Thank you Amy and Angie for inviting me to be a new CONTRIBUTOR!! I am humbled, terribly flattered, and not all that sure I qualify…but I’ll give it a whirl! And have to give a HUGE thanks to my photography group for teaching me all I know. I would be lost without them! Make sure you check out some of their work, Michelle (KK), Donna, April, Cyndi, Jennie…they are A*MAZING, true photographers with huge hearts!
OK, now, onto the PHOTOGRAPHY part of the post, which is why we’re all here:
My kids entry:
My handsome birthday boy in his FIRST swim meet!
My adult entry:
(OK, yes, I’m aware you should enter ONE or the other, not BOTH…yes, it’s my FIRST entry as a contributor and I’m already breaking the rules…sad huh? Cry for me….but HOW could I choose between the 2??)
I do not qualify to enter the contests, I just play along now for fun! Please check out the rest of the entries though!
Yes, I will get to it….I am just SERIOUSLY proud of myself here. I have this A*MAZING friend, named Lexie who does A*MAZING blog headers and buttons, and she is SO sweet to do them for me. But I have always felt SO stupid for not being able to do them myself! So the other day, I sat down, and just kept trying til I did it! I am MEGA-proud of myself! Now to remember how to do it next time…
Anyway, so now I have a new header and button. How cool is that?
Heidi does this Iron chef challenge every month, and every month, I get my “grill” on and try new recipes. This month there are *NINE* entries! OYE! BUT, they are all kid-friendly, made-by-kids recipes.
(I don’t use “grill” other than the one you cook on…I don’t know why I said that….sorry….I won’t let it happen again….)
Ingredients:
• 1 tube (11.3 ounces) refrigerated dinner rolls
• 1 can (8 ounces) pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/3 cup finely chopped green pepper
• 2 ounces sliced turkey pepperoni, chopped
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Gather the ingredients:
Rename Potato Washer, Pepperoni Stealer for obvious reasons.
Chop the pepper because I wasn’t about to hand over a sharp instrument to ANY of my children no matter how much they begged.
Have Child #1 flatten out the biscuits and put them in the muffin tin that have been sprayed with Pam.
Then have them spoon in the sauce…
Assure your oldest that the pictures are NOT going on the internet or the BLOG….
Laugh hysterically as he let’s his guard down and starts goofin’ off for the camera. BAHAHAHAHAHA
{ahem}
Remind the chefs they are to put the pepperonis ON the food…not eat it….again.
Pop ‘em in the oven for a billion degrees for about 3 days and VIOLA!
OK, now, let’s get real with this recipe:
It was good. My kids HATED the peppers and onions. And they lost interest after only doing 12. But in our family, and with friends over, we had to do 40 of those bad boys…so I ended up finishing the last 38. I only have ONE muffin tin, so this is how I cheated….pretty ingenius if I do say so myself:
I flattened out each biscuit with one of my glasses so it made a little cup in itself.
How sweet is that?
And then I added all the ingredients minus the peppers and onions and baked them. Got them done in half the time.
Rating:
Definitely kid friendly! NOT easy if you have a LOT to make.
Stay tuned for upcoming recipes! And THANKS HEIDI!
As a Mom, I’m used to eating last. Most of us are. Our lives revolve around our families, our husbands, our children….serve the man of the house, cut up the babies food, portion out the servings for each member.
And then we hope and pray that our food is still warm when we get to eat it. I don’t like cold dinner, don’t care for lukewarm either. I want it hot.
In our Sunday school lessons the last few weeks, and in my Bible time every day, I’m used to reading about the kings that start out good (if they start out good at all…) and then somewhere along the lines, they fail, they fall away.
What makes us do that? What makes us lukewarm? What makes us ON FIRE, and then cool? What happens?
For some of us, we get distracted. Things of the world are nice…shiny…pretty…and we are distracted. Our jobs take our time. Our family takes our time. We have to find time to squeeze in our work outs, or golf, girl time, boys nights, dates with our spouses, PTA, parent-teacher conferences, vacations….
…and somehow, our time spent with God grows less and less. It’s a hassle to get up 30 minutes early when you don’t get enough sleep as it is. Our break times or lunches are growing shorter and shorter and the work piling up….I’ll read my Bible tomorrow.
It’s easy to put it off and let it go. God’s not hounding me like my boss/spouse/kids are…
For some, it isn’t even time, it’s just laziness. I don’t want to do what it takes to stay close to God.
For some, it’s selfishness. In my line of work, I see a lot of this: I see parents drop off as early as they can before they have to be at work and then pick up at the very last second. I see parents who have days off every week and yet every day, I have the child. I understand wanting to run some errands alone occasionally, I do. I understand wanting to drop off on your day off so you can take a nap, get your hair and nails done, do some laundry without interruption. I get it. But when it happens ALWAYS, and the child knows their parents are going back home….I see their face. The look of knowing. The look of sadness. The feeling of rejection. And then, the saddest of all, the look of resignation.
I put that face to my Savior’s face. When you put that on Him, you desire to get up early. You desire to spend time with Him. You will set aside whatever you need to do, in order to continuously build that relationship.
Yes, I’m aware it’s a stretch, but it works for me. I do what works for me. I do not want MY SELFISHNESS to come before the Creator of the Universe.
Yes, Holy Father….I’m aware You put the bill on the duck-billed platypus….I know You parted a SEA……our timing is off because You made time go BACKWARDS….but could You hold on a few months? I wanna do MY THING for a while…ya know…..I’ll get back to You and stuff….maybe next year at CAMP….
Yeah, that’s not gonna cut it. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be that person.
So I’m trying. I’m not perfect, I’ve missed a few days of Quiet times here and there, but I caught up, and apologized. I desire my Savior’s company. I desire His words. Not for anything He does for me, not for anything He can give me….out of love.
I thank Him for what I have. I thank Him for what He’s done. And I thank Him for where He’s taking me.
One of my fondest memories growing up was having my Mom read to us as we fell asleep. I remember the little house in Kettering, laying in the twin bed, with my sister in her bed across from me, and my Mom sitting between the two of us, reading. She has one of those amazing reading voices that you could sit and listen to her all night, read from just about anything. She’d tuck us in, then turn off the light, and walk out of the room.
So, when I had children of my own, of course, I had to follow in her footsteps. I would let the boys pick out a book each, and then I’d always have one to end with, one that would calm them and have them drifting off to sleep in no time. Even after the boys could read very well on their own, I still went through the routine of reading to them.
Tuck them in, read til their sleepy.
And now, with Brooklyn, our routine is a little different, but it still consists of reading. She climbs into my big blue chair with me, I tuck her in next to me, and we read til she’s sleepy. Her favorite is “Guess how much I love you.”
It’s just one of those comforting things that Moms do.
Several years ago, before we had Brooklyn, when we went to live at the Children’s Home, that was a tradition I was going to continue. Yes, there were 5 different rooms to read in, and yes, there were up to 10 kids, it just meant I didn’t get to read as long. But I’d tuck them all in, and kiss them on the forehead and read as long as I could.
At first, I only did it with the younger girls, because I figured the teenagers would be “too old” for it and would not want to be read to.
Surprisingly, I was wrong.
I discovered that most of those girls had never had a mom to tuck them in. Ever. Much less read to them. So, the tradition continued with them. If they ever thought it was “baby” they never said a word, but I failed to do it, I’d hear about it.
So, when I started working in the Youth department at church, and started going to camp, the Lord told me to continue it with them. I felt pretty dumb the first time I ever did it (April, I think it was your first year!): walked around every bunk, tucked everyone in, and then told them I was going to read to them. I waited for the tomatoes to be thrown at me and the laughing to start.
But it never came.
Every year, I make sure my Max Lucado book “You are Special” is packed safely in my suitcase. We had a lot of new girls this year to camp, so again, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as I walked around the room and made sure everyone was tucked in, I sat down with my book to read….it really is such a sweet story….
And this year, the next day, one of the new young ladies came to me and told me that her home is hard, it’s hard to be there sometimes, and she’s never been tucked in, and she doesn’t ever remember her mom reading to her.
I hope it starts a tradition in her own family when she has one.
Sometimes, something so silly, so simple, can have such an impact on someone else.
Chandler’s done it. He’s broken the football/basketball mold and branched out on his own. He’s found something entirely his OWN.
Swimming.
And looking at the size of his FEET…they are roughly the size of scuba fins…it figures. And…..he’s REALLY good! He’s not just found a sport all his OWN, but he’s actually chosen well!
He’s the newest member of his swim team, and there isn’t anyone in his age division that is new as well, so he has to compete against more experienced swimmers who have been doing this for several seasons. This is good and not so good all at the same time.
Good: he gains massive experience himself. He’s competing against better swimmers, making him work harder to keep up.
Bad: he’s not first. By timing, in his category and age division, he’s first….but he’s also the only one. But he swims with more experienced swimmers, so he isn’t first….he can definitely keep up and hold his own, but he’s never first. That can be hard on an almost 11 year old’s self-esteem.
But so far, he’s loving it and he doesn’t seem to care that he isn’t the first one to the wall. And he’s so handsome….
We may have to teach him, though, that he can’t sell tickets to the gun show til he has some guns to show…. Somehow I don’t think his confidence is wavering any….
I mean, really, look at that face…
But there are definite differences showing up in our 2 boys now. Austin has always been more serious (though still fun, he’s not the entertainer that Chandler seems to be) and taken after Mike more in disposition, dry sense of humor/witty sarcasm, and love of football and basketball. Where Chandler has always been the laid back, easy spirit, goofball.
It’s exciting and sad all at the same time to watch them grow. My little boys have been replaced by older boys….fast approaching my height….and eating me out of house and home! They are growing up and as Austin likes to remind me “will be driving in 2 years” or “in 1 year, you’ll have 2 teenagers in the Youth dept”. I don’t think I can stand it. I miss the younger years, it had it’s challenges, but I knew they’d be with me a long time. Now, the time with Austin is quickly diminishing to years on one hand…
OK, I’m gettin’ all sad….let’s look at a pretty picture….
…and might I add….a FANTASTIC shot! I was so pleased to have captured it! LOL
I think I’ll use that one for next week’s competition even though I can no longer enter the contest…I can still post a PICTURE!
And I’ll enjoy Chandler’s new found sport, and his love for it. And I’ll help to foster his self-esteem if the time ever arises.
Can you take just one more? Can you take one more tv show, radio announcement, song, blog post, or memorial for Michael Jackson? Can you stand just one more news channel devoted in its entirety to a musician’s death?
Forget China and it’s unrest.
Forget North Korea and it’s firing of missiles on the Fourth of July.
Forget the Fourth of July….
All hail king Michael.
I am sick of it. Seriously sick in my heart, sick in my head, and darn near sick to my stomach over it. Everywhere I turn, people are obsessed over him.
He sang. He danced a mean little jig up there a time or two as well.
But let’s get real for a minute. He was a MAN.
I think. He was wasn’t he? I’m not even sure anymore of his ethnicity to be honest with you….they said he was black….right? So who knows.
I was only 3 when Elvis died, so I do not recall the hoopla over his death, was it the same? Was there this much WORSHIP of him???
I did turn my TV on FoxNews (yes, FOXnews, Jeff….I have a brain ) and I did end up watching maybe 20 minutes of Michael’s funeral. I was seriously flabbergasted over it. I sat there for most of that 20 min. with my mouth hanging open in utter and complete shock.
At one point, I KID YOU NOT, they had their HANDS RAISED as a Christian does in worship to God. That was it.
TV off. Done.
I do not understand this worship of a MAN. People by NATURE are flawed, even the best of the best, are not perfect.
This is my theory: people have pushed God so far away, so in order to fill the hole, they worship MAN. They go out of their way to raise someone up to place them in the hole that God created only for Himself to fill. It cannot be filled by anything else. No matter how hard they try.
Michael Jackson is NOT going to rise from the dead. Hate to break it to you. He’s not. Sorry.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. No other man can do that.
You cannot fill that hole, that longing for something, with anything but Christ Almighty. There is nothing out there, alive or dead, past or present, male or female, that will fit. That longing you have is your soul crying out for God.
A sparkly glove ain’t gonna cut it. No matter how good they glide backwards across the stage, it’s not gonna happen. Michael Jackson cannot save your soul. I’m curious if he found the Way to save his own.
So turn the TV off. Put the newspapers away. And for the love of Peter Pan, he was JUST A MAN! Let me give you some other talent that has been seriously overlooked for years:
This one even has cute little fishies to add a visual aid for your enjoyment
HIS name was Handel! Amazing huh?
How about a little MOZART? This one won’t put you to sleep, I promise:
Oh LOOKIE! One of my FAVORITES!
Or you just want a good song to worship CHRIST with….
Put the kids in the next room and crank that bad boy UP…..WOW.
Or you need a kick in the pants to get out there and do something for someone else….here ya go:
Do you see my point?
Michael Jackson was just another man…just another man that could sing. He had a talent, not even as talented as the above artists.
He is dead. So are hundreds of people everyday. He’s been gone 2 weeks, bury the poor man already.
Move on.
2 Timothy 3
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Today, as I was loading the dishwasher, cleaning up the lunch mess, and trying to restore some kind of order to my kitchen, I was enjoying the Ipod and the music from camp.
Lately, I’ve just felt all disheveled, just inner struggle, and I am looking for some kind of order for it. I sit at night and the early mornings and I read my Bible, more and more of it, like I’m starving, but it’s just not filling the entire need I have.
Today, it came to me: I need to overhaul my prayer time. I’ve overhauled my time spent in His Word, I need to overhaul my prayer time. I don’t know if it’s not enough, if it’s ineffective, rehearsed…I’m not sure.
So, I’m beginning a prayer journal. My existing one consists of scraps of paper with random names or needs strewn all over, mostly wherever I wrote them down…pictures in my Bible of people I want to remember and pray over…and miscelaneous pieces of memory that I’m trying to hold onto in my own head.
I am to make more of a concerted effort to set time aside for prayer specifically. I am to be more organized with it and set a time and a place for it rather than just wherever I happen to be.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that I am to prayer wherever I am, for whatever I want to, but this is different. The instructions I’m getting are different, I’m not getting the answers because I’m not wholehearted with it, I’m random and disheveled in my prayers, that’s the feeling of inner struggle I’m getting. I don’t want random answers to my random prayers, I want purposeful answers to my purposeful prayers.
These are just thoughts…..of course I have to blog them. They are not meant to apply to anyone else, just myself.
These are things laid on my heart today. That’s all.
This week, iHeartfaces asked that we share our patriotism and what it means to us.
I feel blessed to live in the United States. There are so many places outside of the US, I’d love to see, love to experience. I’ve only actually been outside of my country one time on a small day cruise almost 12 years ago to the Bahamas, so my experience with other countries is non-existant. But, I enjoy living here, in my mid-west state.
What I find most patriotic are these men that fought in the past or are fighting currently to maintain our freedom.
My Grandad that I am so very proud of that fought in the 2nd World War, landing with the 17th Cavalry Squadron on Utah Beach, Normandy, France on the 7th or 8th of June, 1944 as part of General George Patton’s Third Army serving under Colonel Reybold. On August 9, 1944, he was wounded in action near Morlaix, France where he caught a German grenade in the full truck of soldiers he was climbing into. He threw it back. In exploding, he was hit with shrapnel, but not seriously injured. My Grandfather saw firsthand the atrocities of the prison camps from the Holocaust, and to this day is moved to tears over it.
This man….I am terribly proud of:
Not my photo, full credit goes to my cousin, Ashley
This man, I am terribly proud of, my Dad:
Fought in the Vietnam War in the Navy.
This man, I’ve known this young man since he was 13 years old, now, in the Army, stationed somewhere in I*R*A*Q. Thank you, Joe.
Not my photo
This is patriotism at its finest, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.
Thank you to all the soldiers, past, present, future, male or female, who fight to make this country great.
“Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God”
Is that hard? Is that achievable? What makes us “right in the eyes of the Lord”?
Well…let’s take a look.
Does anyone even know who Asa was? Not someone we study often, not like Moses, or Noah, Adam and Eve, or Paul. Everyone knows them.
In consistantly reading through the first 5 books of the Bible, there is one constant:
They did evil in the Lord’s sight.
Chapter after chapter, verse after verse, king after king, this theme is continuous. There are some good ones sprinkled in, but the bad ones seem to be ever present.
Asa was the King of Judah and while he was King, they had peace for 10 years. Why did they have peace? He followed the Lord’s commands, he rid the city of pagan worship, and he gave credit to God for everything. In everything he did, he depended on God. He trusted Him. Asa was told something very powerful:
“The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” 2 Chronicles 15:2
In our day, we don’t have to worry about God forsaking us, if we are believers and followers of the Lord Jesus. But then, before the birth of Christ, that was a serious offense as we have learned.
So, now, what makes us right in the eyes of God?
Does reading my Bible everyday make me better than someone who does not? Does praying everyday to my Holy Fathergive me special powers? Does God answer my prayers first because I talk to Him more? Does refraining from smoking, drinking, random se/xu/al par/tne/rs, or drug use give me a bigger mansion in Heaven? Does God love me more than someone who does all those things?
If doing all of these good things gets me to Heaven, then I’m saved by works, not saved by the blood of Jesus, which would nullify the reason for the cross. I do not read my Bible everyday for brownie points or to make myself look better, that would be arrogance and a sin. We can get ourselves in trouble trying to make ourselves look better to other people, then we are seeking approval of MAN, not God….which would be sin. It’s a fine line there.
Asa aimed at pleasing God, and studied to approve himself to Him. Asa was not interested in anything else other than pleasing God. Changing my life and becoming Christ-like is out of my love for Christ alone.
“All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly and He was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.” 2 Chron. 15:15
Happy are those that walk by this rule, not to do what is right in their own eyes, or in the eyes of the world, but which is right in God’s sight. We find by experience that it is good to seek the Lord; it gives us rest; while we pursue the world, we meet with nothing but frustration.
Last point, pursuing God, and seeking His approval does NOT mean our lives will magically become easy and problem-free. We do not choose a Christ-like life for God to make our lives easy… rub the genie in the bottle and all our problems disappear. The world is FULL of people that “believed” in God, but the first sign of trouble, they get angry with God, and turn away.
Judah’s faith and trust was tested in this point. Armies came. Asa prayed to God and he fully depended on God. Our faith should NOT be based on what God can do for us. “I’ll believe in You if You save me from all the world’s problems, prosper my family, and sprinkle chocolate syrup on all my ice cream.”
A formidable army of Ethiopians invaded Asa’s kingdom. This evil came upon them, that their faith in God might be tried. Asa’s prayer is short, but it is the real language of faith and expectation from God. When we go forth in God’s name, we cannot but prosper, and all things work together for the good of those whom He favors.
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strenthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” 2 Chron. 16:9
So, I’ve been beating myself up a bit after getting it wrong with the Mexico trip.
But I’ve been very blessed with a very wise Momma. She called me the other day and she started off the conversation, not with “Hi!” or “Well, I’ve been meanin’ to tell you….” or “How’s my FAVORITE daughter?” (OK, she wouldn’t have said that, seeing that I’m not an ONLY daughter…), no, instead, she begins with:
“What have you learned?”
Now there’s a way to start a call….
“Huh? What do you mean? What have I learned?”
“You know, from all of this, what have you learned? God would not have brought you all the way through this without you learning a lesson. So what is it?”
I’m struck dumb for a minute.
What have I learned?
I wasn’t sure how to answer this at first, I’m too busy feeling sorry for myself…..
….pity party…..table for one…..
But then, God in all of His infinite wisdom, let me know:
I went from someone feeling inadequate and unusable…..to someone bolder and wiser and so in love with my God.
I went from someone scared of everything…..to someone willing to step outside myself and rely on God’s strength.
I went from someone who doesn’t trust that God will take care of me….to someone willing to put it all out there for God: “Lord, this is what I have, this is what I cannot handle, this is what I’m scared over”, and then I just have to trust Him. And then I get this email…
I went from someone not willing to go….to someone so excited I gotta sit on my hands to keep from wavin’ at everybody. (that’s my little shout-out to my Daddy, he taught me well. Love you, Dad!)
But seriously, in all honesty, I went back to the last place I heard God’s voice on this subject, and I waited.
Here’s my conclusion Mommy-style:
Chandler, when he gets excited about something, can literally jump up and down and his words will stumble over themselves trying to get out. Brooklyn, when she is excited, will dance in circles and yell in her not-so-lady-like-voice-but-incredibly-like-her-Momma’s “WAHOOO!!!”. Austin’s eyes get large and his face breaks out in this enormous grin and he shouts, “REALLY?? REALLY???”
So, being the Momma, after given the excited news of whatever-it-is to my children, they will do whatever it is I ask them to do. They fall over each other in their excitement to please the Giver-of-the-Wonderful-news.
Now, these jobs I give the Excited Children, may or may not be done exactly as I asked. They will leave it half finished or in a lot of cases, do it completely wrong. Not because they wish to upset the Giver-of-the-Wonderful-news….but they are excited, and they either don’t listen completely, or just do their own thing trying to please me, the-Giver-of-the-Wonderful-news.
This, in every form was me. I was so excited to realize that the Creator of the Universe desires MY company and has asked me to DO A JOB….that I jumped at the first chance of a Mission trip I saw. Surely God means THIS one….surely He must want me to do ALL of them….I can please Him with my willingness to serve….which is wrong thinking, and a blog for a later time.
So, there, in a rambling nutshell, is my answer to my Mom’s question put so boldly to me.
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