Sunday Night with Anne Badger

We talked tonight about food and healthy eating on the go. 

One of my favorite things to eat is Pot Roast.  I didn’t grow up with it, but my husband did, and I learned how to fix it.  It took me YEARS to get the right recipe.  My sister-in-law showed me how she fixed hers, and I tried it.  But somehow, it wasn’t exactly the way she did it. 

One day, I was looking into a cookbook and found an interesting recipe.  Being an adventurous cook, I thought, okay, why not?  It was good!  I then took my sister-in-law’s recipe and the one from the cookbook and combined them.  This is what I came up with:

3-4 lb Pot Roast  (chuck or bottom round)

Half a pot of coffee (6 cups)

Garlic Cloves, peeled and sliced

One can Cream of Mushroom Soup

Cut small slits in the pot roast, put the garlic slivers in those holes.  Marinate the pot roast in the coffee for 4 hours or overnight.  Pour off the coffee and add one can of cream of mushroom soup, cover with foil and bake in oven @ 300 F for 4 hours or until tender.

After the second day, I take some of the leftover pot roast, combine it with frozen mixed veggies and a can of cream of mushroom soup and bake in a pie shell as a beef pot pie….

Tonight we talked with Maren Angelotti about her book, Of Different Minds: seeing your ADHD child through the eyes of God.  Here are some therapist terms that you may have questions about:

Most individuals seem to think that ADHD exists by itself.  Occasionally, there are things that overlap:

OCD–doing an activity over and over until it is just perfect. (the intensity of this activity does not necessarily have to be over the top)

SID–Sensory Integration Disorder–Symptoms include: Oversensitivity or Undersensitivity to sounds, smells.  Loves to spin, swing, jump and finds doing so calms them down. Complains of how clothing feels, wants a certain kind of sock.  Picky eater, tires easily, exceptionally high pain tolerance, resists new situations, very impulsive, problems with muscle tone, walks on toes.

APD–Auditory processing disorder–This is when anindividual simply processes only a part of what someone is saying. (unable to complete 3 or 4 tasks given at the same time because they don’t remember)

Dyslexia–Skipping over words when reading.  Replacing on word for another causing comprehension to be poor.

Dyscalculia–Difficulty with math and the abstract concepts of the calculations.

Dysgraphia–Poor and illegible handwriting.

Schools that are available to Learning Different Children:

http://www.briarwoodschool.org located in Houston

http://www.shelton.org located in Dallas

Websites that are helpful:

www.chadd.org  Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

www.tsrhc.org The Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorder

www.brainwavesnic.com Dr. Lisa Routh administers SPECT scan in Houston

www.amenclinics.com Dr. Amen administers SPECT scan in California

www.clementsclinics.com

www.altaread.org To find a therapist in your area

www.imslec.org For information on training courses for teachers and therapist for people with learning differences.

For more information on “Of Different Minds” or Maren Angelotti, go to www.ofdifferentminds.com

So much can happen in the course of a couple of weeks.

My husband is doing so much better.  There are still some side effects that are not going away but the bottom line is that the drug he was taking for his triglycerides was poisioning him.  We continue to pray for the levels to go down.

He’s back in a routine and working.  And I think he is a little more open to my crazy crusade of eating healthier. 

This experience was a big wake up call for me.  I have learned so much about being dependent.  I am dependent on my husband for so many things, but I need to realign my thoughts to recognize that God is truly in control.  It’s not that I didn’t believe that before, but I had a little taste of a kind of helplessness that I had not felt before; and that gave me a little different perspective.

I also realize I have so many sweet friends…many of whom I have never met, who have prayed for me and have kept me going. I count you as one of them, and I thank God for you.

As I write this from the hospital where my husband is, I have mixed emotions.  First off, he is not as bad as he was, which means he is getting better.  He is not jaundiced anymore, and now eating, and for that I am grateful.

But the levels in his liver and pancreas are still high and they have taken him off a medication that might be causing this.  Suffice it to say that I’ve done a whole lot of waiting and gotten very little answers.

I know there are so many people praying for us and that is something I never can thank ya’ll enough for!  We have felt those prayers and are so very blessed to have you as our friend.

I was sitting over by the elevators with my husband and I was humming something in my head as he talked with our children on the phone.  It didn’t dawn on me what it was until I came to the chorus.  Tears well up within me as I type it for you.

You have faced the mountains of desperation
You have climbed, you have fought,you have won
But this valley that lies coldly before you
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome

When answers aren’t enough, there is Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren’t enough, He is there.

Instead of asking why did it happen
Think of where it can lead you from here
And as your pain is slowly easing, you can find a greater reason
To live your life triumphant through the tears.

When answers aren’t enough, there’s still Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren’t enough, He is there.

When answers aren’t enough, He”s still there.

Sometimes we need that extra reminder…that even if we don’t have the answers, God does!  And maybe His ways are not like ours, but that’s okay….our job is to trust and have faith.  Even if there are not definitive answers, He is still on the throne.

I love ya’ll.

2 Corinthians 5:7  “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

As I write this, I am faced with too many unknowns.

My husband is in the hospital and the doctors have run many tests but do not seem to know what is wrong. 

The area in question is on his right side.  His coloring is very yellow (jaundiced) and we suspect it has something to do with his liver or gallbladder.

I can handle most of the things thrown my way in life.  My husband and I have been through so many things together.  The death of family members, illnesses, birth of our two children.

Today was hard though.  As we waited for the test results, I helped my sweet, hurting man walk around the hospital floor.  When we stopped near the elevators there were some large windows with natural light coming through.  What I saw shocked me.  His eyes were yellow where the white was supposed to be.  I hadn’t seen that in the room.  It had been too dark.

Now, as I reflect on how I feel about the past 48 hours, I am fighting back tears.  I know beyond every shadow of doubt that God has every hair on our heads numbered, that He holds us in the palm of His hand.  But I am still emotional….

I fought back tears out by the windows…now, in the dark, I’m crying.

God reminds me with his loving words that I must “Be Still, and know that (He) is God.” He also continues to remind me that I must “walk by faith and not by sight.”

But it is so hard and I am having a moment of feeling that it is hard to trust when you can’t see ahead.

I am remembering this one time in college when I was driving back in a snowstorm at night.  I’m a Texas girl, and snow was never something I was used to.  But this particular drive, I was by myself, and I had no choice but to drive.  I drove afraid, but I learned something amazing.  I watched the side stripes to stay in my lane.  Somehow, it worked.  I made it home.

I would just like to know where the stripes are.  That is what I am praying for right now.  Lord, show me Your path.

I’m also reminded of this Jeremy Camp song, Walk By Faith

Would I believe you when you would say
Your hand will guide my every way
Will I receive the words You say
Every moment of every day

Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see it
Well because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me

Help me to win my endless fears
You’ve been so faithful for all my years
With the one breath You make me
Your grace covers all I do

yeah, yeah , yeah, yeah, ya

Well I’m broken- but I still see Your face
Well You’ve spoken- pouring Your words of grace

Well hallelujah, hallelu
(I will walk by faith)
Well hallelujah, hallelu
(I will walk by faith)

I will walk, I will walk, I will walk by faith
I will, I will, I will walk by faith

As we continue on this unknown path, I will update you via Twitter and here on the blog.  Please continue to pray and know that I love ya’ll.

During Hurricane Ike, my sister-in-law was frantically looking for us.  We had evacuated and she did not have my parents’ phone number.  A couple of days after everything settled down she urged me to get on Facebook or Twitter.  I refused.  I had enough on my plate; one more thing was going to make me crazy.

When we visited during New Year’s, she talked me into it.

Now, 5 months later, I admit it.  I have become an online social butterfly sometimes even without a cause!!

Some say it is just a waste of time, that the virtual, social network can hurt your career.  And in some cases, they may be right.  There have been jobs lost and marriages broken because of people’s lack of boundaries and common sense.

But in my line of work, I discovered almost all of my co-workers, bosses and peers are on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn.  It is a sign of the times.

When you first sign up, you want to approve everyone.  I did that.  Until I started thinking about it.  I then began to delete people from my site and reset some rules. Here’s what I came up with:

1. No ex-boyfriends or single guys unless I am working with them for the SNL show or if they are family.

2. If I do approve males, I have to have their wives as my friends, even if I don’t know them.

3. Only approve listeners who are female.  (exception is rule #2–if they are male, I want to be their wife’s friend too.

It may be “silly” to some people.  In fact, some of my high school friends were offended that I took them off.  But, that’s okay.  My marriage and family are worth more to me than any social network.  Plus, I need to set an example for my 10 year old, who will someday want to do this on-line social networking thing.  If I can’t set and follow rules, how is she going to do that?

The good side to this social network:  I reconnected with my old college roommate.  I’m going to pick her up at the airport in a few hours! 

The other good side to this:  I am getting to know some of the wives of the guys I went to high school with….one of them is super cool.  We seem to always have something in common.  Can’t wait to meet her someday!

So, just because you live in a Facebook, Tweeting world doesn’t mean you have to throw out your principals or approve everyone.  It just takes some boundaries.

So, I’d love to get to know you…follow me on Twitter….SundayNightKSBJ….

Do you ever get tempted to play favorites?

Lately I have been thinking about importance….There are different meanings to that word; it can mean priorities and favor.  I have been thinking about both. 

I suppose when it comes to priorities, I am not great at keeping it all together.  For example, I don’t always get a quiet time with prayer first thing in the morning.  I try but sometimes my son wakes up early, so I cut my time short.  I also don’t have the house looking picture perfect, either.  Many times, my home looks like a cross between Toys R Us and a laundromat!  It seems no matter how much I do, I am always a load of laundry behind and a tub of toys behind! 

This morning, during carpool I found myself thinking about how sometimes we look at people as being important.  For example, when you were a kid, you had a favorite teacher.  That teacher taught you everything and helped you believe in yourself.  You became a better person based on the time that teacher invested in you. 

As we go through life we face circumstances and challenges where we are tempted to believe that our security and worth are based on what other people think of us.  Meaning, if you don’t have the approval of a certain supervisor or the ear of a certain friend, you are not good enough.  Our insecurity becomes an open battleground for the “prince of lies” to come in and make us believe we are worthless.  Joyce Meyer calls this “stinking thinking.”

But God doesn’t desire us to feel unfavored.  In fact, when we live our lives for Him, we ARE ALL His favorites!

My security, therefore, should be rooted in who the Lord says I am.  I am chosen, holy, consecrated, set apart, deeply loved, the Bride of Christ, and fully accepted by God.

I am His favorite.  (and so are YOU!)

The other day I stopped to take the kids to a park to play with friends.

Oh, I had a hundred things I should have been doing.  Yet, I have learned, that no matter what, the kids are first.  They have energy to burn!

I bent over at the park to pick up a few pecans.  I love them and had eaten them at that park before…

Now, for the last two weeks, I have been doing what the health food world calls a “cleanse.”  I’m eating healthy.  No sugar, no bread or starches.  I feel amazing doing this!

I cracked the pecan and bit into it, expecting to be satisfied.

YUCK!  I spit it out!  The absolute worst taste ever!

I could taste the chemicals—the pesticides in the pecan.  No joke!  They literally had that taste like I just ate a squirt of bug spray!

God speaks to me in a weird way.  He talks to me through little things.  That still small voice says to me,

“What is in you? Are you packaged nice on the outside and yucky on the inside? What is it that you could be full of that you shouldn’t be?”

Ouch!  There are things that I have been working on that are not fun.  I do spend my time on the things that are making everything look great on the outside…yet, inside, I could use some cleaning.  I am glad He forgives us when we are wrong and then equips us to change!

I am thankful that God calls these things to my attention.  It’s because of these little things that I realize what is really important.  My time with God, my time with my children and my husband.

I still love pecans.  I’ll just not eat from that park anymore!

This week I received a letter from Pearl suggesting you consider applying for a goverment job.  She writes:

HI Anne,

I heard your program by chance about two weeks ago on a Sunday evening.  I
wasn’t able to get through the phone line but wanted to pass on some info.
I work for the Federal Government and there are many……………….jobs
worldwide.  A great website is www.usajobs.opm.gov.

God Bless and hope this can help individuals find work,
Pearl

Thanks, Pearl!  Anything we can do to help out our listeners looking for work, I will definitely do!

God bless you!