Roomin' With Reece & Brody

Cooking for Dummies?

2012-01-19T12:29:00.002-06:00

Do you feel lost in the kitchen? Does cooking a meal, especially a new meal, overwhelm you and give you anxiety? I have talked to countless women who say they hate to cook, but really what it comes down to is not feeling confident enough. How does one gain confidence in the kitchen? By reading the book "Cooking for Dummies"?...possibly. But I believe you can do it by having a laid back attitude about cooking and just by cooking/experimenting more in the kitchen. Even the most non-laid back, perfectionst type people (like me), can be laid back in the kitchen. You just have to tell yourself "it's going to be okay...whatever I make will be eatable"...because really...we know it will be, because it's food, right!?? Even you, yes you, can not screw it up. The most important thing you can do while cooking, is to follow the heating requirements and timing (boil, simmer, etc) and have as much laid out and measured out before you begin so that you do not feel stressed during the process. Even if you were not taught by a parent or grandparent, you can learn to be a good cook and feel good about doing it. Toss those fears in the garbage, and pull out of the cabinet a new attitude towards cooking. Anyone can do this, especially if I can. No one taught me how to cook...it just takes time and practice just like anything else.

A lot of women, including my past self, get hung up on not having all the right ingredients to make a recipe. But really, a recipe in my opinion, is just a guide. You can add or take away whatever you want (in most cases) and make it your own without changing the taste too much. Don't be afraid of changing things up. It's just food...how bad can it really be?? Okay, don't answer that, just trust me!

Let me show you what I did to a recipe I just made this morning. I am sure that I could never write a cookbook because most of my recipes would have a "use this...or this...or this"....several options to make essentially the same thing. There are many things you can substitute for something else or just leave out and it really won't change the taste all that much. Now there are other things you absolutley can not leave out, because it could totally change the texture, taste, etc (like leaving out baking soda from a cookie recipe, speaking from experience). Whenever I need a substitute, I search online...most of the time you can find something that will work.

I saw this recipe yesterday on Rachel Ray and it looked so tasty. I knew I had many of the ingredients but that I would be missing a few things. Here is what I did with the recipe.

6 tablespoons butter, divided - had this
1/2 cup orzo - I typically would not have this ingredient but I just happened to coupon one of those velveeta skillets dinners and orzo was in there. I pulled out the other ingredients in that boxed meal and will use those for something else. You could just use rice though and even couscous would be delicious, and a great source of protein.

1 cup long grain rice - I used a rice a roni long and wild rice mix.

2 quarts chicken stock or broth, divided - I only had 1 quart of chicken stock so my soup was more like a stew which is how I like it...but you could add additional water, make your own stock with boullion cubes, and even use beef or vegtable broth if that is all you had.

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped - I used dried parsley found in my spice rack. You would need to look online to see how to convert fresh herbs into dried herbs (there is a diffence in strength/flavor).

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) - I actually just ran out of this so I used coconut oil which is better for you anyways...but of course you could use vegetable oil, just olive oil, or even more butter. You would not want to use peanut oil or seasame oil or it would totally change the taste. Typically I would say coconut oil could change the taste but judging from the other stronger/flavorful ingredients, I knew it would be okay.

1 to 1 1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, sliced - I had mini bellas. You could used canned and then skip the process in the recipe where you cook the mushrooms for 15 minutes to soften them.

4 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced - did this

2 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped - used dried thyme from my spice rack - need to use conversion online from fresh to dried.

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped - used dried rosemary from spice rack.

Salt and pepper - did this

1/2 cup dry sherry or Marsala - Used red cooking wine - probably changed the taste some, but since I didn't try the other version, I don't know what it should have tasted like.

1 large or 2 medium leeks, halved and thinly sliced - I didn't have leeks - but added other veggies

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/4-inch dice - did this

1 onion, chopped into 1/4-inch dice - didn't have onions, can used minced onions from spice rack or skip it.

2 ribs celery, chopped - I did not have celery but added other veggies (green peppers). You could throw in just about any type of veggie and it will be good.

1 large bay leaf - did this

1 vine ripe tomatoes, finely chopped - used a can of organic diced tomatos with liquid since I didn't have enough broth

1 pound roast turkey or chicken, diced - used diced chicken from a rotesserie chicken I got a few weeks ago. I had chopped up all the chicken and put it in the freezer for later use. It thaws quickly and has already been cooked. You could use canned chicken or any other chicken diced (breast, thighs, etc)...even lunch meat really. Or if you find a good deal on meat at the deli, you could just have them cut it thicker. That is if you plan the recipe in advance, in which then you'd probably have all the right ingredients.

As you can see, I didn't use much of what the recipe called for but it tasted delicious to me! If you don't have any groceries, you really have to be creative in the kitchen sometimes! It is very rare that I have all the ingredients for a recipe, even if I planned the recipe before going to the store! I am sure most of you are like that also - you forget to buy something or the ingredient cost too much (not on sale). So it's really simple to adjust the recipe to what you have at home and what your taste preferences are. Don't let that recipe or the kitchen get the best of you. You can conquer the kitchen and meal times!

The link and picture of Rachel's originally recipe is here. Compare her picture to the one below in the skillet...they don't look much different to me.

Here is a picture of my version of Rachel's recipe:

The soup mixture...

The rice and orzo mixture - so yummy on it's own. Rachel says to keep this separate from the soup mixture or else the liquid in the soup will make it balloon up. The rice/orzo mixture will absorb all the liquid. You can tell it did this in my photo with the bowl of the two mixed...I liked it that way though.

SNOW

2012-01-16T20:30:00.001-06:00

After my last post, we did finally get the snow that we had been waiting for. We played outside in both the warmth one day and the snow the next. In fact, I got a fun photo showing the differences between the two days....

Wednesday - warm (50 degrees) and light jackets...

Thursday...bundled up and snow!

She loved laying in the snow doing snow angels, crawling, and sliding.

Her gloves got wet right away so she settled for pockets just to stay outside...Brody changed into these bigger gloves.

Taking a break from all the walking

Even in the snow, he's still a boy who loves his cars!

Those smiles melt not only momma's heart but the snow as well.

Brody loved watching the snow trucks.

We even went sledding. From smaller hills around our house to huge hills at Highland golf course...I can't believe how much they love the snow and how courageous they were. They went down all the big hills that the high schoolers were going on.

Today we played outside in the warmer weather again (almost 50)...but there was still enough snow to make a snowman.

I am so thankful these guys love to be outside. Although most of the time I wanted to come in because I was so cold. I don't have the snow weather gear that they have....I settled for 3 pairs of pants and some rain boots. I made it work for them and it was worth it to see their big smiles in the snow. I remember the past few years only looking at the snow from the window...what a nice treat and change to be able to get out and make memories in it! The lighting for taking pictures in the snow is just amazing! Such bright pictures.

Can't forget the hot cocoa face after we came in...an hour later and still rosey cheeks with some added chocolate lips and spillage on his clothes...just love that little face!

Applying the word...applying the truth (update on me)

2012-01-12T07:49:00.002-06:00

On the rare occassion that I am able to blog, it's even more rare that I am able to blog outside...with no coat...basking in the sun...in January. As I write this, I am watching my children wash their truck and tractor...only imitating what they have seen their parents do on these lucky weather days that we have been having. We are playing in the sun today, but tomorrow we will likely be playing in the snow! Both are equally exciting for us. These are the kind of days that I am ready to throw all the rules out the window...skip naps and just play all day. We tried something similiar yesterday and as much fun as we had, I am not sure I could do it every day. These kiddos really need their sleep. My house was an utter mess but my kids were so happy to have the whole day with me. I figured we will be stuck inside eventually due to cold weather, so we might as well enjoy being outside. I thank God for days like these and I truly feel that God has blessed me personally with them. He just knew it was what we needed. I love being a part of His plan. There has got to be some strange explanation for these warm days other than global warming!

I am still struggling with anxiety some but it has been improving as I have been handing things over to God and relying on Him more. That is all that I really needed...I had just forgot how. As I have been evaluating my life over the past year, when the anxiety starting kicking in, I realized I have been slowly taking the control away from God and trying handling things on my own. Sure, I still had my morning quiet time, bible studies, prayer time, etc but I really wasn't relying on God and trusting Him fully. Without even knowing it, I have slowly been letting the world take over the reigns of my life. There is no coincidence that I have been writing about that very topic since summer. I am sure that all that writing has only been for me to learn from. As I have been staring at the tip of the...now year (Know the Word more than the world)...I suppose, I need that advice more than anyone reading this blog. Further than knowing the word, it's really about applying the word to our lives. I know the word...I can quote and recite as much as anyone...but am I really believing it and applying it to my life? In some situations yes but in others no. I am now taking what I know and applying it to each and every situation. We hear so much advice, stereotypes, comments, etc I find myself constantly analyzing what I believe to be true and what God wants me to believe about it - what His truth says. There are many things we have heard or believed all our life, but it doesn't mean it's true or that it has to be that way, or that it is even God's way. There a couple that have hit me recently. Here are a couple of examples - 1 small thing and 1 big thing that we have heard that we believe. Whether big or small, the things we believe effect the way we believe and sometimes we "infect" what others believe because of it - especially our children. Here's a small example. Have you ever heard the comment "Three is a crowd"? Do you really believe that is true? Do you think God believes that or would allow that to happen in any of His relationships? I don't think so. I don't believe it for one second. Why does three have to be a crowd? Because people have told us it is? It's all in what you believe to be true. If you make 3 a crowd, then I guess it will be. Sure, having 3 in a group might be a little more difficult than have 2 or 4, but maybe God planned it that way to have you work through something that might be somewhat uncomfortable at first. If we love others above ourselves, 3 is not a crowd.

2) I don't have time to do everything I'm suppose to do. I don't know how many times I have felt that way or heard other mothers say something similiar..."there are just not enough hours in the day". God created how many hours we have to spend and also adviced us to rest...so He knows that there are plenty of hours to do what God wants us to accomplish. If we change that train of thought, you will have more peace about what you accomplish. Give each one of your responsibilities in a day, over to God and let Him direct you on what matters most. I have so much more peace about the things on my list that aren't crossed off yet. Nancy Leigh DeMoss says in her book Lies Women Believe, "The frustration comes when I attempt to take on responsibilities that are not on His agenda for me. When I establish my own agenda or let others determine the priorities for my life, rather than taking time to discern what it is that God wants me to do, I end up buried under piles of half-finished, poorly done, or never-attempted projects and tasks. I live with guilt, frurstration, and haste, rather than enjoying the peaceful, well-ordered life that He intends". She goes on to say "Frustration is the by-product of attempting to fulfill responsibilities God does not intend for us to carry. Freedom, joy, and fruitfulness come from seeking to determine God's priorities for each season of life, and then setting out to fulfill those prioritites, in the power of His Spirit, realizing that He has provided the necessary time and bility to do everything that He has called us to do." How freeing is that? I can't tell you how many times I have wondered what other moms do in their day. In fact, there have been many times I just ask my other mommy friends what they do during the day. Then I find myself frustrated if I am not doing something similiar - guilty for not spending as much time with the kids or not have a well oiled cleaning schedule. God calls each of us as moms to different responsibilities. The service we provide for our husbands and children will be different. Even what my own husband thinks I should do, is not necessarily what God wants me to do. It's our job to talk those through so we can be in understanding with what God wants us to do in our families. We need to go to God to discern what it is exactly that He wants us to accomplish - not what the world (our friends, other parents that give unwanted advice, even professionals/doctors, say Dr Phil) say we should accomplish during the day.

I just started a bible study in the book of James called Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore. It was no surprise to me that even in this study I would find evidence of reyling on God over people. In today's scripture we looked at Galations 1:11-24. 11 and 12 says "Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ". Where are you receiving your messages from? How many times have we placed importance on the things we see our friends and family members do? Things like: "She has a job outside the home...maybe that is what is important"...or "she makes all her food from scratch...maybe I am suppose to be doing that" or "her house is always clean...maybe I should clean more". Each person needs to find out what is important to God for their life. Discern with God, not with a human source.

For me right now, the below pictures represent where I am suppose to be right now.

The book "Lies Women Believe" is really helping me to see these truths and use them each and every day. We have 4 ladies who are studying it together and plan to meet in the next couple of weeks to go over it together (chapters 1 and 2). The offer is still up if anyone wants to join us.

Update on Reece

2012-01-12T07:48:00.002-06:00

Back on December 16th, I informed you of Reece's frequent urination problem...see initial post here. It has gotten better over the past few weeks but she still has episodes of frequent urination. She might have a bad couple of hours in a day and be fine the rest of the day.
On Monday January 2nd, Reece and I headed to St Joe before the sun was up to have her X-ray and sonogram of her abdomen. I explained the procedures to her so that she would not be scared and it did seem to work, although she has never been a fearful child. They were quick procedures and we were out of there in less than hour. They didn't tell us much while there and I don't think we will really hear much until we see the urologist on February 4th. I did receive a call the day after the procedures from a nurse at Reece's peditrician office. They did say they felt she had a lot of stool and they recommended we put her on Miralax until she had regular daily stools. I explained that she already has these and that by doing the x ray so early, she wasn't able to go in the morning as usual. However, I put her on the Miralax for several days which meant, not only did she pee alot...she pooped alot. Sigh....
So I took her off that a few days ago.
I had also noticed 2 weeks ago she occassionally said she felt like she was going to get sick. She would go get a bucket and sit in the chair until it passed. I noticed it more so when she would get up from bed in the morning and at naps. I thought it was probably her blood sugar being low from not eating in awhile or something. She also said her throat had been hurting some. The last few days there hasn't been a day when she hasn't said she feels sick. I don't think she's eating that much either so I have tied it up to not eating much and that she is hungry/low blood sugar. But I was also thinking it could be strept since that is going around and has nausea as a symptom. I had also been reading about diabetes and that is a sign for it also. Monday night she sat for 45 minutes in the chair saying she felt sick and did the same thing when she woke up the morning (she didn't finish her dinner that night). I took her back to the doctor Tuesday morning. They tested her blood and urine for glucose/blood sugar and that came back fine. They also did a stept test and that also came back fine. So I am not sure what to think. I guess glad that it came back negative but wanting an answer of some sort.
Yesterday, the school called and said she started saying that she was going to get sick as soon as she sat down for snack (I do notice it more around meal times and also bedtime and when she gets up). I explained to the teacher all of it and we decided for me not to go and get her this time. I am afraid that if I do, she'll do this all the time. I am now starting to wonder if it's either a) anxiety - maybe she has some worries that she hasn't shared or b) just sinus drainage that is causing upset stomach. The doctor did say her throat was a little red and I know she has a cold. She could have had sinus drainage the past couple of weeks and it hasn't turned into a full cold yet...this has happened to me before. Or c) this is somehow related to the urinary issues she is having (which can be caused by anxiety too). I don't know what to think. I do know that I am not reading a lot on the internet or asking a lot of opinions because I don't want to worry a lot about it. I know that God is in control of it and He does have a plan. I do feel like I have seen glimpses of His plan through it and I will share more at a later time. For now, we will keep praying for her to feel better and wait for the Urologist appointment on 2/4.

New Years Pictures

2012-01-12T07:48:00.001-06:00

The kids received two gift certificates to the Children's Discovery Museum for Christmas. We combined the two and paid a little extra to get the membership that we can use all year round and at other museums across the country! We have already used it four times! One of those times we enjoyed on "Noon" Years Eve with some friends. They did several crafts and got their face painted. It was very crowded though and after the confetti/balloon drop, we jetted out of there!

Waiting for the "Noon" Year!

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-12T07:48:00.000-06:00

We had a great Christmas Season spending time with all of our family. It went by too fast. The kids were really excited this year as they are finally understanding what Christmas is and why we celebrate. It would not be normal for them to not be excited about the gifts though and there is no question that they weren't.

We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family - with me hosting. My older brother and his wife and 2 kids were there along with my mom and dad, younger brother, and my grandmother.
Reece opening her present from her cousin - Mady

She had been asking for that doll for months.

Who knew we'd be outside on Christmas Eve playing with a new remote control car

Our cupcake and cookies for Santa.

Christmas Day we spent the morning as a family opening gifts and relaxing. That afternoon we headed to the Bauers for celebrate the day with them.
Reece was dissappointed that Santa left part of an M&M cookie...

They are so sweet to each other and take turns. Look at Brody's face. He was excited about her new jammies

New tractor set

The doll house I worked so hard on.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

At the Bauers

Waiting patiently for her turn to open.

Sleepy...

Reecey's Christmas Program

2012-01-12T07:47:00.000-06:00

J-E-S-U-S

This Little Light of Mine

My traditional Christmas Eve devotional

2011-12-24T10:42:00.001-06:00

This is my 3rd year hosting Christmas Eve for my family. It also marks the third year of giving my traditional Christmas devotional reading following the legacy my late grandfather left. Normally these take me hours to prepare, but as of yesterday morning I still hadn't written anything and wasn't even sure exactly what I would write. I had prayed about it and felt strongly that the Christmas story (from the bible that is) should be told even though most of us had heard it many times. I wanted to find some unique way of telling it so I began researching online and found lots of neat ways to share the story. So I admit, most of this idea is stolen and therefore only took about an hour of my time. You can find the original idea here, but I had to tweak it some to add my personal flare. Basically I have a piece a candy that represents each part of the story. At then end of the story, I will have the candy in favor bags for everyone to take home with the bible references on a gift tag. Here's the story:

I saw a fun and sweet way to remember the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. We all know that Christmas time is a sweet time of year. Not only are our kitchens filled with sweet smells of all the holiday baking, but it’s sweet because our Lord is sweet and was born as a sweet baby so many Christmases ago. The story of Jesus’ birth should be as sweet to our ears and hearts as our holiday baking is to our tummies.

Here are some sweet things to remind us of that wonderful sweet Christmas story.

1) Bridge Mix (Journey of Joseph and Mary). This “bridge” mix resembles the Journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. We all know that a bridge provides a way of passage to the other side.

Luke 2:4-5 says "Because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now pregnant.”

2) Baby Ruth (Reminder of Sweet Baby Jesus) (I could not find Sugar babies or sugar daddies!!!)

How exciting that God sent His Son down from heaven in the form of a sweet little baby. A little child would change history and save us from our sin. Luke 2:7 “She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”

3) Candy Cane (Reminder of the Shepherds). The candy cane reminds us of the staff of the shepherds and how they were busy taking care of their sheep while Jesus was being born. If you turn it upside down, it looks like a J –for Jesus. The red represents His blood and how He died for us and the white represents how He washes us white as snow. Luke 2:8-9 “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified.”

4) Almond Joy (Reminder of the Angels Announcement) Luke 2:10-12 “But the angel said to them (the shepherds) ‘Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign - You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manager”

5) Dove Candy (Reminder of Peace). The dove has always been a symbol of peace. Because Christ was born we can have peace. In John 14:27 Jesus says “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.”

6) Smarties (Reminder of the Wise Men)

Even the wise men of Christ’s day looked for the Lord. The wise men followed the star to Bethlehem until they found the house where the baby Jesus lay. We are not certain how many wise men came. We can guess that maybe at least three came because that is how many gifts they brought. The wise men worshiped the baby Jesus as God the Savior and gave him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts were very meaningful. Gold was fitting for a king. Frankincense was a resin from a balsam tree used as a medicine, which was rare in those days. They knew this king would heal his people. Myrrh, an herb used in burials, was the most unusual gift. It pointed to the importance of this child-king’s death which would occur later in life and would save the world. Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Christ our Lord. These wise men came to worship the newborn king. Today, men who are wise still worship Jesus.

7) Starburst (Reminder of the star)

The star was used to guide the wise men. Today, God has ways of guiding us too. When the wise men saw the star, they rejoiced. When we see the Christmas star, this should be a good reminder to rejoice as well.

Matthew 2:9-10 “The wise men went on their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they were filled with joy!”

8) Hershey’s treasures of other foiled wrapped coin candy (The gifts from the wise men). When the wise men came, they brought treasure with them to give to Jesus. We should always bring our gifts to Jesus such as time, talents, and other things we know He ultimately blessed us with to give and glorify Him.

Matthew 2:11 “They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chest and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

9) Reison (Jesus is the Reason for the Season)

Jesus came to earth on Christmas Day so that we could live with Him forever and that our lives on earth might be more meaningful. Hi is our reason for the wonderful holiday season.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”

Let this be a reminder that Christmas is sweet not only to our tongues and bellies but to our hearts.

W & X

2011-12-23T07:56:00.000-06:00

W is for Worship. Worship is to give praise, honor and respect for God. We honor God when we celebrate Jesus birth each year, when we go to church, when we pray, and when we obey. We should not idolize anything but God. When we choose a toy over praying or going to church or over our sibling, we are idolizing the toy...this does not honor God.
We are going to talk to about Wisdom and Wisemen and color a sheet with the 3 wisemen on it. I actually found a child's sermon on the wisemen worshipping Baby Jesus here. We will look at our Christmas book to see other pictures of wisemen.

X is for eXaltation (yes, sometimes you have to be creative). In the Bible "exaltation" most often refers to the lofty position of God and of Jesus Christ. The most common Hebrew terms for "lift up, exalt.
The Exaltation of Christ. (retrieved here) As the God-man, Jesus Christ entered the world to redeem humankind from their sinful condition. Through his death and resurrection Christ was exalted to the right hand of the Father. Both Isaiah 52:13 and the Gospel of John ( 3:14 ; 8:28 ; John 12:32 John 12:34 ) speak of Christ's death in the double sense of being "lifted up" and being "highly exalted." By humbling himself and submitting to death by being "lifted" onto a Roman cross, Christ paid for the sin of humankind, and in so doing was exalted by the Father to the highest place and given "the name that is above every name" ( Php 2:8-9 ). It was through the resurrection from the dead that Christ's death was demonstrated in a powerful way ( Rom 1:4 ). By the resurrection Christ's human nature entered the glorious state of the unending life, and the risen Lord swallowed up death in victory ( 1 Cor 15:54 ).
Having finished his work on earth, Jesus was taken back to heaven and seated at the right hand of God. David had spoken of the Messiah's sitting at the Lord's right hand ( Psalm 110:1 ). This most exalted and honored position confirmed Christ's glory and authority as the supreme ruler ( Eph 1:20-21 ). Christ's exaltation and lordship are evident in the titles "Prince" and "Savior, " which are ascribed to him in his heavenly session ( Acts 5:31 ). The "prince" or "author" of our salvation was made "perfect through suffering" and then "sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" ( Heb 2:10 ; 12:2 ). The son of David was now a king far above any earthly ruler.
At his second coming the King of kings and Lord of lords will return to earth to defeat the nations and to rule them with an iron scepter ( Rev 19:15-16 ). Christ's sovereign authority will be displayed; every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord ( Php 2:10-11 ).

A little over their head but we will go through it anyway. No craft for this one :)

U & V

2011-12-22T15:38:00.000-06:00

U is for upright. Upright means raised or directed vertically or upward; adhering to rectitude; righteous, honest, or just; being in accord with what is right; being of moral excellence.
Proverbs 2:7: He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is bleamelss, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Proverbs 15:8...the prayer of the upright pleases Him.

Titus 1:8 - Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined

Titus 2:12 - It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

We will look at the story of Job. There are a couple of color sheets here and here.

V is vision. A vision is a dream from God. We will talk about Isaiah's vision of Jesus' birth again. This will tie in the letter P for prophet and again repeat the story of Jesus' birth. There is a color sheet here with the memory verse. I like these activities too - Reece is at just the right age to do them: here

S & T

2011-12-20T19:30:00.000-06:00

S is for Scripture. We looked at few verses: "All Scripture is God Breathed" which the kids learned in Awana this year. And that "All Your words are true" and discussed that all the stories and words in the bible are true. Since we don't have time to do a craft each day and we are still finishing up the scroll craft from the letter P, I will use this to show them a version of scripture.

T is for Tithing. We give back 10% of the money we earn to the church. This goes to the missionaries and towards our church expenses. God gives us the money and we are to give back to Him. We will look at Malachi 3:10 and ask the following questions: Who gives us the money and all things/blessings? The world and everything good in it was given to us by the Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us. We show our appreciation by obeying the commandments and doing our part to help the church grow.

I got my children's piggy banks out and we took out 10% of each. They will set that aside and eventually we can cash it in and give it in the offering plate. I also found this cute idea - matching the different money around the world...the don't understand all of that but they do know how to match (tithing around the world)

This is our craft from the prophet lesson and also tying it into S - scripture lesson. We took a white piece of paper, printed the verse from Isaiah, and crumbled it up. Before we left this morning we dipped it in coffee (to make it look old) so that way when we got back it would be dry.

Look how old it looked...we made a scroll by rolling the ends over pencils and gluing it.

Reece with her rudolph the red-nosed-reindeer that we made at the library

We were making Christmas cookies and trying to make red frosting...but the kids thought it looked like blood which I so smartly tied back to letter R - resurrection...red...and the blood of Christ.

R for resurrection, the story we read, and the tomb craft.

The tithing activity...we roped in daddy since he's better at math. It's hard work counting all those coins from the piggy banks...especially being rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer.

This is where Reece had to match the tithe to the amount of money - all in different countries. The shapes of the money were outlined so that was why it was easy for her.

Q and R

2011-12-19T08:18:00.000-06:00

Q is for Quiet. We will be looking at several verses from this link. I found a color sheet of children listening quietly to Jesus here. We will be practicing our "quiet" skills while I read the bible verses!

R is for Resurrection. We will look at Matthew 28:1-10 and do this craft.

Our wall is filling up!

Lies Women Believe

2011-12-16T11:01:00.002-06:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been writing much the past 6 months. Or even more annoying that my "monthly" tip has turned into a bi-yearly tip if that is at all possible. Knowing the word more than the world is probably the most important "tip" we should follow and I have been struggling with this since I published it on the blog. So I continue to leave it on there as a reminder for myself!

The last 6 months to a year have really been rough for me. It all started with my trip to Costa in June. I guess I expected so much to happen to me because of that trip but I am still struggling to see why God had me go. I still feel like I haven't been able to process the trip and I feel like it is so unfair to my experience. I know that is a selfish thought, but that is how I feel. I went to bed feeling like a missionary, and woke up a mom and wife who felt very unappreciated for her efforts. I guess that should just be expected in the season of life that I am in, but I just thought it would be different.

The summer continued to go downhill for me. I had for the past 3 years, religiously (no pun intended) gotten up early to get my exercise and quiet time done before the kids got up. I was unselfishly always ready for the kids when they got up and things almost always ran smoothly. I felt great doing that and it stopped suddenly with my trip as I was preparing to leave and so exhausted when I reaturned. Then I just decided or believed a lie that it wasn't worth it...no one cared anyways and I should cut myself some slack and sleep in like so many other moms of young children do. I still stayed in the word, finished reading the bible in one year, and continued on for a 2nd round doing 100 days in the word with the women from my church. But my relationship with the Lord dwindled and He felt so distant. I was feeling more and more like I had done something wrong...so I continued in believing lies and sinning and going down wrong paths and making unwise choices (with money, friendships, parenting, being a wife). I have been drowning and overwhelmed trying to be a good parent and wife. My husbands long hours at work have been pulling us a part and its so hard to find time to connect when we have such small children that require so much of our time. In my heart, I know that we just need more of Jesus in our every day lives...putting ourself aside and doing what He wants...but we both continue to listen to and believe lies or half truths that the WORLD is telling us. I have to keep reminding myself to see what the word says...not what the TV, my friends (even good Christian friends), radio, input from others, etc say.

Things have come to a climax this past week or so. The anxiety that I thought I had under control, has been controlling me. I want to run away sometimes because I get overwhelmed by loud noises (due to the anxiety)...my heart palpitations are back as well as some spurts of insomnia and excessive sweating. I even had a rash and weird break outs! I have been feeling so out of control. I decided to try getting up early again. So I set my alarm and Monday I did it...worked out and showered and ready for the kids and we had a really great day again. I know that this is not the answer to my problems but it certainly helps and I know that is what God wants from me. I knew it three years ago when I started doing that and saw the many changes He brought on in my life because of it.

I honestly have some deep scars and wounds that I need to deal with from the past 6 months - many that I cannot share at this time. I have realized there are many other things from my past even back to my childhood that I have just not dealt with and it's time. It is likely that I will go to counseling although I am not sure where (I did research over the summer but then never committed). I know that my ultimate counsel comes from God alone and He will work and comfort me in ways that I cannot understand. I am leary to seek counsel and not have it come from the word...even good Christian counselors can give their own opinions and as we have seen...I am gullible and often believe what others say or others opinions.

Shortly after I was married (nearly 7 years ago), Brock and I attended a marriage conference where I purchased a book called "Lies Woman Believe and the Truth that sets them free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. They had ran out of the book at the conference but assured me they would mail it to me and took down my info. I never received the book. So back in January, I found it through a used bookstore online and purchased it. I was studying for my doula certificate and doing another study at that time, so I added the book to my library knowing I would read it some day. I talked to a friend about the book who advised me not to read it alone...to find a partner or do it as a study. Last week, I had another friend confide in me some things going on in her life that are very similar to mine. I told her about the book and we agreed to do it together. If anyone would like to join us, please let me know. It will be more like we read a chapter over a week period and discuss once a week over the phone or meet up if it works out. I have already read the first couple of chapters and I can tell it is definitely a book every woman needs to read. Not all woman believe in the same lies but we are all vulnerable to believing lies and half-truths from Satan...It's in our make-up...the way God made women...we can see that it started with Eve. Satan knows which things we will believe and he targets us for those. In the book, she gives many different lies we might believe and gives us the truth - what the word says about each of them - replacing the lies with truth. Memorizing these truths in my heart and mind will help me to destroy those lies from my brain! I remember writing about Eve this summer and how weak we can be as women...and I continued to be deceived. We can't do it on our own strength...we need the truth and word of God to help us. I know in my heart that this book has been placed in my lap at just the right time...although I do regret not reading it before this and possibly sparing me from some hardships. But God's timing is perfect and He is sovereign.

I'll leave you with a quote from the book by pastor Thomas Brooks: "Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death"

Letter O and P

2011-12-16T11:01:00.001-06:00

Today we will be looking at O. O is for Obedience. We will be looking at the story of God calling his disciples and how the obeyed without delay (Luke 5:1-11)

I got some information from Ministry to Children.com here. I also found a color page showing this story here.

We will also look at O for Ornament.

Tomorrow, for letter P we will look at Prophets. What is a prophet? A prophet is God’s servant who takes God’s message to the people. We will be looking at Isaiah 9:1-7. And also Isaiah 7:14 for our craft. I got the craft from here. While there I found a super neat advent thing you can do daily that is super easy. I might try to plan that one for next year. Has something to "unwrap" each day and a scripture for each. Click on that link I provided and scroll towards the bottom and it's called Advent Countdown.

We will also look at P for Presents.

Reece Update

2011-12-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

I noticed this past week that Reece has been going to the bathroom very frequently. I am talking 4 or 5 times in a 20 minute period or a dozen times an hour. She is not complaining of any pain and has told me that it does not hurt. I took her to the doctor assuming it was a bladder infection or urinary tract infection. They tested her urine and it came back negative for that. They tested again in 48 hours and that also came back negative. They have referred her to a pediatric urology specialist who she can't see until Feb 1st because there are not many pediactric doctors that specialize in this area. In the meantime, we will be heading to St Joe on Jan 2nd for an abdominal x-ray and sonogram. I imagine that if something was very abnormal during that visit, they would get us in sooner to the specialist.

I can't imagine waiting that long to see someone and her having this issue that has rapidly taken over her life this week. She is beyond frustrated and even embarrassed by it. A couple of nights ago as I put her to bed, she was sobbing out of frustration. She told me she never wants to go to the bathroom again and asked that I pray with her and ask that God take it away from her. This is the child who could hold "potty" for 5 hours! It interrupts every part of her day and night. She is not sleeping well as she gets up a lot to go to the bathroom. She is not uncomfortable other than that. I had her lay down and I pushed some on her abdomen to see if I could feel anything. I didn't feel anything and she didn't complain of any pain. I also have been going with her to try and push her to go more (because it's usually just a trickle) thinking that maybe she was not emptying completely - like they do when they are first being potty trained. She cries out of frustration saying "that is all there is" but then returns 2 minutes later with another trickle.

Her doctor told me it could be considered what they call a bladder spasm. Something has caused it to spasm and that would be resolved by medicine - but she would have to wait until after she saw the specialist Feb 1st!

A nurse I talked to yesterday said that if she was constipated that could cause pressure to her bladder. She never has had a problem in that area and goes regularly...almost at the exact time every day. So right now we are unsure what is causing this.

I guess I am asking for prayers for her - that we could get an answer quicker than they are saying and that she will not grow weary and more frustrated. We ask that it would not be anything life threatening as well of course. We know that whatever it is, God is in control and He has a plan in all of it. We are anxiously awaiting an outcome. Please keep this situation in your prayers!

M and N

2011-12-14T14:22:00.000-06:00

Today we looked at M but since I have N done for tomrrow, I'll post that here also that way if you are doing this, you can get ahead of the game.

For M we looked at Mary, the mother of Jesus. We looked at several passages of Mary in the bible - most important - the events of Jesus birth (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-56). It all related back to many of the other letters we have already looked at.

For N, we will look at Nativity. We have a cute "build your own nativity" craft that I printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler. We will all read "Come and See" book about Jesus Birth. We will look at different pictures of nativity scenes. We will read the story of Jesus's birth in Luke 2:1-7 and the read with me bible page 252-266. 1/2 way done!

Letters I, J, K, L

2011-12-13T18:22:00.000-06:00

Today we got all caught up and will only focus on 1 letter a day (most days) until Christmas. We will also be reviewing some of the other letters and really trying to discuss what we have been learning.

Letter I was for Immanuel. Immanuel means "God with us". Immanuel is the name of the Messiah as prophesized by Isaiah in Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8 which I read to the kids. We also looked at Matthew 1:23. I could not find a craft or color page for this.

Next we looked at the beautiful name of Jesus. Jesus is the Savior of the world, the son of God. By defintion he is a teacher and prophet (which we will look at when we get to letter P) whose life and teachings form the basis of Christianity. We talked about his upcoming birthday and his parents Mary and Joseph again. We did J for Jesus tracing page with a nativity color page on the bottom. I also pulled out this Jacobs ladder activity which could be traced back to the H - Heaven we looked at yesterday and also J. Brody colored the words JOY.

K is Kneeling. We talked about what it means when we kneel while praying...it brings honor to God and shows we are humble. We looked at Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 22:40-41, Psalm 95:6). And we talked about that it is most important that we come humbly before God when we pray and with a sincere heart.

Next we looked at L for Love. Jesus loves everyone. We looked at 1 Cor 13, John 3:16, Galations 2:20, and 1 John 4:9:11. We colored a picture that shows how we love God with all our heart, soul and might. Brody did a little color sheet that shows L is for Lights which have been seeing a lot of. We are going to the Festival of Lights next week.

Letters C, D, E, F, G and H.

2011-12-12T15:08:00.000-06:00

We had a busy weekend so I got behind on the letters and also posting. We did do letters C and D on Thursday, but we didn't get to E and F until yesterday and G and H today.

For letter C we looked at the Church, Christ, Christmas, and Candy Cane. We colored a big letter C that said Christ and we talked about what that name means. We also read the Legend of the Candy Cane which tells about how the Candy Cane was "invented". We enjoyed eating candy canes afterward (even though it was early morning). Here are the kids with their J for Jesus and their Shepards staff (learned about in the book).

For D we looked at the word Disciple and discussed what a disciple is and how many of them there are. We looked at the Fishers of Men story in their read with me bible. And we looked at several short passages in the bible (Matthew 9:35-10:8, Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-18, and John 1:35-42). They colored a big letter D that had the word disciple on it and also all the names of the disciples.

For letter E we looked at Eternal Life and what a gift that God has given us through His son Jesus. Eternal means without beginning or end; forever; timeless. We looked at a few passages in the bible (John 3:16, Romans 6:23, and 1 John 5:13). Just as God gave us a gift of eternal life, I gave my children a gift to represent it. I gave to Reece a necklace of a cross that I wore when I was a child. I gave Brody a little glow and the dark cross that I had hanging in my room as a child. I meant to take pictures of this but got a little carried away.

For F we looked at Family. We talked about the first family of Adam and Eve and also Jesus's family. We looked at two stories from our Boz book that talk about how God made families special and how families love each other. No craft for this one that I could find. My idea was to do something fun as a family - which we have been doing alot anyway.

For G we looked at God. We looked at all God created in Genesis 1 (Using their read to me bible since it's more appealing to them). We talked about how God sent His only son to save us from our sins.

H is for Heaven. We talked about the characteristics of Heaven found in Revelations 21:3-5: no more crying, no more pain, no more evil, streets of gold, etc. And tied it back to the letter E for eternal life and God.

Tomorrow we will look at I and J. I is for Immanuel and J is for Jesus. I have had a lot of trouble finding good/simple crafts for the other letters, but there are a boat load for the letter J. So I must go and work and that so I will be ready for tomorrow.

Oh, and here is a picture of our display wall of all the letters and things we have been working on. We are quickly going through them all before Christmas, but my hope is to go back and focus on each one a little more through the winter!

Daily Christmas Activities

2011-12-07T16:43:00.000-06:00

The last couple of years we have had some Christmas traditions with the kids. This year I am starting a new one. I'll try to post them daily so that you might be able to use some of it too. It did take hours of preparing but I think it will be worth it in the long run to be able to teach and spend good quality time with the kids. And we can reuse them from years to come. It only takes about 10 minutes each day (although preparing took hours).

One thing we have done since Reece was born, is our advent calendar. It's a magnetic board with numbered boxes surrounding it. In each number, there is part of the nativity scene that they unwrap and place on the board. Since I have two children, we rotate who takes it out each day. They are exicted to do this as soon as they come down in the morning.

The new thing I am starting has to do with the alphabet plus parts of Christmas (mostly biblical some not). If you have noticed, there are 26 letters in the alphabet and 24 days of December - before Christmas. You could start it November 28th or you could double up on a couple of days. I have to double up a lot because I started it late (due to all the reseach). Since it is December 6 we should already be on letter F...so I will double up the next few days to catch up.

Today we did A and B. I found a power point on line (Pinterest) that I used to come up with the cards. I printed them and pasted them to cardstock/scrapbook paper. I researched each subject, wrote info on the back, and then found stories/scripture, and activities to go with each.

A is for Angels. There is a picture on the front of the card and then on the back it has verses and info to go with Angels and any resources I will be using...such as "read from Christmas book page 42-49 " which is all about angels. Then I found an angel craft online and even a color sheet. I also have A tracing dry erase cards and sheets from a curriculum book we use sometimes (this is more for Brody since he doesn't know his letters).

B is for Baptism and also Baby Jesus and Bethlehem (I used a baby Jesus for the craft since it was more interesting than Baptism, at least for the kids). We talked about Baptism and read the story about John the baptist and when Jesus was baptised in their "Read with Me" Bible page 286-289, reference Matthew 3 and Mark 1 if you don't have this bible.

Coloring their Angel crafts...

Angel craft and Baby Jesus craft complete.

I am doing these each kind of day by day but I have some started in advance. Tomorrow we will be doing C - for Church (card picture) and for Christ, talk about Christmas and we will do a candy cane craft (one that relates to Christ - candy cane upside down is a J - Jesus and what it stands for). I also have a book about how the Candy Cane came to be (Legend of the Candy Cane). I also have a Christ color sheet that I found on Pinterest (see likes on my pinterest). We'll end with having a sweet peppermint bark treat from Ghiradelli :) Or maybe just a candy cane...

D - we will look at being a disciple. Looking at the story of when Jesus calls the disciples (Matthew 4:18-22 Mark 2). Reading it out of our "Read with me Bible" page 290. D color page with the disiples on it.

Friday we will just do E because we have a busy day. E is for Eternal life. I wrapped up a small cross for both of my children to open and we will talk about what all that means - haven't done all the work on that one yet.

Saturday we will look at F. We will focus on Family on this day.

I am also going to start this wall hanging thing, where we can hang these all in order. I will show a picture of that once I get it up and going.

I feel like I have done more researching and preparing then actually teaching...is this how it feels to homeschool? I realize that using this next year, it won't be as hard but still. I feel guilty taking all this time to prepare and then it only takes 10 minutes to complete with them. So I apologize in advance that these are only the "clif notes" versions but I am not as good as some bloggers who link to everything. I don't know how they have time to put it all together, teach it, and share it with others. You might have to do a little work on your own but if you are really interested in something I have on here, just ask and I can send the link, document, etc. Some of it is a work in progress.

Santa Visit to Bass Pro Shop

2011-12-05T18:18:00.000-06:00

I forgot about these until I just saw them in a kitchen drawer. We had these taken the week before Thanksgiving. I met my brother, his wife and my neice there so the kids could do the craft. There was so much for the kids to do and see. Brody went and saw Santa like 7 times while we there. He asked for dollhouse and something pink...I guess you can tell he has an older sister. We thought maybe the something pink was a gun from bass pro shop but we are still unsure what he wants. He did ask Santa for some snow also to which his sister replied "You can't wrap snow!"

A little kitchen updating

2011-12-05T17:09:00.000-06:00

I did a small update to my kitchen a couple of weeks ago. I never liked the color in there but there is not a lot I can do because of the counters and flooring. Glad the counters have specks of black in them...that helps. I went with a coffee house type theme - black and tan - and actually decorated above all my cabinets which I had never done before. Here are some before and afters...and some tips on how to update knobs and things for cheap!
Old light green paint - facing back door

New - black and tan wall

Tan with new picture

Old - hallway with coat pegs

Tan wall with newly painted black pegs (spray painted)

Old - above stove

New above stove - added lights, a couple of vases with some color and a picture - I have added a couple more things since this (hint - orange)!

Old desk area/microwave cart area

New - notice microwave cart. It was an old vintage (probably from the 70s - Brock had it as a kid) brown cart covered in contact paper...now spray painted black.

Old - view from living room

New - view from living room

A couple of new things - clock, vase, picture, and a couple of old things I found in the basement

Black above cabinets - oversized coffee mug that I got for $5!

Okay...so did anyone notice the knobs? In all the before pics they are white and now they are black! I did NOT replace them - it's black spray paint! I did some research online and found that if you use a bonding primer, it should work. I figured if not, I'd replace them then. So instead of at least $50 in replacement knobs, I paid around $5 for primer and black spray paint (added clear coat which I already had at home).
Here's how I did it. Took all the knobs off and washed them in soapy water. Rubbed a little sand paper on them (and I mean like 2 seconds per knob). Used styrofoam craft pieces that I already had at home and put toothpicks in them. Put the knobs on top...

Primed them. I let them dry for 1/2 hour and then sprayed them black. Then did the clear coat and let them dry over night. Super easy...so far (2 weeks in) they paint still looks great. Based on the shape of mine I would recommend putting them top down first and spraying the bottoms until completion first. Then hanging them on the toothpicks to do the tops. (this bottom one was a card board box with the toothpicks - a bit harder to poke through)

I am loving the rich, comforting feel and look of the "new" kitchen. Down the road I would love to replace the counters and flooring. I am currently doing research on how to replace counters for cheap (including these paint kits they have now!). Right now I am settling for some new rugs and enjoying the new decorations.

Reece get's a hair cut!

2011-12-05T15:35:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Reece got all her long hair cut off. I think it was around 8 inches. I am posting a picture of her and the new do and also her preschool picture that shows her long hair. I thought the pre-school picture was so good so I just had to post it. We loved the long hair but we love the short hair too. We are easy to please when it comes to hair I guess. I do think the short hair makes her look older though so not sure how I feel about that. (FYI...headband in the short hair picture is a bit over the top for me but she picked it out)

Updated family pictures

2011-12-05T15:13:00.001-06:00

Since most of my Christmas cards are out, I decided to FINALLY update my blog with our family photos. We used the one at the top of the blog (2nd one on this post) on our Christmas card along with a few pictures of the kids. I also included a Christmas letter like last year. I didn't include the letter in all the cards as I know some people will read the blog and can read it here on this post.

I liked this one below better of Brock and I but the 2nd one below was a better one overall of the whole family. They were also edited in two different ways...I like them both for different reasons but still really don't know what I am doing! :) In fact the 2nd one on this post was edited by my sister in law because I screwed it up too bad! I'll mention also that these were taking with my camera by a neighbor in the lot behind our house. You can see our garage in the photo if you look hard enough!

Christmas Letter 2011:

Greetings Friends and Family!

My Christmas letter last year ended with us praying and asking for better wisdom in parenting and obedient children in 2011. While neither of those things happened until more recently, my reading material and spare time in 2011 was focused on reading child discipline/parenting books or attending parenting classes/seminars. All the while we prayed a lot and relied on God’s strength and wisdom in parenting. I am here again this year to pass onto you our proudest, most hilarious, and/or weakest parenting teaching moments of 2011.

· (Stating the obvious) On Valentine’s day upon receiving flowers from daddy I asked “Who do you think brought me these flowers?” Reece said “The mailman!” (Feb)

· (Learning colors) When going through colors with Brody, I got to green and asked “What’s this color?” and his response was “John Deere” (Feb)

· (Growing up) Reece was crying about career day at school, saying “I don’t want to be anything when I grow up…I just want to be a little girl” (Feb)

· (Teaching eternity) On the way home from school as she was staring into the clouds “Mommy, I’m going to go to heaven someday and meet Jesus. But how do we get there?” (Mar)

· (Teaching salvation) Me: "Do you know why in that song they say " ‘He conquered the grave’?" Reece: "Because He died on the cross and didn't go to the grave." Me: "Where did he go instead?" Reece: "To JAIL -Hooray!" (Oct)

· (Teaching figures of speech) After telling Brody I’d love to be in his shoes, he responded with “Okay, mom…my shoes outside.” (April)

· (Realities of sarcasm) Brody went to bed without brushing his teeth, crying Reece says “If Brody doesn’t brush his teeth, they will all fall out!” (July)

· (Understanding reality) After seeing a scary white pit bull on the loose in our neighborhood, the kids were scared. I hear Reece say to Brody "If that white dog eats our mom, we won't have a mom anymore and we'll have to go to work with dad.” (Oct)

· (Facing reality) "Bye, Mom...I'm going to work" Me: "What do you do for work?" Reece: "Build buildings like daddy and visit all my friends like mommy does every day"...BUSTED!! (Oct)

· (Sharing) Brody asked Reece for a bite of her lunch. She said no. I said "what have we been learning about and what does the verse say about sharing?" She says "It says 'don't forget to share with others' but it's talking about toys…not food". (Sept)

· (Proper language) When explaining that we will use the word bottom versus butt (even though so and so is allowed to say butt), Reece says “so we can’t sing that song that says ‘ba, ba, da, ba, da, da?” (country song by Billy Currington – Love Done Gone) (Nov)

· (A parenting personal favorite) “Mommy, we don’t like spankins cuz those hurt!” Me: “Well, if you don’t like spankings, you better like obeyin!” (Nov)

We continually pray for parenting wisdom and protection over us and our children. We daily pray for their salvation, tenderheartedness, and obedience. Here’s to continued strength and love from above for the next year to come as we rely on God’s help to bring our children up with discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord (Eph 6:4). We know that no discipline is enjoyable while it is happening-it’s painful for all involved. But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained by it (Hebrews 12:11). We look forward to that blessing! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

In Him,

The Bauers

~Brock, Lindsay, Reece (4.5), & Brody (3)

Organizing kitchen drawers

2011-11-15T08:17:00.000-06:00

With the colder temps, I have been cleaning and organizing like crazy. Got a similiar idea off of pinterest for my measuring cups which were in a drawer.

Used smaller "command" hooks and lined them up inside a cabinet door in my kitchen. The cabinet I chose is right next to the stove where all my spices are. You could do the same with table/teaspoons. I used my label maker to put the sizes next to them.

Disney Princess Live

2011-11-15T08:16:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend, Reece and I along with her cousins Kennedy and Gracie, my 2 sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law, went to the Disney Princess Live at the Civic Center in Peoria. It was 3 fairy tales - Snow White, Cinderella, and Beauty in the Beast. We took the girls out for lunch after church and then headed to the afternoon show. The girls had so much fun and they each dressed up as one of the princesses.