Blessed be His name . . .

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow, Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name when I’m found in the desert place,

Though I walk through the wilderness Blessed be your name

Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise

And when the darkness closes in Lord, Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name when the sun’s shining down on me

When the world’s “all as it should be”

Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering

Though there’s pain in the offering Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away You give and take away

Still my heart will choose to say Lord, blessed be Your name

These lyrics to a song by a great band have been on my heart today. Sometimes things aren't the way that we would have made them to be if we were the Master Planner, isn't that right? Whether it's losing your health or losing your car keys, life doesn't always go the way we want it to. The choice comes in what to do with the bumps in the road of life, be they overwhelmingly large or tiny.

When the going gets tough, what is our response to God? Do we give praise to the Lord in all circumstances? I'll tell you from experience, that is not an easy, "natural" (from the aspect of a sin nature) thing to do. So many times, I have been thankful that God's grace is stronger than my faith, that He understands when my heart is weak, and lifts me when I fall. It also took me a long time to realize this. Sometimes He's all there is, and for that I'll say blessed be His name.

Often, He uses the weakest among us to bring the most glory to Him and to shine for Him most brightly. Everyone around that person knows that they can shine for no other reason (personal success, accomplishment, satisfaction with life, etc.), except from the love of the Lord. This has been the most amazing thing to see through my dad's cancer. There are all sorts of poems about what cancer can't take away: strength, dignity, purpose, the list goes on. In my experience, I have seen that the only thing cancer can't remove is the presence of the Lord in a person's life. Even after all is stripped away - memory, physical strength, coherence - a person's love for the Lord can still shine right through a deteriorating body.

As my dad continues fighting his cancer (through medicine, but mostly through faith), only the important things remain in his life: his love for God and his family. It's beautiful to see the things that, years ago at the beginning of his fight, fell away. He lost his desire for money, for personal fulfillment, for worldly fun, for the best material possessions, for independence, for knowledge. All that remains are family and the Lord. I rejoice for the gift of my dad and for the blessings that God will continue to pour through his life. I know that all things are possible through God. I also know that, whatever God gives us, we will choose to say "Blessed be Your name."

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

One Cool Bro

So often in families, it seems as if genius is concentrated into one set of genes, delivered specifically to one child. My little brother, Ryan, is that child. He's a smarty alright, and I am the proud sister. I just found this clip of my brother's senior recital from this past spring, right before he graduated as a dual major mathematician/first-in-his-class piano extraordinaire. He says the two are related. I don't know, I think that peanuts and rocky-road ice cream are related. Although I technically understand, the relationship between music and advanced mathematical theorems gives me doubts.

Regardless, it was so cool to hear this in-person last spring. He really rocked the house, in a classical sort of way. (To hear him, click on the above link and check out the right side of the web page. His clip is the third from the top, titled "Clips from 2007 Senior Recital: Ryan Ransdell".)

Have a great day!

How have you been?

We're all doing fine here - all three of us! I'm into my 12th week of pregnancy and things are going great! This is the last week of my first trimester, so I'm almost a third of the way through, and we're starting to settle into this pregnancy even more. We're so thankful that our baby looks healthy and that everything is going smoothly.

I'm feeling great most of the time and really haven't started to "feel" too pregnant yet (except when I'm cooking - yuck! - and visiting the bathroom several times each night - maybe I need to stop drinking so much before bed!). Last Tuesday at Bible study, I felt a strange tapping/fluttering/bubbling feeling. I know it's a little early to feel the baby move, and I haven't felt that sensation since (which would make sense as the baby has so much room in there right now), but I can't help but think that's what the feeling was. I have my next doctor's appointment a week from today, so I'll let you know how it goes.

We're starting to clear out the room we're using for the baby's nursery and getting ready to paint and begin setting up. We're thinking about painting it a color that will work for either a boy or a girl (maybe a robin's egg/aqua color), since we plan on keeping that room as the nursery for any other babies we have in the future. We're planning on finding out the baby's gender, and we'll be able to decorate the room to be a little more gender-specific after that.

We're pretty excited and will definitely post pictures as things (including my stomach) develop!

Menu Plan Monday - I mean Tuesday

So, I think I'm going to start planning a menu each week. Since I've been pregnant, the thought and process of cooking has been less than appealing (shall we say tending toward repulsive). So, that means that either: I search around at the last minute for a recipe that looks half way decent, prepare it while trying not to think about it too much, and end up being grossed out enough not eat it, serve it to Bill and make something quick for myself, or we go out to eat. Neither option seems to be working very well for our stomachs, our sanity, or our budget. Since I'm almost at the end of my first trimester and I'm starting to feel better (actually, it hasn't been bad at all, most queasiness being centered around the preparation of food for some reason), I decided that I needed to come up with a better way of doing things.

I felt inspired last night and decided to figure out what we are eating this week, and I'm pretty excited about it (wow, what does that say about my life?). I thought I'd share it with you, too. I found a whole group of people that plan their menus each week and post them on Organizing Junky's Menu Planning Mondays (I checked out a few this week and used some of their recipes). So here ya go! I'll let you know if any of these meals turn out to be extra amazing.

Monday: Pasta e Fagioli (this was a very tasty, easy recipe)
Tuesday: Taco Salad (I may also try to make these cool tortilla bowls I saw in a cookbook)
Wednesday: Broccoli Fontina Frittata (using whatever cheese I have in my fridge - maybe mozzarella and Swiss?)
Thursday: Chicken with Tomatoes
Friday: Homemade Pizza
Saturday and Sunday: Leftovers (I also want to try these Soft Pretzel Bites for snack - this girl has some good cookin' goin' on)

We'll see how it goes! Have a fun week!