Wordless Wednesday

I've never done a Wordless Wednesday before, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.




Enough said.

Tag, You're It!

It appears I have been tagged by Maria to post 7 random things about myself. I find that a little upsetting as my 100th post is coming up here pretty quick. As I understand it, it is tradition in blogging circles to post 100 random things about yourself for your 100th post. You may see a repeat of these as I don't think I can come up with 107 random things about myself.

In a really tacky move, if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged! If I you don't know whether or not I read your blog, leave me a comment. I want to know where to find you.

Here are my 7 random things:

1. I had pink hair in college.

2. I am fast becoming a blogaholic.

3. I want a goat farm.

4. I'm scared of needles. Well, the kind that poke the flesh. Not the knitting or sewing kind. I actually like those.

5. I have a pet chicken that likes to sit in my lap.

6. I didn't tell my son that his dog killed his turtle. (This was years ago.)

7. I don't think it would mean as much to be famous now that I can't be on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Free Stuff!!

I wanted to let y'all know what is going on over at Rocks In My Dryer. There is a "Give Away Carnival"! There are over 400 giveaways going on right now. You have until the end of the week to sign up for most of them, so make sure you take some time to visit them all.

Where Babies Come From - Part 7 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

I was so glad it happened that way. Having a scheduled birth for what will be your only birth experience was a little disconcerting for me. Not only did it take the fun out of it, but I got to worry about what the surgery would be like. We were taken completely off guard by going into labor. A drive in the middle of the night across town to the hospital was really very exciting, something I'm really grateful we got to experience.

Every time I called my mother over the last few weeks of the pregnancy she would say, “What?! Are you OK?!” I called her before we went to the hospital. I told her, “When I call you at noon, don’t worry about it. When I call you at 1:30 in the morning, then you can think something is up.”

I will spare you the details of the actual birth experience, but it was really pretty uneventful. A beautiful baby girl was born. People came by the hospital and visited. There were prayers and laughter and coos. All was right with the world.

But the best part was later that afternoon after she was born. My husband went home and brought our now 5-year-old son to the hospital. We introduced him to his new little sister, his answered prayer. He said, “Thank you for having a baby, Mommy. Without her, I would be so lonely.” Snuggling with our two kids, 10 years worth of dreams and prayers, I would have to agree.

Where Babies Come From - Part 6 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

Finally, the day came for me to exhale. But, surprise, it wasn’t the scheduled day! Because of my history and a previous surgery I had, my doctor had scheduled me a C-section the week before my due date. Sometimes God doesn’t make us wait.

It was a Friday night. We attended the birthday party of a good friend and another good friend’s daughter. We were all part of the same band and they shared a birthday. We didn’t need much of a reason to have a party anyway, but this was a great excuse.

I was uncomfortable for most of the party. Having never experienced childbirth before, I just figured it was because I was absolutely huge and there was no comfortable position no matter what I did. The baby just wouldn’t sit still. After we got home I even sat in the rocker and tried to calm the baby down. I rocked and rocked and finally gave up. I went to bed.

I was suddenly awakened at about 1:30 in the morning. I sat up in bed and thought, “Oh, how embarrassing. I wet the bed!” Then more fluid came rushing and I realized that it was not what I thought it was. My water broke!

Part 7

Well?

Do you like the new look? I was getting tired of the old one. Let me know.

Where Babies Come From - Part 5 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

Fortunately, God’s power doesn’t depend on our strength of faith. He said it would be OK. And it was OK. After laying in that bed for what I’m sure my husband thought was even longer than I did, my placenta moved up. This had every sign of being a normal pregnancy. Well, as normal a pregnancy as a 38-year-old woman with a history of miscarriages could be. I was released from bed rest.

The rest of the pregnancy was blissfully uneventful. I had morning any-time-of-day sickness throughout much of the pregnancy. Cooked chicken could really set me off. It smelled so - chickeny. The sight of a 7 months pregnant woman heaving over a toilet is not a pretty thing, but it was still kind of cool. I was pregnant!

The baby kicked. The boy talked to my tummy, so his new baby would know his voice. Doctor’s appointments went well. People would stop my in the halls of church and say they loved to see me because I was a walking answer to prayer.

But I was still not convinced. I still harbored in the back of my mind that something could go wrong. People wanted to give me showers and I said, “Wait until after the baby is born.” I am ashamed now at my mistrust, my fear, my lack of faith. I felt like I was holding my breath. I couldn’t exhale until I held that baby in my arms and knew it was OK.

Part 6

New Blog

My dad has started a blog. He has had ongoing heart problems for years. Despite his hard headedness, and probably because of it, he is a walking miracle. He wants to share what he has learned along the way with the world. If you or someone you know has any interest in alternative heart treatments, please check out his blog at:

http://alternativehearttreatment.blogspot.com/

Where Babies Come From - Part 4 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

The next day at the doctor’s office did not go as I expected. Yes, I was bleeding, but the baby was fine. I had a low-lying placenta. I already had some restrictions on the pregnancy because of my history. Now, it appeared, bed rest was in order.

That would be interesting seeing that I was a SAHM with a 4 year old and a husband who had to work for a living. But we managed. There was preschool for a few hours several times a week. My son displayed maturity and understanding beyond his years as he dealt with Mommy having to stay in bed. My husband and that sweet boy bonded during this time in a way that was so wonderful to watch. From where I lay, they really seemed OK with it.

Me, well, as much as I love my bed, it was hard staying in it. I read. I cried. I prayed. I sang songs of healing in my head. But mostly I clung to the prophesy of a 4 year old boy who told me that God said it was OK that I have a baby. God said it was OK. It would be OK. Say it will be OK. Still, my faith was weak.

Part 5

Where Babies Come From - Part 3 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

Despite my son’s knowledge of the pregnancy, he never told a soul. Our family and closest friends knew about it, but it was not common knowledge. Without even encouraging a 4 year old to keep it to himself, he did. It was simply “our news”.

Six weeks after I found out I was pregnant, I started spotting. That was the way the miscarriages started. I called my doctor, not wanting to hear the inevitable. He couldn’t see me until the next day. It was a long evening.

We had pictures taken for the pictorial directory at church that night. I didn’t want to take the picture. I knew every time I looked at that picture I would be reminded that was day I knew I would lose my baby.

What happened to that little prophesy? Where was my faith? Why was I so quick to give it up? Well, I had walked this road before. I knew how it went. You get pregnant. You get excited. You start to bleed. You wind up in the doctor’s office where he tells you how sorry he is and schedules you a D and C for the following day. To say I was distraught would have been an understatement. I had my boy. I guess he would have to be enough for me.

I prayed, “You said it was OK that I have a baby, didn’t you? Didn’t you? Why would you say that if it wasn’t true? And why isn’t it OK?”

Part 4

Where Babies Come From - Part 2 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

We prayed for a baby for a year and half. Then one day I noticed that my period hadn’t come. That wasn’t completely unusual as I was known to have an irregular cycle now and again. Just the same, I decided to take a pregnancy test. It was positive.

With a history of two miscarriages, I wasn’t prepared to tell my son that I was pregnant. If it didn’t work out, how would I tell him that God gave him a baby, but then took it away? I didn’t want to break his little four-year-old heart. We decided to wait to tell him until we saw how the pregnancy was going. Better safe than sorry.

So we are driving around in the car the day after I took the pregnancy test. THE DAY AFTER I TOOK THE PREGNANCY TEST. I want to emphasize here that God doesn’t always take our advice to play it safe.

So we are driving around in the car the day after I took the pregnancy test. The boy and I are just having some regular chit-chat when out of the blue my sweet boy’s voice comes over from the back seat, “And you have a baby in your tummy.”

I don’t know if he noticed what he had done to me as I replied weakly, “What?”

He repeated, “You have a baby in your tummy.”

All I could think to say was, “Who told you that, Sweetie?”

He simply continued, “God said it was OK that you have a baby. We are going to get baby clothes and baby shoes and baby diapers and baby toys.”

He prattled on in his usual way as I sat there in stunned silence. I pulled off the road, collected myself, and called my husband. A few tears were shed. It seemed we were on a road. But where would that road lead us?

Part 3

Where Babies Come From - Part 1 - A Lesson in Patience and Trust

My son wanted a sibling. He always loved kids and wanted them around. We’d see other families and he would say longingly, “Look, Mommy. They have 3 kids.” But the real journey began one day when we were watching Oprah when he was about 3. She was interviewing the McCauley septuplets. He stood in front of the TV in amazement watching all the babies running around. After standing there stunned for some time, he announced, “I want a baby. One baby.”

Now pregnancy was not something I had ever been good at. We had tried unsuccessfully for years to conceive when we were gifted with our son through the generosity and obedience to the Lord’s urging of a very special young woman. I had since conceived twice, both pregnancies ending in miscarriage. I said the only thing I knew to say to him, “Let’s pray about it.”

It wasn’t something he gave up on. He thought about it constantly and we prayed about it often. He is a very social child. He wanted someone else around. It was something that was beyond my control. I had to leave it in God’s hands.

Part 2

Stay Tuned!

The events of the past few months - OK, maybe most of my life - as well as what is going on in my Bible Study right now have made it apparent that God is teaching me some things. One of those things is patience. I hate that, don't you? Anyway, that has gotten me to thinking of some of the events of my life when He has made it abundantly clear that He is not only there but very much involved in my life.

I thought I might share some of those events with you all. I'm going to have to pick and choose carefully as most of the time they involve other people who might not appreciate being plastered all over the world wide web.

One story that I will readily share is the birth of my daughter. Mostly the events leading up to her birth. It is a pretty cool story, so stay tuned and I will tell you soon.

Baked Maple Apple Chicken

And now for something a little different. This is a recipe that I recently ran across. I tweaked it a little bit and made it for dinner to night. It was quite good, so I thought I would share with you all.

It's really very easy.


Baked Maple Apple Chicken

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 onion, sliced
2 red cooking apples, sliced
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup Italian dressing (recipe to follow)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a cast iron skillet, or other oven proof skillet, with cooking spray. Heat on medium high heat. Cut the chicken into pieces abut 2'' x 3''. Add chicken to skillet. Cook for a few minutes on each side until lightly browned. Say, like this:



Remove from heat.

Place sliced onion and apples on top of and around the chicken thus:





Mix the syrup and dressing. Pour over chicken.

Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. And taa-daa!



Serve with a nice green salad and make sure to spoon some of the syrup mixture over the chicken when you serve it. Mmmm.


You can, of course, use any Italian dressing, but I like to make it fresh. Here is a good recipe.


1 T Penzey's Tuscan Sunset mix
4 T red wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t sugar
5 T water
1/2 t sea salt

Mix all ingredients and let blend for a couple of hours before using.

Enjoy!!

What would be your one thing?

One of the blogs I read, Antique Mommy, posed the question the other day: If you were ridiculously wealthy, like Bill Gates wealthy, what would be your one extravagance?

I, of course, said that I would go with a farm/ranch. And since we were being extravagant, I included a staff to help with the livestock and gardens!

I thought it was a fun question. So I was just wondering, what would be your one thing?

What were you doing 7 years ago today?

I was recovering. From the birth of my sweetness baby girl. Today she is 7... on the 7th... of '07! She continues to be the joy of our lives, sweet princess that she is.

That was then.


This is now.



Happy birthday, Angel Girl. We love you so much.

I didn't go to a football game

I didn't go to a baseball game. I didn't even go to a concert. I went to Bible Study. BIBLE STUDY, y'all.

Yes, about 4,000 of my closest friends and sisters went to hear Miss Beth speak tonight. This was the third night of the study. By now, things have usually calmed down quite a bit. The overflow decides by the second or third class that it is just too much trouble to fight the crowds and climb the stairs and deal with the parking. Not this time. I had to quite literally walk half a mile from my car to the sanctuary. I parked across the street in a neighboring building's parking garage. Women are coming in droves to hear this woman teach the Word of God.

And she is doing a great job. This is truly an awesome study. I have never studied Esther. In fact, Veggie Tales was probably the most exposure I have had to this book of the Bible. Believe you me, there is way more to the story of this young woman than any group of vegetables could ever tell, no matter how talented they are. And one of Beth's greatest talents is making it relevent to us today. She is truly making it come alive to us.

So next week I will wear sensible shoes and look forward to another great lesson.

Mediterranean Stew

October is here. And while the thermometer still reads 90 degrees, I'll take any excuse to make a good pot of soup. I love soup. This one is especially good and just a little different from what you might usually cook - from scratch or a can. It is based on a recipe I found called Mediterranean Stew. I'm not really sure what makes it Mediterranean other than perhaps the spices, but that is as good a name as any. Here we go.



Here is the basics for what you will need. Yes, you do see some veggies along side some raisins, all positioned artfully in front of my slow cooker. No one should be without a slow cooker really. When I was a working woman, there was nothing nicer than coming home to a home cooked meal after a hard day. Now that I am a mom, it is really nice to do a little something in the morning and not have to worry about dinner again until it is time to eat it. I don't use it nearly as often as I should. But today, I'm using it!

Here is the basic recipe:


Mediterranean Stew

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 cup cubed potatoes
2 cups cubed zucchini
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup chopped onion
1 ripe tomato, chopped
1 or 2 carrots, thinly sliced
32 oz. chicken broth (I like low-sodium)
1/3 cup raisins
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

Throw all of this into a slow cooker. Give it a good stir to make sure the tomato paste is mixed well. Set on low for 8-10 hours.


When you get it all in the pot, it should look something like this:




Now the best part about any soup is that you can do whatever you want and it really doesn't make much difference. I add chicken because if I served a meal without meat in it, my men would spontaneously combust. I'm also not a big fan of eggplant or okra, but if you are, throw some of than in there, too.

I have also put this on high and cooked it in about 4 - 5 hours. It works in a pinch.

Now, let's eat.



Now doesn't that just look like autumn in a bowl. Oh, wait. I forgot something.



You must have a piece of whole grain bread with it for dipping. This soup has a really rich broth. You know you want to dip. Go ahead and enjoy. Mmm.