An Announcement, part 1

I've never been the athletic type.  I learned this years ago in elementary school PE everyday.  I can almost feel the nervous stomach ache welling up in me as I think about that long walk to that class as a little girl, let alone the frequent return walk with some kind of blood or ailment.  There was only 1 thing I really enjoyed in PE.  

The giant bouncy balls you could sit on a bounce around on.

That was until one day I got to bouncing too hard and catapulted myself off the front of it and had a devastating carpet burn from the indoor outdoor carpet in the gymnasium and terror from the fall I thought was probably going to end my life before the 2nd grade.  
I retired my giant bouncy ball experience that day.

I've never been athletic either.  I married a man who loves to watch ESPN and tell me about all the plays that he knows I don't understand but that I'll politely smile and nod anyways out of my deep love for him.  He doesn't even make fun of me for asking too many questions.  He doesn't even tire of my frequent questions when I mishear things, such as the other day when I mistook the word "huddle" for "hug" and excitedly asked him to please explain when the "group hug" was in football.  

He lovingly pats me on the back and focuses on the good things about me that I really excel at so I don't focus on the areas I'm incredibly deficient in.  

So imagine my surprise when recently I felt God leading me to make a big change and take a big step that I felt was as out of my league as dodgeball.  I listed off all the reasons I was completely inadequate for this step, and hoped for a "pat on the back" and wink that assured me we could skip this plan and find a new one that I was better prepared for.  

To be continued...

Scripture Sunday

Flashback Friday

Welcome to Flashback Friday!  Link up as many oldie but goodie posts that you like and make sure to browse around at all the other great ones as well!  Happy Weekend!

An InLinkz Link-up

Top 10 DIY Back to School Teacher Gifts

#1)

source

#2)

source

#3)

source

#4)

source

#5)

source

#6)

source

#7)

source

#8)

source

#9)

source

#10)

source

Tasty Tuesday Sloppy Joe Tator Tot Casserole & Recipe Link Up

Hi friends, welcome to another Tasty Tuesday!

A few weeks ago the Mr. and I were in serious need of some comfort food.  I remembered  a recipe I had stumbled upon a few days before and decided I had to try it out with my own spin on it.  The result?  A new favorite family comfort meal.  We ended up eating almost the entire pan in front of an episode of American Warrior Ninja and went to sleep full and happy.  This is one you should definitely try soon.

Here's what you'll need…

(not pictured-ground beef)

-32 oz. frozen tator tots

-shredded cheese

-green bell pepper

-yellow onion

-1 can sloppy joe sauce

-1 can corn, drained

-1 teaspoon minced garlic

-1 lb. ground beef

Start by browning ground beef and adding onion, pepper, garlic, and corn.  Let the veggies get translucent and slightly softened.

Next add the sloppy joe sauce and let this simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

Pour this into a 9x13 baking dish and top with shredded cheese, then top with a single layer of tator tots.

Top with cheese.

Bake at 450 for about 20-25 minutes until tots are nice and golden.  I like to keep the cheese nice and gooey instead of "crusty" so I cover with foil until about the last 5 minutes.

Y.U.M.

Linked with:  Melt in your Mouth Monday, Two Cup Tuesday

On to the party!  Last week's features were…

Caprese Salad-The Seedy Lawyer

Chocolate Crunch No-Cook Cookies-Cat Food is Good for You

Sweet & Spicy Four Pepper Jelly-Take Two Tapas

Homemade Almond Butter-Farmhouse 40

If you've been featured feel free to grab a featured button here:

<center> <a href="http://thenewmrsadventures.blogspot.com"><img border=”0″ src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItU8Nc40E5hnIjOxmlZnH1QlaBQQ4iwyu6qts_P7SinaeFv8qXAcrgtigf5mQlHj6XtFBan99HD7IXcEtWGEWzixY7ZOP5Qs4UZimGOUtP0ZVsHBmoHIjowYIxCsdCTqX6ChJXZa2D7Q/s1600/Tasty+Tuesday+Featured+Party+Button.jpg" /></a></center>

An InLinkz Link-up

Loud Scars

About a month after the Mr. and I got married, we spent the afternoon in my parent's pool in effort to beat the Oklahoma Summer heat.  We were playing some pretty intense pool volleyball when the ball went out of the pool and my sweet new husband jumped out to retrieve it.  Except, he didn't jump at all.  He attempted to get out by climbing out via their very-tiny-in-comparison-to-my-over-6-foot-man, something he had never attempted before.  
It didn't go well for him.
Far from well.
The next thing I knew I turned around to see my man stuck.  Not going backwards but certainly not going forwards either.  Finally he dislodges himself enough to fall back down into the water, but not without scraping the entire front of his shin on the concrete sidewalk first.  I mean-picture the worst carpet burn going on for quite a long distance, but use a concrete sidewalk instead of carpet.
Once he hit the water he didn't really even say anything to me, just had this look of absolute terror on his face.  His nearly amputated leg combined with the chlorine was about to do the poor guy in.  Once he got out of the pool and the air hit the wound, it was an absolute blood bath.  I'm refraining from the use of pictures so have no fear, this isn't about to take a R-rated turn here.

His leg today looks as if he had surgery on it once a long time ago.  The scar from that pool incident is very, very prominent and runs the length of his leg between his knee cap to the top of his ankle.  

Anytime he wears shorts, it shows in a huge way.

I've never had a run in with the pool ladder, but I've got my own set of "loud scars".

I distinctly remember a time in my life not so long ago that I had to decide if I was going to be "too real" with people or not.  The mistakes I had made, the struggles I had endured, the dark times I had survived-would I share them with people?  Or keep them hidden for fear of what other people thought in an effort to "save face"?  It was a raw and vulnerable place to come to.  But at the end of the day, those places are all evidences of God's working in my life.  Undeserved favor.  New mercies.  Redemption at best.  I would not-could not-hide that.  

It's in that place I've experienced the most ministry with other people.  The deepest connections.  So I make a choice to let go of the scary-ness that comes with being vulnerable and transparent with people.  These days I'm more tend to wear my scars loudly.  Those scars are reminders of a place that hurt me, so so deeply, but Jesus healed it.  Those scars may not be pretty.  They may not be "ideal", or what I had intended to have in my life, but they are also Jesus' fingerprints all over my life.

Scars aren't so bad after all.

Scripture Sunday