How to be everyone's hero...

Make homemade mozzarella sticks:



THESE are amazing!

Here's what my gang said:


"These are better than the store bought kind."

"Will you make these for my birthday?!"

"Will you make these every week?"

"These are too legit to quit!"



-And the best thing they all said was "Will you teach us how to make them?" Absolutely!!! : )

(they'll be making them for ME in no time! lol)

The secret is the Panko bread crumbs. They are so light and airy!

~Becky

This Weekend, I...

-Finished my term as the president and treasurer of our home school group and had fun passing out the yearbooks


-Got my first lesson on couponing and how to use thegrocerygame.com. Hoping to become a coupon queen and save gobs of money


-Started watching LOST for the first time by streaming season 1 on Net flix (you don't want to know what episode we are on already because it is scary)


-Helped one of my boys get all packed for a youth camp that he's going to in TX with my best friend's family. Managed to get all his things in a carry-on and avoid the $25 luggage fee. yay!


-Made our favorite meal, fettuccine alfredo with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes and had our boys best friends over for dinner and to spend the night


-Said 'good-bye' and prayed for Nate as we all headed off to church while he and Dad headed to the airport


-Heard an awesome sermon on the sovereignty of God which HELPED SO MUCH when I thought about Nathan flying alone and then when a delay and a gate change made him miss his connecting flight and left him sitting in Memphis alone for 7 hrs!


-Took my wonderful hubby out for Chinese food for Father's Day and realized we don't have a single kiddo who can get the "Age 10 and under" price anymore. Boo-hoo! ; )


-Watched more LOST and talked to a bored and sad sounding Nathan as he sat in Memphis forever and a day.


-Talked to my sweet Dad on the phone and got excited about our trip to CA in August!


-Watched more LOST and worried about Nathan


-Got a call from a VERY HAPPY Nathan at 11:00 PM who was safe and sound in TX with our wonderful friends! He said the trip got even more exciting when he was flying through a storm and felt like he was apart of the movie "The Day after Tomorrow."


-Told the rest of our kids that they are never flying anywhere alone (LOL!) and I went to bed, greatly relieved!

The End! : )

~Becky

The 'devil' vs 'the tank'

It has arrived and I'm so excited!
This is my first new vacuum!

This is what I have been using.We bought our Tri-Star used years ago.

(I can't believe the price of a new one! More than my first car!) : )

The repairman told me that they were made after the war by engineers who had nothing to do. See, calling it a 'tank' really does fit! : )

CSN Stores has given me this fun opportunity to do a product review and here are my thoughts:

The Dirt Devil is LIGHT weight, unlike 'my tank.' It's suction ability is actually better. (probably due to its age since it wasn't new when I got it)
My favorite part is that I can do our hard wood floors without having to change to another attachment. Yippee! It is also bag less! No touching all that dusty mess to pull out the bags! This one has button you push on the dust canister that opens up automatically and all the dust and debris fall right in to your trash can! Too cool!

So, happy vacuuming to me and "thank you" CSN Stores! Check them out! They have everything from vacuums to sofas!

~Becky

It is finished!

My year as president of our home school group ends today!
I'll be passing out the yearbooks at our park day and handing over the last few things I still have to our new president. -That is right!
God gave our group the perfect president for next year and I'm so thrilled and thankful! He answered all our prayers in a big and wonderful way. We also have a large board of directors in place who are so energetic and excited about serving! Next year is going to be awesome!

With my husband stepping down from Rangers and my year ending as president this week, people have asked us what is up and are we moving? No. Nothing like that. : )

"Thank you, Lord, for carrying my family and I through this year! You are so abundantly faithful in every way!"
~Becky

Because of a crazy guy with a gun...

...I have something totally out of the ordinary to blog about. ; )
-But I won't mind a bit if my posts stay in the realm of the ordinary from now on.... lol


Joy and I had been on a bunny errand at the pet store and found out that we could not drive down our street when we returned. Both ends of it were blocked by police cars!!!
My cell phone was dead and to top it off our boys were home alone!
(how is this for drama?)

I spoke to the nearest officer and asked him if I could go home because my boys were home alone. He wanted to know how old they were and was I thankful that I could say: 17, 15 and 11. He said that he would have to ask his commanding officer. I asked what was going on and being a nervous wreck, I kind of spaced out until I heard him say "and the guy has a gun and the SWAT team is on their way."
Unbelievable!!!

As it turned out, I had to leave my car parked around the corner from my street and the lieutenant had to escort me down the street to go and get my boys. He said that I would be walked back and that we could not stay in our house.
As he walked us down the street, he pointed out to Joy and I which house (around the corner) had the guy in it "being stupid" with a gun. -So, glad he doesn't actually live on our street.

Joy and I went in and rounded up the boys telling them we had to leave the house right now and that there was a police officer waiting for us outside. That was a shocker, but they obeyed quickly and in no time, we were being walked back down the street.
-Nathan likes to point out that we were being walked towards the house with the gunman in it which didn't seem very safe actually... lol. Oh well!

I was SO grateful to just have all my children together! Next on the agenda was to decide where to go since going home to make dinner wasn't an option.
Guess what I found out? You can be gone all day and have tons of things to do and places to go...but when someone makes you leave your home, you draw a total blank! Or at least I did, I was still so nervous!
When we finally got a hold of my hubby on his cell, we decided to meet at our favorite pizza place close to home.
It was one wild, loud meal. I'm sure the waitress thought we were crazy, talking about a "gunman" and "this policeman" as the kids gave Dad all the dramatic details. : )

After we ate, we had just a few minutes before we had to leave for an awards ceremony for the Royal Rangers and the Impact Girls Ministry. We thought we could skip it, but the outpost commander told my hubby that he had to be there no matter what and that he would bring a uniform that he could wear, since he couldn't get into our house to change into his. I thought that was pretty odd since it isn't everyday that you have to deal with a gunman and evacuate your house. I mean, really?
So, he headed off to the ceremony in his work clothes and the kids and I headed home to find out what the situation was like and guess what? -It was all over!
The police were driving away as we pulled up. I still don't even know how it ended. One of my neighbors said that they had a "tank" out there. I thought she must've been exaggerating but my hubby said that the SWAT team does have a vehicle that look similar to a tank...

Andrew and I changed in a hurry and I grabbed my hubby's own uniform (in case he would have time to put it on) and rushed off to the ceremony and walked in late.
And do you know what happened?
At the end of the ceremony my hubby was honored for his 7 years of service in the Ranger ministry.
The senior commander (who said he HAD to be there) was so choked up that he couldn't even speak. When he could speak again, he said something to the effect that 'no one knows how much he put into his class each week" and that he didn't think "there was a better man in the room." WOW! (there were lots of awesome godly men in the room, but I totally agree!)
Now, I'm glad we didn't let a crazy guy with a gun spoil that moment, after all! : )

-When people wondered where the rest of our kids were, we filled them in on our very eventful afternoon! Apparently word got around and as we were leaving, one of the guys said to Andrew "Hey, I heard that SWAT was at your house today" LOL
Umm, not exactly!

-And that was the end of our CRAZY day!

~Becky

New season of ministry

Well, it is the end of an era around here.


Last night by hubby taught his last Royal Ranger class! It is still hard to believe because he's been doing it for SO long.
He's been teaching the kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade boys every Wednesday night for the past 7 years! And on the Judgement Day, I'm pretty sure he's going to get bonus points or extra credit! -Oh, I kid, but trust me, that is not an easy class to teach and I know, because I did it with him for 3 of those years. ; )


But he's got a gift!
Just last week he was telling me his ingenious idea to teach the lesson on 'the pearl of great price' by describing it as a rare, tie dye, dragon Silly Band... He had every boys' complete attention. LOL (if Silly Bandz are the latest craze where you live, then you will totally get that analogy) ; )

I can't even count how many moms have told me how wonderful he is with the boys. I remember one of the helpers in the class saying "I tell people that your husband is the Boy Whisperer! There is something about his voice and the way he talks to the boys...It makes them want to obey him and he is the only one they will listen to." Isn't that sweet?

He won't be 'warming a purple padded chair' (as we say at our church) on Wednesdays now, though. He's coming to help out in the youth ministry where I am serving and where our boys are. Yay! We are all excited about that. My hubby loves ministering to teens. (he led a youth group for 6 years when our kiddos were little) Our boys play in the worship band and they are very happy about this change. Nathan has been quoting this line from one of the Lord of the Rings movies to him all week: "Put aside the Ranger and become who you were born to be." Funny how that line seems to fit the direction we feel led to go in now.

-Unfortunately, I missed seeing his whole class mob him with a group hug last night but here's an old picture of him teaching. I can tell you the red shirt and the vest, will not be one of the things he misses.

~Becky

Purses for a cause

Lately, I have noticed the cutest purses

being carried around our church. : )

I had no idea where they came from but they are all the same style and have rosettes.

And now I know the where and the WHY!

Go here and see!

Some of the lovely ladies who attended this meeting I described here were moved to do something and that something has become Eye Heart World.

The proceeds from these purses go to organizations that are fighting against the atrocity of human trafficking.

How awesome is that?!

And aren't they totally adorable!?

The color orange

is becoming to human trafficking awareness, what pink is to breast cancer awareness.



And that is why each purse has an orange rosette.



Jesus said he came to "...set at liberty those who are oppressed." Luke 4:18

~Becky

My kind of school day!

Here are a couple of the things I just HAD to do today:

1. Play tennis with my 9th grader. : )
He's working on his high school p.e. credit and decided that tennis is how he wants to earn it. (tennis and ping pong are the only games I can ever hope to win when I play the guys in this family) lol

We had a great time!

2. Watch a chick flick with my 11th grader for English. : )
He had to read Jane Austen's Emma this year. (AKA torture for a teenage boy)
Now, his assignment is to watch the movie and write a paper comparing the two.
This movie was the BBC's 2009 version and I was number 60 on the library's waiting list...
It was that GOOD!

So, tennis and Jane Austen!
-Some homeschooling days are just more fun than others! ; )

~Becky

Well, I tried

So, last night, I was trying to get into baseball because my hubby loves the

and I ended up asking him how an airport was doing instead of how a player was doing.

LaGuarda...Longoria...ya know, its close! ; )

~Becky

Can't wait to try this!

I'm so excited.
The folks at CSN Stores have offered to give me this:
for a review.
Their stores offer everything from sofas to shoes. -I could spend next door to forever daydreaming in their great cookware section, let me tell you. : )

Anyway, my vacuum and I are not getting along so I can't wait to try this bag less one that promises to weigh less than a gazillion pounds, unlike mine. This is going to be fun!

-The review and some very clean floors, soon to follow!
~Becky

Lost and Found

Here was my facebook status the other day:

"Bought a purse, put all my things in it, decided it was too small, returned the purse, WITH my ipod Nano INSIDE, (AHHHH!) went back to the store, found the purse AND the ipod 2 days later! Thank the Lord!"

Isn't that crazy!?
I couldn't believe I did that! I realized it was missing when Nate and I were about to go and exercise and then it hit me! AHHH! It was in a cute little pocket in that purse I'd returned!

I was praying all the way to the store that it would still be there and it I was SO thankful and amazed when I spotted the purse on a shelf. And even more amazed when I looked in the pocket! Whoo-hoo! -Still there!

I didn't dance or shout because it felt like I was shoplifting when I took it out and put it in my purse and headed out of the store! (not that I have any shoplifting experience mind you!) LOL

All is well and I can enjoy my worship music and movies once again.
This crazy experience did served to remind me that Somebody loves me! : )
~Becky