Friday's Feast

Appetizer: What is your favorite kind of cereal? Lucky Charms, I just love the marshmallows.

Soup: When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go? A HDTV for our living room! Actually David paid half and I paid half.

Salad: What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen? It's easier to show you than try to explain it. What I like about it is that a friend of mine told me they could see me doing the same thing. NOT!

Main Course: Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey). Chipotle Chile Lizard.

Dessert: Fill in the blank: I haven’t ______ since ______. I haven't felt this good about my weight since right after high school.

Pageant Shopping

On Saturday, Angela and I along with Phyllis went to Ft. Lauderdale in search of a pageant dress. We found "the" dress at the first store we went to and then proceeded to search for shoes to match. That was an easy search as well. After eating lunch at the food court we decided to drive to the Aventura Mall in Miami to let Angela have a makeover at the Sephora counter in JcPenney. This was her first time having a makeover and she was not pleased with the results. Mainly because she is not accustomed to having a ton of makeup on. Phyllis & I thought she was beautiful, but she insisted on washing it off once we left JcPenney. After our day of shopping we drove back to Ft. Lauderdale to meet Phyllis' husband, Jim, to celebrate Phyllis' birthday at Buca di Beppo's.

Angela will not allow me to reveal her dress until after the pageant. But here is a picture of her makeover.

Happy Birthday Phyllis

Over the past 5 years Phyllis and I have grown closer and shared many memories. She is the friend that I can call in the middle of night, the friend that sees the good, bad, and ugly in me but loves me regardless. Not only is she those things to me, but I am those things to her in return. We grow closer each day and God has blessed us to be able not only to have a very close friendship, but also to be sisters in Christ. I praise God for her friendship and pray that we will continue to grow in Christ together and make many more memories together.

Know & Tell # 3

Question 1: What is your favorite fairy tale? Beauty & the Beast. I love the story line. I like how "Beauty" sees beyond "the Beast's" imperfections and accepts him just the way he is. It's just simply romantic.

Question 2: If you could be guaranteed a spot on the reality show "Survivor", would you go? I'm too big of a wimp to ever be a "survivor". I'd be out the first week (or day).

Question 3: Meanest thing you ever did to a sibling??? Me, mean to my sibling? Never. . . it was always my older brother and younger brother ganging up on me.

Question 4: Best Fashion Era... 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or now... ? The now era! I look back at pictures and think to myself "what in the world were you thinking." It also helps that my daughter is brutally honest and will tell me if I look unfashionable now.

Question 5:Have you ever skipped to the end of a book before you finished reading the book? No! That would ruin the book.

Bonus Questions

Question 6: What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year? All things are impossible without God. There is nothing that I can do on my own that will amount to good, so I ask him to daily do a work in my life.

Question 7: What is one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God? To praise him daily for his grace and mercy upon a sinner as myself. Spend more time in the Word and in prayer.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: How many times per day do you usually laugh? Most of my day is filled with laughter. Recently I find myself laughing more and more.

Soup: What do your sunglasses look like? The most current pair are brown Ray Bans. I can't believe I haven't lost them yet.

Salad: You win a free trip to anywhere on your continent, but you have to travel by train. Where do you go? New Mexico.

Main Course: Name one thing you consider a great quality about living in your town/city. It's a great place to raise a family. It's a small town where everybody knows you and your family. We love it here!

Dessert: If the sky could be another color, what color do you think would look best? God made the sky the perfect color and I have no desire to change it. I do like to watch the sky change colors at sunrise and sunset though. The red/orange mixed with the blue is gorgeous.

Christmas Gift

For Christmas a friend gave me a gift card and I finally made a purchase with it. After much debate, I decided on this bracelet. I love hearts and have wanted a heart bracelet for sometime. It should be here in a few days and I can't wait!

Know & Tell #2

Question 1: What is worse? Being gossiped about or lied to? Being lied to, even though being the topic of gossip bothers me too. However, I have learned that people are going to gossip regardless. I can always let people know when it's gossip, however I can't undo the lie someone tells me.

Question 2: What is your favorite "Starbucks" drink? Mocha Frappe! Too bad we don't have one here.

Question 3: Name an embarrassing moment (make it good). One of my first dates was a double date. My cousin and her boyfriend set me up with one of his friends (both of them were football players). After they picked me up one of the first questions was what I wanted to drink. Not being a drinker, I replied "Dr. Pepper". They just looked at me like I was the biggest nerd. At the time I was mortified, but now I realize I had no reason to be embarrassed.

Question 4: What is the one thing you don't mind spending your money on? My kids and food.

Bonus Questions:
Question 5: Is it hard for you to ask someone to forgive you when you have wronged them? This is a pride issue in which I have gotten better at over the years. My nature is to be very outspoken, which a lot of times has offended someone. I don't like conflict so it's easier at times to ignore the problem, but I've gotten better at admitting when I have wronged someone and seek their forgiveness. By the grace of God, it's easier each time and those times aren't as numerous as they have been in the past. I'm learning to guard my tongue.

Question 6: Give one of your parenting tips. . .something you have learned through experience. I can name countless things I've learned in my parenting journey. However, one of the biggest things I've learned and share with my friends is something I read in a book (Age of Opportunity) regarding parenting during the teenage years. As you embark on parenting a teenager do not expect it to be the worst years, yet look at it as an opportunity to teach through a biblical prospective and share the gospel with your teenager. I've been intentional with David & Angela to teach them through discipline how God expects them to live and for that reason I also expect it. I stopped dreading and anticipating these years to be horrible and amazingly God has honored my attitude.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: What is your favorite beverage? Sweet Iced Tea.

Soup: Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work. At work. . . an adding machine, a pen and paperwork.

Salad: On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are? A nine, I tell it like it is.

Main Course: If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why? I don't have a clue.

Dessert: What stresses you out? What calms you down? Conflict and people that can't get along. Prayer is the best stress reliever I have found.

By His Wounds

A beautiful song by Mac Powell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brian Littrrell, and Mark Hall. The song is taken from Isaiah 53:5. You can hear the entire CD here.


He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed

He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed

We are healed by Your sacrifice
And the life that You gave
We are healed for You paid the price
By Your grace we are saved
We are saved

He was pierced for our transgressions
And crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed

We are healed by Your sacrifice
And the life that You gave
We are healed for You paid the price
By Your grace we are saved
We are saved

He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed
And by His wounds, by His wounds

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Know & Tell

I came across this blog meme and liked the idea behind it. For the most part my blog is a way for family members and friends to keep up with what is going on in our lives. However, there are several people(other bloggers) and new friends that don't know me that well that read my blog When I found this meme, I thought it was a great way for those of you who don't know me as well as my family does to get to know me. So here goes my first Know & Tell. I will try to do one each Saturday.

Question 1: What is your favorite season & why? Spring, it reminds me of the newness of life.

Question 2: How many times have you moved in your life? If I include the times I moved as a child, I would never remember them all. So I'm just going count the times I've moved since I've been an adult. I moved out of my parents house into a mobile home prior to getting married, after my marriage we moved 3 times. I then moved to Clewiston in 1996. I lived with my sister and her husband for the first year (in which we moved 2 times). The kids and I then moved to our first home in Clewiston and later moved into our current home. So all total since I was 18 would be 9 times.

Question 3: What kind of chicken wings do you like? My favorite are tequlia chicken wings. But now that I can't find them any longer I just like them plain (or naked).

Question 4: Which is worse? Shopping for Jeans or a bathing suit? Shopping for jeans is a much more pleasant experience. Bathing suits are a nightmare to shop for.

Question 5: What is your favorite kind of pizza? Pizza Hut Supreme Pan Pizza.

Bonus Questions
Question 6: What is your favorite book of the Bible and why? The Psalms because Psalms relates to every circumstance in our lives. I also like Romans.

Question 7: Think Evangelism...what kind of witness are you?There lies my weakness. I am not a bold witness for Christ. I share how God has worked in my life, but when it comes to asking others about their relationship with Christ I shy away from it. I have so many opportunities working in the church office to witness to people and I let those opportunities slip by.

Six Month Follow Up

Angela went today for her 6 month follow up for her ACL reconstruction. The appointment bore good news and she was pleased to hear what Dr. Shannon had to say.

Her knee has improved since we were there in November. He released her to go back to physical education at school, with a brace for any contact sports. He wrote a prescription for an ACL brace which she will wear when running or participating in contact sports. She is to continue therapy once a week with the supplemental therapy at home. Her gave her permission to play softball in the spring if she desires and feels comfortable doing so provided she wears the ACL brace. She and I talked on the way home and she wants to wait until he releases her in July to play sports again. She doesn't feel her knee is ready for the intensity of playing and practicing every day. However, with the brace she thinks she will become more comfortable and plans to start jogging to help strengthen her muscles in her leg. We go back in July for her one year follow-up.

She knew several of our friends were praying for her and her appointment today and expressed her thankfulness for everyone's prayers today as we met with the doctor.

Friday 's Feast

Appetizer: What is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called? My name is Rhonda Virginia. I've gone by Ginnie all my life, except for when teachers in school refused to go by my nickname. It was my grandfather that started calling me Ginnie.

Soup: If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most? My lack of knowledge and eye for design is exactly why I didn't choose this profession.

Salad: What is your least favorite chore, and why? Laundry, it's never ending.

Main Course: What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life? Snakes. When I was young, I came across a snake in my grandmother's house. We had just gotten toy snakes earlier in the week, so when I told her that a snake was curled up under a table in the bedroom she thought I was teasing her. Later that evening we were shelling peas and the snake crawled into the living room and went up under a baseboard. When she tried to get the snake out with a rake he wrapped around her leg. I was scared to death. It turned out to be a rat snake, but to this day I am terrified of snakes.

Dessert: Where are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment. In my office. The pre-school director (she's in her mailing something), the wall and outside the window by my desk.

Pictures

Angela and Cheyenne went over to Wellington to Picture People yesterday to have pictures made for the Jr. Miss Hendry County pageant. Phyllis took them over for me since I had to work. Not only was I impressed with their prices, but the quality of their work speaks for itself. These were just a few of my favorites.

Cooking Mania

I have cooking mania right now. . . not sure how long it will last, but for now at least one child is enjoying it. Angela throughly enjoyed her dinner tonight.

Since David had school tonight I offered to save him a plate, but he knew I was trying a new chicken recipe and potato recipe so he asked that I just cook him some chicken strips to go with the baby lima beans. Any idea how to get him to try new things?

Here's the recipe for the chicken parmesan and the roasted onion potatoes. . .

Chicken Parmesan

1 clove garlic, minced
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup or 1/4 pound), melted
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
A large pinch of Italian seasoning (herb mix)
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 lbs of skinless, boneless, chicken meat, cut into pieces no larger than 2x2 inches

1 Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 In a bowl, combine the minced garlic with the melted butter. In another bowl mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, salt, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.

3 Place coated chicken pieces on to a 9x13 baking dish. Try to leave a little room between each piece. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Note that the chicken will get much more browned on the bottom side than on the top.

Serves 4-6.

Roasted Onion Potatoes

4 medium potatoes, washed and cubed (we used red potatoes...about six-eight)

1 package dry onion soup mix

1/4-1/3 cup (really, I just drizzled) olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare potatoes and place in a jelly roll pan. You can even line the pan with aluminum foil if you want easy clean up. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and toss. Pour the onion soup mix over and toss. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender.

Excited About Cooking

One of the many things I have resolved to do in 2008 is become a better cook and to cook more often. I used to enjoy cooking, but over the past year I have become lazy in preparing meals for our family. I have graciously been given cookware by relatives in the past because they no longer needed it (mainly my parents or my late grandmother), but I've never owned a set of cookware that I bought for myself. So a few days after Christmas I made the decision to purchase a set of cookware with the hopes that this would inspire me to cook more often. It arrived yesterday!
As I unpacked it last night I became more excited about cooking and found two recipes that I am going to try out tonight. I'm anxiously awaiting 5:00 so I can go home and try out the cookware and the recipes. I'll let you know how it turns out!

New Recipe

I mentioned in an earlier post that I found a new recipe for green beans and tried it tonight for dinner. It was simple and inexpensive to prepare. Thought I'd post the recipe for others to try.

Bundle of Beans

1 or 2 cans whole green beans (for our family I used 1 can)
1 package bacon or turkey bacon (you don't have to use the whole package)
Catalina dressing (regular or light) or Russian dressing (I substituted with Italian dressing)

Set the oven to broil. Drain the beans. Gather a bundle of beans. Wrap half a sliceof bacon around the bundle. Lay bundle in a 13X9 pan (or smaller pan if you are using 1 can of beans). Do this until you have as many bundles as you want or are out of beans! Pour dressing (as much as you like) over the bundles. Place pan in oven and broil until bacon in done (maybe 10-15 minutes). Remove and enjoy.

This & That in the New Year

The new year is already one of busyness but it has been great so far. We didn't do anything big to ring in the new year. Angela spent the night with a girlfriend, David had a friend over, and I went grocery shopping.

The Wilkerson's hosted dinner on New Years day. We enjoyed being with them and several of our other friends from church. Laughter was heard throughout the evening as we all enjoyed each other's company. Not to mention that the food was delicious as well.

The rest of the week I've worked and battled a cold that refuses to go away. On Friday night a group of us ladies from the church got together for a "Girls Night Out" at Sunrise. We had planned on going to a movie after dinner, but the particular movie we wanted to see stopped showing here in town on Thursday night. We ended up just staying at Sunrise talking and laughing after dinner. I absolutely loved the time with these beautiful women.

This morning I redeemed a gift certificate from a friend of mine for a 60 minute stone massage at the local spa. Words cannot express how good the massage felt and how relaxed I was afterwards. After returning home, I slept until 3:00 this afternoon. I am still relaxed and tension free. After my nap, I packed away the Christmas decorations and cooked dinner. I tried a new recipe with green beans that I found on a friend of a friend's blog. Of course David being the picky eater that he is would not try them, but Angela and I enjoyed them.

So that's what we have been doing in the new year. David begins new classes on Monday, the Bible study I'm leading also starts back on Monday, and Angela returns to school on Tuesday. It will be nice to get back into a regular routine.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: When was the last time you received a surprise in the mail, and what was it? It's been so long ago that I can't remember. However, I had an unexpected gift during Christmas from a very special friend.

Soup: If you could have a summer and/or winter home, where would you want it to be? It would have to be a summer home in mountains (somewhere in Tennessee) because I wouldn't want to be there in the winter due to snow.

Salad: Pick one: pineapple, orange, banana, apple, cherry. Banana.

Main Course: Describe the nicest piece of clothing that you own. A little black dress that I borrowed from a friend and she ended up giving it to me.

Dessert: If you could forget one whole day from your life, which day would you choose to wipe from your memory? I can't think of anything that I'd choose to wipe from my memory (even though I've had my share of unpleasant times). . . through all the trials and sufferings God's grace and mercy have sustained me.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ~ 1 Peter 1:6-7