)
4 cups diced cooked chicken (or turkey)
2 T. reduced calorie margarine
2/3 cup fat-free chicken broth
2 cans 98% fat-free cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup soy sauce
2 cups cooked rice
½ cup cashews
1 cup chow mein noodles
1-2 green onions, chopped

Sauté onion & celery in margarine.
Add broth & soup—simmer 5 minutes.
Add rice, chicken & soy sauce.
Pour into 13” x 9” casserole that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake until bubbly and brown—approximately 30 minutes.
Remove from oven & sprinkle cashews & noodles on top.
Bake 5 minutes more.
Sprinkle with green onions before serving.

Serves 8

(Note: As with most casseroles, this makes for great leftovers. But the noodles and the cashews get a big soggy when reheated. You might want to keep some "fresh" ones on hand to sprinkle over the leftovers.)

Know and Tell Friday

The girls over at Kicking It in Crazyville have started this thing called, "Know and Tell Friday." I think it's pretty cool, so here are my responses. If you're into this sort of thing, leave a comment and let me know your answers, or post them on your blog and let me know you did! I'll come check them out:

1. Pepsi or coke? Neither--it's DIET Pepsi!

2. Barefoot or shoes? Barefoot, definitely barefoot

3. If you watch American Idol – who do you want to win, David A or David C? David C--he's from my hometown...go KC! Plus, he's just really cool.

4. If money was not an option and you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Anywhere in Europe. I've only been to Paris and would love to go back. But there are so many other places in Europe I'd like to visit as well.

5. Is your desk messy or clean? Clean, but it's Hubby's fault. He's a neatfreak to the core!

6. When it's sunny, all I want to do is.......lie outside on a blanket and read a book.

7. What is your favorite word and why? Home...it stirs so many warm, cozy feelings.

Bonus Question: What song best describes you when you wake up in the morning? "Cruella De Ville" from 101 Dalmatians "...if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will!"

Amazing Feats of Strength

In the last 8 months of my son's life, he has amazed me with his strength and agility. He seems to be especially adept physically, even at his young age. My mom swears she saw him hold his head up and look around in the hospital nursery only moments after he was born. But what happened this morning simply amazed me (humor me, I'm his mom!)...

I put him in his high chair, clipped the tray on (or so I thought), and walked to the fridge to make his breakfast. I heard a "clatter" and turned around in time to see him kick the tray loose (apparently I didn't get it as secure as I thought). But what followed was simply astonishing. As the tray started to slide off the chair, my little Bam-Bam grabbed hold of the side and hung on--as it dangled from his little fist--until I made the mad dash across the kitchen to retrieve it! I'm thinking of training him to lift heavy furniture for me when I vacuum.

Of course now that I've astonished you all with the wonders of my youngest child, I feel a little weird posting the following article. It's an article that a friend sent me recently on how some parents are rethinking blogging about their children. It is a good article, and definitely something I think all bloggers should consider, so I will post the link below. However, I must admit I don't make $40,000 a month on my blog, so I don't in any way feel that I am "using" my children or selling them out. If I ever do make $40,000/month blogging, then I will rethink the whole thing (so stay tuned as I'm sure that's going to happen any day!). But for now, I really enjoy sharing the adorable moments that make me smile and laugh and say, "Thank you, God, for my children."

Click here to read the article.

Music To My Ears

One of my Mother's Day gifts was the new Steven Curtis Chapman CD, This Moment. Hubby bought the CD for the song, "Cinderella." (If you haven't heard it yet, you MUST visit the SCC web site and listen to it!) But another song, "One Heartbeat At A Time," has quickly become my favorite. Not only is it amazingly appropriate for Mother's Day, it happens to be exactly what I need to hear at this moment in my life so I wanted to share the lyrics with you here. Hopefully they will be as powerful a reminder to other moms as it was to me:

One Heartbeat at a Time
by Steven Curtis Chapman from the album This Moment

You're up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are
So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Oh, maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"
Every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They're just like the drops of rain over time
They become a river

And you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
How you're changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

And you're changing the world

Happy Mother's Day!

Last year my husband started a tradition of sorts. The day before Mother's Day, he takes our daughter (and some day our son, too, I'm sure) to pick out flowers for me. He does it on Saturday so that I can enjoy them for the whole weekend. These are the flowers my sweet little girl picked out for me today. She walked in carrying them and said, "These are because we love you, Mommy. Happy Mother's Day!" (I don't care if she was coached on what to say...it was so sweet it melted my heart!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms!!

Grandma's Wisdom

While visiting my grandmother last week, I saw the following quotes on her fridge. I've seen, and read, these quotes many times throughout the years, but now that I am a Mom, they have a whole new meaning. I have no idea who to credit for them (other than my grandma), but I hope you enjoy them:

Our children may do wrong, but they must not do wrong with our
permission.

Children need love the most when they deserve it the least.

Going Home

My trip to KC was a lot of fun. The purpose was two-fold: (1) to promote my book, and (2) to visit my old home church and some family. (The conference was held at my former home church and my parents were attending the conference.)

The book promotion wasn't exactly a huge success. We only sold a few copies (thank you, Lora for purchasing most of them!), but we did have a lot of people express interest in the book. Hopefully they will remember once they get home and order it online. It was good to get the word out.

The kids had a BLAST visiting with "Nanee and PaPa." I'm not sure which my parents enjoyed more...showing off their grandkids to all their friends or bragging that their oldest daughter had written a book!

It was a bit bizarre visiting my "home" church to which I hadn't returned in almost 15 years! The building had changed tremendously (but the sanctuary was eerily the same). There were some of the same faces, but now they had a few more wrinkles, a few more gray hairs, and a few more children in tow! It was like a weird time warp between 1998 and 2008. While it was nice to "step back in time," it's good to be back to my present and the things and people I now know. It's a wonderful church, and the people are great, but there's nothing like "going back" to make one thankful for where they are now!

I was also able to spend some time with my life-long friend, Lora (check out her blog My Blessed Life). Our parents were friends long before we arrived on the scene, and since both our parents were there, too, we had three generations of friendship going on. It was really cool. Lora and I hadn't seen each other in ages. It was great to see her and her beautiful family, and visit some of the places we had hung out together 15 years ago!

Lora and me at The Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO

Three generations of friendship...me and Lora with our moms and daughters.

After the conference, the kids and I spent a couple days at my grandma's about 30 minutes south of KC. My daughter LOVED the chance to run and play on "G's" property. (The great-grandkids have dubbed my grandma "G.") She also loved playing with G's dog, Lacey.

"G" with the kiddos

And the best part of going home...grandma's fried chicken!! YUM!!

All in all, it was a fun--and exhausting--trip!

I'm Baack!

Well, I've actually been back for a few days now, but with piles of laundry to catch up on, and tired, cranky kiddos, I just haven't had a chance to post. I promise I will give highlights of my trip soon...complete with pictures!