One Day

Today is Labor Day in the US of A! Being away from any and all family we weren't entirely sure how we would celebrate. However, a family from church (who we've become friends) are going to join us at our house today for a picnic, although I'm guessing we'll eat inside as we have nothing to eat on outside! My husband is going to marinade and grill a roast, we'll have French fries, baked beans, a salad and dessert. I wanted to share my baked beans recipe with you. I LOVE baked beans. It's something I have always loved to eat, however, when my eating had to change I found that all canned baked beans come full of ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, soy, cornstarch, wheat, etc. Folks, baked beans are NOT hard to make, and there is not reason to have all these crazy ingredients in them! In reality, these are simply fillers anyway. I was on the search for a baked bean recipe that I could make from scratch. A friend of mine passed one to me. I hav...

Friends. They come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. I can look back on my life and see the different key friends the Lord has blessed me with over the years. Being a missionary kid one tends to move a lot. And, if you don't move chances are the people around you are moving. You can become best friends with someone and after 2 years her family moves and doesn't come back. I learned early in life to make friends quickly, and not to waste time with surface, fluff stuff, but to get to the heart of a person quickly. I learned you just never know how long you have with a person before they go. As an adult, I'm finding that not everyone sees life this way. I'm learning not everyone wants to share their heart of hearts with you right away. And, that's OK! I'm seeing it's one of the quirks left over from being an MK. During my childhood my mom always prayed for my sister and I to have a good friend when we would move to a new place. The Lord always answered those ...

I was having a discussion with my good friend about being on time. She said, "You are about my only friend who is always on time, or early. I just don't understand how you do that!" And, I gave her my ways, the things we do in our family to be on time. It was perplexing to me to think this was even something unfathomable to another person. I mean, it's just not hard. To me, anyway. That night I was thinking about it and realized she does something that I find unfathomable. She, and most of my other friends, can eat 1 or 2 pieces of chocolate, or 1 brownie (or a bite of brownie) and be fully satisfied. I. Can. Not. Do. This. I do not understand how a person does this! How can't your chocolate craving be satisfied until the bag of Hershey Kisses is gone, or the XL candy bar is devoured, or the pan of brownies is eaten? I do not understand. And, because of this not understanding, I am over 200 lbs and find myself needing to lose weight. I think this is why God ...

Do you have a support team? I do. My husband is, of course, A-#1 support for me, but I also have several other friends and family who are a support system for me/us while we home school. A lot of those people don't live around us, however, there are 3 very special women and their families who live around us. We have 11 kids between our 4 families, and Ben is the only boy! The kids' ages range from Rebekah who is 2 and the oldest girl just turned 12! We have tons of fun together. We get together regularly to give our kids time to play, time to learn, and a time for us moms to support each other. We've been through a lot together in recent years. We've all been through some major downs and have held each other up through prayer, hugs, tears and open ears. I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life. They are so special, and I know God placed them in my life for so many reasons! Last week we all got together to celebrate one of our birthdays. It was fantastic to sim...

Do you have a friend, or friends, who you don't get to see often (like with many years between visits) but when you do see each other it's as though time has not passed? I have several of those friends. Being a missionary kid, and then later a missionary, you learn to build deep, lasting friendships with people. You don't waste time with the fru-fru stuff, the surface information. You get deep. You learn about each other. After college I spent 2 years in Cameroon, Africa. I loved my time there. I was young, single and thought it would be a grand adventure. It was, but it was also a time that I look back on when I grew as a person. I made several really wonderful friends. Most of whom were older than me, but women of faith, each in her own journey with God. One thing you have to know is, when you leave the mission field you do not know when you'll see your friends again. And, honestly, you know you'll at least see them in heaven. So, when the opportunity arises to ...