It's Fall, Y'all!

I'm a routine-lover. I don't like surprises. And I could be happy eating the same thing 5 days a week for lunch, if I had to. I'm not too big on change.

Except for the seasons. Oh, how I love the changing of seasons. There is just something so refreshing about changing of temperatures and the changing of colors.

Here in H-town, its rumored that we only get 2 seasons. But, I know for a fact that we actually get all 4. And sometimes, they're all in 1 day! (Our weather is a bit temperamental. Sometimes we need the heat on through the night, and the AC blasting through the day.)

Yesterday, we welcomed Autumn with wide-open and anxious arms. The weather finally dipped below 90, and we excitedly spent the ENTIRE DAY outside marveling in the wonderfulness of 0% humidity and no sweat.  If I had any sense, I would have even indulged in a Pumpkin Spice Latte. However, my absolute giddiness over the weather prevented me from doing anything slightly productive.

Instead, I spent the day taking about 1000 mental pictures much like this one. 

When we finally did come inside, I made a big 'ol pot of beef stew. Sure, by the afternoon it had reached the mid-80's, but this is Houston, folks! The mid-80's in mid-September is almost downright chilly!

And because I just absolutely could NOT wait to try this trick out, I had quite a bit of garlic at my disposal. I chopped a couple of cloves up, and threw them into a pot with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Next, I threw in a couple pounds of beef stew meat. Amidst the stirring and tossing, I sprinkled in some salt, pepper, a dash or two of paprika, a pinch of allspice, and some all-purpose steak seasoning. Once the meat had browned just a bit, I added a couple of hard shots of Worcestershire sauce and a couple cups of water. I also added in small-medium-ish sliced yellow onion and a couple of bay leaves. My theory is, when boiling meat you can't ever have too much seasoning! It only makes the broth that much better!

I let that simmer for good LOOOONG while. And by LOOOONNNGG, I mean I had to restrain myself from sampling the concoction every 5 minutes. The next hour and half were spent trying everything possible to NOT GO INTO the kitchen!

But alas, I finally had to go back in! I added in a couple of chopped up potatoes, carrots and celery. Stirred it all up.. and had to wait AGAIN!

While all those yummy flavors and textures were melding together, I got some cornbread going in the oven.

My family has bought this brand of Corn Muffin mix for as long as I can remember. And it's what I buy for us! (Remember that part about not liking change so much?) I make it exactly like the box says... only, I also add 1/4c sugar to the batter. It is so stupid good, you won't believe it!

By this point, the littles were all in bed. My handsome hunk and I snuggled up on the couch with our beef stew, corn bread and sweet Tea, and settled in to watch Mr. Bohannon forge the railroad on another couple of miles.

What a great way to welcome Fall!

Lifesong::: Church Adoption Funds

Adoption Funds. Helping the church financially support couples as they bring home children into their forever families through adoption.

MEETING THE NEEDS // Adoption Funds

We see Adoption Funds as a "Win-Win-Win" solution: the local church is actively involved on behalf of orphans, the financial roadblock for families is removed, the orphan child is adopted into a permanent Christian family...all with minimal administrative burden for the church.

Using the adoption matching grant and interest-free loan processes already established by Lifesong, churches can easily navigate through the details of adoption funding....all with no cost to the church.

Learn more about Adoption Funds >> 

ALWAYS WITH YOU // Adoption Fund Story

Cameron and Sarah experienced the love of their church family through their adoption journey. His Kids Our Homes Adoption Fund, at North County Christ the King Church have blessed this family and others as children are brought into forever families. Listen in on their journey...

See how your church can benefit from establishing an Adoption Fund by visiting our website.

Read More

Bringing Churches Around Adoptive Families - Dave and Carrie, directors of His Kids - Our Homes (Lynden, WA) share how they have experienced the blessing of having a Lifesong Adoption Fund.  Watch Video

"God Worked to Bring Them Home" - Scott and Kathy bring two more children into their home through adoption with the help from TAMBA adoption fund. Read more

God's Revealing Love - Sam and Maria share how God continued to reveal His love for them and their 7 children, through their local church, North County Christ the King. Watch Video

Adoption Fund Testimonials - Hear what Adoption Fund partners have to say about their experience with Lifesong Adoption Funds.  Watch Video

Favorites

I love finding things that make life a little easier and a little simpler.

I remember learning the whole "smashing a clove of garlic" to peel it easier trick. But I think I may have just fallen a little in love with Martha Stewart over this trick!

The kitchen has kind of been my place. I like to wind down from our hectic day and have some "me-time" while cooking. Here lately, I've wanted to start incorporating our kids in the dinner-time process. I think this will be a perfect starting point for that! Thanks, Martha!

What do you let your kids in the kitchen? I'm always looking for ways to make "chores" fun for my kids!

Keep Calm

(I'm just a girl that loves Jesus who sometimes struggles with living this life following after my Savior.)

I saw this on the good 'ol interwebs today, and laughed for a good few minutes over it. This is so me lately.

Anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behavior, such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints and rumination.^[2] It is the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over something unlikely to happen, such as the feeling of imminent death.^[3] Anxiety is not the same as fear, which is felt about something realistically intimidating or dangerous and is an appropriate response to a perceived threat;^[4] anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, and uneasiness, usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing.^[5] It is often accompanied by restlessness, fatigue, problems in concentration, and muscular tension. Anxiety is not considered to be a normal reaction to a perceived stressoralthough many feel it occasionally.

I am easily excited and can get pretty anxious. I don't necessarily fear imminent death, but I do worry over things and scenarios. I'm anxious about making my plans and having things just so. I'm anxious during the afternoon, timing our day just right to have things accomplished and to pick up our oldest from school. I get anxious while cooking... making sure that all the food is cooked just right, tastes great, and making sure that none of our littles are injured in the process. I get anxious over making plans for the evening. I get anxious over whether everyone is receiving the proper amount of sleep. 

I get anxious over our family's nutrition. I get anxious over.. well.. a lot of things. 

I have a natural tendency to plan, to be prepared, if you will. (Remember this post?) I do believe this is a good thing. I do believe I can use this for the glory of God and to benefit others. My love of planning has enabled me to plan out showers for friends, plan events for our church's women's ministry, be resourceful of our family's income, and just be a help for all other types of things. It's a joy and I count it a blessing to help figure out the details for things.

But what happens when I let my love of planning overtake my life, my thoughts? What happens when all the details of the planning get a bit compulsive and I can't quit thinking of them? Is it good for me to become so anxious over these things that my mind won't stop spinning with different scenarios and my muscles become tense?

No. It is not good. What I am essentially doing is letting my love of planning become an idol. Instead of using what little talent I have in this area be used as a gift to the Church, I have let it get out of control to the point of it becoming a sin. 

There are so many things that we can be anxious about in this world. The worry of whether we will parent our children well. The worry of whether we will ever be parents. The anxiety we feel at the thought of a failed marriage. The anxiety we feel over those who may have sinned against us, or those we may have sinned against. 

I encourage you today, to not be anxious.  Matthew 6, vs 25-34 specifically, speaks volumes to me. How good is the Word of God to speak such Truth into our lives? 

I do not need to worry. I do not need to plan and map out every detail of my life. I do not need to worry over my child who may be living 2 continents over and across a vast ocean. 

My worry and my anxiety shows a stark contrast to the truth I know DEEP in my heart. A truth that resonates in my soul. God cares for me. God LOVES ME.. yes, even ME! I trust God. I know that God, who is Sovereign over ALL and ALL THINGS, cares for me (and all people) far above His other creations. I will rest in this truth. 

I'm praying the same for you. May you rest in the truth that the King of Kings, who is above all, loves and cares for you. He CARES for YOU! May we all run full force into seeking Him and His kingdom. 

Today is enough to handle. Let's let tomorrow handle itself. 

Brinner

After a full day of mothering, laundering (clothes, that is. Not money.), housekeeping, refereeing, tutoring and chauffeuring, there is just something so blissful about brinner.

That moment, at 5:00pm... 30 L O N G minutes before the cavalry is set to arrive, when you feel like you could just close your eyes now and sleep 'till next summer. There is the hope that brinner brings.

Brinner, a perfect excuse to brew yourself a cup of joe and to soak in every bit of that delicious bacon smell that will surely permeate through every crevice in your home. (Seriously. Why is it that bacon can smell so dadgum good during cooking? Then, four hours later you wish that bacon had never been invented because then your house would definitely STILL not smell like it.)

Brinner, the perfect camouflage to your mommy-tired hands clinging to that cup of coffee like its your life-source.

Last night, 5:00 o'clock hit. I was willing my eyes open with every ounce of strength I had left in me. Brinner beckoned me with it's promises of warm coffee, bacon and an easy clean-up. I didn't even try to play hard to get. I ran straight into it's warm and welcoming embrace.

I let the smell and sounds of the sizzling bacon take me away. Who needs Calgon when there's bacon?

And then, there's Brinner.. in all of it's glory! Filling, satisfying and so easy to make: Brinner.

What's that you say? Taking pictures of your food and posting them on every social network known to mankind is so 5 years ago? Please be sure to refer to point 7. 

Stop and smell those roses while you're at it, too. Journeying through that perfect meal can be a beautiful thing, but soak in all your surroundings. Be grateful for all those little things that got you so dang tired through the day. Sure, you'll sleep good because of them tonight.

(Bella performing one of her newest tricks: crossing her eyes.)

But, if you don't stop and smell those roses, you'll miss all the hilarity that can ensue during mealtime with those little creatures. Who knew that I'd get a free ticket to the best dinner entertainment in town each and every night? Never a dull moment around our dinner table!

Funny little thing

Laughter is a big part of our family. My awesome husband has probably one of the best senses of humor. He laughs easily, quickly and heartily.

Our eldest has inherited this same sense of humor. While furniture shopping one afternoon, she saw a guy snuggled up on a bed. Upon pointing the snuggled up man out to her father, they shared a chuckle over the not-so-randomness of the scene.

She has also turned into quite the little prankster. I only wish I had such a great imagination as hers!

Yesterday afternoon, we were rushing to get out the door. In the corner of my eye, I saw her messing with my bed. Next came the sounds of rushing feet across our upstairs, followed by a fit of giggles between her and the little sister.

Choosing my battles wisely, I put the incident out of my mind. The house was in one piece, the kids were happy, and I was rushing to get out the door. A minor incident involving my bed and a mischievous first grader were not on the forefront of my mind.

We finally made it out the door and into the sweltering Texas heat to "watch" my nephew's 2nd football game of the season. (I pretend to watch, but really I'm a bit more pre-occupied with 3 little blonde people.)

Then, we enjoyed some yummy Chinese food with Grandma at this great little Chinese restaurant. We came home and let the kids enjoy the slightly cooler-than-before weather outside on their bikes. Before I knew it, it was the kid's bath-time... followed by our nightly story time... followed by bed-time.


My work for the day wasn't quite over though. I tended to some chores before catching up on some of my reading and shows with the handsome Mr.  And the very minor incident from earlier in the day was completely forgotten about.

Until 10:30 p.m. The entire house, yes even the Mr., had been asleep for several hours. Exhausted from a day of parenting and fun, I couldn't wait to crawl into bed.

I pulled off the decorative pillows on my side of the bed, and was greeted by this:

Dearest Reader, let me not even try to explain to you the restraint it took for me not to scream bloody murder and wake an entire house full of sleeping little (and 1 not-so-little) sleeping people! But I will tell you, that I will gladly mark the adrenaline rush I had at 10:30 pm last night as 2 days worth of work-outs!

Now, someone PLEASE give me some tips on how I can get this little rascal back!

What's a fun, harmless prank you've pulled on some young'uns?

Mu-sack!

We're a musical family. Some of us are more talented than others at being musical. (Insert praise for my husband's giftedness here.) But we're musical in the sense that we LOVE LOVE LOVE music in our home! And in the car. And in the grocery store. And walking down the street. And just about everywhere.

We've already discussed how a good song makes me react, over here. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that my children have the same reactions, too. Sweet Bella girl was really getting her groove on in a clothing store the other day. And Jade's little melodies always seem to be filling the quiet spaces of our home. Even our munchkin Jo-Jo can be heard spouting off a word or two to his favorite tunes!

And we love all kinds of music 'round these here parts. There's a little jazz, some folk, (lots of) pop, a little rock 'n roll, and a good amount of worship. But my absolute favorite music to listen to are songs chalked full of Scriptures. You put simple truths to a good tune.. and it STICKS! (Just the other day I put my daughter's teachers name into a cartoon jingle that we are both familiar with. And, voila! She had her teacher's name down packed!) I want to be intentional in what's filling our little one's ears. I want them to store up the Word in their hearts. And well, when you put great, BIG truths to a good tune.. it STICKS!

We've had this CD for about a year now. And we have not tired of it yet! The tunes are catchy, and are packed with the Truth that I want my kids to know. (And hey, it even serves as a good reminder for me too! There have been a few times I've found myself cleaning or folding laundry whilst these peppy little songs pass the time!) I love playing this on the way to drop our oldest little Brantner off to school. It gets all of us so excited and ready for the day!

I love playing it when we are acting a fool in our living room with a "pick-me-up" afternoon dance party!

I love playing it .. well just a lot.. I just love paying it!

I highly recommend it! You can check it out here: Mighty Spirit Kids, iTunes, or Amazon