Mother-Daughter Fun!

I've been keeping a journal for Anna Grace since before she was born. Simple notes and letters from to her filled with thoughts I have towards her, things I would like for her to know, funny things she has done, etc.

Tonight I was perusing a book I actually purchased for some teenage friends of mine to go through with their moms called Girl Talk: Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood by the Mahaney ladies that discusses what God intends the mother-daughter relationship to be and how we can attempt to make it that way by His grace. There is a chapter on communication that I was reading today that talked about the importance of pursuing relationships with our daughters even when they don't seem that interested because it's our role to be the initiators with them.

Currently Anna's general looks towards me are of complete joy and love - I can't get enough of them! When I come into a room she usually lights up! Sometimes I honestly just get overwhelmed by how much joy her adoration brings me and amazed by her sweetness towards me. I know it's a gift from God that I don't deserve and so I intend to cherish and be grateful for every moment that she enjoys me so well!

I also know that she may not always be so fond of me, but while that could give me grounds to be nervous, as I wrote to Anna Grace tonight in her journal, I concluded with verses 20 and 21 from Ephesians 3...

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

I know that I don't deserve it - I rolled my eyes at my mom so much it's embarrassing, but it is my prayer that even though we are bound to have conflict and struggle that Anna and I will share many more moments of affection, sincerity, intimacy and joy even as I have found with her now. I intend to ask this often of God and I trust in Him to do better than I ask. I'm so thankful that He doesn't give good gifts based on our goodness!

Just for fun :)

Our little girl is growing up fast!

For those of you who think that when you become a parent you lose your ability for risk taking and adventure, think again...

The above photo was taken the other night when we decided to take Anna Grace to Tygart Lake State Park only hours before her bed time - risk number 1. Risk number 2 - listening to the beloved GPS instead of following the signs that said "Tygart Lake State Park." That lead to Adventure #1 which meant Anna Grace got a very late evening meal and into bed very late as well - but, we got good pictures and found a great trail.

Risk #3 came when I thought I could carry Anna from her changing table in her bedroom to the bathtub without a diaper. Begin Adventure #2.

This parenting thing gets more and more fun, and I absolutely mean it!

Joyful Recommendations: Crockpots

I love the crockpot because I can throw the ingredients in and then walla - our dinner is ready in the evening with little prep!

Here are some of our favorite crock pot recipes as promised:

Spicy Turkey Chili (allrecipes.com)

2 (5 ounce) cans turkey meat, drained (I get fresh turkey from the deli and cut it up or cook & use ground turkey)
2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian-style stewed tomatoes
2 (1.25 ounce) pkgs chili seasoning mix
1 (4 ounce) can green chile peppers
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 onion, diced
1 cup water

Directions:

1. In a slow cooker, combine turkey, beans, tomatoes, chili seasoning, chile peppers, tomato sauce, onion and water. Cook on low 3 to 4 hours. Serve hot.

Rich & Tasty Beef Roast (Reita F. Yoder in Fix-It & Forget-It Recipes)

10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup
3-5lb beef roast
oil
1 pkg. dry onion soup

1. Spread mushroom soup in bottom of slow cooker.
2. Sear roast on all sides in oil in hot skillet. Add to slow cooker.
3. Sprinkle meat with dry onion soup mix.
4. Cook on high 5-6 hours.

Serves 6-8

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Italian (Sherri Grindle in Fix-It & Forget-It Recipes)

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 cup water
8-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
4-oz. can mushrooms, drained

1. Place chicken in greased slow cooker.
2. Combine salad dressing and water. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on low 4-5 hours.
4. In saucepan, combine cream cheese and soup. Heat slightly to melt cream cheese. Stir in mushrooms. Pour over chicken.
5. Cover. Cook 1 additional hour on low.
6. Serve over noodles or rice.

Variation: Add frozen vegetables along with the mushrooms.

Serves 6

And while we're on the topic of slow-cooking, an encouragement about being patient taken from John Piper's book, Battling Unbelief - another recommendation in itself!

James 5:11 - "You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and gracious.

"James wants us to see the purpose of Job's suffering. The word for 'purpose' is telos and mean 'goal.' It was God's goal in all his dealings with Job to be merciful, and fit him for a greater blessing...The power of patience flows from faith in this truth: In all [God's] dealings with us his goal is 'compassionate and merciful.' Faith in future grace is faith in grace that is sovereign, and sovereignty that is gracious."

If you are suffering or have been set back by something unexpected or simply delayed in getting daily tasks done by some interruption, remember that God is sovereign over everything, and gracious in His sovereignty. According to Romans 8:28, if you belong to Him, He will work every set-back together for your good - even if you don't receive the good here, you will in heaven. According to Paul, death now even serves the Christian because it is the way that we receive heaven and there stand face to face with our redeemer and receive every good thing we have only partially tasted in the here and now.

If you aren't a believer, check this out. And even if you are, it's a great reminder!!!

Happy waiting :)

Joyful Recommendations: Once A Month Cooking

So on Monday I took my first stab at something called "Once A Month Cooking." The basic gist of it is that you plan out all the dinners you will eat that month and cook them all on one day and freeze them! There is a website that describes it and has some recipes.

The recipes included on the site typically have "cooking day" instructions and "serving day" instructions. While you are doing most of the cooking on one day, there is always at least the reheating bit, and sometimes you have to add a sauce or something before reheating. A lot of the meals I made also require some sort of side - like a veggie, salad, etc.

I didn't make 30 different meals, but I sure made a lot! The recipes I used from the site are bbq pork, chicken enchiladas, goulash, calzones (these came out HUGE!), mashed potatoes (a big hit with company that recently visited), chicken pie, and some others I can't quite remember right now! The enchiladas were highly recommended to me.

You can also use a lot of your own recipes, once you learn what freezes well and what doesn't! From personal experience, rice doesn't seem to do so hot!

I also made some recipes of my own and from others - sauces freeze great, so my mother-in-laws spaghetti sauce is an easy one to cook lots of and store, marinades, and we loved Megan's stuffed shell recipe, so I cook the shells, stuff them and then on "serving day" I just add sauce and bake.

I planned to cook fresh about once a week, and we usually go out to eat once a week. Knowing that along with other dates when we have plans with friends, I made meals for the rest of the nights leaving us completely covered for the month and then some since it's just Daryl and I! Due to that fact, I separate a lot of the meals in two containers or so, so that I don't have to thaw and cook more than we'll eat. That way we'll have the rest for other times. Btw, most things keep 3-6 months :) THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR THE DEEP FREEZER which makes this possible for us.

The pros of this are obvious - I don't have to spend a lot of time cooking each night which frees me up for time with my family, to serve more, to work, etc. We also spend MUCH less on groceries when we plan because I only buy exactly what we need. It limits grocery store trips which is a pro for multiple reasons in itself - I don't have to take Anna there again, I don't waste time, and I don't spend more money on gas :) Also, we eat out less and eat healthier. And last but not least, if we end up going out with friends or something last minute, no groceries are wasted because we can just keep things in the freezer for later! Whew hoo!

The cons - well, I don't have any right now! HOWEVER, it is a difficult investment at the beginning of the month, or whenever you decide to do it. You spend a lot of time choosing recipes and then make an ingredient/shopping list. I also had to spend a little bit of time making a plan for how exactly to cook. For example, I tried to chop all of the meat I needed at once, all the vegetables at once and separate them for the recipes, etc. You also spend a while at the store and then of course a whole day cooking and a few hours cleaning up as you can see from the picture at the top of the blog - that was the kitchen when I was done and I was even cleaning up some while I went!

Anna was FANTASTIC that day and I took breaks to play with her, but you may want to get some help with your kiddos if they're around. Also, plan on cooking on a day when you don't have other plans.

If this doesn't sound like something you want to do or could do at current, my other recommendation is this: when you make something freezable - a soup, casserole, sauce, etc, make double and freeze the extra. That way if you know a busy day will be popping up you can put it in the fridge the night before and then just heat it at dinner time for a quick meal! The crock pot has also been a good friend of mine since Anna has arrived, so hopefully I'll get some time this week to post some of our favorite recipes.

Please respond with your own recommendations and recipes as many brains and different experiences are more helpful than one! :)

Just for fun...



Isn't she great? Happy cooking!

Joyful Recommendations: Entertainment and Media

So often, for the sake of desiring to be entertained, people (this of course includes myself) watch things that they know aren't right, but make excuses...like, "well, it's just this one scene," or, "I would never do those things," or, "I'm old enough," "everyone else watches it," etc.

Romans 1:32 says, "Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." For the Christian, we often know (whether through the Word or the conviction of the Holy Spirit) when something isn't quite right with what we are watching, but many times because we either are too proud to think we'll be affected or don't have enough courage or don't believe God, we keep watching.

In the book of Psalms David scribes this prayer,

"I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me." (Psalm 101:3).

Granted we can't remove ourselves from every wicked thing in this world, and God doesn't even want us to be out of the world, He does want us to avoid putting ourselves in places where we are being tempted to sin - especially when we are paying $7/8 to do so.

I'd like to have the gumption of David and be courageous enough to stop rationalizing and have the faith to be obedient to God's Word and flee the temporary pleasures of sin (in this case, being entertained) to have the eternal pleasure of glorifying Him and growing in holiness.

There are times, however, when we ignorantly step into a movie theatre or put one in our DVD player without expecting it to be bad and then WAM-OOOOO...a totally raunchy, unexpected image pops up onto the screen and now resides in our minds. While our minds can be renewed, these things aren't helpful. I can STILL recall images from a movie I watched in sixth grade that I would rather not.

So onto joyful recommendation #2 which is a FREE recommendation that can help you avoid situations like mentioned above....

http://www.screenit.com

or

http://www.pluggedinonline.com

Both of these websites allow you to see a general synopsis of movies and then break the movies into categories like language, violence, sexual content, etc and list the instances of those things in the movie. While pluggedinonline.org is run by Focus on the Family, is easier to navigate, doesn't have advertisements, and gives a concluding remark regarding whether or not the movie (in the author's opinion) is worth seeing, I tend to prefer Screenit's site for the sole reason that instead of having to read the instances of language, violence, sexual content, etc contained in the movie, you can just view their table at the top which says whether the language content is "none", "mild", "moderate", "heavy," or "extreme." That way you can often make a decision without even having to read what the exact scenes are which can also sometimes effect our minds and therefore our hearts. PS - you don't have to "join now", you can scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and hit, "No thanks" and see movie reviews for free.

I'll leave you with a closing encouragement to "watch" what you watch :)

"Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23