Today I was reminded by special little boy, that life is far too short to be wallowing in the pool of bitterness, anger, jealousy, doubt *insert your word of choice here*...
Roo doesn't filter things the same way everyone else does. Does he get angry? Is the incredible Hulk green??? Of course he does. Does he sometimes let stuff just fly out of his mouth? yup- sure does. But guess what else he does? Immediately after he feels like he's hurt someone, he runs up to them, most times sobbing, and throws his arms around that person and begs for forgiveness, all the while telling them how very sorry he is for hurting them. WOW. And then, he just moves on. He doesn't really carry grudges, or throw junk back in your face after its over with, he just goes on and keeps on living.
I want to be like Roo. He's just a child, but because God's gifted him with these supernatural beautiful qualities, It is I, his mother, who is constantly learning from him.
Are you hung up on self pity, or doubt, or anger or bitterness, or even unforgiveness? Let it go- letting it go takes away its power and eases your burden... soothe your soul- come on get happy...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
theCanvasStory
I have a dear friend named Heather Marshall. She's the kind of woman that those sappy friendship movies are made of. She's tough, and funny, smart and loyal, kind and stubborn, generous and silly, and boy does she love Jesus.
She's decided to make a difference in this world. Some of us donate to food pantries. Some of us volunteer at shelters. Those things are important and desperately needed... but then there's Heather- She's decided to take on the fight against human trafficking. God laid it on her heart to do something extraordinary- something more than she thought she could- He challenged her to step outside of her own little world and OBEY. And she did. And she is. And she's making a difference.
Please check out her website and get inspired. What is it that God has in store for you? Stop thinking about it and just do something. Heather did, and now the world will be a better place because of it.
http://thecanvasstory.com/
She's decided to make a difference in this world. Some of us donate to food pantries. Some of us volunteer at shelters. Those things are important and desperately needed... but then there's Heather- She's decided to take on the fight against human trafficking. God laid it on her heart to do something extraordinary- something more than she thought she could- He challenged her to step outside of her own little world and OBEY. And she did. And she is. And she's making a difference.
Please check out her website and get inspired. What is it that God has in store for you? Stop thinking about it and just do something. Heather did, and now the world will be a better place because of it.
http://thecanvasstory.com/
Living
So yesterday at church, one of the most amazing things happened. A woman walked up to me, said she had heard we were looking for a second car, and that she wanted to GIVE us one. I looked back at her and said "what did you just say?" She just smiled, and I burst into tears! She said her daughter was blessed by her grandparents with a brand new vehicle, and she would like for us to have her 2002 Hyundai. I just kept crying, and I've cried off and on ever since.
My God is good. Not just because He gave us a car. He just is. We've been praying about what to do about needing a second vehicle... we thought about going to a dealership, but we didn't want the debt. We've looked on craigslist, but nothing jumped out at us... we felt like God's answer was "sit tight, and wait". Not my favorite answer- that one's a hard one for me. But we waited, and now we have a car, no debt attached to it, driven by a church family, well loved, and now its ours!
We were so blessed to have been given a car to drive in the mean time by our dear friends the Burton's. Words can't express the love I have for these people. They opened up their home to us for 2 weeks while we were house hunting here, and they have continued to be so generous and kind to our family. They are a huge piece of my heart.
God is slowly unfolding our life here in Florida... and its magnificent. He brought us to the most amazing ministry and we are honored to get to be a part of the team there. He's surrounded us with friends and mentors who love and challenge us daily... He's given us a beautiful home that we constantly get to use to glorify Him. He has settled in our children, and they absolutely love their life here now.
We are living out our happily ever after. Thomas and I are incredibly blessed to have the life we do. God has touched us with so much favor and blessing, and we don't take that lightly. We aren't perfect, but we love our Lord and we strive to be a reflection of Christ's love wherever we go. We are so thankful to be living this spectacular life that He's given us.
Psalm 67:1-2
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
My God is good. Not just because He gave us a car. He just is. We've been praying about what to do about needing a second vehicle... we thought about going to a dealership, but we didn't want the debt. We've looked on craigslist, but nothing jumped out at us... we felt like God's answer was "sit tight, and wait". Not my favorite answer- that one's a hard one for me. But we waited, and now we have a car, no debt attached to it, driven by a church family, well loved, and now its ours!
We were so blessed to have been given a car to drive in the mean time by our dear friends the Burton's. Words can't express the love I have for these people. They opened up their home to us for 2 weeks while we were house hunting here, and they have continued to be so generous and kind to our family. They are a huge piece of my heart.
God is slowly unfolding our life here in Florida... and its magnificent. He brought us to the most amazing ministry and we are honored to get to be a part of the team there. He's surrounded us with friends and mentors who love and challenge us daily... He's given us a beautiful home that we constantly get to use to glorify Him. He has settled in our children, and they absolutely love their life here now.
We are living out our happily ever after. Thomas and I are incredibly blessed to have the life we do. God has touched us with so much favor and blessing, and we don't take that lightly. We aren't perfect, but we love our Lord and we strive to be a reflection of Christ's love wherever we go. We are so thankful to be living this spectacular life that He's given us.
Psalm 67:1-2
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Welcome to Holland
A friend shared this with me and I wept. I wept like i haven't wept in a long while. I needed to be reminded of the beautiful blessing i've been given with Roo- and the amazing task I've been given by God to raise my special little boy...
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
Mama's Day (Mother's Day)
This past weekend I took a last minute trip to Missouri to see my mama graduate from college...I had no idea before hand that I'd be going- I found out late Thursday night and was on a plane at 6am the next morning. My weekend getaway was all kinds of amazing.
First of all, let me just say, that being at a graduation is pure bliss. On a much grander scale, I think Heaven will be a bit like a graduation. Just stick with me for a minute- there is so much love in that place. Every single person who attends a graduation is there by choice, because of their love and admiration for the person graduating. You can feel the joy in the room- grandparents weeping, moms and dads cheering and smiling the biggest smiles they've smiled up to that point. Its a beautiful thing.
As a daughter, to get to witness this most momentous occasion in my mama's life- it was magical. It was surreal and so strange to be bursting with such pride for my parent- but I was. My mama grew up poverty stricken, raised by a single parent in a poor country. She beat the odds- she is the first in her family to graduate college. AND she did it at the "young" age of 56! Being there, watching her walk up to get her diploma, it brought back so many wonderful memories from my childhood... I remember being 5 years old, standing on my parents bed, hand over my heart, reciting the pledge of allegiance over and over again, helping my mama to memorize it so she could pass her citizenship test. I remember being in the back seat of the car, when her girlfriend helped teach her how to drive... I remember how proud she was when she finally became an "American".
Not many people can say that they know someone who TRULY embodies God's description of a virtuous woman... but I call her mama. She is gracious, compassionate, funny, a true servant and above all else, she is follower of Jesus Christ, always putting HIM first in her life. I'm blessed beyond measure that she is my mother...
I pray daily that my own children will love and cherish and respect me even a tiny bit as much as I do my mama... if they do, then I've done a wonderful job as a parent.
Mahal Kita Mama
Love Always- Angy
First of all, let me just say, that being at a graduation is pure bliss. On a much grander scale, I think Heaven will be a bit like a graduation. Just stick with me for a minute- there is so much love in that place. Every single person who attends a graduation is there by choice, because of their love and admiration for the person graduating. You can feel the joy in the room- grandparents weeping, moms and dads cheering and smiling the biggest smiles they've smiled up to that point. Its a beautiful thing.
As a daughter, to get to witness this most momentous occasion in my mama's life- it was magical. It was surreal and so strange to be bursting with such pride for my parent- but I was. My mama grew up poverty stricken, raised by a single parent in a poor country. She beat the odds- she is the first in her family to graduate college. AND she did it at the "young" age of 56! Being there, watching her walk up to get her diploma, it brought back so many wonderful memories from my childhood... I remember being 5 years old, standing on my parents bed, hand over my heart, reciting the pledge of allegiance over and over again, helping my mama to memorize it so she could pass her citizenship test. I remember being in the back seat of the car, when her girlfriend helped teach her how to drive... I remember how proud she was when she finally became an "American".
Not many people can say that they know someone who TRULY embodies God's description of a virtuous woman... but I call her mama. She is gracious, compassionate, funny, a true servant and above all else, she is follower of Jesus Christ, always putting HIM first in her life. I'm blessed beyond measure that she is my mother...
I pray daily that my own children will love and cherish and respect me even a tiny bit as much as I do my mama... if they do, then I've done a wonderful job as a parent.
Mahal Kita Mama
Love Always- Angy
Monday, May 9, 2011
John Deere Green...
I'm currently sitting on my parents porch with a cappuccino at my side, laptop in hand, taking in the midwest summer breeze... my mama put up a couple different wind chimes and they are going back and forth making the most melodious of sounds, one after the other as if to say "your turn, see if you can top that." I can see a magnificent green grass for acres and acres... the fish are jumpin' in the lake taunting me to come and catch em'... in this moment i'm totally and completely overwhelmed by the grace and love of my Father in Heaven.
He created all of this. For me and for you. The care he took in perfecting the birds chirp, or the majesty in which he formed the mighty oak tree... i'm in awe- and so very humbled that he loved me so much that He- the God of the Universe- would pay such attention to the details.
There are moments in life when nothing is wrong in the world...and the peace that surpasses all understanding wraps me up like a warm blanket, and I just sit back and enjoy the blessing...today is one of those days.
Your sister in Christ Jesus~
Angy
He created all of this. For me and for you. The care he took in perfecting the birds chirp, or the majesty in which he formed the mighty oak tree... i'm in awe- and so very humbled that he loved me so much that He- the God of the Universe- would pay such attention to the details.
There are moments in life when nothing is wrong in the world...and the peace that surpasses all understanding wraps me up like a warm blanket, and I just sit back and enjoy the blessing...today is one of those days.
Your sister in Christ Jesus~
Angy
Friday, May 6, 2011
Foodie Friday :) French Onion Soup
Hello friends! I've been waiting for this all week.... the first post for Foodie Friday!
This week's meal was French onion soup.... Mimi's Cafe style!
I was inspired by a girls date I had with my two girlfriends, Sarah & Tina- we had coffee and headed to Mimi's for a delicious lunch... I had their famous French onion soup- I started thinking about how I could recreate this for my family... and here we are!
I started out by slicing up 4 yellow onions and gently caramelizing them over low heat in a drizzle of some good quality olive oil. Next I added half of a finely chopped garlic, 3 stalks of chopped celery and 1 tbs. of sugar- I continued to sautee all these ingredients until the onions were almost translucent and totally caramelized. Salt and pepper to taste.
In a stock pot bring 8 cups of broth, beef and chicken, to a rolling boil- you can use equal parts of both broths, or if you life just use beef... I found that using both types of broth gave the soup a super intense flavor :0) Most online French onion soup recipes call for vermouth or white wine, but I had reisling on hand, so guess what I used? REISLING! Add 2 cups of whatever sweet(ish) wine that you have on hand and lower heat.
Let the stock mixture simmer for a few minutes and add the onion mixture and continue to stir till all ingredients have blended well.
Let the soup simmer on low while you get the yummy bread part of the recipe started! I used texas toast- most recipes ask you to use a crusty baguette, but texas toast is more cost effective and works just as great. Brown your toast or frozen garlic bread or whatever you decide to use- and set aside.
Spoon soup into bowls and add one piece of your toast or bread right on top of soup and generously sprinkle with cheese- I used mozzarella, but Gruyère or fresh Parmesan would work just as good- make sure your bread is piping hot so the cheese melts nicely- next..... SERVE IT UP!
The verdict for this recipe was pretty awesome- the kids liked it a lot- which totally surprised me, the hubby said and I quote "this is really really good. really good!" And I have to agree, I tweaked the recipe some, it wasn't exactly like Mimi's but it was pretty darn tasty!
What restaurant meals have you always wanted to recreate? What are you waiting for, get creative and get it done! Happy eating!
This week's meal was French onion soup.... Mimi's Cafe style!
I was inspired by a girls date I had with my two girlfriends, Sarah & Tina- we had coffee and headed to Mimi's for a delicious lunch... I had their famous French onion soup- I started thinking about how I could recreate this for my family... and here we are!
I started out by slicing up 4 yellow onions and gently caramelizing them over low heat in a drizzle of some good quality olive oil. Next I added half of a finely chopped garlic, 3 stalks of chopped celery and 1 tbs. of sugar- I continued to sautee all these ingredients until the onions were almost translucent and totally caramelized. Salt and pepper to taste.
In a stock pot bring 8 cups of broth, beef and chicken, to a rolling boil- you can use equal parts of both broths, or if you life just use beef... I found that using both types of broth gave the soup a super intense flavor :0) Most online French onion soup recipes call for vermouth or white wine, but I had reisling on hand, so guess what I used? REISLING! Add 2 cups of whatever sweet(ish) wine that you have on hand and lower heat.
Let the stock mixture simmer for a few minutes and add the onion mixture and continue to stir till all ingredients have blended well.
Let the soup simmer on low while you get the yummy bread part of the recipe started! I used texas toast- most recipes ask you to use a crusty baguette, but texas toast is more cost effective and works just as great. Brown your toast or frozen garlic bread or whatever you decide to use- and set aside.
Spoon soup into bowls and add one piece of your toast or bread right on top of soup and generously sprinkle with cheese- I used mozzarella, but Gruyère or fresh Parmesan would work just as good- make sure your bread is piping hot so the cheese melts nicely- next..... SERVE IT UP!
The verdict for this recipe was pretty awesome- the kids liked it a lot- which totally surprised me, the hubby said and I quote "this is really really good. really good!" And I have to agree, I tweaked the recipe some, it wasn't exactly like Mimi's but it was pretty darn tasty!
What restaurant meals have you always wanted to recreate? What are you waiting for, get creative and get it done! Happy eating!
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