Thursday Thoughts

I've actually never heard of Maundy Thursday before.  But this week, I have been able to focus a little more intently on what this week must have felt like for Jesus - knowing what He was in for.

I think of times when I have something not so great to look forward to.  Something that might make me nervous, stressed, scared.  Something like the dentist.  A dreaded doctor's appointment.  A job evaluation.

None of that can compare to the dread that Jesus must have felt leading up to this Friday.  I think about Him heading into the last supper.  KNOWING that Judas would be there. . . ready to betray Him.  Sitting beside Peter - who He knew would deny Him three times.  Sharing the passover meal with His disciples - men with whom He had spent most nearly every day with.  But men who had no idea what was to befall Him just later that week.  Men who knew He was the Messiah.  Men who walked with Him day and night.  Men who saw Him do miracles.  But men who really didn't KNOW who He was. 

I imagine Jesus at that last supper.  Sitting there with those men.  His brothers.  Knowing that in less than 24 hours He would be paying the penalty for all their sins.  For MY sins.  What dread.  And we see it in His prayer at Gethsemane.  It's not like Jesus didn't know what was ahead.  HE DID!  He went to the garden to pray.  To BEG God to make it any other way. I cannot begin to imagine the agony He must have felt.  And then to turn around and find His disciples sleeping.  I cannot imagine the hurt.  The disappointment.  Knowing. . . . what lay ahead. . .

And He did this all for me.

Below is a video that reminded me of all Jesus did. . . . FOR ME!!!!


We are the Reason video (Avalon)

M M M M M M Monday

Yup, Monday's moving a bit slow today.  Can hardly let the day roll off my lips because it's so tough to get going.

BUT WHY NOT????  It's spring break!!!  Keith and the kids are home, and there is a whole day head of me. 

This weekend I planted some of my seeds for my pots this summer.  I have some seeds for the girls from the preschool as well, and they are growing wild.  They planted carrots, radishes and onions for the kids to see "Roots" so it motivated me to get sowing as well = even though there is still 3 feet of snow or more outside.

So I planted petunias.  Lots of petunias  96 to be exact!!!  They are all in egg cartons under my grow light.  These specific petunias I planted have the seed laying on top.  Not covered with any soil just laying bare out on the soil. I have to mist them every day, and they have to stay fairly warm, and it looks like it could take a bit of serious care to make sure they germinate and then to actually get them to grow and eventually bloom could be another task!

As I was spraying them this morning, I was thinking about how much care these little guys are gonna take to provide me with some beautiful flowers.  They are just the size of a mustard seed, and of course my mind wandered to the Bible verse.  I was thinking about the amount of care I was going to have to pour into these tiny little seeds and got to thinking about how much care God is pouring into me.  Obviously tons more than what I am doing for these seeds.  But it made me wonder:  with all His perfect care - His perfect waterings, His perfect soil, His constant watchful eye over me, feeding me when I wilt, propping me back up when the breeze gets too strong, what sort of flowers am I going to yield for Him?  Am I going to make His garden beautiful? 

Today is another day.  Another day to please my Lord.  Another day to show those around me what it means to be a child of the King.  My prayer for you and me today is that we will allow his gentle care to grow us into the beautiful image of Himself!!!!

Still Saturday

How can a day that is completely empty already be so filled in my head?

Saturday.  A day for doing nothing, right?  A day off?  A day to relax? 

NO NO NO!  Saturday . . . . a day to get all the things done that I should have gotten done this past week but didn't.  A day to cram in as many things on my to do list that I can - and to make sure my entire clan HELPS me get them done too! 

So tell me this:  WHY ARE THEY STILL SLEEPING??????  Don't they know that I have a list for each of them to complete?  IT'S HUGE and if they don't get up very quickly, it will not all get done.


Hmmmm and then this:   Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10  

BE STILL.  I can't!  There's too much to do!  BE STILL!  I can't sit here. . . I must get started. . . . BE STILL!  How do I do that.  EXALT ME  It's that simple? There's got to be more!  EXALT ME  That's it. . . that's all I have to do?

Today I will strive to make this a day of exaltation.  Not a day of demands, and expectations.   But a day of being still and exalting my Saviour!

 


 

Slow motion

Progress is slow. . . .

For a number of reasons.

Stomach flu has hit our house, or more specifically ME! UGH!  I do not do well being sick, but alas, I think it IS finally running it's course.

Renovations are slow too.  I have painted everything and the rooms are ready to go, but the cabinets are a slow process.  It's coming.  Don't get me wrong - I am very pleased.  I just sometimes forget that Keith DOES have a job that he has to go to 8 hours and day, and he has been SO good at working on these renos every day after work.

March 22:  We are presently without water in the kitchen.  The upper cabinets are all up, although the microwave has yet to be installed.  Friends of ours came over this past Monday and KG is a skilled cabinet installer.  Their family brought us over supper, drinks and dessert, and by the time we left, we had 3 cabinets in and Keith was so much more educated about this reno!!   The lower cabinets are SLOWLY getting put in, but of course these have to go in and around pipes etc. so it is taking more time than we'd like.  But rather have it done correctly than to have to go back and redo and have wrong cuts/holes etc.  I am SO THANKFUL that I have a husband who can do this work, and that is a perfectionist.  Sometimes it drives me crazy but usually I am benefit from great work because of it!

In a few days I will post some new pictures, but for now, I think I'd better get back to assembling some more cabinets.  Next week is spring break and we are all home so hopefully we'll have something to show for the days we can work on it all day! 

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Day 1 of Kitchen Renovations

Yesterday was day number 1 of our kitchen renovations.  And guess what:

OUR MARRIAGE IS STILL INTACT!!!  :-)  Keith and I have never taken on this kind of project.  Don't get me wrong. . . we have changed a lot and I mean A LOT of things in our home since moving here 19 years ago, but never have we been without our kitchen.  I mean our kitchen is the FOCUS of our family.  We love food, but we do everything here.  Homework, hanging out, playing games, eating, chilling - you name it we do it here!  So dismantling our kitchen could be quite the game changer for us!

For those of you who know us, our family is split.  Some of us are SK Roughrider fans, some of us are not.  Ok.  Keith and Peyton are, and Taylor & I are not.  We are split on the Blues.  Taylor for Winnipeg, and of course me for Toronto.  However, 3 years ago, I decided to surprise my hubby and painted our kitchen Roughrider green.  I had intended for it to last ONE year, but 3 years later, and a new Ikea in Winnipeg, I am finally getting my new kitchen.  YA HOO!!!

So yesterday we started our demolition.  The upper cabinets are gone, and that is where it will stay for the next few days.  Living without the upper cabinets will not be too bad since we will still have access to our counters, stove and sink/water.  That is HUGE.  We are hoping to get the ceiling/walls prepped in the next few days so that I can start painting but unfortunately, I may be sanding all the walls first.  It looks like a latex paint has been painted over top of oil, so will have to find out what to do about that.  One person told me I have to sand off all the old latex first, and if that is true, that will be a bear of a job!  Guess I will find out today.

So here are a few pics of the before and day 1 renos!

ENJOY and we will carry on here!

 Rough Rider Green kitchen

 Our work here is complete - for day one!

~SK

Creating a whole lot of work :-)

Well, yesterday we created a whole lot of work for ourselves!

WE PURCHASED OUR NEW IKEA KITCHEN!

That was the easy part. . . Now comes the installation.  I will post pictures of the before an after and let you know how it all goes.

So apparently, March is the time to buy a kitchen from Ikea.  Thanks to some tips from family and friends, we were able to get 15% back in Ikea gift cards! AWESOME!  We didn't buy any "gadgets" for our kitchen, so once it's installed, we will buy our gadgets with our gift card! SWEET!  $600+ later should give us some great stuff.

Supposedly, these cupboards are all supposed to arrive on Tuesday, so hopefully that is the case and we can start this process.  Demo first, then patching, and then some serious assembly!  Hopefully we can find someone to help us with the installation process or it might be a long several weeks!

Will keep you posted as to how it goes!  YIKES!  Excited - - - but afraid. . . very afraid!!!

Frying Friday

Thought I'd try a new recipe today!  Looks yummy.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

 INGREDIENTS

1 chicken, cut into 8 to 10 pieces

3 cups buttermilk

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Hot sauce, to taste

2 1/4 cups flour

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Pinch cayenne, or to taste

Peanut oil or vegetable oil, for shallow frying

PREPARATION

Add buttermilk to large bowl. Add Worcestershire sauce and a few dashes of hot sauce. Stir. Add the chicken to the buttermilk. Turn to coat. Cover and let marinate in the fridge overnight or at least 6 hours.

Combine flour, salt and pepper and cayenne in a shallow dish. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and coat well. Double dredge the chicken and dip back into buttermilk and then once again in the flour. Shake off any excess flour.

Heat oil over medium heat in large cast iron fry pan. Add enough oil to come up about 1-inch to 2-inches up the side of the pan.

Add chicken to hot oil. Shallow fry over medium to medium low heat. Cook chicken until juices run clear and no longer pink, flipping once during the cooking. Depending on thickness of chicken pieces, total cooking time will be about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove chicken and place on a rack to drain off excess fat or drain on paper towel. Serve hot or cold.

Alternatively, shallow fry chicken until golden brown, about 7 to 8 minutes per side. Finish in preheated 350 degrees F oven until juices run clear and no longer pink, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Beginnings

So today I decided to start this blog thing.  Not sure if I will continue with it, but with all this time on my hands, I figured I'd give it a try. 

Beginnings.  Seems a bit odd to be writing about beginnings when you are 45 1/2 years old.  But it certainly feels like I am starting over again in so many ways. 

First of all. . . I am now a stay at home mom and wife.  WHO KNEW?  I did it for 7 years while the kids were younger, but never thought that I'd be doing it again now that they are out of the house.  But I am loving it.  I get to explore my baking and cooking skills, and hopefully once spring comes around, I'll be able to begin gardening all over again now that I will have the time.

An even better new beginning is my spiritual journey.  NO!  I did not "just" become a Christian, but I am certainly feeling like things are new.  I have never had the time that I do now to be able to spend in God's Word and to focus on Prayer the way I have been these last few weeks.  God is teaching me so many things, and I am so excited to see where He is leading me.  To be able to spend hours reading Scripture/devotionals/blogs and praying is a gift I could never have dreamed possible.  Sure there are those days when I REALLY have to make the time, but for the most part, to be able to have this opportunity to spend this quality time is so amazing.  JUST LOVE IT!

So this will be my beginning.  I hope to share a little of myself with you as well as my journey one day at a time.

My verse for  the day:  For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.  Phil 4:13