Touching Shoulders With You

There's a comforting thought at the close of the day
When I'm weary and lonely and sad,
That sort of grips hold of this crusty old heart
And bids it be merry and glad.

It gets in my soul and it drives out the blues
And finally thrills me through and through,
It's just a sweet memory that chants the refrain
I'm glad I touched shoulders with you.

Did you know you were brave, did you know you were strong
Did you know there was one leaning hard,
Did you know that I listened and waited and prayed
And was cheered by your simplest word.

Did you know that I longed for that smile on your face
For the sound of your voice ringing true,
Did you know I grew stronger and better because
I had merely touched shoulders with you.

I'm glad I live; that I battle and strive
For the place that I know I must fill,
I'm thankful for sorrows, I'll meet with a grin
What fortune will send, good or ill.

I may not have wealth, I may not be great
But I know I shall always be true,
For I have in my life that courage you gave
When once I touched shoulders with you.

Author Unknown~

Absent...

So I've been away from blogging for a bit and I want you to know I'm still here. No answers regarding what's wrong with me but some meds I'm taking are helping with the pain a bit.

There's some personal struggles going on in my life which have kept me away. I could use your good thoughts, prayers sent my way. I love all my dear friends out there. Until my next post...

I Can Only Imagine!!!

To my knees will I fall when I see my Savior.

This is one of the amazing songs I heard at my Captivating retreat which changed my life forever! I am amazing, beautiful and I love my Savior and Heavenly Father with all my heart.

Here we go!

Today I had a CT scan both with contrast and without to find out what the heck is wrong with me. I've had all kinds of ideas thrown at me and I'm wondering if it's diverticulitis or chroan's disease. I'm hoping for the first since it's easier to treat. I'm also hoping for an easy fix instead of something severely life changing. Needless to say I'm hoping for a resolve instead of more and more tests. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Also this week I'm leaving my children and husband and well frankly, everything! I'm heading to Eden, Ut. to go on a self discovery retreat. It's called Captivating and a group of women come together to connect with God and then with ourselves. I am soooo excited to be going and am hoping to come home a new woman, mother and wife. I've really struggled lately with depression and the thoughts and feelings that come with that and I've really felt alone and of no worth to anyone. Of course I know that's not the truth but still it's a very real feeling when I'm in the pit of despair. You should read the book, "Captivating" by Stasi Eldredge.

Well, thanks for your time and here's to a good weekend away!

Memorial Day Thanks

I'm grateful for the men and women who risk their lives for our country and way of life. Sure I don't agree with our government but I applaud the service men and women who fight for America anyway.

I am also grateful for their families who send them away hoping to see them again but yet not knowing if they will. Their sacrifice is appreciated by me just as much as their family members who serve.

I love the military and all it stands for so I can live where and how I do. THANK YOU!

Wonder By Alex Solomon

Wonder

As I gaze and marvel, wonder and stare,
I wonder if God notices me, somewhere up there.
I wonder if He looks and marvels equally.
I wonder if He laughs and chuckles with glee.
I wonder if I’m looking Him square in the eye,
As He smiles, saying wordlessly, ‘Here am I!’
I wonder if someone else sees what I see.
I wonder if He wonders the same thing as me.
I wonder if after my life is spent,
What He’ll have to say about this say about this single event.
But one thing I wonder, more than anything at all;
I wonder if He’s having fun with it all.

My nephew wrote this poem and I love it. I've been through some struggles personally lately and I really liked how this made me feel. I hope you enjoy it too.

Quickie

The picture comes from the $5.00 dinner blog.
Blackberry Vinaigrette... Doesn't that sound amazing? Check out the recipe here!

News and something to change the way you eat/drink!

Still no news on why my white blood cell count is up but I'll have to go back when I'm "well" to see if anything has changed after I'm done with the antibiotics. They make everything taste like metal and it's really disgusting.

On to other things... I came across this blog and was absolutely blown away at what people in the industry call healthy. Check it out and change the way you eat/drink! I got the picture off the blog.

Hmmmm....Bear with me...

I'm just venting here so bear with me. For the past year I've had some stomach pains and lately they've gotten really painful. So I went to the Dr. today and after a urine test I was informed my white blood cells in there were through the roof! Well, I don't have any symptoms of an infection dealing with that area but they're going to test it more to see what they can find. Also, I had a blood test today and if it's anything like last year the white blood cells are going to be really high too. After last year with antibiotics my WBC's never went down much and I just let it go for the time being. I'm growing really anxious to know what's really wrong with me and why they won't go down. I'm currently on two antibiotics to see what will happen and see if my WBC's go down at all on Thursday when I go back to the Dr. Have any of you out there been through this at all and can offer me any advice? I don't have any symptoms of the obvious like the usual sickness would show. I have lost my appetite and have lost some weight but not too dramatically. My clothes don't fit anymore from just a month or two ago...

I guess all I can ask you for as friends, casual readers and people I don't know is for any good thoughts, advice, prayers, good karma that you can send my way.
I may be jumping to the worst of the situation but who knows if this has been the same for over a year.

So thank you in advance for reading this post and still loving me! Really, any advice would be very much appreciated.

Amazing Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I made these last week and had so many requests for the recipe that I thought I'd share it here as well. These were truly amazing!

INGREDIENTS:
1 C Butter
1 1/2 C Crunchy Peanut Butter
1 C Sugar
1 C Packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 3/4 C all-purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 C Chocolate Chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 deg. fahrenheit. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until blended well.

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the batter until the dough forms. Stir in as many chocolate chips as you want. I used 2 C which was perfect.

Roll into 1" balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making the criss-cross pattern. Bake for 9 minutes and don't over bake! Let sit on cookie sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. These make great chewy cookies! HINT:If you want them softer simply place 1/2 slice of bread in the container with them and your cookies will be really soft! This also works with stale cookies.