How are you loving on the older generation 👴🏼👵🏼that we can’t be in community with right now?
💛Stephenie made a special gift for my grandma and my dad (both of which are self isolating due to age and health) and tonight she made them each a card and we put them in the mail box.📬
💘Tomorrow we will send some to a few other special people in our lives that we can’t be with right now.🥰
About 15 years ago, as my husband and brother in law were just leaving the nest my mother in law wrote a cookbook called, “I Want My Dinner Now.” I have always joked that her real reason for writing it was to make sure her future daughters-in-law would know how took cook her sons a good filling meal.
This book truly taught me how to cook and gave me the confidence to try new things. Today I had the opportunity to share this cookbook with Dani. Together we created the most delicious Chicken Pot Pie. I hope she always wants to cook with me.
*Fun fact- When I found out that this book would no longer be published I purchased one for each of my children and all of my nieces and nephew as future wedding/house warming gifts.
Although this book is no longer in production my Mother in Law does still have a few copies left. Check out her ETSY shop https://www.etsy.com/listing/636069244/i-want-my-dinner-nowone-pot-mealseasy
As Trevor and I navigate our new world with our oldest daughter, Shayela having her first serious boyfriend we find ourselves contemplating what makes our marriage not just work but what makes it thrive and grow.
We have talked for many years about the desire to never allow our marriage to become stagnant. We never wanted to be the couple that got married young, had a bunch of babies, and when they all grew up didn’t know who the other person was.
Let me tell you, it takes a lot of effort. It takes intentionality. It takes late night date nights. It takes trust. It takes honesty. It takes a lot of understanding.
I will probably talk about this a lot in the coming weeks and months as we continue to walk through this with Shayela. However, the first word that comes to mind when I think about what we do that might be different than a lot of people is that we simply adore each other. We have a very deep love AND respect for each other. We make sure to nurture this part of our lives, never take it for granted, and never get complacent. 
In the beginning of November I made the conscious decision to not diet until the new year. I knew that between birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas parties I would drive myself crazy and have a lot of self guilt if I tried to diet and failed. I knew that for me, making the choice early would be better for my anxiety and self love than if I failed.
I didn’t over indulge and tried to keep the sweets to a minimum and I am happy to say that I have only gained back 5lbs!
Today I am starting again (Not starting over, because it was my choice to press the pause button) and I am excited to be back on the KETO wagon.
A few nights ago we had the opportunity to attend Hillspring Church’s beautiful Living Nativity. All 4 of our big kids were in the cast, our oldest daughter even had the opportunity to play Mary in the outside scene. However, this post is actually about our 3 year old daughter Stephenie.
While we were watching the inside scene it got dark and some lightning flashed, for most 3 year olds it might have been a little scary. She snuggled in close and watched intently… the curtain opened, the light was red and the mood was very solemn. I wasn’t sure that Stephenie really understood what was happening in that moment until she started quietly singing “Jesus Loves Me this I know.”
My heart almost burst as she clearly understood what was happening, maybe even more than most.
One word 2019: I have tried for the last few years to have a “word of the year.” I am not perfect at remembering to live my word but I do my best. I have used words such as love and hope but my favorite word so far has been my word from this year. Intentional.
I tried to be intentional about things such as spending money, spending time with my kids, praying, how I spent my free time etc. It made for more meaningful relationships, better spending habits, and gave me the confidence to make better decisions.
The main way that I kept my “word” in mind was by creating a cute picture with my word and using it as my screensaver on my phone. Another great way to keep reminding yourself of you word would be to title your morning alarm as your “word” so you would wake up to your word each day or you could post sticky notes around your house.
I haven’t chosen a word for 2020 yet but don’t be surprised if it has something to do with good vision 😎🤓.
What was your 2019 word? How did you remind yourself about your word throughout the year? Do you have a word picked out for 2020 yet?
One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is that my my girls home with me while I teach preschool. Yesterday Dani spent a few minutes teaching the kids how to draw people. It was so awesome to watch.
To see her using her teaching skills to share her passion of art with a younger group of kids was wonderful. Can you imagine how different our public school system would be if we used this technique?
Putting older kids in a leadership role, using a skill set they already have, to teach other kids about something they are passionate about…. I think the results would be mind blowing.
This is a great reminder that we are not only called to profess with our tongue that we love Jesus and believe he is the son of God, but we are called to live our lives in a way that reflects Jesus.
That means that we are called to go where Jesus went, love the people that Jesus loves (spoiler alert: it’s everyone), and do the things that Jesus did.
It’s easy to show up to church on Sunday and sing worship songs alongside the people that think exactly like you. It’s easy to forget that we are supposed to,”love the least of these.”
I challenge you this weeks to do your best to quiet your tongue and LIVE your life so that people will know you follow Jesus without you having to say it outloud.
Do you like to bake from scratch or do you prefer a box mix for baking? Personally, I find box mixes to be less of a mess but made from scratch is so much tastier.
Nora, one of my 11 year old twins, has been asking to bake something from scratch for quite some time and today she finally got her wish. We had several bananas that were on the brown side (hardly ever happens in house with 8 people) and I decided that banana bread would be a great first “made from scratch” item for her to bake.
She did 99% of the work herself. She found the recipe, the first recipe she found said to “let the bread stand overnight.” She decided she would prefer a recipe that allowed us to eat it immediately so she went to Google. She found the recipe she wanted and got to work.
She preheated the oven, found all of the ingredients on her own, and did all of the mixing, mashing, and stirring on her own. When it was ready, she poured it into the loaf pans…. and like most of us have done 100 times she realized she forgot to oil the loaf pans😂.
She asked me how important that step was and I simply replied,”pour it all back into the bowl, rinse and dry the loaf pans, spray them and try again.” I explained that she would hate to have her bread be ruined because it stuck to the pan. She agreed and finished it like the recipe said.
While it was baking my house smelled amazing and when it was finished Nora proudly had everyone try it… HOLY MOLY it was DELICIOUS!
I believe giving our kids freedom to experiment in the kitchen is important for many different reasons.
Understanding how important it is to follow directions and pay attention to small details can really make a difference as they become adults. Also, knowing that when you make a small mistake you can pour it back in the bowl and start over allows to know that a simple mistake doesn’t mean a failure it means you try again.
Teaching them independence by allowing them to choose what to cook, finding the perfect recipe, finding the ingredients, and executing it by themselves (knowing you are there if they need a little guidance) helps them build confidence in themselves.
Do you let your kiddos cook or bake? If your little one is younger do you allow them to help you? What is your favorite thing they make you?
Pictured is my delicious slice of Nora’s banana bread.
Do you remember where you were? Who you were with? What you were doing? I’m sure most people over the age of 25 remember where they were on that fateful day. 
I had slept on the couch the night before, while my 2 month old baby slept in her cradle in the living room. I remember waking up to the headline flashing across the television screen “America Under Attack?” I distinctly remember thinking that it was a movie so I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. When it hit me that it was not a movie I got up just in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center.
I was only 16 years old and I was terrified. I woke up my family and we watched the news together until I had to go off to school. At school the news was on in every classroom. I remember the principal coming into my U.S. History class and telling my teacher to turn off the television. As soon as the principal was down the hall my teacher turned it back on. After all, it was U.S. HISTORY!
The next few weeks were surreal. I had never before and have never again felt so close to the other people in our country.
I still mourn for those that lost their lives in the attacks, the first responders that gave their lives saving others, those that died on Flight 93, and all the other that have died as a result of that day. I would love to hear your story. Where were you?
Picture credit
Happiness Unfolding 