This is Just About To Get Weird

I think I slept through the entire month of December last year because I took all these pictures to post and then didn't.  Fail.  Would it help if I said I actually wrote this post in June and set it to auto-publish today?

I was searching Pinterest for tiny houses and came across this little gem. Is that not the cutest thing?

 

That definitely looked like too much work, but when the boys and I made gingerbread men, I decided to play around with the dough and cut a slit into this little guy.  Yes, he dipped a toe into the water to see how it felt prior to this picture.

 He enjoyed sitting on the edge of the cup but was noncommittal about actually getting in.

 

And then Mr. Steady got involved in the fun.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  He influences me in bad ways.  He suggested we make the hot cocoa into a hot tub.  This part of the post is not suitable for children {wink}.  This is our gingerbread likeness, enjoying the hot tub, except it wasn't until now I realized my doppelganger should be wearing a swimsuit.  Little hussy.  Oh well, at least she remembered to bring a dish rag beach towel.

No gingerbread men were injured in the making of this blog post.  Um, nevermind.

The Chocolatiest Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

If you're a long-time reader you know I am somewhat of a hot cocoa snob.  I know what restaurants serve the best (Bob Evans - but do not, under any circumstances, look up the nutritional information), I have to doctor up gas station hot cocoa (two creams plus one chocolate cream if available), and I have been known to hide the "good stuff" in the back of the pantry.  I haven't seen Drinking Chocolate in any store lately so I had to resort to something else.  The boys all love hot cocoa as well and while I have found some super fantastic recipes that involve heating milk and melting chocolate (sister doesn't lie when she says it's the best ever - try it this Christmas), my time allotment and wallet require something simpler, like heating a kettle of water.  Something they can do themselves when needed.

So we reverted back to the powdery packets of ho-hum.  But I quickly tired of tasteless tan liquid.   I searched for recipes on Pinterest, Food Network and allrecipes but who to believe?  Recently I beseeched my Facebook friends for their favorite, tried-and-true hot cocoa mix recipe.  And one came up a near winner!

Source

Now because, when drinking hot cocoa, taste and texture matter much more than calories, we tweaked the recipe a bit and added more chocolate.  And if you're worried about clean eating and limit your children to real food, you're definitely going to want to skip this recipe.  But if you're looking for a hot cocoa mix with a lot of flavor and a great mouth-feel....here's your recipe.  Also, too, there are hardly ever powdery bits at the bottom of your cup with this recipe.

The Chocolatiest Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

1 (8 qt) box dry milk

2 large boxes instant chocolate pudding mix

2 (30 oz) containers chocolate drink mix

½ c. powdered sugar

1 medium jar coffee creamer

Mix together and store in airtight container.  Add ¼ c. mix to each 6 oz. water.  Top with marshmallows or whipped cream.

If you are adventurous, add a tablespoon or two of cinnamon to the batch (I'm the only one here who likes cinnamon in my hot cocoa (and my chocolate chip cookies) so I just shake a little in my cup when I prepare it).  

If you decide you have already long ago derailed the train called Self-Control, add a dribble of real cream when you prepare a cup. 

And, as a side note, I always thought dry powdered milk was supposed to be cheaper than regular milk?  I only buy a box every year or two but egads - it's way more expensive than I remembered.  I think I calculated the total cost of this recipe to be around $11.00 and it should yield about 66 servings.  

 

Crunchy Crazy Caroler Cookies

Say that five times fast!  I had clipped a picture out of one of those recipe idea booklets years ago of these cookies.  Sadly the page I clipped didn't have any markings as to where it came from so I can't give credit where it's due.  Tonight was our Christmas caroling and we always gather together when we are done for chili and snacks.  So I knew these cookies would be perfect.  You simply make sugar cookies, cut them into circles, cut a mouth using a straw (or the bottom of a funnel), then bake and decorate.  You might have to re-shape the mouth when the cookies come out of the oven.  I found a medicine syringe worked great for the warm cookies.

I was decorating this cookie, after having flopped the blond hair color I was going for (The Reader said it looked like boiled eggs yolks - you know the overcooked greenish gray ones?) and making more of a gray color.  I decided to have a little, okay a lot of fun and make one look like a man at our church.  I added a beard to another one.  Well, the boys just thought that was all kinds of silly and egged me on.  Suddenly our children's choir turned into a whole church choir.

 Then I remembered all the beautiful colors of skin we are so very blessed with at our church and decided to try some gingerbread dough as well.  This is one of the families at church with their newly adopted children.

 One of our elders and ministers, hee hee.

 And Mr. Steady, even though the eye color is wrong (I think Brother Keith's eyes are wrong too, I think he has blue eyes?)

I can't get these next two pictures straight, sorry!  You'll have to turn your head to see them :o)

Great fun, good times.  They are singing

"He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders, of His love."

Hey, they're my cookies, I can make them sing whatever I want, no?

The Room(s)

It started over five years ago, I'm not sure exactly when.  I had a dream.  At the time it was funny;  A couple we knew from church had a humble home, a nicely decorated but not overly appointed home.  And yet behind a hidden door there was a modern art display.  All white with only the art as the focus.  Spotlights and gallery lights shone on the masterpieces.  In my dream I asked my friend about the art and why she had never told me about it.  She shrugged and said she didn't think it was an important thing to share.  A few days later when I saw her in real life I told her about the dream and we both laughed at the craziness of it.

Since that time I've had many, many dreams of houses with hidden rooms.  The house is usually different but I've dreamt several times of my parent's home and "my" home although it's never been the house I've lived in (or ever lived in).  My brother-in-law had a hidden sports & media room, graciously decorated and decidely different from the rest of the house.  My cousin had a mall under her house with a grand marble staircase and running the entire length and width of a city block.  I've never been to her house but I've seen pictures and I know she doesn't have a mall there.

In my dreams of my parent's house we have found hidden staircases, gigantically huge attics, including one attic that had an apartment in it.  In one of "my" houses there was a cozy but large family room with a kitchen in the back of the house we had never known about.  In another there was a little room off the side of the house, with a whole wall of cabinets, fully stocked with paper products, an old plaid couch with my deceased mom's winter coat laying on it.  This dream was the only dream that I had where I found the room alone.

Last night I had the dream again.  This time our family was living in a tiny house on the railroad tracks, an old clapboard house with badly peeling paint.  It was a seedy neighborhood as I went outside and saw the shadowy figures of two men and walked back in the house and locked the doors.  But once inside the house the space opened up to an enormous square footage.  Suddenly I had this feeling that we had to move and so I started packing up things.  As I opened a closet I walked into a room, a spare bedroom with a full bath.  It was not as nicely decorated as many of the other rooms I had dreamed about but it was fully furnished and I turned to Mr. Steady, broken hearted.  I said "This is just like all those dreams I had, we had this space all along and didn't use it!  We could have let your mom stay here instead of in that tiny nursery".  And when I woke up I realized not only was it just like all those dreams, it was yet another one of those dreams.

I have only shared this pattern of dreams with Mr. Steady and my friend Kenny D.  I am not completely sure why I am sharing it here.  I have no idea why I have these dreams, I don't know what they mean, but I do believe they are from God and I do believe there is a reason for them.  When I woke up this morning I kind of felt like maybe we all have gifts ("rooms") that we don't know are there and so they sit there unused.  I don't know?

I do know that I have probably had this dream over 20 times over the years.  The rooms are always a surprise to me, though every time I dreamed of someone else (my friend, my brother-in-law, my cousin), their rooms were being used and they knew about them.  The rooms are always clean, without cobwebs, clean windows, etc.  There were always very useful things in the rooms I found, antiques, fully equipped kitchens, completely stocked cabinets, bedding, etc.

Do any of you have any insight into what these dreams could mean?  I have been praying for God to reveal the meaning to me but today is the closest I have come.  I'll keep you informed if I have any more or if God reveals any more meaning to me.  Until then I'll be your weird friend with the dreams :o)

How Comfortable Are You?

I'm having trouble focusing on my normal daily routine today. I can't do it. I try. I want to. But I just can't.

When I am in The Word daily, when I am focused on sacrifice and following the path to the cross, when I am in Bible study under a godly woman, when I am reading great books, when I am vicariously following a team around Kenya, when I am considering ordering a double portion of Crazy with a Side of Nuts, when my eyes are focused on HIM, none of the rest of it matters much.

I try to read my other favorite blogs, the ones with the yummy recipes and craft ideas and home decor and it just seems useless. It seems like smoke and mirrors, vapors of uselessness. I'm reminded of the verse in Ecclesiastes 1:2: vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

I read those favorite blogs, blogs of women that I *know* love the Lord, and I just get a bad taste in my mouth. Not because of what they've written, but because of why I'm reading them.

I know this where God wants me right now. Like MckMama, this is where I want to want to be. But if I'm honest it's not where I want to be.

Fluffy stuff is way more fun to read and do. Who wants to read blogs that make them cry, nay sob?

Decorating my home is way better for my hands. Who wants to dirty their knees and risk getting other people's filth under their fingernails?

Trying unsuccessfully to find recipes for this 300 pounds of food in my freezer is comfortable. Who wants to ruminate about the millions of families who are eating at a shelter tonight or, even worse, don't know where their next meal is coming from or can't remember when they last ate?

Hear me on this: there is nothing wrong with providing for your family with a warm, cozy house and nourishing meals. And there is nothing inherently wrong with crafting, especially if you can provide for your family or bless others with it. But I don't stop there. I buy too much, I waste too much, I use too much, I keep too much, I relax too much. It's comfortable to do these things.

But God doesn't call us to a comfortable life. So let me ask you this...how comfortable are you this very day?

That's Crazy with a Side of Nuts!

Have you ever heard about someone stepping out on a wobbly twig, with a thimble of faith, and doing something amazing for God's kingdom and thought

"That's crazy with a side of nuts! That is colossal and, good for you,
it's tremendous but there is no way, nooooo waaaaaay, that I could ever do
that. I mean, what about (insert mediocre excuse here) and what would we
do about (insert paltry excuse there)? What would (insert someone who
really doesn't matter that much) think and where would we get the funds for all
of that?"

Has that EVER run through your mind?

And if it has, have you ever said to your spouse "What...um, what did you think about what such and so said?"

And if your spouse had the same Crazy with a Side of Nuts reaction that you did, have you ever spent the next several days consumed with this burning desire to spend every waking moment face down in front of God and wait for Him?

No? You haven't? Yeah. Me neither. Just asking.

He Says "Jump!" and You Say "How High?", Part 2

This post was originally written November 3, 2009. So I had reconciled myself to quitting school and bringing the older boys home to home school. At this time we are planning on leaving The Entertainer at his school because he receives extra support I simply cannot give him at home.

But there was more. More that I hadn't shared with Mr. Steady or my prayer warriors. God had asked me to quit my job too. I have a very good job. I am a sub-contractor for a car dealership and I make follow up calls after service visits. I work from home. I blog while I work. I browse Facebook while I work. My children sit next to me and do their homework while I work. I work during The Entertainer's nap time. I have a very good job.

But it does take a lot of time away from my family. There have been many times when I've worked late into the evening and come downstairs to find my children sitting in the dark watching a movie, having sat there so long they didn't realize dusk had set in. I often have to work on Saturdays because I can't squeeze all of my calls into The Entertainer's nap time. And at the end of the month when I have to turn my spreadsheet in is just a nightmare to get finished up.

So when God told me this also had to go I was quite befuddled. I don't make a lot of money but I do make enough money to help the family out. And since I can do it from home we don't have to pay for child care. I started to brainstorm ways I could get around this and still honor God's request for me to home school.

I thought: I'll just take the summer off and see how it goes, if it doesn't work out no one will be the wiser that I was going to quit.

I negotiated: I can give someone else half of my work so I'll only be working half the time but still have the income.

I rearranged: I could work in the morning while the boys do their independent work and The Entertainer is at school then in the afternoon we'll do school while The Entertainer is napping.

Then about a month after I got God's "memo" I received an email that the company lost the account I was working on and there were no other accounts available.

Okay God, I get it. If I won't quit my job, you'll make my job quit me.

By this time, I'm thinking that A) I'm still crazy but B) God's not joking.

He says "Jump!" and I'm learning to say "How high?"

He says "Jump!" and You Say "How High?", Part 1

Update: This post was originally written on November 3, 2009. Suffice it to say a lot has happened since then. Photo from Flickr by Sbmoot


About a month or so ago God spoke to me. He told me to quit school and bring my boys home to home school. He also had some fascinating other ideas that I am not ready to talk about here (but no, it didn't have anything to do with having a baby). I thought I was going crazy so for a couple of days I ignored Him.




You see, I have a plan. It may not be traditional or expedient but it has, for the most part, worked for my family thus far. I jokingly tell everyone I'm on the ten-year plan for my college degree. I have about three years left at the rate I'm currently going. Then I would teach in the classroom for three years and then be hired on by a virtual charter school. After this I would bring my boys home to home school while I work from home.





Herein lies the problem that God revealed to me. I want to bring The Thinker home when he is in fifth grade. Right now he is in third grade. Let's do the math:













Just in case you are worried, math is not my concentration.



So okay, I got it. I don't have six years. I will bring the boys home next year, Lord.



First I threw a Jonah sized fit. Then I mourned. Typing that out just now seems silly. I mourned my degree? But it was more than that. It was me seemingly failing, yet again. I had have people in my life who do a great job of reminding me of all my great plans that I never followed through with. Me laying down pursuing my degree was proving these people right: I can't finish anything I start.



Somehow Mr. Steady understood this as I relayed it over the phone through my slurpy tears and snotty-nosed sniffles. The Lord used my husband to answer "Are you living to please such-and-so or are you living to please the Lord? Who matters in the end?"



When God says "Jump!" I say "I will Lord! I love you so much that I will do that. But first, I have to (insert your own pathetic excuse here)" And again He says "Jump!" and I say "I truly intend to, Lord, but I've got this (insert seemingly pressing issue here) to take care of."



Have you ever thought the disciples? I have often wondered what would have happened if Simon Peter said "Rabbi, if you knew how much debt I have you would never ask me to leave my business. I have three more years to pay it all off. Once that is off my back I will surely come and find you and follow you."



Or what if Thomas had said "Gee, God, that seems like a great plan but my wife is having a party next week and she's making my favorite latkes. As soon as that is cleared off my schedule I'll look you up next time you're in town and maybe we can get together then?"



What if we are missing the biggest and best blessing of our life by telling God He has to wait? Wait until my faith is stronger, my sin is diminished, my husband/wife/son/daughter has changed, the debt is gone, the children are bigger, the business is thriving, the degree is awarded, the weight is lost, the.......



About two weeks after God revealed his plan* to me, I was at peace with homeschooling. I will put down my degree and enjoy these last fourteen or so years I have left with my children at home.

*or at least what I interpret His plan to be. As an aside, how many times have I prayed "Lord, reveal your will to me"? And then when He does I laugh and say "No way, uh huh, what's plan B? What else have you got?"

He says "Jump!" I'm learning to say "How High?"

To Be Continued.....