Everyone knows at least one. You know the type. They thrive on conflict and chaos. The more turmoil in their lives at any given moment, the better. Their life is a roller coaster ride and one some strange level they get a rush out of the emergencies that seem to constantly present themselves. If there is no emergency, they will create one, lest their life, for even a brief moment have some semblance of normalcy. Good grief! It makes me tired just thinking about it!
Ever had a friend like that? The one good thing that these sorts of people tend to do is remind me that I love what I call my "vanilla life". OK, so maybe it’s vanilla with a drizzle of chocolate sauce to spice things up.It is steady and stable, but never boring. When troubles come (and they will come!), I know where to focus while we ride out the storm. I certainly don't relish the chaos or conflict, but am thankful for where it brings me on the other side.
My vanilla life this week has been busy. We are having my dad and step-mom over for dinner tonight. My eight year old dreamt up a delicious honey garlic marinade for our BBQ chicken. We'll serve it with parmesan garlic mashed potatoes, grilled corn on the cob and homemade biscuits. Connor is thrilled to be serving something he created. He is already a fantastic little cook and I couldn’t be prouder.
Tomorrow my step-mom and I are going antiquing and out for tea. We've been meaning to do this since I moved to Texas. It should be lots of fun! I'll be sure and let you know what we find.
Mike and I will probably snuggle up and watch a movie tomorrow evening. Someone at church loaned us The Last Sin Eater and we need to watch it so we can return it on Sunday. Maybe I'll whip up a batch of Mike's favorite peanut butter popcorn for us to munch on.
If you’ve read this far you are probably thinking, “So what?”Why am I telling you all this? To prove that a vanilla life can be wonderfully exciting. We don’t need a constant stream of emergencies to keep things interesting.LIFE is interesting!Serving the LORD is exciting!When the storms do come, we’ll hang on tight and ride them out, but they will be our exception, not our norm.
I like your point about 'riding it out' when the storms come. That's the only way I know how. I'm not big on drama. In fact, I've had some pretty difficult things go on in my life this past month, but I just can't get up the energy to be a dramaqueen about it all.
so I usually make jokes and distract myself. (can be an issue as well, but hey, I'm human)
Right now, my husband is putting together the worship list for
Sunday, my 10 year old Hannah is feeding Sofia, who is 17 mths old, some oatmeal, Russell, who is 12 is building Legos in his room, and the rest of the girls are playing Operation at the dining room table, while I am snuggled up in my bed blog-skipping! Ahhhh, the normalcy of contentment!
I cherish the days like this!
Peanut butter popcorn? Share the recipe! And that marinade sounds great, can you share that one too???
I love reading about your vanilla life. What a cute phrase. I have no idea what flavor my life is! It's not vanilla but then neither am I a crisis person. I am however, a hyper person. Lets just say my life is high octane caffeine! LOL
I think I would rather have a vanilla life. I once was like the person you first mentioned, chaos. Then the Lord spoke to my heart when I was complaining to Him about it. He told me that I created it myself. After getting over the surprise of him saying that, I drastically changed. I didn't realize that I created chaos for a couple of reasons. Now, I try to keep everything simple. I like it better this way. Simple, calm, and predictable. So, me too. I like a bit of a vanilla life.
Oh, I almost forgot to see the movie, Sin Eater. I need to watch it. I heard it was good.
How's that tea? Come join me for some more sipping of it.
Hi, I promised you that I would say Hi next time I read your blog so here I am. Hope you are having a great day. Don't know what my flavor would be, not as vanilla as I would like it to be. Michelle
My first thought was hazelnut, I have no idea why, but I like it (especially in coffee), but then as I read through the comments, and saw KarenW said neopolitan, I thought that was probably more accurate. But my final answer is going to be chocolate/vanilla twist. I seem to swing from one extreme to the other. We're either very laid-back, relaxed, calm, or crazy/chaotic in crisis mode. And there's no rhyme or reason to it, it's just all swirled together. Personally, I prefer vanilla! (with a little bit of honey drizzled on top) :)
Hmmm.... I am not sure what flavor I am. I do know that I do not have the quiet lifestyle that I long for. I do know that for the most part my life is chaotic and seldom peaceful. All things that God has really been convicting me of lately. What I struggle with though is the "how to do it" part. The calm and peaceful lifestyle instead of the chaotic one.
I didn't realize you lived close to your dad now. That must be very nice. I hope you had a great time antique shopping with your step-mom.
I hope you enjoyed The Last Sin Eater. I read the book and loved it! And I thought the movie version was pretty good too.
Keep up the good work in living a vanilla life... I think that is an awesome testimony to have!
I love my life too and am so thankful to be married to David and mother of three precious teens. My life may not seem exciting to most; but I wouldn't trade lives with anyone. : )
A few years ago I read The Last Sin Eater and so enjoyed it. This summer we read the book as a family and then watched the movie. As usual, the book was so much better.
Hope you had a sweet time antiquing and enjoying tea with your step mom.
Hugs,
Julie
Hope you write a blog later about how the movie went...I loved the book but haven't seen it on dvd yet!
Enjoyed the jam making pictures so much! Blessings, Theresa
The daily, sometimes hourly, musings of a homeschooling mom of four surviving on prayer, friendship and lots of Starbucks. Some days my cup runs over and some days it all spills out the cracks...and I wouldn't have it any other way.
