The best laid plans of  mice and men....

I have plans.
Simple plans, short and long term plans that keep my mind in a constant whirl.
There is so much I want to do, to try and experience.

For example,
I want to become a top seller on Etsy.
I want to become a top seller on Amazon Books.
I want to run a least three races in 2012.
Hike to the top of Mt. Rogers, again.
Go on a mission trip.
Make my own face and body creams.
Organize my house from my garage to my basement...

Catch my drift?

Just last week, God spoke to me about all of this striving.  Me, huh?  So I looked it up.

Striving is:
1. Make a great effort to achieve or obtain something.
2. Struggle or fight vigorously

Hmm, that quiet voice spoke to my spirit telling me that I don't have to strive so hard to get these things.

Thinking and planning and working towards them was causing my inner peace to dissipate. 

 In other words, I was going about it in my own strength.

Some might call this worrying, but it was causing me frustration.

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are plans for peace and not disaster.  Plans to give you a future filled with hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

Yes I remember that verse.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

Now I do know this is true, too.  In fact that verse caused me to remember a  time, long ago, when my girls were little.  We were incubating eggs for 4H.  It got me excited.  I wanted to raise chickens.  How cool to have our own eggs!  But it didn't happen, not then.  Not until this summer-2012-, my husband built us a chicken coop and now we have four chickens and a rooster.  How about that?

My audience as I was writing at my computer.

And there are so many other desires of my heart that only God knows about.  And he has given  many of them to me already.  (And the ones that weren't good for me, I'm glad he was the one in control:)

So it really doesn't help to get uptight, to strive unnecessarily. A lesson relearned.

It's not wrong to have goals or desires.  It's just when I let them become my thoughts that keep me awake at night or are the first in my thoughts in the morning and it causes me unrest and irritation.   (Or I think they are impossible, like how would I EVER get enough money to go on a missions trip? )

Yet..

I have even bigger and greater desires than the ones I mentioned earlier. 

 For a long time I have had the desire to adopt an older child.

God knows.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.  The mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  Isaiah 55:12

My daughter was able to snap some great pictures.

Tiny eggs

                            Bea and Patsy have decided to get in on the egg act.
                      Monday we got our first Blue Cochin egg, so cute, if I may
                                                      say so myself!

a Blue Cochin egg and a Rhode Island Red egg

The eggs we've collected this week so far.

An egg a day...

                            January 20th marks our 20th egg.  I think Gertrude and Astrud are taking turns laying the eggs.    But we have no complaints and are still excited every  time we find a small rose colored egg in the hen box.






  

                          

Good recipe

After having been in Atlanta all weekend, I went to the grocery store to stock up for the week.  My plan was to have Chicken Alfredo for dinner, but once I began to make it, I realized that I had no Parmesan cheese.  And of course it hadn't been on my grocery list so I hadn't bought any either.  Oh, well, what to do?  Send my sweet hubby back to the store or rethink dinner.  Thank goodness for computers.  I got online and found a tomato based recipe for a creamy sauce.  My family loved it, so now it is in the favorites.

Tomato-Cream Sauce for Pasta:

olive oil
diced onion
minced garlic
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 TB dried basil
1 ts Italian seasonings
little salt and pepper
1/2 cream
1 TB butter

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add tomatoes through pepper.  Bring to boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir in cream and butter.  Cook for 5 more minutes.

I had sauteed chicken slices in garlic as the sauce was cooking.  I like to serve the plates in my house from the stove, so I put pasta on the plate, topped with the sauce.  Then I put the sauteed chicken on top of that and sprinkled it parsley.  Pretty and delicious!

So yummy and easy too.

I'm so happy for my daughter, Lauren, whose last day at work was December 30th, 2011.  She is now a stay-at-home mom with her precious Gabriela.  Is that a demotion?  Maybe to some, but Lauren and I agree that there is no better place for a mom to be, than at home with her own children.  I can tell her that she will find her life at home rewarding, busy, tiring and at times frustrating, but then she would tell me that she found all of those in the work place as well. 


 There is nothing like a little child to challenge your patience and sanity!  Yet looking back on my own years of mothering little ones, I wouldn't trade my place in their history for any prestigious, glamorous  or high paying job.  My job required my all, as it was, and but the rewards are still being reaped.  


Here's to you, Lauren, and may 2012 be a remarkable year for you, Jered and Ela! 

Adele and Astrud

               I'm proud of my girls!  They have given us an egg a day for the last 6 days. 

                                     Way to go and keep up the good work!

Busy hens.

Isn't she cute?

The good egg

January 4th and our fourth egg.  One a day. 
 Something so simple and natural.  Ah, the rewards of keeping chickens.

A New Year's Gift

January 1st, 2012 will always be a momentous day for me... and my family--we got our first egg!  Hart went out early in the morning, as usual, to let the chickens out so they could roam in our garden.  He checked the roosting box, as usual, and there was a small brown egg!  The next day there was another one.   2012 is already looking good to me!

A New Year Eve to remember....

 Each age has deemed the new-born year, the fittest time for festal cheer. ~Sir Walter Scott

We brought in the New Year, French style, at our dear friends' home in Summerfield. What a fabulous time we had with old friends, making new ones and feasting our way into 2012!  Christine and Chris had transformed their already beautiful home into the perfect setting for a  sit down dinner party for 24.  I can't begin to describe the 8 course meal we were served, beginning at eight o'clock and ending at midnight. 


Downstairs, the kids were having a party of their own with hosts, Gabrielle and Jack.  Pizza, lasagna and other snack foods were what they had.  Games and music kept them busy the whole night.


Back upstairs, with champagne flutes in hand, we cheered 2012!  Horns were blown, confetti flew as we all hugged and kissed each other.  Then we settled back down for coffee and liqueors before finding our coats and heading home.  Good byes and wishes for a happy new year were said to all as we left declaring that this was a night to remember.  

Bonne Annee!