Coffee for Breakfast

1. Don’t let others define you. Believe what God’s word says you are. 2. Stop trying to control outcomes. God is in control. 3. Just do the next (right) thing. Listen to God’s direction. 4. Love the ones who love you. Love the ones who don’t even harder. 5. Forgive freely and abundantly, as God forgave you. 6. Don’t mistake your forgiveness as permission for people to control you. 7. Just because you forgive someone completely doesn’t require you to keep company with them. 8. Forgive yourself also. 9. Always trust God. 10. You aren’t required to trust everyone else. Use wisdom. 11. Don’t share your passwords. 12. Discernment isn’t a gift to be used as a weapon. God’s word is our sword. 13. People lie about others sometimes, but their character usually doesn’t lie. 14. People are known by their fruits. 15. Education is available to those who seek to be educated. 16. Humility will always be more teachable than arrogance. Stay humble. 17. Not everyone is ca...

It's that time of year...again, except this time will be the last time. I'm planning for our last year of homeschooling. My youngest will be starting her senior year. I have many mixed emotions about this. I've known this day would be arriving. I've scrambled my brain with thoughts of, "What will I do with myself when we graduate her?" amongst other frantic ponderings. This has been my life for 20 years. Twenty. TWENTY!!! I have a hard time wrapping my head around this number. Thankfully, I have put some thought into transitioning into another stage in life. Of course, she will still need me. She graduates at 17. Since I have four other children who are grown ups, and they still need me, I know she will also. I'm not completely sad. I'm only somewhat sad. It's actually exciting. I'm excited to see her mature over the next year. I'm even excited to see myself mature. My plan is to enjoy every last moment of teaching my daughter at home...

I have a new addiction...a podcast that my oldest daughter introduced to me. I started listening to Up and Vanished about midway through the season. I frantically binged until I caught up to the current episode.  Now, the season is over. What will I do with myself now on Monday evenings? Seriously. This podcast gripped me from the beginning. Then, just when you thought you had everything figured out, it took a new twist. This is true crime investigation at its best. The most interesting part of this entire podcast is the fact that it played a crucial role in the sovlving/conclusion of a 12 year old cold case. The podcast stirred the pot of an unsolved murder in a small town in Georgia. Questions were raised and people came forward to tell their stories. I'm continuing to follow this case. Arrest(s) were made, a gag order enforced, and more questions raised than answers. The trial should be coming up soon. If you're in to this sort of thing, I highly recommend Up and Van...

A goal I've had for a while is to create a space within my home to truly relax and take a break. I've attempted this at various times in various ways to no avail. Maybe the reason for my unsuccessful attempts was simply the fact of having five children who were homeschooled. This fact can make alone time and space challenging. Of course we had daily rest periods, but a true space of relaxation was not my reality. Through a lot of self discovery and contemplation, I've accepted the fact that I am a true introvert. I love people. Especially my people. I'm the happiest mama in the world when I have the opportunity to have all of my children under one roof. Since they are grown, or almost grown, this is becoming a rare treat. On the other hand though, I've discovered that large groups of people, or a lot of activity exhausts me. For my extroverted counterparts, the above mentioned may energize you. I'm not that person. Activity that involves a lot of other people,...

I'm trying to be more consistent in menu planning. Not only does it save money, it truly saves time.  I try to make my plan over the weekend for the upcoming week. I try to shop my own food supply before making my grocery list. This one thing alone has made all the difference in sticking to my budget. It also causes me to be more creative in my meal planning which also makes the whole daily-ness of cooking much more enjoyable. For example, I only need to spend about $40-$50 this week because I'm using up what I already have on hand. I've planned to try a new recipe this week also.  My biggest money savings this week will come from a couple of meatless meals this week. Monday- Beans and Mexican cornbread✔ This will be our meatless meal of the week. Cornbread will just have some corn, jalapeños, and cheddar mixed in. Tuesday- Cheese Enchiladas, rice, and refried beans✔ This is the new recipe to try this week. I will be making homemade enchilada sauce. I will use a porti...

I've been enjoying my kitchen lately. Unusual in this hot weather, but we have to eat. I've pulled out the crockpot a few times. I also pulled out the bread maker. So far we had crockpot roasted chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts, and crusty bread the first night. I then tossed the bones back in the crockpot with a few veggies and filled with water. This slow cooked overnight to make some awesome chicken stock. After freezing an ice cube tray full, a pint jar, and two half pint jars, I added the rest to my large Dutch oven. I sautéed onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in a little olive oil, then added that to my stock. I threw in most of what was left of the deboned chicken and a half bag of egg noodles. Topped off with some salt, pepper, and a little Italian seasoning, this is a wonderfully flavorful chicken noodle soup. So much is leftover after a Sunday lunch with more of our crusty bread, we will probably have soup again...twice. I still have some deboned chicken that will ma...

Daydreamy that is... As my husband and myself are approaching a certain age that is not considered youngsters, we find ourselves thinking hard and often about our future. We feel like now is the time (even though younger would have been better!) to really consider how we would like to live our older years together. We are young enough, and healthy enough, to make our future comfortable...if we work on it NOW. We have some lofty goals to meet. We have moved over fourteen times during our marriage. Most moves were job transfers. Because of the temporary timeline of some of these jobs, we made a decision to rent rather than buy. Renting was necessary until we were in a place we would "settle". Since we have been in our current area for about 5 1/2 years, I guess we are staying. We now find ourselves at a point in life where most of our peers may be paying off their mortgages, or close to it. We find ourselves just beginning. We are finally ready to buy. We have locat...

I was one year old in 1970. This  was the year our most cherished family tradition began for me. Of course I can’t remember that particular  annual family reunion, but several during that decade ar e etched in my heart memories forever.  Each  year the  entire family on my Daddy’s  side, gathered in  the small Texas town of  Stephenville .  My grandmother,  Mamma w , only saw her extended family ,  the third weekend in June, annually. As much as I loved actually attending the reunion ,  part of the excitement for me as a young girl, was the long road trip itself.   Mammaw  always rode wi th us. One of our traditions was that I would always sit in her lap during the  car ride. This was long before the requirement of  seat belts . The most memorable trips included a stops along the way. One year we stopped in  Glenrose , Texas  at Dinosaur Valley. I w ill always treasure the snapshots fr...

I've been enjoying: Having my husband home  Lots of iced tea  Fresh veggies from our local produce stand  Fireworks displays  Air conditioning!!!  Audiobooks (Whistling Past the Graveyard, currently)  Up and Vanished (podcast) This last week has made summer live up to it's name. Ive been daydreaming of a mountain trip.  Lazy mornings, sipping coffee on a cabin porch in Colorado sounds heavenly. Beach smeach.... but my daughter's would beg to differ. They are looking forward to a birthday beach party next month. I know we will enjoy the beach as much as the mountains. As long as I'm with my people, I'm right where I want to be. Soaking up this season, learning more about life, and enjoying all the little things...because someday I'll realize they were the big things. The rest of this week, I plan to work on transitioning my spring wardrobe to a more appropriate summer wardrobe. My spring clothes have proven to not be cool enough for the ...

Today began with coffee, as usual. Then I helped my husband get our huge yard back in order. He is such a hard worker, if I don't help him, he will spend every day this summer forgetting how to relax. Relaxing is at the top of my agenda. After I put a new routine in order, I'm hopeful that we will make a lot of fun, laid back memories. Just a few things I want to make happen over the next couple of weeks: Homemade ice cream...I bought an unused (still in the box) electric ice cream maker last year that never was used.   Keeping a large gallon of lemonade/tea made at all times  Picnic at the lake and swimming or fishing   Fireworks show  Produce stand  Popsicles for the grandkids   Lots of journaling and self care (because that is my current stage)  Finishing my 4th of July quilt (from last year) I also managed to make a menu plan for the next couple of weeks. Breakfast plan is to keep it simple. I'll just rotate bet...

The first day of summer, 2017... After reading through my old blog posts, I decided it's time to write the next chapter in my life. Upon realizing that today is the first official day of summer, I thought I would share My Summer Story, 2017. Day one is all about catching up on necessary chores and errands. Hopefully today's prep work will allow some relaxed summer fun for the next couple of weeks. I've not put enough thought into how I would like to spend the next  90ish days of summer in an intentional way. So, tonight I would like to make a bucket list. Life has been good but busy. Summer, you were sneaky this year. I don't plan to let you slip out of sight and transition into fall before I make the most of you.

I decided on a whim to resurrect this little space today. I have dinner to prepare, a long trip to take in the early morning, and too many undone chores...but I decided to sign in after almost three years. Then I decided that right now would be the perfect time to write a new post. I'm not completely sure I will keep all of my older posts. I'm considering a complete makeover. My older posts are true thoughts of the person I was three or more years ago. A lot has changed in my life since then. I'm off the cook the aforementioned dinner before my poor husband tells the world that I made him survive on crackers all day. I'll be back with a real update soon.

Even when I finally track you down, I know in my heart you're still lost. How I wish you were a tiny little boy still hanging onto my leg. Sometimes I thought you'd never be able to be without me. You had the worst separation anxiety. You were an absolute mama's boy. It was so hard back then, I thought. I sometimes felt like I could never have a break. You loved me so much and that was the thing that just melted my heart. Now my heart just breaks. When you were small I had such a fear of losing you in a crowd. I watched you like a hawk in the grocery store or the mall. I kept my eyes locked on you as I shopped. I've always had to fight away worry. When you were eight years old, we did actually lose you at Six Flags. I had been using that eagle eye that mamas have all day long. I felt that I couldn't take my eyes off of any of the five of you kids all day. Then, in such a small moment of time, I looked away. When I started counting kids again, one, two, three, f...

The Shepherd loves to watch His sheep, And I, the mom, can get some sleep. My days of anguish, stress, and fear Have proven to be too much to bear. Into His hands, I've given all, I trust in Him to break this wall        of hurt, distrust, and shame. I fully trust to one day see        the cherished son who was born to me, Call upon our Shepherd's Name.

I have a cute little friend who I lost touch with several years ago, when we moved away from my hometown. Actually then she was just a little girl. A playmate to my oldest daughter and a week long love interest of my son. LOL I distinctly remember her coming to my son's costume birthday party dressed as a princess. :) We moved away and have been gone for lots of years now. Facebook reintroduced us. She is now a grown up married lady! How time flies. As we reconnected through a few text messages, she told me the thing that she remembered most about me was how I always made a weekly menu plan. She thought it was a very weird thing to do. LOL Seems to me that I was way ahead of my time. Menu planning seems to be a very popular topic online nowadays. Having five children at home all day everyday made it necessary to plan meals. Who knows, my friend Summer may be finding menu planning a little less weird now that she is cooking for her own new family. This is mine for th...

  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Gal. 5:13-16 This verse strikes a very raw nerve in me this morning. I wonder if one of those desires of the flesh might be a human feeling of being understood? Do we bicker, argue, and gossip because we feel like no one understands us? I hear it and I say it. "They don't even know me. They couldn't possibly understand my pain. They would understand my reaction if they only knew what I've been through." EXCUSES. I think we all have them. We excuse our own behaviors. We know how our own heart aches. We excuse our own words to others. We know what we were try...

"Do what you can with what you have." These words have been on my mind all week. Especially when I come up with excuses for not doing certain things. "I don't have (fill in the blank) to do this or that." "I'll do it later, when I have more (time, money, etc.)." Or one of the most common... "I'll start (fill in the blank) on Monday." Monday comes and goes, week after week. Time moves forward. I get older with each passing day. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. I want to be a part of this new thing God is doing in my life. I want to be fully aware of His presence working in my life. I want to obey His words to my heart. "Do what you can with what you have." I believe the time is now. No more procrastinating. God says He is doing ...

I've been on a quest (a long drawn out quest) for a healthier lifestyle. I won't pretend to have it conquered. Not even close! On the other hand, we have started to make some positive changes. We are attempting to eliminate all processed foods. This is going very well. I say attempting because we will continue to use things previously purchased. I grocery shop on a very tight budget and can not bring myself to throw some items out. I'm happy to say we don't actually buy very many processed groceries to start with. This change has been fairly easy as long as we are eating at home. The only challenge has been eating out (very seldom) and fast food (daughters, quite often). The choices may be limited at fast food places, but they usually do have a few items that could be considered "healthy". I have chronic thirst. I am known to have something to drink at all times! I know this could signal a health problem or dehydration. (I'm working on it!) The ma...

The website I can't get enough of this week is... 100 days of real food Oh my goodness! If you want to eat real or whole foods, this is a good place to start. Having been a "whole foods family" in the past, I have been able to skim some of the how-to get started articles while learning a lot of new information at the same time. Eating healthy can be a challenge at times. Mostly getting started is a challenge. Once you make up your mind and stock up on a few staple items, eating healthy can become second nature. You do have to be willing to research, experiment, and if you aren't a gazillionare...you have to be willing to cook from scratch! Some successful recipes I have tried this week: egg salad (I know... this is simple. I have fresh eggs from our new chickens though, and had to list it.) banana pancakes with maple syrup (yum! these were a hit and I froze the leftovers for an easy breakfast later this week) Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (wonderful! I...