2011 June

Your Kids Will Love Octopus Hotdogs!

June 30, 2011 By Courtney 16 Comments

Janelle from ComfynKitchen has done it again! Look how cute this is!!!

She writes: “I will admit, I will NOT get “cook of the year” with this one, lol. However, I WILL get plenty of smiles, giggles and clean plates! This is a cute little dinner I made for my children when we were getting ready to go to my son’s baseball game. They got a huge kick out of it….hope your children will too.

Simply slice a hotdog in half leaving the top in tact for the head of the “octopus”. Then, turn and slice again. You will have 4 “legs”.

Boil water in a large pot on the stove. Add hotdogs. The legs will begin to curl up.
Boil for appx 5 mins.

Serve on top of Kraft Mac n Cheese! I made eyes with mustard- you can get as creative as you wish.

May this bring smiles to YOUR table.
Love to you, Janelle

(This would be super cute for a pirate themed child’s birthday party-inexpensive too!)
Thank you Janelle!!!!

Walk with the King!

If you are looking for more recipes or have one to share – visit Janelle’s new link-up today!

You can follow Janelle on her own blog Comfy In The Kitchen or on Facebook and Twitter.

I am participating in Titus 2sdays, and Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday, recipe exchanges. I am also linked up to Raising Homemakers Weds. link up and Works For Me Wednesday! For more blogger recipes go to these links.

Filed Under: Comfy In The Kitchen, Recipes

Waiting On God

June 30, 2011 By Courtney 23 Comments

“Waiting on God isn’t about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It’s part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn’t to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn’t simply about what I’ll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I’ll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what He’s promised. Through the wait He’s changing me. By means of the wait He’s altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait He’s causing me to see and experience new things about Him and His kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in His redemptive hands” (emphasis mine).
~Paul Tripp
{Quote from Girltalkhome.com}

Walk with the King,

Filed Under: Perseverance, Trials

WLW Wednesday Link-Up Party

June 28, 2011 By Courtney 23 Comments

2011 is half way over!!! Can you believe it!?!

I’ve decided to join the Women Living Well Wednesday Link-up Party by sharing my 5 favorite posts every week from all the blog hopping I do!

1. To kick us off – I chose Myra’s 4th of July Trifle – the photo is featured above – isn’t it gorgeous!?!

2. Here’s the recipe for the yearly Dirt Cake I make for the 4th of July picnic we’ll be having at our house on Sunday.

3. On Saturday nights my husband and I have been having a date night in our home after the kids are in bed. We attach our ipad to the television, snuggle in close and watch Mark Driscoll’s series on Marriage titled: Peasant Princess. So far we are loving it and I recommend it!

4. And this link – the one that made me cry…What It Means To Have a Sister by Ann Voskamp. I truly am blessed to have 2 sisters who laugh with me and cry with me, who have carried my babies on their hip so I could enjoy a moment of peace, who tell me when my hairs just not quite right lol! and who pray for me when things in my world just aren’t quite right. And while this post touched me because of the deep love I have for my own 2 sisters it brought pain as I think that my own daughter may never experience this bond…she’s missing out…and I just emptied my bins of baby girl clothes TODAY and drove them away…I wanted to cry as they emptied but held it back…this post opened the flood gates…so my hope feels weak, my heart heavy and tears came easy as I read Ann’s tender words. I wrestle – do I continue to dream that those extra two chairs at our dinner table will one day be filled…or let it go and be content…sorry to go melancholy here for a second…this hit a soft spot today.

5. Sally Clarkson is giving away 3 copies of her newly released book Educating the Whole Hearted Child! I can’t wait to get my copy – it’s in the mail! I’ll be sure to tell you all about it after I am done reading it. But until then - enter to win your own copy here!

Now it’s your turn! It’s Women Living Well’s Wednesday Link-Up Party!!!

Join the fun, do a little blog hopping and don’t forget if you join below -please add the Women Living Well Wednesdays button to your post so your readers can find us here! (posts can include the topics of marriage, parenting, homemaking, finances, recipes, organization and more!)

<a href="http://womenlivingwell.org/category/women-living-well-wednesdays/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq297/courtneylivingwell/LivingWell.png"></a>

Walk with the King!

Filed Under: Women Living Well Wednesdays

How Much Time Do You Spend On Blogging?

June 27, 2011 By Courtney 59 Comments

So the question comes from time to time, ”How much time do you spend on blogging?” and I shrink back. Why? Because when I say the truth – you might think less of me. It’s not the actual blogging that takes a lot of time.

I spend about 1 hour max on each post…times 3 times a week – that equals three hours. I also post twice a week over on GoodMorningGirls.org so that’s 2 more hours. So I could say, I spend 5 hours a week on blogging – but this would be half truth.

The bulk of my blogging time is spent on social media! Social media includes – Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, reading other’s blogs, commenting back to comments and on and on it goes. Social media keeps me hopping because well…it’s so…SOCIAL!

Then there’s email – 10 emails a day come from my Good Morning Girls to read and respond to. Emails come from readers, emails from real life friends, and emails from people who “want” something from me or my blog.

So the real question is “how much time do I spend socializing on my computer each week?”

Let me pause here for a moment and enter my mother into this scenario – if you could interview her and ask what one issue she fought the most with me in high school about the answer would be – “my extensive amount of socializing”! lol!!!

I have always been a social butterfly. My philosophy in life with friends is “the more the merrier“. I LOVE people!

So, social media enters the picture and immediately I was sucked in! It is this part of blogging that is like a little monster in my life. The monster needs fed about every 3-4 hours during my day. If I don’t feed the monster – I seem to get behind with messages that are coming my way, life happenings of friends or blog posts others are writing that I want to read.

This may seem strange to you that I am giving the monster this much time…by the way I’ve neglected to tell you how much time I give the monster – haven’t I? It varies based on home happenings but I’d say 2-4 hours a day on week days. UGH! Did I just say that out loud?

Okay – you are all shaking your heads…I have issues don’t I? lol!!!

Then you ask – “how do you balance that and all the other stuff – like reading your Bible, homeschooling children, cooking, cleaning, loving on hubby, serving at church, maintaining real life relationships etc.”?

God? That has to be my answer. I believe that this is the work that God created in advance for me to do (Eph. 2:10). He gave me a supportive husband, two widely wonderful children, supportive parents, sisters, friends, and a church that meets my spiritual needs.

The other truth here is that some things in real life are GIVING! They have to. My home is not perfectly tidy…dirty dishes do sit in the sink and laundry piles up waiting to be folded while I do my social media sometimes. My television viewing hours are down to nearly non-existent not because I’m anti-television but because I prefer to be on-line.

My blog and social media is a labor of love. It wakes me early in the morning and keeps me awake late at night. It woos me to the computer in the middle of the day when the kids are playing to take a peak and chat for just a bit. I have heard many other moms and bloggers struggle with the time issue as I do and so I must ask:

How is social media and this digital world of ipads, iphones and ipods affecting our relationship with God, our marriages, our parenting, our homemaking and our friendships?

Starting next Monday, I will begin a new 8 weeks series titled “Media Mondays”. I will explore the way this digital age is affecting us all and look for your feedback via link-ups and comments.