family matters

my sisters and I helped my PopPop make dressing today
it's delicious
the cornbread, onion, celery, chicken broth, and sage combination

PopPop started making it
when Nana no longer could
and he's now passing it on to us

food is important
as is learning to bake
but this recipe is made because family matters

Sweet Things

~ this avocado chocolate mousse. We found it to be delectable (In case you decide to try it: we used about a half cup more almond milk than the recipe called for)

~ berries in season

~ Momma and Daddy celebrating their anniversary

~ youth pastor's darling two-month-old girl

~ her adoring fans (a.k.a. everyone around her :)

~ pups watching a butterfly outside the sliding glass door

~ Middle Sister helping Youngest Sister tune her cello

~ thinking about Nana. Today would have been her 90th birthday

~ her love of travel, and the way she asked about "her mountains" after we visited Glacier National Park on her birthday last year


Something not so sweet? Monday marked our first day of school. It's good to get back to some routine, but the first days are always a bit rough. I suppose you could call it a rocky road. That reminds me. . .


~ cherry chocolate chip soy ice cream. I'm still enamored with this treat from Trader Joe's!

Pi Day, Pie Day

Thanks to two sweet friends I learned that today, March 14, 3/14, is Pi Day. Unfortunately, I learned that a couple of weeks ago, remembered it up until last weekend, then completely forgot about it today. So the appropriateness of doing equations using pi in geometry and physics this morning was lost on me. And that slim chance of my trying to make a pie? Definitely didn't happen. However, I did get the chance to enjoy a slice of Pinterest pi/pie inspirations. . .

via 

Happy Pi Day to you!

Eating Art

Glad to have sisters who think think to make soy yogurt, granola, and fruit into a masterpiece!

The Pink Forest Cake

It was an experiment,

inspired by Black Forest Cakes (we substituted tea for coffee and made royal icing instead of meringue),

that we tried on Middle Sister's birthday,

and it turned into a delicious flop.

Happy baking~ Megan

Running to the Light

Thankful for everyday. . .   

576. fire pit fun

577. the smell of smoke lingering on my sweater

578. being huddled up in a blanket on our patio swing

579. making "acorns"

580. my mom learning she has a dairy allergy

581. problems going away with the butter, milk, and cheese

582. dairy free

583. counting 107 trick-or-treaters while handing out candy for the first time

584. transformations into Cleopatra, a gypsy, and a panda




585. chili and rice

586. a quarterly science test completed

587. finishing reading Robinson Crusoe (It was okay, but lengthy)

588. my Dutch friend teaching me Dutch things

589. Chipotle

590. watching Cars 2 with my sisters

591. Daddy home after a week away

592. a dinner of pumpkin pancakes

593. adventuring through Trader Joe's

594. Thanksgiving turkey in the fridge

595. calmed wind

Blessings~ Megan

Blurry Beginnings

The beginning of school has always been blurry to me. Homeschooling has allowed us to ease into subjects and routine. It's a process similiar to getting in cold water at the swimming pool-- it takes time to get used to, but eventually becomes refreshing. 

This school year something changed. I wasn't able to wade into subjects. The stakes grew higher, the work harder, and the time I had went quicker. Curricula filled with books, questions, and answers pushed me into the murky waters of high school.  

Slowly the waters are becoming clearer. I'm getting more and more comfortable with the change, but I am still trying to work out some kinks. Until then I am glad that my Multitude Monday can blur into Thursday. 

Again counting my gratitude after a few good, but blurry weeks of activity. . . . .

493. homemade granola bars

494. a new lunchbox, needed a lot this past month

495. running outside, barefoot

496. two pitchers of water with lemon in the refrigerator-- one for my mom, and one for me!

497. a hard teacher who made me grow

498. security in God

499. dance. I have always really enjoyed it, but this dance intensive made me see how much I love it.

500. time at home

501. warm walnut bread with dinner

502. my very own laptop

503. friends moving here from "across the pond"

504. swimming in a lake for the first time

505. watermelon

506. watching The Next Food Network Star via Hulu 

507. swimming with good friends

508. this cream helping to heal my first (and last) sunburn of the summer

509. school starting

510. routine back in place

511. reading about the Gospels (this book gives fascinating insight!)

512. dinner at Dean & Deluca last Friday night-- a nice ending to a long week

513. taking a peek at the dessert display there

Definitely worth seeing. . . 

514. eating the "globes" Middle Sister and Youngest Sister baked using vanilla cake mix, food coloring, and white frosting when we got home

515. the way geography and baking can work together deliciously

516. cucumber plant curly cues

517. rain watering for us

518. Youngest Sister baptized!

519. being on track with school

and, most of all,

520. renewed focus

~Megan

Captured by Tough Beauty

I usually think of blessings as beautiful things that make me smile. But, as I have been keeping a gratitude journal, I am realizing that blessings can also be hard and painful.

Beauty in the beautiful is easy to find.

It's beauty in the difficult that is much better at hiding.

On Sunday I had an afternoon of tough blessings.

It all started when my mom, sisters, and I went to see my great grandma, Nana. She lives in room 111 at a local retirement center. We planned on chatting with Nana for a little while, then going to get groceries for the week.

We stepped through the door of Nana's apartment to find she had other visitors--my Gramma and PopPop. PopPop was seated on his scooter, Nana in her wheelchair, and they were staring each other down in a silence that spoke volumes. We quietly walked to the other side of the room and sat down. Our arrival was at a very tense moment. 

PopPop was the first to speak, "Mom, you can't stay here. You're just not strong enough. You need to move to either a rehab center or a nursing home."

"Why can't I get the help I need at home? I just want to go home," Nana replied pensively. At that moment the home she was referring to was a blue duplex she had lived in before the retirement center.

"You just don't have the strength, Mom. You couldn't even go to the bathroom by yourself right now," PopPop said.

"Yes I could. I just don't need to right now," Nana's eyes wandered around the room.

"If you could, why don't you simply try moving your leg?" PopPop challenged.

"I could, but I don't need to right now," Nana still avoided PopPop's gaze.

It sounded as though they had switched roles, PopPop being the parent and Nana the child. I looked toward the TV screen which was flashing news reporters and polls. The discussion was necessary, but painful to hear. Nana continued to stubbornly insist she was just fine and PopPop continued to tell her she needed more help.

Eventually PopPop looked away from Nana with a sigh. He turned his attention to finding the TV turner he thought they had accidentally thrown in the trash. "Someone come help me," PopPop said as he headed to the door. Youngest Sister, Middle Sister, and I all followed him across the hall to a blue trash barrel.

"We need to take out a bag from there with banana peels," PopPop said. I opened the bin and took out the top Wal-Mart sack. PopPop looked through the plastic and decided the remote was probably not in there.

I took out another sack.
                                                        And another sack.
                                                                                                      And another sack.
 
They were all empty of TV turners.

I was coming to the bottom of the barrel and had to reach my whole arm down to reach a fifth sack. The farther down I went the worse the smell. This time, as I lifted the sack up, something dripped out of it. Thankfully, PopPop decided we had searched enough.

"You have now dug through a trash can," PopPop said. "But I'm sorry you had to do it."

I tried to smile, "It's okay." I could tell this was hard for him. He wasn't high enough in the scooter to be able to reach in the bin himself and he didn't want me to have to do it.

We crossed the hall and came back into Nana's room.

Gramma and my mom were putting away miscellaneous things for Nana. PopPop volunteered to take Youngest Sister, Middle Sister, and me to get a can of soda. Gramma dug in her purse for loose change, then we went down the hall to a little room that housed the soda machine. Middle Sister and Youngest Sister each put in sixty-five cents and pushed the button for Sprite. I counted up the rest of the change. Forty cents. "I'll be right back." PopPop said as he wheeled away. In another minute he was back with a quarter and I pushed the button for a grape soda, the one he said was his favorite.

On our way back to Nana's room, PopPop took a detour. We came up behind a family talking to the manager about available rooms. PopPop quickly picked up on the conversation and proceeded to give a rave review of the retirement home. Between his statements about the amazing food, comfortable apartments, and loving workers who had let him borrow a quarter, I realized both why he had been a good salesman and where he had obtained the quarter. The family listened attentively throughout his speech and thanked him for sharing when he had finished. The manager patted him on the back, saying "This man here, he's like a brother to me." PopPop practically glowed as we went back to Nana's room.

"Girls, why don't you and Gramma go sit in the atrium?" My mom asked as we came to the door. Back down the hall with Gramma now, we sat down on a sofa and waited. We talked about my great aunt who was driving up from Texas as we spoke. She planned to move into Nana's old duplex. . . "home" as Nana had called it. We wondered how Nana, PopPop, and my mom were doing. We listened to the grandfather clock tick and tock and finally gong. Concerned and bored, we eventually decided to go back to the room.

PopPop was just outside the bathroom door when we arrived and greeted us, "She's been in there the whole time and Amy has had to do practically everything for her."

Suddenly digging through the trash didn't sound quite so bad.

My mom stuck her head out the door, "I can't get Nana back into her wheelchair. Dad, can you go get help?" PopPop turned on his own scooter and wheeled out of the room, going faster than any scooter should be allowed to go. As we opened our cans of soda, we told my mom about PopPop's sales pitch and the borrowed quarter. She pulled out a quarter from her purse and told us to take it to the front office.

We met up with PopPop and the manager just outside the office. I handed the quarter to the manager then listened to the conversation about getting Nana up and moving her someplace else. We soon went back down the hallway and were followed by several workers. By now we could have walked down the hall blindfolded. As we filed into Nana's room, my mom stepped out of the bathroom to let in the new help.

All was quiet until one of the workers, a lady in pink, came out of the room saying "911. She's fallen. We need to call 911!" 

I stood still, shocked. I had memorized this helpful number in preschool, but hadn't ever needed to use it. Really God? I wondered. Is now really the time?

My mom's eyes looked red and a bit puffy, but she grabbed a phone and dialed the number. Before long firemen and paramedics arrived and worked together to get Nana on a stretcher. Middle Sister, Youngest Sister, and I watched from a distance as they took Nana to the ambulance. I looked through glossy eyes toward my sisters and saw they too were fighting tears. The older sister side of me took over and I tried to comfort them. Somewhere in the midst of  saying, "It's okay," and a silent prayer, I found myself comforted too.

We drove to the hospital and left Nana a couple of hours later in very capable hands. She wasn't seriously injured, just very weak.

It was a traumatic experience, but I can see how God knew best that afternoon. Nana was forced to get much needed help and is now comfortably situated in a rehabilitation center. Unfortunately she hasn't yet accepted where she is.

Right now I am trying to accept where I am. This post was supposed to be for Monday, but it has taken me much longer to work through. It has been both challenging and good for me to write. Still, I am sorry to be posting my Multitude Monday late!

 
 Giving thanks for beauty everywhere. . .

 447. Nana, safe and sound

448. The opportunity to take a watercolor art class

449. Making two new friends there

450. Driving home with my dad

451. Spontaneously baking Banana Chocolate Muffins with my mom and sisters on Friday morning 

452. Summer Reading Program excitement

453. Friday night spent eating pizza and watching movies with my sisters

454. A successful dessert experiment (though, when putting together strawberries, cool whip, and chocolate chips, things are bound to go well)

455. Listening to the new Owl City CD, All Things Bright and Beautiful 

456. A longer jog 

457. Stretching time

458. Noticing a bug in a flower and realizing it was being gripped by a white spider. At first I was sad. Then I remembered I don't really like bugs anyway. Besides, I figured, this spider might be in as great of need as the bug. I put a picture of the scene up at the top of this post because it seemed to tie all of my ideas together-- Here on the earth, we have the choice to be caught by either the difficulty or the beauty in a situation. There is always hope if we look deeper into God's perfect plan.

May you be captured by beauty of all kinds~ Megan

Comfort Outside Comfort Zones

Saturday morning was the annual Salvation Army Omelet Brunch. For the past few years, my mom has gone down early to help. My dad, sisters, and I have then come down a little while later and we have eaten breakfast together. This year, though, the routine changed a little bit. I was old enough to help.

My mom and I arrived at the old brick building bright and early. We signed in, picked up red aprons, and went into the chapel. Tables were set, coffee was being made, and my mom explained to me what would happen.

There were three main jobs: Filling cups, swapping baskets running low on donuts for baskets full of them, and clearing dirty place settings.  

I am not very outgoing, especially with strangers. Quiet usually describes me. Not shy, but quiet. This, added to the fact that I was by far the youngest person there, made me thankful for my mom. Things sounded simple enough with her there walking me through it.  If I had any questions (or problems) I could simply ask her. She was my comfort zone.

Then the peaceful chapel transformed into a dining room. There were more and more cups to fill. More and more baskets to exchange. More and more place setting to clear.

I found myself on the opposite side of the room as my mom. She was close, but not close enough to talk for me, if I couldn't find the words to say.

But, the words came.

I experienced the beautiful result of serving: losing oneself. 

There was the shield of service I could hide behind. I was not just Megan, quiet and unsure. I was in comfort outside my comfort zone.

Before long, the shift was over. I took off the apron and was simply someone ready to eat breakfast.

It was good to be back in my comfort zone, but I was glad that zone had grown. 


Continuing with gratitude. . . 

 216. Omelet Brunch

217. Donuts

218. New friends

219. Aprons

220. Rainy days

221. Blue Skies

222. Fresh fruit

223. Books on CD

224. My journal

 225. Popcorn/Smoothie dinners

 226. Plane tickets and new suitcases for a upcoming trip. My dad is having to go out of town more often with his job, and we are going to go with him in a few months. It will be Youngest Sister's first time on an airplane, but Middle Sister hasn't flown since she was a baby and I haven't flown since I was five. My dad has been sharing with us some of the rules about what we can and can't pack. For instance, he says we won't be able to bring our regular-sized tooth pastes. I just hope knitting needles are allowed. . .

227. A jog with Middle Sister and my dad

228. The right words

230. Expanded comfort zones

May your week comfortably stretch you~ Megan

Hearts Like Doors

A picture I drew in 2nd or 3rd grade

 186. Poems tucked away-- in both the basement and my memory 

187. Pink treats for a friend's fun movie party 

 188. Dripping chocolate

 189. Mom's wisdom when the brownies cooked too long

190. Mom's wisdom in general



191. A delightful book. Youngest Sister was the first to hear it and Middle Sister read it next. They seem to revel in asking me what part I'm at and then looking at each other and mysteriously saying that I haven't come to the big secret yet. After that they laugh and tell me they're teasing. I know they are but I still wonder. . .

192. Movies to curl up with on cold nights

193. Playing with cute little girls and boys somewhere in between being babies and toddlers in the nursery at our church

194. Two round blue eyes of one little girl looking into mine. Too small for speaking, she sat peacefully on my hip and we traveled around the room. I would ask if something looked fun to play and she would simply shake her head. Content.

195. Quiet confidence more effective in opening (my) heart than any words

Happy Valentine's Day! ~Megan

Multitudes of Things

This morning I realized two things. The first is that it's Saturday and I still haven't done a Multitude Monday post. The second is that I have twenty-two notebooks.
 

Though different, these two things left me amazed at how little things add up-- for good and for bad.

Only three out of all those notebooks are filled. Nine of them are completely empty. I didn't notice the amount of notebooks because they were all scattered around my closet. It was only when I gathered them together that the truth became known.

I thank God for my food and other things as they happen. The blessings are scattered around my life. But, because they're scattered, I forget about all I have. Participating in Multitude Monday has helped me to gather up my blessings.

The question still remains-- Why didn't I count my blessings on Monday? Could it be that I was too busy counting other things? Am I so overwhelmed with material things that there is no room to be overwhelmed with blessings? Here is yet another time I need grace. Always grace. 

 I have started making a pile with books and other things that are only cluttering my closet. Once finished, I am hoping those things add up to multitudes. Perhaps then I will be overwhelmed by the right things. 

The right things, meaning the things of the heart.  

Giving thanks despite being a bit behind schedule. . . 

131. Snow days (even though homeschooling happens regardless of the weather)

132.  Ice wreaths in the winter sunshine



133. Getting to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

134. Creative cooking

135. Warm Chocolate Puddings made with left over candy from Halloween candy due to a shortage of chocolate chips

136. Snow ice cream

137. Waking up to an alarm playing music-- not beeping

138. Waking up and having time to read

139. Opening eyes 

140. Routines



~Megan

The Feast

Last week in my Sunday school class, we went around the room telling what we were going to do for Thanksgiving. One boy said simply that his family was going to "have a feast." Everyone nodded in agreement-- feasting does seem to be the official Thanksgiving activity.

I hope you were able to have a feast as well!

~Megan

Snickerdoodles

Last Thursday Middle Sister and my MeeMaw made snickerdoodle cookies, which are as fun to eat as they are to say. They mixed, rolled, baked,

cooled, plated,

and presented some very pretty cookies!

Delicious! ~Megan