Campaign

I'm on a campaign.

(Did you just sigh?  This is NOT a political campaign, I promise)!

What a special time of year this is.

A time our nation has chosen to set aside as a holiday.

Work stops.

People gather together.

Hopefully laughter rings out.

A day to celebrate a vision of freedom.

Thanksgiving Day.

Where did it go?

Almost every store has Christmas decorations up.

Store fliers can't seem to get to my house fast enough.

So I am on a campaign to put holidays in their proper order.

Thanksgiving Day first. 

And then Christmas Day (and despite the feeling you might get reading this, I am not a grinch).

Would you like to campaign with me?

For the next five days...five days until Thanksgiving.

Let's focus on that Holiday and what it stands for.

It also means choosing to not get caught up in the Christmas stress/rush.

Five days of relishing in the thoughts of thankfulness.

That sounds more inviting than stress/rush to me.

Check back here daily.

Join my campaign.

Be thankful and lead a life of thankfulness.

You'll be amazed at how good you feel.

Put On New Glasses

This morning I read a blog update about a 6-year-old girl that I've been following.  She was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor over a year ago.  This little one has had multiple surgeries, chemo, ups and downs in this past year. 

Prior to reading this update I'd been muttering to myself about some selfish thing.

Muttering about how rough my life is.

Seriously!

After I finished reading that blog, I sat back in my chair and wept.  This little girl is actually home from the hospital and is in school.  She is doing really well and just had a good report after an MRI to check her brain.  Again.  Scans and tests every three months are needed for this aggressive cancer she was diagnosed with. 

And I was muttering about laundry or the stacks of dirty dishes.  Something non-life threatening.

I wept over the fact that I can become so self-focused on small things and can miss the big issues that face people in this world.  This family has been through some of the scariest and unpredictable things our troubled world can hand us. 

And then the God Nudge came.  I "saw" myself wearing these glasses with pin hole lenses.  I can only see through the pin holes.  There is no way I can see the "whole picture" through pin-hole glasses. 

I need to take those glasses off and put on new glasses.  Get a new perspective.  Get a bigger picture.  And, once I have better vision, quit muttering!

The parents of this little girl I read about know and love Jesus Christ.  God has been their sustenance before the cancer diagnosis and through the ordeal of this past year.  They have never stopped trusting Him, clinging to Him and begging the readers of the blog to pray for their daughter.  They could've put on pin-hole glasses and become self-centered and self-focused.  But they didn't.  They have prayed for other families and even did a Christmas present outreach project while their daughter was in the hospital.  

The temptation will always be in front of us to put on the tiny vision glasses.  Because we do have a tempter in this world that wants to keep us as selfish and self-sufficient thinking as possible.  See if you 'think' your problems are worse than anyone else, that no one else will understand, that you can't trust anyone so you might as well do it yourself, and the "lies" go on.....than you don't need God, do you. 

Those lies come from wearing pin-hole glasses.

Put on new glasses today.  I bet you'll find you have a lot to be thankful for.  And the need to mutter will be diminished.  Because quite honestly, I'm going to enjoy doing my laundry and while I do, I'm going to thank God for His abundance in my life and I'm going to pray for strength, courage and healing for my little blog friend.

The new view is amazing. 

What glasses do you have on today?  Pin-hole vision or a full-lens view? 

Baked Pork Chops with Stuffing

4 pork chops or steaks

3 cups soft bread crumbs

1/3 cup chopped onion

4 T. butter, melted

1 tsp sage

2 cans cream of condensed soup

2/3 cup water or sherry

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the soup and water or sherry. Mix well and set aside.

 

Pan-sear (brown) the pork chops.

Place in a greased baking dish.

To the frying pan, add the soup mixture and heat. Stir to get the browned meat bits into the sauce.

To make the stuffing, cut up the bread into bite-sized pieces. I had some dinner rolls that were on their last eatable day that I cut up.

  

Put the bread in a bowl and add the chopped onion, melted butter, and sage. Toss well.  

On top of each browned chop, heap on stuffing.

  

Pour the soup mixture over the stuffing and chops.

Bake uncovered until meat is done. My chops were so thin, it was only an hour

Oh, I wish you could smell this right now.  The golden-brown delightful dish is ready to enjoy.

We enjoyed ours with fresh garden green beans, some brown rice and the pork chop with stuffing.

Deliciously Amazing!

New Insulin Program

Kidlet Three has had Type I diabetes for five years. The type of insulin and the schedule in which he gets his shots was set up five years ago, when he was first diagnosed.

There are many types of insulin and different schedules when to get the insulin. There are syringes, pens and pumps to get the insulin into the body. There are insulins that can be mixed together and other insulins that shouldn’t be given at the same time.

Sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to learn what would be the best for our child and keeping up to date with everything!

With all of his sports and the lifestyle we choose to lead, it was getting harder and harder for us to manage Kidlet Three's blood sugar levels. Almost a year ago we asked the doctor to switch to a different insulin-taking program and the answer was yes. Then we asked for a newer type of insulin and the answer was no. We had a major decision to make. The doctor has had a lot of experience with diabetes (it is his specialty) but the new literature and the recommendations on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) website didn't match the information he was giving us.

So after praying and studying the literature, we switched doctors. It was the right decision! This doctor’s recommendation for an insulin program matched exactly what I had read on the ADA website!

We had to go back to school to learn the new insulin program. We visited the diabetes education nurse and the dietitian several times over a two-week program to “un-learn” the program we had been using and to “learn” the new program.  

Here Kidlet is learning to calculate how much insulin he will give himself based on what his blood sugar level is.

 The two insulins are Lantus and Novolog.  Lantus is one shot a day and the Novolog is three shots per day with meals.  Our training included scenarios written on this poster.  This is a replica of a "log book" that we keep with each blood poke and insulin amount recorded.

Can you see the mohawk!  He really caught onto this training more quickly than The Husband and I.  He was asking really good questions here.

The Husband asking his questions

 This is an insulin pen.  It is like a pen with a refillable ink cartridge.  At the end of the pen is a dial to "dial up" how much insulin should be given during a shot.  It is a really neat gadget and Kidlet Three loves this now better than the syringes he has been using.

It is a lot of information here, isn't it!  Sometime I feel like we are computer programmers because IF blood sugar is "xyz", THEN do "this" ELSE do "this". 

Diabetes shows us what amazing bodies God created.  Oh my heart cries out for a cure and I believe there will be one in the near future.  I am praying for the person that God will use to bring forth a cure. 

If you have any questions about diabetes or what you've read here, let me know.

Waterproof

"The water slid right off, as did a little mud...the Bible dried out completely...I'll give it a big hosanna." National Geographic Adventure

"The Waterproof Bible is an answer to the prayers of people like me, who enjoy early mornings in a canoe, learning about God from His Word and His world." Rusty Pritchard - President and Co-founder, Flourish

Have you heard of a waterproof Bible?  I hadn't. 

Kidlet One and Favorite Son-in-Law gave The Husband and I our own waterproof Bibles for anniversary gifts in August.

My prayer times have changed drastically. No longer do I have to worry about perching my Bible on the bathtub edge. Now, it comes in with me.

God’s Word is alive and well in the Prayer Closet of my home.

Chicken and Vegetables in Casserole

Warning...this recipe is really good!  I was paging through one of the cookbooks in my collection and decided to try some new meals for the family.

 Would you believe I used Diet Mountain Dew and tomatoes in a delicious recipe?  Check this out.

 2 to 3 pounds chicken.  I used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

 A co-worker brought in fresh rosemary to share.  I've been drying some but for this recipe you need 1/2 teaspoon.

 Heat 3 T. butter.  I used olive oil.

 Combine 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp. pepper and the rosemary.  Dredge the chicken in this mixture and place in the heated, heavy skillet.

Brown the chicken on all sides.
Place the chicken in a 2-quart casserole and bake in a 325 degrees preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes.


 Heat 1 additional tablespoon of butter or olive oil with the remaining oil in the skillet.  Add the onion (and mushrooms but my family won't eat mushrooms so I didn't use them).  Cook until mushrooms are lightly browned.

 Add remaining ingredients (this is the step where the Diet Mountain Dew is added), bring mixture to boiling and simmer about 3 minutes.

 Pour hot sauce over chicken during last 10 minutes of cooking.

 This is a photo of the cooked mixture.  I love the colors!

With brown rice, this was a delicious meal.

Here is the recipe again, if you are interested.

Chicken and Vegetables in Casserole


2 to 3 pounds chicken
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
½ tsp crushed rosemary
3 T. butter or olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T. butter or olive oil
5 large mushrooms sliced
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and quartered
¼ cup minced parsley
½ can (7 oz) 7up (I used Diet Mountain Dew)
½ tsp. salt

Coat pieces of chicken with mixture of flour, salt, pepper and rosemary. Heat 3 T. butter or olive oil in a large, heavy skillet; add garlic. Put in chicken and brown well on all sides. Remove to a shallow 2-quart casserole. Set casserole in 325 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Meanwhile, heat 1 T. butter with remaining butter in the skillet. Add mushrooms and onion stirring occasionally until mushrooms are lightly browned. Add remaining ingredients, bring mixture to boiling and simmer about 3 minutes. Pour hot sauce over baking chicken and bake 10 minutes longer.

An amazing meal!

Evolution of the Neighbor's Tree

Kind of sad, isn't it...a bare-naked tree.  At least it can provide a home to a bird in that nest way at the top!