Halfway to One...

As of today, Judah is six months old. So this post is about something every mother has dealt with at some point, I am sure. Nevertheless, I am still going to ask the question, "When did my little newborn grow to be a 6 month old?".

While I have been enjoying all of the snuggles and playful moments, my little infant has been growing into an honest to goodness baby, complete with a smile that melts my heart.

Resurrection Sunday...

Happy Easter!

I hope that you and your family have a blessed Resurrection Sunday.
Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

Laundry or the Outdoors...

Hey there! I am in the midst of a large pile, make that mountain, of laundry. We traveled back from Florida on Sunday after getting to spend a little over a week with our families. Now, I am in the midst of unpacking, putting away, and getting caught up on laundry.

Today, however, the weather was so beautiful that we just couldn't stay indoors. So, off to the zoo we went for Judah's first zoo trip.

He was mainly interested in the fish. The rest of it didn't really grab his attention. I was very interested in the lion though because he was being very photogenic for me.
I brought along his giraffe for the fun of it. He played with it while we sat on a bench enjoying the weather.I also got several pictures of all of us.
We even ended the day with the book Tails. It is a really cute book with interactive and touch-and-feel activities with all different types of animals in it. Now back to my laundry and unpacking.

My Worried Heart's Healer...

I have been milling around this post for a little while, but I wanted to post this as a reminder to myself in the future and maybe as an encouragement to one of you. I am not sure if this is going to make a ton of sense to everyone, but I hope so.

Spiritually and emotionally February was filled with an overwhelmingly peace and attitude of thankfulness/gratefulness in my heart. February 8th was one year since I found out that I was pregnant with Judah. On this February 8th, as I thought back on that day from last year and the weeks that followed the positive pregnancy test, I remembered the heaviness of my heart and how God had been there all along providing me with comfort if I would only ask. I began to pray and thank the Lord, specifically for his blessings over the last year.

Fast forward to the next evening, the 9th... I nursed Judah and we put him to bed. The moments of quiet made my mommy heart began to feel fearful, thinking of all of the what-if's about the next day because the next morning we had to bring Judah for a digestive system test. I decided to put on my ipod as I did laundry to give me something to think about. I randomly put Kari Jobe on and started singing along.

Then the song "Healer" came on. Immediately in my mind's eye, I was transported back to about a year ago. I was laying on the couch (on bed-rest) playing my new Kari Jobe CD listening "Healer" over and over again, praying for God to be the Healer for me and my baby. As I stood there in the laundry room a year later, I began to cry. I cried tears of joy, tears of thanksgiving, and tears of peace. I was thanking my heavenly Father for giving me that encouragement I needed to face the next day, even though I had already begun to doubt/worry about the future. I was thanking Him for gently reminded me of everything He had brought me through this past year, even though my memory of Him was so short. I was thanking Him for not giving up on me. He reminded me that He had everything under control and He gave me such a peace the next day.

I pray that in the future when my heart wants to worry, I will remember that God holds my future and my families future safely in His hands. How great it is that He reminds us.

Give me a sign of Your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
~Psalms 86:17

Passing By Quickly...

I know that the monthly summaries that I did do once upon a time on this blog haven't happened recently; however, for this month I wanted to change that, even if it is over a week late.

Let's see, February started out without a lot of hoopla and ended much the same way. For most of the month, daily activities filled the days with nothing to spectacular in them.

I did get taken out to dinner by the two most handsome guys in the world for Valentine's Day and received my very first "official" Mom card. The front of the card said, "To my very first Valentine".
This past month, Judah did what seemed like a lot of growing. I was telling my mom earlier that he is looking less like an infant and more like a baby everyday. He started eating cereal (actually he has been perpetually spitting out cereal that we have tried to give him since) the second week of the month. He has started to laugh, especially when he is being tickled. However, one thing that hasn't changed is his love for cuddling. I just couldn't resist sharing the below picture, his little smile melts my heart.In March, we have a short trip planned to visit family. Our families are eagerly counting down the days until we head that way. I am not sure what all we will be doing, but I do know that Judah will be giving and getting more "sugar" (aka kisses) than he knows what to do with.

I am looking forward to decorating for spring soon. I was so tempted to bust out the crate last weekend, but with the snow I guess it is a good thing I didn't. I can just feel the spring weather trying to push its way in.

I am hoping that slightly warmer weather this next month will allow Judah and I to go walking some. On recent sunshiny days I could hear the outdoors calling my name, but it is still to cool.

I hope to get a couple of sewing projects finished in March. I bought some really soft flannel fabric to make some cloth wipes. It is washed and waiting to be cut and serged. I also have some burp cloths I need to finish as well.

What all do you have going on this month? Any fun plans or projects?

Twelve Extraordinary Women (Giveaway)...

The winner of the copy of Twelve Extraordinary Women is Mrs. U! Congratulation!

Thanks to all of you who entered, it was neat getting to read about your favorite women of the Bible.

**********

Over the last few months, I have had a little bit of reading time while I am nursing Judah. I have actually managed to read quite a few books over the last few months, some were noteworthy and others were not.
I just finished reading Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. It was such a neat book and I learned so much from it. In so many ways I feel like I actually know some of the women that I read about. The book has a chapter on Eve, Sarah, Rahab, Ruth, Hannah, Mary, Anna, the Samaritan Woman, Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene, and Lydia. In the case of each woman I learned something that I didn't know before. One thing that I really liked about the book was that it gave background and depth to the story, most of the time based on the Jewish custom of the time, and helped me better understand the significance of one thing or another. There are so many things that I learned that I want to share, but I want to encourage you to read it because I can't share all of the neat things.

The faith of Hannah to God is just amazing to me. She had to have so much faith in God to be able to leave her toddler/very young son at the tabernacle because she had promised God she would if she were blessed with a child. She was truly a woman of faith and a woman of her word. I pray that I can be a woman of such faith and so true to my word.

I came to realize the deep faith and areas that needed improvement that each of these women shared and saw some areas in my life that need improvement too.

Since I liked reading this book so much, I wanted to host a giveaway for a copy of it. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

To enter, leave a comment on this post telling who your favorite woman in the Bible is and, if you would like, why she is your favorite. I will leave the post open for comments until Friday at 11:00 p.m. and will announce a winner on Saturday.

Collard Green Casserole...

Last weekend, my Gram forwarded a recipe that she had tried a couple of weeks ago. This week, I put it on the menu, even though I don't like greens. I really liked it though. I served it with BBQ catfish and coleslaw.

The recipe is from a little restaurant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi call Front Porch Barbecue & Seafood and it is apparently is their most popular side dish, Turnip Green Pot Pie. I would consider it more of a yummy greens mix with a thin cornbread layer on top, than what you might think of when you think pot pie.

Collard/Turnip Greens Pot Pie

1 cup diced ham or 1/2# bacon cut into 1/2 inch pcs.
2T oil, if using ham
2 stalks of celery, chopped fine
1 onion, diced fine
1 red bell pepper, diced small
1/4 cup flour
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
2 pounds frozen greens
1 16 ounce can blackeyed peas, drained
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Cook ham or bacon (use no oil for bacon) until lightly browned (bacon till crisp) Add onion, celery & red pepper, saute for about 5 minutes.

Add flour and cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Gradually add chicken broth, stirring constantly until thickened somewhat. Bring to boil and add greens. Reduce heat and simmer until greens are tender. Add peas and pepper flakes. Pour into lightly greased baking dish (9x13 inches). Mix cornbread and pour batter over top. Bake at 425 degrees F until cornbread is cooked (25-30 minutes).

Cornbread crust batter or use Jiffy if you want:
1-1/2 cups white self rising cornmeal mix
1/2 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 lg. egg, lightly beaten
2 T oil
1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, use reg whole or 2%)

Combine first three ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and mix until just moistened. Add to the top of greens.


My DH prefers collard green so that is what I used and if you are bread people like my DH and I are you could double the cornbread. Also, you could cut down on the pepper flakes if you don't really like a little bite to your food.

Enjoy!

It's Snowing...

There had been talk yesterday that we might get some snow. There were some predictions of 4 to 7 inches. But, who knows, right??? This morning Judah and I were hanging out in the bed when I remembered said predictions and hopped out of bed to see if there was a small chance that it was snowing. Low and behold the ground was white and so were the trees.

Maybe it is the fact that I pretty much grew up in Florida, but I could barely contain my excitement. I mean honest to goodness SNOW!!! Not just falling but piling up all around (at least to my Floridian standard). Before long, I got a call from my DH saying that he would be heading home early because of the weather. I put a pot of soup on the stove to warm him up when he got home and then I started getting us bundled up to got play outside. There is not much point in having half of a snow day without playing in the snow, right???
It is probably the fact that we are from Florida and snow is so very, very rare that makes us/me excited about getting out in it. We walked around in the snow and took some pictures. My DH built us some snow men while Judah and I watched from indoors because Judah decided that he didn't really care for the cool wind that accompanied the snow.
It was a light snowfall most of the day and I am not sure how much snow we actually got. But, I do know that this Southern girl was happy and excited to look out the window and see little snowflakes falling.

Motherhood So Far...

What can I say about motherhood??? I LOVE it. God has blessed my DH and I with the blessing of being parents and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am living out the dream of my childhood. All I ever really wanted to be when I grew up was a wife and mother.

Judah is now four and a half months. He is growing and doing new things everyday. It is so neat to see his sense of wonder and excitement as he discovers the world around him.

(Judah with his Valentine's bear)

Judah and I have been filling the past four months with playtime, hanging out with "Daddy", snuggling, napping on the couch together, cleaning, snuggling, bath time, laundry, and some more snuggling. While these past few months have passed quickly, I treasure every moment and memory.

Tasty Chicken Gumbo...

I recently discovered a delicious recipe that is really simple and tasty. I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's website. I have tweeked it a little to make the recipe go a little further.

I have been serving it over rice and it will serve 6 to 8 people instead of the 4 people the calls yields. I have also added a little more okra. I have made it with more chicken and left out the sausage, since I am not that big of a sausage fan. Martha Stewart recommends serving the gumbo with some cornbread as well.

Half-Hour Chicken Gumbo

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 red bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 package (16 ounces) frozen cut okra
8 ounces smoked (precooked) andouille sausage,
halved lengthwise and sliced 1 inch thick
1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds),
skin and bones removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups)

1. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium. Add flour, and cook, whisking constantly, until pale golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in bell peppers, onion, garlic, and oregano; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add 4 cups water; stir in okra and sausage. Bring to a boil. Stir in shredded chicken, and warm through, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; if desired, serve with cornbread.

Enjoy!