A new favorite

I love Sweet Tomatoes! And if you live in California, then it is the Soup Plantation!

Now that our kids are too old for the kids discount we hardly ever go, except maybe on Mother's Day. : ) hint hint.

Anyway, Zac and I happen to both love their TUNA TARRAGON (Yummo) and we found a recipe for it online. It tastes just like the Sweet Tomatoes version and he's made it a couple times now.

Heavenly! We love it!

Here is the link!

The secret ingredient ...drum roll please....is the sweet pickle juice! Who knew!

In other news, my boys actually corrected me on something to do with my knowledge of Jane Austen movies. Who would've thought!?

Especially since I've seen lots of versions several times (yes, and amen!) and they've survived through one a piece at most.

Anyway, I think I can say that boys who can: cook, know their chick flicks and love to worship the Lord, are going to make a good catch one day!

(but not anytime soon!)

Amen, glory, glory! ; )

~Becky

Handing out hats

So, our little knitting group went and handed out the hats we've been knitting for the homeless a couple weekends ago. We were all so excited. We ended up making 48! Hooray!

It had been about 70 degrees that day and so I was praying for some cold weather. : )

It just seemed anti-climatic to go and pass out sweater hats while wearing our shorts! lol

Guess what? It WAS chilly that night and the men were very grateful. We had fun handing them sandwiches and water bottles as well. We also invited them into the 'chapel' for a church service. Our friends lead a ministry that brings church to the homeless instead of vice-versa. They open up the back of this huge truck and inside is a "chapel" with benches to sit on, and a TV with a worship DVD playing and then Brother Wayne brings a message from the Word. Really an ingenious, God inspired idea!

Most of the men (and one woman) we met were happy to have a hat and some dinner. Several stayed to be apart of the service.

All in all a great experience.

After it was over, our friends, who had joined us that night, came over for dinner and we did some more worshipping at our house with John and Andrew playing on their guitars.

It was an awesome night. Our family hopes to repeat it soon.

Maybe not with hats, but with cookies! : )

~Becky

Funny

You know you are being a grumpy home school mom when...

your kids ask you if you are fasting! LOL!

~Becky

Where there's a will, there's a way!

It was a gorgeous day in the low 70's today!

Joy and I went for a bike ride to the pond at lunch time and rode around it a couple of times. Later I drove over to 'clock' how far we ridden and it turned out to be 2.5 miles. Yay!

Guess who else was there?

And bless their hearts! They couldn't figure out how they were going to get up and over that curb....

I loved watching them find a way!

And then they were off with mom again. Make way for the Ducklings!

(we loved that book!)

~Becky

Happy Valentines Day!

As part of my hubby's gift, I made him a list.

(I know that sounds totally boring)

But I hope he likes it. It is a list of all the reasons why I respect and admire him.

It is a very long list.

I stopped at #52. : )

I'm blessed with a wonderful man!

We have a romantic weekend planned....

we just don't have time to actually take it until sometime March. ; )

"We love because He first loved us!" 1 John 4:19

Happy Valentines Day!!!

~Becky

Ingenious!

Tissue has been in high demand around our house lately. : )

Here is Joy's solution:

I loved it. It was too cute!

~Becky

Before the plague hit

...I mean the flu, we did a few home improvements around here.

My hubby's best friend decided that my kitchen needed some lighting underneath the cabinets which was something I'd never thought of. It is beautiful. It really lights up the granite in a subtle and pretty way.

Sweet hubby also did some touch-up painting for me. Love when that happens. And Carlos came over while we were at the youth retreat and fixed everything in sight that wasn't working properly. -No idea why I'm so blessed but I enjoy it!

All of these things got me in the mood to find something new to hang on the wall where some candle holders had been but had fallen during all the Christmas fun. I went looking at CSN because their stores are like visiting the mall from your house. They have everything from TV stands for flat screens to really cute boots. -Joy is hoping a pair of those cute boots are in her future.

Too bad we don't wear the same size anymore. : (

Here's hoping you've avoided the flu!

~Becky

Flu for one and all

There's a beastly flu going around...

Headaches, high fevers, congestion and coughing.

And it has been taking us all down one by one.

I'd say that Nathan had it the worst. He was in bed for 3 solid days, poor guy. And he had a fever for 5 days.

Andrew had a fever for 2 of the days that Nathan had it. Let me tell, you our house was quiet as a tomb when Roo and Nate were down. Zac said he could live for "at least a week" with just Joy and I because "You two can cook and are quiet." LOL

He got a lot of school done while his buddy was too sick to talk his ear off. ; )

Zac had a fever for one night and bounced back the next day!

We made the most of it on Friday night by going for a walk and playing Monopoly with the sickies. (a short game)

Everyone was up around on Saturday though and we had a great day.

The next victim has been Joy, who got it Saturday night. She's had a fever for 4 days now. She's been just about as sick as Nathan, bless her heart. She's coming out of it now.

Hubby got it yesterday. : ( Not as bad as the kids, thank the Lord.

So, I was the last one standing....

But a beastly headache has been plaguing me today and I'm wondering if I'm 'going down.'

But what mom has time to go to bed for 4 days?!

Not this one. Prayers please! Thanks! : )

Off to take vitamin C!

~Becky

The fountain

When our sweet neighbors had to move, they didn't want to leave their fountain for the next owner... So they offered it to us.

It was really sentimental to all the kids who have grown up running around their yard next to it all these years and we happily accepted it.

I never really pictured doing anything other than planting flowers in it like they did and keeping it to remember them by.

Let me tell you, it was not easy getting a 6 foot high concrete fountain to our house as you can imagine. But the boys did it and my neighbor and I stood around giving not very helpful advice and making sure they didn't get hurt and that it was level, so that it wouldn't end up going through our living room window.

Well, it really grew on my hubby and before long, the fountain became his new hobby. He LOVES it.

Zac bleached it and painted it for some extra Christmas cash and it looked like new!

Carlos blessed us with a motor and helped my hubby to hook it up.

It was an exciting day in December when they got it going.

They also put a light on our palm tree so that it would shine down on it at night, which is really pretty.

It makes a lovely sound! Much louder than I ever would've imagined and we often forget that it is on and ask each other if it is raining. ; )

Years ago, the little cherub on top fell and broke off when the kids were playing hide and seek at the neighbors and the fountain was the "base." So, my hubby spent lots of time trying to find

a top for it. (top is probably not the right word)

I thought it looked fine without one but he informed me that we basically had a

naked fountain since it didn't have a top and that was not cool apparently! : )

Anyway, he found out that you can't buy them separately. They only come with the fountain.

But as God would have it, he went into a landscaping store and got blessed!

They happened to have switched a pineapple top for two love birds. He offered to buy the pineapple and they thought up a price and voila! We now have a top for it!

He was right! It looks SOOOOO much better now.

This is the view outside the living room window. (the picture is a little crooked not the house or the fountain -lol)

The fountain project is now complete!

Guess where my hubby wants his 'welcome home from work kiss' now? The man loves his fountain! : )

~Becky

Pizza Wednesdays!

Every Wednesday is homemade pizza night!

The other night I made these amazing quesadillas! I'd never grilled pineapple before and it is amazing.

Oh canned pineapple, I will never buy you again!

I used the left-overs on our pizza!!! And it was fabulous!

Not all pizza nights are this spectacular for sure. Usually they are made

in a big hurry because we have church and I hope that no one has snacked on all the pepperoni. But tonight, I have two sick boys and am staying home, so I had time to go all out.

We had a bacon and pepperoni one for the kids. A BBQ one with purple onions and BBQ chicken. (which was actually leftover turkey from a celebration I cooked for over the weekend) You have to try it. It is another one of the Pioneer Woman's and it rocks the world! : )

The third pizza was half pepperoni and half pineapple, red onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. It was heavenly. That one was for hubby and I but I forgot that he is fasting again.

(he fasts a day (30 hrs) a week and prays for one of our kids in particular) Today he was praying and fasting for Nathan. Anyway, he can have the leftovers on Friday!

Here is my favorite dough recipe which is on a really ragged (I mean well-loved) piece of paper. Since I can barely read it, it will be nice to know it is on the blog!

(this makes dough for three large pizzas)

2 cups of warm water

1 pack of yeast

4 T of olive oil

1 1/2 cups of white flour

2 cups of wheat flour - I love to grinding my own wheat!

1 tsp of salt

Add the water to a bowl, then the yeast, oil, flour and salt and mix with a dough hook (or by hand) for 5 min. Let rise for one hour.

Easy!

Enjoy!

~Becky

Living lean for the King

Our church had a youth revival last week. (3 nights of youth services)

We were believing God to do awesome things in the lives of the teens, which He absolutely did, but more on that later.

To see that happen, all the youth workers were asked to pray and fast for the whole week.

A liquid fast.

For five days.

Ouch! ; )

It was really a challenge! -I was kind of wishing I could go to sleep on Monday and wake up on Friday. ha ha

I'm thankful that:

~A mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper are gross but totally give you energy!

~That my kiddos were patient with my lack of patience during our school days. Everyone did a little suffering for Jesus that week. lol

~My hubby and I gave each other lots of grace. Married couples probably shouldn't fast at the same time for a week! Just kidding!

~That I only had to home school, I can't imagine doing the manual labor my hubby did that week on only liquids. God bless him!

But what I'm most thankful for is what God did in those three services. There were teens running up to the front to be prayed for and who were weeping over their sins and wanting to change their lives and put God first. It was absolutely incredible. Our boys play in the worship band and I know this will be something they will always remember. The presence of God showed up in such an amazing way!

And so did the kids for that matter. -We expected 50 teens to come the first night but we were totally wrong. Over 200 came every night! It was beautiful!

The whole thing was... well, indescribable,

so I give up. : )

"Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo heavy burdens,

to let the oppressed go free...

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer..." Is. 58

~Becky, who is still praising 'the Lord who answered!' AMEN!

Earn points for surfing!

I joined Swag Bucks recently and I'm happy to report that it really does work and it really is free!

If you do Internet searches through their surf engine, they give you points! Once you've earned 450 points, you can get an amazon gift card for $5.00 for free.

(or you can save up for other rewards) But, I love books so amazon gift cards are what make me happy! : ) Unless a gift card to the Cracker Barrel is a possibility and then I'll ditch the books. lol

I've seen lots of my friends doing it and I'm so glad to see that it really works! Yay! I just earned my first gift card last night.

Click on this link if you want to check it out.

I earn more points if I refer someone. Yay! More points = more gift cards = more books! : )

Gotta love -FREE!

Fun, fun, fun!

~Becky