i blog for chocolate

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I know.  I have been unfaithful to my blog.  But that was only in an effort to be more faithful to my duties as a wife and mother.  So can we count that as an excused absence?

Ah. .  marriage.  Does God have a sense of humor or what?  Of course, I love being married to Matt.  I just think it is funny how God gets men and women to the point of agreeing to a marriage.  Let’s face it girls, we tend to think a LOT about the wedding and not so much about all the dishes we will have to wash in the next 60 years.

Almost one month ago, we hosted a wedding on our family farm.  The entire event could be the topic of several blogs, and you mayget to  read more about it here later.  Everyone hesitated to say it, but it was a perfect day.  Beautiful weather, beautiful bride, great music, great reunion of family and friends. <<sigh>>

But the one thing that continues to come to my mind is the ceremony.  The ceremony was at the top of the hill behind our house.  A willow arbor served as a church structure, and God provided a beautiful stained glass view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The bridal party arrived on a hay covered wagon, and Charley’s parents escorted her up the aisle to stand by Kevin’s side.  <<insert dreamy looks here>

Instead of the usual sermon or pastoral charge to the bride and groom, the bride and groom asked several friends and family to speak to them instead.  The groom’s parents spoke.  The groom’s brother spoke.  Some mutual friends spoke.  Charley’s grandmother, our GG, spoke.  And Charley’s parents spoke.  I remember two things.  I remember GG said that she couldn’t wait to see little Saiki’s running around on the hill in the future.  And I remember what Uncle Tom, the father’s bride said.

Uncle Tom got a little choked up.  That is normal for a dad at a wedding, but I couldn’t help but think about how Tom struggled with cancer not that long ago.  He and I have both had to face the fact that we might not be there for some special events in our kids’ lives, so now each one is like a gift that God wraps for us and hand delivers.

Tom reminded us about a wedding that was mentioned in Scripture.  The wedding at Cana was where Jesus performed his first public miracle and began his public ministry.  He said that Jesus was at that wedding because he was invited there.  He encouraged Charley and Kevin to invite Jesus into their marriage.  What a great challenge and encouragement!

I think women like weddings from both perspectives.  We like dreaming of our perfect day as little girls, and then as adults, we like reflecting back on our special day when we see someone else making that same commitment. 

But as we look back, our view is so much wider.  We remember falling in love with our husbands and how they popped the question, but we also see Christmas mornings, snaggle toothed kids, and campfires.  On one end we are overwhelmed with expectations; on the other end we are overwhelmed with blessings. 

So I pray that God will bless Charley and Kevin’s marriage.  It started off on a beautiful day.  Now comes the hard part:  a beautiful marriage.

To see more wedding pictures, click here:

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2531041012/a=85014310_85014310/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Thank you to everyone who supported us in the Creeper Trail Walk for a Cure.  TEAM DANDO raised over $1000 for research for rare cancers.  Thank you so much for your donations to a cause that is so important to us!

We didn’t have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, but we did have to walk 3 miles in soggy shoes.  It rained the last two miles and we optimistically left our ponchos in the car.  Talk about training in perseverance!!  We assured the boys that it was good training for the military.  Three of them assured us they would never be in the military.  Brady admitted he didn’t mind it that much, so maybe he’ll reach his goal of army doctor after all.

The most touching moment of the day for me was when Penny addressed the crowd at the end of the event.  She said that when they started planning this event last summer she did not know whether it would be in her honor or in her memory.  It was a jolt to her speak so clearly of the time in my own life that I wanted nothing more than to just see another summer.  Praise God we are both still here!!!

Several other cancer survivors gathered on the stage to present the check to MD Anderson.  I spoke with the nurse who came from Houston to accept the check.  She said she was glad to meet me because her doctor needed to hear some good news.  I am sure that at MD Anderson they see all the worst cases and all the baffling cases and some of their patients do not survive the treatment.  The nurse even admitted that.

It reminded me of my phone conversation the other day with a woman from CA.  She was interviewing me because I have agreed to help Wake Forest with their annual fund drive this year.  I told her that I was in the hospital 40 weeks. 

“So you were in the hospital 4 weeks?” she clarified

“No, I said 40.”

“You mean 4-0.”

Yep.  Welcome to the new normal. I think our conversation helped her “walk” a little bit in a cancer patient’s shoes. 

I wish that we didn’t have to ever walk in the rain again.  I wish that there were no such thing as “annual” cancer drives.  But the reality is cancer is too real to too many people.  But with your help the reality of cancer will be a little easier because of the new drugs and treatments that research brings. Thanks again for being so compassionate and generous!!    You have been a blessing to us and many others!

Our family is really excited to be participating in the Creeper Trail Ride/Walk for the Cure which will take place on July 31st in Damascus, VA.  This will be a little different from the Wake N Shake that we attended last spring. (You can read about that in this blog post: http://iblogforchocolate.com/?p=287 ) 

A little less loud music, a little more nature.

The reason that we decided to join this event is because it is focused on the very same cancer that my dad and I had.  The money raised for the Ride/Walk will go to help find a cure and new treatments for sarcoma. 

Please go to the event website: http://www.creepertrailrideforacure.com/Home_Page.html to see all the ways to contribute to this cause. 

Our team, TEAM DANDO,  has a personal goal of raising $500 and you can check our progress on the team page: http://www.creepertrailrideforacure.com/View_Team_Lists.html.  You can see we have a ways to go.

To help us reach our goal we will be contributing $5 from each item we sell at the Abingdon Farmer’s Market the next two Saturdays.  We will be selling quilted placemats, funky chickens and our own invention:  tobacco sticks transformed into “Original Virginia Walking Sticks.”  Please stop by our booth or email me if you are interested in any of the items.  For the month of July, I will also offer free personalization on the Walking Sticks as well.

Of course, you can also donate online here: http://www.creepertrailrideforacure.com/Donate_Now.html. 

We hope that you will consider contributing to this worthy cause.  Please pass this information  to anyone you think might be interested. Thanks for your support!

I know that Robin knows what that title means.  According to one of our mutual friends she thinks the Twilight Saga books are the best books ever written.  I wouldn’t know.  We haven’t discussed it because until this point I thought they were pointless. 

Munch, Munch, Munch.  Yes, Christina, that would be the sound of me eating my words.  I declared to her last April when we were shopping:

“Just tell me what happens, I am never going to read those books.” 

Being the non-reader that I am, that was not too hard to believe, but the real reason was that I do not like scary things.

“They aren’t scary.  They are about love.” Yet even she admitted that when you actually say the plot out loud it does sound ridiculous.

Vampires in love.  I wasn’t interested.  

But I was interested to see what the hype was about.  I felt like I had missed something.  So I watched Robert Pattinson on the Tonight  Show the other night.

And he was funny.  I didn’t expect that.  He was with his parents and told funny stories about them. 

Hmm.  Maybe these books might be more interesting than I thought.

Then I walked into GG’ house.

“Are you reading Twilight, GG?”

I saw the book on the side table. She was already on New Moon.  Matt was leaving to go out of town on Father’s Day, and I thought reading the first book would keep me from being bored or mad.

 I finished the first three books in 4 days.  I am sure many people have beaten that record, but I did have to stop and feed my children. I texted 4 friends to admit that I was a cultural late bloomer, and admit that they were right.

Normally I would have felt guilty about sitting around reading for that many days straight, but I was recovering from falling out of the truck and under doctor orders to rest my arm. (That is another blog.)

So now I am taking a break from reading to watch the first 2 movies, so I’ll be completely caught up by next week when Eclipse comes out .  I am not sure if Matt will let me drag him to the movie.  I have had to endure quite a bit of eye rolling especially last night when I watched the 3 hour  livestream of the Eclipse premiere. 

I know.  Now some of you are worried about me. 

Don’t be– I am getting up right now to do 3 days worth of dirty dishes, and I am going to start blogging again.  Of course, all the blogs may just be about Twilight.

 I did not forget that I had a blog.

I did, however, forget that the contest deadline was May 7th.

You know that May is the new December with all the end-of-the-year-parties, and end-of-the-year-gifts, and end-of-the-year-programs.  I am sure you, too, have been too busy to even read this blog.

At least I’m not as bad as this lady.  My Aunt Milli sent me this joke.

Childbirth at Age 65:
With all the new technology regarding fertility recently, a 65-year-old friend of mine was able to give birth. When she was discharged from the hospital and went home, I went to visit.

‘May I see the new baby?’ I asked

‘Not yet,’ She said ‘I’ll make coffee and we can visit for a while first.’

Thirty minutes had passed, and I asked, ‘May I see the new baby now?’ 

‘No, not yet,’ She said.

After another few minutes had elapsed,

I asked again, ‘May I see the baby now?’ 

‘No, not yet,’ replied my friend.

Growing very impatient, I asked, ‘Well, when can I see the baby?’ 

‘WHEN HE CRIES!’ she told me.

‘WHEN HE CRIES?’ I demanded. ‘Why do I have to wait until he CRIES?’ 

‘BECAUSE I FORGOT WHERE I PUT HIM,O.K.?!!’

So I haven’t forgotten that I owe someone a NEW beach towel.

And the winner is. . .Karen C of Abingdon!

Thanks for playing!!

We only have 5 more days of school (the last one doesn’t count)!!  Whoo hoo!!  I am definitely more excited than my kids. I have some special things planned for summer.  Hope you’ll check back to read it!

Don’t forget the NEW contest ends Friday at midnight!!

Go here to enter: http://iblogforchocolate.com/?p=322

In honor of Teacher Appreciation week, I would like to thank my teachers for what they taught me.

Thank you Aunt Lyla from pre-school  for teaching me that if you sister tells your mom you drowned but you didn’t, you won’t get in trouble for jumping in the pool before the safety lesson was over.   She also taught me that if you take your shoes off in public, you may get your feet spanked.

Thank you Miss Craft for teaching me that teachers don’t have germs.  At least that is what she told me when she offered me a swig of her bottle of coke on day out at my parents’ plant nursery. She also let me go to the cafeteria to make a diaper out of napkins for my Betsy Wetsy doll and bring my cat, Gray Cloud, to school.  I always say that my first year of school was the best! It was downhill after that.

Thank you Mrs. Scott for teaching me to not write my name on the furniture in your class.  You told us that if we were going to write anything, it should never be our name.  I started writing my sister’s name on everything after that valuable lesson.

Thank you Mrs. Merck for hitting my desk with a yardstick when I was talking while other students were in reading group.  It is never too early to learn that the arm of the law is longer than you think.

Thank you Mr. McGaha for letting us take our chocolate milk cartons and wash them out and keep clay in them under our desk.  It may have been the 70′s, but you rocked!

Thank you Miss Lauritzen who read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to us in 4^th grade and then gave us each a full size Hershey bar.  I should probably dedicate this entire blog to you.

Thank you Miss Rice for teaching us songs in French and making us write something creative EVERY day.  We were blogging–we just didn’t know it yet.

Thank you Mrs. Montenez and Mrs. Wolfe for explaining all those parts in the Judy Blume books to us that we were too embarrassed to ask our parents about.

And thank you to my middle school teachers (it gets a little fuzzy here).

Thanks to Mrs. Wigington for believing in me,

to Mr. Greer for making history come alive,

 to Mrs. Stewart for making the pizza dough for me when I forgot and teaching me to sew,

 to Mr. Darity for kicking us out of shop class because we deserved it,

to Mr. Farrior for not laughing at my drawings,

to Mrs. Duncan who wanted to keep my tissue paper Snoopy collage for her son’s room and gave me my first D,

to Mr. Chambers who let Charles do the moonwalk before chorus,

 to Mrs. Joy for being fun in homeroom, and to Mrs. Robinson who was a really nice neighbor.

Thanks to my high school teachers Mr. and Mrs. Downing who taught me Economics and English,

to Mr. Allen who taught us that Evidence Demands a Verdict,

Mrs. Merrick who taught us how to type (the most useful thing I ever learned),

to Mrs. Gorham for taking us on all those choir tours and letting us shop at  Bloomingdale’s.

OK.  There are many, many others.  But this isn’t a book, it’s a blog. And I can read it and write it thanks to the people listed above.  I am truly grateful.

Some of you know that I had to go to Wake Forest for my 6 month check-up Tuesday.  I had a bone scan, chest CT, and blood work.  Most importantly I had lunch with Alisha and Karen.    All Karen’s tests and my tests were clear:  no new disease.  Yeah!!

As I left the clinic, I received this comment to a blog post.  http://iblogforchocolate.com/?p=287&cpage=1#comment-648

Thanks Lesley for this comment.  You are such a blessing to me!!

In case you missed Friday’s post, there is a new contest.  Check it out here and enter to win something NEW:  http://iblogforchocolate.com/?p=322.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  So like the bumper sticker says:  If you can read this, thank a teacher.

Last week a friend of mine asked, “Do you ever wonder what our kids’ teachers really think about us?” Apparently her child had told his teacher that if he got in trouble his mother would slingshot him to the moon.

Like one of my nephew’s teachers told new parents at open house, “I won’t believe everything I hear about what goes on in your home, if you don’t believe everything you hear about what goes on in the classroom.”

George was also telling tales last week.

Mrs. Oaks was discussing hygiene and good manners.  The basics:  cough into your elbow and don’t pick your nose.

George raised his hand to inform the class, “ I know a man who one time put his finger too far up his nose– and that snail—the one that lives in your nose– it bit off the end of his finger. “

Mrs. Oaks said that you could see all the kids that were leaning on their elbows or rubbing their eyes slide their hands as far away from their face as possible. 

So later she asked George if he really knew this person or had he just heard a story about him.

“Oh, my brothers told me about it.” 

That explains most everything at our house.

The “story” is actually a poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. 

I guess in this instance fiction is stranger than the truth. 

Or maybe just stronger. 

I am sure that Mrs. Oaks gave them a lot of good information, but one good tall tale is really all you need to help kids move toward a life changing commitment:  I will never pick my nose again.

 And for that, we can thank George.

But for teaching the boys to read, sharing their stories with me and not believing everything they hear,  I have to thank many teachers.

Ahhh, Spring. . .

I never cease to be amazed by the purple blooming Empress tree in our backyard.

I have never seen anything like it. 

I love spring. 

Our fragrant viburnum and snowball bushes are covered in blooms, and Matt has tilled the soil and marked off rows in the garden.

Immediately after he put tobacco stakes up at the end of the rows, two bluebirds perched on them. Fun!

So I want to pay tribute to this beautiful spring we are enjoying by sharing a few NEW things that I am enjoying this spring. 

I have been chewing the same gum since 10^th grade:  Peppermint Extra.  Not a real adventurous eater.  I tend to always order my favorite dish at restaurants.   I don’t want to get to the end of the meal and be disappointed.  My favorites are safe.

So the other day in Biblestudy, I was having trouble staying awake.  (Not during your talk, Lauren!! Just the video part.)  My yawns (or breath) must have been distracting because my friend, Christy, passes me some gum.  She pulled the bright pink wrapper out of a sleek black box.  Wow.  Exotic gum.  It was Berry flavored Elixir.  I haven’t had something with that much fruit flavor since I chewed Fruit Stripe back in 3^rd grade.  I have been missing out.

So the next week, I am yawning on purpose hoping that she has a big stash of that yummy gum.  This time she pulls out Sweet Mint Orbit.  Since the last one was so yummy I am willing to bend my rule about trying new stuff and try this one too.  Also yummy.

So this spring in addition to new things in my yard, I have new flavors of gum in my purse.

Oh, hold on a minute.  Is that a sneeze coming on?  The pollen count is still so high.

No, not a sneeze. . .  I think. . .Yes,  I definitely feel a contest coming on.

To enter this contest, you need to leave a comment telling about something NEW you have recently tried and if you would recommend it to us.  Tell us what was great about it or why we should avoid it. It can be anything.  All comments will be printed and placed in a hat and then one of my kids will draw out a name.  That way you can’t blame me.  You can’t lose!  Well, actually you can, but we all win when we try something new!!

Oh, and the prize will be a brand NEW beach towel for the pool this summer. 

Hurry, the contest ends midnight May 7.

The other day I told my friend that I had finished cleaning our house. 

Then I corrected myself, “Well, it is clean for us.”

Her house is always cleaner and more organized.  We do have one more kid than they do. 

George must really be messy.

Actually, Matt and I both struggle with our inner slob.  I remember when we were newlyweds we would collect all the shoes at the end of the week to see who had more lying around the apartment. 

Now, that is what you call cheap entertainment.

So I cannot fault the boys for their messiness, but I want to train them to do better.  After all God commanded us to” fill the earth and subdue it.”  We have managed to “fill” our house with all sorts of stuff.  (Probably not what He had in mind.) Now we just need to “subdue” it.  Subdue is the same word as conquer.  And I have to admit sometimes it does feel like I am at war and our home looks like a warzone.

But our gentle God has a way of pointing out things to us in such sweet, subtle ways. 

I love flipping through magazines, and lately every magazine I pick up lately is focused on cleaning.  Subtle Hint to me:  Put down this time gobbler and pick up a broom.

The P31 magazine I get (http://www.proverbs31.org/p31womanmagazine/P31WomanMagazine.php)  has a very convicting article on why we should clean not just how to do it quicker, easier, better, or greener.

Even in the Titus study I am in shows how God desires order from his people.  Paul left Titus behind to “set in order what remains.” And that is just the first chapter.  Later on, he quits beating around the bush and says encourage the young women to be “workers at home.”  You mean distractions like TV and Facebook aren’t new?  Women have always struggled with working around the home?

So the command remains, and so do the dust bunnies.  In obedience, I will cheerfully banish them and complete each task even though each one will need to be completely redone the very next week. 

And then I will be ready to start working on that other command:  Practice hospitality.