A nice Christmas break

Derrick took some time off and we have been having a nice break together. We went to the cousins, have been shopping, of course laying around having "movie nights." We borrowed an adult version (not the animated version) of Pilgrim's Progress from my brother and we are going to watch, Nero. I was laying on Derrick's legs resting last night and Derrick had called Samantha out of bed since the others were asleep. He said to her, "What's she doing? Sleeping on my legs?" She said, "I think she thinks they're pillows!" and cackled. We've had a couple of days of really awesome weather too. Today, we took the kids around the neighborhood. Derrick & Bay rode their bikes and Sam rode her bike (with my help) and I pulled Isabella in the wagon. Isabella loved it! Her eyes brightened and she smiled so big. Celebrating Christmas was so much fun, but for us, the fun is not over yet! My sister-in-law had gotten sick and my father-in-law has to be careful (new liver)so we postponed our celebration at my father-in-laws until the 1st. We got some exciting news and will be getting a new sister-in-law this next year. Jaared proposed to Stephanie! Of course, we all love her so we are excited!

Remember how I mentioned that the movie, Fireproof, is one of the greatest movies? Well, after we watched it I told Dana that I wished there really was a book like The Love Dare. She said, "There is. It's called, The Love Dare." I had no idea but it is written by the Kendricks' brothers (they wrote the movie). Derrick got it for me for Christmas. Derrick reads this blog so I can't say when I am doing it or give details but I can say this... It is a great book! If you do what the first day asks you to do ALONE(Don't say anything negative to your spouse at all)it has an amazing impact on your marriage. I think one of the neat things about the book is that you are more conscious of how you act or react and you're actually thinking about it daily. I love all the scripture and biblical principles! I also like the challenge of it. They say you have to be resolved and you have to lead your heart and not let it lead you.

A really good blog

my charming kids: Submission is not a four-letter word!
This is a link to a really awesome post about marriage. Hope you enjoy it if you read it. Many people responded to her that it profoundly impacted them and the way they look at marriage. To the right is a link to her blog called, My Charming Kids. Her blog is really good and she has a way with words

Gotta love those neighbors!

Some neigbor friends of ours made us some cookies for Christmas and brought them over. Triple chocolate (do you think she knows the way to our hearts?) and cinnamon oatmeal spice. I said, "Wasn't that so nice of them?!" Bailey said, "Yeah. They are the best neighbors in the whole world!"

One more day left until Christmas Eve!!! Tonight we will go look at lights and hopefully keep our tradition we started last year of stopping by Starbuck's first. I LOVE, really, LOVE their Caramel Spice apple cider.

A playlist!

How fun! I put some of my favorite songs on here and some Christmas songs. The song, "Something Changed" reminds me of when I became a Christian at the age of 21. Something definitely changed!

Bailey and Samantha's sweet prayers

These are pictures of last Christmas.

Last night at bedtime they both said the sweetest little prayers. Of course, their actual words and voices were much cuter than I can describe.

Bailey's prayer: "...please give me a boy baby, umm, a baby brother if it be your will. And if you give me a girl baby, I will be thankful..."

This is the first time he has been so humble to add the part about if it be God's will and how he would be thankful if it were a girl. He has prayed for a long time for strictly a brother. ;) He talks about this brother of his a lot. For example, we were shopping with my mom one day and he brought us a little boy onesie and asked if we could buy it for his little brother. I thought my mom might have thought I knew something she didn't! ;) Recently, he asked if his little brother was going to sleep on the bottom of his bunk bed. "Umm... if God gives you a baby brother he will."


Here is the background information of Samantha's prayer. We had gone to my mom's house to celebrate Christmas early with her. Earlier in the day we had gone to the BOK center and shown them the outdoor skating rink (they didn't get to skate because it was reserved for some people but that's okay because it was freezing cold!) Derrick ran into a coffee place downtown and the kids & I discussed the Courthouse & jail nearby. We talked about breaking God's laws and man's laws and how we need to keep them both and the consequences.

Samantha's prayer: "...Thank you for my baby...Please help my friends to know you and if they don't know you...help them not break man's laws and them not break God's laws..."

She must have been listening well when we had our conversation earlier in the day! Oh, they are so cute! I'm going to miss these little people when they grow up.

In sincerity of heart

I really like this:

"Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as menpleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men..." Colossians 3:22-23

I think it is a totally different thing to do the right thing in all outward appearances (without sincerity of heart) than to do what is right out of a sincere heart. Only, I find, it is much harder to do the latter sometimes.

An update

I'm writing this to prove to Derrick that I can still blog. My camera needs a new rechargeable battery that I have not had any luck finding yet so I have no pictures. But, I do wish I had pictures of Derrick running the Dallas marathon this past weekend. 26.2 miles! Crazy! Ridiculously crazy! He says its fun! He and some guys from church ran it. They are such a neat group of guys. They are also crazy! Sometimes they get up at 4 a.m. or so and go run 12...13 miles before they go to work. They said the wind was brutal. He said a runner would rather run in extremely hot weather or extremely cold weather than windy weather because they have to work so much harder fighting against the wind. Us wives drove to some stopping points and were getting texts about what mile they were at. It was really exciting waiting at the finish line when we finally saw them (we knew what they were wearing and kept watch for their clothes.) I wanted to cry. What an accomplishment!

We got an idea from my friend, Kelly (see the teachandtickle.blogspot), and have been opening a door on our advent house( I wish I had pictures of it) every day. They hang a new ornament on the tree ( a little metallic red tree with red lights that sits next to the advent house) each day and have a mission of the day. Then we have a Bible lesson. A mission of the day might be eating sticky candy, washing our hands with Christmas soap, and talking about a clean heart. We really enjoyed going to the mall and picking candy out from the candy store (aside from the fact that I decided to do some Christmas shopping and the candy kicked in-that was a mistake!) Samantha picked out a huge pink lollipop and Bailey picked out a Christmas tree made of candy canes with icing on it. This is the first time we have done anything like this and I cannot tell you how much the advent house and lessons have helped us to keep our focus on what Christmas is really about. Though I have still found moments where I have gotten caught up in the shopping & all!

Banana Nut Winter Smoothie

I got this recipe from the container of Dannon All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt.

1 banana, frozen
1 cup Dannon All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt
¼ cup walnuts (I used pecans)
½ ground cinnamon
1 tsp honey (optional)
1/8 ground nutmeg

I used a lot more of everything to make it for the family. I just half bananas, put them in a ziploc bag, and keep them in the freezer. It’s really good!

My two latest favorite dinner dishes

Lemon-dill chicken

This was passed from one person at my church to another and passed again to me. I see why it was! It is really good.

1/4 cup butter
2 + TBS. lemon juice (I used 2 lemons which was extra lemon juice)
1 tsp. salt
1 clove garlic, crushed
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 pkg. sliced mushrooms (I used Baby Portabella)
1 TBS. dill weed
4-6 chicken breasts, uncooked

Combine all ingredients, except chicken, in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add chicken to mixture. Bring to a boil again. Simmer covered for 30 minutes, turning chicken after 1st 10-15 min. Serve with wild or brown rice. Reserve pan juices for gravy. I also thought it was good with sweet potatoes.

Here is another one! This is my grandma's recipe. If you like reuben sandwiches, like me, you should like this!

Reuben Chowder
1 T. butter, softened
3 slices rye bread
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can nacho cheese soup, undiluted
3 c. milk
1 (14 oz.) can sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
12 oz. deli corned beef, diced (I asked for a chunk from the deli)
1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

Butter bread on both sides; cube. Put on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 min. In large saucepan, combine soups, milk, sauerkraut, and corned beef. Cook and stir over medium heat for 8-10 min. or until heated through. Add cheese, stir until melted. Top with croutons.