Wow, No need to Go Out!!

I enjoyed another fun day in the kitchen with new recipes!! It always makes it fun for Daniel to like what i have decided to try. He is a trooper with my cooking after all of these years. (30 yrs. of marriage, Aug. 18th) And yes, I will be in Lima waiting on Baby T on that day but we will have much to celebrate!! Baby T is due on Aug. 19th.


Rice and Veggie Stir Fry

2 cup brown rice
1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli
baby carrots - as much as you want
3 T. olive oil
1 cup sweet corn
½ t. garlic powder
½ t. sea salt
¼ cup soy sauce

Boil two cups of water. Stir in rice. Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces. cut baby carrots into thin slices. Stir-fry broccoli and carrots in olive oil and garlic powder for 4-5 minutes. Stir in rice, salt and corn. Heat through. Add soy sauce and serve.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon cold water
5 tablespoons white sugar (I used equal)
5 tablespoons lite soy sauce
2 tablespoon and 2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 boneless/skinless chicken breast

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
3. Place chicken pieces in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Brush chicken with the sauce. Turn pieces over, and brush again.
4. I lined my pan with heavy duty foil then poured most of the thickened sauce over boneless breasts but reserved a little. Cooked, covered with foil for 30 minutes, removed foil, poured remainder of sauce over and bake another 20-30 minutes. cooked at 400 degrees

Can try with Salmon too!!

A couple of years ago, Daniel and I attended a Bible class on Sunday morning at the Highland church of Christ, in Abilene. There was a girl who spoke briefly of going through a tough time of grief and how her friends (her community) had helped her. During her grieving, there were times she didn't want to come to meet with others and yet, through encouragement from others, she did. She walked through the motions and eventually found herself at a different place. She referred to a book that she read during this time called The Water Will Hold You. I wrote the name of the book down and recently bought it while in College Station getting my Half Price Books fix. We don't have this store in Abilene.

I am reading this book like I do so many others -- slow. Today, I decided that i would read more than just a little. I was unsure if the book was true or not, so I began looking online. The site I have linked you to is one of questions and answers about the book, but there is much more information than just this book. The author, Lindsey Crittenden, writes short essays, and I'm excited to learn more about her. She was a skeptic and the book takes you through her journey of getting to know about God and about prayer. Some of her thoughts are new ones to me b/c of our different life experiences. I have enjoyed adding to my experiences through her book.

Her first words in learning to pray were "God you are here, God I am here." She taps first into her life experiences up to this point-- praying for her cat at age 10 and then the twenty-third Psalm. It helped me renew my thoughts about what parents teach their children. Even if all of those nightly devotionals you wanted to do but didn't get done - God's Word is implanted in our children hearts. It's in there and will come out as our children search for God and develop their own faith. When Lindsey heard things like "God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires know, and from whom no secrets are hid" she had to reckon with the thought, "I'm not alone, there is someone in the passenger seat." It wasn't a welcomed thought at first. She felt she needed to get used to prayer as you meet a new friend. The fact that she was a writer helped in the sense that you don't wait til you know what to write to sit down and write. You have to make writing (prayer) "a habit, to go to it the way I went each morning to the desk. Not to summon prayer, but to tap into what was already there." She even became giddy about the fact that prayer was always available. Have we lost that thought? Is it so available and so much a part of our lives for so long that we have lost our giddiness to be alone with God?

When Lindsey heard the words "inquiring and discerning heart" used in a prayer she realized "thinking wasn't just allowed but sanctioned." Her eyes were totally opened to a new way of looking at life when she learned about and embraced prayer, what she calls "pure acknowledgment of life."

I'm about half way through the book, but encourage you to check out her site and enjoy as you will.

Free Faxing

Daniel found this info. in the May, 2009 issue of INC. Magazine:

Send it online for free. My Fax, the online service that lets you send and receive faxes over e-mail, now has a free version. It lets you send two faxes a day, of up to 10 pages each, without entering a credit card number or even setting up an account. Simply go to myfax.com/free and enter your contact information, as well as the name and fax number of the person you want to contact. Then upload and send your file. The service can send Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, and files in 175 other formats.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

This recipe came into my inbox yesterday and I gave it a try tonight. I won Daniel over, he was unsure about the beans but I put plenty of meat in there and he liked it!!
Southwestern Chicken Soup
Makes 5 servings

Ingredients
1 12 oz jar salsa verde
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, baked in the oven ahead of time
1 15 oz. cannellini beans, i used great nothern beans
3 cups chicken broth
green onions
sour cream
tortilla chips

I baked the chicken in the oven, sprinkling them with roasted rosemary (we use this on everything).

Empty the salsa in the pan and heat for 2 minutes, thinly slice the chicken and add the chicken, beans, broth. Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Top each bowl of soup with green onions, a dollop of sour cream, and tortilla chips.

Real Simple, Oct. 2004

Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Stumbled across this tiny book at a garage sale and it sat on my book shelf until Mike Cope mentioned it in a recent blog. I grabbed it and read. There were some chapters I almost got lost in, but others that I totally related to. I enjoyed the fact that the author used so many scriptures.

Ps. 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. This is the very first sentence in chapter one. This book spoke to me on so many levels.

Zech 10:9 When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in far countries,
And they with their children will live and come back.

Our kids fly out tomorrow to Lima, Peru.



Since we have been living in Abilene, we have enjoyed getting to spend time with the Thai Team who is supported by the A&M church of Christ during their training year. They will be leaving for Thailand in early September. By the way, the Thai Team had a wonderfully successful garage sale on Saturday (they are in the transition from training to spending time with their families). Haley Edmiston is in the back, light hair and holding one of the babies. We have had the honor of having her live with us since we moved to Abilene.



We have also been able to get to know one of the girls on the Conce Team (Chile). Deanna Meredith attends worship time and Bible class at Hope church of Christ, our home congregation. Their full time training will begin later this year. It seems we have been around the idea of missionaries for all of our married life. Our family has watched the Aggies for Christ send many out each summer and both of our girls started going on mission trips with the youth group when they were in 8th grade. There have been so many Aggie reports on Sunday evenings in College Station - telling how other Christians were a joy and strength to so many college students. This is true for us each time we meet together in homes or in the many bldgs.

Team Conce (Chile) - Deanna is in the back with the purple jacket.



Bonhoeffer says, "the christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth...we meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation."

The chapters in this book are: Community, The Day with Others, The Day Alone, Ministry, and Confession and Communion. God's People and His Word are so much a part of our lives, our every day life if we allow Jesus Christ to be our unity, our peace. "Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another and fellowship with one another."

It is hard for me to say what I liked the most but i really loved the idea of a chapter on ministry. Some that Bonhoeffer spoke to were the ministry of holding one's tongue, of meekness, of listening, of helpfulness, of bearing, of proclaiming, and of authority. Oh, so many good thoughts, but I will tell a bit about the ministry of bearing. We are all familiar with the verse, "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ", Galatians 6:2. But what does that look like? This is what Bonhoeffer says, "Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him." We, of course, were a burden to God and Christ had to bear our burden.

Isa. 53:4-5 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Peace to all of you, Check this book out.

Don't calculate without God

As i read alison's latest blog tonight, i teared up. Later i journaled so i could process and really understand why i cried. Then I picked up a study i'm going back thru -- a study on the book of James, Course Setters, Kym Hindt. I would like to share some of the thoughts from this because it was such an encouragement to me. God's ways are so much higher than ours and so as we read His Word we have much deeper spiritual thoughts than would just naturally come from our own thoughts.

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." I think a lot of times one of the temptations that crops up is that we calculate without God in the picture. We know He is there but we project into the future and don't take in account all of God's activity and how it rarely turns out how we think it will.

Ps. 119:32 I shall run the way of Your commandments,
For You will enlarge my heart. (NAS)

Ps. 119:32 I pursue the way of Your commands,
for You broaden my understanding. (HCSB)

In the first chapter of James we are encouraged to endure...it is God who enlarges our hearts, broadens our understanding and gives us the power, His power to endure. When we are in a crisis we must take care of our faith. It is not our feelings that will carry us thru but our confidence that comes from our relationship with God. The knowledge we have of God's character, no matter what our situation is.

Ps. 16:11 In your presence is fullness of JOY!! (go read that whole chapter, it is the best!!)

Our faith will be tested and then confirmed and that will benefit each of us. We will be affirmed in our walk as we go thru all of these situations. God is faithful, we know that to be truth!! We are developing endurance as we go thru trials so we are ready for opportunities in the kingdom that God has prepared for each of us. The author reminds me, the more difficult the battle, the sweeter the victory. I know this to be true!!

He wants us to be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing -- sounds like spiritual maturity to me. His answer to gaining spiritual maturity is asking for wisdom, figuring out not how to get out of the trial but how to endure it. Wisdom - having spiritual insight during our difficulties especially. God is that perfect parent who is anxious to help when His children ask. (Prov. 2:2-6, Matt. 7:7-11, Ps. 81:10) We must believe and have a trusting heart. And last but NOT least having a spirit of humility.

I love this song, it is one Janie Bason taught us how to sign. It makes my heart beam!!

Give thanks with a grateful heart,
Give thanks to the Holy One,
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ His Son.

And now let the weak say "I am strong."
Let the poor say "I am rich."
Because of what the Lord has done
for us
Give thanks.

Transformation

As Alison, Justin and Cailyn packed up this morning our house went through a transformation. The master bedroom closet had been home for Cailyn to rest each day and evening. The pack and play fit just perfect. Thank you, Mitzi Mills(our builder) for making my closet so big!! We had a potty chair and books in the master bathroom and as we move into the kitchen you could see the little tikes table that used to be Allie's (justin's 10 yr. old sister). In the dining room/living room we set up Alison's toy box that my dad built for her and Hannah's bookshelf that my dad built when she was born. Of course toys and books were of plenty!! The stool that my dad built the girls was used for brushing our teeth, washing our hands, and for Honey to sit on because i couldn't fit at the little tikes table!! We had stickers, map pencils, play dough, elmo dvds, my rocking chair (over 50 years old) and lots of special books laying all around. Daniel and I played with Cailyn til our hearts over flowed. We took her to the zoo and sang to her every night before bed time. Storing up memories until Baby T comes in Aug. was a true gift from God!! We found a great dvd of memory verses put to song. Cailyn enjoyed them and was singing "keep me as the apple of your eye" before she left. And oh, yes, we enjoyed our visits with alison and justin!! We played mexican train dominoes and cooked homemade pizza. Justin was eating ice cream as he left, and Alison feels like she needs to walk off all of this American food that she hasn't had the rest of her pregnancy!! Alison and Justin spoke Sunday night at the Hope church of Christ about some of their struggles in Costa Rica and I feel they benefited from being so open and honest about their growth process. Daniel and I got in the car as they left and ran errands. It is best to keep our eye on what God has for us in Abilene as we watch our kids listen to His voice as well. You can all say prayer of praise on the Orozcos account for getting through their first furlough visit with our kids!!

Cailyn's 2 year old Birthday Party

Lots of fun, good hot dogs, hot weather for the kids to swim, good fellowship for all!! Alison baked a mermaid cake and the pictures just don't do it justice. You can tell from the picture of Cailyn by the cake the singing of Happy Birthday took Cailyn by surprise. She just stood with a blank stare!! I think the gift that was one of the favorites was Aunt Sister's (Hannah)gift to Cailyn. It was a tea kettle with cups and pastries. Cailyn is practicing the hospitality of the Lord and loves it!!

Our Sweet Cailyn

You have not seen many pictures of our Cailyn on our blog, but she is visiting us so here goes!! We picked them up at the Austin airport - Daniel wore his red clown nose. It only took Cailyn a few minutes to crack a smile!! She immediately wanted to hold "Honey's hand". I was the chosen person she wanted to do everything until daddyO sang her to sleep!! He quickly won her heart over. Tonight Aunt Sister, Hannah, came in --- well, now she is the "chosen person". We are totally enjoying our grandparent days with Cailyn!!




Our first stop was Bastrop to visit with Daniel's parents. Bastrop BBQ (sauage/brisket) and tortillas were the menu and Cailyn showed she is a true Texan!! She connected right away with all of the family. It was quite a joy!!


Our next stop was to renew relationships with the Hope church of Christ. We enjoyed dinner after our Bible study. Mexican rice hit the spot!! Cailyn got to renew her friendships with Lindsey and Samantha!! And yes, our sweet Cailyn is left handed. We noticed that right from the beginning.

Last stop, Honey and daddyO's house. When bath time was mentioned, she took off running and was in the bathtub before any of us knew she was gone. That should tell you we have to be on our toes to catch this one!!! We are enjoying the greatest blessings this weekend!! Thank you, Father, for family!!

Our Hope (church of Christ) Friends

We have had two recent opportunities to enjoy getting to know our new brothers and sisters at Hope church of Christ. Kent Akers and his wife, Heather, do a great job with the youth. Kent's brother is just finishing his freshman yr. at ACU and has added to the adults that interact with the youth. While the group was small that came over Sunday evening for rootbeer floats and a game of farkle, we still enjoyed them!! Many of the youth that are part of Hope were here when Alison and Justin were in Abilene and so we have been able to watch them grow. What fun!!

Tonight the second group came over. These couples are going to join Daniel and I walk through 10 Great Dates to Energize Your Marriage. Although we will read on our own and plan and go on our own dates; we will come back together on week 5 and week 10 to share our experiences. For the couples that have been married for quite awhile I think I will order 10 Great Dates for Empty Nesters