Our Favorite Meal

Maybe we're boring but we have taco salad about once a week. And it usually sounds good about twice a week! We've done this for several years (minus the time I was pregnant....major heartburn!). So I thought I'd share our recipe; some of the ingredients may seem a little unusual but try it. Then do whatever you want with it! Again, I don't measure in real life so these are just guesses.

1 pound hamburger meat
3 tablespoons taco seasoning
1/3 cup water
1 can chili beans (drained)
1 bag tortilla chips
1/2 cup black olives
1/4 cup green olives (with pimentos)
1/4 cup dill pickles
1/3 cup onion
1/2 head lettuce
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa
Tomatoes, if we have them

Brown hamburger in skillet. While hamburger is browning, slice black olives into thirds, cut green olives in half, and chop onions and pickles. Shred lettuce. Drain hamburger, add taco seasoning and water. Let water cook off and add beans. Heat through.

We serve it as a buffet and layer chips, veggies/condiments, meat and beans, salsa, and then cheese. It also follows that we eat way more than we should!! Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

What's That Doing There??

Today I found Micah's g-tube in the floor. He was standing up playing with his table and having a good old time. I have no idea how it came out; the balloon was even still inflated. At least this time it didn't require a trip to Cincinnati with a stop at the ER in Corbin. I called Justin and told him I was holding Micah's g-tube and he came on home for lunch. I got out the replacement g-tube and when Justin got home we put the new one in. Super easy. I told Justin that the insurance company should pay us since they didn't have to pay a doctor to do it! He laughed and I said that's what the insurance company would do if we called and asked about it!

Sundays!

Sunday’s are my favorite day! Sure, they are busy and occasionally tiring but that’s part of their charm. Sunday is the day to learn and relearn things from the Bible. The day to receive encouragement from fellow Christians. The day to remind me of God’s love and care for His children. But really, that’s not the best part about Sundays. The best part about Sundays is what I can give.

My time: we all have different responsibilities that require our time. Sunday School class, nursery duty, soul-winning, choir, and cooking for soul-winning are only a few of the things that take my time.

My money: God demands our tithe by His word and commands our offering by His love. Compassion and a heart for missions encourages missions giving.

My talents: this is not the time to bow out gracefully or “humbly” say that I can’t do something. If I’m asked or it’s needed, I need to give it my best!

These things force me to get outside of myself and think about others. (Like I should be doing all week for my family!) What will make that person feel comfortable here? What will help that teenager stay in church? What will encourage that person to keep going?

After all God has done for me can I not do this little part for Him?

And by the way, you can check out our archived sermons at http://www.nzbcky.org/media/videos

A Day without Peas

At Micah’s doctor’s appointment last week we made some drastic changes to his diet. We are no longer putting Similac in his formula mixture and are instead getting the nine grams of regular protein from his diet. Nine grams may not seem like much but for a kid who only ate baby food and no meat it was! I was actually more worried about getting the nine grams in than going over! Ironic, huh? Who would have ever thought? Peas were our life-saver. One jar has four grams of protein and he loves them! So every day he has been eating a jar of peas for lunch, usually with something else. But as he has gotten used to more “real” food, such as bread and pasta and even some cheese, he has been getting more protein from those foods. Yesterday he had all nine grams of protein and no peas. At all. Probably a nice break for him. He has had 1/3 a slice of bread, some string cheese, part of a tortilla, some pasta, and then his normal fruits and veggies. He loved banana bread! Overall he still does better with table food if you follow each bite with some baby food. Otherwise he thinks he is a chipmunk and takes forever to actually swallow it. Justin said there was a problem when you washed down food with more food! I think he’s made remarkable progress this past week; I’m sure we will see even more in the next few weeks.

Our Everday Valentine

My husband made a profound statement yesterday that shocked me. Not because he doesn’t make profound statements often but because I completely disagreed with him! He said that he believes marriage problems are 100% the man’s fault because the man is to run the home and the problems fall back on him. Now you might ask what exactly I thought there was to disagree with! But I would say that marriage problems are completely the woman’s fault because she is to submit and adapt to her husband. This is one time when I will gladly disagree agreeably! If both of us keep seeing self, not the other person, as the problem then we will be just as happy 10, 15, 20 years down the road as we are now. (And we both agree that we’re pretty happy!) Sure, chocolates and jewelry are nice; flowers are beautiful and nights out make great memories. But really life is the day-to-day routine that we share.

Proverbs 15:16-17 Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

An Unexpected Blessing

My son has recently started waking up in the middle of the night and staying awake for a while. He doesn’t want to play; he wakes up and goes back to sleep and wakes up and goes back to sleep multiple times. He often cries when he wakes up and he can take up to an hour to actually sleep soundly again. Before we moved his bed down I could lay in the floor while he was dozing but now he can see me and thinks that means I should be holding him. So I stand. Yes, stand. In the middle of the night behind a bookcase so he can’t see me. If I go back to bed I just get up every time he cries and that’s pointless torture. The good thing about this is that I normally pray for everybody on my prayer list. I’ve contemplated putting this time to even better use by doing crunches while I’m praying, but somehow, at two in the morning, tight abs don’t seem that important. But people who have prayed for me and been a part of my life are on my mind in the middle of the night. I remember burdens they have shared and battles they have faced and I pray. This middle of the night time with God has become so special. Maybe Micah has helped me, in more ways than one, spend more time on my knees (figuratively speaking, of course!) So the next time you wake up in the night, roll over and go back to sleep knowing that somewhere a momma is praying for you.

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