Handful of Blessings

Homemade Croutons

handfulofblessings — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:52:00 +0000

Do your kids like croutons? (or anyone in your family for that matter) Mine love them and I love this quick and easy way to make croutons for a fraction of the price.

If I have bread that has sat too long and is starting to get stale; instead of tossing it we make our own croutons. Tonight we had cheeseburgers, green beans, and french fries for dinner. When I pulled out the buns for the burgers hubby said that they had been sitting there for a while and he bought new ones last night. Knowing that he is picky and wouldn’t eat the old ones even if the rest of us did, I opened the new buns and set the other bag aside. After dinner, I preheated the oven to 300*, separated the buns and laid them on a cookie sheet, cut them into 1 inch cubes, and then drizzled with olive oil and seasonings. You can use just about any seasons you like but we used Morton Nature’s Seasons and garlic powder. Then I rolled them around the pan to cover them with the oil and seasoning and stuck the pan in the oven for 20 minutes.

You want to check for crispiness and a golden color. The first time I made these they softened up a little after they cooled so I waited til they were a little crispier this time. We haven’t gotten to use them for salads yet because the kiddos eat them as fast as I can bag ‘em. Dip in ranch for extra flavor.

Sorry for the bad picture. I had to take it with my cell phone as my camera has died a sad death and I have been using my daughter’s camera until she lost it last week. Now you know what I am wishing for for Christmas. *hint*hint* to my hubby. ;)

Faith like children

handfulofblessings — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:07:24 +0000

Tuesday night, with a house full of friends, storms threatened our area. I got numerous phone calls warning of the immenent weather and the likelihood of tornadoes. ” Get the flashlights out. be prepared to hunker down if necessary.” I shared with my friend the warnings but didn’t tell the children, why scare them? Well, don’t think, with 16 little ears hovering around, that they didn’t “catch wind” of the storms. As we were making decisions on what to do….. Heath was on his way home, Frank was still at their house, Robin was here with their only car, dinner wasn’t ready, etc…… we stumbled on a beautiful sight. Around the kitchen table, all eight children stood holding hands and praying fervently for the storms to die down and for all tornadoes to stay far from our home. They gently instructed the little ones that they MUST hold hands and they MUST each take turns praying. They went all the way around the circle; 10 yrs old, 9 yrs old, 9 yrs old, 7 yrs old, 4 yrs old, 3 yrs old, 2 yrs old, and 2 yrs old, each praying with more faith than you can imagine. Both Moms stopped for a moment and smiled at the precious sight. Looking back now, I should have joined them but I was busy running around gathering supplies, making phone calls, and trying to get dinner cooked before the power went out.

I am in awe of their faith. and blessed with the most AWESOME children ever. Do I teach them to pray? yes. Do I teach them to go to God in times of trouble? yes. Do I teach them that God answers prayer? yes. So why was I so busy preparing for disaster while they went straight to The One who calms the storms and asked Him for our safety and then went back to playing? All my worry was in vain. The storms passed us by and we had a calm and blessed evening. Thank you Jesus for the faith of children and the example of what I am to be more like.

Matthew 18:3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (NIV)

What to say??

handfulofblessings — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:37:33 +0000

A few days have passed and I’ve given lots of thought as to what to write and… I’ve come up with nothing. It’s not that I don’t have anything going on or anything to say. The problem is that I have way too much going on, in my head and in my life, and I don’t know where to start or WHAT to say. If I am going to use one of my most precious and scarcest commodities, my time, I want it to be worthwhile. What is worth writing down or sharing and what will provide the most benefit? What do I have to offer?

Here is a little about me:

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “jack of all trades – master of none”.. That’s me! Well, I may not actually be a jack of ALL trades, but I am definitely “master of none”. I am a stay at home Mom who dearly loves the Lord and her family. I am busy homeschooling my oldest two while trying to entertain and busy the two younger ones. We’ve homeschooled for 4 years now but I am a far cry from knowing what I am doing. This year was a little rough and we are currently re-evaluating and looking into a lot of options to try and figure out what would be best for them (and me) next year. That being said, they have learned a lot and are doing wonderful in their work. It just hasn’t been as much fun as it should be. I will try to post what we decide on and keep up to date as to how its going.

I am not a wonderful cook but I can cook a whole lot more than when we got married almost 10 years ago. My Mom was a great cook who enjoyed her space in the kitchen and was happy to fix whatever I wanted but she didn’t need any help. So, needless to say, I didn’t learn how to fix much of anything while I was growing up except macaroni and cheese. That’s okay! I’m learning right alongside of my children and maybe one day they will think sentimentally of “Mama’s cookin”. At least I can dream!!

Our family has begun gardening in the last couple of years and we are learning as we go. We have been blessed with success in the few things we have tried but still have a lot to learn… like what to do about squirrels that pull the plants out as soon as they sprout or eat EVERYTHING we put in our compost bin. I would love to learn more about gardening and be able to grow a lot more of our food so that we can cut costs, know that we are eating healthy organic food, and could survive on our own if needed. I may share some pics and post on our progress. It never ceases to amaze me how awesome God is and the amazing details of His creation.

My husband and I are working hard at managing our finances in a Christ-like manner so that we can be a blessing to our family and those around us. We don’t believe in credit cards and were able to claim being debt-free except our mortgage a year and a half ago. I work hard at couponing as another venue of saving money and although I am no expert on it, I have been able to cut our grocery bill by over $300 a month from doing it. We’ve also been able to create a stockpile of necessities that could be used to sustain us in an emergency or be a blessing to others who are going through hard times. I may occasionally list some of the deals that I am finding because winning with money is so exciting and we want to see as many people as possible experience the freedom from bondage that debt can cause.

We’re working on punctuality – not currently one of our strong points!

Housework is a constant struggle and something that never ends. I am always looking for ways to improve on it or make things run a little smoother. I’ve definitely learned that the less stuff we have, the easier it is to keep it clean. So, we are in a constant state of decluttering and eliminating or just saying NO to a lot of unnecessary things.

More importantly than any other thing I am striving to learn is just walking daily with my Savior and learning to lean on Him. He is constantly faithful to provide promises and encouragement when I need them most or to provide for my needs even when I forget to ask. He has blessed me beyond measure and the Bible says, “to whom much has been given, much will be required.” I am trying to be faithful with what He has given me and use it all for His glory.

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

My weaknesses are apparent. I pray that you may see Christ’s power in my life as He teaches me and graciously leads me through this life. Its a journey, not a destination. I’m not in a hurry to be anywhere but where He wants me and right now that’s right here!

I’m Gonna Try Again

handfulofblessings — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:32:23 +0000

In my heart, I have always loved writing. When I was little I would walk around and make lists of things….. just for the sake of writing. I went to a small children’s camp every summer at Indian Lake Nazarene Church Camp. One year I decided to make a list of what to bring to camp… and this list started in maybe? October! So, for the next 9 months or so I wrote a list of absolutely everything that I might possibly bring to camp. The list ended up at about 700 or so and had more things that I could have put in a moving van. In middle school I started a journal of poems that I had written. I wrote so many poems (on topics including love and heartache that would have made people think I was a middle aged woman who’d lost many loves lol). As a new Mom I began to journal the happenings of my day and the wonderful little things that I wanted to remember about my baby and motherhood. I’ve continued to do that but have faded off some as life has gotten busier with 4 little ones. Writing has always been therapeutic for me. Cleared my thoughts, relieved stress, or just made one less thing cluttering my brain with stuff to remember. For a while now, the Lord has laid writing on my heart again. I just didn’t know what to do with it. I’m not eloquent. I don’t have a lot of extra time. and I certainly don’t have it altogether. I’ve decided to start blogging, mostly for my own therapy but in hopes that I might also be a blessing to those around me. I might learn a few things that I can share or just might be honest about my mistakes so that others can learn from them but whatever comes, I love the Lord with all my heart and want to honor Him with whatever I do. Starting writing is a step of faith and I will let Him bring of it whatever He desires.
(Ok, I wrote all of that and opened up my blog that I had started a while back and realized that I said relatively the same thing about 2 1/2 years ago) I’m older and wiser now though, right? HaHa

Sick and tired of being Sick and tired

handfulofblessings — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:15:14 +0000

This Saturday morning finds me on the couch after a full night of playing nurse. Shelby is third in line for this nasty stomach/intestinal virus that is filtering its way through our house. Tuesday at 5:30 am we woke up to the sound of Mackenzie getting sick. After going to bed at 3:00am, this was a little too early for me but being a Mommy is 24/7 and so I cleaned up that BIG mess and stayed with her as she repeatedly got sick that morning. She rested all day Tuesday and by Wednesday seemed better. I was grateful that it quickly passed so that I could tend to all of my responsibilities for Town Hall for Hope. Thursday morning, Ansley had obviously received an unwanted gift from Mackenzie and started in with throwing up. Fortunately, she is big enough to know what is going on and was able to get to where she needed to be. See! I can find the positive. She only got sick once but has spent the past two days on the couch and eating nothing. After a wonderful Town Hall for Hope that included toting all 4 of my little ones with me instead of going into the childcare, we came home only to find that Mackenzie wasn’t quite over it all and this virus had moved to the other end of her. She had complained throughout the day Thursday and still hadn’t eaten anything but I thought maybe she was having sympathy pains for Ansley. haha. Any food she takes in results in tears, a bellyache, and a trip to the bathroom. All the while, Ethan has been very very fussy…..crying unless held, trying to get down when you hold him, and not sleeping much at all. He hasn’t thrown up but he isn’t big enough to tell me the problem, so I have to assume he doesn’t feel well either. Poor Shelby has been trying to be soooo careful. She has sprayed lysol all over, tried to steer clear of everyone, and has done everything possible to keep from getting sick. She went to bed saying that it was likely her turn this morning and we prayed that wouldn’t be so. I climbed in with Mackenzie on the trundle (all three girls share a room) and went to sleep with them as I felt the need to stay close. Not too much later, Shelby was up and fighting what seemed almost inevitable. When she gave in, I nearly did too. Let me just say….. you don’t want to eat long. uncut. spaghetti noodles before throwing up. Now its nearly 7am and I have yet to catch a wink. She has been getting sick every 20-30 minutes all night long and I don’t know about her, but I’m exhausted. She is not a very easy patient. As she cries and fights this, she has woke up every one of her siblings and I am left running from person to person trying to tend to all of their needs and get the others back to sleep (the only person who sleeps peacefully through all this is Heath). I haven’t slept much since Monday night and I’m ready to cry Uncle.

I think that I got sick as a little girl more than most. It seems like I always had something and my Mom was always right there by my side. She never seemed weary, never hesitated to jump and get me what I needed wanted, and was ever sympathetic. Honestly, I don’t know how she did it. I have memories of this patient and loving woman waiting on me with the utmost tlc and I felt more loved than ever. I am soooo tired, my house is a disaster, my patience is worn thin, I wish my oldest was capable of hitting the bucket, I want everyone to sleep in until noon, and most of all…… I hope that I can be a faithful servant of my Father who has entrusted these blessings to me. Lord, annoint me with your Holy Spirit, give me words of kindness and gentleness that come straight from you, give me the strength and energy to do the job you’ve called me to, and help these little ones to know how much I love them.

As Mother’s Day approaches it always finds me reflecting on my Mom and what “she did right”. I’m not proud or anything, but I tend to think…”hey I turned out alright. How’d she do it?”

Fallen in the Wagon

handfulofblessings — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:30:30 +0000

Ya ever say something and afterwards realize how it sounded? Well, due to some nasty morning/all day sickness, I have done very little laundry! Our children have begun calling the laundry basket “our mountain” and this morning, Heath was digging through our mountain looking for a pair of socks for work. He woke me from a sound sleep and asked me if I knew where his blue dress socks were…… Well I didn’t know but my only suggestion was, “have you checked the wagon?”. He assured me that he had checked and then continued digging through dirty socks until he found a blue pair. Later today I was doing laundry(I finally felt well enough by 4pm to do just one) and I was sorting socks. As I folded the girls socks, I stacked them neatly on top of the washer but with our washer and dryer in the garage and no counter space to fold, there is never enough room. As our garage has filled up and we have rearranged, Heath has moved the girls’ wagon to over against the wall near the dryer. I will say that I put a clean blanket or something in the bottom but that has become the place that I put his clean clothes and since he never puts them away and I have done very little, it has accumulated as much as a drawer. So… as I shot his clean socks into the wagon, I chuckled to myself at the way that we make do and make use of what we have and my suggestion to “check the wagon” made perfect sense to Heath but would have sounded rather absurd to anyone listening in.

Soccer balls and Tooth Fairies

handfulofblessings — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:28:12 +0000

Shelby came in with one of her front teeth dangling from her mouth the other night. She is usually so nervous, she won’t barely wiggle her teeth. SO, I was rather skeptical when I heard Heath talking about how they could come up with a cool way to pull it. I thought, “yeah right! She’s not going to let you yank it out.” He suggested the old doorknob method, or tying it to him and letting him run and slide across the floor, or tying her tooth up and letting him hold the string while she rode away on her bike as fast as she could, etc. etc. She didn’t like any of those ideas but then he suggested tying her tooth and then tying it to her soccer ball so she could kick it and pull the tooth out. For whatever crazy reason, this one sounded like a possibility to her and so he excitedly started to rig it all up. I tried the first time tying it with thread but it came right off without any tug of her tooth so Heath got fishing line and tied one of his good knots and then tied it to the soccer ball. Shelby, at this point, was having second thoughts. He had given a lot of slack to the line so she wanted to pick somewhere really close to kick it to or just toss it to the couch, which she knew was not far enough to pull on the tooth either. Finally, we stood her back far enough that it would work and told her to kick the ball. She stood there nervously giggling and tapped the ball just barely with her toe and it rolled until it was tight. “ow” and it didn’t even move. So, let’s do it again. This time we assured her that if she would just KICK it, she wouldn’t feel a thing. GO SHELBY GO! GO SHELBY GO! and with just barely enough courage she kicked the ball slightly harder and the line quickly got taught and her tooth went bouncing across the room. She didn’t know what happened. Shelby grabbed her mouth as she her the “tink, tink, tink” of her tooth bouncing across the floor. I told her that she’ll have a good story to tell. But, it was about 10:30 and both her and Ansley were so sleep deprived that they had been falling asleep at dinner. We tucked them into bed with Shelby’s tooth in a little baggy under her pillow and told them to go right to sleep. Ansley’s eyes kept floating shut so I sat a few minutes longer to rub her back and sing to her. No matter how close to sleep she came, she resisted. I asked her to relax and why she wasn’t going to sleep and she told me to just go ahead and leave and then she would. “well!” I left with a warning that she better go straight to sleep and I would be back to check. I came out to put Mackenzie to sleep and after about a half hour went to lay her down. I peeked in their room on the way back and she was still awake. ”Ansley, you need to go to sleep!! It is late! You are exhausted! and you’re going to feel awful tomorrow if you don’t get some rest.” I gave her one more warning and promised a spanking if she refused to go to sleep. I’d be back in a few minutes to check. Well, fifteen minutes later and she was still wide awake. At this point, it was 11:30 and I gave her a swat on her bottom. Then, I sat down to try and reason with her. WHY? WHY? WHY? was she not going to sleep. UHHH UMMM….. I can’t fall to sleep, I’m scared, the nightlight is too bright, the TV in the living room is too loud, I’m getting sick, I don’t know…. I didn’t buy any of it. I knew that she wasn’t being honest with me. We tried discussing honesty. Discussing sin, discussing disobedience…… We drew a lot of tears but no honest answer of WHY? we couldn’t go to sleep. I assured her that no matter what it was, she wouldn’t get in trouble, as long as she told me the truth. I felt like shaking it out of her but obviously that wasn’t an answer and she wasn’t about to budge no matter how much I lectured or scolded or she cried. Finally, I asked, were you planning on stealing Shelby’s tooth? “NO!” she said. Were you trying to wait up for the tooth fairy??? Yes, she admits with a flood of tears. I should have thought of that sooner. I told her that if she would have told me this a while ago, I could have let her know that you can’t wait up for the tooth fairy because she wouldn’t come if anyone was awake. ( quite frankly, I was very tired and the two dollars was waiting in my pocket but I couldn’t do anything until she fell to sleep) So at about 12:30 we discussed forgiveness, honesty, and obedience and she promised to go to sleep. After checking and checking and even trying to sneak the tooth while she was still awake, Ansley gave in at 1:30am. That child is as stubborn as can be and she was up in Shelby’s bed at 7:30 on top of Shelby waking her up to check and see if the toothfairy came. Shelby was excited but assured me that she was not ready to wake up. Just wait until Ansley looses teeth of her own. I guess they will both have good stories to tell.

Destined to be Late

handfulofblessings — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:50:40 +0000

I was due to arrive to my parents on December 31st, 1977. Being a tax auditer, my dad was highly aware of the benefits of a punctual arrival on my part. Unfortunately, I did not make my entrance until 11 days later and therefore depriving my parents of any tax benefits until the following year. I didn’t mean to be late, at least I don’t think so…. it just comes naturally. And I have been late to nearly everything else since that day. Tonight, I was supposed to be at church at 5:15 for the Wednesday night dinners and was to eat with my mom. I figured that should be easy enough since we were already ready. Once we’ve gotten ready for the day the first time it is usually easier to get out again and we had been to lunch with Robin and the kids only to come home and let them play outside for a short while before church. They were sent outside and given strict orders to not get dirty… Yeah right! I went outside to retrieve my munchkins who were unusually quiet only to find unrecognizable brown people running by. I think they misunderstood. I said DON’T get dirty. Shelby had a huge smudge of dirt that went from her eyebrows up into her hairline. Her knees, feet, and hands were caked along with clothing that looked like she took up mud wrestling. Ansley matched her. We went to the front of the house, did our best with the hose, bid the Butler’s ‘goodbye’, and came inside for a scolding and to get ready in a hurry. I sent them into the shower where I did a quick cleaning of both of them and then off to their room to get ready for church. We were already running behind but Mackenzie was asleep and all I had to do was change real quick and we should be off. I went to my room for the typical ”What shall I wear??” saga and after trying on a few things, the floor was scattered with discarded choices and I was dressed to go. I decided to top it off with a jacket and as I swirled it around to slip my arms inside, the zipper of the jacket just barely caught the lid of my 32 oz. McDonald’s coke (that happened to be sitting on the edge of the bathroom counter) and threw it across the bathroom, against the door, and exploding all over the wall/door/floor/rug/and oh yeah all the clothes that weren’t worthy of wearing today. So much for being on time! I stood there with soda all down my pants, sloshing in my crocs, and flowing quickly when I heard Shelby screaming from the other side of the house. To respond meant finding some way of discarding all of the coke that was attached to me so as not to drip all through the house. I did my best and ran to find out what the tears were all about. Ansley had picked Shelby up for the umpteenth time after being asked not to and had dropped her on the floor. Well I was less than sympathetic and brought them to see that I had bigger problems to deal with. I went back to deal with a big mess which meant a load of laundry, soaking the rug in the laundry tub, scrubbing the wall, scrubbing the door, scrubbing the floor, and picking out clothes AGAIN! The phone started ringing with my mom asking my elementary secretary, “Where are you??” and Mackenzie still needed to be pulled out of bed and dressed before we could go. Needless to say I am just destined to be late!

Mama always says to try new things

handfulofblessings — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:48:29 +0000

I’ve spent half of my life journaling. I have real journals and diaries and notes inside my Bible and then I have notebooks all over the place that just have pages full of my lists, my thoughts, and even written out prayers. I have done this so much that for my **30th** birthday last week, my oldest daughter, who is only 6, bought me a notebook with her own money because “you always write in all my notebooks Mommy”. I have friends that blog and I’ve been touched or inspired by reading total strangers’ blogs. So, I thought…. Why not try something new…. (I spend at least an hour or two at night trying to unwind after everyone else has gone to bed) and so I shall. If this is the only blog on here in a month or two, you’ll know it didn’t go so well.