Pasta Salad

We had our small group bible study final wrap-up with a potluck BBQ.  

So when I'm looking for a new recipe to try, my go-to website is quite often Kraft Canada.  Using "normal" everyday ingredients, super easy to follow directions, you end up with a very tasty dish.  I'm not one to usually try new recipes for things like this, but this one was a hit.  Easy, tasty, and all gone. 

Garden-Fresh Pasta Salad

{photo credit & recipe website}

Ingredients:
8 cups whole wheat farfalle (bow-tie pasta), uncooked 
2 cups broccoli florets 
1 red onion, chopped 
1 red pepper, chopped 
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes 
1 bottle (250 mL) Kraft Calorie-Wise Sun-Dried Tomato & Oregano Dressing 
1/2 cup Kraft 100% Parmesan Light Grated Cheese 

Directions:
Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt and adding broccoli to the boiling water the last 3 min. 
Drain; rinse with cold water. 
Place in large bowl. 
Add all remaining ingredients except cheese; mix lightly. 
Refrigerate 1 hour. 
Stir gently before serving; top with cheese.
Enjoy!

Take Care

Awareness Day

I sit on the front porch and stare out over the neighbourhood.  The scene is serene but inside my mind it’s a different story. 

Today is Fibromyalgia awareness day. 

And this is the illness I live. 

There are many symptoms of Fibromyalgia and everyone who is diagnosed does not necessarily have all of them or the same ones. 

Among the most common symptoms are: 
widespread pain, 
insomnia, 
sensitivity noise, light, smells, etc, 
muscle and joint pain and or stiffness, 
sensory overload, 
chronic fatigue (with no apparent cause), 
difficulty concentrating, 
mood disturbances, 
muscle spasms, 
numbness in hands & feet,
chronic headaches, 
memory loss,
irritable bowel syndrome. 
And unfortunately, there is no cure.. 

I’ve had symptoms since… well for as long as I can remember! 

Many people don’t know or understand what Fibromyalgia is… so I would like to share with you that Fibromyalgia is an “invisible” illness. That means, very simply, that those of us who have it may not appear to have anything wrong with them. There are no outward signs of our suffering. 

So when I am in an active cycle and people say “oh but you so good”... that comment really annoys me, every single time! 

I mean I’m glad I don’t look sickly, but still, it oooh it bothers me. Why? Was I afraid they thought I was exaggerating my discomfort or faking it? Is it pride? Do I desire attention? Pity? Certainly not.  

You know what it is? I grow frustrated when others don’t "get" what I am going through. And that I somehow have to justify what I am struggling with. Many don’t really understand chronic pain. And for that I am grateful. I pray they never have to find out for themselves. 

When family and friends are skeptical about the existence or the seriousness of our disease, it can be devastating. It can wound our self-worth and cause problems in our self-esteem. Understanding and acceptance are important. 

Another aspect of Fibromyalgia that is particularly difficult is its cycles. There are times when I feel so good and think my symptoms are gone, only to have them return suddenly. Sometimes a “fibro flair” may last a few hours, while others may last for days or weeks. 

The unpredictability of life with Fibromyalgia is quite frustrating. As you can imagine, the temptation is to take advantage of good days and do too much, but the result is often a severe relapse. Life often feels like a “can’t win for losing” situation. 

Most of us with a chronic illness eventually accept our condition in order to live our best life. 

Thankfully, we don’t have to figure everything out because He assures us, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5b {New International Version {NIV}}

This is the secret that can empower us on the days when we feel overwhelmed, and the truth we can hold on to when we get discouraged. 

It’s not about what we have in us; it’s about Who. 

Take Care

Decisions

Every day is full of decisions.

It begins with: 
Do I get out of bed or hit snooze again? Is it a jean or yoga pants kinda day? Do I walk the dog or let her wander in the yard while I stand inside and sip my tea? 

These decisions are pretty uneventful and don’t hold a lot of weighty responsibility or consequences. 

Have you ever wondered how your life would have turned out had you taken a different path? Maybe chosen a different profession?  Waited to get married? Decided to have more children, or maybe less? Followed your dream?

If there was one thing, or situation, or moment from your past you could do over, what would it be?  Oh goodness! I have so many. 

But a few are… 
Making a better choice at a party in high school. 
Not saying the words, “I hate you” to my mother when I was a teenager. 
Having more patience with my young children. 

We are each given a certain amount of time here on earth and every day we get to decide how we are going to spend those minutes and hours. There are no do-overs, no second-chances to get it right. We cannot turn back the clock, but we can choose differently with the life God has given us today. 

When I stop and think of the roads I have taken, I feel guilt, shame, embarrassment, heartache, sadness, and remorse, and yet, I believe good can come from our mistakes too. 

We have all kinds of choices before us.  And we make the best choices with the information that we have available to us... so as each new day comes, let’s seek God and make the very best choice with His help that we can. 

Take Care

Celebrating her on Mothers Day

One of the greatest joys of my life has been being a mother to my three wonderful, beautiful, delightful, amazing {and so many more adjectives, I could use} kids. 

And for the past six & ½ months, I have had the heart-stopping joy of watching our girl be an amazing mother to our adorable grandson. 

We Gigi’s {grandmas} often indulge in bragging about our grandchildren. But how often do we brag about their parents? 

So on this her first Mother’s Day, I wanted to share some of the wonderful qualities I admire and respect about my girl. 

She is wonderfully caring and very supportive. Patient and loving. Teaching and kind. She brings every ounce of her being to be the very best mom she can be. She's embraced motherhood and is doing it in her own unique style. Her mama-love is an astonishing thing… and it’s what will get her through all the twists and turns on this road called motherhood. She’s already seen that being a mom is an amazing gift and is finding herself loving him more and more with a fierce, joyful love. It has humbled her and yet made her stronger than ever. Being a mom is not only the best thing that could happen to her, it will probably be the hardest thing too. She is in the beginning stages of this thing called being a mom, but to be honest, I kinda already had a pretty good hunch that she was going to be great! 

Welcoming a grandchild into our lives is a precious milestone and we are very much looking forward to watching, listening, guiding, helping, and being as supportive as we can, as her and the G-man raise this little boy into the man that God has created him to be. 

Happy Mother’s Day, Krystle. This is your special day and you deserve the very best!

Take Care

Making a Difference

I was in a hurry.  I still had a few more errands to run and I left the dog in the  truck. 

Going through the checkout at our local grocery store I saw her. Off to the side, there stood my favourite cashier. Texting. I could have walked right past her, and she wouldn’t have likely noticed. But no, I went over and asked her how she was… “ok”, she said. Stopping me cold in my tracks. You see I too use the the words ok to tell people how I am and for me those words say, I’m lying, I'm not ok… So I turned around and asked her more. 

She shared with me her story. 
She had to change the locks on her doors because her two teenagers are not respecting the house rules and are coming and going at all hours with no thought to anyone. Being gone for days… days at a time without any information as to where they are. And she simply had enough. Tough love she said… 

And I listened, without comment or judgement. Empathizing with this dear sweet sister to the trials she is faced with. I struggled with what to say. 

She thanked me several times for listening. But I asked myself “What can I do in this moment that will make a difference?”  I wanted to encourage her and help in some way, but I really didn’t know what to do or say. So I simply listened. 

After, returning to the truck, I realized I can offer my prayers on her behalf, trusting God to meet her with what she needs. 

People should be our priority despite that fact that there are a million distractions because these are the parts that make up our everyday.  

There’s something about being open to the person God puts in front of us, and putting our own agenda’s aside. 

Did I make a difference in the cashier’s life? Probably not.  But I am glad for the time that I took to spend with her.  I might never know if what I did made a difference in her life, that's not the point, I know the difference it made in mine!

Take Care

Limits

It’s the beginning of a new week and sadly the to-do list has been carried over from the week before. Again. Our work never really ends, does it?.

Being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder has shaped my everyday life. Some most days it takes real determination and focus to stay on task.

Our lives are disrupted with interruptions, random phone calls and unscheduled time. Social media and scrolling through news feeds and candy crush can eat up hours of time.

But I believe God has a plan and purpose for each of us in our every day. {Jeremiah 29:11}

We all become distracted, busy and overwhelmed by life and what comes our way. You know those kind of weeks, right? The ones where we feel pulled in way too many directions and just can’t seem to find our focus? That’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately.

I wonder if that is what walking through jell-o is like.

But I have come to a better understanding or perhaps I’ve at least grown used to my limitations over the years. Maybe that’s the piece of the puzzle.

Time. 

Time to accept something and move past the obstacle-ness of it. 

Reading Scripture and seeing so many examples of God’s faithfulness has been amazingly helpful. Things don’t always come easily for his people. In fact, we’re promised troubles in this life. {John 16:33}

So what do we have? We have God with us. {Hebrews 13:5} 

While can’t erase our limits. Or even wish them away. We can however, learn to be content with them…to being thankful for our strengths, those things we can do, even when our limits are still there.

Take Care

Devo's

She got me a devotional book for Christmas, and I am loving it!   It’s a simple read a page a day kinda devo but I am amazed at how each day impacts my life. 

Today I read: 
Day 121 ~ Mark 10:35-45 
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” 
Mark 10:43-44 {New International Version {NIV}} 
James and John painted a pretty good picture of spiritual toddlerhood, didn’t they? But let's face it. All of us have to go through spiritual toddlerhood and adolescence to get to a place of maturity. We don’t ordinarily leap up. We grow up. 
For a few moments, however, James and John did nothing but descend deeper and deeper into the quicksand of their own self-absorption. In this scene, James and John made only three statements “Teacher, we want You to do something for us if we ask You” {v35}, “allow us to sit at Your right and at Your left in Your Glory” {v37}, and a third moment from verse 39 that we’ll consider in a moment. Do you see a growing audacity with each moment? 
And don’t think for a minute they wouldn’t have dug themselves deeper if given the opportunity. Had Christ told them He might consider one on His right and one on His left, how long do you think it would have taken them to rumble over who would sit where? 
Their famous last words slay me. After christ asked, “are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” they answered without hesitation: “We are able.” They didn’t have any idea what they were talking about because they didn't have any idea what Christ was talking about. Soon they would. One day in the distant future they would sip from the cup and know the baptism of His suffering. But in their present state they needed a baby bottle, not even a cup. 
Our problem if often the same as theirs. We let the human image of Christ mislead us into downsizing Him. “If He’s just stoop a little and we stood on our tiptoes, we’d be just about side by side. One at His left. One as His right.” But I am convinced that if we, present company included, really “got” the concept of being chosen and called by the divine Son of God, His Spirit would have to set us on our feet for us to get off our faces {Ezek. 2:1} Yes, we've been chosen and, yes, we've been called, and we know we're grasping the concept when our humanity is cloaked in humility ~ not “Teacher, we want you You to do something for us.” but “teach us to do for You whatever You ask.” 

I don’t know about you, but too often I am like James & John coming to God with my list of things that I expect Him to do for me. My way, and on my time. Oh goodness! Just who do I think I am?!? How many times do I want to be first or greater or even take the easy way out? 

God doesn’t promise us an easy life, but he does promise to give us strength when we’re weary.  “His grace is sufficient … His power is made perfect in weakness.” 
2 Corinthians 12:9 {New International Version {NIV}}

And if I’m honest, the times I’m most aware of God’s presence are the seasons of greatest difficulty.

Take Care