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Thankful Thursdays: Thanksgiving Edition

I recently stumbled upon a blog that touches my heart, as a Christian, as a woman and as a wife. You're likely familiar with Jefferson Bethke, though you may not know him by name. His Youtube video of a spoken word poem entitled "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" went viral earlier this year. I saw it all over my Facebook, from friends and family all over the country. My beautiful cousin Rachel retweeted something he said on Twitter, so I began to follow him. He recently got married and he began to retweet things that his wife, Alyssa, tweeted so I began to follow her as well. This is how I happened upon her blog: Alyssa Joy.

In her recent miniseries on Gratitude, she wrote the following:

"A book that deeply touched my heart, and changed my whole outlook on life, is One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. In this book, Ann talks about her struggle to give thanks to the Lord when life is hard, and in the mundane day-to-day events. BUT. When we do- when we choose to give thanks- the mundane becomes beautiful. The pain becomes beautiful too- because we see Jesus at work, instead of asking where He’s gone. We invite Jesus in to each moment, and savor His precious gifts. 

Ann was challenged to write a list of 1,000 things she was thankful for and discovered the joy of looking for every moment that she could thank the Lord for. 

Although I’m not at 1,000 yet, this list-making has brought so much joy to my life. Inviting Jesus in, taking a moment to reflect on His beauty, His work, His presence- in every moment. 

So, every Thursday, I am going to write a list of things I am thankful for. I hope you will join me in this process. Hopefully we will get to 1,000 soon."

And so, I've decided to join in on this challenge. Each Thursday, I will be taking time to write about at least 10 things that I am thankful for that week. I've ordered One Thousand Gifts from Amazon and look forward to reading it. I've also ordered two other books from Alyssa's Recommended Reading List: Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother and Prayers of An Excellent Wife. I hope that these will teach me a lot and inspire me to be a better wife to Stephen. This also correlates nicely with number 9 on my 30 Before 30 list: Complete a thankfulness journal for an entire year.

So, for the week of Thanksgiving 2012, here are the ten things that I am thankful for:

He makes me smile this big all the time, even
when I'm wearing ridiculous boot-slippers.

1. A God who orchestrates my life in ways that show His hand so obviously: there's no other way that Stephen and I end up married. There are too many things about our lives and how perfect we are for each other that you just can't chalk up to coincidence.
2. My amazing and wonderful husband. He completes me, seriously. I am good on my own but I am great when we are together. He brings out the best in me by loving me just as I am. I want to be the best possible wife to him and look forward to raising a family with this amazing man! He continues to give me more and more reasons to love him every single day.



My Gram attacking a turkey leg?
Totally normal Thanksgiving.

3. Our incredible, weird, crazy family! I could not be more blessed to be related to some of the most kind-hearted, caring, fun-loving, adopting-random-people-because-we-love-everyone, give-you-the-shirt-off-my-back, people in this entire world. My family and my in-laws are a huge blessing in our lives and I feel so blessed to have these people speaking into our lives and into our marriage. We are surrounded by people who follow God in their lives and encourage us to do the same in ours. We could not be more blessed.
4. The best best friends anyone could ask for. I have two sisters by bonds that I can't imagine life without. Though we're in three different states, we talk constantly and encourage each other in all of our pursuits. We understand each other and we have a similar humor. I am so so so so excited to see them in a couple weeks and to just enjoy being in the same state, let alone the same room! It brings me such joy. I just love them and their (my) family to death.



I can't believe this was 6 years ago.
I love my sisters!

5. We both have jobs. In an economy like this, when so many have fallen on hard times, we are both gainfully employed in jobs that we enjoy a majority of the time. 
6. Life-long friendships. Okay, so this kind of correlates with #4 (Sandi and I have been friends for 13 years!), but can I just say how awesome it is that Stephen and I spent Thanksgiving in the home of my Aunt Lori's college roommate, Kathleen? How incredible that all of these years later, they are friends, and that their friendship would extend to them being my family too? How many people can say that? They've been friends longer than I've been alive and I can't wait to be best friends with Sandi for 30 years!
7. Getting pictures of my sweet nephew in text messages from my brother- I just love him!
8. Weird family traditions, like my Mom, Dad, brother and I telling each other "Happy Birthday" on Thanksgiving because it's Turkey Day and my parents are turkeys!!
9. A beautiful home to live in
10. Mashed potatoes. No lie. People who know me know how much I love potatoes.

Going forward, the list will most likely not be so verbose. It will probably look more like this: 10 Things. But I look forward to thanking the Lord for everything He puts in my life. Both the large and small :)

Goals, Food, Health and Happiness

It seems like I blinked and the year is almost over. 

I'm looking back on some of the goals that I started the year with and it looks like I'm doing pretty well, actually!

Goals for 2012:

• Complete the Couch to 5K training program to get back into running - Check!
• Read at least 18 books (progress can be tracked on my blog to the right) - I'm currently reading book #27!
• Complete a second Photo A Day project - So far, so good!
• Make a realistic budget with my husband and stick to it - Well, we made a budget. I haven't exactly checked our stick-to-it-ness but we're doing well financially and have made some changes that make financial sense so maybe I get half credit on this one?
• Actually finish the Bible Study I bought an embarrassingly long time ago - I've actually done two, including the above mentioned one.
• Get pregnant again (God willing) and have a happy, healthy pregnancy- Still a work in progress, but God willing...
• Blog more frequently - Well, this will be my 13th post of the year. In the history of my blog, this is pretty good. The only years that I've had more posts were during the planning of our wedding, our wedding, and some related posts so I think that I'm doing pretty well. 
• Spend more time nurturing relationships - This one is sort of hard to quantify, but I think that I've been able to build closer bonds with some of the people out here, as well as get closer to some of my favorite people from back home. 

So really, the only thing that I haven't been able to accomplish to some degree is getting pregnant. But, I can say that I have made strides to help with this process. Thanks to some awesome friends of mine, I was introduced to the book Taking Charge of your Fertility this summer. From that book I really learned a lot about how the female body works and how everything really has to work together perfectly for conception to occur. I've recently started charting using a great app called Fertility Friend, which has taught me a lot about how my body works. I'm hoping that this will help us to have a baby, but at the very least it has empowered me to be able to speak to a doctor with some authority about how my body functions if we have to get to that point. 

I also met with my own personal nutrition consultant, my sweet friend Kelsey, last weekend. She's incredibly passionate about nutrition, eating Real Foods, and is even studying to become a doula. What a great resource she is (check out her website: www.aderofoods.com)! She took the time to compile her own research about eating well, both in general and for fertility. And while I already do eat fairly well, she was able to speak to the exact nutritional value in different foods that I could add to my diet to enhance my health and wellness. So here are a few things that I have tried this week:

Organic whole fat milk: full-fat dairy is related to an increased likelihood of getting pregnant
Kefir: full of probiotics to help boost immunity and regulate digestion, also full of calcium
Organic butter: healthy fats!
Brussels sprouts: mmm, folic acid and phytonutrients ( I have yet to cook these so I hope I can make them taste awesome! Accepting recipes...)

Today I made and ate my first omelet in my almost 28 years. Eggs are apparently really good for you, despite the fact that I don't particularly care for them. So I added things I do like to make them better. I love love love tomatoes so that was a no-brainer. I also added organic baby spinach (yay iron!) and some cheese. And, as always, Cholula makes most foods better. I wouldn't skip straight to *liking* eggs yet, but they were more tolerable with these additions.

 Oh, and trying to drink ridiculous amounts of water-- good thing I have quart-sized mason jars to use as glasses. And, with my recent health issues, I'm more than willing to try things that can boost my wellness and maybe help me get over this!

Speaking of recent health issues, we still don't know why my skin has been freaking out for the past three and a half months. So far I've treated my crazy rash as ringworm (three times, in three ways). I've also had blood tests for various things, ruling out gout, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, previous strep infection, vasculitis, and inflammation which can be caused by autoimmune diseases. Or at least that's what Google tells me based on the tests the doctor ordered. Everything was within normal levels.

I also had a biopsy of one of my "spots." This was actually pretty cool because I could actually watch the procedure since it's on the front of my thigh. It was so interesting! It came back benign. No abnormalities of the tissue, so no cancer-causing cells. The pathological diagnosis shows chronic spongiotic dermatitis, which according to Google means acute eczema. (The doctor didn't actually tell me I have eczema, so I'm relying on Google for this.) I have another follow-up appointment on November 27, so hopefully he'll explain this to me more. The weird thing is that I've never had eczema before in my life, and I guess I didn't know that you can randomly get it after almost 28 years. Hopefully the doctor can explain this more to me, cause it's not going away. And there's a lot of it. And it's really ugly. I've had just awful luck with this biopsy site. I've lost three of my four stitches. They've just come untied and so I pulled them out. This scar is going to be gnarly. My skin also had a crazy reaction to wearing a bandaid over the site and four days later, it still looks like I'm wearing a pink bandaid. Why my skin hates me, I don't know.

Enough whining, there are happy things yet to come!

• Next week is Thanksgiving! Yay food and yay time with my sweet husband! And yay for 4 day weekends. And we're spending Thanksgiving with the Kleinhuizens, which is bound to be a hoot.
• After Thanksgiving means Christmas Tree buying time!! I love how Christmas trees make the whole house smell amazing and Christmassy and like joy.
• Then it's my birthday, which was going to suck because my husband will be in Phoenix for Brandon's bachelor party, but now is going to be amazing because I will be in Vacaville and will get to spend my birthday with my family and best friends! And I'm really really hoping to get some San Francisco time in my weekend. It's been too long!
• CHRISTMAS. Do I need to say more?
• New Year's and celebrating 6 years with the love of my life! He's so my favorite.

Life, Lately...

As I sit here on the couch in a wedding show induced stupor and wishing to not move much as my legs are sore from hiking yesterday, I thought this would be an opportune time to blog.

Life lately has been nothing short of a whirlwind. Since the school year began again, I feel like time has started moving at warp speed. That does, of course, not include the weekend that Stephen was in Houston, which was one of the longest ever. But that's just cause I'm a wuss when it comes to being apart. And being alone in this giant house doesn't exactly help the cause.

So the question is, what's new?

Well, I started running again. If you've been a faithful follower of this blog, you're probably rolling your eyes right now. Yes, I am aware that it's been an on and off cycle for the last 3 years. But I'm almost 4 weeks in and doing great. I did my first week on the treadmill and was pleasantly surprised by how well I was able to do after a few months' break. But then I decided to start trying to run outside in hopes of doing a 5k in the near future. Let me tell you, that first run outside was killer. It was definitely a humbling experience. However, persistence does have its benefits. In the couple weeks that I've been running outside, I've dropped my 5k time from 43:00 to 38:43! Yes, I know that's not fast but I can't lie, I'm pretty proud of that. And no, I'm not able to run the entire time because I have a hard time pacing myself evenly when I'm running outside, but hey, I'm out there and I'm working on it. Besides, when the place you run looks like this, how can you not enjoy going?

 

I want it to be Fall on this trail always. I'm not looking forward to losing this beautiful spot when the evil white stuff comes and ruins everything.


I recently had some blood work done to check for possible autoimmune disorders. The good news is that my labs all came back normal. That was a slightly stressful few days. I'm on some medication now to try to clear up my symptoms and hopefully that will all be behind me soon after a couple months of dealing with it.

No news on the baby front, which has been rather disheartening. We got pregnant so quickly the first time that I thought it would be easier than this. But, it's not. I've been reading up on things a lot and trying to be patient but it's hard. I feel like life is really working against us right now but I'm trying to be positive. I'm not doing a very good job of it, I'm afraid. But, for some silly reason, Stephen still loves me through the crazy.

Speaking of the cute guy that I married, I'm really very lucky to have such a loving and patient husband. He honestly is my rock. There is no person that I would rather spend time with and no place I would rather be than with him. I'm so blessed. He's so encouraging through everything we've been going through and always cheers me on through the things that I'm pursing (like running!).

I'm also super blessed to have two of the best friends that a girl could ask for supporting me through this adventure. My two sisters, Sandi and Nikki, have been taking this running journey with me and doing it themselves. It's so awesome to be working on the same things, in three different states, and supporting each other through it. Nikki is working up to a half marathon and Sandi is working up to a 5k in January and I couldn't be more proud of these two and more thankful for the ways they support me. Can I just say how much I love group text?! Can't wait until we get rid of Nancy, girls! (P.S. We need some new pictures!)




My 30 Before 30 is going fairly well. The most enjoyable long-term goal so far has got to be the trying of local restaurants. So far we've been to a burger joint/bar, Mexican, pizza and BBQ. Looking forward to finding an Italian and Chinese place to try! I didn't intend for it to be diverse like this but I'm enjoying that it is!

Is it bad that I already want to decorate our house for Christmas? I have grown to like certain things about Fall: leaves turning colors, wearing scarves, cute boots and Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. But there is no joy in decor quite like there is for Christmas. I can't wait.

#15 - Learn How to Make Really Good Tomatillo Salsa From Scratch (30 Before 30)

Third time really is a charm. It took three tries over the course of 2 months, but I have perfected my tomatillo salsa recipe. 

The first time that I tried to make it, I took a recipe from Epicurious. I followed it pretty closely with the exception of adding some garlic (but what don't I add garlic to?). It was good flavor but was just lacking heat. A moderate success. 

The second time I tried to make it, I wanted to add some significant heat. So I used jalapeños this time. I decided to not seed or devein them. That may not have been my best decision ever. It roasts and I get it all puréed and decide to taste it. I thought my face was literally going to catch on fire. It was instant and it was painful. I'm freaking out, because we are having friends over and I can't serve them face-melting salsa. So I'm googling "my salsa is too hot" and trying to figure out what I can do. They recommend adding more tomatoes. I didn't use tomatoes. They recommend making another non-jalapeñoed batch and mixing them. I don't have the supplies. Then, I see on like ten different pages that you should add a little sugar. I have sugar. I try it. It doesn't do anything. I add a little more and it's still crazy hot. I let it sit for a little while, trying to decide what to do. I try it and the heat has decreased to a spicy, but more manageable level. But now it's got this weird sweetness. I don't like it. Stephen comes home, relieved that I did not actually burn my face off, and tries it. He agrees that the sweetness is not ideal. 

The third time was the next day. I grabbed the ingredients on my lunch break so that I could get it together immediately when I got home so it would be ready when everyone came over. This time, I really got it right. To quote Stephen, "Good flavor, subtle heat, but it catches up with you at the end." It made a little over 2 cups of salsa and after the party, we had probably 2 tablespoons left. I'd say it was a hit.

Next time, I'm making a double batch and jarring it so that it will last longer. I took the Round 2 Salsa to work for my boss to try and she and her daughter liked it so much they've requested it. It wasn't even my best batch. That's a nice compliment :) It did get better as it sat in the fridge and was less obviously sweet. 

I'll probably continue to tinker with it from time to time and try new things, but if I never do, I am very pleased with Round 3 Salsa. 

Pray For Colorado Again

Yesterday morning, shortly after midnight, tragedy struck Colorado once more. This time it was not fire that threatened the lives of Coloradans, but instead it was a madman with 4 guns and no remorse. 12 people have been killed and another 58 wounded (8 of which are still in critical condition) in one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

We woke up to the news of this event on Friday, seeing it all over Twitter and Facebook before we'd even left our bed. We came downstairs and turned on the news only to see it played over and over before our eyes. It was sad and shocking, but it was hard to look away. The incomprehensible decision of one man was affecting the lives of people all over the state, the country and the world. As they interviewed eye witnesses and showed parents looking for their children, hoping that they were just lost in the hysteria, not lost from this life, the emotions became stronger. Your heart breaks for those parents, friends and loved ones waiting for answers and fearing the worst.

I did not live in Colorado when Columbine happened. I was 1200+ miles away, in Vacaville, California on that fateful April day. But I remember, vividly, coming home from school and watching as students were being evacuated from their school, a place of assumed safety. We watched as the death tolls rose and the stories of both victims and assailants were revealed. We mourned from afar the lives of people we didn't know, in a state we'd never been to, for reasons that we just couldn't understand. We related to them- these were children our age, witnessing unspeakable tragedy and living unknown terror. I was 14 years old. I was in high school. And the fear that this could have happened anywhere, including Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville, California, was real.

This time, I am part of a Colorado community that has been shaken by the closeness of this tragedy. We took my parents to the airport last night and on the way home we could see the theatre from I-225. It took us a mere 20 minutes to get home from there. This terror, this pain, this tragedy occurred 20 minutes from the safety of our home. It happened not only to people our age, but to children, to parents, to servicemen and newlyweds. But innocents, every one of them. No one was safe.

Stories began to emerge of those who tried to help others in the midst of chaos and what had to be the most terrifying moments of their lives. The story of a 19 year old who, when he heard a young mother screaming for her children, went back to help her find them and get them to safety. Who took a shot to his leg to protect complete strangers. The story of a young woman who tried to help those who were hurt despite having the barrel of a gun pointed right in her own face moments earlier. The stories of friends and family covering their loved ones to protect them from harm. This reminds me of something I wrote when I visited the Columbine Memorial a couple years ago:

"Going to a place like that reminds you both of how sad and dangerous the state of the world is but also how beautiful it is that there are people who are willing to put themselves in danger to help and protect people. To see how a community, a state, a nation can come together in times of tragedy to love and support each other. Tragedy really shows the worst in people but also showcases the best. It reminds me of a quote from a speech on the West Wing that I saw just last night (Stephen and I have been watching it and just finished season 3. I love it. I never thought I would since I'm not very political, but I do.) The context is included in the quote:

"More than any time in recent history, America's destiny is not of our own choosing. We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Forty-four people were killed a couple of hours ago at Kennison State University. Three swimmers from the men's team were killed and two others are in critical condition, when, after having heard the explosion from their practice facility, they ran into the fire to help get people out. Ran into the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory, God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Thank you."  "


And that is exactly what has already started happening. Yesterday, the same day as this horrible event, Bonfils Blood Center reported that all 6 blood banks and all of the mobile blood units were booked solid with appointments for people to donate to help those in need. Within 3 hours of GivingFirst.org being set up to help local non-profits provide services for victims $125,000 had been raised. Already the people of Colorado are rising to meet the challenge. Already people around the country are looking for ways to help. I saw that Bloodsource, the blood bank I donated to in Vacaville, California, has sent platelets to Colorado to help the victims. Donations are coming in from around the country to the Red Cross. Businesses in the Aurora community have begun pooling resources to help those in need. The President has pledged to help in whatever ways possible.

The City of Aurora, the State of Colorado and the United States will rise to master this challenge. We will, as a community, support those who have been affected. It will be a long healing process, but we will heal. We will continue to pray for Colorado and for God's comfort and healing to be showered upon those who have lost loved ones.

We've lost acres of our land, hundreds of our houses, the lives of our citizens and a sense of security in the most carefree of places this summer. But we have not lost our will to go on, to rebuild and to heal.


To see a Coloradan's perspective on Denver's ability to rise above, please read Stephen's blog:
Denver, Colorado: A Comeback Town

#7- Go to a concert at Red Rocks (30 Before 30)

When I was compiling my 30 Before 30 list, I honestly didn't think that going to a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre would be the first item that I would cross off the list. I had no tickets and no concerts in mind at that time. Then, about a week after making my list, we got an email asking if we would like to use Mike and Marcie's tickets for a John Denver Tribute concert at Red Rocks. Stephen asked me if I'd like to use them, and despite not really knowing any of John Denver's songs, we thought it would be fun to go. Already once this year, Mike and Marcie had given us tickets to see a band we didn't know (Guster) and that turned out well, so why not?

So, last night we headed up to Red Rocks. I'd been to the Amphitheatre before just to walk around and check it out with Stephen, Sandi, Chris and Jack (on different occasions), but as awesome as the venue is to be at when there isn't a concert going on, it doesn't hold a candle to the experience of seeing live music there. We got there about 45 minutes before the show and got some food and found our seats. We had great seats (Row 14) with this view of the stage:

 And this view behind us: 

We met up with Mike's good friend John and his girlfriend Janet, as well as their friends Phil and Barb. Stephen knows them, so we spent some time catching up before the concert started. Since they are our parents' age, they knew John Denver's music well and were surprised that we didn't really know much about him. 

The show opened with a woman from the Lakota tribe speaking to us about how Red Rocks was the ancestral land of her people. She introduced us to a man from her tribe who came all the way from Rapid City to say a blessing over the concert in their native language. Then, drummers and dancers performed a couple ceremonial songs for the occasion, including a victory dance. It was pretty cool. Apparently John Denver was really interested in Native American culture, so it was a fitting way to open the show.

Then, one of John Denver's good friends, who put on the show, introduced a member of the Susan G. Komen Denver chapter who told us that a portion of the ticket sales from the concert would go to the local chapter to help provide breast cancer services for the women of the Denver area.

Then he introduced us to the band who would be performing the tribute concert: The John Adams Band with the Colorado Chamber Orchestra. John Adams grew up in Holland and at a young age heard a John Denver song on the radio (Take Me Home, Country Roads) and was hooked. He learned  to play the music and even was able to perform with John Denver once in Europe. They met several times over the years before John Denver's death. Since then, John Adams has committed his life to keeping John Denver's music and the stories behind the songs alive. 

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed John Denver's music. I'd say I have a newfound appreciation for him. John Adams, from what John Denver fans told me, did a really good job of performing JD's music. Some of the songs that they played were: Annie's Song,  Calypso, Take Me Home, Country Roads, Eagles and Horses, The Foxfire Suite, Grandma's Feather Bed, Home Grown Tomatoes, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Rhymes and Reasons, Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine on my Shoulders, Thank God I'm a Country Boy, Back Home Again, Wildfire, This Old Guitar and Whispering Jesse. I'm sure I missed some, but that's what I remember.

Michael Martin Murphey was a guest performer and sang Boy from the Country and Perhaps Love with John Adams. He was really good, too. And pretty adorable in his cowboy hat and fringe covered jacket. Stephen says he looks like Chuck Norris. He's not wrong.

The only two that I could really sing along to were Annie's Song (I had no idea that was the name of it) and Leaving on a Jet Plane. I didn't actually know that John Denver sang those songs. It was a truly priceless experience to sit in a gorgeous venue at dusk and sing Leaving on a Jet Plane with hundreds of other people. And obviously, I recognize the chorus of Rocky Mountain High, but I've got to say that I can't imagine that song being performed any better than at Red Rocks, in Colorado. I'm sure it would not be the same experience anywhere else.

This, right here, is why Red Rocks Amphitheatre is such an amazing and unique venue. I thought it was beautiful in the day time, but it's even more beautiful at night. When the only lighting is coming from the stage, lights shining on the rocks flanking the seats and some strategically positioned lights around the outside of the seating area so that people can use the stairs, it's an experience that can not be replicated. It's beautiful. Add to that a perfect summer evening, not too hot with a light breeze, having your husband's arm around you and some John Denver songs, it was truly romantic. I'm not gonna lie, that John Denver was a pretty sentimental guy.

During intermission

Overall, this was a great introduction to music at Red Rocks. It was very chill, laid back concert to start it off with. I hope to see more concerts there in the future (perhaps of bands that I actually know...) but I am so happy to be able to cross this one off my 30 Before 30 list.