a few things i need to remember about being an adult

Recently I've been navigating a new experience. The experience is unimportant, really, but the lessons are not. Here are a few things I'm learning, or re-learning, of late, and would be wise to remember:

you just can't always know how people will react to a scenario //  You think you know people, like really really know them, and then they do something to make you go, Huh? Didn't see that coming. People have all sorts of factors, internal and external, that contribute to the decisions they make in any given moment. They are complex beings, and will forever surprise us, and challenge us to better understand them.

and that's what living in community looks like //  When God made humans, the crowning glory of his creation, he made us all different. On purpose. Because one day, he would use those differences to refine us. Those differences force us to exercise compassion and empathy and forgiveness, and although it hurts, it's what pleases the Lord.

the flesh is hard to fight //  It's easy to rant and rail about how selfish people are, question their motives, wonder about trusting them ever again, and fantasize about blowing up in their face. That's your flesh talking. But the hard thing, and usually the right thing, is the opposite of all of that, and following through on that will always be a battle against your flesh.

doing the right thing doesn't always yield immediate reward, and it might not yield earthly reward at all //  I made a decision and followed through on what I believed to be the right decision, and just as I started to feel good about that, it bit me. There was some fallout that was not earth-shattering, but enough to make me angry, and very aware that doing the right thing hardly ever leads to warm and fuzzy feelings.

keep some wise people around you to affirm those right decisions //  When you're feeling not-so-warm-and-fuzzy, and defeated, and telling yourself that the world is a terrible place, it's important to have some cheerleaders in your corner for pep talks. And those people probably were the ones to encourage you to the do the right thing in the first place. They are winners. Work hard at having them around.

Being an adult is hard sometimes. What lessons have been your hardest to learn?

thankful thursday #171 {crock pot comfort}

This has been a week where I craved, and needed, comfort food like a crazy person. And anyone who knows me, knows that carbs + cheese = my coziest comfort. This recipe has it all rolled into one crock pot, and it has made me happy and thankful this week, many times over.

Now listen, save the chicken, there's not one healthy thing in here, so eat it sparingly (or not, if your week was like mine). But when you do it eat, indulge in its comfort!

Crock Pot Comfort
Serves 6-8

1 32-oz. pkg. frozen tater tots
1 small pkg. bacon pieces (or 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled)
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed into 1/2" pieces
salt and pepper

preparation
Season your chicken with salt and pepper. (You could shake a little garlic powder on there, too, for good measure if you'd like.)

assembly
Into your crock pot (mine is a 6-quart), layer like this, from the bottom up:

1/2 the bag of tater tots
1/3 of the bacon
1 c. of cheese
all the chicken (make sure the pieces are in a single layer)
1/3 of the bacon
1 c. of cheese
Rest of the tater tots
Rest of the bacon
Rest of the cheese

cooking
Cook on low for 4 hours. Check to be sure your chicken is done, and if you need to, cook it for 30 minutes more. Mine was good after 4 hours, but be double sure.

enjoying
You know what to do from here. Just scoop that bacon-y, cheesy, carb-tastic goodness onto your plate and savor it. (Maybe a green salad on the side would make you feel better about it all, but I doubt it.)

Wishing you a comforting meal this weekend, friends! Go on, be grateful!

thankful thursday #170

Do you know that feeling, when you find a twenty dollar bill in your jacket pocket from last winter?

That is a happy day.

That was not my day today, but I did find a tube of red lipstick and the coinciding gloss in a jacket pocket today, which, frankly, was better than feeling a twenty dollar bill under my fingers.

I've been looking for those for three months! Now that is a happy day.

There are some days when a good red lipstick just makes a girl feel better, and when it turns up after three months, I can feel grateful for that, no?

But it gets better.

This morning after a meeting downtown, I left my car in a parking deck and rode with my boss to another meeting in Mississippi. We arrived back to the parking deck tonight around 7:30.

I gathered my belongings from his car -- empty water bottles, notebooks, my heels I had replaced with flats for the ride home (no shame here), purse, iPhone -- made a stop at the garbage can, and headed to my car. He watched me to my car (because a downtown parking deck at night can be a little sketchy), I dropped my things into the backseat, climbed in, and locked my doors responsibly.

Per usual, I reached for my iPhone so it could charge a bit on my way home, but it was nowhere to be found. I searched my pockets and all the spaces it could be, retraced my steps, and felt nervous at my predicament.

I felt confident it would be in my boss's car, but naturally after having seen me safely to my car, he had left for home.

I decided to go to his house, push through the embarrassment, and ask if I could search his car.

I did. No luck.

With his wife's iPhone, I used the Find My iPhone App and determined that mine was back in the parking deck.

Holy scavenger hunt, Batman.

Using her iPhone as my guide, I returned to the parking deck and was led straight to my iPhone.

In. The. Trash. Can.

Thanks be to God, my water bottles and ringing iPhone were the only items inside it, so retrieving it was fairly easy.

That is, if sticking one's head into a garbage can is ever easy.

But the iPhone is sanitized now, in tact and charging safely.

But mercy, what a terrible feeling.

I'm thankful that today was a day for things like red lipstick and an iPhone, to be found.

What have you been looking for lately? I hope you find it soon, so you can go on and be grateful, too!