I made punch for a baby shower last week, and it received high praise...I found it online (by searching by rating, which I've found yields the best results on allrecipes.com) and adapted it according to reviews. I had no less than 10 requests for the recipe, which is not bad considering there were only about 15 people there! So, if you have a function coming up, try this! If not, file it away...It's truly a keeper!

Luscious Slush Punch (adapted from www.allrecipes.com recipe)

Ingredients
* 1 cup white sugar
* 6 cups water
* 2 (3 ounce) packages flavored gelatin mix (I used one blackberry and one strawberry - I think just about anything would be good.)
* 1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
* 2/3 cup lemon juice (or one lemon-shaped squeezer)
* 1 quart orange juice
* 2 (2 liter) bottles ginger ale

Directions
1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and flavored gelatin. Boil for 3 minutes. Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers (I used gallon-sized zip top bags, and just set them in a container so they would stay upright while I ladled in the mix). I kept the mix in the freezer overnight and it was slushy, but not frozen solid, in the morning.
2. When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir in 1 bottle of ginger ale until slushy. Top with orange slices or other fruit.

You could use jello with the appropriate color to match your function! I made this for a boy's baby shower, but didn't try to do blue or green...I wanted to try it with more normal punch flavors first!


Enjoy!

Destination: Crazy.

I feel like I'm losing my mind. Everything around me seems to be at warp speed. I left the house with no make-up yesterday (no make up!). And no coffee (no coffee!). How is it Friday already? How is the first semester over? Grades are really due?

I want to curl up with a book, take a hot bath, sleep...pray, pray, pray.

I think I've always been a bit introspective, never really depressive, but I feel I'm wrapped up in thoughts of me, me, me right now, and I need to break out of it. I'm feeling overwhelmed, and nothing has actually happened to me. Here's what's weighing so, so heavily on my heart - cancer, cancer in 12-year-olds, muscular dystrophy, adoption, foster care, miscarriage, MRIs, divorce, babies with pneumonia, mortgages that can't be paid, NICU babies and their parents...And here I am, perfectly healthy, employed, happily married, beautiful family. And I feel like I'm drowning.

I've pulled out my copy of Disappointment with God by Yancey. I've never been in this place before, this place where everything is going right for me, and things are going very, very wrong for several of the people I love. Wrong by my version of fairness, not God's...And there's a quote in Yancey's book that I keep going back to -

"Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me." Frederick Buechner

I don't really have a direction with this post, except that my feelings right now aren't matching my situation. I'm internalizing a lot of what's going on around me, and that's not necessarily a new thing, but it's never been this intense before...never so weighty. I'm spending the afternoon knitting, praying, and thinking about how to be active in all of this.

Update on my student, R:

Late yesterday afternoon a diagnosis came in - R has a very, very rare form of sarcoma that causes large tumors in the abdomen. It usually goes misdiagnosed for a long time because it can look like other cancers due to its location. It is a childhood cancer and is primarily found in boys. I am praying that her prognosis will be good because this diagnosis came so quickly and she has not already been treated for the wrong type of cancer. Her mom cautioned against using the internet for information on this type of cancer - because it is so rare, the information is not up to date and the most current treatments are not factored in to the survival rates. Of course, I couldn't help myself, and she was right - the most current info I found was from 2001, and was grim. Please specifically pray that R's doctors will quickly determine the stage of the cancer, and begin the appropriate treatment immediately. Pray for R to respond well to the treatment, and pray that her little body will stay strong enough to keep her sunny spirit! Also pray for her mom, K, who is just beginning to process this information. And huge praise for a diagnosis, as just knowing what she has is a huge step towards a cure!

After school today I am co-hosting a baby shower for a friend at work. I made a new punch recipe, and I made a gift! If they turn out to be successes, I'll post about them over at my sister's blog, Tiny Tidbits. If not, well, let's forget I even mentioned it.

Happy Tuesday. Hope your day isn't as icy/snowy/sleety as it looks like mine is going to be...but then again, judging by where most of you live, I'm afraid we're all in the same boat. At least school isn't canceled up here! Stay warm.

I know it's becoming redundant for me to say this, but I have a very, very special class this year. Every week I feel like we become stronger, closer and smarter! We hit some huge math milestones last week, cause for huge celebration - especially for a few strugglers. However, we spent that whole week without one of our classmates. This sweet girl, R, has been battling minor illness all year, one thing after the other. She is a trouper, though, and is always quick to catch up on her work...and she brings lots of smiles to our room.

I received information yesterday that sweet R is in the hospital, her thin body riddled with tumors, lesions on her lungs and liver. How can this be?

I'll be heading up to the hospital in the morning for a visit - she was in and out of surgery and procedures today to remove tumors, biopsy tumors and bone marrow, and to insert a central line to begin chemotherapy. Her mom sounded tired, confused, and above all incredibly worried for her little girl.

Please include them in your prayers. And me. This is such hard news to even begin to absorb.

I am so tired, and I have no good reason...I even had Monday off! Today I have meetings before and after school, and a whole house in need of a good scrubbing. I'm settling into my single-parent (to two dogs) mode. At first I half-mope/half-enjoy-the-alone-time, next I clean (because it stays clean so much better), then I join life again - go for walks, go to the gym, shop, etc. I haven't made it to step 2, yet, which if fine since Will left yesterday. But, when he's only gone for a month I don't have quite as long to make it through my three step program. I'm planning to make it through the cleaning by the end of the weekend. We'll see...

I finally put up Christmas. As bittersweet as it is, I was so ready to do it. I hit the point of just being annoyed by the tree, the decorations, and the clutter. I'm ready to get the 2009 ball rolling.

We're catching up on laundry, cleaning, and drying out from our last bout of bad weather. Things will barely have time to settle down before Will heads out to I.P. School. It seems non-stop between schools and deployments and trips, but we're trying to enjoy the precious few days we live "normal" lives.

So I'm off to finish dinner, catch up on email, and wait until Will gets home for our nightly Jeopardy match. I'm due for a win, so let's hope we've got some vocabulary/literature/word play categories tonight!

An update by way of pictures...

We were snowed in and decided to play a little game of Scrabble (not Will's favorite)...Now he has Risk (thanks, Santa) so the next time we're snowed in we'll play that instead!

Our mailman got stuck in the snow while delivering our mail...He had to be towed - this picture makes it look like it was the middle of the night when they finally got the mail truck out, but it was really about 5 pm, it just gets really dark here really early.

I got to spend a few days with this cutie pie while Will was on a duck hunt in Arkansas.

Sunset in Uvalde...We snuck in this picture (probably my favorite of the two of us that day) during our family photo session. I love the sunset in the back (even though our camera isn't the best).

The girls all watched Mamma Mia! on the "widescreen" - and afterwards we watched several of the songs in sing-along mode...Fun, fun, fun!


And now I'm out the door to work, even though the kids are coming two hours late due to flooding! Crazy place, this Washington.

Want an exercise in futility? Try putting socks on a baby. A squirmy, squiggly almost-9-month-old. (A darn cute one.)

Despite the futility I'm having a great time. Pictures to come.

A baby. God wrapped in human flesh. Emmanuel. God with us. Fulfilled prophecy, fulfilled promise.

At no other time of year is this unbelievable, unwarranted gift of God's grace and provision for his creation more at the forefront of my mind. It shouldn't be a seasonal mindset.

The following was posted on A Quiverful a while ago, and I keep going back to read it again and again as I watch so many people taking part in this tradition of Christmas without thought of the glorious gift it celebrates. And I wonder why they don't really think about it, question it...if they've tried to wrap their mind around the mystery of the universe at all, and if they have, is it that they've decided it's good enough to just be good enough?

From C.S. Lewis' "Man or Rabbit?" (from God in the Dock, a collection of essays):

"Can’t you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?” This is the question on which I have been asked to write, and straight away, before I begin trying to answer it, I have a comment to make. The question sounds as if it were asked by a person who said to himself, “I don’t care whether Christianity is in fact true or not. I’m not interested in finding out whether the real universe is more what like the Christians say than what the Materialists say. All I’m interested in is leading a good life. I’m going to choose beliefs not because I think them true but because I find them helpful.” Now frankly, I find it hard to sympathise with this state of mind. One of the things that distinguishes man from the other animals is that he wants to know things, wants to find out what reality is like, simply for the sake of knowing. When that desire is completely quenched in anyone, I think he has become something less than human. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe any of you have really lost that desire. More probably, foolish preachers, by always telling you how much Christianity will help you and how good it is for society, have actually led you to forget that Christianity is not a patent medicine. Christianity claims to give an account of facts—to tell you what the real universe is like. Its account of the universe may be true, or it may not, and once the question is really before you, then your natural inquisitiveness must make you want to know the answer. If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all.

My sweet s-i-l can't pass up a meme. Seriously. :)

I'm finally getting around to this one, even though I was tagged a while ago. Here we are...

1) Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I like finding cute paper and bows, and I like making the packages look neat and pretty. It's all very enjoyable for me, and I hole up in the office and get it all done in one or two sittings if possible.
2) Real or Artificial tree? Artificial - I got a super deal on it after Christmas a few years ago, and it WAS pre-lit, until Will took the lights OFF this year, because they were too tangled for his liking...
3) When do you put your tree up? Never soon enough...usually the first weekend in December, although I'd love to do it at Thanksgiving.
4) When do you take your tree down? Whenever we get back from Christmas traveling, usually the second weekend in January or so.
5) Do you like eggnog? Yes, especially in coffee - my homemade Egg Nog Lattes are pretty good, and much cheaper than Starbucks!
6)Favorite gift received as a child? 10-speed with matching helmet.
7) Hardest person to buy for? My father-in-law...because I'd like to get him something special or different, but every year it's a gift card (which is special, I guess, because that's what he likes, but I would like to know what he's using them for, and I'd actually buy that for him instead).
8) Easiest person to buy for? All of the ladies in the family, and Will
9) Do you have a nativity scene? Sort of - one of our wedding presents was a pretty porcelain nativity that holds a tealight in the back. It's very delicate and small, though, and I'd like to get another nativity some day.
10) Mail or e-mail Christmas Cards? Mail, but this was the first year...if you didn't (or don't, depending on how fast the mail is this time of year) get one, that means I need your address!
11) Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't think of one...although we used to do a White Elephant exchange at our youth group progressive dinner each year, and I ended up with a hideous pink heart-shaped, fabric-covered box two years in a row. I wonder if that thing is still making its rounds at the annual exchange.
12) Favorite Christmas Movie? I don't really have one, although I think I might watch "Love Actually" today while I finish wrapping. Some unsavory parts, but I love the story and the accents.
13) When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually shop for Will in the few weeks before Christmas. Depending on when we get together with family, I sometimes wait until after Christmas to get gifts - it gets difficult to pack gifts in suitcases and still have enough room for 10 days to two weeks of clothes and stuff (especially with baggage costs these days). Since we always have to travel by air, it requires some strategic planning on my part. This year I have about half of the family gifts (all small and compact) already, and I'll be able to get the rest once we've reached our destination...
14) Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
15) Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? This year it's White Trash (or Cap'n Crunch Candy, whatever you prefer to call it). I also always look forward to my m-i-l's wilted spinach salad...yum.
16) Lights on tree? There are colored lights on the whole thing (now) and white lights about 3/4 of the way up. They are wired separately so we can do colored lights only, white lights only, or both. I prefer colored lights only this year because I like symmetry, and it looks totally off with the crazy half-done white lights!
17) Favorite Christmas Song? Joy to the World ("HE rules the world with Truth and Grace"), especially this year.
18) Travel at Christmas or stay home? This will be the first year that we're home on Christmas day (at least part of it), but we always travel at the holidays. One day I'd like to spend Christmas at home, maybe when we have kids.
19) Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph
20) Angel or Star on top of tree? Star, it's rustic looking and one of my favorite tree decorations.
21) Open the presents Christmas Eve or Morning? I think Will and I will open our presents to each other on Christmas Eve - as a kid we always opened one on Christmas Eve, and our stocking and the rest of our presents on Christmas morning.
22) Most annoying thing about this time of year? Rude shoppers who are NOT in the Christmas spirit, and people who bring kids shopping with them and then yell at them the whole time because they are asking for stuff (duh - the stores are designed to make your kids ask you for stuff)...
23) Favorite ornament theme or color? Theme? We have no theme. I like a hodge-podge of old and new, handmade, and sentimental ornaments.
24) Favorite for Christmas Dinner? One that's spent with family, and one that I don't have to clean up after! :)
26) What do you want for Christmas this year? Safe and easy travel.
26) Who do you Tag to answer these on their blog? I'm so late that I think everyone has done this already...if you have not, I tag you.

Merry Christmas!

There is nothing like spending time with great friends, especially old friends. Erica and I became friends our sophomore year in high school, and have stayed close since (despite the fact that she's a Sooner). We have gone through more trials and tribulations in that time that I could count - never anything between us, which was great...there's just something about being able to call your best and oldest friends and know they'll let you pick up right where you left off, no matter how long it's been.

Erica was much more career focused than I was in college (meaning she didn't wait until after she graduated to decide what she wanted to do...). She became a nurse, then went grad school, and now is a Nurse Practitioner in the ER of a huge children's hospital. Erica dated Adam forever, which was a feat because we were in a group of friends who dated pretty much in our own circle, and Adam was a football player AND a Methodist (gasp). He always seemed older and, being outside of our immediate circle, a little untouchable - a good-looking, state-champion football player. Well, we have really gotten to know each other in the post-high school years (almost 10! yikes!) and I could not have picked anyone more perfect for my dear, dear friend. Erica is in the midst of the second trimester with their first baby, and having them here at this time was such a blessing to us. Watching the way Adam treats Erica, and the way they both were giddy and excited and all-out lit up when talking about the baby?...Priceless. They are going to be great parents.

I have always felt a huge sense of pride about Erica's accomplishments - maybe because she's overcome a lot, or because she is so professional about things, or maybe it's simply because she's such a good friend and I'm invested in how things go for her because of it. So, needless to say, I couldn't hold back tears of joy when I got the text on Wednesday that they're growing a healthy baby BOY!

So here are some pics of our time with Erica, Adam, and Baby Boy B.

Ocean Shores, WA

The Requisite Self-Portrait

The Parents-to-Be, shopping at the Land of Nod.

Shopping in the Snow

Friends!

Snow Day in WA. The dogs are having as much fun as the neighborhood kids.

Dixie, running like mad, chasing snowflakes.

"Okay, Dad, that's enough. Let me in, please."

Maddie, always looking for toys. Today they were covered with a few inches of fluffy snow.

But will that stop Mad-dog?

Don't think so. She proceeded to play with the frozen soccer ball, not wanting to come in out of the cold.

And in the end we had ourselves an abominable snow-dog.

It has been a fantastic four days with Erica and Adam (and the incubating Baby B) visiting from Texas. And to top it off we've had snow! It looks like more is on the way, hopefully not in time to delay their flight, though - let's just hope that the DFW Airport isn't too backed up from the winter weather down there.

Pictures to come - we're off to lunch at Bahama Breeze, then to the airport!

Time? It is a flyin'.

I can't believe this season has come on us so quickly...We still have so much to do:

-buy tickets to fly south for the winter (well, for 10 days or so)
-re-string the pre-lit tree since Will took off all of the lights
-decorate
-bake cookies for two cookie exchange parties
-host some great friends for a weekend!
-buy gifts

Throw in cleaning and making sure the dogs (Who am I kidding? I mean the dog, Dixie) doesn't eat any ornaments or branches off of the tree. Busy times. Oh, and we have to go to work, too. I just can't wait for our house to really feel like Christmas and be full of friends and laughter and good times. Then we'll head out of town and get to spend time with family and have more of that laughter and good times. Seriously. Can't. Wait.

Got kids? If so, and they're in school, you're probably thinking about what to get their teachers for Christmas...and, you've come to the right place! Here's a list of appropriate, budget-friendly gifts that your child's teacher will love.

-A donation (of any amount) to any charity in their name. It's especially nice in this economy to know that we're all thinking about those in less fortunate situations than us...Need some suggestions? Pick up an extra bag of food on your next grocery trip, and drop it off at a local food bank, or donate a toy. Or, see here, here and here (you could get some of the other parents to go in with you on these to make them affordable). I'd even love a note saying, "I dropped $5 in the Salvation Army bell-ringer bucket for you!"

-Basic Supplies: I'm always in need of dry-erase markers (especially colors, which tend to cost a little more, but do come in small packs). Fun gel pens, stickers (smelly stickers are great for elementary teachers) and decorative scissors with neat edges would also make great gifts. I don't know a teacher who doesn't love even the most basic of office supplies, especially in cute colors/patterns! Oh, magnets are nice, too. Colored note cards, card stock, and colored copy paper are not available in a lot of schools - some schools even limit white copy paper...just ask around and you'll find what the teachers at your child's school most want!

-Christmas Cards! If you do a family card, include your teacher among the recipients. I love getting the cards (even the ones with extensive family updates), and I really love it when they are personalized with a note.

-A small, homemade treat. Sometimes the amounts are overwhelming - a few cookies or a small container of fudge will do!...It's also nice to include the recipe, especially if it's a tried-and-true favorite of yours (and you don't mind sharing).

-An ornament that expresses YOUR kid, not a generic teacher ornament. Put their name on it with the year, and it's a great memory as we decorate our trees each year.

-A donation of your TIME...Come on in and volunteer! I'm sure your child's teacher has something that you could help out with!

I'm sure I could think of a dozen more, but this is a good start. It is difficult to accept gifts when you know that a lot of the kiddos in your class come from families that are struggling financially...and it can be uncomfortable when some students bring very nice gifts. Having your child drop something off before or after school, or giving it discreetly (and not having to open it in front of other kids), makes life easier for teachers. Know that we appreciate every single gift, and our thank-you notes can't really express that fully.

I have been blessed this year with an incredible class - sure they make me nuts, but they are so, so special. As a whole they have taught me a lot, and they are truly a gift to have around. I'm hoping for happy, healthy Christmases for all of them...and for them to realize the Reason we have those two weeks off in December.

I love this season.

Thanks, Will! I think you made an excellent choice.




The new rug makes it feel like a new room...which is perfect timing because I've felt the need to paint or rearrange since we've been here two and a half years already. Maybe the painting can wait, but this weekend I'll be rearranging the living room to make a space for the Christmas tree! I can't wait.

So, I've been tagged to complete some questionnaires, and I'll get around to it, but this morning I'm running late. And I haven't had a cup of coffee yet.

We had a great weekend catching up with AF friends who have already made their way to other parts of the country. However, I am not used to late nights, and I was worn out. We made our requisite Sunday run to COSTCO, not thinking about the upcoming holiday, and it was a mad house. Not a good place to go when you're already running on fumes. To top it off we had to stop at Wal-Mart to buy a few turkeys - fun! Luckily we were able to utilize the 20 items or less lane and didn't wait long at all.

Will sent back a few rugs while he was deployed, and we finally got around to arranging our dining room with one of the new rugs under the table. We had to reorient the room, which I wasn't sure about, but it turned out great. I don't have a picture of the room, but here's the rug (well, it's the one that Dixie is sitting on):

So, it's hard to tell what it looks like, but it's mostly a deep red with navy and cream. My favorite that Will has picked out so far, besides a handmade rug that's at the foot of our bed right now. Dixie was not very cooperative when I was trying to get pictures of the rugs - she's a ham. At least we got the rugs put in place so that they are no longer sitting in the middle of the hallway.

And now Monday morning is upon us. Well, Will's sleeping in a little bit, and I'm about to head out the door. Have a good one!

We're sick.

The crud has descended on our house (Will thinks it came from spending 30+ hours in a plane with over a hundred people as they made their way home from the Middle East, and he finally passed it to me). The worst part for me is that I haven't been sleeping well, so I've been in a fog since Friday night. I need to head out to buy some more meds that will hopefully bring a solid recovery by tomorrow - I have my formal evaluation! Fun, fun.

I had a wonderful birthday on Friday! My sweet husband brought me lunch at work, my awesome class decorated my room while we were eating in the teacher's lounge, and we had treats while we did our math. Will and I headed up to Tacoma to have a pot-luck with friends (I made a delicious antipasto pasta salad, and I'll have to post the recipe soon) - the host was making his mom's stromboli recipe and it was so good. Will surprised me with a cake (mainly because he didn't get one last year and was trying to earn some points). We all went out after dinner, and I was feeling fine until late Friday night. I'll post pictures soon.

For now, we're going to work on recuperating. Happy Sunday.

I must say that it sure is nice to return to life as "normal," even if the norm for us isn't actually having Will home...maybe that will change, though. We've hung out, watched movies, shopped, ate out, cooked dinner, and just enjoyed being together. As expected, there are some adjustments (Where did my clean house go? He snores! How did I forget that he snores?). I had to go to work on Friday and Will's truck was still out of commission (although it is now working), so my sweet husband got up to take me to work...as he came down the stairs, Dixie started barking like crazy! I guess we're all still getting used to having the whole family home.

In honor of Veterans' Day, Will is attending my school's assembly. What a good husband! He'll have to stand up in front of our 500 kiddos and tell them who he is and who he's related to...The kids get such a kick out of it and they my class so excited to meet him. Luckily, we have tomorrow off, so we'll try to get in a round of golf if it's not raining (insert laugh here at our futile attempt to pretend this is not WA in November).

Happy Monday.