Menu Plan Monday

I am going to have a crazy week with starting to organize my house and having five kids running around. I am hoping to eat in and not take the easy way out. So here it goes!

Monday

I will be headed to the gym right when Andy gets home so I am planning something that he can start without me. Therefore, we will be having Stir Fry with left-over chicken over white rice.

Tuesday

Out of my new cookbook Busy Woman's Quick & Easy Recipes- Make 'Em Happy Fix It Fast! we will be having Finger Lickin' BBQ Chicken with corn and peas

Wednesday

This is church night so we will be eating in a hurry and so I am having a simple recipe that my friend Sarah gave me called Dave Pott's Goulosh. It has green beans, ground beef, and tomato paste in the first layer, mashed potatoes on the next (from scratch y'all!), and then topped off with American cheese slices.

Thursday

Chicken Quesadillas (from the above new cookbook from Tuesday night) with tortilla chips and salsa

Friday

Creamy Potato Soup from a recipe in my other new cookbook called Busy Woman's Slow Cooker Recipes with sandwiches

Saturday- Valentine's Day!

See my earlier post about having a special day as a family. We are going to have a family day and do some fun things.

* Breakfast- we are going to have heart-shaped biscuits with strawberry jelly

* Lunch- boys are going to get to make their own heart shaped pizzas

* Dinner- We are not going to do something red because I want to make a special dinner for my husband so I think I am going to make the kids hot dogs with RED ketchup and then I am going to make a special dinner of Lemonade Chicken with Potato skins and steamed broccoli.

Sunday

We have our big meal at lunch (I will put it in the crockpot so it is ready when we get home and we aren't tempted to go out to eat.. win-win ;)) but here are a few other ideas.

* Breakfast- Crockpot Oatmeal

* Lunch- Chicken cooked in chicken gravy over dressing

* Dinner- Church Birthday Party/ Boys are going to be having leftovers at home.

For more menu planning head on over to http://orgjunkie.com/.

Spices

If you go to http://theatoztwins.blogspot.com/ you will find a Mystery Spice Carnival going on. I am not one to do spices very much. To me a spice is salt and pepper. BUT I did want to contribute something- so I decided to post pictures of how I recently organized my spices and made a little extra space on my counters and in my cabinets.

So if y'all are interested in a mystery spice carnival head on over to the site!

Are you Stagnant?

Today's sermon was about being stagnant in our faith. It was really good to hear. I have been going through a time in my walk where I am not stagnant. I have found that there is another negative to that though.

I have been setting aside time every day to dive into the Word and spend time in prayer. I have made it a quiet time where no kids are running and my heart can be quiet before the Lord.

I have found that on the negative side- the devil uses that. He tries every way that he can to come in and make it hard on me.

I am a very productive type person. I like to mark things off of my to-do list. It makes me feel good. I have found that the devil comes in and starts planting seeds of unproductiveness in my mind. He then starts letting thoughts of things to get done intrude upon my quiet time. I fought that by taking a pad of paper with me and writing them down quickly and then pushing them out of my mind.

The latest thing the devil has started is making me feel undeserving and guilty. I have a hard time praying and reading the Word without feel like I don't deserve God's love or what he has given me.

So as I sat there and listened to Pastor Roger's sermon I prayed continually about my quiet time and how the devil is bringing old baggage to my mind and it is making me discontent.

I think that I am going to have to start being diliberate and telling the devil, In the name of Jesus I cast you away. Be gone from my mind.

I have never been so aware of a spiritual battle going on within myself. This has totally brought the whole demons among us thing to light.

I grew up in a Christian home but not until recent years took my relationship with the Lord into my own hands. I have just recently made it my own. I have lots of questions but I am blessed to have friends and a husband and family who are patient and take the time to explain and help me through my questions.

50th Anniversary Cruise

My mama and Me

Singing for my Grandparents 50th!

The whole crew at dinner minus kids. :)

The baby at dinner on the ship.

Family Picture at the beach.

My dad and the baby with like hats.

3 Yo ready for the beach

Baby asleep in the hammock.

The baby sporting his beach attire.

My Dad and My 3 YO

Paradise

Valentine's Day

I was at http://www.karenehman.com/ reading her blog today about Valentine's Day. I have never really thought a lot about Valentine's day or even thought much more than it was a Hallmark Holiday. BUT I think this year I will give it a whirl.

A lot of times I have thought that I shouldn't need ONE special day a year to show people that I care. Now I have been thinking that I show them everyday but this day can be fun and it could show those I love just how much I love them.

When you start having kids the dates with your spouse really start dwindling as the more kids you have the harder it is to find a babysitter. So as I sit here with all the screaming, bickering, and running (WHO KNOWS WHY PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO WATCH THESE KIDS! :) ) I am really thinking about all the cool things the kids and I can plan to do as a family on Valentines Day. Anyone have any good ideas?

Another thought as I was reading a blog at this site http://marybethwhalen.com/ about all the cool crafts she does with her kids, it hit me that I do not do enough. I just run around the house trying to keep it clean. As I commented on her simple, yet adorable crafts with the kids- I need to stop thinking of it as yet another mess to clean and start thinking of it as memory making and time spent with the kids. So I am off to find some super simple and cute crafts to do with the kids.

Focus

Lately, I have been working on self-discipline and focusing. I always start a task and then go answer the phone or go and do something else. This week I have really been working on focusing on the task at hand. When I am cleaning, I am cleaning. When I am doing my Bible Study, I am doing my Bible study, etc.

I have a hard time focusing because it seems like our phone is always ringing. I am always so glad when it rings so that I can stop what I am doing and chat, but recently those "short" chats have turned into hours of listening and giving input. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some good conversation BUT I am getting none of my housework done. I have really been working hard on seeing my job in the home as serving my family the the Lord has blessed me with. Now I wish I could lie and say that my attitude has transformed over night but it hasn't. I still get jealous at friend's who ALWAYS get to go out to eat. (With my husband, you know that just won't fly :)) I still compare my life to friend's lives that don't have any kids and don't have a mess to be constantly cleaning. I know that that is just crazy but sometimes the devil sends me into that trap.

So with that I am looking to the busy day ahead of me. It involves:

* Running the boys to school which is an hour venture ( their school is 25 mins. away).
* Coming home and fitting in a workout (my other goal since we got back.)
* Shower
* Do some cleaning around the house.
* 3 yo home from preschool and have lunch and rest time.
* a friend's kids from 1-4 so she can go to a job interview. Y'all can be praying for that.
* Andy's going to run before he comes home.
* Dinner and cleanup. Dinner is easy tonight. I bought leftover chicken from the chuch fellowship meal last night and I am going to turn them into chicken sandwiches with oven fries and applesauce.
* friend's kids coming back around 6:30 so she can go to work
* play with the kids for an hour or so
* put the 4 youngest to bed
* waiting until the babies fall asleep and send the oldest up
* Then sweet blessed time to spend with my husband in the quiet of kids going to sleep.

I have been reading a good book lately. It is one written by Donna Otto. It's called Finding Your Purpose as a Mother. It talks about building your home on holy ground. It is awesome so all my friends that are young mothers reading this everywhere pick it up. You will truly be blessed by it.

Time to Catch Up...

This blog has been silent I know. I have decided on a few things with my blog. One I would like to be more fervent in keeping this updated so that people will know what is going on in my life. And second that I am not going to name my family but I am going to drop the names. It is just too hard!

Many things I have been going on since my last post right after Christmas. So let's begin.

Most recently we went on a cruise with my whole family (will type more on that in a different post). We had a great time and the time away was much needed.

I have taken up babysitting for some extra cash.

We started Debt Reduction hard care again and are looking forward to the day that we pay off all our debt. It has been a struggle for us of late.

The baby has gotten so big. He is going to be TEN months tomorrow! He is almost 20 lbs. and is trying to start to walk!

I have began to dive into my daily Bible reading and quiet time and I have also began exercising daily. It is hard to fit in with the kids and all the craziness going on around here but I have found that since I have begin making it a habit it has become easier.

Andy has finished his term as the church Christian Education chair to make a full go at getting the Young Adults group going strong. There have been a lot of situations going on in the group that need prayer and encouragement.

Lately I have been having a "spiritual warfare" going on inside. As I have dove deeper in the Word and my prayer life the devil has been playing with my emotions.

This weekend Andy is going to do a one day missions trip with our church. He is very excited. I am excited that our church is getting into more Missions and are GOING out with the Word. I think as Christians a lot of time we stick to our own because it is easier. It is easier than the rejection and criticism of the world. BUT as Christians we are called to GO and make disciples. THAT my friends is the hard part.

So that is my QUICK catch up on what is going on in my life. I am going to be updating this a lot more because it is a way to keep everyone up to date without telling this over and over again. Hopefully people will read it more and will stay up to date more!

Hope everyone has a GREAT day tomorrow!