God's in charge and I'm not

I always try to put myself in Rebekah's place. Can you imagine? You're taking your daily trip to the well to gather water for your family when you meet a stranger who says he's going to take you back to his master to get married. Cultural differences aside, I don't think that was part of her plan for the day, let alone her life.

After I read that this morning, I started singing "God is in Control." My best friend, Angela, and I sang it together at a church talent competition once and it's always been a favorite of mine, because it reminds me her.

But today I realized the irony of it. Right now, Angela and her family are in Texas, beginning again after a long time of uncertainty in their lives. And you all know the twists and turns my life has taken over the past several years.

I had to laugh thinking about what my teenager self would have said to someone who predicted what my life would look like in 10-15 years: married to Brad Herzog, moving all over the place (or just moving anywhere outside of the midwest!), twins!

All I can say is, I'm glad God's in charge and I'm not.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

I know what's important

January is such a let-down. I took down all of our Christmas decorations just before New Years, but I haven't brought out all of our other stuff yet. Honestly, I don't think we have much more to put up as a result of my husband brainwashing me over the years into clutterless living and baby proofing. I used to have a huge collection of silver frames. Gone.

Anyway, that wasn't the point of this post. Actually my post has no point except to say that my family is coming out this week to visit. (Jenny and Wesley arrive on Thursday, followed by Andy and my parents on Saturday night.) Because they are my most faithful readers, and the ones that I imagine myself to be talking to when I write, I will probably be taking a little bloggy break. Just in case you notice. :)

And, because it's the most important thing, here's some of what we're going to eat while they're here:

Homestyle Vegetable Beef Soup
Homemade Pizza
Spinach Lasagna
Mexican Pantry Soup (my version of tortilla soup)
Unsloppy Joes with oven fries and Tomato Soup Spice Cake (celebrating Dad's birthday)
Chicken Tikka Masala and Bhindi Masala with rice (maybe saffron or jasmine?)
Roast, Carrots, and Potatoes
Sweet Potato Minestrone with grilled cheese sandwiches
Spinach Enchiladas and Chicken Enchiladas
Alsatian Onion Soup (recipe from a restaurant cookbook) with Cranberry Pork Roast (something I made up a recipe for and changes everytime I make it) with mashed potatoes
Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff with egg noodles

Did I mention Andy's a vegetarian? and that Jenny's going to be here for 10 days?

Holy cow, that's a lot of food.

I've been having too much fun

Dayspring has a new line of signs available online. Through the Danielson Design Studio you can create personalized signs, plaques, and frames for your home. I've been playing around with them and it's so much fun. I could spend a lot of money on these things...

I love this verse. I can't tell you the freedom I felt when I realized that I don't have to figure out God's will. It's right there in the Bible.
I think this is so cool. This is a pre-designed sign, but isn't it fun?

Of course I had to play with the signs for kids. I had a little trouble fitting the verse I wanted, though.

I would love to hang this by the front door.

In the interest of honesty, since I don't usually write endorsements, I'm totally doing this because I'm trying to win a $50 gift certificate. :)

Catie's "Inner Mommy" is nicer than me

So, we were going to have a party this weekend, but nobody can come so we've cancelled. (That's okay; I was starting to stress a little bit about it.) But, I didn't know we were going to cancel this morning when I made a large batch of Cranberry Orange Chex Mix.*

Catie and Nick are eager to "help," so we pull up their stools and I try to think of things they could do without hurting themselves or making me crazy. When I pull out the cereal, Catie remembers helping me make Cherry Cookies for Christmas and starts crunching them. (The recipe for Cherry Cookies includes crushed rice chex.)

"No, no, Catie," I say. "We don't crunch the cereal for this recipe."

"Oh," she replies and sneaks in one more crunch.

I give her another, sterner warning and she resists the urge to crunch again.

I turn around to get the butter out of the microwave, and I hear her say in her Mommy voice, "You want me to get some more cereal so you can crunch it? Okay, I'll get you some more."

Her "Inner Mommy" is so much nicer than me sometimes.

*This is absolutely delicious! I made a few changes, though. I used a box of Crispix so that I don't have to buy multiple boxes. It was 12 cups, so I also added a couple cups of stick pretzels and doubled the "sauce."

Jesus, our High Priest

I'm just going to post these scriptures (one I read in my One Year Bible and the one that it made me think of) and let them preach for themselves. :)

Job talks to his friends while suffering from painful sores all over his body and grieving the loss of his family and wealth:

[God] is not a man like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
to lay his hand upon us both,
someone to remove God's rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Job 9:32-35

From the New Testament:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:14-16

Amen!

Resolutions revisited

So, I'm taking this resolution thing slowly, one at a time. I'm thinking maybe focusing on one a month until it becomes part of my routine then moving on to the next (while keeping the old one too.)

I started with Bible reading and it's going well. I have a silly thing I'm not sure if I want to tell you or not, but if it helps someone that would be great. We moved our One-Year Bible to the bathroom. We both like reading in there, so why not? It's a great reminder when I reach for a magazine that I need to read the Bible first.

That said, here's what I read today that made me think:

Blessed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds but he also binds up;
he injures but his hands also heal.

Job 5:17-18

FYI, we're reading from the One Year Chronological Bible, and the scholars think that Job was around the same time as the patriarchs, which is why I'm already there in January.

I'm a green golden retriever

What is so fascinating to us about personality tests? Or IQ tests? Or those silly memes that bloggers do where they answer random questions about themselves?

For some reason lately, I've been taking a lot of tests, not on my own but by others' suggestion. I recently took two tests to find my spiritual gift. (One test said it was Exhortation and Shepherding, the other had a lot more options and it came out as Hospitality, Administration, and Words of Wisdom.) I know God gives us all gifts to use to further his kingdom, but I'm pretty sure anything that furthers his kingdom will be done in his strength, not mine. Anyway, it's still good to have my eyes open so that I can see how he's working in and through me.

Even more fascinating to me, though, was the personality test I took today. I'm a little wary of a test that only has four personality types, but that silly thing nailed me. I'm not a natural leader, yet God is calling me again to lead. Would you pray for me these next few weeks as we begin a new session in our women's Bible study? I need to lay down my insecurities and let God work, and I covet your prayers.