Casting Crumbs

Dad’s Birthday was last Saturday. I thought he was either 74 or 75 so I asked him. He said “Yup, I’m 3/4″. So this is him at his 3/4 birthday party.

It’s been over a year now since my sweet Mom passed away. It’s been a challenging year with up’s and down’s. All those “firsts” that everyone warned me about came and went. Yes, the “firsts” are difficult but then I think the “seconds” may be difficult too. I know the big sting will be gone but it’s just never the same.

However, I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my Dad. He is an amazing example to me of strength, a positive attitude and continuing to give back in the face of sadness and loss in his own life. He continues to be very involved life- even going to camp as a counselor for 5th grade boys last year. He is involved in Bible studies, being a deacon, visiting hospitals and more. Now he has taken up golfing and is loving that. He adopted two sweet kitties that we had to part with because of my allergies and I think he secretly enjoys them.

All through my adult years I had the closest relationship with my Mom. My Dad was always there, steady, in the background and I honestly have never had a really close relationship with him. I am so incredibly thankful for the time I have with him now. It gives me a chance to get to know this amazing man that has always been my Dad. He makes me laugh, he is caring and kind, I love his wit and wisdom. I am so proud to be his daughter!

Happy Birthday to you, Dad!!

Blowing out the candles on his Applesauce Cake

He requested an old family recipe Applesauce Cake that Grandma Brown used to make. I think I’m okay with the cake but when it comes to glaze icing…hmmmm, I need a little practice. I think the next time will be the ticket. It’s supposed to look like a glaze but mine always gets too thick as I get ready to pour it on. I will post the recipe as it is a super yummy spice type cake with raisins and nuts.

Here is one of the recipes that I said I would post. We eat a lot of chicken around her – probably more than I would actually care to eat, so this was a really nice change from my current recipes. All my kids liked it too. They didn’t like the salsa as much, but Tom and I loved the salsa with the chicken!

Spicy Oat Crusted Chicken with Sunshine Salsa

Salsa: 3/4 Cup prepared salsa
3/4 cup coarsely chopped orange sections
**refrigerate while chicken is baking .

Chicken:
2T olive oil
1 T margarine – melted (I left this out and it was great without it)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp grown cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal uncooked
1 egg lightly beaten
1 T water
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
chopped fresh cilantro – optional

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Stir together oil, margarine, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and salt in flat shallow dish. Add Oats, stirring until evenly mixed and moistened.

2. Beat egg and water with fork till frothy in a second shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg mixture and then coat completely with oat mixture. Place chicken in foil lined sheet. Pat any extra oat mixture on top of chicken.

3. Bake 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and oat coating is golden brown. Serve with salsa. Garnish with cilantro if desired

For those of you who are curious about Evely’s allergic reaction and the rash is produced….here are some pictures. They aren’t pretty!

Keep this in mind if you ever see you or your kids with this after being on an antibiotic for a few days. Evely had pneumonia and had taken a strong dose of amoxycillin for 8 days before the rash broke out. Here is the progression of the rash so far. She is not contagious but is itchy and you can tell she doesn’t feel the best. The first two pictures are from the first day and the rest of from today.

Unfortunately my computer will not upload a video.    I think it’s getting way too old and is on it’s last leg.  So I want to send you to my friend Jule’s blog so you can see a video of Jaden from this weekend.  Click HERE to view.

Jaden and Anjelia have been friends since birth. Jule’s and I were pregnant at the same time with them and they have played together since babies. They even went through preschool together and they have such a special friendship it’s sweet! We went over to Anjelia’s Friday night for her seventh birthday party. Evely was able to spend the night with her and I really didn’t think too much about Jaden’s thoughts on the party. However, he came home from school and immediately started working on a picture for her. It was of her backyard and they were climbing a tree together. Amidst the two hours of working on this masterpiece, he also was playing the guitar. (He can’t actually play it) He told me he wanted to take the guitar and play it for Anjelia. He is so extremely shy I didn’t think he was serious. When it came time to leave he was excited and nervous. He made sure Tom packed up the guitar too. We both thought when he got there he would chicken out and not play it; he’s just too shy.

After Anjelia opened her gifts, Jaden went and got the guitar and sat down to serenade her. No one even reminded or asked him to do it.

You must view the video. It’s priceless!

I really am going to post my Arizona pictures….must find some time.

It’s a NEW School year!  Wow has time flown.  A new season and a new chapter in our lives.  I’m really excited and so far I haven’t shed a tear…I think maybe I did enough of that this Summer when I thought about Evely heading to school.  I’m excited for them…and for me.

Kindergarten here I come!

1st Grade and ready.

5th Grade!…….What?!  Can’t be….

Tom was home and walked the kids down to the bus stop.

I just love my family!

As I was scrolling through my pictures that encompassed my Summer there were the biggies like Florida, Arizona and the Grand Canyon (which I haven’t posted yet). But among all those “highlights” are the lowlights.  It’s those moments that are happening among everyday and mundane that you don’t want to forget.  Those little nuances that make my children who they are and my home what it is.  It’s not always pretty or the best but those moments are real life to me.  I thought I would capture a few of them here so I don’t forget them later in life when I look back on the Summer of 2010.

Summer Picnics

Julian figuring out how to run a light bulb off a battery.

Evely’s LOVE of stuffed animals.

Mike trying to pay Jaden to hold his feet in the ice cream bucket for a minute. (Didn’t happen)

Evely getting her toenails painted.

Julian fishing and fishing and fishing.  The tale of him losing his pole in the water because a catfish drug it in. Then catching his pole on another pole and it still had the fish on it.  Pole saved, bait saved, fish saved!

Jaden and Evely played t-ball on the same team.  Evely had to hold onto her helmet as she ran around the bases to keep it from falling off.

This is my lowlight from today. I stumbled into the kitchen rubbing the sleep from my eyes to see a little note on the counter with a flower on it. The note said “To/Mom   From/Jaden”  A single flower lay on the note. This is not like my Jaden at all! He isn’t my pick-a-flower-for-mom kinda kid and so this is extra special. I raved over the flower and sat it on the counter to get cereal and eggs for breakfast and there he stood just looking at me.  I wondered what more I could say about his flower and then he said “I figured you would put it in your hair.”  So I wore a flower in my hair all morning.  Once Evely saw how I reacted to the flower she marched herself onto the deck to pick several more.  Then came Jaden in with a handful and I finally had to stop them before every blossom would be gone from the pots on my deck that I watered endlessly in this heat.  What a great memory to keep in my heart.

A new season is almost upon us. School starts next week. My baby girl will head to kindergarten and my days of having a little one at home with me will be over.  I’m looking forward to the new season.  I greet it with a smile through tears.  Each passing moment, brings new and exciting things around the next corner. God always there with me as I turn them.

My next post I will show you pictures of our trip to AZ!!

One of our favorite things to do in Florida each day was to comb the beaches for the beautiful shells.  When the tide would go out you could really score some finds!

So we started finding these conch shells but there were these snails living in them and no matter how hard we pulled, we couldn’t get them out.  So what do you do?

Step 1: Google how to get a snail out of a conch.

Step 2: Boil the shells for about 3 minutes

Step 3: Being careful not to burn yourself on the hot shell, pop the snail out of the shell.

Step 4: Oooh and Ahhh over the amazingly nasty creature. Eat them if you want to.

Step 5: Reboil the shell to get it good and clean. Enjoy the shells!

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Of course I must show you another sunset. You can never get tired of a beach sunset!

I’ve been home from Florida for a couple weeks now. It was a wonderful trip but I wasn’t expecting to have such a hard time adjusting to being at home again. While I was away, halfway through my week I realized I hadn’t thought about the grief of my Mom and honestly, it was so nice. The break in tormenting emotions was such a nice reprieve. I could bask in the warm sun, watch my children play in the surf and could truly enjoy no sadness or gray tinged days.

On the way home I glanced at a lady an aisle over on the plane and she was wearing the same sandals that my mom had worn for months. They were a pair that were made for extreme comfort and had all the velcro straps across them for adjusting to your foot. I remembered when Mom bought hers and how they were so dressy and cute.  A year later she was still wearing them in the winter with socks because her feet were so swollen she couldn’t wear her other shoes. So many memories began to flood my thoughts and I blinked back tears and realized what I was facing when I would land in normal life again.

As we left the airport that afternoon, I felt the heaviness return and settle on me in a very tangible way. After every trip I always called Mom to tell her we were home and then over the next few days I would recount every detail to her. She always wanted to know it all; every adventure, conversation and the funny things the kids would say. She would study my pictures as if memorizing them to really put herself there with us.

There would be no phone call this time. No funny stories retold to her or pictures to go through. Just a feeling of longing to talk to her so badly that I could not shake. I was sinking. If you have ever been depressed, it is a scary feeling to know that you are emotionally spiraling down a dark hole but are powerless to change it or stop it. You reach for whatever comfort you can find trying to cheer yourself. You try to talk yourself out of it, reasoning with emotions and raw wounds. It doesn’t work.

I have found that in the midst of my grief, the one person I can run to for comfort is Jesus. If you don’t know Him this may not make a lot of sense but He really is real and when I bare my heart to Him there is comfort. The Old Testament Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be “Wonderful Counselor” and I am finding Him to be that.

I read a verse a few weeks ago and I continually go back to over and over. It has meant so much to me I thought I would share it. I know there has to be some of you that are going through a hard time too. Something you are powerless to control, but you are subject to walk it through until you see it’s end or it gets better.

Psalm 94:19 In the multitude of my anxieties within me,Your comforts delight my soul.

I have meditated on this. I love that God has comforts (plural) for each different hurt that we feel. His comfort is not just a neutral blanket of “comfort” that is the same for every hurt, every trial and every person. No, he knows what type of comfort that I need for every variety of problem that shows up each day. That in itself is comforting to my despondent soul.

I’m not saying that I read a verse or spend time with Christ and I magically come out of the hole of hurt and despair. I don’t get up from my chair wanting to skip down the road with a flower in my hand. It’s more like He pours resolve, perseverance and peace into me. He gives me a small measure and dose of Hope for the day. Enough to give me an extra smile for my children and an outlook that someday the pain will lessen and I may want to pick a flower and skip. So if you are reading this and you have a dusty Bible on the shelf, pick it up and open to the middle of the book. There you will find Psalms. It is filled with words for a weary and depleted soul.

If you read something that helps, please post it and share it with me. I am all about gathering words of comfort right now.

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Disclaimer:I want to make sure that everyone understands that I really am doing well. I am just working through my grief. I have ups and downs as I go throughout my days and I am just being real on my blog. Because this is what real life is all about: the good and the bad, the happy and sad, the joy and the pain, the satisfactions and the longings. In the midst of it all, God is good all the time.

While at St. Pete Beach we took out for a 1/2 day fishing trip. We left John’s Pass at Medeira Beach on a fishing boat that had about 30 people on it. We had two Mates that helped us with our tackle, bait and fish and they were great! We had a captain and a cook in the galley. We left early in the morning and they took us out about an hour from shore and then we fished for several hours before heading back.

We were mostly fishing for gray snapper, mackerel and king fish but we caught a lot of other interesting fish along the way.

Here is Jaden holding a gray snapper that he caught.

This is cut squid and we used it for our bait. The mates would bait your hook, take off the fish or whatever you needed help with. You can do as much as you want on your own, or get as much help as you need. After you would catch the fish, they assigned you a stringer number and each time you caught a fish they would add it to your stringer.

This is an interesting fish that attaches itself to a shark and it would literally attach itself to anything on the boat. The mates took it and stuck it on the boat wall to show us.

We DID catch some sharks too. Tom got a hold of one that was so big we never saw it. It bit his line right off. I was reeling in a fish when a shark came and ate the fish on my hook! I had it to the top of the water but it also snapped my line. Then Julian hooked one and almost had it in the boat but got tangled with several other lines and lost it. I had no idea we would see that many sharks out there.

I caught this cute little puffer fish. When the mate would take it off the hook they would blow into it and it would puff up. They look like a rubber ball.

We also caught a lot of grouper, like the one Julian has here. They had to be 20 inches to keep them. I think only one person on the boat got to keep one.

After we came back to John’s Pass, they gave us our stringer of fish and they would fillet them right there. We had the restaurant just up the stairs prepare our fish for us.  The fish was great but can’t say much about the rest of their food.

This was a very memorable day for all of us. The weather was beautiful, the ocean blue/green. We saw dolphin and sea turtles as we went. I would highly recommend going if you are ever in Florida!

I can’t end this post without showing you the sunset that night…

We’re Back from our family trip to St. Pete Beach, Florida. We have had our trip planned since February and it finally arrived! We were starting to get concerned about the oil problem but the beaches were absolutely beautiful. It saddened me to look at all the beauty and wonder if it will be ruined in a few weeks or months by the oil.

My next few posts will highlight some of the adventures we had on our trip and show some pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

We left the airport early on Monday morning with much excitement. The kids had never flown before and so they were a little nervous and excited. Everything went very smoothly and I was so glad that we had non-stop flights to Tampa.

The kids wanted to sit together in a row by themselves and were very brave.

We arrived in Tampa and drove to St. Pete Beach where our lodging was. We stayed at the Plaza Beach Resort and it was an excellent place for a family of 5 to stay.

It was right on the beach, had a nice pool, the rooms had full kitchens and lots of storage space, 2 beds and a pull out couch for plenty of beds.

Outside of the rooms were patio tables and chairs which gave you extra room too.

It was one of the better trips where we didn’t feel like we were on top of one another in the room!

As soon as we got unpacked and settled, we all got our suits on and headed to the beach to experience the ocean. This was another first for the kids. It was extremely windy that afternoon and the waves were really high.

This is Julian in the ocean. You can see that the waves are pretty high. This is not typical for the Gulf area. The waves are normally pretty small. The boys immediately started begging for boogie boards and we went that evening and found some. Evely was overwhelmed by the waves but was enthralled by all the seashells.

Stay tuned for more….