Learning to trust in Him

When I was little, I used to have terrible nightmares. Many of them were very weird and didn’t make any sense (I am sure a shrink would have a field day with me!). But one dream I would have repeatedly was one where I was falling, not knowing if someone would catch me or if I would land softly somewhere. Have you ever had one of those dreams?

Sometimes I think our trust in God is kind of like that falling dream. We want to take that leap of faith and trust Him fully in all things. I don’t know about you, but I kind of like being in control of things. I like to have a list, I like things a certain way, I like to know what is going to happen next, I like to plan things out. But when I live this way, am I being fully surrendered to how God wants to work in my life?

Eduardo

Back in May, when we decided I would take the leap of faith to go on this Compassion trip to Mexico, we knew that I would be visiting Eduardo. Then we found out that his center was being closed and there was no way for us to meet up with him.

So over the last few months, I have been in contact with our trip leader, e-mailing him once a month to see if he knows what centers we will be visiting so we could choose another child to sponsor, because ‘I want to know who we will be sponsoring before we go on this trip’. But is it really so important for me to know this before we go?

No

Yesterday morning at breakfast, we discussed this very issue. God knows what child needs us, and He knows who we need to sponsor. I believe this is one of those times when I need to let go of trying to control the situation and allow Him to be in control. Because He has the perfect plan in place already. And that is where I can have peace that surpasses all understanding…

countdown

So we leave in 86 days…on a journey that God has already worked out all the details…praying I learn to trust Him more on this journey…

Treats, Tortellini, and Chicken

This week, since the weather has started feeling more like fall here, I decided it was time to start working through my Recipes I would love to try board on Pinterest.

scarecrow treats ingredients

First up was Scarecrow Treats! Candy corns are one of my favorite fall treats, so combining them with some of these other yummy ingredients sounded like a hit to me. And it was! The original recipe calls for using a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan though. Guess I read over that part, because I made these in a 13x9-inch pan. This will work as long as you bake the cake part of the recipe just a little longer than the recipe calls for. Oh, and I did add just a few more candy corns than the recipe called for, just couldn’t resist…

chili tortellini

Next, was Chili Tortellini! I just love making soups for dinner in the fall and winter. Soups always make the best leftovers for lunch the next day. This recipe came together so quickly and was so filling! I did change it up a bit. Since I wanted this to be more chili-like than soup-like, I did not add any chicken broth. Instead I added a can of water. Also, I used tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, as well as black beans and white beans. Since I doubled this recipe, I used pasta shells and cheese tortellini. My husband gave this recipe 5 stars!! It was that good!!

kitchen after dinner

This last recipe took a little more effort than the other two combined (and used every counter available in my kitchen!)! One of the very first recipes I pinned on Pinterest (2 years ago!) was a recipe for Lemon Chicken. We all love the Orange Chicken at Panda Express, so I thought I would finally give this one a try. The flavors on this one were really good, but without help from my kids, there would have been no way I could have gotten this all together myself, unless I had eight arms. Oh well, at least I gave it a try, right?

Have you found any good Pinterest recipes lately?

Capture Your 365

Time for a few more Capture Your 365 photos to share with you!

hats off

ISO 800, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/20 sec

Day 274 – Hats Off: My son’s Civil War hat is collecting dust for a couple of reasons. One, we haven’t been to a Civil War reenactment since March! Two, this is his 20th Maine Union hat. He hasn’t worn this hat since he joined the 43rd Virginia at the beginning of the year. Guess he thought it was time to see how the other side fought.

seasonal colors

ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/50 sec

Day 275 – Seasonal Colors: Since our trees have not started turning colors yet, I thought this photo of my book page leaf project would work for this prompt, thanks to my friend Kris who shared the tutorial on her blog.

my everyday

ISO 400, 36mm, f/5.0, 1/40 sec

Day 276 – My Everyday: My kitchen, the one place in my home that I spend a good deal of time most every day preparing meals for my family.

stormy

ISO 800, 18mm, f/3.5, 1/10 sec

Day 277 – Stormy: We are still enjoying some nice, early fall weather here with daytime temperatures warm enough to leave the front door open. So what can I choose to photograph that is ‘stormy’? My closet, ugh. Time to do some fall cleaning in there, and soon!

What have you captured this week through your lens?

Photo Treasure Hunt: Keep Searching!

If you have stopped by looking for my recap of purple photo treasures from the past week, you are not going to find them yet. Jill and I are giving everyone one more week to capture those purple photo treasures!

boysenberry cookies

In the meantime, here is a peek at some purple I found this past week, yum! Be sure to come back next Tuesday to share your collection of purple photo treasures with us!

One Meal One Day

Photo credit: Compassion International

Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
—ISAIAH 58:10, NLT

Do you know that more than 140 million children still experience real hunger around the world today? And over 6 million children die each year from malnutrition? (Source: www.un.org)

Six million each year! That is a big number, so let’s try to break that down:

6 million divided by 365 = 16,438

So, every day, 16,438 children are dying of malnutrition. In comparison, that would be like 78 percent of the population of my town dying in one day. Can you even imagine that?

I sure can’t. But I know of a way that each one of us can help.

Skip a meal and donate the money you would have spent on that meal to help children in extreme poverty. It really is that simple!

Sometimes we get caught up in the big things that need to be done to tackle big problems. But here is a simple way to do your part to make an impact.

You might be thinking, “What if I want to make a bigger impact than just the money from my one meal?”

Then you are in luck! Grab a group of friends, your family, your church youth group, your whole church, or even your social media contacts and multiply your impact!

Or you can visit my fundraising page and donate today!