Monday, September 29, 2008

Blessing

I had to take a break from the blog world this week, but I'm back! I posted last week about our "unexpected blessing" and that blessing has caused me to have to re-prioritize and my blog got pushed down to the bottom of the list.

You're probably all on the edge of your seat wondering what the blessing is aren't you? I knew you were! Well the blessing we received last Monday is my two-year-old niece. We have temporary custody of her while my brother trys to get himself to a more stable position to be able to put my niece's needs first.

We love having her and she has taught all of us, including the cat, that we all had a lesson to learn in being flexible and realizing it's not always about us! I've really been proud of my husband especially, who admits he is a man set in his ways, but he has really embraced the situation and is a great uncle. My son has been handling it like a champ as well but he did ask to have a movie night the other night just him and I after my niece went to bed. I 'm trying to be mindful that he has been an only child for 7 years and a two year old takes up a lot of my time.

I may be the one (other than the cat of course) that's having the most trouble adjusting. My niece has helped me to realize how self absorbed I can be and that I have to learn that I don't have to be super mom. I think I sometimes try to make up for working full time by working my tail off here at home on the weekends. It's that constant struggle to find balance and it makes it even more difficult when you have a busy two year old under foot.

Don't get me wrong though, I am NOT complaining about having her. I know God has her here for a reason and I feel honored to be a part of His plan. Thank you for all your prayers and please don't stop. Please continue to pray for my brother and that he would open his heart to the Lord and commit to live his life for Him.

Gotta go for now but I'm sure I'll have many mis-adventures to post on now! I forgot how interesting life can be with a little one.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Just a Quick One

Isn't it funny how God has a way of answering our prayers but not always how we expect Him to? Most of you know about God's slight change in our plans to have another child. We were expecting our second child last year but God thought otherwise and took our little one to Heaven. All I can say at this point, until it's made official, is that He has given us a blessing beyond imagination, even if it is a temporary one. He has entrusted us with a very important responsibility and I pray that David and I can be strengthened as a couple and grow in our ability to work together as a team and in our communication as a whole.

Please pray that the Lord would be glorified and others involved in this ordeal would be brought to their knees through these circumstances and recognize and admit there need for Jesus Christ as their Savior. Wow! Lots to pray for so I better go and get busy!

Good night all and God Bless,
Stef

Saturday, September 20, 2008

My Hubby Turned 40!

So my husband David is officially an OLD man robbing the cradle with me as his lovely wife! It's hard to believe how fast time has flown and that he's now 40 and we have been together for nearly 9 years! No really I tease when I call him old because to me, age really is just a number. It's what's inside a person that really matters and what's inside them that makes them young or old.

Still though, I felt extreme pressure to make David's 40th a great birthday. Most people who know Daivid, know he's hard to buy for and really doesn't have a lot of wants or needs. The only thing I could come up with that he really wanted was to see his mom. David's job situation has made it difficult financially to afford the gas to drive 4 hours to Ohio and visit her. So her and I conspired together to surprise him with a visit from her. Geesh, he's no fun! He called me from work the day she was "sneaking" in and asked if she was here yet! He suspected the whole time. Oh well, I know he enjoyed having her here and that's all that matters.

Lack of funds made it difficult to go out and buy him this super great gift so Eian and I did the next best thing.... a homeade (with the help of Pilsbury)strawberry cake (isn't it lovely?),






a handmade card with some of my scrapbooking supplies,















and a customized crown fit for a KING!








The King & His Queen!



Dad and His Boy!




Happy Birthday Sweetie, we love you!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Glad I Went

Let me know if any of you have been where I was tonight.

I have on several occasions tried to talk myself out of going to a church function, a Bible study, a small group meeting, a serving opportunity or just church on Sunday all together. Well I have learned from experience that the more I struggle with the decision to go or not to go and then just do it and go, the more the Lord blesses me. He blesses me with revealing an awesome truth form His Word to me, an encouraging word from a pastor or touching my heart deeply while serving His people. The more I struggle, the more I realize there's something God wants me to learn from Him that Satan obviously does not!

Tonight, I thought, was no exception. I struggled within myself as whether to go to Wednesday night church classes or not. I wasn't feeling the greatest, I wanted to spend more time with my mother in law visiting from Ohio, I was tired and the list goes on of reasons why I wanted (keyword here being wanted) to stay home but then as if the Holy Spirit took over, I said "Nope, I'm going. I need to go!." I even told my husband that I couldn't wait to see how the Lord was going to bless me tonight because that's how this usually works. So to make a long story short, I went to class.

It's the fifth week in this class titled Women of Character. Each session has been powerful and has revealed a deep rooted lie taught to me over the years from the world's view. Each session leaves me feeling incredibly free. So here I am driving to church assuming this great and powerful blessing is coming to me. Then this thought came to me, "Is that why you're going? Just to be blessed? You need to go just because you want to be obedient, period." So I went to class and it was good, very good. Here, let me share some of the "blessings" from tonight's lesson.

The basic premise of tonight's study was taking what we learned from the previous week, the lie of self love, and turning our focus from within ourselves to outward and upward toward God. The world teaches us that we have to love ourselves before we can love others (I totally bought into this one), you deserve happiness, we all need and deserve our "ME" time, self esteem is the most important thing a person can have, etc.

We learned last week that this is such an empty promise because if you finally learn to love yourself then we, being sinful creatures, will soon start wondering why everyone else doesn't love as much as we love ourselves. A person then spins into a whirlwind of trying to get everyone else to love them just as much, gets angry or bitter when they don't and is just left feeling empty all over again!

However, when we have the love that Christ offers us and we accept it, all our needs are met. He loves us not because of who we are but because of who He is. He is an amazing God who loves us no matter what we do or don't do, He just loves us unconditionally. There is nothing we can ever do to lose it nor is there anything we can do to attain it, it's just there.

So why in the world would we ever want to settle for the love that we would ever be able to offer to ourselves alone? We know, and God knows, that we are incapable of that kind of pure love. Man what a sham, was all I could think about all those self help books I've read in the past! Another lie the world teaches us is that denying ourselves and putting others first is weak and obviously shows our need for approval from others and thus proves our lack of self esteem and validates our need to love ourselves!

Thank the Lord though for verses like these, that tell us differently: Phil 2:1-5, Matt 22:37-40,Matt 16:24-26, Luke 9:23 Then another point which I know is a basic truth of the Christian faith and a phrase we hear quite often at our church is, "It's not about me!" The only reason we are even here at all on this earth is because of Him and we are here and created to please God, not ourselves Matt 6:33, 1 Cor 10:31, 2 Cor 5:9-15.

Ahhh... "ding, ding, ding", the Lord seemed to say to me. Then I started thinking "Now what was I saying on my way here? I wanted to see what blessings were in store for me? How selfish of me, how could I expect God to bless me? I should want to learn more of Him and grow in my walk with Him and do things for Him just because I love Him and I have been called to follow Him and want to be more like His Son. Ah man, how stinkin selfish can I be?"

I left class feeling FULL from the awesome teaching and began my drive home. I immediately began praising Him and thanking Him for many things... our church family, for the woman teaching the class and the work He's doing through her, His unconditional love for me and for all of us who are so undeserving and finally for teaching me about obedience and that tonight was never about me and blessing me. Tonight was about Him. I asked for forgiveness and thanked Him for the gift of forgiveness He freely gives because of what Christ did on the cross. I finished my prayer and said my "in Jesus' name I pray, Amen."

My mind then went silent for a moment and for just a minute I felt extremely close to Him and then it was as if He was saying, "A Ha! You finalllly, get it my dear." And you know what... I felt extremely loved, comforted and "blessed" by the time I pulled into my driveway. Isn't God sooo AWESOME?

All I can say to sum up this post is.. "I Am Glad I Went!"

Good Night All
Stef

Monday, September 8, 2008

Hope for Climbing Out of the $$$ Rut

My Husband and I have not been the best savers I guess you could say. Now with me at the ripe old age of 31 and my husband approaching the BIG 40, we realize that retirement really isn't that far off, let alone our baby heading off to college in a blink of an eye (okay so we've got about 10 years)! We have finally agreed that if we keep doing what we're doing then we'll keep getting what we've been getting, which isn't much!

Some friends of ours' church is offering a money management class called New Focus. Has anyone heard of this or taken the classes? I tried to find a website for them but couldn't. Anyway it's a faith based organization that offers this FREE 12 week course that teaches the ins and outs of money management, budgeting, saving, pitfalls, etc. I love that they are striving to make this as less hassle for their attendees as possible (they try to eliminate ANY excuses!). They offer free dinners, childcare (my son's best bud will also be there so he's super excited) and at the end of the open lecture session each person/couple is given 30-45 minutes with their own financial coach.

Hubby and I just went to the call out for more info and signed up. It starts next Monday and I think we both felt a huge weight lift from our shoulders as we walked out of the church. I found this verse that describes how I feel about the relief now that we are taking action, Biblically to better our situation.

Nahum 1:13Now I will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away." Debt is our yoke right now and though I know we didn't get in this bind by accident and this won't be easy, my hubby and I are willing to begin being faithful in this area of our life for Him.


So I can't wait to get started and share the helpful tips I learn with all you gals!

Inspiring Quotes

I've had two quotes that have been lingering on my mind and thought I would archive them down in blog history so I won't forget them. Okay so here they are...

"The owner of a falling apart Bible, ISN'T falling apart!"- Author Sharon Jaynes

"Bleach won't clean you up and make you "presentable" for God, only BLOOD, His blood, can." My Pastor, Steve Viars @ Faith Baptist Church

I love these. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did and do. They just bring a smile to my face =0)!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I am domestic, hear me roar!!!

I had always considered myself pretty"domestic" in my own right. Until... I discovered the Blog World (darn you Sami!) and found all these blogs by seemingly normal women. It wasn't until further inspection of their blogs did I discover their hidden talents. Most of the blogs I was reading were from SAHM and Homeschooling Moms. Ironically enough, I am neither but felt drawn to these blogs (maybe the Holy Spirit's trying to tell me something?)

Long ago when I first became a mother, I used to think of SAHM's as whiney crybabies. I remember thinking, when I briefly became a SAHM until my son was nearly 2, "What the heck are they complaining about? Why do women think being a SAHM is soooo hard? Big stinkin deal, you get stay home and play with your kid all day, so what? The REEEEAAAAL work is out there in the REEEAAAL world, not at home!" Now just hold it right there and wait a minute before you click on my comment link to shoot me a few nasty words!

Please keep in mind that I was first of all, not a follower of the Lord and was very selfish. I resented staying home (which was mostly my husband's desire) and bought into the lie of the world that a women's real worth has to be found in a job, a career or anything else outside of the home. Secondly, I found no real passion in really wanting to keep up my home let alone wanting to make it my family's retreat. I did keep things fairly clean though but it was just routine, no joy put into it what so ever.

I was saved nearly 3 years ago and that's when my viewpoints and outlook on this began to change. It hasn't been until recently though that my respect and admiration for SAHM's has really grown strong. So here I am, a Working Full Time Out of The Home Momma (posts to come soon on why I do this) who is learning through my Bible study on my role as a woman, wife and mother and comes onto the blog scene. I soon discover this wonderful network of SAHM's who are Amazing Domestic Diva's! You girls rock!

I have learned to make my own homemade buttermilk and now my new fave... 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread (using the homeade buttermilk =0) and learned more ways to stretch a buck than I can list! My next project may be homemade yogurt and cream cheese, we'll see! I've also gained so many new recipes and cooking tips that you just can't get in the Betty Crocker Cook Book! My Domestic Senses are tingling and I love it. I think my hubby does too! ;o)



You can check out Candy's blog http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/ for the recipes.



My Son Going to Town "Punching" the Bread

Homemade
Buttermilk










Pancakes I made
With the Buttermilk!



My son loves pancakes but weekday mornings around here are too crazy for homecooking in the AM hours! Soooo... I made a whole batch of these over the weekend, let them cool and wrapped them up in plastic wrap to freeze. This allows me to take 2 or so cakes out of the freezer, stick them on a plate and nuke for about 20-30 seconds and viola!! Homemade pancakes!

Helpful tip: Put plastic between each cake so they don't stick together when you take them out of freezer!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Me

As I said in my first entry, this is brand new for me and have tons of things I would like to post but where do I begin? So sharing a little about me might be a good place.

1. I am a Christian as of almost 3 years ago. I am grateful to God for my testimony and the dramtic transformation He made in me. I am by no means complete or perfect. I am a work in progress and believe that I will not fully arrive to a place of completeness until the day I meet Jesus in Heaven.

2. I have been married to my wonderful hubby for over 3 years but we have been together since 2000. We have one child and would love to have more but are trying to be patient knowing that it's up to the Lord.

3. I really do consider myself a simple gal, hence my blog name, and love being "simple". I'm sure my husband would disagree though as he has been trying to figure me out for years and would consider me anything but simple!

4. Family is important to me and I could easily become one of those Family Tree fanatics if I had the time. My Mom seems to be doing a good job of tracking down our families' roots for now though. So I must get it honest.

5. I am a work full-time outside of the home Mom but envy those who stay home. BEWARE... this Does Not mean I want to hear about everyones wonderful work at home schemes, been there done that! Pleeease do not bombard me with your business offers.

6. I love living in the country and love the midwest. Most people look at me like I'm crazy when I say that, but it's true! I moved to Orlando for about 3 years and thought I was one of the lucky ones and getting out of the small town rut and was on my way to bigger and better things! Then I met my hubby, had a baby and got extremely homesick. I missed the change of seasons, the harvest time, down home cooking, friendly farmers waving at you as they passed on their tractors, old and ready to crumble barns in the middle of an empty field, my family, and yes I missed SNOW! There is honestly no place I would rather be than right here.

7. Some of my interests are reading the Bible and other books to help me grow spiritually, Bible studies,yard sales, spending time with hubby and son, festivals, trying new recipes, crafting, scrap booking, gardening (although I don't have one yet), TRYING to keep a clean and organized home, getting back to basic cooking methods (like grandma used to do), and drinking tea & coffee.

8. I also love frugality and finding new ways to pinch a penny. I clip coupons, scan sales ads, comparison shop, and am now trying to bake from scratch more if time allows. I can't just grocery shop like a normal person either and my hubby hates to go with me ;-). I'll write more on my grocery shopping strategies later.

9. My sister jokingly calls me Polyanna. Apparently my sister views me as this lil' angel that onlys see the good in all things and floats around on my lil' cloud as if all is right with the world and I wouldn't harm a fly. Well, I do try to always see the good in ALL people and ALL things. I especially try to trust God with the uncontrollable things in my life and keep one of my favorite verses close during these times: (Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.) I have learned the hard way that I cannot control what happens to me, how others treat me BUT I can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, control MY actions, MY thoughts, and MY words. Funny thing about that, when I focus on my behavior and pleasing the Lord and stop worrying about trying to change others, they start to take notice. Sometimes they change their ways and sometimes they do not, but I at least know I am pleasing the Lord and that's enough for me! By the way, I have been to kill a fly or two and... maybe a few spiders!

10. So I guess that's pretty much me in a nutshell!