Gravel Road Musings

Sundays!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, really. What's nicer than a day where you can kick back, relax and be lazy without a trace of guilt?  You can go to church and worship God, come home and gorge yourself on a "way too big" Sunday lunch and then veg all afternoon while complaining about you much you stuffed yourself at lunch.   Unless you live at our house, then you're lucky to get a good Sunday lunch.  It's more likely to be leftovers or some other simple food stuff.  Today, for instance, we are having Chicken Barley Soup.  It's a new recipe and because I'm lazy, I tweaked it and threw it all in the crockpot and am hoping for the best.  Because, I will just say it on here and be done with it--I really hate waiting for my lunch when I get home from church.  One test of a good Sunday lunch is that it must be ready to be put on the table in 15 minutes or less from the time one arrives home.  Along, with the soup, we may have some yummy Miller's Po...

Now, this could very controversial in the realm of gratefulness and there are varying ways of looking at it.  One could be grateful that there is only one week of gun season; or one could be grateful that they get one week of gun season. I'm not sure where I come out at on the whole hunting thing: I really don't mind that D goes hunting. When we lived in the central part of the state, hunting meant I would likely see D less, but he had a really cool tree stand that you could heat and so Thanksgiving day became a traditional "wife-goes-hunting-with-man-hunter" day. I would go with him, struggle up the tree stand, get cold, talk too loud, not creep around quietly enough and sometimes wonder why in the world I came with. I would bring a book or try to find good Black Friday deals, etc. This year? This year is different.  He didn't go racing out the door in the blackest of the night, nor did he do a sleep over in his tree stand like last year.  He left with his ju...

As I sat here this morning thinking up another post on the benefits of limited activity, I thought why not do a daily post on things in my life I have to be grateful for?  This is the Thanksgiving season after all and I for one could sure use a dose of Thankfulness each and every day of my life.  I'm not making any promises on whether I will actually manage a daily post, but if ever I have the time, it would be right now. So my first post is going to be the "Blessings of Limited Activity" I've been a little sad that I won't be able to go Black Friday Shopping.  It has been a tradition the last five years, I believe, to go shopping in the early hours of the morning with my co-workers.  I knew this year was going to be different because we don't live in the same area anymore.  I hadn't completely given up hope of being able to go with the same group of people, but I wasn't counting on it. However, I was still planning to go somewhere in the early mor...

When your doctor puts you on limited activity--what do you think that means?  To ease the minds of all those plaqued with indecision about what they can and cannot do, I've compiled a list of "can dos" and "cannot dos".  I hope it is helpful to you. "Cannot Dos" 1. Cannot vacuum the floors 2. Or scrub them on your hands and knees 3. Cleaning the bathroom is out 4. Washing Dishes 5. Ironing 6. Cooking, (unless of course, you'll go nuts without your daily kitchen fix) 7. Organizing that messy back room 8. Bookwork (way too stressful) 9. Laundry 10. Grocery shopping "Can Dos" 1. Extensive reading of all favorite books 2. Internet browsing until you're so sick of it, you could throw the computer 3. Scrapbooking 4. Sewing, unless you hate doing it, then all those sewing projects you had lined up for the winter must be given to someone else to accomplish for you because you really must have them done now. 5. Naps 6. Co...

Today is a milestone for a few different things.  First off, my sister has a birthday today.  Happy Birthday to my wonderful, caring sister who lets me call and run at the mouth about my life and my frustrations and my sadness and my tears and my triumphs and my joys.  Even though we live many miles apart and are quite a few years in age apart, I always love a good long chat on the phone as we solve the world's problems.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!  The Glick little girls say, "Happy Birthday, Aunt Vivian.  We can't wait to meet you!! Today marks the 10 month mark since Nicole Brooke went to be with Jesus.  It hit me again this morning how much I miss that little girl--my little ray of sunshine she was going to be.  How can you miss someone so deeply that you never really got to meet--never really got to know?  I don't fully understand and I probably never will--I just know my arms can ache with the emptiness that should be filled and our house see...

This beautiful looking book showed up in my mailbox from Bethany House yesterday.  It was given me for the purpose of writing a review about it. Now obviously, I didn't read the whole book since I just got it yesterday and I am not a speed reader, but I leafed through it and read a few random days to get a feel for the book and how I liked it. First off, I love how it looks.  It has a nice feminine appeal--actually very peaceful looking if you want to consider the title of the book as well.  I opened the package and immediately wanted to like the book very much simply on the basis of how it looked.  Shallow, right; but hey, I like pretty things. I opened the book to around where we are in November and the first verse I read was a verse I had read in my devotions that morning or the day before: "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Isaiah 30:15 (NKJV)  That was a verse that had spoken to me so it really stuck out when I read it in this dev...

This book was given me by Tyndale House for the purpose of reading and writing a review about it. Quite a few years ago, I had read a few of Charles Swindoll's Biblical biographies and I really enjoyed them.  I had no idea he was still writing them until I got this opportunity to review Abraham through Tyndale House.  And really, it's quite impressive.  Charles celebrated his 80th birthday before the book went to the printers.  That is a life well-lived and he plans to keep going. This is also how he views Abraham: a man who lived well and lived fully.  Charles doesn't make Abraham out to be perfect; we all know Abraham made mistakes and even made the same mistake twice at times.  But Abraham had the one thing we all need in life: faith. Normally, I don't like to quote too much from the book because it can detract from the story, but for this book, I want to give you some of the quotes that struck me in the hopes that it will trigger your appetite f...