Food, Glorious, Food

I love food. I grew up in a family of eaters. We liked food, and we still do! My mom was an experimental cook. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't so good. I, too, have an enjoyment of experimenting in the kitchen. Thankfully, after 4 years of tantrums about the fact that no one in my family seems to appreciate my culinary skills, my family is willing to try out my experiments. I love those boys of mine!

With two little guys that have an allergy to gluten, we eat a lot of Mexican and Atkins (i.e. meat) friendly meals. Over the weekend I made some wickedly delicious sour cream enchiladas. (Don't worry my foodie friends, recipes are to follow.) I also got crazy with some avocados.

Normally, I don't buy avocados because they can be expensive and I am the only one in my family that really enjoys them. But the older son saw some on a display, thought they looked cool, and they were only a buck a piece. And since we were having the above mentioned enchiladas, I thought guacamole would be a suitable accompaniment. Also, I always like to offer new foods to the boys, help expand their palates for their future wives.

Now, I have had guacamole before. Usually at a restaurant. And I have always liked it. This creation I made at home, was so.... much.... better. It was like ambrosia! I ate about 1/2 a cup with some tortilla chips on Sunday night. And then on Monday, for lunch, I finished the rest. It was fantastic. I could go on and on and on and on about how amazing my guacamole was. MMMMMMMMMMM. I am starting to salivate again just typing about it. Ok, I am done. Maybe. Just give me a second..... Wipes drool off of keyboard.

Any ways, suffice it to say that I love food, and my new favorite dish is guacamole. Home made. No more store bought stuff for me. Unfortunately, the men folk were not as into it as I was. They did try it though. Maybe next time.....

Here is the recipe for my Sour Cream Enchiladas:
Serves 4
1 can chicken breasts
1 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp. salt
12/16 corn tortillas
4 oz can chopped green chiles
2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. cumin
1/2- whole white or yellow onion chopped up finely
1 jar green salsa

Combine the canned chicken, sour cream, salt, green chiles, 1/2 c Monterey Jack cheese, garlic powder, cumin and onion. Mix well. Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel, microwave one minute on high. Place tortilla on a clean working surface. Place 1 1/2 tbsp of chicken mix on tortilla near the top. Fold over the top and roll tightly, down. Place in greased baking dish. Top with green salsa or just the rest of the cheese if you don't like things to spicy. I do about half and half.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden on the edges.

Guacamole
1 ripe tomato
2 avocados
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mash together the tomato and avocados. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve with chips or warm tortillas.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try these out!

Previously

Since it is summer, I have some more free time to do the projects I neglect the other three seasons of the year. Also, since we had a long and enjoyable weekend with my parents, my younger child is currently comatose in his room. Finally, a friend of the older child invited him over to play. It really is the perfect day to clean out and reorganize things in my house.

One of the things we did this weekend was celebrate the two boys birthdays. Grandma and Grandpa M & J helped to flesh out our Imaginext connections. That kept the boys occupied all morning. Leading to the kitchen being rearranged this morning. I know the man of the house loved having to rediscover where the silverware got moved too. I just like to help keep his life interesting. :)

Then, after lunch. I put down the younger boy and sent the older son to the friends house mentioned earlier. Sorted the mountain of laundry that was on top of the day bed and started another load of clothes in the washer. Then, I carefully lifted the sheet that doubles as a dust ruffle from the side of the bed and started pulling out the various articles from beneath the bed. There were random rolls of wrapping paper, gift bags from the latest birthday party, Lego pieces, a couple of dusty socks. A box of sci-fi novels that are my uncles. I am sure a few of them could probably be classified as antiques. Maybe I will be making some Ebay postings after this.....

And then I found a box. It was marked with my name on it. It had about two inches of dust on the top; as did the rest of the things under the bed. I shoved some of the clutter away from me and then slowly opened the box.

Now, I don't consider my self a pack-rat. In fact, I would say I am more quick to get rid of something I think we don't need than I am to save something just in case. But when it comes to letters, or cards, or notes of encouragement. My desire for less clutter gets shut down faster than a drunken Disney character. I do occasionally go through my letter collection and prune out the ones that either I don't remember the person, or there is no sentimental value left in the card for me. Those two criteria usually go hand in hand. But some letters, no matter how old, will always stay in my collection.

For example, I found all the love letters that my darling husband sent to me while we were in college. They are such tender reminders of our early courtship. We were so young and idealistic than. Sigh, we were so naive back then. My eyes were watering as I read some of the little notes and remembered the excitement we had for each other at that time.

I also found a lot of birthday cards from the years. Most of the ones from my grandparents included notes about their lives at that time. Most of it didn't make sense then, nor do I know what it means now. But the words of love and encouragement helped shape me into who I am today. And especially the words of my maternal grandparents mean a lot to me as both have passed on to be with Jesus.

I found a lot of notes of encouragement. One didn't even have a name on it. But all of them encouraged me to stay strong in the Lord. To keep seeking God's direction in my life. To hold on to the promise that God would do great things in my life as I remained faithful to His word. Now, my much younger self had a very different idea of what "do great things in the Lord" meant than what I do now.

Previously, I thought that meant I would go on to work in Washington D.C. as a lobbyist for some Christian rights group. Now, I am a lobbyists for my two boys as I make sure they get the best social experiences possible. Previously, I thought I would go on to sing first soprano in a prestigious collegiate choir. Now, I just want to sing honest and open praises to God. It doesn't matter if anyone sees me or hears me. Previously, I wanted to be up front and out there for everybody to see the great things I was doing in God's name. Now, I just want to do what God would have me to do so Christ's name would be glorified.

It's all been a matter of perspective for me. In the past 25 years that have been a Christian, the Lord has taken me from a young, selfish little girl, to an adolescent more obsessed with what people thought of me than what God thought of me into a woman who desires to serve the Lord, however He wants me to do that.

I will close this long post with a quote I heard recently. I am not sure who originally said it, but here is my version: Thank God I am no longer who I once was, and I thank God that I am not yet who I will be.

Blessings to all of you as you continue towards who God will have you to be.

Early Morning

Now that I am back to blogging, you may get whiny moments. Today will be one of those days. But the good stuff is at the end. So, read the whiny stuff so you understand the lesson.

Really, it started yesterday. About 9PM. The kids were finally in bed. I was settling down to watch one of our shows. Then I saw it was a two part episode. Because it's the end of all my series. So they have to be really dramatic and drag everything on and on and on.

And I wanted to watch the second part of the finale. Not go to bed and set my alarm for 5:20AM. But I did, and maybe I prayed that I would get a text either last night or early this morning saying my running friend can't make it. Yeah, should have prayed a little harder about that. The alarm went off, I pushed snooze. The alarm went of, I pushed snooze again. The alarm went off, I turned it off. Got out of bed, got myself out the door and was still 10 minutes late. And I kept praying for that text saying I could turn around and go home. Still didn't come.....

I arrived. Apologized in a half hearted way for being late. We began. We only had about 3 miles to go. I started off ok. Then, my calves started tightening. So I walked a little. My dear friend gave me some encouragement, we ran again. More hurting calves, we walked a little. Finally, I said to my friend that she should go on. Because I wanted to not push to hard since we had hill work tomorrow morning. Oh the joy of that. And since she did need to get back home before 7, I was left on my own to finish the 3 miles.

Which turned out to be an enormous blessing. I had been all focused on me and what problems I had. And when my friend continued on, and I was left there without my iPod or any other distractions (television anyone?) I finally had the time to realize that I was getting into a pretty selfish mode of thinking. I did have some things that were on my heart that weren't just about my desire to sleep past 5:30AM. But mostly, I was thinking how unfair my life was. The Lord prompted me to start praying. And I did. I just started talking to God on that path. Out loud. I was the crazy lady on the running path. I stopped talking and listened for awhile. And then I would talk. God and I had a great conversation out there this morning. And not everything was resolved. I still have some things to work on. God did not come down with a magic paint brush and remove all my troubles. He did, however, give me some peace of mind. And then, when I was done talking to God about me. And I started thinking about how cruddy it was to be running out there, I started praying for my friends. And then I started praising God. As I look back on this morning, I probably should have started with the praising and then moved on to praying.

Now, again. My day has not become all roses and sunshine. I feel kind of tired and lazy. I let the kids watch Kung Fu Panda so I could watch a show this morning. And I served them 7UP for breakfast because we are out of milk and I didn't want the battle over drinking water to begin, for the hundredth time. I just didn't want to deal with that. But, God is still there for me. Thank-you Jesus for your endless patience, grace and mercy. For loving me as I need to be loved. Especially on my crummy days!

It don't mean a thing if I'm not in the swing... of things

So, as my darling husband and also one of my friends so kindly pointed out, I need to get back to blogging. It's apparently been awhile since my last post. I was all gun ho around Christmas and maybe the first week of January. But then, I got busy, life happened. I think some of us may have been sick. Blah Blah Blah, excuses excuses excuses.

Here are a few things that I have been doing as well.

I started running with a good friend of mine (who also has a blog thenaturalmommy.com). We get up at some crazy hour before the sun comes up here in the Midwest. We do crazy things like sprints and tempo runs. Well, she does that. I kind of move my feet a little faster than normal and try not to pass out from a lack of oxygen. Just kidding. I actually kind of like running now. I have digressed.

I also got wrapped up in a couple of book series by Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files and Codex Alera or the Furies books as I call them. He writes sci-fi/ fantasy. They are witty, pretty clean for mainstream fiction and based in Chicago so I actually have been to a lot of the geographical references.

I have been involved with my family, my MOPS group, the church we attend. All kinds of stuff.

Oh, and then there is my obsession with television. I have been known to get sucked into a Hulu vacuum. Usually between the hours of 2 and 4 PM. If you are not familiar with HULU, it's offers t.v. shows from a wide variety of networks, for free. It's a blessing and a curse.

So those are my excuses. I run three days a week, I am involved in life, I have kids. I like t.v. That's why I haven't been blogging. I know, I do to much. Maybe I should cut back on something.

Well, I think summers arrival is cutting some things for me, like the school run, MOPS, there aren't many good t.v. shows on during the summer. So, here I am. Dusting off my lap top. Flexing my fingers and wrists. Getting back into blogging. I am not going to make any promises about "x" number of posts per week. But if you are on Facebook, I link there to my posts. So, if I blog, I want to hear from you. Have a great week!

As seen thru the eyes of my children

Here are a few things I have learned about myself in the last few years. Some of it's good and some of it is not so good. Maybe you can relate?

1. I can put in and take out a toddler from a 5 – point harness one handed. While talking on a cell phone. Can we all say “multi-tasker”?
2. I have built enough muscle strength to carry two 35 lb children (if absolutely necessary and it’s not going up the stairs). Eat your hear out Jillian Michaels!
3. Banana bread counts as a serving of fruit and veggies. And sometimes fruit snacks do too.
4. I can tell by the smell of my child’s poo if they are sick or not.
5. I can survive on three hours of sleep. Barely, but I can do it.
6. I don’t need more than 1200 calories a day. My kids need the food more than I do. (you may not know that. And I usually make up what I don't eat one day on the day after.)
7. I am my child’s best advocate. Whether it's speaking to doctor's, teachers, well meaning strangers or over protective relatives.

I have learned a few other things about myself as well. They are not as flattering. I am not as easy going as I thought. I have very strong ideas about how things should go. I also don’t like to be challenged or ignored. I have a nasty temper when things don’t go my way. And in God’s awesome sense of humor way, He has given me some kids with a very strong sense of how things should go. We are still debating about when I should give in and when I should stay strong in my decisions. 
I’ve also learned to share more, watch my words, play nice and about grace. I have become more discerning about what I watch and listen to. Both when the kids are around and when it’s just me and my husband. I need to be better about matching my actions with my words. Because there are little eyes and ears watching, all the time. And they are really good at imitating what they see and hear.
I have learned how to dream and imagine again. I don’t need to stay in reality all the time. Besides, it’s not much fun here. :P It’s ok to pretend to be the monster so my kids can practice being warriors. Because they are going to have to know how to fight for themselves one day. And I want to teach them that’s alright. Even though the world will tell them that they should be a pacifist.
My lessons in grace have been the hardest. No matter how many times I screw up, my kids are always quick to forgive. And I want to be more like that too. I don’t think there has been any Bible study lesson, sermon, magazine article or seminar that I have been to that has illustrated to me how quickly God is willing to forgive me, if I would just ask, than what my kids have demonstrated to me. That quickness to forgive is what keeps my heart from being bitter.
That’s what I have learned in the past five years. There are more lessons, but I think these are the big ones. What have you learned since becoming a parent?

To the man I love

He is often in the background, but that only means he needs me to tell you all why I love him. This one's for you honey!

To my husband
I wanted to say thank-you today. Thank-you for being the man I need you to be.
Thank-you also for knowing when I need you to be with the kids so I don’t go crazy. For buying me little presents and treats. Thank-you for holding your tongue when I don’t do the dishes and play my silly little game (Peggle, the greatest distraction on earth) instead.
Thanks for pushing me and challenging me. Like in this writing thing. I don’t want to be here writing, because I am tired and have a head ache. (you know I fall asleep about now, 11:30PM). Here I am writing anyway because you are right about this. I need to do something everyday to keep me motivated. You also have such a unique way of motivating me to excercise. Because again, you are right. Greece can either be something I go and have a great time at, or it can be the most miserable experience of my life. And that whole not wanting to be kidnapped by turkish terrorists is pretty motivating to.
Thank-you for being the dad our kids need. For showing them how to become men. Thank-you for being the one who goes to work at a day job you don’t really like so that I can stay home and guide our children. And thank you for pursuing your dreams. It’s teaching our kids that it is possible to be a grown up and still dream.
Thank-you for being you. For being my sounding board. For being my reality check. Thanks for being the one to encourage me and love me when I am being emotional. Thanks for loving me enough to tell me to get my behind upstairs and write or to go to bed so I can get up and run in the morning! For showing me how to dream and ways I can make those dreams come true.
To borrow some lyrics from a song by Spiral Staircase (whoever the heck that is,)
I don't remember what day it was
I didn't notice what time it was
All I know is that I fell in love with you
And if all my dreams come true
I'll be spending time with you
Every day's a new day in love with you
With each day comes a new way of loving you
Every time I kiss your lips my mind starts to wonder
And if all my dreams come true
I'll be spending time with you

Oh I love you more today than yesterday
But not as much as tomorrow
Oh I love you more today than yesterday
But darling not as much as tomorrow

Tommorrow makes each springtime just a day away
Cupid we don't need you now be on your way
I thank the Lord for love like ours that grows ever stronger
And I always will be true
I'll be spending time with you

Oh I love you more today than yesterday
But not as much as tomorrow
Oh I love you more today than yesterday
But darling not as much as tomorrow

Every day's a new day, every time I love ya
Every time's a new way, every time I love ya...
Very day's a new day, every time I love ya
Every time's a new way, every time I love ya...
Every time I love ya...

Expectations

I realized something the other day. I realized that I should stop reading stories to my kids. I should also stop letting them watch Disney movies and PBS cartoons.
Why would I do such a thing? It’s great to read stories to your kids. It helps to teach them how to read. And Disney and PBS put out great educational programming. And lets not forget that letting them watch a show is the best way to distract my two boys while I try and get something done.
There are side effects to letting my kids watch shows. They see not only the kids in those shows, but also the adults. They see all the perfect moms and dads who never blow up at their kids. The ones able to laugh off every little mistake. The ones that are never tired, angry, hurt or lonely. My kids see an idyllic world where nothing ever goes wrong. They see a certain curious monkey get into mischeif yet never have to reap the consequences.
I think this all hit me when we were going thru potty training with our oldest son. I would get so mad when things did not go well. As in we had done our business every where except the potty. And I was out of carpet cleaner. I will admit here that I would completely lose my cool. Not just in an exasperated sigh kind of way. It was more along the lines of screaming. And then I would calm down and feel immediate guilt for my blow up. Apologize and set my mind to doing it the right way. The way those potty training books told me to. Reading those books always reminded me of how poorly I was doing at this mothering job.
Then one day, my mom and I were on the phone. I was yet again confessing my hatefulness. And she was comforting me with kind words and scripture. She told me that God had created me in His image and that He had given me these two boys. That my husband and I were their parents for a reason. That I was the best one for the job of raising them.
I should remember that those parents on the screen and in the books aren’t real. They are fictional. And that it’s only the enemy telling me that I am the only one that messes up. That no one but me gets angry or exasperated with my kids. I knew all of that in my head. But in my heart I needed to hear that truth.
I am the best parent for my kids. And you are the best parent for yours. Even though I make mistakes still, I can use those times to teach my kids about forgiveness. About receiving grace and mercy. Those things are there for you as well. You need only to ask, and Christ will come and extend His grace, mercy and unconditional love to you.
Walking forward in His grace and mercy.

P.S. I am not really going to stop reading books to my kids or stop letting them watch television. I need at lease some peace and quiet. :)