Perspective

I've been thinking a lot about perspective...how everyone views their own world through their own perspective. And everyone's perspective is completely different based on their experiences and views. It is hard to fully understand someone else's perspective and it is hard to sometimes relate when perspectives don't match up.

There was a tragedy in our community this weekend. It was unthinkable, unimaginable. Not one but two teenage boys in our community took their own lives. The mom of one of the boys is a teacher at my kids' school...his dad the principal at the school the boy attended. Reading his obituary today, it seemed like it could be the obituary of any of my or my friends' kids at age 15. A great kid...active in sports, active in his school, well-liked, outgoing, lots of friends, active in his church youth group, loved the Lord. But this 15-year-old boy had some sort of unimaginable pain...pain that he felt there was only one way out of. This makes me scared for my kids, for other kids I know and love. What can we do? It is heartbreaking. It is perspective-changing.

We can't expect life to be easy, fair, or fun all the time. But this is heavy stuff. This is not random, this is close to home and it is scary and unbelievably sad. As moms sometimes, it often feels like these are the "hard" times, when our kids are young and growing and learning, potty-training and having sleepless nights from bad dreams. But trust me, I realize now this isn't the hard stuff. The hard stuff is dealing with life and death choices, and helping our kids see that they are loved, that they are worth it. I have no doubt that the parents of these boys taught them those things...and that's what makes this even scarier. I am not trying to be a downer...just explaining what my perspective is these days. I know these two families and the whole community would appreciate any prayers sent their way.

Life in pictures

We are getting into more of a predictable routine around here (glory hallelujah and knock on wood!). Selah is getting up once at night still but goes right back to sleep and is pretty much the sweetest baby that ever was. Here are a few pics of our life lately...



Caught a sweet little smile!



I mentioned yesterday about my experiments in the kitchen...I made one of my all-time favorite foods, Chicago-style deep dish pizza. It was SO yummy! Charlie & I snapped this picture to send to Buck to say "hurry home!" It worked! :)



Winter finally arrived and I told Zoe to "get all her cold weather stuff on" to go to school. The ear muffs + the hat mean she was listening!






Yep, this is Selah's life these days...anywhere Selah is, Tate wants to kiss her, love her, make her smile. :) It may involve some smothering at some points, but already I think their relationship will be so sweet. He is such a good helper and always wants Say-Say to be happy. Love these two!

Happy happy Thursday, friends.

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A keeper!

Mostly NOT to the liking of my family, I love to try new recipes. The vast majority of the time I get a "eh..." with a "so-so" hand waggle from the kids on my experiments in the kitchen. But last night, thanks to trusty Pinterest, I made a keeper! I would highly recommend this one: easy, fast and tasty. What else could you want? Here goes:

Chicken Parmesan Bake

5-6 chicken breasts (I used the smaller chicken breast tenders and probably used 10-12)

2ish cups of jarred spaghetti sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the grated stuff that comes in the green jar :) )

1 tsp. dry basil

1 tsp. dry oregano

salt and pepper

1- 5 oz. bag/box of garlic croutons

OK, spray the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray (or drizzle with olive oil, I did the cooking spray).

Lay the chicken breasts in the pan and sprinkle the top of the chicken with the oregano, basil and salt/pepper.

Pour the spaghetti sauce over the top of the chicken. Sprinkle about half of the mozzarella on top of the sauce.

Put the whole box/bag of croutons on top of the sauce. Kind of push them down into the sauce so they stick down in there.

Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella and the parmesan cheese on top of the croutons.

Bake uncovered at 375 for 30-35 minutes (make sure your chicken is cooked through--may need longer if you use larger chicken breasts)

This recipe is great because it sort of (but not exactly) tastes like chicken parmesan without the frying mess! The croutons are sort of chewy on the bottom and crispy/crunchy on top. I don't know how much healthier it is because look at all that delicious cheese, but it is a one-dish-wonder and I love those. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

P.S. I love Pinterest!

P.P.S. Thank you for your sweet inquiries about our photos...it is still a work in progress but the crazy expensive data recovery people are working on it and we should have most of our photos restored sometime this week. Crazy ordeal and I will be glad to have it behind us!

Changing perspective

After I just wrote my whiney post I decided I needed to read my Jesus Calling devotion for today...of course it changed my perspective. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Trying to give thanks. Asking God for help in changing my perspective, even if I can't change my circumstances.

A break would be nice...

Ever feel like you just can't get a break? It's been one of those times for us...a new garbage disposal for the sink (fun times!), the toilet overflowed onto the floor after someone (named Zoe) pooped in it ("I didn't know I shouldn't flush if it's too full, Mom!"), every single technological "thing" in this house is giving me fits, one of the kids' favorite (and therefore one of MY favorite) inside toys, our blow-up bounce house bounced a giant tear in one side, and Tate did some artwork in red marker on one of Max's prized stories which I had put on the stairs to bring up to put in Max's "special box." Oh, and Selah caught Buck's cold. Have you heard a 6-week-old with a stuffy nose? Poor thing. And last but not least...Buck surprised me with a super cool new Mac laptop. One of the main reasons was so I could organize and get our 9 years of kid pictures into photo books or albums. In my excitement I very well may have deleted all.of.the.pictures. I can hardly write that without crying. And to make it harder, the "recover your deleted" files places aren't open on the weekends...don't a lot of people do stupid stuff with their computers on the weekends? Help a girl out here. Seriously I would LOVE a break, any day now.

Just because

She's so cute I can hardly stand it. I want to eat her up!! :) Happy New Year!