Linda's Thoughts

Danny bought a turkey for our last Sunday dinner. About half of the meat was left over so I decided to make some turkey salad for my lunch. I got the idea from my youngest sister Deena when were at Mom's for Thanksgiving.

Here are the ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of leftover turkey
1/3 cup of celery
1/3 cup of chopped green onions
1/3 cup of chopped pecans
1/4 cup of Miracle Whip

Toss it all together. Let it sit in the fridge overnight. Then put it on 2 slices of 100% whole wheat bread and take it to work for lunch.

I plan on cooking a chicken and using it the same way. I like it because you don't have to microwave it and it's about the healthiest sandwich I know. Also, you can eat it fast.

Our 6am workday had begun on the assembly line. Julie, who just turned 22, would be working next to me for the next hour. Together we would put heat shield foil on the inside of side panels that would promptly be placed on a cooking range. Neither of us wanted to think about the whole day ahead. To avoid the thought altogether Julie always avoids looking at the clock and then occupies the time with conversation and a song here and there if one happens to come to her mind. On this day Julie started talking about how she goes out from time to time. It made me wonder about what kind of man would interest her. So I started asking her about the qualities she likes in a man. She told me a few things then I thought of a scenerio.

Sometimes I think of how much I love my children and how innocent and helpless they can be. They are totally trusting my husband and me to teach them how to live in life. Most children are so innocent and at the mercy of their parents. God put it in them to admire their parents in the biggest way. If a child is abused and/or neglected by their parents there is usually no way for them to get away from the situation. And I cringe and burn with anger inside when I imagine even for a short time those young lives that are grossly harmed or neglected.

Have you found any really good books to read to your children lately? I have. Pastor Chuck Swindoll mentioned this book in a sermon when he was talking about Mom's. The book was written in the 1920's. It's a story that little kids understand but has a meaning that grownups can think about. It has fantasy in it where the young readers can use their imagination. The pictures drawn with the original book aren't beautifully detailed so the book is a bit unsuspecting in that it is a classic and one you want to keep and reread several times. The book begins with a Christmas scene. But as I looked it up on the internet, time and time again it had been made into a play for Easter. In fact the entire book is on the internet. I found it under the first entry on Yahoo when I typed in The Velveteen Rabbit. If you wanted to read it as a bedtime story it would take about a week to read aloud. But you won't regret reading. In fact, I would like to study the writer's details of this book and remember them just for when I want to write for children.

Here's a passage from the book. It talks about being real. The toys are put away for the night and the new Velveeten rabbit is having a discussion with the oldest toy, the skin horse:

I told my son Benjamin to dump the trash. When he came back from the dumpster he told my husband Danny someone was burning trash in a barrel. This was something important to know.

Ginny's birthday is coming very soon. I've gotten an idea or two about what to get her. But the other day she surprised me with a list. She labeled it her birthday wish list. She will be turning eight. Here is her list (in order of priority):

I've been reading through Heartstrings of Love.* It's a book filled with quotes from famous (Christian) people giving tribute to their mothers. There are a bunch of great words in there that tell of the home, parenting, and mothering. Some of the quotes were real and down to earth. But some of them annoyed me. It's as if the person writing the tribute had a perfect mother. These stories caused me to be envious of this mother. But it also helped me face who I am.

Ginny is my one and only daughter. She's almost eight years old. I see alot of me in her. And then I see even more potential in her than I ever saw in me. Last night when she came to hug me for no specific reason, I wanted to stop and just study her face. A mother must do this from time to time so hopefully an imprint of their young faces will stay within the memory. I enjoyed and admired the little face, honestly and trustingly, looking up at me. She had the red, white and blue look. What I mean by that is she had red lips (redder than normal from the dry weather), pale white skin that she inherited from her mother and father, and blue eyes like all the rest of us and then an added accent of freckles that the sun sprinkled in a path of across the bridge of her nose.

Okay, Mom I really don't want to mess up, can you help me? It was Benjamin's first time to make cookies all by himself. His big eyes we're even bigger as he gave me a focused serious look. He held out the 1/4 cup measuring cup. I told him to bring me the Snickerdoodle cookie recipe from the kitchen. Then we worked together to make sure he put in the right measurements of everything. He mixed all the ingredients until the very end when I mixed it just to make sure it was well blended. He even cracked the 2 eggs and made sure there were no eggshells in the mixture. From all the cookie dough I have eaten so far there have been no eggshells.

My sister Penny and her fiance Alex are teaching in Russia. But lately their trip to and from school has been more difficult. The other day as Penny left for school, a short distance later she realized there was frost on her scarf. It was from her breath. Then she noticed her eyes felt funny. It was so cold her eyelashes had frozen and the liquid in the corners of her eyes were also close to freezing. The temperature that morning was -27 degrees F. Alex says it's an odd feeling when the moisture inside your nose freezes!

I just heard a report on Fox News about this historical cold spell. It is expected to last until February. Penny says last year was unseasonably warm. But this year is the opposite. The news said it hasn't been this cold in Russia in 25 years! It looks like Alex and Penny are making some memories they won't soon forget about their stay in Moscow!

I have a huge amount of siblings. My oldest brother, Phillip will turn 48 this year. My youngest brother, Daniel just turned 20. There is a 28 year age difference between these two. In 1971 Mom began her quest with the "teenage years". Finnnnnnalllllly this year, my mother has finished this "pulling my gray hair out" God-given duty! She started with Phillip nearly 35 years ago when he turned 13!

The other night I was watching the national news and researchers say that exercise can relieve depression. Woo-hoo! The study even says it can replace the use of medication such as Zoloft. I kind of knew all of this was true in the back of my head but it still inspires me on. For the new year I have been wanting to run a mile three times a week. This will take a bit of getting used to but it's not too hard. A practiced person can run a mile in about 15 minutes! I'll just walk and run until I build up to running only.

Depression runs in my family. When I get to feeling like a failure I just want to sleep all day because sleeping gives me the opportunity to escape all the thoughts that worry around inside my brain.

Our home is important. I want my children to have happy loving memories of their childhood and that we did lots of things together as a family. I seriously pray my children would live to honor God all their life. In our home, although I'm quick to voice my opinions and my husband respects my input, if a major decision must be made he has the final decision. He is the head of the home. Through trial and error and misuse of my emotion, I've also discovered the wife is the heart of the home. I've found the old saying ever so true, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I'm very glad to say I've learned to "choose my battles" (make a big deal about the ones that matter the most) and as time passes our home has become a happier place.

Here are some thought-provoking quotes about the family. Terri Gibbs who was editor of the book, Heartstrings of Laughter and Love did well in compiling so many great words from several inspirational people: