Life is Like a Batch of Cookies...

What do all these things have in common???

flour
baking soda
salt
butter
sugar…white & brown
vanilla extract
eggs
chocolate chips

LIFE

I was watching my friends 2 little girls this weekend while they went out of town for a wedding. They were so much fun. They are 4 & 2 and are expecting a baby sister this fall. Their daddy is going to have his has full when it comes to those teen age years.

They begged me to make a batch of cookies on Saturday night so we did. As we were reading the directions carefully (I am a cook NOT a baker...toooooo many exacts) I let them taste each ingredients as it went in to the bowl. God chose to use something as their reactions to speak to me about where I was in life right now.

Flour was first...the 4 year old said "it doesn't have a taste...it's dry"It got me thinking of how many times in life I feel like I am in such a dry place. Wondering if I am ever going to be refreshed again. Or maybe in a place that is just BLAH.

Baking Soda & Salt...the 4 year old turned up her nose at the baking soda and insisted that salt DOES NOT go in the cookies that her mom makes. Sometimes we don't see the need for events or things that happen in our life but without them our food would be tasteless.

BUTTER!! The 2 year old thought it was the best thing that I let her try butter without bread. The 4 year old smashed it between her finger and said it was smooth and slimy. She also said that butter only taste good with bread not by it's self. What/Who would I be without my husband. He is the one that God has paired me with. He is my strength & I am his helpmate. without him I am just "smooth & slimy".

SUGAR both brown & white. They both LOVED the sugar. They noticed the difference in color, texture & taste. The funny thing is they didn't want to move on from the sugar. They wanted to stay right there and keep eating the sugar. I don't know about you but sometimes I am like that too. When I am in the sweet spot in life I don't want ANYTHING to change around me. I just want to stay there forever but if I don't move on my life won't be complete.

Vanilla Extract...smells good but by it's self the girls found out it doesn't exactly taste like it smells. The four year old also asked why it came in such a small bottle & why did we only add a "little tiny bit"? Sometimes in life things look good on the outside & if you don't mix them with the correct ingredients or if you allow too much of it in it will over take God's goodness and His plans for you.

Eggs...KIDS + EGGS = MESSY. They loved it! Really who in their right mind allows a TWO year old crack their own egg??? Just got me thinking as the egg went all over the place sometimes when God is trying to break us it gets a little messy. Sometimes when life is so over whelming we need to stop and remember one of God's many promises to us. "Come to me, all you who are weary & burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. Verse 30 came to me right as I was trying to catch the 1/2 broken egg flying all over the table. LOL!

Chocolate Chips...Yup you guessed it the loved those too. Funny thing is we had two different sizes...chunks and mini chips. They reminded me of the sweet goodness of God's truths that we need on a daily basis. Sometimes the nuggets He gives us throughout the day a CHUNKY and not easily missed but other days they are like the mini chips that sometimes you have to search out during you day but they are ALWAYS there.

As we were mixing it together we added the dry ingredients slowly allowing them to each use the hand mixer and shake a little dry stuff in with the wet the two year old bumped the dry bowl and it spilled some. I scooped what I could back in to the bowl and kept mixing until it was ready to scoop. Everything looked great but when the batter started to bake I noticed something...the cookies were spreading out like thin pancakes. I took the dough out and started really looking at it trying to figure out what I missed. Then it hit me...after cleaning up the mess of the spill I forgot to finish adding the dry ingredients. While it may have appeared as if the dough was complete it wasn't there was still more to add. I finished mixing everything & the rest of the batches turned out perfect!

I love it when God speaks so clearly that there is NO mistaking it was HIM.

Forgive me Father when there are ingredients that You give me that I see no use for or don't think I need it or don't want it. I thank & praise You Father for all the ingredients in my life.

There's Hope

Moving ahead bold and confident but it is much easier when there is hope. Something that honestly I haven't had for awhile. Thank you Lord for restoring hope within me.

On October 30th I finally had my first gyn/ob appointment since moving to Ohio. It went well. Nothing too much to be excited about. Dr. M is a fast paced straight to the point kind of guy. Didn't really have time to make me feel all warm and fuzzy but I wasn't turned off by him either. He knew his stuff and that's what is important.

At the first appointment he did the regular first appointment stuff as well as took my blood as well as scheduled an appointment for this past Friday November 14th to have an ultrasound done. That is the quickest why for him to see what he's dealing with. My blood work came back fine and he says all my levels are where they needed to be for the day of my cycle I was on when he took my blood. My first question was my progesterone level...It came back at .9. I was a little disappointed but he told me not too worry that it can drop that low during some days of your cycle.

My second appointment is when I had my ultrasound and he went over what we were going to do next. His words were, " This is a good ultrasound...everything is minor and can be fixed quickly and easily. We will get you and your husband on the road to tiring to have a baby quickly." AWESOME!!! PRAISE YOU GOD!!! was my first reaction.

Apparently I have a little endometriosis, fibroid tumor, a really thick uterine lining. He says that all of these things can be fixed with little laparoscopy surgery. He will first do a DNC to make my uterus a little less thick and a little more sticky. Then he will remove the tumor and cut out endometriosis. He made it sound so simple that I thought I was going to drive myself and go to work afterwards until I read the paperwork that he gave me. I think someones going to need to go with me... Either way I don't think that it will be too bad. Seems fairly painless but I'll let you know for sure December 17th.

Keep us in your prayers. Its kind of exciting knowing that once this hysteroscopy is done by this time next year we might actually have a baby...or two. :)

Here's to hoping!

Like mother like daughter...

We are going up on our eighth week of having three girls at our house it amazes me how much my mother comes out in me. Here are jut a few of the many things that are coming out in me...
-WANTING to clean up after all they do but realizing that it is part of their life experience to learn these things.

-Asking question after question to get the whole truth nothing but the truth... PLEASE HELP ME GOD!

-Going to the store for what feels like the millionth time this week spending $100 and feeling like you've got nothing. Not to mention coming home from the store and feeling like its ALL gone in a day. My mom blamed it on the "growing boys". Shawn is my only boy and he's growing alright :)

-Feeling like you say "No" or "May be later" WAY more than you say YES, but wishing you could say yes to everything their hearts desires.

-Trying to finish fixing dinner as fast as you they will quit asking "what are we having for dinner?" or "is dinner ready yet?"

-Asking "Have you done you homework yet?" knowing the answer is NO.

-Feeling like things are never done until all are in bed asleep and prayed for before then you can rest peacefully for the evening before you have to get up in a few hours and do it all over again.

Mom thank for all the things I saw no need for growing up. Thank you for telling me no even when I didn't want to hear it. Thank you for being my mom when it wasn't easy to be my mom. Since I was the last of four with two boys before me I know you must have been worn out! There were so many things that I found so frustrating as a teenager that I said I WOULD NEVER do when I have children. I know these children aren't here for forever but Mom I could have never done this with out YOU! Thank you mom for instilling a Godly foundation in me that will never be destroyed. I love you MOM!