Do you know what they are?  M&M’s.  Only these are M&M’s that have gone bad. Whitney told me this was a sin! The chocolate coating on the outside has turned white.  I had tucked this treasure of chocolate in this drawer and would eat one a day.  They were my vitamins and my daily treat.  Then I forgot about them, and they turned white.

The truth is that this isn’t the only treat I enjoy in a day, but I do make it a habit to just have a small taste rather than a whole handful of candy, or a big slice of cake.  I’ve found that I just need a bite or two to satisfy my sweet tooth.  Anything beyond that only adds pounds on me! My one splurge is popcorn!  I love it and will pop it once a month or so – with butter and salt!

I’m going to reform this year.  I’m going to eat TWO M&M’s a day!

There’s my confession and my resolution all in one.  Happy Wednesday!

What treat do you allow yourself to splurge on?

From my parsonage windows,

New beginnings- always a good time for reflection.

This time last year I was packing my suitcase in preparation for our trip to Israel that began the first week of January!  There was lots of planning into what I would put into that suitcase.  It was my lifeline for 15 days! Some items were pretty things for evening dinners at the 5 star hotels we enjoyed.  Some items weren’t packed for their beauty – I packed them because of their necessity.   – things like an adapter for my belongings that needed power – the curling iron, travel iron, computer and phone charger.  Snacks for energy.  An umbrella for protection from the storms.  After my trip was over I realized how thankful I was for each item I took with me! The pretty,  the necessary, the energizers, and the protective items each had special purpose.

I look behind me at all that was “packed” into my year,  and I am awed at God’s goodness and wisdom.  Here, too, I am touched at the beauty of many things He allowed to be brought into my life. Here are a few of my blessings from this past year:

• The opportunity to see and walk where Christ lived and ministered!  To visit the Garden tomb, the Mt. of Olives, the Emmaus Road, Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and so much more!  It was the trip of a lifetime.

• Our first “Ray Sister Reunion” in a cozy mountain cabin in the spring.  Three days and two nights to do “girl stuff,” walk the trails, sing, pray, read and rest!

• Time to fellowship and be encouraged by other ministry couples in a place not too far away in the early summer. 

• Opportunities to speak at ladies’ retreats in Louisiana at Southland Christian Camp and in Ketchikan, Alaska.  What joy it is for me to get to serve the Lord in this way! My heart was knit to the ladies in each group in the short time we had together.  I’m praying for many of them each week and for the burdens they shared with me.

• My oldest daughter and her husband purchase their first home! Wish I had a picture to show you!
• My youngest daughter finished her 4 year college degree at BJ (a semester early!). She stands here displaying her gift from us.  No, it wasn’t a hint!  She started a job as a nanny in Greenville the following week!

Then God allowed some other things He knew I needed to get packed into my year:

• Watching my husband go through retina surgery and 8 weeks of recovery
• Changes in plans, due to his surgery
• A mother-in-law who began failing in health.  Being alone with her when she is diagnosed with in-operable 4th stage Lung Cancer. (What a sweet time we had together at that moment – reading Scripture, praying and thinking on the Truth of eternity)
• Staying at the hospital for four weeks while she is treated for  many other things, including heart issues and a blood clot in her leg.
• Plans to help my daughter move into her new home must be changed due to my responsiblilities to help care for her Gramma.
• My husband is diagnosed with pneumonia the day I’m to bring his mom home. I care for him on one end of the house and his mom on the other end.
• My younger daughter’s old bedroom, recently vacated,  is now occupied with her gramma.  Such a dichotomy.
• Twenty-four hour care of my mother-in-law – a blessing, but also a huge responsibility.
• The flu strikes me down for three days, leaving my husband to care for everything.

All during the trials, the not-so-lovely things He packed into my year, I can see that God also packed some “engergy bars,” if you will.  They were pasages of Scripture that He brought through a devotional or my daily Bible reading.  They came in the form of messages I listened to.  Some engergizers were people God brought into my life.  Some of the “pretty things” from earlier in the year fed my heart and carried me along.  I can see the umbrella God packed – his umbrella of grace and protection over me.

Oh, yes!  God knows how to pack my suitcase, and I’m so thankful for all He wisely planned for me this past year.

What are some of the things that God put into your suitcase in 2012 that you can give thanks for – even though they might not be beautiful things, but you know they were necessary?

Happy New Year, my friends!

With love,

Pinterest has provided me with so many great new recipes! Here’s one I’ve made a couple times, Mexican Casserole (original link here). This recipe is great because you can modify it to suit your family’s taste. It’s very forgiving! My only caution is that it doesn’t reheat very well – so just go ahead and eat it all in one sitting. I know you’ll want to. =)

Mexican Casserole

Enjoy!

Whitney

So you’ve had the big turkey dinner, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey goulash and now you don’t care if you ever eat turkey again, right?  How about a total change this weekend and fix a good ol’ hot dog for lunch today or tomorrow? 

Now, don’t just throw a hot dog in the microwave and then slap it into a cold bun!  First, put the hot dog in a skillet and let it get a little browned (unless you have a bonfire roaring in your backyard – that would be even better!).

Flip it over for just a few seconds, then place the browned hot dog inside the bun.  Now you can top it with chili and coleslaw (our favorite!) or some mustard and ketchup.
                                                  
                                                  

Maybe you already toast the bun like this, but I’ve learned that a yummy toasted bun takes a hot dog (or a hamburger) to the next level!  Plus it’s a nice, long cry from a turkey sandwich!

So go ahead and Freshen up your lunch with a hot dog fixed to perfection!

Be refreshed,

“We were going  to do this”, and “We planned to do that, but it just never happened!” 

Have you found yourself saying that about things you had thought you might do this December?  I opened my Bible to Proverbs 27 and the first verse I read this morning was,