October

October and I have a love/hate relationship. It is a month ripe with memories; the best of the best and the worst of the worst. It's a month of reflection and remembering. Remembering the joy and the hope as I said, "I do" to Cale and the pain and the heartbreak of saying goodbye to my dad. The two most defining moments of my life all wrapped up in the same month...it makes for an emotional me.

As I was thinking about it today I realized how both of those moments were absolutely saturated in God's grace. They are experiences that reside at completely opposite ends of the spectrum, but are not separate. They are both pieces of me, my story.

A story of a loving God with plans so far beyond what I could ever imagine. He's the one who gave me a dad that showed me how much I was worth and taught me to never settle for anything less then God's best. God's the one who gave me a dad that walked by faith in ways I am still experiencing and gave me a passion for learning and understanding and growing.

And He's the same God who brought Cale into my life and everyday is the best there could ever be for me. He gave me a husband who daily works out this life of faith by my side and encourages me to think and grow and try new things. He gave me a husband who's belief in me is unwavering.

So today I'm sad, but God's grace is no less sufficient. My mind is full of memories and I will myself to recall new ones that I haven't yet remembered. Somthing else of my dad to hold on to, even for just a moment.

This weekend, I will be hopeful as I rejoice with Cale at what God has done in six years of our marriage. And God's grace will surround us in that joy, too. We will recount God's faithfulness to us and look to the future with great expectation.

There is much more to this story...but the theme will never change.

"And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." John 1:16 (ESV)

A walk in the park

It's 6:30pm on a Friday night and I'm already in my pajamas. And I like it. Cale unexpectedly took the day off today and we spent a much needed day together. A trip to the farmer's market, a stop to pick up some lunch for our picnic and then a hike through the arboretum. It was a perfect warm fall day and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, the company and the food. It was exactly what we needed at the end of this week and turned our three day weekend into four. I like that, too.

We took a number of pictures but they were taken on the good old 35mm and we will have to get them developed. When was the last time you shot a roll of film? It's been a while for us, so long in fact that we can't remember what the first three pictures were from on the film already in the camera. Surprises await us when we get them developed. I've got my fingers crossed that at least a few of them came out as well as I think they did.

The rest of my evening consists of eating the rest of our lunch for dinner, bathing and putting a girl to bed (early- no nap today!) and settling in on the couch with my boy to watch a flick. The perfect ending to a delightful day together.

I should have never gotten out of bed

I have had a crappy day. A succession of smaller things, one maybe larger thing, and I'm feeling swamped by the pile. Instead of recounting it all, I am trying to think positive tonight. So here's five things that made me happy today:

1. Laying in the grass listening to Cale try to teach Haven the finer points of hide-and-go-seek
2. A new book to dig in to
3. Swinging through Timmy H's for an iced capp
4. A great friend who lets me vent, laughs with me at my ridiculous behavior and reminds me that Jesus is better
5. Remembering that "The Office" is on tonight

Here's to hoping that tomorrow will be better!

Chore Chart

After some debate over the last few weeks we have started a Chore Chart for Haven. She already displays a heart for service even at this young age. She always wants to help with whatever someone is working on- me in the kitchen, Cale in the yard, a baby with a toy, a friend with their shoes. She is always right in the midst of the action. We decided to make the most of that and give her specific, age appropriate tasks. We desire to teach her from a very young age that we are a family working together and it takes all of us doing our part for our family to work the best.

What that means for a two-and-a-half year old is making her bed, emptying the silverware basket from the dishwasher, picking up toys before nap and bedtime and putting away all of our shoes. Cale made up a chart with all of her chores and she gets to put a check mark in the appropriate spot when she completes her task. If she gets all four checks for the day she gets a sticker. If she gets 25 stickers for a month then she will get a special treat. We haven't decided exactly what this means, but think it will probably mean a trip to the dollar store to pick out whatever she wants.

We still aren't clear how that all works. Should we reward behavior that we expect anyways? If we do believe that this is her contribution to our family then does it really make sense to train her that there is a reward for just doing your job? Honestly, in her sweet mind getting "to do chores" is very exciting and a sticker at the end of the day is about all she needs. So should we do more? This question then leads to the allowance debate as well. We agree that she is too young at this point, but is that something we are going to do? While these aren't life altering issues, teaching her about the value of work and being a team player are vitally important to us and we don't think she's too young to start learning. Any thoughts?

Friday Favorites

We have enjoyed this first full week of fall around our house. Pumpkins and apples and leaves, oh my! And tonight we're going to round it out with a high school football game. It's been a busy week and my brain is done so you are going to get a list of some of my favorite things from the last few weeks.

*I know that everyone is trying to keep the grocery budget under control in the midst of rising prices. Grocery Cart Challenge is a great blog I found this week and she totally puts me to shame as she feeds her family of six on about $50 a week! That is some committed frugality! Check her out for some great ideas and recipes.

*Another great blog I've been enjoying is Muses of Megret. She is a creative mom who always has a great idea for engaging her kids. She also has a great links page for preschool activities that I have utilized many times. It's like she did all the work for me!

*The year after Cale and I got married I bought a book by Noel Piper (John Piper's wife) called "Treasuring God in our Traditions." I read it then and enjoyed it, but kind of forgot about it until recently. I started re-reading it this week and am just so encouraged by her perspective why traditions are yet another way to glorify God. It is a wonderful book that you can even read for free online at Desiring God.

*I recently splurged a bit on this address stamp from Sweet Papery's shop on etsy. But can you blame me? I mean look at it! It's adorable and I loved and it and I don't plan on moving for a very long time. Their shop has lots of cute things in it.

Happy weekend! Here's to hoping you have plans for something wonderfully fall-ish!

Apples

We went apple picking yesterday afternoon. Is there anything for fall-ish then that?! A half-bushel of Golden Delicious and Empire apples waiting to be eaten. Some will be left alone, but there are quite a few earmarked for my mom's Crumb Top Apple Pie and some Crumbly Brown Sugar and Oatmeal Apple Bars. What's your favorite way to eat apples in the fall?

Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Spinach

Last night I fixed a great meal for our dinner. It's great for several reasons: I usually have all the ingredients on hand, it makes 2 pans so I can stick one in the freezer and it is a pretty healthy one dish meal. I have realized that I really do tweak everything I make from a recipe and this one is no exception. So I will share it as I made it and if you want to see the original recipe you can go here. I tried to lighten it up a bit and make it a little bit easier. Of course, the original recipe is delicious, but so is my version!

1 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, partially drained
1 tsp oregano
1/2 - 3/4 cup half and half
1 lb rigatoni (or the mini penne called piccolini that Barilla makes)
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
12 oz chicken sausage, sliced lengthwise and then into half- moons (I buy Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic and they are great in this)
6 ounces fontina cheese (or mozzarella), 4 ounces cut into 1/2-inch cubes and 2 ounces coarsely grated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan


-Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and let cook a few more minutes.

-Stir in tomatoes and oregano; cook for 7-8 minutes. Add half-and-half and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

-Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta in the boiling water until al dente, according to package instructions. Add tomato sauce, sausage, and cubed fontina (or mozzarella) to pot; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Divide evenly between two shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dishes.
Top with grated fontina and Parmesan. Bake until browned and edges are crisp, 20 to 30 minutes.

If freezing one pan, don't top with additional cheese until you are ready to bake. Will keep in freezer for 3 months. You can cook from frozen by baking for 1 and 1/2 to 1 and 3/4 hours covered with foil, then adding cheese topping and baking an additional 20 minutes.

A great one dish meal for the cool nights ahead!

adapted from Everyday Food December 2004