The Simple Life

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Lately this verse has been going around and around in my head! This time of the year is really so very busy. Things tend to get "lost in the shuffle", attitudes get a little testy, patience wears thin and the whining and the crying increases. My tendancy is to want to do everything and do everything perfectly.

This verse has reminded me that I put too many expectations on myself. God doesn't expect perfection, He knows His children too well. God doesn't expect my "supermom" cape to always be spot and wrinkle free. God doesn't expect my house to be spotless, my children clean and always in matching outfits, and 5 course dinners on the table every night.

In reading this verse I am reminded of the Pharisees in the New Testement. They added so many expections onto God's instructions. They wanted their inward "godliness" to be "on show" to the outside world. They wanted a checklist that they could check off to prove they were godly.

I am participating in a Bible study of Beth Moore's study of Daniel. This past week we have been in Daniel chapter 3, talking about the golden image good 'ol Neb had built, leanding up to the story of the firey furnace. Beth Moore spoke about how we need to be careful in our lives not to "build images" of ourselves. That we need to be genuine.

Yes, I will admit, I would love for the world to think that I am the modern day June Cleaver....but try as I might, that is never going to be the genuine me. The genuine me has "hidey holes of clutter" in my house. (For those of you who watch the show FRIENDS, my garage is Monica's closet) The genuine me likes to ignore the areas of the house that I don't always see. I long for a clutter and completely organized house, but I think that is just going to have to wait until my mansion in heaven!

What God requires is a just life. God is more concerned over how I treat people. To me that is saying that I need to treat all people justly, whether I know them or not. So the driver that cuts me off needs to be given the same benefit of doubt that a close friend of mine would be given. Sitting here drinking my coffee in my rarely quiet house it is easy to type those words, but it is really hard to put them in practice!

I think living justly also applies to how I treat myself. Do I treat myself fairly? No I really don't, I am tougher on myself than anyone else. It is a daily battle, that I hope someday I can win!

God also requires us to love mercy. In our own lives of course we love mercy! Mercy is what spares us from a life without God! Mercy rescued us....Mercy is awesome!! Then someone comes along and "wrongs" us....how we LOVE to bring out the fire and brimstone! How we love to make that person grovel and rain down judgement! We forget that every breath we take is because of God's mercy.

Walking humbly with God. To me this is saying to live our lives in such a way that it is God who gets the glory. God delights in giving His children gifts and talents, but it is our job to use them in such a way that it is God's image that is shown not our own "golden images".

I love this verse for its simplicity. It is a concise outline of God's expectations. I hope to live out this verse in this hectic holiday season. I pray that God would show me my "Pharisee clutter" and that I will become more genuine, more refined and just a tad saner!

A time....

As the seasons are changing I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3.
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."

This summer, for me, was a time to tear down. There was alot of upheaval in our lives, alot of fear, alot of things that really shook me to my core. I didn't handle the stress in the best way, I kind of fell apart. But as the seasons are changing outside, the seasons of my heart of changing on the inside. It is a time to heal, a time to laugh and a time to mend.

This morning I embraced my new attitude and the changing of the seasons doing some things that I love to do. Fall is my favorite season, the smells, the colors, the weather and the food.

I looked out my window and saw a rainy fall day. So I lit some candles and got to work!
I went into my kitchen and pulled out my favorite fall spices:

With some help from my little Roo we made some yummy pumpkin scones.

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

For the Scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg
For the Powdered Sugar Glaze:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
For the Spiced Glaze:
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground cloves
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with fit the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Add the butter and toss with a fork to coat with the flour mixture. Mix on medium-low speed until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and form the dough into a ball. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a 1-inch thick rectangle about 4 inches by 12 inches. Use a large knife to slice the dough making three equal portions. Cut each of the portions in an X pattern (four pieces) so you end up with 12 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.
While the scones are cooling, make the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. When scones are cool, use a pastry brush to spread plain glaze over the top of each scone. Allow to firm.
While the powdered sugar glaze is firming, combine all of the ingredients for the spiced glaze. Drizzle over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (about an hour).

Recipe Note: you can freeze unbaked scones and enjoy hot from the oven scones any day of the week. Just freeze on a baking sheet until firm, tightly wrap in plastic wrap and place in a ziploc freezer bag. When ready to bake just pop into the oven straight from the freezer, no need to thaw. Just add a few more minutes to the baking time.


I found it on Pinterest on a great blog called Sweet Pea's Kitchen. We taste tested them and they were met with rave reviews!

The rest of the day holds some crafts, some sewing and a wonderful soup for dinner!

A Peachy Keen Dinner

Peaches are hands down, my favorite fruit. I love peach season and can never get enough! I had some local peaches that I needed to use yesterday, so I came up with a wonderful french toast cassarole which we gobbled down for dinner!

Ingredients 3 cups cubed bread (I used cinnamon raisin bread) 6 eggs 2 cups milk 2 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon 4 peaches chopped sugar for sprinkling Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a bowl, add your bread and stir till the bread is fully coated. Put in a 13x9 pan sprayed with a non stick cooking spray, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 350 for about 30 min, or until the eggs are set. When it comes out sprinkle with powdered sugar. I topped ours with whipped cream, but it is just as yummy with syrup

USA!!! USA!!!

Today is the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics! I didn't do much to celebrate the last Olympics (Winter 2010) because I was giving birth to my little Roo. We did watch quite a bit in the hospital, so much in fact that my hubby and I actually figured out the rules for "Curling". The kids and I spent the morning doing some Olympic crafts! They all turned out quite well, from our Olympic Ring paper chain, so some torches it really got the kids excited to celebrate!

Not only did I want to celebrate the feeling of the Olympics I wanted to do some crafts to celebrate our American pride!

It was a fun and educational morning as we talked about the different aspects of the games and such! Now we can't wait to start cheering!!!!

Instant Superhero....Just Add Boy!!

June was a pretty rough month for my Little Professor. He is feeling much better now, and back to his superhero antics. Every superhero needs a hide out so with a little help from Pae we turned his wreck of a room to a hideout fit for any superhero!

It was such a mess to begin with! Between packing/unpacking and being sick all pretences of keeping his room clean were given up! We went to Walmart to stock up on things that were needed, some storage and new bedding was on the menu.

We found these cute little cups in the party section. They were less than a dollar a piece and perfect for holding pens, pencils and whatever small treasures my little guy come across.

I bought some plain colored storage bins and added a superhero touch! I saw the idea for these online, and really love how they turned out! Between the cups and the bins his desk area is nice and neat! I printed out some superhero pictures from the internet and framed them in dollar store frames.

We now have a room fit for a superhero!

In order to keep it nice and tidy I am going to try something I saw online. Right before bed I am going to go into his room. If anything is out of place or on the floor it goes into a box. In order to redeem the item he has to do an extra chore. Hopefully this works!

Something Old to Something New

Today was a day of projects! I worked on my Little Professors room, I will share more about that when I am completely done, it will take a few days! I also took a toy organizer that a friend gave me a few years ago and turned it into something new.

It is in great shape, but didn't really go well in my Roo's bedroom. She is in a Tinkerbell phase, and when her godmother gave me an old Tinkerbell calendar I knew what I wanted to do.

This morning I took it apart and armed myself with purple and green spraypaint that I picked up at Hobby Lobby for 30 percent off yesterday. After multiple coats I got it covered....when have some purple grass in our backyard now, but oh well. After it dried I put it together getting to use my hubby's power drill...so very much fun!!! Then using mod podge I added the Tinkerbells to the side. I also mod podged some pretty scrapbook paper to the front of the bins to "girl-ify" it a bit. I really loved how it turned out, it is perfect for my little Roo's room!!!

Power of Prayer

I have sat down to write this post a few times today. I am struggling how to put my thoughts and feelings into words. This past weekend was very, very scary for our family. My son had some complications from his surgery that put him in the PICU. I saw my son in a way that I never want to see again. Today I am really struggling to get that image out of my head. I am trying to banish the fear and the complete terror that I experienced on Friday. So as of this moment I am putting on my armor (Eph 6). I am choosing an attitude of thanksgiving because God performed a miracle. It is very easy to slip in to the "what ifs". "What if" I didn't check on my son when I did. "What if" he didn't come to so quickly. The "what ifs" didn't happen. What did happen was the God stepped in. He gave me the instinct that I needed, He sent the paramedics in a timely fashion, He guided the doctors and nurses hands, He chose to spare my son. God's people stood around my family and prayed for us when we couldn't pray for ourselves. There are really no words to express my gratitude to those who prayed for us. To God be all the glory that my son is home, and on the road to recovery!

Birthday....part 2!!

Yesterday was my Little Professor's kid birthday party. The theme was LEGOs. We had to change some plans at the last minute because of weather. It was supposed to be a pool party, but it was rainy and cool, not exactly outside weather, so we moved the party inside. While it was a bit chaotic everyone seemed to have a good time! Each family got to take home a LEGO goody bag. Inside were snacks and a LEGO necklace. My dear friend used her awesome cake decorating skills to make him a LEGO cake! She is so talented! We had lots of kid friendly food, like this awesome "corn dog muffins". They couldn't be easier to make....just cut up hotdogs and bake them in your favorite corn muffin. So easy, and so kid friendly!!! As for presents....my little guy was excited to get a remote control car, LEGOS and some birthday money. Yesterday evening he and I made a trip to the LEGO store so he could spend his money. He was so excited, declaring it the best birthday EVER! My favorite quote of the day was when we were checking out at the LEGO store. He told the cashier, "This is the life.....money to spend and LEGOS in my hand!"

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Yesterday was my Little Professors 6th birthday. I really can't believe how time has flown! We have moved a total of 6 times in his six years! (just typing that makes me tired, especially when I realize that 5 of the six times was before he was 4.) Things have been a bit up in the air around here lately. We are in the process of buying a house, and it has been quite an experience. We still aren't moved, but because we weren't sure when we were going to be moving I didn't make any concrete plans for celebration. Even though plans weren't "made" we still had a day full of fun. He came downstairs to a LEGO birthday banner. He is really into legos this year, so he loved it! His crown he is wearing in the last picture was given to him the last day of school....he had to wear it all day! My little Roo helped me make him some special pancakes for his birthday. They were "funfetti" cake batter baked as pancakes. Very addicting, and very not part of a nutricious breakfast! A great birthday breakfast! He also got to open a few presents at breakfast. He got Chinese Checkers and some new clothes. The shirt he is holding is a Spiderman shirt and glows in the dark.....he had to wear it! After breakfast we had some pre-op appointments because he is getting his tonsils and adnoids out on the 21st, not the best way to spend your birthday, but oh well. The receptionsists sang "Happy Birthday", and the doctors had to check out his glow in the dark shirt. There were no needles involved, so no tears! After the appointments we headed over the bridge to have lunch with his "Drinny" and "Pap Pap". We took him to a hibachi restaurant. It was fun to watch the reactions to the fire and the show. He didn't like the rush of heat from the fire, but loved the show! They were awesome and really played it up for him and even came out and sang, "Happy Birthday" and let him hit the gong for luck! When we got home he opened the rest of his presents. They included books, a superhero cape, a Nintendo DS (which he has been hinting for) a Star Wars game for it, a science kit and a tin can robot kit. Overall, Cameron declared it to be one of the best days of his life! Monday is his kid part, so the celebration goes on!

Yummy for My Tummy!

This morning my little Roo needed some distraction, so I put down the packing tape and boxes and took her to the kitchen where we mixed up some Pumpkin Pie Granola that I have been wanting to try. I was drawn to this recipe because there is no oil and no nuts! While we don't have any nut allergies, my friends do, so I am always looking for "safe" snacks! My little Roo was a natural in the kitchen! She loved stirring and dumping the ingredients! Here is the recipe we used! Pumpkin Pie Granola (nut free!) 4 cups Old fashioned rolled oats (use gluten free if your sensitive to gluten) 2 tsp Ground cinnamon 1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking powder 3/4 cups Pumpkin 1/2 cup Applesauce 3 tbs maple syrup (or honey or agave nectar) Optional Add-ins: 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup honey graham crockers lightly crushed, craisins Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry using a spatula, (or your hands), until everything is well combined and oats are coated with wet ingredients. Place granola on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, then stir granola around. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the granola is golden brown and is crisp. Take the granola out of the oven, and let it cool completely on the baking sheet. Stir in additional white chocolate chips or teddy grahams at this point if desired. Store in an airtight container for up to one week. I think it will make a great snack as I continue packing!!!!

Crafting Before Crazineess!

So after weeks of not knowing what in the world was going on with the house that we were buying we FINALLY have a closing date! We will be closing this Friday and moving the following weekend. The next two weeks will be busy with packing, moving, end of the school year festivities, Father's Day, my little Professors birthday, my hubby's birthday, and whatever else pops up. Yesterday I decided to get some crafting that needed to be done out of the way, or at least that was my excuse! I put together end of the year presents for my sons teacher and bus drivers. My dad was in town visiting, so I took the opportunity to make his Father's Day present. After a quck trip to Michaels and some fun with spray paint on a windy day, this is what I came up with! What Grandpa doesn't need a way to display pictures of his grandkids! Especially with a new granddaughter on the way! (My sister is having a baby, not me!) I got the idea off of pinterest, but it was too girly, so I made it more "grandpa" then "grandma"! The smileface stickers are scrapbooking stickers that I stuck on with wood glue to make sure they stayed! It was a nice little break from cleaning and packing and doing moving things yesterday. Now I can hardly wait to get in the new house and unpack and get ready to enjoy the summer!!!