January 2, 2014 by Stephanie

Happy Birthday Tom!

Today is Tom’s birthday! Last year I did my favorite memories of him, and most of them still ring true, just add seeing him in that airplane hanger after he got off that plan from deployment to the list.

This year since Tom is around, I figured we would do a man behind the blog interview. You can learn more about the guy I talk about all the time. Since he is turning 29, here are 29 questions for you to get to know my hubster just a little bit more. And Tom insisted on no fluff questions, but in case you were wondering his favorite color is blue.

Favorite Birthday? Hopefully my 29th. I just want people to leave me alone. I am going to take my Jeep where people can’t get to me. Also there will be Chipotle.
What is your biggest aspiration in life? Either to be on a SWAT team or a canine officer
What advice would you give your 19 year old self? You are a dbag. I would tell my 19 year old self to go look in a mirror and do everything opposite of what you are doing. Cut your hair, stop talking so much. Don’t care so much about what other people think. You are going to waste so much of my life being a useless turd. Also stop smoking.
What’s your first CD you ever bought? So Much For the After Glow-Everclear
What sports did you do in high school? Cross Country and Show Choir. And yes it is a sport. If Cheerleading can be a sport, so is show choir.
If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life what would it be? Chipotle burritos
If you were given a free airplane ticket where would you go? Afghanistan. I’ve got some unfinished business to handle. Or Boston because it sounds nice.
What do people remember you for? Sense of humor. Or my stunning legs. And by that they remember the guy in Ranger panties.

You just never know with Tom…

What is your favorite date we have been on? The first time we went out in Warrensburg {our undergrad}. I was committing to going back to school, and it was the first time we went public with our friends.
What is your life motto? I don’t think I’m awesome for no reason. I am awesome because I work on being better. Everyday I have to be better at something.
Why do you love camping so much? Nature is so drama free. Nature is the way that God intended it to be. It is clean and pure. It’s like getting back to my roots and seeing who you are really made of. It is personal affirmation that I can take care of myself.

If you could meet someone from history, who would it be? Both of my grandpas.
If you could advise people on one “prepper” item, what would you say everyone needs? A go bag-a simple bag with food, water, flashlights, and matches. Maybe a good pocket knife. A good grab bag. Or a Jeep Cherokee. {That is one thing?}
What is your opinion on marriage? If you want to get married, get married. If you don’t, don’t. I personally like marriage. Everyone should stay out of others marriage. You either believe in marriage equality or you don’t. But if you are anti-marriage equality, you are anti-constitution. You can’t claim to believe in America and all that it stands for and be against gay marriage.
Where did you learn your handyman smarts? Part from my Dad-the basics. Part from working construction in high school-expertise in remodeling.
Would you call yourself a thrill seeker? No, I’m not out skydiving for the adrenaline rush. The things I do, I do because I feel morally compelled to do so. It just happens that the things I do are adrenaline packed. And it just so happens that I love it.
What is the biggest fish you have caught? 15 lb catfish-generally. 6 lb female small mouth-nicest fish I ever caught in a creek.
Why do you treat dogs like humans? Despite all the awful unimaginable things humans have done to these two dogs, they love me completely and unconditionally. They have given me their entire heart, how can I not put them above everything? The more time I spend with my dogs the less time I want to spend with humans. Lock your dog or your wife in the trunk of the car and come back in an hour. Which one do you think is happy to see you? {Thanks babe…}

What is a skill you would like to learn? Speak Spanish. Electrician. Plumbing.
What day would you relive over and over again? The day we walked from our hotel room to downtown Savannah. We slept in and wandered around town stuffing our faces. {Aww our engagement weekend}

On the river front in Savannah enjoying our newly engaged bliss.

What is the best present I have ever given you? Remaining loyal despite knowing the horrible monster I am inside. Also the email you sent last year for my birthday with all the best memories from my friends. From other people-my dad gave me a .410.
What is your idea of a perfect lazy day? Wake up at 8am. Get SWOL at the gym. Spend the rest of the day eating PB and playing Xbox until noon. Then it’s Chipotle time. Play Xbox until 6pm. Then it’s Chipotle time again. Even better if it is a leg day. End the night with grown up time.
What are you afraid of? Failing at life. I spent the last 9 years working towards a law enforcement career. If it doesn’t work out after the Army, it will crush me. Also heights.
What is your biggest accomplishment? If you look at who I was at 19 and who I am now, my biggest achievement is simply becoming who I am now.

dancing at our wedding

What are your 5 go to songs? “#41” by Dave Matthews. “No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley. “Starting with Me” by Jake Owen. “Back Where I Come From” by Kenny Chesney. “Amarillo Sky” by Jason Aldean.
What are the most important songs to you? “Stay Gone” by Jimmy Wayne. “Carolina in My Mind” by James Taylor. {I walked down the aisle to this song} “Hate Me” by Blue October.
So you are a funny man. Who is your favorite comedian? Louis C.K. He is the most honest comedian on earth. He doesn’t try to church things up and just tells it how it is.
What is something people should know about you? I hate the excuse/saying, “It must be nice.” I didn’t get handed anything. I worked for things. I don’t have anymore time, skill, or opportunities. I can do the things I wanted to do because I busted my butt.
What are you looking forward to in year 29? I would like to get my E5; God willing and the creek don’t rise. {This is a new rank/promotion.} I am also looking forward to Martin {his best friend} coming home {from Afghanistan}. Applying for a police job-my whole life has built up to this point. And if it all works out getting pregnant. {me not him}

Happy Birthday Hubster! I love you so much, and hopefully we can make this birthday your best yet!

Who knows maybe the night will end like this…

December 31, 2013 by Stephanie

Bath Paints

My nieces are 3 and 4 years old, and I was trying to find something fun and easy to do for them for Christmas.

Enter Bath Paints!

This is pretty easy to do, and serves many roles. I highly encourage anyone who has kids on their shopping lists, to add this activity!

It is fun for the kids, gets them clean, AND gets the tub clean! I may have to use these myself…

I did change the instructions from the woman’s post. They seem to work either way.

Supplies Needed

Baking Soda
Corn Starch
Food Coloring
Kid’s Shampoo
Traveling Shampoo cases

Instructions

I started off with the corn starch and baking soda separate, then decided to combine them when I was adding them to the bottle. The cornstarch by itself will yield a smoother mixture, and the baking soda will have a grainy jello consistency.
You add the shampoo, cornstarch, baking soda, and food coloring in a bowl.
We put the mixture in a Ziploc bag and cut the corner out to squeeze them into the travel tubes.
And then you let the kids play!

All the supplies.

This is when I had them separate. I love watching food coloring do it’s thing.

All my colors.

I made quite a bit. My eyeballing didn’t go over so well. I just put any extra back into the empty shampoo bottles for the rainbow effect. We did only use 2 of the 3 shampoos we bought. The one on the left is still just plain shampoo.We put the corresponding colors in the tubes to make it fun for the girls to “paint” with.

Both of my nieces love to draw so hopefully this goes over well!

December 30, 2013 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #16

One of my husband’s talents is making up song lyrics to existing song rhythms. This is often how we pass the time on long car trips.

This holiday themed song was set to Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball.” So sing it along with the tune.

I came in like a Christmas tree.

You were just so big and tall and green.

I covered you in ornaments,

and canes that taste like peppermints.

They grew you till you were 6ft tall,

and cut you down with an axe.

Took you to a tree yard and strapped you to our roof rack.

I just can’t believe I had to pay $15 dollars for a dead tree.

I could go into the woods behind my house,

and get one of you for free.

We have been singing this all week.

I know many of you are wondering why I don’t just record Tom singing this lovely parody, well I am pretty sure I would find my phone in the toilet if that were to occur. He is super creative, but can get a little camera shy. Someday, I will be lucky to do capture these moments. For now, you will just have to use your imagination.

Enjoy humming this tune for the rest of you day. You can’t deny that her songs are catchy.

December 29, 2013 by Stephanie

Cranberry Cinnamon Honey Butter

My family is really hard to shop for. Most of us, when we want or need something we are in a position where we can just go get it. So Christmas and birthdays become increasingly more difficult as the years go by.

However, one truth remains.

We love to eat.

So when I came across this recipe, I knew I had found at least one gift. I did adjust the recipe a smidge on the measurements.

Cranberry Cinnamon Honey Butter

Ingredients

3 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of dried cranberries
3 tsp of ground cinnamon
3-4 tbs of honey

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a mixer. I tried a blender first, and it just wasn’t cooperating, so I put it in my Kitchenaid. Worked like a charm
You may need to scrape the sides a few times and mix again just to make sure all the cinnamon is incorporated.
Store in container of choice.
Best when used at room temperature, but will need to be refrigerated between uses.

Somewhat homemade butter in the making

Excuse the mess behind this. We were overlapping several different projects at one time. Our kitchen looked like something exploded.

The recipe doesn’t not yield an exorbitant amount, so just note that if you are hoping to make it for several people. This is how much we got out of the recipe listed above.

I tasted some along the way, and it tastes so good! It would be great on toast and bagels. I kind of want to go out and get raisin bread just for this butter!

It took me about 15 minutes to make this, so it is super easy to whip up.

Do you have any homemade butter recipes?

December 27, 2013 by Stephanie

Servant of the Lord

I am co-hosting the Faith and Fellowship devotional with the wonderful Susannah from Simple Moments Stick.

I just love her, and really look up to her in so many areas, so you should check her out! We chose to focus on several verses in Luke that focus on Mary’s honor and submission to the Lord. We would love for you to reflect on Luke 1:26-56 and Luke 2:1-38.

I picked out a couple key ones here.

Luke 1:30-31 “But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.”

Luke 1:46-55 “And Mary said:

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindul of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generation will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me-holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”

Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Can you imagine being told as a 16 year old your fate is to be the mother of God?

Here Mary is 16 and engaged to Joseph who is a carpenter (which was not a high class job back in biblical times). Up shows an angel saying she was going to miraculously become pregnant without having sex with Joseph.

Now let’s look at some of the context:

Mary was a woman, which in those days did not mean much. Women’s rights was not even a thought. So to be the mother of all mothers, just hold on a second.
She was a virgin, so if she said she was pregnant don’t you think most people think she cheated on Joseph? Thoughts of others perceptions would have started creeping in.
She said she talked to Angels. Even for biblical times, most people would think that she was cuckoo.
There was a census going on, which meant some heaving traveling for Mary and Joseph.
The Romans and Jews were not exactly friends. So who would want to raise a child in that madness without the choice to plan for it?

I am sure that these are just some of the thoughts that went through her mind as the angel told her what her destiny was. Not to mention adding on the normal stress that a mother has for her first born and embarking into the unknown territory of parenthood.

If you were to think about all these what ifs that faced Mary, I think it is safe to say that most of us would say “Are you sure you want me? I am not so sure about this God. You must have gotten the wrong lady.”

I am sure that Mary envisioned her life going drastically differently. Raising a humble Jewish family was nothing unusual, right? She had plans.

Then God revealed the plans he had for her life, meaning that Mary’s original plan disappeared.

Mary didn’t put up a fight or rebel against the plans of the Lord. She didn’t just ignore what had been said to her. She said, “He is merciful…and I am blessed.” Her faith was remarkably large.

She prepared herself for the coming of the Lord. She humbly accepted what God planned for her because she knew her heart belonged to Him. She was a servant to the Lord. The ultimate follower.

She recognized God’s love and mercy, and knew that all things were possible through God. She had such unabashed faith that

He would provide despite her seemingly unbelievable situation.

He would provide a baby…even though she had never had sex.

He would get Joseph on board…even though it may seem to others that Mary cheated.

He would help them arrive in Bethlehem safely for the census…even though it meant months of traveling pregnant.

He would make it possible for Jesus to be born in a barn…even though it was filthy and not as sanitary or safe as a new mother would hope.

He would keep Jesus alive…even though there was child persecution going on in the country.

He has plans for us, whether we see them or not. We just need to have faith and trust as Mary did. This is a faith I hope to have, and continue to challenge myself to lift my heart up as Mary did.

Glinn Photography

We have turned Christmas into a stressful, go-go-go, hustle and bustle time. We have also sanitized the nativity scene by making it perfectly pristine. While it is beautiful, it has become easy to forget the details of the story. We often just see the glow and the end result, and forget the most unlikely situations that the Holy family found themselves in before the birth.

I love thinking about these scriptures, and reminding myself that this is supposed to be a holy time and time to celebrate the gift of life. It is a time of hope. While we celebrate the blessing of the birth of Jesus and what his life means to us as followers, I feel that it is important to think about the servant hood of Mary during this time as well.

God shows up in the most unlikely places, and in the most unlikely people to do His Heavenly work.

In my own life when there is much uncertainty, I am reminded to have hope and faith. My life may not look as I had once hoped, but in the moments of “Are you sure about this God?” I need to remember that he will provide.

I want to still be cognizant of ways to be a servant to him for I am still truly blessed. I know He has plans for me. I need to take a cue from Mary and just trust.

“If you are faithful, God will honor you.”

We would love to hear what you have to say in reflection of these passages. Join us for this devotion and link up with us below!