Thawing Out

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of winter.  I would be happy if winter only hung around for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  There is something about Christmas and snow, we all know that.  Once the holidays are over, however, bring on the sun and spring!  One problem, though...I live in Montana. My solution?  Head on down to South Texas to visit the family.

Last year we went down for my brother's wedding and ended up staying for 5 weeks. It was a wonderful break from the cold and gloom of a Montana winter. I decided that it was a must-do for this winter as well and called up my Aunt Sherrie to see if the little white house on their property was empty.  It was, so the girls and I stayed down there from February to April. We were blessed...lots of sunshine, big Texas thunderstorms and absolutely amazing weather.  It was lovely!

Not only was the weather lovely, but we had a wonderful time with my family.  Beebo and Pappa, aunts, uncles, and cousins...we spent time with them all. I am so thankful to have been able to make the trip.  Here are pics from our time there. (Thanks to Kyra for taking so many beautiful photos of our trip.  I love you, my talented girl! Any not so great pics were taken by me, probably on my phone.)

   My daddy...in his 60's and still  handsome.

My mamma...so pretty inside and out.  We spent almost every single day with her.

My brother, Mike.  Shelby is working with him, learning welding/fabrication.

Maddy and I.  Love my girl. :-)

Jay and Shelby at a riding area called Mud Buddies.

We were lucky to be able to enjoy the amazing Texas wildflowers during our stay.  So, so beautiful!
Rubber boots are a must around there.  Lotsa snakes and other creepy crawlies.

Riding the property with Wayne and Sherrie

Uncle Wayne's milk cow. (Ok, maybe not...)

One of our day trips was to Blessing and Port Lavaca. The pic with that sweet little lady is from the Blessing Hotel where she has cooked and served good ole Southern home cookin' for several decades. We enjoyed seeing the hotel and having lunch. Fun little piece of history.  After leaving Blessing, we went to Port Lavaca to go to a quilt shop and to the beach for a while. 

Another day trip, this one to Galveston where we met Uncle Bill, Aunt Jo and Naomi.  We had a yummy lunch downtown, shopped a while and spent some time at the beach.

Kyra's favorite movie is "Hope Floats" so we took a day to visit Smithville, where the movie was filmed.

Misc pics of the family

A few pictures from our little home-away-from-home.
My mamaw and papaw are buried in this little cemetery on the property.

Jay turned 40 while we were away so we had a party for him when he got down to Texas in April. We had amazing BBQ courtesy of Wayne, complete with all the usual trimmings--potato salad, beans, cornbread and pie. Kyra made Jay a chocolate beet cake, which is our new favorite. We were glad we had a chance to celebrate with him.

We are so blessed to have been able to spend this time with family. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to make our stay so fantastic, always making us feel so loved and welcome.

The Blessing

I love to cook.

I enjoy everything about it...the planning, shopping, scrubbing, chopping, sauteing, braising, grilling, whisking, mixing, dicing, mincing.  To me it is a creative outlet, a challenge, and one of the more rewarding things in life. It's about learning what is good and healthy for my family, and at the same time figuring out how to make things flavorful and yummy.  I love using all of the bounty that God has provided for us. Fruits, vegetables, herbs, all so colorful and lovely, are truly a joy to prepare. To my mind, few things in life are as rewarding as preparing a meal for the people in my life who mean the most to me, or sharing a meal with a new friend that I want to get to know better.

(A little side note...I DO NOT like to bake.  I can bake.  I even make a pretty mean pie, but I don't enjoy it. If I bake, it's because I enjoy eating the results.  I would much rather cook dinner and have someone else bring dessert.)

Over the years, I have had so many women tell me that they just can't cook.  They tell me they hate it, that it is a drudgery and a chore.  I was thinking about this the other day as I was chopping veggies to put in a salad for lunch.  Perhaps I am odd, but it is strangely comforting to me to be in my kitchen chopping veggies and I had a few thoughts about why that is and I would like to share some of them.

I recall with perfect clarity a day just a few short years ago, a moment really, that changed how I felt about all of the things I do as a wife, mom, and homemaker.  A young mom with 3 kids ages 4 and under, I was completely overwhelmed on this particular day...exhausted, fed up. After getting my little Maddy down for a nap and my 2 older kids on their beds for a quiet time, I went to my room, laid down on my bed, and cried. I told God that I was sick and tired of doing all of these things that nobody noticed anyway and who really cares if the top of the cupboards is dirty or the kitchen floor needs scrubbing? Let's face it, with 3 kids it's just going to get dirty again anyway. I told Him that all I ever did was change diapers, fix food, run errands (with 3 little kids!), clean, and do mountains of laundry.  Yep, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and thinking that all of those things I did everyday had no meaning. 

As I was lying there feeling sorry for myself, I told God that I really, really needed to hear from Him and could He please make it sooner rather than later. He is so sweet and so faithful to answer our cries. On that day I heard God say to me so clearly, "I see."  On that day, I met El Roi, The God Who Sees. I knew then that all of those "thankless" chores weren't so thankless after all, that my Father sees and He knows my hard work. He knows the love and the heart that goes into every meal, every scrubbed bathroom, every freshly made bed, every apple that I cut up or sandwich I make.  He knows how much of a mother's heart goes into wiping grubby little baby faces or as years go by, wiping tears off the cheeks of a heartbroken teenager.  He knows. He sees. He is all we need.

These days I am in the throes of being a mom to teens and all that it entails. The years fly by, and in the blink of an eye I will be in a new season of life, with grown kids and an empty nest. I consider every meal that I get to prepare for my family, all of that hard work and time spent in the kitchen, to be a blessing.  When we sit down at the dinner table to eat, I am thankful for every minute.  I am thankful for provision, for stores full of food, for a car that allows me to get to the grocery store, and for the home I have that gives me a place to store and prepare all of that food.  Every hug, every "Thanks, Mom! That was delicious!" is precious.  

As I am cooking, I often think of other moms around the world who don't know how they are going to feed their families. What a nightmare that must be for a parent. I always see that as an opportunity to pray, being thankful for what we have, but also asking for eyes to see those in need around me. El Roi can open my eyes, too.  I've only to ask and then do.

So I suppose the point of this rather long post is this...It Ain't Just Cookin'! 

One last thing.  I have days where I just don't want to spend another minute in my kitchen, thankful for it or not.  On those days, I have somebody bring home pizza or maybe we grab fish tacos at Taco Del Mar.  You understand.  It's a whole other kind of blessing.  :-)