A Few Things for Wednesday. . .

Two photos taken from the mountain climbing "blog"

(if it can be called that) shared in the sidebar.

First, I decided to share a couple of links with you (from the past two years) on the sidebar. I’m sure some of you noticed the “Gathering Up My Comforts” link I added either yesterday or the day before. That blog was me fiercely determining to focus on the many, many blessings in my life when things were not-particularly-easy. There really is power in counting your blessings. It changes your attitude, it changes your focus, it changes everything. It changes you. When I pointedly thank God, counting my blessings one by one, I recognize and affirm that He is good, that He is loving, and that He is worth all the praise I can muster. And, funny thing, praise begets praise, and the heart bubbles over in song, and troubles suddenly seem trivial. So, read Gathering Up My Comforts, if you wish. It’s the simple story of my blessings and comforts from Fall 2009 to Spring 2010.

Also added to the sidebar today are the pictures of last August’s climb of the South Sister in the Cascade Mountains. (One of the Three Sisters mountains--there is a North Sister and a Middle Sister, too. See top photo.) Everything was beautiful that day—the weather, the company, the mountain scenery, and the climb. I brought down a little red pumice stone from the summit of mountain (because the Cascade Mountains are a volcanic range), and it now sits in a little green dish on my mantle. It’s labeled “South Sister Summit Stone.” I’m not sure that you’re supposed to bring anything off the mountain, though. I told someone later that if everyone brought down a summit stone, the elevation of the mountain would begin to shrink! If you want a good look at God’s amazing creation in this part of the world, go have a look. It’s just a one-page blog.

Something Yummy-Healthy that doesn’t merit its own post. . .

Stir-fried short grain brown rice with kale

(and scallions and garlic and a shoyu and a squirt of lemon).

I saw this in Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook (she cooks great food). She calls it “Green Rice” and says her kids love it. I like kale anyway, but kids liking it is a great recommendation, so I had to try it. I didn’t follow Gwyneth’s recipe exactly, but I didn’t adapt it much, either (except that I used coconut oil, didn’t cook the chopped kale before adding it to the wok, and added a couple squirts of lemon juice). I could not quit eating this, and it was even better when I squirted some “Sarachee Hot Sauce” on top (I found the pictured “Sarachee” sauce at a natural foods store, so the list of ingredients on the label is short and recognizable). This is a great and tasty way to eat lots of super-nutritious dark greens!

Also not meriting its own post, in the “Unpacking the Boxes Awards” category, is a box I have yet to unpack. I’m scared to open it and wonder if I should just dispose of it. Yikes. So, the award for “Scariest Box” is this:

The contents of the box were on a really high shelf just off the laundry room, and we had no idea there were little critters running around up there! (Shudder.) I truly wore gloves and held my breath when I cleaned off that shelf. I couldn't bear to throw away all of those photos of my little children, but, really, I have to say they shouldn't be kept. I could call this the "Hantavirus Box!"

And look how many journals (filled with my daily scribbles) I have unpacked. And this is not all of them! I have spent far, far too many hours reading these journals, but I’ve laughed and cried and remembered. Those journals are full of great memories and give a real picture of a real life lived with joy, and sometimes marked by pain. (Oh, my kids were—and are—funny and sweet!), and mostly, looking back, I can see God’s protective, loving, guiding hand throughout my/our story. He has been faithful and good.

And there also are boxes and boxes of writing that I’ve saved. In a notebook in these boxes, I found the first post I ever put up on the internet—on an unschooling message board—way back in the 1990’s. All of my kids were still at home, learning, and I think Melissa was nine or ten then. I will post that old post here this week.

Have a happy Wednesday!