Heaven and Cheesy Bliss

It seems odd to label a post "faith" and "cooking", but here we are...

The other day, Dan was lamenting the fact that there will be no sun or moon in heaven (Isaiah 60:19), which may likely point to no more weather patterns. Now, Dan LOVES weather. Particularly severe weather (though not as severe as our nation has seen in the past week or so). As our conversation continued, I tried to find a way to show him that God has it all under control. If there is something we love here on earth, He will have something even better to take its place in the New Earth.

So I thought of macaroni and cheese.

Now, the blue box is good. It's comfort food. It's quick, easy, and completely unhealthy. We could spend our lives eating mac and cheese from the blue box, and be happy. If I told you that you could never eat it again, you might even get teary eyed.

That is, until you experience the real stuff. You know what I'm talking about...gooey, cheesy, baked until there's a nice little crust on top (and still probably quite unhealthy). Once you eat the really good stuff, do you really want to go back to the blue box?

I think heaven will be kind of like macaroni and cheese (only it will be good for us!) What we have now is good, but it's just a little taste (pun intended) of what God has in store for us.

So, here's where the cooking part comes in. After this conversation, I got really, really, really hungry for some good macaroni and cheese. I found a recipe online that looked like a winner, but it was bland and had a weird texture. If you have a tried and true macaroni and cheese recipe that's smooth and gooey, but not too gummy...please, let me know!

Dayna's Top Five

Today is Dayna's last day as a five-year-old. I asked her what her top five things were about being five.


1. Getting to start Bible Study Fellowship.


2. Learning how to swim and not be afraid in the pool.


3. Starting Kindergarten.

4. Earning her own money (sorry...couldn't find a pic, but you can see our system here.)
5. Going to Disney World.

Five has been fun...but it's time to move on.

Dayna's Easter Preparations

We started with pin curls the night before.
The Easter Bunny wrote back to Dayna. You can see her letter here. The Easter Bunny DID indeed bring Peeps...He brought sponge curlers, too. Hurray for no more pin curls!
Uber curls!
They did relax as the day went on.
Her finished Easter dress. There's a matching purse, too, but somehow it didn't end up in the picture.
It's so much fun to be a little girl at Easter!

Easter Eggs and All That Jazz

We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday, we traditionally color eggs at a local country church. Sunday afternoon, our friends Ted and Nora invited us over for a very yummy brunch and egg hunt in their backyard.

Enjoy the pictures.
Our friend Nora bought the kids bunny teeth pacifiers...thanks, Nora...
Our friends provided the ultimate in Easter egg hunting...the super-camo egg.



Our friend Janice taught Dayna how to bend decorative grass into crosses.

Superhero Daddy

Sometimes a superhero can wear a cape. It takes a very special superhero to be able to wear a ladybug cape.

But not every superhero can fly faster than a speeding bullet. Not every superhero can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Not every superhero gets to drive a super-fast Batmobile through the streets of Gotham City.

But a true superhero...he leads his family.

This is my superhero after dinner the other night.

Dear Easter Bunny

Dayna got it in her head to write a letter to the Easter Bunny today. All spelling, capitalization and punctuation (or lack thereof) is hers:

Dear Easter bunny can you get me and my Dad Daniel sum mrshmelow Peeps and please hid as much Easter Eggs for My famuly can find. My name is speld D-a-y-n-a You usually hear it like this D-a-n-a but its D-a-y-n-a.

I sure hope she gets everything she wants :)

That's What Mommies Do

It's been a rough few days at the Wilson house...mostly due to lack of wisdom in parenting and lack of self-control in childhood. So, as Dan & I pray about how to handle this latest phase (please God, let this just be a phase!) I think back to one of Dayna's favorite phrases when we ask why she does something..."That's what Daynas do!"

So this morning, I popped this little poem in Dayna's lunchbox:

I will love you when you're grumpy.

I will love you when you're mad.

I will love you when you're happy.

I will love you when you're sad.

I will love you when you're snuggly,

And when you're mean and argue too.

I will ALWAYS love my Dayna,

Because that's what Mommies do!

Sabbath Rest

An interesting thought was brought to my attention yesterday...if you think about time spans, almost everything can be dictated and explained by nature.

A year is one trip around the sun, or a cycle of 4 seasons (if you're lucky enough to live somewhere that experiences all four seasons.)

A month can more or less be determined by the cycle of the moon.

A day is one rotation of the earth; a cycle of day and night...roughly 24 hours.

And while these things are all a direct product of God's wonderful design, they can be explained by those who don't believe as a result of nature.

But how do you explain a week? Almost every culture throughout history has lived their lives in a cycle of 7 days. And now, even in our postmodern society, people live for the weekend. There is nothing in nature (that I can discern) that can explain a cycle of 7 days making a week. And yet, the concept of a week goes back to the very creation of the world. So in some way or another, we are all acknowledging, if not recognizing, that original cycle of 7 days: the week.

In the Bible, 7 is the number of perfection. God created the world and everything in it in 6 days; on the 7th, His work was complete...it was a day of rest.

I've been convicted in the last few years that I don't do a very good job keeping the Sabbath. So now, Sunday is a day of worship and rest. The washing machine can wait. My school email doesn't need to be checked. Lesson plans don't need to happen. Saturday nights are often frantic, readying our home so that we can truly relax and enjoy our day of Sabbath rest. We're not there yet, but we are a work in progress.

So here are some thoughts about the Sabbath:

In Exodus 20, the Israelites were commanded to observe the Sabbath DAY (not the Sabbath hour.) I know of many people who work, work, work, but justify their workaholism on Sunday, because they go to church first.

The Sabbath should be the beginning of our week, not the end of our weekend. (Most calendar companies have this right...why is it so hard for us?) Am I giving God the firstfruits of my week by setting aside this day for Him?

Nowhere in Scripture is a specific day commanded to be the Sabbath, but one day should be set aside. It doesn't really matter if you attend a worship service on Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday. Many people have no choice but to work on Sundays (special props go out to our pastors and church staff), but are you setting aside another day for God's work and the rest He's offering?

I guess I just find it very interesting that people who fight against God still embrace this unexplainable cycle called a week...the Sabbath was given as a gift to us, not a list of rules to shackle us to a legalistic religion.

To Infinity and Beyond

Dayna made her own astronaut costume today.



Complete with oxygen tank...

Now she's signing autographs before she launches into space.
As she's signing my autograph, she's asking my name. Somehow, "Mom" isn't quite what she had in mind. Now that she's getting my last name, she thinks it's cool that we're both named "Wilson."

For Claire

My sweet niece Ashleigh and her husband Drew are expecting their first little one in June. Since Ashleigh's shower was today, and I know she's already seen her gift, I figured it would be safe to post pictures of Claire's afghan and sweater set.