30 Days of Thanksgiving {Day 1}

Every year I mean to do this and always forget until several days into November. Thanks to many friends doing this on facebook, I'm remembering this year just a couple hours before November 2nd! Thank you, thankful facebook friends! :)

I hope to write a short post every day for the next thirty days. It probably won't happen but that's okay! I'm no superwoman by any stretch of the imagination and I'm totally okay with that. Oh, and also there is no special order to each post. I'm just going to write about whatever comes to mind that I am thankful for.

Oh, and (again) also, it's okay if you don't care. This is mostly for me anyway :)

Tonight I am sitting across the kitchen table from the love of my life... the man of my dreams... my other half... my perfect puzzle piece.

Thank You, all-knowing Father, for my husband.

We've hit some sizable potholes on this road called marriage, and while most of them I would love to have never hit, I am so grateful for where they have brought us. We are quickly approaching our 7th anniversary, and I think it is safe to say we are happier than we've ever been. And it's crazy that we are still getting to know each other.

I love getting to know him.

At least once a week I find myself saying, "This is the life, isn't it?"

And of course, he always agrees with an "Mmmhmm."

Derek, I'm so grateful for...

Your love for me
Your love for the babies
Your work ethic
Your desire to know God
Your passion for ministry
Your patience, especially with me
Your drive to do your very best
Your commitment
Your willingness to help me
Being my best friend

"Like pieces of a puzzle molded for each other... I am your perfect fit and you are mine."

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

I grew up eating condensed tomato soup (aka "pink soup"). My kids love it. It's just delicious, especially with a grilled cheese sandwich (aka "toasted cheese"). I felt like I was giving my kids a healthy lunch. But then I took a quick look at the ingredients and was not super excited about what I saw. So I've been wanting to make my own.

What better time to make soup than the best season of the year??

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest and one evening (while Derek was out of town because he doesn't like tomato soup) I made it. YUM.

Unfortunately, Marie's weird texture aversion made her not a huge fan, but my parents, Jack, and I loved it!

First, I'm going to walk you through how I made it, then you can go to where I found the recipe for more details. You can make this a slow-cooker soup, too!

Chop up some celery, carrots, and onions, and sautee in just a Tbs or so of olive oil.

Then add 4 cups chicken stock, Tbs dried basil, tsp dried oregano, half a bay leaf, and 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice.

Bring to a boil then let simmer until carrots are tender. 15ish minutes.

In a separate pot, melt a stick of butter over low heat then add 1/2 c flour. Stir constantly for 5 min.

Then slowly (I forgot the slowly part) add one cup of soup and stir. Add another 3 cups of soup and stir until smooth.

 Transfer this roux to the large pot of soup. Stir constantly until soup thickens.

Add 1 cup Parmesan cheese, 1.5 cups skim milk, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, salt and pepper.

Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Dish some out, top with croutons, and thoroughly enjoy!

Go HERE for the original recipe. Then make this deliciousness. Then come back and tell me any changes you made, especially if you find a way to not use a whole stick of butter!

By the way, I had about a serving left so I stuck it in the freezer for lunch later. Much better than buying a can full of high fructose corn syrup!

I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

I've always wanted to be a woman of prayer. Kinda like I've always wanted to be a runner. In both cases, when it gets hard or I don't feel like it, I fall away and eventually start from scratch.

By the grace of God, I finally became a real runner. There is still so much room for improvement, but in spite of falling away here and there, I don't start from scratch anymore.

It's time to put my prayer life in that place. It truly has been a dream to be the type of person that you could say, "Ask Lindsay to pray for you. She'll do it and God always hears her prayers!" I've said similar things about a couple of women I've known in my life. Things happen when they pray. And you will never come across a woman of prayer who isn't a shining light for her Savior and simply a blessing. God always works in the pray-er first before working on the pray-ee.

The last few weeks have been such an amazing blessing and a huge trial all at once. God has been doing some serious work on me, specifically in the area of prayer.

All this to say, I came across this passage today and was so overwhelmed by it and thinking over what God has done in me recently so I just have to share.

Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear; but certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor His lovingkindness from me.

Psalm 66:16-20

Do you have a verse/passage about prayer that God has used in your life? Please share in the comments! Or share with me a link to your own blog post.

Um... oops.

As way more of you than should probably know... I had a rough week last week. And I did a great job of whining and complaining about it. I also did a horrendous job of keeping up with the challenge.

Oops.

Here's the problem... when I'm down, I eat. When I'm stressed, I eat. When I'm tired, I eat. I even realized in the past couple days, when I'm happy, I eat! I like to eat.

The point is, while I was having the worst labor day weekend in my memory, I could not wait for bed time when the house was finally quiet and I could turn on some netflix and browse pinterest and eat. Specifically animal crackers and mountain dew. I found comfort in those things.

Oops.

Well, finally Derek got home and different discipline ideas I tried with Marie were working and I was feeling better. So I finally looked at what the challenge was for the week and began working on my verse. And whatdyaknow, I could have used this verse days before!

Oops.

... Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light...

Thank You, Lord.

Now it is almost Wednesday of week 3 and I just looked at what the challenges are.

Oops.

Week 3 - September 8-15

• Light arm work
• One soda a week
• No food after 9pm

Memory Verse: "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him." Psalm 28:7

Thankfully we just ran out of soda. I'm excited to get some arm work in. I totally forgot that was this week. As for the no food after 9pm... that's gonna be a lot harder than I thought it would be! If I really wanna lose this pesky weight, I just gotta do it! But man, even these simple challenges are so much harder than I thought they'd be!

Source: atalante.co via Derek Lindsay on Pinterest

On to much happier things... yesterday (one day short of five weeks after my entire abdomen was sliced open and my sweet Kempy was yanked free) I went for a jog! Not only did it feel great, it was so easy that we (my BRF and I) did the first two days of Ease into 5k. And tonight we totally skipped week 2 and did the first day of week 3. And I still feel great!!

I was so afraid that I would be all the way back at the beginning... before I became a real runner. When I hated every minute of it. 

But no, as soon as we started jogging, I was overwhelmed with excitement and joy!

I'm still a runner. And I have the goal of attempting that beloved 4-miler next week!

So just be prepared... many running posts will likely follow. :)

Source: nice-pictures.info via Derek Lindsay on Pinterest

Self Challenge - Wk 2

Week 2 - September 1-8

• 9 cups water each day
• One dessert a week
• Meals fit on small plate (no seconds)

Memory Verse: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matt. 11:28-30

Yesterday was the start of week 2 but I totally wasn't thinking about it and did a terrible job. Thankfully I did not eat any dessert! But I did decide to make minor tweaks...

• 9 cups water each day
• One non-chocolate dessert and one chocolate dessert
• Meals fit on small (dessert) plate (no seconds)
• Cup of raspberry leaf tea daily

My problem with desserts is chocolate. I LOVE chocolate and usually find some way to eat it every single day. So I wanted to give myself a little leeway or I would probably be just plain miserable the entire week.

I added the tea because it seems to be helping shrink my belly still just a tiny bit. So I'm sticking with it!

Now for an overview of last week:

• 8 Cups of water - 6 out of 7 days.
• Vitamins twice a day - 6 out of 7 days (just missed one morning dose)
• Daily easy walk - 6 out of 7 days 
• Verse - memorized!

I did not mess up all on the same day so that's good! I decided that I'm not gonna be strict about taking my vitamins twice from now on because they are seriously expensive.

I've been fluctuating between the same 4 pounds so no real weight loss during week one. :/ Serious set back but I still feel confident because I know that I'm growing in my desire to please the Lord in my eating and my desire to eat well!

How are you doing?