Weekend Links – Dominican Republic version

My heart was broken again this week. A group of bloggers left their families and their comfort zones to travel to the Dominican Republic with World Vision. It’s been interesting – and gut-wrenching – to read these women’s blogs as they share their hearts during this trip, because as moms, they have a perspective that’s so hard to face.

What if this were my life? What if I had to raise my kids like this? What if . . . ?

Whether you have kids or not, whether you sponsor any children or not, whether you can find the Dominican Republic on the map or not – I encourage you to read these posts.

OhAmanda
It’s a Small World After All
Thank You, God, for My Digital Camera
Is Child Sponsorship Worth It?
My Mari Luz

The Mom Creative
A Letter to Elias
A Mother’s Story
Diapers and the Children in DR
Maria: Jesus’s Light in the Slums
Pregnant in the DR
A Life-Changing Garden (at (in)courage)
Meeting Our Juan

The Diaper Diaries
A Meeting Ten Years in the Making
And Then There Were Three
The Universal Language of Mom

Jesus Needs New PR
My Sober Friend
A Million Little Reasons
Jesus Pictures of the Day
Wanna See God?
Slum Temptations

Bargain Briana
Organic Gardens, Goat Farm, and Meeting Our Sponsored Child
Thoughts From Hannah
Meeting Angela Part II
Gift From Sponsored Child

Mommy Snacks
Smiles are Universal! 
The Key to My Heart
It Takes a Village

Please consider sponsoring a child. Lisa Leonard is giving her Faith, Hope, Amor necklace to each new sponsor of a child in the DR (quantities are limited) with the hope that when you wear the necklace, you will be reminded of your child.

This post will be linked to Saturday Stumbles at It's Come to This.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

What's in a name?

When I was young, I picked out names for my future children. One would be called Megan Elizabeth, I remember. And another would be called Samantha, but go by Sam. Because I thought boy names for girls were cute.

[Still do.]

I had a whole list of names that my friend Nichole and I came up with together, and I kept that piece of paper for many years.

Sadly, it didn’t make it to my adulthood, so when Mark and I found out we were expecting, we had to start from scratch.

[Although I was a big proponent of naming a girl Charlotte and calling her Charlie for short. Because I think boy names for girls are cute.]

Annalyn has recently learned how to say her full name - first, middle and last, like it's all one word. She says it so matter-of-factly, just as I do when I'm hollering at her to not run into the parking lot or getting on to her for not obeying her daddy. So it's funny to remember how hard it was to decide on that name just three years ago.

We went round and round and round. We read through several baby books, vetoing each other’s every choice. We (okay, I) scoured the Social Security name database. And we took long and winding tours up and down our family trees, delighting in family names such as “Melvin,” “Mervin,” “Bubba” and “Junior.”

[Don’t tell me you don’t have a Bubba or a Junior. I don’t even believe it.]

See, I felt a lot of pressure for this naming business. As the owner of a name that rhymes with words like “scary” and “hairy,” I know the pain a name can bring a young person.

And then there’s the initials. You don’t want a child’s initials to spell something weird, either. Or be shortened to something awkward. Or . . . or . . . or . . .

So I was a little stressed.

But then. Then! I had an idea. And I loved it. But ohhhh, I was so nervous. I was afraid Mark wouldn’t like it, and then we’d be back where we started.

We were sitting in a restaurant, and I tentatively said, “I have an idea.” Then I wrote it on a napkin and slid it across the table.

Like I was offering him a raise.

He asked me how I thought it would be pronounced, I told him, and he agreed. It was a done deal.

Right. Okay, so there was still much debate and worry and consideration. But that was the name we went with: Annalyn.

I wanted a name that was not common but not weird, and if possible, I wanted to honor our family at the same time.

No small task, but I think we met all those goals.

My great-aunt’s name was Anna, and I’m named after her (with my middle name). Mark’s mom’s name was Marilyn, and while I didn’t like that name for a child, I was excited to use the “lyn” part with “Anna.”

The good news is – besides loving the name we finally settled on for our daughter – that thanks to all our research and discussion, we actually have both a girl’s name and a boy’s name picked out for a future second child.

If you have children, how did you pick out their names? If not, how did your parents pick out your name?

This post will be linked to Kelly’s Show Us Your Life.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Taking requests

Today is the National Day of Prayer. So - how can I pray for you?

(Don't be shy. Someone has to start . . . )

Updated: Thank you so much for trusting me with your prayer requests. I am honored that you share your lives with me, and I will be praying for each and every one of you.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

6 friends + 6 salsas = One great [early] Cinco de Mayo!

About a year and a half ago, I had an idea. I thought it would be fun to plan and teach salsa tasting classes, demonstrating the difference between peppers and spices and tomatoes.

Or, at the least, I’d learn how to make salsa myself.

I know you’re going to find this shocking, but I have to confess: I haven’t done either. But last Saturday, I did have a small salsa tasting party at my house!

It was so fun. I got six different types of salsa – four from restaurants, two from the store (although they were restaurant brands) – and put them in matching bowls. I numbered each bowl and put the name on the bottom.

I wish I’d taken time to get the other two salsas fresh from the restaurant, but since I didn’t, I had enough time to clean the house well enough. (I’m not going to say it was sparkling or anything, but if one didn’t look closely, it looked pretty good.)

Because Saturday was not technically Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be fun (or funny) to call it an “Uno de Mayo” party. And then we could play Uno.

But we didn’t. It turns out tasting salsa and pigging out on eating tacos and talking and laughing takes up a lot of time.

We started by passing each bowl around the table and getting a “taste.” We varied in our exact method; some scooped just enough for one chip, while others scooped a whole spoonful onto the plate. But we waited to taste it at the same time. (You know, like communion at church.)

Then we had a little discussion. Mainly that consisted of guessing which restaurant it came from and Josh trying to use the word, “bouquet,” to describe each sauce.

I had two different types of chips to use, because – as was pointed out on Facebook – chips make all the difference when eating salsa. I bought a bag of big, sturdy, salty Tostitos, and one of the restaurants gave me two greasy bags of thin, crispy chips.

I know you’re just dying to know, so here are our results:

• Abuelo’s - Smoky (like BBQ, according to some), spicy and delicious.
• Margarita’s - Definitely the most recognizable. Sweet with a bit of a bite.
• On the Border - Awful! I really like On the Border’s salsa, but I bought it at the store instead of the restaurant. (I KNOW.) The jar stuff tasted like marinara sauce, and we all hated it. Except Brittany, who got to take the whole bowl of it home.
• Jose Pepper’s - Mmm, garden fresh! I’m not kidding. That’s exactly what one of my friends said after we tried it. This is my favorite, and I’m pretty sure my friends liked it as much as I did. Because it was ALL GONE before the night was over!
• Chili’s - Mild, a little tomatoe-y, but pretty good. Which is a good thing, since I got 32 ounces of the stuff, thanks to a little miscommunication (a.k.a. Server who couldn’t get my order right.).
• Chipotle (tomatillo green-chili, medium) - Salty and onion-y with a spicy aftertaste. Also, delicious. I’m glad we had some of this left, as it’s one of my favorites.

We spent a couple hours sitting around the dinner table, dipping and tasting and eating and laughing. But the best part of the evening was definitely when we moved into the living room to relax.

And I’m not just saying that because it’s when I put Annalyn to bed and we got to eat Beci’s peanut butter bars.

See, Josh and Brittany are fairly new friends, and Alan and Beci are brand-new friends. And they wanted to hear about a time in my life that I haven’t shared with many people. They let me ramble for over an hour, listening and asking questions and listening some more.

I don’t think I can call any of them “new friends” anymore. These four people (even Alan, who I swear didn’t say more than a dozen words the whole night) are friends.

So, before I start tearing up (which I may or may not have done during our heart-to-heart in the living room), let’s get back to the salsa.

Aside from the fresh salsas from Jose Pepper’s and Chipotle, my favorite salsa – and what I buy every couple of weeks – is Sam’s Choice medium salsa from Walmart.

Yeah, I’m high class like that.

Before I ask about your favorite salsa (you know I was going there, right?), I’m going to, AHEM, strongly suggest you check out my other site for a special salsa giveaway.

And now – what’s your favorite salsa?

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

A picnic on the living room floor

As I may have mentioned before, I don't always feel like cooking dinner. Especially when Annalyn is in one of her "Pick me up, Mommy! Up! I want up!" moods. And that's...pretty much every night I try to cook dinner.

So one night a few weeks ago, I decided to do something different. We drove through McDonald's ("Chicken nuggets! I want chicken nuggets!") and took the meal home.

I spread out a blanket and pulled our food out of the bags, and we had a picnic. Right there on the living room floor.

Annalyn didn't quite understand what "picnic" meant. She kept pointing to various things - fries, bags, feet - and asking, "This a picnic? This a picnic, Mommy?"

But she understood that we were doing something different. Something fun. Something special for just the two of us.

How do you make the ordinary special?

This post will be linked to Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Homemade Gourmet Salsa Giveaway

Congratulations! Random.org picked #8, which means Katie is the winner of this giveaway! (Please e-mail your address to me at givinguponperfect [at] gmail [dot] com.)

When I posted on Facebook that I had a great time at our salsa tasting party, several people commented. One of those comments was from Tami Van Hoy, founder of Homemade Gourmet. I love the company’s mission: With God’s help, Homemade Gourmet strives to bring families back to the dinner table by providing quality, affordable, easy-to-prepare meals, education and direct sales business opportunities.

Tami said her favorite is Homemade Gourmet’s black bean and mango salsa. And then – and THEN! – she offered to give away a salsa package.

One reader will win the following mixes from Homemade Gourmet: Black Bean Salsa Mix, Maria’s Salsa Mix and Southwest Seasoning Mix. I did a quick search on HG’s recipe site for “salsa,” and with these three mixes, you will be able to choose from dozens of delicious meals and dips!

To enter, leave a comment about your favorite way to bring your family or yourself back to the dinner table. For an additional entry, subscribe to Giving Up on Perfect, and leave a separate comment to tell me about it (or leave a separate comment telling me you already subscribe). You can also follow me on Twitter and leave a comment about it or join my Facebook page and do the same.

Random.org will choose a winner after midnight (CST) on Friday, May 7.

P.S. Make sure you include your e-mail address in your comments if you’re not using a Blogger or Google account.

Does God have a Plan B for my life (and yours?)

I have a cedar chest that my parents got me when I was 12. It’s filled with old medals and photos and art projects. It’s also filled with notebooks and journals and one small diary with a lousy lock I’m not sure ever worked.

The diary was a gift in middle school, I think, and I scribbled my deepest thoughts all over it. (You know, because I assumed the lock worked.)

One entry is funny today (okay, let’s be honest, a lot of old diary entries are funny today!), because in it I wrote about the four possible scenarios I saw for my future (adult) life. I wrote about great romance and independence and big families and amazing careers.

Never once did I think that I would:

• Be laid off from the job I’d worked toward for several years
• Have such a scary pregnancy with my first child that I’m scared to have another one
• Step out in faith to help plant a church only to be devastated when it failed
• Acquire so much credit card debt that it would take consolidation and several years of huge payments to pay it off

And, of course, the list goes on. I’m not saying that to be negative. Of course I have a similar list of the wonderful things that have happened that I never dreamed – and it’s way longer, just so you know. But the life I’m living today is nowhere near the life I planned or expected or hoped for.

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that. And Pete Wilson has written a book about this very thing. Here’s a summary of his book, Plan B:

Learn how God often does His best work in our most hopeless situations.

What do you do when a shattered dream or an unmet expectation causes you to turn to Plan B? Pastor and author Pete Wilson uses real life stories of disappointments and tragedy along with biblical stories such as David, Joseph, and Ruth to help readers face their own overwhelming situations and through them to learn God is working to help them surrender their plans to receive His. He identifies our common responses to difficulties and offers hope, helping us to understand what God might be up to.

See how surrender helps us to receive God's plan Embrace the community of believers Reconcile a God of love with a life of tragedy and suffering Wilson points readers to the cross as not just the starting line but the centerpiece of our stories with God where we turn in our Plan B and find the undeniable relationship between crisis and true spiritual transformation.

Do you know Pete? Of course, I don’t mean, do you know him, know him. I mean, do you read his blog (Without Wax) or follow him on Twitter (@pwilson)? He’s the pastor of a large church in Nashville, and I started reading him (following him? stalking him?) a couple years ago.

When I heard that he was writing a book called, “Plan B,” I was so excited. I feel like my life is a whole lot of Plan B, and I couldn’t wait to hear what Pete had to say about God’s role in that.

Because apparently I’m not the only one who has asked God, “Why is this happening? Don’t you know that I had other plans? And THIS isn’t it?!”

I’ll be honest. In true “giving up on perfect” fashion, I haven’t finished reading the book yet. I’m a fast reader, but when I know a book is going to be important, I force myself to slow down and really concentrate on each chapter.

But even though I’m just about halfway through “Plan B,” I can tell you already: it is good. And it is going to make a difference in my life.

In the first couple of chapters, I thought, “This is fine. I enjoy Pete’s writing, and I suppose he has some good points in here.” But I was actually a little disappointed. (Poor Pete. I really had high expectations for his book!)

Then I got to Chapter Six. And he starts talking about God’s will.

I found myself re-reading several pages – not because I didn’t understand them the first time, but because what he was saying was so important (to me) that I wanted to make sure the words fully sank in.

And that wasn’t even enough. I dog-eared the page so I could go back later!

I have a feeling I’ll be dog-earing and highlighting a lot more pages as I move deeper into the book. Yes, I like Pete’s writing. He’s conversational and honest and funny. But more importantly, he’s sharing something that I need to hear, something God wants us to understand, and something he (Pete, not God) has learned through his own life experiences.

If any part of your life hasn’t turned out the way you thought it would or should, I recommend reading Plan B by Pete Wilson. You can learn more about the book on its website, www.planbbook.com, including this video.

Have you ever had to face a Plan B in your life?

Side note: Pete lives in Nashville, which has been slammed with crazy rains and flooding this last weekend. He's posted on his blog about ways people - both local and across the country - can help.

Disclosure: I received this book free as part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

------------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

The Losing It winner is not JUST a chick!

Congratulations to ALL the ladies who participated in Losing It. I loved reading about your weight loss journeys and was truly inspired and motivated by so many of you - some who lost lots of weight and some who didn't but persevered anyway.

The winner of our prize is Dedra at Just a Chick - but let me tell you, she is FAR from JUST anything! I met Dedra at Blissdom this year and loved her. She is sweet and funny, and through this challenge, I have been completely blown away by the changes she's made and how she's made them.

Way to go, Dedra! (E-mail me your address, so we can get you your prize!)

------------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Famous Footwear Giveaway Winner

Random.org picked #9, which is BeckyJoMama! Congratulations!! Becky Jo, e-mail your address to givinguponperfect AT gmail DOT com, and I'll send it to you.

Thank you so much to everyone for participating!

Weekend Links, 5.1.10

Happy May Day! Are you leaving baskets on anyone's door today?

Here are my favorite posts from this past week. It's a random collection, but that's kind of how I am: random.

• We Are THAT Family: My Cluttered Heart
• 10 things your grandmother can teach you about social media
• Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent: It's a Lifestyle
• There’s No Such Thing As A Self-Made Man | Shaun Groves
• Life on the Wild Side: Intentional Parenting - Part 10; Intentionally Letting Go
• A Southern Fairytale :: Migas
• Death of a Supermom :: Elizabeth Esther
• A family love song « The Gypsy Mama
• 10 Tips for Having a Successful Garage Sale :: Money Saving Mom
• Taco Bell and Role Playing | BryanAllain.com

Have you read anything good lately? For more great links, visit Saturday Stumbles at It's Come 2 This.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.