His Power Made Perfect

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness".  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

-2 Corinthians 12:9

Many, many, many times God has used this verse to teach me and encourage me. And the things that He has taught me, have taken deep roots and grown inside of me. I believe what He says about grace.

I have learned that His grace is sufficient. I've learned that for each day, each moment, He gives the grace that I need. In situations where I've wondered how we'd make it through, I can testify that each day I trusted Him for grace I was flooded with it.  Any time I wondered just how I would put one foot in front of the other, by some miracle, I would feel myself moving forward.

It's the other part that gets me.  You know, the part about boasting about my weaknesses.  I shudder about my weaknesses, they look so very... weak.  That's the detestable side of me that people just have to put up with until I can finally get it together. It's very certainly nothing to boast about.

Another version says "revel in my weaknesses".  Take joy, great pleasure, delight in my weaknesses?!  I cannot wrap my mind around that!! 

And that is exactly what my Father has been so gently revealing to me.  No, I cannot wrap my mind around that, because it's another element of faith.  When I am weak, then I am strong.   I could have said the words before, but faith believes the words.  Faith has a heartbeat that beats with the truth of who God says He is.

And so now, I believe what He says about weaknesses.  I believe that He can take something fragile,  frail, and broken, and make it strong, healthy, perfect.

So I will be practicing daily, you know, reveling in my weaknesses...
         

Menu Plan Monday.. Finally

Long time, no see my friends. Some things had to go to the wayside while Jeremy was off work, through the Christmas season, and finally getting everything back in order. (well that's not really done, but it's on it's way.) Anywho, I've missed blogging!! So I decided that I would start back this week and what better place to start than Menu Plan Monday!!

Monday-
B- Yogurt/ Homemade Granola
L- Mac & Cheese, Carrot Sticks, Apples
D- Tilapia, Wild Rice, Steamed Broccoli

Tuesday-
B- Cheese Omelets
L- Leftovers
D- Rigatoni, Salad, Garlic Bread

Wednesday-
B- Homemade Waffles, fruit smoothies
L- Oven toasted Turkey Sandwiches, Chips, Veggies
D- Ox Roast, Oven Fries, Green Beans (or since it's by 30TH!! birthday, we may be going out to dinner)

Thursday-
B- Yogurt/ Homemade Granola
L- Homemade Lunchables
D- Chef Salad, Homemade Bread Sticks

Friday-
B- Scrambled Eggs, Toast
L- Peanut Butter and Jelly, Pretzles, Veggies
D- Pizza

Saturday-
B- Cereal (soccer morning)
L- Leftovers
D- Crockpot Chicken, Potatoes, Steamed Veggies

If you want to be inspired by hundreds of menu ideas and recipes, be sure to visit Menu Plan Monday!

Awe

I'm inspired. In awe of our glorious Father. I don't know why more at this moment than the moment before this. I sat down, thought of my Papa, and was overwhelmed with gratefulness.

I know that's the key. To set my thoughts on things above. To tell my soul, my busy, wandering thoughts; remember His goodness. It's not that I forget, or doubt His goodness.. it's that I forget to remember.

But, praise Him, the thoughts of Him have begun to be the consuming thoughts. All of the other things that I need to think about are starting to be filtered by His love, grace, mercy, patience, faithfulness.... His goodness.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His mercy and loving-kindness endures forever.."

Starting Over

I have been pondering for the past two weeks what I should post for Works for Me Wednesday, and coming up with nothing. "Come on Amanda, this isn't that hard!" , I chastised myself, "What works for you?"

That's when I realized, it ain't working.

For the past month I've felt like a dog chasing my tail, running, running, running in circles and never catching it. The days have not been going smoothly, the house is cluttered and it feels like things are somewhat out of control. Jeremy had surgery so he is not able to be up and around much and he is now off of work until January! Usually we hardly see him during the holidays because work is soo busy then, we are blessed to have this time with him.

Typically, when he has a day off of work, we just "hang out" for the day and then I catch up on things the next day. Well I can't just "hang out" for 3 months and think things will still run well around here. So I finally realized instead of beating myself up everyday about 4:00pm for not getting my whole schedule done, why don't I reevaluate and make a new schedule for the time he is off work? *ding* LIGHTBULB! We want to make the most of this time and still get things done that need to be done..

Since this literally hit me about an hour ago, tomorrow I will go over our schedule and see where changes need to be made, and also get Jeremy's input for how he would like the day to run. (It's not all about me ya' know. ;) )

This oughta be good. :)

I've been at this place before: starting over. Life changes all of the time and we have to be flexible enough to change with it. What about you? Are your routines and schedules working for you or are you working for them? Maybe it's time to start over!

For more ideas to make life work visit: We Are That Family.

Menu Plan Monday

Let me just first say, "I heart having a menu"! Seriously, I don't know what I would do if I just had to come up with meals at the spur of the moment, my brain doesn't work that way. We have been so very busy with life and I love knowing I have a plan to be able to feed my family healthy and satisfying in the midst of busyness.

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Here is the plan for this week:

Breakfasts-

Waffles/fruit

Granola/ yogurt x2

Scrambled Eggs/ Toast

Muffins/ Smoothies x2

Banana Bread/ Smoothies

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Lunches-

Leftovers x2

Lunch Meat Sandwiches/ Pretzles/ Fresh Veggies x2

Tuna Melts/ Salad

Grilled Cheese/ Tomato Soup

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Dinners-

Broc. Cheese Soup/ Pumpkin Muffins

Chili/ Cornbread

Chicken Fajitas/ Salad

Bean and Rice Burritos/ Nachos/ Salad

Meatball Subs/ Cheesey Potatoes/ Green Beans

Homemade Pizza

Chicken Fettucini Alfredo/ Steamed Broc./ Garlic Bread

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For the inspiration of hundreds of menus and awesome recipe links visit Menu Plan Monday.

Planning for the Week.

The house is quiet, I'm feeding Judah and wanting to get to bed soon, but I have all these things running through my brain that I really need to accomplish this week. So I'm sitting in my recliner, blogging from my new Blackberry. :).
I feel.like I'm skidding into the new week at full speed and just trying to put the brakes on a little bit so I can gather my thoughts..

1.Seriously, go to bed on time and get up on time. I'm already starting badly due to things outside of my control. We have been terrible at getting to bed on time since Jeremy has been off of work, but it's essential so I have to be a stickler.

2. Lesson planning. I would like to get always be two weeks ahead, right now I'm not ahead at all.

3. Zone work. This week I'm in zone 3 which is the kids rooms and it could not have come at a better time. We will organize closets, clean out dressers and do some general decluttering.

4. Have a baking day. Make tortillas, waffles, banana bread, granola, pumpkin muffins, and zucchini muffins.
Those are my major goals for this week. Tomorrow I am going to have a planning session to work it out legistically. I am expecting a good week!

Quick and Easy

One of my favorite things about fall is pulling out all of the recipes that we only get this time of year; casseroles, soups, stews, all those warm things that nobody would want to touch in the summer heat. My favorite way to make soup is to let it simmer on the stove all day so we can smell it's yummy goodness. Sometimes though, simmering all day doesn't fit into my schedule and I want something to warm up with quick! This is my favorite go to soup for that. It is relatively cheap, quick and easy, and most importantly, delicious!

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Broccoli Cheese Soup (from Jeremy's Aunt Jill)

3 T. Butter

3/4c. chopped onion

-saute in pan for about 3 minutes, then add:

6 c. water

6 chicken boullion cubes

8 oz. very fine noodles

1 t. salt

-cook for 5 minutes, add:

6 c. milk

1 1/2 lbs. Velveeta

-stir until smooth

1 bag frozen broccoli

1/4 t. garlic powder

-cook until broccoli is heated through and noodles are done

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There ya' have it! This makes a HUGE pot of soup, I usually make half of the recipe for our family. They all love it and that, works for me!

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For more clever tips and tricks visit We Are That Family for Works for Me Wednesday.