Friendship

I have this friend that I've known for almost 15 years. I adore her, and value her more than I can say. I tear up thinking about how full my life has been because of her. What a blessing it was that God gave her to me. We have stood by one another though life altering events. We've prayed for each other and been there for each other when times were tough, and I mean really tough! God has used her in my life so many times, He uses her to speak truth to me when I can't see it for myself, He's used her to encourage me when I need it most. I pray that I have been the friend to her that she has been to me, there are times where I have had my doubts about that! There is not enough space to write about what we've watched each other go through. But through every difficult season of the last 15 years I've always known that I have Rachel, I have Rachel to stand with me as I face whatever crisis came my way, and whatever crisis she faced I stood with her.

Rachel is also my hero, in so many ways, really. She and her husband Kevin have just gotten home from China, they adopted a little 6 year old boy that they named Hudson, after the British missionary to China, James Hudson Taylor. What's better than that is that 9 years ago they adopted a baby girl that they named Holly. This child has stolen my heart since the day I first saw her. David and I have so many pictures of her when she was little, precious!

We now face another season of life, Rach needs me to stand strong in prayer with her. Our little Holly is really struggling with adding a little brother into their family...... My gut feeling is this, she is first and foremost a very tenderhearted little girl, I know that there are many things that an adopted child goes through that I will never understand, but what I do understand is that she wanted this little boy in their family, I know that her mom and dad have taught her what is means to care for orphans and what God says about how He would have us do that. She knows that her mom and dad have loved her and worked very hard to rescue her from an orphanage when she was an infant. This is a hard time for her,,, and for her mom and dad as they watch her process this journey, knowing that the only thing that they can do is to reassure her that she is wanted and dearly loved.

Now, about Hudson... He is a precious little 6 year old boy! What a breath of fresh air- today when I met him he graciously approached me, he wrapped his little arms around my waist and hugged me. I melted like butter. He didn't understand me when I cupped his little cheeks in my hands and told him how precious he was. He didn't know how full my heart was when I looked at him and thanked our awesome God for giving him to Rach and Kev.

Time

Sometimes I feel like time is going by so fast- like, unusually fast! Seems like our little granddaughter Layla was just 6 months old and we were teaching her all kinds of fun stuff. She's 4 1/2 years old now, and teaching me all kinds of fun stuff:) she reminds me of what's really important in this life.

Don't even get me started on how fast my children grew up- honestly, I could weep about that! Somehow I didn't seem to understand how fast our time would go with them.

Now, here's the real kicker- The first 6 months of 2011 will likely be spent wishing the time would go faster. My husband will be leaving the country to work in Uganda, Africa for 6 months. If all goes well that time may be shortened, we'll see!

I do have a plan to help fill my time while I'm alone for 6 months. I'm taking a photography class, a weight lifting class, and volunteer at a local hospital or nursing home. I plan on having my little Layla spend many nights, oh, and my little niece Katie has already asked to come and spend the night when Uncle David is gone. I will definitely be having dinner with friends and lunch with my precious daughter, and most likely dinners with my son,,,, as long as I'm buying!!

I'm thrilled that we'll be able to talk on the phone and that we have skype and email, and of course we can text for 5 cents. I'm praying that the time will go faster than ever until he returns home... but not when it comes to our little Layla growing up!

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.
~Winston Churchill~

I LOVE Thanksgiving!

I'm feeling a bit obsessive about Thanksgiving! I'm obsessing about what everybody is doing for the big day. I keep asking "so, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? What is your favorite food? What's your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?" Seriously, that's me... It's all I've talked about all week, and Thanksgiving isn't for another week, hope I don't drive everyone around me too crazy!!

I just love this day, this day where we come together and laugh and visit, where we make new memories that last us until the next year. I love that we live out the traditions we've developed for our family. There is nothing like a group of people that come together every year and know exactly what to expect, they know that there will be turkey, mashed potatoes, and my perfect gravy (that my mother in law taught me to make, kudos to her), greenbean casserole, rolls that are perfectly browned on top with real butter, and of course pumpkin pie with whip cream, and my new fav that my daughter has made for the last 3 years .... the now famous...must have every year from now on.... Peach Cherry Pie with lattice crust that she makes from scratch, and is perfect every single time! Oh my goodness, it's amazing and I wish everyone of you could try it. She actually made it for me for my birthday this year because I love it so much. Really, there is nothing like Thanksgiving..... Well,  Christmas eve is pretty darn close! I get pretty excited about my sister in law's cream cheese tortilla rolls, and her husbands banana bread, and his no bake cookies that he calls "unbaked" cookies, oh and their decorated sugar cookies and their famous peanut butter cookies.... Then there's breakfast the next morning, well- I could just go on and on.... I love to anticipate a day filled with everything that we have had for as long as we can remember- Memories- it's all about making memories, isn't it?

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. 
                                    ~H.U. Westermayer~

Know What I Love... and Hate?

So, for those of you who don't know me, I manage a large dental office with about 17 women. Probably nuff said, right?

 Most days there are a handful of them that are in full on "selfish mode" meaning... kiss my a-- because no one matters but me and what I want!! Which is not good for a business that relies on patients who return and refer their friends and family because they love the service we provide... It's at this point that I want to start firing people! Why is it that people think they should have the right to come in an spread their nasty attitude to staff and patients? It's a cancer, and if I had my way I'd fire 6 of them tomorrow. They are not bad everyday but what makes it worse is that they are unpredictable from day to day. Not all of them have a bad attitude, some I'd fire some just because they are not good at their jobs, sad but true. Some I would fire because they aren't team players, they are out for themselves- be gone!

But then there's this one employee, she is willing to do whatever you ask.... and above all, she does it with a smile. She always has a smile on her face, even when she doesn't feel like smiling. She always has a kind word for our staff and our patients, even when someone has just chewed her out. She makes my day! I want a whole office full of women like her.

People, just fake it until you make it, cry in your car all the way to work and all the way home if you must, bite your tongue until it bleeds but keep your issues in check and don't bring them to work.
 
~ Work harder on yourself than you do on your job~ Jim Rohn

Now I'm Irritated!

Enough already about breast cancer, I get it! I get that for every woman who dies to breast cancer, 10 die to heart disease, that is what I get! My question is, does this country really care about women, or just our breasts? Or, perhaps the ugly truth is really that the breast is the "sexy cause" and heart disease is basically just not all that attractive? I firmly believe that breast cancer is tragic and that many women and their families have been devastated by this cancer, and I'm thankful that the women in my family have not had to go through it, but several had heart disease! Just sayin' that there are so many other tragic diseases that deserve equal time. When will some of these other cancers be as important as the " breast"?

I'm not a football fan, but it's on in my house all the time now. What the heck is with the NFL??? Really, these guys are all wearing pink, pink bands, pink shoes, pink caps! The money that was spent on this makes me sick, the NFL should have just given all that money to cancer research. But the truth is that they want some sort of accolade for being so sensitive to the plight of breast cancer, trust me, breast cancer did not need that exposure..... we're pretty much saturated with their " awareness" program!

FYI- Every 15 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer, just to compare- in Africa alone, someone dies every 15 seconds to malaria, which is 100% curable.Who's talking about this? No body!

Never, never, never give up.
~Winston Churchill~

Bacon!

If you don't like pork don't read this post! Really, just stop now, I don't want to offend any of you pork haters.

I love pork, seriously, I love pork! And I'm so excited because we are going to go pick up our freshly butchered hog tomorrow. To make the whole process even better, my niece Lena raised our hog, she's 14. She's also raised a turkey and a lamb that we've eaten, isn't that cool?

I have to say that bacon is at the top of my favorite food list. If you like pork you must go to www.cafepress.com where you can buy t-shirts that say things like "I love Bacon" and "Bacon is meat Candy". You know, sayings that you can really stand by, with passion... and dedication :) Let me warn you now though...the government will most likely be adding a fat tax to those of us who love pork, ya, I'm one of those!!! I"m joking, but not totally... a local grocery store here has posted that effective July 1st 2010 that there is an added tax on all candy and pop.... I'm sure bacon will be our next tax!

I have a new wish item on my bucket list, a friend of mine went to Chicago recently and she went on a bacon tour in the city! A real bacon tour, can you imagine? I hate the thought of the calorie count in all that bacon but I'd find a way work it off. Unfortunately, she had a little too much to drink and she wasn't really able to remember the tour. Maybe she should go back with me:)

I have a pork recipe that is one of my all time favorite comfort foods, and I know that every time I eat it that I will eat too much.... and then I'll eat the left overs too....

Pork Chop, potato and mushroom gravy.

4 pork chops- with or without bones
4 potatoes- peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 to 1 cup milk, just to enough to get the right gravy consistency you like.
Vegetable oil
Salt and Pepper
Flour

-Peel and slice potatoes and layer in the bottom of a large baking pan, salt and pepper.
-Heat oil in skillet. Place flour in bowl, add salt and pepper and mix, coat pork chops in flour and brown in   oil. Make sure they get a really nice brown color. Remove chops and place on top of potatoes.
- Add soup, sour cream and milk. Add salt and pepper.... and any other seasoning you might like. Heat through and pour over pork chop and potatoes. Cook at 350 for about an hour, or until potatoes are done.

Now..... enjoy one of my favorite comfort foods:)

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.  ~Voltaire

Time

Time is an interesting thing, isn't it? When it comes to things like work, cleaning the house or having an awkward conversation with some woman in line at the grocery store who gives you her life story in 2 min, 37 seconds...painfully slow...  Anyway, it's times like this that time seems to move incredibly slow. Or how about when you've spent months preparing for a trip and everything is all set.. and you don't depart for another 4 months.... time creeps by!

I just want to know how to slow time down with a few things:) ridiculous I know. But if you have any tips I'd be interested in hearing them. Mostly I thinking about my granddaughter Layla. She's is with us this weekend and I've done everything I can to make sure that she has my undivided attention so that she and I don't have any regrets with the time we've had together. For the last year or so she has said " I need to stay 2 nights, 1 night is not long enough". So, this weekend she's staying 2 nights, and she has been such an amazing joy. But here we are, it's Saturday night and she's fast asleep, we'll have her for a few hours tomorrow and then it will be over, we'll make some memories tomorrow morning and she'll come to church with us, but then it's over. Time has gone way to fast!

Here's a few Layla quotes from the weekend
While on a walk last night. -
-"Nana, don't pick that up, it's trash"
-"I love you Nana"
-"You're the best Nana ever"
-"Nana, these flowers are so beautiful, can I pick them for my mommy"?
-"Nana, I'm going to remember these beautiful pink clouds in my heart forever"
-" You get what you get each day with clouds" Saying that they are different everyday...so precious!
-"Nana and Papa, I've told you a hundred times, that is not a Lama, it's a Lamb, a Lama walks on two legs but looks like a Kangaroo"..She was dead serious and spoke with amazing conviction, and hand gestures!
There were so many more precious things she said, and next time I'm going to write everyone of them down!

Pure joy!

Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old.
                              ~ Mary H. Waldrip~