Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Vacation

I will be on vacation through August 10. We are going to Tennessee to stay in a rather nice cabin. Will try to get back to posting more regularly, but not guarantees since that week is Vacation Bible School at our church.

Two prayer requests:

Kim, my sister-in-law who is having her gall bladder our on Friday.

Kara-mom of four with leukemia. She has not been doing real well. Her platelets which stop bleeding have been really low. (less than a tenth of what they should be). She also developed pneumonia last week. She is doing better. Her family is having a more difficult time dealing with all this as time wears on. Every time I think about this situation, it brings tears to my eyes.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Stretching Beef
As everyone knows, beef has been/is expensive! I have developed a few ways of stretching beef that has not brought complaints from my family.
  1. Add rice to ground beef to make it go further--you could use this in all types of recipes that call for meat--I try to do about half and half.
  2. You can add beans and rice to the beef in mexican dishes. I like to do this and then freeze half of it for a crazy day.
  3. Italian beef. I sometimes will cook a beef roast and a pork roast (both bought on sale) together. Add: Beef broth from the freezer (I don't use the broth when I cook the two together because I'm not a fan of pork broth)--about 1-1/2 cups depending on the amount of meat, 1 tbsp each of italian seasoning, basil, and garlic, two tbsp minced onion, 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. each salt and fennel. You can adjust herbs to your preference. Cook in crockpot on low all day.
  4. Mooing Pork. I basically will use the same recipe above with just a pork roast if I don't have a beef roast. It tastes a lot like italian beef. :o)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Duke Update

I haven't posted about Duke lately. He still is a lot of fun to have around and makes it much more bearable when Mike is out of town, especially when the kids are not home. At least I can talk to him and those overhearing don't think I'm totally crazy.

He has been attending Obedience school. He did fairly well until the "Down" command. He would NOT go down and through a little temper tantrum for the instructor. They ended up taking him the the head trainer. She kept him after class, so I guess he was put in detention! She worked with him a bit more and with basically brute force got him down. The kids were there and felt bad for Duke.

I'm happy to say we seem to be over the refusal to go down--he often goes down rather unhappily, but will comply. The instructor was very proud of him last class when he went down. :o) This will be the last class. He has learned sit, stay, heel, and down. His biggest problem is destractions!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Think on These Things Thursday

Here are a couple verses to think about in these interesting times. :o) Aren't you glad God is still in control. He's promised to take care of us, so NO worries. :o)

I Peter 5:7

Casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.

Matthew 6:33

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Kitchen Tip Tuesday


Mayonnaise Substitutes


Last week we wanted potato salad, but were VERY low on mayonnaise. We used half mayo and half plain yogurt and it tasted really good. We could have also used sour cream, but yogurt is cheaper and healthier. :o) I'm looking forward to trying this in more salads. You could probably use a combination of mayo and yogurt for sandwich spreads also to cut the calories and fat. Of course, mustard is always the best choice for sandwiches since it has almost no calories and no fat! Now to convince my hubby and kids!


***Has anyone else thought about what a weird word mayonnaise is?! I had to open Microsoft Word and type it in to make sure I spelled it right. I think I might use the abbreviation a bit too much! ;O)


For more great kitchen tips, visit Tammys Recipes at:

Monday, July 20, 2009

Finish of Recap of vacation

On July 4th weekend, we drove about two hours to my second cousin's house. My sister met us there!!! :o) :o) Ruth is my grandpa's brother's daughter. She is older than some of my grandpa's sisters. I learned more about my grandpa's immediate family. It was interesting. She scrapbooks and her sister researches geneology. I also got to see pictures of my dad as a boy and hear about their trips to see my grandparents and how much they enjoyed it.

We basically relaxed and caught up on old times. We also got to see the church my Great Uncle did all the stone work on and pastored. Played Scrabble and was utterly KILLED. She can make three words at a time instead of just one!!! I knew I was in trouble when she gave me a list of ALL the possible two and three letter words!!! Unfortunately, the two letter words I wanted to make were never on the list!!! I seem to have ALL letters, or ALL vowels, they don't play well together for me. I did manage to win at Chicken Foot, a domino game.

The kids or Aunt Molly found a wounded butterfly that the kids enjoyed holding and trying to feed. We went to her church on Sunday and then to a nursing home to sing. They also had an Italian themed pot luck.

On Monday morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. YUM, YUM!!!

Then we headed back to IL, picked up my mom and headed home on Tuesday.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Think On These Things Thursday

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

You reap what you sow...

Galations 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

I taught this verse to Junior Church last month and have been thinking about it this week. Largely due to a situation at work. It struck me, though when I was explaining it to the kids that God doesn't just say, you reap what you sow, but also commands us "Be not deceived." It is so easy to get caught up in the world's philosphy of do what "feels good" TO YOU. Don't worry about how your actions effect others, just if they make YOU feel good. This is deceitful! God however has commanded us to be kind, do what is right, etc. We need to follow HIS commands, not necessarily what we WANT to do! God is going to bless us when we do what is right.
Think of your life as a garden. If you sow kindness, you will reap kindness. If you sow anger, you will reap anger. There will be times that some weeds end up in our garden and we think were wronged unjustly, however if we think back and are honest, we sowed those seeds, maybe long ago! There may be times that someone else's weeds end up in our garden and maybe unjustly. What matters at the end of the day is what WE sow. God is going to bless when we sow things that are flowers in life, not weeds.

Flowers in life are: Phillippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

What is in your garden?

Weeds?

OR

Flowers?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Recap

I apologize for not posting much, but it has been busy since we returned from our trip and my mom is here.

To recap our trip, I picked the kids up at Camp on Saturday, June 27th, then headed to IL. The kids got to use their DVD player they got for Christmas for the first time. I'm amazed to be able to say we got it to work just fine WITHOUT Daddy along! Of course, I did have Timothy. We went to a friend's house in IL (hopefully they are still friends after I invaded them with four kids and four loads of laundry to do before Sunday morning when we had to leave for TN--Thanks Pam and Brian!) I got to go see my mom's new house.

We left Sunday morning, leaving behind "Z" with mom. Mike and I had found a church about 1 1/2 hours away that would put us a bit on the way to TN. When I got the "Harvest Baptist Church" the building had obviously been deserted for awhile and now read "arvest aptist Church". I went to a gas station and found another Baptist church. The kids learned about Christian rock music, unfortunately first hand. They realized it was wrong right away, thanks to Mr. Doyle Robertson. We arrived safely in Murfreesboro, TN. We went to McDonalds so the kids could play in the outdoor playland. We bought five icecream cones and a cheeseburger for $4.12! We went to church at Franklin Road Baptist Church. It was a great patriotic service. David Gibbs of the Christian Law Association was the speaker. We went to the Bill Rice Ranch after church. I always feel a little like I've come home when I go to the Ranch. Some things have changed since I was last there about 7 years ago, but it is still the same in many ways, especially the most important--their standards and preaching! It is so nice to go somewhere and see that they are standing by the Word of God and not compromising!!!

The camp week was relatively uneventful. A few bumps and scrapes and creepy crawlies to deal with, but overall a good week. I'm so thankful the Lord answered my prayers in this regard. The most excitement was provided by "T" who was knocked out for a few seconds by accident playing basketball. He was fine, though.

The kids and I did get to go on a Cowboy Cookout. The preaching was great. I enjoyed meeting old friends and making some new ones.

I'll probably post more later about the weekend. The clock is running away from me! :o)

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Think On These Things Thursday

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

What is Love?

Dr. Bill Rice preached on what love is while I was at the Bill Rice Ranch. I had heard him preach on this before, but it was a good reminder and has been a help in my life. I know it would be even more helpful if I would remember it and apply it to my life more!
So often love is seen as some gushy feeling. This is not how the Bible defines love, however.
Here is the Bible definition of love:
Romans 13: 8-10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
To define love practically is to simply define it as doing what is right. Jesus even reminded us of the commandments that deal with our relationships with others when talking about love being the fulfilling of the law. He goes on to talk about loving our neighbor as our self. We tend to be pretty good at watching out for ourselves, but what about for others?

So to put this into practice:

If we say you love the Lord, are we: obeying His Word, spending time with Him by reading our Bibles and praying, going to church, witnessing, maintaining a good testimony, etc.

If we say we love our family are we: being kind, patient, helpful, not leaving things for the other person to do when we could do it our self, talking about them in a kind way, not complaining about them to others, etc. Also, in regards to our children, are we disciplining them, teaching them Biblical truths, spending time with them, etc.

If we say we love our friends are we: being kind, not gossiping, helping them, encouraging them, etc.

Basically, if we can remember that showing love is simply doing what is right by that person, our life and theirs will be much better!

Also, remember that God does not expect us to love other in our own strength, He expects us to rely on Him for the strength to do what is right!

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

We're back

We got back last night. The trip went really well. I need a little time to catch my breath and recover from driving 19 hours in two days, then I will have a better post. :o) It's back to work today. Hopefully they didn't realize they didn't need me after all. :0)