Merry Christmas to All!!

 

 

I hope you all had a great Christmas.  It was different for us we usually travel for Christmas and decided to stay home because we travelled more this summer than usual.  Here are some of the highlights of our Holiday.

 

 

Christmas Eve Jacob lost his first tooth.  So we had both the Tooth Fairy and Santa at our house on the same night.

 

 

We watched a few Christmas movies.  Later we went to Christmas Eve Service at church.  We came home and said our Christmas prayer together and I was so blessed by the things that my kids prayed.  I didn’t need anything else for Christmas.

 

Our Tree!

 

Max in the middle of the aftermath.  Then last night we went to a friends house and spend time with other families that stayed in town. 

 

 

God Bless the remainder of your year!!

 

 

Jeannie

20 Beautiful Children Stormed through Heaven’s Gates

I received this in an email a few days ago and it gave me a new perspective.  I thought I would pass it on to all of you.


 Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38 when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate. Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air. They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there. They were filled with such joy; they didn't know what to say.

   They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day. “where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse. “This is heaven" declared a small boy. "We’re spending Christmas at God's house”.

   When what to their wondering eyes did appear, but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near. He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same. Then He opened His arms and He called them by name. And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring, those children all flew into the arms of their King and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace, one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face. And as if He could read all the questions she had He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad.“

    Then He looked down on earth, the world far below He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.  Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand, “Let My power and presence re-enter this land! “May this country be delivered from the hands of fools” “I’m taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!“ 

    Then He and the children stood up without a sound. “Come now my children let me show you around. “Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran. All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can. And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight, “in the midst of this darkness,” I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Jeannie

Our Birthday Month

From Thanksgiving to Christmas four of us have birthdays.  Along with the other festivities to those holidays, the b-days keep us hopping.



Jacob’s Birthday is first.  My baby is 6!  I made Angry bird cakes.  I know, but you can kind of tell that is what they are right. 




Bella’s 8th Birthday was Friday.  We made a castle cake for her.  That silly thing took literally all day to make.  The Princess’s dresses were made from Ice cream cones covered with icing.  Perfect for Polly Pocket sized dolls.




Next was Zachary’s b-day, 17!!  He had a brownie pudding trifle for his cake.  This sounds fancier than it is.  Layer brownie pieces with vanilla and chocolate pudding and top with whipped cream.  Very easy and very tasty.  Zach is a chocolate lover.  Friends and Pizza, what a great party.





This is a fun snow picture that happened sometime between Jacob and Bella’s Birthdays.  I hope we get more snow soon.  One last Birthday, mine but no party planned and that is ok.  I am partied out.  Besides “29” is not an important year.  I know, just dreaming.
 

Jeannie

10 Peppermint Favorites

 

Going through Pinterest, these are 10 of my favorite peppermint things.  Peppermint reminds me of Christmas.  Click on the pictures to go to the sites.

 

Peppermint Cake Pops

 

 

Peppermint Log Cake

 

 

 

Peppermint Candy Lollipop

 

 

Peppermint Candy Cane Popcorn

 

 

 

Peppermint Candy Tray made from real candies

 

 

 

Peppermint Marshmallows

 

 

 

Peppermint fingernails!  Cute!

 

Peppermint Rice Krispy Snow Balls

 

 

Peppermint Cake Balls

 

 

 

Brownie Bites with Peppermint White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

 

 

Hope you find something tasty or fun on my list.  Come on over and check out my Pinterest here.

 

 

Merry Christmas

 

Jeannie

A Day of Mourning

Today, I have been just shaken.  I am sure that most of you have read or heard about the school shooting in Connecticut.  This school is a school filled with 450 K-4th grade children.  We are talking about kids just 5-10 years old. 

Photo Credit

 

Not only did this man kill many little children, but he committed a heinous act of violence in front of all of their friends and classmates. I have heard story after story this year of shootings.

Photo Credit

What in the world is going on in our country?  I don’t know the reason this man decided to do this and I guess I really don’t care.  There is no imaginable reason for an act of this kind.

All I can say is Jesus please come soon.  How horrible will our world get before He says that is enough?  How far will he let us go?

Dear Lord,
You are almighty, sovereign over all creation.  I come to you, mourning the lose of children I do not know and will never know until I see them in heaven.  In the name of Jesus, I lift up these families.  I can not even fathom what this community is going through.  Lord I know you can take evil and use it for your good and glory.  I pray that you will do that right this minute.  I pray that the hearts of the people in that community will turn to you and seek your face.  Lord I also pray that the spirit of evil that has been unleashed in this country would be stopped.  I pray that you will bind it and throw it into the pit of hell where it came from.  I ask you to open the eyes of this nation and not let this be just another tragedy that comes and goes and gets filed away in our mind and as just another sad day.  Lastly Lord I ask you to wipe the minds of those little children who witnessed this horror.  I pray that you will protect their innocents and not allow it to penetrate their hearts and minds.
In Jesus Name I pray
Amen

Tamar- Woman Blessed by God

I just got this great book called All the women of the Bible.

I thought it might be fun to do a couple of posts about some of the women of the Bible.  I started with the first woman listed in the Genealogy of Jesus, Tamar.

To start read Genesis 38.  This is the story of Tamar. 

In studying Tamar I had a hard time figuring out what to draw from it.  Well I had forgotten to pray first so once I realized that and did it, God showed me something.



So many Christian woman are married to unbelievers, either they became Christians after marrying or made the decision to marry an unbeliever in hopes of changing them.


Can we still be blessed when we are in an unholy union?  Tamar was given in marriage to a man so evil that he was the first man recorded that God killed.  We don’t know what he did but it must have been pretty bad.  Then Tamar, by Levitical Law-Hebrew Law, was given to the next brother in line, he too was evil in the eyes of the Lord, directly towards Tamar, and was killed.  Judah, the father of the two brothers had one more son but refused to give him. 


Judah himself was the only one left in the family who could then be her Kinsman-redeemer, click to read about that.
She would have been rejected by him as well because of incest.  So she tricked him into following Levitical Law.  After Judah realized what she had done he said, “She is more righteous than I”, because he had refused her his last son.


Because of the one time that she and Judah came together, God blessed Tamar with not one son but 2, one of which is Perez, whose name along with his mothers is found in Matthew 1, the Genealogy of Christ.


Tamar did her best to follow God’s law as we do our best to be obedient to God and have a relationship with Him.  Because she was committed to obedience, God blessed her.  Her life may not have been peachy but she was recognized in the eyes of God and her name was placed in a place of honor, in God’s very own Holy word.

Side note:
Do you remember John 1, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God  and the word was God.  Jesus is the word (hard for our human mind to understand, I know).  So in two ways Tamar was placed in a place of honor in God’s own Holy Word.  One, in writing and also she was literally in His bloodline.


We too can be blessed when our husbands are unbelievers, by being obedient to God’s word, loving God and being in a relationship with Him.


God Bless

Jeannie

Whiten up Dress shirts and Other Whites

Quick little laundry tip I just discovered. 
 

Once a year our church has a big ladies dinner.  This year it was 4 nights in a row.  The dinner is served to the ladies by the men of our church.  My husband is one of them.  For this dinner, all of the men are required to where White dress shirts and black pants with a black bow tie that is provided for them.


My husband usually wears colored dress shirts so this white one was waiting in his closet since last year.  We pulled it out and it had that dreaded “ring  around the collar”.  I washed it once with detergent poured directly on the stain.  Still yellow! 



So I thought well what about bleach.  I mixed bleach with a little baking soda to make a paste. 




I use an old princess toothbrush to scrub the paste onto the collar.  If you have, say a Buzz Lightyear tooth brush I am sure that would work too.




I saw it start to work right away and then washed the shirt.  It came out sparkling white.  Ready for another year of dinner service.


I am sure this would work on anything white but test it in a small part of the garment that will not be seen.

Jeannie

Eyes in the Back of Your Head

We have all heard and maybe even used the Phrase “I have eyes in the back of my head”.  We don’t of course, but I know how we can seem like we do. 


For years, I have prayed that God would show me when my kids we getting into something that is wrong so that we can catch it early and nip it in the bud.


Since my older kids we little I have always tried to listen to that voice inside of me that prompts me to do something.  Have you ever been in another room from your child and you get the sense that you should check on them?  Do it!  Listen to that voice! 


I can not tell you how many times I have been thankful I listened.  If you check and find nothing, make sure you don’t disregard it the next time.  You never know what you averted that you were unaware of. 


I will refer to the famous Proverbs 31 for guidance in this area.  Proverbs 31:27
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.


This is key:  She watches over the affairs of her household.  We need to be actively looking after what is going on in our homes; what our children are watching, listening to, who they are playing/hanging out with.


God even knew what would keep us from doing this all important job.  Eating the bread of idleness.  What is that?  Occupying our minds with other things, examples: TV, the internet, the Phone.  Oh how my mind gets cluttered and totally absorbed when I focus on these things.  I have to be intentional about when I focus my attention on the TV, Internet or the Phone, so that it does not interfere with my watching over the affairs of my household.


What I have learned:  Pray daily, listen and act.  Keeping an ear open to the next room and to that little voice inside.  Take note, I have even had that voice wake me up in the middle of the night for a good reason.  Be ever vigilante.


Jeannie

Snowman Fridge

Just a Fun post.  I saw this idea on Pinterest.  Isn’t it cute.  My kids had fun with it too!




Sorry I didn’t close that cabinet on the right.  That is sort of our paperwork cabinet and is in a part of our kitchen that is not normally seen.  I just wanted you all to know that we have messy spots in our house just like you do. 

Have a great Weekend!!!

Jeannie

Delicious Apple Dumplings from WLW

 

 

I have tried these twice now and we just love them.   I found the recipe at Women Living Well.  They are apple dumplings made with a secret ingredient that you would never guess in a million years.  And is my husbands all time favorite drink.

 

Mountain Dew!  Weird right!

 

 

They are also easy as pie, well actually even easier than that.

 

 

Look at that bubbling.  We had these for breakfast on Thanksgiving for Breakfast.

 

 

Cooked and golden brown!

 

 

Easy Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

• 3 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 2 (10 oz) cans pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls (I used Grands)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon (for spinkling)
• 1 (12 oz ) can of Mountain Dew

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Butter a 9×13 dish and set aside
3. Peel, core and slice apples
4. Unroll crescent rolls
5. Take one crescent roll and place one piece of apple at the bottom of the triangle- roll up enclosing the sides. Make sure the apple is completely sealed and enclosed.
6. Continue doing this – if your apple slices are small, put a couple in.
7. Place your dumplings into your 9×13
8. Make your sauce by combining butter, sugars, and vanilla in a saucepan on medium high heat- bring to a slight boil.
9. Pour sauce over dumplings.
10. Add Mountain Dew to the sides.
11. Sprinkle with cinnamon
12. Bake uncovered for 35 mins.
13. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

 

Hope you try them.  They would be a great dessert or brunch item for Christmas.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Jeannie

Are SAHM wasting their education?

Our daughter felt very lead to go to a private Christian college after high school.   The price tag on a Christian college as oppose to a state college is very, very different. We are a larger family on only one income so that helped with FAFSA, but it is still spendy, as they say up here in these parts.


As we looked at this, and as I think I know my daughter’s heart, I am pretty sure she will not make a huge income, if any, after she graduates.  Her major is Youth and Family Ministry, and we all know ministry is not a financially profitable field of employment, rewarding in so many other ways but not financially.


Will she be a stay at home mom?  I don’t know.  Will she ever make as money as she put into this education?  Again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that knowledge is never a waste of money.  The experiences gained are not a waste of money. 
 

The knowledge and experience gained from an education may not bring in an income if you choose to be a SAHM but it is not at all a waste.  You are equipping yourself for a life of raising your children and running your home.




Can you raise children and manage a home without a degree, of course.  I have done it and you still can, but the next generation is very different than mine and it will be a great benefit to your family if you have gained that educational experience, plus it is not a bad place to find a spouse if you have no prospects.



I do want to say that going back to school once you have had children needs to be handled very carefully as not to effect your goals of being a godly wife and mother.



I  want to encourage mothers who have earned their degree to stay true to the convictions they have, to stay home with your children either part time or full time.  If using your education to raise your children is considered a waste by others, they may need to take a look at what they deem as important to them. 

 Follow God’s leading not the world’s.


God Bless

Jeannie