Hell, Fire and Brimstone

In February, Chad and Mitchell attended our church men's retreat and it is a tradition with this retreat to hold a food contest. All the work on the recipe and presentation HAS to be completed by the MEN only. The boys were proud of thier accomplishment... Mitchell created the food and Chad created the presentation! Being that both the boys love hot stuff and Chad's an electrician, the combination of the food and presentation was just perfect for them!

 



Jalapeno Chicken Wraps

1 lb. bnls sknls chicken breasts

1T garlic powder

1T onion powder

1T pepper

2 tsp season salt

1 tsp paprika

1 small onion, cut in strips

15 jalapeno peppers halved and seeded

1 lb bacon, halved widthwise

Cut chicken into 2" x 1.5" strips. In large Ziploc bag combine garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, seasoned salt and paprika. Add chicken to bag and coat chicken. Place a strip of chicken and a strip of onion in each jalapeno half and wrap the jalapeno in 1 strip of the halved lengthwise bacon. Secure with toothpick. Grill uncovered, over indirect medium heat for 18-20 minutes or until chicken juices runs clear and bacon is crisp, turning once. Serve with ranch or blue chees dressing.

In which I catch up on a few posts...

So, being the lax blogger that I am, I have taken many a photo over the last few months with grand intentions of blogging and here I am mass producing all those ideas in one compilation post!  Well, I console myself with the lame thought… “at least I am getting them on the blog then eventually in the blog book I will create for our memories”…. Uh yah…. how much better it would be just to do the posts at the relevant time!  In my mind I often think I have to write a lengthy post to go with the photos when in reality many of the blogs I read often just do a quick line or snippet under the photo which captures the content of the post!  Well, no one ever told me I talk to LITTLE, that’s for sure!  I guess that translates into writing also.

Here goes the snippets…..

 

 

52

52 pounds in 52 weeks, crazy how it ended up like that.  Just a little update as I hit my year mark in this weight-loss journey.  On April 4, 2012 I gave myself one year to lose 60 pounds.  I simply wanted to work slowly but faithfully to attain this goal. I recognized immediately something I already knew in my heart, I have no discipline outside of the Lord’s strength.  Left to myself I would continue down the same path for years to come but giving my many weak moments of wants and desires to Him and drawing from His strength to run “just one more step” transformed this process entirely.  I have tried many “diets” over the years but I didn’t want my life to be about a “diet” I wanted it to be about a change in who I was and the choices I made regarding food and the idol it was.  I didn’t want to have to deprive myself for months on end only to then binge my way to gaining the weight back when I was all done. 

 I had never been successful at losing more than 20-25 pounds at any one time previously and I knew the methods I had used before I did not want to employ again.  I also realized that I needed to tackle how I looked at food and what I thought it “accomplished” for me.  I found very quickly that cooking food, consuming food and most of what falls between was an obsession for me.  I spoke my love with food and so felt the need to consume what I loved, of course.  I have learned that I can still speak love with my food; I just don’t need to consume it at the same level in which I love.  I can still connect with my family or guests around the table and it is not the Chicken Carbonara or the Chocolate Town pie that is drawing us together, but rather it is the interactions, conversations and genuine desire to know the person across the table that makes the connections. 

 I have learned that “firsts” are good and to savor what I have rather than always looking forward to the next thing.   Wow, this has been a lesson I have applied to many areas of life!  Instead of pondering ahead to what I will put on my plate for the second go around, I am relishing what it is I have in front of me. In all of life it has helped me view what I already possess as valuable rather than looking for the next best thing.  I have also come to realize that tomorrow is another day. I can say “no” to something today and allow myself to consider it tomorrow or maybe the next day.  If I still desire a sweet treat after “thinking it over” for a couple days then it is definitely time to treat myself!  Oh how sweet and far more satisfying it is when I have waited even just a day to consume it, it truly feels like a reward! I also know that I can enjoy every part of a meal I make as long as I am wise to put the appropriate portions of the right foods on my plate.  It really does work to fill half your plate with veggies and leave smaller areas for your protein and starch.  Eating most of your veggies first truly does help satisfy you and leaves much less room in your tummy to tempt you to go back for seconds after you’ve at the rest of your plate.   There are many other “little things” that have made “big differences” for me that I can tackle in another post.

Obviously another big part of this journey has been the exercise!  Shocking to even see myself type…but running has become my friend and a joy in my life.  Nothing fancy or fast, again just “steady eddy” is my name. J The past few weeks I have added in quite a bit of Jillian Michaels videos and WOW has she kicked my tail, but I am loving it!  What I have loved the most is to see so many ladies start a new journey for themselves with running because they have a friend who was able to do it so they thought, “yes maybe I can”!  An amazing example is my dear friend Sara….. she also started counting her calories with the Lose It app and began the C25K program and is down 30 pounds in 8 weeks… AMAZING!!!

My journey is not over yet, I still need to meet my original goal….8 pounds to go. I know that I will go beyond that 8 pounds, but just where I will land I am uncertain of at this point.  I do feel certain I can attain 70 pounds but look ahead to possibly 80… who knows!  I am so grateful for where the Lord has brought be on this journey so far and I look forward to where He will take me tomorrow.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

 Love,



Little Man

I know, I know… I am quite behind in my posts, especially about a little man who turned 6 last month!  What fun we had celebrating JD’s birthday, complete with a “SPAM-tastic” breakfast for dinner.  JD is Daddy’s true spam partner….hands down he loves the stuff!  Some of the other children will eat a slice here and there for breakfast when Daddy cooks it but JD will request a “SPAM-tastic” Saturday morning with Daddy.  Silly boy, he even chose it for his birthday dinner! 

Oh how we love our little man!  Yes, there are many days that are extremely challenging but there are many more days that are sweet, sweet, sweet!  God is growing and changing our little boy and we are reaping the benefits all the time. I love the precious relationship he has with his Daddy.  For JD, not one person on earth is he more connected to than Daddy. I cannot tell you how vital I think that is for every part of his development both emotionally and physically.  I know he recognizes Chad’s unconditional love for him and I so deeply appreciate how Chad has poured his heart and soul into our sometimes troubled little man.  He is longsuffering, patient and loving but oh so importantly, he is consistent

I love seeing JD grow into being able to play well with his siblings, especially his very patient older brother Will!   JD takes great joy in puzzles, Legos, KNEX, board games and anything to do with a sports ball….soccer, baseball, football, ping pong, golf, whiffle ball ….ANYTHING that involves a ball and a sport! He is doing fantastic in school and enjoys Kindergarten! He is an eager learner and is even doing a bit of a 1^st Grade workbook I got him and he loves it!

Isabelle wanted to do a little photo shoot for his birthday so we have some cute photos to share! We thank God for another precious year with our “number 5”!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Double Digit Midgets

We had the joy of celebrating the twins 10^th birthday last week!  I kept thinking really …. 10??!??  Ten is such a big number for me as a momma!  At this age sometimes I feel desperation to slow the hands of time as I have noticed over the years the speed at which 10 becomes 13 and then 13 becomes 16! While they are both growing independently in so many ways, I love it when they do something similar and I will hear one or the other say … “well we are twins”.  J

10 is a big deal around here for a few reasons.  You get to have a “friends” party, you get to go out to dinner with just momma and daddy and possibly the biggest of them all for a Honey….your first “cuppa”… cup of coffee that is!  Shelley in particular has been unabashedly anticipating her cup of coffee for many, many months now!  I am so thankful our machine did not disappoint for her, she absolutely LoVeD her cup! Poor Will on the other hand was a bit like his sister Isabelle in that the delicious steaming cup of coffee just did not meet all the big hype and they both could gladly go without.  Our tally is 2/2 now… Mitchell and Shelley are coffee lovers, Isabelle and Will, not so much!  JD is already talking about his cup of coffee he will get in oh …. 4 years … so hopefully the tie breaker will go to the “cuppa”!!

 I could still say about Will much of what I wrote about him on his 9^th birthday!  He is still faithful in his tenderness in response to instruction from us, he is always willing to work with rarely a complaint, he still LOvEs building all he can with KNEX and LEGOS!  He still constantly asks Daddy how he can help him or if he can work or build with him around the house, and his handwriting is still beautiful! He is the faithful caretaker of our dog Rocky, and he is growing stronger this winter as he hauls in wood almost every day for our fireplace.  He has come to love RC items, especially the helicopter and airplane he received over this last year for Christmas and birthdays.  He spent many hours mastering his helicopter before it met it’s demise and now he is mastering the RC plane he just received for his birthday.  Hands down, he still is one of the most longsuffering big brother anyone has ever met….someday JD will have the privilege of understanding what a gem he has in his older brother William.

 

Much is the same for Shelley also!  She is all girl, all the time and we love it! She has a deep love for horses and cooking, she loves spending hours listening to stories/books on CD while her imagination is living the story in her mind. She still so enjoys “playing out” those stories for hours on end with her siblings in their makeshift frontier home. She is still a faithful student and is loving her sewing and knitting instruction this year.  I can’t wait to post about some of her completed projects! Hands down she has the most beautiful penmanship of ANY of our children.  She still excels at helping me around the house and is always willing to do the next thing I might ask of her. She has become an excellent reader aloud as she has spent many hours reading to Will for school and JD for pleasure.  Still one of the best ways to pass the time for JD is to snuggle next to his big sis for a story time. Yes, she still loves being “little momma” and gets better at it each year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Would Rather

Some would gather money along the path of life,

Some would rather gather roses, and rest from worldly strife;

But I would rather gather children, from among the thorns of sin,

I would seek a golden curl, a freckled toothless grin.

For money cannot enter in the land of endless day.

And roses that are gathered soon will wilt away.

But oh, the laughing children, as I cross the sunset sea,

And the gates swing wide to Heaven. I can take them in with me!

 

Author Unknown

 

 

 



19

Celebrating 19 precious years married to my dearest and best friend. Thank you Lord.  

A fun side note.... I have officially been married as many years as I was not married!
Married at 19, married 19 years!

 

 

 

 

Photography

Isabelle wanted to try her hand at photography with a real camera so away she went!  She wanted to capture a quiet moment of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  She set up the Playmobile nativity, turned out the lights, and convinced her sweet, agreeable younger brother William to hold the flashlight for an unknown amount of time while she snapped countless photos. She enjoyed it immensely and got a shot she was happy with, a great learning experience!

40

I feel a little funny writing about this, but at the same time I wanted to simply remember this day as a motivating factor for myself and hopefully for others.  No, I’m not turning 40… yet (thankfully I still have 1 yr, 8 months  and 9 days before that happens… gee no counting here! J ) but I wanted to mark another big 40 in my life …. 40 pounds… gone!  I started this journey in early April and I gave myself 1 year to lose 60 pounds.  Even though I knew I had been seeing results over these last few months, I was still surprised to realize early this month that I was very close to reaching the 40 pound mark.  At first my goal was to make it through the holidays without gaining anything but then when I realized I was so close to such a big marker, my motivation grew and I was able to lose this last little bit and hit my 40 pound mark this past Saturday!! 

It is strange to be in this deep on my journey.  I am a different person, with different cravings and different motivations than I have ever had in my entire life. I still LOVE food, I still LOVE to cook food, I still show MY LOVE to others with food, I just don't "live to eat" anymore; rather, I try to simply "eat to live".  I still enjoy all the food I make, just much less of it.  I can also recognize now that exercise and daily life can go hand in hand. Running is something I now desire to do, always.  I am perusing a book right now titled Run Your Butt Off and one of the writers describes being “hooked on exercise” in the following way. 

“For a while – a long time, it seems – we only appreciate exercise when it is over.  We feel virtuous for having done it, and we’re glad we pushed ourselves out the door.  Whew. Check that off the day’s to-do list. But there comes a point when the actual “during” portion of exercise isn’t so bad, either.  You’re out there and you start running, and it feels much easier than you anticipated it would before you started. You feel like you’ve got a good stride going. In fact, it’s downright invigorating. It goes by quickly, and you’re sort of sorry it has to end. “

 When I began running this spring, I remember praying that I would just stick with this, stick with something that could make a difference.   The Lord graciously answered my prayers.  Now it is not a matter of sticking to it, but the simple fact that as someone who initially detested running, I now truly enjoy it.  As strange as it seems to type it, I think I can officially say … I am a runner. I am not a fast runner, I am not a long runner, but I run. The beauty is that anyone can run.  One thing I have learned over these months is that my view of who a runner is has been skewed.  I have always thought of running as this elite group of people who must be super- human in their desire, motivation and skill. What I have learned is that there is a vast gamut of runners out there.  Very definitely there are your “super-human amazing runners”, but there are also your overweight, clumsy, absolutely NOT athletic, slow runners out there and everything in between.    Another very special factor is that those who are amazing runners are extremely encouraging to those of us who definitely are not. Wow.  It has been a very sweet journey for certain.    

These last few months have also further revealed something special that I was aware of but have been blessed to experience to the fullest recently.  I am surrounded by encouraging and generous people who love me.  Family and friends who are generous with their words of love and encouragement and truly take joy in seeing you succeed.  WOW, what a treasure they are to me.  My biggest encourager has been my dear husband. God has used these last few years and in particular the last few months, to further reveal to me the depth of the man I am married to.   NEVER in all our years of marriage has he said a negative word about my weight, no matter where I have landed on the scale.  He has loved me as equally and fervently in recent years as he did almost 19 years ago when we said “I do”.   I cannot tell you the countless, (literally countless) times in the last few months that he has told me “I am so proud of you” as we kiss goodnight.  His words are true, honest and like gold to me. 

It is strange to be at a weight I haven’t seen in years.  To be in a size I haven’t worn since before Mitchell was born. This past Sunday I wore a dress, a full-fledged dress … something I haven’t done in probably 9 or so years….my girls were thrilled!  Over the years they have asked me why I don’t wear dresses and I simply had to say I didn’t feel comfortable in them.  I know I still have a bit of a journey left.  My initial goal of 60 pounds might change to 70, I don’t know.  I do suspect that these last 20 pounds will be harder than the first 40, but I am ready for the challenge.  Excel still more.

Love,

MARCH 2012

DECEMBER 2012

 (sorry for the crummy lighting)