What's A Cookin'?

I have recently started to plan out the meals for a week, before I go to the grocery store. I have found this very helpful for having delicious dinners and it can also cut down on how much money I spend at the store...if I stick to the list. We have also cut down on how many snacks we buy. Those snack items are often unnecessary, and they really rack up the bill. The less snack items we buy...the yummier dinners we can have. You know I can spend a little more on meat cuts and cheese and it doesn't hurt the budget so much.So here are this weeks dinner plans:

Enchilada Casserole

Chicken and Homemade Mac and Cheese

Beef Stew/Soup

Homemade Pizza

Lasagna

Meatloaf and Au Gratin Potatoes

Homemade Chili in the crock pot

I am a huge fan of recipes that go in the crock pot. It smells so good cooking all day and it cooks while I do school.  I'd love to hear what dinners you are cooking this week.

A Link

I found this great post over at Totally Tots. Hope you go and check it out.
http://totallytots.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday!

Our little girl turned 5 this week! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was born. I can't believe that she is five. Well I decided to make her cake this year, and it turned out pretty good. I thought I'd share a picture.

Happy Birthday to our now 5 year old! We love you!

Wednesday Scriptures

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us,  in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God thru the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And not only that, but we also rejoice in God thru our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

Passionate Housewives Giveaway

Today I am posting a link to Mountain Home Quilts. She is giving away the book Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. So please go on over and enter the contest.
http://mountainhomequilts.blogspot.com/

Becoming Debt Free

I think I may have touched on this subject before, but I am going to again because it is such an important subject. As I may have mentioned before, my husband and I are currently working our way out of debt. At first it seemed like it would take forever, but now it seems to be such a blessing. We use to be those people who lived paycheck to paycheck, and would take out a loan when we wanted or needed something. One of our dumbest loans was a huge loan we took out for a van, that actually cost about a years worth of income. It is so easy to look at something you want, like a car, and think, "well we can afford those payments". But now that we have been there and done that, I NEVER want to take out another car loan. Buying a used car that we can afford seems so much wiser. When one goes back and looks at all the interest we pay on a car loan, wow! We could have bought something else with that money. I think that it is also easy to get into the habit of buying things on credit or with a loan. Again easy to say "oh we can afford that payment". Then pretty soon one has too many payments and a job is lost or a need arises and soon there is too much to pay for and then well..."what to do"? It is good to plan for the future..needs arise, things that we want to do. We are HUGE fans of Dave Ramsey. He has a daily talk show, and a web site with helpful things such as budgeting and of course getting out of debt. He has been a great encouragement to us getting out of debt. The link to his web site is http://www.daveramsey.com/home/

A Hymn

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Helen H. Lemmel

I have thought about these words to this song, and meditated on them. It is so easy to get caught up in this world and all the things that it has for us to chase after, but when we focus on the Lord and follow Him, we have something better to strive for. When we think of eternity and how long it is, our lives here seem so small. We are here and then gone. What will we have given to the Lord?

Potty Training-Yipee!!!!

OK...most of the time when we think about potty training, well it's less than exciting. But well, we started potty training on Monday and our little guy is going on the potty...and he had no accidents for two days, AND he asked to go poop and he did it!!!! Out of all four of our kids when they potty trained, he has done the BEST!!! I am so happy at how well he has done, and so thankful to the Lord that he is doing so well at the potty.

A Game Review

We love to play games in our house. And recently we bought this Yahtzee Junior game. GREAT game. It is nice and easy for the kiddos, and enjoyable for the adults. One of the better games that we have bought.

Wednesday Scriptures

                      The heavens declare the glory of God;
                  And the firmament shows His handiwork.
                                         Psalm  19:1

Ramblings...

Well it has been a couple of fun days. I took this picture the other day...the moon was out in the sunny sky.

I also celebrated my birthday...don't ask how old...A true lady never reveals her age!!!  :) My sweet husband spread the fun out over the weekend and on my birthday he was able to come home early from work and let me get a nap in. He also cooked dinner and brought out my spagetti with a candle on it...how sweet.   :)

And this was my gift... I had fun picking out my fish!

We also did a little house cleaning this weekend...I get on these rolls to get rid of stuff...and I always love seeing how much we can throw away, and how nice the house looks when we clean out unneeded things. Our couch finally went to the curb...my husband thought that he should take it apart and have a look at how it was made...and this is what it looked like after that  :) The kids thought it was great!

And I just thought that I would add this in for fun. They are Kokeshi dolls. I really like them and have a collection going of them. These are my two newest one. The yellow one means big sister. And the red one means pure heart.

 

Cold Weather

Well it has been a cold winter here for us. It has gotten down into the 40's. I know, I know for all you snow bound people out there, you say 40...that is a heat wave!  But for us here it is cold. We came from the midwest before we came here, and so when we first got here...well I laughed at the coats and boots I saw in the "winter".  Where we came from it was so cold somedays that you didn't even want to go out your front door. But now that we have been here a couple of years...well 40 degrees seems cold. We can't wait for the weather to heat up so that we can go to the beach...and play in the water. The other day the kids and I went to the store and they got to buy stuff from the 100 yen section. They thought that was great. My son bought these and then dumped them on his plate. I had a good laugh looking at it. He looked like he had a pile of tater tots. And for a two year old that is a LOT of food!!!

Learning

We think oftentimes of our children when we say learning. It is easy to forget that while we are adults that we are still learning. I have a LONG way to go, but I feel like I have learned a lot this year. I thought that I would share some things that I have been learning.
1)I have a hard time listening. I don't listen well, and I tend to cut people off and when they are talking I tend to think of other things. I have a hard time paying attention to others. I am learning to try to keep my mouth shut and listen.
2)I like things around the house to go my way. I want the kids to do things the way I want. I am learning that not EVERYTHING must go my way. I need to be quiet and let my husband take the lead more.
3)Life doesn't always turn out the way that we want it to...we won't always live where we want. Things aren't always going to be how we want them to be. I am learning to go with the flow more. I am learning that I can make our lives bad or good sometimes with my attitude.
Things I want to be better at:
1) I want to learn how to be a friend. I am NOT good at making friends...I tend to want to be someones friend, and then I pull back because I am afraid they will reject me or talk about me behind my back.
2) I want to have a more quiet spirit. 
3) I really want to learn to be more content...not always thinking about moving on to what is coming tomorrow, but what is today and enjoying it. 

Ramblings...

What a great day today! I have been on a new schedule this week and it has been working very well. The morings I have free to clean the house, do laundry, or cook and after lunch when our two year old goes down for his nap, I do school with our 6 year old. Our twelve year old does his school on the computer so he can start in the morning on his own. It has worked out really well this week. Today I made meatballs and bread, and tried a new recipe for cupcakes. They turned out pretty good, but I think that they taste more like sugar cookies. I was also able to get a lot of laundry folded. That is always a good thing! :)
Tonight we are having meatballs and spagetti and bread. Yummy!

Thoughts...

Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

James 5:19-20

In our culture today it has become politically correct to accept whatever someones views may be. We are told that if we don't accept it that we are intolerant. I find it sad that many churches have taken this view as well. The Bible says that sinners will go to hell, and praise God that he sent His Son to save us from hell. But if we see a Christian brother or sister who is following a path that the Bible clearly states is wrong, why are we so afraid to go to them in Christian love and help them to see what the bible says about this? This verse is a great verse to ponder. I also feel strongly that today Christians are too afraid to share their faith. They don't want to offend someone by saying that sin is sin. If we are truly saved, then we need to be able to stand and say sin is sin. We should always be ready to give a reason for our beliefs and to share the gospel with others. As our culture takes more stands on saying that sin is ok, we need to be just as firm to stand up for the Lord and what we believe in. Our children will be watching us...we need to set for them a good example of what we believe in and WHY we believe it, so that they will understand, and one day they will be able to give an answer for their beliefs.

Honoring Husbands

It seems that nowadays that many woman criticize their husbands. They talk about them to their friends and they complain about everything they do. But what if they would instead of complaining about their husbands...what if they went to the Throne of Grace and prayed for their husbands. I don't mean a "Dear God, change my husband" kindof prayer, but one of praying for their husbands. I mean they can get on their knees and pray God's protection over their husbands, and pray that the Lord will lead their husbands in his leading of their home. I think that not much can make a man feel lower in his home than when he feels disrespected by his wife. It can be easy to find all of your husbands faults, but I am sure that it would be just as easy for a man to find fault with his woman. I want to encourage any woman who are out there who struggle with criticizing your husband to others...don't do it. Bathe him in prayer...not about his faults, but that  the Lord will draw him closer to Him. Pray for protection for your husband, pray that he will succeed in his job. Pray that the Lord will be first in his heart. Remember that we as wives have just as many faults in our lives as we can find in other's lives.  Also remember your children are watching you. They watch what you think of your husband and what you say about him. Show him the respect that he deserves...the Bible teaches that the man is the head of the house, and it also teaches that the woman is his help meet. I think that many marriages today would be better if the woman  of the house would show respect to their husbands and honor them.

Wednesday Scriptures

                             Who can find a virtuous wife?
                        For her worth is far above rubies.
                             The heart of her husband
                                   safely trusts her;
                      So he will have no lack of gain.
                     She does him good and not evil
                           All the days of her life.
                                          Proverbs 31:10-12

Ramblings

OK, so I feel like whining today. Can't help it. It is taking all I have to keep going today. I am tired, and I am grouchy and I can hardly keep my eyes open. There was no bread for lunch today since the commissary ran out of bread...how do you run out of bread? And I haven't had the time or patience to run elsewhere to find bread. Besides I think that if the commissary here is out of bread, then all the other ones are probably out too. I know how to make bread, but I am just too tired to do it. So we had a mix of other things for lunch. The bright side of the day was when my little ones brought me flowers that they picked out of the yard for me. I love dandilions...and I mean that. Our van dashboard usually has these flowers up there. So sweet, and I have some of them in the kitchen too. Well that's all for today...trying to keep my eyes open and a have a good attitude today...

A Quote...

I saw this quote and couldn't resist posting it.

"Modern American dating is no more than glorified divorce practice."
Voddie Bauchman

So true. I hope our children don't "date". I hope that they court in hopes to find that wife or husband. I hope they look at a person and see who they are before they jump into a relationship. I hope that they seek our advice.

Another Post on Books

I am hoping to start/finish reading some books this year. I have a really bad habit of starting a book and then not finishing it. So I thought that I would share some of these books. And just a plug...I love ordering books off of Amazon. They have a lot of good books that I think are harder to find in a regular bookstore and a lot of the books have free shipping...I love free shipping!
So here goes my book list...

Don't Make Me Count to Three!
by Ginger Plowman

Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
by Sarah, Stephen, and Grace Mally

Love & Respect
by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

Created To Be His Help Meet
by Debi Pearl

Anne of Green Gables
by L.M. Montgomery
(I want to read this one with my little girl)

I am also a huge fan of the books by Beverly Lewis...but alas her next book isn't out yet. Well that is my list...hopefully I will finish them this year!  :)
I would love to hear what anyone else out there is reading. I find a lot of the books I buy on other blogs or web sites.