Our First Decade

Ten years ago today I woke up to pouring down rain - just like today. 

That was the first thing I thought of when I woke up today.

It does not feel as if our wedding took place a full ten years ago, but it has.  In some ways it seems like it was only yesterday, but when I think about life before our wedding, although I can conjure up memories, everything has a somewhat blurry tint to it.  Many of those things feel almost as if they happened to someone else.

I think it's because going back that far means that my husband wasn't in the picture.  Or the kids, and I can't imagine life without those three.

Our life is not at all how I pictured it would be.  When we married, I was teaching full-time, we lived in a cute little house downtown, and everything felt rosy.  It felt like living a dream.

Then God changed our dream, and it's been better than anything I could have imagined.  I decided to stay home with one-year-old then not-so-Big Helper, and I learned to depend on my husband in ways I hadn't had to do before.  I started really trying to figure out how to be a Biblical wife and mother.  

Soon we were blessed with our Little Man, as well, and I saw my husband really begin to change.  He stepped up to lead us in ways that he hadn't done before.   He began to protect and defend and plan for us in new ways.

I loved my husband when I married him, of course.  We were very different but got along well.  Now I see, however, that while we're still very different in many ways, we're growing - in maturity and together.  It's neat to think about.  He's teaching my patience.  I'm teaching him to plan.  He learned to pick up his underwear.  I learned to not stress about un-picked-up underwear.  You know - all that important stuff.  ;-)

If someone had told me what choices we would have made during these ten years, I would've thought they were crazy - and that's why I'm glad that we can trust God's plan.  It's always better than anything we can come up with.

It's been a great ten years.  Here's hoping for another fifty or sixty more.

"The Promise Box" by Tricia Goyer

With her heart - and her loyalty - on the line, can she let true love in her life?

Every year, young Amish men descend on the cozy little town of West Kootenai, Montana, arriving in the spring to live there for six months and receive 'resident' status for the hunting season in the fall. They arrive as bachelors, but go home with brides! Lydia Wyse, a book editor from Seattle who grew up Amish, returns to the small community of West Kootenai, Montana to give comfort to her father after her mother's death.

She is drawn back to the familiar Amish ways after finding her mother's most precious possession, a Promise Box of prayers and scripture. What her publisher sees, though, is an opportunity for a sensational 'tell-all' book about the Amish. Lydia soon finds herself falling in love with Amish bachelor Gideon Hooley. She wants nothing more than to forget her past and look forward to a future as an Amish bride. 

Will the pain of her childhood-and her potential betrayal of her community-keep her from committing her whole heart?

The Promise Box is an amazing story of faith and yet different from most other Amish books out there.  Lydia doubts her own value in God's eyes after learning that her conception was the result of rape - and it changes her entire life.  While she questions her place as an Amish woman, her larger question of why a good God allows bad things to happen is one asked by nearly everyone at some point in their lives.  

Lydia's journey to find the answer to that question makes up the bulk of this book - which, of course, includes a sweet love story and a beautiful mountain setting.  (Somehow reading books about ugly swamps is just not appealing to me!  I'd rather live beautifully and vicariously through the characters.)  Her journey, although full of hardship and loss, has a very Goyer-esque sweetness to it.  

The book is titled after a special box kept by Lydia's mother in which she wrote scriptural promises that she wanted to remember - a Bible diary, of sorts.  I've seen this same type of 'journal' take many forms, but I especially like this one, and it made for an interesting tool of plot advancement throughout the story.

The Promise Box is a sweet journey of love, hope, and reconciliation.  I love how Goyer writes about a realization that we each must come to:  that we are all valuable in God's eyes because He made us, not because of circumstances or anything that we've done, but because of who He is and what He has done.  Lydia's story is well worth the read.

Click here to read other reviews on this bloggy hop.  Click here to go ahead and purchase your own copy now. :-)

Tricia Goyer is a busy mom of six, grandmother of one, and wife to John. Somewhere around the hustle and bustle of family life, she manages to find the time to write fictional tales delighting and entertaining readers and non-fiction titles offering encouragement and hope. A bestselling author, Tricia has published thirty-three books to date and has written more than 500 articles. She is a two-time Carol Award winner, as well as a Christy and ECPA Award Nominee. In 2010, she was selected as one of the Top 20 Moms to Follow on Twitter by SheKnows.com. Tricia is also on the blogging team at MomLifeToday.com, TheBetterMom.com and other homeschooling and Christian sites. In addition to her roles as mom, wife and author, Tricia volunteers around her community and mentors teen moms. She is the founder of Hope Pregnancy Ministries in Northwestern Montana, and she currently leads a Teen MOPS Group in Little Rock, AR. Tricia, along with a group of friends, recently launched NotQuiteAmishLiving.com, sharing ideas about simplifying life. She also hosts the weekly radio podcast, Living Inspired. 

Learn more about Tricia at www.triciagoyer.com.

I received a free copy of The Promise Box from LitFuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

{Man-Friendly} Grilled Steak Salad

A few days ago I tried to figure out how to combine my husband's love of steak with my desire for a good salad.  This {Man-Friendly} Grilled Steak Salad is the result.

I foresee us grilling this salad often this summer.  It's a quick and easy dinner that keeps all the heat out of the kitchen, but it's also colorful, hearty, and full of flavor.  

This could even be a fun Father's Day option!

So here's how to make your own {Man-Friendly} Grilled Steak salads.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of thin steak
• 3/4 t. Montreal steak seasoning
• 4 T. Worcester sauce
• 2 T. olive oil + oil for the grill pan
• 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 c. shredded sharp white cheddar
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 c. frozen kernel corn

Directions:

1. Preheat the grill to about 350.
2. Toss the onions and peppers with olive oil and steak seasoning.  
3. Oil the grill pan and place on the grill to heat.
4. Chop lettuce, carrots, cheese, and tomato.  Assemble salads on 4 plates.
5. Put the peppers and onions in the hot grill pan to caramelize.   Stir occasionally.
6. Place the steaks on the grill and top with Worcester sauce.  Grill until they reach your preferred level of doneness.
7. When finished, remove steaks and veggies from the grill.  Allow steak to rest, then slice into strips.
8. Add veggies and steak to the top of the salad.
9. Serve with your favorite salad dressing and enjoy!

How do you celebrate Father's Day?

Inspired Wednesday - Far Reaching Effects

*This post contains affiliate links for See The Light, a Christian art education company.  Clicking on these links can help my family but in no way does this association affect the opinions that you will read below.  See the Light provided me with DVDs for reviewing purposes and is giving another set away to one of you.

Last week I shared about my Big Helper's new interest in art.

It's been a few weeks, and her interest hasn't waned - in fact, it's multiplied since watching our Art Class See The Light videos.

A few weeks ago we toured a farm, and afterwards we wanted to send thank-you cards to the very kind farmer (more about this field trip to come).  Having recently Pinned a watercolor card project, I wanted to play up the art angle of the cards instead of making simple, quick drawings as we'd begun to do during the school year.  (Want to follow me on Pinterest?  You can do that here.)

My Big Helper got really into this.

Since we toured the farm primarily because of it's bee population, she decided to draw a large honeybee on the front of her card, with honeycomb in the background.

As she worked on this project, I could see her using what she'd learned from Pat Knepley, the master artist in the Art Class DVDs.

• First, we found a bee for her to draw.  She settled on this one.
• Next, she studied the bee and then decided on its placement on her paper.
• She drew the outline of the bee's shape using light pencil lines, and then filled in details after.  
• The hexagons for the honeycomb came next, and she was careful not to draw her lines over the bee.
• After that, she traced her lines with a waterproof black marker and painted in her picture (which we haven't learned how to do yet from See The Light, but it seemed like a fun thing to try.)

As her project neared completion, My Big Helper grew more and more excited about her work.  "Do you think he'll like it, Mommy?" was her first question, but as we talked about what she might do next, her thoughts grew.

"I could give these to other people, couldn't I, Mommy?"  she asked.  "Do you think that Papa and Grandma would like one?  Could I draw on canvas?"  The wheels kept turning.

Her finished project:

I'm not saying that my little girl is an art master - she's not.  I'm not saying that even she thinks that her work is artistically perfect - she knows it's not.  After finishing she looked at her work with a critical eye, talking about what she might change the next time, but she laughed about it.

And she was confident.

Confident that her new card might show Mr. Mike how much she liked visiting his farm.  Confident she is learning to do something that might make other people feel happy.  Confident that her time and effort might make other people feel good.  Confident that she can do something worthwhile.

I believe that she feels this way about other skills that she has - she loves to write and plan activities and share chocolate and sew - but she looked as if a new world of possibilities opened up before her as she examined her picture.

I'm excited that See The Light's simple, short lessons and friendly format can inspire this kind of art love in my daughter, and I'm excited to see what's next.  We're definitely going to continue with the Art Class series, but I want to try one of the special Art Projects this summer, too.  

Have you ever tried one?   If so, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Pat Holt, founder of See The Light, is generously giving away one set of Art Class DVD 1 and 2 to a lucky winner.  This contest ends tonight!  Enter using the widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last week Ely at The Traveling Classroom shared a post about why you should - and how to - learn a foreign language.  Her list was both honest and funny!  To find out more, visit The Traveling Classroom - and Ely, please visit our Inspired Wednesday page and take the "I was featured on Washed Up Inspired Wednesdays' button back with you.  

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If you have a post about an encouraging activity, project, or trip that you've taken, please link up below and add a link back to this post.  Either way, please read on to find out more about a fun activity that we enjoy here in our nest, and be sure to hop over to Where He Leads, We Follow to check out Stephanie's  Inspiring Wednesday post, too. 

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GratiTuesday - It Could Have Been Worse

If you've been a Nest in the Rocks reader for any length of time, you might remember my Letter to a Thief.  I wrote it about this time last year, right after someone smashed my car window while we ate our Mother's Day lunch and stole my Bible and the bag it was in.

A few days ago, something happened that was eerily similar.

My husband works near our closest big town, and we arranged to meet him there after work to attend a special event.  Not wanting to pay for parking twice, we met up at a major grocery store, where my husband parked his seventeen-year-old, paint-peeling car. He parked under a street light, and we went merrily on our way.

Until late that night, when I had returned home and he was running errands, and he realized that someone had stolen the license plates from the back of his car.

He immediately called the police and returned to the scene of the crime, where he was told that this was a common occurrence in this neighborhood.  Might sound strange, given our history there, bu this is a big commercial area with lots of very nice stores - so who knew??  Apparently two other cars were broken into just in the time it took my husband to return - and he wasn't far away.

My very first reaction, upon receiving my husband's call about his delay in returning home, was utter disbelief - and then to head for the chocolate ice cream in the freezer.

Stress loves chocolate, you know?

But then I tried looking for the positives in all of this, and I realized that there are many.  (Perhaps not as many as I'd like, but they exist, and that's something!)

The cop told my husband that it was okay to drive his car as long as he carried the number of the police report with him.  That made it much easier for him to get home and again the next day as he tried to replace the plates.

He was not stopped by the police AT ALL in the more than twelve hours he was without plates - and he was on several major roads at all hours of the night and day.  A delay could have made him late for work, but all went smoothly.

Turns out replacement plates are WAY cheaper than new windows and Bible bags.  While this was a major frustration, it DIDN'T become a major expense.

And, of course, nobody was hurt.  We were happily watching a baseball game, cheering on our favorite local team, laughing about how my husband always misses the homers, while someone was nefariously stealing a part of my husband's car.  We were a few miles away, and this time, there wasn't even remaining glass on which to get cut.

Instead of spending a whole day cleaning up, it took a few minutes and some minor tools to replace the plates and my husband's car was back in business.

So, if we had to be the victims of a crime once again, at least we came through it fairly unscathed.  It could've been worse - but just in case, we're not parking in that part of town again.

What about you?  What are you looking at the bright side of today??

For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

Menu Plan Monday - Anniversary Edition

It is hard to believe, but my husband and I will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary this coming weekend!  It doesn't feel as if it's been that long, and yet it almost feels as if our lives have always been intertwined.  Do you ever feel that way??

My husband is working on some big plans, and I've been directed to leave Friday through Sunday open, so this plan won't include meals for those days.  I'll post a full and regular meal plan again next Monday.

In the meantime, here it is:  our abbreviated menu plan for the week.

Breakfast:

1. 

- yogurt and fruit with Cinnamon Almond Granola
- scrambled eggs and fruit

- Applesauce Muffins  and yogurt

Dinner:
- Grilled chicken, brown rice, stir fried veggies

- Grilled sausage in Easy Bolognese Sauce over whole wheat pasta, salad
- Tacos, Spanish rice, salad, watermelon
- Waffles, sausage, fruit

What are you cooking up this week?

For more Menu Plan Monday, visit OrgJunkie.

Beth K. Vogt’s “Catch a Falling Star” Romantic Weekend Getaway Giveaway & June 4th Facebook Party!

Celebrate the release of Catch a Falling Star (Howard Books) with Beth K. Vogt by entering to win a Romantic Weekend Getaway and RSVPing for her June 4th Author Chat Party.

  One "lucky" winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa Cash Card (Perfect for a weekend stay at a hotel or B&B!)
• Catch a Falling Star and Wish You Were Here by Beth Vogt (Swoon-worthy!)

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 3rd. Winner will be announced at the "Catch a Falling Star" Facebook Author Chat Party on June 4th. Connect with Beth for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Beth will also share an exclusive look at her next book and give away books and other fun prizes throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of Catch a Falling Star and join Beth on the evening of June 4th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 4th!