Thoughts...

This has been a slow, thoughtful week. One of my tennis buddies shared with us that she will not be playing this season due to breast cancer. Her prognosis is great and they caught it very early, but still...She is fun and funny and we will miss her laughter on the courts, this season.

We also have a family friend who will be undergoing a bone marrow transplant today. I've been spending some quiet time in prayer for healing for many people this week. It is humbling and makes so many things seem small.

I have tried to write this post several times this week. I keep getting stuck. Right here. Maybe it is best to turn it over to God, and not say more than he has already said:

Psalm 46

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging...

⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day...

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Spring Break

What a wonderful Spring Break we had. MC and I flew to San Antonio, then spent a week at my parents with PM and some of his friends from college. We had shopping excursions to San Antonio and Bandera, ate out some, had lunch with family in San Antonio, fished, hiked, and generally had a great break. We drove home Sat and Sunday (we had two cars in Texas and one driver, so we brought our truck back to TN). MC and I drove through Fredricksburg, stopped at Wildseed Farms, had lunch at Natty Flatts Smokehouse, and had a lovely visit with my aunts and grandmother before heading on back to TN.

It was really fun to spend time with PM and his friends. It was good to be face to face and have time to just hang out and talk. MC and I had a great day, just the two of us, shopping, meeting family for lunch, and in general just spending a day together. We drove by our old house is San Antonio, and enjoyed seeing it. It is amazing how a week away from the regular routine can be restful, and yet I was so ready to be home by the end of the trip. It was nice to wake up this morning and be back home, back into our regular Monday morning routine, back to the everyday normalcy of life.

When I was visiting with my grandmother and aunt we were talking about our kids in college, where they are heading, what they are looking at doing in the future, etc. My grandmother, who had ten kids, said "Launching kids into life is one of the hardest things in the world. It's much harder than raising them from babies, through school." It is not easy, but I have to say I am enjoying watching as they choose for themselves and grow into what God has waiting for them. It is fun to see them becoming adults. I like who I see both of them becoming.

Tennis

Yesterday I had a tennis clinic. I picked up a racket for the first time three years ago(I think that's right). I had friends who played in high school, but I had never really learned the game. Now I play at least one day a week, pretty much year round. I love it. I was somewhat athletic once upon a time and it is the first time in forever, where I actually get to play a game and compete with other people my age, my level, etc. I love the feel of hitting a really good overhead. I love it when you hit the ball in the "sweet spot;" the twang of the racket in your hand when the contact is just right. I'm not that good, but thankfully at my age there are other people who play about like I do. It is pretty good exercise and I play with a great group of ladies.

League play starts in April. We play in a city league that has matches once a week, for seven weeks beginning next month. It's fun, and really nice to do something that feels so much like hooky. I go out on Thursday morning and usually don't get back until after lunch. No house cleaning, no school, nothing but tennis for that one day. It is a physical respite for this wanna be athlete. The only exercise better than tennis is Zumba...but that's a whole other blog to write. ;-)

Cooking

I like to cook. Several years ago we looked at our monthly budget and realized we were spending an absurd amount of money eating out. Not even eating out at really good places, just the accumulation of all the quick stops added up. We made a concerted effort to limit the eating out. That led to more thoughtful cooking on my part.

I have found that I really enjoy preparing a well cooked meal. At this point there is very little that I won't attempt, at least once. I love looking over the internet for new recipes. I like the Pioneer Woman Cooks (thanks Lindsey for getting me started on that one), the Foodnetwork site (many favorites have come from here), and www.myrecipes.com which is a compilation of recipes from Southern Living, Real Simple, Oxmoore House, Sunset, and a few others. Our newest favorite recipe is Anne Burrell's Lasagna from the Foodnetwork site. I made it the other night when my mom was here. She asked for the recipe at dinner and I told her I'd give her the printed recipe but that I had not followed it exactly. P and C both immediately said "you never follow the recipe, that's nothing new." Hmmm....really? Well when I think about it honestly, they're right. I improvise based on family tastes, ingredients in the pantry, time constraints, you name it. I like to improvise, but improvising is a two edged sword. Improvising in cooking can be great, improvising in life, not so much. Abraham improvised and look at the middle east today! Sometimes I need to curb my tendency to improvise, and remember to stay on the path God had called me to. I have always liked Proverb 3:5-6
" ⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight."

I think sometimes though I like to skip over the "submit" part. In order for him to make my path straight, I must submit to him. It's a good reminder.

So I think I will try to do my improvising in the kitchen, and when it comes to life, I'll try to remember who is in control and submit to the "recipe" he has for me.

Doldrums

It's 11 am and it's already, "one of those days." My college student called totally bummed. He received a lower grade than expected on a test he thought he had aced. My better half has been frustrated at work recently and is heading into a rather brutal 6 weeks on his schedule, so not a lot of happy dancing going on there. My in-house student is tired of everything and ready for a break (yeah, me too). Maybe its the weather. Last week we had some beautiful days, but over the weekend we are back to cold rain, gray clouds, and generally blah outside. At least there are some trees starting to bloom and the forsythia is showing its color. It brings hope that sunny skies and warmer temperatures are on the way.

DH and I are heading out for a spring break trip to TX later this week. I cannot wait. With a high here today in the upper 40's, temperatures in the 70's and 80's sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to some real mexican food and maybe even a few bluebonnets if we're lucky. So for today I will focus on Thursday. I will look forward to being off of regular duty and just enjoy being in the Lone Star State for a week. I think that will help put a smile of my face for the rest of THIS day, and hopefully a few others.

Dog Hair

Our dog is a wonderful chocolate lab named Bailey. She is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known. She can be remarkably stupid (the day she ate 15 white candles she found in the garage), and incredibly bright (one day she found a portable radio we had lost in the woods at my parents, how did she know that was what we were out looking for?). We love her very much. I just wish she did not shed! We continually joke about teaching her to run the vacuum. Man if we could teach her to do that my house would actually appear fairly clean, but I just don't see that happening.

In reality I guess we're all like that. We offer some incredibly good things, some remarkably stupid, and in the end we all have some sort of "dog hair." Something that others would change about us, that is just part of who we are. We also see it in others. How many times have you thought, "if I could just change X about so-and-so." I am beginning to realize that having life abundantly, as Christ calls us to (The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10), means accepting the things that make us crazy and learning to appreciate the rest. I mean, come on, if I can do it with my dog, surely I can do it with the people in my life too!