We’re almost done with our Meals series, be sure to go back and check out links to the recipe blog if you’ve missed anything. (Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts)

Today we’ll share vegetables. Well, I won’t be able to share too much…

See, I’m not a veggie girl. I like corn, green beans, and sweet potatoes - but that’s about it. And since I found out corn is a genetically modified food a few months ago, we rarely have corn anymore.

I do have my sweet potato recipe on the recipe blog, and will warn you it’s more of a dessert!! I took the original recipe and cut the butter and sugar both in half, and it’s STILL good!

My only problem is that sweet potatoes don’t fall into my allowable foods by the blood type diet.

If you’re not familiar with this, there are books out there that spell out exactly which foods are good, neutral, and bad for each blood type.

I’m an A type, and sweet potatoes are on my avoid list. Of course, I haven’t been able to tell exactly what they do to me, so I eat them on occasion anyway.

There are many things though that I DO see how they affect me, and my husband. He’s a B type, and chicken is a no-no for him.

He used to have to get up most nights and take an Advil to relieve aches so he could sleep. Once he read this book (my book actually - Eat Right 4 Your Baby) and saw this, he cut back on his much loved chicken.

Would you believe he rarely is in that kind of pain anymore! He was eating this at least 4 or 5 times a week, and has cut back to 1 or 2.

Back on topic, the recipe is really yummy. It goes great with the baked chicken recipe on the blog, or turkey.

For my green beans, I’m still stuck on the bad ones in the can. Sorry! Once we become farmers and grow our own, I’ll eat them. But for now, I have NO idea how to garden. Hopefully by next year we’ll get our feet wet with it.

I take some olive oil and pour a small bit in the bottom of my pan. Then sprinkle in maybe 1/4 tsp. salt/ pepper/ sugar. Stir and then add beans. After cooking for 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours on low/med heat we eat.

Before I get scolded, yes I know cooking after 4 minutes depletes any good nutrition, but they just wouldn’t taste good!

I have cut back from cooking a lot longer, and will gradually work the time down lower (in addition to one day eating fresh beans).

Hey, when we got married I didn’t even know how to cook beans at all! Thanks to Kelly for sharing with me how she did hers way back when.

Alright, if any of you veggie lovers have any great recipes to share - we’re all ‘eyes’!!

I know my daughter loves veggies, I just don’t know which ones are good, or how to cook them. She always gobbles them up at church and when her Daddy buys and fixes himself some.

I’d love for the baby to get started on them too! I did take a good step and bought a huge bag of pinto beans last week. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them!

(I bought these to try out the refried beans recipe shared a few weeks back, but figure there’s other ways to use them too??)

Please, please, share especially this week! And leave a comment if there’s anything else you might be looking for. If not, then next week we’ll conclude this series with a list of substitutions you can use in cooking.

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things ‘in order,’ she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

‘There’s one more thing,’ she said excitedly. ‘What’s that?’ came the Pastor’s reply. ‘This is very important,’ the young woman continued. ‘I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.’

The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say. That surprises you, doesn’t it?’ the young woman asked. ‘Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,’ said the Pastor.

The young woman explained. ‘My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement.

In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘Keep your fork.’

It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming…like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!’

So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them: ‘Keep your fork ..the best is yet to come.’

The Pastor’s eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did.

She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman’s casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, ‘What’s with the fork?’ And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her.

He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right.

So the next time you reach down for your fork let it remind you, ever so gently, that the best is yet to come.

—I’m not sure where to give this credit, I received this as a forward. Did you get chills too?? —

We’ve been asked time after time, “What’s that?”.

Yes, years ago we had a salesman from Rainsoft come out to our home, do his little spill, and we ended up with a whole house water purifier/ softener system.

Now, before you think too badly of us, being totally “UN-frugal”, here’s what we were facing. When we bought our home, it was 9 or 10 years old. Maybe a year or so after we moved there, we started noticing green chunks of plastic like stuff coming out of our sink faucets.

It got to the point that we were constantly having to remove the strainer on the faucet to clean out the chunks, so water could pass through. It was even coming out when we’d run water into pots to boil, or water to drink.

Since we were at the end of the warranty that the sellers bought for us when we purchased the house, and we were suddenly out of hot water ALL of the time, we had someone come out to check on our hot water heater.

When they opened it up, they discovered that the dip tube (a long tube that runs the length of the tank and causes the hot water to enter at the bottom) had disintegrated from maybe 3 ft. to 2 or 3 INCHES long!

Turns out, the city we lived in had extremely hard water. They told us that if we hadn’t already done so, we would probably have to be replacing the valves on the toilets and sinks soon, since the hardness would eat away at them like it did the interior of our hot water heater. (The green stuff was actually the dip tube in tiny pieces)

So, when the salesman came out and did his little spill, we knew it was something we really needed to seriously consider. We had already fixed all of the toilets in the house, and the hot water heater was rebuilt completely.

We really didn’t want to invest in new appliances every few years, and we saw with our own eyes the damage done to the water related fixtures in the house.

We ended up with a fantastic deal, no where near cost. God always seems to work out things great when we’re shopping!

We never really could tell a difference in the water though, which was kinda disappointing. UNTIL my brother got married and we traveled up to the wedding - then we knew how wonderful the system was!

Within just a couple of days of being on different water, my skin was so dry and my hands/ legs got that flaky white look. We were both amazed at the difference, and the area up north we were in was supposed to be fairly soft water!

I personally still don’t like the taste of the water that much, but it’s not too bad after it’s been through the fridge filter, or Brita filter.

Even for the short amount of time I’ve been in the hospital after my 2nd and 3rd children, I couldn’t stand the difference in water. I can’t seem to get near as clean in hard water… You have to use tons more soap!

The only concern I’ve had is that when we moved last year, it was in storage for several months. Soon after we moved in and got it reconnected, we began noticing mold building up on our shower curtains, the fridge water dispenser, even my Brita filter.

After tons of tests, we never really found out what was going on. We just had yucky black mold withing days everywhere water touched.

Rainsoft kept trying to figure out what was going on - since I questioned it being the idle unit for the 3 months. (Why couldn’t mold grow in there??)

They finally just poured bleach through the system. It cleared up a good bit, and we’ve been mold free for several months.

Of course, we also disconnected the RainSoft air purifier system. The mold inspector mentioned the ozone it created (and you could smell) could also cause problems. DH had major allergies, and with our first baby - we went ahead and got that too. No problems with either unit until we moved.

So, who knows, it could’ve been the air, the unit, or even the water from the water company. Several neighbors also complain of really bad smells to their water - and the plumbers talk of how yucky all of our pipes are. All the neighbors don’t have this system.

Is this a fantastic find?? For us - I would still have to say yes! I wouldn’t necessarily buy a RainSoft unit again, but we will be purchasing another unit if we move again.

When using soaps, you use a noticeable amount less - shampoo, laundry detergent, bath soap, SHAVING CREAM (I can really tell a difference in shaving if my DH turns the unit off to water the plants), dishwasher detergent, etc…

The sales pitch they gave about saving money in these areas was right on!! They even gave us tons of products to use with the system. That was over 3 years ago, and we still have some left!

This is an investment, and looking at the facts - our local water was destroying our appliances - we have saved money (by not having to buy new products as often), AND have a major difference in our skin and even hair!

We’ll always have a water system as long as we have city water!

“Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.”

I received a beautiful email/ story relating to this verse that I have on HIOH’s website that you can read by clicking here. Even glancing over it again, I get chills at how wonderful God’s love is to us.

Monday, I was trying so hard to make my son’s last day being 3 special. We had gotten his brother and sister down for a nap, and were going to make up some lasagna together to freeze.

He was SO excited!! He ran and got an apron to put on, and a huge smile on his face. He helped pour the meat in the pot, and handed me out the noodles to boil. It was great. Then the baby woke up.

From there, our ’special’ time went downhill quickly. I was so frustrated that the baby was awake and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Big brother was anxiously waiting for me to return and couldn’t keep quiet or in the other room (in a good way).

But in my frustration, I lost my patience with him (for an hour) and with much regret now, took it out on him. He ended up in tears, I ended up in tears - and that night I felt horrible as I went to bed that I had messed up his special day.

I wanted so bad to go wake him up and apologize for hurting his feelings. I still am fighting back tears. I kept my cool - I thought - but my anger still showed.

I wondered why this happened, why I had failed so miserably. As my DH and I talked that night - he shared how it seemed I was very hateful at times. I NEVER saw that! I was mad at him for saying that, but grateful at the same time.

In reality, I was mad because I wanted to put the blame on him - but really had no place to speak back in defense of myself because he was right.

Tuesday, my actions and words to my children were so much more thought out. I began by asking them to forgive me for not being nice sometimes (that’s about all they understand).

Even Monday in tears, I was crying out to the Lord to show me what to do, to help me handle the situation correctly. I didn’t see anything then. But now, He’s shed new light on it.

Today, I can relate to this verse in a deep way. He taught me a lesson - He brought me through a fire as a mother, and I pray that all of the dross was removed and that He’ll make me a better mother from here out.

I had impurities in my relationship with my son, and through the fire it was revealed. Don’t you hate the fires, but love them at the same time!

I can’t stress enough, this is a wonderful article - please read - and SHARE!

To end, I’d like to share the following e-letter below that I received from Above Rubies:

STORING UP TREASURE

1 Timothy 6:19, “Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

The above Scripture encourages us to lay up in store for the time to come. In the context, it is actually speaking to those who have riches in this world, exhorting them to be rich in good works and generous to the needy. But I do believe this message is for all of us. I think it is one of the greatest exhortations we can have, don’t you?

Every moment of our lives we should be “laying up in store” for the eternal kingdom. We cannot take any material possessions out of this world. It is all vanity. 1 Timothy 6:7 says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” We will only take what we lay up in heaven.

We need to remind ourselves again of Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will you heart be also.”

I have always been challenged by the statement,
“Life is a dressing room for eternity.”

Everything we do and say, either builds for this world, or for the eternal world.

I think we will have a lot of surprises in heaven. I remember reading about a man of God who had a vision of the eternal realm. He said that he saw that the people who were closest to the throne of God were mothers and intercessors. Our liberal society does not have time for these ministries. Even the Christian world does not always affirm them. They don’t receive the limelight. But they are powerful in God’s eyes.

Dear mother, I want to remind you that as you sacrificially pour out your life for your children, as you mother and nurture them in the ways of God, as you pour out your heart in prayer for them–you are laying up treasure for eternity! Your mothering is never wasted. It builds for eternity. You are preparing your children for the heavenly realm. And you lay up heavenly treasure for yourself as you do it.

You may feel inferior because you think you are wasting your education as you lay down your career for motherhood. You may feel sorry for yourself because you are not making money like your neighbor who is choosing her career over motherhood. You may feel insecure because you don’t feel that you are accomplishing great things in your home.

Don’t listen to these deceptions and negatives. As you mother your children in your home, you are in the perfect will of God. You are building for eternity. You are laying up store for the time to come.

You are building a big mansion for yourself up there! This is certainly not a waste of time!

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:
“Lord, please help me to put value on the eternal things, on the things that you put value on. Help me to remember each day that motherhood is building for eternity.”

Welcome back to our meal series! I was wondering if this was of interest to any of you, and it’s been great receiving your emails hearing that it is! Thank you so much! I believe I’ve written each of you back, but if I’ve somehow lost an email before responding - please accept my apology - it’s been wonderful hearing your stories and recipes!

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I do have to have a proud mommy moment real quick, my baby - 10 1/2 months old - took his first real ‘walk’ today!! He made it about 3 feet across our living room before getting caught up on some things in the floor! He’s my earliest walker, the other two were 13 months before they really got the hang of things.

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I’ve been wondering… I’d love to share pics and info about them, but am leery of Internet predators. How do any of you handle this on your blogs? If I never received any weird emails, I probably wouldn’t be so cautious, but I’ve gotten some pretty strange notes.

One thought was naming them in ABC order, for the blog. A - Adam, B - Any female Bible names?, C - Caleb. Any thoughts on this? And I’m still not sure about pictures??

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Okay, let’s get down to food!! So far, we’ve covered breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I’d like to talk about desserts this week.

FYI - my oldest is turning 4 this week and I’d like to have a little help with his birthday cake! I just can’t bring myself to buy a box cake mix after learning about all of the ingredients, and my homemade attempts just haven’t quite met my expectations.

Would any of you by chance have a recipe for a cake and/ or icing that I could make for him? Icing must be free from hydrogenated oils found in shortening!!

Alright, homemade desserts we eat: (and no, they’re not all healthy) Check out the links to HIOH recipe blog below.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Puppy Chow

Sugar Cookies

Homemade Ice Cream

I also have a wonderful recipe for Apple Cobbler from my aunt, but will have to post this later after reviewing the ingredients (something hasn’t turned out right my last few…)

And please don’t forget - I’d love to have a cake recipe for my little guy’s b’day!!!

Thanks for the recipes already shared, and I look forward to reading some new ones! Don’t worry if your favorite is listed above, if it’s a different recipe - send it on - we might like your’s better!

I’d also like to ask if any of you have ever made ice cream with goat’s milk? We’ve recently switched the whole family to that, but not sure if there’s enough fat to make ice cream?

I’d also love to find a recipe without the sweetened milk…. my baby still can’t tolerate any kind of cow’s milk product.

Giving I have no ‘outstanding’ idea to write about today - I’d like to share a couple of things I consider simply being conservative.

Bathrooms - Instead of using a new towel each day, we use our towels 4 or 5 days in a row. Considering we’re clean when we get out of the shower, the towel SHOULD be clean!

We hang them over the shower curtain rod, or closet door to dry in between days. This has cut down laundry/ water tremendously!

Entire house - I LOVE the sunshine, but my power bill isn’t lovin‘ it too much here in Central Alabama this summer! I’ve begun to pay attention to what rooms we’re in, and what time of day the sun shines on which side of the house.

I feel so much ‘perkier’ when the blinds are opened, but that really heats up my rooms. Little things that I’ve started doing recently is keeping the blinds closed in rooms we’re not in.

For times we’re in a room but the sun is really beating hard there, I open them halfway. This still allows light, but blocks some of it.

I’ve also worked my air up degree by degree (though 75 degrees is about my limit!). If it’s still too hot, we’ll turn on the fan in that room. Running fans is only something you need to do in the room you’re in.

One thing that we never do during the day, but some might not think about, is that we never turn on the lights. In our home, there’s enough light from the windows (even if they are partially opened) to see.

Kitchen - The one main thing that has stuck with me and saved money at the same time is the way I now clean dishes. Instead of running a sink full of water and then having to rinse tons of dishes by hand…. I now run the sink half full of HOT water and soak the dishes.

Then using a paper towel, rub them off and into the dishwasher they go. (We’ve never had a dishwasher that washes dishes good, even the brand new ones.)

As I’ve mentioned before, this has made a huge difference in our water bill! I never realized how much water was used washing by hand, and how much was saved using the dishwasher.

This also saves me time. I can get other things done while dishes soak, then come back 15 minutes later (or even hours sometimes!), and after a quick wipe down I’m through.

Attics - At our last house, since we had to replace our roof anyway, we paid a little extra and installed what’s called a ridge vent. This is a long strip cut out of the top of your roof, the vent, which a plastic triangular piece is put into, and then covered with shingles.

You’ve probably seen them before in new construction houses. This is a wonderful way to let all of that trapped hot air out of your attic, and keeps your home cooler in the process.

The key to this though is you MUST have proper venting in the eaves and gables. They cut out several openings on the under side of the roof overhang - covering back with material made just for ventilation.

There has to be air coming from the underside of the attic to push the hot air up and out of the ridge vent.

If this isn’t possible for you, consider placing some turbines on your roof. The cheapest ones being the manual ones - they rotate as heat escapes, or consider an electric one that runs when your attic reaches a set temperature.

We did an electric one also, and it ran all the time. But we only heard contractors say how important this was in helping keep our house cooler.

Another plus to this is that it extends the life of your shingles. The hotter they become (even from underneath), the quicker they dry out and fall apart.

We learned a LOT about roofing and shingles, since our last home’s roof was falling apart after only 10 years.

I’ll end with a plug for “Sonbeams - Raising up sunbeams for Him!”. This is a children’s preschool curriculum that I’ve started working on, and am looking for a small group of families to be my pilot families.

Of course, the price will be MUCH cheaper during the pilot year, since I’ll be continuing to add more and more to it during the year.

Each week will consist of a letter, number, color, Bible verse and song, and craft. EVERYTHING is based on the Lord and ties into each other.

If you’re interested in learning more, please email me at candace@heaveninourhomes.com.

I’m also working with a friend in putting together a cd of the songs we’re writing to go along with the curriculum.

One of the first products available will be a chart for girls and/ or boys - that is reusable and will teach them about responsibility (again will tie into Scriptures and the Lord). It’s in the final stages of being tweaked, and then off to the printing company!! I’m so… excited!

Okay, I’ll end with two more questions….

Do any of you have a recipe for a birthday cake? We’re excited to be having a birthday here next week, and my little guy loves… cake! I really don’t want to have to do a box mix, and haven’t ever really liked the homemade ones I’ve attempted.

Please shoot me an email if you have a great cake/ icing recipe - plain white or yellow would be best, though my mouth is somewhat begging for chocolate too??

AND - Would any of you by chance know how to begin a blog in WordPress? I’m still having trouble here pulling up this blog, it comes up a blank screen.

My thoughts are just to transfer it to WordPress, but I know very little about web building. I need programs that I can point and click and it’s done. WP doesn’t seem to be like that… any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

PS - If you have a Food World near you (not sure about Bruno’s), they have milk for $2.99 a gallon this week! We are drinking goat’s milk now, and before that raw cows milk. Of course, this might still be good for emergencies, or that wonderful summertime homemade ice cream!!

We need a lot more 18th’s to fall on a Wednesday, I found gem after gem in His Word today! God’s Word is truly alive - speaking something different to me each time I read it.

“The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters…”

Feel free to correct me if I’m way off, but the Lord showed me this perspective on this verse - allow me to begin.

When we stand on the shore at the beach, we see the water and think of the ocean as the calm still water or waves on top. This is our initial view.

As we begin to explore deeper, we see all the sea life - animals and corals - that make it so much larger than we could ever imagine. It becomes a whole other world to us.

My husband and I have been snorkeling twice - in the Caribbean islands and Mexico. The fish were beautiful in the islands, as was the sparkling clear blue water. This was one of the main highlights that I talked about - how wonderful and beautiful the waters were there.

There was this one beautiful coral though that apparently wasn’t what it appeared. I don’t even remember touching it, but somehow I was all of a sudden in tons of pain. My leg had this huge red burning scratch - which hurt for days - supposedly from what ‘appeared’ to be good.

Get where I’m going here yet?? Overall though, that trip was unbelievable!

Our honeymoon Mexican trip was another story. We were there in the fall of 2002 (postponed trip), leaving just 1 day before a major (unknown to us) hurricane hit.

We visited Xel-ha (?), one of the Mayan cities, and there they have a fresh water river that flows into a lake, which then meets the ocean.

I was really leery getting into the water to start with, a river in what looked like a rain forest. (Snakes!! is what I was really thinking)

As we snorkeled down the river, it widened and cleared - then we began to see some fish. They were alright, though it was hard to see with such a thick film of sunscreen floating all through the water. (Lots of folks not using what they recommend down there)

… this can relate to sin in our lives - it clouds our spiritual eyes and we can’t see clearly…

As we entered the lake, we began to see HUGE fish - I mean fish that were bigger than if I circled my arms out and touched them together. I was trying to enjoy it, seeing as my DH is a fond fish lover, but was constantly looking around to ‘feel’ safe.

All of a sudden we hear a commotion, DH sticks his head in the water to see what everyone is shrieking about…. He jumps out and screams something - maybe SWIM!!??

There was a 6 ft. barracuda swimming VERY close to us. Of course, I tried to swim so fast that my flippers were coming off, which caused foot cramps! He was trying to get me out but I couldn’t move - so we were trying to keep my feet up until I could swim. Needless to say - I was scared stiff and in tears.

We were on the other side of this huge lake, and all the way back we kept swimming into all of these other kinds of monster fish! We made it out, shaking - and I decided then the ocean would never be the same to me.

We learned as we arrived at the airport on our way home about the hurricane (I think we were one of the last flights out before it hit, and they moved us up a couple of hours) - and decided maybe the storm drove all of the sea creatures into the lake.

You weren’t supposed to have those fish that far into the lake, and there was only a chance of them being at the channel where the two waters met.

All this said, isn’t this kinda how people are? We can look at the outside of a person from a distance, and get an idea of what they are like - calm or stormy.

But as we get to know them, we see ‘deeper’ into their waters - their souls. The Bible shares over and over about how powerful our mouths and tongues are. Our words reveal our hearts, who we really are, what we really believe.

This is one of my biggest struggles. When people get to know me, at times it seems my mouth works quicker than my brain, and I speak in haste. (It’s much easier to type and delete what I really don’t intend to come out!)

As much as I long to be a quiet spirit, humble servant for the Lord, at times people see the waves in me.

It’s my prayer that the Lord would continue to work His Work in my life, so when people look at me they see how clear and beautiful the Waters are, and how unimaginably beautiful the ‘Life’ underneath is.

I am still to this day so drawn to the Caribbean waters, but in the same breath am just as leery of the Mexican waters - never wanting to visit again.

As Christians, our lives and homes should be like the inviting waters of the Caribbean - drawing people to the Lord.

I know I need His help to clean up the troubled or murky waters in my life at times - the things that others flee from quickly, that lead to trouble.

I sure this is probably one of the last things thought of when this verse was written down, but for me today, this is how God shared it with me.

The words we speak are as deep waters - they reveal our WHOLE person.

We had a wonderful, but very busy weekend - and it seems weekends always end with my house destroyed! I’m hoping I’m not alone, and if that’s true, then you’ll enjoying reading/ seeing that you’re not alone either!

Today I’ll go over my very messy kitchen. I completed my kitchen on one of our first Messy Monday’s Miracles posts, and for the most part, it’s stayed very clean!

Weekends are the most stressful time for cleaning here for some reason - you’d think it’d be easier with two adults at home, but it’s worse!

We were gone all of Friday until after 10 PM that night, most of Saturday, then didn’t get home from church until 3 on Sunday. Then had company the next two hours…. then had to get the baby down… then had to eat dinner…. then had to make Daddy’s stepping stone….

It was 9:15 before we looked at the clock and rushed to get the little ones ready for bed, and at 10:30 PM the baby finally just gave out! Whew!

All that said, my kitchen had no attention most of the weekend except for eating. It was a MESS!

So, I’m once again posting pictures to reveal I’m still NOT the perfect - put together - keeper at home I strive to be. But I made myself take 20 minutes after the older two were asleep - and below are the before and after pics.

I never feel like tackling the entire house, but am happy if I can just get one room clean. Seeing as how the kitchen is where we visit many times a day, I especially like it to be picked up. Here’s my before and afters.

It’s still not 100%, but it’s so … much better, and 20 minutes is manageable. The table got cleaned off, counters mostly cleared, the dishwasher got loaded, and I only have maybe 10 minutes of washing to tackle later.

Due to not spending much time with my husband today, I’m going to leave the posting at this for this week. We’ll pick back up on our meal series next week. Thanks so much to those of you which have emailed me with ideas and encouragement - it REALLY means a lot!!

Blessings!

Yikes! Father’s Day is here once again, and of course, my little ones and I just started working on it today (I’m typing on Thursday evening).

I “THINK” about upcoming holidays and events months… in advance, but still somehow wind up waiting until last minute to do anything about them!

Thankfully, while at the beach last month, we celebrated my dad’s birthday, which also included his Father’s Day gift - my brother and husband taking him to play golf at the nearby state park.

They really enjoyed being ‘allowed’ to play golf, ;), and since it was a little pricey (still a LOT cheaper than most anywhere else), my husband said it could be his Father’s Day gift as well. But he still wanted his yearly traditional gift.

So, we ended up with my dad’s b’day and F’day gifts + my DH’s F’day gift - pretty good deal which totaled $66. Top that off with the enjoyable time they had ‘just the guys’! It was a very appreciated idea all around I believe - but there are cheaper options too!

Let me share some things that we’re doing this year, that are little or no cost, but are filled with lots of love and I’m sure will hold precious memories forever!

To start of with, when our oldest was a baby, I bought a stepping stone mold and the cement that goes along with them to place his hand/ footprints in with the name, year, and message. We’ve done this the past 3 years, and it was so nice to hear that DH still insisted on getting this again!

We’re down to just one handprint per child now, and I’m really hoping that three will fit this year(last year the baby wasn’t here yet). It’s really neat seeing how much they’ve grown (even if only their hands) each year - plus now we have it as yard decor.

We don’t go all out and by the stones or tiles, just plain gray cement. I am glad I invested in the plastic mold and plastic ABC reusable ’stampers’ to have a neat, clean message.

It’s lots of fun mixing it up together, then laughing through all the attempts to get a toddler’s print to look right!

I can’t remember how much the mold was, but the cement is maybe $6 or $7 at Michaels - that’s the only place close to us that carries it. It’s one gift that I know he’ll love each year!

This year, since I didn’t want to leave it at just the stone…. (honey, don’t read anymore if you’re reading this today!!!)

We made a video of the kiddos telling why they loved their Daddy, and also singing some of their favorite songs for him.

We also began making mini books with the same purpose. I simply folded cardstock (you could use construction paper) in half, and placed two sheets inside one another. Then I asked my son what he wanted the cover to say, after giving him several options.

I wrote it on a separate sheet of paper, and let him write it on his card. Then we wrote inside on each page why he loved his Daddy, or what made Daddy special to him. Then he drew a picture of each thing - it was too cute!!

This way Daddy will know exactly what is so special to his kiddos, which will be encouraging to see how even the little things to us are HUGE to our children, PLUS he’ll have their precious handwriting and drawings forever!

We dated and signed the card - he even did a couple of pages with no prompting from me (he’s almost 4).

There’s so many ‘things’ I could buy, but I’ll guarantee that they are nowhere near as precious as the very heartfelt projects these kiddos did for him today!

Don’t spend $4+ on a card - let them make it!

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Fantastic Find!!

I have to share this special in case some of you have this store locally (it might be an online sale too??)

HHGregg is having a ‘Family Discount Sale’ today and Saturday ONLY from 10 AM to 10 PM. Some things are really a great deal if you’re in the market for them.

We ourselves are having a terrible time with our 5 year old washer tearing up our clothes all of a sudden. They have one of the energy star front load washers (3.4 cu. ft.) on sale for $583. From looking all over online, this is the lowest price anywhere except for eBay.

Reviews are mixed, but we know the washer we have now is ruining our clothes.

How can we make this deal even sweeter?? Well, Sears will price match this item PLUS give an additional 10% of the difference off!!

So, this Whirlpool washer will be $583 - $11.60 = $571.40 at Sears!

Want more?? HHGregg charges $49.99 basic delivery, and $69.99 deluxe (setting it all up). At Sears, anything over $399, I believe, qualifies for FREE delivery! We just saved another $50 to $70, and we haven’t even started washing to save on our water and electricity yet!!

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Fantastic Find!!

Our Fathers! Be sure at share with your father this weekend how special he’s been to you, as well as take the opportunity to really ‘boost’ your children’s father up to them.

We should always teach them to love and respect their fathers, but I know myself there are times that things go unsaid about him.

Take the time to share with your children how hard their father works to support your family. To share how special and great it is that they have a father that loves them, that spends time with them, etc…

Share specific sacrifices he makes for them, special things he does with/ for them, how much he loves them and the family - and how we should always let him know how much we love him!!

To top all of this off, be sure to take ’spur of the moment’ times to stop and pray just for Daddy. I mentioned this to my little ones this past week - and they came eagerly running to me to each hold a hand so we could all pray for Daddy.

If they don’t see me loving him, how will they learn to themselves? If I don’t respect him, how then will they know how? If I don’t pray for him, then what will prompt them to do the same?

It’s complicated at times being the mommy - being sure I ‘cover all the bases’ - but it such a blessing to watch as our children learn and follow in the ways they’ve been brought up - all on their own!

Have a wonderful weekend! Blessings!

I had a lady share the following link with me, and have seen this letter before. A letter ‘written’ from our Dear Heavenly Dad to us His precious child. Written using Scripture, it’s very touching to see again how much our Heavenly Father does love us!!

http://www.fatherlovesourcity.com/amarillo.tx/index2.html