Hello!

 It has been sometime since my last post so I thought I would stop and say " Hello".
We had a children's Christmas play at our church this weekend. It turned out good!
It was my first shot at Director!  I was surrounded by several ladies who became my "brain" checking to make sure we had what we needed and reminding me if anything slipped my mind. That is so nice since something Always slips my mind. I am definitely a scatter brain!!
 Now, I am getting ready for my family to come on Friday for our Christmas get together. I am looking forward to being with my parents, my brother and his family,and my sister and her family. I love having them in our home with all the cooking, cleaning,and loving and laughing that goes into it!! Not having them close by makes me cherish our time together all the more!!
 Sooo, for the next few days the children and I are in overdrive!! Cleaning and planning!.
 I pray that all of you have a wonderful Christmas season.

Thanksgiving

Well, today starts the Thanksgiving festivities for our family! We will be having our Thanksgiving dinner at the church. As I think about this last year in our home,in our church and in the lives of our family and friends the one thing that I have learned and am so thanful for is that God is FAITHFUL!!
 I have learned to love the song," He's been faithful, faithful to me. Looking back His love and mercy I see. Though in my heart I have questioned even failed to believe, yet He's been faithful, faithful to me"!! I know that later down the road I will be able to look back at this year and know that no matter the spiritual,physical or financial problem I may face I KNOW that my God will be Faithful!
 Tonight, I will rejoice and enjoy the fellowship and thanksgiving with some of the best people He has placed in our lives!! Of course, there will be some good eating too!!

Thinking Outside the Box

It seems like here lately I have had some "outside the box" ideas that have worked really well for our family, so I thought I would share them with you! One, was to turn our linen closet into a closet for 3 of our children. After finding a closet organizing system for $2 at a yard sale I set to work! Here is the finished project.

I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture, but hopefully you get the idea. You can see the one shelf with the bar. I like to use the shelf mostly for church shoes so that they don't "disappear" before church -). On Calebs I also have a shoe box with his ties in it. To the left is a bookcase that has Caleb and Lydia's fold up / everyday clothes . To the right is a dresser with Joy's clothes and a couple of shelves for shoes, haibows, sheets for her crib and some other "little" things for her.This is the closest thing to a fmily closet we have and I really like it!

The next thing was to take a small closet put in a book case and create a "new" linen closet.

On the very top of the book case are things we don't use often like the humidifier,video camera and some things like that. On the top shelf are things like toilet paper, a box for batteries and a large container for cords. We have old sockets in oue house so we are constantly in need of converter cords. On the next shelf are small blankets like what we may use while  lounging in the Living room ( like that is so often  lol).The next shelf is towels. In the small basket are washclothes in the front and hand towels in the back. The next shelf has our sheet sets. and the bottom shelf has a few tablecloths and some table decorations. You can see on the side there was even room for my ironing board and iron!

These are all working well for us. Maybe they will inspire you to think "outside the box" with any space issues you may have!!

NO complaining!!

Do you ever find yourself in a habit of complaining? I know I do! So, I am challenging myself to make a conscious effort for the next week to look on the "bright side" and not complain.
 I have so many things to be thankful for that surely with some effort this shouldn't be too hard -). Who knows, maybe after a week I will have a NEW habit!!
 " I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." Psalm 69:30

We have internet!!

I am so excited that our internet is Finally working again!! It was the modem. The company replaced it without charge!! I am so thrilled and humbled at the way God has been giving us "handfuls on purpose " these last few weeks. Just when the fear sets in He comes and gives reassurance that although things may be "different" it doesn't mean they won't be good!! I am finding MANY things to be thankful for and daily reminded of what a mighty God we serve!

Crockpot Pork Chops

two of my sweet children doing math

Hello! I hope everyone has had a great Tuesday! Today was filled with school, library,aaannd, I am completely rearranging my living room. I have to have some room to breathe!! Clutter makes me cranky and I have a problem with clutter! Not a good combination. Sooo, this week I am working on removing clutter. Not only can there be clutter in our homes there can also be clutter in our hearts. I am working on this as well. Daily prayer and Bible reading are my number one prescrition for this!! Here are the pictures and recipe from today!



We really,really liked these pork chops! The gravy was super. I served it with mashed potatoes,butter beans and brussel sprouts.Brussel sprouts happen to be a favorite of daddy.On a side note these chops were from a pork loin I got for 1.79 a lb. and the butcher sliced into chops.
Crockpot Pork Chops
Pork chops
2 cans of cream of chicken
1 packet of dry pork gravy
about 1 c. of water
Put porkchops in first then the cream of chicken then the pork gravy.
Pour water over the mixture
Cook on low for 6-8 hrs.
It was so good I will probably make some dressing and some kind of sweet potato the next time I make it!

Take care and God bless!

Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

Joy loves to swing!

Lydia is so proud of her bike riding!

We took advantage of these final "summer " like days and spent some time outside today.

Well, here it is! The teriyaki chicken got great reviews from all of us here!  It reminded us of a similar dish we call hawaiian chicken. I think it was because it had pineapple in it. I served marinated tomatoe slices instead of a salad .

Here is the "recipe".
Chicken breasts(I used 2 1/2 lbs.)
half a bottle of teriyaki sauce
1 large can of pineapple
1 chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
I put the chicken on the bottom and "threw" everything else on top. about an hour before we ate I stirred it to make sure all the chicken was coated good. I started on high for 1 hr and then low for 4 hrs. If you start it in the morning I would probably keep it on low. I will definitely add this to my "keeper" crockpot recipes!! With my handy dandy rice cooker  this was an absolut no hassle meal. Gotta love it!!

Crockpot week

I had this bright idea to do a week of crockpot recipes. I thought it would be fun and also give me a little extra time during the day as well. Our computer has been down so I will start my posts with tonights meal. I am making teriyaki chicken. We will have rice,corn on the cob and a simple salad. I will posts pictures and give you our families "review" of the meal later tonight. It is kind of exciting. The last few days have been hard around here,but today is a bright new day full of sunshine and a renewed desire to serve the Lord with gladness.Rejoicing in the goodness and grace of God!

Goodwill

 I had some good finds at Goodwill and a local thrift store this week that I thought I would share.I really like these tupperware containers with the lids. The tray even has a lid for the dip bowl! I plan on using it for veggies,fruit,tacos ,etc. I have never had a jello mold before but I thought it would be nice to have some "pretty" jello sometimes :). I got both of these for $3!



These were my second find. I just loved the gravy bowl and for .80 I just couldn't pass it up! I also got this cute candle shade that is really pretty when the candle is lit. it was also .80!!

 I also found  some nice clothes for the fall/winter ! I was very excited since I had been looking for a while without any success. It makes me feel good to buy things that I REALLY like without paying an arm and a leg!! Have a great day in the Lord!!

My Family

I love to be with friends and extended family but there is no greater enjoyment than to have a day of family time! Daddy has been pretty busy this week so today after school we loaded up and went to town. We went to a few stores but we didn't find much...well...we did buy Joy some new paci's :). she loves her paci and some how or another they just vanish into thin air!! So she was pretty happy. We picked up some Little Ceasars on the way home and just spent the afternoon together!! I love the laughing, the "stories", the conversation and just simply the time together!!

Unusually busy

Wow! this last week and a half have been unusially busy around here! We have had church outings, a trip to NC to be with my brother and sis n law while she had their sweet baby boy. He is adorable and it was a blessing to be there when he was born! We got to watch his big brother that night which was alot of fun! I was up at 11:00 playing hide and seek and chasing 3 toddlers through the house trying to tire them out so that they would go to sleep! It was sweet memories for me.I enjoyed the time spent with my sister on the way there and back. My husband was wonderful! He kept the children,except for Joy, did school,and went to revival! Good thing was they "say" that they missed me. I love being with my family and it was very strange to be without them!
 Kevin was involved with some prison ministry the rest of the week and we capped it off with with a fun "girls night out" with some friends of ours while our husbands and sons went on a church camping trip! It was like a bed and breakfast, I woke up the next morning to eggs,sausage and toast! My friend was a wonderful hostess!!!
 Sunday was Faith's 8th birthday! I tell you that girl is something else!! She has been since the day she was born. She weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz. and has been amazing us ever since. She is a happy, girly,tomboy. She keeps us laughing with the stuff she comes up with. She is her Father's child when it comes to that. She got saved this year and I am very excited to see what God has in store for our Faithy!!
 Now, we are in the middle of revival! My heart has already been stirred and convicted many times. I pray that these stirrings will bring changes as well! God is so good to me the least I can do is give Him the FIRSTS of everything I have!! Have a great week!!

Joy!

My favorite pictures of our little joy!

Our Boy!

Six years ago God blessed our house with a busy,very energetic,sweet boy! With 5 girls in the house he definitely stands out! He gets into trouble quite a bit, mostly from just being " a typical boy". He has a grin that can melt this mother's heart in a second!! He really doesn't mind having sisters. He likes to play any kind of video game system and he likes to be outside alot. When he was a baby I would always sing you are my sunshine and act really silly. It was the first song he learned and I can get a smile out of him anytime by singing a few lines. I love my Boy!

Busy Thursday

 Today has been a very full day,so far! Me and 2 of our girls got up this morning and went grocery shopping. If daddy is available I usually use grocery shopping as some one on one time with the children. Sometimes,two or three of the children will go with me. I enjoy it and the children usually keep track of whos turn it is!
 After shopping we came home, unloaded and started school. We finished Math and English and took a break for lunch. We had ham and turkey salads! This is a favorite of ours and I was able to find the ham and turkey on a good sale.
 After lunch the baby laid down for a nap and the rest of us finished school for the day. We have finished our afternoon chores and the children are outside enjoying the nice weather.
 Tonight we will have a supper of homemade meatballs, garlic mashed potatoes and some kind of green vegetable. I found a recipe for crockpot creamed corn from Kelly'sFavoriteRecipes that I can't wait to try this week.It looks yummy! Well, I think I'll go outside and enjoy the weather myself!! This is the day that the Lord hath made.I will rejoice and be glad in it!

About the name

I thought for quite sometime about a name for this blog.
 We do have a full house. Our house is full of work,play,laughter,cooking ,singing,schooling,and most of all our house is full of love. Is our house perfect? ABSOLUTELY not, but we do our best to live for the Lord and try to work on the things that need  "perfecting".

 I am the mama and I am happy that God has blessed me with a wonderful husband,6 beautiful children, a great physical and spiritual family, everything we need, and alot of times gives me the things I desire as well.    I am a Happy Mama!!

          

Hello!

 Hello!! I have wanted to start a blog for some time. Our days pass so quickly that it would be nice to have a place where I could capture some of our life in a still shot. I am not a writer by any means but I am excited about giving it a shot!
 I am a born again christian. I am married to a wonderful man who seeks to follow the Lord as he leads our church (where he pastors) and our family. We have been blessed with 6 precious children,5 girls and 1 boy.
 Well here we go!!