Family stuff Topic: God things
Quick update on me: I'm feeling so much better! I even drove to 2 stores today. Emma and I went to Payless Shoes to pick up something for me with some gift money I had. Then we went to Sprouts to get some produce, flour and snack stuff.
Fall in Phoenix Topic: People/Family stories It's been cool enough to sleep with a fan in the window the past week and we are enjoying the Phoenix Fall weather. I have to clarify Phoenix Fall because it's not like the usual crisp wind, fire smoke smell in the air or sweater-wearing-ish Fall we're used to. Still, there is a change for the cooler in the air and it is refreshing! Today we woke up to rain pouring onto the street and roof, tumbling down the street on both sides. So we opened up the doors and let the refreshing, clean air come wisping through the house. The air conditioner is still set at 78 and has not come on yet. And Charles has been doing yard chores most of the afternoon. We have no leaves to rake. Mesquite and ficus trees don't loose their leaves all at once and you barely notice they are changing. But bushes need trimming, windows need calking, and it's nice to just be out there today in the 77 degree, windy weather.
Here are some pictures from a few days ago. Maggie and her cousin made salt dough leaf shapes to make refrigerator magnets and my mom and sister made my gingersnap recipe.
Organ Recital Topic: People/Family stories
My sister and I started a marathon craft with our two 9 year olds on Wednesday. We made salt dough and let them cut out leaf patterns with Autumn cookie cutters. I baked them til they were hard, then today they were to paint them with acrylic paints, spray them with shiny finishing coat and glue magnets on the backs of them for refrigerator magnets. We only got to the painting part, so this is to be continued....
Cheryl took pity on me this morning and took me to the craft store to pick up the magnets and finishing spray. I can't drive yet after my surgery, so I have to beg people. We got what we needed and got in her car, but as we were leaving the parking lot to drop Maggie off at homeschoolers' PE class at the park, I realized I needed to GO. (can't put it off in my current condition)
hmmmm
I offered to buy cokes if we stopped at a fast food place to 'go', but she said her mom lived right on the way to the park. So we stopped by her mom's house for a pit stop. Her mom and longtime housemate were glad to see us. I 'went'.
We talked for a few minutes, focusing on my recent surgery and how quickly I am bouncing back. J jokingly said she had no pity for me after hearing I didn't have to have major abdominal surgery for the hysterectomy and she told me about hers. Then we compared gall bladder surgeries, mine laproscopic, hers major abdominal surgery. Then N chimed in discussing bladder lifts and the wonders thereof.
All this time Maggie was sitting wondering how to add her two cents worth to the conversation, as always, looking anxious to say something. J noticed her and asked her if she liked music. Maggie agreed, she liked music and J said,
"Well then you must have loved this organ recital we just had."
Maggie didn't get it, but the rest of us were laughing and groaning!
Rivers of blessing Topic: People/Family stories You know how when you stub your toe or have a hangnail, it's all you can think about? Every move you make, you're thinking about the pain, the frustration soars when you bang the toe again in the same spot, salt gets under your hangnail and it sends you reeling. I hate that.
The past week my mind has been consumed with a pain of my own. I would have looked at the pictures in this post as torture 2 days ago! I have been consumed over a small part of the body that has plagued my every waking moment!
Today, I barely thought about it. That is why there was no update this morning, no call to prayer this afternoon, no whining this evening. I know people have been praying and talking me through this, yet when I get some relief from the obsession, I forget to thank people, to even give them a report on the success!
So here is a belated thank you. Things are so much better today.It is still there, still not completely 'right', but it's much better than constant discomfort and frustration that I've dealt with the past 3 days especially.
It is amazing how our minds can do a total 180 when there is even a little change that makes life more bearable. It was like crossing the threshold from tolerable nuisance to miserable obsession.
May God keep you from that threshold and bless your life for hanging in there with me as I was suffering.
Duh! Topic: People/Family stories
Okay, I admit it.
Meggan was right!!!
It was IVIN'S spiced wafers that I loved, not Sweetzel's! No wonder they didn't taste the same. Call me clueless...the box is Orange just like Sweetzels!!! I am so weirded out by this...
Anyway....the recipe tastes just like Ivin's spiced wafers. There is no mistake there.
I appologize that I'm so whacko!
And YES, it IS that big of a deal! (I want Meggan's cookies now)
And to fill the rest of you in....Meggan is a wonderful wife to a Bible scholar and mom, as well as homeschooler, of 3 little cute as a bug children in Alaska! I've known her since she was about 9 or 10??? I taught her how to can jam, have holidays and babysit my kids..... she taught me to understand teenagers better, be more artsy, be an entropenuer (DGS clothing line), and love Jars of Clay. =)
Thanks Meggan for setting me straight. heehee, I love you!!
In the mood for something Sweetzel? Topic: Crickl's Recipes
I keep getting hits on my stats counter from people doing internet searches for Sweetzel Spiced Wafers. To help in their quest, I am reposting this from last year in hopes of satisfying the former New Jersey/Pennsylvanians out there looking for cookies! (I know your quest...your pain!) The recipe, texture and taste are extremely close to Sweetzels! (the orange box is up to you)
Once the weather gets cool, I consider it Fall. We get Fall weather here in the mountains earlier than normal. So I am already in the Fall mode….thinking about mums in my garden, looking for changing leaves, and rooting out my Fall recipes. Pumpkin bars, apple pie, soups, aaaaaaaaand the ever Fallish of Fall recipes….ginger snaps. We lived in New Jersey for almost ten years and every Fall we would go to the store and see tall stacks of orange boxes at the end of the grocery isles…..boxes of Sweetzel’s Spiced Wafers. By the second Fall we lived there, I had to buy a box of them since there were so many stacked up in every store you went to, that it made you curious as to what was so special about these cookies….well it made me curious anyway. From the first bite, they became my favorite cookie. They weren’t like other ginger snaps…..they were almost black with spices and hard as a rock, so you has to dunk them in your coffee or milk, which just added to their charm.
When we moved to Arizona, I was sorely disappointed when Fall came and there were no Sweetzels….anywhere. A friend of mine from New Jersey sent me 2 boxes of them one Fall because I had talked about it so much…..er, whined about it probably. She felt sorry for me. =) The next season, I decided I would go on a search for the perfect ginger snap recipe. I don’t know if you’ve made ginger snaps before, but there is a lot of variance in ingredients and taste. It took 2 years and probably 4 bottles of molasses to find a good recipe. And now I’m sharing it with you…cuz I’m so nice. I just want you to have a wonderful Fall and to have the snappiest ginger snaps to lead the way. They are best if you have a tall glass of ice cold, freshly pressed apple cider with them, but if not, use the beverage of your choice….coffee, tea, milk.
Ginger Snaps
3 sticks butter 1/2 cup molasses 2 cups sugar (or 1 c brown sugar and 1 c white sugar) 2 eggs 4 cups flour (I use half whole wheat flour) 4 teaspoons soda 2 teaspoons cinnamon (or more) 1 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon cloves (heaping tsp)
Soften the butter. Add the molasses, sugar and eggs. Beat well. Sift together the spices, flour and soda. Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture. Mix well. Refrigerate overnight. When thoroughly chilled, form into small balls about 1 inch in width. Roll the top side of these balls in sugar. Place on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies.
Tip: Use sugar in the raw, or turbino sugar to roll the cookies in before baking. The larger sugar crystals make them look cool.
All the way my Savior leads me What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His faithful mercies? Who through life has been my guide Heavenly peace, divinest comfort Ere by faith in Him to dwell For I know whate'er fall me Jesus doeth all things well
All of the way my Savior leads me And He cheers each winding path I tread Gives me strength for every trial And He feeds me with the living bread And though my weary steps may falter And my soul a-thirst may be Gushing from a rock before me Though a spirit joy I see
And all the way my Savior leads me Oh, the fullness of His love Perfect rest in me is promised In my Father's house above When my spirit clothed immortal Wings it's flight through the realms of the day This my song through endless ages Jesus led me all the way
On a serious note.... Topic: God things
We've all been torn up inside over the recent news about shootings in schools. All across the country, it happens.....so much hate....so random....is there anywhere that is safe in this day and age?
I have to admit, I cannot wrap my head around this one, especially in my present condition. But today I was on one of my daily jaunts around blogosphere and read this, over at Owlhaven.
Bag lady Topic: People/Family stories
I'm officially a bag lady for the weekend. A catheter is not so bad, I decided, if you have to stay home anyway. My doctor said, "Hey you could sit and watch football all weekend, drinking beer and never miss a play." Ummm, yeah, that's me.....a beer guzzling football fan? C'mon, everyone knows I don't watch football....
I'm trying to think of the positive points of being a bag lady....
*I won't have to get up in the night for trips to the bathroom. *I won't lose my place on the couch during long movies. *I can really gross out my kids.... ....by sloshing when I walk. ....by saying, "Don't look at my pee!" when I catch them looking. ....by swinging my bag back and forth. *People feel sorry for me. This CAN be a plus sometimes, like when you want a cookie. *None of that awkward waiting and humming to come up with a 'sample'. *I don't have to go answer the door...=) especially when the kids are expecting a friend. *I'm not using up the state's water supply by flushing so much.....also saving trees. *Yeah, I've got it pretty good.... .......so why am I depressed?
Not quite Wordless Wednesday: lupines Topic: Photo entries
Now you see these purple lupines, these nice wild plants, they just come by themselves- the country folk say they are the last flower of summer. James Lovelock
For other WW posts, please see the list of participants on my lower left sidebar.
Prayer request Topic: Prayer
Tomorrow, October 3, I will be going in at 5:30am to have a hysterectomy and some bladder repair work done.
As you can see in the last post, I"m a little stressed out by the thought of it. Once it is overwith and I am recovering, I will not be in this state of mental stress, but just to add to the post below, the hospital just called me. It seems when they called my insurance to make sure everything was covered, the woman at the insurance company told them my coverage ran out on 9/30/06. (!!!!!!!!!!!) Charles called the insurance company and they said, no everything is set and covered, so the hospital is calling them again.
I'm telling you, the 'madness' is just trying to wedge it's way in and destroy any sense of peace I gained over the past 24 hours.
I'll try to update ASAP on how it all went. (well, maybe not all...I'm not into gory details)
Thank you for praying for me!
UPDATE: Insurance problems have been resolved, so no worries there. Although, it did serve to distract me from worrying about the surgery all day!
Madness Revelation Topic: God things Charles is helping to begin a ministry for single adults at church, so he asked me to help him lead a Bible study group for them on Sunday mornings. These are singles who are 'median' adults, so he chose a Bible study on stress. Older singles face many challenges like parenting, financial burdens and dealing with crisis like home repairs or illness by themselves, so he thought it would be a meaningful study for them. What I didn't realize is that it would be a meaningful study for me.
Yesterday, for an opening activity, we did a stress test. No, not on treadmills, but on paper. We were to circle the stressful life events on the list that have happened in your life in the past year, then add the numbers assigned to that event. It said you don't want to 'hit the bell of 150 points'. Mine was 232...... As we went around and shared our point totals, my husband said, "wow, are you feeling that stressed?" and tears immediately wanted to pour out of my eyes.
I don't usually take time to internalize things like I should. I am an extrovert and my inner life is not very well processed most of the time. Things like my dad's recent death, taking on a mortgage this year for the first time and the financial challenges it causes, plus moving from a community and climate I loved, and now facing this surgery I'm having tomorrow morning are things I would rather not think about. I tend to try to be pragmatic about things like those and deal with them and move on. Only moving on is not easy when it is a life changing event....you have to process.
I don't have time for things like that....I like to move on...
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Nothing can seperate me from God's guiding hand which hems me in.
16b All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
God knows my days, every one of them, and I am constantly in His thoughts.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Even though I make mistakes and get frustrated, anxious and despairing, He knows. And all I have to do is take one step, put my trust once more in Him and not in myself. As hard as this is to actually do, sometimes He just stops us in our tracks and gives us a revelation of His presence and care. He makes it easy in that one split second to trust Him and lay our burdens down. The Holy Spirit, drawing our thoughts in an instant like that is a miracle....it is a healing for the mind.
My offense is sometimes my own mind. I don't deal with anxious thoughts during the day and they haunt me at night when I am not set to busyness. In the dark hours of the night, I relive my dad's death, I 'pre-live' all the things that could go wrong with my surgery tomorrow, or with our finances. My mind races with struggling thoughts and I don't sleep well, which causes more stress on the old mind....just like the demotivator at the right.
Then, just when you think madness might take over, God amazes you with a revelation of His care. And it was there all along.....I just wasn't keeping my mind stayed on His Word.
Isaiah 26 3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
Photos from: My sometimes sarcastic little sense of humor loves the demotivators over at despair.com.
Think God can't use you? Topic: God things
A friend of mine posted this on a message board I go to. It's so true!
THE NEXT TIME YOU FEEL LIKE GOD CAN'T USE YOU JUST REMEMBER.... (author unknown)
Noah was a drunk Abraham was too old Isaac was a daydreamer Jacob was a liar Leah was ugly Joseph was abused Moses had a stuttering problem Gideon was afraid Samson had long hair and was a womanizer Rahab was a prostitute Jeremiah and Timothy were too young David had an affair and was a murderer Elijah was suicidal Isaiah preached naked Jonah ran from God Naomi was a widow Job went bankrupt Peter denied Christ The Disciples fell asleep while praying Martha worried about everything The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once Zaccheus was too small Paul was too religious Timothy had an ulcer... AND Lazarus was dead!
Now! No more excuses! God can use you to your full potential.. Besides you aren't the message, you are just the messenger.
As the first line of the Purpose Driven Life says, "It's not about you."
It's been cool enough to sleep with a fan in the window the past week and we are enjoying the Phoenix Fall weather. I have to clarify Phoenix Fall because it's not like the usual crisp wind, fire smoke smell in the air or sweater-wearing-ish Fall we're used to. Still, there is a change for the cooler in the air and it is refreshing! Today we woke up to rain pouring onto the street and roof, tumbling down the street on both sides. So we opened up the doors and let the refreshing, clean air come wisping through the house. The air conditioner is still set at 78 and has not come on yet. And Charles has been doing yard chores most of the afternoon. We have no leaves to rake. Mesquite and ficus trees don't loose their leaves all at once and you barely notice they are changing. But bushes need trimming, windows need calking, and it's nice to just be out there today in the 77 degree, windy weather. 
We talked for a few minutes, focusing on my recent surgery and how quickly I am bouncing back. J jokingly said she had no pity for me after hearing I didn't have to have major abdominal surgery for the hysterectomy and she told me about hers. Then we compared gall bladder surgeries, mine laproscopic, hers major abdominal surgery. Then N chimed in discussing bladder lifts and the wonders thereof.
You know how when you stub your toe or have a hangnail, it's all you can think about? Every move you make, you're thinking about the pain, the frustration soars when you bang the toe again in the same spot, salt gets under your hangnail and it sends you reeling. I hate that. 
I would have looked at the pictures in this post as torture 2 days ago! I have been consumed over a small part of the body that has plagued my every waking moment! 
Today, I barely thought about it. That is why there was no update this morning, no call to prayer this afternoon, no whining this evening. I know people have been praying and talking me through this, yet when I get some relief from the obsession, I forget to thank people, to even give them a report on the success! 
It is still there, still not completely 'right', but it's much better than constant discomfort and frustration that I've dealt with the past 3 days especially. 
Once the weather gets cool, I consider it Fall. We get Fall weather here in the mountains earlier than normal. So I am already in the Fall mode….thinking about mums in my garden, looking for changing leaves, and rooting out my Fall recipes. Pumpkin bars, apple pie, soups, aaaaaaaaand the ever Fallish of Fall recipes….ginger snaps. We lived in New Jersey for almost ten years and every Fall we would go to the store and see tall stacks of orange boxes at the end of the grocery isles…..boxes of Sweetzel’s Spiced Wafers. By the second Fall we lived there, I had to buy a box of them since there were so many stacked up in every store you went to, that it made you curious as to what was so special about these cookies….well it made me curious anyway. From the first bite, they became my favorite cookie. They weren’t like other ginger snaps…..they were almost black with spices and hard as a rock, so you has to dunk them in your coffee or milk, which just added to their charm. 
Sift together the spices, flour and soda. Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture. Mix well. Refrigerate overnight. When thoroughly chilled, form into small balls about 1 inch in width. Roll the top side of these balls in sugar. Place on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies. 
Charles is helping to begin a ministry for single adults at church, so he asked me to help him lead a Bible study group for them on Sunday mornings. These are singles who are 'median' adults, so he chose a Bible study on stress. Older singles face many challenges like parenting, financial burdens and dealing with crisis like home repairs or illness by themselves, so he thought it would be a meaningful study for them. What I didn't realize is that it would be a meaningful study for me. 
