With God all things are possible

Here is a 25 week scan of Miss Lily.

I found this picture frame on sale at a discount store. I thought it was pretty and figured I would put a picture of the kids in it, for He made my family possible. When I got home I started thinking about the baby God promised us. All of sudden it became clear to me that this picture frame was for that baby. We put the empty frame on our mantle and remembered daily God's promise. A while later I was reading through the story of Mary, Elizabeth, John the Baptist and the angel. The Angel was telling Mary about her pregnant cousin Elizabeth who was called barren. He told Mary she would have a child because with God nothing is impossible. Talk about a WOW! moment.

It was a total confirmation for me. And as you can see there sits my sweet Lily. My miracle.

The best part, Lily is not even THE promised baby. That means there is another one out there for us! At least one more. YAY! :)

Be Blessed!

Belly Pics

Here we are at 26 weeks. I'm sure you have all bee on the edge of your seats just a waiting. LOL

This is my first maternity shirt. I love, love, love, that it makes me look pregnant. I really want some more shirts. LOL See Lily's mantle? She has a baby doll from mommy, a Lily Duck from Grandma, and a Lily Bear from a hospital in Illinois that her Auntie Karen brought down for her. That is my sweet girl in the picture frame. One of the best 3-d pics we have gotten yet. The high risk place just takes them for you.
I will put up a post a little later about the picture frame. It's very significant to us.

Here is one in a regular shirt just a size or two bigger than I wear. Not too great. So I changed into the above shirt. LOL

Be Blessed!

My kitchen.. how I miss thee!

I miss the kitchen. I miss my kitchen. I can usually handle making breakfast as long as it's something easy. Scrambled eggs or oatmeal. Lunch is hit or miss. I can warm up leftovers or plop some PB on bread (store bought.. ugg!). I have a goal to fix a few simple salads or soups in the morning to have for lunch. It has not happened yet.

Dinner though.. dinner is a bust for me. I can not deal with raw meat unless its hamburger meat I can put straight in the pan. Dh and the girls have been a huge help at dinner time. By the end of the day I'm just in too much pain to stand in there and work.

Same goes for baking. Sad, sad day. I did not teach the girls to make bread like I promised myself I would do over and over again.

I look forward to the day the kitchen can become mine once again. I love having such great helpers, but I sure do miss the joy I got from the kitchen.

I walked in today and lamented over the disorganization. My family and I have COMPLETLY different standards on cleanliness and orderliness in the kitchen. Oh the things I would like to get my hands on in that kitchen LOL.

For now I just focus on my bedroom. So much to do in there to get it ready for a new little one. Space to clear. Clutter to eliminate. So much to do. I'm enjoying it though.

Menu planning

Pictures from BHG.com.
Menu planning has taken on a whole new dimension around here. I can't stand brown rice and most chicken. Unfortunately, before I found this out we went to Costco. Yeah, we brought a lot of brown rice and chicken. :) I am working with some recipes that I am hoping will cover the chicken taste some.
Also Roy has been making most of the meals. I tried to pick some meals I can do most the prep work for in the morning when I feel great. That would ease some of the burden from him. Lunch has also been pretty hit or miss around here. I tried to come up with some easy but yummy lunch meals.
For breakfast I'm stuck with mostly eggs. Though I did find I could have a granola bar with milk. Not granola cereal just the bar. CRAZY! Well, my OB says, that he hates processed food. So I decided to try to make my own granola bars. We'll see.
I am seriously craving fruits and veggies so I'm really looking forward to using more of those.
I checked out a Rachel Ray low carb cookbook from the library and also a Quick and Easy low carb cookbook. Someone had ripped a lot of the pages out of the RR cookbook. I still found a few recipes I can use. The Q&E cookbook rocks though. YUM!



Here is what our menu plan looks like for this week.

Breakfast:
Bacon and Egg w/cheese
Fried egg on bread with cheese
Hard boiled egg with ham and string cheese
For kids:
Oatmeal
Granola cereal with fruit
muffin w/yogurt and granola

Lunch:
Leftovers
Taco Stoup with salad RR
Grilled chicken salad
Tuna with salad
Veg Soup Q&E
PB & J with fruit and string cheese

Dinner:
Chicken Au Gratin w/ Baked stuffed tomatoes RR
Chicken and peppers Q&E Asparagus and turnips
Beef stew w/polenta triangles Q&E
Tomato soup with basil and curried chick spread on veggies Q&E
Pecan crusted chk strips Q&E w/broccoli and fruit

I also let the two older girls pick three things from their cookbooks we will have this week.
Karly:
Mimi's Strawberry Trifle
Paula Deen's Hawaiian Beef Teriyaki Kebabs with grilled pineapple
BH&G Junior Cookbook Cheesy Beef sandwiches

Kelsie:
Cookbook for Girls Club Sandwich
Rachael Ray Cheesy fries
Cakes and Cookies Chocolate Choux Buns


Hope you all are doing well!
Be Blessed!

Today you are 10!

I have got to get more pictures of this kid! I swear her brothers and sisters are big camara hogs. She is 10 today. Double Digits. I can't believe it.

I will go today or tomorrow to get her sewing machine and sign her up for lessons. How exciting.

We are heading to the beach right now. Kites and bubbles are going with us. What a fun day.

Variety

On Saturday I will be heading to the Farmer's Market for the first time this year. I CAN'T WAIT! My mouth waters at the thought of fresh fruit and veggies. I know it's still early in the season and there won't be much, but hey I'll get what I can take.
If it's nice I plan to work on my own garden some Saturday as well. I need to find some cheap pretty containers for the front yard. That's where I'll have my herbs and some other surprises.
They have to be pretty containers because we live in Naziland, oops, I mean HOA-ville. I know I say every year that it will only be for one more year. This year I hope I mean it. We are finishing up the last of the floor work and then painting. I'm really, really hoping we can put our house on the market not long after Miss Lily makes her appearance. Even if we have to stay in this town I would like to at least have a bigger yard and less restrictions.
Dh is looking for a job, but not much yet. It's ok though. We believe the promises of the Bible. God cares enough for the plants and animals to provide for them, I think we are covered. ;)
I came to the realization that in just a week and a half I will be entering the third trimester. It has gone by quickly. Of course it helped that I missed the whole first trimester. As anxious as I have been these last few months that probably is for the best!
Well, I hope you all are doing well.
Be Blessed!

One Way

John 14:6 clearly says, "Jesus saith unto him, ' I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me."

This weekend I have had no less than three conversations where I was told by people professing to be Christians that Jesus is Lord of their lives but that does not mean He is the only way to heaven. WHAT!?!

Oh and try to bring up the above verse and I'm told it's a fallacy to try to use the Bible to prove anything. The Bible is for people who can't think for themselves. God never intended us to take it literally. WHAT!?!?

I knew people believed this junk, but I never knew anyone WHO believed it.

Brought me to a whole other verse.

Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

It's amazing though how rampant this thought was with this group of people who I believe are very intelligent. Many professing to be born again believers.

The problem is that many are letting their intelligence get in the way of their faith. Face it faith is not about being intelligent. If you rely on your intelligence to much you can hurt your faith. Faith is believing in something we can't see. If you rely on cold hard fact for your intelligence then you can't believe in something you can't see.

So, just had to get that off my chest. I know, I know I'm mainly talking to the choir. I just had to put my thoughts on "paper".

PS No I'm not saying only dumb people can be Christians. I'm saying only people who are willing to put their smarts after their faith.