Quick Trip

We got a chance recently, to get away for a few nights!  We enjoyed some great hospitality at the Benson Home!  It was lots of fun to watch our kids play with Robert’s cousin’s children!  They all have lots of fun together!

We played in the pool, we played in the lake and we played in the air conditioning too!  It was lots of fun to get away from farm life for a brief time.

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We chuckled about the lunch served on the boat!

We packed lunch on day 1 (we, as in mommies) included sandwiches for all (2 for Matt), boiled eggs (already peeled), carrots,  cheese sticks, cucumbers, and grapes.  It was great.

Day 2 daddies packed lunch : Granola Bars.  Think the kids rioted??  Nearly!!

Thrifty Livin’

I love it when I get a chance to “run” into my favorite thrift store!!  My sister in law told me about this small chain of thrift stores that she adores in Dallas and told me, years ago, of one near me.  Well, it is not near me any longer, as I am far away now, but I still find any excuse to stop by when I am in the neighborhood. (I have even made up reasons to be in the neighborhood)

Yesterday, as a family, we trekked up to the metroplex.  We had a dr. appt for E and swimming with friends, a stop at Trader Joes and Central Market – for some essentials.  And of course, you guessed it!!  A stop to my FAVORITE thrift store!!

Book Review : Lucy Come Home

I love some great fun, fiction!  While I have read the Yada Yada Prayer group ages ago, I knew that Dave and Neta Jackson never disappoint!!

My latest read is Lucy Come Home – A Yada Yada Journey of Hope book, written by Dave and Neta Jackson.

I welcomed the chance to jump into a good, clean, fun fiction story!  This book is unlike the other book I have read in this series – it tells the story of a lady named Lucy, but it tells her story as a young girl and then bounces back to her current story.  I enjoyed this switching from early years to later years. 

The story is about a young girl, who after a terrible accident, runs away from her migrant family, decades ago.   The current time character is an older woman on the streets, moving from park bench to park bench, occasionally stopping in at the local shelter.  I loved how the Jacksons intertwined both stories and do not reveal, the entire story until the very end when both stories “meet.”

Meal Planning

We are still working on eating healthy.  It makes my head spin though – try to cut out sugar, and well there is fruit everywhere, and how can you not eat too much?  Cut back on processed stuff, but then I hear I need to lower one son’ carbs… ugh! 

I am trying to plan more meals out, makes the day smoother, and puts less stress on me.  But now, I need to plan low carbs (for one) and low sugar for all, and we are out of meat (for another week or two) – but have lots of chicken…. see what I mean.  My head is spinning.

So here is my meal plan for the next week or so…

Tuesday : Crock Pot Steel Cut Oats , veggie quesadillas & bean dip, Burritos & leftover Santé Fe chicken

Wednesday : Fried Egg Sandwiches, hummus w/veggies picnic, Baled Potatoes (crock pot) & salad

Monday Multitude & Kindness

It’s Monday, and I try to get back into my routines on Monday, my prayer time, my study time, my meal planning – all those things that can fall to the waste side on the weekends.    Thanking is another area I try to focus on on my Monday mornings.  I try to set aside a few minutes to reflect and to thank.

These days it seems the bulk of my time is spent working on the character of my children.  I see other families with many kids and I wonder at how their energy level seems so much lower.  I wonder how they all seem to get along so well while my boys seem to fight with one another so much.

Not sure I have any of it figured out.  I do think families that have girls as the oldest have a completely different dynamic than those with boys.  The energy that boys create is so much more physical than that emotional energy of girls.

We are trying to be much more intentional these days about kindness, myself included.

Book Review: Mary Magdalene

My latest fascinating read was Mary Magdalene by Diana Wallis Taylor.  I jumped into this book and was swept away.  I loved going back to the years before Christ’s ministry started, and seeing the lives of the people during that time.  I enjoyed this fictional tale of what could have happened to Mary Magdalene. 

We know very little specifics about this woman who loved Jesus.  We do know she was a devoted follower during a period of time in his ministry.  We do not know her “back story,” and that is just the story that Ms. Taylor weaves together for our enjoyment.

We do know that Mary was plagued with demons; Ms. Taylor’s fictional story is an account of a young woman used as a pawn to get money, and as a result ends up terrorized by demons for years to come.  While I am aware this may not be the truth, the details surrounding this story are very accurate and create a vision of what life was like during this time.

Meal Planning

I know, how much can we talk about meal planning?  I have broached this subject on more than on occasion.  However, it seems there is a new trend in meal planning.  Not sure if it is really a trend, but it sure seems like it in my world!

I keep reading blogs about meal planning for more than just dinner.  At first, I thought, what?  Plan more meals – ugh!!  But then, I thought about it and realized how much I hate standing in the kitchen in the morning and hearing “what is for breakfast?”  Really, I hate when I do not know what it for any meal I have to serve to my family. 

I know I only have 4 children, and many of the blogs I have read lately have more like 7-10, and so planning all their meals makes more sense, but with these hungry boys I am thinking it could really work for me too!

Book Review : A Heart Like His

I have done my fair share of Beth Moore Bible studies, I have to admit.  I love her style to teaching, I love how she digs so deep!  I just love working through her workbook and video with a group.  I always walk away feeling like I learned a tremendous amount of Bible history and truth!!

I recently was able to get a copy of A Heart Like His, by Beth Moore.  It has recently been re-released in paperback.  Let me just say, it will not disappoint you.  Unless, well, unless you are not a fan of David – and honestly, who is not a fan of David?  Is he not one of your favorite Bible heroes?

VBS @ Malakoff

We had a great week this past week with lots and lots of kids!!

I was in charge of Crafts again this year, and I had a blast finding some fun crafts!!

Here is what we did:

Day 1 : Sand Art {to go with the story when God held back river and dried it up so Joshua could cross}