Menu Monday

Here's the plan for the week...I think. :)


Monday- Italian Sausage and peppers, pasta, broccoli
Tuesday- Taco Rice
Wednesday- Chicken breasts, twice baked potatoes, green beans
Thursday- Family Night- We usually order out.
Friday- Crockpot something or other. I'm thinking Sloppy Joes
Saturday-Leftovers
Sunday- Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, home made rolls, broccoli

Wordless Wednesday- Brothers

Thoughtful Tuesday-Getting the rest we need.

 

As I was doing some bible study/personal God time this week I came across a couple verses that got me thinking.  One of them is Galatians 6:9. In the Message version, it reads like this, " So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit."  I think that sometimes people understand this as meaning keep doing services, actions,  'stuff', even if it is to the detriment of yourself or your family, because eventually we will get something out of it  and we will be greatly rewarded if we just stick to it long enough. Even if we are worn out, broken down or physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausted, we just need to keep trucking along and do all the 'stuff' everyone thinks we should do.

 I don't think so. I think that we are supposed to do 'good' and not let it get us down. I don't think that we are supposed to run ourselves ragged trying to be everything for everyone. Doing 'works' and doing good are not always the same thing. Sometimes they are, but not always. To me, and you don't have to agree with me, doing good is well...doing good. We all know what good is, really. Doing good is doing what God wants you to do when and how HE wants you to do it. It is living a life God would be proud of. A life that would please Him. We should do what it says in 1Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Everything we do should glorify God. Everything.
 It doesn't necessarily have to be a public thing. It can be very private. No one but you and God even needs to know what your particular 'good' thing/things is/are. We just have to do those things in the right mindset. We can't do them begrudgingly, or just because it's expected, or whatever your personal reasons might be. We have to make sure that we are doing the things God has called us to do. Sometimes we don't get the right message from God. Sometimes the needs of the church or ourselves or even our own emotions cry out louder than the voice of God and we end up making rash judgements or wrong choices. Do we keep doing those things anyway and wait for our 'right time' to come? Maybe. That's a personal call, I think.

Galatians 6:7-8 says "7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."NIV

If we are sowing when we are tired (spiritually, emotionally, or physically), unfulfilled, concerned about our image, worried about what other people think, sowing with halfheartedness, resentment, or anything that is not 'good', what kind of harvest will we be reaping at the end?  Not the kind of harvest I am personally looking for. I don't want a half-hearted harvest. I don't want a harvest full of resentment. I don't want a harvest that doesn't bring joy. I don't want a harvest that comes with a 'whew, I sure am glad that's over'. I want a joyful harvest. Maybe that's selfish, I don't know. That's just me being honest right now.

Matthew 11:28. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." We go to God.  We let Him restore. We ask Him for guidance and we keep asking until we CLEARLY hear what He wants us to do.  Maybe we step down from things, narrow our 'to-do lists', clear out the clutter of our lives, re-focus. Whatever it takes to restore that relationship with God. Whatever it takes to get back our energy, our hope, our fervor, our zeal, our excitement for God and for following Him. That is going to look different for each of us, but that's OK. Your friends will still like you.(Probably, and if they don't then well...re-examine your friendships.) Your Pastor will still like you. God will still like you. It is not selfish. It is not self-serving. It is what it takes for you to be productive in the kingdom and in your calling.

Isaiah 40:28-31

NIV

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Menu Monday

Here's what we ate at the Harman House last week. :)

Monday:Pork steaks, yellow rice, broccoli

Tuesday: Chicken tacos, rice, salad

Wednesday: Baked chicken breasts, leftover side dishes & veggies from the fridge

Thursday: Crockpot pinto beans, rice

Friday: Mac & Cheese w/ ham, peas

Saturday: We ordered out. Medium Boy had a banquet at the country club, so the rest of us watched Netflix and had dinner delivered.

Sunday: Leftovers

Scripture Sunday

"Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us" (1 John 3:21-23, NIV).

Foodie Friday-Dinner Rolls

I love making breads and rolls from scratch. I usually let my bread machine do the 'hard' work of kneading and rising and all that stuff. But, still.  I have a dinner roll recipe I use all the time and I have used it for years and years. Lately however, it hasn't been turning out as well as I would like it to. It made good roll, but they were not fabulous rolls.

So, I went on the hunt for a new dinner roll recipe to try out.  I found this one, which is fabulous. The rolls are slightly sweet, but not too sweet. They rose perfectly. The texture was great and they didn't taste too yeasty.  I did change it up a bit, so here's what I did.

Sweet Dinner Rolls



1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

Mix water, milk, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and stir well. I just used a Pyrex measuring cup that I measured out the milk and water into. Let sit for a few minutes while you gather the rest of the ingredients.  I let it sit until it started to get a little foamy on the top. Pour milk/water/sugar/yeast mixture into your bread machine, add remaining ingredients and run on the dough cycle.

When bread machine is done. Dump the dough out into a well oiled bowl. You can cover it at this point and put it in the fridge to shape the rolls later, or you can shape the rolls now. Shape rolls into balls the size you desire. I made mine about ping pong ball size.  Place dough balls into a well greased pan. The size of the dough balls will determine how many rolls you get out of this dough. I want to say I got just over 20, but honestly I forgot to count. :) Cover  with a tea towel and let rise until doubled. This took about 30 min or so in my oven with the light on. It will take more or less time depending on the temp in your house. Warmer temps = less time. Cooler temps = more time. 

Once rolls have risen, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. At this point you can melt a little butter (1/4 cup or so) and pour that over your rolls. Put rolls in the oven and bake rolls 10-15 minutes or until done. I had to place a tent of foil over mine because the tops were getting a bit too brown for my liking. It could have been because of the butter, but I don't think so. I don't usually cook my rolls at this high of a temperature.

 These made THE BEST ROLLS EVER!!! The texture was perfect. Everyone ate at least 3 of these rolls for dinner.

Things I Love Thursday (TILT)-

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

Ok, I couldn't resist. That song pops into my head every time I think about writing a Things I Love Thursday post and I just had to get it out. :) I suppose I should get back on track. Easier said than done for this ADD lady.

This week I have a lot of things I love. Well, I have a lot of things I love all the time, but you know what I mean. It's hard narrowing it down and writing a post on just one thing. I tend to go off on rabbit trails and lose focus and totally forget what I was writing about...like right now. Anyway.

 My LOVE for this week is spring time weather.  It has been beautiful the last few days. We've had windows open. Fresh air is flowing through the house (without too much West Texas dust). The birds are singing outside. It has been fabulous. I love the Spring.

Spring is my favorite season. I love the newness of it. The freshness of it. The...Spring of it. It reminds me of everyday with God. Each morning is like Spring. We get to start out fresh and new. The mistakes of yesterday are forgotten and behind us. God loves us where we are for who we are and his compassions are made new each morning.

Lamentations 3:21-24

NIV

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

Wordless Wednesday

Thoughtful Tuesday- Getting your priorities in line

I'm just gonna say this post is not going to be nearly as good as the original one I had all typed up and then somehow magically deleted with my fat fingers 2 seconds before it auto saved. :) You're just gonna have to deal. LOL


I think I might have mentioned last week that we were shutting our cable off. We were waiting for the Super Bowl to do it, though. So, after the Super Bowl on Sunday( and the commercials that reinforced our decision to cut the cable off), we shut the TV off and it wasn't turned on again until Thursday night when we watched a movie on Netflix through the Wii. My husband finally got a break in his schedule and was able to call and cancel it totally on Friday. However, a quick check on Saturday showed we were still getting cable channels, so another call is going to be made this week.

I know that some of you may not understand our choice to turn off the cable. I mean we're still watching shows and movies on Netflix or renting movies from the Redbox machine. I know the hubby has found some way to get his Glenn Beck fix. What is the big deal with the cable, you ask. Well, it's the content. We just were tired of being bombarded by inappropriate content. Now, we didn't watch a whole lot of inappropriate shows. No Glee, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, etc. Nothing super violent or twisted like Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, CSI, Law & Order, etc. However, even with what we were watching ( NCIS, Glenn Beck, Discovery Channel programs, History Channel programs, etc) we were still getting bombarded with in appropriate content from the commercials. It was insane. We would be watching a home renovation show. Safe for the kids. The boys aren't getting hit with sexuality, the language is acceptable, no moral dilemmas we'd have to explain, then WHAM!!! Viagra commercials or some other sexually inappropriate commercial. It was just way too much mess. We're watching a hot rod show. That's safe. Then BOOM!! We've got half nekkid ladies selling brakes and other auto parts. Not good. When you are the parents to 3 boys you really have to guard them against the constant sexual bombardment they get from this world. It's everywhere all the time and they don't need that issue to deal with. Life is hard enough, society is skewed enough, and the whole girl thing is hard enough, without adding to it. The lessons we want our boys to learn about women and sexuality are so far from what is out there in TV land, it is unbelievable.

Now, I am not saying that if you watch any of the shows I mentioned as unacceptable for our family, that you are some horrid person with issues. You may not have issues with the commercials. You may be just fine with watching whatever shows you wanna watch and whatever commericals pop up. I'm good with that. I am in no way judging you for being different than we are. I say have at it. Those shows and things just don't work for our family and they don't fit in with our lifestyle. That is just where we are right now. You might think we're weird or odd. That's fine. You do what works for you and your people and we'll do what works for our people. I'll still like you, I promise. :) 

Anyway, we thought the kids would have a harder time with the switch. With the exception of our oldest who experienced no TV the first year we were stationed in England ( He was around 8 at the time and he'll be 20 in May, so that tells ya how long ago that was.) the boys have always had TV and it's been on a lot. We used it as background noise, as a time filler, as a boredom fighter, as well....whatever. It was on A LOT.  So far everything has gone smoothly.  Medium Boy did ask what they were supposed to do with no TV, but they figured it out. The Small and Medium Boys have been reading more, which is great. Small Boy just got some books from the book fair at school and they have both been reading those. They are actually playing outside together. Usually Small Boy ( who is 9) is outside and Medium Boy ( who is 12 and can't be bothered with his little brother) is inside watching TV. It has been an adjustment, but they are doing fine.

Things have also been a lot more calm around here. Without the constant noise of the TV, there is just not as much stress. Now, I'm a noise sensitive person. Some noises I can block out, but other just annoy me to no end, and if there are a whole lot of noises at once I just can't handle it. Having the TV off has personally made me less edgy. No more super loud TV blaring in the front living room over the sound of the 3 dogs playing  along with another TV with a different show on  blaring from the back living room, people yelling at each other from one room to the other because they can't be bothered to get up and miss part of their show to actually talk to someone. The silence, well as silent as it gets around here, has been nice.

So, what are we doing with all that extra time?  For now we are using this time to re-connect as a family. We're eating dinner together at the table, like I mentioned before. We're playing games, watching movies, talking to each other, cleaning the kitchen and doing other chores together. Medium Boy is spending more time practicing his violin and flute. Small Boy is reading more. Large Boy is spending more time with this brothers. I am actually studying for my  microbiology class, getting Sunday School homework done, and doing my bible study stuff before bible study. My husband is doing...well, whatever it is he does when he's not working. LOL I'm not exactly sure. I've never asked and he looks busy. LOL Oh, and we're all getting much more sleep. :)

When we were deciding on wether or not to keep the cable my husband said something that was so true. He said "In 10 years from now we're not gonna remember what shows we watched or what was on the tv. We're gonna remember the stuff we did as a family. If we don't do things now, our kids will be out of the house before we know it and we won't have anything to look back on." He's right. That time is quickly coming for us. Who knows where we will be in 10 years. I do know that by getting rid of the distraction of tv, we will have plenty of time to make plenty of memories during those years. To foster a sense of family in our children. To teach them how to look out for each other. To foster compassion and caring in them. To help them reach their goals and to dream big. To encourage them and build them up.To grow them up to be the men God created them to be. All of those things are more important than anything on tv. Those things are the things that make up life. Those things make a family.

Meditating Monday

I am still deciding on a working on a daily set theme format for this blog. I know last Monday I posted my menu plan. Well, I didn't really keep track of our menus last week, so I have no idea what we ate and that makes for a boring blog post. So, today I am just going to post a scripture for us to mediate on.  :) So, read it and share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Isaiah 40:28-31

NIV

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Foodie Friday- Freezing Milk

In an attempt to keep our grocery budget down and  make our lives easier by reducing the amount of time I actually spend grocery shopping, I freeze a LOT of stuff. I look for really good sales and I stock up as freezer space and grocery money allows.

Earlier this week I took the last gallon of milk out of the freezer. That means I needed another sale on milk. Now, I could pay full price for milk, but I don't wanna. I usually stock up on it when it is on sale and I freeze it. It's pretty easy to do. Anyway, today I went looking for marked down milk, since no one in town had any on sale, and I found some. YAY!! I love how God provides the things you need when you need them. I had just enough grocery money left for the week to buy just enough 1/2 gallons to fill the empty space in our freezer. That is God's provision at work right there. :)

So, how to you freeze milk, you ask? It's easy peasy. You buy your milk and bring it home. You open it up.  You pour a little bit of milk off of each gallon or half gallon or whatever, put the lid back on and pop it in the freezer. Not everyone I know pours a bit off, but I do. I have had milk jugs split, and sometimes you don't know until you are thawing the milk out. Not pretty.

It is super easy to thaw. Just take it out and put it on the counter. Shake it up a bit whenever you walk by. Stick it in the fridge when it's almost totally thawed. Now, I am sure there are some people who are freaking out because I just said to thaw something out on the counter. I grew up in a time where you thawed chicken out on the counter. I survived. But, if you don't wanna take a chance with counter thawing ( I'm not entirely sure how big a risk it really is, actually.) You can put it in the fridge to thaw. It takes a lot longer that way, but it'll work.

I usually take a frozen gallon out to thaw when we are down to about 1/2 a gallon left. That's what works for us. We usually won't finish out the remaining gallon before the frozen one thaws. Lately we've been buying 1/2 gallons, because of sales/markdowns. (See the picture above. Can't pass up that kind of a deal.) I take 2 of those out to thaw when we are down to 1/2 gallon in the fridge.


So, that's your freezer tip this week. Come back next week and see what I'm feeding my family. :)

Things I Love Thursday(TILT)- My Family

Harman Family- 2005-ish, I think...

There we are in all our glory.(Many years and many lbs for me ago.We really need a new family picture.) This is precisely why I love these people so much. They are nuts, just like me.  We're pretty much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get group of people. We have changed over the years in many ways, but that's how life and family goes.

So, what is it that you are lovin' this Thursday?

Wordless Wednesday....sorta

This is what the tv is looking like at our house. We're cutting off the cable and getting our priorities in the proper order.

Thoughtful Tuesday- Treating God Like the King He Is.

So, Sunday at church our pastor's sermon was titled "Developing a 'Bring' Mindset". (You should be able to listen to it here. If it's not up today, it will be soon. ) The basic premise of the sermon was that we, as American Christians in general, life in a false mindset. A mindset that is totally opposite to the mindset we need to have a Christians. We are always looking for the pay-off. We gauge how much we do based on how much we get. We're always concerned about 'what's in it for me'. We don't value God for who He is. Now, before you get your knickers in a twist, understand that I am not saying that ALL American Christians live in this way. However, most do. Be honest. We have all been in that mindset at one point or another in our lives. It is easy to live the watered down version of Christianity that most churches teach. No risk involved. Show up on Sundays with your 'church face'. Check the boxes. Play the game.



Anyway, back to the point. :) You wanna know what I think the issue is? No, well then stop reading for today and come back tomorrow. I might post something more agreeable and easier to swallow then. If you do wanna know what I think the issue is, then read on baby. I think the main issue is that we as a culture have a skewed sense of value and our priorites are out of whack. We value all the wrong things and we put those things before God. Maybe we just don't understand who God really is. Maybe we are just ignorant in our understanding of God. I think the biggest, most common problem is that we just don't treat God like the king He is.

I am guilty of this. Of not treating God like a King. We like having God available to us when we need him. We like having Him work in our lives and in the lives of our friends and family. We enjoy all the perks we get from having a relationship with him. We do what we can when we can to foster that relationship. However, it is not usually our number one priority. We have great intentions. We plan to do pray more, read our bible more, worship Him more, but we just don't get around to it. Is this the way we should be treating our King? The Creator of the Earth? The Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega?

My challenge to you this week, and to myself, is to find ways you can honor The King this week. Now, I'm not saying beat yourself up and think about how horrible you are and how you totally suck at this "Christian thing" and come up with a huge list of how you are lacking in your walk with Christ. Just think about one or two things you can do to bring honor to your Saviour and actually do them. That is the hardest part for me. I can come up with lists all day long, but actually implementing them is not my strong point.

Here is what I am going to do this week:

1. Actually wake up early and read my bible and pray. I've been meaning to do this for months, but I just never got around to actually getting up. I'm not exactly a morning person, so this is a tough one for me. However, my dear husband has actually been getting up at 4 to get his personal devotional time in and well, there really is no reason I can't get up and do it.

2. I want to implement a daily family devotional. We're turning our cable off this week. (Just as soon as my husband calls the cable company.) Our hold out was the Super Bowl, and now that it's over we're done. With the extra time we'll have I think this will be a great thing to do. I'm thinking about doing it at dinner time, but we'll have to see how the schedule works out.


So, those are my two things for this week. Leave a comment and post what you are doing to properly honor The King in your house.

Menu Plan Monday

So, this is my first attempt at doing a Menu Plan Monday post. Honestly, these things are probably not going to be on the menu this week, but they are often on our menu plan. Personally, I like the posts with links to recipes and reviews. I figured the best way to get that type of post is to post the menu from the week before. That way I can put in personal notes, links to recipes and maybe even pictures. So, with this being my first post, I'm just gonna post family favorites. Next week I'll post this week's menu with notes and such. Understand? Good. :) Here we go.

Monday: Honey Glazed Dump Chicken, rice, broccoli

Tuesday: Tuna Cakes, mac & cheese, green beans

Wednesday: Taco Rice, tortillas ( in case someone wants to turn the taco rice into burritos or whatever), corn

Thursday: Home made pizzas. I'll probably make these with tortillas, but I do have 1 pizza crust in the freezer. Thursday is family night at our house, so we usually do something like pizza. Well, everyone except for Small Boy, who doesn't like pizza. He has issues. :)

Friday: Individual Chicken Cobblers

Saturday: Lemon Garlic Chicken, rice, mixed veg

Sunday: Leftover buffet

A Heart For...More

You know, sometimes as we are carried along on this roller coaster ride called life, we get too used to riding along. Too busy doing your own thing. Too busy with your own life. You know what I mean, right? You're sitting there and things are happening all around you but you are too busy with 'the ride' of your own life and your own stuff to be bothered with what is zinging by in that blurry world outside 'the ride'. Then one day you notice something outside in all that blurry mess. Something that calls to you. Something that makes you think about what you have been focusing on. Those things that you think are so important. You realize that there is just so much more outside the ride. So much that is more important than the things you are focusing on now. That something calls to you. It haunts you. It leaves you wanting....well....wanting more.







My heart has been longing for more in life. More peace. More structure. More excitement. More organization. More family time. More quiet time. More of God. Just...more. Not that greedy, selfish 'more'. The 'more' that motivates you to do only for yourself or for what you can get out of it. I am talking about the 'more' that makes you want to be a better person. The 'more' that drives you to create a better home for your family. The 'more' that makes you want to impact lives, yours or someone else's. The 'more' that draws you closer to being the person God created you to be. That's the 'more' I'm talking about.







This is my journey toward that 'more'. I have no idea how to get there or when I will reach the end of the journey, but I do know that as long as I keep moving forward, pressing on, and listening to what God has to tell me, I'll get to where I need to be when I need to be there.