Menu for the week, Publix Deals

Well, I feel like I haven't posted a menu in forever! It's only been 2 wks though! I need some HEALTHY menus!! I ate WAY too much this past week! Seriously.


Turkey Chili (using a recipe from the new issue of Everyday Food)
Chicken Fajitas, Corn
Cheesy Tortilla Pizzas, Salad
Toasted Ham Sandwiches and Tomato Soup
BBQ Meatball Subs, Potato Salad
Oven Fried Chicken Tenders, Broccoli and Cheese, Roasted Potatoes



I'm still in the process of using up those meatballs and instead of having spaghetti again, I thought meatball subs might be nice..

Since I am trying to cut my grocery bill, I've decided to keep a 'price book'. I'm going to attempt to write down prices of things that I regularly buy, from a few different grocery stores. Today I shopped at WalMart and Publix. I got about half at each place. Before I went shopping this morning I checked the Publix ad online. Here are some of the good deals I got:

Sour Cream 16 oz-$0.99
5lb bag potatoes, $2.00
Dole Salad, 2 for $5.00
Weight Watchers Smart Ones- 50% off
Publix Yogurt, 4oz/6pk- $2.00
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce- BOGO (saved $2.19, I mean who doesn't use BBQ sauce!)
Angel Soft Bath Tissue- 2 for $10
Progresso Diced Italian Tomatoes- BOGO (saved $1.65 on 2- 28oz cans)

I'm trying to only buy things that I will use in my weekly menu and that I know I can use later! They had some other things on sell but I didn't need them. I was tempted to buy some shredded cheese because they had that 2 for $4 but I have an unreal amount of shredded cheddar cheese left over from Christmas! I mean like almost 2 full LARGE bags because my mom brought one over and left it with us! They also had SeaPak shrimp BOGO which was a great deal but I just had to pass.

Well, I must go.. my son is crying because he must watch the "De-deer" movie (the clay Rudolph movie from the 60's) once more. I have a feeling we will be watching it long after the new year is over. Never mind the 5 new Veggie Tales videos he got for Christmas....

What Fun, What Fun!

We had a blast yesterday! Santa came!!! Luke got TONS of toys. Way too many! I mean we tried to be reasonable.. but everybody else did not!! Oh well, such is the life of the only grandson on all sides!! As of yesterday our den looked like this:

Yes, this is the damage of one child (and his father). Thankfully it only looks half as bad now.

I hope that your Christmas was filled with lots of love and family time! I thank God for the wonderful blessing of His Son, Jesus Christ! Without Him I would be nothing!

Leah's Recipe Exchange

I joined Leah's Recipe Exchange last week and just posted my second recipe. It's a yummy coffee cake that I'll be making for Christmas morning. Please go by and visit the page and browse all of the yummy recipes that have been posted!

ETA- for some reason the "link" isn't showing up (on my computer at least). You should be able to click on "Leah's Recipe Exchange" or you can also click the icon on my side bar!

Christmas Tour

So, I was late for officially getting in on Boomama's Christmas Tour of Homes, but I have had fun looking through all of the homes. You should definitely check them out.


Here's the wreath that hangs on the front door. Sorry it's at an angle, I wasn't about to go outside this morning in my pj's in the freezing cold! Plus we live in the parsonage.. so I'm not sure it's appropriate to go outside in my pj's anyways. It needs a bow or something at the top but I don't do bows.. my mom makes all of mine!

And here is our 'skinny' tree. In our previous house we didn't have much room so we bought this skinny little thing. I would love to upgrade one day.. but not this year.

Yep, my mom made that bow....

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments:

This one is from Christmas 2005. I was about 3 months pregnant around Christmastime and my mom and dad gave us this "Parent's-to-Be" ornament.

This little sweet ornament is from last year, Luke's first Christmas. A very talented woman at the church where R and I met made it. It has Luke's name hand painted and his little handprint on it.

Here is the hutch in the dining room. I am not one to take down everything and replace it with all Christmas things. I just don't have that kind of decorations, I've only been decorating my house for 4 seasons... so I've got some years of decorations to collect! The stocking is my hubby's stocking from his childhood.





Here is a little closer look....

This is the other corner of the dining room with my mini tree. I hope to one day have enough gingerbread/candy ornaments to fill a large tree. And that little fellow in the mismatched pj's (and notice the black rain boots that he wore with his fireman Halloween costume, on the wrong feet mind you) is the reason why there are limited decorations at hands reach.


And here is an up close pic of some of the gingerbread/candy ornaments on the small tree, I just LOVE them!

I have a few other things out but these are my favorites. Thanks for stopping by.. and I'm so glad that it was a virtual visit. Because today my house is a mess!! I've got to shake this cold so I can do some cleaning! Hope you didn't catch anything while you were here! ;)

Luke 2:14“ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Sugar Cookies w/ Candy Cane Kisses!

Well, I made those yummy sugar cookies with the candy cane kisses! They turned out so cute! I still have lots of them even though lots were eaten! It makes a bunch! Luke loves the cookie part but isn't too fond of the kisses in the middle.. so he eats around it! Here's the sugar cookie recipe (from a friend of mine) and I'll add the changes I made for these particular cookies at the bottom:

Rolled Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

3 TBS milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups self-rising flour

In large bowl combine sugar, butter and milk, vanilla and egg, blend well. Mix in flour. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.

*My notes: This dough is STICKY!!! So it MUST be refrigerated! You will think it needs more flour by how sticky it gets but it really doesn't. I honestly don't think an hour would do it. I always make my dough thenight before so it has all night in the frig! I just lightly flour the plastic wrap and dump the dough on it and wrap it up!

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Cut with cookie cutter and bake for 5-7 minutes until lightly golden on bottom.

*My notes: I have made these sugar cookies many times rolling them out and they are wonderful w/ icing on top!! I usually take about 1/3 of the dough from the frig and roll it out... cut and bake. It's best to keep the rest of the dough in the frig so it doesn't get warm. It really works best when it's really chilled! They cook fast and will burn in no time. In my oven they need right at 5 to 5 1/2 minutes. They shouldn't brown on the top at all.

Candy Cane Sugar Cookies:

Prepare dough the same way as above and refrigerate. Heat oven to 400. Break off pieces of dough and roll into a ball about the size of walnuts. Arrange on lightly greased cookie sheet about 4 inches apart. Press each dough ball into a 1/4 inch thick flat disk with a glass (make sure to flour the bottom of the glass) making sure that each cookie has about 2 inches between them after being pressed. Bake 5-7 minutes. When the cookies come out of the oven press one candy cane kiss into the center of each cookie. Immediately move to a wire cooling rack. Be careful not to turn/tilt the cookies when moving them off of the cookie sheet because the kisses will immediately begin to melt thus resulting in a big blob of melted white chocolote. These must cool for a few hours for the kisses to harden back up. This makes 3-4 dozen.

And if you're interested:

Icing (for Rolled Sugar Cookies)

2/3 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

2-4 TBS milk

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and milk, adding enough for spreading consistency. Add food coloring if you'd like. Spread onto cooled cookies. This icing never gets rock hard but it does harden up some.

YUM!

~Yum~ Menu (Inexpensive Meal Ideas Needed!)

All righty... we're tightening up the purse strings. My grocery budget has gotten out of hand. You all (all 2 of you.. ha) know how much I love Publix. And I still do. But Publix has caused me to go out of control on my grocery spending. Not because of the prices mind you.. but because of the wonderful selection of food! (oh, and the Bread Lady who loves to woo my son with sugar cookies therefore causing me to buy loaves of bread)... I do still plan to shop there some. They have good BOGO deals often and they take all of my printable coupons.. I did not tell you how impressed I was that they CALLED me the day before Thanksgiving because I had sent an email, on a whim really, to their customer service asking if they accepted printed coupons. Well, the manager of my local (30 minutes away) Publix called me and explained every detail of what coupons they accept and what they don't. I was very impressed with their customer service. I promise you that I don't have stock or whatever in Publix and they aren't paying me in groceries for saying any of this.. though that would be nice. Anyway.. I have got to be more frugal when planning my meals... meaning I need to start planning healthy (or my version of healthy), inexpensive meals by using what is on sale and coupons I have. I am actually excited about this challenge...
Yes, as you can see.. it doesn't take much to excite me. I am such a dork.
So, if any of you (the 2 of you) out there would like to share with me some inexpensive meal ideas, please do!
Maybe one day I'll get with the program and start posting my menu's on Menu Planning Monday. I usually shop for groceries on Thursday so my menu usually starts on Friday... which is weird, I know. So in my world, the whole menu Monday just doesn't seem right. There's some great menu planning ideas on there though! So, here is my menu.. on FRIDAY! :)

~Vegetable Beef Soup, corn bread
~Spaghetti and meat balls (I bought some frozen meatballs 2 weeks ago thinking that Luke might eat them.. that was a huge negative! So I've got almost a whole bag left!)
~Loaded Baked Potatoes (with bacon, cheese and sour cream), salad
~Pancakes, cheesy scrambled eggs and fried potatoes & onions
~Tuna Salad or Ham Sandwiches w/ chips and salsa (Wednesday night is our sandwich night)

I know we'll have lots of soup leftover for another night plus we've got our first family gathering for Christmas tomorrow night. And I normally do not add this but Luke always has a green veggie offered to him at lunch and dinner. Now, that doesn't mean that he eats it but I always have frozen peas, broccoli, etc for him.

So, do you have any ideas for me?? I need some creative help!

I'm off to bake some yummy sugar cookies (with candy cane kissed in the center) for tomorrow. And in the morning I'm making a Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake!

~I AM~ Lesson 8

Time for Lesson 8 of The Preachers Wife Bible Study~ "I AM"



1. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to 'go back' to a place of shame or ridicule? How did that make you feel? Yes, sometimes 'those' things in my past like to come to mind. But I've been learning a lot lately about how to break free from those things (I'm almost finished reading Breaking Free by Beth Moore! Love it!).



2. Is there any circumstance in your life that still has you running for cover? Share if you feel comfortable. No, not a particular circumstance but I do struggle with things of course. The crazy thing about life is that there will always be 'circumstances' and right now I'm learning how to deal with those circumstances. I think that best thing is to remember that our life as Christians is to bring Him glory! At least that helps me out when I'm in a bind.. that is, to remember that it's not about me anyway! Even in the discouraging and even messy parts of life, God deserves the glory and we should be looking for ways for Him to get it! Sometimes that is easier said than done in the midst of turmoil but it helps me put things into prospective when I remember what everything really is all about... HIM!!



3. When is the last time you felt like an overcomer? Last week! I have not (yet) blogged about much of my 'struggles' but maybe one day I will. I won't go into much detail here but I will say that I deal with one thing almost on a weekly basis: FEAR! Irrational fear. I have overcome a lot in that area thanks to God's peace but I still deal with it a lot. Every situation that I make it through, I consider as a situation that I have overcome! And I definitely know that it is not of my own power, Praise God!!! (or I'd be in one of those insane asylums Lisa mentioned in the study!)



4. If you have not yet taken the serpent by the tail, are you willing to stop running, take hold and trust God to transform it into a tool for wonders? I'm not sure I have 'taken the serpent by the tail' yet but I want to!!! I want God to use every part of my life! That is my desire!! I think it's exciting to see someone like Moses, who we often think of being so strong and courageous, show his weaknesses. It reminds me of the verse that says that in our weaknesses, He is strong! And that definitely is the case in Moses' situation!



5. I would like for you to write down this statement based on 1 John 2:14 somewhere you will see it often this week: "I am strong, the Word of God abides in me, and I have overcome the evil one." Memorize it. Say it over and over until you believe it. Will you do this?? Most of the time, there are no right or wrong answers, but on this one, I'm expecting a 'yes'! Sure!! I'll put it above my sink by the window where I put other verses that I'm *trying* to memorize. You know.. that's where I spend a lot of my time... at the sink! :)

Just what I needed...

Sometimes we just need a good song to cry to.. and I found one today. I love Natalie Grant and I love this video. Man, she's got a voice.. but the message is just what I needed today! I just had to share it...






Isaiah 54:10
"For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Praise be to the Lord who has shown me great mercy!

Randomness...

Busy. Busy. Busy.

That has been the jest of the past few days for me. Lots of baking and cooking and cleaning. I really do love it.. but I am looking forward to a slow day of doing nothing Monday! Luke and I spent 2 nights with my mom since R had to go out of town suddenly. I do not like to stay by myself. I stayed by myself Wednesday night and was fine but I just would much rather my hubby be with me. I missed him so very much.

Saturday night I had a movie night with the youth/college girls from church. And though it was a small group we had such a good time. We had some really good food.

And we watched The Nativity Story, which is so good! Oh what a glorious King we serve to come so humbly and lowly to save our souls! Ok, I could keep on going.. but I'll just refer you to here!

One more thing.. what in the world is up with this weather??? It was 75 degrees today!!!! As I speak there is a fly buzzing around my head. Seriously, it's about to drive me insane. I thought to myself when I first heard that annoying thing.. 'What in the world is a fly doing? It's December 9th!!' But then I remembered that it has been so WARM... plus our house is surrounded by cow pastures.. so you know...

Ok, that's enough nonsense!! ;)

My Luke is 18 months old!

My baby is officially 18 months old today. A year and a half. We had his checkup yesterday and the Dr said he was perfect. I already knew that though! :) He did say he was slim, like his daddy, who was with me (thank goodness, because he sure doesn't get 'thin' from me!). He was 24.18 lbs and 33.75 inches tall...


So, in light of his year and a half birthday I'd like to post a few new things he can do.. and just some random cute things he's been doing.

Just 2 days ago he said his first compound word: house shoes. It sounds kind of like 'hoseshoows' but it's house shoes. It's so cute!

He likes to brush his teeth while I brush his teeth. Meaning that he has 2 toothbrushes.. one that I use for him and one that he uses. This is really the only way he will let me brush his teeth.

He has a hard time with the L sound. So our dog, Lily, is 'Niny'. :)

He can now successfully open 3 doors in our house. The door to the living room, the 'what exactly is this room' room and the laundry room(all 3 rooms that we'd rather him not go in, of course). We have the doorknob covers on them now. The other doors have older knobs so they are harder to turn.. but I'm sure it won't be much longer until he has mastered them as well.

He has started asking for 'more' when he wants more milk. I'm trying to get the 'please' added but it hasn't come yet.

He likes to 'talk' on the phone but only when no one is actually on there. He would much rather pretend than really be talking to someone.

He still uses his paci but he knows that the paci stays in his bed. We no longer take it with us anywhere... unless of course we are staying over night. When he wakes up and I come to get him, he knows that he has to put the paci down before he can get out of bed.

If you ask to see his 'cheesy grin' he will give you the cutest cheesiest grin you've ever seen... full of all his little baby teeth! Adorable! By the way.. he has 12.. and more coming soon!

When he sees any kind of football on TV he yells, 'touchdown!'. His daddy is very proud!

Despite the snubbing and wailing that he did yesterday while the Dr examined him, he still politely shook the Dr's hand and said 'byebye' when he was leaving the room (snubbs and all).

He loves the Christmas tree! Every morning since we've had it up he comes to the living room door and says "on". It must be turned on the minute he gets up. When I turn it on, he says, 'Oh Wee!"

He HATES having his picture taken. I mean who has time to stop and smile when there are cars to push around and balls to bounce (or in the case of trying to take Christmas pictures by the tree.. ornaments to pull off).

He is a very inquisitive child and studies everyone he meets. No, he will probably not smile at you.. but he will stare you down like he's in it to win it. I promise you though he is a very happy child. He just needs time to figure people out.

There are no words to say that could express the love I have for that little boy! He is such a joy!

Baby Jesus and King of kings

Today ends my "No sweets for one week"! YIPEE! I must confess that I did have a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of hot chocolate. For me, 7 days and only one cookie w/ hot chocolate is a big deal. Such a big deal that I lost 3 lbs!! Now, if that doesn't tell you how big of a sweet tooth I have I don't know what will! I really found that it was easier to do than I thought. I may try it again after this weekend. I'm doing a lot of baking and cooking for the girl's movie night Saturday so I'm not even gonna torture myself.

********************************************************

~~Now back to regularly scheduled programming~~


The other night my hubby was preaching and he made a comment that I have been pondering over all week. Now, I don't remember the exact phrase but it went something like this:

The world loves baby Jesus, it's 'adult' Jesus that they have a problem with.

You know it's Christmas season and a lot of people get that warm and fuzzy feeling when they see that cute little baby Jesus in a manger. They might even shed a tear when they get an email with a picture of a star and three wise men and the faint sound of "Away In a Manger" softly playing in the background. Now is there anything wrong with that in particular? No, not at all.


But let's talk about 'adult' Jesus. You know, Jesus as a grown man was not a liked fellow back in His day. And not surprisingly He isn't today either. Now, many people will 'say' they love Jesus.. they will proclaim with their mouths, chain emails, or sporadic church attendance that Jesus is great. But the real evidence is the way they live their lives. In thinking about all of this, let's remember who Jesus is. Jesus is God. And God hates sin (Jeremiah. 44:4). If we are a child of God with the Spirit of God living in us, will we continually let sin reign in our lives... thus proving our love for sinfulness?

Ok, ok most of us will admit that we hate sin, right? I mean *most* people hate murder, rape, child abuse... right? Right. But sin is much more than just these things. Sin is any rebellion against God. Selfishness, prayerlessness, forsaking the assembling of believers together, lying, hatred, jealousy, infidelity, adultery, lust, gossip, putting other things/people before God {idolatry}, premarital sex, slander, laziness, gluttony, homosexuality, avoiding God's Word, not tithing, greed... watching a TV show with adultery, lust, infidelity or singing a song that is vulgar is agreeing with what you're watching/hearing, which makes that a sin as well. And I know God doesn't find sin entertaining. I could go on but you get the idea. There are no BIG or small sin in God's eye's. I found this quote today by John MacArthur on sin.

And, of course, there's just no interest in the public forum talking about sin today. I mean that is absolutely archaic. Sinful nature? To say that people are corrupt at birth? To say they inherited a wicked nature from their parents because they were all genetically, as it were, in Adam? They were all there and sinned in Adam in his loins, and everything that came out of that cursed man and that cursed woman bears that curse? Unacceptable. To say people are all born with an evil bent; that they are all born with a desire to violate the law of God and to dethrone God and replace him with themselves? To say they are incapable of doing anything good? To say that they are rotten to the very core, that everything about them -- everything they think, everything they say and everything they do -- is only evil continually? To say their heart is deceitful and desperately wicked? Frankly, folks, that is just not acceptable in the public forum. Our culture has really declared war not only on sin, because they don't want anything defined as sin. Everything is just a lifestyle choice.
Nothing is a sin. So our culture has declared war on sin and, consequently, declared war on guilt. The very idea of guilt is considered medieval, obsolete and certainly unhealthful.

Pretty true of what our culture today thinks... "Everything is just a lifestyle choice." Wow... speechless.


Why does the world love all kinds of sin and therefore hate Jesus? Because of what He stands for {purity, holiness, righteousness} and what He stands against {sin}.

Listen to His words....


"For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:20


"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt. 6:21


“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24


“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14


"Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"Matthew 7:22-23


“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." Matthew 10:32-33


Jesus is the King of kings. He will reign forever. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.. either today or on judgement day.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Matthew 13:9

Check it out! ~Contest~

I just came across this great contest @ GREENSTYLEMOM! Click here to read about it and enter! Perfect for all of your Christmas baking and gift giving! Super cute! Hurry.. the deadline is Dec. 4th!

:)

Noodles and Bananas.

We had a small victory last night. Luke ate spaghetti! We're making small progress every day.. well, maybe not that often.. more like every month... progress none the less. I must admit to you how I got him to eat it though. I taught him how to slurp up the spaghetti noodles. (picture lady and the tramp.. minus the dogs) He thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was so proud of my little noodle slurping boy! He ended up eating about half of what I gave him.. and that is a huge accomplishment! So, this morning he was eating breakfast. His usual- waffle and banana. I got a bowl of cereal and sat down next to him. I hear him giggle and look over...
He's slurping his banana slices. Great.
Oh well. Whatever works.

Menu ~YUM~ and cookie recipes needed!

Here is a late menu for the week (which actually started yesterday). I am having back problems so my post will be short today. I've got a lot on my mind and would love to sit down and write all about what God has been showing me (I think my blog is in need of a God post!!). Maybe later tonight if my back is doing ok. It just seems to make it worse when I sit here at the computer! Here is the menu:

Minestrone Soup (Crock Pot), french bread
Spaghetti and salad
Italian Pizza Calzones, steamed veggies
Swedish Meatballs and lima beans, sliced fruit
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

We had the Swedish meatballs last night and I wasn't really a fan. Something about the sauce just wasn't good. I think I'll stick to stroganoff next time. One thing about last night though was that I had forgotten how much I love lima beans. Weird, I know! I rarely ever think about them though. They were so good (well, at least I thought so)! Tonight is spaghetti! Tomorrow I'm making soup for the weekend and then Monday we'll have Italian pizza calzones. The recipe is from Menus4Moms. The only change I'm making is that I'm using pizza dough instead of crescent rolls. It should make enough for Monday and Tuesday and then Wed being a church night will be soup and sandwiches! I'm gonna start baking next week and would love some tried and true cookie recipes. Please share some with me! :) I'm really wanting to make these!

I AM ~ Lesson 7

Below are this week's discussion questions. I think the biggest thing that spoke to me from this lesson is that we are inadequate but, Praise God, He isn't! God chooses to use His children, no matter who they are or what they do, to do His work. We can be a part of His kingdom work! From Moses, we can learn to just say 'Yes!' to God and leave the details up to Him! Click here to read this lesson from The Preacher's Wife online Bible study or go to the "I AM" icon on my side bar!

1. How would you answer the questions, "Who Am I?" Wow, that is a loaded question! First, I am a daughter of the King! I am a wife and mother. I am a daughter, sister and friend. I pray that I can be an instrument of God!

2. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt inadequate because of your lack of a 'tagline'? Haha.. yes! I don't even want to think about what my 'tagline' would be!

3. Do you have skills or position that you believe God could use mightily if only He would? No, I believe that He knows what He's doing! I need to always make sure that I am listening to Him though. I fail, He doesn't!


4. Have you ever lost a position or station in life you believe could have 'helped God out' with something He has asked you to do? Nope, I am learning more and more everyday that I just make a big mess of things when I try to help God! If you haven't lost out, do you perhaps feel you have to gain this in order to be useful to the Kingdom? No.

5. How are you with your dialogue vs. doubt conversations with God? Which does God hear most from you? I try to always acknowledge God's sovereignty in my life. He sees the big picture. He knows. That 2 word sentence is such great comfort! God knows! In doing this, I am trying to avoid doubt in Him and what He wants to do through me.

6. Do you believe God's Wonders become more wonderful if they originate in the ordinary? Any Scripture references come to mind? Isn't it amazing that God uses the ordinary to complete His great works! The first thing that came to mind... it being the Christmas season and all.. is Mary! He used an ordinary girl to carry His Son! Now, she wasn't ordinary as far as her virtues, I'm sure. But as far as her being an ordinary woman who had fears and uncertainty; she was definitely that!

The food saga... and a small ranting :)

I've been reading that toddlers are suppose to get about 1000-1300 calories a day. I'm always worried that Luke isn't eating enough so today I thought I would keep up with what he ate and approximately how many calories he took in. Here is today:

Breakfast: 8:15 am
Wholewheat Blueberry Waffle- 85
Kiwi- 56
6 oz juice- 100

TOTAL- 141

Morning Snack: 10:15 am
Mini box of raisins- 42
1/2 of a 100 calorie pack of cheese nips- 50
Water

TOTAL- 92

Before lunch total: 333 calories

Lunch: 12:15 pm
1/2 'chicken' nugget (they are soy chicken nuggets)- 24
1/2 c whole milk- 75
1/8 of a piece of whole grain bread w/ butter- 12
Total: 111
*He was actually offered 2 chicken nuggets, a slice of toast w/ butter, peas and milk.. but he didn't even touch his peas.

After Lunch Total- 444

Afternoon Snack: 4:00 pm
Oatmeal Apple Raisin Bar - 120
1/2 c of whole milk- 75
Total- 195

After Snack Total- 639

Supper: 6:00 pm
cheese toast (2/3 rds of it)- 130
1/4 c green peas
1/4 c grapes- 30
1/2 c milk- 75
Total- 263

After Supper Total- 902

Night snack: 7:30pm (He usually wants a little snack about an hour before bed)
1/2 100 calorie pack cheese nips- 50
1/2 banana-54
Total- 104

DAILY TOTAL- 1006

You would think that after 6 'meals' he would be getting enough calories!! The absolute minimum is 1000, so he is just above that. They (APA) say to multiply the height in inches by 40 calories and that's roughly how many calories the child needs. Well, Luke was 32 inches at 12 months, which was almost 6 months ago! 32x40 = 2800! I know most toddlers like to 'graze' and will eat more food if offered in small amounts throughout the day (which is what I am trying to do!!) The times he eats varies but most days it's about every 2 hours he's munching on something. I've tried giving him less for snack but then he just seems to be cranky because he's hungry! And I am trying super hard to make sure that what goes in his little body counts! Yes, I could give him 3 chocolate chip cookies and he'd go over his limit but that's not the nutrition he needs! He, as you can see, loves his fruits! He was offered peas twice today but only ate them at supper time. He does get some veggies in his juice... it's V8 Fusion... but don't tell him! I'm not sure how good he's eating.. but I think if I only ate what he eats I'm sure I'd lose some weight!!

Below is the Oatmeal Apple Raisin Bar recipe (but I will warn you.. they aren't that good! Very bland and not sweet at all!) But who knows there may be some mom out there who is like me and wants to give their kids something healthy! They are about 120 calories each. Next time I may add chopped walnuts to up the calorie intake for him. Oh and the recipe that I adapted them from says they freeze well.

Oatmeal Apple Raisin Bar
1 1/2 c quick rolled oats
1/4 c whole wheat flour
4 mini boxes of raisins
1/4 c orange juice
1 TBS honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c apples, shredded

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients together. Let set for 10 minutes. Spread mixture into an 8x8 baking dish that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is slightly brown. Cut into 12 bars while still warm.

Like I said, Luke liked them, and that's what counts! He even called them a cookie... that just goes to show that the poor child doesn't get real cookies very often! And while I'm on the subject.. I would like to add that at times, in my short span of motherhood, have felt the need to defend myself for feeding my child healthy foods.. and more so for not feeding my child unhealthy foods. But recently I was thinking about it and thought to myself, "How ridiculous Crystal!! You are his mother and responsible for him! If someone thinks you're crazy for being careful about what he eats (i.e.: taking good care of him} then who cares!" I should not have to defend why my son has never eaten a sucker (ok, so he has licked one on 2 different occasions but was never allowed to finish even half of it!), has only had ice cream twice, has never had a pop tart or a fruit loop! Yes, I am the mother who made low sugar carrot cake cupcakes on his birthday! I am the mother who gave her son 'dessert' baby food for Easter (he was only 10 months old!). My child is not suffering, I promise. His daddy even gave him a few M&M's the other night! Ok, just had to get that out.
BTW, I'm not trying to offend anyone who gives their children pop tarts or the like. Seriously!
:)

For Just One Week...

I'm vowing to NOT eat sweets for one week. Seriously. I was doing so well until Thanksgiving! I had even lost a whole pound over the first part of November. But I'm sure that was totally bombed over the pumpkin pie and gravy that I ate (not together mind you, although it might be good.. on second thought.. nah....).
Ok, wish me luck. I have a sweet tooth the size of.. well, we won't even go there.

Thanksgiving..

Is over.. :-(
I really intended to do a "What I am Thankful For" post Wednesday, but it just didn't happen! We were too busy! That's not really a bad thing though.. it just meant that we had a BIG Thanksgiving to get ready for! We had a great time with family over the span of yesterday and today... and of course we ate too much. But it wouldn't really be Thanksgiving without a little gluttony!
I am so thankful for so many things... but I think I will save that post for another day. I really try to make everyday Thanksgiving.

Psalm 100:4~"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

Luke did get to meet Santa tonight and let me just say that it was not a warm and fuzzy meeting. Luke was terrified. I guess attempting to go to the mall and sit in Santa's lap is out of the question. I am not a fan of making a scene... and I'm afraid if I tried that, we would definitely have a scene!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving... we sure did! Oh, and my pumpkin pie was fabulous! ;-)

~YUM~ Recipe and menu (sort of)..

Since this week is Thanksgiving week there isn't much on the menu. We will be having dinner with family a few times and I'm sure will have leftovers as well to take home. Last week was a busy one so I just now made the last 'meal' from last weeks menu. I will post the recipe at the bottom. So here is our 'menu' minus Thanksgiving.

~ Shrimp Scampi over thin spaghetti, salad (seriously, this sounds fancier than it really is- it's Contessa Shrimp Scampi, some boiled noodles and salad in a bag. Woo Hoo!)
~ Frozen Pizza (another really difficult dinner)
~Tuna Salad Sandwiches (man, I'm outdoing myself this week), baby carrots w/ ranch dressing

Ok, so it's nothing spectacular, but it's easy! And that's what I'm looking for this week. I'm not actually doing a lot of cooking, not at my house anyway {I'll be helping my mom Friday}.. but just the hopping from house to house alone will be enough! Not complaining.. just saying I will probably have no desire to cook anything fancy schmancy.

The only thing I was actually requested to make this week was a pumpkin pie. And I don't even really like pumpkin pie. I'd much rather have a Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake (minus the nutmeg). My hubby loves pumpkin pie though.. and my mom has been craving one.. so that is what I will make. If I put enough whip cream on top it will probably be good. :) I'm also doing yeast rolls.. but really, I haven't even come close to attempting any kind of bread making... so they are frozen. I'll put bread making on my 'to-do' list. Seriously, I would love to know how.. The rest I will just be helping my mom with Friday. I know she's doing chicken & dressing, broccoli casserole, carrot souffle, something with sweet potatoes and creamed corn. I honestly don't have a clue what kind of meat we're having.. turkey or ham? Who knows... Anyway, here is the Crockpot BBQ Chicken recipe that I made last night. So YUMMY and easy!


Crockpot BBQ Chicken, 6 servings

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 & 1/2 cups ketchup
3 TBSP brown sugar
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tsp soy sauce
3 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients for the sauce in the crock pot. Add the chicken and coat it well with the sauce. Cook on High 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours or until chicken is fully cooked all the way through. (I halved the recipe and cooked 3 chicken breast that were still partially frozen when I put them in. I cooked them 2 hours on high and then one on low and they were perfect. When we were about ready to eat, I took the chicken out and covered it with foil and then put the sauce in a uncovered pan to thicken. I just turned it on med low for about 15 minutes and stirred it often. The BBQ sauce is soo yummy.. kind of Asian inspired w/ the soy sauce & so good!)

We had the chicken with green beans (I buy frozen whole green beans and throw them in a pan w/ a little olive oil and a chopped onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Let them cook until tender but still a little crisp!) and roasted potatoes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is flu shot day. Yay. I could go on about the flu.. because I have actually had it.. Not just 'Oh, I've got some kind of flu' or 'Yeah, I've got the flu (when they have no real flu symptoms).' [seriously, you have no idea how much that gets on my nerves since I have actually had the real deal]... I was 'one of the lucky ones' as my doctor put it in March of this year, technically after flu season was over, to get the real FLU, Influenza Type A! I got tested and it was positive. I have never been so sick in my life! So, we are getting the flu shot tomorrow.. R has already had one so Luke and I are getting ours tomorrow. Ok, so I know there are worse things out there than influenza.. but thankfully (and I say that with all sincerity) in my life I haven't experienced them. I should get off this little soapbox of mine.. but just be warned.. don't tell me you have the flu.. unless you REALLY have the flu.. and if you do, it better be over the phone and NOT in person. Go get a flu shot! Sorry for the rant.. this ends my public service announcement.
:)

Joyful!

I truly believe that God desires for His children to be happy, joyful and blessed. Let's not confuse this God-given joy with worldly happiness. Worldly happiness often involves money, fame, fortune, great career, material things, status, and even health. Don't get me wrong, many people who have these things are happy and sadly don't see their need for God because they feel they already 'have it all'. The only problem with that is they don't see that without God they will face eternal hell. (this is one reason why it is so dangerous to preach and teach 'health, wealth and prosperity') The Bible says in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."
As you can see there is a huge difference between the joy that God gives and what the world thinks 'joy' is. As I have said before being a Christian doesn't mean instant happiness and success. It doesn't mean bad things never happen. Things will not be perfect and rosy. Just a look at Jesus' followers in the Bible proves that because many of them were persecuted and martyred for their faith. Now.. joy and peace handed down from the Creator Himself....

Where do we get this joy and peace that "surpasses all understanding"? From putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Romans 15:13 says- "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." In our world today there isn't much hope without Jesus. In fact, if you know God's Word, there isn't any hope at all without Jesus. But with Jesus Christ we can 'abound {overflow} with hope'! And did you notice the word all in front of joy! What a powerful, yet so tiny, 3 letter word! Don't you just love it when you notice something like that for the first time!

There are so many people out there hurting. They feel like all hope is gone, they have no where to turn. They may have even thought God might be the answer but because of false truths that are being taught in so many churches they think that even that is a lost cause. Their dreams have been crushed along life's road and now they are just making it.. just getting by. How my heart breaks for those who do not have the joy of knowing Jesus Christ! I read something today out of my Breaking Free book by Beth Moore (which really inspired this whole thought process) that really spoke to me. Here is an excerpt out of Chapter 27 ~ To Life Happily Ever After:

"God surpasses our dreams when we reach past our personal plans and agendas to
grab the hand of Christ and walk the path He has chosen for us. He is obligated
to keep us dissatisfied until we come to Him and His plan for complete
satisfaction."

Wow! That is the key! We forsake our plans and cling to Him. It's complete dependence on Him. Oh, but how we love our independence!! "I can do it all on my own, I don't need help!" I want to be so dependant on Him and that I can't move a step without His help! This is the key to joy! This is the key to hope everlasting and an abundance of peace, peace like a river!

I'd like to close out this little post with some of the key verses that Beth (notice how I act like she's my BFF) uses throughout this whole book.

Isaiah 61:1-3 - “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

I love the last verse! Jesus came to give so much to us if we would just take it! Comfort, beauty, joy, a garment of praise, so that we may be called 'trees of righteousness'.. planted by God himself for His glory! The *true* Christian life is not sad or boring! It's abundant and joyful, even in the midst of strife and pain there is true joy and peace! And that joy and peace is eternal!

Do you know Him?
I would love to introduce you to Him.

Ramblings... and my little shoe lover!

It's late.. so I may ramble..
I've been learning a lot of things lately.. here are some of them..

• Target sells Harry and David, Dark Chocolate Covered Bing Cherries!! They are expensive.. but so good.
  
• My son is obsessed with shoes.. his shoes, my shoes, R's shoes... He wants to put them on as soon as he wakes up, even before he is out of his pajama's. His favorites are definitely the black rain boots we bought to go with his fireman Halloween costume. (see picture below)


• I am too old to stay up past 12AM.


• I will never undertand why my husband likes/wants to fold his t-shirts in a perfect square instead of just folding them normally. Who has the time to do that?


• Putting your heart and efforts into something only to find that no one is really interested can be discouraging. This is when I just have to trust that God will work it all out.


• If you have to think twice about whether or not the 'salad in a bag' is still good.. don't eat it!


• True self-worth and perfect love can only come from God. People, even those close to you, will let you down. They are only human, so go easy on them! Praise God for His unfailing love!

Song of Songs 2:4 ~ "His banner over me is love."

My sweet love and his favorite shoes...

I AM ~ Lesson Six

I AM ~ Lesson 6 "West Side of the Wilderness"

This week's study was great! I thank God for the 'burning bush' moments in my life. Yet, I also thank Him for the times I've had to be 'decidedly content'! Every day is a journey toward greater closeness and likeness to the Father.
If' you'd like to read the lesson from today please go here. The "I AM" link on the side bar of my blog will take you to the entire study. Please check it out!

Here are this weeks questions:


1. How current is your God? Is he up to date on all your issues or do you have old hurts you still hold behind your back? I don't think I have 'old hurts'. Now, of course I still deal with some things from my past, mainly just attitudes I have about myself, but God is continuously working on me in that area. I have to remember that my worth is in what He thinks of me! I am constantly bringing things to Him and letting Him be present/current in my everyday life.

2. Has the enemy ever told you there are situations that are 'old news' that are better left stuffed down? Or perhaps because they were so long ago they can't possibly be affecting you now? Oh yes, things like to creep up on me! All of a sudden something pops into my head that I haven't thought about in years. I have to chose to either let it bother me or just bring it to the Lord and let Him handle it.

3. In the matter of established authority, does God truly reign in your life? Where are you when He calls your name? He does truly reign in my life! I desire to say "Here I am!" when He calls! I want to be listening closely to hear my name!

4. Do you ever feel God has forgotten you in your 'west side of the wilderness'? Sometimes being a stay at home mom I kind of feel like I'm always in the wilderness alone :-) ! I think it's important to remember that if we daily follow in His footsteps and chose to do His will, we are doing something great in the eye's of God. I know I have been at places where I felt like God was a billion miles away, but I can always see Him when I look back at the situation. Those are usually times of growth and change and sometimes it takes that to draw us closer to Him.

5. Have you ever experienced a time of cleansing where God has illuminated and rejuvenated you? If not, do you find you are in need of this now? Yes! And wow aren't those times awesome! I love how God shows up and out at just the right time. He knows what we need and when we need it. It's breathtaking to be in the presence of the Lord and truly experience it!

One crazy night...

One thing that I have learned about my son: he likes to be at home... especially when he is sick. I don't blame him though... when I'm sick, home is the only place I want to be. Here are the ramblings of our crazy night.

R had a youth event planned for last night. It was a conference sort of thing so I had planned a few weeks ago to go spend the night w/ my parents. My beautician lives an hour away so I have to plan everything out to get my hair done. So today being a holiday, my mom was off from work and she could watch Luke while I went and got my hair 'did'. Well, everything was looking up until Luke started running a fever Friday. No biggy.. maybe it's just a little virus and will be gone in no time... Saturday... fevers... Sunday... fevers... Despite better judgement, I went ahead to my mom's Sunday afternoon. I knew that R would be home late so I figured that I'd just go to my moms, spend the night and then she could go w/ me the next day to take Luke to the Dr. I do not 'do' Dr's visits alone. I did that one time and vowed to never do it again! I called my hair dresser and canceled... dark roots for a few more weeks, I guess. Like I said, he had been running a 102-103 fever since Friday. Tylenol and ibuprofen had been keeping it down and he had been acting like his normal self... playing, etc. He'd even been sleeping great. Friday and Sat. night I would hear him wake up.. but not cry... I'd go to check on him and of course he was burning up w/ fever so I'd give him something to get it back down and then rock him until I felt his temperature come back to normal. So, I figured Sunday night would be no different.
Boy, was I wrong. Luke was in the bed around 9pm... which is a little later than normal. I watched a little TV w/ my mom and then got ready for bed around 10:30. At about 10:45pm, I laid down and got out my Bible and Breaking Free book to do some reading. Seriously, at that moment, the crying started. I go check on him... he has no fever at all but my poor baby can't breath out of his nose! Bless his little heart! He was soo frustrated because he couldn't breath (and suck his paci at the same time)! My mom tried to help.. but my little man wanted his mommy! He was pitiful! Mom's got one of the vaporizers w/ the vapor stuff in it so we tried that (along with the vapor rub already on his chest).. but it didn't work.
He just cried.. and cried some more...
Let's watch a little tv.. didn't work.. Let's walk around the house.. didn't work... Let's drink some juice.. didn't work... More crying..
He was not consolable at all.
My dad, who had to get up the next morning at 4:30am, drove to WalMart to get him some Dimetapp. Yes, I'm a terrible mother.. I didn't bring it with me.. but then again, I hadn't needed it previously.
More crying.. I realized then that he was NOT going to go to bed. So, I made the decision at 12AM...
We're going home.
Me- "Luke, do you want to go home?"
Luke(in his best and sweetest 17 month old language)- "ome? ome?"
Me- "Yes, baby. We're going home."
Thankfully, since home is an hour away my mom decided to go with us. We loaded everything up as quick as possible and headed out. Seriously, as soon as we were out the door (while Luke repeated "ome, ome!") the crying stopped. He was definitely ready to go home.
About 30 minutes into the ride, Luke was out like a light... snoring, but completely out. He was soaking wet with sweat when we finally got home (around 1:15 am)... because his fever had broken. I laid him down in his bed. He slept like a baby until 9am!!
Note to self- never EVER go anywhere when Luke is sick.

I called the Dr at 8:30 am (when they open)... left a message and waited. Luckily, when Luke got up he didn't have a fever, which was great since that hadn't happened in 3 mornings. The nurse finally called me back at 2pm (GRRRR... I won't even get into that). She said that it was a good sign that his fever had gone down... and to keep him hydrated... and said that they would call him in something to help his congestion. I'm not sure it's working though because he still sounded VERY congested when I laid him down tonight. Truthfully, I was relieved that she didn't think he needed to come in. I despise the Dr's office... and I really feel like he's getting better. He did run a low fever tonight of 100 but, like I said, it hasn't been that low without medication for 3 days.

My Luke, he definitely knows what he wants, when he wants it! It's just horrible when he's sick! I feel so helpless when I can't 'fix' it! Luckily, going home was one thing I could do! I'm praying that was the worst of it and he will be better soon!
Speaking of all of this. It's 10PM and who knows what tonight may be like.

Missing Teen

UPDATED- Benjamin Stanford's body was found on Tuesday, November 13th in Georgia. Please keep this family lifted up in your prayers!

Missing teen from a high school near where I grew up. Just wanting to help get the word out. Pray for this family and young man.

~YUM~ Recipe and Menu

Yes, this is a very late menu. But I had some 'serious' posts this week that were top priority. We've actually already had chili and the skillet sausage pasta. Luke has been sick so I haven't cooked in 2 days! The other 2 recipes will just carry over this week. I'll try and post the recipe for the sausage and pasta because it is SOO yummy. Look for it later!

We have had another busy week so I only planned 4 meals and luckily one was already made and in the freezer! This weeks menu:

Chili (from last week that I froze)
Taco Pie, Black Beans, Salad**
Skillet Sausage and Pasta, Salad
Crock pot BBQ Chicken, green beans, baked potatoes

The Taco Pie is an adapted recipe from Menus4Moms. I'm using beef instead of chicken. I thought it would be a good way to use up the rest of the flour tortillas I have left over from the quesadillas.We had quesadillas last week and they were yummy and so easy. Here is the way I do them:

1 lb chicken cutlets (about 4)
1/2 packet taco seasoning
1 small bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4-6 flour tortillas
1/3 c water
extra virgin olive oil
salsa
shredded cheese (I used the Mexican blend)
sour cream

Sprinkle 1/2 of taco seasoning (1/4 of a packet) onto chicken (I also added some ground red pepper for some heat to the seasoning mix). On medium heat cook chicken in about a 1/2 Tbsp of oil. (You can use regular chicken breast but I love the cutlets because they cook so quick) Let brown on both sides and cook through, about 3-5 minutes per side for the cutlets. Remove from pan onto a plate to 'rest'. Wipe up any bits in the pan because they tend to burn. Add another 1/2 Tbsp of oil to the pan and saute onions and bell peppers on med heat until they are soft, about 10 minutes. A few minutes into the onion/pepper cooking use a fork and knife to shred the chicken. I shredded 3 cutlets b/c that was perfect for 4 quesadillas and saved one for a later lunch (you could use them all and get 6 out of it, instead of 4!). Add shredded chicken, remainder of seasoning and 1/3 c water to onion mixture. Cook for about 5 min on med-low. Remove from pan to a bowl and wipe down skillet again. Turn heat up to medium. Spray with cooking spray (or use a little oil). Place one tortilla in pan. Layer chicken mixture, salsa, and cheese on 1/2 of the tortilla. Fold over the other side to make a half moon shape. Let that side brown and then flip to the other side. You could layer the whole tortilla and just put another tortilla on top but this way is easier to flip. As you take them out of the pan cover with foil to keep warm. Serve w/ more salsa or sour cream. YUM!
Usually, R and I eat one half moon each so there are 2 left over for the next day. If you eat them the next day for left overs, it's best that you heat them in the oven because the tortilla does get kind of mushy. They crisp up on a sheet pan in a 400 degree oven after about 15 minutes. Luke had a cheese quesadilla!

I believe....

I believe:

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

I believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the same person; all three are one and the same.

I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin.

I believe that Jesus lived a perfect life and never sinned.

I believe that Jesus died on a cross and was buried in a tomb.

I believe that after 3 days, Jesus rose again and is alive today.

I believe there is a literal heaven.

I believe there is a literal hell.

I believe that the Bible is God's Holy Word. It is infallible, inherent, & perfect in every way. There are no mistakes.

I believe that we (humans) are born sinners.

I believe that we are all destined for hell because of our sin.

I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven.

I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross as payment for the sin debt of those who would believe in Him as Savior.

I believe that you must repent and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be saved from an eternal hell.

I believe that we are saved by God's grace and not works.

I believe that salvation is a work of God, not man.

I believe that there will be a supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in every true conversion.

I believe that baptism is the first step of obedience after coming to Christ; baptism does not save you.

I believe that we are called by God to come to salvation.

I believe that God is sovereign.

I believe that Jesus died for all sins and 'whosoever believeth' may come to him. Salvation is not for some, but for all. (John 3:16)

I believe that true Christians will have a style of life that lines up with God's Word.

I believe that no one is perfect, except Christ.

I believe that true Christians will strive to live a pure and holy life, which doesn't look anything like how the world lives.

I believe that true Christians will have a burden for the lost and will desire to share their faith with others.

As promised... a much needed second half..

As promised in my previous post, I want to speak about sharing the gospel with lost people without using the 'sinners prayer'. I've been discouraged by my husbands 'blog' responses (not the responses on my blog.. but ones from his) because I'm afraid there are many who do not understand where we are coming from. I think that maybe part of the reason is because the blog did not explain things fully and clearly enough. My sweet husband truly has a heart that desires to honor God with every ounce of his being. I know this because I know him. It hurts me that someone might think that he is misrepresenting the gospel message and changed everything about the way he believes. That is just not the case. He has a deep burden for lost people. He faithfully goes out and shares the gospel of Jesus. He faithfully urges men to repent in and out of the pulpit and put their faith & trust in Jesus Christ. He (nor I) definitely do not have the attitude of 'we'll just sit back and do nothing and let God do it'.... and leave people hanging without an answer. That is foolish and is not what we believe. Christians should be compelled to share their faith. It should be a desire to share. A Christian who does not share is disobedient. Sharing the gospel is not just telling the story of Christ but telling others how they can know Christ as well. I believe that Christ died for the whole world(John 3:16-17), so we should do our best to tell everyone we can.
There are many different programs out there that 'help' you share your faith. The one we are currently going through is the Way of the Master. The reason why I like it is because it uses the Law (10 commandments) to point out sin in a lost person's life. Until a person realizes they are a sinner and have broken God's Law they cannot be saved. After a person has been shown their sin and realized that God cannot let their sin go unpunished, then the good news of the gospel comes. What did God do so that we don't have to spend eternity in hell? He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross. He paid our sin debt. He took our place. We must show them that repentance and turning from sin is the first step in salvation. Like I have said before, a lost person must be broken (humbled) over their sin with godly sorrow (not worldly sorrow- 2 Cor. 7:10) to be saved. James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Explain that when we confess our sins, we will be forgiven (1 John 1:9). Secondly, a lost person must be shown that salvation comes by putting their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior of their life, not just 'believing' in Him; for even the demons believe (James 2:19). It's about surrendering your life to Christ.
Now, what a joy it is when after going through that you have someone who wants to pray and receive salvation! It's an amazing thing when God begins the supernatural work of salvation in someones life! It is definitely a work of God! What do you do then if you don't want to go through the 'repeat after me' type thing? Simply say, "You can pray right now! Confess your sins to God and turn from them. Tell God you are placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior of your life. Surrender your heart to Jesus. " Allow them to pray and then pray for them! Make sure they have a Bible and encourage them to read it & obey it (maybe suggest them to start in 1 John). Invite them to church or encourage them to get involved in a Bible-believing, Christ-centered church. And of course rejoice!!
Not everyone will pray to receive Christ when you share. Sometimes all you can do is share and let the Holy Spirit continue to work.... I believe that sometimes God has to really deal with people about their sin to get them to a place of repentance. Matthew 7:14 talks about entering the 'narrow' gate and that 'difficult is the way which leads to life'. That's why it's so important to give them the tools to know how to come to Christ and then grow in Christ. You never know who might walk away lost but and the Holy Spirit begins to deal with them when their head hits the pillow that night. I, myself repented and trusted in Jesus for salvation in my own bed... just me and God. You can read about it here.
Do I always share my faith in the same exact way? No, not exactly.. I may add illustrations or parts of my own personal testimony. It's important to let the Holy Spirit guide you in that. But the gospel never changes..
So often I fail in sharing my faith but I'm praying for a stronger burden for the lost. I pray for boldness.

Matthew 28:28-20- "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Where is the sinner's prayer?

Please make sure you read the UPDATE at the bottom of this post.

No, this is not a recipe or cute story about my son... believe me there will be enough of those to come. This is more important than that. Please read... this subject has become a huge burden on my heart and the heart of my husband. We want you to know...

Below is a blog entry that my husband posted on his myspace page. Over the past few months God has completely changed the way we look at the gospel message and the way the gospel is shared. No, the gospel hasn't changed, it never changes! Sadly though, the way the gospel is presented has changed. We truly believe that the reason there are so many in the world claiming 'Christianity' but living a life so completely opposite of Scripture is because of how watered down and 'easy' coming to Christ has become in the modern evangelical church. It's not Biblical and it's not the way Jesus did it.

More Biblical Evidence against the use of the Sinners Prayer

My question is for anyone who can answer (with a Biblical response) where the sinners prayer is found in the Bible. By no response, I am to assume you have no answer. In the Gospel of Mark the 10th chapter verses 17 -22, we see Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. This rich man comes to Jesus asking a question that many in the church have asked at one time in their life, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus does something Biblical, shocking, I know. Jesus takes the man through the commandments. When Jesus was finished the man said "I've kept all these from my youth". Jesus then says "One thing you lack, go and sell all you have and give it to the poor". Then the Bible says this man went away sad, because he had great possessions. Let's fast forward 2000 or so years into the future and put this same scenario into most modern day Baptist churches (I'm Baptist so I can say this). What would happen if you have this same man come to the front during the invitation? The conversation would go something like this:

Pastor- "Sir do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?
Man- "Yes."
Pastor- "Do you believe He died on the cross?"
Man- "Yes I do."
Pastor- "Do you want to invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life?"
Man- "Yes."
Pastor- "Well say this prayer and mean it with all your heart....".

Who is wrong here? I can assure you of one thing, it's not Jesus. How come Jesus did things completely different than it is done today, yet today we call what is done in most modern evangelical churches His work? When God is nowhere near the place because of the hypocrisy that is involved in church today.The Bible does speak of this "modern day evangelism" method. In 2 Timothy 4:3-4. "For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." Do you know what is so scary about this passage? These "fables" sound like truth, because they will be said by a preacher in "Jesus' name". In closing I pray that if you go to church and you hear the 'say this prayer' gospel, you would question where that comes from? I believe that true Christians want to follow God's way and not mans. Seek the truth out.

By the way, you can't use Romans 10:9-10 ( 'that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' ) as your scripture to support the sinners prayer. Paul is talking to the church in Rome, a group of believers who were being persecuted for their belief in Christ, not lost people. It goes like this: back in AD 60 when the book of Romans was written, the custom of that day was for the Roman citizens to sprinkle incense on an altar and say 'Caesar is Lord'. If you didn't say that Caesar was Lord than you were killed. A Christian couldn't do that because only Jesus is Lord, saying otherwise would have been (and still is today) a sin. Paul was saying "Jesus is Lord, even if it cost you your life". Also Revelation 3:20 ( 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.' ) isn't talking to lost people either. John is speaking about the church at Laodicaia, the "Lukewarm Church". Jesus is wanting the church to Let Him come in. Jesus isn't knocking on a lost person's heart asking if He can be Lord. HE ALREADY IS LORD, HE DOESN'T NEED YOUR PERMISSION!!!! Jesus wouldn't knock on the door, He would knock the door down. Don't make Jesus out to be a beggar, He is King of King and Lord of Lords.

So, how do you share your faith or lead someone to the Lord without the sinners prayer? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'll go into more detail about that later. Until then check this out.

I've got a Walk Away the Pounds DVD calling my name...

Updated: So, it seems, that maybe I should clarify a few things. Please here my heart in saying that I (we) am in no way saying that everyone who has said a sinners prayer is lost. That would be ridiculous! There are tons of people who God was dealing with and they meant every word of that prayer. I absolutely believe that God supernaturally saved them! I've just recently come to realize that the modern methods of reaching lost people and presenting the gospel is not the Biblical way that Jesus did it. I truly believe that if the gospel was shared the way Jesus shared it there would be more *true* conversions. Should we not follow in Christ's footsteps in every way possible? This can be a hard thing to swallow... I mean of all people, I know! Like I said previously, this is something new to me as well. With all my heart I never want to lead people astray in the way I live or share Christ. I will share something personally from my life about this and then I will leave it alone. Before all of this "sinner's prayer" stuff came about in our lives I began to deal with this on my own... here it is:

When R and I first came to our current church he had a big youth night planned as his first youth service. It was awesome. There was about 40-50 students there. We were blown away. Well, at the invitation time several students came forward. I took 3 girls with me to council with. I went through the gospel and then got to the sinners prayer part and led all three of them in the sinners prayer. After the service I was talking to R and said, "I am so uncomfortable in leading someone in a sinners prayer. Not because I can't do it.. or can't share the gospel.. just because it doesn't seem right. I feel like they should say their own prayer. They don't need me to tell them what to say if they really want to get saved." All of a sudden God just started revealing things to R and I about this and to our pastor as well. I just knew deep inside something wasn't quite right. When I hurt R's feelings I don't need someone to write me an apology and then go and recite it to him, why should we have to do that with God? When people are truly convicted and broken over there sin, repentance just comes naturally. I'm praying hard for the Holy Spirit to speak to hearts through this....

A Baby and a King...

Guess what I did today? Got out a Christmas CD!!! I didn't really do it on purpose but I'll often look through my cd's while Luke is napping and play one while I clean up. So, today I did the same thing and came across the Christmas is Jesus CD from the Christmas program we did at the church where R and I met a few years ago. I LOVE this CD!!! (BTW, I just did a search and apparently you can't get it anywhere... Amazon.com had a few but that's it!) Luke and I were out this morning at Hobby Lobby and of course all of the Christmas decorations are out. I just thought it was fitting that I listen to some Christmas music! I turned it up loud enough that I could hear it over the running water at the sink and just had a great time! I'm sure this will not be my last Christmas post either.. I mean we have 48 days until the Big Day! All of the songs are awesome and really tell the gospel story... I mean the Christmas story is a BIG part of the gospel story! But as I began to sing, tears started to flow... I held it back as best as I could while I washed dishes but as I walked into the laundry room to put a wash rag in the dirty clothes I just couldn't hold it much longer. I just had to stop for a moment and Praise Him (and have a little crying spell too!)! I was just overflowing with adoration... I told myself how silly it was for me to try to hold back those tears! Why should I not take the time to just cry and thank Jesus Christ for coming to this world to save me! I wrote not too long ago about how Jesus humbly came to this earth to reach us.. but I don't think most people really get it. And I know I will never totally get it until I meet Him in all His glory. Then, I will really know what He left to come to this earth.
The Christmas story.. it really is an amazing story. The God of heaven sent His Son. He came to earth as an infant to be my Deliverer. Can you imagine that baby in the manger. We all know how tiny and sweet newborns are... Can you see Mary as she looks her son over and counts His ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes (as all mothers do)? Can you imagine His little nose and rosy red cheeks. Mary's heart will want to burst with love as she wipes a tear from his tiny face. She'll wrap him up in a swaddling blanket and lay him down in a manger full of hay... Jesus Christ, a little baby. That precious little baby is a King.. the King of kings!

You are my King.
You are the Lamb.
Lion of Judah, the Seed of Abraham,
The Holy One, God's Only Son.
You are the King of who I am.
(Tanya Goodman and Michael Sykes)

Housewife Quote.. love it!

I came across this today and had to post it. So true...

"Whenever I get one of those questionnaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife. It’s an admirable profession, why apologize for it? You aren’t stupid because you’re a housewife. When you’re stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare." [from The Private World of Tasha Tudor]

:)