God is good. I am thankful for these days I can have off with my son. I took off 2 additional days from my main gig and my part time didn't schedule me as I expected so I was off for Thanksgiving night and able to enjoy it with my family. I had hoped that my little sis would come for Thanksgiving at my house, especially because she is at odds with mom and dad and I didn't want her to be alone but she chose not to come. So instead, I decided to move my travel time to their house at the time I had originally set aside for her.
I am a plant based vegetarian which uses the label vegan to avoid having the long discussion of what I do and don't eat. I do eat honey and am not strict about my sources of food coloring or vanilla flavoring but intend to tighten the reins on that this season. I am not an animal activist. I support family and others who want to eat meat and dairy products but choose not to put that stuff in my own body due to what I have read about in the Bible, my own negative experiences with them, and also because veggies are just so delicious and there are endless creations in the kitchen with them. Last year I made my own version of slow roasted chicken in my crock pot. My parents loved it and so I decided this year to try my hand at lamb. I bought lamb breast and put together my own blend of seasonings and rendered it for a good 12+ hours in my crock pot. They loved that as well and the scraps they gave to their back yard cat that comes around every day looking for free food. The cat was really getting into that meal. I guess next year I could try quail or I could do salmon...my crock pots solves all challenges and mysteries. It can fix all issues. Salmon or steelhead trout with rice and roasted veggies..hmmm. And perhaps I could bring a vegan option for them to try to. I am just thankful that the lamb turned out well and I was able to make other dishes too like these vegan stuffed shells, cupcakes and I gave them some of my home made toffee (real butter originally made for my son, of course I can't eat it). My aunt taught me years ago about making toffee and I have made that as well as toffee brittle and even jumped on the dalgona train and did a basic dalgona and one with chocolate too. Too much sugar for these diabetics and almost diabetics.
I am thankful that I was not scheduled thursday night because I was able to at the last minute take my son to see the movie Encanto which just became available in theatres on Wednesday in my area. This was his second trip to the movie theatre and now I think I'm going to have a routine with him where we go to the movies at least once monthly for movie night. I encouraged him to bring snacks in but decided ultimately to get the theatre popcorn and soda so he can have the full experience and it was a lovely night.
I am thankful for many things but last but not least, the gift that Jesus gave by giving up His life for me. I was able to partake in communion today and am thankful for this life He has given me. I don't know all of what He has planned for me. On monday I was approached by a person at work and didn't realize who it was at first. It turned out to be the husband of one of my church sisters and he was picking up items for the babies who were sick this week. I helped him find the potato chips he was looking for and got his committment to sing today during service and for a concert I have to organize next month. I also was approached by a coworker who appears to glow and is just wonderful to be around every time I see her. Reason for that is because she is a Christian. She asked me about serving sizes as she intended to cook thankgiving meals for 40 plus people and I did my best to give advice about that from what I knew about my church family and how they throw down in the kitchen. Both experiences in the same shift. Not sure why. Usually I am dealing with people being inappropriate or talking about what they thought they heard about me. It was nice conversing with both of them. I do have to say I was surprised by the brother's exchange. I realized that he was not an adventist as I had once thought. His wife is and now things kind of make sense now with why he was not showing up when we expected him to. May the Lord be with their family and help them because I know it must be frustrating when the person you are closest to doesn't believe how you believe. If He can reach me, He can certainly reach him. There is so much for all of us to learn and I am still on this long journey of learning and accepting truth in my life.
There was a reason I had those exchanges that shift and I look forward to more experiences like that where I am encouraged to share my faith and encourage others to follow Christ. I was distracted but we gotta get things back on the right track. I am thankful I have an opportunity to do so.
Happy Sabbath :)
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