It Starts Early

I find it so interesting how God made each child so different. For example, our oldest boy loved any story involving a weapon from early on. Our Nest video on George Washington was worn down to shreds. (He spent his souvenir money last summer on a William Wallace sword. Had nothing to do with our trip, he just liked it.) David & Goliath was his favorite Bible story before he could talk. He would reenact the story over & over & over.

Our daughter loved any story involving a baby. Here was her favorite Bible story pic…

Our second son was fascinated with anything involving blood. (Is it any wonder he likes Rocky?) This was his favorite picture in the baby Bible…

And now our youngest son, at eighteen months of age has a definite affinity to shoes. So guess which story HE loves?

When Moses met God at the burning bush & God told him to take off his shoes – he was on holy ground. Jack points to the shoes there & just keeps repeating “Shoes. Shoes.” Too much!

Isn’t it amazing how young their personalities shine through? Can’t wait to see what God’s going to do with each of these unique souls! And I’m so glad God entrusted me to be their momma. : ]

2010 – The Year of the Fajita

So Keith & I were kicking around a new plan for meals that would be both delicious & nutritious when he suggested adding fajitas to the rotation. Never thought of fajitas as something I could make at home & stay on my points, but lo & behold, it’s AWESOME!!!! Here’s the super easy method I use…

La Tortilla Factory sells outrageously high in fiber yet soft & delicious tortillas. We use those. Old school WW let us count every fiber gram, making these puppies ZERO points. Now, WW only lets you count the first 4 grams, so they come in at only one point. Either way you go, they are great.

I got strip steak (about a half inch thick) & cut it sideways with my cooking shears into the frying pan. After the juices started flowing out of the meat, I doused it with a medium shot of Worcestershire Sauce & cooked until all liquid was gone & the meat was beginning to brown. Put the meat into a serving dish & cover so it’ll stay hot while you cook up the veggies.

Keith & I are the only two who like onions around here, so I cook veggies for two. For that, use three peppers (choose red, orange, yellow, or green) & chopped HALF of each into large strips. (Put the other halves in the fridge for next time.) You wouldn’t have to use three different colors, but it’s pretty. : ] Then I cut two onions up into bigger chunks & tossed them all into the same fry pan that you used for the meat – extra flavor. Add two teaspoons of oil at one point each & , stir fry for about five minutes & you’ve got a HUGE pan of yummy veggies for two points total – one point each serving.

Add salsa, shredded cheese (2% cheese is 2 points for 2 oz.), & plain yogurt as a sour cream substitute. You’ve got yourself a great meal!!!

For the kids, I just heat up a large can of refried beans to fill in for the foods they don’t like.

If you use 4 oz. of the meat (the highest point part of this meal), you can indulge in three super big & tasty tortillas & come in at under 12 points!! Top off the meal with a bowl of orange jello topped with whipped cream & you’ll forget you are on a diet! It’s that good. We will be having this one a week until further notice. Thought I’d pass along the great new find. : ]

Respect Dare #6) Respect Your Body

Seeing as how it’s the new year & all, thought it a good time to get back into this blogging thing. And what better way to start than with another entry in The Respect Dare. And the topic is timely, too – taking care of yourself. I know this steps on some toes, including my own, and it certainly isn’t politically correct, but it needs to be said.

Taking care of your body is a form of worship to the Creator, the One Who dwells within you if you have received Him as your Savior. It is also a way of showing your husband how much you love him & respect him; enough to make it a priority. Some women love to exercise – good for them. Some of us don’t always find it the most fun way to spend an hour or more consistently. Some can stay slim without effort – again, good for them. Some of us need to pay attention to how much food we take in & what kinds so as not to gain an outrageous amount. Some women look great in whatever clothes they throw on; some even look a little “too good” if you know what I mean. Some of us need to take a long, hard look in our closets & the mirror. Dress to please HIM, not just you. What does he like & not like you to wear? Ask him; you might be surprised.

When I exercise, I do it because I know this old body is not my own. God made my body fearfully & wonderfully, & I am a steward of it. If I trash it either by smoking, taking drugs, overeating, or just laying around not keeping it up, what does that say? When I monitor what I eat, make wise food choices, & deny myself the junk I really want, I am crucifying my own desires to the glory of God. These areas are not easy for me – I pray my daughter has it come a lot more naturally for her. But when I make these efforts, it speaks volumes to my husband. He SEES that I love him because he knows it’s not easy for me, but I’m doing it anyway. He appreciates the health & better self-esteem I have when I do these things, too!

Here are a few verses to mull over in this area…

I Corinthians 3:16, 17 -
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 -
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

1 Corinthians 7:4 -
“The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.”

Thanksgivings Past

Remembering today Thanksgivings past with fondness:

- The elementary years when everyone brought a dish in to share, we dressed as pilgrims or Indians & all sat together as a grade & feasted over lunch hour. The most memorable was the rabbit stew my friend Nyssa brought in. She was so proud of having shot, cleaned, & cooking it all up herself. Not bad for a fifth grader! We were warned to watch out for shot as we ate though. Evidently she’d filled it pretty full & had a dickens of a time getting it all out at the cooking stage. :]

- The high school years when we’d gather as a whole school (7th – 12th) & have “popcorn praise”, Mr. Mecurio’s open mic time. We’d usually have a movie of some kind after dinner together in “the furnace”. Sheffey stands out among the rest.

- Family gatherings with Mom’s side of the family; everyone lived close by. Cousins in every corner of the house. Grandma cooking up a storm. The men resting around the TV football game. The women gabbing after dinner around the table.

- Teaching 2nd grade in Korea & sharing Thanksgiving lunch with the 3rd graders. My gang appropriately dressed as the Indians while Miss Scercy’s group were the pilgrims. That was by far the most interesting Thanksgiving meal I’ve ever eaten – rice, sardines, makeshift dressing, pie, etc.

- The 5th graders in VA. We were in charge of making the pies one year for the elementary feast. Each team of kids brought in the fixings for 4 pies & we baked all day between our lessons (our classroom was right next to the kitchen so we could keep an eye on them). They did great & we had so much fun with that!

- Our first Thanksgiving together, Keith & me, up in our little love nest apartment. Paul & Luke were both at Liberty so my family gathered at our place. Debbie brought her kickin’ cranberry sauce (two super good kinds) & Luke got the turkey going over in the boys’ apartment. Our oven was too small & old.

- The Korea years, we celebrated Thanksgiving twice; once with our Canadian friends in October, then again in November with our fellow Americans.

- The year at the trailer when Keith’s folks & my folks all gathered around our newly purchased oak table. It had just been delivered, so that was kind of the christening meal for it. : ] Soooo many more happy family meals have since been shared around that table, with many more hopefully yet to come!

- The years with Mom & Dad next door we gathered so many times, Thanksgiving days don’t really stand out. Nice problem to have. : ] Those were happy days we thought would continue on throughout our children’s growing up years.

- The year Dad died & Keith’s dad was so sick. We thought we should head to MN in case Neil wasn’t with us at Christmas. Mom was truly alone for the first time. Sad days. Really sad days.

- The PA years, going to Paul’s for Thanksgiving, the first of which we told the kids Jack was on the way. : ] We did PA two years in a row. The first time, Luke’s family went with us & we took in Hershey Park on our way out. The second year, Mom traveled with us & we stopped at Gettysburg on the way back, complete with hotel stays.

- This year, we hope to relax & enjoy Thanksgiving with our neighbors next door, my aunt & uncle & cousins. It makes me reflective of all the years past, our huge & wonderful extended family on both sides, what our own children will remember in years to come about these holidays growing up. I will try to write some of these thoughts out over break. I’m going to try to get back on a blogging streak here, though not as often as before. There are still so many stories I want our children to know & remember! So many things I am thankful for & want to pass on to them, never forget. Rather than pour over them, I may just “spill my guts” like this entry more often. At least it gets the ball rolling even if it’s not so polished.

Happy Thanksgiving! May you take the time to reflect gratefully on all God’s given in your past, rejoice in His bountiful provision for your present, & trust Him for all He has in store for your future.

Back to School Pictures

Got the newest pictures of the kids up for your perusal. See Flickr strip to the left. Click on any picture & you can get to our photostream (in blue to the right on that page) to see all. As you can see, Nate got glasses, Callie got a hair cut, & Anders lost a front tooth – first one! There are two pages, including cousin’s birthday party at the carousel & corn husking party pix, so take your time. : ]

Risky Living, Prayer, & the String Theory

I am so excited about the things God’s been teaching & working in us lately. Two basic areas: prayer and missions. If you have time, please listen to these two messages from the Alliance Conference this last year. EXCELLENT!! Keith listened to them & had to download them for us to hear this summer on our travels. Both of us have been so encouraged & challenged by them, we’ve listened to them a couple times since individually as well (something I don’t usually do – listen multiple times to a sermon). Yes, they are that good!

The first message is on prayer by Pastor Mike Phillips. Go here to listen. My favorite line, “I don’t have no clue!!” You’ll just have to listen to get it.

The second message is on taking risks by Dr. Richard Swenson. Go here to listen. “It isn’t what you think it is.”

Prepare to be challenged, moved, & thrilled to tears by the Spirit. : ]

If you have even more time, the second message on risk taking reminds me of a PBS series I saw “by accident” about five years back (again, it is that good I’m still excited about it!) & found the whole thing on line about science’s thoughts on the dimension beyond what our eyes can see – exciting stuff from the world’s perspective. They don’ know how to explain it but they know there’s more to this life than meets the eye. We as Bible believers know exactly what it is – the spiritual realm. It’s three hours long, but well worth watching & you can watch it in ten minutes segments. Go here to watch. If nothing else, scroll down through the chapter titles & see if your curiosity isn’t stirred. When you watch it in light of God’s Word, it is so exciting!!

Our Summer Vacation 2009

Finally got the summer pictures downloaded. Anyone interested in what we’ve been up to this summer, see Flickr photos to the left. Be sure to double click the strip so you can get to the seven pages of pictures available! (Click “photostream” in blue to make it easier after you double click.)

Seeds CDs Coupon Code

Have you listened to Seeds Family Worship yet? Click here for more about it. To hear some samples, scroll down a bit to get to the audio box here. We have been LOVING these CDs this summer. All the way to/from & in between MN & OH, we worship/learned scripture/jammed to these awesome songs. It is so fun to be able to have God speak to you through a song popping into your mind during the day (& actually know the address too – a long time challenge for me personally)! And we are all learning the verses together. God uses music to get to my heart, I don’t know about you. Let me say again how I love the appeal these songs have to kids & parents alike.

If you are wanting to buy some Seeds CDs for your family, let me suggest two things: 1) Make sure you order the one with the stick people on the cover. That way you get two copies – one for you & one to give away, or in our case, one for home & one for Keith to take to his classroom. 2) It’s cheaper at CBD, but the Seeds company gave me a coupon to get 20% off (making it the same deal) & said I could pass it on to anyone else who would want to use it, too. They are fast!! We ordered & received ours in two days flat. Here’s the code to get 20% off at Seeds: LWAYNE09 It expires February 10th, 2010.

Happy listening/learning!!

48 Years Ahead of His Time

If you haven’t heard this, you gotta listen. This is Ronald Reagan in 1961 talking about socialized medicine; as relevant today as ever!

The Big ONE!!

Happy first birthday, Jack! Here’s a video of a few of your peeps celebrating the big day…