Hello All.....

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Just wanted to update you again.
My new blog is over at http://www.riversofwater.comfortinheaven.com  I put a subscribe button on the new blog.  If you find you don't have time to go searching for my blog and would rather just have an email when I do post you can sign up there.  Top of the blog on the right side.

I hope to see you all over at the new site. Same look, same content....just on my own server now.
God Bless~~

I have successfully moved my blog....

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I have been paying for a web host for numerous years and I finally sat down today and moved the whole thing to my own website.

Please come find me at:
http://www.riversofwater.comfortinheaven.com

I just wanted to have a little more freedom in what I could do and that part I am still working out but for the most part everything I had here has been moved to there :-)  including any comments this evening!!

I am not sure how it will work as far as those that were getting a direct email.  However, I know there should be an RSS feed that you can subscribe to.

If you have difficulties finding the new site let me know and I will try and work them out on my end if I can.

Blessings,
Melissa

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself....

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Day 2 of the Hospitality study today from She Reads Truth.com  today's verses were Romans 15:1-7
and Matthew 22:36-40

---We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves....
In regards to hospitality--it is not just about having people over to my house it is also equally important to be taking a meal to those in need, those that are sick, those that are elderly, etc.
--hospitality is not a chore to cross off the list it is a desire from the heart to serve the Lord--it is not to be done with a mindset of pride but of a mindset to please, to give of yourself and time.

--let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification....
We very much live in a society today where interaction with our neighbors is becoming less and less polite, less tolerant, a lack of communication.

Throw out all the non-sense and start loving on these people the way Jesus would.  Drop off cookies, drop off seasonal breads and offer a lending hand while you are there.  Just go over to say hello.  Go over and invite in person.  It is ok to serve up a pot of spaghetti, or taco's etc.  It is saying I value you and want to share a meal together.

--through patience and comfort of scriptures might have hope.....
There is that word again from yesterday, patience--a second reminder to not get so tied up in the details of what the event is to look like....it is coupled today with the word comfort....."comfort of scriptures might have hope"

Hospitality, just like anything else we do, should be done seeking the Lord.  and when we apply the scriptures above, topically to this concept, we see that God's word can ease all our fears and give us comfort that all will turn out just perfect when we seek Him first.

There is no place in God's word for stress and perfectness, these two words are diabolically opposed to what Jesus is about.  I have to admit this study is just as much for me as anyone else..

I love the idea of entertaining and having people over.  I also love the idea of having an immaculate house.....now you throw in 6 children.....immaculate and children just do not fit in the same sentence....its a fact.  I recently was blessed to be able to provide a meal for our teens from church at our house.  Once the teens were there I had a wonderful time, I enjoyed myself immensely and I think the teens did as well.  However, had you seen the video tape rewind of my preparations....not only would you be laughing hysterically and falling out of your chair, but you would have seen a woman who was not seeking the Lord....one that was frazzled, stressed, panicking, an emotional wreck.....granted there were some "wrenches" that popped up that put me into a state of mental failure...lol...my husband commented that if this was the way I was going to be it was not right....and I agree...and I could list off lots of reasons as to why I was so stressed and not in the right frame of mind focused on God....the fact remains, I took my focus off of glorifying God and tried to do it on my own.....

If we think about one example of feeding the 5,000 it was bread and fish, it wasn't elaborate it was about fellowship.  If we look at the Last Supper, it was a last chance to have food together with those that were dear to His heart.  Maybe we need to not take each other for  granted that we will all be here tomorrow and instead start having people over for dinners and brunches.

--the scriptures are here to give comfort to make the job easier to give hope.  So don't look at hospitality as overwhelming and is the food going to be liked or is it presented nice enough.  Everything will be just perfect when God is at the center of the whole thing.

-that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God.
I have already touched upon this but it bears repeating that everything we do needs to glorify God.  In and of ourselves, as much effort we put into planning and cleaning it is all for naught if God is not first and foremost.
If we go into the planning and preparing as if Jesus was the one coming to dinner (by the way, he is always there) then you can relax and enjoy......

Jesus represents Grace unimaginable, he doesn't want perfection he wants you--fully focused on him, not worrying about coordinating napkins, plates, cups and tablecloths.  His words are freeing and meant to take the burden away.

--wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Christ received all of us with our imperfections and made us feel at ease, we need to do the same with each other and with ourselves.  Come and be welcome, come and relax, enjoy...Focus on the Lord and all will go well.

Matthew 22:36-40
--Thy shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it,thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

As passionate as we are about the Lord and worshipping Him, we need to put as much effort into serving Him a meal....and the Him translates to those outside our home when we invite them in....Food that is seasoned well.....Great tasting food seasoned with the conversation of the Lord.

Show the love of Jesus invite others in.  Even it its on beat up lawn chairs and stacked boxes...have a BBQ outside and let everyone stand in the shade....open our hearts open our homes to let Jesus shine through us.

Studying about Hospitality...

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Hello All,

I started a new bible study today.  It seems like I am constantly finishing up one study and then going onto the next one.  I find it is one of the ways to stay in God's word with this busy season of life.  This particular study is entitled Hospitality from She Reads Truth

I love the idea of Hospitality and in my head I picture every person I know coming for dinner or brunch or just tea on a regular basis!!

These were the verses to read today: Romans 12:9-13, Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 19:13-14

So as I read the scriptures I wrote down in my journal what is and what does Hospitality look like.

--Showing love--affectionate--preferring one another--not lazy--giving our best effort--serving the Lord

--patient in getting things ready and prepared--praying throughout--beforehand, during, end--given to hospitality--second nature, not arduous/not grudgingly

--Invited all walks of life to join for supper--chose to eat with all types--serve the lost--do not hesitate to show hospitality to our children--show hospitality to those newly come to the Lord....

I always find it amazing how the Lord directs issues in my life....I am currently reading The Rewards of Fasting by Mike Bickle and Dana Candler...one of the areas of a fasted lifestyle is serving....and this from what I read just today..."Serving others is the second of the charitable deeds Jesus spoke about.  In spending our time and energy on others we are fasting what we could have used to further our own interests.  .....We are spending that time for the benefit of others.  This is at the heart of what it means to have a servant spirit....we trust the Lord to work for our increase in a way that surpasses what we could have accomplished by spending that very same amount of time on our comfort...we get more done by investing time in serving and allowing God to reward our labors."

You just can't put this stuff together on your own, God orchestrates all of this for His glory.  That last paragraph goes hand in hand with hospitality.  To get in the mindset to serve and to do so willingly, readily, to not belabor the preparations, but to go in with an open heart, one of weakness, that I cannot accomplish it on my own but only through the Lord.....  That I cannot do anything to make the event/meal worthy, it is only through letting the Lord have control and a desire to glorify Him that I can serve and offer hospitality to others...

Looking back at my notes I am seeing key words that stand out at me....love, and that starts in the heart, not a just love to do it to show off, but a love of those coming to visit and a love for the Savior. A strong desire to serve.  I see what I wrote down as not being lazy, not the exact word in the bible, I think the word was slothful....but if we are going to invite people over even if the house is a mess, give our best effort.  We may not have the best stocked pantry, but give what we can at all times.

I see the word P.A.T.I.E.N.C.E.....oh my that one speaks volumes to me...I get so wrapped up at times being the "Martha" of hospitality...the stress involved because I want it just perfect....because in my head that is what it would like if I did not have 6 children going from room to room throughout the day.....instead I do have the 6 children in this season of life, and I need to embrace this when it comes to hospitality and not let the little messes overwhelm me so that I don't enjoy the upcoming event.  I need to rest in the Lord that if he allowed the hospitality to take place He would allow the grace to overflow me so that others would not be sitting there looking at my little messes but enjoying the time. 

 I think I am not the only one in this position...I don't know if it comes from the fact that we have seen to many Martha Stewart shows and the glossy magazine photo's of perfect tables and family rooms or what, but when you have six children there is bound to be a dirty sock someplace out of order or at least 20 random Lego's about the house..... I just need to stop stressing about all of those, and celebrate that the Lord has blessed me with company....

Praying....anyone else ever thought about praying for an upcoming meal with friends....FAIL over here....it just did not dawn on me...the one person who can make it all so much easier for me if I would just ask HIM....praying!!!

The verses also spoke to me about serving my own family....How many times a week or a month do we look at serving the next meal as something to cross off the list, or something we are forced to do, or grudgingly, or as an afterthought.....SERVE, serve our family, put our love into our efforts, give our family the best we can....not saying it has to be served like at a 5 star restaurant, but just thought out, not thrown together...prioritize, plan, prepare....

So this is the first day of the study, if you care to join in and comment as we go along for the next three weeks it would be great to hear your input.

Have a blessed evening,

Melissa

Leaving Facebook

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Well it has been a busy year with getting our new house and trying to get all settled in....Life always becomes so busy and then I realize I need to pull the reins in and simplify, streamline, my life, my priorities...

So as of November 1st, I am leaving FB.  There are three groups on there that I use for reference, but the app is gone from the phone.  I deleted 99% of the friends on there and deleted any pages that were likes, unsubscribed from groups etc.

I am hoping to do a little more blogging than the last two years but I will also be on Instagram under riversofwater if you would like to keep in touch with me as well.

There are no guarantees that I will be able to keep up here as well as you can see from the past, but I do hope to as the Lord allows!!!

This is from this last week down in Florida, we attended my In-Law's 50th wedding Anniversary celebration where they renewed their wedding vows.

So, yeah, comment to let me know who is still around and getting these emails :-)

It's been a while....

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Hello everyone,
It has been a while and I don't even have much time today to stop and chat!!  I just wanted to update you all...after two years and three months we have finally had an offer to buy our house!!  This just happened last Friday and we hope to finalize and close on April 21st.

So I am in the midst of packing up the other half of the house since I had half done from getting the house on the market in the first place!!

We are really excited to see where the Lord would have us to be next, we are hoping to stay in this general area of SC and would like to find a house with 4 bedrooms if possible and a minimum of five acres.  As of next month if we have not found a place we will move into our travel trailer until we find just the right place.

In the meantime, I am coordinating the Ladies Mother Daughter Luncheon for our church coming up in early May.  This details for the most part are taken care of, we just have two major projects left to complete.

This next Sunday we have our Teen Afterglow at church.  This is a the last Sunday of the month and one family provides the evening refreshment for all our teens.  I had volunteered for this before I had been asked to do the Mother Daughter Luncheon and I had chosen March in case we were going to be gone throughout the Summer possibly camping.

So my husband is gone all this week until next Monday, I need to pack, I need to teach Kings Kids this Wednesday, Teach Sunday School, prepare for the Ladies Choir performance this Sunday, watch the nursery Sunday and then prepare all the food for Sunday evening........deep breath.....the Lord will get me through this busy week!!!

I need to do another post about reading the book Trim Healthy Mama and how much success I have had, however, that will have to wait until another day.

I pray all is well with the rest of you!!!

Looking for someone from Xanga...

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Hello Ladies,
Any of you who previously had Xanga accounts...

I am hoping you might remember a lady by the name of Chanin...Her blog page might have been: He Is My Stronghold OR NewSurrender.... She had a daughter that went several times on a soul-winning expedition to Lousiana.

was friends with blog owner MyExodus23

If you have any leads as to where either lady might have gone, it would be greatly appreciated.  I thought Chanin was on Facebook but I cannot remember now.

Thank you all.

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Well hello everyone,
It appears its time for my quarterly/semi-annual update!!  Life just seems to get so busy and it seems so hard to find time to sit down and post everything I would like to share.

We haven't gone anywhere, or done anything really exciting.  I have been really busy this year with church activities.  Was on the baby shower/ bridal shower committee and that took lots of work.  We thought we would only have one event or maybe two for the year and ended up having four.  Then we had the Mother-Daughter Tea back in May.  That took weeks and weeks of working on.

The Lord gave me a gentle push to get even more active and I decided to start going on Door-to-Door visitation every other week.  I have really enjoyed the opportunity to go out and seek those who might not have heard about the gospel!!  I also signed up to work at our Jockey Lot, which is another name here in SC for Flea Market!!  Our church has a booth there every other week and we set up a table and display and hand out gospel tracts and for those who are interested we have an area where they can sit down and we can sit one on one and show them how to be saved. The second weekend I went I was able to lead a lady to the Lord and it was the first person outside of my immediate family.

I finished up the 13 week study of the book of John with Hello Mornings a few weeks ago and am looking forward to the book of Ephesians starting in a few weeks.  This time instead of being a leader of a specific group, I decided to move up and help encourage a group of 15 Leaders and help encourage them to encourage the ladies in their groups.  This study looks to have about 2200 women that are going to participate with 150 leaders.

We are still progressing along with homeschool and we have a reserve of about 30-40 days right now and I think that will come in handy come this Winter when sickness seems to strike!!

I am looking forward to the last week of August, Kings Kids starts at our church.  I was involved last year but was having serious health problems and needed to step away, however, I think that is being managed and will be able to give it 100%.  The first week of September starts the fall session of Sunday School and I have been asked to teach the 5th and 6th grade class.  I am SOOOO excited.

So yep, just a continuation of a busy day in our household.  I pray all of you are doing well.

Start your day with Hello Mornings….

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Are you looking for a way to challenge yourself to walk closer with the Lord? 

Consider joining the Hello Mornings Challenge for the summer session.  This is a 13-week challenge to maximize your mornings, via online accountability groups…

If you like the Facebook arena, there are groups set up on the registration page for your time zone. If you are short on time but still want the chance to participate there are Twitter groups as well for the different time zones.

The 13 weeks is a focus on your walk with the Lord, challenging yourself to get up early…and that is a relative term based on the events going on in your life…exercise, pray, and study the Lord’s word.

Registration is open until Friday, May 3th.  It is only open to 150 women throughout the United States and overseas.

 Perfection is not a requirement. Just a desire to meet with God in the morning and a commitment to checking in with your group.

There is also a free Bible study for all HelloMornings participants, Meet Jesus, a walk through the book of John.

If you would like more information stop by Hello Mornings Blog and see what is happening, but don’t delay in registering. 

I am one of the Coach’s for this session and you can sign up under my name on the registration page: http://register.hellomornings.org/melissa-donovan/  if you desire!! 

On a journey

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I keep wanting to blog about what is going on in our life as a family and keep everyone updated and I always amazed at the end of the month that the whole month has gone by already.  When I do think about my blogging and what I am sharing, it always seems to fall short of what is truly important to me and that is my walk with the Lord.

I am wanting to share what is happening in my life and at the same time I just want readers to see that this is just my journey and not one to be compared to.  Others, I am sure are far beyond where I am at and I am sure there are others that are not where I am at.  As long as we are all on the path towards seeking the Lord, I think we are doing good.

With that said~~~Since the beginning of the year, I have had this strong, strong conviction on my heart to seek the Lord, to spend time with him.  It came through a series of different sermon’s at church and I believe culminated right before we had our Missions Conference in February.  I had also started to a series on Revive Our Hearts about the Song of Solomon How to Fall and Stay In Love with Jesus.  WOW!!

I have not finished the series and I am just amazed at what the Lord has shown me through listening to these broadcasts.  I have been able to focus my time throughout the day to make sure I am getting chapters of His Word read.  I want to share with you a few quotes that I heard in the broad cast…

“But I want to love Him with a passionate, fragrant love that engages my whole being and all my senses.

She has come to realize how wonderful he is, and she longs to experience his love in the fullest possible way. She doesn’t want to just know about him casually. She doesn’t want to just know about him. She wants a close, intimate, personal relationship with him. There was a time when she was contented with his absence, but not so any longer.

I think this is a picture here of a believer in Christ who has an intense desire for a more personal, intimate love relationship with Him.  This is somebody who’s come to be dissatisfied with the ordinary. They long to go further than average believers. There are other believers around you in your home perhaps or your church who are content with the status quo, just to go on professing Christ. It’s just a so-so, ho-hum relationship with Him. But you have been awakened to the loveliness of Christ. There’s something in your heart that can no longer be satisfied with a common, casual, distant relationship with Him.

You long for that intimate love relationship with Christ.”

This is where I am at.  I find it so hard to put into words.  The quotes from the broadcast resounded so much within me.  I just have this feeling that penetrates my soul it is in the very cells of my being.  So I have given up per se my Pinterest account…I have it but I know longer pin items to it, I see it was taking up too much of my time.  There are lots of great recipes on there I still plan to use and there are decorations on there for our Ladies Tea at church I will be using, etc. It has just come to be uppermost in my mind to make sure my free time is on those things that would really glorify Him.  Not that Pinterest is the evil one, but if something is taking so much of your time that you are no longer focusing large amounts of your day on the Lord but on a worldly pursuit, then it is time to let something go.

I believe it was in early March that I was at a Sunday evening service and was blessed beyond measure. Unbeknownst to the congregation the teens had been challenged by our Youth Pastor to memorize scripture.  I am not sure if the verses or chapter was assigned or if they were able to pick on their own.  What took place, was a young gentleman by the name of Timothy, came to the podium and recited all of John chapter 4 with no assistance.  I think Timothy must be all of 17. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the congregation.  Perhaps due to the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon most of us for not spending enough time to get God’s word in our hearts.  I am told he did it in a week earlier than the time allotted.

Well shortly thereafter, there was another broadcast on Revive Our Hearts You Need Hunger a three part series on how to memorize the word.  Janet Pope was the guest speaker and she has written a book on how she started this process in her life.  I might add she has memorized 14 books of the bible and over 100 chapters. She showed that we do not have blocks of time in our day to sit down and devote to memorization.  However, we do have time when we are getting ready in the morning, when we are folding laundry, when we are putting together the evening meal, driving children to sports practice, waiting in lines, waiting at practice, and the list goes on and on….when you add up those little snippets of time, you DO have time to get the word in your heart.

So I took the challenge I heard, just as she took it years ago when she first heard someone quote a chapter at a conference.  I started last week and memorized Psalms 1….yes 6 verses.  Some might scoff, but I say let them.  I did it, I set my mind to it and accomplished my goal and am moving forward.  My children are on board with the idea and we sat down this week to start the complete book of Titus.  One verse at a time day by day building on the previous verses.  I am looking forward to the blessings that abound for getting the Lord’s word in my heart and a constant mediation in my mind.

In the midst of all of this, I came across a blog post that mentioned The Hello Mornings Challenge A challenge to get up and seek the Lord first thing in the morning with prayer, scripture reading as well as exercise.  I took the challenge as well.  I was getting up at 8am previously and am now up at 7:30 and am seeking to get up at 7am.  The next challenge session starts May 6th and the FREE registration starts April 26th it will be a 13-week bible study of John and there will be a downloadable file to study along.  I am really excited to be apart of this Spring/Summer session and have signed up to be a an Accountability Coach to encourage those on my team.  I hope you all can join in if you have the time.

I also finally found a great deal on a used copy of Baxter’s Explore The Book, it is by J. Sidlow Baxter and it is the six volumes in one book and goes through the whole bible in an in-depth study.  I had asked my Pastor for a good study book of the bible as he does not recommend Strong’s concordance and he gave me this book that I mentioned.  I am really looking forward to being able to find out more about the bible and the people that wrote the books of the bible, etc.

Well that is it in a nutshell.  You see everything else just seems, to me, to pale in comparison to the Lord and my hearts desire. 

Whatever happened to February….

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We started out the month with two of my son’s getting chicken pox within three days of each other so we were someplace and were exposed.  Thankfully this particular son weathered it very well and was only mildly discomforted.  The other son only had about 20 on him, Praise the Lord….I did my best to make sure the other four would be infected but would have to wait another 15 days to find out.

Master J with the doughnut celebrated his 7th birthday.  As his breakfast request was doughnuts I went ahead and made homemade!

 

Dad enjoyed a doughnut or two as well before leaving for work that morning and you can see that Master T. enjoyed the chocolate ones!!

 

Looks as good as store bought I say!!  We had chocolate, old fashioned, and cinnamon/sugar!!

  

For dinner that evening it was to a restaurant in town and there was a nice peanut butter chocolate pie to be shared…..I am one of those that thinks peanut butter and chocolate only belong in a Reece’s cup and that’s it so I gladly watched them share it!!

 

Once home it was time for cake.  That’s a big deal around here, they start pulling out the cookbook with all the pictures at least a month or two in advance and start picking out all the ones they want me to make.  We settled on a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and the Oreo's in the shape of a number seven.  Upon finishing, the birthday boy decided he wanted maraschino cherries on the top as well with sprinkles so we added them on of course!!  I don’t recommend the intense blue frosting…it seems to get everywhere but on the cake!!!!

Master A, had his second front tooth come out on the top row and managed to win the race to lose a tooth with his sister!!

We invested in a new house servant!!!  This one is so sweet and quiet, just does the job and works like a charm.  The old one was rebellious and refused to wash the dishes after having run for a full cycle.  There is no sense having a dishwasher that you then have to wash all the dishes by hand!!!

Our neighbors down the road have small herd of goats and several of them gave birth several weeks ago.  I had my own names for these two…Cinnamon and Sugar….

My husband picked up the one so I could get a close up…I almost had my parents fooled for a second and said this was the new family pet!  Right, just what I need…A GOAT!!!!

As an update….I found out last weekend that this little cute one passed on :- (

Then it was round two for chicken pox with three more children and you can see that these two little guys suffered much worse than the first round.  My oldest son went through the sick feeling but never had a single spot on him!!! So we will see how he does throughout the rest of his life.

Then towards the end of the month, Master M up there in the blue pajamas had a birthday and turned three!  He wanted French Toast with Cinnamon and Sugar on top.

For lunch we all partook of grilled cheese sandwiches and picked him up a balloon while doing our grocery errands that morning.

I couldn’t resist this picture of my littlest man trying to reach up for the balloon just a 1/4 of an inch out of his grasp.

Master M enjoyed the afternoon playing with his new soccer ball out on the back deck, I was sneaking pictures of him through the screen door and caught him action kicking the ball.

We ended up the days meal with a rare treat of crinkle fries and nuggets.  I love that it doesn’t take much to make the children smile with joy!!

Another chocolate cake of course…I had one of those pressurized containers of icing in my cabinet which I attempted to write his name with…and then I remembered why I had stuck it up there, because it was too difficult to try and write with….sometimes a little would come out and then other times a huge blob!!

There was a baby shower at church and I found this cute tutorial on Pinterest to make these baby diaper wreathes so made one to bless the new mom with.  It was a nice change from the regular diaper cakes you see.

The image on the left is what I was trying to copy and what I ended up with at church was on the left.  I figure it was pretty decent considering the ceilings were like 15 feet or close to it!!!  The pin didn’t go to a website that was working so I don’t have direct link to the picture.

We closed out the month with a fabulous pizza recipe found on Pinterest that was Barbeque chicken and pineapple with caramelized onions.  The sauce was really good, I had never used molasses in a BBQ sauce before and it was well worth trying.  I will post the recipe next time I am on.

I pray everyone is well and God Bless,

Melissa

 

Wedding day finery….

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Just sharing a few pictures from our wedding day.  It is several months away, but I am just sharing from a blog post I read today.

Monthly dinner Menu… February

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Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
FEBRUARY		Assorted Appetizers for Sunday evening. on Feb. 2nd….			1--Beef Flamade--stew meat--Missions Conference this might change Joshua’s Bday!!!	2-Fellowship dinner at church Korean Beef http://elizabethbryant.blogspot.com/2010/05/korean-beef.html
3-Fellowship lunch @ church	4-Crock pot swiss chicken casserole	5-Lasagna	6-Bf Stroganoff	7-Cheese Potato smoked sausage casserole http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623	8-Crab Cakes	9-Shepherds pie
10-Tortellini tomato soup	11-Enchiladas	12-Smothered Chk casserole http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/smothered-chicken-casserole/	13-Tacos	14-Mongolian Beef--flank steak Orient Express	15-BBQ Pork Pork Butt Shoulder	16-Chk Parmesan
17-Wet Burritos	18-Italian Chicken	19-Low Country boil--Kielbasa	20-Ranch sauce chicken tacos	21-Spinach stuffed chicken breasts—this might change….. Matthew’s Bday!!!	22-Chicken Manhattan	23-Salmon something
24-Chicken Caesar wraps	25-Meatball sub casserole	26-Lemon Chicken	27-cheesy Hamburger broccoli casserole	28-Stk and Ale pie--Round Steak

 

Well here is the proposed menu for February.  I made a trip to Sam’s Club the other day.  I am trying this idea of buying all my protein/meat for the month at one time.  The idea is that I will get the meat for a less expensive amount. With the meat off of the weekly budget that frees up my money to buy more fruits and vegetables and other items to fill in the dinners. I took a couple pictures to show what I ended up with. 

This was my goal stew-1, Chicken-9 hamb.—8, crab/sal-2, sausage-3,  cube stk-1,flank stk—2, tortellini-1, Pork—1, church-1

I was able to purchase all of the chicken 5 bags, all of the hamburger two “tubes/rolls”, the sausage, pork tenderloin and pork shoulder and stew meat as well as Cod for a meal this past Friday.  Later in the month, I will need to get the salmon as well as cube steak and flank steak.

  

I was able to use my Seal A Meal and divide each roll of meat into 4-2 lb sections, split the Jimmy Dean Sausage into two sections as well as the Stew meat.

The purchase of all the meat as well as a case of soda and a case of water came to $204 and some change.  Due to the size I am able to buy in at Sam’s the pork tenderloin will be enough for 4 meals even though I do not have it on my menu this month, I am planning ahead.  The pork Shoulder will be enough for six meals once it is cooked.  The stew meat was 3 lbs. and that will work out for two meals for our family.

 

I just realized I forgot to get the picture of the Pork shoulder, but I can do that later.  I have the comparison shot of what the size and price of the one I bought at the local grocer. The chicken I am counting on 2 meals per a bag, sometimes there are 10 pieces or 11 pieces so this works out great. The chicken at Sam’s was 10.99 for a 10 pound bag.

Well there you have it, we’ll see how we stay on track for our meals this month.  January had lots of missed days due to being sick where we just ate sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.  Take care everyone and God Bless.

Something besides a recipe….

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I am just waiting for Winter to be over this year.  Normally I don’t mind the change of season’s and the cooler temperatures that come with them.  This year, there has just been too many health issues and sickness.

It just seems like we get well for two days and then back to being sick again.  Last week my daughter and husband were sick to their stomachs on Monday and this week my son has the chicken pox.  My oldest son woke up today not feeling well and then sick to his stomach, I am hoping his bought with the chicken pox will not take too long to come to fruition.  The one son, who was the first victim, is having a hard time with the itching today but we are managing with Calamine and liquid Benadryl.

This week is our Missions Conference at church and I hate to miss it.  I missed our Baptist History week a few months back due to sickness and now we are sick again.  Thankfully, we can watch on the internet and still here the Word of God, it is just not the same as being there in person.  I am to bring several of the side dishes for the Lunch meal on Sunday, but I think we will end up having to stay home from service that day and just I will bring the food up.

School is taking a back page these last few days, I just feel like we are having a hard time this Winter period with trying to stay on schedule. I finally felt the timing was right to share with my daughter about Women’s health, she is 10 and will be 11 in April.  We have been using three resources so far.  The main curriculum I have used has been from Blessing God’s Way called Maidens by His Design.  I have really enjoyed the fact that it celebrates what God has created in us as Women. The curriculum gives us scriptures to focus on and shows us how to focus on the Lord each day of the month, how to not have a spirit of fear.  It basically takes a biblical approach and turns you to the Lord as opposed to a worldly view which would tend to point one towards thinking it is a curse and something to be negative about.

One of the other resources I have used briefly has been a book by Dannah Gresh Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl there are some good points in there about modesty and there are some ideas presented about how to keep an open dialog with your girls so that they feel comfortable asking you questions.

I have used both of these in conjunction with a great resource from Queens Homeschool The Standard of Purity.  I had started this study in 2010 and with the study on health opted to finish it up and it has lead to some wonderful conversations about what God’s standards are for Purity and Beauty as compared to the worlds standards.  We have been able to talk about whether or not we need to wear make-up.  How much make up to wear if needed.   We have been able to talk more importantly about our inner beauty and how that radiates out from within.

If anyone is looking for some great resources for either boys or girls on how to navigate through these conversations Queens Homeschool has some wonderful biblical resources that can help any one out.

I am getting ready to post our Monthly menu for February in the next day or so as well! I pray you all have a blessed week, make it through the cold and any storms coming across your path.

Toasty Cheese Bake recipe card #6 Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library

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Have you ever had one of those recipes you just loved growing up as a child and still like to eat as an adult?  For me, the Toasty Cheese Bake was the one.  This recipe came from the fabulous 70’s and is due with great thanks to Betty Crocker.

You see in the 70’s BC came up with this great marketing plan to reach house wives by selling these ultra attractive boxes with recipe card collections…yes I am being slightly facetious here.  I have read comments on the internet about the slightly unappealing green color of some…we lucked out and ended up with the Harvest Gold Box.  You could subscribe to the recipe cards and each month you would get one new set in the mail.

The above card pictured is one the recipes that was fantastic…about 10 years ago, pregnant with my second child, I was visiting my parents in ID and I mentioned I wanted to write down the recipe.  Yes, my mom STILL has her box!!!   We dug the box out, I sat there reminiscing over old recipes and found the one I wanted….did I mention I was pregnant at the time….so we get talking about recipes, things get moved around on the table, cook books are out, etc….and the RECIPE DISAPPEARED!!! 

I kid you not, we looked high and low and have NEVER been able to find the recipe….anyone else have things like this happen when they were pregnant?????  We have thought many times about trying to find the recipe and to no avail.

Well recently about a month ago, I came across a blog post somewhere that got me thinking about those recipe cards once again and the lost recipe.  I started doing a search to find some Forums that might be able to help those who lost cards and would they be able to post the recipe, etc.  The same night I came across a blog that only had pictures of the cards and her running commentary about each one and how cruddy she thought the food was and would never serve to her children, blah, blah, blah……I spent over an hour going through pages of her blog and was ready to give up.  I pushed the refresh button one more time and I gasped out loud…it was like seeing a golden egg or something….so much time searching and there was the picture of what I had been missing all these years.  I sent a text to my mom asking her if the name of the recipe was Toasty Cheese Bake and she said she would check the index and sure enough it was!!!

The problem was it was just the picture!! And now for the silly part, why had I not tried to Google the NAME of the recipe years ago!!!!  I know, as savvy as I am at times with the computer, sometimes my mind just doesn’t think straight…I know, it is Peri-Menopause all over the place!!!

So I did a Google search and FOUND the recipe card and the picture!!!!!  I was so ecstatic.  So here I present to you a simple, humble recipe for ground beef.  It is just another economical recipe that uses ground beef and doesn’t end up as taco’s on your plate, or shepherds pie, etc.

With the size of our family I have modified it from the original.  I use 12 slices of bread and would triple the egg and milk mixture.  The first time I made it after finding the recipe I followed the directions and thought it a little on the dry side but still good. So to make it a little moister I increased the milk and egg.

I also needed to add extra amounts of cheese…for this to be cheeeeezy, you really need to have lots and lots of cheese, covering the meat mixture sometimes looks adequate but you need to load it on top to get that stringy cheese look when you pull it out of the pan.  The other possible change I might make the next time I make it would be to add in Velveeta cheese, maybe on the bottom layer? I am not sure as of yet but it is something I want to check out and see.

Enjoy~~

Honey Apricot Sesame Chicken

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We eat our fair share of chicken here at our house.  I am always on the prowl for new chicken recipes to give us a variety of flavors and cultures.

This was a nice recipe to try because it gave me the option of having Chinese food but without having the proper cooking wok to make it all come together.  A simple stove top skillet will work just fine and you too will have mastered this recipe in no time.

Honey-Apricot Sesame Chicken adapted from Hungry Girl Porvida

Serves 4
2 tablespoons honey
3 tbsp apricot jam
1/8 tsp grated ginger
2 tablespoons sesame seeds…(I just used 1/2T. a little goes a long way)
5 tbsp tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
½-1 tsp red pepper flake
¼ of a small onion, diced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks ( for us we use 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts)
Coarse salt
vegetable oil
In a small bowl, combine honey, jam, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and ginger; set aside.

Season chicken with salt and dredge in cornstarch. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate paper towel lined plate; repeat, adding more oil if needed.

Add more oil to the pan if needed and add red pepper flake, heat for about thirty seconds. Cook onions, garlic, and thinly sliced zucchini in the pan with the red pepper, when zucchini is tender add sauce mixture and bring to a boil.

 

Return all the chicken to skillet and toss with sauce to coat and cook until chicken is heated through, cook longer if a thicker sauce is desired. Serve with steamed white or brown rice.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!

Homemade Pizza

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Years ago, like back in the dark ages in the 80’s I used to work at Williams~Sonoma.  One of the nice perks of working there was access to the hundreds and hundreds of recipe cards. I only wish now, I had taken one of everything, knowing that I was going to come to love cooking so much.

One of the cards I did happen to bring home was their recipe for Pizza dough.  It is recipe card number 19364 in case I need to mention that.

I have used this recipe with great success and find that it will make either two thin crust pizza’s that are about 16” diameter or one really nice thick crust. 

The flavor is great and I like it the way it is made.  I have also started adding the addition of honey to the recipe which I found on another site.  Unfortunately, back in 2008 when I started really saving recipes from the internet, I did not think to save the link from where I found the recipe as is the case with the honey recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (1 Tbs.) active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees) water

4 cups of flour

2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup olive oil.

(optional 3 T. honey)

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water.  Combine flour, salt, yeast mixture, rest of water and olive oil.  Knead for 10 minutes, until dough is soft and silky but not sticky, adding more flour if necessary.  Cover and let rise until double, approx. 45 minutes.  Flatten out dough to fit baking stone or divide and flatten to desired sizes, cover and let rise 20 minutes.  cover with tomato sauce, etc., and bake at 40 degrees for 10-20 minutes (depending on size) until golden brown.

As far as the toppings go…. we use a homemade pizza sauce which I have currently run out of and frustrated to no end that I did not get more made this year since we were trying to sell the house.

I like to take two fairly large onions, sweet onions if you have them and then caramelize them on the stove.  We then like sautéed mushrooms, as well as mild sausage.  Let’s not forget loads of Mozzarella cheese as well.

Enjoy!!!