the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! It's Hodgepodge day, AND it's the day before I get to wrap my arms around my Noah. I am beyond excited for the weekend! I'm liking up with Joyce for today's weekly Hodgepodge. I can't wait to read your posts! I'll jump in.

1. May 20th is World Bee Day...what's something that has kept you busy as a bee lately? I feel like my life has been keeping me as busy as a bee lately. I'm not complaining, I promise! I try to get out of my house as often as possible, as most of you know. Between work and seeing friends at game nights or at their homes, I am usually able to accomplish this pretty easily. I'm always grateful for the things that make me have an excuse to leave my house for whatever reason. 

On Monday night of this week, Marilyn came to my house for a while. I usually offer to go to her, but my part of town was more on her way home from what she'd been doing earlier that day. I "made" us dinner and then we sat an talked and caught up again. It's astounding how we always have a lot of catching up to do even though not much time passes between our visits. We laughed on that night because it had been about 30 hours since the last time I saw her. This dear soul is more than just a best friend; she is a soul sister at this point! We have trauma bonded for life. 

Dinner was delicious, thanks to Amy! She calls this a Greek bowl, and it's super simple. All I did was buy some marinated grilled chicken strips and added them as the base. I diced cucumber, grape tomatoes, and red onion and added that to the top of the bowls, and then topped it all with Kalamata olives, Feta cheese, and taziki sauce. I had Kinders Greek seasoning to sprinkle on top, but I forgot to use any, and it was just as delicious even without. This will be a great summer recipe for me to enjoy this year! 

2. Do you like honey? What's something you make or enjoy that calls for honey? I love honey, but I never use any. There was a while when I would use it in my coffee, or on a peanut butter and honey sandwich, but I don't eat like that anymore. 

3. Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Proverbs 16:24) What's a proverb you love, or one that speaks to you or has helped you in some way? One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 16:9. It says this:

We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. 

When I pray each day, I thank God for this reminder for me as His daughter. I always tell Him that I trust that He will continue to do this each and everyday of my life, and He does just that. 

4. Tell us about a sweet moment in your life recently that filled you with joy, gratitude, and/or peace. How long do I have to talk about this? I could write on this topic for days on end, friends. My whole life is filled with moments of joy, gratitude, and peace every single day. Even on the hard days, the other things outshine the negative moments, and I am so thankful for this. Here are a few moments lately that have brought me such intense feelings about my joyful life.

Work Bestie and I show up matching at work pretty often. On this day we had lunch together, then we sat and "completed a work project" together while talking about all the things from the week. She makes me laugh like crazy, and I have never cried and laughed with someone more than I have her this last year. This is Mandy from work, also known as Work Bestie. She's been front and center on all the moments of the last year when my life fell apart. This is the case for both of my work besties, honestly; the other one is Amy B., I just don't have pictures of us with her. I need to remedy this ASAP! I'm so grateful for both of these wonderful friends. 

A few weeks ago, I got to go to my best friend's house for the afternoon. There's nothing I love more than cuddling her babies! I was pretty much in Heaven all day long. 

 

5. When you were a child, what did you want to "be" when you grew up? How close did you come to that? If you don't know this about me, let me introduce you to myself. My name is Jenn, and all I ever wanted to be was a wife and mom. I literally thanked God for everyday that He gave me that opportunity; it's not that I don't want to be those things anymore, I do, but life has changed. My sons don't need me in the way they used to, and well, you all know I'm no longer married. I hope to be remarried someday, though! It's time for me to spread my wings and take the opportunity to make an impression on more young people; that's why I'm excited about my upcoming job! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I was going to share a music video again, but I can't really think of one that I like enough to share today. So I'll end this with telling you that I'll be leaving for Dallas tomorrow for a couple of days; I may not have a post on Monday, because I'll have plans on Sunday after church. Well, I'm counting on having plans with J, anyway; we'll see, but I'm sure I won't be at home. Also, I'm kind of at a point in time that I might stop blogging everyday for a bit; I'm not a hundred percent sure about this, obviously, but I wanted to say it in case it ever happens from time to time. I didn't have a post for this past Monday for that reason: I wasn't at home almost the whole weekend, and when I got home, I went straight to bed. So, don't be alarmed if that happens! I'll just be out living and enjoying my life. 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all.

Jenn 🩷