Less Than Perfect Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner.  It doesn't initially sound like a big deal especially since we wouldn't be cooking for extended family, they live too far away.  But for me this was a big deal this year.  I felt like cooking a big meal, and that is a big deal when you review the past year.  A year ago we were settling back into live in Florida and trying to regroup from our sudden U-turn in life.  Last May we I tried a gluten free diet to solve the depression and low energy that I was plagued with.  Soon after we discovered we were going to have a third baby.  All that leads to this Easter when I am celebrating my own new life with a gluten free diet and a family that has a place to be rooted.

I wanted to cook Easter dinner to celebrate.  I had the perfect plan.  Steaks on the grill, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and for good measure some festive cupcakes.  Then we made it hard on our selves, we added guests, doubling the crowd, less than 24 hours before the meal.  And to add to it we didn't finalize the menu until 3 hours before when 1/2 the party was going to the store.  We added hot dogs for the kids to save the steaks for the adults and made big pans of the sides.  We didn't have praline topping for the sweet potatoes and we blackened the first round of hot dogs for the kids, and one child refused to eat her dinner, leading to a melt down.  So much for a perfect dinner, at least the gluten free cupcakes turned out yummy and of course celebrating with friends was way better than doing it by ourselves.

Check out some more posts about Less than Perfect Meals and Jill Savage's new book No More Perfect Moms at Jill's blog.

3rd Thursday Blog Hop: Summer Snacks

Here in Florida it has been summer for weeks, already a dozen visits to the pool included.  Being outside makes my kids hungry and I want quick, (and healthy) snacks.  Here are some of my favorites.

• Cheese sticks-  when we buy a block of cheese we cut it up in to sticks or strips and then when we are hungry they are ready in the fridge.  
• Yogurt Fruit Dip- Mix 1 part hot fudge sauce, 1 part fruit yogurt, together and use as a fruit dip.  Beware its yummy by itself as well.  
• Peanut Butter Tortillas - This is my go to sandwich alternative.  Spread some peanut butter on a tortilla and roll or fold up.  Filling, yummy and not super messy.  For an added treat I melt chocolate chips on the peanut butter before I roll it up.  
• Dry Cereal- I have a toddler and preschooler so dry cereal is a great quick and easy to pack snack for being out and about in the summer.  Sometimes I think my kids would eat cereal all day if I let them!

What are your go-to snacks for summer?  

Check out more summer recipe ideas on the Hearts at Home Blog Hop

Hosted by Jill Savage

Third Thursday Blog Hop: Balance with Scrapbooking

Which weighs more 100 lbs. of feathers or 100 lbs. of bricks?

They weigh the same they are both 100 lbs.  It doesn't matter the contents or size of the weight, 100 pounds is 100 pounds.  Who does more work a stay at home mom or a working mom?  They are both busy from 8-5 with extra work overflowing in to the evening and a laundry pile that never goes away.

Balance, one of the greatest challenges of motherhood, your job is to serve your family and the list of tasks is never ending and the number of interruptions is endless.  Whats important is to make time for yourself and your own interests.  

One interest I have is scrapbooking.  I was hesitant to jump in to scrapbooking because of huge amount of stuff that comes with it.  Then a friend introduced me to a new trend digital scrapbooking.  Its genius!  You have your pictures digital and you download JPEG papers, and PNG elements, in kits to make your pages using either digital scrapbook software such as My Memories or a photo editing program like Photoshop. I use GIMP, an opensource photoshop like program, its free!  When you are done with the pages you can print them at one of several digi-scrap printing stores, my favorite being Persnickity Prints.  

ABCs, Digilicious Designs

My Life, Nibbles Scribbles

What helps me guard this "me time" is that I work for 2 designer on their creative teams.  I make pages and promote their products in exchange for free products.  This gives me a schedule to make sure I'm getting some "me time" to scrap.  I get my books caught up and they get their products promoted.  Its also let me gain practical skills I can transfer for other graphic design projects as well.  Now if only I could turn it in to a paying work-from-home job...

I share my scrap pages at CyScraps!

Pretty as Peacocks Digilicious Design

Check out some of the other Hearts at Home bloggers 

as they share about finding balance in their lives. 

Third Thursday Thoughts: Super Mom with the Power to...

Life is just beginning to settle into a routine for our family after a cross country move at the beginning of the month and my husband being employed full time outside the home for the first time in nearly a year.  In the moments of high stress, I have daydreamed what it would be like if I had a super power, much like the characters on my daughter's favorite show Super Why!  I wish I could move things with my mind.  I could just think that the box would be unpacked and it would happen.  That instead of spending 3 days in the car driving to our new house we could wave a wand and be there.  It would be so much less stressful don't you think?

It would be wonderful to say the magic words Bippity Boppity Boo and have my kitchen come to life to make dinner and the boxes of books unpack on the shelves.  Oh what a dream that would be. 

Oh but alas, The process of unpacking has reminded us whats important.  The kids haven't even noticed that less than 1/2 of their toys are unpacked,  sitting at a folding table for dinner means we are all closer together to talk and share the day, and garage sales are for finding hidden treasures.  

Hearts at Home has a devotional book called Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God, by Mary Demuth

You may feel like an ordinary, everyday woman, but you're not. You're a woman with an extra ordinary call on your life - motherhood - and you have an extraordinary God to run to when you need emotional, mental, and spiritual renewal. 

Writer, speaker, and mom Mary DeMuth creatively focuses on the gift of motherhood as she considers:

• resting quietly in the Lord, even on crazy–busy days.
• being thankful for the duties as well as the joys of being a mom.
• offering God a heart to prune so that it can continue to bear good fruit.

God knows you and cares about your burdens. Let Him call you to Himself and fill your days with peace, light, and joy that will show up in the most unexpected and extraordinary ways.

It’s time to register for the 2012 Hearts at Home conferences!

Do you need to get your mom batteries recharged? Need some fresh perspective? Want to do something for yourself that will really benefit your family?
You’ll find that and more at one of our 2012 Hearts at Home conferences!

Keynote speakers Michelle Duggar and Focus on the Family’s Dr. Julianna Slattery, will partner up with over a dozen different workshop speakers to bring you the continuing education you need as a mom!

Check out some of the workshops offered this year:

Top Ten Messages You Want Your Kids to Get – Linda Anderson

Confessions of an Imperfect Mother – Julie Barnhill

Frumpy to Fabulous in 30 Days – Shari Braendel 

Are You Living In Chaos?- Marla Cilley aka The Fly Lady

Practical Parenting Tips – Michelle Duggar

When Our Kids Make Decisions We Don’t Agree With – Brenda Garrison 

What To Do When God Says “Wait” – Jami Kaeb

Get a Grip On Your Finances – Marianne Miller

Encouragement for Overworked Working Moms – Sabrina O’Malone

Tried and True Ways to Earn Money From Home – Marilee Parrish

The Smart Stepmom – Laura Petherbridge

Thriving As A Single Parent – Laura Petherbridge

Three Gifts of Sex – Lorraine Pintus

50 Ways to Improve Your Relationship With Your Husband – Marilee Parrish

Help Your Child Develop a Dating Philosophy – Jill Savage

You Don’t Have to Be Extreme to Save Money – Jill Savage

How To Fight For Your Marriage – Dr. Juli Slattery

 You don’t want to miss this year’s conference…it promises to be an incredible weekend of life change.

Registration is also open for our two Fall conferences:
Western Conference, Colorado Springs, CO, October 12-13
North Central, Rochester, MN, November 9-10
If you live too far away to attend one of our events or you have a conflict or are nursing a baby and just can’t make it this year, check out the Conference-To-Go option.

Don’t delay…register today!

Third Thursday Blog Hop: The Power of the Sun & some Lemon

Today you can hop around our blogs and gather all kinds of tips for your home.  We are sharing our secrets for cleaning and organizing.  I want to share what I have discovered about the power of the sun when it comes to laundry.

As a cloth diapering mom, I have discovered a magic way to remove poop stains, SUNNING!  The sun's rays are a natural bleach.  Hanging my diapers outside not only saved our electric bill but left my diapers looking bright white.  I hang them out ideally in the morning and by mid afternoon they are dry, white and fresh smelling.  If you have little ones out of diapers its still great for stains on other clothes as well.  

SUN+LEMON JUICE

This year I learned more about the power of the sun when our washer broke.  I had rust stains on several articles of clothing.  I was able to use lemon juice and the sun to remove the rust stains.  

1. Find a flat place to lay the article in direct sunlight.
2. soak the stain with lemon juice, (I used a bottle from the grocery store)
3. let dry in the sun for at least an hour.  
4. lauder as normal
5. repeat if necessary.  

For more ideas on getting organized check out Karen Ehman's book "The Guide to Getting and Staying Organized"

New Chapter, New Blog

This blog has been a place for me to share and write for the last 4 1/2 years.  I started writing before blogs were nearly as commonplace as today.  It was a place for me to write about our adventures as we moved away from home as newlyweds.  We used it to share pics of our kids when they were babies with family hundreds of miles away.  Most recently, we have used it to record the adventure God has taken us on the last 2 years to support Bible Translation.

Right now our family direction is changing and this blog will be, too. I believe God is giving me new inspiration and ideas of how to use this blog to go beyond our family.  You may have noticed a few new things popping up on my blog recently.  Last month I participated in my first blog-hop with Hearts at Home.  Its a ministry to moms that has touched me through their books and resources.  A friend in Florida gave me "Real Moms, Real Jesus" around the time Lydia was born and changed the way I thought about motherhood. Second, Moments to Remember is a link up with a couple of the homeschool blogs, (1+1+1=1 and Homeschool Creations) that have been great resources to me as I begin to do some learning activities with Lydia.  I'm also beginning to write blog posts for OneVerse.  I am excited about this because it's an opportunity we can continue to use this blog to raise awareness of the importance and significance of Bible Translation. OneVerse is a project related to Wycliffe, and their goal is to see scripture projects sponsored one verse at a time.  It only takes $26 to translate one verse of scripture, which takes the overwhelming needs of Bible Translation around the world, and breaks them down into bite-size chunks. Finally, don't worry, I'll continue to include the adventures we have has a family on top of all these new activities.

I have developed a hobby or addiction, depending how you look at it, to digital scrap-booking.  I use GIMP, a photoshop-like open source program, to manipulate virtual papers stickers, ribbons, buttons etc.  to create my pages.  I post my pages and promote a few designers at a second scrapbook blog, cyscraps.blogspot.com, so as not to clutter this blog.  Check it out!

Hearts at Home Blog Hop: Journey of Motherhood

I'm a new Hearts at Home blogger!  Hearts at Home seeks to encourage, educate, and equip every mom in every season of motherhood using Christian values to strengthen families. I'll be blogging each month for them and might someday have a great resource to giveaway! 

Today's questions is When did you realize that you weren’t alone on this journey called Motherhood?

I don't think I have ever felt more alone in motherhood than I do in this transition season our family is in. We moved 6 months ago from the only home our kids had ever had to be near family as we prepare to serve as missionaries in Nigeria. Women need relationships to thrive and its a process to find other moms to be in community with. It takes time and I'm impatient and want it now and quick. It takes time for the roots of a relationship to go down deep and knit two people together in friendship.

Just before I became a mom, my husband got a new job which required us to move. So we packed up and moved, 7 months pregnant to a new home in a new city. I had all kinds of questions with this huge change in such a short time. We went from a 1 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house, I had to find a new Doctor and fast, we had more space so I suddenly got to decorate a nursery. Lots of decisions and change in a short time.

When we visited the new company a month before we moved, one of his co-workers knew we were expecting and gave me the info for her playgroup. I was excited to have some resources I could call right away. And call them I did. They helped me find an OB, and invited me to their play-dates even before my child could play. That group of moms became some of my best friends during our time living in Orlando.

One of the best parts of this group was the website one of the husbands help make. We could share with each other and ask questions to the group without having to find the time to meet in person. We share prayer requests, plan our playdates, and stay connected.  Now that we have moved away from this group of friends I am thankful that I can still participate online with them. Even though we aren't in the same state anymore, Being a mother has the same struggles everywhere.

As a mom the hardest part is being interrupted by my kids' needs, have you thought of all the interruptions Jesus had from people asking for miracles and prayer? Check out Hearts at Home's book “Real Moms Real Jesus”  There is a Facebook Book Study starting the first of the year.

Check out what some of the other moms have to say about motherhood!