Encouraging Deep Roots

Well, this was week 4 of Weight Watchers and I think I did pretty good. Not only have I lost weight on the scales but I'm already losing inches everywhere. My clothes fit better which is wonderful! This week my weight loss was 3 lbs. for a total of...... 13 lbs. I'll continue to keep you posted each Sunday.

My mother and stepdad (Dianne at Majestic Mountains,Rolling Hills ) are coming this morning for a visit for a few days. The last time we saw them was last June. The house is clean.... The meals are planned.... The children are excited.... They stayed overnight at my sister's because my niece graduated high school last night. We are just hanging around and waiting. :-)

Dan is a pretty casual guy. Our church is laid back and while he wears dress pants and a nice shirt we just don't have a dress-up church. In fact, the only time he wears a suit and tie is when he performs a wedding or a funeral. He was on his way out the door to a funeral tonight so I thought I'd better get this while I could! Doesn't he look great?!

Today is our 20th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that we have been married that long. It really has been a fun and adventerous 20 years. We have done things that most people probably would never consider enjoyable (such as inner city work) yet we found it to be so rewarding. I was looking through our wedding pictures and we certainly look much younger (and ahem....thinner). I'm so glad that I waited to marry because the Lord led me to the perfect man. Our personalities definitely mesh well and I'd marry Dan all over again! Of course, we are older and wiser now. There are times we look back and talk about how we really had no clue what marriage or parenthood was all about and wished we were smarter about some things. Yet we have grown throughout our marriage and the Lord has blessed us in many ways. Happy Anniversary, Dan! I love you.

I have a ton of peaches in my freezer from last summer. I peeled and sliced them, added sugar and cinnamon and then froze them. All I had to do today is pull them out of the freezer, thaw and add flour. However, I will give you the filling recipe first. Filling 5 cups sliced fresh peaches 3/4 cup sugar 3 Tbsp. flour 1/4 tsp. nutmeg or cinnamon dash of salt Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mine look a bit soupy because they were frozen. The flour takes care of this problem. Pie Crust 2 1/3 cups flour 1 tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. butter 2/3 cup of shortening (I used Canoleo margarine) 5-7 Tbsp. ice water The first thing I do is put 5-6 ice cubes in a bowl of water so that it's very cold when I'm ready for it. Put the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the shortening, butter or margarine. Add the water, 2 Tbsp. at a time and mix with a fork until the dough begins to stick together and form a ball. It always takes me about 6 Tbsp. of water. At this point, I form two equal size ...

Mondays are just such blah days around here. I think a lot of it is just from the extreme busyness of the weekend. Because Dan is a pastor, our weekends are nuts. The entire day on Saturday is taken up with worship practice, bulletins, men's breakfasts, ladies luncheons, and things like that. Then of course there is Sunday. Sunday is NOT a day of rest for the pastor and his family. We are normally going from early in the morning to late at night. Last night, we had our small group meeting here and one couple stayed until 9:45. I'm not complaining because we loved having them but I wanted to give you an example of what I mean. Then there is Monday. It's like we've had major activity and then everything comes to a screeching halt. In order to keep our sanity, everyone tends to move slower here. On Mondays..... I let the children sleep in a bit. School is on the lighter side. I tend to do easier meals like leftovers. I may read or sew or crochet in the afternoons ...

Today is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers. I had a pretty good week though I didn't get in as much exercise as I should. It was such a busy, rainy week. I'll have to be more diligent. I got on the scale this morning and lost 2 lbs. for a grand total of....... 10 lbs.! That's not too bad for only 3 weeks. I feel like I still have so far to go but I'm happy with what I've done to date. I'll keep you posted next Sunday.

Warning: Snake pictures ahead. We have so many different kinds of snakes around here. Most of them are non-poisonous though they look pretty scary. My children spend most of their days hunting around the property trying to find them. Today they were rewarded with this beauty. It is a black, rat snake. I'm actually glad we have these around because we also have mice and at times, rats. All three of them know exactly what to do to get a snake calm. It's amazing to watch them take a snake that is afraid and defensive and within minutes get it to calm down so they can hold it and carry it around. I know.....shudder! Aren't you glad you came over here to see my lovely pictures today? LOL!

The children noticed a nest up near the eves of our house one day. It was sitting atop the box where the telephone wires come into the house. Everytime they would go anywhere near, the mama and papa birds would swoop at them. This was about a month ago. We could never see the babies because the nest was so high up. Well, yesterday Nathan told me that he could see them. Obviously, they have grown because they were packed in there like sardines. They are looking quite pudgy. Mama bird looking on to make sure we don't mess with her chicks. They must of been getting ready to leave the nest. I was sitting at the kitchen table that evening when all of the sudden this little bird appeared at the window sill. He hopped around a bit and seemed a bit confused and then fluttered off. I'm thinking it was one of the babies flying about. Yesterday, when we looked, the nest was empty. So we caught them just before they left home to start lives of their own. :-)

This is one of my favorite soups. I usually make it on the stovetop but decided to make it in the crockpot today. First, boil 1 whole chicken, cut up. Then prep. the following vegetables. 1 onion, sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 green pepper, diced. Saute in a skillet with 4 Tbsp. olive oil. Blend in 2 Tbsp. flour. Cook and stir over low heat until the vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, I cut up 2 cups of okra. You can used frozen okra to save a step. I placed the following in the crockpot. Cooked vegetables Okra 2 (14 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste 3 cups of broth (I used the broth from the cooked chicken) Next get your spices out and add it to the soup mix. 1 1/2 T. salt 1/4 t. pepper 1 1/2 T. Worcestershire Sauce 1/8 t. ground cloves 1/2 t. chili powder pinch dried basil 1 bay leaf 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped Shred or dice the cooked chicken and add to the gumbo. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve over rice if desired. This thickens as it cooks. Enjoy!

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber; Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand; The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

I was afraid I wouldn't lose anything this week after spending four days in a hotel, eating restaurant food. However, I weighed in this morning and lost 2 lbs. for a total of....... 8 lbs. Whoo Hoo!!!! I'm going to keep posting my weight loss here each Sunday.

It is so easy for children to become totally self-centered and spoiled in today's world. Every where you turn our society screams give me, give me, give me and many parents get pulled right into this mentality. Even Christian parents are not exempt from this. Every time they go to the store they must buy something for their child or else the little darling throws a first class fit! We determined from the beginning of our parenting experience that this would not happen to our children and so far we have been pretty successful in this area. There was a time when Nathan was about 4 and Stephen was 3 that whenever we went to the mall, we would purchase them a little matchbox car. Even though it was only about a dollar at the time, we could see that a habit was beginning to be instilled in them and it was expected that this would be the norm. So we stopped doing this so that it would not become a pattern. We still would get them one every now and then but made sure it wasn't...

Today is Dan's 45th birthday. The unfortunate thing is that he spent his morning in meetings and then three hours on the road traveling back from our District Conference. However, we were able to be with him on his special day. The kids were excited because we bought him a large print Bible. He is always borrowing Nathan's and so we decided to get him one of his own. There was a lot of good-natured teasing about being over the hill. Happy Birthday, Honey. I love you!

We are off this morning to our denomination's district conference. We'll be back later in the week. The children and I will be relaxing by the pool while Dan is in meetings. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it! See you soon! :-)

Well, I took the plunge and joined Weight Watchers online program last Sunday. I decided that I would track my progress here each week. Having others watch how I'm doing may be an excellent incentive. You are only supposed to weigh yourself once a week but I couldn't help myself and stepped on the scale quite a few times this week. Today is my official weigh-in day and even though I'm up a lb. from yesterday, I'm pleased to announce that after just one week, I have lost........ 6 lbs.! I know it will level off and I won't always lose that much each week but never-the-less it is a wonderful start and really is keeping me motivated. They say you should average about a 1-2 lb. loss per week. I'll check back in with you all on this next Sunday.

I made this last week and it was so good that I am making it again for a potluck tomorrow at church. It's very easy and normally after you prepare it you bake it at 400 degrees until bubbly. However, since our oven at church is small I put it together in the crockpot and will just cook it on low for 2 hours. Here is the recipe: Pasta al Forno First, you prep. the following vegetables. 2 Tablespoons onion, minced 2 large garlic cloves, minced 1 carrot, diced fine 2 celery stalks, diced fine 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley Then heat 4 Tablespoons of olive oil and cook the vegetables until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Add 1 lb. of ground beef and cook until browned. Drain excess oil. Add 1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes to taste. Simmer about 30 minutes, until thickened. Meanwhile cook 1 lb. of rigatoni or ziti pasta and drain. Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well. Stir in 2 cups of grated mozarella cheese and sprinkle with romano che...

There are some benefits to rising before the dawn. I took my coffee out on the deck this morning and had my time with the Lord there. Misty morning. I can't say that it was silent because all the birds were praising his name. Even the flowers seemed to be praising their creator. What a wonderful time to focus on the Lord before the busy day starts.