Random Recipes & the Death of a Monkey

My sister moved in with Doug and I the day we got married. And she's a little picky about what she eats. So for the past 3 years, I've been cooking pretty much exactly the same things week after week. Now that she's engaged, she eats at her fiance's house every night, so I decided to do a little something different.

I was given several cookbooks when we got married. So last week I went though each cookbook and picked out the recipes that I thought sounded edible. I wrote down the name of each recipe on a slip of paper and put all the slips in a big bowl.


Then we drew one out and ate this for dinner.



And it was actually pretty good! I'm learning a lot already. For example, oleo is really just margarine. And this week we're going to be having Hamburger Stew.

Now, about the monkey. When Doug and I buy dog toys, we never know which ones are going to be loved to death and which ones are going to be ignored. A few weeks ago we bought this monkey for the dogs.

It got destroyed very quickly. And Doug swore that it was my sister's dog that did the destroying. Which was believable, because she LOVES to destroy squeaky toys. So we bought a second monkey since they loved the first one so much.

And now we have photographic proof of the violence:

Levi, who has earned the nickname The Beast because of his size, is now The Destroyer as well!

Challenges of Faith

I'm sort of afraid of heights.

So this was a BIG deal for me.

My life A few of my never-broken bones were completely relying on a rope and some nylon strips to remain unbroken.

If you're not afraid of heights this little obstacle course I ventured on recently probably seems like no big deal. But for me it was a challenge.

The obstacle course consisted of three levels of various obstacles separated by little platforms. On the first two levels you got to choose which of two obstacles you wanted to tackle, one considered "easy", the other hard. The third level consisted of all of the hard obstacles from the lower two levels and you didn't get to choose, you had to complete them all.

I didn't do the third level.

But it got me thinking about faith in general and faith in God. Here's how I see it. When God created us, he tied an invisble rope to us that binds us to him until we go back Home. We can't see the string so sometimes it's hard to believe it's really there. But it IS there, and it's a really thick rope. Just like on the obstacle course, oftentimes we get to choose the "easy or hard" path. We have rest points throughout our journey. And if we DO stumble and fall, that thick rope holds us up. It protects us from broken bones.

And our faith is challenged every single day. Sometimes you feel yourself start to fall and you think the rope must not be there because you're falling so far. But in the end, the rope always catches us. And it always will.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

I just wanted to remind everyone that today is Oct. 15th, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. If you have been touched by the loss of a child, please light a candle for that little angel at 7pm. If you're lighting a candle, comment on this post so I can see who is participating.

Catch Up

Not much is going on that I really want to talk about so I'm just gonna do a little catch up post to quickly tell you about some things going on in our lives.

-Last Tuesday Doug and I got to go to a Troy football game as fans! We didn't have to work, we got to tailgate and just enjoy the game. And let me tell you, it was awesome!

-And speaking of tailgating, I made a Rainbow Cake for the event that I got from here. Mine wasn't quite as bright as that one, but I think it's because I got the generic food colors. It did taste really good though :)

-Doug and I are over halfway through our Bible and trucking right along. The devotionals for each day are usually inspiring and they're showing me how to be a better person, spouse, and Christian.

-We've also been reading Crazy Love with Bloom and this week's chapter was called Serving Leftovers to a Holy God. What I found amazing is that the author talked about this verse, which happened to be part of the Gospel that we read at church on Sunday. I'm sure there's a message in this for me but I haven't quite put my finger on it yet. The message in this verse is pretty obvious, but I feel like I'm missing part of what God is trying to tell me by putting it in my life twice in one week.

-While we were visiting my parents this weekend we went shopping and saw this. All I have to say is WHAT A DEAL!

-Then when we got home on Sunday, we had a card from Toys R Us in the mail. It was a Happy 1st Birthday card. Oct. 11 was our due date last year and I guess Toys R Us just sends these out when you register at Babies R Us. It kind of sucked :(

October 15th

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. It's a day most people don't even know about. It's a day to remember all the babies that are not with us. Not just the ones who died from prematurity, disease, or SIDS. On Oct. 15th we'll remember every tiny heart beat.

So many times, when a baby is lost to miscarriage or stillbirth, people seem to act like that baby never existed. People who miscarry early are often told to try again in a month or two, that next time they'll get their baby. Thankfully I was never told that, because I can tell you, that no baby can be replaced. It doesn't matter if that baby only lived 2 weeks inside it's Mother's womb and then died, that baby LIVED! That baby was unique!

"...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139: 16

Last Oct. 15 I lit the unity candle from our wedding in memory of Logan. This year, I will be lighting Logan's birthday candle in memory of him and ALL of the lost babies.

I will be praying for the all the families. If you have one of Logan's candles, please light it on Oct. 15th for as long as you can. If you don't have one, I have a few left if you want one, or you can light any candle. The most important thing I'm asking you to do is pray with me, for the families, for the mothers who aren't acknowledged because their babies died so soon.

Fall Weather

I love fall weather. I love being able to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows. And not just because I'm cheap! It's beautiful outside today and the temperature is just perfect, with a wonderful breeze. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the clouds are perfectly white. I drove with my windows down on my way home for lunch and then on the way back. And the wind in my hair felt AMAZING!

And when I looked up at the sky all I could think of was that I was looking straight into heaven. I could just imagine Logan and the other children he's met up there, jumping from cloud to cloud the way earthly children jump on a trampoline. And I remembered that even last year, when I was going through the worst of my grief, cool sunny days like this made me smile. The tears were still there, but they were happy tears. Tears of relief knowing that all days in Heaven are sunny and cool.

A good friend of mine lost his brother yesterday and I truly believe that God is grieving with the family, but at the same time, he's rejoicing that his son is home. I'm going to choose to believe that's why today is such a gloriously beautiful day, because Heaven is having a big Welcome Home Party!

Things I Never Thought I'd Do

There are lots of things in life we dream of doing: getting married, having a family, getting a job, owning a home. But have you ever thought about the things you've done that you NEVER in your wildest dreams would have seen yourself doing. And in addition to that, have you thought about the way your life would be different if you hadn't done those things. Here's my list:

1. Live in Alabama

2. Go to college in Alabama - this is one I fought fiercely until I found Troy

3. Own a lizard, reptile or amphibian as a pet - and we've had 8

4. Buy a brand new house as my first house

5. Have an inside dog

6. Like the color pink

7. Buy clothes for my dog - most especially pink clothes!

8. Stay in the hospital for 14 days

9. Spend 17 days visiting a NICU

10. Watch my child die

11. Watch my husband's pain when our child died

12. Pick out a burial site for my son and arrange his funeral

13. Be extremely thankful for each of the 17 days we got with our son

14. Visit a cemetery on a weekly basis

15. Explain to a 5-year-old why we don't step on the grass at the cemetery and upon explanation, be asked "But his head's not in there right?", try explaining THAT one!

16. Make flower arrangements

17. Advocate for March of Dimes

18. Understand when other Mother's lose their children and be there to tell them I understand

19. Have a garden

20. Have four dogs living at my house at one time

Some of these things may seem sad, but they have shaped me into the woman, wife and mother that I am. For example, when we first lost Logan, all I could think about was that 17 days was not enough. But as I met more and more women who had lost their children I realized how much 17 days really is. If someone walked up to me then and said my son was going to die and did I choose for him to die after 17 days or after 2 months, I would have chosen the 2 months. In the same way, people who's baby was born still or who had a miscarriage would probably choose the 17 days we got.

So even the sad things have changed my life in a positive way. I'm so much more grateful now than I was before. I recently watched a documentary about a 16-year-old girl that never grew bigger than an 8 or 9-month-old baby. She has some kind of never-before-seen disease that has kept her from growing and developing. And the father said that if someone came and gave him a pill that would make his daughter a normal 16-year-old he wouldn't take it because he loved his daughter just the way she is. I'm not that strong. If someone gave me a magic way to change the outcome, I would jump on it in a heartbeat. But I can also appreciate the change in me, the change I can create, because of the obstacles in my life.