Thursday Thanks

Today I am thankful for farmers. I love looking at their neatly laid out crops. I am also thankful for the food that the crops produce for us to enjoy!

Source

Wednesday Worship

This is my prayer for our home.

"The most powerful way to keep your child from being attracted by the offers of camaraderie with the wicked is to make home an attractive place to be. Young people do not run from places where they are loved and know unconditional acceptance. They do not run away from homes where there are solid relationships. They do not run from homes in which the family is planning activities and doing exciting things."

Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart (Wapwallopen, Pa.: Shepherd Press, 1995), 195.

*I also believe that there are exceptions. Some children may still stray even when their home is inviting. But I know that God is sovereign in our lives and in the lives of our families.

Tuesday Treats

I love this ensemble. Perfect for date night with my man, a play date with the kiddos, or a girl's night out! :)

From polyvore.com

Monday Manicure

I do not have great nails! They are weak and kind of thin. They usually end of being short, but I love when they are long for a week or so. ;) These are my go-to nail products. I love to keep Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails on my fingernails, and I recently tried the home french manicure on my toes. I loved it! Of course it's more fun and relaxing to go receive a pedicure and manicure, but these are much more affordable! :)

What are your favorite "Home Spa" products? :)

Friday FOOD!

peanut butter cup ice cream

Yield: About 7 cups of ice cream

Prep Time: 12 min + processing time

A peanut buttery ice cream with chocolate peanut butter cup chunks mixed in...

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped chocolate peanut butter cups (8 to 10 regular-sized PB cups)

Directions:

1. Make the base: In a medium mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to combine peanut butter and sugar until smooth. Add milk and mix on low until sugar is dissolved- a full two minutes. You don't want to be tasting crunches of sugar in your ice cream, so give it a chance to dissolve. Mix in heavy cream and vanilla and beat until well combined and smooth.

2. Process the ice cream: Turn on your ice cream machine, pour the base in the freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 25 to 30 minutes. A couple of minutes before you're ready stop the mixing, add in the chopped peanut butter cups. The ice cream will be a soft-serve consistency. You can eat it right away, or freeze to eat later. If you freeze it for later, it will be more ice-cream-scoopable. Let it sit out for a few minutes before you try to scoop it.

Tips:

*This recipe is GLUTEN FREE adaptable. If you're preparing this recipe as Gluten Free, make sure you use Reeses snack size or miniatures (those are known to be GF), and use a brand of peanut butter that is recognized as GF.
*Here's an easy way to measure sticky peanut butter: Just spray the measuring cups with nonstick spray before you spoon the peanut butter into them. It'll slide right out!
*Make sure you freeze your ice cream processor's freezer bowl for a full 24 hours before processing your ice cream.

Source: RecipeGirl.com (adapted from The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker recipe booklet)

Thursday Thanks

Today I am thankful for Paper. I like to write (especially my prayers) on paper. What did people do before paper was invented?! That started me thinking about other paper products. I have already mentioned loving paper plates and photographs. And then when I was looking for an image of paper, what should pop up, but a picture of toilet paper! What would I do without that!? Wow! So today when you are carrying on with your normal daily activities, stop and think about how your life would be different without paper. I am guessing you will be thankful for paper today also! :) 

(I would love to know your thoughts!)

{source}

Wednesday Worship

How to Obey When the Feelings Aren't There

| by Josh Etter | 

Pastor John writes:

I am often asked what a Christian should do if the cheerfulness of obedience is not there. It is a good question. My answer is not to simply get on with your duty because feelings are irrelevant! My answer has three steps.

First, confess the sin of joylessness. Acknowledge the culpable coldness of your heart. Don't say it doesn't matter how you feel.

Second, pray earnestly that God would restore the joy of obedience.

Third, go ahead and do the outward dimension of your duty in the hope that the doing will rekindle the delight.

Desiring God, 25th Anniversary Reference Edition, (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2011), 301. Paragraphing mine.

Tuesday Treats

Welcome Summer!

Monday Family Minute

How is summer going for you all? Are you having fun with your children home? I hope so! I don't know about you, but I work best with a schedule. It can and has to be flexible, but it helps me and the children I am with if we have a schedule to follow. I saw the following blog post on Women Living Well and thought it was a great idea! Read it here. I liked this article, too, by Molly Piper. Read it here.

What about you? Do you have a family schedule? Do you have fun ideas for summer activities to share?

Happy Father's Day!

I loved this cute idea! I will definitely be using this creative tip soon!

I'm sorry for the poor picture quality! I took a picture of these from a magazine (I can't remember which one!)!

Friday FOOD!

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

For the Batter

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 to 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste (I used ¾)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

For the Glaze
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water

Directions1) Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
3) Add the eggs, beating to combine.
4) Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.
5) Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
6) Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
7) Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
8.) In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.
9.) When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. At this point, you can leave them as is or go for the double dip. I glazed my muffins twice.
10.) Serve warm, or cool on a rack and wrap airtight. Muffins will keep at room temperature for about a day.

Recipe adapted from: King Arthur Flour

From: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com

Thursday Thanks

Today I am thankful for cameras. I am not a good photographer, and we do not have a great camera, but I love looking at pictures. I love taking pictures, too. It is so fun to look back at memories throughout the years!

What about you? Are you a talented photographer or do you just enjoy pictures like me? :)

source

Wednesday Worship

I read this article recently after Pastor Tullian tweeted the link. If you can, please take the time to read the entire article here. It truly is an encouragement and what I needed to hear. Below is the closing story of the article. Be blessed!

Too Good To Be True

I closed the sermon by recalling a story that Rod Rosenbladt told me when we were together at the recent Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago. It’s a story about a middle-aged woman who needed help from her pastor.

She went to her pastor and said, “Pastor, you know that I had an abortion a number of years ago?”  “Yes,” the Pastor replied.  “Well, I need to talk to you about the man I’ve since met.”  “Alright,” replied the Pastor.

“Well, we met a while back, and started dating and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. Then things got more serious between us and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. A while later we got engaged and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. Then we got married and I thought, I really need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. So I needed to talk to someone, Pastor, and you’re it.”

The Pastor replied, “You know, we have a service for this. Let’s go through that together.” So they did – a service of confession and absolution.

When they were finished, she said to him, “Now I think I have the courage to tell my new husband about my abortion.  Thanks, Pastor.”

And the Pastor replied to her, “What abortion?”

What the Pharisee, the prostitute, and everyone in between, need to remember every day is that Christ offers forgiveness full and free from both our self-righteous goodness and our unrighteous badness. This is the hardest thing for us to believe as Christians. We think it’s a mark of spiritual maturity to hang onto our guilt and shame. We’ve sickly concluded that the worse we feel, the better we actually are. The declaration of Psalm 103:12 is the most difficult for us to grasp and embrace: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Or, as Corrie ten Boom once said, “God takes our sins—the past, present, and future—and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says ‘No Fishing allowed.’” This seems too good to be true…it can’t be that simple, that easy, that real!

It is true! No strings attached. No but’s. No conditions. No need for balance. If you are a Christian, you are right now under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ. Your pardon is full and final. In Christ, you’re forgiven. You’re clean. It is finished.

What abortion?

Tuesday Treats

Pretty Stamped Cookies

Source

Monday Museum

                              

 Have you visited a local museum recently? We visited our Science Museum on Friday and loved it! We enjoyed the Omnitheater's Mummies and then walked through the King Tut exhibit! So interesting! 

What did you do this weekend?

                                      

Friday FOOD (and Beverage)!

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

(Yummy, refreshing goodness!)

Yield: 6-7 cups
Ingredients:
For the strawberry syrup:
1 heaping cup chopped strawberries
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. cold water
Pinch of salt

For the lemonade:
1 cup very hot water
2/3 cup sugar
1¼ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
4½ cups cold sparkling water or seltzer

Directions: 
To make the strawberry syrup, combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, water and salt in the bowl of a food processor or blender.  Puree until smooth.  Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds, pressing down to extract as much liquid as possible.

To make the lemonade, combine the hot water and sugar in a pitcher.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Mix in the lemon juice and water.  Stir in the strawberry puree.

To serve, rub a wedge of lemon or one of the spent lemon halves around the rim of a glass and then dip in sugar.  Fill with ice if desired and then lemonade.  Garnish with sliced lemon or strawberries.  Serve immediately.

(Source)

Thursday Thanks

This week I have been especially thankful for air conditioning! Monday and Tuesday we reached record highs of around 100 degrees. That's HOT for these parts! :)

What are you all thankful for today? 

(kwaree.com)

Wednesday Worship

Our kids our watching our marriages. They are learning from us, whether or not we realize we’re teaching them.

What I want my kids to learn from us:

• Sometimes married people argue, just like sometimes siblings argue: My kids get this because arguing is how they work things out. It’s *how* you argue that matters. No name-calling, putting down, meanness allowed.
• Sometimes married people want to be alone: time away for a date night or a weekend, isn’t just to get away from kids, it’s to strengthen our marriage. I want my kids to want us to get away because we come back more united.
• Sometimes married people kiss and hug: I don’t ever want my kids to wonder if we like each other. I want them to catch us stealing kisses and greeting each other with deep embraces. I catch them from the corner of my eye and I see confidence on their faces.
• Sometimes married people need a time out: when we reach a place where we can’t agree together or the tension or outside pressure is great, sometimes we just need to step away, cool off and get a better perspective. But we will always come back to each other.

Your kids are watching your marriage, too. Show them what you want, even if you haven’t attained it.

(excerpt from the blog We are THAT Family)

Tuesday Treats

Now this is a sink I might enjoy standing at to do dishes! ;)

(via Pinterest)

Yum!

We bought these this past week, and they are yummy!

What sweets do you like to eat?

Friday FOOD!

Super Nachos

by Rachael Ray

Ingredients

• 2 bags corn tortilla chips in 2 colors or different flavors, such as blue corn, red corn, yellow corn, lime flavored, chili flavored or black bean chips -- pick 2 favorites

Pico de Gallo Salsa:

• 4 vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped, for medium to hot heat level
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup, 2 handfuls, cilantro leaves, finely chopped -- substitute parsley if cilantro is not to your liking
• Salt

Beef and Beans Topping:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound ground sirloin
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dark chili powder
• 1 1/2 ground cumin, half a palmful
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper sauce, giving you medium to hot heat level
• 1 can black beans, 15 ounces, drained

Cheese Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 pound pepper jack cheese, shredded, about 2 1/2 cups

Additional toppings to choose from, optional:

• Sour cream
• Chopped scallions
• Chopped black olives
• Diced pimento
• Sliced avocado, dressed with lemon juice
• Hot pepper sauces

Directions

Arrange a mixture of 2 varieties of corn chips on a very large platter or use your broiler pan as a platter.

Combine salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavors to marry.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, garlic, onion and peppers to the pan and saute 2 minutes, then add meat and crumble with wooden spoon. Season meat with salt, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper sauce. Cook meat 5 minutes, then stir in beans and reduce heat to low.

In a medium sauce pot, melt butter and add flour to it. Cook flour and butter 1 to 2 minutes over moderate heat, then whisk in milk. When milk comes to a bubble, stir in cheese with a wooden spoon. Remove cheese sauce from the heat.

Pour cheese sauce evenly over the massive spread of chips and top evenly with beef and beans and the pico de gallo. UBER NACHOS! Serve immediately as is or, garnish with your choice of extra toppings from the toppings list.

Thursday Thanks

Today I am thankful for dishwashers! I know they are not a necessity, and many people live just fine without them, but... They are such a time-saver! I miss them when I don't have one!

(via dishwashers.net)

Wednesday Worship

John Piper tweeted: 

"Almost everything I've ever published is free online. Including the books. 

We exist to spread, not sell." http://dsr.gd/kTXLfA 

Love that! Take advantage of valuable gospel resources!