Finer Things Friday: A New Bible Study for the Summer

So, this week marked the end of Community Bible Study for the summer and unless I get into another study soon, I will be floundering around aimlessly. To be such a disciplined person, I need need NEED a structured Bible study to keep me in the Word on a daily basis. That is why, starting next Monday, I will be starting a new online book club with the Good Morning Girls. We will be reading and discussing in small groups Sally Clarkson's The Ministry of Motherhood.

My friend Laurie from CBS first introduced me to Sally Clarkson's blog--I Take Joy--and since then I have been hooked. In The Ministry of Motherhood, Clarkson "looks at the life of Jesus with his disciples to find patterns for how a mother can influence her children." I know that my influence as a mom is far-reaching. Am I being the RIGHT influence? How can I minister to my children and their individual and unique needs? How can I teach them about Christ in a way that reaches them, that is, as Christ taught His disciples? These are all questions that Clarkson attempts to address in her book.

If you are interested in participating in the summer book club with us, visit the Good Morning Girls' website. You can download the reading plan here. There is also a message board where you can become part of a small group for discussions. Just click on "If you DO NOT have a group--Form groups here" and someone will very quickly invite you to be a part of their group.

I am super excited about starting this new study and hope you will join me.

Kitchen Tip #2: How to Make Your Own Granola

What do you usually eat for breakfast?

In my household, we seem to go in cycles. For weeks on end, especially in the winter, we'll eat nothing but oatmeal. Then the weather will warm up and we'll eat cereal and fruit or eggs and cinnamon toast. But, recently, I have started making granola. YUM!

Yes, I know you can buy granola at the store, but most of the kinds I find either have ingredients I don't like or taste like cardboard. Plus, it's a bit on the pricey side, especially when I can make it myself.

Thanks to my mom and Martha Stewart (sometimes I think Mom is Martha Stewart although she's never been to prison that I know of), I have a great granola recipe that I want to share with you. It is super simple, and, like when you make your own barbecue sauce, you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand to produce the perfect granola for your family.

Ingredients

1/3 cup oil (use something light like canola, vegetable, coconut or extra light olive oil)
1/3 cup liquid sweetener (honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, agave)
2 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned, not quick oats)
1 cup nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans), chopped or whole or both--we like different textures
3/4 cup shaved coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup dried fruit

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line a pan with sides with parchment paper or spray with Pam. (You want to use a pan that will allow you to flip the granola without it falling off.)
3. In a large bowl, mix the oil and liquid sweetener until thoroughly combined.
4. Add the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the dried fruit and stir until combined.
5. Dump the granola onto the pan and spread it out evenly with a spatula.
6. Bake for about 8 minutes. When you start to smell the granola, that means it's beginning to brown and may soon burn. I've done this several times, but it's still yummy.
7. Take the granola out of the oven and flip with a spatula. You want the granola to bake evenly.
8. Return the granola to the oven and repeat steps 6 and 7 until it reaches the "doneness" you desire. We like it golden brown. That usually takes about 24 minutes depending on the size of your pan and thickness of the granola layer. The thinner the layer the shorter the cooking time.
9. Allow the granola to cool on the pan and then add dried fruit, if you like. We like dried cranberries or Craisins.
10. Transfer the granola to a storage container, jar with lid, or a ziploc bag and enjoy!

You can eat your granola by the handfuls, with milk like cereal, or with yogurt and fruit. Kate likes her granola with blueberries, cinnamon and yogurt, and Daniel adds a sprinkle of ground flax seed to his. In this last batch of granola, I added 1/2 cup of flax seed; you can't taste it and my family gets the added health benefits (folic acid, omega-three's, fiber).

Does your family like granola? What do you like to add to yours?

Menu Plan for the Week of May 8th

Sunday: Mother’s Day cookout with Daniel’s family in Nashville

Monday: Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti and steamed broccoli, watermelon

Tuesday: Chef’s salad with fresh herb vinaigrette and quick rolls

Wednesday: Pintos and cornbread, fruit

Thursday: Kate’s Mother’s Day Out Program—Quick supper [Ribs & Steak (from the freezer), baked beans, tater tots, and fruit]

Friday: Pizza Night!

Saturday: Leftovers

What are you eating this week?

Finer Things Friday: It's the Simple Things that Make me Smile

(57) Listening to Kate cheer herself on as she runs with her daddy on the Greenway ("Go, Kate, go!") and watching her little legs work to keep up;

(58) Watching Cora pull herself up to standing in her crib and everywhere (and she's only 7 months old!)

(59) Digging in the garden and feeling the dirt between my fingers--it's cathartic in so many ways;

(60) Finding worms in the garden and watching Kate visibly cringe when I ask her if she wants to hold one---she's really afraid of creepy-crawlies like her Uncle Brian;

(61) Our house now on a firm foundation and able to pay for it without going into debt--thanks largely to my frugal husband who makes sure we save more than we spend;

(62) Time spent with my family celebrating my brother's birthday;

(63) Laughing and reminiscing with my brother and sister-in-law about old flames and school days and thankful that God knew best who to give us as spouses;

(64) The Stones River Market and being able to get fresh produce including spinach, lettuce, cabbage, and strawberries as well as eggs that are locally grown;

(65) Watching our own garden grow, in spite of all the weeds, and knowing SOON we'll have our own lettuce and tomatoes and other goodies;

(66) Kate's teachers, Patricia and Cristy, at King's Kids (Mother's Day Out) for their love for our child;

(67) A day of strawberry picking with the cousins--making memories that our kids will never forget!

(68) Spring time: Everything is green, lush and vibrant and recharges my sluggishness;

(69) New days ahead: With the close of CBS (Community Bible Study) and Mother's Day Out next week for the summer, I am excited about what the next few months will bring and looking forward to time with both my girls as well as getting into a more relaxed summer routine.

Lord, Teach Me to Love

My youngest child wakes me up crying. It's the third time tonight. To myself, I ask: “What is the matter, Cora? Just go to sleep!” It’s 4:00 a.m.

“Lord, teach me to love.”

After nursing my baby, I lay her back down in her crib and return to bed. My oldest child is lying in my place. I think to myself: “What are you doing in here, Kate? Get in your bed!” But instead, I lie down in hers. It’s 4:30 a.m.

“Lord, teach me to love.”

Cora has started crying. Again. I lie in bed listening, watching her on the monitor and thinking to myself, “I am not going back to sleep.” It’s 5:15 a.m.

“Lord, teach me to love.”

I have decided to go ahead and get up, have my coffee and have a quiet time with God. But my quiet time is interrupted by my crying baby who is now standing up in her crib screaming. Frustration and anger rushes over me. I know I'm being selfish but, "Please, God."

“Lord, teach me to love.”

After I give Cora some Tylenol, she cries but soon falls asleep. It’s 5:45 a.m. Kate wakes up and wants me to snuggle her. All I want to do is have some time by myself.

“Lord, teach me to love.”

I lie down with Kate but refuse to snuggle her. It’s just not in me. She sleeps for a little while and wakes up for the day. It’s 6:20 a.m.

“Lord, teach me to love. Your love, Lord is perfect; mine is so flawed. You are long-suffering, compassionate, gentle and kind. Lord, you love the unlovable—me. Teach me to love my children when I really don’t feel like it, when I’m tired and just want to sleep, when I’m consumed and just need a break by myself, when I’m in most need of love myself. Teach me to love.”

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:12-13

Going Home

Lately I’ve felt a longing to “go home.” I’m not sure where “home” is or even what “home” is for that matter. But I feel a tug in the pit of my stomach pushing me to find the place where I need to be.

For most of my life, I have called Chattanooga home because that is where I grew up and that is where my family still lives. And even after moving to Murfreesboro in 2004, I still call Chattanooga “home” even though I no longer live there.

To this day, I don’t think of Murfreesboro as “home.” I’m not sure that there is one exact reason that I can pinpoint but many. For starters, I don’t feel rooted here, meaning that if Daniel got a new job somewhere else, I don’t think I would be very sad to leave the ‘Boro. Don’t get me wrong, there are people I would miss: my church family and friends that God has brought into my life and who have blessed me tremendously. But otherwise, I would be fine to pack up and move somewhere else. Also, because Daniel bought our house at a time when we were not together (before we married), I didn’t play a role in the home-buying process and therefore do not, for whatever reason, feel like it is my home, despite the feminine touches.

So where, then, is home?

In the last few months, I’ve been back to Chattanooga to visit family. A part of me wishes we were closer to them so our children could grow up nearer their cousins, aunt and uncle, and grandparents. Also, a part of me really misses the church family at Signal Mountain Church of Christ where I grew up. Still, I don’t know that Chattanooga is where I need or really want to be.

As Daniel and I look at land for a future move, I can’t picture exactly where we will be, but I envision a space with lots of room for the girls to run and play without fear, a space for a larger garden, a space without crazy neighbors so close we can hear them yelling at each other from inside our house.

I see a place where we can sit outside on the porch and only hear silence, where we can build the home we have always wanted, where we can have a dog and maybe a few chickens, where our family can grow closer together.

But what does the Bible tell us about “home”?

The author of the 91^st psalm tells us that, for Christians, our true home is in the Lord:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

If you make the Most High your dwelling—

even the Lord, who is my refuge—

then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

Psalm 91:9-10

As a Christian I know that my earthly home will never be the place of comfort, rest, and security that I long for; it will never be my true home. My true home is in the Lord, who protects us like a mother hen shields her chicks from harm:

He will cover you with His feathers,

and under His wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Psalm 91:4

While I’m searching for my earthly home, I need to remember that only in the Lord do I have a true home, a refuge from the storms of life. On this earth I will never find a place like the home I have in Him.

Have you found the place that you call “home sweet home”?

"What's Down in the Well Comes Up in the Bucket"

One of my biggest challenges is my tongue. James called it "a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (3:8), and I know for a fact that unless controlled, my tongue can completely destroy a person and can even lead to my own spiritual destruction. Satan uses our tongues to divide us, to spread gossip and lies, to put people down, and, ultimately, to separate us from God. He knows that we can never fully control our tongues (James 3:8) and yet we must try.

To be perfectly honest, I have to watch every. single. word. that comes out of my mouth. Sometimes there's just no filter, and what I say hurts, offends, discourages, and humiliates. Immediately after the words leave my tongue I wish I could take them back, but the damage is done: some innocent individual is hurt, and I can only apologize. Apologies cannot, however, take the hurt away. And that is because "what's down in the well comes up in the bucket." What is in our hearts is what comes out of our mouths. Jesus said this better in Matthew 12:34 when speaking to the Pharisees, who were trying to accuse Him of getting His power from Satan, "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." The Pharisees pretended to be righteous, but Jesus called them "whitewashed tombs" because inside, their hearts were full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

The problem with my tongue is not one that I can fix simply by watching what I say. It requires a change of heart, a thorough cleansing by the Holy Spirit. If I truly want kind, edifying and encouraging words to come out of my mouth, my heart has to be filled with kind, edifying and encouraging thoughts. All criticisms, jealousies, and wicked thoughts must be gone.

Ephesians 4:29 is one of my favorite verses in all scripture because it is a constant reminder to check what I'm saying before I say it: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." That means, don't offer unwanted parenting advice. Compliment rather than criticize. Encourage my children with kind words. Stop nagging at my husband. Speak the truth in love.

Does what I say serve to encourage or discourage, build up or break down, help or hurt, beautify or make ugly? Does what I say reveal something about my heart that needs to change? Could Jesus compare me to a "white-washed tomb"? What would come up in the bucket from my well?