A Cinnamon Kind Of Day!!

This week has been the first crazy busy week since arriving in our new home! It’s been WONDEFUL!!! I love activity! I thrive on it!! There is nothing quite so awful as being bored out of your skull!!! Don’t get me wrong – it’s exhausting! But it’s the good kind of exhausting – the kind that when you put your head on the pillow at night you realize that you did something with your day!! I love that!! I’ve met with some new colleagues in nonprofits and service fields! Visited with old friends! Shared meals & God’s Word with His people. Cuddled up beside the best kiddos in the world! Planned, snuggled and loved on my husband. Welcomed my mom home safely from Armenia!! And… successfully helped my Dad carry out a surprise Mom mission – SUCCESS is so sweet!!!

I’ve had a one notable culinary adventure too!! YAY!! Although Chicken Carbonara Ravioli was on the menu wednesday, and I do totally still want to give that one a go, it felt more like a nachos kind of night!! So I started browning the ground turkey (yeah – I’ve got hi cholesterol so I sub in the low fat turkey stuff when I can…) and I realized that I don’t have any more taco seasoning… I’ve got about a bajillion recipes for that pinned so I pulled one up and went to adding ingredients…. Chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, and cinnamon… yeah – you read that right!! I totally thought I had put my hand on the cumin – for the life of me, I totally thought that I had cumin in my hand… and after adding 1.5 TBSP to my meat I gasped!!! WHAT HAD I DONE!!!! Gross!!! Cinnamon nachos?! What? There was no time for back up brownies as prayer meeting was a mere 45 minutes away… I did what all good mothers and food conservationists everywhere have done – I served it up anyway!! And it was truly the most unique thing we ate this week – YIKES! No one got sick and no one went hungry… we did however go through a huge jar of salsa that would normally last us a week!! Yeah… this summed up this crazy, run-around-the-world, meeting-filled, exciting-week-of -Woot!!

I only ended up making one of the dishes verbatim off of the pinterest list this week – We were out of town or entertaining guests (not letting them be guinea pigs unwittingly!!) for several nights, and we NEVER skip pizza night!!

The dish I made was the Mac & Cheese quiche. I made this Tuesday whilst Mr. Chill was unavailable – and… once again – I’m the only one who liked it!! In our house we’ve adopted a scale rating – more than thumbs up or down… if it rates 6 or under we throw away the recipe and never make it again… if it’s a 7-10 we keep it in regular rotation…

Here’s how the Mac & Cheese Quiche rated:

JBird:   5

Zebra: 4

Me: 7

So – it won’t be made again in our home sadly… oh well… it was a bit bland. The recipe doesn’t really call for much seasoning so I would recommend adding flavors you know you like – if I were doing this one over I would add salt, garlic powder and some mustard.

The dish I tried this week was a meatloaf slider!!! It’s my own invention – my very first foray into written recipes and…. Drum roll please… 

Meatloaf Sliders:

            JBird:  10!!

            Zebra: 9

            Mr. Chill: 9

            Me:      9

I will be posting the tute for that really soon!! I forgot to take pictures so when I make it as a freezer meal later on this week (preparing for my sis to babysit in a two weeks whilst Mr. Chill & I attend a conference) Zebra has graciously offered to photograph for me! Yay for team efforts!!

This week has also been crazy for many of my friends and family – in some good ways and in some not so much ways… And the “not so much” ways -  that’s rough! There’s nothing quite so hard as seeing someone you love in pain (the physical or emotional kind) and not being able to make it all better with the snap of a finger, a quick, witty word or a hug – afterall hearts don’t rebound, the lost don’t get found, and the new seasons don’t come ‘round quite that quickly or easily sometimes… Unlike my cinnamon debacle, fixing those times that we reach for the wrong thing isn’t as easy as adding more salsa.

There was a time in my life, not to long ago, when I questioned just about everything I was doing – was I on the right career path? Was I really following God’s call for my life? Was I really trusting Him – if so, then why was I struggling so much? Lots and lots of questions… during an afternoon visit with some friends who also happen to be pastors, they shared some words of real wisdom that have gotten me through every dark time of questioning since – “Never question in moments of darkness decisions made in the Light.” I’ve taken that to mean that when I’m filled with doubt, and guilt (not to be confused with conviction) and shame – things that are not of the Lord, I need to be reminded of those things that He has shown me when I’ve been in a better place – emotionally, yes – and spiritually.

When I’m embodying Negative Nancy or Debbie Downer, it’s important for me to get perspective and not be persuaded to believe that everything God has shown me is wrong… If I know He helped with certain decisions, even if the resulting consequence or reward was not what I expected, I have to trust His leading! If I know that He is at work in my body when I am well, I have to trust that He is still working within me when I’m physically sick – to overcome, or to allow me to learn through the experience… In all things, I have to know that whether the situation makes sense to me or not, now or tomorrow, His love remains – He remains – unchanged.

The key to discernment is not in having all the answers. It’s in knowing where to look for them. This is definitely good on those rough days – when we reach for the cumin and wind up with cinnamon…

“My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,

And find the knowledge of God.”

Proverbs 2:1-5 (NIV)

On my dark days...  my cinnamon days… I just want to know Him more!