Sufficient for the day

“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.” Exodus 14: 13

The Bible study group I am a part of has been going through all the Old Testament stories recently. Some in the group have never heard them before and for those of us who had it’s been nice to study them as an adult. The first few weeks we covered all the major patriarchs and matriarchs: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, and how they talked to God. We reflected how nice it would be if God would just pull us aside and say do this or do that; if you obey Me I will take care of you. But God doesn’t do this for us in such an obvious way. Instead he talks to us through the still small voice of our conscience, the small nudges in a certain direction, closed opportunities, people who are dropped in our path at just the right moment, a conviction in our heart and mind. When we really stop and listen God is talking to us – usually louder than we give him credit for.

At the time we read this Andy and I found ourselves at a crux in our lives. Sell the house or stay in it (probably forever). And when we stopped and listened to what God was clearly yelling at us we had our answer. People we hadn’t seen or talked to in 6 months suddenly popped up for an hour and casually mentioned how they had just sold their house and had a wonderful realtor to recommend. Another dropped in to say what a blessing attending financial peace university had been and all the changes they had made financially – the same ones we were thinking of. I could go on. So, we put the house on the market and it went under contract the first day. We felt God was holding our hand and we were following without resisting! It was great.

Fast forward a few weeks and things with the short sale are moving along very slowly. I am stressed out that it will be denied by the bank or that it will go through but we won’t find the “right” place to live or in time, and, we are now studying the Exodus. If any of you are familiar this and the following wander through the wilderness you will know that the children of Israel are a whinny group of people. God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt! He had sent plague after plague, each one greater in power than the one before to demonstrate that he was God and was the all powerful ruler of the universe. Everything was fine and dandy, the Israelites rejoiced in his awesome power! And then things got tough. Without their support system – albeit one in slavery, they were no longer in their comfort zone. They didn’t have readily available water or food anymore. They didn’t have their homes to sleep in or their regular routine to follow. So what did they do? They complained that at least in Egypt they would know where they would be buried (Exodus 14:11-12). So God set out to teach them that they needed to trust him. That he would provide what they needed when they needed it. He gave them quail and manna sufficient for the day. He gave them water to drink when they needed it.

I have to remember that even though I am currently at the bitter water in Marah God has made it drinkable for now. And that right over the hill, though I can’t see it, is Elim with 12 fresh springs that will sustain me when the time is right. That even though I can’t see what God has for me over the hill I have made the right choices in following His direction for me and that he will take care of me. “For I am the Lord who heals you” Exodus 15:25

Christmas Cookies

We are so ready to make cookies for Santa, Mom!

In general we don't eat very much sugar around here. So, the thought of making a ton of cookies that would at first induce a sugar high followed by sugar coma followed by cranky sugar crash, followed by eventually throwing them away just didn't appeal to me. So, what to do? I still want my kids to remember making cookies with me! I wanted something without frosting, but who wants to eat a sugar cookie without frosting? What other cookie can you cut into fun shapes? Finally I settled on my favorite Christmas cookie: Peppermint-chocolate pinwheels.

It starts with a basic sugar cookie recipe. Then you divide it in half.

To the first half you add 1 cup of crushed candy canes, 1 teaspoon peppermint oil and 1 egg yolk. Using your hands, mix to combine thoroughly.

With the second half you add 3 oz melted baker's chocolate and 1 teaspoon vanilla, and again, mix with your hands.

After you refrigerate for 10 minutes roll each dough out and layer. Then refrigerate for an additional 2 hours.

Once the dough is firm you cut out just like regular sugar cookies - only with a little more "firmness." You have to get through the candy cane layer, so make sure they are fairly well crushed. Then transfer to a cookie sheet.

With the remaining dough you can't really make another batch of cut outs, they just won't be pretty. And you can't have that!

So, I sort of mushed all the remains together and then rolled into a pinwheel log and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces.

Santa approved cookies! Happy kids!!!

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt and "Blizzard"

Well: it's that time of year again! And by that I mean for a freak snow storm to hit the Rim Country in AZ while the Robinson's attempt to find the "perfect" Christmas tree.

Not that we are complaining: but when it's actively snowing, the car is stuck in a snow bank and the 3 year old wants to be carried trying to find a tree can be a little stressful. But, it does make for the Christmas tree hunt I always wanted as a kid.

We did manage to get off of Control Road without a tow and we did manage to find what turned out to be one of the best looking trees we've ever had... go figure! We cut the first one we found that was approximately the right size and shape. We had no idea what it looked like until we got home; which turned out to be a little later than we had planned...

After all the difficulties of driving to the tree cutting area (only 5 miles from the cabin!) Andy and I were a little skeptical of our chances of getting back to the valley. It kept snowing off and on and on some level we felt like we had used all of the warnings God was going to give us. But still we couldn't decide one way or the other. Finally we decided to pray about it. And while I know you should never pray for a specific sign that is what I did and what I got. As we were standing there praying, looking out the front window it literally started to visibly snow harder and then a car skidded down the road past the house. Good enough for me!

It all worked out though. The kids got a lot more time to build snowmen (Mary's favorite part was destroying them, so you had to build fast) and sledding down Mount Abel - which is more like a hill, but it's steep and is perfect for being on the property.

I've been trying very hard to take time to enjoy the time we have together this holiday season. To not worry about the things I can't control and to minimalize the worry about the things that I think I can control (ha!) I've been amazed at the wonder and excitement Mary has had; this is the first Christmas the she can really comprehend what's going on. Getting the ornaments for the tree out was almost more excitement than she could handle. She just sits and stares at them now and then tells you all about them. Nina counts down everyday and is very good at keeping track of everything. George believes in everything so much it hurts a little knowing that that trust and security in what you believe just can't last much longer. I'm just taking the small moments and hoping they last.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Army Ants and Scorpions

The charter school that George attends has an emphasis on science. Every quarter they devote to a special topic that they spend a lot of time learning about and at the end of the quarter they have an open house for the parents. This quarter he learned about bugs. More specifically he had to write a research paper and make a diorama about scorpions.

For their open house 3 of the classes in the 2nd grade put on a musical. George had several lines and did a wonderful representation of an "army ant." He had 4 lines and remembered all the words!

George was very stoic throughout the entire performance: but true to form he cracked a smile when we was surrounded by the ladies (lady bugs...) LOL: We are going to be in trouble!

Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we were reminded to take it slow and enjoy the time we have.

For the first time in my life on this planet we did not have a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day. This year 3 of the 7 "kids" had to work on Thanksgiving, so we opted to get together on Friday instead so everyone could be there. We've done this in the past, but we usually still had a small traditional dinner with a few family members followed by a second, big dinner the following day. This year we opted to just stay home and enjoy our family.

We started the day with a bike ride and a trip to the park. We stayed until it started raining - a wonderful treat for us Zonies!

We followed this up with a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast for the kids. This was George's idea: before I had agreed he told everyone we were doing it! We did change it up a little though: Toast, popcorn, pretzels and gummi bears (instead of jelly beans) The kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

Andy and I had a slightly different take on turkey dinner too: we feasted on turkey enchiladas and margaritas :)

And: We still got to have a wonderful turkey dinner with the whole family the next day.

Happy Haunts

While I don't "love" Halloween I do enjoy all the fall activities that go along with Halloween, like carving pumpkins. Here in Arizona as much as we try to pretend it is fall, however, it is usually still just below the 100 mark on the thermometer. You can tell who is here for their first fall because they get excited and carve their pumpkins anywhere from 2-7 days BEFORE Halloween and by the big night their pumpkins are scary indeed. We did these on Oct 30. And when I say we I of course mean me. At the last minute Andy had to work and I had to do them all myself! Good thing I've been working out, because that was a lot of work!!! After I cleaned them all out George stepped up and insisted on carving his own this year! Who said he was allowed to grow up!?! His is the one on the bottom right. Nina wanted the cat and Mary wanted nothing to do with anything even remotely scary. In fact she insisted that the baby pumpkin was not being eaten, but was being "held" by its mommy. Well, I guess if you're a pumpkin how else would you carry around your baby?!?

Next we come to the big night. Is there a trick-or-treater here?!? How exciting.

I just happened to have a buffalo hat so was able to manipulate Nina into using it for her costume. And what a beautiful Viking princess she is too! Although this picture makes me think that perhaps we have watched a little too much america's next top model... I had a very cute fairy costume all ready for Mary, but she insisted on being a pumpkin. The problem was that the costume was 2 sizes too small - but you try to change a 3 year old's mind! This year I told George he needed to look around and figure something out because I wasn't buying him a costume. He creatively came up with a hunter because he had a camouflage pop-gun and a camo baseball cap. But wait you say - that's not what's in the picture. Well, 30 minutes before go-time we realized that his costume was in the back of Andy's jeep - a 90 minute drive away :( I am so proud of George though. He didn't have a melt down, not even any crying. We quickly sprang into action and found one of Andy's USMC hats and an air gun. We painted his face and he went as a Marine instead. Phew! That could have been a disaster.

The kids had a great time. And, we'll be donating all the candy... somewhere, so long as it's out of the house.

Next stop: Thanksgiving!!!