Meals as a Mrs. ~ Cashew Chicken

Lately, I have been craving peanut butter.  So I figured I would share this recipe for Cashew Chicken since it involves nuts.  That is a rational reason right?  ; )

Here is the link to the recipe I followed (the crock pot one).  I did double the amount of brown sugar from 1 tbsp. to 2 tbsp.  I also added 30 minutes before the end time and cooked the dinner on the high setting in the crock pot to try to make the water chestnuts a bit more crunchy than they were at first.

Overall, this was a pretty good dinner dish.  We enjoyed the Cashew Chicken over a bed of sticky rice and I would probably put extra nuts on it next time for the crunchiness factor.  As a leftover dish, the cashews were a bit soggy so keep that in mind if you decide you want to eat this dish again in the following days.  Perhaps adding the nuts to individual portions would be better to avoid the soggy nuts factor.

The reflection for this post comes to us from James 4:4.   

Adulterers!  Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Those are some pretty strong words.  

To live in this world, we usually get attached to goods and materials.  

We want the newest model of car.  

The biggest house.  

More clothes and stuff.  

Some take this desire for wanting more and more and more to the extreme and wind up being hoarders or are constantly looking for the next "fix" through shopping all the time.  Once the latest gadget or technology is had...it temporarily satisfies until the next big thing when the current item is obsolete and must be replaced with the new trend or item.  Yet we learn that to love God, we must detach ourselves from these worldly things.  To be a follower of Jesus, we must break away from the norm or from what current culture dictates is the standard.  Sometimes this is easier said than done but which would we rather:  be close to God and work toward everlasting life or have it "our way" right here and right now storing up our treasures to satisfy our short term desires and goals here on Earth?  If we put our needs and wants ahead of God's will, we may be happy for a short while but sooner or later we are bound to not find fulfillment and satisfaction in the long run.  

However, if we practice sacrifice and put the will of others ahead of us by being selfless we are being more loving and Christlike in our actions.  I don't know about you but I don't want to create enmity between our creator and me.  He, who has sacrificed it all and created everything, finds little old me worthy of His love.  Who am I to smite him, to turn away and think I know better, to reject Him, to think my way is better??? 

The older I get the less "stuff" I want.  Since moving from North Carolina back to the northeast in Summer 2014, I have moved three times, switched offices at work three times, cleared out a storage unit I had rented the last several years, and ran out of time last summer in organizing the garage and one huge closet in the basement.  That is a lot of change...!  Through the process of moving and relocating, I've been able to trim away and get rid of extra things but it is still a work in progress.  My goal last summer was to spend time this summer tackling the garage and the closet since I ran out of time last year in unpacking/organizing when I moved into our house after the wedding.  The plan of finishing that huge job this summer didn't happen with having Charlotte in the spring, maternity leave/working to have smooth transitions at work in my absence, recovering from the surgeries, and just being a mom and all that comes with life in general.  I'm learning to not be as hard on myself when I don't get all that I wanted to get done on my to do lists but with each passing day, as I see the stuff in closets, in the garage, and even in my office on campus, I just want to purge and eliminate the excess that has been accumulated over the years.  I don't want to be attached to worldly things and goods.  My priorities and focus have changed and generally speaking less is more these days!  Why not donate things that are not needed or give them to others who can use them?  If I've not worn a certain clothing item in years, why does it need to still hang in my closet?  If I've not cracked open a book or binder from my undergraduate and Master's programs in a decade and the book is covered under a layer of dust, is it really worth hanging on to at this point?  What's the use in placing the box of things I might need in the future "just in case" on the shelf if it is never going to be opened anyhow?  I have even recently been questioning my love of pictures and do I really need to have umpteen photo albums documenting everything and that was pre-Charlotte (of whom I have hundreds of photos already?!)? 

Then thinking about the baby things Charlotte has already outgrown and maternity items I used during the pregnancy, it is particularly challenging facing these items and what to do with them now.  I remember when I received the things, whether they were gifts or I purchased them on consignment, I assumed at that time that they would be used again by a second baby or during another pregnancy.  Do I hang on to these in case we adopt?  In case something happens and we somehow wind up with another baby?  No one knows what the future holds.  What if we foster?  What if I give these things away and then need them again?  What if.........what if..........what if I don't need the items ever again?  



This is most likely the truth.  



But my brain can't go there so for now I just close the box or bag back up and stick it back on the shelf.  I flick off the switch and shut the door stuffing down those lingering questions and feelings for now.

The other day, in a conversation with Adam, I vented my frustration saying I just wanted to know the reason WHY things turned out the way they did already.  I want to know the purpose and what we're "supposed to do now" with this change in events and expectations.  Are we to adopt?  Should we look into foster parenting?  What if we host foreign exchange students?  Or maybe we can host a college student who wants to live off campus?  As these questions swirled noisily around in my mind and finally came to the surface during a conversation with my husband, he matter of factly said, "I'm sorry you are feeling so sad but I'm happy with how our family is", which made me step back and reconsider the current picture.  He is showing me by his example how to accept and move forward...to be more accepting of God's plan for our family at this point.  In a way, he is being a lover of God by not holding on so tightly to the world.  I, on the other hand, am clinging to "stuff" in trying to fill what I perceive is a void.  I'm trying to get more, do more, figure out more because I perceive the change as needing to be "fixed" or made up for in some way.  My line of thinking of if I'm not going to have a house of little Adams and Megans running around with Charlotte then we must find another use of our space by filling it with those in need through adoption/foster care/hosting needy students but maybe that's not the lesson here.....not right now anyways.  Going back to the recurring pregnancy verse...perhaps God is teaching me I need to right now be still and know.  Who knows...maybe I will never learn the reason or the why but that's not to say the suffering won't be fruitful.  It may yield fruit in other ways and in ways I may never see the result of but everything does work for the good of the Lord.  It's not for me to decide to know what the reason for suffering is but for God to reveal in His own way on His time.  Perhaps the reason I've been so restless and seeking to fill the void is because I'm forgetting that the world will not satisfy me...as only the Lord can as St. Augustine so beautifully reminds us in this quote.