Care to join us for dinner this week??

Every Saturday I make our family menu for dinner each night. I love having our dinner already planned in advance. It just seems to make my days go so much smoother. So, here is what we will be eating this week.....

Day	Meal
SATURDAY	wild rice and turkey soup, wheat rolls, and salad
SUNDAY	Taco salad and apple slices
MONDAY	Homemade pizza and salad
TUESDAY	Hamburger & cheese casserole (crockpot) with fresh veggies
WEDNESDAY	Pork chops, wild rice, brocolli, and rolls
THURSDAY	Grilled cheese, soup, and salad
FRIDAY	Chicken Parmesan, corn, fruit salad, and rolls

I always try to make enough dinner so that we have leftovers for lunch the next day. Having a menu made before I go grocery shopping also helps me plan my shopping better.

I love to look at other people's menus, too. It gives me new and different ideas. So, anyone who wants to share their menus, please feel free!!

It's official.....there is a bug in my house!!!

It started with Brett on Tuesday night and it quickly making its rounds!! I'm thankful that it doesn't seem to be too severe, with the worst of it only lasting about 24 hours.

Right now my dear husband is it's victim, not good considering it just hit him and he preaches all day tomorrow. He has asked one of the men of our church to be prepared to fill in "just in case" he can't make it. I'm praying with lots of rest and TLC from me that he will recover quickly. I have soup cooking in the crock pot and lots of juice on hand, so I think I am prepared.

Elisabeth and Jeffrey haven't seemed to be effected by it yet and it was pretty mild for Nick and I. So - today I will be nursing my hubby back to health and Lysoling (I'm sure that's not a real word) everything in the house - especially the bathrooms.

Now, on a more upbeat note - Nick and I had our annual evening out for the opening game of the semi-pro basketball team that Bismarck has ~ the Dakota Wizards. This is something that Nick and I look forward to each year. We make an evening of it ~ dinner and the game. We have so much fun.

Each year it is a reminder to me of just how blessed I really am. In today's world there aren't too many 16, almost 17 year old boys who want to spend a Friday evening out on the town with their mom ~ but Nick is one of the exceptions. What a great time we had just talking and laughing and watching the game. Since we are both huge basketball fans we really get into the game too!!

Last night was no exception. The Wizards won 119 - 91. After the game Nick was back in the locker room with the team (we know several of them) and I got a great opportunity to talk to the coach's wife. I love those chances to share the Gospel and invite people to church. After we left we stopped at Wendy's for a drink and I got the greatest gift this mom could ever ask for.......a hug and an "I love you, mom" from Nick!! Oh, how I love being a mom!!!

Have a Great Thanksgiving....

This is the devotion I shared with my friends at The Well today. I thought I would post it here for anyone else who happens to drop in.

Have You Been Pardoned

Many of us are spending the morning getting ready for an afternoon feast, aren’t we? We can just smell and taste the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, rolls, stuffing, pies, and turkey!!

Well, are you ladies familiar with one of the Thanksgiving traditions our country does each year? It is the official pardon of a turkey by the President of the United States. The president of the U.S. is presented with a turkey, which he pardons and the turkey is then sent to live a long life free from the fear of dying for anyone’s Thanksgiving dinner.

This tradition got me thinking about the pardon that we have been given if we have accepted the Lord as our Saviour. In the world today, we live in a time where many think that by living a good life they will make it to Heaven. So many people will try to look and act how they think they should, yet never begin to accept the pardon that Jesus came to bring them. Those of us who have been pardoned need to make sure we don’t lose that sense of urgency for those who are lost. We have so much to be thankful for and we need to be passing that thankfulness around.

The bottom line is that we are those who are to share the Good News of Jesus to those who are either do not know or do not really care that through Jesus we are pardoned and forgiven of our sinful life. We are not called to force people to be Christians or die, but we are called to share our faith, something if we are honest, many of us just do not have an urgent sense of doing as we should or are capable of doing.

1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

We must recapture a sense of urgency for furthering the ministry of Jesus Christ to those who do not know him and for those who may have just forgot the need to be instruments of Christ. Far too often we are so caught up in the doing our own thing – especially on days like today when so much needs to be done - that we forget to BE ministers of the Good News of Jesus. We get more upset when things do not go the way we planned rather than the fact that there are people dying without knowing Jesus.

1 Timothy 4:14-16 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

How diligent are you in utilizing your gifts that God has given you? Will you have "unpardoned" guest around your table today that need to be set free?

The greatest thanks we can give to God today is sharing His goodness with all we are around.

The greatest thanks we can give to our guests is the gift of Jesus Christ and all He has done in and through you.

When it comes right down to it, what really matters to you? Is it what matters to God? And if so, are you willing to share it today?

Is it dark around you?????

"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." Isaiah 58:10-11

I read that verse and thought, WOW - there is a lot there!!! Those people who claim to be born again Christians are God's light on this earth... But so many are of them are not shining like the light they should be. They turned off the light switch a long time ago and now are walking around just as the rest of the world - in darkness.

If you want your light to shine, you have to love the Lord and hunger after Him. You have to give be willing to give of yourself to others, and truly care about the things that God cares about.

When you make this kind of impact... It brings people back to what you're trying to bring them to - the Lord. Some of you think, "Well, I help my friends, family, and other Christians." That's good, it really is... BUT it's not good enough. You need to be a light to those who don't believe too, and to those who aren't right with God. You need to be a light to those who have no light in their lives. What good is a flashlight in broad daylight? It's of no use, it's only of use at night, or in a dark room.

It's good to treat the people you know nicely, but you also need to go out of your way and give those you don't know that light of hope. I have seen too many people just judge others, and condemn others, and they don't help them because they say, "That person's not right with God, I'm not helping them!" I have to say it... THAT IS THE MOST STUPID THING I'VE EVER HEARD ANYONE SAY! If they're not right with God, then it's YOUR job to help them! That is more reason to help them, not less!

Jesus healed the sick, both believers and unbelievers... The unbelievers came to Him after He helped them. It didn't just save their bodies, it saved their souls. He did so many things, for so many different people. So many Christians are in a horrible spot today. The reason we're not getting anything done, the reason they aren't growing in the Lord , or seeing revival in their own heart is because they are too busy judging others, and condemning others... They even judge and condemn each other! If you're one of these people, you need to put your pride aside and let the light God gave you shine. This isn't even about your pride, this is about helping you help yourself, so you can help others. I'm not too prideful to beg this favor of you, so please don't be too prideful to listen.

Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Acts 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

Fill me up.......

This morning as I was spending some quiet time with the Lord, the song "Fill My Cup, Lord" came to mind. Oh, how I love that song!! Then I started thinking about how satisfying my life is when I allow myself to fill up on the things of God.

Psalms 81:10 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

All I have to do to be filled of the things of God is to open my mouth and let Him do what He has always wanted to do - fill my heart with the things of Him!!

I always picture a baby bird being fed by its mama. They open their mouth SO WIDE and allow the mama to feed them. And the neat thing about that is, they eat WHATEVER they are given - they do not pick and choose like people do. That's how I want to be. I want to take EVERYTHING the Lord has to offer me.

I know there are times when what the Lord is offering may seem bitter (trials, heartaches, illnesses, etc.) but those times are just as necessary as the sweet things that the Lord gives me each and every day. Both provide the spiritual nutrition I need to live a well-balanced Christian life.

Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

I love that verse in Job!!! He said he esteemed the words of God as having more importance to him that his daily food!! That is how I want my life to be. I want God's Word and the things of God to mean more to me than anything else I need to live.

Today I am feasting on the Lord. I am gaining more and more strength with each verse that I study and loving every morsel that I digest!! I can truly say that the Lord has filled my cup to overflowing!!!! Anyone want to join me?!?!?

I did it, I did it!!!!!!

After taking Jeffrey to walk this morning I had an argument with myself all the way home. (Now wouldn't that be something to see???) A part f me wanted to come home and curl back up in my nice warm bed and get a little more sleep ~ I mean, everyone else in the house was still sleeping, so why not me too? But the other side of my brain said "NO, if you don't exercise now, while everyone is asleep, you won't get it done!!" This little struggle went on most of the way home. Then I heard a song that helped me end the fight:

"Little by little and day by day
Little by little in every way
Jesus is changing me. . . .

The only way Jesus is going to be able to change me - spiritually or physically - is if I let Him. So, I got home and did the Walk way the Pounds 3 Mile Fat Burning DVD. Honestly - I thought I was going to die, but I did it!! And now that it is over I feel good about accomplishing it. What a great way to get my blood flowing first thing in the morning.

WATCH OUT WORLD - I'M FULL OF ENERGY NOW!!!!!!

Talk about be exhausted.......

Yep - the picture above pretty much sums up how I feel!!! After 4 days of revival meetings my heart is revived and my body is exhausted!! These were some of the best meetings I have been to in a long time. I enjoyed (and needed) each and every one of them.

I am so glad that the kids and I kept the house picked up and the laundry done or else I think I might just dread tomorrow. Fortunately, the only thing I really need to do is dust and go to the library. I also hope to start exercising tomorrow morning. I have to take Jeffrey to work at 5:30am, so when I get home I plan on doing one of my Walk Away the Pounds DVD's.

But, for tonight I am calling it quits early. My kids are in bed, the house is quiet and my eyelids are heavy. I think I will curl up in bed next to my sweetheart and do some reading while I am still awake enough to do so.

OH YEAH - GUESS WHAT..........one month from today (December 17th) Jeff and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary!!!!! I canno believe how fast the years have gone by!

Time to do some reflecting....

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I love these verses!!! I spent a lot of time thinking on just these two verses yesterday. God gave me life and in return He asks that I turn around and present myself to Him as a living sacrifice. And not just some half-hearted sacrifice - He wants me to be Holy and acceptable unto Him. WOW ~ want a thought. God doesn't just want me, He wants me at my best.....whatever that may be.

Then I looked at that verse some more. God is not asking too much of me - He is just asking my reasonable service!! Nothing outrageous, nothing too hard, nothing impossible - just what is reasonable. God is SO GOOD!!!! And if that isn't good enough, He continues on and tells me what I need to do to acheive that reasonable service.

First - be not conformed to this world. This world changes constantly - the fads, fashions, trends, etc. But God doesn't want me to do this. He doesn't want me to be so focused on what the world is doing and trying to conform to their ever changing ways that I cannot be the child He wants me to be.

Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

This is a perfect example of what happens when we are always trying to be conformed to this world...we end up being tossed to and fro and carried about with everything we hear, or whatever tickles our fancy at that time. That is not the kind of Christian I want to be.

Second, God wants me to be transformed by the renewing of my mind ~~ and that is what I want too. I want to be transformed into the child of God that He wants me to be. That can only be done by spending time in His word.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

My goal then......to be rooted and grounded in God's Word and all that he has for me. I know by doing this I will have a body that is acceptable and able to be offer to God as a living sacrifice......afer all, that is my REASONABLE SERVICE.

Starting again.....

After losing my first blog I have had a hard time getting motivated to start again. My first one had a specific purpose - it was for my family who lived far from me to be able to get to know my family and I a little better and to keep up with our lives.....sadly, they weren't that interested or impressed with the whole idea. After the blog got deleted I really didn't feel the need to continue with what I had been blogging about - I mean most of those who read this already know what goes on in my daily life.

But over the last couple of weeks the Lord has been working on my heart in a different area ~ that is my weight. Notice I didn't say WEIGHT LOSS, I said weight. You see, I have been "dieting" off and on for years...something that if done wrong, can actually do more harm for me than good. But lately the Lord has really been dealing with me about this, so I thought - let my blog be my personal journal as I let God work with me through this.

Will I be attempting to loss weigh - YES - but, Lord willing, it will not be my main focus. I will be applying Scripture as I study the Word of God, personal reflections, daily victories and defeats, and personal thoughts as I allow the Lord to create in me a content heart. I might record my weight each day, but if that distracts me and takes my focus off what I want to allow God to do, that may stop.

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Over the last weeks I had to face the facts that I was letting things in my life slip. My eating had become an issue and was something that I spent a lot of time thinking about - more time than I needed to. When I allowed God to show me some things, He truly blessed my heart.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

You see, this body of mine belongs to the Lord, yet I have been so discontent with it. When I think about that it breaks my heart. God gave me life - yes, I let myself get out of shape and overweight and I know I need to do better with what God gave me - but I also need to be content with myself during this improvement process.

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

As the day has gone on I have been making a list of what my proper motive for losing weight should be. here are some of the things I have come up with:

1. To have a good testimony to those around me - I don't want people to see me as a glutton or a person who has no self control over my eating.

2. To live my life in such a way as to bring honor and glory to my Saviour - can that only be done when I'm skinny...NO!!!! But that can't be done when He isn't the top priority in my life. I don't know what weight God wants me at. But I do know that He wants to be Number One in my life and for me to do all to the glory and honor of Him.

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

3. To be healthy - I don't want to let my unhealthy lifestyle hinder me from serving the Lord properly.