Snow, Snow, Snow

We have snow today!!

Bible Study Book

Lisa in Jax asked what Bible Study book I was using. It is called, The Busy Mom's Guide to Bible Study by Lisa Whelchel.

I am REALLY enjoying this book. I am a person that tends to grab hold of someone or something that tells what to read and what it means! I have so many Devotionals that it is crazy! This book is different in that it teaches you ways to discover the truths from the Bible for yourself. It is a great tool.

This is a sweet little river that is just off the road.



I see this road on my way to work and I always wonder where it goes. Maybe someday I will follow it and find out!

A Whole New LIght

I am currently doing a Bible Study that is teaching me how to investigate Scripture for myself and I am finding it fascinating!!

One of the ways to study is to look up the meaning of the words in a concordance and dictionary. Then, you insert those into the Scripture.

The verse I chose was Rev. 5:13. It says, "To him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever."


Now, here is how I 'rewrote' it after looking up the words:

'To Him who dwells or resides on the stately and powerful seat and to the Lamb be blessing and adoration, value and esteem to the highest degree, great splendor and vigor, dominion, might and strength, perpetually, without end.'

It is interesting to me to think of the Scripture like this. It gives it a whole new meaning and power if we understand the words that are involved.

Fiesta Chicken

Well, Laura in Mo asked if I would post the recipe for the Fiesta Chicken. So, here goes!

1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
2 small tomatoes
1/3 c picante sauce
1 med green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 tsp chili powder
12 corn tortilla(6") cut into 1" strips
3 c cubed chicken, cooked
1 c shredded cheese of choice

Combine soups, tomatoes, picante sauce, green pepper, onion, chili powder, and chicken in a bowl. In a greased 13 x 9 baking dish, layer 1/2 of tortilla strips, soup/chicken mixture and cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake @ 350* for 40-50 min or until bubbly in center.


The next time I make this, I think that I will tear the tortillas into smaller pieces and mix it all together and top with cheese.

Hope you enjoy!

And so it begins again...

Planning for the next 9 weeks! UGH!

Just my luck!

I am in need of chocolate at the moment and I had my eye on a box that we bought for family night a few days ago. They were sitting on top of the entertainment center just waiting for me to enjoy them. I was getting ready to savor the milk chocolate and caramel and let their sweetness calm my frazzled nerves when I went and picked up the box.

What is this? It is a little lighter than I remember. There are still some rattling around in there, so all is well. I tip the box over into my hand so I can caress the yummy goodness with my eyes; but, wait. That is definitely not the chocolaty, caramelly treat that I was longing for.

Someone has been into my stash. This does not bode well for the household tonight. I am getting crankier by the minute.

Then, I see exactly what has fallen from the box into my waiting hand.

Now, I know exactly who was in my stash of mood altering goodness.

And here is the guilty party!! She was not very happy about being caught!



That's okay. I will just move on to the other stash she hasn't found, yet!

Food for the Day

This morning, everyone slept until about 8:15, and for my kiddos that is quite late! Since we were soo behind already, I decided to have brunch instead of breakfast and lunch so close together.

I made French Toast and we went through a loaf and a half of bread. (we do have a few left over for tomorrow!) They really like French Toast!

For supper I made Fiesta Chicken. It was a new recipe and I wasn't sure what it would be like! Everyone enjoyed it and no one complained-success!

It was a good food day here. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

Ready, Set, Jump

WOOHOO!!

Shadows and Light

Acknowledging the Truth

Our Pastors gave a tag team sermon this weekend on 2Timothy 3. It was a wonderful sermon. I just got hung up on one of the verses!

It is verse 7b. Verse 7 is talking about the Godless people in the last days and what they will be like. The second part of the verse says that they are "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."

This really stuck with me. I had to wonder if that is what I do. I learn and learn all that I can about the Bible, Bible times, etc; but, am I making it heart knowledge? Am I acknowledging the Truth? Do I only know in my head Who God is or do I have a relationship with Him that acknowledges Him for Who and What He is?

Also, what truth are they acknowledging? If Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life; then are they not able to acknowledge Jesus as God? If they can't acknowledge Jesus, they have no real hope of acknowledging God. Jesus said that if you have seen Him, then you have seen the Father. The word truth is defined as 'having fidelity to the original'. Meaning the same as. Jesus is the truth because He is the 'same as' God.

I found this verse to be a little scary. And very convicting. It has made me stop to analyze why I am doing Bible Studies or why am I learning Bible history. Am I doing it for the knowledge of the stuff? Or, am I doing it to acknowledge the Creator of it all?

Second thoughts

I am having second thoughts.

Maybe third and fourth thoughts as well.

I am not sure why I thought I could do this. Especially on my own. I have never really done this on my own before that it didn't turn out horribly wrong. I am just not good at this. ANYONE, that knows me will attest to this. It is just not a gift of mine.

Would you like to know what I am talking about?

Well, I joined the Decorating through the year challenge and now I am worried that I have gotten myself into something that could go terribly wrong in a matter of minutes in the paint store.

I am challenged when it comes to picking paint color. I do not do it well and usually someone has to come in behind me and fix what I have just done! Seriously. There is a famous pistachio green color that will live in infamy in my family. Once I put it on the walls, my dh said that it looked like someone had thrown up on it. It really did.

So, fast forward to today. I painted the spare room and now I am scared. I am not sure if I like it. I was going to do two tones of brown for the walls; but, do to budget constraints I chose to just do one. And I don't think that I like it.

See what you think.
Here is another one:

I am not sure if the color is quite right. I need someone to come over and help me!!

I have to put the second coat on later this afternoon, so I guess I am stuck with it. Maybe I won't paint the next room!

One More!

Well, I only thought that there were enough Tartans in my family tree. I went ahead and tried my maiden name and it showed up! Who would have thought? It is supposedly German. Maybe there was some traveling in there that no one knows about! ;)

Here is the Macfarlane Tartan:
I think that green is a theme! What do you think?!!

My HomeGirl!

This is sooo not her personality! She is very calm, quiet, and serious most of the time. I am not really sure how I got her to do this for a picture!!

My Family's Tartan

I have accepted a challenge from Dorothy over at You Did What to find out my ancestor's Tartan.

What I found out was that I am Irish (on my mom's side,which I knew!) and my husband's family is Scottish.

My clan names are: (I have 4 to choose from!) Brown, Douglas, Lamont, and MacMillan.

The Brown Tartan is this:(Irish National)The Douglas Tartan is this:
The Lamont Tartan is this:
The MacMillan Tartan is this:WOW!!!

Now, for my dh's family tartan.

The Terrell family is from the Mackintosh clan.

The Mackintosh Tartan is this:
NOW...Do I get to choose which one I like the best? Or should I research and see which one is actually the correct one? I think that I will just pick the one I like best!!! LOL


Somewhere my Aunt has our lineage and she was supposed to have traced it back to Mary Queen of Scots!! I have no idea if that is true or just folklore among our family!!!

At any rate, it is fun to see these!

Thanks for the link, Dorothy. :)

Not great, but...

I tried. But I think that I am just going to have to give up. Oh, well. At least this one is half-way decent!

Isn't it pretty?

As you know, I have a black thumb! I usually kill every plant I touch. At the moment however, I am keeping alive four plants! WOOHOO.

I have shown pictures of one of the plants already and today I will show you the plant that I have tried to kill more than any of the others. I have left it outside in the freezing cold, I have cut it back too far, and I have forgotten to water it more times than I care to admit! Unbelievably, it is alive.

Without further ado, here it is:


And there is also another bloom getting ready to open! Oh, wait, I see another tiny bud beside it!!

"Are you in need of assistance?"

As we were on our way to choir I noticed that one of our rivers/spillways had been frozen over and was starting to thaw. I wanted to stop and get pictures; but we were going to be late. So...

I waited until we were going home and I pulled off the road onto the shoulder, put the emergency blinkers on, and climbed out to walk back to take the pictures. While I was out there the Highway Patrol quickly pulled off the road.

Here is what was said.

"Ma'am, are you in need of assistance?" said with a very stern look on their faces - there were two of them.

"Who me, Officer?"

They did not laugh.

"No, I just really wanted to get pictures of the ice on the river!" (said with a giggle and a sheepish smile)

"We just needed to be sure that you were not stranded and in need of assistance." (I think that saying the word 'assistance' makes it sound more official-don't you?)

At this point I put my hand on the arm of the Officer nearest me in the car --WHY did I do that do you ask? I HAVE NO IDEA!!! He could have shot me or wrestled me to the ground for aggressive behavior or something. Anyway, I put my hand on his arm like he was an old friend and said,

"Thank you soo much for stopping, I really appreciate it." Again with a sheepish grin.

They were still not amused and looked at me with those looks of theirs that say, "Don't".

They pull ed away and when I got back to the van, the girls were in a tizzy screaming that the police stopped me and one of them was actually hiding on the floor of the car!!! They thought that I was going to be arrested for taking the pictures. I almost couldn't drive because I was laughing so hard.


So, here are the pictures. And you better like them for all that I went through to get them!!! ;)

I am finally getting somewhere!

I am finally getting somewhere with the decorating challenge! I just hope that I can get done before the end of the month.

I tore off all of the border in the room and tonight I am going to tape everything so I can paint this weekend. Yeah!

I chose two tones of browns to hopefully keep it warm and inviting in there without getting so crazy that I can't match things in there at a later time! Choosing paint color is REALLY not my strong suit and it makes me quit nervous; so we will see how it goes.

Out of the comfort zone

My oldest started going to a home school choir last week. I think that is a good thing. She is not so sure about it. She is very shy and this is stretching her past her comfort zone. She has such an amazing singing voice and an intuitive feel for music that we feel that she needs to use it.

ANYWAY, here is a picture of the church that it is at. I almost drove right by it the first time. It just didn't look like a church to me at first. They have an amazing ministry to the homeschool community and I feel very fortunate to have found it.