31 Days of Praying for Your Husband – Part 4

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Christie

Praying for My Husband

Today I bring you the fourth and final week of “31 Days of Praying for Your Husband”. As I pray these prayers and meditate on the Scriptures that go with them, I can’t help but also pray that I will be the wife that my husband needs.

You may see the first three weeks here:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

31 Days of Praying for Your Husband

Day 22 – Pray that your husband will choose his friends wisely. Pray that God will bring him men who will encourage his accountability before God, and will not lead him into sin. (Proverbs 13:20; Proverbs 27:17)

Day 23 – Pray that your husband will enjoy his manliness as he patters his life after Christ and strong men in the faith. Pray for his physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual strength. (Ephesians 3:16; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Corinthians 10:11)

Day 24 – Pray that your husband will be patient and a man of peace. Pray that he will not give in to anger, but will allow the Holy Spirit to control his responses. (Psalm 34:14; Romans 14:19)

Day 25 – Pray that your husband will learn how to relax in the Lord and, in his greatest times of stress, find joy and peace in his relationship with God. Pray that he will submit his schedule to the Lord. (Nehemiah 8:10; Proverbs 17:22; Psalm 16:11)

Day 26 – Pray that your husband will be a good father – disciplining his children wisely and loving them unconditionally. If he is not a father, pray that he will find a young man to mentor n the things of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21; 2 Timothy 2:1,2)

Day 27 – Pray that your husband will be courageous in his stand against evil and injustice, and that he will stand for the truth. Pray that he will protect you and your family from Satan’s attacks. (Psalm 31:24; Ephesians 6:13; Psalm 27:14)

Day 28 – Pray that your husband will understand the importance of taking care of his body – the temple of the Holy Spirit – for the glory of God. Pray that he will practice self-control by making wise food choices, and get sufficient exercise to stay healthy. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20; 1 Corinthians 9:27)

Day 29 – Pray that your husband will surrender his time and talents to the Lord. Pray that his spiritual gifts will be manifest in his career, at church, and in your home. (Ephesians 5:15,16; 1 Corinthians 12:4,7)

Day 30 – Pray that your husband will recognize the lies of the Enemy in his life. Pray that his attitudes and actions will be guided by the truth as he brings his thoughts into captivity to the Word of God. (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 10:4,5)

Day 31 – Pray that your husband uses practical skills to build your family and make wise decisions for your welfare. Pray that he will serve unselfishly. (Galatians 5:13; Philippians 2:3,4)

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“What’s Wrong with Warm Soup?”

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Christie

What's Wrong with Warm Soup

Almost two years ago, my husband and I anxiously awaited the birth of our son. Our nerves were raw as we hoped and prayed that the birth parents wouldn’t change their minds after his birth.

During this time I met a woman who was campaigning in our area. She was an outgoing, friendly woman who seemed to know a lot about what was going on in our town. As we moved to the topic of children, I shared that I was hoping to become a mom in the next several weeks through the gift of adoption.

I will never forget what she told me. She said, “The thing about being a mom is that I really miss hot soup. Dinner is ready and my husband needs something and then my daughter needs something. I finally sit down and my daughter needs help with her food. By the time I’m able to eat my soup is warm. I really miss hot soup.”

As someone who waited for years to welcome a baby into my arms, I wanted to say, “What’s so wrong with warm soup? That’s what a microwave is for!” Even now, as we are a few short months from celebrating my son’s second birthday, I would still want to say that.

Now, I do admit that I enjoy a bowl of hot soup. I really do like my food being hot. But I don’t want to view a bowl of warm soup as an inconvenience either. I want to see it as a blessing.

I love what a bowl of warm soup means to me and my home.

A bowl of warm soup means I am blessed with a child. It means I am blessed with extra cuddles and sloppy wet kisses.

A bowl of warm soup means my home is filled with more laughter and lots of energy.

A bowl of warm soup gives me someone to share breakfast and lunch with, and someone to talk to throughout the day. It gives me the satisfaction of hearing my little man say, “yummy” when he really likes the food I cooked for him.

A bowl of warm soup brings the blessing of listening to my son “play” the piano or strum a guitar. It means hearing my little boy hum a song and say sweet “I love you’s”.

A bowl of warm soup provides daily amusement as my son tries to mimic things my husband and I do or say.  It gives free entertainment as he wants to show off shooting “hoops” or jumping as high as he can across the floor.

A bowl of warm soup gives us extra reasons to smile as my son says words for the first time, learns new things and whispers secrets in our ears.

Yep. I think I’ll take a bowl of warm soup any day, along with all the blessings that come with them. And on the rare occasion that I have a chance to eat a bowl of hot soup, well, I’ll take that as a blessing too and savor each bite because I don’t know when I will have that chance again.

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Valentine’s Day Card Ideas

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Christie

Calling all Classroom Cupids! Send your little scholars to school with fun cards for every classmate.

99¢ School Valentine’s Day Cards at Cardstore! Use Code: CCA4169, Valid through 1/22/14. Shop Now!

Cardstore makes it super fun and easy to create customized School Valentine’s Day cards for your kids! Simply select a School Valentine’s Day card, personalize the card with your child’s name, load photos from your computer or Facebook, then you’re done!

99¢ School Valentine’s Day Cards at Cardstore! Use Code: CCA4169, Valid through 1/22/14. Shop Now! 99¢ School Valentine’s Day Cards at Cardstore! Use Code: CCA4169, Valid through 1/22/14. Shop Now!

Cardstore is offering 99¢ School Valentine’s Day Cards! Use Code: CCA4169 at checkout, Valid through Wednesday 1/22/14. Create personalized School Valentine’s Day Cards today at Cardstore!

Note: This post contains affiliate links

 

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365 Days of Blessings: Days 106-109

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Christie

count your blessings

Day 106 (Tuesday)

 I had the blessing of some time being freed up so that I could go to one of my Sunday school students basketball games

Day 107 (Wednesday)

It’s official! I have the best husband in the world!!! He had a long day at work and came home just in time to pick us up to go to church. When we got back at 9:30 pm, he tried to fix our water filtration system that decided to go crazy. At 10 pm he took our van to get gas for me so that I wouldn’t have to fill up in the cold. Then he stopped at Walmart to pick up drinking water for me and Soy milk for our son.

Day 108 (Thursday)

child playingMy son and I had the blessing of visiting with family and playing at the Children’s Museum at Navy Pier. It was so much fun to see him running around playing and trying new things like climbing on the benches of a play CTA bus, driving a car, shooting water at a burning building, and crawling through a bedroom filled with smoke. We spent several hours there and didn’t even make it through the whole museum. I think we may need to go back again sometime!

Then in the evening we had friends over for dinner. It was so nice to take some time to slow down and chat with them.

Day 109 (Friday)

While it hasn’t happened yet, I am so looking forward to a ladies Fellowship Night at our church. I love very much being home, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break and getaway for a couple hours. I actually can’t remember the last time I did something for myself, so I am excited for the opportunity tonight!

How about you! What are some blessings you have had this week?

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What’s for Dinner? – Week 10

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Christie

What' for Dinner

Have I said before how challenging it is to find dairy free meals? I mean cheese just makes everything taste better, right?!

Well, like it or not, this week I have to buckle down on dairy-free meals. In the past month my son has “gotten sick” (let’s just say he hasn’t held down all his food) a handful of times and we are trying to figure out the source of it. We are starting with removing dairy from the diet.

Since my son eats what we eat, I have decided to make sure our meals don’t include dairy in them. I think it would be cruel and unusual punishment for us to eat cheese in front of him when he’s not allowed to have any, don’t you? As it is, the poor little guy keeps asking me for milk and I have to give him coconut or soy milk instead. Oh the pathetic moan of disappointment when he tastes it. I feel so very bad for him.

Thursday – Chili Mac with cornbread, corn chips

Friday – Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken from Life in the Loft House

Saturday – Leftovers

Sunday – Rotisserie with salad and homemade biscuits

Monday – Mediterranean Chicken Pasta from Plain Chicken

Tuesday – Barbecue Meatballs from Money Saving Mom with mashed potatoes and green beans

Wednesday – Leftovers

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31 Days of Praying for Your Husband (Part 3)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Christie

Praying for My Husband

Ladies, today I am bringing you Part 3 of 4 of “31 Days of Praying for Your Husband”. If this is your first time here, welcome and feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2. You can start anytime. There is no better time to start praying for your husband than right now.

31 Days of Praying for Your Husband

(you may print out this week’s prayers and scriptures here)

Day 15 – Pray that your husband will yield his mind and thoughts to the Lord. Pray that he will not entertain immoral or impure thoughts, and that he will resist the temptation to indulge in pornography. (Proverbs 27:12; 2 Corinthians 10:5)

Day 16 – Pray that your husband will practice forgiveness in your relationship and with others. Pray that he will recognize any roots of bitterness, and yield any resentment and unforgiving attitudes to the Lord. (Ephesians 4:32; Hebrews 12:15)

Day 17 – Pray that your husband will have a balanced life – that he will balance work and play. Pray that he will fear God, but also gain favor with people he knows at work and church. (Luke 2:52; Proverbs 13:15)

Day 18 – Pray that your husband will discover and live his God-given purpose. Pray that he will offer all his dreams to the Lord, and pursue  those goals that will bring God glory and count for eternity. (Jeremiah 29:11; 1 Corinthians 10:31)

Day 19 – Pray that your husband will be a man of prayer. Pray that he will seek and pursue God in purposeful quiet times. (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Luke 22:46; James 5:16)

Day 20 – Pray that your husband will serve God and others with pure motives. Pray that he will obey the Lord from his heart, and glorify Him in everything. (1 Corinthians 10:13; John 7:17,18)

Day 21 – Pray that your husband will yield his sexual drive to the Lord and practice self control. Pray that your sexual intimacy together will be fresh, positive, and a reflection of selfless love. (Proverbs 5:15; 1 Corinthians 7:3; Song of Solomon 7:10)

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Surviving the One Nap Stage

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Christie

sleeping child

Some of you read the title of this post and probably said, “How about surviving the NO nap stage!” If you are a mom with more than one kid, you may be really laughing at this. Well, I’m not there yet. Quite honestly I am not ready to be there yet. And just like you had to learn one child at a time, so do I. So one nap it is!

I have to be honest with you. Though I do try to embrace each stage of motherhood, this was one stage I did not look forward to. I dreaded it. One nap? How am I suppose to get anything done?

Before it happened, some people told me that this “one nap stage” was wonderful. “The child sleeps for a three hour block of time and you will think it’s the greatest thing in the world.” Or so I have been told. I wouldn’t really know.

You see, my Gavin doesn’t believe in following the norm. Though he has needed them greatly, he doesn’t like naps. Yes, he did take them, but he almost always went down fighting. Despite not liking naps, he actually took two naps for much longer than I thought he would. Oh, there were days I tried cutting him down to one nap, hoping that maybe, just maybe he would take a longer afternoon nap. But it was to no avail. By 10:45 am we were both looking at each other wondering if it were naptime yet.

This past December, at 20 months old, my son outgrew the morning nap. He has yet to sleep for three hours straight. At the most he has slept for two hours. While I thought I would dread it, it hasn’t been all that bad. We are both surviving!

However, this new stage is certainly a learning curve. I’m trying to figure out how to get all my work done, as well as what I can still do while he’s awake. Plus I have to find ways to keep my son entertained for these extra hours.

Here are some things that have helped me:

1) Get out of the house

One of the things that has helped is to find things to do outside of the home. We only do this a few days a week. A couple things that we have built into our routine is to grocery shop on Thursday’s, and usually on Friday’s we meet my mom and sister at a gym to workout. During warmer months (or days) we can head to the park or go walking outside.

2) Have a Quiet Time

I have found that the hardest time slot is 10:30 to 11 am. So during this time we pick out several books, sit on the couch and read together.

3) Clean with your Child

While this doesn’t work with all chores, it does work for some. Our main level is all tile and hardwood. It needs to be swept every single day…several times a day.  So I pull out two brooms. Gavin loves to “clean the floor” and I actually get the floors swept. When I’m putting away dishes, Gavin likes to put away his forks and spoons. He then will hand me one dish at a time for me to put away.

A few warnings though. Since your child may actually like putting away silverware, he may “help” by putting them away when they are dirty too. And when he runs to the trash can with something in his hand saying, “garbage, garbage, garbage!” You may just want to check to see what he threw away. It might happen to be money he found while digging through your purse.

4) Have your child “help” you cook

It’s never to early to start your kid in the kitchen. Gavin likes to push a chair up to our kitchen island and help me bake or cook. Okay, let me be a little honest here. He likes to sample what is being made. However, he does also like to stir and pour too. Quite often I let him pull up a chair to “help me”, and I also have something he can snack on to keep him somewhat occupied.

5) Lower expectations and give yourself grace

This is a big one for me because I like a clean and orderly house.  The bathrooms may not get cleaned as thoroughly as I like them to each week, but I have learned to keep a can of Lysol wipes in the bathroom to at least wipe down the counter, sink and toilet a few times a week. The kitchen floor may be free of crumbs, but I wouldn’t eat off it….because I may not have had a chance to mop it. And that’s okay. The most important thing is to enjoy the time I have with my son.

While I thought I would dread this one nap stage, I have enjoyed it. The days are short. The years pass quickly. This extra time with my son means that I hear more laughter in my day. It means I get to give and receive more hugs and kisses. It means I can create more memories.

What about you? What are your tips for surviving the one nap stage…or even the no nap stage?

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365 Days of Blessings: Days 103-105

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Christie

 

365-Days-of-Blessings-Stiped

Day 103 (Saturday)

Saturday my family was blessed to celebrate my nephews birthday. The party was at a local gym where the kids could run around and play basketball. The facilities also had a little indoor play place – which is where I spent most of my time with my son and nieces! Having been cooped up in the house for most of the week, it was really nice that my son had somewhere different to run around.

Day 104 (Sunday)

“Your need is what God uses as an opportunity to introduce Himself to you” – Pastor Charles Lyons

Last night my uncle was the guest preacher at our church. His message was a reminder that God is faithful and present even in our darkest moments, even when we feel that all hope is lost. It was also a great reminder that our eyes should remain fixed on Jesus no matter what we are going through. It’s easy to focus on our problems and circumstances. Yet despite what we might be going through, we need to remain faithful to the Lord.

Day 105 (Monday)

This morning I am so thankful to have had early morning quiet time with the Lord. For various reasons, this “early morning” time with the Lord has not been frequent and I’ve had to try to squeeze it in throughout the day instead. My days are so much better when I can start my day with the Lord!

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Apple Crumb Cake

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Christie

 

Apple Crumb Cake

Today I thought I’d share with you my favorite apple coffee cake recipe. Several years ago I stumbled across it online and quickly wrote out the recipe.

One day I went to make the recipe again and I could not find it anywhere. I looked through all my recipe books and files. I scoured the internet looking for the recipe again and couldn’t find it. I originally found it on the website of a bed and breakfast, but this time nothing was coming up.

I was heartbroken. I thought for sure I had accidentally thrown out the recipe, never to be found again. Thankfully, it turned up one day and I made sure to put it in a place where I could find it again.

Needless to say, this Apple Crumb Cake is Ah-maz-ing! The yogurt keeps it super moist, and depending on the type of apples you use, it has the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. It is great for a breakfast or brunch, and could even be used as a dessert. I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do.

Apple Crumb Cake


  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (I’ve also used plain Greek Yogurt)
  • 2 large baking apples, cored and diced into small bites (2 cups)
  • Topping
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tblsp unsalted butter

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8×8 inch cake pan.
  2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time blending well. Stir in vanilla.
  3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  4. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture in batches, alternating with yogurt. Mix until blended.
  5. Fold in apples and pour batter into cake pan.
  6. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or using your fingers until the sugar mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over cake batter.
  7. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack. Invert and place onto a serving platter.

Update: This recipe was featured at…

 Katherine’s Corner.

    

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365 Days of Blessings: Day 102

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Christie

Can you believe that I just bought diapers for the first time in eleven months? I’d like to tell you that I have a super-child that was fully potty trained before turning one, but that isn’t the case. So how did we go almost a year without buying diapers? Two things…

#1 – Purchasing Clearanced Diapers in Bulk

diapers

Every January and February Target runs a BOGO sale. This is where people can buy items in quantities like you would at Sam’s Club or Costco. Since this is only an annual sale, these items eventually get put on clearance.

Last year Target carried tons of LUVS diapers. I paid $12.58 for a box (yes a box) of Luvs diapers. This was a deal I just couldn’t pass up. So I spent just under $100 and bought as many as I could.

#2 – Receiving Diapers as a Gift

diapers

A man my dad knows somehow gets bulk diapers for free. In September, he passed along three huge boxes of Huggies diapers to us…the huge boxes that contain 180 diapers in them, along with several bundles of wipes. These diapers couldn’t have been more perfectly timed because we were literally on our last diaper from my bulk buy in February.

In the next day or two we will be finishing up these boxes of diapers, and I had to buy diapers once again. It made me that much more thankful for the way God provided for us this past year…AND how nice it was to not have “diapers” on my weekly shopping list.

This February, keep your eyes open for Target BOGO clearance deals and you may find a great deal on diapers yourself! If you want to be a blessing to someone with little ones, buy some diapers for them. It’s a need they will be greatly appreciate.

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