Category: Life

My life is crazy. The end.

Week One – Brown Dog Trail Menu

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There’s a trail near our place named “Brown Dog,” so hence, the name of our menu. Menus need names.

Week One has passed, so I am posting past tense. Working on getting my game back. Ha!

January 1, 2017 – January 7, 2017

  • Sunday, January 1 – I believe we had breakfast for dinner. Long story, and it’s not that interesting unless you like living without a plan. No plan makes me crazy, end of story.
  • Monday, January 2 – Prime Rib, Sautéed Veggies, Steak Fries. Was supposed to be January 1, per our family tradition, but the “no plan,” thing…
  • Tuesday, January 3 – Prime Rib Dip and Salad.
  • Wednesday, January 4 – McDonalds. Yup, I am that mom. AWANA night means eating on the run. Or in the car. I don’t run.
  • Thursday, January 5 – Pretty sure we had breakfast again. Scrambled eggs, sausages and toast.
  • Friday, January 6 – Fried Chicken and Salad Bar. Yum.
  • Saturday, January 7 – Super Bowl Playoffs Night (Go Hawks!) We are like champions. Hot dogs, tater tots, and salad.

Next week will be better. 

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I Didn’t Know it Would End Like This.

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The title of this post sounds forlorn and a little melancholy. I suppose there may be some of that in there. A little bittersweet, too. This isn’t the end of a relationship, though, but rather a continuing in the journey. It IS the end of a year, however. It is the end of a year of growing, maturing, and wrestling with my faith. It is also the beginning of a new year of continuing growing and maturing, and I suspect there will be some wrestling again in there somewhere too.

phone-appIn the middle of 2015, I decided to check out the app, Daily Audio Bible. I really wanted to listen to the Bible from beginning to end, but much of the year had passed and I was not able to catch up by the end of the year. So 2016 arrived, and I decided again that I would make it a personal goal to follow the podcast and listen to the Bible in a year. I am not naive in that I knew my life would be different at the end of the year, but I did not expect how it would be different. I did not anticipate how listening to the last podcast of 2016 would have me sobbing, praying with the spirit of thankfulness, for Jesus’ mercy and faithfulness in the last year. I felt like I had come to end of the first BIG milestone in my faith, and I was breathless, completely poured out, but ready for the next part of the journey to begin. So I’ve committed to another year of reading/listening through God’s word via Daily Audio Bible. Thank you to everyone at DAB for your ministry, lives are being changed because of your obedience to God’s calling on your hearts.

Goodbye 2016. Boy, has it been real. I really didn’t expect it to end this way, but I am really looking forward to the journey in 2017. God has brought me this far, and I’m still trusting Him to lead.

catching up… finally

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It’s been a good, long while since I’ve posted anything. Part of that is laziness, part of that is a “dry spell,” and part of it is just being plain busy with “real life.”

I had a mom tell me I needed to start blogging more. That was several months ago, and it has been nagging at the corners of my mind. What do I have to say that would inspire anyone? Maybe nothing.. maybe something. So I do this now for mainly selfish reasons. To keep track of our busy life, the comings and goings, the seasons, and wanting to remember. Some things practical, some not.

So where are we at right now?

Homeschooling? Yes. We are entering our 5th year of homeschooling (Wow.. really?!). Our curriculum isn’t changing as drastically as some years, but our schedule is. More on that later.

Still hosting international students? YES! We are just hosting one at a time right now, and I will write more on this later. Positives and “challenges” to both sides of this coin (singles vs. multiples). Way more positives though. Seriously. We are blessed.

Still menu planning a month at a time? You bet! I tried not to do too much planning this summer since we had a lot of coming and going. I thought that maybe it would be better to just ‘go with the flow.’ Umm. Not doing that next year. Note to self.

Still working from home? Yes. In a nutshell, I do email marketing and website maintenance for a couple businesses. Also building a WordPress site for a local construction company, and a couple other “rebuilds” in the works.

Today’s #onegoodthing: This year, I discovered Daily Audio Bible. I’ll probably bring it up a lot, because it’s played a huge part in my spiritual growth this year. I expect that it will play a big part in the year to come as well.

You are going to find that I am pretty random, but I like a schedule.. how is that for a combination? So while I’ll be blogging about anything and everything, I’ll try to do it regularly.. ha ha!

nw mama: embracing culture shock at home

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Culture. Shock.

Are you ready for it?

nwmama-lauraI don’t think.. rather, I KNOW I had no clue what I signed up for when my husband and I decided to host international students. I was not ready for the “culture shock” that would affect not only my students coming to the United States from the other side of the world, but how it would impact my own family as well. So far, it has caused my world views to be expanded beyond the borders of this country I live in, to be open to other traditions and practicalities, to realize some things are the same about us no matter our geographical location and patience. Loads of patience.Read More »