One Tough Chick

I'm just going to go ahead and put it out there.  My friend Jennifer might be the bravest person I know.  Because she's got this cancer- her self-identified monster inside -that has been trying to scare the life out of her.  Trying to steal time with her children.  Trying to scratch away at her faith.  Crawling into her marriage bed and whispering late at night, "I'm here."  But guess what, cancer?  You're not going to be here much longer in my friend Jen.  Because tomorrow, after three months of chemo, she's having the much-shrunken lump removed.  Gone.  Good-bye.  And in honor of that, I just thought that this brave woman deserved a party.  I themed it the "One Tough Chick" celebration and had a big time finding ways to incorporate her favorite color- PINK!- and a few chicks into my invitations and decor (Peep topiaries, anyone?).

We spent the night toasting, and laughing, and writing notes of inspiration to our brave girl.  So Jen can be refreshed and can go into surgery tomorrow with her best ammo- the love of her family and friends.  Because around here we're kickin' cancer One Tough Chick at a time.

Cake by Lindsay Wiles.
Craft bags found at Target (dollar section!)
Thought bubble chalkboards on Amazon.
Yummy pepper jelly by Sara Whiteside.
Plates, napkins, candles, and chicks found at Caspari.
Pink popcorn recipe on this blog.
Sheer awesomeness by Jennifer Ernst.

Notes to New Mamas

Now that I'm in my 30's, I'm spending less time attending weddings and more time meeting babies.  This weekend, I was tickled to catch up with some dear college girlfriends and get to know the newest additions in their lives.  As I watched these mamas with their little ones and listened to their shared experiences of sleepless nights, soiled clothes, and feeding mishaps, I was reminded of how much we need to lean on each other during the early years of motherhood.  Flying back to Virginia last night, I wrote down a few survival strategies for those tough days:

• Pray over your day.  And do it in the morning.  Even if you've only gotten three hours of sleep.  Prayers are like spiritual caffeine and if I can turn the day over in the first hour of wakefulness, I can make it through.  Pray for your children, pray for patience, pray to find encouragement through a friend, your husband, a book.  Pray for grace and then remember to extend it to your children.  From personal experience, I can tell you that praying in the mornings makes the "I've Messed Up" prayer easier to say in the afternoons.  Open the dialogue and go for it.
• Live fully in the moment.  Even when the moment is jacked up.  When the baby poops on your work clothes on your way out the door.  When the six week-old cries for everyone else but you and you feel a little trapped.  When big brother or sister wants your attention but can't fully have it Right. At. That. Moment.  Try to remember that it passes so quickly and she won't just lie still in your arms again and stare at you for thirty minutes when she's 3.  Embrace it now.  Don't wish it away too soon.  Psalm 31:7-8 says, "I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, for you have considered my trouble. . . you have set my feet in a spacious place."  When life with an infant is as off-balance as it gets, put your feet in that spacious place and be steadied.
• Take time for yourself.  When you are a nursing mama, it may be finding a two hour window for a dinner out with friends.  That is taking time for yourself.  When you've seen your husband everyday, but haven't connected for weeks, it may be a date.  When you still have maternity clothes in your closet that HAVE GOT TO GO, it may be a day trip shopping for some great pieces that work beautifully on you.  For me, time for myself was this weekend with friends in Kentucky.  It was totally refreshing and snuggling with my babies this morning became even sweeter. 
• Celebrate each small step.  One more hour of sleep at night.  A pound lost.  A dinner prepared.  A day with no mama tears.  Okay, okay, a day with only one or two mom cries.  A birthday celebration for a lively toddler in the midst of it all.  A dinner out with girlfriends.  Every step is progress.  Celebrate it and then encourage another mom who may be a few steps back.  Because there is joy in the journey and a lot of light on the other side.

Caroline Conn.  Don't you just think she is ready for the ballet?

Grayson Piatt and mama Hallie.  Doesn't mom look amazing?

Laney Boatman with mom-in-pink, Nancy, along with two other new mamas, Hallie and Amy.

Brooklyn Keltner.  Can we keep those cheeks forever?

Some lovely ladies in all stages of motherhood, out for dinner.

I fell hard for this little guy, celebrating his 2nd birthday today!  Happy birthday, Andrew!

Fun with Milk's Favorite Cookie

I had the following challenges this morning:
1.  A quick dish needed for a monthly supper club my family was attending tonight.
2.  A box of Oreo cookies I had bought for another recipe but couldn't use because my food processor has officially gone kaput.
3.  Bored kids that needed a project and a purpose!

Hence, our version of Oreo pudding was born.  The web is literally full of recipes for America's Favorite Cookie, but the one that caught my eye incorporated cream cheese, another fridge item that I hadn't found a use for after I purchased it last week.  So, we went with that one.  The kids loved crushing the cookies with the rolling pin.  I loved getting the Oreos out of my house before I ate them all.  And I think my supper club pals would tell you that the pudding was a homerun! 

Oreo Layer Dessert

1 pkg of regular Oreos

1/2 c. of butter

1 lg box of instant chocolate or oreo pudding

2-8 oz cool whips

8 oz. of cream cheese, softened

1 c. powdered sugar

Crush the whole package of cookies either with a food processor, or in a bag with a rolling pin.  Save half of the crushed mix to sprinkle on top of dessert at the end.  Pour remaining crumbs in a 13x9 pan.  Melt butter and pour into crumb mix.  Press crumbs in bottom of pan with a fork to make a crust and then transfer to fridge to set.  Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl blend cream cheese for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy, add powdered sugar and mix for a minute more.  Finally, fold 8 oz of cool whip into the cream cheese mixture.  In a separate bowl, make pudding according to package directions.  Top oreo layer with cream cheese mix, then pudding, and finally your last 8 oz container of cool whip.  Sprinkle remaining Oreo's on top.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours until ready to serve. 

Enjoy!

The Story

I want to tell you a story. 

This story is about a little boy named Kenneth Christ who was born in Round Lake, Minnesota, just three short years before the start of the Great Depression.  His mother intended to call him Ken, but his ornery father aimed to call him George, and the name stuck throughout his entire childhood.

This little boy grew up and left home and joined the Navy and got on a ship to see if he could lend a hand in solving a world war.  Upon returning home, he met a girl working in a department store and they began a love and a life that would go on for fifty-one years.

This is about a devoted husband and earnest worker who started out small as a salesman for Sather Cookie Company while supporting three young children.

And this is about a man whose tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit led his family to Kentucky in 1979 to start a grocery business, now with six children in all.

In this tale, the man wisely began training up his children in the early years of the business and surrounded himself with dedicated managers and loyal employees because he understood when President Ronald Reagan said, “Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”

The story continues with a grandfather who took great delight and pride in a household of noisy grandkids; who would open up the backyard pool every June and invite the grands to come splash around, and in the colder months would sit in his favorite recliner and ask you to “Come over here and give Grandpa a hug.”

This is a story of thoughtfulness.  About fresh flowers on Grandma’s kitchen counter every week and about the simple pleasure of a fried chicken dinner from the deli at Ken’s split between husband and wife.

This story is about forgiveness.  Extending it.  Asking for it.  And encouraging others to do the same.  Because this man echoed Mahatma Gandhi when he said, “The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.”

This story is one of faith.  A faith that grew more in his old age because he believed the Scripture that said, “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former” (Haggai 2:9), until he was able to stand firm in his faith and invited others in his family to do the same. 

This tale is one of a gentleman who took a lady out dancing thirteen years ago and swept her off her feet.  It’s about new beginnings and fresh starts.

This story is about a person who re-defined retirement.  Who traveled, was out the door by eight o’clock every morning for a round of golf, finished crossword puzzles, organized family reunions, followed basketball.  Who attended the weddings of his grandchildren, bounced great-grandchildren on his knee, and still found time to visit his beloved grocery stores several times a week.

This story is about courage as the man’s body began to fail him.  It’s about bravery and determination to keep going to therapy, keep fighting from the hospital bed, keep working on putting one foot in front of the other so that late last fall he was even able to stand on a putting green and hit a few balls.

And finally, this story is about death on his own terms.  Without months away from home, without weeks of suffering, without days of waiting for the end to come, but rather in his sleep, peacefully, surrounded by his adoring family.

And yet as wonderful as this story is, I don’t believe it’s the end.  In fact, it may only be the beginning.  In the final book of The Chronicles of Narnia entitled “The Last Battle”, C.S. Lewis says this:

As Aslan spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.  And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.  But for them it was only the beginning of the real story.  All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page; now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read; which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before.