Scripture Time

I'm holding this little hand, stroking it, enjoying it's softness, thanking God for this little boy. I start to wonder what will this little hand do? Will it be gentle? Will it show love? Will it be a hard working hand? Will it serve You?


Psalm 63:4
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands




What about these little feet? Will they go where You lead them to go? Will they follow You?

Psalm 119:101, 105
I have kept my feet from every evil path

so that I might obey your word.

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path.

This sweet little mouth...what about it? Will it sing Your praise? Will it tell others all about You and Your awesome plan of salvation? Will it speak kind and loving words?

Psalm 19:14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Look at these precious blue eyes...Will they look at others the way You would? Will they try to see the good in others? Will they try to avoid judging others? Will they try to avoid sin?

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Will these cute little ears listen? Will they listen for Your voice to call? Will they listen to Your truths?

Matthew 11:15

He who has ears, let him hear.

Father help this little boy to grow into a man of God. A man like David...a man after Your heart. Amen

Scripture Time

Whatever you do,

work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord,

not for men,

Colossians 3:23

Scripture Time

Can anyone hide in secret places

so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD.

"Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:24

I'm in my flours a lot. I have a little boy who makes roads out of everything, spilled milk, yogurt, other toys, yeah he loves to drive. Almost always I have to point him in another direction while I bake. If not I turn my back and find him all the way in the flour playing. Well Saturday night while making pizza, I scooped down in here and this is what I found hiding.....a matchbox car!

From Scratch....

It's time for our scratch cooking series from Sarah over at 8-muddy boots. Sarah is trying to encourage us to cook from scratch. It's normally healthier and it's normally cheaper!
This week was normal! I made Grandmother bread over the weekend and I will be making it again today! I need to make granola in the next few days too. I made several soups this week and our Stromboli. We put ham and cheese, tomato, pepper,onion and garlic in the Stromboli and it turned out really good!
I'm going to share our pancake recipe which I made yesterday morning.
This is the original pancake recipe.
Here is how I make it:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I add some vinegar to milk to make my buttermilk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 banana
1/2 cup blueberries
I put all ingredients in my blender. (you may want to start with the oats just to be sure they blend well) I mix well in the blender and then pour into my hot skillet. (*The batter is somewhat thin*) We LOVE these pancakes. As you know I'm trying to watch my weight, these are pretty healthy. They have around 60 calories, and a little over 1 gram of fat! (we get around 20 pancakes out of this recipe.)

Here they are, a nice pretty blue color!

Go visit Sarah and share your recipes!

Scripture Time

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,

and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

because the Lord disciplines those he loves,

and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Hebrews 12:2-6

I just love this picture. I think he's singing!

Reuben enjoying his first swing ride! I think he liked it!

205

I debated sharing this, I just wasn't sure that I should. I tried several times to dismiss it, but it continued to come back. I felt that since it continued to be with me, I was supposed to share it. I hope that this will help someone out. God is totally the one giving me the strength to do this, the drive and the determination. The glory goes to him, with out him I would still be trying to figure out how to achieve this goal.

Well this # could mean a lot or just a little. It all depends on how you look at it. For me it is a lot.....


2 weeks ago my sil and I started to exercise. That big number up there was my starting weight. I'm sure a lot of you are saying holy cow I can't believe your sharing your weight with the world. Well I'm not one to get hung up on numbers. Yes, it is A LOT, but I won't let it define who I am. Does it really matter what you all think of my weight, to me, not at all.
This morning when I stepped on the scale I was under 200. I was very very excited! I'm so thankful that it is going down. I know that with Gods help it will keep going down.

Gluttony- derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste.

I was gluttonous, no doubt about it....

Before I started this journey, I confessed my sin of gluttony to the Lord, I asked him to forgive me and to help me change. I know that he has forgiven me and I really feel like he is helping me to change. I'm shocked at how much I've changed in just 2 weeks. I'm continuing to ask Him for help and giving him the glory for my success. I know I will still have a bad day every now and again, but I can wake up the next morning and start over again.

I feel that to be my best for God I need to be healthy. When I'm at least 50lbs overweight I'm not being my best. I'm not allowing God to use my body to further his kingdom. I want to open my heart fully to him and hear him call me. That's not to say he's going to call me to be a missionary or something along those lines, but I want to be ready for whatever he throws at me. Even if he wants to call me for something many would look at and think it's pointless or menial, I want to be ready. Anything he calls us to do is worthy of doing. If I'm willing and able to work on this sin and get it taken care of, then I can keep facing my other sin head on and try to deal with it and move forward.

3 weeks ago my sil and I were talking about starting this back up and how we could make it work. In talking about it, she mentioned goals, and starting small. Her first goal was to be sure she was drinking enough water. I'm still breastfeeding so I thought that was a good goal for me to have, so I jumped on the bandwagon. 2 weeks ago we started walking, this week we are starting c25k. (couch to 5 k) I track my nutrition at SparkPeople, and I have replaced snacks with fruits and veggies. If I can do this anyone can.
I think it's important to start small, one step at a time. Don't get hung up on a big number. Work towards a small goal first.

Spring Cleaning Week 2- Main bathroom

How did everyone do this week? I had a busy busy week, but I got it all done! Everything got scrubbed, washed and organized. Next week we will be cleaning the Master Bedroom! That will be a BIG challenge for me. Go visit Sarah and share your progress! Have a great day! (here is my before pictures)

I didn't include a before picture of this. It didn't change much, but got reorganized and wiped clean!

Scripture Time

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-12

They made a little "house" and played and laughed and laughed! I love to see them enjoying each other!

Memory Monday

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:12

Spring Cleaning Week 2- Main bathroom

Is everyone ready? It's week 2 of our Spring cleaning. It's the main bathroom this week! I know this room is NASTY! Go visit Sarah to find out all about the germs that are lurking in your bathroom, then I dare you to not participate!

This week I plan to scrub the walls, floor, and fixtures! I will wash the rugs and the "guest" towels. I will reorganize the linen closet and medicine chest. Neither one are horrible, but need wiped clean and put back together in an organized fashion. If you have kids I'm sure you understand! What about you? Good luck everyone!

*Be sure to close the toliet lid when you flush!*

Spring Cleaning Week 1 Entry

Did you join Sarah this week in starting your spring cleaning? You can join anytime, even if you don't have a blog! If you're wanting to join here is the spring cleaning schedule we are following.

I think I accomplished everything I wanted to this week. I scrubbed the walls and floors, and cleaned the windows and doors. Rugs and curtains were washed also! I organized the closet, and got rid of some coats. (here is what I started with) How did you do?

Scripture Time

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Philippians 2:1-3

I can't believe this little monkey is starting to pull up. It's very exciting, and yet very sad at the same time!!=) One year is fast approaching......

From Scratch....

Sarah is encouraging us to cook more from scratch. Did you try a new recipe this week? Go visit Sarah to share with us.

This week is pretty normal week for me. Bread, rolls, etc. It was time to make granola again, so I'm sharing the recipe with all of you.

Granola

6 cups rolled oats (not quick)

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (whatever kind you like)

1/2 cup coconut

3/4 powdered milk

1 tsp. salt

Combine above ingredients on a large cookie sheet.

Heat:

2/3 cup oil

2/3 honey

1 Tbl. vanilla

Then stir into dry ingredients.

Bake @ 350 degrees 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Bake until light brown. Cool well before storing.

This is my mil's recipe. It is very easy and very tasty!

Here it is in a glass (of course!) quart jar.

Scripture Time

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."
Luke 6:46-49

O Lord, I pray that my kids will build their house on YOU.



Father, help them to seek You earnestly,


help their soul to thirst for YOU (and only YOU),




and their body long for YOU in a dry and weary land that has no water.



A chair for teddy. (those of you who know us irl (in real life) know that teddy is part of our family!!)

Scripture Time

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
1 Timothy6:7-9

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes

Luke 12:22-23

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;

if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

Proverbs 25:21

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

John 4:34

Spring Cleaning Week 1 Entry

Yay, it's cleaning time! Sarah did this last year, and it is a great way to clean. It's easy and not at all overwhelming!

Thank you for doing it again Sarah.

Here is my "public" entry. It needs a really good deep clean. I'm going to scrub the walls, floor, doors, and windows. (everything)

I want to go through our "game" closet and see if there is anything to get rid of, or put up for a while. Does anyone need any hangers? =)

Here is our "private"entry. It gets far dirtier than our main entrance. Since it comes in from our garage there is a lot of dirt, rocks, gravel, so in turn our shoes bring it all in the house. (I guess I really need to clean the garage! ) All the surfaces need a REALLY good scrub down.

In both areas I need to check coats, see if any need to be given away, sold, or put up for future use. It would be nice if we could put away the winter goods, but not yet! Go visit Sarah and join in!

Memory Monday

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Proverbs 2:10