What I Learned on Summer Vacation

There is always a point in the summer when I suddenly realize that I am ready.

Ready for routine, and order; A schedule and plan.

That moment happened yesterday when I came home from our last "hurrah!" with friends at the pool.

I'm ready for days at home, where we will be more than busy. But its a quiet busy; a peaceful busy.

This weekend is the last of our summer vacation and I feel ready for the coming year.

My house is clean, the school room is in order, the schedules have been set, the alarm clocks tested.

I've done all I know how to do for the coming year, I don't know how to be more ready.

Of course, life can will throw curve balls from time to time...there's nothing like best-laid-plans to mess a girl up.

My goal for the school year is to remember what I've learned this summer

I started it several months ago with this post, declaring my freedom from summer to-do lists and and filled up schedules.

Although the kids did several day-camps and both competed on a swim team I knew I wanted a few things accomplished this summer.

I decided I wanted company, cooking, and crafting...and that is exactly what transpired.

But you know what? I also got that closet cleaned that I had put off for many years.  I also finished several books and accomplished things that needed to be done, not because they just happened, but because I had time for them.

In not choosing "100 Things To Do This Summer"  I got to choose "5 or 6 Things That Really Matter" (to me and my family.)

And I actually finished them.

So now, although summer is nearly over with its sunshine and fun, I am ready. To take on the changes; in season, schedule, and school.

I'm also ready to use what I learned this summer, and carry it into fall.

Things like this:

And this:

(See how I sneaked these things in?)

And that is what I learned on my summer vacation.

Happy Friday peeps!

What I Have Learned This Week: Coffee Punch

People! Did you know there was such a thing as Coffee Punch?

How did I not know this?

This morning, my running partner, E, was sharing her menu for a baby shower brunch she'll be having next week.

She talked of egg casserole and fruit, but she got my attention when she spoke of making coffee punch.

The minute we were finished I ran inside and Googled Coffee Punch, and sure enough, its TRUE!

Here is just one recipe that sounds amazing. 

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  sugar
• 6  cups  hot brewed coffee
• 1/2  gallon vanilla ice cream
• 1/2  gallon chocolate ice cream
• 1/2  to 3/4 cup coffee liqueur

• Toppings: whipped cream, chocolate syrup

Preparation

Stir together sugar and hot coffee until sugar dissolves. Cover and chill mixture 30 to 45 minutes.

Spoon ice cream into a large punch bowl. Pour coffee mixture over ice cream; stir in coffee liqueur. Serve with desired toppings.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used hazelnut coffee. Makes 23 cups.

Southern Living, MARCH 2001 

Coffee AND ice cream. A match made in heaven.

To check out what others are learning head over to Jo-Lynn@Musings of a Housewife.

What I Have Learned This Week: Blog Friends Are People Too

Its Tuesday. 

That beautiful time of the week when I get to chatter all about what I have learned this week. 

Lucky you.

As you know, I fasted from social media last week. I learned a lot. In an attempt to take a very broad and detailed topic, and condense it, I give you bullet points...

• Taking a blogging break is hard when writing is your means of connection. Not only with others, but that place within my heart that cannot be tapped with spoken word. 

• Private journal writing will be ignored when the heart is disengaged, fed chocolate, and artificially pumped up with marathon re-runs of reality TV on the Oxygen channel. (It was a bit of difficult week emotionally {see this updated post}, made worse with hormones and a stash of Easter chocolate that I raided).

• Taking a weeks break made me understand the importance of relationships. Both those in-real-life, and those that are bonded through written word. The blogging community may seem intangible and "not real" to those who aren't in it. But when you really engage in the life of someone else, be it in-real-life or through the written world of a flesh-an-blood blogger, real community happens. For me, it has happened at just the right time, in just the right place. 
  

• With that said, I learned that often times we don't get to choose what our close knit friends look like, where they live, or how often we get to see them face to face...but I've been given an opportunity through blogging to know people that really desire community and are willing to take a risk and participate in community where they can get it. Blogging has served a great purpose in my life-- one that looks completely different than what I thought it would, but is fulfilling nonetheless. 

• This week I was surprised by, and learned from, loneliness. I missed the opportunities to encourage others in my online community...and the opportunity to be encouraged. 
  

• And finally, all those judgmental thoughts I had years ago about people who meet people online has come to bite me in the butt. There is a generous handful of amazing women that are my dear friends here in Bloggerville. Checking in on their blogs, and reading their comments when they come to mine, is like meeting with dear neighbors for a chat in the cul-de-sac. Its different than any of the relationships that I have had, but, its also been a blessing, at times a lifeline, in this stage of life. 
  

Bottom line? I learned that God has given me good friends in an uncommon place. A place I would have scoffed at four years ago when I started this blog. But a place that I am so grateful for today.

Check out what others are learning at Musing of A Housewife.

Say It Isn't So

I wasn't actually going to post today. 

We have been amazingly productive this morning, so I didn't want to break the groove. However, I think I am learning something today. So I might as well write about it.

Not to mention that I have 20 minutes before the rice I made for lunch will be ready.

(CPQ, you will be interested to know it is white rice. Shocking, I know.)

As you know, we live in the south, where it is supposed to be warm. 

I do not enjoy cold weather, with the exception of the permission it lends to drink myself into a hot java stupor. Which brings me to what I have learned...

I have had some major stomach issues for the last two weeks.  Waking up feeling fine, but around lunch time feeling not-so-hot; kind of bloaty in the mid-section with awful stomach cramps. 

Aren't ya glad you clicked over today?

I had decided my problem was oatmeal. 

In the winter months my breakfast of choice is quite often a large bowl of oatmeal (not instant) with walnuts and some kind of dried fruit (apricots or Craisens, but most definitely NOT raisins. Coffeegal doesn't do raisins), but get to the point already...

I might need to mention that I  also made a plethora of oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies two weeks in a row (I'm currently on a hunt for the perfect oatmeal cookie recipe), which I may or may not have eaten in copious quantities. I'll never tell.

Anyway, the short story is this (my twenty minutes is nearly up): 

I have had a stomach ache, and I thought it was the oats.

Oh, that I wish it was...

This morning I refrained from the oats, and opted for toast with peanut butter...and half a pot of coffee.

Felt good. Things were fine.

Around 11:00 I brewed up the second pot of coffee. 

Coffee was delicious.

But now? 

My stomach hurts and feels all bloaty.

What have I learned this week?

I might have to give up coffee learn to live with a stomach ache.

(To see what others are learning this week head on over to Jo-Lynne's Musing of a Housewife.)

What I Have Learned This Week: Its Not About Me

I learned this week that opportunity isn't about a title, a job, or a pat on the back. 

It isn't knowing the right the person, or saying the right thing.  It isn't the right make-up, it isn't the right clothes. It isn't in the dollars in my bank account or the diamond on my finger. 

Opportunity isn't in what I look like, what I sound like, or what I may do. It isn't the size of my house, or the car I drive.

Opportunity isn't a contest. It isn't the number of friends on my side bar; it isn't the ability to reciprocate.

Opportunity comes from being who I am-- and being available to those who come along the path. 

Its not being ashamed to feel: to cry or throw my head back in joy. 

Its about sharing my life, and letting it loudly proclaim that I didn't do it alone. Nor will I walk in this day unattended.

I am learning that while I was busy plodding through mud and wondering how to make it look tidy, God has taken my ashes and turned it into a crown of beauty. 

In my heart and in my life. 

And while I was looking for opportunities to prove I am worthy of those things, God's opportunities have been laid before me...

In an email.

Over a cup a coffee.

On the phone.

In a store.

At my desk.

On a bike ride.

Opportunities that surprise and humble me; and make me want to rejoice and hide. I worry about failing when called.

Hearing a whisper of the One who says, "Kellie, seek Me first, and you'll be ready in season and out. "

That is opportunity.

Oh, that I might not miss those opportunities when they come...

And who knows but that you have come to (this place) for such a time as this?

Esther 4:14

To see what others have learned this week, head on over to Musings of a Housewife.

What I Have Learned This Week: Pride and Pruning

For those of you that are new here, this summer I had the privilege of meeting Constance (of FindingBalance) and Travis, co-founders of True Campaign. A ministry that is dear to my heart. A ministry I hope to be more active in when God says the time is right...

Constance emailed me last week to check in and I was finally able to acknowledge, and put into words, exactly what has been swirling in my heart for the last seven months. 

The short story is that I have finally come to peace about the humble ministry to which I have been called. 

For the longer version, here is part of the email I wrote to Constance...it's what I've learned this week:

I have been praying for awhile about what ministry God was leading me to. He has blessed me with many talents: I can (and have) lead small groups, taught bible studies, mentored in areas that I have experience, and led worship.  I loved all of it. However, they are all gifts that bring attention to myself. Most of them all have to do with performing (in one way or the other)...and stroking my ego just a bit. I was approaching them with the idea of helping others, but also with the kickback of "being noticed" in mind.

 

So you can imagine my surprise, when after praying for many, many weeks about my role in ministry, I was surprised that His answer was consistently-- "Your family."  

 

I really think that the Lord is using this time to burn away the chaff.  To break the pride that motivates me to use the gifts he has given to promote myself. 

 

He had to intervene, and teach me how to get out of the way of myself. 

 

There has been nothing more humbling for me than homeschooling (probably because there wasn't anyone more judgmental in the past about home-schoolers than I was!) 

 

There isn't anyone around telling me what a great teacher I am. No one to stroke my ego and let me know I am doing a good job. I am daily having to lay down my wants and desires to serve my family.  My time is not my own, I cannot go to the gym everyday, nor have lunch with girlfriends whenever I want. My days are no longer solely in my control!

 

On top of that, I am an extrovert with deep insecurities. I have hidden those insecurities with a people-pleaser- I- can-do- it -all- attitude for so long, I didn't realize how it controlled me. I am always so afraid of what people think of me, that I let it rule my days.  I find myself battling my own presuppositions regarding home-schoolers, not many of which are true.  But I digress...

 

The most difficult part was God was telling me to "wait". Not just for your ministry, but even the Women's MInistry that I led here four years ago.  He has put the reigns on me like never before, and its hard. But its good.

 

I am learning that I depend far too much on my God-given talents than I do on God. I depend on the kudos and praises of  "man" instead of the love of God. I am learning that the bright lights of center stage aren't as rewarding as the humble position of being the doorkeeper...but I haven't learned that the easy way....I am stubborn, and my ego and flesh have been well fed for many, many years...

 

I should have contacted you sooner. But i just kept hoping God would let me know that I had learned what I needed to learn, and give me the thumbs-up to tell you that I could jump in with both feet. 

I was so CERTAIN it was the right time, because God had so finely tuned our meeting, and the meeting with Travis, and the eight weeks of writing the True Campaign stuff on the blog....and the response and conversation that all those things had sparked (and continues to spark) with people on the net and in real life. I just knew my day had come! 

 

And it has...it just looks a lot different than I thought it would. 

As difficult as yielding myself to the Lord has been, I am finally feeling peace about where God has me.

Learning this lesson still has a bit of a sting to it. Dealing with pride is never painless...but the fruits of pruning are beginning to feel worth it...

I know that there will be a day when I can be more active in FindingBalance and the True Campaign. I look forward to that day. Until then, I am content.

To see what other bloggers have learned head on over to Musings of a Housewife.

What I Learned This Week

Last week seemed like such a long week. I'm still processing really. So I will go with a light-hearted lesson for this weeks carnival of What I Learned This Week, hosted by Musing's of a Housewife.

I learned a new recipe: Cucumber Sandwiches: 

1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, 

1 large cucumber peeled, 

seeded and grated, 

1TBL of chopped chives, 

1 TBL of fresh dill, 

1 tsp of season salt, 

1/2 cup of feta cheese, 

and 1TBL of mayo (omitted, I think y'all know about my mayo issues).

Oh, and one loaf of white bread. With the crusts cut off. Mix, Refrigerate (for at least an hour, overnight if possible), spread, cut into 1/4's and serve.

I learned that I may never get over my Mayo and White Bread issues: even though I omitted the mayo, my mind couldn't get over the mayonnaise look of the filling.  Which made me think it tasted like mayo, although everybody who tasted it said it didn't....I also found myself apologizing to some friends about the two large loaves of white bread sitting on my counter. As if having white bread in the house was a horrible sin. However, the 3 pound bag of m&m's sitting in the cupboard I have no shame over...

I decided that once batch would be good, but three batches would be BETTER. So after many dozens of sandwiches, I still have a ton of this filling in my fridge. If you want it, its yours!

I have learned (again) that meeting new friends takes a pinch of effort, but a big heaping scoop of courage. People assume its easy for me to bring people together, or to make friends because God has gifted me with the talents to do such things. But it isn't easy. As a matter of fact, the older I become the more difficult it is...This week I had my friend (and running partner), Elisa, come over for lunch and invited another gal, Allison, who is a new friend I am excited to get to know better.  They are both homeschooling Mom's and were such an encouragement to me this past Friday. I can't wait to do it again!

I have learned that if you spend 15 minutes typing a post while allowing your puppy to run amuck, you will have a mess of brown construction paper to clean up when you are finished. 

Go on and check out what everybody else is learning this week!