Homecooking in the Crockpot

So I am a big fan of e-mealz. In an attempt to cook healthy and save money I have been using their walmart weight watchers point systems menu. One of the recipes I tried tonight was so good and so easy I thought I would pass it along for those of you who appreciate peas and cornbread.

1 1lb dried black eyed peas (sorted, rinsed and drained)
12 oz Farmland diced ham
6 cups water
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper (each)
2/3 cup salsa (I think next time I will use canned tomatoes instead)

Put all but salsa in crock pot. Cook on high for 2-3 hours and then cook on low the rest of the day. I would start them first thing in the morning. I did what she said and mine were not done completely. You don't put the salsa (or tomatoes) in until the last 30 minutes.
1 cup serving is 4 points

you can make your own cornbread or the kind they suggested was the betty crocker mix. Make as directed and add 1/2 cup 2% shredded cheese. These are only 3 points per muffin.

It really tasted great and I loved being able to have this southern comfort favorite without having to be home all afternoon for them to cook on the stove top. It was just easy.

A Prayer for All Men

So this morning on the way to school Jake reminded me that we needed to pray.  I love this time with him and I love to hear him talk to God.  He is learning so much at school about how to just talk to God and to praise him.  It is sweet to a mamma's heart.  So back to this morning, this was part of his prayer:

"Loorrdd, I just want to ask you that all the people that don't have you in their heart would get you in their heart and Loorrdd, would you please hurry up and make Satan nice so that he will stop trying to make people do bad things."

 Then he continued to pray for his day like he'd been praying this prayer all his life.  

After his prayer we began about a 5 minute conversation about satan.  How did he get bad?, What color is he, what does his eyes look like, where does he live? under the ground? what is a spirit? how does he make people do bad things?  These moments are just priceless to me.

Integrity opens doors to the gospel

I am studying 1 John with some ladies at the church this fall.  This week we talked about integrity in relationships and how that basically means that we are the same all the time in relationships.  We have some relationships that we feel we need to be super spiritual and some that in which we don't want to be spiritual at all.  Why is it that we do that?  For me I know of 2 reasons. First, I don't want them to think that I am weird or not "cool" or that I don't know my stuff.  Second, is that for the not so spiritual, I always think that they don't understand anyway so why bother (why I parent the way I do, why we spend our time the way we do, etc.)  But as we talked about this Gal 1:10 and Tammy Murden came to my mind.  Galatians 1:10 basically says that if I am serving man then I am not serving God. And Tammy Murden always, always told me to live my life for an audience of 1.  So basically when I change how I talk and what I do when I am around the lost (even my family) I am not serving God and living with Him as my ONLY audience.  Challenging!!!

I have seen this play out over the last couple weeks in various ways.  One specific.  A family member that is not a believer and I were having a discussion that we have had 1000 times.  Usually during this conversation I seem to coddle her or not say much at all because, well I just didn't think it would matter.  I decided this time to speak the truth and pray it would be received in love.  WOW....it opened the door to about a 1 hour gospel presentation.  The only thing I did different was speak truth - God's word into this situation rather than comfort her with empty words.

I am challenged by this idea on both sides of the spectrum.  I want my relationships to be ones of integrity across all spectrum's.  I don't want to just do good for people but I want to speak good (truth) to them as well.  I must say that heading back to my hometown will really be a challenge for me in this area.  I became a believer when I was at college and haven't return there for any length of time since then.  I was a good kid but I want people to really know that my life is different.  This means living out these relationships with integrity.  Please pray that God will give me opportunities there and that I will take them and not miss out on the blessings that come with obedience.  We are headed to a dry and barren land!

A New Found Nugget

So since I will be homeschooling next year, I have been reading alot about Charlotte Mason's ideas about teaching children. Her concept is very interesting to me - especially having boys. So last night I was reading a forum and they were talking about two children's books teaching boys about chivalry. The books were The White Knight and Sir Knight of the Splendid Way both by W.E. Cule. So tonight I went searching for these books and came upon an amazing nugget!!! A website called Grace and Truth Books http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/
As I looked through this site there are what appears to be some great character building books for kids. There is a series for children ages 4-8 that tell the stories of Corrie Ten Boon, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael and George Muller. One of the things that is so appealing to me about Charlotte Masons ideas is that she says that we need to not present the world to our children in a series of facts but rather make it come alive to them through exploration. She talks about living books about real people and real things that they learn from and these mini biographies would be very visionary for my boys - any child homeschooled or not. There are books geared toward boys and girls. So I think we are going to start with this selection http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/lamplighter/series11.asp for us to read together with the boys (maybe just Jake right now). I will share with you what I think about them. If any of you order books from here I would love to hear your thoughts on them. Many of these books are older writings so we shall see how they go with this generation. I expect them to not be very watered down but that is ok with me because I know that kids are way smarter, way earlier than we often give them credit for. Let me know what you think.

In Need of Wide Open Spaces!!!!

"Of all the animals, the boys is the most unmanageable." AMEN Pluto!!!

Wildness has inhabited our house of late and I absolutely love it and hate it all at the same time. It really seems that almost daily they acquire more energy. The problem for me is not that they have so much energy but that we don't have a back yard for them to get rid of some of the energy. We load up every day and get out of the house and we go play and run off our energy. Then we come home for the calmness to last long enough for them to refuel with a drink (water - no sugar) and a little snack and then they are raring to go again. With our upcoming move we will have a whole country side they can explore which is great for them but for now..well lets hope we all make it sanely to that sweet open space!!!!

It is Best!!!

Well, we have made our decisions and yes they are the best but I am very sad.  John and I are packing up camp and leaving bham for a somewhat short stint.  We are moving to the country to live in my grandmothers house.  I am not excited about the move itself but I am very excited about what the sacrifice of 12-18 months will provide our family in the years to come.  I see God's hand all over this and I know it is His best for us.  For those of you who care to know more about the decision you can read my next post.

God's Hand in Our Move

So for those of you who have spent any time with us you know that we are burdened with a lot of debt.  Most of it was from John going back to school and us not having an income that year.  We don't regret that decision at all.  Some of our debt is a result of bad decisions that we have made along the way.  But regardless of why we have it we do and it is tying our hands in so many ways.  John and I desire greatly to be laborers for God's kingdom.  We want to (and do now) spend our time and energy investing in lives of people.  Are job is not full time ministry but we see our life as full time ministry.  Over the past few months (since John is now working from home and flexible) we have spent lots of time and  conversations discussing where we really want to invest our time.  Through these conversations, John has really felt the burden of our debt and how it limits us right now.  So while John has been thinking and praying about this decision, God has done 2 great things in my heart preparing me for what was to come.  Here is what he has been doing:

1. In early June, we were traveling back from the beach and the following dialogue began a several hour long conversation:

A- I know what I am about to tell you is going to shock you but I need you to hear me out...I feel like God has been prodding my heart to consider homeschooling the boys.

J - SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!!

now for all you homeschooling moms - we have nothing against homeschooling I have just always said that I didn't see me doing it because of my personality.  So for me to say this was HUGE.  My sis in law agreed when I told her today.

2. I have had somewhat of a strained relationship with my mom - whom we will be living right beside.  Over the summer, with the help of a godly mentor in my life, God has really began to do a huge heart change in me regarding our relationship.  Not much has changed in how we relate but tons has changed in how I view our relationship.  Had these changes not happened this could not even be an option.

So when John came to me a few weeks ago and told me what was on his heart I told him absolutely not.  I even, in my sinfulness, told him that he needed to tell me now if this was going to be an issue that I would have to just submit to him about because he would not convince me that this is best. ( r u laughing?)  So he, in his calmness that never ceases, said to me "Will you just pray about it a few days and then we will talk?" I begrudgingly said yes and almost immediately God began to show me - remind me- of what has happened in my heart this summer.  It was if he said - this is why my timing is perfect.  For me, Jake's school and my relationship with my mom would have been hands down 2 of the 3 biggest barriers for me making this decision.  So God in his faithfulness softened my heart to the idea so much so that I could at least begin to discuss it with John.  As he talked and we looked at the numbers, we saw that in 12-14 months we could have all of our debt but one small school loan (3% interest rate) paid off.  That in and of itself makes me say ahhhh.  So we prayed and talked and I felt God really give me a peace about the decision.  

I will admit that sometimes I have to fight with Satan over keeping this peace.  So I beg you to pray for me as we move into this phase of our life.  The sacrifices are so worth the payoff for us for the long haul of our life.

The third barrier for me was walking away from my dear friends here.  John and I have just begin to feel like we have come out of a dry spell in our life regarding fellowship and now it seems that we are walking back into one. This by far makes me the saddest.  But, the couple friends I have told so far about this decision have been supportive and even committed to me and maintaining our friendship during our time away.  Thank you so much - you know who you are!!!

So here is the beginning of the next chapter in the cook's tour of the states :) More to come later.