Taking the good with the bad

This is a lesson my husband and I have been learning in the hardest of ways lately. Being away from family is always tough and we always look forward to times when we can see them. Having people in our lives that we know we might never see again is always tough. When we were home last in June Jonathan's grandmother had already been diagnosed with cancer and from first glance it immediately did not look good. My grandfather is 91 years old and has lived a glorious life but he is unfortunately in and out of the hospital more often than anyone would like. When we gave these two people hugs last June as we prepared to leave they were the hardest hugs to give because we both feared they would be the last.

The semi-good news is that we will both gets hugs again soon but I know for Jonathan this one will be even worse. For Jonathan, this will probably be the last hug he gets from his grandmother until we get to heaven. Jonathan's grandmother received news last week that she should stop treatment and was not given much good news. It is for this reason we will be coming home soon. That is the good news but we certainly wish it was under different circumstances.

It will be wonderful to see everyone again but certainly will put a damper on the homecoming. So once again we are learning to take the good with the bad. We are learning to be grateful for the time we have to see our loved ones and pray that if and when the last hug does come they know they were loved and we will surely see them again in the kingdom of heaven. So please keep us in your prayers as we make hasty preparations to travel home. Please pray it is as joyful a time as it possibly can be. Please pray we have safe travel. Please pray we find someone to watch the pups while we are gone because I am their mama and I want them to be in good hands even if they end up staying in different places.

Well there is much to do and not much time to do it so I will try to keep you updated as I learn more.

Ashley, Jon's sister, with his grandparents.

Bacon Cheese Chicken

Ok, so I have posted twice in one day and both times it has been about food- this coming from the girl who wants to lose weight! haha! Anyhow, I tried out a new recipe tonight for dinner and Jon and I both enjoyed it so much that I felt that I should share with anyone wanting to try it out as well.

Bacon Cheese Chicken:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
8 chicken tenders
12 pieces of cooked bacon
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Put olive oil in the crockpot and place chicken on top.
Combine teriyaki and ranch, pour over chicken.
Add the shredded cheese and crumbled bacon, go between pieces if you can.
Cook on low 6-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.

I know in the picture it looks absolutely disgusting but isn't looking disgusting the true sign of a good food?!?! :) The chicken literally just falls apart in your mouth...yummmm. Anyhow, we both found it extremely yummy. We coupled our chicken with mashed potatoes and corn. My tummy is quite full and satisfied and I even cut down on the portion size because remember- trying to cut back the pounds! :) Enjoy the recipe!!

Wishful Thinking

Today is one of those wishful thinking days where I wish one of these were within a ten mile radius. Who am I kidding, I would go 50 miles at the least!! I have learned so much about cooking in the past year and half since my husband and I got here. I have learned how to make many of my favorite dishes and learned how to make many new things that have become favorites for us. However, no matter how much you love home cooking- sometimes you want a quick meal. Popeyes, Burger King, Taco Bell, and McDonald's are beginning to not cut it for me. Jonathan could probably care less, although I know he misses Chick-fil-A~ and who could blame him! I am not sure what led me to these random thoughts today but I just miss these little things that taste so good!

Must be Monday

I know there are a lot of people out there who despise Monday, because for a lot of us that means back to the grind of work. My sister probably despise Mondays because that means she typically has the boys all day with a short relief period from her hubby before he goes in to work a night shift, followed by working again the next morning. I will allow her to hate Mondays if she wants- even though I don't think she really does. The rest of us should give poor Monday a break! It is not fair to be hated simply because it means back to work. So- I tried to think of a way to rectify this situation and here is my thought!

MARVELOUS MONDAY!!

It is now my personal goal to blog each Monday and only blog about marvelous things that happened on that Monday! If I am not able to change anyone else's view on Monday- so be it, but at least it will remind me to look for the positive things to start off my week.

I will preface my marvelous thing for today with a brief explanation of why it is marvelous. I mentioned in my last post that blogging more often was not my new year's resolution. I shamefully try to stay away from new year's resolutions because everyone, including myself, usually fails to meet them. I did make a dangerously common resolution this year...to take better care of my body. I know that could mean a lot of things but I mainly want to look and feel better about myself in general. When we got here to Germany I was not near as active as I used to be so I gained a little weight. When I got sick last year, the medicine made me gain even more weight :( I found it very unfair that I put on weight because I was taking medicine to make me better! How rude of that darn medicine. Anyhow, I have been telling myself, in a very non-committal tone, that I was going to work it off even if it wasn't my fault it was there. I have tried with only one short burst of success a few months ago when I had a workout buddy. My workout buddy moved and my motivation slacked.

So I know it is so the typical thing to promise to lose weight for new year's but I truly want to do so, or at least get in the habit of working out and taking better care of my body so that I can feel good about myself. So, that leads me to why today was a marvelous Monday. Today was the first Monday of the new year I have gone to the gym and worked out. I came home and did some at home workouts here and then joined Jon at the gym to finish up on the treadmill and doing some free weights while he played basketball. I have to hold onto this feeling because whenever I feel too tired to go I have to remember that exercising will only make me stronger and make me feel better. So here is to Monday and the marvelous workout I got in today!!

This is for my aforementioned sister, my hubby's red velvet birthday cake I made for him.

Promises

It sure is a good thing my new year's resolution was not to blog more often!! Haha!! I have been very neglectful and will update this weekend and do sincerely hope to get back into the routine of updating more often! I make no promises though!!

Until then, Happy Kings Day! This day celebrates the wise men who came to see baby Jesus bringing him gifts. I remember around this time last year making a king's cake at the youth center because that is part of the tradition- minus a plastic baby of course, because I find that just a little bit too creepy! Anyhow, if you have never had the chance to make one you definitely should! I will have to admit when I took the cake out to the kids to eat, by the time I cleaned up my mess and came out to try some it was GONE!! So, I have never actually had any but it smelled delicious if that helps!! :) Maybe I will make another one this year!

So I got my recipe here last year when I made it and if I could get a bunch of middle and high schoolers to eat it then I think it must be somewhat good!!