Real cookies

Two of my children in their twenties are moving out of the house. I always knew this day would come and have been preparing for it, but it is difficult when the reality hits you in the face. You know longer have any control of when you will see your children. You pray they want to come visit now and then. I secured a date with my oldest daughter and her husband for dinner, which always makes me happy. I am thankful for all the time I get to spend with them. My daughter has her own baking business and she is very good at it. Since I have always been on diets, baking has never been a priority with me and I am not the world's best baker. Yesterday though, I attempted to make the best chocolate chip cookies I could possibly make. Since I never seem to have all the ingredients I really need, I cut the recipe in half and tried to make it work! I made one substitution, as opposed to the usual three or four! When my daughter tasted them, she got a large smile on her face and said, "Mom, these are real cookies!!" She knows that in days of old, I was so health conscious that I would often put in apple sauce instead of butter or make some other substitution. She loved the fact that the chocolate chip cookie indeed tasted like a chocolate chip cookie!!
In our walk with Christ, He wants us to be real and come to Him with our needs instead of going elsewhere. We can often cling to money, popularity, other people or something else when we have a need. He wants us to need Him and to keep our relationship with Him free of clutter and substitutions.
Dear Lord, we know that you are the only one we need. You are the reality in our lives and we want our faith to be real so that others can see you at work in us. Thank-you for blessing our lives with our faith most of all and with all the gifts you give us, especially chocolate chip cookies!

I'm on my Path

I have a good friend who lost her husband after he battled cancer for nine years. I was with her through it all and now she says, "I'm on my Path with the Lord." Although it is a difficult path, she knows God is with her and is helping her a long the way. She also is assured her husband is in a better place. She has grown so much and I am so proud of her. Last night I was paid to be part of a panel discussion for a market research company. This is a very fun way to make money. I tend to be a worrier and came in very flustered because as usual, I had gotten lost a long the way. I am also on a path of learning to relate to adult children and giving them their complete and total independence. Sometimes it is a very lonely road as I remember all the times spent together in years gone by. I tend to get too serious sometimes, so the Lord helped me to relax and have a good time. A man from my church happened to be there and we had a nice time chatting. Then I looked at my name tag and started laughing. One side of the two sided tag said, "Patricia." The other side said, "Pathricia." I guess the Lord was reminding me He is with me where ever I go and that I really am on the Path with Him as my Guide.

Continue to Dance!

One of my favorite Christmas memories is of the last Christmas my nephew Elijah was alive. He was twenty-five and always lived life to the fullest. He enjoyed everything so much and encouraged us all to pursue our God given talents. He was an amazing inspiration, if a little reckless at times. My mother has fifteen grandchildren and some of them were with us that Christmas of 2005. There was lots of food, lots of laughter, fellowship and dance music! My mom loves to dance to the old rock and roll songs so we all joined in the fun, my nephew leading the group into an exuberant display of joy!! He kicked up his heels and encouraged everyone else too. People would often look at him a little strange when he would constantly declare, "Isn't family the most wonderful gift in all the world?" Some of us were too sophisticated to agree completely! He always loved every family member fiercely. He spent time and money on everyone. He was such an encourager. I remember much joy in that celebration and everyone was laughing hysterically by the time the dancing was over. Two months later he passed away but I am so thankful we had that time together. That Christmas will always stand out in my mind as one of my best.

An Amazing Summer Experience

When I think of what God allowed my husband and I to accomplish through Him this summer, I am completely humbled and overwhelmed! We watched a very difficult musical come together together. My husband is the musical director and I am the prayer warrior. I pray while he does most of the work. This particular show, The Children of Eden was more work than any one he has ever done. I knew from the start what it would involve. It took a lot of time, work, patience, late nights and challenge. My motto is that the director always knows best and that proved to be the case. I prayed a lot, memorized my songs, stayed up late and went to work very early the next morning and cried my eyes out. I cried because I am a bit melancholy and turn my thoughts inward. Since I expect perfection of myself, I never measure up. It took a lot of patience because every night after rehearsal, it was a challenge to find my son. I also did a lot of waiting around because I wasn't on stage that much. I prayed a lot. Many people who heard about this endeavor were amazed we would attempt something so difficult. The most challenging time came near the end when for the first time ever, we had two dress rehearsal weeks. We were out late four nights one week and four nights the next. These were the last two weeks of my summer teaching job and it killed me to get up early and stay on the freeway for forty minutes and then teach for five hours! I don't know how my memory did all that! I must say that I am proud of myself. I am even more proud of my husband who had to put up with extreme concentration and noticing how one week before the show, it really was not at all ready for an audience. Several people were sick and others had various other battles, like my son who broke his toe a few days before the show began. Through it all, Kevin and I and about eighty people were doing this for one reason alone. We did this to give people a visual demonstration of God's love for us, His forgiveness and His salvation. The prayer is as important as anything else and even though I did not feel I was contributing anything important, I know I was. Every person involved gave it everything they had and the result was very beautiful.

Donut and the Group Home

I am a fanatic about nutrition and eating healthy. I always seem to want more fruits, vegetables and supplements in my diet. I also pray others I know will eat healthier. Why is it then that I always seem to be taking donuts to a group home I visit regularly? I have three blink friend who live there and others who need encouragement. The people who run the home are so happy when I have leftover donuts from my Sunday school class and bring them over. They love donuts. My husband and I have always joked about donuts. He says he'll just plaster them on to his stomach! Personally, I do not like donuts, but others sure do. Anyway, I am always happy to brighten up the day of another even if the nutrition department is a little lacking.