Women of Faith Conference

I went to the Women of Faith conference this past weekend with my buzin cuzin, Sarah.  We had a blast!  Next year I want to take a whole group of women with me!  It was a fabulous weekend filled with messages of hope and love from God's Word by nationally known speakers & authors, powerful worship music, halarious drama sketches, and sharing the love of God in the midst of 13,000 sisters in Christ!

The sessions were so good; I took 16 pages of notes.  I won't attempt to reiterate all of them here, but I did want to share a few quotes and things.

Quote by Sheila Walsh, "You have not lived an unloved moment in your life."  -Wow, that is powerful!  I guess I have always known that to be true, but when she said it, it just hit me!

"God loves broken people.  We cannot fix ourselves.  We can trust God and give our life over to Him and He may still choose to not "fix" us or our problems.  So we must look through the window of our brokenness for the face of God.  He makes his power perfect in our weakness."

"He will cover you with his feathers, He will shelter you with His wings.  His faithful promises will be your shelter and armour."  -from Psalm 91

"In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart.  I have overcome the world."  -John 16:33

"We are not the good news = Jesus is!"

And so much more.  I encourage all you ladies to mark your calendars...the Indianapolis Women of Faith event for 2012 is the weekend of Aug. 24-25!

New Shrimp Recipe

Tried out a new shrimp recipe.  I was a little skeptical at first because of the combination of ingredients, but I was willing to try it out anyway because I've been in a cooking rut and I desperately needed to bring back some joy to my cooking.

I'm posting here because it was delicious!  My husband and 6 year old both liked it.  Hope you enjoy, too!

SHRIMP BASIL

2 1/2 T. olive oil
1/4 c. butter, melted
3 T. lemon juice
1 tsp. mustard
1 T. honey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. fresh basil leaves, minced
salt and pepper (I used quite a bit of black pepper)

pre-cooked shrimp (I used enough for 4 servings)
1 medium tomato (I used an Orange Tomato from my garden and it was so delicious and sweet and went really great in this dish)

whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Parmesan cheese

1.  Combine first set of ingredients and whisk together.  Add shrimp and chopped tomato.
2.  Boil water and cook the spaghetti noodles.
3.  Cook shrimp mixture in skillet on med. heat until shrimp is hot.
4.  Serve shrimp and sauce over noodles and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Gratitude for a Week at Family Church Camp

This week we went to Family Camp at the Wabash Park Free Methodist campground.  It was great!  I am so thankful for the opportunity to go and to be with our family and also to connect with a place that was significant in Kevin's growing-up years.  I am thankful to God for many things from this past week:

21. playing on the slip n slide with my kids
22. evening worship services with messages on "Followership" "
23.  being with my wonderful in-laws and the fact that spending time with them is a blessing and not a headache (unlike so many other people's experience with in-laws)
24.  time spent worshipping God through song
25.  all of the special people from the Free Methodist churches that I got to meet that have been long-time friends of Kevin's family

26.  God healing Kevin's ankle so he could walk, ride bikes, and play in the corn hole and softball tournaments
27.  hearing Pastor John Lane; wow, he is an incredibly gifted speaker
28.  Pastor John Lane's sermons on "Listening to God"
29.  a free carnival for the kids where they could ride all of the giant inflatables as many times as they wanted
30.  a wonderful kids program for my children to hear God's Word, make new friends, do fun games and crafts, and have fun playing

31.  Miss Emma and Miss Hanna who sacrificed their time this week to lead the children's programs; you ladies are a huge blessing! 
32.  me getting to see other adults interact with my children and show them Christ's love
33.  the cute couple who lived in the cottage with the star who gave us free popsicles each day; what a treat!
34.  my kids getting to spend some significant one-to-one time with their grandma and grandpa
35.  good food

36.  swing sets, playgrounds, and sprinklers
37.  the unlocked nursery building with air conditioning that we were able to go into one afternoon for some quiet play time to escape the heat outside
38.  beautiful and awestriking lighting storm
39.  the fact that the lights came back on quickly after the electricity went out during the evening worship service on Friday night
40.  Mom & Dad's hospitality and allowing us to crash for the night in their trailer when our tent (and everything in it) got drenched from the rain

41.  evidence of our children's healing and growth
42.  interceeding for them at the altar
43.  showers with clean water
44.  the Peruvian lunch that I got to go to and hear testimonies from a missionary couple who live in Lima, Peru
45.  God's grace

46.  four-square
47.  carpet ball
48.  God's perfect will
49.  God's creativity
50.  being a child of God

The Simple Woman's Daybook

A little exercise from http://thesimplewoman'sdaybook.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...
     it is a calm, hot, late evening, just when the sky begins to turn different colors.

I am thinking...
     that I really should be up packing for our camping trip tomorrow, but I am just too tuckered out from my Zumba workout tonight.

I am thankful...
     for a really helpful conversation today with an Occupational Sensory Therapist who specializes in working with children with history of neglect, abuse, and trauma.  It really makes me wonder; "Why did I not call her 6 months ago?!"

From the learning rooms...

     lego creations; pasta glued on construction paper in the shape of dinosaurs and butterflies; and a home-made game-set using plastic milk jugs
In the kitchen...
      there is still a mess left from cooking and eating dinner:  chicken wings, veggies, fries, and strawberry shortcake (the real kind with biscuts & milk)

I am wearing...

       my Zumba work out clothes

I am creating...
        a life book (scrapbook) for my daughter.  I actually got to go to a scrapbooking party this past Sat. night for 5 hours so I got a good start on it.

I am reading...

       Rob Bell's "Love Wins".  I haven't gotten far enough into it to know what I like or don't like about it.

I am pondering...

       what it is going to be like when my daughter is in full time kindergarten this year.  It will be so different than having her home full time.  I know I am going to miss her.  I hope she blossoms and that this will be a helpful step in her growing and healing.  I am a little nervous that it will be harder in our attachment because she will be gone so much more and she will have many more things/people to connect to.

A picture thought I am sharing...

What I hope to be doing soon...sleeping!

My Garden

Gardening this year has been fun.  I wish I could have gotten an earlier start to it, but it was sooooo rainy at the end of April and first half of May.  I think I finally got everything planted by June 1st.  Unfortunately I didn't start out having a fence, so I suspect that the bunnies ate most of the peas, green beans, and corn.  By the time I got a fence mid June I realized that those 3 things weren't going to grow, so I replanted green beans and corn (which are both doing great now).  It was so hot by then that I gave up on the peas.  Here's how it looks now:



Left: basil & lettuce Middle: cabbage Right: broccoli



Repeats from last year:

• lettuce (which still tastes horrible; we have not had much luck with it)
• tomatoes
• peppers
• peas
• green beans

New this year:

• corn
• cabbage
• herbs: mint, basil, oregano, coriander
• onions
• radishes 
• broccoli
• arugula
• sunflower
• zucchini



green beans



Also something new I'm trying is a compost box to add to my soil for next year's garden.  I was pretty proud of myself one day when I got out some wood, nails, and hammer and my daughter and I built a compost box.  I was always scared to try it because I didn't want our back yard to smell like stinky garbage, but the more I read about it, I was convinced I should at least give it a shot.  Now I am getting in the habit of saving everything in my little ice cream bucket that I can add to it outside each night.  It makes me feel good that I am saving that much stuff from going in the trash.

Stuff to put in the compost:

1/3 "green": 

•Vegetables & Fruit

•Grass Clippings

•Fresh Manure

•Coffee Grounds (you can put the filters in too)

•Young Hedge Trimmings

•Seaweed (although that would be hard to find in land-locked Indiana)

•Feathers

•Plant cuttings

•Hair

2/3 "brown":


•Leaves


•Hay & Straw

•Paper & Cardboard

•Woody Prunings

•Eggshells (crush them up first)

•Tea Bags

•Corn Cobs

•Sawdust

compost box

My Friend Ginny, the Missionary

One of my closest friends, Ginny Allison, recently launched the beginning of an 11 month mission trip across the world. She will be traveling with a team on the "World Race" where they will partner with other ministries/missions in 11 countries in 11 months.

Before she left a couple of weeks ago we had a cookout together with some friends to wish her our best and to enjoy one last hang out for 2011.

(picture: Nicole McDermid, Ginny Allison, Sandra Andrews)

(picture: Ginny and her gear. What fits in her backpack is all she will have with her for the next 11 months!)

She and her team "LampLighters" arrived safely in Ecuador and will be working with Templo Metropoliano, Garbage Dump ministries. Wow. To follow Ginny's blog go to: http://ginnyallison.theworldrace.org

We wish you the best, Ginny! I miss ya already!

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Thankful Thursday

Thank you Lord Jesus for being my all in all. You alone are worthy and I want my life to glorify you. Forgive me for being selfish and unloving and unforgiving today. Help me to have a heart that is thankful. Thank you today for...

11. the wonderful, caring, educated, and kind teachers that my children have at Gymboree
12. always having plenty of food in the house (even when I feel like sometimes there is "nothing to fix for dinner" I always find more than enough.)
13. my husband who serves me even though he is limping around on crutches because of a badly sprained ankle
14. old friends
15. the safe delivery of twin baby boys to one of my high school friends (Congratulations, Katie!)

16. truth coming alive from the Scriptures
17. a great sermon this past Sunday (hopefully a blog post on that to come soon)
18. Zumba: a good workout and a great stress-reliever
19. children's beautiful, creative, and messy artwork up on our walls
20. a Savior who is always forgiving and never condemning

Funny Quote from my 6-yr old This Week

On our way down to Tenessee we drove through Kentucky and my 6 year old daughter saw this out the window and said...

"Mom, is that a Kentucky cemetery?"

Classic!