A Night of Praise

Our church, First Baptist of Eastman, had a great night of praise tonight! Our choir recently recorded a cd not too long ago. It's entitled You Are God Alone. Everything went really well tonight as we performed all the songs on the cd! All of the soloists did an awesome job and I, along with several others, were a part of the orchestra. It was such a privilege to be a part of this! I felt like the Holy Spirit was there with us, guiding us through each song. We also celebrated new life in Christ for several who were baptized tonight. What a blessing to see new believers experience baptism. It made me think of my own baptism. I remember feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit with me. Another special thing was that my grandfather who just passed away was there in the water with me as I was baptised. That just came to my mind tonight. What a great memory. I praise the Lord for all of His blessings...especially for my salvation! I'm so thankful that Jesus died on the cross for me and because of that I can look forward to eternity with Him in Heaven.

God bless!

Coming and going...

I think my cousin, John David, said it best in his email. I wanted to pass it on...

Our son Noah Reagan was born last night after a long, long adventure. When Nat went into labor Thursday morning, we called our moms and they made the trip. My mom Beverly got here after lunch and got a call shortly thereafter that my Granddad, who led me to Christ and practically reared my brother and I and was a father to us, had developed double pneumonia and was not doing well. We knew that as Natalie progressed toward delivery and Noah neared entering the world, Grandpa was weakening and would soon leave it. Noah was born at 8:26, and my Grandpa and hero Onus Sanders passed away this morning at 4:59 am. So its been a bittersweet morning, but mostly sweet as Grandpa is with Jesus. Please pray today for my mom as she travels 4 hours home alone and for my Grandma Harriette as she deals with the loss, though Grandpa had been in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's for a long time. We love you. We praise Jesus for new life in Noah and for freedom in Heaven with Jesus for my Grandpa. Love, JD

We'll miss you, Granddaddy, but we're glad you're at peace and with Jesus!


Welcome baby Noah! We're so glad you're here with us!

God bless!

Life

Today has been a good day. We're waiting for the new arrival of baby Noah Mangrum, my cousin John and his wife's little one. Of course it brings back memories of my own experience having my two little ones. We also went to my niece's birthday party today. Seeing all the little children, including my own, so alive and active is such a blessing. We got to visit with more family this afternoon and then ate with even more family before heading back to Eastman. It's always fun to me to spend time with loved ones. We also made a trip over to the nursing home where my grandfather has been for the past several years. He's had Alzheimer's disease for quite a while and is now just a shell of what he once was. Just this week he's contracted pneumonia in both lungs and is only given about a week to live. I wanted to see him one last time and take Sophie and Isaac, even though grandaddy didn't seem to know we were there. Even though I grieved about 4 years ago when he went in and didn't recognize us, I still grieve today. I wish he could've known his great-grandchildren. While we were there, Sophie said hello to him and rubbed his arm. She told him she loved him. Precious girl. I've been remembering a lot about the wonderful times I had growing up with grandaddy. He and grandma had a place on the lake. Grandaddy taught me how to bait a minnow. He would always tell me I was a pretty girl...even when I didn't feel pretty. He was always joking around and keeping all of us laughing. He was also a man who loves the Lord. Even in the grief, I am thankful for his life. And I'm thankful for the lives of those around me. New life. The lives of my children and even baby Noah who's just entering this world. I don't want to take it for granted! Thank you, God, for also giving me new life in You. The greatest blessing of all. I look forward to seeing grandaddy again one day in Heaven.

God bless!

Today I'm a cookin' Mama!

Hey friends...I'm wiped out! I've cooked a lot today and I'm tired, but I really enjoyed it. Joe and I realized not too long ago that we needed to eat at home more and not go out as much. I know this is a good thing for many reasons, but it means more work for me! It's been going well (as you can tell...I do a lot of "cookin'" posts). I've always enjoyed cooking, but I think since I've had a family it's a little harder because I have so many other responsibilities...cleaning the house, doing the laundry, taking care of the children's needs, etc. Ya'll know how it is! Today, though, I did a good bit of cooking and it turned out well. I cooked a meal for us and for another family that just had a baby. When we had Sophie and Isaac, several friends were so good to us and provided us with meals. I realized that this is something I need to do more often. I'm thankful that God gave me the desire and the energy to do that today! So here's what I cooked...(I don't have any pictures this time...no time to stop and take them :-D)

I bought my first Boston Butt today. I had to call my grandmother to see how to cook it! It turned out well. She recommended putting the meat in a pan with a little water, season well with salt and pepper, and some seasoning salt if you had it. Then cover it and cook it for about an hour on 400 and then reduce (I went down to 325) for another couple of hours until the juice that comes out is not red. It came out well! I ate mine with barbeque sauce. Along with that I made for us, and the other family, roasted ranch potatoes. It's good and easy. I use red potatoes and cut them into quarters. I get a large ziplock baggy and put a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch with some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Drop your potatoes down in there, zip it up, and shake. Put them in a pan (with sides...I use a cake pan) and cook for about 20-30 min. on 425. Yum! For dessert for us I cut up some strawberries and made a sauce by warming up a little bit of fat free sweetened condensed milk with some mini semi-sweet choc. chips. Then some fat free whipped cream on top. Oh, yeah...it's like strawberries dipped in chocolate. Delish!

For my friends I made a recipe I got from a friend of mine that was in Thailand (thanks, Catherine!). It's called chicken broccoli puffs. You can cook up some chicken (probably about 4-6 breasts) and cut it up in small pieces. Because I knew I was going to be cooking a lot, I just bought a whole chicken that was cooked rotisseri style and picked the chicken off the bone. You'll also need to get some fresh broccoli (about 3-4 small bunches?--not sure what you call one stalk of broccoli), boil it, and drain. Add the chicken, broccoli, salt and pepper to taste, and 8 oz (one bar) of cream cheese that's softened, together. For the "puff" part, you'll need a can of those croissants. I got two cans of 8. You'll take two of the croissants and join them together so that it makes a square. After you've got it all joined up, you scoop some of the chicken/broccoli mix in the center. Pinch the sides together to make it closed. Do this for the rest of the croissants. This made 8 "puffs" with the two cans. You put these on a cookie sheet and the recipe says to bake at 425 for 30 min...but I found that I needed to do it at about 400 for about 15-20 min. The only thing you have to be careful about is not letting the outside getting too brown before the inside it done...that's why I lowered the temp. Sorry this isn't in recipe format! I just felt the need to write it out conversation style! ;-)

I also made them a Weight Watchers chocolate chip peanut butter pie. Ok...this is awesome! I'm not sure if I can post a Weight Watchers recipe on here or not? If you'd like the recipe, let me know! It's easy and so good. I usually don't do all the reduced fat items on the recipe, but I figure it's still less fat than something you would buy in the store.

So, that's what I did! I hope you're enjoying the recipes. I have so many, it's crazy. Happy cooking!

God bless!

What's cookin'?

Well, it was nothing spectacular as far as recipes go, but we loved it! One of my favorite meals is breakfast. I usually don't have the time or energy to do a big morning breakfast, so often we have a breakfast supper! I usually make pancakes. Let me recommend Bisquick's Shake and Pour pancakes! This is awesome! I get the family size (for $1.98 at Walmart) and it makes a BIG stack of pancakes! Enough for a couple of meals! I also made some scrambled eggs with cheese, which are always good, and some muffins. Now, I love muffin mixes. I usually use the Martha White packages...all you have to add is milk. Tonight I did the honey bran muffins. This is some good fiber! But I like to jazz it up a little bit. I always love adding stuff to those packages. Tonight I added some mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (you don't have to add much...a little goes a long way!) and some coconut (I just discovered that Sophie loves coconut!). Yum! They turned out good...and I got two extra muffins by adding the extra things. Check it out...

Sophie ate hers up! So did I! Joe got his later when he got home, and we still have several pancakes left and some muffins. Even though I didn't make them tonight, I thought I would include the best grits suggestion ever! This is what I grew up eating and I personally think it's the best. You basically get whatever type of grits you normally buy (I usually get the box or little bag of the quick grits). You cook them according to the package directions, but right before they're done (they're still a little soupy), you add one egg to them and stir it in and the egg cooks in the grits. We also add some pieces of cheddar cheese and some butter...about a tablespoon. All of it will melt and your grits will have a light yellow color to them. Man...they're good! I usually can't do the regular white grits after having these.

Hope you have a great day!

God bless!

Hearts and Jumps...

Ok...get ready...this might be a long post! A lot has happened today...and it was awesome! First, I wanted to share an idea. Sophie wasn't really eating many sandwiches until I found a way to make it easier for her to eat. Let's just say that cookie cutters serve more than one purpose! :-) I cut Sophie's sandwiches into shapes now (mostly hearts), which makes it easier for her to manage, but also makes it fun. We also get rid of the crust in the process! Today my large heart was dirty, so I did two small hearts. You could also do this with different foods that you would like your child to eat. Here's a pic...

I have the sandwich on my favorite little plates from Ikea. I LOVE their kids plates, cups, bowls, forks, spoons, and knives. You can get a pack of plates (6) for about $2. You can also get a set of bowls for the same price. I also got a pack of several plastic ware pieces for the same. I highly recommend them!!

The next part of this post is about our Memorial Day. I'll start by saying that a lot of times, Joe and I are spontaneous when we're deciding what to do. Joe came in our room this morning and suggested we go to the beach for the day. I thought this was an awesome idea...but I was wiped out tired. I just wanted to sleep. So we didn't go. But, we then thought...well, let's go to Macon/Warner Robins and do something fun. We decided to take Sophie to this place that has all of those jumpy things for kids. That was doable. We called my Mom (we also wanted to see if she could babysit for us later in the evening while we went to a movie) and decided to pick up my niece to go to the jumpy place with us. So, we got there and the girls had fun. Isaac hung out with me in the snuggly.

As we were leaving, Joe was asking me if I had a Gospel tract to give to the girl who worked there. I didn't, and I just thought, "oh, well...I'll have to get one for next time." I'm so glad that Joe was obedient and didn't let that stop him from sharing with this young girl. He started asking her some questions while we were standing there and basically this girl wanted to know the Lord and just didn't know what to do. She prayed to receive Christ right there!! Praise the Lord! She said she doesn't have any friends and really wants to get into church. Please pray for her!! We exchanged addresses and I plan to write her. This was a HUGE blessing to me and I pray that the Lord will help her as she begins this new journey with Him.

God bless!

Fun and Fit

God has really blessed me the past couple of days! I'm one of those gals that loves to talk/hang out with people....particularly my hubby and other gals. Lately, with adjusting to having baby #2, balance everything, etc., I just haven't had enough of that. A few days ago, I had a really fun visit with a friend from church. I think God wanted me to see just how many "kindred spirits" he has around me! Friday the whole crew drove to Buckner's restaurant just below Atlanta to eat with the family. Another fun time of fellowship and good communication time for Joe and I. Sometimes our best communication takes place just driving in the car! On our way home my sister noticed my mounting gray hairs and obvious root grow out (yes, I color my hair...and plan to continue for quite a while :-D). She says, "Stacey, would you let me color your hair and experiment a little bit?" I said, "Sure, why not?!" So we went to Kroger, bought a couple of boxes, and back to my parents house we went. She did a great job (pics later)! She also cut me some bangs! The funnest part about it though was just connecting with family and also reliving some old memories (we used to color each others' hair all the time). So fun! Today Mom, my sister, and I went shopping, kids in tow, and then to my sister's to play on her Wii. I have not had that much fun in a long time! I love Wii fit! We laughed as I tried the hula hoop (I looked ridiculous I'm sure) and attempt some of the yoga moves. My sister and I played tennis and bowling on Wii sport. I told Joe this would be a great date night activity! All this points me back to...God is good! He knew I needed this kind of relaxed, fun fellowship. Even if I don't get to do this kind of stuff very often, it makes the time I do get to do it all the sweeter. Thank you God, for loving me and meeting my EVERY need!
God bless you!

Check it out!

Thanks to Keisha for the awesome new blog design!! She is a very talented gal! Check out her website at blogs for babies. I'm pretty sure there's a link at the bottom of this page. I love it!

I also wanted to share what's cookin' tonight! We had a tuna casserole that a friend in Thailand gave me the recipe for. It's awesome! Let me tell you...I used to hate tuna growing up. I've actually come to love it fixed certain ways. I'm very picky about fish (can't do anything with a "fishy" taste) and don't eat seafood in general. This has a very mild tuna taste, so I'm sure you , and even your kids, will enjoy!

Tuna Casserole~

• 2 cups tuna (I always get the tuna that's in water)


• 1 can of cream of chicken soup


• 1 cup mayo (I used light Kraft...and I'm sure you could do a little less if you wanted to)


• 1 cup diced celery


• 1 cup cooked rice


• 1 tsp minced onion


• 1 Tbs lemon juice


• 1 cup almonds on top (I used the almond slivers)


• cornflakes on top--optional (I opted not to)

Mix everything together, put in a casserole dish, and bake at 375 for 30 mins.

We ate it with a salad. I also made dessert tonight, which I don't usually do. It's an easy dessert that tastes great. You get your favorite can of pie filling. Tonight I used a can of strawberry. Then you get a box of cake mix that will complement it. I chose white vanilla cake mix. Other good combos are cherry with chocolate cake mix (my favorite), blueberry with yellow cake mix, apple with spice cake mix, etc. You get a casserole dish and put in the can of pie filling. Then you sprinkle about half the box of cake mix on top--just the powder straight from the box. Then you pour about a stick of melted butter of the top...or you can just put dallops all over of soft butter. I baked mine on 375 for 30 mins and it didn't get completely done (I think my dish might've been too deep...if you spread it out more over a larger dish, it does better). But it was still very tasty! You may need to do it for about 45 min. You can also sprinkle chopped nuts on top if you like before baking.

And this is the meal (except the dessert)! I also included our prayer sticks in the picture. The stick I featured on the top says, "future children and future generations". I created this when Joe and I first got married. So we will continue to pray for any more children we may have and our children's children, and on down the line. God hears our prayers!

God bless!

A time to visit

This week is our last official week of our church's evangelism blitz. I was able to go out visiting with a friend of mine at a couple of houses and it was awesome. Such a blessing! There are so many people in our cities, towns, state, etc. that need ministry. Some may be Christians, some may not, but there always seems to be a need. Tonight someone we visited just needed to know that someone cared and wanted to see how they were doing. It was a mutual blessing. Visiting someone you don't know, or don't know very well, can be intimidating. That's how I felt when Joe and I started going out together. Once I got over that initial feeling of hesitancy, I realized how much God was blessing me and using me through this. I want to encourage you...you can be a blessing to someone through a simple visit! If you have kids, bring them along! We've taken Sophie and Isaac to visit people in the hospital and the nursing home. People in the nursing home love to see little children. We've seen our kids brighten up their day. It's an easy way to share God's love.
May the Lord bless you today! Stacey

What's Cookin'?

Well, I did cook barbeque pork chops tonight and a few other things from a can and a box, so I won't feature those things! I did want to pass along a recipe that I got from a friend of mine that I cook quite often. It's easy, quick, and tastes great! I had some chicken already cooked, so I just heated up the ingredients on the stovetop on low and added my cooked chicken and it tasted great. But usually I cook it in the crockpot. Here it is....
Easy Chicken (I don't know what the formal name is!):

• 1 can of cream of chicken soup with herbs (be sure it's got the herbs!)
• 1 8 oz container of sour cream (I use the light kind and it tastes good)
• chicken (I usually use a package of boneless skinless breasts (4) or one pack of tenderloins)

Just mix it all together and you can cook it in the crockpot on high for about 2 or 2 1/2 hours or low for longer...maybe 4 or 5 hours. It makes a great sauce that is good over rice or mashed potatoes.

Here's one more favorite that is awesome!

Lemon chicken:

• 1 3 oz package of lemon jello
• 1/4 cup of yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup of oil (some type of vegetable oil works best)
• 1 1/2 tsp of garlic salt
• chicken (again, I usually use skinless, boneless 4 pack)

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken in a casserole dish (you don't have to grease it). Mix ingredients together and pour over chicken. Cook in oven for about an hour...mine is usually done in about 45 min.

Hope you like it...I usually serve the lemon chicken over rice. The sauce is a little tangy and it tastes great over rice!

God bless,

Stacey

We love to read!

I'm a big reader. I've loved to read since I was a little girl and I hope to pass this love on to Sophie and Isaac. When Sophie was born, I didn't really do a lot of reading with her, even though I knew I should and wanted to. I think I was just a little overwhelmed with all the other things that were required of me, that we didn't start looking a books a lot until later. But as she grew, we started reading. Thankfully my lack of sit down and read time during her infanthood has not affected her desire now! So when I was thinking of what to do for Sophie's second birthday, and I knew she didn't really need toys or clothes, I thought...what about a book party! My friend, LeeAnn, is a Usborne books consultant, and she agreed to host the birthday party and our guests could get Sophie a book as her gift. I made a wish list and our guests could choose from that. It turned out great! I even designed a storybook cake that my mom decorated for me. We made bookmarks at the party and I gave each child book stickers that they could write their name on to put in their own books. The children were also invited to dress up as their favorite book character. You may wonder what prompted me to write about this since her party was in January. Well, I'd like to promote an event on a friend of mine's blog, which is the Spring Children's Book Parade. Here's a link to the site, the six o'clock stitch...

http://the6oclockstitch.blogspot.com/2009/04/prizes-for-spring-childrens-book-parade.html

Happy reading! Above are some pics from Sophie's party!

Here are some of our favorite stories...

All the Places to Love by Patricia Maclachlan

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Noah's Ark by Jan Brett

Animalia by Graham Base

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Baby Einstein books (Sophie loves Baby Einstein!)

and so many more!

Thanks!

Thanks so much for the feedback so far! Here are a few more details that I didn't mention before. The tote size is 13.5 in x 13.5 in x 3.5 in. Most of the people I make them for use them as diaper bags, like for church. They'll easily fit diapers, wipes, juice cup, and clothes. My sister has used it for a small overnight bag for her daughter. For adults (which i haven't made any adult ones yet) you could use it as a beach bag, sports bag, etc. Here are a few more pictures. The one with my friends (one is a little girl) is a sweatshirt I made for the little girl. The other is Sophie's birthday in which she's wearing the sweatshirt I made her (she had a ladybug theme). I hope you can see them. I made some more bags tonight using some new materials and I think they turned out cute :-). I'll have to post those later. Thanks again!

I need some feedback...

Here are some bags and shirts that I've painted. I wanted to see what you guys thought. Would you buy something like this?! So far I've just made them as gifts for family and friends. If I thought they would sell, I'd love to sell them. What would you pay? I'd love to have your feedback! Thanks!!

Missions minded

Tonight at church we had a couple visiting who are missionaries in South America, specifically Chile. They shared their personal testimonies and how God led them into missions. They also shared a video of a man who is a missionary to people in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. This man was passionate about ministering to these people who share their faith in the midst of bullets flying around them. This moved me! I feel so far removed from these foreign lands, even though I was once a missionary in Thailand myself. But God has given us a way to connect to these missionaries...through prayer. Let's pray that we will be missionaries where God has planted us. There are so many around us who need to hear about Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. Let's also pray for those who are laboring on the foreign mission field.

And since I have brought up Thailand...a very special place in my heart...I will ask you to pray for my friends who labor there, Thai and American, with Campus Outreach. It's been 5 years since I returned back to America from Thailand. I was there almost 4 years. It's still so fresh on my heart and mind. I still dream about being in Thailand and spending time with my friends there! I hope that one day the Lord will allow Joe and I...and maybe even our children...to go visit. That would be awesome! The picture above is one of my adventures in Thailand...riding a mini motorcycle! I almost couldn't get my legs up on that thing and balance at the same time! LOL

God bless you all and may you be directed to the mission field God has for you!

I want to be a loser!

Ok...let me begin by saying that I love the show The Biggest Loser! It looks like it would be so hard, but so awesome at the same time. I've decided to do a challenge for myself. I would like to lose 5 lbs each month over the next several months. That's a realistic goal, I think. My sister is getting married in September, so if I worked hard and disciplined myself, I will have lost 20 lbs by the wedding! I'm going to work on it! I'll let you know how it goes. One thing I need to do is remind myself of 1 Corinthians 10:31..."Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God". I have that on an index card on my refridgerator. I've had it there for years, but I haven't lived by it. I don't always glorify God in what I eat or drink, but I want to. Please pray for me!

This brings to mind another thing that I've done around the house. I've written different Bible verses on index cards. Most of them I've done in bright colors and I drew little pictures over key words or underlined key words so that I could remember them better. I've also put them in key places. I've got a verse about thinking on the Lord in my sleep taped to the lamp beside my bed. I've got the verse I mentioned before on my fridge. I've got another verse on my mirror in our bedroom. In the past, I've used a whiteboard marker and written verses on the bathroom mirror...when you want to change it, you can just wipe it off and go again. It's good to keep the Word of the Lord in your sight...and it's great if you have kids, too. An encouraging word on their bathroom mirror might minister to them in the mornings before school. It could also minister to your husband or wife to leave them a note claiming a verse for them. As I'm writing this, I know that I need to do this more often myself. I used to do better about leaving my husband notes of encouragement. I have kind of neglected this as time has gone by.

I have lots of goals...pray for me that God will help me have the motivation I need!! Thanks!

A Special Day

Sunday was a special day...it was Mother's Day and baby dedication day at our church. What a blessing to be able to be celebrated as a mom on the same day that we commit to raise our baby in a Christian home! What a challenge! Joe and I have a strong desire to see our children exposed as much as possible to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have recently started doing Bible story time after supper with Sophie. I was able to create a fun way for us to do prayer time with her. I've written the names of friends, family, missionaries, etc. on popsicle sticks. We have two small metal buckets...one with the popsicle sticks of those we've prayed for and one for those we've yet to pray for. We tell Sophie to "pick a stick". She really enjoys it. I hope that she will continue to enjoy hearing God's Word and praying for others for years to come...and even encourage her brother to do the same!

We dedicated Isaac during the 11 o'clock service and afterwards my mom, dad, sister, niece, Joe, Sophie, Isaac, and I went to Little Ocmulgee State Park in McRae, GA for lunch. There was quite a wait, but it was great! After lunch the girls got to play on the playground. Then we all came back to our house and had fun fellowshipping together. What a great day! I praise the Lord for it!

What's cooking?!

Today was a fun day! I got a visit from one of my old high school friends, Laura, and her husband, Bobby. We had a great time catching up and having lunch together. I wanted to make some easy things, but also light and tasty. So here's what's cooking...

Chicken Salad~
(this is a little different from the way I would normally fix it, but I really like it on bread or crackers...or when I was pregnant...on dill pickle flavored Pringles :-))

• Two large cans of white chicken breast, drained
• 1 small can of crushed pineapple, not drained
• chopped pecans, onions, celery (as much as you prefer)
• Mayo (enough to cover all the chicken)
• craisins (or dried cranberries, whichever you prefer)

As you can tell, this is all not very measured. You just mix it all up and enjoy! If there's something you don't like, you can leave it out. It's got kind of a sweet taste to it, which I like. I usually have it with the craisins, but today I had some dried cranberries already, so I used that and it was good. Hope you like it!

Grape salad~

Most of you have probably already had this. I've had it many times and it's addictive!

• 4 lbs green or red grapes (seedless...you can also cut them in half if you like...I left them whole)
• 8 oz sour cream
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sugar in the raw (or brown sugar)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Mix sour cream, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together (I did it with a mixer). Mix these ingredients in with the grapes. Sprinkle the brown sugar or sugar in the raw and nuts over the top (I didn't need to use that much on the top...just enough to cover it).

We also had some celery and carrots with Hidden Valley Ranch dip, tortilla chips and salsa, and a Jell-O no bake cherry cheesecake that I added almond flavoring to. Yum...I don't know about ya'll, but I love anything almond flavored. Don't get me started on Fresh Market's almond pillow cookies...I could eat my weight in those things!

Hope all of you have a great Mother's Day. God bless!

Fabulous Fridays

What makes Fridays so fabulous?! Joe is off of work and I get to sleep in! Even though I'm waking up throughout the morning to feed Isaac, I can go back to sleep and Joe will take care of Sophie when she gets up. What a treat! I'm telling you...this week I really needed that extra sleep. I was worn out! I've been trying to clean house this week for some guests we're having on Saturday (more on that later). So after the much needed rest, we did the normal getting ready stuff, ate, etc. and then I decided to load the kids into the double stroller and walk to the grocery store for a few things. It was fun! This will have to be done again soon! Here are the kiddos in the stroller. This was taken at least a month ago, but it's basically how they looked today :-) . Thanks to my sister-in-law for the stroller! We love it! The rest of the day went on as usual, but one of my favorite parts came when I was rocking Sophie to bed (yes, I still rock her a few minutes...I just can't give that special time up!). She whispered in my ear, "Mommy, go to sleep little baby." (She likes for me to sing that to her) At the time that was just so precious to me. I know these days won't last forever, so I'm going to try and soak in the moments with that sweet little head on my shoulder and singing her to sleep.

As for tomorrow, I'm looking forward to seeing one of my old high school friends, Laura, and her husband, Bobby. They're coming in to have lunch with us and visit. One thing that makes it so exciting is that they're expecting their first baby, a girl, before too long! They'll also get to meet our little ones for the first time! I'm going to post our menu tomorrow...mainly the wonderful chicken salad recipe my sister gave me!

Hope you all had a fabulous Friday!

My first post!

I'm so excited...it's my first post! I hope that you'll enjoy my randomness! I wanted to start this blog as a way to stay in touch with friends and family and also because I love reading other people's blogs! For those of you who don't know me, I'm married to my wonderful husband, Joe, and we have a two year old girl named Sophie and a three month old named Isaac. My hands are full! My desire is to be a good wife and mom, and to do this in a way that glorifies the Lord. I'm really interested in homeschooling my children when they get older. I've enjoyed teaching Sophie little things already...and she's a very quick learner! I am also interested in trying to live a healthier lifestyle...but right now it's in a desire that isn't quite in application mode yet. But I love reading about what other people are doing to help their family be healthy....it's motivating! I'm also trying to lose this baby weight that feels like it's sticking to my body! :-) This was tough with my first baby...so I know it's going to be tough this time around. I'm starting to walk more and I really need to eat better...it's hard when you're exhausted and feel hungry all the time! So any encouraging words are welcome! :-) Joe and I were watching the Biggest Loser the other night and it's so encouraging. We were like...let's do a marathon! (The contestants did a marathon on the show the other night) Who knows...maybe one day! I think it would be good to have a goal, though. If anyone is interested in training for something and would like to do it together...let me know! I need some accountability! Anyway, (I told you I have a lot of random thoughts! :-)) I look forward to posting more thoughts and hopefully it'll get more and more focused as time goes on :-). By the way, I also love to make new recipes. So I'll probably include some "What's cooking with Stacey" every once in a while! Until next time...God bless!