Life's Trials

Early Wednesday morning, January 20, 2010, baby Benjamin Lane Savage was born and went to join his brother Jacob William Savage in Heaven. They have brought so much love into their parents hearts and, of course, Jay and Jen were sad they couldn't spend a lifetime with them here on Earth. These boys have changed the hearts of many. They have brought all those that loved them closer to God and quickly put in order our priorities. They will be missed.

I know that some of you who are sweet enough to follow along with our life have been through devastating losses similar to Jay and Jen. I would value your words of wisdom on how to comfort and support them in this journey of grieving and recovery. If you don't want to comment in public you can email me personally at janasavage@hotmail.com.

Lately it has been brought to my attention that every Christian has trials. And they hurt. Chad and I have found (I'm sure God pointed us there) a church that immediately fit. They started a series on Restart and at the end of the sermon members wrote their life situations on one side of the cardboard and then flipped it over to show how God had Restarted and where they are now. I was amazed at the amount of grief and heartache that so many of the members had gone through but were recovering from. It really sank in that you never know what is going on in someone else's life behind the nice clothes and pretty smile.

After I heard the news of Ben's birth I drove to Birmingham and I turned the radio to the Christian station and instead of music they were airing a sermon on What to do with Trials from the series When Life is Hard by James McDonald. Typically I am not the type of person who would listen to a sermon on the radio however this seemed to fit my situation perfectly. It was based on Hebrews 12 and basically the bible says all Christians are going to get it. Trials are coming your way. God uses trials to discipline us. Not discipline like, you have been bad, but discipline like training. We are to use these discipline life lessons to shape our character.
Hebrews 12:11-13
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strenghten your feeble armes and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."

I pray for whatever trial you may be going through or may have already endured. That you will be trained by it and that righteousness and peace is headed your way.

Mercy

I couldn't go to bed tonight for a pull in my soul to read the Bible.
I started reading in Psalms and came across these verses.
As a bad situation is turning worse I can only turn to God for direction.

Psalms 143:1,4-8
1)Oh Lord, Hear my prayer,
Listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
4)So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
5)I remember the days of long ago
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done
6)I spread out my hands to you
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land
7)Answer me quickly, Oh Lord
my spirit fails
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit
8)Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love
for I have put my trust in you
Show me the way I should go
for to you I lift up my soul

Mighty to Save

As my heart aches for my brother and Jen who lost one of their twins, baby Jake, over the weekend I was reminded in church that our God IS mighty to save. And that he is watching over Jay, Jen and baby Ben.

Jesus shine your light on Ben!

Please scroll down to the bottom of my blog and view the music video.

Mighty to Save lyrics by Hillsong United
Everyone needs compassion
Love that's never failing
Let mercy fall upon me

Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a savior
The hope of nations

Savior, he can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save

Forever, author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as you find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever, author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen king

All my love and prayers go out to Jay, Jen and Ben.

Mathematics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!
This
Minus
Plus loads of this
Plus smart & reasonable portions of this
Will hopefully get me back to this

In time to run the Spring into Action 5K on March 27th. Anyone want to come join me?

Video-Summer Talking

Here is a short video of Summer "talking."

Basically I held the flip under my armpit so that she wouldn't notice I was filming her. Otherwise, all she will do is look at the camera and stop doing all her "tricks."

Enjoy-Jana

Updates Updates

The Twins Update: Jay and Jen are doing as well as can be expected. They are keeping a positive attitude and God is working in their hearts during this challenging time. Amazing how a challenge really brings you closer to God. The Twins are growing and thriving thanks to their sweet Mommy who is supplying them with the best little home in her belly. They saw Baby A hit Baby B in the back yesterday. Those boys are rough housing already! Thanks for all of your prayers and continue to keep them up.

Mommy Update: Being Summer's mom at this very moment is so much fun! She is almost 8 months and THIS is what I thought she would be like at birth, ha ha. Now that she can smile, laugh and scream with joy it is SO much more rewarding for me. We can now play dress up and smile for the camera (I seriously had some looney tune idea that she would be born a "baby" but reality quickly taught me the definition of an "infant").

Summer and Lucy

This picture was taken later in the day after we had stripped our tights and lost some of our happy energy.

Kitchen Update: Listen, my Aunt Pam is the sweetest women in Florida, and I know she didn't mean anything sarcastic with her comment regarding my grammer but I laughed out loud that I didn't know what an alliteration was and yet she teaches that in her First Grade class. Wow, do I need to a refresher class or what! Thanks Aunt Pam, I will never forget that word from now on.

And here is the Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole recipe from the Heavenly Delights (Jenks Ave. Church of Christ) cookbook submitted by my cousin Tiffany.

8 oz sour cream

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/3 cup milk

2 tsp. poppy seeds

1 cup Minute Rice

1/2 cup water

cooked, chopped chicken (about 4 breasts)

1 pkg Ritz crackers, crushed

1 stick butter melted (I think you could use less)

Mix the first 6 ingredients together. Stir in chicken. Place in 9x13 baking dish. Top with crackers. Pour melted butter on top. Bake 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees.

Martin Review - Chad and I loved this receipe and we will add it to our family staples. In fact I will be making it again this weekend when Mom and Larry come to visit.

Amazing Discovery in the Kitchen

First the Disclaimer...this kitchen discovery is "amazing" to me and may not be amazing to everyone.

Now let's proceed.

One of my 2010 goals is to diversify my delicious dinners (I couldn't help but triple use the D-word and I am sure that is called something in grammer). So where do I turn first but to my trusty southern cookbooks from Jenks Avenue Church of Christ. And of course I must make the recipes that my cousins Tiff and Mook submitted as well as Aunt Pam. Last night I made Tiff's Poppyseed Chicken Casserole and it was delicious (see below).

Well I let the dish soak overnight and this morning the bubbling butter (and possibly the PAM that I sprayed the dish with) that made the dish so yummy simply wouldn't come off with my scrub brush. Up until now I would have thought, oh well that dish is ruined. And now the aha moment...I used a Scotch Brite Stainless Steel pad and magically all the brown came off.

Yawn, right!

Wrong, this was a break through for my kitchen because yall, I have alot of pans that have that brown on them. So I broke them out and cleaned them all...of course in my pink dishwashing gloves. No I don't use the pink dishwashing gloves to protect my manicure because I haven't had one of those in months-not that I wouldn't want a manicure, along with a pedicure, a smaller waistline, thicker hair, longer legs-I wear the pink dishwashing gloves for motivation! I put those on and it gives me the extra energy to get the job done. Along with my Dad's voice in the back of my head that says, if your going to do it then do it right. I translate that to if your going to clean one pan then clean them all.

BEFORE
AFTER

While I am on a cleaning rampage...I also hear my Dad's voice in my mind when I am vaccuming. I sometimes think, oh I'll just skip that area because it would cause me to unplug the vaccum and replug closer (seriously, what a loser excuse Jana)...so of course, Dad always wins in my mind and I do a thorough job.

Well what is the moral of this rambling post. I think what I am trying to say is that you should always cook with a cute apron on and clean with hot pink gloves and if you have to go to the Post Office get dressed up in your cute dry clean only clothes.
Forgive me...this post is a little over the top pointless and crazy.