I like green.

Hmmmm what can I say?
I just don't have anything on my mind today.
Okay that is not specifically true, so I could say...I have nothing of relevance on my mind today.

I have black beans in the crock pot cooking.
It is my intention to make them into a black bean chili around 4pm.
It is then my intention to make some cornbread in my cast iron skillet and enjoy the previously mentioned chili.
Did I spell that right? Chili...hmmm.
Chilly it is outside, the perfect day to eat chili.
Yeah, that seems right.
A little Yoda-esq as well.

I like Yoda, he is cute.

And green.
I like green.

My dog, when she is worried or nervous looks like yoda!
Do you see the resemblance?





Okay, I admit she can do it better. It usually takes my husband walking in the room, or about 3 minutes with my seven year old "loving" on her to make the perfect look.


I just can't think of anything else to take up your time today.
Guess I will call this good.
Well, maybe not good, but done.
Some days...the writer's flare, it just isn't there!!
Flare not have I this day. (think Yoda!!)

Singing along!!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had to turn the music off in my van while cruising around.
I wanted to say a bit more about that!

I like to listen to lots of different types of music depending on my mood, the type of day it is, and more often than not, my passengers!! Of course by that I mean my children. I know there were years when all I heard was abc songs and veggie tales songs, and sesame street songs, and lullaby songs. I loved that time in my life, but am glad to have moved on the more complicated music!!
My go to radio station is 89.3FM, KSBJ. It is a christian music station here in the Houston area which you can also listen to via the web!
Here is that web address. I pull it up when I am close to the computer and need something encouraging to listen to.
It is through this station that I have learned of so many Christian artists who I would probably never thought to even look for.
Chris Rice has got to be one of my all time favorites. His music is a bit folksy, with a touch of rock to it. But more than anything I love his message. He sings about heaven, loving like Jesus and whole lot about how nature declares our Maker, and coffee. hee hee!!

Matthew West is another of my more recent favorites. His song "You Are Everything" is so genius!!! It has a counter melody in stringed instruments and piano that flows through the song...ahhhhh it gets me every time...genius!!!!

I also enjoy Leeland, mainly because I saw them in concert with Brandon Heath and they have an obvious deep love for Jesus that comes through so clearly in their music.

Oh, and have you heard Amy Grants new song "Better Than a Hallelujah"?
Oh, my!!!
Beautiful, thoughtful...gorgeous!

I have been going to the same church now for 16 years now. I have never lived anywhere this long and treasure the church family that I worship with each week.
As I have gotten older and more aware of others I have come to appreciate a few people of talent and wonder around here.
You know how you can know someone, but not really know them? They reveal little treasures of information a little at a time over the years and finally all the pieces start falling into place. Then all of a sudden you realize this person has made a difference in their area of expertise and are sharing it with others. I have a rather large number of these people in my life right now. Maybe I always have, but am finally mature enough to take notice!!

So, I am gonna go out on a limb here today...I say that because I didn't talk to this particular fellow about mentioning him in my blog, but I have nothing but good stuff to say so I will ask for forgiveness instead of permission.

For years, I have thought of Sonny Taylor as just "our Sunday morning song leader". Well, he recently did a class on Wednesday nights for us which taught everything from different types of note reading to the history of a'cappella music in America as well as biographies of some of the great hymn writers in recent history. Ha, my husband just came by and pointed out that 300 years or so might not be considered recent. I am an artist...numbers mean nothing to me!!!
This man has some crazy amounts of musical knowledge.
And a website! What? He has a website, and publications and, and, and...all kinds of stuff I don't understand...just leave it said that he is not JUST the song leader!
When we moved into our new home he and his wife gifted us a couple of CD's as a housewarming gift. I am sure he didn't know just how much I would enjoy them!!!

My favorite of the two is shown just below. I pulled that right off of his website, because it lists the other CD's from that group. It is just straight up a'cappella classic 4 part harmony type music. I mean, it might be more technical than that, but I can pick out my part and sing along just fine!

Main Section - Praise Hymnal - Let Us Adore CD C131

"Let Us Adore CD C131" See how there are also related products listed there? I threw that on too, because I am really loving the Heal our Land CD which has songs to really make you think about commitment to God as a citizen. This one is particularly wonderful. I hope you will take some time to navigate this website and see all there is to see that Taylor Publications has available! And, thank you Mr. Sonny for all you do to educate and inspire us to Praise our Lord!!

This CD covers the last 21 songs in the Praise Hymnal, 2008. Songs include: Let Us Adore * A New Anointing * I Bow Down * The Glorious Impossible * In the Name of the Lord * Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King * Come Dwell in Me * Above All * The Power of the Cross * In Christ Alone * Oh the Blood * For All You've Done * Holy Holy * Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross-Boyd Arr. * A Mansion Robe and Crown * How Great is Our God * Surround Us O Lord * Father God * Majesty Here I Am * Blessed Be Your Name * We Declare that the Kingdom of God is Here Quantity: Our Price: $13.95 Normal Price: $13.95 You Save: $0.00 % Saved: +0.00% Related Products: B2012: Praise Hymnal Revised 2010 B2012 S2012: ePraise Hymnal Revised Contemporary & Book S2012 SET11: Praise Hymnal Series 11 CD & book Set C130: My Only Hope #10 C130 C129: Worship #9 C129 C128: Heal Our Land #8 C128 C127: Sing To The Lord #7 C127 C126: Rejoice #6 C126 C125: Healing Grace #5 C125 C124: Rushing Wind #4 C124 C123: All In All #3 C123 C122: Sanctuary #2 C122 C121: Step By Step #1 C121

Fall has arrived

The first day of fall was September 23rd.
I don't usually keep track of such information, but my daughter was born that day and somehow she knew it.

With the coming of fall we know that we can expect cooler temperatures, which puts a spring in the step, does it not???
The birds sing louder, the squirrels are more frisky, the dog (though I am not sure how it is possible) walks faster!

We begin to see the leaves changing to colors which God seems to somehow reserve specifically to highlight in this season. Indian Red, Golden Rod, Sienna, Amber...oh so many deep yellows, oranges, and reds to consider.
Cinnamon and Nutmeg are naturally worked into baked goods and coffee drinks!

And Pumpkin!
We just cannot leave out how much the pumpkin has come to represent fall.


Mmmmm, mmmmm, those gorgeous orange fellows! They greet me at every grocery store entrance wishing me a happy fall.

So, in the spirit of all things fall and orange, and warm....I would like to introduce you to my new hair color.



I know you are thinking, no big dealio, what is the big change??
Okay well look over to the right.
See up there, my very blond picture!?!
That is how I have been wearing my hair for oh, about 7 years or so. Varying a bit dependent upon what actual shade was on sale.
So,why did I do this??? Was it a mistake?
Well, no not really.
Here is what happened.
First of all I read this blog post suggested by my sister in law.
This is the basic premise of the post.
"Being our best selves is about cultivating the courage to be vulnerable, authentic, and imperfect. Perfectionism, on the other hand, is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame. It's that simple."

Soooo...when my Sister in law texted me yesterday and said she was thinking about getting a drastic haircut, I wanted to be supportive of her very bold move to make a huge jump out of her comfort zone.
I said I would make a jump too and do a different hair color!
Change like this, which is so apparent really opens you up to, if nothing else...perceived judgment and criticism.
One can tend to get defensive and over protective!

My hair is much darker than I am accustomed to. It is warm and lovely like the fall colors just setting themselves free for the season.
It is going to take some getting used to!
It is not the perfect thing for me, and I wouldn't choose it again. But for today, and for my sis in law, and for the spirit of not being perfect and being ok with just being me...it is just fine!!

When something crosses your mind

I found myself turning off the music in my van today as I ran around town, accomplishing all that needed to be done.

I had so many thoughts and ideas running through my mind and the music was distracting.
Mind you, I usually have some kind of music on, turned up loud, singing away!!!

But not today.
I was pensive and thoughtful.

Being a parent is tough work.
Being a really great parent deserves some quiet time of reflection some days.

Quiet reflection time also opens your heart up to listen to where the spirit may guide you.
Stay with me here...I am not a loon!
I had a woman cross my mind today.
She is not a person that I would consider to be one of my friends.
I have a feeling if we spent any time together at all the likelihood of a close friendship forming is highly possible. However, I find that we have only had the opportunity to converse when we are making plans for our children to get together.
We are each very busy in our own lives and are content to encourage our children to love each other and be good friends to each other.

When she crossed my mind the first time it was brief.
Several months ago this dear lady had some sort of major surgery and has had many a long list of appointments to keep. So I did ponder for a moment how she was doing, but got distracted by the other thoughts that I was supposed to be thinking about.

My daughter is having a bit of drama in her sweet little life right now, and I just had to see her. I went to the school, arriving late for her lunchtime, but needed desperately to see her and kiss her face.
I walked up to her, and kissed her. She smiled and gave me a big hug around my neck. She said "Why are you here Mom?" I said "Well, I just wanted you to know that I love you." I then asked her if she wanted to come and finish her lunch with me, or stay and hang out with her classmates. I am so very glad to say that she thought a moment, looked at her buddy and said, "I think I will stay here." That let me know beyond a doubt that she was doing just fine and didn't need me there at the time, so I kissed her again and left. It was a precious moment!

See, that made the timing of the rest of my errand running just so.
Just so that I arrived to pick up dry cleaning at a certain time.
Just so that I arrived at a local bread store here in town at a certain time.
Now, I know you are wondering why I am out buying bread....Well, it is because I had a buy a loaf get a loaf free coupon. This is really delicious bread which I would never, never purchase without a coupon...it is way too expensive!
As I walked out of the store holding two loaves of bread this lady came to my mind again.

Now, just why did this happen???

Right then and there I decided that I would take that extra loaf to her home and check on her. Right at that moment, arriving at her house at that certain time.

I drove up and parked outside her house. I collected my sack with the bread in it and twisted out of my seat. As I closed my door I saw a car approaching. It was this lady in the passenger seat being driven by a friend.
She slowly, with great effort got out of the car.
I approached her and told her "You were on my heart twice today and I decided I just had to stop by." She remarked in her gentle soft spoken way "Well, it must have been because I was in another of my long appointments and needed the encouragement." She then told me that she simply had to go in and lay down right now, but to stop by another day for visiting time.

Which I will do.

I tell you all of this today to remind you to listen when God's spirit is whispering to you.
Trust that when your baby says she doesn't need to you stay and that breaks your heart just a tiny bit because she is growing up , that God gives a way to fill your heart back up in other ways.

I am gonna go switch out the laundry now and shed a few more tears.
I am not sad, really.
I am just intrigued at how God can work in a life, how He is working in my life.
I am thankful and overwhelmed and grateful.

Day 5 was Sound

Hello Friends!!
Look at that you got a capital letter.
Come on, let's face it...you deserve it for stopping by to read for a bit.

I can honestly say that I did not have time available to write on Friday.
I did find sound to be a tough sense to bring in the thanks with.
It seems that most sounds that get my attention are annoying or distracting. So, turning those feelings into thankfulness made this quite a challenge.

I found in the "senses thankfulness challenge" that my sense of sight is the one I depend on.
It is the one that comes most naturally to me, and I am betting for most of you as well.
I do find myself being constantly thankful for things that I see, especially because of all the amazingly wonderful, creative things God puts before us each day.
Well, anyway, I hope that got you out of your box a bit to be thankful and near to God.

Hey, while you are here let me change the subject and tell you about a few things!

First and foremost...something happened and my camera is back to being friends with my computer! I am not sure what the problem was, but I am sure glad they got it worked out.

Secondly...

Yummy! Chocolate covered pretzels! This is insanely easy to do and they turn out so pretty and leave people begging for more!
Simply melt the chocolate, (slowly in the microwave, stirring often)
coat the pretzels, (you may need to use a spoon to get it on there good)
let them dry on wax paper (this takes quite a bit longer than you might imagine as you stand there waiting to devour the first one, to make sure the taste is just right because you wouldn't want to send something crazy weird tasting with your kid to school, especially since it is a new school and you want people to like her snack, especially since it is not some of those cupcakes with all of the insane icing that stains everything)
and eat. (No explanation needed)
I added sprinkles to this bunch because it was the treat going with my daughter to school, and you know how kids love sprinkles!!


Mmmmm chocolate and sprinkles!

Thirdly. Wow, thirdly is a very strange word.

I decided to do an oriental themed birthday party for my little shnookums! I readily admit it was because I was at Target and the dollar spot had all this uber cute oriental stuff covered with the pretty shiny fabric and it got my juices flowing on an idea. Not to mention it was all on sale! Half off of a dollar is too good to pass up!


So, this was the party favor! A cute little "to go" box, a bracelet, a notebook and fun dragon pen for writing, and the pretty headband which was a total hit with my girl!!

I think she is planning her outfit for the day around this headband!
She's only 7, should this be happening already??


I knew I wanted to play some sort of games with rice, so while I was at Sam's the other day, shopping with my 13 year old who was liberally giving advice, I chose the 25 lb bag of rice.
You know, so that I would have plenty of rice for whatever we might want to do, and enough to feed the entire neighborhood for 3 solid weeks should a disaster strike.
Yes, it was way way way too much rice.
Did I ever tell you that my oldest child has a strong penchance for rice??
He was thinking with his stomach on this purchase, and I was not thinking at all.
At least it was cheap!!

We played a few games with rice, but this was my favorite! It is the fourthly thing that I want to tell you about.
As a birthday present to my little darling, I cleaned her room.
It was "the mommy" kind of clean up!
The "dump everything in the middle of the room and start over" kind of clean up.
The "why in the world is she keeping this" clean up.
The "fill a sack with what looks like trash to me and take it out before she gets home" kind of clean up.
I had a secondary mission as well. I was on the look out for small objects to make a game with.
Check out what I found.

I split these things up and put them into 2 jars filled with rice, then printed off this search and find paper. The goal is to shake around the jar looking for items and cross them off as they are found.
I gotta say, this was so much fun!!
It is frustrating, but in a way that propels you on to search for yet another item!

And now fifthly!
I took huge liberties with this next thing, but loved how it turned out.
I found each party attendees name in Chinese.
I then sketched it out on a piece of paper for each child to paint at the party.
I think they all really enjoyed having this little "craft" time, while seeing their name in a different way.
I wanted these to have a traditional (as far as I could remember) feel, and did the characters running down the page. I have no idea if it is right or not, but liked the look of it.
I also found a neat dragon stamp, which brought in that little touch of red to work with the red string.
One of the moms hung one on a tree to dry, and it was such a neat look that we kept going and then ended up with this shot of it.



Sixthly, I just can't imagine that seventhly is actually a word, but I just had to type it out anyway!! Say that 4 times in a row!!!
seventhly seventhly seventhly seventhly
Ahhh Ha Ha ha! It is the little things that just thrill me!!
You know what??? Have a great day, I am gonna!

Day 4--Taste

I must tell you I specifically assigned TASTE to this day on purpose!
It is the birthday of my baby!!
She is 7 today!
sigh!!
I am not sure when than happened.
I knew today would be an excellent taste day for me, so I worked it like that.
I admit it!

My sweet dumpling asked for "Shooshe" for lunch! Ha! You gotta love that.
Sushi at 7!
Am I raising her right or what??? (no comment Nicoll)
This is the only kid I have any sort of a chance with in the food department.
Oldest brother eats almost no fruits and veggies and has a very limited taste acceptability factor!
Older brother changes on a dime what is palatable. I don't know from one day to the next what he may decide he doesn't like anymore.
But not my tiny baby girl. She will eat almost anything, and is game for trying new things as well.
Hence the "Shooshe"!!
Psalms 34:8
O taste and see that the LORD is good ; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Hmmmm, nice how that scripture works in with our week!!!

Day 3--Touch

Whoa, this is gonna be a challenging one today!
I mean we touch everything, right.

How many things have I touched and it isn't yet 9 in the morning?
Here, let me name a few just for fun!
Bread for sandwiches, apples for snacks, clothes, hairbrush, water, dishes, blankets, toothbrush, coffee cup, chips, cookie dough, oven handle, dirty dishes, my cell phone, a sharpie marker, my children, my dog, my dog's leash, door knob, tennis shoes, my keyboard...obviously!!
Whew, that is just the obvious big stuff that I remember off hand.

Now some of that stuff God didn't make directly. He didn't create my spinning toothbrush, or sharpie markers.
Big deal, the stuff he designed and made is way more impressive!

God made your world.
The things you touch were created for you!
God didn't have to make it all amazing, but He did.
Let's take pleasure in that, but also let's show our admiration and appreciation.

Hey, you better get with it, you are gonna be busy today!!