Believe it or not, it's true. I. cut. my. hair.

Proof that it takes about ten years for me to recover from a traumatic experience.Let me take you down memory lane. 

2001 I am seven years old. My sister is graduating from high school. The whole family is gathered at some restaurant for breakfast. I'm devouring eggs and toast and hashbrowns, etc. Breakfast has always been my favorite meal. Not much later, my stomach is not happy and I run to the bathroom. Yep. Threw it all up. 

2011. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I frequent waffle house quite a lot. After months of coaxing, he finally convinces me to try the hashbrowns.  Now, they're one of my favorites once again.

circa 2000. After a couple of battles with head lice, my mom takes my beautiful long red hair and chops it to my shoulders. Over the next couple of years it got shorter and shorter.

Breakfast of Champions -- a Legacy

This post is kind of a mixture of a few different things. First I kind of just want to brag about a culinary success that has been a long time coming. 

Let me introduce you to possibly one of the most unreasonably difficult but indescribably delicious meals of my childhood: EggnToast. If you have ever been to cracker barrel, you may know this as Eggs in Baskets. 

My mom made this all the time, it was always, by far, my favorite food EVER. This meal quite possibly defines my childhood. I remember my favorite glass to drink out of when I was very young: an old jelly jar that had mother goose and her goslings following her around the glass. Consequently, this glass was also the perfect size for cutting the middles out of the "baskets," also my favorite job to help with in the kitchen. Anytime mom asked what I wanted for breakfast, my answer was quite predictable. But I could never master cooking the egg just right or keeping the creation from falling apart. 

I also grew up understanding this as a sort of family heirloom recipe. This is partially because I VERY rarely met anyone who had even heard of it, and also because mom would always tell me about how Pop (my grandad on her side) created this recipe while he was serving in the military. So, yes, Cracker Barrell, I was eating "eggs in baskets" before you thought they were cool. :P *she said haughtily from behind her hipster glasses*

But today, I got a lovely craving (thanks, baby) for eggntoast and decided to accept the challenge. And what I got? Three perfect pieces (and one broken piece of toast. Our bread is a little stale.) But all in all a success. :) And, man, were they delicious.

But this also called to mind the words of a wise women I heard speak on the descendents of Cain a couple of Wednesdays ago. The women who gives the lectures at BSF said "It isn't when you pass on, but what you pass on."

The passage in question? The Line of Cain

LITL: See Instruction Manual

Unfortunately there are many things that do not come with instructions. For some people this isn't a huge problem. Take my husband for example. He can take a look at some pieces or the inside of almost anything and figure out how it works and how to fix it. 

Me? Not so much. I like to do research and be prepared going into a situation. I have to feel like I can control the situation if I want.

Lucky for me, God knows this. He created me. he knows how I tick. Is that an excuse? Not a chance. God often asks me to step out in faith, blindly,with out question, and I have found great joy in doing so. 

But every once in a while I remember that God also gave us specific instructions. Very recently, I studied the passage of the flood in Genesis. I would never have imagined how much it would mean to me to read through what seems at first to be obscure detail on building a massive boat, details I would never need. I prefer canoes, anyway. Less pieces. 

But for someone who gets terrified and incredibly discouraged when I find myself in the middle of a situation for which I am competely (or seemingly so) unqualified, details nad instructions pull from me a sigh of relief. 

Lately, I have been stuck in this terrifying sense of ineptitude. And it wasn't until reading through those specific instructions given to Noah that I realized that God had been pointing me towards the instruction I needed all along. Laid on my heart had been the answer I was avoiding. 

I can't imagine the that Noah found his task easy. I am sure this job God gave him was nothing if not overwhelming. In the same way, looking over the instruction God has given me can also be quite overwhelming.  But hey. God could have just told him to build a really big boat. I'm sure that would have been maddening. 

So I take courage from the fact that God did give me instructions. And I am eventually going to man up and read them. :P (hey give a girl a break.)

Genesis 6:9 "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God."

Psalm 37:4,7 "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."

What instructions has God given you? Have you manned up and read the manual yet? What's keeping you?

Let your Light Shine: What a few pumpkins taught me.

Apparently a new annual tradition, the other night was a night of pumpkin carving out some of our friends' house. We brought our pumpkin and joined in helping the kids carve theirs. Who would have thought that a simple, sometimes mishappen gourd could bring so much joy. 

If you remember from last year, carving night feature a dragon, a platypus, a pokemon, and happy little girl. 

This year featured more fun characters, more fun times, and (for the sake of blogging) a lesson. :) Enjoy the photos and the insight. :)

"The very first poke." 

 This experience brought to mind a lot of thoughts akin to that of the potter and the clay, although in this case it is the Peden and the pumpkin.  

Genesis 32:30-31 "So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh."

Jacob wrestled with God, and before he would submit, had to be terribly injured, or broken. Are we willing to let God break us open, in order to create something new and even better than we were before?

LITL: It takes one to know one.

I taught myself something without realizing it. Don't you love it when that happens? So many times I will give another person some advice or help them in some way and then within the next few days, or even sometimes few hours, I realize that thata lesson was really for me. 

Because, God, you are so cool like that. 

So, I figured I'd tell about it, seeing as how I'm never the only one that needs to know things. Life is pretty much a situation where everyone knows something, but no one knows everything.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of reconnecting with an old friend from high school. We started out talking about the baby and being excited for the future.Then unfortunately, she admitted to me that life was not at all going the way she hoped. (Unfortunate about her situation, not that she told me :P I am glad she confided in me.) I know all too well what it is like to be in a situation where its impossible to make ends meet, and you feel absolutely helpless. 

She shared her hopes of getting out of Montgomery, but the means to do so are no where in sight. She even wishes she could back into art, which she loves so much. Her situation is even keeping her out of school, a place where she would feel focused and able to move forward through studies. 

I know exactly how she feels. In a way, our high school was a safe place, complete with numerous oppurtunities to get involved with anything that interest you, as well as high expectations for success, and a plethora of people willing and able to assist you and guide in your chosen direction. 

What the Jordan midgets taught me.

I have worked with children for eight years, now. And children have taught me that children can teach me valuable lessons. :) Sometimes, when you learn a lesson, you learn it best when taught to you by a child.

For example, the three kids I'm about to tell you about are kids of dear friends of ours. I spend time with them weekly, if not more. they are very dear to my heart, and they are three very different individuals.

Only two pictured here, but I love this picture :P
So here are some lessons that I have learned from the Jordan children. :)