Thoughts for Thursday

What am I cooking? We had steelhead trout (the pink kind) the other night for dinner, and almost *everyone* ate it – very exciting for this mom! The recipe: Place about 1 lb. of trout filet on foil-lined baking sheet. Pour a mixture of 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/2 T. sesame oil, 2 T. brown sugar, and 2 T. lemon juice over the top. Tuck foil up around fish so that marinade can really get in there. Bake for about 15-18 minutes at 375 degrees, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Yum!

What are my weekend plans? Our St. Anne’s group (moms of young children at our church) is holding a Progressive Dinner on Saturday evening, and this year we’re doing a Murder Mystery theme. Could either be really fun or really tedious 🙂 I’ll give you the verdict next week! Oh, and we have soccer, and a baptismal celebration for a sweet little girl – lots of wonderful events on deck!

What are my prayer intentions for the day? Lots of prayers for all of our newly elected officials, especially those Catholics who have promised to uphold the truths of our faith with regards to issues such as abortion. May they remain steadfast and humble in their position of public service.

What can my children do instead of watching T.V? Play outside. After two rainy days, we can’t wait to get back to those playgrounds!

What have I done for my marriage this week? Hmmm, shouldn’t have to think so hard about this one…

What am I reading? “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” by Joanna Weaver. A few pages in, it looks promising 🙂

What’s challenging me lately? This is the time of year when everyone seems to be spending lots of time with extended family members that live in the area, I’m feeling slightly bummed that we live so far away. I know that I write about this all of the time, but it’s on my heart so I’m sharing it 🙂 Ed and I have been putting our heads together, trying to figure out who we could invite over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner, and we can’t think of anyone who doesn’t have family within driving distance that they’ll be spending the holiday with. That’s okay, we can certainly create memories with just our immediate family, and I think we’ll take the opportunity to do something a little bit different!

Something that made me think? We’ve had lots of crime in our immediate neighborhood recently – there were about 30 cop cars in our neighborhood last night, in pursuit of a couple of guys that were on the loose – and, among other issues such as our family’s safety, I’m thinking a lot about the things that divide our society these days. Many people are desperate financially, and are angry enough to resort to robbery/burglary, and sometimes violence, to get what they don’t have and feel that they need. What is the solution? What can I do to be a part of the solution? We’ve been victims of burglary ourselves (not here but in Chicago), and it’s a terrible feeling to have been violated in that way. But perhaps the worst part, for me, is realizing that the people who commit these crimes are so detached from any values system that they can repeatedly steal, probably until they are caught by the police. I’m also struck they they feel detached enough from the people that they’re stealing from to be able to commit these crimes – they’re not thinking about the hurt that they are causing a particular family, but rather something along the lines of “This family has a lot more than I do, and I’m going to steal what they have because I don’t know how else I can get the money that I want/need.” Clearly, something isn’t going right in our society at this point, because many people are feeling marginalized and hopeless. I’m processing “out loud” here, but this is just what I’m thinking right now. Thanks for bearing with me 🙂