Coming Soon - The Oreo Olympics!

We did something really exciting this week.  Something I've done in public school with first-graders and have now done with our playgroup, ages 14 months to 8 .... but I forgot my camera.  To make a long story shorter, I do have pictures, but I can't access them yet, so ... there will be a delay in this week's Field Work Friday post.  It will be up shortly.

In the meantime, grab a few bags of Oreos and be ready for some educational cooky fun!

She Speaks 2011

Each year at the end of July several hundred women descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the She Speaks conference hosted by Proverbss 31 Ministries.  This event is jam-packed full of learning sessions and good times both.  With special sessions geared towards writers, speakers, and ministry leaders, the conference is designed both to renew and educate women to be effective in their specific calling.  For more information about She Speaks 2011, check out the conference website.  Registration is happening now, and seats always sell out!

Why do I want to go to She Speaks?  Well ....

A few years ago, right after starting a new job (for which I was certified and credentialed but had just barely found my niche) my husband asked me to inquire about another one.  In an attempt to be an obedient wife, I dutifully asked about the position, but made it clear that I was not really interested in anything more than gaining the information.  I didn't want to rock my comfy little boat, and after seeing how much I did not want a change, my husband agreed to let me drop the whole thing.

Six months later found me still happy in my little boat, but that other position had changed.  With a new job description and double the hours, responsibility, and pay, my husband asked me to inquire about it again; I still only went through the motions.

But this time something different happened.

After really listening to my husband's reasons for wanting me to look into this position, I began to pray about it.

For the next five days, God answered.

Like Moses before the burning bush, for each job responsibility I listed why I could not possibly do this job.  Me?  Who am I?

And the following day, something would fall into my lap making it clear that while I, perhaps, couldn't .... HE could.

How could I make that kind of schedule work?  The next day I won a Christian mom's organizational planner from Marybeth Whalen.  It quickly arrived in the mail.

Who was I to hold that kind of position?  The next day I read a blog post about God equipping the called.  

For five days God answered every one of my concerns until I just looked up at the night sky and said, "I'm here.  I'm Yours."

I applied for the job and did my best - but in the end, the job search committee chose someone else, and I learned a valuable lesson:  Obey.  Always.  Immediately.  As someone at Bible study said last year, "Delayed obedience is nothing more than disobedience."

What would have happened if I had obeyed and applied for that job right away?  I'll never know.  Maybe He only wanted me to be willing.  Maybe He had some grand plan that I couldn't see and so dismissed.  I don't know, but I don't want to let my own stubbornness get in the way of what God wants for me again.  I seem to be in a season of waiting and learning right now.  I'm not sure what God has in store next, but when He calls, I want to be ready to leave the wilderness and follow Him.

That's why I want to go to She Speaks.  The opportunities to learn about following after Jesus and knowing Him completely seem endless there, as well as learning the nitty-gritty how-tos.  For the first time in five years, there isn't a family commitment on the calendar for that July weekend.  I would love to get out my colored, scented, happy markers and  write in, "She Speaks."

Want to know more about the current scholarship opportunities for She Speaks 2011?  Go here to find out more!

The Small Things

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Matthew 6:34


This was my great-grandmother's favorite Bible verse.  She didn't quote it every day or anything, but I remember hearing it referenced a few times and even seeing her read it from her Bible once.  What made the biggest impression was perhaps that she had this calmness, this peace, about her that proved she really BELIEVED this verse.  She knew that God was taking care of her and she didn't need to worry.


Whenever a larger-than-usual storm of life looms on the horizon, I think about Grandma and this verse, and I KNOW that it will be okay.  While those storms can still be stressful, there's still a kind of peace that exists in the midst of it, because I know that God will turn even that craziness into good.


But I'm not so good about the little things.  You know, the things that Francesca Battistelli sings about in her new song This is the Stuff.  Stuff like, 

I lost my keys 

In the great unknown 

And call me please 

'Cause I can't find my phone.

Or whether I'll be able to find the fruit I want on sale, or will Wal-mart actually have whole wheat flour this week?  So while I was out for a rare grocery run alone last week, I hit a local store that has great clearance sections in nearly every department, and upon leaving, I realized that for only 1/3 of my weekly grocery budget, I had filled in all of our more urgent gaps.  Combined with what we had and another sale we'd be hitting later in the week, we were looking quite good to go.  Why did I worry?  Didn't I know that God would provide?  Sure, but I guess I don't often think about God and my groceries in the same mental sentence.  Maybe I should start, though.  He's obviously still taking care of us, whether we need apples or car seats, so why do I stress about it?

I shouldn't.

As Battistelli goes on to say,

This is the stuff that drives me crazy. 

This is the stuff that's getting to me lately. 

In the middle of my little mess 

I forget how big I'm blessed 

He's still up there.  He's still in the blessing business.  And He still cares about me - even more than my groceries.  

Maybe I should add another verse to my go-to list when I start to get stressed:

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"  ~Matthew 6:26

So this week, I'm thankful that God has it all in control.  And for grocery stores that run good sales - and double coupons, too.  :-)

Join us for GratiTuesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Menu Plan Monday

Meals are going to be pretty simple around here this week.  Actually, they're going to be pretty simple this whole month because March really keeps this family hopping.  As for this week, we'll be going to church on Wednesday for an Ash Wednesday service, having a Philly Creme House Party on Saturday, and prepping all week for a kids' consignment sale.  As Andi would say, "Yikes!"

Monday:  Grab it 'n' Growl
Dave has Kiwanis so the kids and I will have a simple, quick supper of leftovers or soup - something like that.  It's our 'no cook' night.

Tuesday:  Parmesan Potato Soup with Broccoli
     Salad
     Breadsticks

Wednesday:  Steak fajitas
     Salad

Thursday:  Stir fry with broccoli, onions, peppers, and rice

Friday:  Picnic Supper with the kids; we'll be eating in the car on the way to drop off things at the consignment sale

Saturday:  Philly Creme House Party

Sunday:  Party leftovers

What are you eating this week?

Signs of Spring

I've lived in North Carolina for nearly 10 years now, but each year I'm still caught completely off guard by the signs of spring that pop up seemingly waaaayyyy too early to my Pennsylvania mind.  The watery eyes and sneezing of Southern allergy season is usually the first thing to alert me that winter is on its way out, but this week as the kids and I were out and about, we found lots of evidence that God is at work changing the seasons.  We decided to take pictures of our findings, scavenger-hunt style, so here's what we found:

Andi thought that this afternoon was a great time to play baseball.  It was about 66 degrees and slightly overcast, but it was a good day for it.  I'm completely sports illiterate - but doesn't baseball season begin soon??

It may be difficult to see in this picture, but those lumpy looking things at the end of each twig?  Those are buds!  We'll have leaves soon, people!

Luke and I visited the Museum of Life and Science after our Mad Hatter outing the other day, and I was amazed to find BROCCOLI growing happily beside the train car.  Already?  This farm girl wouldn't even THINK of planting such a thing yet, yet alone having stalks nearly ready to eat.  Isn't God's creation wonderful??

The butterfly gardens just outside the bug building at the museum were showing signs of life.  These daffodils are much higher than ours are at home, and the blooms were beautiful.

The hyacinths were up, too!

Our front yard is just covered in these little blue and purple flowering weeds.  This fact makes Andi VERY happy, but I'm sure her daddy will be somewhat less than thrilled.

This - is it a tree?  a bush?  I'm not sure - but this green waxy-looking plant at the edge of the yard is sporting big red buds.  I think something will be blooming here soon, too.

Andi found this pink flowering dogwood in the yard beside ours ...

and this pretty yellow bush blooming away in the yard behind ours.  Can you find the cardinal hiding in this picture??

Best of all, though, you know that spring approaches when the fabulous Farmer-Brown type across the street gets out his rototiller and prepares his garden for planting, as he did today.  He is truly an AMAZING gardener - and if he is getting ready to plant, I guess I should start making gardening plans.

Of course, in the midst of all this searching today, Luke was mysteriously absent.   When we asked him what he was doing, he said that his trucks were looking for signs of spring "under the dirt."

I guess we all look in our own places.

The next time we venture out, Andi's going to take her camera out so she can take her own pictures.  She's decided to make a book using her own pictures for every season.  I can't wait to see her finished book!

What signs of spring are you finding?

The Mad Hatter Bake Shop

This week our playgroup traveled to Durham to visit the Mad Hatter Bake Shop. We met with Dorian, the head pastry chef, for a 'backstage' tour of their kitchen.

After seeing the prep areas for the meals and the coffee bar, Dorian showed us the areas where she works the most.  We saw the ovens, where all of her cakes, pies, and other goodies are baked, and the racks where they are stored.  All Mad Hatter cakes are served the day after they are baked because they must cool before being decorated.  Each cake begins in the mixer, though. Isn't this a doozy??

After being mixed, the cakes move to the oven.  It can hold several at one time!  Here's a peek at the cakes in progress ...

When everyone had finished the tour, we returned to the pastry station for a demonstration.  Dorian showed us how to decorate a coconut cream cake.  First, she piped in the filling and added the top layer, bottom side up so that she would have a flat surface to decorate.

Next, she piped buttercream icing all over the cake ...

 and then she smoothed it out.

The cake was almost finished; it just needed coconut.  Dorian added it by the handful and pressed it in.

With our brains full of decorating know-how, Dorian sent us out to the cafe to decorate
our own Mad Hatter cupcakes.  (The really great thing about these cupcakes is that they are part of a cupcake kit that you can buy anytime - and that also comes with any kids' meal.  How cool is that?)

Dorian brought us each a cupcake, a small piping bag full their yummy buttercream, and three varieties of sprinkles in small cups.  Luke began by piping his icing ...

and finished by eating every last sprinkled bite.  He loved it!

Of course, before we left we had to check out the bakery cases to see what else looked good.

We decided that everything did!

Yes, we bake at home, and we decorate cakes at home, but there's something about doing this in the middle of the hustle and bustle of this busy cafe that made it seem extra special.  Maybe it was having your very own mini piping bag.  Maybe it was the cute little cups that the sprinkles came in, or maybe it was seeing the fancy cakes just begging to be devoured in the cake case up front.  Maybe Dorian's ease when decorating the coconut cream cake made us all ready to put on our own chef's hat and dig in.  I think, though, that it was a little bit of all of these.

The Mad Hatter was busy and crowded and rumbling with computers, coffee machines, and study sessions, but it was a fun kind of busy, and when you top that with beautiful sugar, who wouldn't want to go back?

We definitely will!

You have a wonderful husband!

That's what a new friend said to me this past week as we were talking. I can't even remember the offhand comment I made, but she exclaimed, "From the way your husband made your ring and ______, you must have a wonderful husband!"

I do. I really do. Unfortunately, though, the urgency of daily life rears its ugly head, and sometimes I forget to notice that he's kindly tucked someone into bed for me or unloaded the dishwasher (I despise that job!). I forget to appreciate that he never asks me to iron his dress shirts or hang up his ties and that he doesn't complain when I've left another book toppling over onto what's supposed to be his nightstand.

Sometimes I only notice how tired I am by the time he's worked a full day AND volunteered his time at Kiwanis and I forget to say 'thank you' for caring about people in our community.

Sometimes I don't think to tell him how proud I am of him for solving the crazy hose problem that took an hour to fix or that I love how he not only fixed that clogged drain, but scrubbed out the bathtub, too.

My friend's words have stuck with me all week. My husband is a really wonderful man. My head knows it - so why do my lips not voice their appreciation more often?

This week, I will make more of an effort to tell my husband how proud I am of him. Thanks, Susan, for reminding me - I really DO have a wonderful husband!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!