Valentine’s Day. A day for love and lovers! So the phrase goes.  Smile.

So DO show your love to your sweetheart and your children! How?

Paul gives us wonderful challenging words on the topic!

 LOVE IS:

“Love is patient…love is kind…” and all the long list of seemingly impossible attributes

from his letter to the Corinthians!

LOVE has faith and hope!

And of course there is another list. Things that love is not!

LOVE IS NOT:

Love is not ill-mannered, not selfish, not conceited, not proud (in the sense of self-centered)…and all the rest. Sometimes I feel like I am keeping all the “Love is NOT list”

instead of the “Love IS list”!

 JESUS LOVES ME!

Be encouraged! Take hope! You are empowered and equipped to love. How do I know? Remember the childhood song, “Yes, Jesus loves me…” (sing and repeat 3X) .”Yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so!”

Have you ever noticed how many times LOVE is mentioned in Scriptures? The Holy Bible is actually God’s love letter to you and to me! The apostle John was called the disciple of love! The apostle John wrote probably the clearest simplest statement of the Good News that Christ came to bring to the world in John 3:16! If you have chosen to believe that wonderful offer, you have Christ in you!

LOVE IS ETERNAL

When I can’t love as required, GOD IN ME CAN! What a comfort and encouragement! God is love and God in me can love…even in the most difficult circumstances. Even…helping me to be patient and kind and all the rest! So this week for Valentine’s Day, smile and look at your loved ones.  Ask God to fill you with His love and let that love flow from you into those about you, in your home, at work or wherever you go!

LOVE TODAY AND EVERYDAY!

Have I told you my favorite Scriptures?

“Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love others as yourself!” and

“We love because He first loved us!”

(Mark 12:29-31; 1 John 4:19).

SHARE YOUR FAMILY STORIES

This is a Leap Year! A sweet family story: Bill’s grandmother Caughman was born on February 29, 1868. She often said, “I’m the youngest old woman I know!”

Catherine Broadfoot Caughman also said,

“My favorite month is October because that’s when I got married!”

My sweet husband Bill Caughman, Jr., just walked into the house with a bouquet of roses and looked into my blue eyes and said, “I love you!”  Look at your spouse and into the eyes of each child individually and say sincerely, “I love you!”

Remember: Love is both a noun and a verb! Share loving family stories with your children today! Or make a memory!  Demonstrating love is evidence of our genuine faith!

Happy February! Love to all you Mississippi Moms! Nana o/`

I was looking for something to make for my daughter’s teachers this Valentine’s Day and came across this tutorial for a Charmed Pencil Pouch. (Thank you, Pinterest!)  The instructions were easy to follow, and the finished result pretty cute…even with my limited sewing skills.  It was also a pretty inexpensive project, and we completed it by packing the pouch full with some fun Valentine’s pencils…what teacher ever has enough?  I didn’t take photos of the pouches we made (let’s just say with my energy levels it’s enough they got made at all!), but we like them and hope her teachers will, too!

Enjoy~

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 can pumpkin

1/2 cup oil

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 package chocolate chips  (I sometimes use less (about 1/2 actually)…I’m stingy with my chocolate chips!)

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until smooth.  Add in dry ingredients and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups ¾ full.  Bake at 400 for 16-20 minutes.  Let cool then flash freeze.  Once frozen, place in freezer bags and store until needed.

Oh, and in the fall…fresh cooked pumpkin works really well!

These are great for a quick snack and a rushed breakfast. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken breasts (I NEVER use this many, which is probably because today’s chicken breasts are enormous…thank you, added hormones?  In my opinion, four is probably more than enough.)

• 1 can of soup (cream of chicken or mushroom…your choice!)
• 16 oz. sour cream
• 3 tbsp. poppy seeds
• 1/4 lb. Ritz crackers
• 1 stick margarine (I used butter.)

Cook and debone chicken then break into pieces.  Place in baking dish.  Mix sour cream and soup. (Joyce adds 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup chicken broth.) Pour over chicken.  Sprinkle poppy seeds over this.  Melt margarine, crumble crackers and mix together.  Sprinkle on top of casserole.  Cook 35 minutes at 375.  This can be made ahead and freezes well.

Enjoy!

So, on Fridays, I generally lurk around TheGypsyMama.com, reading what others say in five minutes flat, thinking if the week’s topic says something to me, I MIGHT participate.  Most times I don’t.  You see, the perfectionist in me REALLY likes my backspace button.  I mean, REALLY.  Without that button, there’d probably be no blog.  But still, the English teacher in me likes the idea of just writing, just putting words on paper (or screen) so today I think I will.  Here goes:

Start:

Some days I do nothing but condemn myself.  I’m too unorganized, too easily angered, too….well, anything I’d like to NOT be.  This week, I’ve been alot of those things.  And, I rehearse them to myself and to my Maker.  And do you know what he has said to me in response?

“You’re too tired.”

Not, “You’re right.”  Not “You’re hopeless.”  Just “You’re tired….Rest.”

and, I wonder, “How?”  And, he provides.  My husband gives me a day off.  A friend offers to bring lunch and fellowship.  And I accept both, wondering, “What will I do all day? Dishes?   Laundry? Errands?”  And I hear….

“Rest.”

Seriously?  Just rest?  Do the dishes….leave the mopping.  Get the groceries….do some “fun” shopping, too.  Dust….don’t vacuum.

Don’t cram it all in this one day.  Rest…because you’ll be a better mom tonight if you take it easier today.

Thank you, Lord for you, “tend your flock like a shepherd:  You gather the lambs in your arms and carry them close to  your heart, you gently lead those who have young.”  Thank you.  (Isaiah 40:11)

Stop.

Okay…truth be told….I went at least 30 seconds over…but oh well….next time, I’ll set something to beep.

If you’d like to join the Five-Minute-Friday Fun, visit TheGypsyMama today!

P.S.  I realized after writing this that today’s topic was actually “Tender,” when I read Lisa-Jo’s post, I thought “gentle” all the way….oh well!

Some things just call for cupcakes, don’t you think?  I do.  But, to be honest, I don’t have a lot of time (or energy) these days for baking and decorating…

That, however, does not prevent the creation of beautiful cupcakes…quick.

Here’s what you need:

• Your Favorite Cake Mix
• Your Favorite Frosting
• A bowl
• A Microwave
• Sprinkles

Here’s what you you do:

Bake those babies!  I used two boxes of cake mix this time, making 48 cupcakes.  Let them cool.  Meanwhile….

Dump your frosting into a microwave safe bowl.  Though I used two boxes of cake mix, this project only required one can of frosting.  More on that later…

That bowl full of frosting?  Melt it.  Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds-one minute and stir it around.  Then….

Take your cupcakes, one by one (or two at a time if you’re more skilled than me), and dip/swirl them in the melted frosting.  IF you don’t believe how easy this is, you’ll notice (I hope!) that that’s my husband’s hand doing the dipping/swirling.  He actually did most of them.

Not a great photo, but just to show you that after you dip/swirl, just kind of swirl it around as you lift it out to let the excess run off.

Place the cupcakes on a cookie sheet or cooling rack or whatever while you finish dipping each of them.  Then….

Get your sprinkles ready!  Gently roll the top of each cupcake in the sprinkles until it is uniformly covered…and you’re done!

See?  Perfect.  And pink.  You could also….

Just swirl the edges.  This would be particularly cute, I think, if you had the kind of sprinkles commonly found on ice cream cones.

So, there you have it…cute and EASY cupcakes!  Here are few more reasons I’m a fan:

• Did I mention that I used one can of frosting for two boxes of cake mix?  When piping icing on cupcakes, it takes a LOT of frosting to get that perfectly mounded swirl.  This method requires much less, which means…
• Kids don’t get quite as much icing…which means a bit less sugar…which is probably a good thing, right?
• There is much less mess to clean up.  No piping bags or tips.  No spatulas.  And, to be honest, even with all the swirling and dripping, the icing pretty much just stays in the bowl.
• And, while we’re talking less mess…there’s not quite as much icing all over the kids.  And, I LOVE that.

So, the next time you’re in a cupcake crunch (“What?  Tomorrow’s Sweet Day?”), give this method a try.  I bet you’ll like it.  I know I do.  It works for me!

For more ideas, tips and tricks, be sure to visit wearethatfamily.com today!

This post requires a bit of background so I’ll give it as required.

It’s funny, but for as long as I can remember, the song “Jesus Loves Me” has tasted like cookies (the flower-shaped ones with the hole in the middle just perfect for your pinkie finger) and smelled like the paper used to create the large pictures of Jesus used to tell Sunday School stories in years past, which should tell you that for as long as I can remember, I have been in church.  And that for just that long I have known that Jesus loves me.  My testimony is not one of the Damascus Road.  It’s more like the Ethiopian who said, after the Gospel had been explained to him, “Here’s water.  Why shouldn’t I be baptized?”  So  I was.  Because I believed.

But that doesn’t mean that I always understood.  Still don’t sometimes.

It means that I began a life-long relationship with the one who teaches me still.  Some lessons over and over, I’m afraid.

But I do remember the first time I really understood that Jesus loves ME…not just US.    I mean, I knew he died for me.  That’s why I wanted to be baptized in the first place.  But once, a camp leader told me, “When you say John 3:16, you can put your name in it.”  So I did.  I went to bed that night thinking,

“For God so loved Charlie that he gave his only begotten son that if Charlie believes in him Charlie will not perish but have everlasting life.”

And, I never quoted that verse the same way again.  Not because I don’t know (and LOVE) that God so loved the world, but that I was so awed by the fact that he so loved ME.

You see, for whatever reason, as a child, I often felt unloved.  In my family, we joke that I have “second-child syndrome.”  Whatever that is, I do tend to have it.  I always knew that my parents loved me…I just often felt they didn’t love me like they loved the others.  So, to know that God loved me just as much as any other person in the world began a change in my heart and life that impacted everything.

As I continued to grow up and in him, he continued to show me how he loves me…and you, too.  Here are few of the ways:

• He loves us without condition.  This is very important to a girl who grew up in the home of a perfectionist, a girl who felt that approval depended on performance.  To know that God loved me no matter what I did (or how I did it) kept me from falling into the trap of a religion that was based on works and not on grace.  How do I know this is true?  Because “God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  Do you hear that?  He didn’t wait for us to want him or to seek him or to love him or obey him…he died for us first.
• He chose us.  You see, unless you were adopted, your family didn’t choose you.  And, I often wondered if they really wanted me at all.  (Again, not their fault…just my feelings.)  But, the glorious good news is that God does want me to be his child.  You, too.  Just listen to this:  “How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)  He “chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…” (Ephesians 1:4-5)  Don’t you see?  Not only did he choose us…He was happy to!  It brought him pleasure.
• His love does not change.  Mine does.  Daily.  It depends on circumstances, feelings, fear…anything can alter it.  But not his.  He says, “I have loved you with an ever-lasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3) And, his word tells us that “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38)

So today, I pray that you and I both might just bask in the light of his love.  Take confidence in it.  As 1 John 4:16 says, “know and rely on the love God has for us.”

Yes, I know…it’s a hill with grass on top. That’s what I always kind of thought before…which really was the result of a bad memory of a very long day trip to Philadelphia as a child only to be severely disappointed when we arrived at Nanih Waiya just in time to take a look and leave.  Boring.  Our visit to Emerald Mound?  Not boring at all.

Y’all…this thing is huge!  The kids had a blast climbing up and rolling down.  Again and again.

It would be a great place to pack a picnic and visit one day, especially if you’re visiting other things in the Natchez area.  Just remember:  there are no bathrooms so be prepared. (At least, I didn’t notice any.)

It’s really interesting to see how and why the mounds were built and to know it’s the second largest mound in the U.S.  Pretty cool, huh?

Enjoy!

Here’s the recipe:

Chicken Pie with Club Crackers

1 chicken (or equivalent amount of chicken breasts), cooked and deboned

4 cups Club crackers

½ cup butter

1 8 oz. carton sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup (I prefer to use about a cup of homemade)

1 cup chicken broth (just save the broth from cooking the chicken…it’s perfect!)

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

½ teaspoon paprika

Cut cooked chicken into bite size pieces.

Combine chicken, 3 cups crumbled crackers and butter.  Press into 9”x9” baking dish.

Mix sour cream, chicken soup and chicken broth.  Pour over chicken.

Sprinkle with remaining cracker crumbs, parsley and paprika.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

(Note:  Since we made this on our freezer cooking day, I didn’t bake it and just wrapped it up and put it in the freezer.)

I love flowers and music and God’s Word and… What do you LOVE?  Years ago, with our young children, Bill and I took my parents to New Orleans to board the “Sunset Limited” in New Orleans. They rode the train to Los Angeles for a visit with my Mother’s sister in LaJolla and to attend the Pasadena Rose Parade.  I’ve watched the Rose Parade on television since I was a child but never dreamed I’d get to see it in person.

Bill and I traveled with an excited group of twelve Mississippians.   I’d like to vicariously take you mentally from your computer to California, Mississippi Moms, with the purpose of encouragement!

FLOWERS and FLOATS

   As many of you know, Los Angeles is a sprawling megalopolis with beautiful tall palm trees gracing the city. The slender extremely tall palms are a symbol of the city.   Flower beds teem with the lovely purple and orange “Birds-of-Paradise!” Throughout the city are hibiscus, roses, and pansies. Los Angeles originally meant “The city of our Lady, Queen of the Angels!”

How splendid to see preparations and float decorating with many volunteers buzzing around like bees, completing the floats and covering every surface with fresh flowers, seeds, grass or other natural materials.  Quite a phenomenon to observe! We had tickets and viewed the work from a walkway above the floats.  We saw some completed floats as they were driven out into the streets.

MUSIC and JOY

A random sign outside a business in Los Angeles caught my eye and was entered in the “Quotes section” of my journal. Do you keep a journal? You can note memorable words and events of your children and your family. A good quote for the New Year:

  “Let MUSIC fill the air and JOY be everywhere.”

    Did you see the televised event?  Just Imagine: Ninety magnificent entries of flowers, floats, bands, music, antique cars, and equestrian units. What joy!  We heard lots of music from excellent bands.  The colorful marching units and large band sounds added to the exciting atmosphere of “The Pasadena 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade.  The 2012 Theme: Just Imagine!”

HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU!

In my childhood, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were childhood heroes. One float marked the 100^th anniversary of Roy’s birth with detailed floragraphs or flower pictures.  Dusty and Dustin, Rogers’ son and grandson sang the theme song, “Happy Trails” as the float glided down Colorado Boulevard. One hundred grand Palomino horses and riders preceded the float (# 89 and 90). Music and joy was indeed everywhere.

On Saturday we had toured Hollywood and viewed many footprints outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater including that of Roy Rogers plus Trigger’s hoof prints and Roy Roger’s pistol!

BIBLES IN CALIFORNIA

   Beside the Rose Parade, two trip highlights were the Getty Center and the Ronald Reagan Library.  At the J. Paul Getty Museum, on a hilltop in the Santa Monica Mountains were spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, in a complex of beautiful buildings, all free to the public. Research centers, and magnificent art, architecture, paintings, sculpture, and gardens.  We saw a special exhibition of Illuminated early Bible Manuscripts with richly decorated paintings from the thirteenth century! (Words are wonderful: From Latin: Manus-by hand; Scriptus: to write; Illuminate: to light up). Exquisite!

A winding ride up a mountain side terminates with the lovely ranch mission style structure of the Presidential Library and Museum of Ronald Reagan.  His mother’s Bible was in one small display. My eye was drawn to the Lucite box holding Nelle Reagan’s Bible.

Young MOTHERS, I’d like to encourage you to persevere with a true story.

Ronald Reagan was sworn in as 40^th President of the United States using the KJV Bible of his Mother, Nelle Wilson Reagan. I saw a margin notation in Nelle’s handwriting. By 2 Chronicles 7:14 she wrote:

     “The most wonderful verse in the healing of the nation.  Nelle”

    The Scripture: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Nelle had underlined: “will heal their land.”

Nelle Reagan was a godly woman of prayer with a well worn Bible. As Mothers and Grandmothers, we could do well to have the same legacy. Women of the Word!

These influential words from Reagan’s Mother were on his Presidential Desk:

“The quote on the Resolute or Hayes desk in the Oval Office was one his mother used to say to him:

“There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

“On the desk, on a Lucite plaque which bears the signature of his mother, Nelle:    

              ‘Thought for today: YOU CAN BE TOO BIG FOR GOD TO USE BUT YOU CANNOT BE TOO SMALL. ~~ Nelle’ ”

MORE BIBLES!

   In the Rose Parade was a giant open Bible by the Lutheran Hour with the Scripture promise from John 3:36 and a “floragraph” of Jesus. The famous head of Christ by Warner E. Sallman (Float#56, was used by special permission).

    Returning home, teaching my Sr. ladies Bible study class, there on the wall was the familiar Sallman photo.

So…dear Mississippi Moms, blessings to you of hope, love, courage, joy, music and flowers in 2012.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!