Days 296 - 302 - Keep your eye upon the doughnut

That title didn't sound very healthy did it!  It is actually a quote from our high school autograph collection - when you go through life, whatever be your goal, keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole.  It's sage advice really - focus on what you have - not on what is missing.

This has been a crazy week getting ready for conference, a couple of birthday celebrations, fulfilling some commitments, a weekend away and eating out and cooking up a storm of beets.  In the midst of all the activity the truth behind that silly doughnut saying has rebounded into our lives over and over.  First with the birthday celebrations, I've finally learned to treat myself with something decadently healthy.  For one birthday, we celebrated at PF Chang and though I normally would have ordered lettuce wraps, I chose scallops in a light lemon sauce with veggies instead of rice.  It was well worth the increase in price and I also had sufficient take home for another full meal, plus a portion of the scallops to add to Pink beet soup - awesome.

My birthday was next and that weekend we also had excellent choices at our location.  One lunch is half a prime rib sandwich (ordered without the cheese or bordelaise sauce) but I forgot to order it without the bread.  That made Ken happy though, as he loved the bread and the second half of the sandwich the next day. Starting green made that possible - a delicious salad with an unusual Maple vinigrette dressing.  Then Sunday's meal was at Fratello's - my favorite restaurant inside the Fox River Valley mall in Appleton.  Oh, my that salad alone is worth the trip.  Crisp tasty spinach, fresh sliced Strawberries, roasted Pecans, and homemade creamy Raspberry dressing - a favorite can you tell!  This time, I also topped it with one third of an appetizer order of (3) crabcakes that came with a Mediterranean quinoa that tasted like roasted Sesame.  The salad is so big I could only eat half.  I'm not complaining that I had a repeat birthday lunch the following day, plus a crabcake today with leftover mashed sweet and white potatoes combined with a touch of shredded Asiago.  It's been birthday all week!

 I've been reading about several of the Biblical celebrations: The Passover celebrating salvation, The Celebration of the harvest, the Celebration of new beginnings for Lazarus, the Celebration of restoration in the Prodigal Son returning home, and the celebration of the Feast of Weeks which says Deuteronomy 16:10 "Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you. "

That is another important way to look at what I have - to recognize the blessings that God has given me and to give an offering in proportion to those blessings. (How could I ever find that much to give?).  Today I offer praise for a dear husband, kind and thoughtful children, sisters, and grandchildren.  Many friends who pray for me and who celebrated my life with me this week, a warm home, blessings to write about, places that print those stories and an exciting trip to look forward to next week.   I truly have much for which to be thankful.

And did you notice - when you look at what you have, you realize that the hole (what you don't have) is so much smaller than the doughnut.  How sweet life is.

Celebrate it!