Scripture

I decided to join Beth Moore in memorizing scripture. You can see what I am talking about here. I already have my first scripture picked out. I actually read it on the same blog one day and I have it here on my blog. It is Luke 1:45 - Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. That is a pretty awesome scripture. I had this thing I had been praying about and then through our youth pastors sermon (You can read about that here.) I really felt such peace about this thing and so encouraged. I still do as a matter of fact. But shortly after that I saw this scripture on Beth Moore's site or blog. I knew that was for me that day. Just another reminder that God is taking care of that thing, and so many other things that God has shown me. I BELIEVE GOD! I believe what he has said to me. IT WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED! Wow that is GOOD NEWS! Blessed is she (me) who believed that what the Lord has said to her (me) WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED! Let me just say again - WOW! So maybe you should join me along with Beth Moore and LEARN SOME SCRIPTURE! I bet the next one will be just as exciting to me. Find some that are exciting to you and get memorizing!

NOT ME!

• I did not read about, search, and fiddle with my new camera for at least an hour and a half, probably more, and involve my whole family trying to figure out how to be able to "see through the screen" what picture I am about to take. Only to find out that it doesn't work that way! (You look at the screen to see the pictures you have already taken.) I didnt do that because I know stuff about cameras and taking pictures. I love to do it and I am not that - um, whats a good word - unintelligent. So I guess that wasn't me.

• I do not STILL have my Christmas tree up because I am very organized and most assuradly already have it packed away nice and tidy.

• I did not make myself some Homemade Chicken Soup since I am sick today. And I have not already eaten two bowls of it in the last 3 hours. (It does make me feel better!)

• and last but not least - I DID NOT decide not to go to see my mom because I was WAY TOO NERVOUS about driving there by myself, and I was sick anyway, and mom had a doctors appointment tomorrow, and I had a ton of stuff to do here before I have to go back to work, and I didnt want Todd and Josh to have to eat out every day, twice a day while I was gone-because I am certainly NOT the only one who can cook in this house.

BUT I AM - ASKING EVERYONE TO PRAY FOR MY SWEET AVERY GRACE AS WE FOUND OUT TODAY THAT SHE AGAIN HAS THE DREADED RSV!
Please pray that her breathing treatments will do the trick and she will be well soon.
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inside the Packages

Well we certainly had a busy, loud, fun, packed in, blessed, wonderful time together this Christmas. Seeing Avery was such a blessing, knowing how different things could have been, would have been... She wasn't at all interested in opening gifts. As a matter of fact she was rather disgusted with us that we kept handing her things. LOL Once her mommy opened something for her she was pretty happy with playing with it, but really didn't want us to keep handing her things. She would just throw them out of the way. {Ooooh, mini sermon coming up!}- We can do God that way sometimes I guess. He may give us a package of something all tied up, wrapped up, and taped up. We dont know whats inside, so we chunk it out of the way. Maybe we will return to it later, maybe not. When really if we would explore and see what God is giving us, and go on and open it up, (even if we dont care for the color of the paper, or the bow on top, or the feel of the box), we can find great things inside his packages. Just a thought. One thing I found in a box - one I was VERY surprised about, was a NIKON D60!!!!!!! Honestly I couldnt believe it. We got a CAR if you remember! I was so hoping to win McMamas camera but I didnt, congratulations #68! Anyway when I didnt win it I figured all hope for that was gone, for a long while. But Lo and Behold! How exciting! I was floored! And now I will begin to drive my family CRAZY taking pictures! Thankfully Avery doesnt mind being the model yet! So here are some photos - well you didnt think I would let this post get by without them did you?

This is Avery discussing our Christmas festivities with her Poppa

Playing with my camera HOW PRECIOUS IS THAT?

What beautiful Blue Eyes - No they are not photo shopped, they really are Avery's!
Sitting in the middle of ALL her Christmas gifts
Tuckered out after all the hustle and bustle - An angelic Nap on Poppa

Food, food, and more food!

I just want to take a moment to say I have definitely been a cooking maniac the last several days! The day before Christmas Eve I made Po-Boys with Grilled Chicken and all manner of wonderful fillers inside there. Christmas Eve, I made Traditional Baked Turkey, Dressing (which was the bomb I may add, that's a good thing by the way.) Field Peas, Sweet Potatoes with Crunchy topping, Cranberry Sauce, Rolls, Tea, and Banana Caramel Pie. Yum, Yum, and again, Yum! Then on Christmas Morning I made Peppered Bacon, (which sounds delicious, but was the other package that appeared to be completely vacuum sealed, but was still not great!-no not great. {Growl, grumble, roar}, anyway on with the good stuff, Homemade biscuits, with all sorts of Christmas gift jellies, Scrambled eggs, Perfectly cooked grits, Juice, and coffee. Delicious, except for the bacon part. (I will be wanting a refund). Pretty much as soon as the breakfast mess was cleaned up I started the dinner. I baked a ham, Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, (Miss Penny's recipe and soooooo good!) Cucumber/Onion Salad, Cranberry Sauce again cause its so good with holiday meals, Potatoe Salad (Mawmaw actually made this at my house with my tiny bit of help, cause no one makes potatoe salad as good as she does.), Rolls, and Tea. Man was I full after that. I could have just eaten a whole plate of Macaroni and Cheese and been happy though. Then later that evening I made Wassail, which is my sisters version of Apple Cider. It is made with Cider, Cinnamon, Lemon, Nutmeg, Pineapple Juice and Honey. It has been a tradition in our family since my sister gave me the recipe years ago that we have it every Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. We LOVE it, well - we all LOVE it except for Josh, he's a little picky! No wassail for him. But the rest of us love the smell of it simmering and the hot cup in our hands while the steam rises and the wonderful taste just says "Holiday"! So now that all of that has been said, "written", I am here to say I am done cooking - tonight - we are EATING OUT! Hope your Christmas was GREAT! More later!

Not Me Monday

Okay it is again Monday! What a great Monday too. I am off! Woo Hoo
On with the "Not Me's"

I did not order peppered bacon from the schools Fruit and Meat Fundraiser only to discover that one pack of the bacon was not properly vacuum sealed.

I did not cook it anyway because it smelled fine.

I did not throw it out after eating some of it before discovering it was NO GOOD after all.

I am not at all concerned about cooking the other pack for our Christmas Breakfast even though it is completely vacuum sealed.

I did not miss the last step last night after leaving a Christmas Party and totally twist my ankle. No I didn't because no one saw it, so it didn't happen!

I definitely did not purchase another gift for one of my children {who will remain nameless} because I thought it was the last thing I needed, only to remember when getting ready to wrap it that I had already purchased it. No my memory is NOT going along with my sight! No it isn't!

I did not tell one of my dear friends that I would go somewhere with her to help her with her children, then find out Avery was coming to visit and cancel on her. No I did not do that because a GOOD FRIEND would never do that. Not me.

So on with your own "Not me's"

Wednesday Without Words

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I saw this on another blog - Mary Beth Chapmans - and decided to do it here. One more way for me to say what some others aren't - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

M - Mark made the deans list again at Louisiana Tech! Way to go Mark!
E - Ending this year and starting a new one leaves us wondering what God has in store for 2009.
R - Rain is still falling on our damaged roof from Gustav. We are suppose to get that new roof this week Lets hope so! (Rain rain, go away, come again another day.)
R - Relationships are what matter - Funny how as your kids get older your relationships grow. It's great.
Y - Yay Josh! Gearing up for Baseball. This will be the first time he has played for the school. No more basketball for him. Go Vikings!
C - Crawling never before brought such joy! I mean I loved when mine started crawling of course, but seeing a miracle crawl is an even greater joy!
H - He is an awesome God. We thank Him and Praise Him for His every wonder!
R - Really - we do!
I - I am blessed beyond measure to have this great family I have and I love them so much.
S - Seeing Casey with Avery is such a blessing all in itself. She is such a great mommy!
T - Todd works so hard and is a wonderful guy. I am so glad to be his wife.
M - Many of our family will be together on Christmas. I love it when we can all get together then. We will sure Miss everyone who cant be here with us. Merry Christmas to them as well.
A - A's that is what Josh has made on his report card this year so far, last year too, hmmmm, the year before too - Well there is a pattern there!
S - So that brings this little project to an end - Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Maybe you should do this too. If you do leave me a comment so I can read yours. Or e mail it out to me. Oh - did I say Merry Christmas - yea I did. Okay then.

Pray for Kayleigh

Please Pray for this little girl. You can click on her button on my sidebar. She really needs a miracle. We do serve a God of miracles. I have such a heart for these tiny babies since our experience with Averys birth. I know what God can do. I also know so much more now than I ever knew before about premature births and all the problems that go along with that. This sweet tiny baby girl needs your prayers, so take a minute and stop and lift her up to our Heavenly Father. Thanks

This is a picture of Avery and me. We are wearing our pink bracelets that we got from Kayleigh's parents blog. Well I am wearing mine and Avery is teething on hers. Hey it worked- today she has tooth number 2! Avery and I discussed that Kayleigh weighed exactly half of what Avery weighed when she was born. Avery thinks you should pray for Kayleigh too. So thanks again.

This weekend

This mornings sermon really hit the spot. Wow it was great. There is something that I have really been praying a lot about lately. I wont say what it is because it is about someone else. It is really hard to share about it since I cant say much but honestly the things that were said this morning just spoke right to me. He talked about how God created all of the stars and named each one. Remember when I blogged about that not too terribly long ago? Interesting. Anyway he said how GREAT - BIG - AWESOME GOD IS. It is that GOD that we pray to. The God that parted the seas, that created this world from nothing, that brought Jesus into this world through a virgin. It is GOD HIMSELF that we are asking these things. God can do it. It is not a problem to him to answer this prayer. I know that all sounds so elementary and DUH! But boy did I need to hear it. It just brought me to tears and I just really felt encouraged that yes, GOD CAN DO THIS. No matter what - end of story - it will be done. Maybe next week, maybe next year, maybe in 10 years. That part doesn't matter much, what matters is that God CAN AND WILL take care of it.
I hope you were encouraged by a sermon at your church this morning too.

Whats that you say? What else did I do this weekend? Thanks for asking. I went to see Avery Grace CRAWL! WOO HOO! And it was worth the trip. She is soooooo precious. I loved watching her get to what she wanted. God is so good. I just couldn't hug her enough. I enjoyed getting to watch her a little while so her mommy and daddy could get out of the house together for a little bit. Here are a few photos and a video from the visit.

"You mean to tell me that one of these presents is for me?"

Look closely and you will see the TOOTH!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

And here is Avery crawling!

Christmas Memories

We are out of school today for a "Snow Day" which has so far turned out to be a rain day. But it is suppose to get to the more icy stuff later on in the day. We will see. For right now I am using my day off to do something I really love to do. Get the kids stockings ready. Of course the "kids" are as I said in the previous post 24, (Charlie's 24 too), 21, and almost 17. But YES they still get stockings filled on Christmas morning. I really really love that part. I even wrap the gifts inside. I always remember as a child seeing the wrapped gifts. I loved poking and shaking and guessing at each package. I have always wrapped all the gifts as a result of the wonderful memories of that. So yes, I even wrap the stocking stuffers. That has been my joy this morning. Today I hope you are doing something that brings back great memories or makes great new ones. Merry Christmas and have a great day!

Not Me

I did not already get three major Christmas presents while there are still 17 days left until Christmas!

I do not wish I could see Avery Grace crawling around!

I did not take another picture of my beautiful Christmas Tree using the candlelight setting and think it turned out GREAT! So I am not posting it here for you to see!


I did not make Mark a birthday banana pudding, instead of a birthday cake!

And I absolutely DO NOT have a 24 year old, a 21 year old, and an almost 17 year old! No way is that possible! So -no I certainly do not!

Some favorite ornaments as part of my Wordless Wednesday

Contest

I put this button on the right on my blog. What a cool idea for McMama to earn money for those causes. Her blog reaches tons of people and just overnight she has already raised a lot of money. Good for her. So anyway I made my donation and my name goes in the drawing! Woo Hoo! You can click on the button and get to her blog and learn more about the contest.

Thanks Nikki

Ooooh Thanks to Nikki for telling me how to get back to the right way to get the photos on! Thanks so much! So since I can- here are a few more pictures!

This is Avery enjoying her Uncle Mark

Each time we have a holiday turkey we have a contest to see who can break away the largest piece of the wishbone.
So this is the broken wishbone from this year. Who do you think won? Avery (with the help of Uncle Josh) on the right, or the reigning champion Mark on the left???
Here is the family photo from Averys First Thanksgiving! What a sweet little family!

I am having such trouble posting these pictures this time. Something has changed in the way it lets me post them. Before, I could see the actual picture to check and see if it was how I wanted it to look, but now the picture doesnt come up until I hit publish, and check out the blog. It only shows letters, numbers, and symbols. Crazy aggravating. Anyway so here are several random pictures because I cant do it another way tonight. Enjoy them.

Not Me

Well it is once again "Not Me Monday!" So here goes:

I DID NOT GET A NEW SILVER 2009 TOYOTA CAMRY THIS WEEK, or make a new car note because how in the world would I pay for it if I did!

I did not sit and tie ribbon around every single gift I have purchased which took probably 2 hours or more because I don't like bows and much prefer ribbon.

I did not put up my Christmas Tree and almost cry looking at all the ornaments from years gone by.

I certainly did not purchase yet another item that says "MERRY CHRISTMAS" because I HATE the way some people think we shouldn't say Merry Christmas at Christmas time. Remember the term "STOP THE INSANITY!"

I did not get completely frustrated with the roofers that HAVE YET TO REPLACE MY ROOF SINCE GUSTAV!!

I did not just yell that last comment.

THANKSGIVING

Well I hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving. I certainly did. We did not have a lot of family in unfortunately. But all of our kids including Charlie, our super sweet grandbaby, Avery, and Uncle Mickey were all here with us and we enjoyed a delicious meal and had a nice time together. (Despite the four legged turkey) Sorry no explanations. We got to spend a lot of time this holiday break with Avery which was awesome. We so enjoy spending time with her. Just before they left to go home after Thanksgiving Charlie got in their car and honked the horn and Avery thought that was screaming funny. She had the biggest belly laugh each time he honked that we have ever seen so far. We laughed so hard at her laughing. What a good time. Todd has been on vacation and really needed and loved his time off. One day while he was off we went to Baton Rouge and did some Christmas Shopping. That was nice to get it mostly done. As a matter of fact I think I am through now. Maybe one or two more things, not much though. When we were finished shopping we decided to go and start CAR SHOPPING! I hate doing that. It is so much work and such an important decision. I guess thats why we only do it about every 10 years! Anyway, we hadnt really planned on purchasing one. We just mainly went to look at what I wanted, to see if it was a possibility and check on prices. Well we ended up coming home in a new Toyota Camry! Just what I wanted! I am so excited. I love it. It is beautiful. I am a nervous driver on Interstates so I told Todd to drive it home from Baton Rouge. As I was following behind it I became so overwhelmed at the many blessings we have. I looked at that car and just thought how blessed we were. Now I know it isn't like it was given to me. We are going to have to pinch and pull and everything else to pay for it. But I realize that not just everyone can go into a car dealership and sign for a new car. I understand the blessing of being able to do that. As I was thinking of that blessing my mind was just flooded with all the many things that God has blessed me with. I have the best husband any woman could ever want. (I know lots of women say that, and maybe you feel that way too.) But I am blessed to have a husband who tells me daily (sometimes more) that I am beautiful. He is the only person I know who puts others first consistantly. Down to parking spots in the lot. He parks away from the door so that others can get the spots closer to the door. Seriously! He is the best dad! They may not all three know that yet, but they will eventually. I KNOW that I am blessed to have him in my life. I am also blessed to have THREE wonderful kids. They are all three very smart. They are much smarter than I ever was. I am so blessed to be their mom. Sometimes the things that they say just amaze me. I am proud and yes, BLESSED! Of course there is Avery. The little bit that almost didnt make it here with us. What an awesome blessing to have her in our lives. One doctor visit away from not having her here. That will make you take notice of your blessing, let me tell you. I remember that day sitting in the waiting room. We were laughing and a little nervous about whether or not we should have painted the room all pink the day before. Our only fear was that it could be a boy. We had no idea what we were in for. But a few minutes later we were in for a shock and in need of a miracle. Well that is what we got. Over and over God blessed us and Avery and now she is beautiful and growing and stronger every day. (If you want to see that blessing go to Caseys blog and watch Avery laughing out loud over the car horn!) You can follow the link to her blog at the bottom of mine. I could go on and on about how many many blessings God has bestowed on us. I did that as I followed along and was in a little bit of amazement that the car in front of me was MINE! It was a good thing I wasnt driving the new one, because tears welled up in my eyes thinking of all of Gods blessings as I was driving, to the point that it was difficult to see very well. I am very thankful this Thanksgiving. I am blessed beyond belief to know that Jesus my Savior loves me. I am blessed beyond belief to have this family and all the love that goes with it. I just want to thank God for my many many blessings. THANK YOU GOD!

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me Monday

I have been meaning to do this for a while but I am just now getting around to it. McMama does it on her blog. If you haven't checked our her blog then you should. I have her button here, you can just click on it. Hers is a great miracle story. Anyway this Not me thing is a neat way to make fun of your own imperfections. So I may do it from time to time. Here goes:
First of all I did not pass by my fish tank again today and leave the water unchanged. No way, it is completely clean and full to the brim of crystal clear water. Oh and I most definitely did NOT allow a three year old to EAT a staple last night. No way did I do that, because that would be completely irresponsible and I am a responsible mother of three kids. None of whom ever ate staples in my presence! And I didn't get so upset over it that I was nearly in tears. (and my husband didn't skip going back to work and instead come home with me, because he knew that I was not upset over it.) I did not do this post even though that is all I could think of.

Light

Tonight after leaving my wonderful visit with Casey and Avery, I was driving home in the dark. At some point through the darkness I noticed light of the city in the sky. There was darkness all around, but ahead of me was the light of the city. I couldn't see the city yet, but only the light in the sky above it. Then I noticed a vehicle traveling away from that light. He was going the opposite direction of me and heading away from the light. The odd thing was that he had no lights. His headlights were out. His emergency flashers were on, but no headlights. It was an odd sight. Beside him though was another vehicle traveling with lights. He seemed to be there to help the guy with no light, shining a way for him to go by. Okay the unusual thing though was that miles down the road, another vehicle not related to the first was traveling with his flashers on. Again no headlights. That seemed so strange to me. This time no one was there helping as he was traveling away from the light of the city. He was alone in the dark using only emergency flashers to travel by. I thought about these things as I traveled toward the light. It seems that things are happening all around us these days that we don't understand or yet know the outcome of, but the light of the city is ahead. The economy is bad. People are sick. Money is not so easy to come by. We have needs here and there, but the light of the city is ahead. Some of us know the way, the truth, and the light. We are headed in the right direction. Some of us are like the first set of vehicles I saw. One shining his light so the other could find the way. Others of us are heading the right direction while some pass us by in the dark with no light getting further and further away from the light in the sky. I thought tonight of the interesting fact that the way to baby Jesus was the light in the sky. Through the dark they followed the light in the sky all the way to Jesus himself, the light of the world. This reminded me that we need to let that light so shine in us that others can find their way. I want to be the one with the headlights on shining a way for someone else to see. As we got close to home another vehicle caught my attention. Ahead of me was a truck. Although it had headlights, it was moving too far one direction and then the other. Something was dangerously wrong. I stayed behind it for some time. I didn't want to pass for fear of it crashing into me beside it. When we finally came to a traffic light, she stopped. I pulled beside her and she was obviously under the influence of something. The light turned green and she pulled away. We alerted the police to the danger and I followed. At the next red light she very nearly slammed into the stopped vehicle in front of her. The person in this vehicle had it's lights, but the decisions she made were endangering her and others. Sometimes even though we have the light of the world inside us, we make choices that are harmful to us and to others. I want to make good choices. I want to take the path God chose for me. I never want to be someone with the light inside me making choices that affect others in a negative or dangerous way.

So after this drive home I am reminded of a few things.
1. Travel towards the light.
2. Use your light for others.
3. Be a light for people headed the wrong direction in the darkness.
4. The Light of the world is before us.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Regular Stuff

We went to see my mom in the hospital. We had planned on making a trip there to surprise her and celebrate her birthday. But instead she surprised us and got a blood clot in her leg. She was in the hospital for a whole week. GOOD GRIEF. But we got to celebrate anyway.

This is me, my mom, my sister!She was so surprised to see us! I was glad we got to go.

This is me putting on her birthday gift, - a Lisa Leonard necklace that I loved! She liked it too!

Today I enjoyed my day off. I got some Christmas shopping done! Yay for early birds.

Although there are ONLY 47 days left until Christmas! Proof of that was at the mall today.


Well for now I am off to cook, Pork Roast, Salad, Rosemary Bread, & Macaroni & Cheese! Yum Yum.

Miracle Story

For a while now I have been keeping up with this sweet lady and her "many small children". This is such an amazing miraculous story I finally decided I had to put a link to her blog here. So when you get time, click on over to her site and read her story. What an amazing story it is. God is so faithful and wonderful and COMPLETELY AWESOME. It is so cool to read stories where he shows himself. So I have added the MckMiracle button on my sidebar. Check it out if you wish.

My mind is made up and Happy Birthday

Okay well a while back I wrote about changing positions at work. Very shortly after that I was informed that the amount of money I had been told would be the difference in the two salaries was WRONG! Long story short, the amount I was told was pretty much way off. So after prayer, discussion, and thinking long and hard I have made my decision. I am staying on as Secretary. I was looking forward to LESS STRESS! But I didn't feel like I could turn down that much money. (Not that it's a lot of money total.) Believe me it's NOT! But originally I was told my check would only go down about 35 dollars a pay check. I could definitely have handled that. But that is not the case. So anyway, I will continue to do what I have been doing for the last several years. I know that God is in control and that I can do all things through Him, so that is the plan.
This weekend we got to go see Avery. She is doing a little better. This is while she was enjoying some delicious sweet potatoes. She is still coughing unfortunately, but was more back to herself. As long as she is coughing she has to continue the breathing treatments. Pray that she will be well soon. Even though she has had to endure all this sickness she smiled and was sweet while we were there. She helped her mommy open her birthday presents. We celebrated Casey's birthday this weekend but actually it is this Wednesday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET BABY GIRL! I really cannot believe she is 24 years old! Man twenty four years! Wow I remember that day 24 years ago, which certainly does not seem that long ago. I had been in labor for a good bit of the day. We had played cards and such at my moms house. When the pains started getting stronger I went home and showered and did my hair and makeup, LOL and off to the hospital. No point in the hair and makeup thing, cause she wasn't born until 9:00 am the next morning. No more makeup left, and the hair, well... I remember being so glad all that pain stuff was over, but they took her away so quickly. It was much of the day later when they finally brought her to us. Todd had been out in the hall lurking, waiting and watching for them to bring her. I had buzzed and buzzed asking "When are they bringing her?" But finally they did and she was so completely beautiful. We were so blessed to have her, and we still are 24 years later.

Recipe Post

Tonight's supper was GREAT! So I thought I would share it with you! I may do a recipe post from time to time. I love to cook and eat. :) I love to get new recipes so here are a few of mine.

My Menu? ..... Grilled Pork Chops, Party Mashed Potatoes, Old Style Corn, Mozzarella Salad, & Peanut Butter Blossoms. Oh by the way, I didn't say anything about it being LOW FAT.Party Mashed Potatoes
1 15.3 oz Box of Instant Mashed Potatoes
5 Cups Water
1 1/2 Sticks butter
Garlic Salt, Onion Powder
1 Cup Milk
1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
16 oz Sour Cream
Paprika

1. HEAT oven to 350`. Spray a 9 x 12 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside. Heat Water, butter, seasonings, to boil in large saucepan. Remove from heat. Add Cream cheese, milk and sour cream, stirring until smooth.
2. Stir in potatoes. Mix well. Spread into baking dish.
3. Sprinkle with paprika and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown.

Old Style Corn
3 Slices Bacon
3 Cups frozen Corn
Ground Pepper
2/3 cup Heavy Cream

1. Cook bacon in heavy skillet over medium heat until crispy. Drain bacon on paper towel. Add corn to skillet. Add pepper. Cook stirring often until corn begins to brown.
2. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat. Simmer 15 minutes. Crumble bacon and add to corn. Stir well and serve.

Mozzarella Salad
Mozzarella balls packed in water or string cheese sliced in chunks
Sun dried Tomatoes in Oil
Fresh Basil Leaves
Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit for a few minutes.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
48 Hershey's Kisses
1/2 cup Shortening
3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2 Tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
Sugar

1. Heat oven to 375` Remove foil from kisses.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl. Add 1/3 cup sugar and brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla and beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into center of each cookie. Cookie will crack around edges. Allow to cool.

Its all delicious. You should try it. If you do, let me know!!!

Wordless Wednesday-Blast from the Past

Quick Answer

Thanks for the prayer. We already know all is good. I am too tired now to give the long explanation so I will do that another day but Thank you for your prayers. We are soooo thankful for the good outcome of Averys tests today and for the quick answer to our prayers. What an awesome God! More later.

Prayer Request

Just in case there is anyone out there who doesnt get my e mails, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for Avery. This is not about the RSV. She is doing ok with that. They took some x-rays today. We will have results tomorrow. Without details, it sounds serious. Again, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for Avery. Thanks so much.

Weekend Happenings

Wow, there is a lot going on. First of all and most important our sweet little Avery Grace is SICK! Really sick. Casey (who is sick too) took her to the doctor this morning. She unfortunately has RSV! The thing you try the hardest not to let them get when they are preemies. Thats the whole reason for no daycare, no big crowds, and no Sunday School. But despite doing everything right, she got it anyway. Thankfully though, they caught it early. She has to take breathing treatments twice a day and some other medicine. They will go back to the doctor on Tuesday and see if it has gone away. PLEASE PRAY IT WILL BE GONE! We are thankful she didnt have to go into the hospital and are praying she wont have to. Since Casey is sick and they dont want us to catch it they told us not to come there. So unless they need us to we are staying here. So a little bit after hearing that news, I walked into the kitchen and heard water running. I knew it sounded like the ice maker. I opened the freezer when water began pouring out of the freezer and splashing on my feet. Looking at my feet is when I noticed the water on the floor!!!! YIKES! The ice maker had gotten stuck and was just running and running. We had to sop all the water from the bottom of the freezer. Wow my hands were cold!!!! Then we had to take out the drawers and sop all the water out of the bottom of the refrigerator! Then mop up the floor, then move the refrigerator out and clean that nasty wet mess up from under it, then put it all back. That was a big job. Sooooo thankful we hadnt already left before finding this little problem. It would have then been a BIG problem! This is balloon race weekend. We did finally get out to see a few balloons this afternoon.

While we were there we met up with some friends and enjoyed watching their kids play. It was sweet seeing their excitement over the hot air balloons.
We even met up with Josh while we were there!

It was a beautiful day. Finally a little cooler. We went on over to get us some grub. Nothing like that food you can get at those things!
Chicken On A Stick
Bloomin Onion

We enjoyed us some fresh squeezed lemonade and really had a nice time. We weren't planning on going this year. But I am really glad we did.