Saturday, July 28, 2012

New Bible Study: True Woman 101

I am going to reference a blog that I reference all the time, called Passionate Homemaking, that is hosting an 8 week bible study called True Woman 101. When I saw that Lindsay was doing this bible study on her blog and posting weekly videos, I thought it would be a great way to keep up with a bible study and have something to work at getting done every week.
It is a really important bible study as our culture is losing its value and importance of different gender roles. You can see it everywhere you look. And the media pretty much shoves it down our throats that men and women can do the same things, have the same roles, that women can dominate over men, and that we can't be told what to do. I think that a lot of this comes from years and years of women being controlled and domineered over in a poor way, as men were not "leading" in a way that was in line with Scripture. So the result is women fighting back and trying to reestablish themselves as dominant. But as this bible study shows us, the design that God has for women is so much more important than what we do, how we view ourselves, or how we feel about our roles. It has everything to do with putting God on display, and using our specially designed roles to honor Him, and to show the world what a beautiful relationship between husband/wife, and Christ/church looks like.
If you are interested, you can check out her blog here and see her introduction of the bible study. We are currently on week three, but I am a little behind.
There are weekly blog posts for each week of the study, along with a video panel of the two authors and other godly women who discuss the study. And oddly enough, the girl who hosts the videos and writes some of the blog posts on the True Woman website was on my floor at Moody Bible Institute! So that is so fun to see her pop up on my computer and talk about the bible study I'm doing!! Go Paula!!
So if you would like to join me on this adventure of an awesome new bible study, just leave a comment so I know you are on board! It's okay that we are on week three already. I'm a little behind too, and you can always catch up at truewoman.com with the videos and blogs or go to passionatehomemaking.com and catch up with Lindsay's church as they lead the bible study and discussions there!
Either way, it has already been an excellent bible study and I highly recommend it for you women who want to reclaim biblical womanhood to further the kingdom. It is so awesome how God fashioned us for a specific purpose that goes way beyond what we could ever think or imagine! I have been amazed at God's wisdom! So come on board if you are looking for a new bible study to challenge you!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Vacation with Littles



Recently, we had a week-long family vacation with my mom's side of the family. Every other year, my Grandma and Grandpa pay for a big house for us all to stay in for a week. We are spread out across the country, and don't really get to see each other, especially since my sister moved to Colorado and we moved to Oklahoma. It is a great time of bonding, catching up with each other, seeing each others kids, doing stuff together as a family, and relaxing. Relaxing. That's a relative term when you have 3 small children. In the past, these vacations had been pretty relaxing. We got sleep. So that's what I expected this time. And although there were moments of relaxation and sleep, it was not what I had expected.
Towards the end of the trip, I got on the computer to look at one of my favorite blogs, Passionate Homemaking, and ironically, the post that was up was Summer Vacationing with Kids. I wish I had read this post before we had left. The last trip we went on, we had an enormous house because we were expecting my uncle and aunt and their 10 kids and then they couldn't come. So we had extra rooms and only 2 kids. This time, we had a house that fit the amount of people who came, and that included fold out couches out in the open. Not too ideal for kids who need to go to bed early. We actually got a room with a couch that had a fold out bed in the room, so we thought that would be perfect. But Judah had never slept in a real bed before, and now he was going to sleep with Maddy as well. Mistake #1. We were going to bring the pack and play, but we ended up running out of room. It took Judah about an hour or more to fall asleep each time he needed to nap or go to sleep for the night! It was exhausting. He kept getting up and coming out, talking to Maddy, and taking forever to fall asleep. One night he got to sleep as late as 11! And then the next day, he was exhausted and a mess. He did manage to take some 3 hour naps though, to catch up on lost sleep. One morning he woke up because he fell out of bed, poor guy!
So, we ended up shuffling Maddy around between her cousins fold out beds, put Judah's mattress on the floor and he slept there in our room, and Ruth slept in her bed in our bathroom. Gotta do what you gotta do!
So, all in all, it was a fun trip. I just wasn't expecting the ordeal it was to get the kids to sleep. And the frustration of them getting woken up. And melting the next day. It is exhausting as a parent when your kids or you don't get enough sleep. I guess I just wish I had different expectations going in to the trip. Which is why you need to read the aforementioned blog post before you go on vacation with your small kids!! It makes things so much smoother when we know what we're in for!!
Also, think through the sleeping situation before you leave and make up different scenarios that could work. That way you are not locked into one situation that has to work. Even if you are all in one hotel room, there are different options. We are doing this at the end of the month, and I'm already trying to figure out the best possible solution!!
When you go on vacation as a mom, you don't get away from mom responsibilities. Unless you are in a high class resort and literally have people waiting on you. But we were in a house, so laundry, dishes, cleanup, taking care of kids, and cooking still had to be done. One of my favorite things that was said in that blog post is that it's called a family trip, not a vacation. That is so true.

I hope this didn't sound super negative!! We really did have fun, but I guess it did shine through that the sleeping arrangements were pretty stressful! But you just have to roll with the punches I guess and not let things you can't control get you too down!! Try to enjoy those little sweet moments when you are on vacation and not let lack of sleep get you down! Needless to say, I'm so glad to be home with my kids sleeping in their own beds!!

Head on over to Alicia's Homemaking, one of my favorite blogs, to read more about people's fun new adventures!! 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Creamy Corn and Zucchini

I made this wonderful little number for our church 4th of July barbeque!! Right when I saw the picture of it in a magazine, I bookmarked it in my mind to make it for the 4th of July. And it delivered!! After I put all the ingredients together, I couldn't figure out if I was suppose to serve it hot or cold. But I put it in the fridge until serving time. I thought I was suppose to serve it warm, but it was so hot that night that I didn't want to warm it up. And I'm so glad I didn't! It tasted really good cold and went really well with other barbeque food! But just beware, this is suppose to serve 8 people, and it looks like 8 people could take about 2 bites. The full amount filled less than half of a small serving bowl. So if you are feeding more than 4-6 people, I would double it. Enjoy!!

Creamy Corn and Zucchini
Kraft Foods
Food and Family

2 Tbs. Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup Kraft Mexican style shredded four cheese with a Touch of Philadelphia (I just used Mexican Cheese from Aldi's!!)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the dressing in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add vegetables; cook and stir 8 to 10 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in cheese and sour cream; cook on medium heat 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and mixture is heated through, stirring frequently.
3. Top with bacon and cilantro.

Drizzle with a squeeze of fresh lime juice before serving. 


Like I said, it appears that you would serve this warm, but it tasted great cold, and if you are eating outside when it's really hot, it might be a good idea to serve it cold!! It's very tasty and flavorful!!





Happy Summer!!