Vacation 1: Stopping for the night

We were on our way back to the Quad Cities the first Thursday in December, our SUV filled to the absolute brim with Christmas presents, dog supplies, vacation baggage and bags of clothes for us to wear prior to and after vacation.

It started to mist a couple of hours away from home, but the temperatures hovered just above freezing so it wasn't any big deal until we turned on to the first major highway that would take us straight across the state.

At that point, Nate and I both could feel the tires starting to shake a little bit. We had put on our snow tires a few weeks prior and then had to take a tire off again to change the battery --- the stupid design by Dodge --- and I automatically started to think that maybe our lug nuts were loose.

We pulled off to the side of the road, with people flying past us, and Nate went out to check. He circled the vehicle twice, and I could feel him bang against the tires to see if they would budge, but everything seemed secure.

He slid back onto the black leather seat behind the steering wheel and told me everything looked fine, so we got back onto the road.

A little red Dodge Neon flew past us going at least 70 miles per hour, while we were cautiously driving around 55.

"You feel that don't you?" Nate asked me.

"Yes," I said, the tires were definitely shaking.

"But people are flying past us; are they really driving that stupid in this icy weather?" He asked if maybe we should stay the night somewhere.

I got onto his Orbitz app, where we luckily had about $40 in credits, and I found a Super 8 hotel about five miles in front of us, and thankfully it was dog friendly since our adorable Olde English Bulldog was laying in the backseat during this ordeal.

The right clicker turned on as Nate signaled we would be exiting at this small town, and when we reached the intersection at the bottom of the ramp, he got out of the car again. He looked at the tires, and then bent down to put his hand to the pavement.

"It's solid ice," he said when he got back in the car. "People are crazy to be driving like that in this weather."

We had left a night before we had to, so we had plenty of time to be cautious.

Times like this always remind us of the time that we braved roads that were not only slick but literally solid sheets of ice to get back to the Quad Cities for Christmas. From college students to adults, from foolish decisions to safety first, I guess we've grown up a little bit.

Studying poetry...

For Nate's Introduction to Literature class, he selected "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" to analyze for a poetry paper. He certainly has not been looking forward to reading poetry and trying to analyze it, and flipping through the poetry book I realized that I didn't think poetry was all the enjoyable either.

I read Robert Frost's poem, and we were talking about it when I realized we had read the same poem but weren't reading it in the same way.

When I saw, "The woods were lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep," I saw someone who couldn't stay in the beautiful snowy woods much longer because he had promised his family he'd be home and still had a ways to go.

Nate saw someone on his way to commit suicide.

What?

Well, when he started explaining the way he was reading the poem, I totally understood his analyzation. And he saw how I was reading it.

We laughed and laughed about how I could see something so beautiful and positive while he could read the same thing and see something dark and negative.

I guess poetry can be a little more fun and interesting than we thought.

I wasn't listening...

I texted my husband this morning and asked him if he wanted to participate at a prayer vigil at church.

He texted back that he had a funeral to attend that day. I looked at my phone, confused. I knew he had a funeral to attend on Monday. He must be mixing up the days, I thought. So I texted back, "Isn't that on Monday?"

"Really?" was the response.

Apparently he had explained everything to me but I was sitting on my phone when it happened, and I guess I wasn't really listening.

Ouch. My bad.

This isn't the first time this has happened, and I realized I really need to be more intentional about listening to what my husband is saying. That should be something that comes natural, but I do tend to nod my head and say "OK" when I'm not really paying that close of attention, and with my great memory (not) it makes it even worse.

However, as I started thinking about this problem, I started to think that maybe it's a blessing in disguise to mess up like this every once in a while, although I'm thankful that I have a husband who is forgiving and doesn't hold something like this against me. I'm thankful for mistakes like this because they do make me see some of my issues and become more intentional. I need reminders like that to make sure I'm on my game as a wife.

A lot of the time, women laugh when their husbands don't remember something they told them. "Men..." And I must admit I've had that conversation before about things I say to my husband when he's watching TV or looking at his phone. We have to make sure that we're not making fun of our spouses for things that we do right back though. Like the Bible says, we can't point out the speck in someone else's eye because of the plank in our own.

One final thought, Nate is gone because he's attending two law enforcement funerals, for the two police officers that were murdered in the Des Moines area last week. I'm proud that he takes the time to attend these funerals, and we all have to pray for this horrific tragedy and the families and friends of these fallen heroes.

Lord, please reach this nation. Please help us to see our issues and to find ways to work them, to come back to you. Please be with these law enforcement families that have lost their loved ones. Give them peace and comfort in this horrible time of tragedy. Please protect our officers from the evil that is seeking them out every day. Give them strength and courage and bravery and awareness. Thank you for the heroism that these men and women supply every day. In Jesus' name, amen.

Your friend's money

I have a newfound love of podcasts, and one that I am especially inspired by is Dave Ramsey.

I'm not all gung-ho about every aspect of his financial peace plan, but we are super frugal and have plenty of financial goals, so I find it inspiring to listen to. Plus, his EveryDollar app is amazing.

That said, he said one thing on a podcast a couple of days ago that really hit home to me. He said if your friend gave you $1,000 to watch over, not to keep, and said "I want you to give away $100 immediately to my church," it wouldn't be hard at all. After all, it's not your money. Of course you're going to do with their money what they want done with it.

Well, the money in our bank account, that's not ours either. It's God's. He has simply given it to us to watch over for him while we're on this Earth. So, it shouldn't be hard to give that first 10 percent back to his church in a tithe should it?

Those are my, Dave's really, brief thoughts for the day.

Cinnamon Star Twist bread

Those who know me know that I love to bake. I enjoy cooking, but I LOVE to bake.

So when I was spending a weekend with my parents, I had an entire day free. That meant watching the Hawkeyes slaughter Purdue and baking.

My mom pulled out a recipe she had found in a magazine that she wanted me to make, so I went for it. It actually turned out quite perfectly! I posted it on Facebook and people asked for the recipe, so here is my tweaked version!

Cinnamon Star Twist

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup warm milk

1 egg, room temperature

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Topping

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Chopped walnuts, optional

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Dissolve yeast in water until foamy, approximately 10 minutes. Combine milk, egg, 1/4 cup butter and sugar. Add to yeast mixture. Add 3 cups of flour (or a little more) until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead in enough to make it smooth and elastic. Knead for about seven minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four portions. Roll one portion into a 12-inch circle and place on a 14-inch greased pizza pan. Spread some of the melted butter on top and sprinkle with a mixture of the brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Repeat layers with the rest of the dough and topping.

Place a round glass or cutter (don't push down) on top of the dough in the center of the circle. With a sharp knife, make 16 evenly spaced cuts from round center to edge of dough. Remove center glass or cutter, grasp two strips and rotate twice outward. Pinch ends together. Repeat with remaining strips.

Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Mix the glaze ingredients and use a spoon to swirl across the top.

Is unconditional love real?

I love you no matter what.

No matter what.

No matter what?

We were listening to Dennis Prager talk about that odd phrase, that we actually use quite often. We tell our spouses, our children, our parents that we will love them unconditionally. But think about what unconditional really means --- would we continue to love them if they beat us? What if they tried to kill you? What if they beat or tried to harm your children? What if they stole your life's savings and got you kicked out of your home? Would you really love your family members then?

Prager talked about how odd it was that we say we would love people unconditionally, when that probably isn't true. We might love them if even they did terrible things, but I'm sure there is an end to our love. There is something that would put us over the line to the point that we would no longer associate with our family member anymore.

Then in church today, the pastor talked about the fact that Jesus loves us unconditionally, and I started to think that this is really unconditional love. Jesus loves abusers. He loves rapists. He loves murderers. He wants people to repent and come to him, literally, no matter what they have done.

He loves us despite what we have done in the past, what we have done today, what we will do in the future.

While true unconditional love might not exist on earth, as much as we might like to think that it does, unconditional love from our heavenly father truly does exist. And that is amazing.

Sermon notes --- Everything might not be OK

God has a plan for your life and everything will be OK.

Oh how many times I have heard that said to someone in trouble and oh how many times I have said a variation on that phrase.

But I know someone who doesn't like the plan for her life. She is just waiting for everything to be OK, and it's not. It has been years, her whole life, and nothing is as she wants. So what do you say to that?

Joseph experienced a lot of years like that. Through his teen years everything was great but then he was sold into slavery by his brothers and everything went downhill --- for 20+ years!

It says in Genesis that "God was with Joseph." Joseph couldn't see that. He couldn't feel it. He couldn't see God working. But God was there with his child. Just because life isn't going the way you want doesn't mean God is against you or has left you.

When Joseph was in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife wanted to sleep with Joseph. He could have figured that God had left him and not worried about sinning at that point. However, Joseph stayed true even though it didn't feel good. Potiphar's wife actually clawed the clothes off of him, but he shoved her off and literally ran away. That's what we are to do --- flee youthful passions, run from sexual immorality, get away from temptation. Literally move away from temptation. This isn't a figurative instruction to run/resist; we are to actually get up and get out of the tempting situation. Otherwise, we will talk ourselves right into what we don't want to do.

I love this example --- we don't put a fish on a hook. We tempt the fish to put itself on the hook. If it ran from the worm, it wouldn't get caught. However, the longer it floats and stares at the worm, it talks itself into taking a bite.

But even if we do the right thing, that doesn't guarantee everything will work out perfectly in that moment --- in that moment. Joseph was thrown into prison after running from Potiphar's wife. But that was a bad situation on the way to much better things later in his life. God did not leave him.

So the sentiment of "God has a plan for your life and everything will be OK" is partially true. God does have a plan for our lives, and often God does step in and make everything OK, but not always. Sometimes life is icky and we just have to honor God through it. Then in heaven we will receive our reward, and that eternity in heaven is so much better than the short time on Earth. So use this time of trial to build up the best rewards possible for you in heaven.