God Revealed……..
How does God REVEAL Himself to you?
We have an exercise in our women’s bible study that is part of our weekly routine. We call it sharing our LESSONS for LIFE.
As we work through the passages of scripture that we are studying for the week, we challenge each other to formulate new insights we are learning into real life practical applications for our lives. Some weeks we find encouragement to be brave, other weeks we learn more about the character of God or how to better serve Him in our daily lives. We have been challenged to look at how authentic our commitment to serving God has been. Are we just going through the motions or are we truly desirous of seeking Him with our whole heart and serving Him with our time, talents and treasures? Are we willing to be His messenger with His message of salvation for all who believe?
We talk about how our God is a God who wants us to:
Seek relationship NOT ritual
Have a heart of worship and service and a willingness to sacrifice…
Rend our Hearts and not our garments because life with God is all about our heart Desperately long for ways to honor and serve Him
This week as we gather together for our final meeting this year, we will share “God at Work” stories. We love to hear how our women’s lives have been impacted by our God, who REVEALS Himself to us through His Word the Bible. We will share how He has answered their prayers, how they have grown in their faith walk, what new insights they have learned that have impacted their lives…….
I keep a Blessings Journal, called “Choose Gratitude” and lately it has been filled with the ways God has REVEALED Himself to …
Read MorePuzzle BOGO!
My girls LOVE puzzles. This is one of their favorite quiet time activities.
Our favorite puzzles by far are Melissa and Doug puzzles. That is why I am so excited to share this! Click the link below to start saving!
The deal is buy one puzzle get one puzzle 50% off. Just use the code PUZZLEBOGO at checkout.
In addition, you can get free shipping on orders over $40 with the code FF40 at checkout.
The puzzles shown here (Left to right) are Safari Chunky Puzzle, Barnyard Animals Jumbo Knob Puzzle, and Farm Chunky Puzzle.
Happy Puzzling!
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Revive your Shopping! Mother’s Day Gift Idea
Are you in need of the perfect Mother’s Day gift? Have you been searching and searching for something to make this year’s gift different than the others? Maybe something wouldn’t be expected. Maybe a gift that keeps on giving. Well I have just the idea for you! How about an opportunity to REVIVE your shopping by checking out Groupon’s Sam’s Club offer?
Photos from Samclubs.com & Groupon.com
Sam’s Club GROUPON Offer
$45 for a Sam’s Club Membership Package (69% Off!) which includes ALL of the following.
- One-Year Sam’s Plus Membership (A $100 Value)
- $20 Gift Card
- Three Fresh Food Vouchers
- One Rotisserie Chicken
- Italian Rose Fresh Salsa (48 oz.)
- Eight Gourmet Cupcakes
Here is the link again if you want to check it out: http://www.groupon.com/
BENEFITS OF SAM’S CLUB:
- Great Prices
- Sam’s Club has Cash Rewards, a new program that provides $10 in Cash Rewards for every $500 spent on qualifying pre-tax purchases
- Self Checkout
- Click n Pull: Shop online and then drive up to the store to pick up your order
- Great Diaper prices (It is Mother’s Day soon right?)
- Different item selection
- Always clean
- Nice Shopping experience and friendly employees
- Load coupons onto card
- Plus member discounts: early shopping hours, more savings & discounts. Check it out here
- Best priced products: frozen food, paper products, some meat and produce
BENEFITS OF THE GROUPON
- One year membership for $45… ENOUGH SAID! That is a whole year worth of savings for under $50. Now I would say that is a gift that keeps on giving!
I know that some of you will be reading this and you will say, oh, well I already have Costco, or I go with …
Read MoreRevive Your Bank Account
Ashkon and I just finished a 9-week study in Financial Peace University (FPU). FPU is Dave Ramsey’s principles of how to care for and handle your money in God’s way. We learned a lot about Emergency Funds, getting out of debt, investing, buying and selling homes and so much more! I loved that his teachings were based on the Bible and what God tells us about money! We finished our class with a lesson on giving. “The Great Misunderstanding”, as Dave calls it, is when we follow his steps and actually build wealth, we are prone to hold on to it more tightly. Antoine Rivaroli says, “There are men who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it.” Our money is all God’s anyway and he asks us to give back our first fruits of 10% (even though it is all His already!!) Why does He ask us to GIVE? Dave says, “Giving moves you to become less selfish and less selfish people have more of a tendency to PROSPER in relationships and wealth. Because we are designed in God’s image, we are happiest and most fulfilled when SERVING and GIVING…You will never have financial peace until you learn to manage your money with an open hand.”
“Live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later!” -Dave Ramsey
This process takes discipline. We have so many things being thrown in our faces that we are told we “NEED!!”. However, we show maturity when we learn to delay gratification and when we can not buy everything we WANT (not Need). I would encourage anyone and everyone to take this class! Whether you are young and just married and figuring out money or you are older and feel like you have your routine of …
Read MorePeanut Butter Super Power Ball Snacks
Since we have been focusing on the the theme, REVIVED, I wanted to post a recipe I made for a girls weekend. This snack is easy to make, super delicious and extremely nutritious. These healthy treats store in the refrigerator or freezer for many days, even weeks. They are easy to take in a ziplock bag in your purse, or transport in a tupperware to an event.
This new recipe was based off of Bekah’s original Power Ball recipe with a few things added that will help you feel physically REVIVED!
You can find Bekah’s original recipe at the bottom of this post or click the link above.
We will call this newer version, Peanut Butter Super Power Ball Snacks.
Ingredients
1 cup natural peanut butter (I used creamy but you can use chunky)
2 ½ cups old fashioned oats
¼ cup flax seed meal
⅛ cup chia seeds
⅛ cup hemp seeds
⅓ cup chocolate protein powder
½ cup unsweetened coconut
½ cup raisins
½ cup mini chocolate chips
½ cup honey
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until wet ingredients are evenly distributed within the dry ingredients. With your hands, form 1-2 inch balls rolling until solid and firm. Place on waxed paper lined cookie sheet with sides. Place cookie sheet into refrigerator for 20-30 minutes until chilled and then transfer to tupperware. Makes 30-40 power balls.
- Ingredients
Beautiful Butterflies
A few weeks ago I visited the San Diego Zoo Safari Park butterfly exhibit with my mom, my grandma, and my 3 daughters. It was a wonderful experience!
It was great timing because we had just visited one of Ellie and Hanna’s sweet friends that had her very own butterfly garden! The girls were very interested and excited to see her caterpillars and it reminded me of when my sisters and I used to have our own butterfly gardens when we were growing up. It is such a neat and fun way to teach kids about science and life cycles.
I decided to get the girls their own butterfly garden so that they could observe the caterpillars growing and moving through the different stages of their life cycle. They have really enjoyed checking in on the caterpillars each day and watching them grow. We bought this garden from Insect Lore on Amazon and it came with a coupon to get our 5 caterpillars for only $5.
It was also perfect timing for me to teach a lesson on butterflies for our preschool co-op. In addition to our regular curriculum here are the butterfly and bug specific activities that I shared with the kids.
Circle Time:
During circle time I incorporate these fun movement/action songs:
“Butterfly Butterfly flutter around
Butterfly Butterfly touch the ground
Butterfly Butterfly fly so free
Butterfly Butterfly land on me
Butterfly Butterfly reach the sky
Butterfly Butterfly say good-bye”
“Five little butterflies by the door, One flew away and then there were four
Four little butterflies by the tree, one flew away and then there were three
Three little butterflies up in the blue, one flew away and then there were two
Two little butterflies out in the sun, one flew away and then there was one…
Read MoreRevived in Action
Revived in Action
You know the moment… That one where you have been waiting for something to happen. You are hoping that someone else will make the effort. Someone else will plan, someone else will do, someone else will act. But you wait and wait, and it doesn’t happen. Getting together doesn’t happen. That phone call never comes. The days come and go. And that hope of whatever it is starts to dwindle away.
But the doubts creep in. Those feelings of should I do it? Could I do it? Is that all I’ve been waiting for? For me to get enough courage just to do it myself. Guess what. If you are having those feelings, that is probably exactly right. Just Do it. Call the friend, plan an outing, say you are sorry, confront an issue, go out of the way to reach out. Plan a party, clean your house, eat healthier, create good habits, and find joy in the little things. Take charge of your life. Stop waiting for someone else to do it, because, it will never happen. Go for it, take a risk, do something extraordinary. Ordinary breeds ordinary. Extraordinary comes from pushing the limts, being uncomfortable, and listening to those nudges that say “go for it”. As the saying goes, if you don’t do it, no one else will. And it’s true. We are all thinking the same thing. So bite the bullet, don’t let anything hold you back and whatever it is that is tugging at your heart or filling your mind, find the confidence, the time, or the purpose in going the extra mile or being intentional about your life. You have today to choose. So choose life, choose joy, and choose grace in the privilege to make a choice.
What have you …
Read MoreBasil Mozzarella Chicken
It has been a while since I have tried a new recipe. We have plenty of healthy “go-to” meals that we primarily filter through every couple of weeks, but when I found this recipe, I knew I had to try it! IT IS DELICIOUS!!! I also have been loving that it is asparagus season and asparagus is the perfect side to this meal! And, maybe the best part, this meal is a healthy, man-approved dish!! My husband loved it!
INGREDIENTS:
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1-2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Red Pepper
1 Bunch of Basil (Whole leaves)
1 Bunch of Spinach
1 TBS Italian Seasoning
Salt and Pepper for Seasoning
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a small casserole dish (Pyrex or Revol – use closer to 9×13 if you double the recipe). Cut the pepper into thin slices. Saute until soft. Filet the chicken stopping about a 1/4 inch from the opposite side. Add the Italian Seasoning, Salt and Pepper to the inside of the chicken breast. Layer on the chicken with the peppers, spinach, and basil and cover with the sprinkled mozzarella. Fold the chicken flap over and tuck the insides in if necessary. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on top of the chicken breasts. Place any remaining peppers slices in the dish around the chicken. Bake the chicken for about 35 minutes. Pull the dish out, turn the oven to broil, and top each chicken piece with more mozzarella cheese. Place back into the oven and broil about 5 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly.
SIDE of Asparagus:
Wash and trim asparagus. Lay out on a pan. Drizzle with olive oil and top with garlic salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 425 degrees.
Growing Imagination and a Grand Adventure
Having a great imagination is a gift. Exploring the undiscovered experiences of make believe is an activity you can do with your children or grandchildren as a planned activity or on a whim. The world of imagination can turn an ordinary Saturday morning into a GRAND ADVENTURE.
Our culture is so programmed to think that the way to entertain children is to have non-stop activities planned out of the house on weekends. We shuttle our kids from one thing to the next and to make matters worse, we are drawn to fill up any spaces of in between activity time with video games , television shows, iPads, iPhones, tablets or electronic gadgets. I am not against all technology for kids but I do think there is a time and place for it and I do believe that parents should have a really good handle on the time allowed and monitor their children’s technology activities carefully.
This past weekend, I had the privilege of spending time with 4 of my fantastic grandchildren. Our GRAND ADVENTURE began with the building of a fort and with a tiny bit of creativity and few things from around their house we began an imaginary Pirate Adventure that will be in their memory for years to come. They could not wait to tell their mom all about it when she returned.
SIMPLE SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR PIRATE ADVENTURE
white computer paper
felt pens-sharpees and water color markers
crayons
scissors
tape
4 old fashioned clothes pins
4 colored scarves or pieces of cloth (we used rolled up t-shirts)
cardstock cut into any shape for pirate name badges
variety of healthy kid snacks-anything will do
favorite food prepared ahead of time so you do not have to stop the adventure to make their lunch
any kind of lunch box …
Revived by Family Time
I was so blessed growing up to have family living close by for most of my life. I have wonderful memories of spending time with my aunt and uncle and my grandmas and even my great-grandparents. The older I get and the more people I meet I realize that this is not the norm and I grew up very blessed.
It makes me so happy that my girls are also growing up really knowing their family. Even our family in Michigan has made the effort to come for visits. Although some of us are spread out, we try and make good use of technology and Facetime when we can. The girls love to be silly when we chat and run all around the house dancing and singing, often hanging up the calls accidentally with their kisses.
Last week we were thrilled to have my mom and grandma, Grammie Rozie, come for a visit. My Grammie Rozie is a wonderful grandma and just loves to learn, teach, do art, and read books. I am proud to say that these are many of my favorite things to do too! We had a wonderful time reading new books she brought to share and doing art projects.
We even took a fun trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to see the annual butterfly exhibit. This was a real treat and if you haven’t been, definitely something to do next year!
The trip was a wonderful reminder about the blessing of family and the joy of sharing memories together.
Do you live close to your family? What do you like to do together? If your family is far away how to you keep in touch?
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