Posts from — August 2008

The time is finally here and this weekend is a very busy one.  Some of our favorite Nashville friends, Paige & Zack are tying the knot on Saturday night!  I am way excited for them and cannot wait to see all that God does in and through their marriage!  I feel so blessed to get to stand with Paige and support her is this special moment of her life and am also grateful that my dress still zips.   At least it did on Tuesday.

So let the festivities begin!  Good friends, good food, good fellowship and a good chance to practice or new mad dancing skillz too.  We didn’t get to practice this week so I hope we don’t thoroughly embarrass ourselves.

Paige & Zack…we love you guys and are praying for this weekend and for your lifetime together!

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

I have been tagged by my sis-in-laws Erika AND Kristy!

1. Emily – Because this is basically how you got into blogging in the first place.

Even though we live in a dog lovers paradise, we have decided we do not have the lifestyle that is conducive to having a dog which is really the only pet I would want right now. We are out of town too much and live too far away from anyone that could help us take care of one while we were gone because we’d probably have an outdoor lab or something like that.

But, we usually have some nice visitors that stop by and I like to call them our pets. Last week, we had a few days in a row where some animal visitors stopped by and became our pets for the day. Sorry the pics aren’t the best but you can get the idea.

A momma, daddy and several baby Turkeys.

Along with the huge bonfire pile we will be burning soon.

Two of the four deer that showed up that day.

This would make a nice mount for a hunter.

I guess it doesn’t hurt we have a huge corn field next to us that is attracting these animals.

I’ve always loved baking (thanks to my mom and my grandmother who gave me a cookbook called “Cookies for Kids” when I was little) and, if you know me well at all, you know that I truly prefer the dough versus the final baked product.  This can be anything from any kind of cookie dough, brownie or cake batter, muffin batter, biscuit dough or basically anything else.  I’d honestly rather be served a bowl of raw cookie dough than a plate of cookies.  Some of you are absolutely disgusted right now and some of you have a huge smile on your face.  Nice either way. 

I guess I have to thank my Aunt Diane (who really isn’t related) but who was our main babysitter growing up.  She would always bake cookies with us and even let me taste every ingredient as it was going in the bowl.  I LOVED it and thought she was the coolest because she would also let me lick the bowl and beaters when we were done. MMMMMM!  I use this method whenever I take care of kids now too.  It’s great entertainment for them and a great result for your effort.  Her recipe is actually the one I use to this day but I’ve perfected it over time, not for the final cookie result, but for the taste and texture of the dough so I can enjoy a perfectly raw bite.  It’s true.

I can also thank my college roomies who indulged with me in a Sams tub of cookie dough after dinner each night.  We’d pull it out of the freezer, all grab spoons, and each take a spoonful or two or three or…  I think I probably got the award for eating the most.

However, over the past several years, I’ve realized I cannot bake without major consequences.  When there are just two people in your household, it’s just not good to have a bunch of delicious cookie dough around.  I also read the ingredient and nutritional value of the cookie dough tub you get at Sams one time and realized that in one sitting of my cookie dough splurging, I could easily consume 2 DAYS worth of fat!  And I don’t care that much about counting calories or fat or whatever else women tend to do but that not only disgusted me, it scared me a little.

So, recently, I’ve gotten majorly into substitutions and finding healthier alternatives for my favorite recipes.  I now eat more fruits and vegetables than I ever have, pay attention to eating whole grains, have trained my palette not to need as much seasoning or fat for something to taste good, and try to balance my carbs & proteins in littler meals throughout the day.  I also eat a lot of cottage cheese which I still find very bizarre.

Back to the substitutions…my favorite discovery has been unsweetened applesauce for up to 3/4 of butter in a recipe!  I had heard about this for cakes but never considered it for general use and it really works!  Not to mention, it is MUCH cheaper than butter.  I also usually always switch to whole wheat flour and if a baked recipe really doesn’t taste good that way, I use a whole grain unbleached all-purpose flour for half while keeping the other half whole wheat.  It has been fabulous!  Everything from cookies, to banana muffins, to biscuits, to whole wheat bread, to brownies, etc.  Not everything has turned out well the first time and I’ve never dared to try a sugar cookie recipe without using entirely butter but it’s on my list!

I feel so much better about cutting down the fat content and adding extra nutritional value.  Next I plan on experimenting with honey instead of sugar to see if I can get a good result.  I’m also going to see about using egg whites instead of whole eggs too but I want to take it one step at a time.  I guess all of my stuff might taste horrible now but if that is the case, I’ve totally tricked my palette and I guess that’s better for me.

Any other tricks of the trade I should know about?

So I have a lot of half started posts that I am actually going to try and complete this week.  My to do list reads, BLOG, BLOG, BLOG. I think my family is about to disown me or something for not posting in a timely fashion.  But, I’ve had my reasons. So I implore you to have patience.  Thanks; you’re the greatest.

Let’s start with what my post was going to say on 8.8.08.  Basically…I’m so excited for the Olympics!  For some reason I don’t remember the Athens games very well (Oh yeah, I was working like a maniac) but I definitely remember Sydney because I got to watch it with my fun college roomies in our house and it was a great break to college studying.  So, this year, I actually have some time to watch it and enjoy it AND a DVR to record it and fast forward the boring parts.

Fast forward to today.  I really did enjoy seeing Michael Phelps win 8 golds, watching two Americans win the gymnastic all around, and seeing the sometimes frightening yet also intriguing opening ceremony.  I did lose some sleep and probably watched more TV in the last two weeks than I will for the rest of the year but really appreciated these Beijing games.

BUT, after the closing ceremony last night…I’m absolutely relieved they are over with.  I didn’t realize I felt that way until Saturday but as much as I enjoyed the hours of entertainment, I really don’t like feeling tied to my TV and I allowed myself the fleeting pleasure of it for the games alone.  I’m ready to get back to reading, and working on the house, and simply just doing other stuff besides sitting on my butt with the remote in my hand.  And I’m glad of that.

So, cheers to the 2008 Olympics and CHEERS to the joy that they are over!

So I left Alabama to head back to Nashville for one night and then Cameron & David (Daniel’s younger brothers) arrived to spend the 4th of July weekend with us! I was mainly challenged to keep enough food in the house while the men dug in the dirt and blew things up. It was their first time to visit us in Nashville by themselves so we were really excited to have them out. And 4th of July is a perfect holiday to have teenage guys visit because as long as there is a firework around, they are extremely content.

They were a huge help to us with finishing out our fence and landscaping, too. I’m particularly grateful because if they did not help, guess who would be out there trying to dig 20+ holes in the ground? Yours truly. So thanks guys!

We had a BBQ on the 4th with some friends complete with Texas brisket, potato salad, beans, watermelon and Blue Bell, a nice speech about Courage from Amy, tons of fireworks (so many that the guys got tired of shooting them off and didn’t finish them), and a skeet shooting contest with Daniel’s shotgun. Sounds a little out of control, doesn’t it?

So we dropped Cameron & David off at the airport and picked up Kristi & Bre (Daniel’s sisters) 48 hours later. This was their 4th or 5th time I believe to come out by themselves so we were all looking forward to their time in Nashville. We spent days doing girl stuff and nights and weekends hanging out with Daniel. Of course we shopped (although rather unsuccessfully this time) and they also helped me price stuff for a consignment sale, organize our childhood stuff that has been in deteriorating cardboard boxes for years (and ended up being quite a comical experience), and generally hung out with us with whatever we had going on. Bre and Daniel pressure washed and sealed the driveway together while Kristi and I read and got a tan on a few occasions too. We also watched more movies than I think I have watched in the last two years combined and of course stayed up late and slept late.

Bre had to head back to Texas for Driver’s Ed but Kristi ended up staying another week. The last afternoon Bre was there, they both helped me get ready for my surprise anniversary date. Daniel and I celebrated 7 years of marriage this year and he managed to plan a very nice surprise evening for us complete with coordinating a place for Kristi to hang out with some friends. I felt very beautiful after they were done straightening my hair and Kristi had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends that night. I am more and more grateful for Daniel every year that goes by and feel very blessed to have such an incredible husband.

So the last full week of July, Kristi, along with some other amazing women, helped me pull off a wedding shower for Paige. She gets married August 30 and I can’t wait! We also dyed Kristi’s hair, had a few more successful shopping adventures, movie nights, and one very comical but not so comical night where Kristi got to drive me home. It was a really fun month!

The end of July also marked one year since I left my “job” at the church in student ministry. I was telling a friend that I feel like God used a lot of this summer to basically tie a bow around this last year for me. A lot of the year was wondering and waiting and simply being obedient and faithful to what he had called us to without knowing how he was going to work or what of my dreams for this last year was he going to fulfill. I found myself time and again thinking of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:17-18 where they said to Nebuchadnezzar “..our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” I don’t face many fiery furnaces and even my “big” problems are really not that big. But I also believe the same principle applies…God can do anything. But if not, He is still faithful and worthy of all glory and I desire to continue to serve Him alone and not turn aside to my fears, insecurities or what the world tells me. A lot of things that I was hopeful God would do this year, did happen. Not everything, but significant things and as I look back on even these last two months (2 posts!), I am amazed at what God wrapped together in my heart and in the lives of people I love. Thank you Lord Jesus!

I probably deserve blog-o-sphere timeout or some sort of punishment. I’ve been a blogging consumer lately, not a contributor. I’ve been reading and not even commenting. (GASP!) I somehow believe this is ok if you don’t have a blog but if you do have a blog (I fall into this category), I somehow feel like I am committing a virtual crime by not updating my blog for over a month. “I’ve been busy” is my lame excuse but aren’t we all? Earlier this week, my friend Emily M unknowingly put me in my place when she updated her blog with a very long post about her very busy past week the day after she returned from her trip. My month finally slowed down last week, but I didn’t take the time to update my blog. Shame on me. Forgive me?

Ok, so on to the last couple of months and what I could have been updating you on as it was happening. We’ll start with June. We took a trip to Lubbock, TX in mid-June to celebrate Kasey Jo & Evan’s wedding! It was so fun to be with everyone and get to be apart of such an awesome celebration. Evan is Daniel’s brother and Kasey is the daughter of his Mom’s best friend so there was lots of in-law bonding and excitement too. The sad thing is, I ended up without any good pictures of them or of Daniel and me at the wedding. So I’ll show you the only pic I have of the two of them at the rehearsal dinner so you can see how adorably cute they are. We love you Ev & Kase!

After a few nights at home, I left and spent the next 12 days with Emily M along with her husband and daughter in Birmingham as Emily continued recovery from her lung transplant surgery. It was good, hard, significant, encouraging and scary all at the same time. Emily has had a lot of ups and downs and we did the whole 911/ambulance thing twice while I was there. The doctor says that it is some of the best looking lungs post-transplant that he has ever seen. Most of her complications are related to how her body is dealing with all of the medications she is on. She is currently struggling with some rejection which is discouraging but I know she’s a fighter. I just wish for rest for my friend as she has climbed more mountains in her life than I think most people do in their entire span of life. The best way to keep up with her progress is to visit her blog.

Because she was in the hospital, I took care of her 21 month old daughter every day which I know was a huge help to them. It is amazing what God taught me about pure service and sacrifice. I was there because God called my heart there and because of the commitment in our friendship but was able to be there for her best by caring for her family and not her. Being away from home and Daniel for those 12 days after being out of town so much in May and the beginning of June was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I knew it would be hard but was stretched emotionally, mentally and spiritually in a whole other way. Thanks for your prayers and support. And a special shout out to Crystal, Paige & Zack who brought Daniel down for a surprise visit one Saturday that had me bawling my eyes out in the middle of Subway because I was so happy to see him…and them…and him. You know what I mean. I’ve told you guys already, but seriously, Thank You! I’m blessed to have such awesome friends.