Friday, September 21, 2012

A Good Read

I'll admit it -- I'm not much of a reader.  I've heard it said that if you meet or know of an intelligent person odds are they are an avid reader.  So I guess I'm not very intelligent.  So be it. :)

But I did enjoy a good book recently, Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo.  It's a few years old, so you may have heard of it, or read it yourself.  Basically, it's a recap from a father's perspective of his little four year old boy who had an emergency appendectomy and experienced heaven and Jesus.  It's told by Todd, the dad, and how his son, Colton, began to reveal amazing details of his first-hand accounts of Jesus, heaven, Todd's dead grandpa, and Colton's sister (who he never knew about because his mom had a miscarriage). 

 
It was a very easy read; and a quick read.  Things I like when I read a book.  If you are looking for a nice read on an afternoon and want a bit of a spiritual challenge, then I highly recommend this book.  If you just want to have an enjoyable read - then I recommend this book.  If I can get my kids to read something other than school work (not because they love school work but because they have so much of it) then I recommend this book to them.

Happy reading all you intelligent friends.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Grateful

As I was driving to work today a rush of gratefulness came over me.  Do you ever get those moments, where out of the blue, you start reflecting on something?  Or an idea or thought comes to you that was not related to what you were doing, where you were going, or what you were planning?  I love it when that happens.  I cherish those quick, spontaneous, out of the blue, moments.  I know it's God's little whisper to me, just between us at that moment. 

So this morning, I'm driving and I was reminded of how blessed I am which allowed me to appreciate all that God does for me and my family.  Here's a list (not all inclusive, of course) of some of the things I am so grateful for, and in no particular order....

1.  My kids.  I have really good kids!  I trust them.  They are honest (at least as far as I know, smile).  And, they are ultra intelligent! 

2.  My job.  I have THE BEST job!  A big part of that is because I have a great boss.  How many people get to say that?  No, he doesn't read this or know I have this blog.

3.  Related to #2, I only work part-time.  What a blessing.

4.  My hubby.  He is my support in all ways.  He is strong, intelligent, confident, and loves me.  With all that we've gone through the first part of the year I think many families would have a hard time coming through it stronger.  We have.

5.  Our cars.  There are four drivers in this family and each has a working car to drive.  What a blessing for us all!

6.  Our finances.  We don't have much but we don't owe much.  Makes for a good end of the month.

7.  My extended family.  I grew up with a great family.  Had fabulous parents (I don't know how they did it!).  I can now say I love to be around all my sisters.  Confession:  I didn't always like a sister or two at a time or two when I was young.  I know they felt the same way about me and I have a scar to prove it.  I know, I never let you forget that.  But really, four sisters have so much fun together.  When dad was ill and we were all together visiting he had to tell us a few times to quiet down.  I also have the best, and most fun, Uncle and cousins. 

8.  My faith.  I have a God who loves ME.  I am selfish and stubborn and He loves me anyway.  And to top that, He even had His Son die for me.  My small group just looked over some scripture about what happens after we die.  How grateful I am that I won't be where there is gnashing of teeth but instead with the love of my heavenly Father and Son, Jesus.

9.  My friends.  What support, love, and laughter we have. 

10.  Life.  I am grateful that I get to live a fabulous life with all the above.

I hope you can spend some time this weekend thinking of what you are grateful for.  Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Chili Recipe

One of my favorite dinners is Chili.  Especially in the fall with football.  I don't know about you, but I think they just go together.  I love my recipe because it's so easy and quick and I think it has just the right amount of spice without being over powering. 

I love chili "Hawaiian style".  I call it that because the Hawaiians eat chili over rice.  Anyone that knows me or my family know we are huge rice eaters.  We go through 50 pounds of rice about every six weeks.  So we eat chili over rice and top with onions and cheese - mmm, yummy.



If you need a new idea for dinner, try my chili - I hope you like it.

Easiest Chili
Can = about 15 oz, give or take

1 pound Ground Beef
1 can Corn, drained
1 can Kidney Beans, drained
1 can Black Beans, drained
1 can Tomato Sauce
2 heaping tablespoons Chili Powder
1 heaping tablespoon Cumin
Brown ground beef in a large sauce pan (or dutch oven).  Drain fat.  Add remaining ingredients and heat through.  Can simmer for as long as needed.  Stir occassionally.

And that's all there is to it.  Eat over rice and top with shredded cheese and onion. 

Optional versions - brown diced onion with ground beef.  Add green chilis.  I've used a can of beer and added tomato paste.  Once I had two New York steaks and cut those into chunchs and used that instead of ground beef and put all in the crockpot and cooked for 6 hours.  My son loved that version.  So you can personalize this to your tastes but the basic is good as is. 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Fore

Last weekend my hubby and I had a day out.  We were invited to play in a best ball scramble.  That's golf, if you didn't know.  The course was a pretty drive a half hour away.  My hubby golfs all summer - he coaches baseball to feed his summer golf habit.  He had never golfed at this course.  So half the fun for him was trying out a new course.  I consider myself somewhat athletic.  I can goof around in most sports but golf is one I haven't played much.  I know and understand the game, but just don't play.  Basketball is the other - I can barely dribble a ball let alone shoot. 

A best ball scramble is the best format for this duffer.  We play as a foursome and everyone tees off.  Then we pick up our ball and move to the best ball hit.  Then all hit from there and continue to move to the best ball until we hit it in the cup.  The one main rule is each team has to use two drives from each person.  After that, it's fair game as to whose ball is used. 

Last year I played once and I've matched that amount of playing time with this tournament.  As I said, my hubby hadn't golfed here before and my golfing son was jealous (he wanted to play but I bumped him off the team and took his place).  We decided that he doesn't want to play this course.  It is laid out so tight and some holes criss-cross over each other.  On some holes we didn't know which direction we were supposed to hit.  Thankfully the couple we played with had played the course a few times and knew it (and they had a GPS for accurate yardage - huge advantage!).  I apologized to our teammates before we started since they are frequent golfers. 

We wanted to do this because it's a stress free time for me to play; hubby and I get to spend a day outside together; and the fee went to help a missionary family in Bangladesh.  How could we pass all that up?  I'm so glad we did it for all the above reasons.  And also because we WON!  Whoo hoo!  We shot a 16 under and won gift cards to a sporting goods store and a restaurant.  Bonus!

This weekend is a take-it-easy weekend.  College football starts (we've already watched a few games) and it's the last free weekend before everyone is back in school.  And it looks like we'll have nice weather to boot. 

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend and hopefully will have some fun activities planned - or maybe just take it easy.  Either way, enjoy!