What a Wonderful Week!

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Whew! What a week we had last week! We went to The Ohio Ministers Network Minister’s Retreat at Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky. The boys look forward to this all year long… Ok so do I! It is such a time of refreshing for us and I am so thankful for the team that takes care of our boys during the sessions. They make them feel so special! Growing up as a PK (Pastor’s Kid) I have very fond memories and want the same for my boys. It really touches my heart that the leadership of our Network cares this much about my little PK’s! Thanks guys! I am also thankful for the friendships that the boys made with the other Pk’s… they are even wanting to be pen pals with them… such fun for Scotty and great practice and Robbie is just wanting to draw pictures! Not only did the boys make hopefully lifelong friends, so did Jeremiah and I! I feel like I clicked with some very special ladies who are also in full time ministry and look forward to seeing them at the next event… until then…thanks to social media we can stay in touch!

Since we were at an indoor water park of course we went swimming…Scotty is big enough to do all the slides and even tried his hand at surfing like Daddy! O how I wish I would have had my camera at the time! Robbie was about a 1/2 inch to short to ride the next level of slides so he and I spent a lot of time in the “Treehouse” as he called it so he could do the two slides there on his own! He would slide down and then go right back up and do it over and over agian! I enjoyed just sitting down at the bottem and waiting on him to come down. Scotty and his Daddy would sneak away and do the big boy slides while I hung out with Robbie! Next year we will be able to do the big family slide with the 4 person inner tube… we are all excited about that! I just can’t believe how big the boys are getting.

Ok… now to talk about Kalahari…the room was soooo nice, of course I forgot to take a picture so just take my word on it! I loved having a kitchen so we did not have to eat out every meal. We saved so much that way! They had free cookie decorating every afternoon and the boys had a blast! The few times we did eat in one of the many Cafe’s the food was very good. African Safari theme of all the decorations was a lot of fun too! The arcade had a ton pf games and a small bowling alley too…Lastly the indoor playplace was a hit… with all three of my boys…lol! Robbie wanted Daddy to play with him each time… it was quite funny watching my very handsome but long and lanky looking husband manuver thru the stucture… Come on you were thinking it too! Love ya Babe! These things were not meant for a grown man to crawl thru while my 4 yr old can walk thry standing up straight!

So all in all we had a wonderful and refreshing week and are now back to reality and looking forward to how God is goiong to use us to let our light’s shine for Him this week!

Community Christmas Play

This past December my Hubby and I had the honor and privalage of being the lead roles in our community Christmas play… A 1940′s Christmas… We had so much fun!!!! It was a ton of work but we really enjoyed getting to know the cast members and making new friendships!  I will upload a few of the pictures from the 2 nights we performed the play.  This was my first stab at acting and singing so  I was a nervous wreck!lol I hope you enjoy the pics! Our boys were able to participate as well… Scotty was Joseph and Robbie was a shepherd… they both did a great job and I was so proud of them!

Devotions…with small children

Alright… I know it has been a few days… ok… maybe a week… I am still new to this whole blogging world! But something I have had a hard time with since having kids is getting my devotions in daily…anybody else with me????  Well, this year I am striving to read the bible thru in a year… to be honest I have tried the last two years but have given up by the end of January.  This year I can say that I am right on track…how you might ask?  Well I have found the app for my iPod called YouVersion… it is wonderful!!!! Check out their website www.youversion.com. Another important note is that I am NOT a morning person… Occasionally I am able to get up and moving before anyone else in the house is up… but this is very rare… I do actually enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet but just to be honest I really enjoy my sleep! lol

I have found that I have a really hard time sitting down to just read everyday… I am an auditory learner so I find that it helps me to listen to the bible reading for the day while I am either getting dressed or doing the dishes or any other housework.  Then when I am listening and hear something I want to explore further I can sit down with my bible when I get a moment of peace and quiet.  I hope this helps someone out in the blog world… don’t get discouraged if you fall behind… you can catch up…with the bible reading plan I am on if I fall behind all I have to do is put it in and it will adjust my daily reading.  This site really helps me to stay on track with my devotions and my goal of reading the bible thru in 2012!  I would love to hear any tips you have for staying on track with devotions and having kids running thru while trying to do them!  If you have not started a bible reading plan for 2012… it is not too late to start… there are many different plans on this website… so go check them out!

Happy Birthday Sweet Payton

As I normally dread January 13th every year, I feel as though the pain of losing our 2nd son, Alastair Payton, 6 years ago today feels as though it is  turning from a horrible pain to a precious pain.  Don’t get me wrong I miss him like crazy! Especially on his birthday, I really begin to wonder who he looks like.  When Robbie was born he reminded us so much of Payton, especially the red hair! Since Payton was stillborn I was never able to hear him cry, or laugh for that matter since he was an infant.  The crying part does not really bother me but I long to hear his laugh…I know that one day we will be reunited with him in Heaven!  What a wonderful day that will be!!!  A dear friend of ours, not knowing we had lost our son called my hubby with a vision she had of a little boy and God told her to tell us.  She heard his laughter and saw him… he was riding a horse in a field along with another little one and laughing his head off! The horse was being led around by Jesus. I know HE is taking care of my sweet angel baby until HE rejoins us as a family.  When told of this vision, it comforted our parents hearts just to know Payton was ok.  Yes, we knew Payton was ok but we longed to see him for ourselves.  I still have not seen him in a vision – partially I think God knows how hard it would be for me to see him and have to “leave” him again.  The whole point of me telling this story is that in the vision our friend heard Payton laugh… the next time at church I brought Scotty (then 2) to meet her and he began laughing at something, her eyes lit up and she said that was just like Payton’s laugh…WOW! So in my dreaming of what Payton is like… he is a mixture of both our boys… A red-headed fun little boy who loves to laugh and play… just like his brothers!(:

As I type this post, I am watching the news as it says our schools are on a 2 hr delay… I can’t help but chuckle when I think that Payton asked  Jesus for the snow for his brothers to be able to play in today as we remember him.  That’s what Scotty and Robbie have wanted for months…this is the first snow that has accumulated…wow

So I have rambled enough…if you would keep me and my family in your prayers today as we remember a very special part of our family today.  Especially Scotty…he really has a hard time with missing his brother. We won’t say anything about what today is until after he gets home from school and we head to the cemetery.  We have found it tears him up too much to remind him ahead of time.  Robbie in his own little way misses the brother he never knew…Jesus gave us a miracle in giving us Robbie whose cord was also wrapped at birth which is why we lost Payton. Of course my hubby and I could use the prayer too!

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Payton

Mommy loves and misses you!

If you have not read the book Heaven is Real…it is a must read…really helped this Mama and Scotty just read the kids version over Christmas break…I am praying it helps him too (:

Daniel Fast Stack-Ums…

Yummy!

Today was a busy day in our house… I left the house at 9am and did not return until after 6pm… I did not have a chance…Actually didn’t think about it in time to put something in the crock pot so we were starving when we got home!!!!

I had all my veggies already chopped up and ready for salads…but really did not want another salad as it is what I had packed for us for lunch…While driving home my wonderful hubby and I were talking about the open container of tomato juice in the frig. We have a family recipe from my Mama Luker (my grandmother) that I absolutely love… we just made a Daniel fast friendly version… took out the ground meat, cheese, and sour cream…don’t get me wrong I love it this way but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this version of the recipe.

Stack-ums

Tomato Juice – large can b/c you need enough to have two or three inches worth in a pot large enough for a corn tortilla to lay flat

Can of Beans of choice (we used pinto and black)

Brown Rice

avocado

tomato

lettuce

onion

mushrooms

black olives

olive oil

salsa

First place 2 to 3 inches of tomato juice in pan to warm up, add any spices you wish. We used Mrs. Dash seasoning to add a little flavor. While that is heating  warm the can of beans on stove or in microwave.  Make brown rice too. In a small skillet add a small amount of olive oil and saute 1 corn tortilla (homemade or store-bought – Trader Joes has them and we get those during the DF) at a time.  When it is a bit crispy take it from the oil and place it in the pot with tomato juice. Once it is completely covered remove from the tomato juice and place on a dinner plate.  At this point you can top this tortilla with beans and rice. Repeat same step with the tortilla and stack as high as you wish. Once you are done top the stack-um with the salad and all the other veggies. It is a very filling meal just one that you have to eat in rounds… in our house my hubby is the stack-um maker…Thanks Honey! The boys are generally almost finished before mine is done and mine is half gone before my hubby’s is ready!

To make the original recipe  take 1 pound of lean ground beef and season it like you are gonna make tacos… only change I make is I make it a bit soupy…that’s the way my Mama Luker always did it…tradition I guess!lol

Then for the layers we put meat and shredded cheese and top it with the chopped lettuce salad and fresh veggies…I add more cheese too

Guacamole and salsa and sour cream are also other great toppers too… You can really put anything in them that you like… everyone in our family likes different items and that is part of what makes it so fun!  I hop you enjoy this recipe… let me know if you have any questions

Tips for the Daniel Fast

OK…So it seems that more of my friends than ever before are participating in the Daniel Fast this year. I have gotten many requests for recipes or help knowing what is allowed to eat. So I thought I would give some general tips and guidelines that we have found that have helped us. Before I go any further my sweet hubby is awesome at cooking for us during this fast. I plan the menu get the shopping list ready then we go shopping together to stock up on the ingredients we know we will be using. He is much more of a creative cook so he makes many of our recipes…if I have a recipe I can but it’s so nice having a hubby who loves to cook!

Plan, Plan, Plan… make a meal plan…shop for the the said plan then I may move the days around but I know I have all the ingredients that I need. I plan for all 3 weeks up front knowing some things may change then generally do a large grocery bill to get the staples but shop weekly for the fruits and veggies! Don’t forget to plan!

So here goes….Thanks to a great friend she showed me where she has been looking for info and she found www.danielfastcookbook.com. If you are doing this for the first time this is a great FREE on-line resource. There is a foods to enjoy and foods to avoid list that will be your best friend over the coming weeks! There is also an explanation of the fast itself.check it out! In the foods to enjoy list they allow stevia and agave nectar where I had the understanding they were not allowed…. I am excited because if you have never tried Stevia… they even have a liquid form that is flavored… I am so excited to be able to add these items to my list this year…from what I read these are on the foods for personal conviction list…so the way I see it is if you don’t have a problem with it… add it… if you do… then don’t add it.

My favorite book is the one we found last year called The Ultimate Guide to the Daniel Fast and the website for the book is http://www.ultimatedanielfast.com/2010/12/ultimate-guide-to-daniel-fast-testimony.html. You can get a electronic version of the book from here for only $3.99! That’s a great deal!!! I like this book because there are many recipes and meal plans already in there. Then there is a devotion section that has a devotion for each day.

I have gotten the question recently if we make the boys do the fast with us….not particularly but I don’t want to feed them total junk so yes I do keep some frozen nuggets and fish sticks in the freezer for the the nights that I know they will not eat what we are having and just pop those in the toaster oven for them. My secret here is to not really keep things that I know my hubby and I love as a back up for the boys… right now we have a box of soft pretzels in the freezer that will be torture for me to fix for the boys and not have one…lol! Hopefully they will forget about them too for the coming weeks. I have been one blessed Mama with two boys who love salad…so they will always eat salad when we do…I just may add protein to theirs in a different way than ours.

Stay tuned for many recipes… I will post ones that we did last year and love as well as any new ones we try. Don’t forget to search out vegan recipes because many of them can be adapted for the Daniel Fast. Good luck and I am looking forward to hearing the wonderful testimonies of what God is doing in your life through the fast!!!!

True Friends…

While reading my devotions this morning I saw this quote at the bottom of the page. A true friend listens with her heart – author unknown. Wow… that really hit me this morning! I want to be that true friend that always listens with her heart…Lord help me to be the friend that you want me to be this year, to leave the pettyness aside and be the friend and woman of God you want me to be.

True Friends…

While reading my devotions this morning I saw this quote at the bottom of the page.  A true friend listens with her heart – author unknown.  Wow… that really hit me this morning! I want to be that true friend that always listens with her heart…Lord help me to be the friend that you want me to be this year, to leave the pettyness aside and be the friend and woman of God you want me to be.

Testing 123

Well I am mainly writing to check If I can update my blog from my touch so I figured I will update on how I am feeling. I had my first infusion 5 days ago and am feeling good for the most part just still tire easily. I am making sure not to overdo it so I can build my strength up again. God is good and 2012 is going to be a wonderful year inspire having to do these infusions!

Happy New Year!

As I am reflecting on the year of 2011 and looking forward to the wonderful things God has in store for me and my family I am once again truly amazed at how great a God I serve.

I don’t like new years resolutions but I do like goals… last year as a church we made a goals sheet… some I definatly did good on and some still need work in 2012!lol Over the next week as I work on my goals for this year I am going to try and be accountable here in this blog with them. I want to look back at this blog at the end of 2012 and be amazed at all God has accomplished in my life year! Stay tuned… more posts to actually come this year!