It's November!!! That means it's time for the holidays! I'm so excited about spending time with family and friends on Thanksgiving and Christmas being right around the corner. This is absolutely my favorite time of year. Along with all that awesomeness comes busy-ness though. We've got something going almost every weekend until the new year. This weekend is no exception! I am doing a craft show this weekend selling my Sunshine & Sweet Pea as well as some craft things my mom and I have made. Then Aaron and I are going to be celebrating our anniversary a little late by going to see Tim Hawkins. I'm pretty excited. My folks will be here Friday-Sunday. I haven't even thought about my menu until I just sat down at the computer, so I'm going to make this up as I go and hope my memory doesn't fail me as I try and remember what's in my fridge and freezer. I'm only planning through Thursday because Friday- Sunday are going to be crazy! Monday- Ranch Pork. I had some in the freezer I pulled out. Tuesday- Breakfast for dinner. Wednesday- Baked Ravioli with Marinara. Thursday- Cowboy Meatloaf Verse Of The Week This month I decided that each Verse of the Week was going to be thankfulness themed since it's November. I love this verse. I thought of it immediately when I was thinking about thankfulness verses. I love that this verse makes the point that being thankful is good, but we have to proclaim that thankfulness. We have to tell people how awesome God is and tell them what we're thankful for! And not just in November, but every day of the year!
What are you thankful for today!? Happy Monday!
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Well, would you believe I'm creating my menu as I type this. This weekend was a bit crazy so this is the first time I've had to sit down and figure the week out. This is our pantry week, money is tight, so I'll be making as much as I can with what we've got in our pantry and freezer. Thankfully, we've got a ton of stocked up meat! We really have almost nothing going this week, so meals should be easy to get prepared. Monday- Chick fil A. Tonight our church is getting together for a fundraiser at our local Chick fil A. Yay for good food, church family, and not having to cook! Tuesday- Ranch Pork with mashed potatoes. Wednesday- Cowboy Meatloaf Thursday- Chili Friday- Date Night! Aaron and I will be eating out to celebrate my birthday a little late and the girls will probably have pizza with the babysitter. Verse of the Week I've said it before and I'll say it again- "Follow Your Heart" is the worst advice you can give anyone.
And unfortunately, I'm one of those people who loses sight of that very easily. I've come to understand that because I'm a sinful fallen person, I believe the "thorn in my side" is that my emotional being will always struggle to submit to my spiritual being. I'll forever have an internal war. I tend to lead with what I feel instead of what I know God's truth is. And that has always and will always lead me into the wrong things as long as I allow it to. I saw something yesterday and seriously, it was like a snap back into reality. I saw a facebook status that said- " Just because you feel it doesn't mean it's real". HELLO! That snapped me right out of the emotionally lead path I was walking down. So, I chose this as the verse of the week as a reminder to myself! Don't let your heart lead you this week! Lead with God's truth and your heart will follow! Happy Monday! The first week of October. Fall. My favorite season. I love it. Also, my first week back to calorie counting. So, because of that, most of these recipes are "skinny" or low cal. Most everything on this menu is not new to us, but not recent. Or a healthified version of something I already make. Also, towards the beginning of the week, I'm fixing things that Emmy can eat. She had her tonsils and adenoids removed last week, plus some infection at the back of her throat cleared out. So, I'm sticking with things that are softer and not like crunchy shelled tacos or something. Ok, let's go! Verse of the Week This verse has been my theme the last month or so. Knowing God's truth doesn't help you if you don't let it transform your mind. I'll be talking more about that on the blog this coming month, but today, let's starting thinking about how we can allow God to transform our mind in the small ways this week.
Happy Monday! Well, this is one of those weeks where the menu is going to be pretty boring. We're headed to my parents for the holiday weekend starting on Thursday, so I only had to plan 3 meals for this week. We have Emmy's Pre-K orientation on Wednesday night, so that will be a fast dinner. Plus, I didn't do a whole lot of grocery shopping, so I planned our meals with what we had here. Lots of breakfast for dinner. Monday- Breakfast. Sausage, Eggs, Hashbrowns. Tuesday- Pancakes. Wednesday- Grilled Cheese and French Fries. Well, there ya have it. Super simple. Verse of the Week I'm tired y'all. Like, my body and my soul. Weary. I'm ready for school to start again so that we can get on some type of schedule. But, the truth is that I've run myself ragged. The day to day here is pretty mundane. But day after day of my own thing has drained me. I'm purposing to commit my day to God, every hour if I need to. My strength hasn't been enough. Thankfully, we can't drain God of his strength! So, this week's verse is a reminder for me that God is already in the next hour, the next day. He knows the struggles, he knows the energy drainers. And He will me rest. The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”- Exodus 33:14 Are you tired today? Is your heart weary? Know that God goes before you, His presence is with you, and He will give you rest today! All we have to do is ask for it! Happy Monday! It's the start of a new week! I think this year has been the fastest of my life. And I'm totally serious when I say that. But, I'm so thankful for all the great memories we've had the chance to make and I'm glad we've still got a few more months to make more! Here in Indy we've already got a few trees that are starting to turn. I can't say I'm upset about that, fall is my favorite season! This is our last full week at home before Emmy starts school so I'm determined to get my "fall cleaning" done and be ready for school to start in 2 weeks! I'm doing another week of all meals at home. We'll be on the run at least 2 nights this week, so some of our meals are pretty simple, but it gets the job done. Monday- Taco's Tuesday- Cowboy Meatloaf Wednesday- Grilled Cheese Thursday- BBQ Country Ribs Friday- Chicken Pot Pie Saturday- Pizza Sunday- Leftovers Nothing really complicated this week! A few family favorites! So, I set another goal for myself for this week. I'm going to start a gratitude journal today. I'm going to write down at least 20 things a day that I'm thankful for. The theme for this week is going to be thankfulness. So, the verse of the week mirror's that. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.- Psalm 13-5-6 This has always been a few of my favorite verses. In fact, if you've ever received and email from you, then you've seen this verse in my signature. This week I'm using it as a reminder of all the things I've got to be thankful for. Why don't you join me in keeping/starting a gratitude journal this week! Happy Monday! Well, I successfully fed my family 21 home cooked meals last week. We didn't eat out once. I did notice that my kids behavior was better. The sleeping issue has improved about 50%, but I think that has more to do with imaginary monsters and "monster spray" than it does with the food we've been eating. This week's menu is planned through Sunday. I'm not positive what our Sunday will look like. The Hubs is preaching at our church and then we're heading down to some special services for church in the afternoon/evening. Depending on the timing, it maybe be a fast food dinner day. But maybe I'll get some dinner packed for us to eat on the way. Monday- Smoked Sausage, coleslaw, green beans. This was supposed to be brats, but when I went to the store, they didn't have any! Who runs out of brats in July!? Anyways, Smoked Sausage is the postman's favorite so I grabbed a pack of 6 "links" and I'll boil them up. Tuesday- French Onion Burgers, French Fries, Salad. (We're going for a french theme, can you tell?) Wednesday- Biscuit Pizza. This is one of my kids favorites and I haven't made it in a long time. It's easy and fun. Thursday- Taco's, Mexican rice. We haven't had these in a while either. The kids eat these right up and I LOVE anything mexican. Friday- Grilled BBQ Chicken, Broccoli Bites (these things are insanely good!), Fruit Salad, Mashed Potatoes. Saturday- Lasagna. I haven't made lasagna in forever. I was thinking about this the other day and I decided to put it on this week's menu. Sunday- Leftovers or Eat on the Go. Verse of the Week Ok, so I'm not one to park on a verse on Definitely.Maybe. But seriously, I can't get over this verse. Plus, it comes up at least once a day. I hear it somewhere or I read it or see it on something. It's just everywhere, and I know that it's God placing it there as encouragement. So, it's going to be the verse of the week again... So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.- Galatians 6:9
My Bible study today was on the harvest. I'll be posting a separate blog post later this week about today's bible study on the spiritual concepts of the harvest (cause it was awesome!), but I just wanted to encourage you to keep going, keep sowing those seeds. This verse is a promise that if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other we WILL reap a harvest. Happy Monday!! After our crazy week last week, I made a goal for this week. Healthy, home cooked meals all week. I'm conducting a big of an experiment that I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to. My kids were CRAZY last week. Their behavior was out of control and they have reverted to almost new born sleep tendencies. One or both of us was up with either of the girls twice a night. That is so out of character for my girls. They are both great sleepers. I've been so overwhelmed with them the last week and I'm wondering how much of this out of character behavior is from eating "on the go" junk all week. Neither of my girls have any type of food allergies or sensitivities to food or dye that I know of. But, I'm sure after a week of quick, mostly unhealthy meals, it has to have some effect on their behavior. So, this week we're eating at home for every meal and I'm home cooking everything. It may not start out great because I have a feeling this will be sort of a detox week, but here's to hoping! I've planned through Thursday because Friday is payday so our life kind of starts over on paydays. I'm trying something new I've never done before. I'm roasting a chicken! I've purchased them from the deli at the store before, but I've never cooked my own. I'm interested to see how this goes. Good hopefully, because I'm using the chicken in other meals this week! Monday- Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and roasted green beans. Tuesday- Breakfast. Sausage, Eggs, and probably pancakes. Wednesday- Chicken Spaghetti and garlic bread. Thursday- Sloppy Joes, corn on the cob, and a fruit salad. I made homemade shortcakes for strawberry shortcake 2 weeks ago and they were a huge hit. So, I think I might throw that in somewhere this week as well. Ok, so. This week's verse I've honestly never heard before. In 20 some odd years of bible reading, I'm sure I've come across this verse once or twice, but I heard it last week and was like... whoa! Where has this verse been all my life. The truth is that it probably means more now to me in this season of life than it has in any past so it didn't grab me until now. Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”- Hosea 6:3
I feel like there is so much awesomeness packed into this verse that I could probably preach a whole sermon on it. But, I won't. Instead, I'm going to give the highlights of why this verse means so much to me right now... - Oh that we might know the Lord! I bolded and underlined the exclamation point because it's doing exactly that. It exclaims the fact that we can know the Lord. How great that is! Hosea is showing how great a privilege it is to know the Lord but by that one piece of punctuation! - Let us press on to know him. If you read last weeks Verse of the Week segment, you know that I made an emphasis of "Just Keep Swimming". Hosea didn't say... just keep strolling down the beautiful tree shaded, wild flower dotted lane. He said "press". To me that gives me the idea that Hosea understood that life can be hard. And complicated. And messy. And it takes work. Press. Push. Keep going. - He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming rains in early spring. Ok, so seriously. How great is this. Sit back for a minute and think of a day that you've lived that the sun did not rise. Obviously, I'm drawing a big huge blank. And the point is that God is that consistently faithful. He WILL respond to us. We can be sure of it because that is who God is. Hello!! That's awesome. :-) Man, I love this verse! And God is good. He knows that I'm in a time in my life where I'm pressing toward him. It's definitely not a stroll, and because he's faithful, and he's consistent, He drops verses like this into my life right when I need it as encouragement. And as a reminder to just keep swimming!! I hope that you have a great Monday! Keep pressing and rest in his consistent faithfulness today! Ok, so. The menu this week is going to be pretty scarce. We're never positive what Aaron's schedule is going to be like and on top of that, Emmy is going to Vacation Bible School this week in the evenings. I'm pretty sure our schedule will be completely conflicting, so my plan is to throw dinners together on the fly. Is this a bad plan? Yes it is. But, I know for sure that I've got the groceries for the following: Chicken Nuggets Peanut Butter and Jelly Hot Dogs Grilled Cheese Macaroni and Cheese Turkey and Cheese Get the idea? Yeah. It's going to be one of those weeks. Don't judge. This is real life folks. Even I'm allowed a menu like this once in a while. If we all make it through this week alive and with minor injuries and a shred of sanity, then I'll have considered it a success. Ok, so onto this verse of the week. I used it in a blog post this last week, but I felt that it was going to be appropriate for this long week ahead. It will serve as a reminder to me to "just keep swimming". Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap the harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9
Is this going to be a crazy week for you, too? If so, remember to keep going. It won't be easy. You might not get immediate results, or no results at all, but keep going. Because it's the right thing to do. And it's the best. Happy Monday! This weeks menu is fairly simple. I only had about $30 to work with to get some groceries. Thankfully, we have plenty of frozen meat. I'm able to draw from that to put together meals and then use grocery money for some staples. I planned through Thursday this week. We're still a little up in the air with finances, so when Friday comes, I'll assess where we're at and plan from there. Monday- Turkey Burgers. Tuesday- Tacos Wednesday- Chicken Parmesan. This never got fixed last week, so it automatically got bumped to this week. Thursday- Chicken N Noodles. So, pretty simple this week. Pretty easy meals that my family loves. Verse of the Week Over the past few weeks, my main prayer has been that I would gain knowledge and wisdom as I read and study my Bible. This desire is somewhat selfishly driven. (Maybe) There are so many people that I look up to that give good, sound, biblical advice and I want to know that I can do the same thing if someone seeks out my counsel. I hate feeling like my advice is fluff. I want to be confident that I know scripture and I know God and his character well enough that I can help people in the best way possible when they need it. I've learned over the last few months that sometimes just having good intention is not enough. I'm not saying that even If we're well intended, God won't use our willingness, but it doesn't hurt to know your stuff. And the best way to know it is to apply it in my own life. So, with all that being said, the verse I chose for this week is Psalm 111:10- The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
Happy Monday! It's June!! When did that happen!? I can't believe it's summer time already! We're officially on summer break. I was able to plan most every meal out of our pantry. I went and picked up a few groceries on Saturday and I spent about $15 dollars on the things we needed for the rest of the week. Menu planning was fairly straight forward this week. Nothing exciting... Monday- Chicken Nuggets. Good ole frozen white breast nuggets. Don't judge. My kids love them. Tuesday- Breakfast. Eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, and toast. Seriously one of my favorite meals! Wednesday- Chicken Pot Pie. This has been on the menu almost 3 weeks in a row and I'm just now getting around to actually fixing it. Maybe. Thursday- Chicken Parmesan. One of my favorite meals. So good. I'll serve it with spaghetti and my girls will eat it up! Friday- Pizza. I found a great pizza dough recipe last week, so now it's become much easier to make it myself! This crust is really flavorful and cooks up well. And it's easy which is always a plus for me. Not lots of extra money in the budget this week so I'm sure we'll be sticking to the menu as closely as possible. Verse of the Week So I posted this verse last week on the blog Facebook page, but it has struck such a chord with me this week that I decided that it should be the verse of the week as well. Romans 12:12- Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Short and simple, yet very powerful. This verse has been a constant reminder to be joyful, patient, and faithful in this time of waiting for our family. I hope this verse can be a reminder and encouraging to you this week as well! |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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