Back to Basics

I recently took a class at our church on Spiritual Disciplines covering topics such as tithing, silence and solitude and journaling. I felt so convicted about many things that were happening in my life and knew God was pushing me greatly to make some changes. There was a sign displayed at a local church that said "Which is closer? Your bible or your cell phone." Well everytime we passed it I had to take note because my blackberry had actually become a lifeline for me in some ways. When did checking facebook status updates become more important than conversation with my husband at the dinner table? Now the television was an issue as well for so many reasons. Arguments over the amount of time the television stayed on in the day had become common. I always wanted my children raised around no television except for movies with the family and maybe some sports. But it was constantly on! And I am just as guilty as anyone for being sucked into shows that did nothing but rot my brain and pervert my home. It seems you can't even turn on a family channel without seeing something sexual, vulgar and everything we as Christians need to stand against. So my husband and I discussed these topics over and over along with ways to save money and just get back to the right priorities in my life. It seems that even if my Bible was right there next to me, when I got any free time in my day, I would instead first reach right for my phone. What a disappointment I was being to myself. After much discussion my husband and I decided to take drastic steps and to get rid of internet on our phones, lower the minutes on our plan, he change phone carrier providers altogether because we felt the company we were with was takign advantage of us every time we turned our heads and to rid our home of cable altogether. We also decided to sell the television we had in the bedroom. Yes, cancellation fees were a pain but in the end the amount we are going to be saving a month cancels out those fees plus a lot more. We are now saving almost two hundred dollars a month!!!! And that is the least of the positives that has come from this. Communication has been flowing in this house like never before, especially from our babbling son who is so much more eager to talk and talk now that the noise is gone! My husband and I have committed ourselves to a bible study between the two of us at least two nights a week. During this time we are either reading books of the Bible, listening to pastors on the radio or cds we have or doing other acts involving learning as much as we can in our walk with Christ and the best part has been the discussions afterward where we relate, debate, and go over all we learned. It turns out this hour we were setting aside for the night for this has easily turned into much more than that. Time flies by and its so great. I don't know if this is true for others but television had become such a protective blocker for me. If I was upset or avoiding thinking deeply about things I could just turn on the television and block it. Needless to say, it was quite a shock when this wasn't an option and now my mind is filled and it has been scary and great. I have had so many ideas, gotten so much more done around the house and the confidence levels that come with no tv are great. It seems watching these shallow shows featuring lifestyles to envy really takes a toll on how you feel about yourself. I have to say this is one of the best decisions we have made as a family and its only been weeks yet missing these technology pieces in our lives is already over with. So many people have asked me why I am selling the tv and questions about this and I just wanted to let everyone know! I urge you to even do away with one thing in your life hindering you relationship with Christ, with others and with yourself and see the amazing things that start to unfold! You will not regret it!

So thankful

My mind is racing and I am so emotional just thinking about the many things I have been blessed with. I am very aware most of the time that I am so very blessed but now that I am taking a step back and really examining just everything God has filled my life with, I realize that gratefulness is not enough and that there is no way I can thank God enough for this beautiful life. Since this time last year, so many things have changed and I have grown so much personally.

My top ten reasons to be thankful are:

1. Jesus Christ. My relationship with God has been so strengthened over the past year and my understanding, love and faith have come so far. My family has been so blessed to have found a church that we feel so welcome at and that is challenging us all the time to not be stagnant in our faith but to always improve and strengthen. We were feeling so frustrated and lost at other churches that we attended and on July 3 we happened to see The Journey's band playing and attended the next service and found our church home!

2. My husband, who is the most loving and honest man I have ever met. He works so hard and does all he can to make sure that I can stay home with our children and provide them with everything they need. He is the most trustworthy, hardworking and caring person I have ever met and I am so grateful that my sons will grow up modeling themselves after him.

3. Rocklyn, my son, who has been a miracle in every way. I never knew a love like this existed and he has brought more meaning to every moment of my life than I ever thought possible. He is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on and he amazes me every day.

4. Ryder, our son who is due in January. This pregnancy has been difficult being so close to my last pregnancy in time, but I am so excited to continue growing our family.

5. Graduate school, MAE program at Cumberland. I feel so truly blessed to be able to continue working on my education and preparing to teach in a couple years at this time. I am also so glad for my husband's ability to be working on his graduate degree as well.

6. Friends. You do really learn as you grow older that quanitity of friends means nothing and quality is everything. I have had to weed some people out of my life but the friends that remain I have found are those that truly care about me and my life as much as I do theirs. Our circle of friends has continued to grow with genuine, great people and I am so excited to watch these friendships grow.

7. Family. They say relationships grow and change once you have your own children and I have never been happier with my relationship with my mother as I have been since becoming a mom myself.

8. Knowledge. Our family has been so dedicated to please Christ and make great decisions in everything and it has strengthened us all and we have learned so much. From budgeting, to our health, to keeping a home, raising children, spending our time wisely and all other areas of life we have improved greatly and I am so grateful for this.

9. Love. I realize more and more that in a world that can seem to full of hatred and satan, love really is dwelling all around if you focus on it. Serving others is so very vital to an enriched life and I am so grateful to have had the opportunities to serve that I have and cannot wait to continue with this.

10. Everyday miracles. From waking up in the morning to a shining sun to being able to watch my belly grow with my son inside it to things as simple as having clean water to drink, these simple miracles that we make take for granted should not be passed by and I am so thankful for everything. I do not and probably never will know what its like to lay my head down at night without a roof and security over me and for this I am so grateful and hope to decrease just how many people this is a reality for.

I pray that each of you reading this can find many things in your life to be thankful for and to realize that none of it is your doing, it is all because of God. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

something sweet

Good afternoon! I am not feeling like myself today, just a little bit of negativity easing in, so I need to post something sweet to make me smile! Let me take a break from all that is healthy and post this recipe for spiced pumpkin cheesecake! Mmmmmmmm 'tis the season lol. I am thinking of making this for my husband's potluck at work next week so that I don't have the opportunity to eat any! Because I fear if I do, I will never stop!

38 Nabisco ginger snaps, finely crushed
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 packages (8 oz each) of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp canilla
4 eggs
1 cup thawed cool whip whipped topping
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Heat oven to 325 degreesF mis crumbs nut and butter: press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9 inch springform pan. Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended. Add pumpkin, spice and vanilla and mix well. add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing after each just until blended. put into crust. bake 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hr 30 mins or until center is almost set. loosen cake from rim of pan, cool before removing rim. refridgerate 4 hours. serve with a dollop of cool whip and a dusting of nutmeg.
prep time 15 mins
makes 16 servings
ENJOY!
And to add in some more sweet pictures just to bring more happiness to all of our days...

homegrown

I have been attending a spiritual discipline class at our church, The Journey Church of Lebanon, and it has really impacted me in many ways. Last Thursday, we discussed the topics of serving, time and money. I have made a commitment to my family to save as much money as I can through couponing, meal planning and homemaking our son's food and to better the health of all of us. In a society of fast and processed food, obesity and laziness, I have made a commitment to my family to go in the opposite direction. I have struggled with my weight all of my adult life and I never ever want to see my children go through this struggle as well. Eating out of boredom, eating just based on taste and not for health and energy, eating to mask emotions; these have become such a part of the lives of many Americans and it will not be a part of my family. It is not only life threatening but it is sinful and God has provided us with these bodies and entrusted us to care for them.
I have began making all of my ten month old son's foods and not only is this the best for his health, I have found I really enjoy it. I spent a couple hours this past Saturday in the kitchen making meals for him and not only ended up making over a month's worth of food to freeze but gaining a peace of mind as well. Cooking is therapy! I have decided to add in some favorite recipes throughout the week for not only babies but some for my family as well. I will also add in some sweets that are not organic and the most healthy but portion control is everything!!!! The meals I prepared this past weekend include butternut squash, butternut squash and cinammon apples, zuccini with banana, pumpkin, lentils and pumpkin, sweet potato and brown rice, spinach and carrots, and beets. Rocklyn's favorite has definitely been the butternut squash and apples followed by the zuccini with banana. He has no desire for the lentils and pumpkins, but lentils are so great for him, especially since we are not introducing meat into his diet and I hope to find a food to mix them with that will get him chowing down on them.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLES: cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and guts, place facedown into a baking dish of one inch of water and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Core, peel and slice the apples into 1 inch pieces, place into a baking dish with 1 inch of water, sprinkle cinammon throughout and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Then take them both out, remove them from water, scrape the squash out of the peel and place both items into a food processor. Voila.
ZUCCINI WITH BANANA: Cut the zuccini into slices or chunks, steam until softened, chop up banana pieces, place all in blender. Easy enough.
I have been using breastmilk storage bags for storing the foods in the freezer and easy de-thawing but I welcome any suggestions on better storage!
A few books I highly recommend include First Meals and More by Annabel Karmel, Cooking Light First Foods by Cooking Light and Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfield, (yes, Jerry's wife!). I picked up the first two at the local library and purchased the third at Kohls for less than ten dollars! Deceptively Delicious is a great recipe book especially for those families who have not raised their kids on healthy foods from the start and need to "trick" them into eating better. These are DELICIOUS and she is coming out with a second book as I write this called Double Delicious! Good, Simple Food For Busy, Complicated Lives. I highly recommend checking these out for husbands and children who are having trouble changing their tastes for healthier meal options.
I hope these suggestions have helped and I am more than happy to welcome any recipes, baby food mixture suggestions, storage ideas and more!
God bless!

Expectations

With Rocklyn teething the past few days I have had little time to do anything but comfort my crying angel and it really had me thinking, especially with baby number two on the way. Everyone told me to throw all expectations out the window when it comes to having a baby and I rubbed off this statement as fast as I heard it, thinking "oh another woman wanting to impose on my pregnancy". But of all the things I heard, I have learned that this rang most true. I find it a blessing that I am having this child so close in age to Rocklyn because everything I have learned as a mother is still so fresh. I was the pregnant woman who swore to no end that my child would never ever have a pacifier or even see a television on. Well looking back through the photos of the last nine months of life, my son has that binky in ninety percent of the photos and when he spent the last days upset over his teeth the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse became a great blessing of distraction to him. When your baby is in pain almost nothing will come between you helping them to feel better. It reminds me of the saying "if you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans". It has only been since I had Rocklyn that I have really began to trust in God's plan and not control every action and event that happens. Don't get me wrong. This is still probably one of my biggest struggles because I spent my entire life "in control", or so I thought. But changing the viewpoint to God's control and God's plan instead of my own has made the stress of a second baby a lot less intense. I am so excited to see what God has in store for my life and to hold baby Ryder in one arm and Rocklyn in the other. Two angels with pure, unconditional love for me and vice versa.

Hello Blogging World!

About me sections are no way to tell the world about yourself so let me introduce myself and let yall know what I am doing here. Life has taken many big changes in the last year and a half; it seems what most people spread out over ten years or more, my husband and I have compacted into the sixteen months we have been married. Most importantly, we have both dedicated our lives to Christ. We had both accepted Christ earlier in our lives but there is so much more to it than that and it took us a long time to coincide our lives with His grace and love. This is still a daily battle as all Christians know, but it is the greatest challenge that will ever be expected of us. We earned our Bachelor's Degrees both majoring in Psychology and one day later had a small intimate wedding. Within the next few months we moved into our first place together, found out we were expecting, bought our first house and my husband began graduate school and his first post-college position. Our son, Rocklyn Jude, was born on New Years Eve and three months later we found out that we are expecting again! I guess we never do anything normal always keeping life as unexpected and on the go as possible. Ryder Jonah is due in February and I am thrilled to raise two wonderful sons. On top of all of that, I am now in my first semester of graduate school for secondary education. Why am I blogging? I hope to connect with other mothers and Christ followers as well as keep my long distant family and friends in touch with my life in the south. I have many interests and love to write and hope that my blogs can inspire and relate to others. Other interests I have include singing (although I need to get some braveness and do this other than only in private or for Rocklyn), reading, cleaning (yes I am extremely over the top but messiness makes me neurotic), decorating and renovating our home slowly but surely, spending all of his waking hours with Rocklyn and teaching him new things every day, cooking and baking especially desserts and tennis although I am awful. All of us married people know that this union takes a lot of work and I enjoy working on this and improving our relationship all the time. We love to get out and discover new things around Nashville and be outdoors. Serving Christ is extremely important to us and we have recently began attending a church that we are so thrilled to become a part of more and more since we had been searching so long for a church that filled us with knowledge, convicted us and stood up for all things in Christ. My interests are wide and all over the place and grow more and more everyday and I hope to share all these crazy thoughts with you! God Bless!