Movin' along...

Things are moving along quite nicely with our new church plant. We may even have a permanent place to meet soon! We can sign the lease as quickly as Friday. There is work to be done in the new facility, the people that were there before completely gutted the place, but the owner told us that if we do the work ourselves, we get the first 3 months of rent for FREE. Free is my kind of price! Our goal is to have our first service in the new place on June 21. We are seeing good attendance and we have new visitors almost every week. But most importantly, we are seeing lives being changed by the Word of God.

Our no sugar diet was going great, until my Johnny had a birthday party. And then the church picnic was the next day. And then it was Johnny's real birthday. :sigh: We are getting back on track (except for the cookies I made tonight). I did get some more books at the library about eating a raw foods diet today. I was at a loss at making a variety of meals. We have recently cut out cereal...a HUGE thing for our family. Slowly but surely....one step at a time.

Johnny's 7th birthday!

My Birthday Boy

My "baby" is 5 years old today :o) He has been such a blessing in our lives!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Happy 4th weekend!

I hope you have all had a fun long weekend so far! Since we have a birthday on the 3rd, we usually have a fun-filled July 4th holiday. We went to the fireworks at the Lake on the 3rd and then we went to the parade on the 4th. We always have dd's birthday party after the parade. My youngest sister's birthday is on the 4th so we celebrate her birthday too. She turned 17 this year! For the party I served grilled kabobs! YUM :o) I'll have to post that recipe next week.

Today we are going to another cookout with Jason's family. I hope you all have fun spending time with people that you love :o)



A few pics from our festivities...



Excitement builds whie waiting for the fireworks.

My new 10 year old :o)

The birthday girls: My daughter, 10 and my sister, 17

10 years ago...

...we had our third daughter. My husband and I got saved after our 2nd daughter was born. Melissa was our first child to be born to Christian parents :o) Right before I found out that I was pregnant with her, the Lord called me to quit my job and stay at home with my girls. It was difficult at first; but only because of my mindset at the time. I really thought that you had to have 2 incomes to be able to live and I wouldn't be pulling my fair share if I quit.

When the Lord called me to be at home, I was the bread winner. I had a great paying job at a utility company, full benefits package, etc. My husband was helping someone get his business off the ground making children's furniture (bunk beds, dressers, etc). It was something he loved, but it didn't pay hardly anything, no insurance either. The Lord spoke to us both and made it clear on what I was to do. I said, "Lord, we can't afford it! I am pregnant and I am the one who carries the health insurance." and then went to my employer to discuss my options. They actually created a part-time position for me! 2 days per week, same benefits. GREAT!

But, the Lord said to quit, not go part time. I was so sick with this pregnancy, more than the 2 before. Broken blood vessels in my throat from being sick. I was so sick that I could barely make it into work those 2 days per week. My husband said that we just need to take a step of faith and just do it. If this is what he has called us to do, then we need to obey. I finally listened and quit. Three weeks later, my husband landed a driving job for 7up, excellent pay, insurance that started the day he started-it covered the remainder of my pregnancy.

I have NEVER regretted it since then. I have been a SAHM for 10 years and my sweet Melissa is 10 today. I completely fell in love with her the moment she was born. We never found out what we were having. Anyone who has children of only one sex knows the questions that come with each pregnancy: "Are you trying for a boy (or girl if you have all boys)?" Are you kidding? No, I am not having numerous children just to get a boy. I am accepting these precious gifts from God to raise for His glory. Someone actually said to me, "wow, it's cool to see you so excited since you had another girl." How sad. I was very excited because I had a new gift.

Wow, I didn't mean to get this long. So many things in my spiritual life happened before/during/ after my Melissa was born. I pray she feels honored, not just today, but everyday! Happy birthday sweetie!

Menu Plan Monday 5-19-08

We got a new (to us) grill last week and I have used it 3 times already! YUM! Here is the plan for the week!

Monday- grilled marinated chicken (from the new Kraft Food & Family)

Tuesday- Chicken Enchiladas (also from Kraft Food and Family)

Wednesday-Crockpot roast, potatoes, and carrots

Thursday-Turkey sandwiches

Friday-White Pizza (recipe below)

Saturday-Church picnic (I am taking pasta salad and a birthday cake-it is also my son's birthday!)

Recipe for White Pizza:

Your choice & quantity of pizza crust

Ranch Dressing

mozzarella & provolone cheese

bacon (cooked and chopped or crumbled)

chicken (cooked in some olive oil and garlic powder)

Spread the ranch dressing on the crust (instead of pizza sauce), add cheeses and meats and cook at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes. YUM!!!

Lots of stuff

A Happy Birthday, Yellow Roses

Well, it really just seems like another day :o( My daughter turned 12 yesterday and I turn 34 today. Know what we did to celebrate? Had a garage sale. Bad timing! Dh is off on Monday so I will be making a special birthday breakfast for 12 yodd (the request is chocolate chip pancakes) and we are just going to pretend it is our birthdays then!

Church, South Dakota, USA

Life has been so busy in the last few weeks! A good kind of busy. School is going well (except for garage sale week) and we are enjoying our 2 new churches. That sounds weird. Two new churches? Well, my dh is still guest preaching, Hardin Bible Church (IFB) (about 1 hour & 45 minutes from here) on Sunday mornings. They do not have evening services right now due to the pastors health. We have been going to Bible Baptist Church on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights and LOVE it. We joined Bible Baptist Church last Sunday evening. My dh and the pastor have talked extensively in the last month. Basically, no matter where the Lord leads my husband and I (possibly this first church I mentioned), then Bible Baptist Church will be our sending church. It is all very exciting! The Lord is opening doors and gently showing us through :o)

Hardin Bible wants dh to candidate there and he is prayerfully considering it. This of course would have to involve a move. It would be difficult to pastor a church that far away! We have looked into housing and a job transfer and general relocating stuff. Yes, the housing market is down and we may have trouble selling our house, BUT, if the Lord wants us up there, it will sell and I am not worried about it at all.

I just started reading in 1 John today. I am so loving my Bible Reading Plan. It is reading through the New Testament in 90 days. But it is not straight though...you skip around a bit. You may read a gospel and 2 or three epistles, etc... I LOVE it! It is just keeping it so fresh for me. I am pretty sure that I am not going to be done in 90 days. I am taking my time and not feeling "stressed" about not being on the "right" day. Also, I have the Henry Morris Defender's Study Bible and I enjoy reading his commentary, keeping in mind that it is a man's commentary and not God's Word itself. We need to be careful of not placing to high a value on man's words. I have found 2 or 3 instances where he "corrects" the Bible. Other than that I really like it.

I will try not to make it so long between posts next time ;o)

Birthday cake!

Have you ever priced birthday cakes?! If not, let me tell you, they are a bit pricey.

Having 6 children, with only one income, it could break the bank! Well, not really, but I would much rather spend that money on a gift or something else.

I have been making birthday cakes for all of our children since our first was born. I have done all kinds and they are quite fun!

For this particular birthday, however, we had severe time constraints with out of town friends coming for a visit, getting ready to host a singing family for Sunday Evening service, etc... SO here is what I came up with, a simple, easy, yummy, frugal birthday cake!

Basic yellow cake mix: $.75 at Aldi, homemade butter cream chocolate frosting (recipe below): $.20-I got to use one of my 20 cent bags of powdered sugar!, a bit of caramel ice cream topping, and a favorite (extra clean, sanitized) toy to sit on top.

Butter Cream Chocolate Frosting*

6 tbsp. softened butter, 1/2 Cup baking cocoa, 2 2/3 Cup powdered sugar, 1/3 Cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

In small mixing bowl, cream butter. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Beat to spreading consistancy (additional milk may be needed). Blend in vanilla.

*Recipe from the back of Aldi brand of baking cocoa.

Cinnamon Rolls

Today is my son's 4th birthday! We have developed a tradition of making meals according to the birthday persons' request. This year, I just surprised everyone with homemade cinnamon rolls. These are a special treat; I do not make a habit of giving 6 children that much sugar on a regular basis!! I got the recipe from Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy (an excellent resource on frugality! See link on the sidebar for more information).


Cinnamon Rolls

1 T. dry yeast
1 C warm milk
1/3 C white sugar
1/2 C melted butter
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 C flour


Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest of ingredients and mix well. Knead into a ball. Let rise until double in size. When ready, roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with filling as described below. NOTE: I used my dough setting on my bread machine and it makes it so easy! Just put all the ingredients in (with the milk/yeast last) and set on dough setting!

For the filling...

1/4 C softened butter
1 C brown sugar & 3 T. cinnamon

Spread the butter evenly on the rolled out dough. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle onto the buttered dough. It should look something like this:

Next, roll it up! Slice into 1 inch sliced. Place on a greased cookie pan and let rise again until doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes (due to my older oven, 49 years old (!), I have to cup the temp to 325 and really watch them to not burn on the outside and be doughy on the inside).

ready to go into the oven

Icing...

1/2 C butter, softened, 1 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1 oz. cream cheese, 2 T. Whipping cream (I just use regular milk!), 1 Tsp. vanilla extract, pinch of saltBeat until fluffy. Spread on rolls right out of the oven. YUM!

NOTE! These are time consuming. Plan ahead! I started these this morning at 6:45 and we ate at almost 10:00. It is rise time that make it take so long. If you want, you can make them the night before and skip the final rise (as they can rise in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, bake.

Mission accomplished, a happy boy on his birthday!