Wordless Wednesday

80* on March 31st, in Iowa, after a long cold-brutal winter.  I see that as a true gift from God.  

(Yes, I was driving while capturing such gift).

Hosanna!

Today at church we sang the song "Hosanna" by Paul Baloche.  I have heard this song many times, but today the lyrics really sank in, and I felt as though it was just me and the Lord and I could truly praise Him and lift up words of worship.

It served as a reminder to begin my day with Him with prayer and devotion.  To begin our day strong and fearless!  To welcome Him in, to let our light shine.

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You, we turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You, we long for You
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

Hear the sound of hearts returning to You, we turn to You
In Your Kingdom broken lives are made new, You make us new
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away  

I got to thinking about my favorite Easter hymns.  The hymns that give you goosebumps and truly convey the glory behind the resurrection of Jesus.  Mine are: "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and "Crown Him With Many Crowns".  The hymns that shout "God is not dead, nor does He sleep!"  I love contemporary worship, but am so excited for traditional hymns this Easter!

In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms

Finally time to catch up on my book reviews!  I actually read this book the first week of March and am just finally sitting down to post my review.  I first heard about this book shortly after it was released in early 2009.  Actually, it was released in April of 2009, the first month that I officially began staying at home with Matthew (post-maternity leave).  I happened to see Dr. Laura interview with Meredith Vieira and Katie Couric.  I found it very impressive that Dr. Laura was able to hold her own during interviews with two very successful and well-known working women.  Note: Dr. Laura was a SAHM, and also a working mom, but she worked at night after her son was in bed.  Reading her book, I think she may have survived on NO sleep before her son was in school!

I would call this book more of a collection of Dr. Laura's thoughts, as well as the thoughts of her listeners.  They are thoughts of encouragement and serve as a reminder that being a stay-at-home-mom is something to be proud of. Sometimes I think that people view SAHMs' as living the "easy" life.  When I meet someone new and we get to talking "work" and the "what do you do?" question arises, I find myself saying "I stay at home with my son, but I... teach skin care for Mary Kay/kept my CPA license active and do taxes/insert anything to be "proud" of here".  Like I needed to justify my decision or be something more important.

What I loved about this book is that Dr. Laura reminds us that we are so blessed to have the opportunity to be at home and raise our children and make our home a release.  She reminds us that we are lucky to have men that support us in that role, and to remind us how important it is that we make our man's life easier.  I personally love that when Jon gets home at night he can totally focus his energy on Matthew.  Though, many times I feel like he gets more done around the house than I ever do (like... he can have this place picked up and clean in an hour, it takes me all day)!

It was Dr. Laura's intent to teach SAHMs to (taken from the inside flap of the book):

• hold your head high and deal with naysayers;
• see the benefits of being home not only for your children but also for your marriage;
• understand the changes you see in yourself;
• realize that the sacrifices you endure now will make for lasting bonds and a stronger family, in addition to a more cohesive community.

I know that there are so many families out there where the mom has to work for the family to survive and I 100% respect that.  Have we made sacrifices for me to give up my income? No.  No sacrifices. I wouldn't trade raising my babies for anything!  Changes? Yes.  Big changes, and have learned to live without some of the "little luxuries" (but, that's where my LOVE for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University comes in to play).  I stand firm in saying that if my family needed me to work outside of the home, before our children are school age, in order to make sure food was on the table, a roof was over our head, and clothes were on our backs I'd be out that door at the crack of dawn every morning to bring in the necessary income.  I believe God has truly blessed our family, and loved the encouragement of this book. I would recommend this as a read to all mommies out there!

Cottage Cheese

I know.  Kind of a gross title.  But, today, I am baffled by cottage cheese.

The last couple of days Matthew has been SO picky about eating, crying at almost every meal.

One: He wants to be a big boy and feed himself.  We let him try, but barely any food makes it to his mouth.  Our solution has been to let him hold a bowl and spoon and think he's feeding himself while we ensure that he does get enough into his mouth to receive proper nourishment.

Two: Seems like if we dip anything in cottage cheese, he will eat it.  Turkey dogs, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, etc.  I'm completely baffled.

Is it teething?  His one-year molars are almost all the way through, and there are two teeth coming in on the bottom as well as more swollen gums.  I'm wondering if because the cottage cheese is cold it makes everything else tolerable.

Anyone have any creative ideas that they can offer to make meal time a bit more pleasant around here, and possibly not always involve cottage cheese? 

Worship

I am working on a Matthew update, it's in progress.  In the meantime, a good friend of mine sent this link to me last night.  It is so convicting and moving, and in a word - incredible.  Take five minutes out of your day, and feel this message.

Prayer Request

Please pray for the Lozada family.  Their son, Matthew, joined Jesus in heaven over the weekend.  He was fighting a battle against cancer, read his story here.

Wildtree Was Love at First Bite...

At the end of January I was invited to a Wildtree Tasting Party by a friend of mine.  I hadn't seen this friend since my corporate America days, so I jumped at the opportunity to visit with her - and let's be honest - I love to eat.

You can read up on the products here.  Briefly, they are all natural products that make cooking easy (especially for those of us that seriously lack creativity in the kitchen).  The products are also produced in a peanut-free facility.  At this point, the peanut thing is not a concern in our household, but it is important to me when I know that other people's children will be over or I may be cooking a meal for another family.  And, with the little ones, you just never know.

What I LOVE is that these products are preservative free and all natural (no artificial coloring).  I am always afraid that I am trading health for convenience.  I know that we can shop in the "Health Market" at the grocery store, but I was amazed to find that even organic products have some questionable preservatives in them.  And, given that the closest Trader Joe's is in Minnesota, I'm sold on Wildtree.  It seems affordable (yes, more expensive than the preservative/chemical filled alternative) to me, especially if you join the "Culinary Club".

My review of the products I have tried:

• Grapeseed Oil (in natural, butter, and basil pesto)
• Sauteed onions and other veggies in the natural or butter - tasted so fresh
• Dipped bread in the basil pesto flavor - to die for
• Grilled cheese sandwiches in the butter flavor (instead of using butter) - amazing
• Kids Cheeze
• Used only for elbow pasta so far - the directions on the package yielded a very runny sauce - need some work on this!
• Alfredo Extraordinaire
• This was fantastic as a dip for bread, or as a topping to elbow macaronni
• Hearty Spaghetti Sauce Blend
• Love this!  Just mix with diced tomatoes.  Very flavorful and you only need one tbsp/can of tomatoes. 
• Used for a pasta dish and lasagna - big hit!
• Fiesta Salsa Mix
• Yum. Yum. Yum.  This is another product that you just mix directly with a can of diced tomatoes.  
• Best when refrigerated for a couple of hours because then the spices have really taken over! 
• Guacamole Mix
• We made this and ate it in one sitting!  I can't say enough about this - but I love guacamole.  This guacamole tastes like it was made table side at Dos Rios!
• Taco Seasoning Blend  
• Very authentic taste (as if I'm a Mexican food expert).  It just tasted great, had a good kick to it, and was (re)fresh(ing).
• Wheat Flax Seed Beer Bread - I liked this better than the Tastefully Simple version, but who doesn't love beer bread?
• Brownies and Pound Cake - both were tough not to eat in one sitting.

I plan to do my menu planning for the rest of March based on some of these products.  Each product link provides great recipe ideas!  The only problem I am running in to, is which products to add to my collection next!  I earned almost $100 in free product from my party, so in the pantry waiting to be sampled are: Just Like Mom's Meatloaf Mix, Hearty Morning Granola Mix and Wicked Good Slow Cooker Sauce.

Random thoughts...

Thoughts on blogging...

Do any of my blogger friends out there (ahem... Heidi) have any good recommendations on blog setup resources for me?  I'm not crazy about my current "look" and still want to stick to three column, but want to be able to change fonts, colors, etc and the current template that I uploaded is preventing me from doing that!  Everyone always has the cutest blogs (ahem... Kari) and I want in on the fun.

Thoughts on Girl Scout Cookies

Why do they have to taste so good?  Why can't I stop eating them?  Profound, I know.

Thoughts on faith

On a more serious note, our church is having a sermon series on The Prodigal God.  My sister and I had the opportunity to hear the author, Timothy Keller, speak at "The Leadership Summit" simulcast this past fall.  Two things really hit home when Keller spoke.  One, we do not obey the Lord because we are seeking a reward.  We obey the Lord because of what He has already done.  Two, God has an extravagant love for us.  We are reckless in our sin, and He still invites us back to the feast.  To salvation.

This past week, the sermon focused on Luke 15, and the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, and briefly touched on the parable of the prodigal son.  I have to say now, that I was feeling convicted during this sermon.  However, before we get there, our pastor pointed out that in all three parables, something is lost.  "The sheep because of foolishness," "The coin is lost because of thoughtlessness," and "The son is lost because of willfullness [selfishness and pride]". 

So the sheep, he just doesn't even know he is separated from the shepherd.  Ever been there? Know someone who is there? I know I have been there, completely oblivious to the fact that I am separated from my shepherd (age 15 - 21?).

The coin, it is lost because someone "mishandled it".  Ever been there?  Know someone who is there? I am blessed to say, I have not.  This is not my story.  But Jesus tells this parable to the tax collectors, sinners and the Pharisees because His people are there; have been there.

Now the son, the "good" son if you will, is separating himself from the father willingly.  As our pastor put it, "Because of selfishness, because of pride, he says to his father, 'I don’t want to live according to your rules. I want to live according to my rules. So give me my share of the inheritance, and I’m going to live life on my own terms.' And so he willfully separates him from the father."  Been there?  Know someone who is there? 

What I found during this sermon, that I never had paid attention to before was the fact that in each parable someone is searching for the lost item until it is found.  No rest for the weary, the sheep needs to be found and the coin must be reclaimed.  So, where did I feel convicted then?

Here:

"...Spiritual revival. But it’s a quest to find God. It’s our job, it’s religion’s job to help us find God. But I guarantee you, the moment you think you have found God, most certainly you have not...

And the problem is those who think they have found God will look at the sinners, those who haven’t, and say, “I found God. Why can’t you? If you just try my technique, if you just look at my religion, if you just do the things that I do, you can find God too.” The Pharisees thought they found God. They thought they found God in their study of the scriptures... 

So they look over at the sinners who are hanging out with Jesus and they say, “We found God. Why can’t you? If you would just be more like us, if you would just do the things that we do, you could find God too. If you made just a small effort, then you could find God as well.” And the tragedy of Luke 15 is those who think they’re the closest to God are just as far away from God as the sinners and the tax collectors, just for different reasons.

...And then the most penetrating question I had to ask myself, dressed in my nice suit, am I a Pharisee or am I a sinner?

The good news is, no matter how you answer that, remember Jesus came to seek and to save all who were lost. He’s the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for you, His sheep. Amen."

I have picked and pulled pieces of this amazing message, if you would like to read the whole thing, e-mail me and I will then send you a link to the sermon online.  This message has been on my mind since I heard it, and it has shown me that I need to spend more time with the Lord.  I do not want to be a Pharisee. I know that I am a sinner, and I want to live in obedience because of what He has done. And I want His light to shine so that others can see He is in "relentless search" for them, too.  This one is heavy on my heart this week!