Chip It!

Wow, I'm so hit and miss on this blog! Oh well! I wanted to share with the few of you who may read this a really neat tool that I learned about from this amazing blogger. Let me back up a second. I love to look at ideas for decorating. I don't live in my own house currently so I can't paint and decorate like I would like to, but I am getting lots of ideas now! A while back I had several jars of baby food in the sink that were left over from a baby shower....we played the game where you have to guess what the baby food is...anyway. I thought the colors looked fun for a color scheme for my house someday. Here's the picture! I wouldn't choose those colors now, but at the time it inspired me! Ok, back to the blog and new tool I found out about from her! It's called Chip It and it's created by Sherwin Williams and it's genius! You can take any picture you like the colors in, put it in Chip It and it will tell you what paint colors to use to get those colors! AMAZING! You can get a Chip It button for your toolbar and you can save all your various inspirations! Check it out!

Newly Wed

I was cleaning our oven the other day and it made me think of when Joshua and I were newly weds. Here's the story. We lived on campus at Oklahoma Baptist University and we were learning all sorts of things about being grown ups! One of those things was about getting utilities turned on. Joshua called the gas company way before it got cold in the fall to have them turn the gas on for our heater. A few weeks went by and it got cold one night so we turned the heat on. It clicked and nothing happened, so we turned it off and thought we'd wait a few more days. The gas company had given a range of something like 10-14 days for the gas to get turned on, so we thought they must not have gotten to us yet. So we just used an extra blanket that night and the next few nights. I'm sure we tried the heat again a few times with the same results. So Joshua contacted the gas company again, we thought maybe we just got overlooked and maybe they needed another request to come turn the gas on. So we kept waiting. It was getting colder and colder though. It was probably October. As we kept waiting for the gas to get turned on, we took heating our small apartment into our own hands....I'm sure there are tons of warnings against doing this but it was November and we were getting cold! We would turn the oven on and get it really hot and then open it up so the heat would "heat" the apartment! We did this for a while, maybe a couple of weeks and finally we asked our friends that lived below us if they were having any problems with getting their gas turned on. They weren't and they had had their heat for several weeks. Our next step was to have the fix it guy come look at the heater since Joshua had talked with someone at the gas company and they were certain that the gas had been turned on for weeks. The fix it guy came and turned the heat on, it clicked just like we had already noted it would do and then we just waited for about 3 minutes and the heat came right on! We had not been waiting for the heater to "warm up". Nothing was wrong with the heater and the gas was probably turned on the day after Joshua had asked them to do it! We felt really dumb but we had a good laugh then and we still continue to laugh at ourselves over that one!

DIRT!!

It's So Easy It Doesn't Need a Tutorial!

I saw a door decoration on pinterest and decided to make one similar. It is so easy to make! All you have to get is an umbrella, some flowers, ribbon or lace, and a hook. Fill the umbrella with the flowers, tie the ribbon or lace around it, and hang it up!! April showers sure are bringing the May flowers around here!

Happy Easter!!

"He is not here for He is risen, just as He said!"

To Make Real Friends, Be a Friend of God

Let me just start out by saying that when I make a general statement in this post, I know that I am making a general statement....I know there are exceptions to the rules and not all people fall into the following categories. That being said---I will make the following generalizations!

We live in a neighborhood that has the word "estates" as part of the title. We live in a neighborhood where most of the houses probably sell for about half a million dollars (at least the updated ones!). We live in a neighborhood where there is an unspoken message being proclaimed that unless you have the right car, the right job, the right amount of kids, the right salary, the right clothes, send your kids to the right schools, keep your yard a certain way and so on and so on you just don't quite belong or fit in. I don't have the right things so it goes without saying that I don't quite fit in. I'm ok with that, I don't really care for my own benefit to fit in, but I would like to be some influence--namely I want to proclaim Christ to the people that I live around. But that's rather a hard thing to do when you don't know the people. (Ok, we do know the people that live right around us and they are lovely people) I am mainly thinking about people that are close to our age....we are poor compared to them! Anyway, I've been thinking how can I be of more influence to the people that I live around if we hardly see or talk with them. I think there are things that can be found in common, things that will bridge the gap between our worlds, but it's a tough nut to crack. So, all this thinking about how hard it has been to get to know people and find things in common has lead me to think of how utterly unique and beautiful Christ's church is.

The Church, the Bride of Christ, while still imperfect, is a glorious picture of how rich people and poor people and all sorts of people can be friends and more important, family. People that I would not normally think of being friends with I am able to be friends with because of the common denominator of Christ. The more I think on that the more it blows my mind. When I think of the barriers that are up towards us from peers in our neighborhood and then I think of the friendships we have with believers the more I see that only Christ can bring people together! It seems like although people are polite, hell would freeze over before people in our neighborhood would allow more than a mere socially correct conversation to happen.

I was so blessed to hear my father in law preach today on Romans 15:5-6 which says all that I was thinking about the unity of Christians and it says it much better than my feeble ramblings. Here is the handout Joshua's dad shared with his congregation. I hope it will encourage you as much as it did me.

"Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you many with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15:5-6

In this wonderful passage of Scripture we are given a wish-filled benediction identifying one of the great all-consuming purposes that God has for human history. Why did God send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Why did Jesus die upon the cross and rise again from the dead? Why did God give birth to the church in the life and miraculous work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? Why is Jesus coming back to earth to consummate and culminate redemption and history in His Lordship? Why? Here we have a reason that gives a true and great ultimate purpose to these things? God is putting together a people, His people throughout history, through redemption in Jesus Christ so that the day will come when these people will with one voice rise up together in unity of mind and heart to glorify God in all His worthiness, goodness, and transcendent wonder. This is why God does everything He does--He is putting together a people from all over the world to possess one mind in Christ and speak with one voice the unifying praise of the Lord in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The text tells us the following concerning this overarching theme:

1. Perseverance and encouragement, a vital necessity in Christian living and experience, is actually a work of God given to us in the journey of our salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ in the work of the Holy Spirit.

2. Although God loves every Christian as His own child, yet God wants every Christian to experience the important blessing of Sharing the "same mind" with other believers in Christ. This same mind is centered on the nature and meaning of the true gospel of free sovereign grace through the saving work of Christ on the cross and resurrection, made real in us individually and among us corporately through the unifying love and work of the Holy Spirit. See Philippians 2:1-2

3. The work of God's saving grace and the glorious work o the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification baptizes the believer into the on Body of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 12:13), gifting us for living and service in the Body of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 12:27-31), and giving to all believers a common life (the life of Christ), which we share in love and covenant together in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus Christians are to live together in Christ "in one accord."

4. This inner oneness shared by CHristians finds expression with one common voice praising and glorifying God because of and focused on the gospel of His saving grace in Jesus Christ. This is what the church celebrates in worship, and this worshipful celebration of the gospel in oneness of heart and voice reflects the triumphant church's experience in heaven for all eternity.

Application to LIfe
1. Christian oneness is a gift from God and not a human creation forced upon people either by effort or institutionalization.

2. Christian oneness in essence is the church in love with God because of Jesus Christ and through the work of the gospel, grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit, thus this oneness is founded on truth, birthed in regeneration and nurtured in love.

3.Christian oneness is a miracle of God's power in salvation that transforms sinners from selfish, caustic, irritating rebels causing division and hurt into selfless saints sharing, promoting, and living in the love and joy of God's eternal transcendent goodness in the context of human history and life's difficult fallen environment.

4. Therefore, the more the Christian loves and rejoices in Jesus, the closer the Christian gets in affection and mind to God and to other Christians in the church.

5. And the more the church experiences Christians growing in love and joy in Christ, in the light of the gospel, the more the earthly church will together rejoice in and love the Lord.

6. Furthermore, the more this happens on earth in the life, worship, and experience of the earthly church, the more the earthly church resembles the heavenly church.

7. The greater the earthly church rejoices in the Lord, joining in the heavenly church glorifying and honoring the Lord God of heaven and earth, the more redeemed humanity manifests the entire point of why God made people, the more glory God is glorified on earth, and the more frustrated Satan gets.

"May the God who inspires men to endure, and gives them constant encouragement, give you a mind united with one another in your common loyalty to Christ Jesus. And then , as one man, you will sing from the heart the praises of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So open your hearts to one another as Christ has opened his heart to you, and God will be glorified." Romans 15:5-7 J.B. Phillips "The New Testament in Modern English."

Amen!

My Little Boy

Daniel had a birthday not too long ago and it's hard to believe that I have a 3 year old...but I do!

Daniel is turning into quite the fun little boy. He's lost much of his babyish looks and he certainly talks up a storm! He has developed quite an imagination and it's fun to have him say, "Mama, let's 'tend this, that's a good idea isn't it?" I think his middle name is play! His favorite color is green and I think it's a toss up if pizza or chicken nuggets are his favorite food. He loves chocolate, just like his Daddy. And his favorite sport is soccer or baseball, I'm not sure what dictates which is his favorite when! He finds the mud puddles outside almost instinctively and he loves to get dirty! He also loves to help me make dinner, although I'm pretty sure that cooking is not what he's most interested in--it's the food he gets to snag while we are making it!

He loves his little sister so much and does all sorts of silly things to make her laugh.

He is quite strong willed, which we pray God will use for His glory as our little man continues to grow and mature. We are so thankful for the interest that he has shown in spiritual things and we pray that that will continue and that he will come to love and trust in Christ.

He is a sweet little boy and I am thankful to be his Mama.

When Things Don't Go As Planned

We have been here at my parents house for about 2 weeks and we have loved every bit of it. The hubby was back at home taking comprehensive exams. Whew! They are over and we are heading back to him. We have really had a great time but we are ready to get back to hubby/daddy!

My parents have a pool and we have had a blast in the warmed up water of the hot tub! I was reminded today of God's grace in Daniel's life as I saw the scar that he has on his left shoulder blade area. He had surgery to fix a coarctation of the aorta when he was about 12 days old. I wrote a lot about this and actually his birth in the scrapbook that I have made for him, but I think that for the next few weeks I'll write some thoughts on the things that I learned during that time and some of the things that I have reflected on now--3 years since that time. I want to do this in hopes that my experiences may help someone else to hope more in God.

So, stay tuned!!

Preparing for Easter

This is the first year that Daniel will be really able to "get into" and enjoy Easter so we have been thinking more about what traditions we want to start as we celebrate Easter! I am so thankful for the many ideas out there in blog land! Here are some that I think we are going to try this year!

1. We did these Resurrection Eggs last year and Daniel had a great time with it. We will do these again this year. You start 12 days before Easter and read a short portion of scripture and open up an egg each day...the eggs have little "toys" in them that relate to that days aspect of the Easter story. Daniel really enjoyed our advent calendar this past year and I'm sure he will love this again this year!

2. I have always heard about Hot Cross Buns and even remember the little jingle, "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns"! But I don't remember ever having one. So I think as a fun baking project I'll make these with Daniel. He loves to help me in the kitchen so this will be a great way to involve him in helping me and a great teaching time about the cross. I found this recipe that look good.

3. I remember reading in Noel Piper's book and in it one of the things she did was make a tomb and use pipe cleaners to make "people" and use it all to act out the events of the Easter story. I think Daniel will really love this one...he has such a great imagination and he knows how to play really well! I like this idea because it's simple and doesn't cost a lot of money!

4. I have gotten most of my ideas from this blog and one of the things that this family does is have lamb for the Easter meal instead of ham....I haven't ever thought of this but I really like this idea. I really like lamb and we rarely have it since it is quite expensive, so this would be a treat and another way of giving us a tangible reminder about Christ being the Lamb of God.

5. I really also like her idea for the egg hunt. I'll just copy what she said cause it's really good!

"Easter egg hunts need not be about a bunny! They can also be a symbol of our relationship to our Savior. God tells us to seek him, just as those little children will be ernestly seeking those eggs: ”You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) I have also thought it would be so nice to add little messages inside the children’s eggs with messages about God’s sweetness: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103 ESV); the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9; Psalm 19:10-11 ESV); etc… The candy is an excellent picture to your child of how wonderful a relationship with Jesus is… it is even better than candy!"

6. Making Resurrection Rolls will also be a tradition we start! Daniel will have such a fun time making these....and eating them will be great too. I can just imagine how he will have a blast putting the marshmallows in the rolls, covering the roll all up and then discovering the marshmallow is gone and it's left an empty space.....we'll get to talk lots about the empty tomb with this one!

7. I found this printable and I think I'll make a memory match game with it. Daniel has started to learn how to play the memory match game so this works for us at this stage.

8. Although Daniel is not into coloring all that much, he will do it some. So I will probably print off some coloring pages from here and http://ministry-to-children.com/easter-coloring-pages/ for him to do this year...I don't know that we will make this a tradition, probably just something for the kids when they are young.

9. Here is a printable that I'll probably put up in the dining room.

10. And last but not least at all is that we will be reading the Easter story from the scriptures. I think this will be the most important tradition that we start. It is tempting to read just from a children's Bible because it's easy to think that children will understand it better from that...but what a disservice to our kids to only read from a children's storybook Bible.

This site also has some great ideas...I don't think we will be trying anymore than what is listed above but maybe in years to come we'll try some of these.

The Long View

It's been a little over nine months of adjusting to two kids. The longer I am a parent the more I realize that parenting is just one of the many things that require one to take the long view of things. Babies don't just eat solid foods well overnight. Kids don't learn to sleep in a big bed overnight. Kids aren't potty trained with the snap of a finger(ok there are some exceptions out there!). And all of those practical things which are important for me to teach my kids just scratch the surface. My kids don't learn the truths of the gospel quickly and they certainly don't come out of the womb knowing how to obey. So taking the long view of things means keeping at it. It requires endurance to do the same things over and over and over and over. It requires patience. It requires reliance on God. It requires wisdom. For the most part it requires not taking the path of least resistance. I have found that what requires less work now does not take the long view into consideration. When I am tempted to just "ignore" the temper tantrum or the "No way, did he just say that to me!?" moments, I have to remind myself that 1) If I don't do something about it now, I will miss many opportunities to point out the sin in my kids and the reason they need the gospel. 2) I will miss the opportunity to establish that God has given me authority of their lives for a season, that will be really important when they are older---the teenage years come to mind! 3) I would be sinning by not doing now what God has given me as my responsibility in nurturing and training my kids.

Is taking the long view hard? Yes. It takes more work. Is is worth it? Yes, but boy am I glad that I don't have to do it alone!

Baby Fat

So I think everyone would agree that baby fat ON THE BABY is super cute! Here's an example!



Baby fat on the mommy....well....that's not so cute! As a mother of two...and post pregnant going on 4 months...this has been on my mind, or my hips rather! In an age where the magazines are plastered with skinnies and all the women's magazines have a new wonder diet, it's hard to think truthfully about my weight. But here are my thoughts.

First of all, if you are the kind of girl who looks better than before you had your baby, when you walk out of the hospital with your newborn, it's not encouraging to us girls that have to work at getting the weight off to hear about how quickly you lost it. I will work on being happy for you, you can work on keeping it on the DL about how fast your metabolism must be.

Second, it's not my job to be model-like but it is my job to take care of what God has given me...that includes my weight. I read a facebook post a girl had put up quoting Jessica Alba and how her post pregnancy diet was to basically starve herself. I don't know if Jessica Alba really said or did that or not but I know that it's my job to be healthy and feed my infant. I can't starve myself and expect to nurse for long...besides I could never starve myself. Some ways that I have decided to live healthily are to 1) Reserve eating sweets for special occasions, like parties. 2) Exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week 3) Remember that food is fun(I really like to cook and bake) but that it is energy so what I consume must be used or turned into fat for later. This is helpful for me to remember when I really want to eat that sweet something. It's just poor stewardship to eat more than what my body needs. 4) Learn what is in your food. I was randomly looking at the nutrition facts for a cake that was sitting on the counter(by the way there is another person in the house that buys most of the sweets and I don't have any control over that...it's not Joshua!) and the serving was 1/16 of the cake and it was something close to 400 calories!!!!! WOW! The only useful thing that I could think of that I would be getting from that would be a grain serving...maybe! So it has helped me to just think more about what I am eating. 5) Eat things that are good for you and find things that will fill you up. It takes a lot more cookies to make you feel full as opposed to, say, an apple or carrots, and it's pretty obvious what's better for my body!

Third, as I want very much to get back to wearing smaller clothes and not feeling like a frump-o-la at times I have to remember (a lady at church has graciously reminded me of this) that it took 9 months for your body to make a baby so it's ok for it to take a while to go back to normal. That is so good for me to remember. As with most things in life the things that you have to wait for are usually worth that wait. So I can give myself a break while at the same time pushing myself to persevere in much of what I wrote in #2 because I guess like most people the weight is not going to fall off of me.

Fourth, much of these thoughts come from a very helpful book that I just read, "Loving the Little Years". Let me just say that this book was SO encouraging and convicting at the same time. I would recommend it for any mom with little kids. I would say don't read it before you have kids though...it might scare you off! Anyway the author talks about being joyful because your body is used and maybe even scared because you have had kids. I had never thought of this before, but that should be my response. I can be joyful in the fact that the reason that I have gross stretch marks on my tummy and that I weigh more than my husband is because of the HUGE, WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY WEIGHT BLESSING THAT IS MY SON AND DAUGHTER!!! This thought is at cultural odds. Our culture tells us to worry about number one and anything that we give of ourselves better be repaid to us because that's fair and we shouldn't have to suffer. Christ calls us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others (He calls us to do this in many ways) and one way he calls mothers to do this is to give up (for a season) being your ideal weight. Put that on a magazine cover and see how many copies you will sell!

I thought I had a lot more...maybe I do but it's getting late and I didn't take a nap today...it was too nice outside to stay in while the kids slept! I guess the only other thing I've thought about is to set goals. So for me. 1) Run a 5K in Sept. 2) Run a 5K in Dec. 3) Only eat sweets for special occasions. 4) Get back to pre pregnancy weight by the new year. 5) Remind myself often that while this is important it doesn't need to be consuming and there are more important things in life.

When your kids are sick

Anna is not feeling well tonight. I'm not sure what is wrong and where she may have picked it up but her tummy seems to be upset. So as I've been sitting here I've been thinking.

1. Be thankful for her cuddles right now since she is not normally very cuddly.
2. Be thankful that I even have a sweet baby girl to hold and take care of...some people don't have babies to take care of.
3. Learn to joyfully give up my own desires in order to serve my daughter. (I wanted to work out, among other things)
4. Learn to give sacrificially and do it without grumbling or complaining. (I expect to not get much sleep tonight)
5. Use this opportunity to teach Daniel to have compassion for his sister and teach him to serve his sister.
6. Look forward to the new creation, when there will be no more sickness.
7. Pray that Anna and Daniel will be saved so that they will experience life in the new creation.


That's as far as I got thinking last night about this, but I thought I'd share it for what it's worth!

*She's feeling better today

The Coolest 91 Year Old I Know

Just over a year ago we moved into a house with Betsy. She turned 90 the weekend we moved in and we have now lived here a year! I've been reflecting on the blessings of living here with her and thought I'd share them! I don't know any other 91 year olds but even if I knew more, she'd still be the coolest! Here's the list of what I've learned from her and how we've been blessed by her and funny things about her.

1. She lets us live in her house and loves our kids like they are her own grandkids. What 91 year old actually enjoys having a two year old tearing around her house and leaving toys around? And what 91 year old gets excited that we just added another kid to the mix?!

2. She doesn't worry. Or at least not much at all. She said to me once how much of a waste of time it is to worry about what you have no control over.

3. She is generous with what she has. Whether Betsy had much or little she would be generous with it. She enjoys giving people things that would be useful to them and she gives much. She has said more than once that she's not taking her money with her so she might as well use it here. I admire how willing she is to give it away.

4. She loves flowers! Betsy is a great admirer of flowers and she doesn't tire of marveling at how beautiful they are! One thing that she has taught me is the joy of giving your flowers away. I don't know why I had never thought of doing this but Betsy loves to cut the flowers in her yard and bring them in the house and also give them to friends. I had always thought the flowers are in the yard and we should keep them in the yard but Betsy is of the opinion that we can enjoy them more inside on our table! I agree. I also love how she has taught me to give flowers away. She will call her friends and tell them to come over and take a bloom from the latest flower gracing her yard. This is a simple act but brings such joy to her and others!

5. If you want to know the best place to get a particular food just ask Betsy! If you want a pork chop go to KT's, shrimp is at Longhorns, shrimp and grits are at Cafe Lou Lou's, any kind of seafood, go to Captain's Quarters. The list could go on and on!

6. She says really funny things. Here are some of the best.

1. In reference to Daniel, “He’s cuter today than he was yesterday.”
2. “The problem with all those liberals is they’re liberal.”
3. “How’d it get so late so early?”
4. “I don’t know how people could be against wine, after all, it all through the
Bible.”
5.“You do not pick on flowers; they are delicate – like me!”
6. “I’m not stubborn; I just know that when I’m right, I’m right.”
7. “We have a lot of frozen dinners; no one is gonna starve to death.”
8. “I repeat myself because I must believe you don’t remember too well.”
9. Just let him go out and play between the yellow lines
10. “Ya know, it just does not know whether to raid today or not.”
11. “You know, the problem with criminals is that they’re stupid.”
12. “Let me put my hearing aid in so I can see you.”
13. “If you are going to get by in this world, then you have to learn to get along with
liberals.”
14. “Speaking of peanuts, I don’t care too much for Jimmy Carter.”
15. “Only nice people camp.”
16. “The only good moth is a dead moth.”
17. “This knife would not cut hot butter.”
18. “I would rather have a piece of crust outside than a banquet inside.”
19. “Oooooo, wonderful!”
20. “Blessed are those who go in many small circles, for they shall be called big
wheels.”
21. “I never met a blueberry I didn’t like.”
22. “As I always say, ‘I would rather leave the house without my undies than my
earrings.’”
23. “I don’t feel like doing anything – and that includes everything.”
24. “Luck in cards, unlucky in love.”
25. “You know what they say, ‘Dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off.’”
26. “You know what they say, ‘If a man answers, hang up.’”
27. “Ya know, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but sometimes we wish he didn’t have so much confidence in us.”
28. “You'll recognize me in Heaven by my long legs and curly hair. I'll be on the dance floor.”

I am so thankful for Betsy and the time we have gotten to live with her. I look forward to more years!

Small Victories

Joshua and I were just about to fall asleep the other night when we woke up to Daniel coughing really hard. He just couldn't seem to stop coughing, so I went in there, picked him up and offered him water. As the coughing went on and I could start to hear him wheezing I could feel the vice-like grip of fear squeezing my heart. Daniel stopped coughing and we put him to bed but I could still hear the wheezing. I decided to sleep on the guest bed in Daniel's room so I could keep an eye on him...his breathing wasn't getting worse but it wasn't getting better either. There are a lot of awful things to listen to in this world and one of the worst I think is listening to someone struggle to breath...and it's 100x worse when it's your child. So while I am thinking of what I can do to help him that fear just begins to grow. "What if he gets worse?" "Do I know what to do to help him?" "What if we have to go to the ER?" "What if the ER is really full and we have to wait a long time, will he stop breathing?" "What if Anna gets sick?" "What if Anna or Daniel die?" Yes, that really is how my mind works.

The small victory is that even though I did ask myself all those questions, I realized I was being fearful and worrying and knew that I needed to pray and ask the Lord to take all that fear. Daniel has been memorizing verses and one of them is Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You [God]." That verse helped me so much that night. I recognized that I needed to do what I could to keep helping Daniel, even take him to the ER if needed. But ultimately I could trust God for everything involved in this situation. As I put my trust in God that hold the fear had on my heart slipped away. God is kind because I can't trust Him without Him giving me the ability to trust Him. So it's small but encouraging to me!

I'll start blogging again....

I decided that I'll try to start blogging again some. A lot of my pictures get posted on facebook, but even though I have no idea if anyone reads this I thought I'd give it a shot.

So for my first post back I thought I would share two really yummy recipes that my friend Jena gave me. She is a great cook and baker and I don't ever have to worry that her recipes may not turn out so well! I'm not sure where she got the chicken recipe but I know she made up the rice one...both are amazing...I'm not pregnant anymore and I crave this meal often!

Honey Spice Chicken

3 lbs chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard (I like to use stone ground)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
garlic to taste (1-2 cloves)

Mix together all ingredients besides chicken in a large bowl. Add chicken pieces and marinate at least a half an hour. Pour chicken and marinade in a foil lined pan with sides in ONE layer. Broil for 4-5 minutes on one side. Remove from oven and turn all pieces over. Broil for another 4-5 minutes.


Caribbean Coconut Rice

2 cups water
2 cups long grain white rice (I like Jasmine the best)
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp fresh chopped zest from one lime
1/4 green onion (in a pinch you can use onion powder)
1 generous tsp kosher salt or 1 regular tsp if regular salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
2--3 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup sugar

Mix together in a medium pot. Bring to a soft boil and stir. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring half way through. Remove from heat and let sit for a couple minutes.

Sorry I don't have any pictures...if I did you would be drooling right now.

We had a Baby!!!

Her name is Anna!

Oriental Pasta Salad

My mom's good friend Donna from Massachusetts gave my mom this recipe and then I got it from my mom. I don't make it very often because it makes a ton of salad, but I decided to make it for last night's potluck dinner at church. I figured it would get eaten up since there is no food left over at the church potluck. Turns out we got there late and most people had eaten, so we ended up with a lot of it back home! That's ok, it's good and Joshua and I both like it! A friend said last night that it looked like worms. I can assure you(even though I haven't eaten worms, it's better than worms). And it's easy, which is always a plus for me!

4 packs Oriental flavor ramon noodles
2 cups frozen peas
2-3 bunches scallions chopped
1/4 head shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Dressing:
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3 of the oriental flavor seasoning packets
dash of soy sauce

Boil the noodles for about 30 seconds. Drain and mix all the ingredients together. Add the dressing and mix. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Serve this salad with teriyaki chicken!!

Garden Fun

We will be moving into a house that we will be sharing with the lady that actually owns the house and I will probably post more on that later...but this post is about the garden that she has in her back yard. We spent a few days over at her house (we haven't moved yet) and I spent some time picked gobs and gobs of weeds. Daniel had a fun time exploring the garden and we got some cute pictures!!

Working on a quiet book

In an earlier post I had pictures of the first quiet book that I made for Daniel. I thought I would post some picture of the one that I am working on now. It is not complete or put together at all, but it's coming together well and I am pleased with it so far!!

"Can you put some flowers in the vase for Mommy?"

"Help me get dressed!"

"Can you make a phone call?"

Match the shapes.

"Write a letter or draw a picture and mail it"

The letters are stuck to the page with velcro so you can attach and reattach them!

The Quirks and Favs of Daniel

Walking around hitting things with the fly swatter(don't worry it's clean!)

Putting on mommy's running shorts.

Eating!!

Playing on the pillow "mountain"

Talking on the phone

Putting the letters in and out of the container.

And on a different note...I am loving my new boots that I used to keep mud off myself while I picked weeds the other day.