New Recipe

Ok, so I was feeling a little adventurous for lunch so I concocted something that turned out well. I cubed and fried up some steak, cooked some elbow noodles, added cream of chicken soup (with milk), mixed it all together, added some colby-jack cheese and garlic salt and it was done. I usually stick to known meals, but used my mom's cream of mushroom with steak and noodles meal. I was never fond of the mushrooms, so I decided to use what I liked. Maybe I will get domesticated after all... :)

Time lengthens and pain fades

I can not believe it has been 11 years already. April 23, 1997, my mom gave birth to triplets 3 months premature. Logan was 1 lb. 13 oz., Laura was 1 lb. 12 oz., and Lucas was 1 lb. 6 oz. They were so tiny. Their time in this world was short. Logan passed away at 10 days and Laura at 15 days. Lucas was our fighter. He fought for life until he was 2 months and 27 days...just 3 days shy of his original due date.
Now, I'm not recalling this just to have a sob story. The Lord worked in my life through this time of trial and heartache. I went from being the oldest of 3 kids to being the oldest of 6. I was already second mom in the house since my mom was the bread winner of the family and worked afternoons. With the birth of the triplets, I knew my responsibilities had grown. At that time, I figured all the things I wanted to do in life were to be set aside to help raise my siblings. I was only in eighth grade at the time. I can say I was the proud big sister.
It hurt me to see my family in such pain as the days went by. Mom was torn by thoughts that she had caused the premature birth because she didn't stay in bed when the doctor put her on bed rest. I had never seen my dad cry as much as he did. Nessa and AJ were still young.
My church family was so supportive during this time. People made us dinners and I know they were praying for us. My pastor and assistant paster officiated the funeral, which ended up being packed and another room had to be opened. So many folks were supportive.
I remember feeling like God was ignoring my pleas at first. I was so upset that He wouldn't allow the babies to live. I mean, they were innocent children they deserved to live. They had a family that loved them.
In July of that year, I attended Neighborhood Bible Time and the evangelist gave me good counsel. I was able to move forward in my walk with Christ and accept what He had done in my family's life. Every now and then I find myself wondering what the triplets would look like today, what their personalities would be like, and what I would be doing if they had lived. I do know that all things work together for good.

Wow! What an interesting weekend. Friday after school I decided it was time to wash my car and touch up the paint job my dad did to it. Not too bad, but my finger is still stiff from using two spray cans. Then I figured I might as well water the flowers and vegetable garden while I had the hose out. I don't usually do anything with the landscaping or rabbit food, but my roommate who does was out of town for the weekend. Feeling rather good, I decided to mow the lawn, but gave up after doing the section by the road. Heavy gas mower, very uneven ground, too many rocks, and an asthma flare up.

Then on Saturday, I was asked to help make the favors for the Mother-Daughter Banquet. After 304 cards, my hands were quite colorful. Each card was handmade with stamps and such. I came up with some cute designs, but the little girl stamped cards that another lady was working on turned out so cute! Then I cleaned the college building. After that, I was recruited to help with the college banquet in the nursery. I was told it would be about 2 hours, but it was really a little over 3. I chose to watch the babies and we only had 4. There were 2 other nurseries, but the turnout for the use of the nursery was a lot smaller than expected.

At church today, I found out that our current administrator is accepting a pastorate position, starting next week. He's going to finish up the school year, though. While it's always hard to see good people leave a church, it's a blessing to see them leave to further the work of Christ. The church gave him a farewell fellowship after the evening service. The school will be looking for a new administrator now. Please pray for wisdom in that area.

Oh, another thing about today (btw, that was a mild interjection...this is stuff I'm teaching my 4th graders...stuff I didn't even learn!), we received A LOT of rain. Must have been because I washed my car. :)

Two years in a row, a person has made a mistake that ends up costing me money...of which there isn't much. Last year, I told the person handling all the finance stuff at school that I wanted to be paid over 12 months (thinking ahead to the summer months and knowing that my loan payments won't wait for school to start). I went all school year thinking everything was set, because that was what I requested. Come the first payday of summer, I found out that what I had requested wasn't done. They paid me over 10 months. The Lord provided within days.

So, today, I'm outside at dismissal with my kids and another staff member wants to talk with me. He then tells me that the dental insurance coverage hasn't been taken out of my salary at all in the nearly 2 years I've been here. Uh oh. Now I have to pay back the church since they covered it. Then he asked me how I wanted to take care of it. Umm..well...I kinda live paycheck to paycheck as it is...so I don't know. He then offers me more work. I did have to point out to him that I teach, clean the college building, and work in the library already. I am willing to pull those extra hours this summer...just not right now.

I know God will provide and this doesn't come as a shock to Him. He answered a prayer request just this past Friday. Now, while my supervisor is trying to slowing introduce me to the supervisor position I already declined (he volunteered me for it next year...no way!), he asked me to proctor the interview test for a new student. I do get paid for it and it was for the amount I had just prayed for hours before he approached me. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills... :)

Ever stop to think….and forget to start again? :D

I've been reading through Job lately and a verse that stuck out to me was

Job 37:14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

In this fast-paced, gottahaveitnow, eat great even late, have it your way world, it's hard to stand still. I know that I can think of many other things to do while I'm already doing many things. It's a never ending cycle of Restless Life Syndrome. I think that is was Satan is doing to us. He keeps us so busy thinking that we have to be doing something that we don't take the time to stop.

Stand still and consider. Stop and think. About what? The wondrous works of God. Job, a man that God said there was none like in the earth, perfect and upright, one that feared God and stayed from evil (paraphrased from Job 1:8), is told to stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.

Life is short and eternity is forever. Take time now to stop and consider His works.