Testimony Tuesday: He is AWESOME!

The other day Lilly, Reid, and I were in the car on our way home.  Obviously I was driving.  ( :  We were coming home the "back way" as we call it.  Anyway, there is a big curve and we were coming up to it and there was a semi truck coming toward us on the other side of the curve.  Now he was in his lane and he was going fairly slow.  Logically there seemed to be no danger in us going around the curve at the same time.  But something God told me to stop.  So I stopped a little bit before the curve.  I really was kind of rolling my eyes at myself for being so cautious because it appeared to be completely safe.

 I am SO THANKFUL that I did because the semi took up both sides of the road in the curve and BARELY missed us.  I am talking so "barely missed us" that he stopped because he was sure that he had hit us.  Like within an inch folks. Y'all the PEACE of God that transcends understanding was IN THE CAR.  My heart never even raced.  As he squeaked by-I never got anxious.  I was completely calm.   God somehow let me know that He was protecting us and I knew I had no reason to fear.  I can't explain it...even in my mind I was thinking...shouldn't I be a little worried?...but I wasn't. 

After he passed us and we made our way around the curve and were completely out of harms way I felt the presence of the Lord just fill up the car.  It was such a surreal moment.  I remembered the night before as we were praying with the kids Matt prayed that God would guard the kids and my path tomorrow as we ran around town. 

Here is the deal God is always with us and He is constantly answering our prayers but in THAT moment is was SO CLEAR that God was literally with us, keeping us safe, and answering our prayer.  I am so thankful for that moment!  How crazy is it that the God of the Universe took the time to speak to me, give me a calmness that in unexplainable, and then let me feel His complete presence??? 

Heavenly Father I love you and I praise you for you are most worthy of praise!!!

Hanging with the Fam

Friday night after Matt got off work we headed to Benton.  About 30 minutes away Lilly started saying, "I am SO ready to get out of this car!!"  I felt her!  It seemed like it took For. Ev. Er. to get there.  But we made it!  When we got to Mike and DeDe's they had pizza ready so we got to eat and let the kids run off all of the energy they had saved up from riding in the car.  Bert and Becca came over and the kids were so happy to see them.  We put the kids to bed and Mike and DeDe got to witness our newest drama...bedtime with Lilly.  The past two weeks she thrown the CRAZIEST fits at bedtime.  I think we have decided to just put her to bed and let her throw the fit because going in does NOT seem to help AT ALL.  Anyway, I digressed.  Then Matt, Mike, and I stayed up until 2 AM watching Sons of Guns.  I think we may have lost our mind!  But we love that show. 

Saturday we did the Perryville thing (see last post) and then Saturday night we, once again, stayed up until 1:30 AM watching Sons of Guns.  We are all caught up now.  On the show.  Not sleep.  ( ; 

 Sunday everyone came over to Mike and DeDe's and we ate Whole Hog BBQ.  I tried to get a picture of the cousins that were there.  This was the best one I got.

 And this (above) was the worst.  Ha!  NO ONE looks happy to be in this picture! 

 I hope this picture makes somebody else laugh because it cracks me up!! 

 The weather was wonderful Sunday afternoon so the kids got to get outside and play.  They loved every second of it! 

 They laid out in the sun.  Fully clothed. 

 They would pretend like they were asleep.  I heard Lilly say, "I sleep very good."

 Colt was awesome in some sunglasses. 

 Reid swabbed the deck.  (Yes, I crack myself up, in case you were wondering.)

 Lilly picked some of DeDe's flowers and then gave her one. 

 Since we have been home Lilly keeps saying, "But we love DeDe!" when I tell her that we aren't going to DeDe's house today. 

 They discovered the hammock.  Don't they look like they are hanging out discussing something good in this picture??

 Grandma Betty and Matt. 

 DeDe has a rolling chair and the kids think it is so fun to go for rides on it! 

 Weeeeee!

 After lunch with the family we stopped by to see MamMa on our way out of town.

 We were so blessed to get to see so many loved ones this weekend!!

Then we headed home and got back just in time to drop Tank off and go to the night service at our church.  I really loved that we got to go out of town but still get to go to our church! 

This morning started out being a major MONDAY.  I got up kind of late and was rushing around and went to get Lilly up.  It was pajama day so all I had to do was brush her teeth and put her hair in a pony tail.  Apparently I didn't put it up properly and she had the biggest fit I have ever witnessed from her.  I didn't help the situation at all (AT ALL)-I was completely annoyed that she was upset about something so trivial especially when we were already running late.  It snowballed and by the time we got to KDO we had both been crying.  Thankfully the Lord got hold of my heart (with the help of my sweet husband) and we were able to get back on track, have good days separately, and we have had a wonderful evening together.   The kids got to play outside for a little while tonight and Matt and I ate dinner while they were playing.  It was almost like a date.  Almost.  (Oh, on a side note, we ate the Chicken Tortilla Soup I made the other day for the food swap but hadn't tried yet.  Super yummy!  Phew!)  Then we gave the kids a bath (you would be disgusted if you knew the things they got into while they were playing in the backyard!) and now we are watching Beauty and the Beast.  The other day I said to Matt, "Later we may watch B. and B." And Lilly goes, "YES!  I want to watch Beauty and the Beast!!!"  Smart girl!  Hope you all have a great week.  I have to go make popcorn because Lilly and Reid think that it is impossible to watch a movie without popcorn.  They may get that from me.  ( ; 

Perryville Lunch

Every January we have a big family get together with Matt's dad's side of the family.  His aunt, uncle, and cousin come in from Louisiana.  His other cousins come in from Kansas City and we all get together for lunch in the house that Matt's Granddaddy grew up in. 

 We love getting to see all of the family! 

 Lilly and Reid kept things exciting as always!  (:  I said from the beginning if we left without breaking anything--I was going to consider it a successful trip.  And, ladies and gents, it was successful!  Ha! 

 Lilly loves this chair/stepstool.  She plays in it every time we go!  And if she isn't in it Reid is! 

 You may be able to tell by the chocolate face that Reid enjoyed some brownies! 

 There was lots of visiting with family! 

 Bert and Matt watched the basketball game. 

 Lilly and Jan read some books.

 Reid went through some pictures. 

 They attacked Uncle Bert. 

 Then they tried to ride him.  Ha! 

 They played with the legos...and then they wore the bucket. 

 And then Karl taught them how to play the drums on the bucket. 

 Aunt Thelma and Granddaddy

 Matt, Grandaddy, and Bert.  I can't tell you how much they loathe appreciate me taking pictures of them all the time.  (: 

 Jessica and Daryl. 

 Becca, Me, and DeDe.  Mike cooked a yummy lunch and we enjoyed getting to see everyone--we look forward to it every year! 

That night "the cousins" all went out for dinner at YaYa's.  We hadn't been there before and it was pretty tasty!  We had a fun time.  Lynn we missed you!! 

Lilly Room-Before & After

Okay so on the left is the before and on the right is the after.  I took the fabric part in the middle out and then sanded the frame and painted it white. 

The back just unscrewed and the middle part just came out so I was able to just recover the fabric part with a new fabric and pop it back in! 

 I saw this idea on here on Pinterest.  I went to Wal-Mart and bought this 11x14 frame.  Acutally I bought 4 of them.  I had planned on going to a thrift store to find cheap ones since I was going to paint them anyway...but I just didn't have time!  These worked perfect.  I repainted the frame and covered the glass with burlap and hot glue.  Then I put them together and used my measuring tape so I could hot glue the clips (which I got in the Wal-Mart office supply section...a pack of 4 was $1.88) in the middle.  Out of all the things I did for the room--this was the one that Matt was most impressed by and I do love seeing her art hanging in her room.  I plan on doing these for Reid's room too!  Oh, and one tip I have for this is to get the right type of paint.  I was so concerned with getting the right color purple that I didn't realize it was glass paint so I had to do like 20 coats of paint!  Oops! 

 The vanity before and after!  All I did was sand and paint it!  I bought the paint that has the primer in it and HIGHLY recommend this!  I will tell you about my primer fiasco when I get to the bookshelf. 

 Handprint tutus.  I got this idea off of...whereelse...Pinterest.  (I can NOT find the original source.)The photos are crooked-not the actual canvases.  We had fun making these and I love that those are her sweet little handprints.  Lilly is very proud of these too! 

 The bookshelf.  I decided to repaint Lilly's bookshelf and since I was going from dark to white I bought a primer.  At this point I was painting everything with a brush and the primer was too thick to apply evenly with a brush.  At some point I was talking to my sister-in-law about it and she said that I should be using a roller so I went out and bought one but it was too late--it already had brush marks and was uneven.  I sanded the parts that mattered (I just didn't have it in me to start completely over!)  I will say the genious of the little roller made life SO MUCH EASIER!  So if you are painting--buy a little roller!

 My mom came in town just as I had finished all of my little projects and wanted to do a craft day.  The LAST thing I wanted to do that day was do anything else crafty...but I love my mom so I agreeed to go with it.  I am glad I did because my sister, my mom, and I made this cross.  We just bought the plain wooden stackable crosses at Hobby Lobby.  We painted them (there were two) and then added a scrapbook paper cross to the top so it looks like there is a third cross.  We hot glued it all together and added some accessories and viola! 

And I can't leave out my sister-in-law Becca who made the tutu bedskirt and the tutu to attach to the bottom of the curtains! My sister redid Lilly's nursery letters to match her big girl room too.  I am so thankful for such crafty and helpful family!!  (:  You can see the completed room and her reaction here!

All About Food

Okay so we are spending the weekend with lots of family so I thought I might blog about something other than the kids.  Because, you know, they are seeing them in person so I can get away with it.  (:  I did A LOT of cooking this week.  I cooked dinner for our small group on Wednesday and we did a food swap this week so I have been a domestic diva in the kitchen!  Ha!

For small group I made these chicken tacos--OH. MY. WORD.  This is the EASIEST recipe and it is SO YUMMY!!  Seriously Matt has raved about this recipe all week long and is now demanding that we always have these on hand ready to go in the freezer.  I used great value chicken, taco seasoning, and salsa (medium) and they turned out fabulous.  My friend Sydney recommended these from Pinterest and we are so happy that she did.  Oh, and just a heads up, they are messy...but so worth it! 

I also made Caramel Cake.  This recipe is from my great Aunt Lois. 

 This is one of those recipes where you here the ingredients and think, "Okay...that HAS to be good!"  You need a german chocolate cake mix, a 16oz jar of Caramel topping, an 8oz thing of cool whip and a bag of Heath bits (found in baking aisle next to chocolate chips). 

You start by baking the cake as directed.  While it is hot (I did this as soon as I took it out of the oven), poke big holes in the cake and pour the entire jar of caramel over the top. 

 Then, let that cool completely.  Once it is cool mix the cool whip and the heath bites together and spread it over the top.  Put in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve! 

 This is a bad phone picture of our very last little piece.  This cake is delicious!

 We did a last minute food swap today since my friend Lisa is having her 3rd baby boy Hayes next Friday!  Woohoo! 

I made Broccoli, Cheese, Chicken, and Rice Casserole.  I originally got the recipe for this from allrecipes I think but it was several years ago and I just added chicken to make it an entree.  Here is the recipe: 

• 1 lb chopped frozen broccoli
• 2 (10.75oz) cans of Cream of Mushroom soup
• 2 cups instant rice
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 15oz jar of cheese whiz
• 2 cups shredded chicken

1. Cook chicken and shred.  Cook rice as directed on box.  Cook broccoli as directed on package and drain.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and put it in a 9 x 13 baking dish.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. 

It is funny this (minus the chicken) was the first potluck-type-of-side-dish that I learned to make and for a couple of years I made it for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!  Ha! 

I also made this Chicken Tortilla Soup.  I haven't made it before so I hope it is good!  Ha!  That recipe fills an up the entire 4 quart Crockpot so it makes a lot!  Next time I make it I will probably omit the extra water and drain the corn because I like my soup to be thick!  That is just a personal preference.  I did taste one little bite to make sure it wasn't gross and it tasted pretty good but I didn't have enough to give you a good review of it yet.   It definitely makes enough where you could eat half and freeze half and have plenty.  Also, I added an extra chicken breast. 

 Now my freezer is completely stocked and I am so thankful.  I think I am going to make a menu for the entire month of February and possibly not cook at all!  LOVE it! 

Oh and I have had several friends ask about this and for more details so there is this blog that has their rules and stuff.  We don't get THAT detailed with ours.  My friend Jenna wrote this post that explains ours but those are two options that you can look at.  I broke two of the first links rules today by making two dishes with the same kind of meat and making a recipe I hadn't tried yet.  Ha!  We are pretty flexible with ours!  I just send an email out to the people that have wanted to be a part of it.  They respond if they want to.  Once we have the number of people participating, we determine the number of meals (usually two but if we were to have 10 people than we would just make one recipe times 10).  We pick a swap date and email what we are making so we don't end up with duplicates or something we just won't eat.  Then on the date we all bring our food (already cooked and usually frozen) and swap and end up with a stocked freezer full of meals.  My tip would be to pick one labor intensive recipe and one easy recipe.  Also make sure that you make enough for the largest family in the swap. 

And then as a treat for all of the cooking I ended the week with a butterfinger blast from Sonic to celebrate.  (: