Check It Out

Occasionally these days you can find me blogging over at http://soulsistersinhim.blogspot.com. Along with a couple phenomenal women of God. I was there today.

The Soul Sisters, that's what we are. An epiphany placed by God in the mind of a dear sister, who took a leap of faith and started one small accountability group of 10 women. Which has now become 3 groups totaling 27. We are praying for 100 more. Yet God can do even more than that, my friends. Anyone else feel like dreaming big?

Why the picture? Oh, just because he's cute. And he was definitely more than I asked for. :) So, so thankful that God dreams bigger than me!!

Our Happily Ever After

The fairytale is slightly twisted around these parts.

You see, our story begins with TWO princesses, not one.


Enter the evil Mommy monster (the villain in our story is extremely unconventional as it is well known that Mommy is never really the monster), who locked those princesses away in a tower.


Whatever are two preschool princesses to do except await the arrival of their slightly under-dressed prince Will? This prince, while he loved his somewhat feminine hat, adored his "star sword" all the more. The poor prince was baffled, however, that he was not allowed to break the princesses free by battering them with the star sword. A prince just can't catch a break around here.


Luckily, the prince discovered his powers of magic (i.e. ripping off his whistle and hat in protest), leading to one Mommy-monster morphing into the prince's infamous side-kick, and together they rescued the princesses from the tower jail cell.


And they all lived happily ever after.

Ever Had A "Moment?"

When I saw this picture, I had one. Then I took a deep breath, and told myself that she's about to turn 4, not 14. Tighter hugs and longer stories tonight, sweet girl.

His Heart Is In Okinawa

The hair was his Daddy's idea. The outfit was mine.


Holding Uncle Jeremy's picture for five minutes and gazing longingly at it? That was all his own doing.

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

I've never quite felt the meaning of that quote from Dickens until this weekend. Send me with a group of 9 of my girlfriends to Oklahoma City, sans children, for a getaway and to run a half marathon? Sounds wonderful!! Sign me up! Wanna run all 13 miles in the rain (sometimes pouring), while it's only 47 degrees outside? Don't let me forget to mention that you will be so cold that you cannot uncurl your fingers from the fist they're in, your socks will be so wet that they will sink slowly into your shoes allowing your shoe to rub a bloody mess into your heel, and you will not beat the personal record that you'd been certain to demolish. Hmmm... maybe I would think twice about that one.

But you wanna know the truth? I WOULDN'T CHANGE IT FOR ANYTHING. I had to pass on the list of what I learned this weekend to my loyal readers.

#1 - The women of God at Northside Church of Christ are JUST. SOMETHING. SPECIAL. I've known that before, of course. But I experienced it on a whole new level this weekend. The time we spent laughing; eating; sharing truths from His Word; encouraging one another; eating; a few tears; eating... it was all just... priceless.

It is no wonder that God tells us to "spur one another on toward love and good deeds..." & to "...not give up meeting together... but let us encourage one another..." He knew how much we would need each other.


#2. Pigs don't sweat.

#3. I hate the treadmill. I hate the rain even more. If there is any threat of rain, I will not run outside. Even if I am supposed to run 10 miles. So what did running 13 miles in these conditions teach me? A reminder of one of my favorite truths - that He can do "immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." Finishing THAT... well... it wasn't me. It was Him.


#4. Bondi-bands are not only hip and trendy, they are necessary for running in the rain, eating chocolate, and robbing hotel rooms.

#5. I need more humility. I do NOT have to be the best. I do NOT have to run faster than last time. It's ok if other people who are running their first 1/2 marathon match my time (or beat me). :) I pushed through; I finished. And for today, that is good enough. Because that is where God needed me to be, for today.

#6. I miss Ted's even more than I thought.


Oh how thankful I am for my weekend, my friends, and the goodness of my God!

Too Good to be True

I desire to feed my family the good stuff - the really good-for-you-and-yet-strangely-yummy stuff. Alas, it happens less than I'd like. Mostly because I'm too lazy... too cheap... too lazy and cheap to buy a thousand ingredients that I will only use one time.



Therefore I was thrilled to find this recipe for whole wheat blueberry pancakes. My children love pancakes, and since I make our own wheat bread, I already had every ingredient I needed at the house! The hubster was excited that these taste astoundingly better than the box of whole-wheat pancake mix I've been buying. We're sold! (Please don't even try to tell me that syrup negates the healthiness. I'd gladly dip them in ice cream, cotton candy and jelly beans to get some whole wheat in these kiddos!)

WHOLE WHEAT BLUEBERRY PANCAKES
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk, plus more if necessary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon artificial sweetener (I used Splenda)
1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen blueberries, only slightly thawed, and I used more than 1/2 cup)

Sift together flour and baking powder; set aside. Beat together the egg, milk, salt and artificial sweetener in a bowl. Stir in flour until just moistened, add blueberries, and stir to incorporate. Spray griddle with non-stick cooking spray (helps to keep the blueberries from sticking, even on a non-stick surface). Pour onto griddle and cook until bubbly, then flip and finish cooking.

**When you finish eating, make sure to experiment with how your stomach looks as it sticks to the table in the puddles of syrup left behind. All the cool kids are doing it.

The Deciding Factor

I'm one of those chronic "I-can't-make-a-decision-if-my-life-depends-on-it" kind of people. My children are obviously suffering the consequences.

April 15th Is Coming

You mean I have to pay taxes, too?!

Old At Heart

This is not the first time my son has conjured images in my mind of his future geriatric years. Remember this?





Oh my goodness he knows how to crack me up. And, I love how he looks amazingly like his Daddy as a kid in the bottom picture. Who, incidentally, also can make me split a seam laughing.

Tiny Dancer