Wives...who are you?

Wives do you see your ministry within your home, apart from your children, and duties of homekeeping but your husband. "A good wife can make a average man great, a great wife can make a good man superior, on the flip side a contentious wife can make a good man weak, a contentious wife can make a weak man die." Who are you to your husband? Do you encourage or cut down? Are you a vehicle of grace or... driving him to the grave? What is the legacy you want for your marriage? Legacy of limitless love, hope, forgiveness a marriage that exemplifies Christ or a Legacy of mistrust, despair, nagging, or love full of limits? Can your husbands heart safely trust in you or is it uneasy and unsure? The choice is up to you women, how you react, how you reply is up to you. Every great man has faults, we are to use his faults and turn them into strengths his strengths.

Lots have been happening, but I'll fill you in another day...Today is Tuesday Tips

So much has been happening from I finially did the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, I also ran a Warrior Dash, and now doing a fitness bootcamp monday thru friday. All that will be for another day. Today's tips go along with laundry since that's what I worked on today. Here are the ingredients for homemade laundry detergent

Homemade Laundry detergent
6 cups of water
1/3 bar of Fels Naptha laundry soap (grated)
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup of Borax


 Heat 6 cups of water and grated soap in a large pot until dissolved. Stir in washing soda, and Borax. Mix and heat until dissolved then boil 15 mins. Remove from heat , in a 3-5 gallon bucket add 1 quart of hot water, then add soap mixture. Mix. Then add enough cold water to make 2 gallons which is about 6 liters of water. Mix until blended, let sit for 24 hours to gel up.

 

 Another quick tip is to remove soap scum from your washing machine pour a gallon of vinegar. Run washer one cycle without clothes of course.

 Do you have any tips you want to share?

Sweet potato oatmeal and just loving my home

  I love being the keeper of my home. I take such joy in cleaning, organizing, cooking, even laundry now (which honestly I hated it). God showed me how to get it under control, and that's exactly what the problem was it was out of control. I would save it all till it overflowed and then was overwhelmed by it all. So now there is a system, it's fantastic. I have the kids completely involved in helping, and caring for the house. Because the house is in a better routine, school is going smoother. Before I would panick over how messy and how much I had to do that homeschooling started losing it's importance. Now that I have the children help, it helps me stay ahead of schedule.
Just this morning I got up with the baby went downstairs, made my cup of coffee (some mornings I can't stop praising God for the invention of coffee)  I sat and read the Bible for the day, while he sat on my lap drinking his bottle. When done I went back into the kitchen and prepped my whole chicken for supper that I had defrosted through the night. Rubbed the chicken with all the spices, wrapped it up and back in the fridge until a little later when I will slow roast it for the day. Tonight's supper is

Slow roasted chicken
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Popovers
Dessert is apple crisp

I'll give the recipe for the chicken if it comes out well ;0)  After the chicken was prepped I checked on my buttermilk that I was making. I had it sitting in a warm spot overnight to make more. It came out perfect, placed it in the fridge and off to make breakfast. This morning I made Sweet Potato Oatmeal. I got the recipe from Deceptively Delicious.

Sweet Potato Oatmeal recipe:
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup puree sweet potato
1 tsp of vanilla
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup of rolled oats

In a small saucepan combine milk, sugar, potato, vanilla, and spice. Bring to a gentle boil and stir in oatmeal. Reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 min until oatmeal is creamy. Spoon into bowls we then covered with milk, blueberries, dried fruit, and I like almonds.

So now I'm off to finish a couple of of little things and then the little peanuts and I are going to be baking some goodies, and enjoy the day with cuddles, and kisses.
Do you have a schedule that you follow that helps you?

Tuesday Tips...buttermilk pancakes, and tips

Tuesday Tips

Today we made buttermilk pancakes. We loved them, we made the mix ourself and mmm it was yummy.
Here is the recipe:
Buttermilk pancakes

1 cup of unbleached white flour
1 cup of  unbleached white whole wheat
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup of vegtable oil
1 3/4 cups of buttermilk

Sift together all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, in other bowl beat eggs slightly add oil and buttermilk to eggs. Combine mixture to dry bowl stir just to moisten and fry in hot greased skillet on both sides till brown.

We top our with butter, fruit, nutella, whipped cream, what ever we have on hand.

Now this wouldn't be Tuesday Tips if I didn't include a tip.Well this weeks tip is since we are using a lot of buttermilk here to continue buying it every time so I started making my own.
To make your own buttermilk
3 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of the original buttermilk at room temperature

Combine together in a quart jar, stir, then let it sit out somewhere warm for 24 hours. and then you have a fresh batch. Works great, just don't forget to save another 1/2 cup at the end to make a new batch. It keeps going and going.

Do you have a tips you want to share, would love to hear them.

Who I am

I move about my household glad each day, with a heartfelt care of all the simplest ways. Near my side I hear my child's voice coo and sing,I hear the noise of pattering feet at play, I kneel down to kiss the lips that say momma and hold the hand that clings to my heart, as to my apron strings. Then when the day has drifted to dark, and the stars are bright, I feel my heart within my bosom stir, my life’s reward is just a footstep away, my beloved comes to claim me, and gladly I will serve him, for he is the best part of me.



I am the keeper of my home, a teacher to my children, a faithful wife to my beloved, and a lover of my Lord...this is me.

Tuesday Tips

                                            

               Tuesdays Tips

While over a friends house for our connect group I noticed that she had a freezer chart to tell you how long things last in the freezer. I realized I had no idea on some of the items. So I did my research and will pass on my knowledge to you. Hope you find it helpful as I did.

Beef....12 months

Butter...6 months

Bread and cakes...3-4 months

Cheese...6 months

Cream cheese...6 months

Cooked meats....3 months

Fruit and juices...12 months

Ground meat... 3 months

Ice cream....4 months

Nuts...12 months

Pork...6 months

Chicken...6 months

Vegtables...12 months

Whipped cream...3 months

Do you have any tips..link up and tell me your tips, the more I learn the better.

I trust God...don't I?

  It is so much easier said then done. Why is it we have the greatest intentions to live out God's word to be as close to a resemblance of Christ and yet we fall short. More often then I wish care to admit. Here I am sharing how I feel about something...I feel it so strong and yet I'm doing the opposite of what I share. So what happens when I am confronted with truth that I am not practicing what I preach. Well it brings me to a cross road am I going to continue to travel the road that even though I believe something else am I going to continue, or change that specific disobedience in my spirit and just trust God?
  It's easy to say that I trust God in every section of my life but then when challenged what do you really believe? You realize hmm I lack in this area . So in this section I seem to lack trust in God I am taking the dive and giving Him the situation completely. It's not always a happy moment when you are pointed out your flaws (have salt poured in the wounds so to speak), but it is a momentous moment when you do what is right to change to be as close as you can to Lord Jesus. That's what I want more then life itself. I want to love like Him, live like Him, reach like Him, forgive like Him, and I know I am so far still but I also know I am nothing like I used to be because of Him.
 I know that I am constantly put in situations to keep stretching me and molding me. Moments that I wish so many times not to be in. When people you love are the ones that hurt you the most. That because they feel wronged I have become the person that they release passionate anger upon, where they have completely humiliated me and in front of my children. To the point that they ask "Mommy why does that person talk to you like that?" and before you answer them you have to remind yourself that that person is aiming to be like Christ too. That their flaws are no more then mine, and even though they can make me feel worthless I am still special to the one who made me, and that He knows why better than I He has put me in these situations. So I answer my children "Because no one is perfect, that we all keep making mistakes, what is important is that we keep forgiving and loving and not hold value to how others treat or talk to us but know who we are in Christ and how precious we are to Him. So do I trust God?....Yes and will continue to give Him every area of my life to Him because He loves me.