Friday, March 12, 2010

Wow, He does care about the little things...(long story but worth it)


I think that when our eyes are opened to something, it is our duty to share with the world our experience. This is especially true when we are given a revelation through something that we have personally experienced because then it's not even a matter of convincing those that you are telling, it is just stating fact because you experienced it, you saw it, you felt it....you know it.
On Friday, March 5, 2010 at 3:00 pm, I noticed that our little Yorkie dog, Rocky, had run away. My husband and I got in separate cars and went in opposite directions looking for him and quickly realized, he could be anywhere. I broke the news to the kids when I got them from school...we cried. We drove until dark and I listened to my girls call his name out of the car windows, through tears, as their voices cracked. (I don't even need to explain how that made me feel). That night was hard. Me and the kids prayed for him to be safe. But as a mother, I felt that it was my duty to shield them from the complicated"ness" of God not always giving us what we ask for, especially trivial things like returning a lost pet. They asked for God to bring their dog back but in my head I debated on how I could explain that God may not bring him back because God's not a genie that grants wishes...God's busy with answering prayers about Haiti and people stricken with cancer.
The next morning we put "Lost Dog" flyers into the mail boxes in our subdivision and taped the flyers to the Stop Signs. We heard nothing.
The following day I got this great idea to go on Craigslist and post our Lost Dog poster in their Lost and Found section...there were 20 lost dogs in the past 2 days.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed. Then I got an email from my Craigslist posting. A woman saw my post and wanted to tell me that she had lost her little dog the same day but that she didn't hear anything back until she said that she would offer a reward. I thanked her for her advice but I couldn't get over the fact that someone had her dog and purposefully waited for a reward before returning him. You can sell a Yorkie for up to $1,000! She later sent me another email and it said "I'll be praying for you and your dog." I thought, how odd, she doesn't even know me...I didn't reply.
Meanwhile, my husband was at work talking with some co-workers and he mentioned that our dog had run away. One of his co workers said, "Let's pray for your dog to come back!" My husband felt silly and rejected his co-worker's kind offer and said "I don't think that God's worried about my dog (thanks for the offer though!)" We talked about it later that night and we both agreed, we wouldn't bother God about Rocky...we only sent quick prayers - silently, of course - that wherever he was, he wasn't being mistreated and was safe...that's a realistic prayer, right?
Thursday, March 11, 2010, my husband gets a call from a woman that asks him if we ever found our dog. He replies, No, and she tells him that on Friday when she was at the bank (about 1.5 miles away) a woman had found a little dog and that we should go there and ask about it. I drove in my car (at 90/mph) and gave them flyers to put up in their foyer. As I was leaving, I saw a little pet grooming store that just opened and thought, I should give them a flyer, its worth a try, right? I walked in and didn't even finish my sentence when the woman asked, did you lose a Yorkie?

Me: yes!!
Pet Grooming Lady: go to the bank.
Me: I just did!! They're gonna put up my flyer.
Pet Grooming Lady: No, no...ask for Gail, she works there, she called me and told me that if someone looks for a lost Yorkie, I have it.
Me: What?! The lady that found him wasn't a customer?! (Why didn't anyone tell me?)

I run across the street (baby and twins in tow) and...its closed. You've got to be kidding me! My girls are knocking on the door. I reprimand them and tell them to stop when a woman comes to the door (the one I gave the flyers to). I asked her for Gail. She says Gail's on vacation - what?! where's my dog?! She comes back Monday and I was going to give her your flyer then. Sheesh.
My inner dialogue went something like this:
Me: I'm gonna get my dog!
Me: Dang, I'm not gonna get my dog!
Me: Oh wait! Her name is Gail?! I'm gonna get my dog!
Me: Sheesh, I'm not gonna get my frikkin' dog.
We go home. At 7:00 pm, we get a call from a woman that says, I think I have your dog (Woo Hoo!-was someone holding out on me?) We get her address and race over and we see our little Rocky. Wow! Wait, he looks different. (I know what you're thinking, wrong dog-nope, it was him) The kind lady took him to the vet, the groomer, bought him a bed, toys, vet recommended food, and he had access to a doggy door and came and went as he pleased. After tons of thank you's and a check we said our goodbye's and she actually cried as we left with him. It turned out that he had traveled about a 1.5 miles, crossed a busy intersection and was roaming by the drive through of the bank. My yorkie....my little 6 lb. yorkie! How did he NOT get plastered onto the street?

My revelation of this experience? God hears. God cares (even about the little things). I learned that we can't feel like we're bothering him with "little things"...He'll be the judge of what's insignificant. Does He always do what we ask? No. Like I said, there were 20 missing dogs around the same time Rocky went missing. But my point is this: We can't only pray the prayers that seem "realistic"....let Him decide what he CAN and WILL do (is this not the definition of Sovereign?). I'm reminded of a verse that I heard when I was little - Matthew 6:26 and Matthew 10:29 + 30. Some of you that read this might feel cynical but my job today was not to prove anything...it was to simply state the facts of what I learned. God hears. God listens. God cares.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Yea, I started an herb garden (don't hate!)

If you've been keeping up with my blog you would see that I have already endeavored on cake decorating thanks to Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss. But since then I have taken up a new obsession with cooking shows. I've learned to appreciate the "art" in the Culinary Arts. This obsession has lead to the purchase of a food processor that I just HAD to have (my valentine's gift from the Hubbs - I think he's already preparing for the immersion blender and standing cake mixer request) Anyway, I noticed that many recipes called for fresh herbs and on the shows some cooks would just pull the herbs right off of the plants in their kitchen. Sooooo, I went to the Nursery yesterday and bought Pineapple Mint (I had no idea that this existed), Parsley and Cilantro...I bought organic soil, repotted them and voila!
*quick tip, when buying herbs: you can't smell them by sniffing the leaves, you need to rub a leaf between two fingers and then smell your fingers!*

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We all get old and fat, get over it....

I am 29 and will be 30 on July 2010. I had an idea of what I wanted to be like at 30. I already am a mother and a wife but I wanted to be these things while being FABULOUS! What does that even mean?! Well naturally, that meant that I would look younger than all the other 30 year olds, be thinner than all the other moms and be happier than all the other wives...oh and did I mention more successful while being the best, most fun mom ever?! I guess I thought I would be this?


I am literally laughing out loud while I write this because I can't believe that I put that much pressure on myself. (Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an obsession but it was definitely in the back of my mind along with visiting some foreign country and running a marathon one day.) Now that I'm 29 though, I'm discovering something that those that have embarked the "30's Right of Passage" didn't tell me before. You start giving yourself a permission slip to NOT be the thinnest, and NOT be the most successful, happiest person on earth b/c you start noticing that most of the time it's a front put on by most people anyway.

This is in NO WAY stating that we should lose our drive to better ourselves but our drive should be to become better versions of ourselves as opposed to better versions of everyone else. Because the truth is, even the most beautiful people have to get old and even the best physiques get saggy.

okay, one more.


This is my life. My family. I'm me and I'm happy. I have 20 lbs. to lose but that's because according to my BMI, I need to. My house is messy most of the time, SO WHAT?! (yeah, I said it) As long as I am the best mom and wife I can be and I am staying true to myself and the Creator that created me then I'm good.

Oh, and as long as I get to wear these bad boys every once and a while, then I can look good while I try!





Monday, December 21, 2009

I hate Kays Jewelry Commercials!...

...and I'm not the only one. Go ahead and google

"I hate Kays Jewelry commercials" First of all, a single woman would be so upset with a man that pulled out a tiny box (that looks like an engagement ring box) but has 2 little diamond earrings in them...bad idea. The worst commercial is the one with the woman that leaps into her man's arms due to a loud thunder. He catches her and says "I'm right here." Seriously? Grown women are not afraid of thunder and lightening

- and if they were, most of them would be too prideful to show it.They are airing these commercials a lot now because of the holidays and I just had to vent...sorry.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

I know I'm late catching on to this...


Recently the family and I had a little 6 hour road trip. We don't have a t.v. in our car so 6 hours proved to be a little difficult for our 7 year olds so we stopped at our trusted Target and bought Bop It (batteries included)!
Bop It is a fun game that tests your reflexes. An electronic voice will tell you to Bop It, Pull It, Turn It, etc. You can play alone, party mode or head to head (which means the voice will then say "Pass It"-which is an extra thing to do!). The beat will get faster and faster as you continue. It sounds a lot easier than it looks. Lookin for simple family fun? Buy Bop It for $15.

Friday, November 6, 2009

I ALMOST DIED!

Okay, maybe not, but I definitely could have been badly hurt. So my landlord tells me that the bill for the sprinkler system was oddly high this month so she needed me to check the water meter in the front lawn. "Sure", I said, but little did I know that by checking this for her, I would have my brush with death.

The water meter looks like this:










I'm sure you know how you would open this. Stick your finger in the hole and pull the little flap open, right? That's what I did...and this is what I found.















A black widow. She was right next to the hole that I had stuck my finger in. Yes. Yes. Yes! I'm sure you can imagine how I felt. Now before all of you brave, woodsy, hippies reply to this post and say that most spiders will not attack you unless they feel
threatened, let me just say this. I totally was rough when I opened the flap. I brutally jabbed my finger in the hole and threw the flap open (she def. could have felt threatened and bit me)

Thank God all is well. We called an exterminator and to my dismay he played with her for a while before he killed her.




Saturday, October 10, 2009

I finally made it...


Well, it was finally time to decorate the cake! I took the fondant out and started rolling...but there was one problem. I didn't have enough to cover the cake. I was so mad! So what I ended up having to do is cut the cake. I turned a 9 in round cake into a 4-5 inch round cake. I tried my best but some of the sides began to crumble away, but it definitely looked like a circle which is the most important.


I laid the fondant down and began to decorate. I made my leaves with cookie cutters and I stuck them on with Vodka (any clear alcohol will do but water would be the worst thing to use) - the Vodka also helps with eliminating the powdery look of the fondant. It was okay for being my first cake but I still wish I could have done better. It would have been great to have made the leaves look real instead of like clay...BUT...I was happy with my little pumpkin.
(If you're interested, this was made with orange fondant, rolled into a ball and a clove as the stem.) Overall, I'm happy I attempted to try my hand at decorating cakes. Next time will hopefully be better...but I don't think it will be right away, my arms and hands are still sore...:o)