Ten on Ten: November 2012 and Day 11

Here we go again, folks!  

TEN ON TEN: taking a photo an hour for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of each month, (hoping) to find the beauty in our everyday lives. 

Please check this month's other participants HERE...you'll be glad you did. :)

Day 11:

I am thankful today for my favorite tree. You see that tree up there? In photo #4? That's my favorite tree. I live on a flat, mostly treeless plain. It has its own desolate beauty, and you sure can't find a prettier sunset in all of Texas (maybe even the world), but there's just not a lot of trees. But there's this big, beautiful mammoth of a tree at the end of my very favorite road. (You can read about that HERE.) Most of the year, it's just a big tree. Nice enough, but not too special. But then, usually around mid-November, it turns into something amazing. I'm always watching it this time of year...waiting on its brilliant change. The color saturation seems to take forever. A few leaves here. A few more there. But then one day, I turn the corner, and *BAM* it takes my breath away. It's just that spectacular. I'm sure this tree serves a greater purpose. God designed the whole world to work on a level we cannot even begin to fathom, but on that very first day of my very favorite tree's brilliance, I know that God believes in beauty. He created it to bring us joy. My favorite tree is a breathtaking example of just that. 

Day 9 & 10

Day 9:

I'm thankful today for lazy Saturday mornings where our little family has no obligations until 5:00pm. They are so few and far between these days that I savor them when I find them. We celebrated with pumpkin pancakes and a rousing round of Wii Just Dance. 

Day 10:

It's going to be shallow, but I'm thankful today for my new-to-me car! After two years of looking (Brad doesn't commit to anything easily), he finally bit the bullet. It has everything I want and doesn't have the things I don't...like a sunroof. Brad thinks I'm crazy, but I don't like them at all! I'm also thankful that Brad is spending his lazy Saturday morning getting it all "programmed" because he knows I'm too lazy to do stuff like that myself. :)

30 Days of Thankful: Day 8 And The Pumpkin Patch Post

I know I'm running a day behind, but I started this post on Wednesday and never finished it. I'll catch up tomorrow. These pumpkin patch photos desperately need to be posted.  :)

Day 8:

I am thankful to be a mom. I'm not saying I'm thankful for my children (that's another, longer post), but I'm thankful for the opportunity to grow and change and hurt as a mother. Whether you gave birth to them yourself or attained motherhood through adoption, whether you have 1 child or 17, it changes you. There's a certain grief that comes with being a mom. On some level, you always imagined your children or how you'd parent, that looks vastly different that the reality. Usually the reality is so much more and bigger and amazing than anything imagined, but a grieving for what's lost still takes place...even grieving for an ideal. But there's a sweetness, too. A love so complete and protective and awestruck takes over. I'm not even sure I would recognize the girl I was at 25 before Eli was born. In some ways she was better and in some ways worse the woman I am now at 34. But I am grateful to have been given this chance to change. I'm part of a world-wide club where everyone is so different, separated by class and customs and norms, but in our hearts we are the same. We are mothers.

Well, it has now been 17 days since we went to THE PUMPKIN PATCH. I'm not sure I've ever been this behind on posting about it. Sheesh. 

We had a great time, like we always do. The weather was a little cool, but nothing we couldn't handle with multiple layers. (MARMOTS are my new best friend.) Those layers even allowed us to shed our jackets so we could get some great photos! :)

Cousin Morgan & Phoebe

Cousin Caleb & Eli

What's Cooking Wednesday: Frito "Crack" Mix and 30 Days of Thankful: Day 7

How's that for a super long title?

I made this mix and the jazzed up some Wal-Mart jars to give to the kids' teachers for Halloween last week. The mix is a-MAZ-ing! It's that perfect combo of sweet and salty that I find absolutely irresistible. I'm talking can't-stop-eating-it-and-I-actually-made-myself-sick-eating-so-much amazing. That's why I'm calling it "Frito Crack Mix", because it's *that* addicting. 

You'll thank me later for this recipe. Or not...depending on how much you eat. :)

Frito Crack Mix

1 (14oz.) bag regular Fritos

2 cups Rice Chex

2 cups pretzels

2 cups roasted peanuts

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup M&M's

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine Fritos, Chex, pretzels, and peanuts in a large bowl. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together brown sugar, butter, and light corn syrup. Bring to a boil and then let simmer without stirring, for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over the Frito mix. Stir until everything is coated completely. Pour into a greased roasted pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Stir and bake for 8 more minutes. Spread out in a single layer on waxed paper. Sprinkle with M&M's when just cool enough that the M&M's won't melt and press lightly into the mixture. Cool completely. Break apart and store in an airtight container. It won't last long! :)

Adapted from THE CABIN

Day 7:

I'm thankful for my full pantry...even though right now it's overly full of Halloween candy and the iced animal cookies I couldn't resist yesterday while grocery shopping. Even now I'm munching on said animal cookie while catching up on my DVR and I realize how blessed I am to have food ready and available whenever I want it when there are so many all over the world (even here in my little town!) who go to bed hungry every night. My children have never known hunger. I am humbled by this when I realize there are so many children who know nothing different. Sometimes it's these little things, these "little things" that are a matter of life and death to so many, that make me most thankful.

30 Days Of Thankful: Day 6

Day 6:

I am thankful to have known MADISON TAYLOR KNEBUSCH. 

Today would have been her 17th birthday. It's been almost a year since she passed away and there aren't too many days when I don't think about her. She was so amazing and touched so many in the few years she had. I often realize that I haven't done half as much in my 34 years as she did in her 16-and-a-half. It's because of her that I finally gave God a chance again. I had come to find myself in a desperate time in my faith in the few years leading up to last January. It's too much to explain here, but I'll write about it sometime. But when she passed away, I finally began to really see who my God was. He takes the broken and makes it beautiful. He takes the sick and makes them well and whole again...forever. He can be seen and heard and felt most deeply in the moments when the world believes He has turned his back. He used this frail, precious, humble girl to show the world what His love meant where a thousand powerful, loud, strong men have failed.

And she continues to teach and convict me. I watch her mother across the auditorium on Sundays, praising Him with outstretched arms even now when I have refused to do so, mad at God about lesser things. I see her Dad find ways to honor her. I hear about her siblings doing new things that I know she would have loved to see and be a part of, always keeping a part of her near. I see her best friend struggling to find meaning and wholeness in a world that seems to move on and forget. 

But we haven't and we won't. Her exceptional smile. Her beautiful spirit. Her warrior's heart. The lessons she taught us. All of these things we wrap up and around the memory of Madison that leaves us missing her, but mostly so incredibly blessed that we were able to share in just a little bit of the goodness that was Madison. 

30 Days of Thankful: Day 4&5

Day 4:

I'm thankful for the community that God provides for us through those who strive to be disciples of His. I spent a good portion of my day Saturday visiting with two women whose lives look different than mine. One was married 10 years before having her two girls (who are around Eli and Phoebe's age) and moving to Amarillo. The other grew up in Amarillo and has a 17-year-old son with special needs and her youngest is just a year older than Eli. We are so completely different.

And yet...

Because of Him, we find common ground. We long for the same things. We want the same things for our children. We worry about the same things.  We are part of a great community of believers and it is an amazing gift.

Day 3:

I'm thankful that my boy is all boy. The things he gets into blow my mind sometimes (like spray painting the ping pong table and egging the neighbors' garage), but I love to watch his mind work. 

And, really, what are you supposed to do with those leftover Halloween pumpkins?

30 Days Of Thankful: Day 3

I'm thankful that I live in a country where I get to vote.

I know it's kind of cheesy. I know I'm a few days early on this (I early voted yesterday). I know it's a somewhat flawed system (Electoral College anyone?). I know that this political season brings out the worst in people and everyone is so sure that they are right they forget that the people they disagree with are people, too. I know that there is so much I don't agree with out in the political world. I know that choosing who to vote for is usually just deciding who's the lesser of two evils. I know that I am tired of all the ugly back-and-forth.

But I also know that I got to vote. 

And that is pretty darn amazing.

30 Days of Thankful: Day 2

Today I'm thankful for new days...

and fresh starts...

and clean slates.

You might go to bed after an afternoon and evening of defiance and impatience and selfishness and anger and frustration and ugly words. But when you wake up, it's a new day. A chance to make different choices. A chance to right the wrongs of yesterday. A chance to put others before yourself. A chance to a better version of yourself than you were before.

Clean slates all around. For the child who found himself taking the wrong road at every opportunity and the mom who grew frustrated and angry at those choices.

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." --Eleanor Roosevelt

Project: 30 Days Of Thankfulness

Every year I see people on their Facebook pages or on their blogs finding something to be thankful for everyday for the month of November, and I think, "Next year, I'm gonna do that!" And then I forget until mid-November of the next year. 

But not this year! This year, I'm going to try to have 30 days of "Thankful" posts. Oh sure, I'll probably miss a few days, but I hope to double up when I get back to it. I even already kind of forgot since Halloween is so crazy busy and I was too tired to sit down and do it last night. But I'm back on the wagon so here goes. 

Day 1: 

I'm thankful for our Small Group.

We joined this Small Group just before Phoebe was born. When Phoebe took her first steps at Small Group surrounded by people who loved her, I realized that this was family. For better or worse, we were forever connected to these people.

They know and love and pray for my children. They make me think and get uncomfortable and grow. They keep me connected to our church when I just don't want to be connected. They indulge my control-issues and let me have Small Group at my house so I can cook for them because I won't cook at someone else's house. They don't use my Christmas mugs when it's not the Christmas season (even though Adam and Tim always try). 

For the past several years, we've eaten dinner together on Halloween and then gone Trick-or-Treating. So. Much. Fun. 

Look how cute they are!

The girls:

The little boys (minus Noah):

The big boys:

*And I promise to still edit all those Pumpkin Patch photos and incorporate them somehow!! :)