Challenge!

Challenge: Write an entire post without using the word "I" (or "me" or "my" because I use them entirely too much). Go!

This will be quite a challenge. How do you write an entire post without using those words? Let's see. This will be random. Let's make this about everyone else and everything good in life.

God is good! He provides in ways that are unimaginable, it's hard to even comprehend. He has bestowed many blessings. The biggest blessing is Ryan, who is an amazingly wonderful husband. Who could ask for anyone better? Ryan is loving, thoughtful, helpful, hard-working, wise, intelligent, great conversationalist, handsome, encouraging, and on and on. God certainly went above and beyond when He created him! What a huge blessing!

Family - parents, brother, nephew, all the in-laws make life better, too. They all add joy and excitement to life. Mom and Dad have become great friends as time goes by and John has been since the high school years. They are all amazing people who bless those they come in contact with. John's wife, Stacey, and new baby boy, Jensen, have been wonderful additions to the family and add joy and fun. And, of course, all the new in-laws since getting married have been fun to get to know and hang out with.

Work is work. Work is just a job right now. Work is difficult and frustrating and it's hard to get up and go in the morning at times. But work is a blessing because without a doubt this job has been provided by God. The circumstances that led to this job could be nothing less than the work of God. Doesn't mean it's ideal, but it is stable and it provides income and more importantly has definitely been a growing, character-enhancing experience. The people at work make it bearable and somewhat enjoyable, which is a big blessing in the midst of the frustrations of everything else that is happening.

To sum it up - God is good and God provides more than any person deserves. All glory to Him!

Mmmmm....Banana Bread

So, last night I realized that we had some bananas that were really ripe and needed to be eaten. Of course that means banana bread, right? :) Well, I really am trying to watch what I eat so I decided that I would try to find a "healthy" banana bread recipe and try it out. Here is the recipe I tried this afternoon and it was actually really good and moist, so I thought I'd share it.

Ingredients
· 1/3 c. natural applesauce
· 3/4 c. brown sugar
· 3 egg whites
· 2-3 bananas
· 1/3 c. water
· 1 2/3 c. wheat flour
· 1 tsp baking soda
· 1/4 tsp baking powder

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix applesauce and sugar.
3. Stir in eggs then bananas then water.
4. Stir in dry ingredients.
5. Pour mixture into a loaf pan and bake 55-60 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

I did add some chocolate chips, because everything is better with chocolate. :) It would have still been delicious without them, though.

Rejuvenated

This past weekend was just what I needed. I feel rejuvenated. I AM rejuvenated. We had an amazing weekend together and with family and friends! Saturday morning we headed out to Salt Lake to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom. It's always good to see my family. My dad made a yummy breakfast for all of us and the rest of the day we just relaxed and hung out at the house and of course played with my nephew. Then it was off to the Jazz game that night. Even though the outcome wasn't what I wanted, we had a BLAST! It was the most fun I've had at a sporting event. The playoffs bring it to a whole other level.

So, not the best picture of me, but we were having fun at the Jazz game!

My wonderful husband decided that we should stay in Salt Lake for the night rather than driving home afterwards like we usually do on our trips to the city. It was nice not to have to make the long drive back home so late. What was even more amazing is that he didn't even know how much I needed this. It allowed us to go to church out there and see some friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

We ended our weekend with a trip up to the mountains to celebrate Mother's Day with Ryan's family on Sunday afternoon. It was a little chilly, but it was good to get up into the mountains and relax and hang out with more family.

Prior to last weekend I guess without realizing it, I was kind of feeling blah. Last week I was sick ALL week and I've never been that sick for that long. Ugh. And the two weeks prior to that Ryan was out of town for the majority of the time. I missed him tremendously! At times, I also find that I miss my life in Salt Lake, miss my friends, my church, and of course my family. I had come upon one of those times at the same time as feeling sick and not spending much time with my husband. Not a good combination, but thankfully this weekend was perfectly timed and gave me just what I needed!

Thought-ful or Thought-less

If a person is not thoughtful, does that mean they are thoughtless? And are there degrees of thoughfulness and thoughtlessness?

I have been pondering that first question for a few days now, which led to the second question (and subsequently the following questions).

I believe that there are some people who are thoughtless and don't even realize it. As well, there are definitely thoughtless people who know they are and don't care. Would you call them both thoughtless? Or is it that thoughtless and knowing it become selfishness? Are they one and the same?

I decided to look up the definitions in the dictionary:

Thoughtful - adjective - showing consideration for others; considerate
Thoughtless - adjective - lacking in consideration for others; inconsiderate; tactless; devoid of or lacking capacity for thought.

After reading those definitions, I decided to look up the word "thought:"
Thought - noun - the product of mental activity; that which one thinks; a single act or product of thinking

I don't have any answers or conclusions. I just seem to create more questions for myself. I think too much anyway...what does that mean? Doesn't mean I'm thoughtful or thoughtless. Ha! In fact, it has gotten me thinking. Am I a thoughtful or a thoughtless person? Can you be both? I can be thoughtful and not act on it, so does that count? Or is that worse than being thoughtless? I often have good intentions and think of many nice or good things I can do for others, but don't act upon them.

I don't want to be thoughtless. I think that requires actively pursuing being thoughtful. Although some people seem to be thoughtful without having to think about it. Is that something that comes naturally to them? Or does it become more natural the more you do it?

What causes thoughtfulness? Is it love, that deep down, I know how much love and grace has been shown to me through Jesus Christ, type love that inspires thoughtfulness? And is it that sinful, human nature that causes thoughtlessness? Is it complacency? Is it my natural tendency to think only of myself?  I know at least for me it will take effort and not allowing complacency to invade and indeed to be constantly reminded of the grace shown to me to encourage me to be more thoughtful and not to let myself slip into thoughtlessness.

Hmmmm...so many questions and so much to ponder.

Not Fun!

If you're looking for an effective weight loss program, I have stumbled upon it it. It's also a great way of getting out of work. First, get your wisdom teeth pulled. Then about 3 weeks later, get a crazy awful infection in one of the extraction sites. Three weeks later, have oral surgery again to remove whatever was left behind in one of the extraction sites. Then, as if that weren't enough, about a week after that get the stomach flu.

Going on 3 days with the stomach flu so far. Yuck! I'm sick of not feeling well. Sick of not being able to eat. The extra 5+ pounds I've lost, I'm not sure is worth it. And I'd rather be at work believe it or not than feel this way. Not to mention the 60 hours of time off (sick time and vacation time after that ran out) that I've had to take in the last 8 weeks and am now down to zero hours and am taking time off unpaid. Nice! Oh, and since I've used my vacation time it's going to put a damper on our summer vacation plans. (Don't worry Tara, we'll still be able to go to Yellowstone :)). Argh!

Oh, to feel better. And, I honestly don't ever remember having the stomach flu before and I have to say in my experience it is awful! The first two days were dreadful and I'm now just starting to feel well enough to even get on a computer. Guess that means I'm on the upswing and am once again looking forward to joining the world of the living here soon. I would much rather be at work. And I would much rather weigh those extra pounds. Like Ryan said, I've had a good run. Ha! Now, I can't wait for a good run of feeling well the rest of the spring and ALL summer!