Messy House Happy Family

While reading Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe, I came across this bible verse and immediately fell in love with it. In love with it so much that I made an 8x10 printable out of it to hang in my kitchen! My house may never look like a home straight out of Southern Living, but that's okay. These little oxen are messy. Is your house messy too? Read this verse and remember to give yourself grace for today! #messyhousehappyfamily

PS. I highly recommend this book to all moms and moms-to-be out there! I've found it to be so encouraging in my walk with the Lord & my journey as a mom.

Easy Tex-Mex Soup

During my devotion time today I was reading Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe and loved what author Sally Clarkson had to say about creating a life-giving home: "Determine that you will, in time, subdue your home, overcome in the fight for the hearts of your children, and find God's joy and blessing through your obedience." This quote encouraged me to stop, ask for the Lord's help through the Holy Spirit to change my selfish heart, and reflect on how I could be obedient to the Lord in serving my family during Hannah's remaining nap hour. A still small voice answered, cook dinner. And so in practicing obedience, I cooked dinner at 12:30 in the afternoon.

And you know what? This small act of serving blessed me and actually did fill my heart with joy. So simple and so sweet. I found that plucking cold chicken off of a rotisserie chicken gave me ample time to pray for the people that I have been meaning to, and I smiled knowing that because I made dinner early today our family might have enough time tonight to go grab an ice cream dessert at Sweet Cece's (a favorite weeknight tradition). The Lord is good.

If any of you mama's are like me, you are always looking for new easy recipes to make for your family... and so I thought I'd pass along what I cooked for dinner tonight. I've made it before and can testify that it is warm and delicious!

Easy Tex-Mex Soup (courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine)

Ingredients:

• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 2 cloves garlic (time saving tip: buy the squeeze bottle pre-minced garlic, available in the vegetable area of the grocery store where fresh herbs are sold)
• 1, 8oz package of pre-chopped onion and celery mix
• 4 canned tomatillos (green tomatoes), drained and coarsely chopped
• 2, 14oz cans of chicken broth
• 1, 15oz can of white hominy, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups chopped boneless rotisserie chicken
• 1 TB lime juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• cilantro leaves

Directions:

• Heat oil in skillet. Add dried oregano through pre-chopped onion/celery mix and saute for 2 minutes.
• Stir in tomatillos, saute for 1 minute.
• Add broth and hominy, cover, and bring to a boil. Uncover and cook for 8 minutes.
• Stir in chicken, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer until heated through (I would let it simmer for about 10 minutes). 
• Garnish with chopped avocado slices and cilantro before serving

As my daughter would say, "yum, yum!"

Modern Country

Welcome to my humble adobe! I love to get a sneak peak of other's homes on their blogs, and I thought I'd return the favor to you. Please know that I am no decorating genius.  I do not have a knack for choosing colors nor does style just naturally flow out of me. In fact, after my husband and I first got married I promptly painted our bedroom walls the exact matching colors of our duvet comforter! It didn't turn out very well. Two years ago I learned that I really loved the shabby chic style and from there decorating got a little easier. I finally had an overarching idea to work around. However, it was over lunch with a friend last week that I learned that my interior design efforts of shabby chic really portrayed a more modern country look. But I can live with that! I am, as you know, a farm girl in the making. 

Now, without further ado, come walk through my family room and dining area with me. My prayer over these walls is that they may serve to be a foretaste of heaven to my family and all others who grace through our front door.

Want to know how I did that?

• The pillows are from Pottery Barn
• The lantern is from Kohls
• The table and sofas are from craigslist
• The "Love One Another" artwork is a DIY project made from pallet wood (similar pieces may be gracing Etsy soon, stay tuned)
• And the curtains, they are my favorite find! The curtains are actually tablecloths I found (for a steal) while shopping at HomeGoods.

Training - Day 2

Knowing that our family was going to be out of the house until 6 tonight, I decided that I needed to hit the pavement this morning. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my training days. Today's training was a repeat run from day 1 (5 minute warm up walk, 20 minutes of 60 seconds running + 90 seconds walking), 5 minute cool down walk). The air was fresh (praise God for weather in the 60's) and my body felt good, but a few minutes into the running portion and things got hard. Maybe it was the added weight of my daughter and her stroller, or maybe that's just what exercise feels likes :) as a girl who hasn't exercised for a long time I wouldn't know the difference! My left side pained a bit near where I had my ovary sugary back in October, but I'm assuming that must be normal. I pushed through to the end and added another 2.07 miles to my shoes.

Today I am thankful for:

• The added energy I have from all this exercising! Running every other day and doing Body flow on the inbetweenies (yoga+Pilates) is really helping my body to feel good. At dinner last night, a time where I'm normally using every last cent I have to get dinner on the table, I was joyfully dancing with my daughter and laughing with my husband. 
• The beautiful fall like weather that God blessed me with during my run. Running when it's 80 degrees outside = no running at all. Running when it's 60 degrees outside = pleasant fun.
• The sweet melodious sound the crickets made during my cool down. While they weren't actually harmonizing with my mp3, it was enjoyable to hear the worship music and the sound of God's own creation praising Him.

Couch to 5K - Day 1

Let's get one thing clear- I am not a runner. In High School I used to dread the mile, and the only time I ever ran more than a mile was in college when I joined the JV Rowing team (I managed to run 3 miles and promptly quit a few weeks later). So why in the world then would the title to this post read Couch to 5K? The simple answer is because it's for life.

On September 28th the Farmer and I will be running in our first family 5k. The event is a fundraiser for the Hope Clinic for Women. The clinic is a local, pro-life, christian organization that provides prenatal care, diagnostic testing, and counseling for women. Many young girls come to the clinic for the first time pregnant and considering abortion. However, with the help and services provided by the Hope Clinic Staff the girls often change their minds and choose to protect the lives of their unborn children instead. I have personally met with the director of the clinic and can testify to the great impact this facility has on the lives of Nashville families and children. It is a fantastic place. It is a cause I strongly support. And it is a great opportunity for me to finally put some action behind my convictions, even if it's just a small way of doing so. 

Today I put on my running shoes, downloaded the C25K app, and started my training. According to the app I'll be training 3 days a week and will be ready to run 3 miles in a month and a half! Today's workout was a 5 minute warm up walk, 20 minute 60 second run & 90 second walk, and a 5 minute cool down walk. It wasn't that hard and I was surprised by how good it felt to sweat that much. We'll see what happens though when the run time dramatically increases the the walk time dramatically decreases :)

I'll keep you updated with my progress!

In the meantime...

If you're a Nashville local would you consider joining the Farmer and I in the race? We'd love to do this event with you and your family! If you're not local (and even if you are) would you consider sponsoring us by donating to the clinic? You can register and donate to our team by clicking here. 

Have you ever run a 5k before? What are your best semi-athlete tips?

Sunday Sweetness

Every once in awhile, we need to stop and celebrate.

Today I am thankful for Sunday afternoon naps, baby overalls, and chocolate cake. 

My weekdays with my baby girl are sweet, but the weekends home with her & her daddy are even sweeter.

Cheers to Sunday!

Art credit goes to Curly Girl Design . I love her store and could spend hours reading through all of her cards. The way she combines her artwork and poetic phrases is inspiring, uplifting, and often times just what a girl needs to put a smile on her face!

Prayer - ACTS

As a Christian woman, I know I ought to pray. I ought to love to pray. How fantastic is it that the words spoken from my heart can be heard by the ears of the almighty Lord?! And not only heard by Him, but also treasured and considered important by Him. Yet, even in spite of knowing those facts I still have an ugly truth to confess: prayer can be hard for me. No matter how hard I try, the number of times I have fallen asleep while praying can be counted on more than two hands.

Enter Susan, a good friend of mine who once shared how much the ACTS prayer acronym changed her own prayer life. ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. It's a sweet little tool to help facilitate prayer with the Lord.  You start with adoring the Lord and worshiping Him. Then confess and repent of the sins in your life. Next, thank God for the blessings He has given you. And lastly, pray to the Lord for yourself, your family, and the other people in your life. About a year and a half ago I started using this as my own prayer tool, and today I can stand in agreement with Susan that the Lord can really use this simple prayer acronym to add a lot of beauty and intimacy to one's prayer life with Him.

Below you will find how I specifically use this tool in my prayer time. I hope it's helpful to you! I share this not out of legalism, for there are many ways to pray and worship the Lord, but out of a heart of encouragement. More than anything sister, I pray that you walk away from this blog post being reminded of how much God longs to hear your voice rise up to him in prayer. 

I keep an ACTS prayer journal and use scripture in some sections to help guide my thoughts. The journal is separated into four parts and looks something like this:

PART ONE: Adoration

• As I read through the bible I bookmark different bible verses on my phone that praise/worship/define who God is and then write them out in the journal. Then during my prayer time I simply read this verses out loud to the Lord as praise and worship.
• A few verses in my Adoration section include:
• Hosea 6:3 "Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to use as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."
• Isaiah 45:7 "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things."
• Isaiah 37:16 "O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth."

PART TWO: Confession

• Here I list out different commands the Lord has given us in case I need some help remembering how I have sinned against the Lord in my life and where I need to repent (although more often than not sister I don't need any help in this area, my heart is so prone to sin that my confessions just comes flooding out)
• A few scriptures I include in this section:
• Exodus 20 (List out the 10 commandments)
• John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

PART THREE: Thanksgiving

• In this section I have an active list going of all the things I'm thankful to God for. 
• A few highlights on my list include:
• 12. Thank you for the surprise of my baby sleeping in this morning and the extra time I got to spend with you
• 13. Thank your for a husband that loves me so much that he calls me in the middle of the day
• 19. Thank you for creating sweet juicy peaches that I can eat straight off the tree
• 23. Thank you that you created my body to work and for the joy I received  from sweating over hedging the bushes this morning

PART FOUR: Supplication

• There are a whole bunch of ways to do this part. I keep on going prayer lists (separated by a bunch of pages) for each different family member and for other various things. I often like to use scripture as an outline for my prayers in this section.
• Examples of my pages/scripture prayers include:
• Family Prayers
• 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
• Lord please exhort, encourage, and implore my family through your holy spirit to walk in a manner worthy of you - you who blessed us by choosing us to be a part of your kingdom and glory
• Marriage Prayers
• James 1:19
•  Lord, please change the Farmer and my hearts to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for our anger does not honor you nor do you any good.
• Prayers for my Husband
• Colossians 3:23-24
• Father, in the Farmer's  job and at home please kindly remind him and bless him with a desire to work as for you and not for men. Help him to work for you Lord Christ. 
• Prayers for my Daughter
• Jani Ortlund, my pastor's wife, wrote a beautiful blog post on how to pray for your princess and this is what I use for the most part when praying for Hannah. Are you the mother of a son? Jani also wrote this post on how to pray for your little prince.
• My Personal Prayer List Page
• Prayers for Others
• When I tell friends I will pray for them, I typically add their specific prayer to a list I keep going in this section of my journal. Some days I pray through the entire list, and other days I might only hit one or two. When I see the prayer get answered (like a friend becomes pregnant!) I write how the Lord answered the prayer along with the date (it's exciting to actively see Him answer prayers again and again). 

Now your turn! Do you have any helpful prayer tips? Let's encourage each other.

Disclaimer: I don't use this journal to pray everyday nor do I always pray through every section of the journal when I do use it. I am not legalistic about this and I pray that you aren't either. In fact, one day I might set the journal aside all together and find I need a new way to encourage prayer with the Lord. This is a just a tool that the Lord has used to bless my own prayer life. Ultimately, He is the one who makes our prayer life with Him sweet/intimate and encourages us to pray.

Femininity

Every little boy needs a truck,

and every little girl needs a purse.

Dear HG,

I love how creative and fun the Lord made you!

Without any prompting or lessons on what a purse is,

you decided yesterday at the pool that

your toy bucket would make the perfect purse.

And you have been carrying it around as such ever since.

Thank you for making me smile.

Love,

Mom

A Clean Eating Life

A few weeks ago I took a challenge to eat cleanly for two weeks. For me, clean eating meant:

• No meat
• No dairy
• No sugar
• No snacking except for fruit
• Drinking only water (ie no soda, juice, lemonade), just lots and lots of water
• Low-sodium
• Whole wheat only carbs (limited amounts)

Some of my favorite meals included:

• Grilled onion&green bell pepper spinach salad with salsa
• Strawberry and walnut spinach salad
• Avocado and mango spinach salad
• Whole wheat pasta with zucchini, squash, spinach, and tomatoes sauteed  in olive oil
• Whole wheat hummus wrap with cucumber, spinach, grape tomatoes, and black beans
• Three bean soup

Top 7 things I learned:

• I love grapefruit! Half a grapefruit a day easily replaced my morning glass of orange juice. Added bonus: grapefruit is full of antioxidants and helps prevent cancer. Looks like this pink fruit is here to stay!
• Losing weight is 70% diet and only 30% exercise. While exercise is important, I never realized how much changing the way you eat can effect your weight. I lost 7lb over the course of these two weeks - and that may or may not have included a cheat milk shake here and there ;) If I had stuck 100% to the plan I bet I would have lost more weight.
• New go to breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled with salsa, 1/2 a grapefruit, and a piece of whole wheat bread with a thin layer of peanut butter. I was amazed that I could eat this much for breakfast and still shed pounds. Not once did I start my day off hungry.
• Fruit can, in fact, replace eating sweets. Before this eating plan, I never would have believed that a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, and bananas could ever be as enjoyable as a chocolate chip cookie. Surprise - it is just as enjoyable if not more!
• Cleaning eating = more energy to chase little ones around the house.
• I am a salt girl. By far one of the hardest parts of this eating plan was not going for the salt container while preparing every meal. Salt is good. It adds that extra flavor that meals need. Will I be giving up salt completely from now on? No way. But I did learn to tone it down a bit.
• Salads can taste yummy and be a stand alone meal.

Future plans:

• After two weeks of this plan I was shocked at how easy it was to fall back into my old eating habits. Certainly I would have learned something over the course of 14 days, right?? But alas, change is a slow process. 
• I'd love to continue eating this way until I reach my ideal weight, and then slowly begin adding some old favorites (like double chocolate cake) back into the weekly mix.
• Ideally, I'd like to make clean eating (for the most part) a more permanent habit. While it's not bad to have a burger, milk shake, or Oreo cookie here and there... I think the basic principles (like avoiding sugar, only eating whole wheat carbs, snacking on fruit alone, and not drinking anything besides water) are great & super healthy.

Important notes:

• "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30 While being a healthy weight isn't bad by any means, it will never complete you nor I. It will never satisfy. It will never make you feel whole. Eat healthy to praise the Lord and to thank Him for the body He has given you!! Don't get too caught up in numbers and self display. 

• Change is hard, but praise the Lord that there is a God who can change us. On the days when I feel lost in my sin, unable to change my broken heart I only have to cry out to Him and say "Christ, I can't do this at all. I keep trying and I keep failing. Change me. Change my heart." And you know what sister? He can and He does! The Lord who began a good work in you (and me) will be faithful to complete it to the end. How awesome is it that we serve a Lord who can change us and bless us with new desires and a new heart. No one else that I know can do that. Ask Him and praise Him!

Clean Eating

Did you enjoy your view of my fridge? I don't think I have ever seen so many fruits and vegetables in it there at one time. Why so many? In attempt to lose a few of those extra baby lb and better my eating habits I decided it was time to try clean eating. My dear friend over at Dear Mushka inspired me with this blog post. I knew I wanted to try something similar, but I was at a loss of how I would figure out what to cook every night. I love cooking, but only with lots of dairy and lots of salt. Two things clean eating does not allow.

Enter in Beautiful Habits. She is a friend of a very dear friend of mine and, while I don't know that much about the author, I joined her challenge and received a free copy of her meal plan. Free! I like that. Plus, it mapped out exactly what I could eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner for an entire week! Perfect. It also included a balanced amount of proteins and fats. The RN in me was happy.

So there you have it. Two weeks of clean eating has commenced. In an act of sweet encouragement The Farmer even agreed to join me on this adventure. We are on day 3 now and still going strong.....for the most part. I might have added a bit of salt to the soup last night. Oops. I just love salt!

But today is a new day. Cheers to a Wednesday filled with veggies, fruit, whole grains, and peanut butter! I'll check back in with you over the next few days and at the end of our challenge to let you know the final results.

Note: Beautiful Habit's challenge is supposed to last 21 days. However, we have a trip planned to the infamous family Hog Farm over Memorial Day weekend. Do you remember my first post about my sweet Mother-in-Love? About amazing a cook she is? Needless to say, we are only doing the plan for 12 days. But 12 days is better than none right? Hopefully, I will learn a lot by then and I won't gain all of my lost weight back.

Happy "clean" eating!

Philippians 4:8

I need this verse.
In my life.
On my bedroom wall.
One of the first things I see and and am reminded to pray when I wake up morning.

In light of that - I decided to make this printable on photoshop and share it with you!! It prints off in an 8x10. I'm still figuring out how to add it as an attachment to my blog, but my little HG just woke up from her morning nap and I must run. Until then, save the image to your computer maybe?

Be blessed! And have a fantastic, lovely Monday!

The Water Challenge

As a nursing major I was forced into studying the benefits of drinking water and let me tell you they are plentiful. Google "health benefits of drinking water" and a countless number of medical pages and websites will pop up. At a glance, drinking water helps flush toxins out of our bodies, boost immune systems, relieve headaches, improve skin complexions, encourage weight loss, and can give you more energy through out the day. Wow! That's a lot of punch for a little tap.


Even though I know how healthy it is for me to drink water... I'm horrible at it! During my pregnancy I even struggled to keep guzzling the stuff down.


And so to combat my, and possibly my Farmer's (although he is much better at it than I am), bad water drinking habits we invested in some new glass water bottles and created a water challenge for ourselves! Why glass? It's easy to clean. BPA free. Won't collect nasty crud on the inside or deteriorate like my aluminum water bottles from years past. And you can pick cute covers out like the one to the left (yes,  the cuteness factor helps encourage me to drink more water, whatever it takes right?).


The challenge? The first person to drink 4 bottles full of water today gets an extra 10 dollars of personal spending money for the month. Not the most stellar prize in the world, but it added a little extra incentive to our game!


We've been texting each other pictures of our full and then empty water bottles all morning. So far, we're neck and neck in the race. 1 down - 3 to go. And you know what? It's been really fun! A nice, small, and atypical way to stay connected with each other when the mister is at work.  I've even managed to finish an entire bottle while writing this blog post :)


Can you drink 8 glasses of water today?

Chicken Fajita Chowder

In case you were wondering how we planned on using those beautiful red bell peppers from yesterday....

Chicken Fajita Chowder

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, diced in 1/4-1/2" pieces
• 3 bell peppers, any color, diced small
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 T. olive oil
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 cup uncooked instant brown rice
• 10 oz green enchilada sauce
• 4 oz green chilies, undrained
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 oz (1 cup) shredded Mexican Cheese
• 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Recipe

1. Heat up olive oil in a dutch oven (or big cooking pot) on medium heat.
2. Stir in chicken, peppers, and onion. Cook until the chicken is done (no longer pink) and the vegetables are tender, but crisp (about 5-8 minutes).
3. Add the broth, corn, rice, enchilada sauce, chilies, and salt to the pot. Bring this entire mixture to a boil.
4. Once boiling, reduce to simmer, cover, and allow to simmer for 40 minutes.
5. Remove the pot from heat, and add the cheese and sour cream. Stir until cheese and sour cream are melted.
6. Add cilantro. Stir.

Servings: 6-8 one cup servings

Notes: this is another wonderful recipe from my Mother-in-Love. It's served best with tortilla chips and Cayenne pepper (in case someone has a hankering for spicy). The recipe on its own has a nice flavor, but isn't very spicy hot. Tastes great sitting on your back porch of a breezy spring evening.

Delizioso!

Yes you may.

Play.

I love to let Hannah play. Even if it means dirt in her finger nails. Grass stains on her jeans. Books all over her bedroom floor. And bruises on our sweet red bell peppers.

We attended a parenting&marriage morning at church this weekend, and one of my favorite pieces of wisdom from the pastor's wife was to "say yes to your child as much as possible." She will hear enough no's growing up. But how can I make sure she hear's enough yes's?

Beautiful.

A New Home

How did the house debacle end? It became a home.

We closed two weeks ago Friday!

Highlights of the closing:

• A courier delivering the corrected deed from the long lost owners to our title company on Thursday evening just minutes before they closed
• My husband and the seller digging up the neighbor's fence, with her permission, in the rain the night of our final walk through

It truly was a miraculous closing, and through it I learned patience, trust, and about contentedness in the Lord. I am thankful.

And They Praised Him (cont)

Psalm 147:10-11

"His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love." 

And just like that - a closing was scheduled for Friday morning.

Last night we talked to the sellers and all seemed lost. They didn't want to go chasing after the original property owners (and neither did we). Their plan was to move their fence and re-list their house without that additional .4 acres of property. We were not interested in the home without the extra land, so we told them we planned on walking away. I finally breathed easily knowing it was at least finished. Our title company wasn't searching for the long lost owners. We didn't think it was prudent for us to go searching for the long lost owners. And the seller wasn't going to go searching for the long lost owners. Without finding the long lost owners there would be no closing. Period.

And when all hope flickered and we finally completely surrendered to walking away, the Lord was still working! Within 15 minutes of that original conversation with the seller, we received a second phone call informing us that the seller's title company located the long lost owners and both parties (as they were divorced) agreed to sign over the land without any contingencies. Wow. Did that just happen? The Farmer and I did a double take at each other.

And this morning everyone busily got to work preparing for a Friday closing.

Praise the God who gives and takes away. Only He could jump through so many hurdles and provide.

**minor note** The neighbor's fence is still up, but we have been assured it will be down by closing. If it's not dismantled, we will decline closing. And the adventure continued!

And They Praised Him

This week has been quite the roller coaster. As many of you know, we were supposed to close on a home last week. However, one day prior to closing we learned that half, roughly about .4 acres, of the property of said "new home" was actually still owned by the original owners who sold the house over 10 years ago! Mercy. It's a long complicated story of incorrect property deeding  We were blessed that our title company found it, but that also meant we needed to delay closing until this issue was taken care of. The title company is trying to reach out and locate the original owners (who unfortunately are now divorced) so that the proper paperwork can be signed to fix the deed.  We know they have located the couple, but have not been told whether they've actually been able to communicate with them in person or over the phone.

And now we wait.

 Oh yes, and did I mention the other slightly smaller glitch is that the next door neighbor has fenced off portions of our said "new home" into her yard? Three weeks ago we learned that a portion of our backyard L's into the neighbor's backyard. We asked that the side of the fence that cuts us off from the property be removed until proper measures could be taken to possibly sell the land to her. The seller was so amicable and determined in this issue and so was the neighbor for that matter. The portion of fence we asked to be removed was removed prior to closing. Unfortunately, a land survey the seller wisely chose to have done showed us (one day prior to closing) that another portion of the neighbor's fence is enclosing an additional 1000 square feet of our said "new home's" property. Yikes. The seller had to go back to the friendly neighbor and inform her of this error and ask her, yet again, to move her fence prior to closing. As of Sunday, the fence was still up.

And now we wait.

One other teensy tiny thing, our locked in mortgage rate expires this Friday.

And now we wait.

Will we close? Will we walk away? Only the Lord knows. But praise Him that He does! As we've searched this past year for a home I continually prayed "Lord, whatever home you have for us may we say that the only way we got it was through you." Whether this ends up being that home or not, I know that He is faithful to answer my prayer. But wouldn't it be exciting if somehow it all worked out by Friday? Now, please don't worry if He doesn't answer it by Friday. My Farmer and I, by the grace of God, are at peace with the matter either way. If we close. And if we don't close.

And so what am I praying in this moment? That people would look at our adventuresome house story, be amazed at our God, and say "that we danced through it, and praised, and worshiped the Lord the entire way." So that's what I'm trying to focus on everyday this week. Praise God! He loves us! He is good!

PS. Look at what my Easter present was! Aren't they beautiful! I am thankful to watch these bloom and sing of spring and hope everyday.

Today's Agenda

I want to be a mommy who is always having adventures with her kids. Coming up with new things to Do. See. Explore. I can't wait until HG is old enough to where we can have mud fights, splash in the puddles, dance in the rain, "paint" the driveway with water and a paintbrush, pretend to "shave" daddy's face with real shaving cream, roll down hills, see images in the clouds, sing worship songs to the Lord really loud while dancing around in our backyard, run through the sprinkler, go ice skating, spend an entire afternoon washing mommy's car... you get the picture.

But, what do you do when you are a stay at home mom and your daughter is only 9 months old? There are only some many times that my baby duck likes to play with her toys, walk up and down the couch, and go for rides in the laundry basket. To overcome boredom I try to keep our days busy. With errands. Play dates at the park. Lunch dates out with a girlfriend and her daughter. Library visits. Stroller walks. Mall walks. Target walks. Any kind of walks. I remind myself that this "baby" season where it's just her and I will only last for so long. If the Lord blesses us, pretty soon there will be brothers and sisters toddling around and HG will be leading the pack. But today, when it's cold outside and little ducky has a runny nose and isn't feeling up to going places, we are trying very hard to come up with things to make today exciting.

So you ask, what is on our schedule for today?

• noodles
• rice
• shapes
• a big metal pot

No, we aren't cooking. We're creating a messy, sensory dish. 

:) And maybe we'll get a hold of daddy's shaving cream just for the fun of it. 

To all the mommy's trying hard to keep the 1 year old and younger babes entertained. You rock!

Truth

In the midst of our trouble we must trust that God is up to something good. Jesus allows us to walk through pain or difficulty because it is a prelude to greater blessing.

We might not always see or realize the greater blessing right away (or sometimes at all), but we must have faith that it is always there. And through that faith in God's goodness we can be filled with hope, contentment, and even joy.

You who? You there?

I have not abandoned the blogging ship! Please excuse me for the hiatus these past two weeks, but I am without a computer. New one is ordered and set to arrive in another two weeks. Till then what shall I do during my little HG's nap time? How will I occupy myself?

Reading Southern Living magazine.
Reading my Bible.
Reading two books at once.
Cleaning house.
Napping.
Giving myself a pedicure.

Hmmm, maybe I should take a computer hiatus more often? When was the last time you put away your computer or phone during nap time (or down time)? Try it and let me know what blessings you find to do.

TGIF: Thank God it's Friday!

Ready for a restful weekend at home with hubby? Me too! After a long, slightly grueling week (HG's fussiness, boredom, chilly gray days), I'm pumped it's Friday.

Praying this for our weekend:

"Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace."

John Greenland Whittier

Amen.

Surprise {Valentine}

How have we been celebrating Valentine's week around here in the H Household?

Monday:

Surprise! Hubby's favorite beverage of choice in the fridge. And yes, we always drink responsibly. No ifs, ands, or buts. 

Tuesday:

A valentine's day heart hidden inside his laptop with the following equation,

9x-7i>3(3x-7u), solve for i

Hubby solved it correctly (although he did rewrite the equation on a white sheet of paper, who would have thought it would be embarrassing for a grown man to have a girly heart made out of construction paper on his office desk?). His prize for efforts? Being greeted with freshly baked nachos and instructions to sit on the couch, relax, and watch TV as soon as he got home from work.

Wednesday: 

Photos coming soon, but it included HG's teeny tiny footprints in the shape of a heart with a note that says "Daddy, I love you to pieces," and a mason jar filled with reese's pieces. Thank you pinterest.

Thursday: 

Weber Style 6445 Professional-Grade Stainless-Steel 3-Piece Barbeque Tool Set, thank you amazon.com

We finalized our negotiation contracts for purchasing Our First House on Monday. Yahoo! I thought hubby would appreciate this as a valentine's celebration/housewarming gift. I so love finding ways to mark special occasions!

How have you been celebrating?

Our First Date

A number of days passed between our introduction on the volleyball courts and our first date on South Beach. The Farmer pursued me slowly but surely and I tried my hardest not to trip over my feet in my excitement. Introductions turned into Facebook friends, turned into Facebook emails, turned into the Farmer taking a surprise work trip to Boston and asking me for my number so I could recommend places to sight see. Somewhere in an earlier email I mentioned to him that I spent time growing up in Boston. What I forgot to mention in that email was that I was only 5 years old then.

 Did I email him back and confess to him that my only memories of Boston were of ice skating and reading Arthur books at the library? No, surely not! I called my mom and asked her to tell me all about sight seeing in Boston.

Our first phone called turned into more phone calls, turned into me inviting him out to lunch when I got impatient with him for not asking me out yet. FOOT IN MOUTH MOMENT. Eek, how unattractive! Note to my daughters- always let the guy you are interested in pursue you. There is something beautiful and mysterious about a young woman who doesn't flaunt her beauty or chase after a guy. God created men to be the pursuers, so let him do his job. If he is the right man for you, then he will love the Lord and love seeking after you. I was fortunate that your dad put the kibosh on my over eagerness soon after our first date, but I wish he never had to in the first place.

And my asking him out to lunch turned into him inviting me out to dinner on South Beach. I wore a sweet white dress top and jeans. He wore a white stripped button down. He was, and still is, so handsome. We didn't kiss. We didn't hold hands. We didn't even hug goodnight. What we did do was talk. And walk up and down the street searching for gelato. And share an evening stroll on the beach. I wiggled my toes in the water and he laughed and refused to take off his dress shoes. 

I remember returning home with the largest, giddiest blush on my cheeks and smile on my face. This guy was a keeper, and somehow he had taken an interest in me!

Our Meet Cute

Mommy, how did you meet daddy? I can just hear my little HG saying that in five years. In honor of Valentine's week (much more exciting than one measly day) I thought it'd be fun to share stories of my sweet Farmer and I. To my precious HG and all the tiny littles yet to come - this one is for you! Always remember, I love your daddy through and through! (Every Valentine's week deserves a cheesy poem)

It was a sunny Florida evening when the Farmer and I first met on the University of Miami's sand volleyball courts. I remember seeing him for the first time and thinking that he was cute, but probably too old to be interested in a young undergraduate like myself. We were on opposite teams. When our court rotations placed us across the net from one another I remember sticking my hand underneath the divide and introducing myself with a smirky smile. The Farmer remembers introducing himself first, but I have my doubts. I was always a bit too forward. After a quick name exchange we learned we had something in common, Midwestern roots. Interest perked. A cute guy from the Midwest living in Miami, FL. Could it be true? I then learned he grew up on a farm. Interest perked more. I always romanticized about being a country girl. And that was pretty much it for the evening. Other than one comment of "my toe is broke like a joke" that's all he said to me the rest of the night. I was smitten and he was reserved. How funny to think that in just 14 months we would be walking down the aisle together, no longer two but one.

Minor note: We ended up on the same volleyball court after one of the Farmer's best friends met me (and another girl friend of mine) at multichurch outreach event. According to some, he thought we were pretty and so he invited us to join a weekly game of volleyball that he and his friend's played every Monday evening. In all honestly, I was extremely intimidated to go at first. This friend of the Farmers appeared to be in his later twenties and I assumed that all his friends would most likely be around the same age. They were all working professionals. I was only twenty. Despite feeling young and slightly foolish, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and take a risk. Praise God for that!

A Father's Love

I am blessed to have this man as my Farmer and husband.

Double Chocolate Cake

Everything I know about cooking I've learned from my Mother-in-Love. Well, maybe not everything. But nearly everything. When the Farmer and I first met I thought cooking meant mac and cheese (from a box), brownies (from a box), and skillet chicken. 

"Cooking," I flirted, "why yes, of course I know how to cook. I love cooking."

Wrong.

My Farmer  grew up on an 800 acre hog farm with a stay-at-home mother who spent her days delighting in the kitchen. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago with a family who, on the majority of nights, ate meat + vegetable for dinner. Steak + frozen spinach, got it. Salmon + broccoli, check. And so the Farmer's definition of cooking and my definition just did not match. 

You can imagine my shock when I visited the Hog Farm for the first time and learned that yes, in fact, you can make brownies from scratch! It's sounds ridiculous, I know, but I honestly thought brownies could only be made from boxes.

Enter my Mother-in-Love. Who sent me recipes in the mail during our first year of marriage. Who bought me my first set of wooden spoons. Who taught me the ever important rules of 'you can never have too much butter,' and 'don't be afraid to add more salt.' 

And our waist lines never remained the same from that point forward.

In honor of her, here is one of my favorite recipes. From her kitchen. To mine. To yours.

Double Chocolate Cake

Ingredients (Cake)

1 cup HOT water (hottest you can get from the tap)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup crisco

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Stir baking soda into water, set aside. Blend on medium speed the remaining ingredients (crisco through vanilla) together just until thoroughly mixed. Add the water and baking soda mix into the batter and blend on medium speed again just until thoroughly mixed. Pour batter into lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes or until it springs back when you lightly touch it (tip: typically when you can smell it a baked good, it's done). Be careful not to overbake.

Ingredients (Fudge Icing)

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

dash (pinch) of salt

6 TBsp unsweetened cocoa powder

6 TBsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in small pan on medium heat on stove top. Once the butter is melted stir in the sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Next, stir in the milk until well blended. Now, crank up the hit to medium high and, while stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let it boil one minute without stirring. After a minute, remove the pan from the burner and allow the icing to cool for 15 minutes. Once it cools stir in the vanilla. Pour over warm cake.

Scrumptastic!