Presence...

There is joy in giving...

joy in receiving...

but know greater joy than knowing the giver!

Thank you Jesus for your gifts...

Thank you even more for allowing us to know YOU and be known by YOU.

Grateful for Presence!

tracey

Going to try to link up with Chatting at the Sky...lets see if I can figure it out!

http://www.chattingatthesky.com/

A crispy resolution!

Crispy Apple Crisp

Nothing gives a crisp more crisp than a nut! To be specific...a pecan!

I chopped about 1 cup really fine. Making the nut really fine makes the crisp part crunchy!

I decided to make this crisp AFTER I went grocery shopping...I usually put rolled oats in my topping...but did not have any. Next best thing (not as healthy...but certainly as crunchy)...Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

 I crushed up 1 cup and added it to my pecans in a bowl.

To that I added several tbs. of brown sugar and white sugar.

A heaping tbs. of flour

1/2 stick of butter chopped into little cubes.

Mixed all of that until it looked like it all belonged together and the butter had disappeared into the ingredients.

I set the crispy to the side.

7 large apples...I LOVE GALA apples. Sliced thin. The thinner you slice them the quicker the crisp will cook.

To the apples I added 1 tbs.cinnamon, 1 tbs.lemon juice, 1 tbs. flour 1 tbs. white sugar, 1 tsp. salt.

I put it in this glass dish...it is the one smaller than then the 9x13

(I am too comfy to get up and go look at the exact measurements)

Dump the crispy...that you set aside on top of the apples in the pan.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until bubbly and testing the apples to make sure they are soft with a knife.

Yup it really is as good as it looks. I will never do crisp without Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal again!

I hope you try it! Please don't forget the vanilla ice cream with it...as if you would!

I made a resolution...decision today.

It was such a joy to make dinner all day (I made a big roasted chicken with all the sides) ...

and had my family over.

Do you ever have moments where you feel most like yourself? Does that make sense?

I really feel like me...listening to the boys watch football, hearing my daughter play the piano, the dog and cat chasing each other, and me in the kitchen cooking.

It's just me.

I love the sounds the smells, the joy..and yes the moments of chaos.

It warms me from the inside out...just like this yummy crisp!

So...the resolution.

I decided today to have a family over for dinner 1 Sunday a month.

My mom used to do this EVERY Sunday.

Wow if I had known then how much it takes I would have helped more!

We (husband and kiddos) are going to write down all of the names of the families we would like to have over, put them in a hat and pick one a month!

I will post each  meal I do so you can keep up!

I'm gonna call it...Sunday's at the Cottage...

Crispy Kisses and Resolution Sunday's,

Tracey

Sailing, gliding and a little gazing....

Have you ever taken a sunset sail?

This summer we chartered a sail boat (yes it came with a Capt....no worries).

It is by far my favorite thing we have ever done!

We took the kiddos, and my parents along for the Anna Maria Island adventure.

Have you ever wondered what God was doing at sunset...I know...he is busy creating a masterpiece!

I cannot begin to tell you 1. how many pictures I took, 2. how many times my kids have asked to live on a sail boat and 3...how much God revealed and taught during one evening sail.

"Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait for Him to act..." Psalm 37:7

Guess what friends...that boat was going nowhere fast without the gift of the wind.

Unless of course we turned on the man made engine attached to the boat.

It was the most peaceful and satisfying feeling to feel, hear and experience the sail being filled and the boat begin to glide.

I am learning to be still in His presence.

Waiting for Him to fill me.

Waiting for Him to set me gliding.

There is nothing more beautiful.

We turned 16 this summer...on July 2nd.

This great person (whom I have the privilege...(most days:)...of calling husband)...lives in that gliding state.

I learn from him each day what it means to live into Gods presence.

This picture is my favorite of him...maybe ever.

See-I know what he is thinking...I don't need to see his face...I know his heart.

My husband is in this moment...in HIS presence.

Reflecting the SON

Nothing more beautiful.

I really pray that today you get even a few minutes to reflect on the beauty of Jesus.

He is already ready to fill our sails and set us to gliding...the "man made" way requires far more repairs, is noisy, stinky and more bumpy.

As for me and  my house...we are gonna depend on the wind...and glide...

Happy Sailing!

Tracey

A change of HEART!

O.k......I stayed away longer than I thought I would. Do you want the story? Well you gonna get it.
My "plan" was to start blogging as soon as school started...which for us Floridians was August 16th. The first day of school went great...great teachers, classes, etc. Second day went just as good as the first! I... (well.. we meaning my husband and I) decided t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r that it was finally... after 16 years of work time for me to STOP...work that is! I rarely in those 16 years ever worked full time...but 1/2 somehow feels the same? So freedom from work...time to clean closets...and apparently time to clean some HEARTS I was unaware of.

On the third day of school...my dad (who I must preface by saying lives 1/2mile away from us- with my mom and they are the kind of "older" parents who don't seem "old" always getting comments like..."No way you can't be that old"...they are very close to us and our children -intricate parts of our daily lives...very loved and cherished..accept in those very real moments of parent to daughter...when I feel 12 again and want to tell them to mind their business...it wouldn't be the same without those moments...then they would just be really great older friends.) O.K. that was my "preface" to the fact that my dad went in for a routine cath. to check his heart. After only 20 minutes into surgery the Doc. called us into the "family waiting room"...which we knew could not be good since everyone else got their news right in the "main waiting room."

He was completely blocked...100% here 90% there ....they had to go in 2x and clear him out...quintuple bypass-major stuff.

We had "those" talks in the days leading to the surgery..the kind you see in movies, read about in books, and hope you get the chance to have but hope you don't ever have to have. The reality of our mortality.
 My dad who loves Jesus kept saying...if I don't make it...don't be jealous...I will be in a much better place than you! Oh how true...but sooooo hard to think about  he is strength to me....to us. He has defined my view of father which has formed my unconscious way of relating to God as father...faithful, loyal, strong, loving, safe, secure, present....

He is home in week 2 of recovery and doing well...thank you Jesus...and an awesome surgical team.  He has lost weight and some uuumph but no doubt will be telling me what to do soon:)

The reality of our mortality can do nothing but change a heart. It softens it, cleans it out, and forms it more into the likeness of our Heavenly Father. I am soooo grateful. So grateful that what seemed like an impossibility for these surgeons... was nothing for Jesus...I am so grateful...my heart was in a place where it needed softening (in many areas), it needed to be cleaned out of some resentment in reaction to this world and some of the people in it, and it needed a good dose of forming into what I hope is a greater likeness to my Heavenly Father...always in process friends, always in process...So all of that to say...no pictures today...just a heart that has been changed...and a friend who has decided she has had a change of heart about this blog...I almost decided to stop...but am going to keep going. I have lots to share with whoever decides to read it...I can promise only this... it is from the heart....