Children's Crusade

Recently, we were blessed to be a part of a Children's Crusade at church. WOW! What an amazing weekend. Working with children is such an awesome experience that never ceases to leave me in awe.

For as long as I can remember, I have worked with children of some sort - my mom had 4 more children after I was 12, which I helped raise; I worked at La Petite for 3 years; I was an Elementary Ed. major in college; I taught in the public school system; I have tutored many children; I have homeschooled for 10 years, Sunday School, Junior Bible Quizzing and Kid's Connection.

All of those things were nothing compared to seeing children on their faces weeping before the Lord, pouring their hearts out to Jesus and feeling His presence. They are so innocent in their prayers and are honestly hungry for Him. They don't hold back anything when they feel Him near!

I left that day amazed, speechless, inspired, awed, encouraged, affected, astounded, excited, moved, influenced, exhilerated - I could go on and on! You can not totally understand unless you were there! Here are some pics from our time.

The teachers dressed up in "Crazy Praise" for the occasion:


Mark, Brother Collins and Edward - it doesn't get much crazier than this!


Kid's Praise:




Children's Evangelist Jeremy Joyce with Jonathan and Mark:


Prayer:






These children amaze and inspire me to follow hard after Jesus - He is the only One worthy of giving my everything to. I can't wait to continue to watch what He does in their lives.

18 years

How did 2 weeks go by since my last post??? So much has happened since then that I am not sure that I will even be able to try to catch up. I will try to do a small post each day for the next few days to at least cover the highlights! Here goes the first.

On May 12, 1991, I married my best friend. We celebrated 18 years this year! WOW! It is hard to believe that 18 years have gone by while we have lived, laughed and loved. We were both so very young and knew nothing about life, but we knew that we were in love and that we could do anything as long as we were together! No, we did not know to pray about our decision, but thank the Lord that by His mercy and grace, we have grown together anyway as He would have us to. Over the years, we have both grown and changed so much, yet in many ways we remain the same. I am so thankful and amazed that through it all, we have chosen to remain steadfast in our commitment to each other and to our vow. It is only by God's grace! We are blessed beyond measure - not as the world measures blessings with material goods, but in countless ways that money can't buy. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Here are some pictures in case you weren't there! =D

My wedding party - Brenda, Nancy, Noel, Paris, Me, Mark, Steve, John, London and Terry:


Peargie, my "little" sister who now towers over me: (Is she adorable or what???!!!)


Bear, London and Jason, my "little" brothers, who also now tower over me!


The cake fight:


Can you believe he did this to me????


Us then:


Us now - still together after all these years!

Mother's Day

I am so thankful and blessed to be a mom to my 3 beautiful children! They are the reason that I do what I do. What a blessing it is to have little ones underfoot and watching them grow into who God created them to be. Is there any greater joy?? Becoming a mommy meant change, sacrifice, lack of sleep, and love unconditional.

I have a better understanding of God's love for me since I have become a mom.

Now that my children are getting older, I am reaching a different phase on this journey and, though I miss the days of them being so little, I must say that I love where we are! Having 2 teenagers in the house is often a wonderful mystery! Wasn't I just that age like, I don't know, maybe yesterday??!! How odd to see my children grow up before my eyes!

How blessed I am to see them pray, worship and love Jesus with all of their heart.

And, though Sunday was a special day, I am thankful that every day can be Mother's Day when we celebrate the joy of just being a mom - whatever that means in whatever stage you happen to be right now. Make the best of every day and be thankful for the time that you have with your children! Sometimes, we want them to hurry up and grow and then we forget to enjoy the journey. So take some time this week to breath and relax and slow down to just enjoy your children!

So, those are some of my random thoughts for today. Here are some pictures from our day.

Holly taught me how to be a mom - thanks for being the guinea pig!


Then, when I had it all figured out (NOT!), MaKenna came along and taught me to be a mom to a child who was TOTALLY different than Holly!


Then there is Caleb, who taught me to be a mom to an "all boy!" (And the learning continues!)


My mom and I - where it all began!:


Grandma and some of her grandkids on Mother's Day:

Homecooked Dinner - Recipes Included!

If you know me at all, you know how much I love home cooked food! There is just nothing to compare to making things at home and letting your kids have a hand in the process. Holly and MaKenna have become quite the little chefs! Well, tonight we made a yummy dinner - Penne and Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce, veggies, Whole Wheat French Bread rolls and French Silk Pie for dessert - and I decided to share the recipes with you - you have to try this out!

Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls

1 1/2 c. warm water
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. white sugar
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour - (I used fresh milled hard white wheat)

In a large bowl, stir together the water, sugar and yeast. Let stand about 10 minutes. Add the oil, salt and flour. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead til smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough inside and turn to coat. Cover and put in a warm spot til doubled, about an hour. Deflate the dough and divide either into about 16 balls for rolls or in half for loaves. I did 2 loaves. Place them onto greased pans, cover and let rise til double, about 40 minutes. Bake for 18-20 minutes in preheated 400 oven or til golden.

Here is a picture of my bread:



Penne and Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce

4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
12 oz. penne pasta (I used whole wheat)
2 zucchini halved and sliced
2 c. mushrooms (or one small can)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 c. chicken broth
2 tbsp. flour
8 oz. cream cheese
2-3 tbsp. parmesan or romano cheese

Place the chicken in a skillet and lightly salt and pepper it, then saute it til done, but do not overcook. Or, you can grill it. Cook pasta according to package and drain Return to pan, cover and keep warm. In a large skillet, cook zucchini, mushrooms and garlic in oil over medium heat about 5 minutes or til veggies are crisp tender. Add veggies to pasta. In the same skillet, whisk together the broth and four, then add cream cheese. Cook and stir til smooth and bubbly, then add the parmesan and cook another minute. Add to the pasta and toss. Cut chicken into bite size pieces or strips and arrange over the pasta. Sprinkle with parsley and more cheese if desired.



Add whatever veggie you like - we had a mix of brocolli, cauliflower, baby carrots and squash. Mmmmmm, so yummy!! Now, for dessert!

French Silk Pie

1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. white sugar
6-8 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 9" pie crust (your choice - graham, chocolate or regular - we use homemade graham)

Cream the butter and sugar - only enough to mix them together - do not overmix! Blend in the cocoa - start with 6 tbsp. and taste. You want it slightly stronger that you want the completed pie to taste. Then add the vanilla. Beating at high speed, add one egg at a time and beat until thoroughly incorporated, about 5 minutes. Keep whipping until light and fluffy. Spread in the pie shell of choice and refrigerate. Top with whipped cream.



Oh, my - this was a yummy evening! Now, I better get back to work - hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Days with Madilyn

Helping Holly watch Madilyn has become one of the joys of our weeks! The past couple of weeks we have been especially blessed to have her a few extra times than normal - a date night for Jeff and Cara and then Cara had a doctor's appointment and we kept Madilyn for her. She is just the sweetest little girl and it is so fun to have a toddler around the house again! I just had to post some pictures of things we have done with her cause they are too cute to not share with the world! I have to say that I am so pleased with how well Holly and MaKenna both do with her.

Here she is creating a masterpiece on our white board. She is a Lefty!


Trying to get a shot of her and Holly both looking. Does this count?


This was the next closest... CHEESE!


The completed masterpiece (with our leftovers underneath!):


Another time, we put her hair in piggy tails and she just looked adorable!


She loves to write - I think she wants to be like her mommy!


We brought out some of the girls Barbies. She loved having the baby kiss the mommy and the mommy kiss the daddy - to cute!!


Can you tell how much we love her?

Bible Quizzing

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you"

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed"

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path"

There are so many reasons why I love being a part of Bible Quizzing, but these verses are among the most important! Hiding God's word in our heart is among the top 5 most important things that we can teach our kids to do - whether it is through Bible Quizzing, Bible Study, or another way that works for your family. But getting to be a part of a program where children around the country choose to spend their time memorizing hundreds of scriptures is a blessing and an honor.

This past Saturday, we hosted a combined Junior/Senior Tournament at our church. WOW! Walking around the building and peeking in on different classes was amazing. Children from ages 5-18 answering questions and quoting verses from the book of Luke was powerful. They know their scripture!

I had a lot going on that day and didn't get as many pictures as I normally would, but here are a few scenes.

Our Senior Quizzers - Amber, Holly, MaKenna and Katie:


Our Junior Team - Erica, Jared and Alexandria:


Our Beginner Team - Jiliane and Jeremiah. These 2 just turned 9 a couple of weeks ago and they are just AMAZING! They placed 2nd at our tournament.


Caleb hanging out with Andrew and Anthony from Belleview:


The Bradenton Team studying between quizzes. It does my heart good to see this!