Is this not the most precious thing you ever did see???

I mean really...

There's a First Time for Everything

Back in oh, I'd say October of last year, I saw an ad for a new Monet exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. As soon as I saw that, I excitedly e-mailed my aunt who lives in Washington DC and asked if she would like to go see it with me, since she took me to Monet's house in Paris back in 1999. Not to mention, I ADORE Monet! She of course agreed, and we decided to work out the details later, since the exhibit was running until April of 2010.

I had nearly forgotten about it, when out of nowhere, I get an e-mail on Monday, February 22nd from my aunt asking if I could take the day off work the very next Monday to go see the exhibit with her! I quickly got the approval for the day off, and my aunt said she would call me later to work out how we would get there.
The whole week goes by, and not a peep from auntie. I was starting to think she was going to stand me up. Finally, on Sunday night while I was at youth group, I found I had a missed call and a message from her asking about our trip to NYC. I called her back as soon as I got home to see what was up. Well, she told me that the only way she could make the trip was if I met her in NYC at the train station. *Gulp* I had never, and I mean never traveled to the city by myself. I have always gone with someone who knew what they were doing and where they were going, and I just followed along. I reluctantly agreed because I did not want to let my auntie down. When I hung up, I pleaded with Evan if there was any way he could possibly come with me, and go to school early that day. He didn't want to do that, and he said I would be fine. All I had to do was catch the train from Dunellen to Newark, switch in Newark on track 1 and I would make it to NYC. Well, what if the train didn't bring me to track 1? What if I got lost and missed the train? I was nervous, but it was too late to say no. I barely slept that night thinking about my possible demise on the train to NYC.

So, I boarded the train at around 11 in Dunellen. I actually saw someone I went to high school with, and so was talking to him for a bit. When we arrived in Newark, my friend assured me I was in the right place, and that all I had to do was wait for the next train. So I did that, and before I knew it, I was in the city! I breathed a deep sigh of relief. I had made it. All by myself. Now all I had to do was find a place to wait for my aunt, since she was still en route. I went across the street to Lenny's - a favorite sandwich joint of Evan and mine - and bought lunch for auntie and I. Two hot pastrami sandwiches, yummmm. I was feeling empowered. Now that I knew I could travel to the city alone, I felt like I wanted to do it again.
My aunt finally arrived and we took a cab to the MoMA to make it in time for the lecture we were scheduled for. We enjoyed a very nice time with each other looking at our buddy Monet, and other wonderful works of art. Like this:

A whole wall covered in cows?? That belongs in my kitchen :)
Anyway, I had a great time with my aunt, and when we were done at MoMA, we walked back to the train station where I said goodbye, and proceeding to walk an additional 20 blocks to meet Evan at his school. Well, by that time, my feet were practically bleeding from pain and I was certain I had a blister under my foot. Evan wouldn't get out of school for another hour - at least - so I found a Jamba Juice and treated myself to a Pomegranate Pick-Me-Up. (If you've never had a Jamba Juice, get yourself to the city and have one!) I decided that even though my feet were throbbing, that I would go exploring until Evan got out. I shopped around a little bit, got some treats for my kitties, and finally got the call from Evan telling me where I should meet him. I don't think I have ever been happier to see my husband since the day we got married. I had been wandering around New York alone for nearly 2 hours and it was so good to see his face, knowing that I was safe.
Evan took me to the farmer's market in the park, but it was closing up since it was getting dark out. We then walked what felt like another 10 blocks to The Peanut Butter & Co., and had "dinner." I got a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich with a big cup of milk. YUM! It hit the spot. After a long, tiring and stressful (but good) day, I was happy to be eating peanut butter sandwiches with my favorite person in the world.
Finally, it was time to head home. Evan took me on The Path, which took us right to Newark where we could hop on the train to Dunellen. I was so relieved. I had a wonderful day. It was great to see my aunt, and it was great to spend time with Evan in the city. I can't wait to do it again!

Christmas Presence

My mom has started sending out what she calls "God Thoughts" via e-mail. Whenever she gets inspired, she writes it down and sends it off to whomever she feels would be blessed by the message. I would like to share her God Thought from today, as it inspired me a great deal. Take some time to think and pray about the words of the Lord here as you delve into this new year.
God bless - I love you all!

What Did You Get for Christmas?
Do you find yourself on December 26th taking inventory of your Christmas gifts: delighting in what you got, yet lamenting what you didn’t get?
When I was a little girl, all I ever wanted for Christmas was the board game “Mouse Trap.” But for some reason my parents never bought it for me. Years later my husband bought it for me as a joke! We sat down & played it with our children, and concluded the game was pretty dumb! I realized that it was really not the game I desired – I wanted what I couldn’t have. Once I had it, I could see why my parents wisely chose not to waste their money on it!
When Moses led the people out of Egypt into the desert, God met their every need, but they complained about everything, most notably their food. God provided them with manna to eat every day. Numbers 11 tells us that it tasted like “cakes baked with oil” (vs. 8) It was probably pretty bland, and the people got tired of eating it day in and day out.
"If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic!” they lamented (v 5). They longed for flavor, but overlooked God’s gracious provision.
Eventually, God gave them what they wanted. He sent quail - lots of them - which the Israelites gathered and prepared. But verse 35 tells us that “while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.” A pretty graphic picture, isn’t it? The Lord punished the people for their greed, and for their ungratefulness.
Nehemiah 9:21 says, “For forty years You sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.”
Clearly, the Israelites were not grateful for what they had; they were miserable because of what they didn’t have. They failed to realize that they lacked nothing, because God provided them with everything they needed, but not everything they wanted.
Aren’t we the same? Don’t we often find ourselves comparing our possessions with others? Don’t we grumble that we wish we had it better? If only we had this or that, then we would be happy!
We fail to “count our blessings,” and in so doing, lose sight of God’s gracious hand of provision on our lives. This earth is His creation, so everything we have is His anyway!
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. “1 Timothy 6:7-8
If we put our faith and trust in Him, He has promised to care for us and meet our needs. What we need to remember is that God is not an ATM machine. We cannot just go to Him every time we want something and expect Him to “dispense” it! But our loving heavenly Father will make sure our basic, physical needs are met. “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
Matthew 6:25-27 says: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
Psalm 37:4 tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart. What are the desires of your heart? To own a fancy car, a big house, to have nice things? Or - are you content with food on the table and a warm home in winter?
Our “heart’s desire” should be that our lives would bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ. One way we can do that is to be thankful for what He has given us, because it’s all from Him. When we recognize His hand in providing us with our fundamental needs, then we will naturally give Him the glory and honor for the big things He does for us!
So instead of taking inventory of your Christmas presents, take inventory of God’s many blessings on your life! He has promised to bless you – thank Him for it!
Dear friends, I submit that when we have Jesus, we already have everything we need! What worldly thing is there that compares with salvation and eternal life?

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

“Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
Psalm 34:8-10

So what did you get for Christmas?

Do I Have a Great Husband or What?

Ok, here's another one where I have to give you the background before I tell you the actual story.
So, here at our house, we have a tiny basement that is big enough to hold a washer, dryer, and a bit of storage space. The basement is damp and dark, and not very, well, friendly. So, lately, there have been a bunch of these guys hopping around down there:
This, my friends, is a camel cricket. They particularly like damp, dark places...just like our basement! Lucky us! When I first saw one of these yucky creatures, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I sprayed it with bug spray and it jumped right at me! So, needless to say, I am a bit apprehensive about going down in the basement for fear that I might encounter a dreaded camel cricket.
The only reason I need to go down in the basement is to do laundry, which is the one chore that I despise. It takes me for-e-ver to do a load of laundry. First of all, I hate going in the basement. Second of all, once I actually get down there and start the wash, I forget about it and it sits in there for a day or two. Then once I finally get everything dry and folded, it takes me at least another day or two to get it put away. Then, by the time that's all over, it's time to do laundry again. Sigh.
So, I told you all that to tell you this. I came home today feeling worn out and tired, knowing that I had a huge load of laundry to do, and Evan would be at school so there would be no one to kill the bugs in the basement for me. Well, I go to the fridge to get a drink, and what do I see? This:
Evan is so sweet. He knows I hate going down to the basement, and he also knows I hate doing laundry. What a great guy I have!

Things I love to come home to...

Wow, it has been a WHILE!! You must understand, I am so swamped right now with the food blog (or as Evan's Uncle Brian calls it, my "Recipe Ministry" - I LOVE that!), that I have not had time to do any normal blogging. But there are just some things that are so perfectly blog-worthy, that I just cannot help myself.
First, a preface:
Every morning, either myself or Evan will take food out of the freezer to thaw it out in time for dinner. You know, chicken, steak, shrimp, fish, etc. Whatever it is, it gets left on the kitchen counter to thaw out. If Evan is the food-taker-outer, I usually don't know what he has taken out until I get home from work. So then I must quickly concoct a meal to make that relates to whatever meat he has chosen for that day.
So, today Evan was the food-taker-outer and I was anxious to see what he had taken out so I could make something delicious. I came home to find no meat on the kitchen counter. "Hmm," I thought, "did he forget to take something out?" Then I turn to the fridge to get myself an after-work snack, and I see this note on the whiteboard hanging on our fridge:

And sure enough, I open the fridge and there were the shrimp...right where the board said they would be! Evan knows me well, because he knows I would have thought that he forgot to take something out if I didn't see anything on the counter. So, being the thoughtful man that he is, he wrote me this note on the whiteboard assuring me that he DID take something out, and it was waiting for me approximately right there in the fridge.
I have such a sweet husband, and I look forward to cooking up that shrimp for him. Maybe a shrimp scampi pasta? Yummmm.....

Ode to a Fat Cat

Our family cat Sylvester is sadly being put down this week. He is the last remaining cat that our family had after my parents moved out to Pennsylvania. Before they moved, we had four cats: Molly, Simon, Cindy and Sylvester. Molly and Simon were given away to other homes, and Cindy came to live with me at Oma's house while I finished up my college career. She died within a year simply of old age. Sylvester, however, survived the move and went to live in PA with my mom, Frank and Oma. Since then, he has enjoyed a lavish lifestyle of being the only cat (and a very spoiled one at that), and generally being the "king of the house."
Sylvester, in his prime, weighed close to 20 pounds. I used to call him our little cow, because of his black and white coat. The vet used to scold my mom for letting him get so "overweight." But we knew he was happy and he was definitely spoiled!
Sylvester had the wimpiest meow you'll ever hear. Here's this 20 pound cat and you would expect a deep, booming MEOW to come out, but all that came out was this faint "ow" whenever he spoke. It was just funny.
Recently, Sylvester started to get sick. He couldn't keep any of his food down, and was constantly running to the litter box. My mom took him to several different vets, and none of them could really help him. He was on meds and special food, but nothing was helping. He was losing so much weight, he didn't even look the same anymore. So, last week, my parents made the tough decision to end his suffering.
This week, we say goodbye to our beloved family cat. It's never easy to let go of a pet, especially one that has been through so much with you and your family. We will miss Sylvester for sure, but the fond memories we have of him will live on in our hearts. Rest in peace sweet kitty.

Remembering September 11th

Today I said to someone, "I don't think anyone will ever forget where they were and what they were doing on September 11th."
Eight years later, I haven't forgotten. The images I witnessed are scarred on my mind forever. Though I did not lose anyone close to me in the tragedy, that day was not any less sad and horrific. My heart genuinely goes out to those who did lose a loved one in the towers, and those that have lost loved ones in the war resulting from that day, and have been suffering ever since.

I had a rough start to my day. I had an 8:00am class, and my car was not running very well. I managed to get it started and drive to my Oma's house to ask if I could borrow her car for the day, just so I knew I would be safe getting to and from school. She graciously allowed me to borrow the car, and I left mine in front of her house. Off to school I went.
I arrived right on time for my morning class. Groggy and tired, I sat down at my desk and awaited the boring lecture that was to come. Thankfully, class let out early, so I had enough time to go home and come back for my afternoon class. I hurried out to the parking lot to find Oma's car. Now, Oma's car does not have a CD player, so I was listening to the radio. 95.5 PLJ to be exact. I NEVER listen to the radio, but this day, I was forced. When I turned on the car, the announcers had a very somber tone in their voices, and they were talking about "something terrible" that just happened. I think they were trying to get a look from outside their studio window. They mentioned something about planes, I couldn't really make it out. Then they said it..."A plane has just flown into the World Trade Center."
WHAT??? I said outloud. Kean University is quite close to New York City, and on my way home, I get a quick glimpse on the skyline before turning around on Rt. 22. And there it was, I saw black smoke billowing from the skyline. And, suddenly, I saw what looked like a raven coming out of the sky and into the 2nd tower.

It was so brief, but so memorable. The smoke, the 2nd plane, the horror. I couldn't believe it. I could barely drive, but I turned the radio up and listened very intently. They talked about another plane, which I had just seen. I raced home.
My brother Brad was home. I screamed, "Turn on the TV, something terrible has happened!" He was confused, but did so. It didn't matter what channel you turned to, it was on. The terrifying images of NYC, and the faces of people who were actually there - we saw it all. Brad and I were in shock. We watched together for a few more minutes, not saying a word to each other.
Suddenly, I felt the need to go to the video store where I worked at the time. Evan, who is now my husband, had been in the city the night before with his cousin Linda. My heart sank. "What if he's stuck in the city? What if he's hurt? What if something happened?" We weren't even dating at the time, but I prayed and prayed that he was ok, and I had to get to the video store to find out. When I pulled up, I saw his car there. I breathed a sigh of relief. All of our other colleagues were there as well, exchanging short sentences about how awful this was. We decided to head up to Washington Rock, where we might be able to get a good view of what was going on. We were able to get up, but only shortly because they closed the park soon after we got there.
I went back home soon after that to exchange cars with Oma again, and talked briefly with her about the tragedy. We cried together, and I thanked her and gave her the keys back.
I wasn't scheduled to work that night, but I knew that Evan was. I knew that he would be there alone, and I wanted to keep him company because I knew he was extremely upset. So, he and I worked together, almost in total silence. Out of boredom, I had made a paper airplane and threw it at Evan to kind of break the silence. Bad idea. "What are you trying to do, reenact it?" he snapped at me. "Sorry," I sheepishly replied. We decided to close early, mainly because of what had just happened, and virtually no one was coming in. I was planning to go to KFC for dinner, and asked Evan if he would like to join me. He declined, saying that he just wanted to be alone. So, I headed to KFC, he headed to the diner, and that was that.
Later that night, I was hanging out with my then boyfriend John and all of our friends. We were all talking about what had happened, and what we had been doing when it happened. There was a sad overtone to the group that was usually upbeat and cheery. We were trying to make predictions for what might happen next. Would we go to war? Would we fight back? Would any other buildings get flown into? How many lives were lost? Everything was a big question mark.

Our lives have never been the same since that fateful day. September 11th, an otherwise normal Tuesday is now immortalized as one of the greatest American tragedies. It is hard to believe that eight years have passed since that day.
God's love and grace be with all those who were affected in some way by that event.