Monday, August 31, 2009

Update

I have been so bad about updating this thing for the month of August, so here is an abbreviated version.

August 17, 2009 mom and I went to see Paul McCartney at the new Cowboy's stadium. He was awesome. The music was awesome. The company was awesome...It was awesome. He played for 2 1/2 hours. And he really did sound good. It was great to hear these songs that I have heard since I was born, played on a live stage by one of the most talented musicians ever.

Clint and I and 2 other couples formed a small group of sorts. We meet every week and eat dinner together, pray, talk about our week and discuss our strugles and victories. It's like going to the gas station. You start running on fumes after being bombarded all week and all you can think is, I just have to make it to small group. Then my needle slowly goes back to the F and I can make it through for another week. It has been such a blessing.

After much prayer and thought, I am going to be a stay at home mom....well, not really. I am not pregnant but I am going to start watching kids at our house soon. God has provided me with 2 moms that want to go back to work but don't want to leave their kids at a daycare. So starting Sept. 14 I will get my first little one. She is 4 months old and then in November I will take on a little boy of 3 months. This has been a huge answer to prayer. God is good. Sometimes, He just wants us to wait around a bit.

I just finished a book called Soul Survivor by Philip Yancey. It is and has changed my view on a lot of things. Many of them are controversial and I am very afraid to even put them down here so for now, I will leave it at that. I am not going to turn into an atheist or anything crazy, but it has some ideas that I think are wonderful but totally not at all what I expected to be thinking about right now, at this point in my spiritual walk. I know I am being vague, but these are things that are on my mind a lot, things I want to pray about and research more into but I even put them to paper.

I guess that's it for now. Hope everyone is well and had a great August. Today, the high was 90. What a wonderful blessing.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Frisbees Save the World!!!

I was reading the Dallas Morning News today, and came across an article about global warming. They were saying that some scientists have come up with ways to reverse global warming. So here are their suggestions, and I am not joking about these.

1. Fling into the air, fribee-like-discs that will block the sun. They will be sent so high, that they will be pulled by the earth's rotation and suspended there. It will be like an eclipse all the time. This is to help block the sun's rays. Potential issues with this: hello, these are frisbees, how well can this idea possibly work? What happens if one falls out of the sky? It could kill someone!

2. Spray sulphurous gas into the atmosphere. Again, this blocks the sun's rays. Potential issues: I am reminded of general chemistry for this one, sulphur + hydrogen (H2O) = sulfuric acid!!! Acid = burn people, animals, crops, not to mention ruin water supply, acid rain destroying everything. And believe it or not, this is the most viable option. Also in the article, they said that the minute you stop spraying this stuff into the air, you will have reversed all of it, another words, this doesn't get rid of all the carbon in the air or anything like that. Basically, it will cause the planet to heat up very quickly because it hasn't gotten rid of the carbon. It's like putting a bunch of band aids on a deep, gaping wound. It will hold off the flow of blood, but you need antiseptic ointment and stitches to heal the wound. Also, I am confused why carbon is so harmful but sulphurous gas is ok?

3. Send big ships out into the ocean equipped with giant sprayers that will spray ocean water so high into the sky that they form clouds, again blocking the sun. Wow.

I am beginning to think our world is lost if these are the great scientists working to save the planet. I am so glad that God created this world and will have the ultimate say on what goes on around here. Otherwise I think our species would have long ago died away.

For a differing opinion on everything, I would highly recommend this article. It was sent to Clint, via his uncle. http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-ourenvironmentalfuture.html

I don't know what the answer is. Nor if there truly is one. I guess I try not to get too hyped up about anything, whether it is global warming or boyfriend cut blue jeans.

I do know, I will never look at a frisbee the same way.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Many Things In One Post!

I have been terrible about updating my blog this month so I thought I would put lots of random things into this one post. The first pics are of my birthday/our anniversary. The next pics are of my adventures in making organic strawberry jam! So let us get everyone caught up!

This is Texas de Brazil, where many cows, sheep, pigs and chickens come to die. It is also where many arteries are clogged, full of saturated fat. Okay, that was a bit morbid but it is true. Men walk around with big skewers of meat and cut off as much as you would like! It's wonderful! The meat was cooked so well. Plus there is a giant salad bar with aged cheeses, olive oil, bread, sushi, salmon, vegetables, and of course salad. We loved it! This is one of Clint and I's favorite things to do. Eat at a great restaurant with even better food. We will splurge when it comes to eating! Happy 3 years to us!

This is the cake Clint got me for my birthday. It was the big 25 (a quarter of a century!) so I asked for a cake from a bakery (with lots of chocolate).
Clint sent me flowers at work. It was a total surprise! This was for our anniversary. I am so blessed to have Clint. He can be romantic! I got to tell everyone who came through the doors whose flowers they were and why he sent them. It made my day to have a reminder like that of my husband.
Now to totally switch gears... I made some strawberry jam this weekend. It was my first time but don't get too excited about my cooking abilities. This is the easiest recipe in the world. It's just 1/2 package of no cook, freezer safe pectin, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 lbs of strawberries (or any berries will do). You cut up all the strawberries into small chunks, then add the sugar and pectin.


pectin + sugar + strawberries = yummy jam in less than 20 minutes!




I ended up with 5 jars of jam. I used organic strawberries, bought at $2.5o a lb. So I spent a little over a dollar for 1 jar of organic strawberry jam. I was very proud of myself about this. Clint and I tried it and it is sooo good. Now we have jam for the next...probably 5 to 6 months.
It was funny canning all of those strawberries because it made me think of my ancestors that probably spent a lot of time canning their crops for the winter months (or month in Texas' case). In early spring I was all excited about summer. I couldn't wait to try my hand at gardening and really feel connected to my food. Now that I have done that and summer has gone on, each day as hot as the next, I feel more tired. It makes me think of all the hard work my ancestors must have put in. Planting crops, raising them, toiling under the sun to harvest it all, then preserving them, preparing them. After the hot months are over, I'm sure some of them started all over and planted things for the next spring or even that fall. I think it is wonderful that God has made us a time for play and growth and a time for rest and thought. It makes me very nostalgic sometimes, thinking how we moderns are so disconnected from the earth. We take for granted all the little things, like strawberries. I hope I am never too disconnected from the simple things in life. I hope I make time to enjoy a gentle breeze, the feel of damp grass or the subtle twinkle in a star.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Last Weekends Happenings

Last weekend was super fun and busy. Friday, my immediate family all went to the Rangers game. It was lots of fun just getting to hang out with everyone. Justin, Nathan and Clint sat together to discuss the finer points of baseball and the girls talked and passed Blair around. It was good until it started pouring down rain! After waiting 2 hours for it to quit, we finally gave up on it. I hope it will become another family tradition because it was so great to be with everyone.

Saturday, Clint's parents came over to eat lunch. We went to this great local Italian/ Lebanese restaurant over near TCU. It was sooo good. They had a buffet so we got to try both types of food. After that we went to the Swiss Pastry Shop and ate dessert. They sell all sorts of baked goods and Grandma (Clint's grandma) loves their apricot pie. So Jennee bought her a pie and we got coffee and pie to eat there. Then we went back to the house and talked. Clint's dad is a man of many talents. He is not only a doctor but an electrician! So he also fixed the lights in our fan which was much needed because we were down to one light in that room. That night we went to a pool party for all TCOM students. There were probably 30-40 people including doctors in the area/ professors. It was a lot of fun getting to meet some new people not to mention Clint won a scholarship.

Sunday, we went to church and just kinda took it easy.

Details of birthday/anniversary fun will come soon!