Premamma Prenatal Vitamin Review

It's been awhile, that's no doubt.  I recently found out I was expecting my 3rd, and that is something we never planned for.  I sold all my baby stuff before my youngest was a year old!  I have no clothes, crib, pack-n-plan, or anything else.  We are starting over, but we are crazy excited about it. 

This pregnancy has been so different than the other two.  I have felt sooooo yucky this time.  Seriously, for the past two weeks it was all I could do to get out of bed.  That makes taking a prenatal vitamin extremely difficult.  Enter Premama Prenatal Vitamin! 

This is a huge lifesaver if you are worried about not being able to take a vitamin to get your baby everything it needs. This is a tasteless powder that dissolves without a trace into anything, so you can eat or drink whatever you actually feel like.  Just mix the powder in.  Sounds like a great idea to me.

The company offered me a free sample, but the opinion in this post is solely my own.  They are even offering a 30 day supply free to one lucky reader.  Comment below to be entered.  Good luck!

Persecuted For....Cooking Dinner?

Have you ever felt like you were being looked down upon for trying to be a wife, or mother, like the Proverbs 31 Woman?  I have, and it really took be by surprise.  I do not think those on the other side were being mean spirited, as they were friends and dear co-workers, but they had a much more worldly view of what a wife should be.

The incident happened before we had kids.  I was working as an auditor at a public accounting firm and traveled overnight frequently.  This one time I was with a group from the office headed to training.  On the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, my husband called and we had an pretty run of the mill conversation, of which my friends only heard one side.  They heard something like this.

"There is a roast in the crock pot for tonight and this, this, and that in the refrigerator for the rest of the time I am gone.  I wrote directions on it all.  Your welcome."  It was over 10 years ago, and I do not remember the conversation word for word, but I remember the stares I got as I hung up the phone.  The looks were immediately followed with questions like "Can't he fix his own food?" Comments such as "He's a big boy." and "You are not his mother." still sting today.  In truth, it didn't bother me about me, but I didn't like for him to be ridiculed.  I made it clear that yes, he could get his own dinner,  but I love him and I love doing things for him and while I am away that is one thing I can do.

That event, along with similar others during my time at that job earned me the nickname June Cleaver.  Though it was meant to make me self-concious, the one who started it eventually used it as a compliment, and honestly, I always considered it one.

The world has a very different view of what a marriage should look like when compared to what the Bible says.  Do not let it deter you from what you know is God's will for you as a wife, mother, and woman of God.

Do you have a similar story?  Share it in comments or on the Facebook page. I'd love to hear it!

Never Give Up

Today's post is a quickie because frankly, my kids are on fall break and I want to finish my work so I can play with them.  Today I am praising that I am doing my work in my kitchen's "office corner" while my kids are happy in the living room or play room.  I did not have to figure out childcare for the break, or how to pay for the additional care that would be needed if I were at a regular 9 to 5.  Let me rephrase; I am and shouting from the virtual rooftops THANK YOU LORD!

If you ARE a mom working outside of the home today, you may be fine with that.  That is OKAY.  God has a different plan for everyone, and if you are at peace with it, and you still serve your family as He commands, you are superwoman in my book:)  I did it for years but NEVER had peace.  I knew God COULD change it, but honestly I did not know if he would.  I also knew it would take a totally unforeseen miracle. 

It came on the same day I watched my grandfather air lifted from one hospital to another, moments after I kissed him on the forehead and saw him conscious for the last time.  As I was driving home my husband called and told me about a phone call he had gotten to interview for a job.  This was a job we had prayed for, but you have to understand, he had NOT applied for a job.  We had no clue there was an opening and at the time, no idea how they got his name.  This was the "miracle" we had prayed for... the moved mountain so to speak.  There is so much more, but for now I want to encourage you today that if God has planted a desire in your heart do not lose hope.  Do not give up.  He will grant the desires of your heard that He places there in His time and likely in a way you never imagined.

God As An...Accountant?

¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."  Colossians 1:19-20

I am loving the study of Colossians with my Good Morning Girls group.  This was our passage this morning and I just had to share.  Bear with me.  I spent 10 years as an accountant after earning my degree with a major in this fun field (sarcasm intended:).  My understanding of the word reconcile may be somewhat different than that of a non-accountant.  Can we all agree we understand the meaning in terms of reconciling a check book?  Even if we don't do it as we should?  If you are still confused, I am talking about balancing, or trying to get an account to the balance that you KNOW it should be. 

Whether it is an account on the books or a checking account, the premise is the same.  You have to look at each and every number that is making up the current balance and take out what is not supposed to be there while adding numbers that are missing.  In a check book this could be subtracting checks or other debits that were not written down and adding in deposits that were not written down.  God did that when He sent his Son to die, declaring us reconciled to himself through the blood of Christ.  He removed the sin debt and added grace.

The other part is easier to see in a standard accounting entry.  If a number is entered into an account incorrectly, it has to be removed for that account to balance as it should.  You cannot just take it out though, there has to be a balancing entry to move it to another account, or to wash it out.  The blood of Jesus washes the sin from us, applies it to His account, and God's almight power destroys it.  Amen?  Amen!

Enough accounting.  Just realize today what a precious gift we are given in the blood of Christ.  It is nature as God created it to balance, and he reconciled us to Him through Christ's blood!  Even if we don't totally understand it, you have to know it is sooooo good!

To find out more about Good Morning Girls Bible Studies click the link above.  Sign up to get the emails delivered straight to your inbox each morning along with the link to the Colossians reading plan. 
 

What God Has Been Doing

My oh my what God has been doing in the life of this chaotic hot mess of a mamma!  When I first began writing this blog it was due to a word from God that I should write.  I needed to get out there how I saw God moving in my everyday life for others to see, now and in future generations, that they might recongnize His work in their own lives. 

Much of the first year of this blog was a lamenting of how I knew there had to be an easier way.  It was a documenting of my struggle to balance work and home with the woman God wanted me to be, and an outward expression of my prayer to be at home with my children to better serve them and my husband. 

I knew God's promise to grant the desires of my heart, and I was waiting (not necessarily patiently) for Him to either get me home or change my heart.  I really expected the latter.  I knew in Him ALL things were possible, but my human mind could not fathom a course of events that could possibly get me home.

Oh sisters have I got a story to tell!!!! Praise God!  I have been working from home for over a year now, and oh how God has blessed and provided.  He gives just enough for us to enjoy His good gifts, but not so much that we forget to lean on Him.  He knows the exact balance of what we need to be the best we can be for His glory. 

Stay tuned... I really will write more this time.  If you are visiting from PinTriedIt, welcome!  If you are new, look around.  Some of my favorite posts and great places to start, in my opinion, are here, here, and here.

God bless, and I look forward to continuing what God started here!

More Hospitality and a Recipe

As I mentioned in the last post, one of my favorite authors is hosting an online book study on her blog based on her book "A Life that Says Welcome."  Karen Ehman is a spectacular at giving practical advice to make daily life special.  Pop over here to see today's guest post and enter the giveaway.  If you haven't been joining in, it's not too late!  Read each post this week and you can still enter the giveaways until the end of the study just before Easter. 

Today she is doing a link up for everyone to share their favorite "company" recipes.  I do make this for my family, but it is especially nice for company.  While it is not hard, it does take a bit to prepare and cook.  However, the payoff is that unless you have a TON of guests staying for a REALLY long time, you do the work once and reap the benefits for several days.  It is very filling and a little goes a long way.  I usually make this unique breakfast casserole on the first morning after our overnight guests' first night (usually anywhere from 3 to 5 people) and then refrigerate leftovers.  I serve the first day with biscuits and sometimes I add gravy for those.  Then everyone morning thereafter I set it out cold with saucers and a variety of pastries and fruit for everyone to reheat as they wish.  Before you get up in arms about serving leftovers to company, I can promise you they all enjoy me getting to visit, they still can have a hot breakfast, and we can get out the door to do the fun stuff we have planned quickly. Most times we can eat off of it three days at least and it reheats fabulously.  No one has EVER minded getting to have it three mornings in a row, and they have other options with the fruit and pastries if they want. 

So, here it is.  I cannot take full credit.  I used to live in Arkansas rice country and this was the rice queen's winning recipe one year.  A co-worker shared it with us at work one morning, and I have adjusted here and there to my family's tastes.  Don't let the ingredients scare you.  It is REALLY good!

Crispy Rice Breakfast Casserole
6 cups crispy rice cereal
5 cups of cooked rice
2 lbs cooked breakfast sausage
8 eggs
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8oz package of shredded cheese (more if you wish)

Mix sausage and cereal, then layer sausage mix, rice, and cheese in a prepared large baking dish.  (I usually have enough left over to do a second 8x8 dish to freeze....just depends on how large you "large" dish is. )  It works best if you start with sausage, then rice, then cheese and so on.  I have also done this mixing the rice, cheese, and sausage mix in a large bowl and dumping it all in the pan at once and it work fine.  This recipe is full of grace!  ( You might want to bake on a cookie sheet to catch any spills.)

Next, mix the eggs and cream soup in a bowl and beat well.  Pour over the rice and sausage and bake at 375 for 1 hour or until set in the middle.  These are the official directions but give yourself plenty of time.  I have to cook it in my oven at 400 for 1 hour and 15 minutes... just keep and eye on it until you see how it works in your oven.  If it gets to brown on top before it is set in the middle, cover with foil until done.  Once set, sprinkle more cheese on top and put back in the oven until melted and just browning.

You can add in mushrooms, black olives, bell peppers, or just about anything you want.  We have made it with ham cubes too, but with less grease for it to absorb, cut the cereal down to 3 or four cups for this.   If it is too thick, dry, or whatever for your tastes just play with the rice/ cereal measurements until you get what you want.  A word of warning however; be sure to do all of this BEFORE you try it for company:)   Enjoy!

Hospitality

Karen Ehman is beginning her online study based on her book "A Life That Says Welcome."    She is going to lead us through the book and offer practical ways to open our homes to others, which I am positive our lady in Proverbs 31 did.  There will be special guests and giveaways each day(see who and what here), and on Friday there is an idea swap and link up party.  Check out the first lesson which just posted today here.  I think you will be blessed. 

When your done, I hope you will come back and share.  I am doing the study, so I will be posting some thoughts on it here since it is in line with the topic of this blog.  I would love to hear from you.  Today Amy Bayliss is talking things that made her feel welcome as a child and how to use that to make others feel welcome today.  When I was little, I loved going to my grandpa's house.  My grandmother died when I was very young and he was single for a long time, but he always had me over anyway and we had something fun like Coke floats.  He was also the only person I knew with a satallite dish (it was HUGE), and he would sit through HOURS of the Disney Channel just so I could watch. Though an older widower is not normally what we think of when it comes to hospitality, the point is to consider what made US feel welcome, so we can get in that mind frame of making others feel the same way.  Now head over here to join the conversation.   I just know you'll be blessed.  If you still need a book, the publisher is releasing a new print that should be available this week.  Until then Karen is making it easy to join in without a book...so don't let they stop you!