Macaroni Salad (with tuna please)

Macaroni Salad

Dressing -

2 cups mayo or miracle whip

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vinegar

3 tsp mustard

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Salad -

1 1/2 pound elbow macaroni (cooked according to package)

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, grated or diced

6 hard boiled eggs, diced

Combine all salad ingredients. Blen dressing until smooth and pour over salad reserving 1 cup. Chill in fridge and add the last cup of dressing right before serving.

I love this salad! Sometimes for picnics, potlucks, etc I step it up a notch and stir in 2-4 cans of tuna depending on how much protien I want to add and a couple handfulls of shredded cheddar. It is AMAZING this way and then it is a complete meal! Grab some bowl and spoons and a bowl of this salad and you are ready for a picnic!

Don't forget the link up tomorrow!! And check out my other posts from this week long "Summer Recipe" series.

Summer Recipes Continued

Well, today will be no exception. It is only 10am and it is already warming up outside. So here I am having just come in from weeding the garden. I love working in the soil and I love passing on that love to my children. Anywho, here is the next recipe in this series. It is for a super simple but yummy dessert that can be whipped up in just minutes and requires no cooking at all. I don't normally like lemon desserts but I LOVE this dessert. It's one of my favorites!

Lemon Icebox Pie

1 small tub cool whip

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 graham cracker crust (you can buy premade or I usually just make my own because I have small children and I always have graham crackers on hand!)

Stir first three ingredients together until smooth and pour into crust. Chill until set or about an hour. Serve topped with more cool whip or just straight up which is how I like it!

Hope you enjoy!

Summer Recipe #2

Bar-B-Que Chicken Sandwiches

Cooked and cubed chicken

Sliced cheese

Hamburger buns

Bar-b-que Sauce

Open buns and lay the bottom on a cookie sheet. In a bowl toss chicken with sauce to coat thoroughly. Place a slice of cheese on each bun and then top with a generous spoonful of chicken. If desired you can pour a little extra sauce over the chicken. Then place the pan of sandwiches under a low broiler for just a few minutes to melt the cheese and carmalize the sauce. Then place top bun on them and broil to toast bun. Serve with some chips or a salad for a yummy simple summer sandwich meal.

Summer.

Summer is here in the midwest and along with it came the heat and humidity. Even though this has been an unusually wet summer it hasn't changed the heat factor. And during the hot summer months I try to use my recipes that keep the house cool and don't use the oven or stove as much. So, this week I will be posting recipes for my favorite summer meals. And on Friday I hope you will join me and leave your recipe ideas on your blog with a link back here or in the comments section.

So, here is my recipe today...

Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad

2 grilled (or baked just cooked and cubed) chicken breasts

Any assortment of veggies that you like or have on hand (some of my favorites are cucumber, red onion, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)

One box (16oz) of pasta cooked according to the directions

Bottle of Ranch dressing

Combine chicken and pasta in large bowl. Toss in veggies to suite your taste and at times I have even added bacon crumbles here too. Then top with dressing to cover and chill the salad for a bit. Add more dressing just before serving.

This salad is amazing and even my children eat it!! It is a staple in our fridge in the summer. Check back tomorrow for another summer time recipe and don't forget to get your post ready for the link up Friday!

Scattered.

Ever feel like you have so many goals and desires that you are scattered around so thin nothing gets done well? That is my season right now.

I have a heart that is seeking direction from God in what to cut and what to put in. I am searching for His peace and direction in my life and my ministry in my home. I know something must change but what I am not sure.

But the one thing I know right now, is I want to put my focus on my Savior and leave it there. I want to make mayself a goal for several areas of my life to use as a sounding board when choices must be made. I want some goals so that I have clear focus and direction in my life.

But I want God to write those goals. Would you pray for me as I seek and pray and allow God to heal me, lead me, and use me?

Love Continues

So in this next post (it's been awhile I know) on love I'm feeling lead to write about tough love. It wasn't where I was planning to go but here I am.

As mother's many times we are called to "tough" love. It hurts. It is no fun for anyone. Tough love isn't fun to give or to receive. But it is often needed.

We are called to raise Godly children. To help them learn obedience to us so that they learn to be obedient to Christ. Their flesh, our flesh too for that matter, often gets in the way of obedience. But love must push us to be our best. And our best can only be accomplished through obedience to Christ. And when tough love is required, it is mandated in scripture.

Proverbs 13:24  He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

But tough love isn't only for us to give. Sometimes tough love must be given at church, the work place, or with our friends and family. In many situations, we may be tempted to "baby", "hold the hand", or otherwise, "spoil" people. We think that to show the "love of Christ" we must fill needs. And while filling needs is often part of the calling, sometimes filling needs can actually hurt others.

The same action always creates the same reaction. So, if the first hand out didn't solve the money trouble, the second and third one probably won't either. If the first time you ignored the gossipping wasn't the last time that it happened, ignoring it again probably won't make it go away either. And well, you get my point.
Tough love is a love that make the giver uncomfortable too. We hate to be deemed "judgemental" or "harsh, unloving, and unkind". But even Christ gave us this example when he spoke to the rich young ruler.

Mark 10:21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 

When the young man didn't like what Jesus said He didn't run over to him and try to bargain with Him. He didn't water down the truth to make the man feel better. He stood by the truth. No matter how people percieve it, no matter how akward it makes us feel, at times the TRUTH requires that we show tough love.
 

Somethings should not be compromised, and at times, when people are not following scripture, or they are not being responsible and obedient citizens, we can't just turn a blind eye. We must look on them in love. And love them enough to stand firm, and push them to be all that Christ desires them to be. Same as with our children, standing firm and carrying out punishment is not easy or fun but if we truly desire our children to be followers of Christ with all their heart we must love them enough to hold them to high standards.

Let's help creat arrows for the kingdom that are focused on the "mark" of Christ. That when we shoot them out on their own they will fly toward the target. Not being pulled or pushed by anything or anyone.

Lions and tigers and family too!

This past zoo trip (the end of May) was not only a great family day but also a GREAT opportunity for me to "play" with my new camera. I got some great shots and had a blast doing it. I am loving this thing. I am so glad that I waited and saved and saved and waited to get the one I wanted. I looked and watched for sales until just the right package came along. And it was well worth the wait. So here are a few of the best of the best from our zoo trip.

And now, the next thing I can't wait to "play" with is a newborn photoshoot. I have four friends all due before Thanksgiving and I am so excited (not to mention having "newborn envy"). Now if those precious ones would just hurry up and get here so we can "play" I could use all of these ideas in my head before I forget them!!

Have you Heard?

I love this song .

I  have been listening to it for a couple of years now. But just recently, when feeling a little "down" about Jeremiah's birth and following NICU stay I heard a line for the first time so to speak. Yes, being "down" feeling cheated, and otherwise throwing myself a pity party for being a "NICU momma" is a tool that The Enemy uses often to pull my focus off my Savior and His calling for my life and put it on myself. When I start to feel the pull of life getting to me. Thinking life isn't fair. It isn't fair I have "missed" two of my babies first weeks while they struggled for life in the hospital. It isn't fair that I have had sick children for the past two weeks now. It isn't fair that I have missed church three times now due to illness. But like we've all heard before, "Life isn't fair!".

So, there is a line in this song. It says, "From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny."

I. Love. This. Line.

I has become something I say to myself over and over again. I didn't "miss" anything with my boys. I didn't "miss" church. Every breath, every day, every going, and every coming. He is in control. So whenever I get discouraged about life not going my way, I just sing to myself.

"From life's first cry, to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny."

This is where I am supposed to be today. If this is where Christ wants me, this is where I want to be. I want to find joy and peace and love to shower on others that are also here with me. Because this is where He wants me today.

Just some sentences.

Its been a long week.

Most of my children have been sick at least some portion of this week.

Katherine has croup and strep throat. Both. Ouch.

With every cough she would cry. With every cough she would wake up. That resulted in waking up momma every 30min-an hour this week.

She's on antibiotics, breathing treatments and a steroid. I hope it helps. And soon.

I learned this week (thanks to my doctor) that the virus that causes croup in young children cause laryngitis in older children/adults. Good to know!

I have fallen off the band wagon of eating well and working out. I have lost almost 15 pounds so far but have a ways to go.

So, I sit here with my veggies and Crystal Light thinking about a way to fit a better workout into my day.

It won't be long and my garden will force me to find time. Tending to it in 100 degree heat is a great workout!

This weekend is really low key for us. Josiah has a birthday (5th) and other than that we are staying home and resting.

And to try to make this post a little more exciting here are a few more photos I shot the other day...

Well, I can't get the photos to upload so, here is the boring, no pictures version of this post.

7 months.

Jeremiah.

Sweet and smiley.

Content and calm.

Chubby and chuncky.

Lover of breastmilk and momma.

And not of solid food.

Sitting and starting to babble.

Jeremiah this month you ...

• weigh about 21 pounds
• Sleep through the night most of the time
• Still won't eat baby food without gagging
• Are sitting very well and are even leaning and reaching while sitting up.
• Have been heard babbling "da da" and "na na"
• Are seven months!!

I love you baby boy!

Where Have You Been?

So, you have been wondering where I have been?

Oh you weren't?

Oh well. I have been missing my blogging friends lately. Not only because of my lack of posting but also because of "Blogger's" trouble with blocking comments. But anyway, I have been missing you all.

But the biggest reason for my abscence is that it is now officially gardening season!! I am so excited to be back in the soil. After a hard year last year, what with being majorly pregnant and swollen and it being super hot and my soil being in bad need of some attention I was ready to make this year epic!

But it turned from cool and rainy to almost 100 every day overnight. So I have been up and in the garden first thing in the morning. Which is my usual blogging time. And I just can't seem to fit it in any other time of day.

I was hoping to get "ahead" this weekend with some posts I have in my head but then two of the children got sick and now here it is Monday (I'm cheating and writing this before bed on Sunday night) and I am not ahead at all.

But at least my garden is looking good!!! See!