Where Have I Been?

I've been having a little fun over at:

Walking on Sunshine Recipes

My sister started something on Facebook.

She started asking everyone what they were cooking for dinner.

I started asking the same question on Facebook also.

You'd be surprised at the number of responses

 we both received.

And how many yummy meals our friends are preparing!

Some of our friends started to ask for the recipes 

of what people were making for dinner.

So I decided to create a new blog to post recipes 

from my friends, my sister and of course, ME!

Come on over and take a look. 

And if you have a recipe you'd like to share, please email it to me!

I'd love to have all my friends here contribute something 

that you actually make for dinner!

Breakfast, lunch and most importantly, desserts are welcome as well!

Enjoy your weekend!

Planting Seeds

Growing up my parents loved planting flowers. 

Living in a parsonage in Queens, NY they didn't have much space to plant many flowers, but they sure knew how to fill that little space with beautiful flowers.  

One year, when I was a little girl I wanted to help.  

But being a little girl, I think I got in the way more than I helped. 

I wanted my own little garden. 

My own little space. 

My father patiently walked me over to this little area under the hedges that 

separated our yard from the neighbors behind us.  

He told me this could be my garden and 

 handed me a package of seeds and showed me how to plant them. 

I carefully watered my seeds daily.  

I talked to them daily.

I looked carefully every day for some sign of life. 

And surprise, surprise, tiny little seedlings started popping up through the dirt in my little garden under the hedges in our house in Queens, NY.  

I was so happy.  

And you know what? 

Every year those flowers came back!  

Even the spring before I got married, those little flowers made their appearance.  

The seeds he gave me were for Lily of the Valley flowers.

They stand for "Return of Happiness."

Every spring those flowers would return and we could see those flowers as 

we sat at the kitchen table eating our meals.  

Well, at least I always noticed them. 

And I think my dad did also. 

  

Thinking of those flowers now, they will fill me with happiness. 

Happiness for a father taking time out of his busy day to show 

his little girl how to plant some seeds, 

but more importantly happiness knowing

how much this little girl was loved by her father.  

Census 2010

Did you fill out your census form this year? 

I know there's been so much controversy to the whole thing. 

But  like the good citizen, Army loving wife I am,  I filled ours out last week. 

And guess what? 

I was NOT allowed to count the Colonel 

as part of our household.

WHAT?

The government has decided that since the Colonel 

is not living here at home this year, 

he's not part of our household. 

I guess they forgot that he's spending the year in 

Afghanistan fighting to keep this country safe. 

Does that mean that the government is viewing 

this household as a single mother with two teenagers living here?  

NEVER.

Don't worry Colonel, I still consider you to be not only a part of this household, 

but the HEAD of this household.  

I miss you more and more each day.  

So I Took a Little Tumble...

As I've mentioned before, 

I fell off the platform at church one Sunday. 

It was 2 weeks ago and we were completely done with church...

THANK GOD!

I had gone up to the platform to play for the altar call...

as I usually do. 

Pastor prayed and dismissed everyone...

as he usually does.

I sat at the piano for awhile getting my music together...

as I usually do.

I got up from the piano and walked to the stairs...

 as I usually do.

Only this time instead of walking down the stairs, 

I fell and went flying, landing on the floor face down...

IN FRONT OF EVERYONE.

I actually laid there, NOT MOVING, for a few minutes.  

All I could think was, 

"How badly did I damage my back?"  

and 

"How badly did I damage my hip?"

Finally I realized there were quite a few people hovering around me.  

My one friend Freida was talking to me, asking me if I was okay.

All I could think of was, 

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE AROUND ME... 

LOOKING AT ME?

She very nicely told everyone to step back so I could get up, 

which I did, on my own.  

And I realized that I was okay.

Nothing was broken, I was just quite sore.

I then realized how incredibly thankful I was that...

I DECIDED TO WEAR DRESS PANTS TO CHURCH.

I usually wear a skirt. 

Thank you Lord for watching over me and protecting me as I fell...

And for protecting me from the embarrassment of not

 laying on the floor with my skirt up around my waist.  

Update on the Colonel

The Colonel arrived in Maza E-Shariff  last Friday.  

All is well.  

He said Northern Afghanistan is beautiful.  

Below is a picture of some of the mountains that he gets to see every day.  

Really pretty, huh?

Here's a picture of him with a Danish soldier with the last name,

 only spelled with a "K."   

You have to enlarge the picture to see their names on their uniforms.  

I'm really not too sure what he's doing now.  

I do know he's a Deputy Commander of an RST unit. 

 And yes, he's explained it to me a few times, 

but I never fully understand what he does.  

Please don't tell him I said that.  

The best news is he has his own living arrangements. 

Well, he's still in a shipping container, 

but it's split in half, divided by a solid wall.  

He's happy, I'm happy.  

He had sent me pictures of his other shipping container in Kabul.

This is his section of the container.  

Not too bad.  

He made the bottom "bunk" it into a little desk area for himself.  

This is his roommate's side of the container.  

You can see how narrow the container really is in this picture.  

The bunk bed JUST fits. 

But it's still better than living in a tent in the middle of Afghanistan.  

I have to say the Colonel is much neater!

Back here at home we enjoyed a nice Easter weekend. 

The kids arrived home from their Youth Convention LATE Friday night and then proceeded to sleep most of Saturday morning.  

We went to church on Sunday and then to my sister's house. 

I didn't take any pictures, sorry. 

Just wasn't in the mood.  

I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful Easter!

I haven't forgotten to tell you about my fall from the platform 2 weeks ago!

You'll just have to come back another day to hear that story!

Enjoy your day!

Happy Thursday!

Life just keeps moving on.  

Even when your body hurts you still have to get up every morning 

and get the lunches pack, get the kids on the bus...

Except when the kids go on a Youth Convention!

Yes, Olivia and Michael left yesterday afternoon for our 

District Youth Convention.  

They'll be back Friday night.

Do you know what that means? 

I didn't have to wake up to an alarm this morning!

But I sure miss them!

The Colonel was able to get through to me 

yesterday on Yahoo for us to chat.  

He had to let me know that he's been transferred to 

Maza E-Shariff, which is in Northern Afghanistan 

near the Uzbekistan border.  

He sent me an email last night telling me he was 

"Catching a ride with a convoy"

after he grabbed some breakfast.  

Well that sounds SAFE...

NOT!

So my plans today are to try not to stress over missing my kids 

and my husband catching rides with convoys on his way 

north through the war zone of Afghanistan.  

And maybe a little cleaning and some reading 

and trying to enjoy this beautiful weekend coming up 

where we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior.  

Enjoy the song...one of my FAVORITES!