Whats cooking?

Ok so my culinary skills leave much to be desired. I wouldn’t call myself a bad cook, but not a great one either. But I’m not afraid to experiment. Don and the kids have gotten used to this over the years. Michael never wants to be the first to try something new I make. Bryanna’s usually first cause she doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. Don, well he don’t count he’ll eat anything. (Just kidding Don)
I was reminded tonight of my cooking escapades over the years. Some good. Some, well, lets just say different. The other night I made broccoli and cheese soup, cheddar and garlic biscuits, and twice baked potatoes. I went by the recipe so it all turned out pretty good. But usually that is where I go wrong. I am not much of a planner, so I do not plan out my menus. This has caused many a meal in the Boyles house to go awry! I will start making a dish not realizing I don’t have all the ingredients. So I substitute.
One of Don’s favorite stories to tell is about the “green” velvet cake. I was out of red food coloring so I just put a little of all the colorings in. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I know better. Oh and I now, know that peach cobbler is not good without sugar, no matter how sweet the peaches are. I could go on and on.
Cooking is kind of like life. We don’t always get it right. I know I don’t anyway. But we are supposed to learn from our mistakes. Right? But do we ever really learn? I would hope I do. I know I don’t always respond to what I have learned. I seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. Mistakes as a wife, as a parent, as a child of God. I make mistakes and I try to learn from them and make changes. Some of the changes I make are not any better than what I was trying to change. Like the time I was making meatloaf and I didn’t have any oatmeal, crackers, or bread. So I used potato chips. That was definitely a change. It change my meatloaf into a big greasy mass. Yuck! Even Don wouldn’t eat it. Ketchup couldn’t even fix it. But luckily Gods not like that. He see’s the mistakes I make and he forgives me. He see the changes I make good and bad and he loves still. Luckily mercy and grace are better than ketchup. Thankfully when I make a mess of things He still loves me. He see’s me for me. Not for who others think I should be but for what He knows I am. You all see me as a green velvet cake. (Which I do NOT recommend baking) but he see’s me for what I really am. His!

Who am I to Judge?

It seems like more and more people are dying young. I never lost a “close” relative until I was 21 years old. After that it seemed like it didn’t stop. I really have a hard time dealing with death.
My dads friend found his adult son dead last week. How horrible to find your child dead! I could not even (nor do I want to) imagine. I haven’t seen him since I was about 10 years old. So I was not directly affected by his passing, but being a parent, I am just sick for his parents. All I know for sure is that children are supposed to outlive their parents no matter what. But thats not the way life works.
His son lived a “fast” life. Drugs! They over took him. This man finally succumbed to his addictions. He had so many opportunities in life. Opportunities the average person wouldn’t have. And he blew it. I wish I could ask him why? Why when you KNOW the drugs will eventually kill you did you try them anyway. I just want to shake him. Why did you put your parents through the ringer? Why did you choose to give up everything? I know his death was inevitable. The rate he was going it wasn’t a matter of “if” it was a matter of “when”. With all the information there is about what drugs can do to your body why would you even give them a passing thought. All the young celebrities we have seen die because of addictions. He should have know better. In my mind I rant and rave at him. He has left grieving parents and a sibling. I just get so mad how dare he screw up the life God created for him! Then I start to think rationally.
Here I sit, overweight! Sedentary! Knowing that I am at risk for a stroke or heart attack. I have diabetes and I eat sweets ALL the time. I have a food addiction! Even after all the information I have been given. If I do not make some changes it will become a matter of “when” for me as well. How dare I screw up this life God has created for me! Who am I to judge this man? An addiction is an addiction. Whether its food, drugs, or whatever. I need to see this as a wake up call for myself. I need to take the opportunity God has given me to live! So I’m gonna try to learn a lesson from him and make the changes I need to make. I never have liked change, so I’m sure it will be baby steps.

Like Sands Through The Hourglass!

As many of you know with my job I travel to different places testing their water. Well today was no different. One of the places I go to is a daycare. I rarely see the children though. Today, however, I had to go through the playground. That playground had all sorts of toys. Swings, slides, balls, high top cars, (By the way I got stuck in one of those when I was about 14) and a sandbox. Anyway as I was walking through the playground I heard a little girl about three years old yelling at me “Hey, tug! Tug!” Tug!” I said “Hello there”. She just kept yelling “Tug!” I got closer to the sandbox, thats when I noticed “it”. A walker. A tiny little walker. The little girl, playing in the sand started bouncing up and down up and down waving at me and yelling “Tug, tug, tug!” It was then I saw that the tiny little walker belonged to her. She had only one leg. The other leg ended at the upper part of her thigh. My heart was instantly broken for her. Well I finished with the water and was coming back through the playground gate, when she started yelling again. “Tug me!” Thats when I realized she was saying “Hug me” I looked at her teacher and she said “Thats fine you can hug her”. The little girl rolled out of that sandbox and hopped on one leg all the way over to where I was, which was about 15-20 feet away. And she was very fast I might add! But she didn’t come alone, she was followed by a three year old cowgirl, and a three year old freckle faced boy. All of whom required a hug.
They all hugged me but the little girl held on. She threw her little arms around my neck and wrapped her little leg around my waist. Then she got down and hopped back over to the sandbox and started playing with the other kids. And I realized just how blessed I am. This little girl was so happy and she was spreading her joy. I wonder how long its been since I have spread any joy. How long its been since I showed anyone how happy I was with what God had blessed me with? I realized in that one little hug I had felt Gods presence. I also realized something else. That little girl was covered in sand and so was I!!!
I got in the car and was leaving and as I brushed the sand off my neck I thought about how blessed I was. A little further down the road I brushed away more sand. This happened all day. And all day I was reminded of Gods love for me.
Its funny how God uses little things to teach us lessons. Who would have thought that a little girl, a hug, and a sandbox would have shown me how blessed I am. The bible teaches about being careful of how we treat strangers they might be angels.(Hebrews 13.2) And I thought this might be the case with me, except as I was leaving I turned around and saw her pick up a hand full of sand and throw it in the little freckled faced boys’ eyes. I don’t think an angel would do that! Its funny how God works!