Today is day 2 of the challenge our pastor gave us this week. Here are my next 10!

1. Peppermint Tea
2. The creativity to make “Crafty Things”
3. My Kitchen
4. My Bed
5. Clean Water
6. Nutritious Food
7. The beautiful flowers my husband got me
8. The Rain
9. God’s unconditional love
10. Snickerdoodle Coffee

This morning at church our pastor talked about us being more thankful for the little things in life and to not have such a high expectation of what we can give thanks for. He challenged us to write 10 things we are thankful for everyday for the next five days until Thanksgiving. This is day one so here are my 10 for today.

1. My relationship with my Lord and Savior

2 My amazing husband

3. My wonderful family

4. Kara, Jamie, Charla, Amie, Debbie, and Stephanie

5. My job

6. The food on our table everyday

7. The roof that is over my head

8. A car that runs and gets me to where I need to go

9. The cool weather

10. The fire that heats our house

What are you thankful for today?

Monday:

Eating at our friend’s house

To Do:  Roast Chicken, Soak Beans

Tuesday:

Roast Chicken, Salad, Baked Ravioli Croutons

Wednesday:

Tortilla Soup and Chicken Quesadillas – use leftover roast chicken

To Do: Thaw Ground Turkey

Thursday:

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Friday:

Leftovers

That is what’s for dinner this week!

Something to see

Something to taste

Something to smell

Something to keep warm

Something to cleanse with

Something to moisturize with

Something to share

Have you ever felt like God is giving everyone else the one thing you want, but holding it back from you? The last four months have been emotionally draining. That is the only way I can think to describe it. Every  month my heart shatters to the ground. I know it is so close but yet it feels so far away. Every time, I am reminded of this song by Nicole Nordeman. It is titled Gratitude and has beautiful lyrics that I am sure every one could relate too.

GRATITUDE:

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
‘Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

(Chorus)

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger’s view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

(Chorus)

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
What we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away
And if that’s the case . . .

(Chorus)

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .

Ok God, I have been asking and praying to you for this one thing and  You haven’t given it to me yet. I am trusting You even though it is hard to let You be in control

sometimes. Lord, help me to give thanks and gratitude to You for what you are providing me with right now. Thank you for giving Brantley and I more time to get to know each other. Thank you for allowing me to get healthier. Thank you for giving me a sweet baby girl to nurture and take care of everyday until I hold my own in my arms. Thank you for this time that Brantley and I have to get our finances in order.

A few weeks ago the preschoolers at church learned about Hannah from the Bible. They cut out a picture of a baby and colored it. Then they put a tag on it that said, To: Hannah From: God. One of our youth girls was helping out that day and after church she came up to me and gave me this little baby she had colored.

As the tears run down my cheeks, I am reminded to pray just as Hannah did and trust that God will provide. It may not be today but I am going to continue to give thanks and gratitude for what He is doing in my life.

God, please give me strength and peace during this time. Help me to not give up hope but to give it up to You.  I love you Lord and I look forward to the lessons I am about to learn. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Amen

This salad is delish!! I modified it a bit from the original recipe and this what I came up with.

I c. Wheat Berries (I used hard red wheat)

3-4 c. Water

1 Tomato Chopped

1 Apple Chopped

1 c. Pomegranate Seeds

1/2 c. Fresh Parsley Chopped

Juice of 1 Orange

1 Tbl Olive Oil

1-1 1/2 tsp Cumin

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 Garlic Clove minced

1/4 – 1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

Combine 3c. water and 1 cup of wheat berries. Bring them to a boil and cook for about 5 min. Lower heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours adding more water as needed. Wheat will be done when it is tender and chewy. Remove from heat and let cool.

Stir in all ing. and chill before serving!

Last sat. my mom and I were out shopping in downtown Acworth. We were just walking along when this sweet dog walked up to us. She didn’t have a collar on and no one was around. A girl from one of the stores yelled down to us asking if this was our dog? Apparently she had been walking around for a while. They were getting ready to call Animal Control but couldn’t find the number. We couldn’t just leave her there to walk around main street. I begged Brantley to let me bring her home until we found her family and he finally agreed. My mom and took the dog, bought her some food and took her home. We took her to Petsmart to have her scanned, thinking she may have been chipped. She was chipped but not registered so the only info they could give us was that she came from the Hiram Animal Hospital. The animal hospital was closed on sat so we had to wait until monday to hear anything. Monday morning rolled around and Petsmart caled me back. The lady told me they had a lead as to who her owners might be. As of tuesday we hadn’t found her owners yet. I put up ads online on a few pet finder sites but I didn’t hear anything. Over the week we fell in love with sweet Ginger. (We learned her name from the Hiram Animal Hospital) My mom also really liked Ginger and wanted to keep her if we didn’t find her family. On sat, now a week since we found her, we let Ginger go stay with mom. I was very sad to say good bye to Ginger, she was so much fun to have for the week. On monday morning I received a call about someone looking for a dog. I called them back and sure enough Ginger was theirs. I picked up Ginger from my mom’s and the family came and picked her up from my house. I had to say goodbye again. ;(  They were so glad to have her their doggie back. They gave us a reward, so we spilt it with my mom. Brantley and I went to Longhorn for dinner last night and had a great time. I am going to miss Ginger very much but I am glad we found her family. Hopefully Brantley will let me get a dog soon!! `

This is Ginger and my nephew

I haven’t done this in a while. I know it is Tuesday but I have the day off and thought I would catch up on some blogging. Here is our menu for the week:

Monday:

Longhorn Steakhouse!! – We were given a reward for finding a dog!

Tuesday:

Baked BBQ Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn

Wednesday:

Tacos with beans and corn

Thurday:

Grilled Chicken Salad

Friday:

Sloppy Joes, Veggie Sticks, and Applesauce

Well that is what is for dinner this week!

When we first bought our house I was at church telling some people what our plans were. You know, what colors we were going to paint and what we were going to use the other 3 bedrooms for. I was explaining that the large room over the garage was going to be an office/craft room. The only problem is that I didn’t have any tables or shelving units or anything. I had been pricing out fold up tables that I could get, they were all at least $45.00. We didn’t have the extra money to spend on those right now, so I would have to make do with what I had. There are 2 closets in the room and I was planning on using one of them to store my craft items. A lady named Barbara was near and could hear part of our conversation. That night she contacted me and asked if I would be able to use some craft tables? She had two. One was a sewing table that holds a sewing machine and a serger. The other is a long fold out table. She had one listed on Craigslist and the other she was going to put in their community garage sale the following weekend. She said if I could use them, she would rather just GIVE them to me, than sell them to someone else. Praise God! For those of you who do any sorta of crafting, you know how how nice it is to have a good work space. I couldn’t believe it. Of course I told her that I would be happy to take them off her hands. What a huge blessing. When she brought the tables over last night you could tell how excited she was to have found a young person who loves crafts. She got these tables when she was around my age (22) so there are alot of memories that came with these tables. I am so thankful to have received these from Barbara. I better get crafting now!

This week I spent WAAAAAAY more than I wanted to at the grocery store! It was a sad trip to the store. The past 4 weeks I have spent less than $40.00 for food for the week. I was doing great. This week however was the week that we ran out of everything else we need. Toilet paper, deoderant, soap, mouth wash, dish soap, etc. We usually go out to eat after church on sundays but we had a tailgate party in the parking lot.

(This is me and my hubby at the tailgate party at Momentum Church)

Back to my grocery shopping for the week. So I had to buy food for the tailgate party which actually ended up saving us money by not going out to eat. I stayed with in my food budget of $50.00 for the week, but then I had spent another $30.00 on the the tailgate food, and all the other things I mentioned above. It really isn’t as bed as I make it out to be but when I am use to seeing $36.24ish, the past month and then I see $80.00 and some change this week, it was a jaw dropper. Anyway this is what we are having to eat this week!

Monday:

Meatball and Orzo Soup, Green Beans

Tuesday:

Sloppy Joes, Veggie Sticks

Wednesday:

Chicken Ceasar Salad with Baked Ravioli Croutons

Thursday:

Garbonza Burgers, Cheesy Broccoli

Friday:

Leftover Baked Chicken, Salad

That is whats for dinner this week!