Here goes nothing

I don't think it's any secret that many people feel unhappy with their appearance in one way or another. Our culture has done a fine job of setting unrealistic standards for the "normal" person to live up to. I love that we are seeing more and more of the "average" body type in Hollywood now.
All that to say that there is nothing wrong with wanting to better your life with being more healthy and active. Even as we spread the message that God created us and He doesn't make mistakes, we can admit that HE didn't but sometimes, most times, we do make mistakes.
For me, I am the heaviest I have ever been....I can't believe I just put that out here for all to see. A couple of years ago I did a weight loss program that really worked for me. I lost almost 40 pounds and was feeling pretty good...then I got pregnant and well, that body went out the window. You combine pregnancy, hormones, bed rest, Donny's accident and having no free time to exercise and you get where I am at now.
And I have decided that enough is enough. I deserve better. My family deserves better, but most of all, my Heavenly Father deserves better. He created me in His image and I owe it to Him to care for myself and to honor Him with every aspect of my life.
So, starting on Monday, 2/28, I am starting the Couch-to-5k Running Plan with a friend. I am also going to start making better choices for my meals and snacks. AND, I want to get back to doing my other exercises.
I guess I am blogging about it so that you can help hold me accountable and go through the journey with me. I encourage you to join along! Post how you are doing and what your struggles are. Let's encourage one another and keep each other going.
Oh boy....here we go...

Thoughts

For days now I Have been thinking of how much I need to blog. I find it therapeutic and yet terrifying at the same time.
It's so easy to come up with ideas for what to write about but how much of those ideas you are interested in reading is what stops me...I know I don't want to read something dull or run of the mill.
My children provide me fodder often however, I rarely have time to sit and immediately take care of putting it in the blog and so it just gets filed away in the deep dark corners of my brain where it sits and collects brain dust.
I wish I was better.
Really though, my thoughts tonight are not on what silly things they have said or done lately. They are not on what I have cooked that I have pictures of. No, tonight my thoughts are on spiritual matters. I want so badly to have a huge douse of gasoline poured over my waning fire for Jesus. I am so tired of complacency and comfort in my walk with God. I want a burden that runs deep to consume my heart. I want to crave time in the Word as if my life depended on because guess what? IT DOES.
I want to have my heart broken for what breaks my Heavenly Father's. I want to be moved beyond the point of despair for the lost and hurting in this world. I want to feel a major sense of urgency to spread His saving message! I don't want to talk about what "the church needs." I feel it's my time to be selfish. I need to take an inward retreat and get myself in shape so that I can effectively minister to those that God has placed in my charge.
I just want more...anyone feel the way I do?

Rantings...

Buying a new car is exciting.
God has blessed us so much since Donny's accident and back in December, right before Christmas, we were able to purchase a used van. It's a nice....NICE used van.

We bought from a dealership the day after the previous owners traded it in. The whole story about our van is a miracle of God. It was amazing! God really placed His favor on us.The previous owners had forgotten one of their keys and told their salesman they would bring it to the dealership.
The one key we were given had a crack in it (for those who do not know, the keys for this are electronic and not a normal key) but seeing as we would be getting the other key we weren't too terribly concerned about it.

After having the van for about 3 weeks we began having trouble with it starting. When I put the key in the ignition it would show a message on our dash "badkey".
We called our salesman and explained it to him and he told us he would let us know as soon as the other key was brought back in.

This went on for about 2 weeks.

Yesterday the key finally went completely kaput and will not start our van.

So we called again today and basically were told that it's not the dealerships problem.

WHAT????????!!!!!!!!????????

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????

We understand that we bought the van any way but it was with the understanding that we were getting another key. 

All of this to say, we had to pay to have our van towed so that we can buy a new key and have it programmed.

As much as we wanted to recommend the dealership we bought the van from we no longer feel confident that doing so is a wise choice. As a matter of fact, we feel that we should warn people about this place. We chose to have it towed and the key done through Cassen's in Edwardsville. We do not, DO NOT recommend Marty Cancilla Dodge on Lindbergh in St. Louis.

Enough ranting...I have stuff to do :)

Sharing

1. I gave Donny some of my cookbooks a few weeks ago and had him make a list for each of recipes he wanted us to try.

2. The boys and I made one tonight.

3. That alone is interesting...not me but "the boys" part of it.

4. We wanted to share the pix and recipe with you.

5. I believe in creative license in any realm of life. Although a Pampered Chef recipe I made little tweaks and should I ever make it again I will be making more.

Recipe: Rav n' Ravioli
What you need: medium green bell pepper, onion, refrigerated ravioli (2- 9 oz packages, here I used a 25 oz package because it was what I could find), garlic, spaghetti sauce, water, olive oil, french bread, butter, mozzarella (I used six cheese Italian blend) and parmesan cheese (fresh).
Preheat oven to 400*.

This was the start of my work space. We used the PC Food chopper to chop up the pepper and 1/2 cup of onion.

Place 1 teaspoon of olive oil into a 4qt casserole pot and add pepper, onion and 1 garlic clove pressed with garlic press over medium heat for 2 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

Add 1 1/4 cups of water, 26-28 oz of Spaghetti sauce and ravioli. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, cut french bread into 12 slices about a 1/2 inch thick. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in micro cooker. Add bread to cooker and toss in the butter.

Once the ravioli mixture is boiling, add about half of it to the oval baker. Cover with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.

Add remaining ravioli mixture. Place the bread slices around the edge, slightly overlapping and slightly pushing them down into the ravioli.

Grate the parmesan cheese over the dish.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the bread is crisp and golden.

We enjoyed this dish...I really don't care for peppers and will most likely cut back on them the next time but Donny loved it! The boys ate the ravioli.....picked around the sauce. And we chopped the peppers up very small.

Hope you and your family can enjoy this and if you are interested in any of the products I used, let me know! I am sure I can help you get them ;)

Oh my.

It sure has been a while. Life has been pretty busy with the holidays and the boys being home for break and then school starting back up and me trying to find my mind....which I lost around the holidays hence the lack of blogging.
But no worries! I have found parts of it and believe that the blogging fun can resume.

It resumes today with the sharing of a recipe. I made something last night and posted about it in my Facebook status. I had several people ask for the recipe. I just wish I had taken pictures of it as I went because pictures make cooking so much more fun and easy in my opinion.

Anyway, it's super easy!!! I made Mac & Cheese soup. Yes this is a Pampered Chef recipe from the Main Dishes cookbook that is no longer in print.
So here's what you need:

• 1(14 oz) box of deluxe macaroni and cheese
• 1 cup of chopped broccoli
• 1/2 cup onion, choppedd
• 1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup
• 1 cup of water
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup of cubed ham

1. Cook macaroni according to package directions in a 4 qt casserole/pot; drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, chop broccoli and onion using food chopper. ( I realize that you may not have it but I can help you with that! lol)
3. Combine broccoli, onion and water in casserole. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes. Do not drain.
4. Stir in cooked macaroni, cheese sauce from pouch, milk, cheese soup and ham. Return to a boil stirring occasionally. Ladle soup into 6 bowls.

Yield: 6 servings

This was very good! My boys ate it up :)

Hope your family enjoys as well!

Nativity #3-The finale of the the Nativity series.

Here it is folks. The final installment of the Wilson Nativity Story.

I do really like this one...okay so I said that about the last two but this one is so neat. It was a gift from my Aunt Nancy when Ty was a baby. I just love it!

 

"An Interactive Ki-Friendly Nativity" 

What GOD wants for Christmas is the name of this Nativity and is such a neat way to teach your child the true meaning of Christmas.

It comes with a book,Nativity back drop and boxes to open each day. The top of the page tells you which box to open. Each box contains a piece of the story.

Here are the boxes:

Days 1, 2 and 3. Gabriel, Mary and Joseph.

Days 4, 5 and 6. Jesus, Shepherd and King/Wise Man.

But the best box is the 7th box and is what God really wants!

No, not a camera, silly! It's a mirror because what God really wants is YOU!!!!!!

The book also gives tips and ideas for using this special Nativity.

And even a website that has reproducibles for your child, class, group to us to help make connections.

What GOD wants for Christmas- Maybe the best Nativity EVER!

13 days to go! only 6 until I start this with my kids.

Nativity #2

Another of my favorite nativities is similar to yesterday's in that they are kid friendly.

Little People Nativity. Who doesn't LOVE Little People?

The Angel sits on top of the stable. So sweet.

What an angelic little face. If Mary saw this face the night God sent His messenger to tell her that she would bear His son, no wonder she wasn't afraid!

Then there's the Wise Men. They are precious.

Look at their gifts. Their sandals. Heaven help me.

And then the main event.

Mary, Baby Jesus, and Joseph. Absolutely adorable. Sweet baby face.
And intermixed is a sheep, donkey, camel and horse.

It's easy to see why this is one of my favorites.

Only 14 days left!