I won a book!

I have been meaning to post this ever since Katrina let me know I'd won....and here I have the book in my hands and I still haven't posted. Ack!

I won a book in Katrina's Books Galore! giveaway a couple of weeks ago. It arrived Saturday...and it looks *really* good. I can't wait to read it! The Divine Appointment is written by Jerome Teel, an author I haven't read before. In addition to having an intriguing plot summary, it's also of interest because the author graduated from the same college Billy did (Union University in Jackson, TN). Thanks, Katrina!! (Check out Katrina's blog, Callapidder Days, when you get a chance...in addition to just being great reading...and deserving the *Cutest Blog Title* award :-D...she has great reviews and giveaways!)

Menu Plan Monday

Even with VBS last week, I *did* do better with sticking to our menus. A couple of nights were tricky because my mom has needed to be at the nursing home on the other end of town right at supper time to help my grandfather...and she can't drive after her surgery. :) So...we ate at 8 p.m. a couple of nights last week...but to be honest, that isn't completely unheard of around our house (or even tremendously unusual.) We did have a treat Friday...the kids got coupons for free kids meals from Chick-Fil-A from VBS, and Billy had a Nurse's Day coupon for free *big people food*...so we had Chick-Fil-A almost free Friday night. Can't beat that! :)

This week's plans:

Monday: Parmesan Chicken, Salad, Bruschetta

Tuesday: Spaghetti

Wednesday: ??? Not sure what our *4th* plans are yet...so this is TBA. :)

Thursday: Tilapia

Friday: Tacos/Rice/Beans

Hopefully in few weeks things will stay calm around here and I'll get caught up enough to start trying some of the new recipes I'm finding from other Menu Plan Monday posts!

True Scraps and Snippets

I have been promising an update for weeks and haven't gotten to it yet. I am finally beginning to recuperate from the worst of the sleep deprivation, but I'm still not sure I'm up to a coherant narrative post...so I'm going to try to catch things up via random scraps and snippets of life around here and hope they will make some sort of sense. :)



*June 9--My 95 y/o grandfather fell at the nursing home and broke his hip. He had hip surgery June 10, and was in the hospital for 5 days. We spent a *lot* of time at the hospital during that time...especially that weekend. My aunt came that Sunday and stayed until the following Saturday. Despite the doctors' original concerns that he wouldn't make it through the surgery at all and that he might not make it through the week, he came through with flying colors.



*June 11--This date had already been on the calendar due to an extended family situation. My friend J kept the kids that day so that I could deal with all that was going on that day and help my mom.



*June 16--I talked to my mom around 6:15...we marvelled at the fact that a week after my grandfather fell on the way to the dining room for lunch, he was back at the nursing home and they had taken him to the dining room for supper! My aunt had started her 2.5 hour trip home about 30 minutes before our conversation. About 15 minutes after I got off the phone with my mom the first time, the phone rang again and my mom was screaming, "Come quick, come quick, I think I've broken my wrist." Sure enough, we spent the evening in the ER and discovered that she had multiple fractures in her right arm near her wrist and a displaced thumb. They almost did surgery that night, but then decided against it.



*June 20--Finally got in to see the orthopedic surgeon, after a very painful few days for my mom, and a busy few for the rest of us. He scheduled surgery for the next morning.



*My friend J had the kids Wed. afternoon during the dr. appt., and immediately offered to keep them during the surgery. Later that evening, my friend K also offered to help. K ended up taking the oldest two home with her to spend the night, and I met J at the church the next morning with the younger two before I picked up Mother. I have the most wonderful friends in the world....K had had a horrible day Wed., had a full schedule already planned for Thursday, but she came by the house after church, picked up *stuff* for the two big kids and headed home for an impromptu *slumber party* with her two and mine. (She's still speaking to me, btw, even after the kids woke her up at **5:30 a.m.** the next morning...YIKES!) J wasn't having the best of weeks herself...and she has had my kids three times in two weeks and has fed us three times (actually 6 or 7, counting leftovers) in the past few weeks as well. I can't imagine making it through the past few weeks (or years, actually), without such wonderful friends.

(ETA for clarity...I started this post *last* Tuesday and didn't ever get it finished...so there is almost a week's break right here while it sat in draft. :))

* After surgery, we entered *nightmare weekend*. :) I honestly don't remember much of it...it was a complete blur. Thursday night I spent the night at my mom's and was literally up and down all night. I was already somewhat sleep deprived, and the main thing I remember about Friday and Saturday is that I have never...at any point...been as tired as I was those two days. Somewhere in there I also got *sick*. I thought at first it was just allergies, and then realized it was some sort of cold/virus thing that was apparently going around...a couple of friends had already had it, my kids had it in varying degrees, and then Billy got it just in time for his vacation last week! But...we survived the week and managed to even make all of VBS last week...more about that later.

So...things have been a bit busy here. ;-) But believe it or not, last week, VBS and all, was a bit calmer, and I did get a bit rested (my house is a testimony to the fact that I decided I was going to have to just *make* myself rest...so now it's catch-up week...:)). Hopefully this week will also be a bit calmer, and we will get caught up on the house, laundry, cooking, my ever-growing to do list...and maybe even my blog! Lots to blog about when I have time and coherant brain cells to type it all out. :)

Menu Plan Monday

Well, last week's menu went completely out the window. Monday night we ate drive-through burgers so I could take my mom back to the ER with her arm. Tuesday night we had the roast that made me say "Wow!" (And leftovers from it all week for lunches...:)) Wednesday I had a sandwich from a drive-through between Mother's appt. and church. (The kids stayed with my friend J, who fed them before bringing them to church.) Thursday my friend K's MIL had pizza sent over for all of us after Mother's surgery, and Friday we had the food my friend J had brought Thursday when she brought the two youngest kids home. So...I didn't cook all week, and if it hadn't been for good friends, I'm not sure we would have eaten! (More about last week in another post. :))

But I'm going to try again this week. *Hopefully* this week will be a bit calmer. (Pretty scary when you are looking at VBS week as being *calmer*. ;-)) I'm just going to list our *main meal* for each day....since Billy's off and we have VBS this week, some days our main meal will be lunch and others it will be supper. We're all about flexible around here these days!

Monday--Tortellini, Salad, French Bread

Tuesday--Twice Baked Potatoes

Wednesday--Bacon-Swiss Bread and Salad

Thursday--Breaded Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, veggies

Friday--Tacos, Rice, and Beans

When God Makes You Say "Wow!"

I love the way that in the middle of the hardest of times, God sometimes just makes us stop and say "Wow!" This has been one of those weeks.

I have posted several times about how thankful I am for the friends God has blessed me with. One has fed our family twice (actually, four meals, counting leftovers :)) in the past week. Both times, it has been at just the right time...when I have been literally too tired to make a peanut butter sandwich (and didn't have the brain-power to ;-)). I am amazed with God's provision. What a blessing! One has been checking every day "Do you have food? Do you need help with the kids?" I know that she is ready at a moment's notice to feed us, keep the kids, whatever. Most of all, they have listened and prayed and made me laugh through all the *stuff* that has been going on here.

In addition to my *best* friends, God has blessed us with a church family who are wonderful at ministering in times of crisis. Last night we thought I was going to have to take my mom back to the ER, as she was having severe swelling in her casted arm/hand. I was already exhausted and frankly just plain out of sorts. The kids and I had spent the afternoon helping her (the kids helped clean her house and did *great* job), and I was ready to go home, feed everyone, and go to bed. Instead, we ran through a drive-through, I dropped the kids off at the house to Billy, and Mother and I headed to the hospital. They sent her home with instructions to *try this and come back if it doesn't get better*. I took her home, followed their instructions, and left her elevating her arm on ice while I went to the grocery store. Just as I was leaving, Billy called. Friends from church had called and said they were on their way to our house with food. Mrs. C had mentioned Sunday that she had been through a similar situation with her mother breaking her arm, and been very encouraging and sympathetic.

When I got home much later that evening, I opened the fridge to put groceries away...and couldn't resist opening the unfamiliar container on the top shelf. When I did, I got a whiff of the most wonderful-smelling roast I have ever smelled. Yummmm! And then came the "Wow!"

A couple of weeks ago, I took a roast to a friend who is having health problems. When I bought it, I bought a two-pack at Sams, thinking I would cook one for her and one for us. Then I realized I only have *one* crock pot and I was *not* cooking one in the oven in my un-air-conditioned kitchen...so I stuck ours in the fridge to cook the next day. Well...in all the chaos around here lately, the next day turned into the next day, and the next day turned into the next day...and the next...and those next days turned into an uncooked roast in my trash can. :-(

Ever since, I have been *craving* roast. Couldn't justify buying one, since I had let the first one go to waste, and knew I wouldn't have any more time to cook it right now than I would have the first time even if I did. But every time I had opened the refrigerator lately to scrounge up food for people...I had wished for that roast!

And there one sits...all cooked and ready to eat. Isn't God good? Not only does He provide for our needs...He throws in some of our silly *wants* as well. Now the only problem is going to be waiting till Billy gets home tonight to eat it for supper! :) I am so thankful for friends and church family who listen to God's promptings and truly act as His hands and feet during hard times. We are blessed.

Menu Plan Monday

This is one of those weeks when we are just going to have to hang loose and be flexible. There is really no way of having a *plan*. We are pretty much at my mom's beck and call this week, and she will see the surgeon Wednesday to determine if she has to have surgery. So. All of this is subject to change at any moment. :) (And we didn't stay on menu *last* week due to another *flexible* week...so some of these are repeats we didn't get to then. :))

Monday--spaghetti and meatballs, green beans
Tuesday--chicken salad* sandwiches
Wednesday--church, I guess...Mother's appt. is Wednesday so we will have to see what happens there.
Thursday--Bacon-Swiss Bread and salad
Friday--cheese tortellini

*Chicken Salad:

I thought I'd post this chicken salad recipe...it is so easy and so good. They were sampling it at Sam's one day when the kids and I were shopping, and the kids all *loved* it. *That* made me stop in my tracks, because chicken salad is one of my very favorite things on *earth*...and usually I can't get anyone else in the house to eat it. Then when I made it at home, *Billy* loved it. He's requested it twice since then. :) So...it's definitely a keeper here!

I have no amounts...just keep adding to taste. The chicken in the original salad we tasted was Member's Mark from Sam's, and that is what we have used so far when we've made it. You could use any canned or cooked, shredded or diced chicken.

Chicken
Miracle Whip
Hormel Real Bacon Pieces
Mrs. Dash seasoning

That's it. I think my kids like it because there is nothing *crunchy* in it. :)

Hopefully later in the week I'll have time to head to Laura's site for more menu ideas...there are always lots of great ideas on MPM!

Perfect Peace and Rest...

For those who haven't heard, my mom fell last night and broke her wrist...actually, multiple fractures in the arm near the wrist...and displaced her thumb. We got to spend our second Saturday in a row in the Sparks ER, and sent our sleep quota even further into the negative numbers. Fortunately, they decided *not* to do surgery last night, so we will go to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to find out if she will have to have surgery or if it can be corrected without it. In the meantime, she is in a lot of pain and having a rough time functioning...why do we always have to break *right* things, and not *left* things???

I kept saying last night this was our *4th* broken bone in 54 weeks...Ammah Grace broke her arm just over a year ago, and then I broke my ankle in March, Papa broke his hip last week, and now Mother. I realized this morning, though, that I missed one...Billy's mom is just getting over a broken arm as well. She broke her arm just as my ankle was getting better. I guess the rest of the family had better take cover!

It's going to be a very interesting week. We will be spending a lot of time with *Mamoe*, helping her do what needs to be done this week...not to mention the looming possibility of surgery. I told Billy today that I am tireder than I *ever* remember being...even those last few months before Daddy died when he was so sick and we were all so drained. This year has just been *extremely* intense (for want of a better word) for us, and the stress and lost sleep the past couple of weeks has really hit hard.

God always seems to send encouragement through music, and today was no exception. As I was standing in the choir loft fighting exhaustion this morning, the words to this old hymn took on new meaning. We have really experienced His perfect peace...and the promise this morning of His perfect rest was such an encouragement:

Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious in its bright increase;
Perfect yet it floweth fuller every day;
Perfect yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Stayed upon Jehovah, Hearts are fully blest;
Finding as He promised, Perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, Never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, Not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry Touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Trac'd upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

(By the way, I had planned to post a Father's Day post today, but it's not going to happen. I'll try to post belated Father's Day thoughts later in the week.)