An Attitude of Encouragement

Encouragement is an art. One that some people would say I am really good at and others would probably find utterly laughable that I would categorize myself as an encouraging person. For every person that I encourage, there are probably several that I overlook. It is very easy for me to encourage the ones I love or people I admire, but for the people I may not know as well, or, to be honest, people I don't like very much, encouragement is far from my mind.

Recently I read a blog post by a woman who said she missed handwritten mail. She posted to her twitter page asking people who wanted handwritten cards to send her their address and she would write them a card or two to brighten up their mailboxes. She was surprised to find that her inbox was loaded with emails from people who wanted "fun mail". She wrote dozens of notes to strangers, and days later began receiving thankful replies from the recipients.

It wasn't the handiness of the gesture or the novelty of receiving mail that isn't a bill that warmed people's hearts, it was the encouragement this simple effort offered. Many, if not most, of those people probably sent off their addresses thinking this woman is never going to respond so when she did the blessing was all the sweeter.

I look across my life and I can think of those people I don't know very well, or those I don't care for and am wondering what might happen if I wrote them a little note? One of my very best friends joked to me a few years back, commenting how much she didn't like me when we first met. I irritated her and completely rubbed her the wrong way. Everything I said and did was annoying and immature in her eyes. I had always suspected this and we chuckled when she finally admitted it.

What changed is that she began to encourage me as a woman, a believer, a wife, and later, a mother. By encouraging me, her heart softened towards me. Encouragement has a funny way of doing that. We can't stay angry or aloof with those God calls us to encourage. We may begin encouraging in hopes of changing the other person, but it's usually us who is going to be changed.

Tomorrow I start work in the moms ministry at church, the perfect field for encouragement, becuase we all know us moms need a ton of encouragement. (That is not sarcasm, that is truth)

On that note, if you are in the Sacramento area and would like to join us, please do so every other Wednesday 9:30-11 at the Arcade Church Fellowship Hall, 3927 Marconi Ave, starting September 5th.. I'll be there, with an encouraging word!

it's the little things

A few of the "little things" that have blessed and encouraged me this week:
A sweet message from my dear friend, Nikki, in response to my posts about body image. Nikki and her husband, Jordan, are missionaries in Manila and are expecting their first baby in a few months, which is SO EXCITING! I love her and wish that she lived close by. I don't have a picture of her, but please do visit her blog and say hello.

Proud boy! With a mouth full of ice cream.

 Good grades!! Both my kids got fantastic grades this year and earned themselves a free ice cream at a local parlor. I am especially proud of my boy, who had a great year. Repeating first grade was the best thing we ever did for him. I am so proud of his improvement. This kid reads for fun now.

SUMMER! We had our first full day of summer yesterday. It was amazing. Farmers market, playdate, afternoon at the river. It does not get any  better. Also, I am tired.

The cove we played at yesterday. We have been awake 3 hours and the whole time my son has been begging to go back.

Forever Friends. Forever friends are hard to come by. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with more forever friends than anyone has any right to have. Aaron and my very first forever friend was a wonderful man named Jason. We have loved him like a brother for the last ten years. Two years ago Jason introduced us to Carolyn who would, a year later, become his wife. Within minutes of meeting her I knew that she would also become a forever friend. She and I have probably the most honest and real friendship I have ever had. We laugh together and cry together and pray for each other. I love Carolyn. Oh, and Jason, too.

Aaron and Jason

Beautiful Carolyn and me

Jason and Carolyn are leaving Sacramento to start a new adventure in Nashville while Jason pursues his PHD and Vanderbilt University. I couldn't be more proud of what he is doing while also being miserable that he is taking his sweet wife away from me.There are two consolations to this: 1) both their entire families live here, so they have to come back to visit and 2) I am adding "visit Nashville" to the Life List.

These are a few of our forever friends. There are no less than eight beautiful people missing from this photo.

A blog that I really enjoy, Hello Hue, encourages her readers to remember and be thankful for the little blessings in life. Each week, on Fridays, she lists all those who have participated in "it's the little things" that way we can all read about, and hopefully be encouraged by, each others blessings.

Forever Young

Last weekend my husband and I went to an 80s Prom themed birthday party. It was as hilarious as you might expect an 80s prom themed birthday party would be, which is to say pretty darn hilarious. I tried to find an 80s prom dress that would fit me, but had no luck, darn it. Not being one to go with the crowd anyway, we decided to go the completely other way and dress up as teachers.
 
Not the "cool" teachers, no the mean teachers that ruined everyone's fun by enforcing all the rules to the letter of the law. AKA, this scene was not very pretty. Not very pretty at all. Clearly I have no shame. In my daughters words : "Wow, Mom, you are an UGLY teacher." Ah. Well.

The above awesome pictures were taken by Eikon Photography. The bottom lame ones were taken by me.

What'd you do last weekend?

We celebrated with our friends at a wedding in San Luis Obispo. I've never been before and would definitely love to go back. Our trip was so quick we didn't even make it down to the beach. I know! Travesty! Well, I might be the only one who thought so.

Mad Tea for Baby

              

It's been so quiet on the blog for awhile partially becuase I was getting ready for a Mad Tea party shower in honor of the adorable new mom up there, Amanda. I'm sure she's not glad I took this picture, but I am, becuase she is too cute. The morning of the baby shower this woman ran a half marathon. Yeah. I know. She is amazing. Or crazy, but mostly amazing ;)

She's 28 weeks along, which is traditionally early for baby showers (so I am told) but being one to buck the system (take that, system!) and the fact that her BFF Nikki was in town and could be my co-planner extraordinaire, well, we went for it. I am so glad we did, not only do Nikki and I work spectacularly well together, it was just a fun time. And we all know how much I love a fun time. (A lot in case you didn't know).

Nikki has much better photos than I do on her blog, A Revolution of Self, so definitely check them out. She also ran the half marathon with Amanda and Amanda's husband, Jasen.

Nikki is inspiring herself, as she has recently reached some lifelong health goals which included becoming a vegan. She and her husband, Jordan are leaving in August to begin a new life as missionaries in Manila, Philippines. I am so excited to follow their journey on her blog and Jordan's (the link of which I can't find. Help anyone?). God is doing truly awesome things in Manila and they get to be a huge part of that.

You can see Nikki's enthusiasm for what she and Jordan have been called to do whenever she talks about her future home. I love love love talking to her. I love having such inspirational friends. That's what friends are for right? To love you for who you are, while still inspiring you to be a better person. At least I really feel that way about mine.

Since Nikki is a vegan I tried to buy or make lots of vegan treats for the party. The biggest hit of all was the peanut butter fudge our friend Megan made. Amanda's favorite treat combo is chocolate and peanut butter, so we had plenty of that. She also loves almond macaroons, which I got her (and forgot to give her so they went stale in my purse. Very sad) and I made an Almond Amaretto cake, which is a favorite in my family.

Both these recipes are so simple it would be a crime for you not to try them out. I haven't yet attempted the Amaretto Cakeas vegan, so that was the normal recipe.

I didn't get any picture of the fudge, probably becuase I was too busy stuffing my face with it. There were leftovers but I was too consumed with hiding it from my family to think about taking pictures of it. 


Megan's So Good You Will Be Driven To Hiding It From Others Peanut Butter Fudge
Melt equal parts of (vegan)

Chocolate Chips
Peanut Butter
with 1-2 T Maple Syrup

Let set. Cut up into little delicious pieces and try not to eat it all at once.SO SIMPLE. Dangerously so.

Amaretto Cake
1 Yellow Cake Mix, prepared as directed on the box, but baked in a bundt pan
(I usually get Trader Joes or Bob's Mill cake mixes)
1/2 cup Slivered Almonds
1 cup of good quality Amaretto
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 water

Grease the bundt pan and spread the slivered almonds across the bottom of the pan (it will create a pretty crust) before pouring the cake into the pan for baking.

Over med/low heat bring the water and sugar to a simmer until the sugar dissolves. If you want to keep the kick of alcohol in the cake, add the amaretto after the sugar is dissolved and begins to become slightly syrupy. If you want to cook off all the alcohol, then add all the ingredients at once. Cook it all down until it covers the back of a metal spoon (sort of like pancake syrup).

When the cake is cooled, but still warm, take it out of the bundt pan and slowly begin brushing the cake with the syrup allowing it to soak in. When you finally get tired of that (usually about 30 minutes for me) just dump what's leftover over the top of the cake.It'll still be delish.