Some Precious Baby Drool

There are a couple of Grandmas that have been asking to see some more pictures of their newest grandbaby.  So, this post if for them.  If you don't like to see pictures of an adorable drooling baby, then you better not look any further! :o)

Teaching My Toddlers To Pray

During our family morning devotion time, Patrick read in a book the importance of teaching your children to pray.  The author said that even toddlers can pray using pictures as reminders.  That really got my mind thinking about teaching Silas and Callie to pray more specifically.  My older 3 have prayer lists like Patrick and I do, so I decided to make a prayer journal for my sweet 3 year old Silas, and my 2 year old Callie!

First,   I told them I needed to take a picture of them praying.  It was so cute!!  I loved their earnest, sincere desire to pray!  Then, I printed out those pictures onto computer paper.  Using the picture and fabric scraps I decorated a piece of felt to be the cover of their journals.  Then, I layered three pieces of flannel on top of one another, putting the "cover" on the top.

 Then, I sewed down the middle to make it into a book.

 Then, I printed out small pictures of family members, and also the word "Safe" and "Obey".  After cutting out the pictures, I glued them (with a glue stick) to another sheet of flannel, then cut around the picture to have the picture be its own piece that they can stick to the pages.


 Then, I sat Silas and Callie down and told them they have their very own prayer journal like Mommy and Daddy.  They were so excited!  I showed them that this will help them to remember who to pray for everyday.  They loved seeing pictures of all their family that they could touch, and stick on any of the pages.

 Now, every morning, they want to get their prayer journal down and pray.  I LOVE it!  One of the most important things I want to teach my children is how to pray to a loving, prayer-answering God. 

Daddy's Boy?

I have always tried to get my kiddos to say "mama" first.  Well, so far it hasn't worked.  They've always said "dada" and Patrick's  pretty proud of that fact.  My friend in Canada, Estelle, was even enlisted to be on my team to help Silas say "mama" first.  Well, that didn't work.  So, I'm trying my best with Micah! 

 I love watching him on Sunday mornings.  This photo is of him during our announcement/singing time.  He LOVES to watch his Daddy!  To be honest with you, I think it's wonderful how my kiddos adore their Daddy.  I think he's pretty great, too! :o)

A Merry Momma~The Heart of the Matter Study

We’ve all heard the saying, “If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t  nobody happy!”   Some days it’s just hard to be a happy Momma.  Are you like me and sometimes it’s rough from the moment you roll out of bed?  Your first sound is milk being spilled all over the floor.  You walk out of your room to find the entire Lego box spilled in the center of the living room.  You go to make your morning coffee and find the coffee bag is empty….you know what I mean, sometimes it’s just one thing after another and before you know it, you’re a little grumpy. 

Patrick asked me a couple of days ago, “Are you a little bit grumpy today?”  I’ll admit my first reaction was, “No, I’m Not!”  But then I realized that, yes, I was a little on the grouchy side.  Not a fun thing to admit!  But sometimes I struggle with figuring out how not to be grumpy or just getting over my grouchiness…and then the Lord taught me that I don’t have to go searching for happiness, happiness will come looking for me!

I’ve learned so much this month by reading The Happy Book by Bro. John Bishop.  Bro. Bishop’s testimony is an amazing account of the mighty working hand of God.  I was able to hear him preach while we were on deputation and it was such a blessing.  He wrote his autobiography entitled, God Is So Good:  Especially When You’re Hurting.  And you can find it here.

 The Happy Book, has really been what I needed to hear this month.   He wrote a chapter called “You don’t need to search for happiness.  It will find you.”  I really began to “mull” over this thought.  Just think for a moment…How much of our time is spent searching for happiness?  We buy things to try and make us happy.  We do things we think are “fun” so we can try and be happy.  And some of us even make triple chocolate fudge brownies (after the kids are in bed so you don’t have to share) to try and make us happy.  (Surely I’m not talking about myself here! :o)  So, we’re all desperately searching to find happiness in this life we’re living.  How’s your search going?

 Bro. Bishop says, “Happiness is one of those things that comes to people occupied in doing what God has said to do.  It is a by-product of obedience, love, faith and service.”  When we’re serving the Lord we don’t have to search for happiness.  It will come looking for us!

Just like in Proverbs 16:20,  “…whoso trusteth the LORD, happy is he.”  When we’re trusting the Lord, happiness will find us.

  Just like in Psalm 128:1, “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.”  When we’re walking with the Lord, happiness will find us!

 Just like in Psalm 146:5, “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.”  When our hope is in the Lord to help us, happiness will find us!

Just like in Proverbs 14:21, “He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth:  but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.”  When we help others, happiness will find us!

Just like in John 13:17, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  When we are doing what Jesus said, happiness will find us!

It reminds me of the song by Patch the Pirate called “Happiness came looking for me”

“I was looking for a jolly joyful feeling,

To bring happiness inside.

Tho’ I searched all my heart,

I still felt empty, I was never satisfied.

Then happiness came looking for me,

When I started giving happiness to others;

Happiness came hunting me down,

When I started to help with all the needs around.

Serving Christ and putting self last,

Brought me deep down ever lasting happiness

I was busy giving you see,

So happiness came looking for me.”

So when you find yourself on the grumpy side, put yourself on the path for happiness to find you! 

~Coconut Chicken~

Last night, as I was preparing my weekly menu and grocery list, I started dreaming about Red Lobster Coconut Shrimp.  I love that stuff!  And the sauce....mmmmm I could drink it!  Since shrimp is a little on the expensive side here, I started wondering if it would work with chicken.  Hhhhm?

I found this recipe on line and decided to tweek it a bit.  We had it for dinner tonight and it was MARVELOUS!!  I mean absolutely, satisfy my craving for Red Lobster MARVELOUS!

So being the sweety that I am (even more so after gulping the sweet Pina Colada Sauce!) I decided to share it with you!

Just Like Red Lobster Coconut Shrimp....I mean chicken!
4large chicken breasts, sliced into 12 thin chicken breasts
1 cup finely grated coconut (shredded would be fine too)
 2 cups all-purpose flour
 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
 1 1/2  teaspoon salt
  2 cups milk
 
  You will need 3 medium bowls for battering your chicken
   ~In the first bowl add 1/2 cup of flour.
   ~In the second bowl combine 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar and milk.
   ~In the third bowl put the coconut.
   Batter the chicken, dipping each one in flour, wet batter and then coat with coconut.
 Lightly fry the chicken in about an inch of oil, until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels.
   Serve chicken with pina colada dipping sauce.
 
Pina Colada Sauce
 1 1/2 cups sour cream (I used low-fat and it worked well)
 3/4 cup Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
  3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
 Combine well.

Enjoy!  We sure did!

Reeses for my girl

My Elisabeth LOVES Reeses cups.  I mean loves loves loves 'em!  But, unfortunately, that is a luxury we are unable to buy here.  So, when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I decided to try it for my girl.  Then, I read the ingredients.  Oh dear...can't get all of those either.  So, I made a few changes and decided to go for it.  The result?  Reeses Peanut Butter Cups!  They were fabulous! It was so easy and I didn't even have to fire up the oven or stove!  (That's a definite blessing in this weather!) And I had one happy girl!

St. Barths Reeses Cups (Do you like the name? :o)

Ingredients

1 cup butter melted
2 cups Vanilla Wafers ground fine in a food processor

2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 milk chocolate candy bar chopped into pieces.

Directions
In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, vanilla wafers, sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan. In the microwave, melt the chocolate with the remaining peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Sanibel Strings Quilt

I've posted before about how I love the Sanibel fabric my Mom bought me a couple of years ago.  (I posted about it here, here, and here...yup, I like this fabric!)  Well, I only had some scraps left, so I decided to make a String Quilt.  So, Voila, here is my "Sanibel Strings" Quilt!

 It came together very quickly and it was my first time learning paper piecing.  I love how it kept all my seams straight!

 And I love how it looks on my loveseat!  And my babies think it's cuddly with the flannel backing!

An Unwelcomed Visitor

I love to have visitors. Company really makes me smile!  I love to cook for them, laugh, and enjoy visiting.  But, when this guy showed up at my doorstep this morning, let's just say I wasn't all that welcoming!

"In This Place" Book Review

I love to read about missionaries!  The ones I especially like are written by the missionaries themselves where they share their experiences, good and bad.  I like it when they are "real", I learn so much more that way!  Mrs. Fenley (the wife of the director of the caribbean for our mission board, Macedonia World Baptist Missions) gave me the book "In This Place".  The writer, Kim Abernathy  gives her experience of life on the mission field of Liberia, West Africa.  She gives exerpts from her journal.  I truly laughed and cried as I read this.  It was such a blessing!  Mrs. Kim tells of her struggle to surrender to God's Will, how she met her husband, arriving on the mission field, giving birth at her home on the mission field, lessons from the culture shock she experienced,and much more.  She gives account of the scary time her family faced as they were forced to leave their home in Africa within a moments notice because of  the rebel uprising.  She left everything behind. The Lord really worked on my heart from the lessons in the life of Kim Abernathy.  I enjoyed the book so much and want to recommend it to you!

You can order the ebook here for only $2.99! Or you can order the paperback from here.  Her next book, "In Every Place" continues her adventure from 1990-2002.  I can't wait to order this one!

"Let's Stay Cool" Family Fun Night

It has been hot here.  Very hot! So, for this week's Family Fun Night we decided to do a water night.  Oh how nice it is to cool off!

 We started with Water Balloon Pinata.  Everyone got a good whack at the water balloon hanging from a string.

 Then, we played water jump rope.  You had to complete three jumps with a cup of water in your hand.  Whoever had the most water after jumping was the winner. 

The game they enjoyed the most was the water relay.  We started at one end of our driveway with a bucket of water and a cup. They had to fill the cup with water and take it down to the other end of the driveway and dump it in the pitcher.  They had to keep the cup on their head the entire time.  The team that filled the pitcher up to the 1 liter line first, won!  I put some holes in the cup for some extra wetness!

We had a great time cooling off and finished our night with homemade Corndogs, OK Colas, and a Cherry Layer Cake.  Love my family!

2 Boys

What are the blessings of having 2 boys doing yardwork?

 You get two vases full of pretty flowers!

Happy 3 Months Micah Reuben!

My Sweet Baby Micah turned 3 Months Old today!

What a wonderful baby he is!  He's now 14.0 pounds. He's growing, growing, growing!  He smiles so easy now and I just love his little dimple!  He's starting to find his feet and his hands.  I love it when he just stares at them like they're the best toys ever.  He's also found his thumb in the past couple of days. 

 He's developing a regular sleep pattern.  He likes to go to sleep at night between 9:30 and 10pm.  Then he wakes up between 3:30 and 4:30.  He's sleeping on average 6 1/2 consecutive hours everynight.  Lovin' it, that's for sure!  Then, he'll nurse for 10 mins tops and falls back asleep until 6 or 7.    He still takes many snoozes throughout the day and is doing very well falling asleep on his own.  I can tell his, "I'm tired Momma!" cry and when I put him in his crib he's usually asleep within minutes.  He's doing very well!  I know I'm bragging bunches, but I'm just so proud of my little munchkin!  He's so squeezably cute and is a pretty content baby.  I love you Micah Roo!

"Heart of the Matter" word for July

I love how the Lord is working in my heart through the “Heart of the Matter” study.  It’s amazing the focus words He gives me for each month.  I need them so much!

While we were in Florida, I noticed my little Callie Grace had the sniffles.   She seemed fine and was her usual bubbly self.  The sniffles went to a runny nose and then she began to cough.  You know how it goes…the next night we had little sleep as her fever spiked to a good 103 and we were off and running with a good dose of the flu.  So, off to the doctor we went and found out she not had only a sinus infection, but double ear infections as well.  Poor baby!  I quickly filled the prescription for antibiotics and gave her Tylenol Cold & Flu to help with the pain and to help her sleep.  By the next day I noticed her feeling better and by the weekend she was bouncing around again.  The power of medicine!  

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”  Thinking back to my Callie, her medicine dulled the pain she was experiencing in her ears.  It helped her to be able to rest so that she could better fight that nasty bug. It fought her flu and won the battle!  The Bible says a heart that is merry can do the same things!  Life’s cares, a harsh word, a child not responding correctly, or simply our plans not turning out the way we wanted them to can be like an unwanted and uninvited germ entering into our body.  It slowly weakens us and before we realize it we are discouraged and down in the dumps.  It happens so swiftly that we didn’t even realize what was going on!  When this happens it’s time for some medicine for our heart!

The Merry Heart Prescription:

~Christ-Honoring Happy Music.  It’s hard to be grumpy when we have a cheerful song in our heart!  My girls and I love to sing, “I’m so happy and here’s the reason why.”  We also love “I’ve got the Joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” and “Happy am I”.  Sing it high, sing it low, sing it opera style.  Laugh.  Have fun.  Be Merry…but realize that music does affect the spirit…just ask King Saul.  Play CD’s (or tapes) of Christ honoring music throughout the day.  It will help everyone’s spirit.

~A Cheerful Countenance.  Have you smiled lately?  Have you smiled at your children? Your spouse?  A stranger?  What about just a happy, joyful smile at yourself in the mirror as you get ready for the day? Silly, I know, but how is your countenance?  Does it say, “I’m so glad that Jesus lives in my heart!”  Psalm 21:6 says, “Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.”  That’s the power of a smile!  When you smile it spreads to your eyes, then to your heart.  It’s catching and spreading!

~Remember how good the Lord has been to us.  2Ch 7:10 says, “And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David….”  As you read this verse, make it personal.  Instead of saying David, put your name in there.  For me it would read like this, “ …glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto Kami…”  I love it!  God HAS been so good to me.  He “daily loadeth me with benefits.”  Now, that is something to be merry about!

~Relax .  Now for a busy Momma, I know you feel like you’re going 100+ miles per hour, and it seems you can’t slow down, especially to be happy!  But, we need to.  We need to have a little fun and cheer in our lives, but we can’t do that when we’re stressed to the max.  Maybe you need a little catnap when the kids go down for their nap (When you’re tired, it’s hard to be merry!) or maybe you need a tea/coffee/coke break to just sit and put your feet up.  Whatever the case, make sure you’re taking care of yourself.  It’s okay to ask your hubby to “take over” while you take a 15 minute break.

In Proverbs 17:22 the word merry is from the root word samach  which means to cheer up, make glad, make joyful, cause to rejoice.   We as Christians should be the happiest, merriest people on the earth.  We have so much to be rejoicing for!  Let’s focus on our blessings and work on having a heart that is merry!

Another new bed for Callie

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my sweet Callie Grace's new  bed.  It actually worked out very well, but Sunday we realized we needed the extra seating back in our living room for our Church Services.  So, that meant Callie's bed, AKA the loveseat, wasn't going to be Callie's bed anymore.

 Patrick and I brainstormed on what to do.  Then we remembered our landlord had given us a crib.  It's a full size crib that we weren't using (the Port a Crib works perfect for Micah) so Patrick decided to repurpose it to give Callie another new bed.  And I LOVE how it turned out!

 Isn't it soooo adorable?  And the quilt from Denise fits and looks perfect!

 Without the big brown loveseat in the kiddos room, it looks brighter and they have a little bit more room.  Everyone likes it this way...

 ...especially my Callie Grace.

 What a cutie she is!  And she's being a real trooper at transitions lately.  She's had quite a few!

Another Teenager in the House!

 Today is our sweet Brenna Shay's 13th Birthday!  That makes 3 teenagers in our house! 

 What a joy our dear Brenna is!  She is so much fun and full of creativity and laughter.  If you're around her for a little while, she's sure to have you smiling, she's just that kind of girl!

 She's really amazing me with her musical talent.  I've given her a few piano lessons for the past couple of years.  I wish I could say I've been consistent about it, but I haven't.  In spite of that, she has practiced and blossomed in her piano playing!  She's worked through the books I did when I started taking lessons.  Denise just gave me the Piano Special Book put out by Steve Petit.  In the past month Brenna has played and played in that book.  There are three songs in particular she's working on and almost has them down pat!  Wow!  It sounds so beautiful!  She's also doing great in learning to play Hymns.  Can you tell I'm a little proud of my girl? :o)

 She's a wonderful sister, also and loves to play with her younger siblings.  She's doing a great job teaching them in Sunday School and takes her lessons seriously as if she had a class of 30.  I know she'll reap great rewards one day for the Godly influence she's having on Silas and Callie.

 She started her day with breakfast out with her Daddy.  When they came home it was time for gifts.  She received hand-picked Candy from Silas and Callie, OK Colas from Micah, Highlighters and a pen from Joshua, and tinted lipgloss from Beth.

 Can you see the excitement on her face?  She's a little bit thrilled to be opening more tinted lip-gloss from her Grandparents.  This is the year she's allowed to wear it. We're trying to teach our girls the importance of not growing up too quickly and the lesson of waiting for things.  It's been good for Brenna.  She's looked forward to this day :o) 

 She was pretty surprised when she opened the gift from Patrick and I.  We bought her a Kindle while we were in the states and have hid it from her.  Our three oldest kids are readers, for sure!   Patrick looked up all the books we can download for free (over 40,000!) and was thrilled with the selection!  Patrick and the kiddos love the Rick Brant Series.  They are mysteries similar to the Hardy Boys, but they enjoy these better.  They were written in the 50's  so they're a little hard to find.  Now, Brenna is able to read tons of them!  We also downloaded some of Louisa May Alcott's books.   So, needles to say, my girl is going to be doing a whole of this today....

Reading!  Plus, we'll do a little swimming, watch a movie, play a game, eat some Apple Pie....and with this girl, I know a day full of laughter is sure to come.  I love you Brenna!  Happy Birthday!

18 Years Ago Today...

I was as nervous as I could ever be!

I was having my hair and make-up done by my friends.

I was putting on the prettiest, whitest, heaviest dress I ever had worn.

I was smiling and giggling a lot. ( I giggle when I'm nervous!)

I was surrounded by people that I care so much about.

I was waiting in the foyer while I heard the music playing.

I was hugging my Mom and Sisters good-bye before they walked down the isle.

I was telling my Dad I was scared to death.

I was laughing at all the silly jokes he told me to help me relax.

I was saying vows that I was determining to keep.

I was crying while I said those vows.

I was looking in the eyes of the one who was now vowing to take care of me.

I was marrying my best friend.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!