This Is Kristin

Last night Brody and I made valentine poems for our boys.  (The glitter glue was harder to manage than we thought it would be)  We made them last night, because today we are celebrating Valentines day!  After Blue gets home from school, we are going to give the boys their v- day presents, and I’m going to attempt to make a heart shaped pizza, and then watch “Lady and the Tramp,”  because that’s kind of a movie about love…. 

Tomorrow on the actual Valentines day is Brody’s 30th birthday, so after Blue’s last basketball game, the day is going to be all about celebrating him!  

Have a Happy Valentines Day, or Friday, whichever it is for you!  

*Do you ever change the dates you celebrate certain holidays or birthdays?

I love Jesus, I love my husband, I love my kids, I love my family, I love my friends, I love my dog, I love my cat, I love my home, I love the food we have to eat, and the clean water we have to drink, I love some of my clothes, I love my comfy blankets, I love coffee, I love my french press to make coffee, I love sunsets and sunrises, I love summer days, I love rainy nights, I love walking on beaches with my pants rolled up, I love Lake Tahoe, I love hugs, I love cuddling, I love getting letters in the mail, I love good books, I love to look at photographs, and paintings, I love to laugh, I love to laugh with someone, I love poetry, I love technology, I love good deep conversations, I love meaningless conversations, I love tacos- good tacos, I love to paint, I love gardening, I love to knit, I love to sew, I love to draw, I love to create, I love to hike in the woods, I love to swim, I love chocolate, I love daisies, roses, lavender- all flowers, I love being a mama, I love being a wife, I love long drives, I love road trips, I love thinking about things that I love, and could keep going and going… Love really is refreshing.  

~Positive Post Tuesday.

(photo: Composition)

I just love this idea. Basically you draw a heart and have the kids fill in people/ things/ places/ etc. they love. There are many different variations, and this person describes this much better. This is something I am definitely going to have my family sit down and do sometime this week!

*What are some things that would be in the “map of your heart?”

• Today I am a guest on This Ordinary Day.  I love this blog idea- the whole basis of it is finding the good in every day ordinary things. “This is what our world is made up of. These ordinary things. And if we’re willing to take the time to see it, we’ll realize that this ordinary day is wonderful because it’s simple and complicated, beautiful and mysterious and wholly ours.”
• My son made two baskets in his game this weekend!  He’s awesome…
• So grateful that my little Aiden’s first round of tests came back good. Grateful for good doctors, and wonderful children’s hospitals. 
• I seriously loved Madagascar 2- and the Will I am remake of “Move it.”(‘move it’ has been a song Cooper has always danced to)  
• Had some seriously nice warm weather this weekend.  It was a nice break from freezing.  
• Spent some time meeting Yeneneh and Sosy, who are really sweet.  (and I think I’ve finally mastered the pronunciation) My son thinks Yeneneh understands him better if he speaks with an accent, and is amazed at how good he is at basketball/ soccer/ etc.  Sosy has amazing hair, and is just adorable. 
• Now, I’m going to go enjoy this Sunday before the busy week begins! 

*S.S.S.

~ I’ve had a few friends ask for my smoothie recipe, so I thought I’d post it here.  I worked at Ikedas in CA, for a couple of years, and ended up working in nearly every section of the store, and resturant, but during the summers I was a “smoothie girl.”  After that I also worked at a California Juice Company, but I didn’t think their smoothies were as good.  So I continue to make smoothies like the way I learned at Ikedas.  (the main difference is using frozen fruit instead of ice) 

Smoothie base (this doesn’t change):

• Banana
• 1 cup yogurt

Then I add:

• 2 cups frozen fruit (The fruits vary according to what flavor I’m going for.  I use frozen fruit instead of ice, and it’s way cheaper to buy fresh fruit and freeze it, instead of buying already frozen fruit) 
• Juice to just barely cover ingredients (again, juice vary for flavor)
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla 

~Some of my favorite fruit combinations are raspberries, berry juice and lime.  Orange/ carrot juice and extra bananas, and just the good ol’ banana strawberry and apple juice standby.  

*What is your favorite smoothie flavor?

“The greatest lesson a soul has to learn is that God, and God alone, is enough for all its needs.  This is the lesson that all God’s dealings with us are meant to teach, and this is the crowning discovery of our entire Christian life.  God is enough!

No soul can really be at rest until it has given up dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone.  As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us.  Feelings may change, doctrines and dogmas may be upset, the Christian work may come to nought, prayers may seem to lose their fervency, promises may seem to fail, everything that we have believed in or depended on may seem to be swept away, and only God is left- just God, the bare God if I may be allowed the expression, simply and only God.  

If God is what he would seem to be from his revealing; if he is indeed the “God of all comfort”; if he is our shepherd; if he is really and truly our Father; if, in short, all the many aspects he has told us of his character and his ways are actually true, then we must come to the positive conviction that he is, in himself alone, enough for all our needs and that we may safely rest in him absolutely and forever.”  ~Hannah Whitall Smith

(…wow…)

Ok. I have a couple of really great posts to point you toward, so here goes some links:

~ My boy.

~ For Married Folk.

~ A good interview.

~ A cheesy/ funny/ weird/ but strangely good song, that will get stuck in your head. 

I’m reading a book that my friend sent me, called, “Grace From the Garden.”

One of the chapters talks about how the native Americans planted corn, beans and squash together for this reason: “The corn stalks grew tall and strong, which gave the beans a place to climb. The beans provided nitrogen for the corn, and the squash plants spread out at the base of the corn and beans conserving moisture, and shading the ground from weeds, so that all three plants could draw nutrients they needed from the soil.”

At church Sunday, the subject was about personal ministry, and giving what little you have to give, and trusting God with the results. He talked about all of us being the “body,” and how we each need each other. I thought of corn, beans and squash. I thought about how beautiful that metaphor is, in terms of people- if it’s possible.

I think that if people are committed to one another, and care about each other, then naturally they help each other “grow.” I think that it’s most possible to see this interaction in families, and in church groups, where people tend to love one another and be committed to each other. Another key element that I feel is necessary, is the acceptance of peoples’ uniqueness. Just as the corn beans and squash are uniquely able to serve each other.

*What do you think? Have you seen a group of people or a family that really interacted in this way?