Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life
As expected, I lost the dog battle. I had a list of at least 10 good reasons we didn’t need to get him but alas, I can not withstand the puppy power.
Meet Tucker.
Mattie’s reaction: Uh, I don’t know about this, guys. Seems kind of scary!
He’s close! Too close to me!
Yeah, uh guys, I’m going back inside.
Poor Mattie. Bless her heart.
Back to the puppy.
He’s twelve weeks old.
Golden eyes
Brown nose.
Cute as a button.
As expected, Lexi loves him.
And really, I think I’m going to too.
Our first weekend back since vacation and I have to say although I miss the sandy beaches it felt good to get things done at home and spend time with family.
Friday night was uneventful as I had to work. Scott took the kids to their last night at VBS and let them spend their “money” in the store and eat.
Saturday was a fun day. OK, well, it didn’t start out that way. I got up and dressed early and did a mad dash to clean the house. The cleaning lady hadn’t been there for a week and we still hadn’t totally recovered from being out of town. My aunt and uncle were coming in town around lunch and with plans to swim at our house and tour the new addition, I had to have everything in order. It took a few hours, but we were looking presentable. They ended up coming in a little late and then my mom ended up taking them shopping for the afternoon so the girls and I ended up having a fun girls-only afternoon. Emma had been begging to do a spa day forever. So I put a mask on her (Lexi refused), put cucumbers on their eyes, let their feet soak and painted her nails. Oh yes, they got the royal treatment. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, which had finally decided to clear up while we were in Florida. The water was just under 90 degrees and it was fantastic. Saturday evening everyone mosied on over to the house, Scott got home from work and we ate some BBQ together and did a little swimming. I loved having everyone over.
Sunday we had church and ate with the family. The rest of the family went shopping for the afternoon while I took the kids home to the pool, sure that I didn’t want to watch the kids shop til they dropped. Sunday evening after Scott was off and they were back from shopping we went back to my mom’s for dinner and good family time.
Other random things that happened at the house this weekend:
I hope you all had a great weekend and are making great plans for the upcoming July 4th weekend!
I had the pleasure to share the story of the Blood Water Belt as part of an illustration for our church’s sermon on generosity. I filmed it last minute the night we got back from Disney at our place in Florida (check out the storms happening behind me!). I thought I’d share the video and point you to the full sermon so you can see how it was tied in. Click over to our church’s site and check out Week 3 of the Wise Man Says series. Below is the unedited video I shared with them.
I’m still in awe He would take my faults and turn it into something good.
I have had this book on my wish list since the day it came out. The Internet was abuzz with its message. But I have to admit, I was skeptical.
Last week my friend Jo Ann visited us in Florida and had read it on her road trip down. She raved about it. No sooner had I gotten back from Florida this weekend and my mom and sister were both on Facebook raving about it. Last night I picked the copy up from Mom’s.
The book itself is a great read. I noticed after finishing that it’s co-written by Lynn Vincent who also wrote Same Kind of Different as Me. The writing style and pacing completely made sense and accounts for why I liked the style of both of them so much. In the same way Same Kind of Different As Me had me up for nights just plowing through, I had this shorter book read in a few hours. I felt like you had a clear picture of the setting, characters and storyline. They did a great job of unfolding the story in much the same way they experienced it. So bravo on that end.
I have to preface my review of the content by another review I did of The Shack. I walked into that book unprepared. I didn’t realize it was fictional. I spent much of the book going, “Really?” Beyond that, the conversations with God supposedly happened and even those, I still question because they don’t align with much of my current theology. Basically, The Shack was well written but I don’t believe it. So going into this book I was skeptical. Really skeptical. Here is a family who is writing a book based on things a FOUR year old said. The biggest claim people say is, but that’s the point! A four year old wouldn’t know these things! And that’s right. I agree. A four year old wouldn’t know those things. But an adult would. And a creative adult can write any story any way he wants just like in The Shack. So I’m not saying the proof isn’t astounding. I’m just saying that a deceptive, creative set of people could write this book. There wasn’t anything about heaven that someone hasn’t conjectured already.
HOWEVER. Unlike when I read The Shack, I felt complete peace and joy reading the book. When I’ve read and listened to interviews of The Burpos online since then, I feel there is a sense of honesty there. They are just a family that experienced something supernatural and they’re putting it out there, no matter what you think. I’ve experienced that a time or two and know what it’s like to put yourself out there.
All of the things he said has lined up with Scripture, which I appreciated that they did throughout the book. In each interview, they are consistent in their message and don’t dodge questions.
Is there a small part of me that is still skeptical? Of course. People are capable of much more deception that you realize. But God is capable of what happened to this little boy too. So if I went in 50% sure of this, I came out 99% sure of it.
Which means. What an awesome story. What a good God we serve. How much more do I want to have that child-like faith. How awesome is the comfort so many people can receive from their story. And what color is my sash going to be??
I give it two thumbs and a Must Read!
Kelly’s Korner is hosting a Show Us Your Singles carnival and when my cousin, who by the way is also named Kelly, emailed me to suggest I participate by writing about my sister Heather, I just couldn’t pass it up.
So how does the carnival work? You write a post about a single friend or family member and then everyone links up back at Kelly’s. People start match-making and apparently, sometimes, it works! A few people have started dating seriously from this process and one couple even got married! Since Heather is into online dating recently I figured this couldn’t hurt.
But how in the world do I tell you all the great stuff from 30 years of sisterhood?
How can you start to capture all the times she’s made you laugh?
Or gone to a concert with you?
Or hugged your kids because she loves all babies so much?
Or celebrated with you?
How in the world do you describe just how much she loves animals?
Maybe it’d be a good time to tell that story how she literally swam through a lake to save a drowning dog’s life?
How can I describe how she’s been by my side through everything, even little things like meeting Spongebob.
Should I tell you how much she loves music and movies and TV or how much she loves pens and post-it notes? Or just how much she has a heart for God and what He has in store for her mate?
Or were you looking for “the stats” like
Or maybe I should just tell you how beautiful she is inside and out
because she is. And how any guy would be a LUCKY. GUY. to get her.
Yeah, ok, so maybe she doesn’t get a date out of this post but I sure hope she gets just how great I think she is. I don’t say it a lot.
But I mean it a lot.
Love you, sissy.
Oh and cute, single men, well-meaning mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and friends, leave a comment if you have a good match for her!
Well FINALLY we got our bathroom cabinets the day before I got back from Vegas. I am just ecstatic with them! They are exactly what I wanted
If you remember, these were my inspiration pictures:
From HGTV; Designer Lina Khatib
I’m very happy with how it turned out.
I just love how the lights are everywhere with all the glass and mirror in the room!
And while we’re at it, I’ll show you the girls’ room so far. I finally found a set of bunk beds on Craigslist and we went Sunday night to get them. The girls adore them but do NOT adore sleeping on the top bunk. Both have insisted it would be their turn on top the previous two nights and yet, they both end up on the bottom *twin* bunk together. Oh well, I’m going to take it while I can. Soon enough their bedrooms won’t be far enough apart.
The room is certainly not done, just the basics. I actually want to move the side table and get Scott to build the girls lockers so they can put their jackets, book bags and purses in it. They are also begging for a white board on that large green space in the last picture. Did you know white boards aren’t cheap?? Even the paint to do it yourself is $75 at Lowe’s!
All in all VERY happy with where we are. Still so much work to do, but we’re having final inspection on the addition on Friday. Wish us luck!
Lexi asleep with my work laptop (and Starbucks Frappuccino) nearby
Since I’ve gone full-time at work, it’s been really difficult to fit in everything I want to do. In fact, some things have completely fallen off the list altogether. But I’ve learned a few things over the years as a mom, and especially the past few months, to help life happen around here.
The Evening is Your Friend
As tired as you are set aside time after the kids’ bed time and before yours to get ready for the next day. Set out clothes, pack as much lunch as you can, even shower.
Freeze Your Meals
My mother will love this one but cooking and freezing ahead will be a huge time-saver, not to mention a stress-reducer.
Watch TV on DVR
Isn’t this a must? Don’t ever waste your time watching a show live. Did you know for a one hour show nearly 20 minutes are commercials? You save 30% of your time just by using a DVR. It doesn’t take much math to realize whatever the cost, it is worth it!
Or, Don’t Watch TV
Yep, I’m going there. Honestly, I do not watch TV since I started my full-time job. It saves HOURS every week and I do not miss it. Yes, you may need to wean yourself off like me. Even before I took my job, I started weeding out shows that I wasn’t fanatic about.
Run Errands Weekly
I used to run to the grocery store and bank anytime I needed. I had every lunch hour free to do whatever I want. But now, I group all my errands for a day that I work from home and run, run, run.
Use Your Drive Time
Use your commute time wisely. When commuting alone, use that time for prayer or listening to an audio book that you don’t otherwise have time to read. When commuting as a family, use that time for good family chatting or testing of skills like multiplication.
Put Your Kids to Work
Do not underestimate what your kids can help out with. My kids LOVE to help with laundry and yes, even clean the toilet. It saves you time and helps them learn tasks.
Automate Your Bills and Go Paperless
This is a no-brainer for me but making your payments automatically will save you time from keeping your eye on the due date, saves time writing the bills, not to mention the money on the checks. And while you’re at it, go paperless on all your bills and save yourself the time on opening and filing mail.
Put Your Calendar On Your Phone
It saves me so much time and headache to put all of our appointments in my phone with 2 reminders each. No longer do I have to spend head-space remembering them but I also don’t have to keep up with all the reminder cards or cleaning off the fridge or my purse of them. Plus, I don’t miss appointments.
Get Help
Maybe at one point you had it all together and could do everything but maybe, like me, a child or promotion later you just don’t have the time to get it all done. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I have no shame in someone else cleaning my house. I’m exhilarated that my Mom cleaned out my fridge while we were on vacation. Paid or not, welcome help. You don’t have to do it all. Let me repeat, you don’t have to do it all.
So, busy people, what else am I missing? I would love more tips on saving time as a mom!
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Starbucks blogging program, for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.
OK, to be fair, today’s post is not really a top 10 list. It’s the top 10 steps if you want to make Butch’s Spaghetti Casserole. Actually, it’s not “Butch’s Spaghetti Casserole” but my father-in-law is the one I learned it from so to me it is.
There’s nothing much healthy about this, but it’s one of those meals that is super easy to make and feeds a huge crowd. For father’s day, it fed 6 adults, 2 kids and we had at least 5 servings left over. If you can make spaghetti you can certainly make this!
1 – Brown 2 lbs of hamburger and cook 1 lb of noodles. There are no noodles in this picture but, you know, I’m not Pioneer Woman!
2 – When the meat is done, mix in 2 jars of Prego Traditional spaghetti sauce. So ok, you could use a different kind. Or not. It really is the best.
3 – While the noodles finish, let the sauce simmer and put in two cans of Cream of Mushroom into a 9×13 baking dish. And if you don’t have a Pampered Chef stone one, find one RIGHT NOW.
4 – Drain the noodles. Yes, I really took a picture of that.
5 – Dump the noodles on top of the cream of mushroom in the baking dish
6 – Stir the noodles and soup and flatten out a tad.
7 – Pour the meat sauce that’s been simmering on top. No need to stir a thing.
8 – Sprinkle about 2 cups of shredded cheese on top. Freshly graded!
9 – Cook on 350 for about 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce begins to bubble on the side.
10 – Stick some garlic toast in the oven!
Be sure to give each serving a little stir and you’ll have some creamy spaghetti goodness! Throw it on top a piece of garlic toast for a few bites. Mmmm….
Find more Top 10 posts over at ohamanda.com