Thankful

Everyone reading this probably remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news.

I sat glued to the TV the entire day.

"Who would do such a thing? Why?"

I remember watching in horror as the first tower fell. The newscasters kept talking about how the towers were designed not to fall. Then, shortly after the first, the next tower fell. My little 11 year old mind was so confused and scared. I wasn't sure that I understood what was happening. And I didn't feel safe venturing out into Houston later that next week.

Years later as I was talking to my brother about why he wanted to be in the military (and didn't he know how dangerous it is?!) he told me it was because he loved his country. But as much as he loved his country he loved me more. He is training and fighting for me. For his family. For his friends. If you are a friend of my brother, you should be honored. If you know him personally, you know what a blessing he is.

This is something he wrote two years ago while he was still at the Naval Academy:

"You know I complain a lot about what I do. Sometimes it's my way of dealing with stress. But today, for this small space of time, I don't have any doubts about my situation. On this day, I know that the Academy will be worth it, and the fact that I can't sleep until noon fades into insignificance.



I do my job for the men and women on the top floors of the towers. I do it for the firemen and police officers who never came back from work on this day seven years ago. For all the families permanently severed by the events of September 11, 2001, for anyone whose name is written on the boards downstairs, for all of you reading this note, you are why I signed my papers.



So, I want to say thanks to all of you folks out there reading this, because you are the ones who keep me going when I lose my sense of direction. And to all my shipmates, I love you guys so much. I'd dive in front of a MACK truck for any one of you.



And family, y'all are the best. I don't know how else to say it. Using words cheapens the way I feel about you.



All you guys out there that I know and love so much, thanks for letting me be in your lives. I hope that in the coming years, I can express to you through deeds as well as words how much I appreciate you.



I promise that I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I love you all very much, and I pray that God gives you peace this September 11.



Thanks again for being such awesome people. I can't imagine my life without you."



I love my brother. I love all his friends from the military. I'm thankful for all of them and their service.

I was so privileged to be able to see them all get commissioned as officers in the United States Navy and Marine Corps on May 28, 2010

So to all those in the military, police force, fire fighters, and anyone else that lays down their life daily. Thank you. May you be blessed!

Thank you Jesus, for the heart that you have given these men and women. Give them strength as they serve you and America. Keep them safe. Let them know your love. Let us never forget!

Food blog... and random blathering

So its been a while since I've blogged. I've really missed it.

School has started off wonderfully. I'm enjoying my classes, classmates and teachers. The beginning of fall semester is like a second chance at a New Years resolution. The Rec center on campus is packed, people are running on all the sidewalks, the produce section in HEB is packed, and everyone is ordering sugar-free skinny lattes.


The promise of August is fresh in the air. THIS is the (academic) year that things will be different. If you failed at your 2010 New Years Resolution, then no worries, here's your second chance. That's the beauty of living in a semester world!

So, you know me, I don't turn down bandwagons. I jump right on them wholeheartedly. Some of the bandwagons I jumped on...

Sperry's


Rainboots

V- necks

Tempo Nike Running shorts
Vera Bradley. My closet kinda looks like this!

And, last, but not least, Uggs. Used to hate them... Now I love them.

I realize Those are all clothing trends. But they are all I could think of at the moment. So here I am, jumping on the "New Years resolution in the Fall" bandwagon.

I'm working out more, trying to eat healthier, cook more, and make up recipes.
I also hope to:

-Take more pictures
-Invest deeply in friendships
-Get involved at my Church
-Live simply. (Less stuff, less cost, more healthy, more natural, less clutter in my life)

So for our fall resolutions, my roommate, Kylie and I have decided to cook more. Tonight was our first endeavor.
We made some mistakes, but eventually it all turned out yummy.

Our first mistake is that we tried to unload groceries, clean out our ice box (read: refrigerator), and start cooking all at the same time.

First adventure= cleaning out the ice box. Its difficult when you share the same fridge with 3 non-family members. You only pay attention to your own food, but sometimes you forget what you have, or you assume that the coffee creamer or chili that's been in the same place for somewhere between 3 and 10 months is your roommates. Tonight, since 2 of the 3 of us were home we did an icebox cleanse. Turns out that the creamer and chili was Meg's. She moved out last November :/

Second adventure= cooking while distracted by trashing old food. Also, meet my nemesis, the electric stove top. I just hate this thing.
Whatever happened to good old gas grill with real fire? How hard was that?

Dear real old-fashioned fire stove top,

I miss you.

I miss how I could turn you off and the heat would almost immediately subside. I miss how I could just look at your flames and know how hot you were burning. Now I have to guess by looking at how often the burner flashes red hot. Its awful. Come back to me.

Sincerely, Noelle G.


Tonight while distracted and cooking on my electric stove my chicken boiled over not once, but twice. Nothing bad. Just made a mess.

Despite the chicken mishaps my food turned out great!

I was very happy with the turnout. Here's how I did it.


-Start by cutting a big tomato in half and scooping out the insides. I lightly salted the tomato around the edges so it would dehydrate in the oven. *Warning* I have no idea if that's what happened or if I made that up. But I thought it sounded good.
-Add the tomato guts to your chopped chicken along with some spinach, green bell peppers, and a pinch of Mozzarella cheese, and anything else you like



-Scoop this mixture into your empty tomato shell.
-Add a little cheese on topBake for about 10 minutes then broil for 3ish minutes until it browns a teeny bit.

Place in a colorful dish and serve. If its too dry you can add a drop or two of your favorite salad dressing, but hopefully the tomato gets good and juicy in the oven.

Enjoy!

Oh Brother!

Dear Blog,

I've really missed writing recently and honestly have started about 5 blog posts in the past couple of weeks. Part of my problem with posting them is that I haven't had a complete thought process in a few weeks. I haven't had anything that I wanted to write about that I had completely thought out, or knew how to express. But now I do, so here we go!

I have been reminded recently, through some very hard circumstances, how much I love my brother, Coleman. I have a dear friend who's brother is enlisting in the Navy today and she has called me several times for counsel and to ask, "how did you ever get through this?" Its gotten me thinking a lot about my brother and I just wanted the world to know how great he is.


I tell people that Coleman and I were basically raised like twins. We are 2 years apart, but my mom always had us matching and playing with each other. (I got some of his hand me downs, notice the train on my jumper in above picture.) For the first 4 and 1/2 years of my life it was just me and him. We played all the time. I've been reminded that we both had cars like this red one. powered by our little feet pushing us along. I had a blue convertible, and we would go around and around the circle in our living room and kitchen all evening before dinner.

We played for endless hours doing heaven-knows what outside. We've played in many a sprinkler, slip-n-slide, and ant pile! After we started homeschooling and after he had gotten a bb gun for christmas, we used to go outside and wear our red AWANA sparkies vests and pretend we were the British Red Coats in the Revolutionary war... So fun... until little sister got shot with the bb gun!


I have a lot of good memories with Coleman. One thing that kept us close was homeschooling. We ended up being only one grade apart from each other, but we did a lot of the same schoolwork. He was ahead in math and science, but my mom usually did the same program with us for history and reading.

And then Hopie was born!


Once Hope and Grace came along we earned the title, "The Big Kids", as opposed to "The Little Girls." Those titles have stuck with us even until now!

Once we got to highschool Colemanan and I stayed close and probably even got closer than before. I know there were times that he wanted to murder me for coming into his room and bothering him, but somewhere deep in his heart he loved it. We spent countless hours together in the car on the way to basketball, volleyball, football, and baseball practice. We had all the same friends, were in a lot of the same classes, etc.

I am so thankful for my brother. He taught me so much about life and love. I have not always been a good sister or friend to him, but he has never done me wrong. Through everything he has loved me unconditionally. He has taught me so much about courage and honor.

Coleman got accepted to the United States Naval Academy and went to Plebe summer after a short 3 weeks working at Frontier Camp, we all loaded up in the RV to road trip to Maryland to drop him off. That was the best-worst vacation ever. I felt like we were making a vacation out of getting rid of my brother. While we did have a lot of fun on that trip the reality that he was leaving was setting in. The above picture was taken the night before he reported. We had fun and laughed a lot that night, but it was all bitter sweet.

He surprised me by coming home for my graduation. Notice the teary eyes above :)

Coleman is a man that loves his country and loves his military job. I am so proud of what he has done already and I can't wait to see what God is going to do with him for the rest of the journey. His time at the academy grew and shaped him in so many ways and he loved it. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he loved every second of it, and we sure hated not having him around, but I am so proud of what he was doing.

We've had good times together since he's been gone in the military. He's now graduated from the Naval Academy and is in Charleston, South Carolina for Submarine school.

I'm so proud of all that he's done and what he will do in the future.... You should be too :)