Happy Anniversary!

Nick and I have been married for two years now.  That picture next to my profile is from our wedding day, and I still look at him like that.  I am so blessed to be married to this man!  He's truly more than I had ever hoped I might find in a mate.  God has been so good to us the past two years: loving family on both sides, a beautiful little girl, and a little boy on the way (whom I fear may prove as ornery as his parents!), and good friends.  It has always been my prayer that we would love each other more and more with each year, and I believe He's granting that.  I'm so looking forward to this next year with him and many, many more to come.  May we always have our sights on the Lord and seek to bless Him in our marriage!

The Un-New-Year's-Resolution Resolution

It is important to me to state that this is not a New Year's Resolution.  This resolve was made a few weeks ago, actually, and it is something I've been praying over and thinking over for awhile.  I would rather it didn't coincide with New Year's at all, actually, as New Year's Resolutions have become synonymous with decision and new habits meant to be broken.  They're almost laughable.  The start of a new year is an excellent time to evaluate, rethink, rework, and begin anew, but let's face it folks: most of us fail miserably at it.  And since I have already failed here, I'd like to avoid doing it again.

I've decided to take up my Bible reading blog again.  The reasons are many: without a worked out reading plan, my quiet times are spotty at best, and often directionless.  I need something to keep me in the Word.  I need something that is easy for an accountability partner to check and help me remain accountable.  I need a way to think through what I've read so I don't simply check things off.  All the same reasons I started the blog in the first place.

It was no easy decision to return to it.  In some ways, it's far easier to ignore it and set to the side that I failed.  Going back means I have to admit that I failed and that I am going to have to try again.  Going back means I have to understand why I failed and what I can do to make sure I succeed this time.  It takes a greater amount of humility and guts to try again than to simply ignore it or even take it down from the web.

Why did I fail?  The possible reasons are several, and I am not entirely sure if it was a culmination of all of them, or if it really came down to one or two and I let the others be an excuse.  I don't think I'll really know which it is unless I try again.  Here are some possible culprits:

• Leviticus got the better of me after all.
• I went away on a trip without a firm plan to keep up on both reading and writing and got too far behind.
• I allowed myself to get overwhelmed by being behind instead of plugging ahead or making a good plan to catch up, and just stopped.
• No one took me seriously on the accountability aspect and no one said much to me about stopping, if anything.  (And if you did, then I apologize, but I may have mistook your comments to be pertaining to Wordisbawn.) 
• Few read the blog in any occasion and so had no idea that I was floundering and needed some encouragement.

There are a few others, but those are the main.  Granted, I have to admit that maybe the blog was dry, dull, or insipid and no one had any interest in reading it anyway, and if so, who could blame them?  Then, it is no surprise that there wouldn't be any accountability.  But I've taken some steps to combat them.

First, I lowered my expectations for Leviticus.  I had really wanted to understand some things (like why so many doves for this sin and a lamb for that one but not for this one) about the sacrificial system and was having difficult finding resources that could fully explain it, at least in the time I had to search.  Secondly, I wanted to have something interesting to say, but as I was dumbfounded by some of the things, I didn't know what to say at all.  It stopped me from writing in my attempt to meet those expectations.  Not this time.  Even if I have to grimly plug my way through Leviticus and have little more to say than, "I read it.  Who knew there were so many skin diseases?", then I'll do it.

Second, I have pointedly asked a good friend to be my go-to accountability partner on this.  I know she can't check in every day, but I have asked her to be a real partner to me and at least check regularly to see if I'm staying on point and to call me on it.  This is what I need most of all.

Thirdly, I only have a few trips planned for the next year and I'm already looking into how to keep up, even if it means typing out entries on my tiny little phone keyboard.

The rest I'm leaving up to a great deal of prayer and the Father's help.

If you, though, ever get the notion, please do check an entry or two out.  I do actually ask that you leave a comment, let me know you stopped in, and even if you have something to say on the matter.  It would be a great encouragement to me. 

Chronological Bible Reading

*Please note, this post in its entirety also appears on the Chronological Bible Reading site.

I'm a little torn

Eliza went down for a nap a few hours before expected.  And is sleeping longer than expected.  Part of me says, "Quick!  Get up and get some chores done while she's down!"  The other part of me is, "Ha!  Let's take a moment to chill out!"  I listened to the lazier side of me, but the longer her nap goes on, the more I feel the crunch to get something done before she wakes up.  Just watch: I'll start to do something, and I'll hear her plaintive cry asking to get out of her crib.  So... continue relaxing, maybe read a little?  Or get something done?  You tell me.

Household checklist for the week

Monday:
laundry
vacuum
dishes
(again)

Tuesday:
Mop
dust
clean out fridge
dishes (AGAIN)

Wednesday:
likely vacuum (again)
tidy/straighten
start emptying unnecessary files
dishes (AGAIN)

I can usually only see a few days into the week on what needs to be done, but can you seem a theme emerging?  I will try to be patient as I await that big "someday" in the sky when we'll have a new kitchen and a new dishwasher.  I will now insist on the dishwasher.  It will be our first purchase for the new kitchen.  And I will love it.

Merry, Merry Christmas

It's been a very busy and festive few days around here.  I almost (almost) felt too worn out to enjoy them, as I'm promising to come down with a cold after just reviving from the stomach bug last weekend, as well as our sleep patterns being thrown off.  I hope everyone enjoyed their respective families as much as I did.  We saw a lot of the Kemper connection this weekend, which is always nice, and I'm hoping to see more of my family this next weekend when my brother comes down.  Our schedule was quite busy this year: Christmas Eve service, dinner at Nick's aunt and uncle's house, Christmas morning with my family, Christmas brunch with Nick's family that afternoon, and then finally a quiet night at home.  Would it be awful of me to say, though, that my favorite moments were actually the Christmas Eve service?  And that, perhaps, it is every year?

It struck me this year how Christmas Eve seems almost more holy than Christmas Day.  Christmas Day is a time to be together with family, to enjoy each others' company, good food, good laughs, and the good old gift exchange.  It is Christmas Eve that we gather with other believers, pray, remember, reflect, worship, and encourage through the Word, remembering that thousands of years ago, on a lonely night, in a lonely cave, a young woman gave birth to a Son.  Christmas Eve we have our services, we sing our Christmas hymns, and we take a moment to remember why we celebrate this season at all.

I am not complaining about this, at all.  In fact, I love it.  Practically speaking, Christ wasn't actually born on the 25th of December; it was more likely a night in September or October (from what I've read) that he was born.  No matter.  Since we don't know what day he was actually brought into this world as God Incarnate, then does it really matter what day we celebrate it as long as we do celebrate it?  I am ambivalent to the date.  Which means Christmas Day is not so sacred to me as Christmastime.  And Christmas Eve, gathering in the evening, perhaps on a night similar to the one Mary and Joseph experienced, makes it easier to imagine a Heavenly Host appearing to shepherds on a hillside, to see the star in the night sky guiding the Magi to His home.  It was at night that tidings of His incarnation came, and I enjoy taking a winter's evening to remember and honor that.

Of all the things I love about Christmas, and there are many, it is that "tradition" of a Christmas Eve service I love the most.  I love gathering with other believers to say, "Christ has come!"  It is as joyful and exciting to gather together and say, as on Easter morning, "He is risen!"  I love to be able to worship and find joy in the fact that after thousands of years of promise, God's prophecies began to be fulfilled with the birth of a little boy to humble parents, in a humble barn, in a small and humble town in Judea.  To sing, to hear the Word, to hear the story told again, and to remember it's proper conclusion: that Christ didn't come as a man simply to  identify with us lowly humans, but that He came to die, a humiliating and painful death on the cross, to free us from the bondage of our own sin, and then to raise again to life so that we may have life everlasting.  This is the most wondrous thing of all!  And I love to keep my Christmas Eves sacred to remember it.

Merry Christmas, everyone.  May your Season not only have been filled with happiness and family, but with God's joy and the Love of our Savior.

Pasta Sauce

No, this isn't what we had for dinner, but it has been on my mind lately, so why not go ahead and post it while I have time to write it?

My go-to pasta sauce.  Granted, I'm not The Heavenly Homemaker or the Pioneer Woman or the Nourishing Gourmet, or any of those foodie bloggers out there.  And this isn't entirely my own recipe: I stole ideas from far greater cooks.  But, it has become the go-to pasta sauce in our family, and I must say: I really, really like it.

Here it is:
2 cans Italian stewed tomatoes (I prefer Walmart off-brand, but that's me)
1/2 can of tomato paste
basil pesto, to taste
1-2 tbsp butter (or to taste)

Open can of tomatoes and set them to simmering in medium sauce pan.  (I usually let them simmer with the lid off for 20 minutes while I'm doing other things.)  Give the tomatoes a whir with an immersion blender, or in a food processor or blender to desired consistency.  Sometimes I leave the tomato sauce a little chunky, sometimes I completely cream it.  Stir in the tomato paste, basil pesto, and butter.  The tomato paste gives the sauce some thickness and body.  Adjust pesto for how strong you want your seasonings, and the butter your level of acidity.

That's it.  And it's pretty good.  Okay, it's really good.  Most of your seasoning is done by the already stewed tomatoes and the pesto.  It works really well as a spaghetti sauce (though Eliza prefers it on linguine) or as a pizza sauce.  Sometimes I'll brown up some hamburger and then add the sauce to the pan to deglaze it from the meat and let the sauce and meat cook down a bit together.  This is perhaps my favorite.  But it's super easy, and I can get dinner together in very little time, and my picky-little-eater will eat it. 

Fantastico.

Where has December gone?

Seriously.   I can't believe it's the 18th already.  CRAZINESS!

In the spirit of the holidays, I have done my Christmas shopping late.  And online.  I hate the hustle and bustle and crowd of holiday shopping.  So, me and my amigos the keyboard and the mouse have been motoring around Cyberland, trying to find the right gifts.  I made my list, checked it twice, and proceeded to click away.  I'm almost done.  I have found but yet to order gifts for one person, and that just leaves two birthdays and something for our gift exchange on Nick's side to find.  I'll be a little less tense when it's all said, bought, wrapped and done.

Eliza is walking now.  She still crawls when she wants to go fast, but we find her walking from place to place, even without holding on, more and more.  Which means she's getting into everything more and more.  Our bedroom is now the irresistible delight that we have to watch.  If the apartment seems to quiet, it's a good bet that she's found her way into our room.  The unfortunate thing is that one of the quirks of this house is our bedroom door: it hangs at an angle to the door frame and cannot shut.  Nick says it's the frame that's off, but I would swear it's the door.  (Since he's far more knowledgeable in these sorts of things, though, I take him at his word.)  No latchable door means no way to bar the little girl from getting in now that she's figured out how to work doors.  Oh, yes, doors are another delight.  She's closed herself in the bathroom and in her bedroom numerous times now and neither time seems too particularly concerned that she can't get herself out again.  She just stands there and jabbers to the door while she meddles with the doorknob.  Such fun!

In other news, we're on the hunt for a new car.  My GMC Jimmy is just about to bite the dust.  At least, it's certainly outlived it's usefulness to me.  Nick thinks he might take it over as a beater to drive to his various things (since he doesn't need to get into the various doors and hatches as much as I do...).  It's come a little sooner than we had hoped, but we'll cope.  We'll just keep praying for the Lord to provide.

I have oodles of things that I had thought about writing the past few days, but by the time I had a chance to sit down and do it, Little Girl was up and into something.  Maybe I'll get the chance to sometime soon.

(P.S. There's an old tradition between my uncle and my dad at Christmas and birthdays.  Often, they bought each other books as gifts, and just as often the giver read the gift before handing it on.  It might sound not the thing, but it's always a been a bit of a laugh in our family.  I'm so tempted to read all these good kid's books I got for my nieces and nephews for Christmas!  Do you think they'll notice?)

What becomes a Thanksgiving Beef

Thanksgiving came and went and I didn't post a thing.  The truth is, I don't have much to say about Thanksgiving, and what I would say is the same every year.  I think the idea of Thanksgiving is great: we should all take time to give thanks to our Creator for the blessings He bestows on us.  But I really think we need to do that everyday.  And having a holiday for it hasn't really helped things, as how many of us actually take time to give real thanks?  This year, we didn't even go around the table and say something we were thankful for.  Which is a shame, because, frankly, my list is pretty long.  But it's also nothing new than what I say often throughout the year: I'm thankful for an amazing husband, a beautiful little girl, a little boy on the way, my generous and loving parents, a great family of in-laws, my own brother and sister and all my hilarious and fun-to-be-with nieces and nephews, not to mention the spectacular set of friends I enjoy and my church family.  The list doesn't end there, by any means, that's just the short version. 

But it doesn't seem like these sorts of things get much attention.  Instead, it's more about the big meal, for which, yes, the holiday was instituted and for those early American founders it was likely their biggest meal of the year, also.  But big meals are no big deal around here: we usually have more than enough to eat, whereas they were celebrating getting to eat.  How many of them looked at that bounty and were giddy at the thought that they not only had enough to get them through the lean months of winter, but also enough to glut themselves just a little bit for one night?  Very different for us modern Americans who listen to tips on how to keep the calorie intake down on tv news and radio each year. 

I think about this each year when Thanksgiving rolls around and then I let it pass.  For me, the biggest excitement about the holiday of Thanksgiving is that once it's over, it means Christmas can truly get going, my favorite time of year.  (Haven't heard that before, have you?)  I know many people take the attitude of giving Thanksgiving its due, but, really, do we?  We eat, we nap, we watch football (some of us), and we talk about how good it is to be with family.  There's nothing wrong with those things at all, but besides that brief Thanksgiving prayer before we dig in, how many of us truly take time to give thanks to the One who blesses us? 

Take up this challenge with me next year: spend as much time in prayer and thanksgiving as you or your loved one spends on that holiday turkey, or the stuffing, or the mashed potatoes and gravy.  I've seen others give thanks for at least one thing each day leading up to the holiday.  Make the focus of the season to truly give thanks and to be grateful and reunite the holiday with its purpose.