All Things Beautiful

I heard this song earlier this week and it has become my anthem this week...my soft and slightly breathless anthem... I may not be here all that much these days of long drawn out waiting, simply because I am at a lack of what to say...but I know that most importantly...I am here in His hands and really, there is no better place to be. Thank you to all of you who are praying for me and loving me... I feel it.

I hope you are equally blessed by this:

"Consider it  pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."(James 1:2 NIV)

And it looks like more testing is required...

literally.

So how will I learn to be joyful in knowing that another MRI must be scheduled to further investigate the results of the last one???


Oh just you watch me.

It's already amazing to me since walking out the doctor's office in a daze yesterday that the simplest things around me are hitting me as incredibly beautiful.

The snuggle with both my kids at bedtime. The songs I sing them to sleep with

Father in Heaven, hear my prayer
Keep me in thy tender care...

The commitment to uphold me in love and prayer from so many, the sun shining in all it's spring time brilliance...

Yes, He makes all things beautiful

and that is my joy.

I don't want to say it's killing me...but I feel a tremendous fluttering of butterflies each time I think about my appointment on Friday afternoon with the Specialist. I've been waiting a long time to get in to see her, and then all of a sudden the results from my MRI came in and I received two cryptic phone calls from the receptionist at the clinic asking me to bump up my appointment at the next possible opening...

Ummm...of course...may I ask why?

No, of course you can never ask why....the receptionist doesn't know anyway...you have to wait as patiently as possible...praying and trying not to worry...meanwhile the stress alone has resulted in three back to back migraines already this week...that's a new record for me.

Oh God, please help me.

I mean it.

I go back and forth trying to tell myself that if it was something really really serious they wouldn't let me wait until Friday even...if it was nothing at all they wouldn't be bumping my appointment by a whole month.

So my poor wearied, migraine addled brain is left with a vague category of things to choose from that it could be that the specialist needs to tell me...

I don't like that category very much...

Maybe there should be a rule about what receptionists are or aren't allowed to say to prospective patients in their phone messages....

Maybe I could use some prayers.

Cause as much as I believe in the power of prayer...mine feel a little pathetic right now.

That's all for today.

C'mon Friday.

I've mentioned here before that I don't care much for fruits and vegetables.I've also mentioned how I need to eat much more of them.

Complex carbs. It's what we all need... and what I need to find a way to get into my diet more and more.

I should rephrase my disdain however, by saying that I like vegetables when they are prepared nicely. And by nicely I mean not just chopped up on a plate...cause it has to be pretty incredible dip to make that appetizing day after day.

 It should also be stated that I'm  also  quite done with worrying about being a purist. I know raw is the healthiest way to eat them...but I just don't eat them that way ( I mean I do...just not on a daily basis), so I'd rather they be cooked than go uneaten.


I have spent quite a lot of time in the past two years getting all lathered up about how much I wish I could have shelves of preserved this and that grown locally and organically in my own garden or some other worthy person's, ...but alas, it's just not going to happen.

 I may get a small number of tomato plants or some lettuce going again, but last year's container garden of vegetable plants looked a little...um...low brow ( for lack of better term that won't offend people who come from certain less desirable neighborhoods)...and in the interest of making our house as desirable as possible for market value this summer...that just won't due.


And again I'd rather just be eating a vegetable or fruit at this point no matter where it came from.

I noticed one day that my kids will eat their vegetables willingly if they come in soup form. So I give them a lot of soup.

I decided I may as well start making up some soups for myself and here is what I came up with....

Here is a much more sophisticated recipe with a much classier photograph too.

I use my hand blender and blend the whole thing smooth which makes it extra delicious and fulfilling somehow.

If I were you, I'd grate a little cheese on top and enjoy it with whole wheat crackers; rejoicing in the fact that you are eating much more broccoli than you would be if you'd chopped that bad boy up and just tried to chew it down like a mini tree mulcher...
Anyways, I've been coming up with all sorts of ways to include more and more servings of vegetables into my diet over the last few weeks and I think I might start trying to post them here if anyone is interested. I feel like a queen eating all these delicious foods every day for my lunches; it's even become something I look forward to.  I'm a big fan of anything that only needs to be prepared once and then sits in the fridge patiently waiting for me to devour it over the course of the next few days, so that's what most of my ideas are. If you also have any ideas, I'd be grateful to have them shared here too!