still here.

Hola, friends!

We're still here.

We've had a sick boy all week, and he's still not back to himself yet. It's tough when your kiddo is sick. I feel so helpless. We've had a long and tiring week, and we're preparing to gear up for another one.

I'm ready to have my little mess makin', booger pickin', dish washin', ball playin' boy back.

If you get a chance, please say a little prayer for him :)

Have a blessed Monday :)

i'm not a teenager anymore (and God's goodness)

Whew!

Have you ever done this.... you go to put something back in the freezer and your freezer is too packed so you just shove it in there, and then slam the door, full knowing that the next time you open your freezer door, the item you shoved in will fall out? Am I the only one? I do this all the time. I guess I just hope Ben will be the next one to open the door so then he'll have to put it back in. 

Thoughtfulness. A key component to a healthy marriage.

Anyway, I did this tonight. Mostly because I'm feeling lazy, and partly because I'm tired. Do you know why I'm tired? 

Because I'm not a teenager anymore.

Yep. I'm old. I thought I was still really youngish and cool and hip and all those good things, but alas, I'm an old lady now.

This past weekend, we took our youth group, full of teenagers, to a weekend retreat called Resurrection. My 9 o'clock bedtime would not fly with them. Do you remember when it was cool to stay up all night? Yea, I do too. But then I had a baby. And suddenly, staying up all night is my worst fear. 

So, I stayed up entirely too late, and ate entirely too much food. In short, I'm entirely too tired, and my skinny jeans won't button entirely. Okay, okay. They haven't buttoned entirely in a loooong time.

But, we had such an amazing time! Resurrection is a youth rally/revival held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There were thousands of teens there to worship the Lord this weekend. Talk about awesome!

There was lots of good preaching and great praise and worship music. But what was most incredible to me was the enthusiasm and excitement from the kids. It's so cool to see a bunch of kids pumped about Jesus. I wish I had been more like that at as a teenager. It makes me excited to see what God has in store for our youth group and this generation as a whole.  

This revival really touched my heart. I am so blessed. Seriously, so incredibly, amazingly blessed. And God provides for me beyond what I need. So I wonder, how much am I giving Him? Not nearly enough, that's for sure. 

What if God worked for me only as much as I worked for Him?

Hmm......

Have a blessed Tuesday :)

(Warning: The following is yet another video for your viewing pleasure. Two videos in two weeks. Yikes. Watch out, y'all. I'm getting really technical).

Sometimes, I get realllllly sleepy at night.

And sometimes, I realllllly want to go to bed at a decent hour.

But sometimes, this little boy does this:

Please note, his name is not "PARK". He managed to rip off the "E" and the "R". And I, in my infinite laziness, have not gotten around to putting them back up.  Also, I videoed this with the webcam (I know, I'm so 1999), and for some reason everything is backwards. It's driving me nuts. And lastly, his messy room, is actually pretty clean compared to what it usually looks like. Is it bad that I now pick up all the toys around the house and then just sling them in to his room? I don't really bother picking it up anymore. Besides, it's about time he started cleaning his own room and earning his keep ;)

Have a blessed Wednesday :)

enchilada casserole.

A while back, my sweet mamaw gave me a cookbook she had bought at a church fundraiser. It was one of those loosely binded cookbooks, compiled with recipes from all the church ladies, aka, the best and only cookbooks you should ever buy. EVER. I've got several church cookbooks, and I've got several fancy brand name cookbooks. And I always go back to my old cheap church cookbooks every time.

The only downfall to the church cookbooks is that they rarely have any pictures, and I'm a visual person. In fact, I usually don't try new recipes unless I've eaten it before or there is a picture with the recipe. I'm a weenie when it comes to trying new things, so unless I've got a reference to go by, I chicken out.

However, one night while I was pregnant, I had an unbelievable craving for enchiladas. That was weird for me, considering I've never ate an enchilada before. Have you ever done that? Had a craving for a food you've never ate before? Oh, it happens to me quite often.

Anyway, I was really, really needing an enchilada. Like bad. I was getting mad. Ben was getting scared. I was 8 months pregnant. I was like a scavenger, tearing our house apart looking for anything that resembled an enchilada. Luck would have it that I stumbled upon a can of red enchilada sauce in my pantry. I have no idea why I had red enchilada sauce. I think the good Lord planted that enchilada sauce in my cabinets because He knew I was either going to eat an enchilada or kill Ben.

Our internet was down at the time, so I started flipping through my cookbooks looking for an enchilada recipe. I stumbled upon a recipe for 'enchilada casserole' in the Oak Forest Church cookbook. I didn't have all the ingredients, but I could improvise. And so I did.

And 23 minutes later, I was certain that I had tasted a little bit of hispanic heaven. It was good. Not too spicy, but just enough flavor to give it a kick. And you could eat it plain, or eat it with chips. I was happy. My baby was happy. The world was good again.

Since then, I've made this casserole many times. Sometimes, I leave out the tortillas and make it a dip, too. It's a good comfort food. I've ran across this recipe a couple of different places on the internet now, so I'm not sure who to give the credit to. It's one of those 'who came up with it first' type of recipes. Since I found it in the Oak Forest Church cookbook, I'll give the credit to those ladies.

Here's the recipe:

Enchilada Casserole

1 pkg. ground beef (1-2 pounds)
1 pkg. taco seasoning (I recommend low sodium because the dish can get salty)
1 pkg. corn tortillas
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can red enchilada sauce (I use low sodium here, too, if I can find it)
3/4 cup water (or whatever the taco seasoning calls for)
2 cups cheese (I use mozzarella and Mexican blend)
1/2 onion, diced
1 can tomato sauce (14-16 oz.)
2 tbsp. ranch dressing mix

Preheatcha oven to 350 degrees. First, add your beef and onion to a skillet and brown the beef over medium heat. Drain the grease and return the beef/onion to the skillet. Next, add the taco seasoning and water to the beef, just as if you were making tacos. Leave this over medium heat until the taco seasoning thickens. Meanwhile, add the enchilada sauce and the tomato sauce to a pot over medium heat. Then, drain and rinse the corn and beans and add it to the beef, as well as the ranch dressing mix. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

Next, begin to layer the casserole. In a sprayed 9x13 inch baking dish, add a layer of corn tortillas to the bottom (I usually add about 3). Then, spread half of your meat/bean/corn mixture on top of the tortillas. Then add half of your tomato/enchilada sauce mix on top of the meat. Top this layer with 1 cup of cheese. And then, repeat the steps, finishing the top with the last cup of cheese.

Don't judge this by the picture. It's not a pretty dish. It looks sloppy and yucky, but in this case, looks are very deceiving. You could add or alter this recipe in any way that you like. As I said earlier, I sometimes omit the corn tortillas and use this as a dip. I also usually add a bit of diced fresh cilantro when I have it. It's versatile dish, y'all!

Have a blessed Tuesday :)

it ain't even that serious.

I started student teaching 2 weeks ago. It's been wonderful and I feel completely at peace with my decision to quit my old job and pursue a new career. I'm happy, and I feel like this is where God wants me.

But........ it has been a bit of an adjustment going back to work. I forgot how challenging it can be to work full time and have a baby. I've struggled with this balance since I became a mom. After I come home from work, its a mad dash to play, eat, bathe, and get to bed at a decent hour. We wake up and do it all again the next day. By mid-week, we've got no clean underwear and the kitchen sink looks dangerous.

I don't usually get overwhelmed, but I've been a tad overwhelmed the past couple of weeks. The other night, as I was rushing to get in bed by 9:52 p.m, my favorite motto popped in my mind: it ain't even that serious.

For as long as I can remember, I've been telling Ben (who gets easily overwhelmed) that 'it ain't even that serious'. In college, he would get all worked up about a project. With his jobs, he would get easily stressed. I would always give him a little pep talk, telling him that all these little things we worry and stress about are just that: little things. In the big scheme of things, most of these things we stress about are  so trivial and pointless. And then I'd end with my favorite quote, "IT AIN'T EVEN THAT SERIOUS".

Apparently he has listened very well to my pep talks, as he's now the one who stays cool and calm, and I'm the one having breathing problems when I look at our pile of dirty laundry. So today, I've had to take a dose of my own medicine and remind myself that it ain't even that serious. The laundry isn't going to get up and run away, and the dishes aren't going anywhere either. I'm off today, and it actually looks like a good day to ride tractors and play hide and seek. Every once in a while, it's important to remind yourself of what matters most.

Have a blessed Monday :)

thankful thursday: my hometown

I am from a small town in the Appalachian mountains. It's a quiet place, with 3 small restaurants, a couple of gas stations, a few small businesses, and a Dollar General store. It's the kind of place where better put a bra on before you go to the store because you're bound to know everyone in there.

I love my hometown.

But I didn't always feel this way.

In fact, I hated it for a few good years. When I was in my later high school years, I wanted to get out of this old place. I wanted bigger and better things that I thought this town couldn't give me. I grew tired of seeing the same people. I wanted a change. I got bored here, and thought that I couldn't live the kind of life I wanted here.

During college, I took an internship for my dream job. The job took me six hours from home for the summer. The job was near D.C., so I was excited for a big change in an exciting city. Surely I could do bigger and better things there.

At the end of my internship, I came back to my hometown on my knees. As exciting as the city had been, I realized it was no place for me. The big city is good for some people, just as a small town is good for others. To each their own, I say.

My hometown may not sound like much to most people, but it is to me. It's a small, tight-knit community that makes the residents seem more like extended family than just your neighbors. I like that. You can find half of the town at the high school ballgames on any given night. And most likely, they'll be sitting in the same spots every game. And you can always bet your bottom dollar that Teddy's will be packed on Sundays after church, but you'll always somehow magically find a seat. And, like clockwork on Saturday mornings, the old timers fill the gas stations to talk about sports and farming.

It's so funny how my priorities have changed. I used to think I couldn't live the kind of life I wanted here in my hometown. And now, I really don't think I could live the life I want anywhere else. All I want now is to live a simple, happy life surrounded by the people that I love. I crave a slow paced life, so I can take in every second of God's blessings. I like going to Teddy's (a good ole' restaurant in town) and talking to so many people I know that I barely finish my food. And I like going to ballgames and looking through the crowd seeing generations of families who have sat in the same spot on the bleachers for years. And I like walking in the gas stations on Saturday mornings, and having the old-timers ask me if PB is feeling better.

It's easy to look down on small towners. I found this to be so true when I moved away that summer. I became accustomed to the blank stares when I talked about my hometown. It's easy to think we're small minded. And it's probably easy to think we are less worldly or cultured than most folks.

But I'm okay with that. Although I don't think it's true, I also know I can't change stereotypes. At this point in my life, I'm happy be to called small minded or less worldly or cultured. If that means that my son can grow up in a place where I'm not afraid to let him play outside by himself, then call me small minded every day. After all, it's not those types of things that are most important in this life anyway.

So today is Thursday, and I'm thankful for my sweet little hometown. I'm thankful for the loving, caring community that I'm proud to be a part of. It's so much a part of who I am, and what I want from life. Although most people probably don't see it this way, I think I'm blessed beyond belief to be here. I think Ben's agrees. It only took one time for him to pee off of our back porch to realize how lucky we are.

Have a blessed Thursday :)

knewlywifed's accent vlog

Ben and I did an accent vlog.

With a web cam.

Yea. I know.

Booyah.

Annnnnd, I finally figured out how to upload a video to the internet. Yes, you read that correctly. I am 25 and just now figured out how to upload video to the internet.

Cutting edge of technology, people.

Here are the words we were saying:


Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught


My blogging bud Lindsay did this, and I thought it was neat to hear how others talked. Thanks for the motivation, Linds!


What about you guys? Do you have an accent? Do you look as attractive as I do at 9:50 p.m. at night (read that with a good amount of sarcasm, please)?


If you shop with a 'buggy' throw ya hands up in the air and wave em' around like ya jus don't caaaaair.


Holla.


Have a blessed Tuesday :)

crockpot italian beef

A while back, I went to a party hosted at my old boss's house. His wife had made an Italian beef. I had no idea what an Italian beef was. I had never heard of it before, and when I saw it sitting on the table, swimming in a crockpot full of beef broth and peppers, I casually slid on by. I'm not a big fan of peppers, and I'm definitely not a big fan of trying something new at the work Christmas party.

What if I didn't like it? Where could I hide a chunk of beef if I didn't eat it? Could I toss it in the trash without anybody seeing? Dump it on Ben's plate? Come on, you weenie, you're at your boss's house. It's like in the rule book. You have to eat his wife's food. Oh, the uncomfortable situations that us picky eaters face.

Ben got a heaping plate full of the beef and took one bite of it and told me I had to try it. I resisted firmly for a good 20 minutes, but I kept noticing people going back for seconds on the beef, so I decided to put my big girl panties on and give it a try.

Oh.

my.

gosh.

Let me stop here and say I am not, REPEAT-NOT-, a big fan of pot roast. I usually think it's too dry and boring. But this? This was out of this world. It was so juicy, and so flavorful, and just so stinkin' good.

I asked her to share the recipe, thinking it was some laborious dish that probably took 2 hours to prepare and 3 days to cook.

She laughed, and said it was one of the easiest dishes she makes. And apparently, its a pretty popular dish with lots of folks. I've been hiding under a rock for the last 25 years, obviously.

I've had this beef about 2818 times since that party. And every time, Ben and I almost lick the crockpot clean. It is just so easy and so good. It's versatile, too! You could eat it with some nice veggies, or slap it on some toast and add a little cheese. Either way, you can't go wrong with this baby.

And because you're my imaginary friends, I'm going to share this glorious recipe with you. And then, I'll come to your house and eat it all before you even have a chance to taste it. Deal? Ok, good.

Here's the recipe:

Crockpot Italian Beef

(1) 2-4 pound beef (I've used round roast, chuck roast, and really anything I can find on sale)
1 can of beef broth (or beer-I've not tried it with beer, but that's what my boss's wife used)
1 can of water (I just fill my beef broth can with water)
(1) 12 oz. jar of pepperoncini (p.s. I had no idea what this was before this recipe. It's a jar of peppers that's usually found in the grocery section near the olives and pickles and stuff like that)
1 package of dry italian dressing mix
Dash of pepper
Dash of garlic

In your crockpot, add 5-10 peppers (from the pepperoncini jar) to the bottom of the pot. Rinse your roast and sprinkle with pepper on both sides. Lay your roast on top of the peppers. Next, add the juice from the pepperoncini jar, beef broth, water, and package of dry italian dressing mix to a bowl and mix well. Pour this over the roast. The roast should not be completely covered with liquid (maybe about half covered). Top the roast off with a few more peppers and a dash or two of garlic. I cook this on low for at least 10 hours, and then let it sit on warm for several more hours.

Trust me on this one. If you like flavorful roast, this is good. It is a little spicy, so if you're not into that sorta thing, go easy on the pepperoncini juice.

Have a blessed weekend :)

thankful thursday: a good man

Sometimes, I really stink at being a wife.

I give and give and do and do all day, and then I hand Ben the leftovers.

It stinks, I know.

Do you ever stink at being a wife?

Here lately, I've been a complaining, nagging wife. I don't like to be complained to, and I certainly don't like to be nagged on, but yet I'm doing it to Ben. A couple of weeks ago, he called me out on it. He asked me, point blank, why I had been so hateful and grouchy and 'naggy' towards him. At first, I denied it. And then, in what seems to be a natural procession for me, I started making excuses. I'm tired. I'm stretched too thin. I'm student-teaching soon. I'm stressed. I'm too busy. It's that time of the month.

It wasn't that time of the month, but that's always my #1 cop out. Can I get an amen?

Anyway, after I went through 1,282 excuses, I finally gave up. I told him I was sorry, and that I had been picking on him for no good reason. I started thinking back on my attitude towards him. I had been grouchy. I had been less talkative. And when I did talk, I was usually nagging or complaining. Aka, I was a big terd.

I've been giving Ben my leftovers. At the end of the day, after I'm tired and worn out, I give him what's left. And after a day of work, taking care of a 14 month-old, and cooking and cleaning for us, it's usually not much. I wasn't giving Ben my precious time, I was giving him the tired, worn out grouch that was leftover.

After becoming a mom, this has been one of the biggest challenges for me. I have a hard time balancing my roles, and at the end of the day, someone always gets the short end of the stick. And at the end of the day, it's usually Ben.

But he's still been so supportive of me. I think he realizes I'm struggling with this right now, and he's been right there, listening to me nag and complain.

I started my student teaching this week. I was so nervous. This is a total career change for me and I am at a school where I don't know anyone. My stomach was in knots as I pulled in to the in-service. Before I got out of my car, a bright red envelope caught my eye. I opened it. It was a letter from Ben. It was his pep talk speech to me, telling me how proud he was that I took this big leap of faith, and how he believed in me so much.

I cried, right there in the parking lot before in-service. And it wasn't a 'pretty' cry. It was like a nose watering, mascara running mess. And I couldn't stop. I realized how neglectful I had been towards him, and how supportive and caring he had still been towards me. What a terd.

So today is Thursday, and I'm thankful for my good man. He's always there for me, even when I'm a terd. He loves me when I'm unlovable. He believes in me. He encourages me. He supports me and makes me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to.

And I think he's pretty good-lookin' too.

                                                    Our honeymoon in Kauai.

Have a blessed Thursday :)

resolutions shemesolutions

I don't do new year resolutions.

I've tried in the past and I end up failing miserably somewhere around February 4th. Yep. That's how long my willpower lasts. One month and four days. And then after I fail, I feel like, well, a failure. And it was the same vicious cycle every year. One time in high school my resolution was to give up caffeine. I lasted about 3 weeks, and then I chugged a coke until I almost got sick. And afterwards, I felt like a loser because I only made it 3 weeks.

I don't need that kind of let down, ya know?

Plus, I think new year resolutions can be tricky. Unless it's something you really, really desire and its something you really, really feel passionate about in your heart, then I think it's just easy to throw in the towel and try again next year.

But, I know there's always things I want to improve upon, and things I could change to better my life, and it's nice to put those things into perspective as a new year gears up.

So, here's a little list of non-new-year-resolutions, or resolutions shemesolutions, if you will. No promises to myself, just a little list of things I'd like to work on this year (or really things I should work on every year).

1. My relationship with Christ. This is always at the top of my list of improvements. That should tell me two things. 1. It's incredibly, incredibly important, and 2. I'm not where I should be. And by improving my relationship with Christ, I mean deepening and strengthening my relationship with Him. The funny thing is, all of my other 'improvements' would be easier if I would work on my relationship with Him. For me, this means spending more time in prayer, more time in His Word, and more time preparing to worship Him, instead of just going through the motions of it. When it all comes down to it, my Savior is the center of everything, yet I don't make Him the center of my life.

2. Motherhood. Last year was a totally new experience for me, being a mom. I look back on where I was a year ago, and I see how much I've grown since then. But yet, I look ahead of me and see how much growing I've got to do. I'm learning something new about motherhood every day. And just when I think I've got it figured out, PB throws a curveball. I'm beginning to realize that I'll never have it 'figured out', but rather I'm just going to have to roll with the punches. I need to give my son more of 'me'. And not the cleaning, cooking, organizing, worrying about the laundry 'me'. I need to give him more of the tickling, race car driving, hide-and-seek monster, running wild through the house 'me'. I struggle with this daily.

3. My role as a wife. See, many times I'm caught up in being the cleaning, cooking, organizing, worrying about the laundry, tickling, race car driving, hide-and-seek monster, running wild through the house 'me'. And before I know it, we're ready for bed and I still haven't kissed Ben or told him I loved him. Every day is not perfect, and some days I want Ben to sleep outside in the dog house. But he's my husband and my baby's daddy, and I love him so much. I need to take more time to show him that. He deserves more than just my leftovers. Afterall, he my baby daddy, yo!

4. Keeping up with the whoevers. I'm just going to say this flat out. I am terrible to look at others' lives and compare what they are doing to my own life. And then I feel like I'm a bad (insert here) for not living up to what they do. I visit some of my favorite home decor blogs, I feel like I live in a crap hole. I see a gracious mom of 5 who seems to have it nailed, and I feel like a terd. I visit fitness and style blogs and I feel like a frumpy Yoda. I'm never crafty enough, never gracious enough, never fit enough, never stylish enough, I'm simply never enough. Does anybody else struggle with this? Ugh, it's such a stinkin' stupid thing that I hate that I do. But yet, I still do it. I know it's stupid. I know it's irrational. I know my Savior made me for more than this.


5. Give more. More time, more effort, more support, more love, more resources, more friendship, more of me to others. God has blessed me far beyond what I deserve and I need to share my blessings with others. Period.

What about y'all? Do you have any non-new-year-resolutions?

Have a blessed Tuesday :)

christmas break recap

Hola, imaginary friends!

I'm back from my blogging hiatus! I have felt totally disconnected from the world the past few days, and I won't lie, it's been nice. Sometimes the computer can be a real distraction from life. That's part of the reason I refuse to get a hip, internet yielding cell phone. I have too many distractions already, I can't imagine carrying the internet around in my pocket all day!

We've spent the past week eating, opening gifts, eating, not sleeping, eating, driving, driving, eating, and driving. I'm tired. And strangely still hungry.

(P.S. I got 12 inches of my hair cut! Remember when I was really nervous about getting a hair cut? Well I put my big girl panties on, and had the lady chop off 12 inches. I donated it to the fine folks at Locks of Love. If you've got some long hair you'd like to shed for a mom-do, LoL is a great organization to give to!)

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We ate. And ate. And ate. My momma cooked, so even if you aren't hungry, you still eat because her food is just that good. Afterwards, we headed back to the little old house to get ready for Santa. After we put PB to bed, I spent a good 45 minutes begging Ben to let me open my presents that night. He said no.

I pouted. He can be so mature sometimes. I mean, come on man. Just let me open one stinkin' present. Who has that much self control??!!?

Christmas morning came, and PB was wild. Somehow, I think he knew this morning was different. He actually sat through opening all of his presents. He really liked the paper best. Note to all parents of 1 year olds: save your money. Wrap up some old socks and some spoons and tupperware, and give it to your child. You'll be their hero.

PB had a big time tearing through the paper. Santa brought him some clothes, a kid's bible, some books, a tent, and lots of toys.

Ben got some clothes, some weight stuff, and some other man things.

And, ladies and gentlemen, I got every American girl's dream:

Yep. A table saw. I have no earthly idea how to use it, but I've wanted one for a while now. Here's to hoping I don't cut any extremities off.

I also got my first pair of Tom's shoes. I feel really 'in the now'.

We traveled to visit Ben's family after Christmas last week, which meant we spent 16 hours on the road. It was so fun to see everyone, but by Friday, we were hallucinating. PB doesn't sleep well on the road. He sleeps so light that he wakes up at every noise. Needless to say, we didn't get very much sleep over the course of the week. But we got to see lots of family. Family got to see lots of PB. And I got to eat Smithfield's. It was a win-win-win situation.

We came home Friday evening and I threw my bags out the window and headed to the hospital because my best friend had her baby! I've been so excited for this baby I couldn't hardly stand it. She's beautiful, just like her momma. I held her and sniffed her and for a split second, it made me want another baby. And then I had flashbacks of the stool softeners and the IV and the actual labor part, and I changed my mind. I'm happy with one bebe.... for now ;) I can always go see sweet Emery Kate if I need an adorable baby fix.

We had big plans for New Year's Eve. Like major plans. We ate some chili, played with PB's new toys, watched a little Fresh Prince, and were in bed by 10:42 p.m. It was pretty dangerous.

How was your Christmas? What kindsa goodies did you get? Did you have a laid back New Year's Eve, or did you walk on the wild side like us?

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope this new year is your best yet!

Have a blessed Monday :)