Monday Musings: Insanity

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It’s insanity!
Kids before the Christmas break:
What’s a mom to do?!?

Oh, dear – what a week we have in store. The kids’ schools let out on Wednesday and Thursday, but you’d think the break had already started, as off-the-walls as the boys have been. This morning, No. 4 had a full-on, toddleresque, knock-down-drag-out temper tantrum … over a pair of shoes. Oi vey. It is moments like these that make me want to hug their teachers, kiss their feet and tell them how terrific they are. I could not spend most of the day, five days a week, with a roomful of kids. It would drive me nuts. I love my kiddos; don’t get me wrong, but whew – teachers are heroes!

Merry Christmas to all my teacher friends … and THANK YOU for all you do each and every day!!!

Extended family

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I have a small plaque that a co-worker gave me a few years ago that reads: “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.” Having grown up with only one brother as a sibling, I can attest that I have a few close girlfriends who are like sisters to me. In fact, one of my favorite stories of all time is the Anne of Green Gables series; I particularly love how the author described Anne and her best friend, Diana, as “kindred spirits.”

Having a kindred spirit is more than just having a BFF, as today’s vernacular suggests. With a BFF (best friends forever), you may pal around and have plenty of things in common, but then someone’s parents get relocated out of state or you grow up and move off to different colleges, and over time, the friendship may lose touch. You don’t mean for it to; it just happens. It’s part of life. With a kindred spirit, however, no distance keeps you apart. There may be periods of life when you don’t see each other for months or even years, but you have a heart-to-heart connection that goes well beyond Facebook updates, Foursquare check-ins and text-gossip.

Proverbs 18:24 refers to “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (NIV). The Message paraphrase reads: “Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.” That type of relationship, the family-but-not-by-blood connection with someone is an amazing gift. It’s the type of friendship that I believe the disciples had with one another and with Jesus. It’s the type of relationship that I believe we ought to have as a church body.

When we talk about “doing life together” as a church family, it’s a step in this direction. We build relationships with each other through Life groups, and that is terrific, but it takes making a special effort to reach out to someone in friendship to build a kindred spirit bond. It means being honest, taking off the façade and being held accountable. It means being vulnerable. Are you willing to let a kindred spirit have access to the tender parts of your heart?

Foodie Friday: Pistachio sandies

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I came across Dana Carpender’s blog soon after I started my low-carb eating plan, and her 1001 Low-carb Recipes cookbook is now a staple in my kitchen. My seventy-plus-pounds-ago self used to turn up her nose at low-sugar desserts, but Dana has de-carbed some great ones and inspired me to experiment more in the kitchen to alter recipes on my own.

Pistachio sandies

This week’s Foodie Friday is a batch of cookies, based on Dana’s recipe for Pecan Sandies. I didn’t have any pecans on hand, but I had a bunch of pistachios that needed to be shelled and eaten. (Pistachios have about 5 net carbs per ounce, while pecans and almonds have about one and two, respectively — so, it isn’t the lowest-carb nut on the market, but it’s all I had handy.

I chopped the pistachios in a food processor and also added a splash extra vanilla extract … because I like vanilla. 🙂

They turned out just as perfectly “sandy” and melt-in-your-mouth as I had hoped they would.