And again....

So again, I find myself reflecting on HOW ON EARTH I am AGAIN totally irritable, totally worn out, totally defeated in the sense that I feel unhappy and agitated at everything and everyone.  It is, of course, the end of the school year, and for those connected to public schools education, you know the treachorous terrain known as the END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.
  And I am sad that I feel that I am NOT the person I began this year as....I am NOT the person I had hoped to be at the end of the school year....I am NOT myself.  I know this. I can feel this in every sense of my being.
  I have lost direction. I have stopped asking for direction. 

  It is time to have hope again.

  It is time to renew, refocus, and rediscover what there is to be truly grateful for again.

Enjoy what today holds....

A repeating thought, off and on, in my heart and mind lately has been to enjoy what I have NOW.  Being a high school teacher, I know that it will not be long until my kids, who are all elementary ages or younger, will be zooming through their four years of high school.  I woke up this morning and thought about how Logan, who will be ten year old this summer, has lived more than half the amount of time that he'll probably reside in my house, assuming that he moves out for college when he is eighteen.

  A friend of my wife and mine has a daughter that turned eleven this week. Eleven?!?!  Where is time going?!?!?

  So the other day, when my brother Tim "facebooked" me about going sledding on a mid-Winter holiday, I knew that I had to put aside my qualms about having to carry Sawyer up a hill, which would most likely destroy my back.  I had to not think about that cold, sharp window scratching my face. I had to find a way to go. Not just for spending time with my kids, I also wanted to hang out with my brother, Tim.  I have allowed life to become a raging river in the deep canyons of busy-ness.  It has been totally my choice, and it is not that I am not enjoy the many things I participate in. I love directing drama, working with the youthgroup, going on trips with my family. Still, I'm feeling that call to SLOW DOWN.

  So on Monday, February 21, 2011, Tim, myself, Logan, Sawyer, Quaid (Scout was at a friend's birthday party), Abby, and Grace all ascended the mighty (little) hills of Palmer Park in Port Huron.  We descended the hills a few times, wearing in NEW tracks into the hills. Not suprisingly, the kids became more interested in playing "snow war" on the outdoor jungle gym than sledding.  Afterwards, we headed to Tim Horton's for donuts and hot chocolate.

  These are the days I love and cherish.

50 NEW Recipes Challenge- #7 Garlic Crusted Chicken from Jamie Oliver's

I pretty much stink at keeping up with my little challenges.  Nearly a year ago, I became convinced that I could cook and blog about fifty (50) NEW recipes.  I've always loved to cook, but my skills were mainly confined to El Ortega Taco kits and short order cook extroardinaire (I cook some mean hamburgers or grilled chicken.) 
  My love for cooking stems from time with one of the GREAT cooks I knew, my grandma  Russell. Well, as with other challenges I did not do so well in keeping up with the challenge. I DID cook a number of new recipes, but I did not keep up with my blog. 
  Fall 2010, with the hectic nature of my schedule, saw a slump in home cooking.  Now that my schedule is slightly slowing down, I'm hoping to be more in the kitchen. Last night I returned with a Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cook book. 

It was an "interesting" experience.

The recipe called for a coating mixed up in my NINJA food processor.... unsalted crackers, garlic cloves, lemon rind, parsley, and butter.  The lemon rind was my first challenge because I have never done anything with lemon rind.  I actually had to google what this lemon rind thing was all about. Using a potato peeler, I peeled the yellow "rind" part off the lemon. 

  After processing the coating for the chicken,  I had to pummel the chicken breat filets with my "cooking hammer". I was suppose to (and usually) put the chicken into a plastic bag, but wanting to keep moving, I just whacked the heck out of that chicken with bits and pieces flying around the room.
  After the chicken was prepped, the "fun" began.  The chicken is suppose to take a "voyage" from a plate of flour (being entirely covered) to a bowl of beaten eggs to a plate with the parsley/garlic/crackers mixture.

I NEVER do well with coating chicken.  By the time the flour and egg are "coating" the chicken I already have a huge mess on me, the floor, the counter.  Then, I'm suppose to COAT THE CHICKEN WITH THIS GREEN, CRACKER, BUTTERY mix?!?!?  BUTTERY MIX on top of EGG COVERED RAW CHICKEN?!?  Somehow , I managed to somewhat "cake" the green mixture onto the chicken breast. 
  From there I lobbed, the chicken into a frying pan coated with a few dribbles of olive oil. 

  I was nervous how all this would taste (and had a battle with cooking without burning the chicken).  Surprisingly, the chicken turned out very good....more parsley tasting than garlic but still very good.

  When Logan discovered the breading was greenish (from the parsley ), after finishing off a bowl of salad WITH the chicken in it, he was done. Still, Amber and I, and the kids for the most part, enjoyed this new dish.

With a New Year....A Refreshed Focus

   I've already found the beginning hours of 2011 to be surprisingly reflective.  To sum up the events, emotions, memories of 2010 would be nearly impossible.  Overall, many hear-breaking circumstances have transformed to renewed hope.  Even with this breath of fresh life, healing hearts, I recognize that life never makes itself....PERFECT.  I also believe that what is really PERFECT is the PERFECTION that trials and hardships bring.
   In these infant hours of a new year, I've reflected on the reality of who I really am.  I'm committed to really plant my heart and soul into what I TRULY believe in.  More and more lately, I've reflected on the fact that were given one life.  What do I want to accomplish with this life?
   And it is fine to keep mulling over this question of one's purpose in life, but it is ENTIRELY different to ACT upon it....to really SEEK and MOVE towards living life with purpose. 

  I've reflected again on the need to simplify....to find that FOCUS on what's most important in life.  We can say it, but do we mean it.  It's easy to say God, my family, integrity at work, being a solid, dependable friend are my priorities, but are they really?  And again, I can sit and ponder how I am and am not REALLY reflecting these proposed priorities, but am I really doing anything about them?

  I think the larger urgency/"call to action" is to stop pondering and dissecting every morsel of the past.  There comes a time to transcend pain, transcend hurt, to look above, to simply trust, to simply trust, to SIMPLY TRUST God.

  I have often thought about what I feed into my heart and soul.....what is informing me, guiding me.  There comes a point where I cannot EMBRACE every ideology.  And I believe that recently I have really been swayed by consumerism...by what will "supposedly make my life easier....better".  I have always looked ahead to the future, the NEXT BIG EVENT...again my spirit and heart have been nudged to consider the wonder and greatness of the simplicity of today.

  May this be a remarkable year where I'm swayed by the right guidance. May the focus be straightforward, heading the direction always intended for me....."Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet. But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead....." Phillipians 3:13.