White Chili Recipe

My sister gave me this recipe a long time ago and I never bothered to make it until yesterday. I bought a bag of dried navy beans at Walmart and decided to give it a try. I quick soaked the beans and then followed the recipe except I omitted the chicken. It was delicious and pretty easy, plus I loved making it in the slow cooker and smelling it for the 4 hours it took to cook! :)

3- 15oz cans of great northern’s bean drained OR 1 pound dried navy beans

8oz cooked and shredded chicken breasts

1 c chopped onions

1.5 c chopped yellow, green or red bell peppers

2 jalapeño peppers stemmed seeded and chopped (optional)

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried oregano

3 ½ cups chicken broth

A dollop Sour cream

Cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

Combine all ingredients except sour cream, cheese and chips in slow cooker. Cook on Low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours.

Simplicity

Sometimes after being a Christian for almost 10 years I seem to make it more complex than it needs to be. The doctrinal differences and theology arguments start to cloud the true simplicity of the Gospel. I love ministering to children because in order to be effective you have to keep it simple.

Last night when I was reading my bible before I went to bed, I read Romans chapter 3. I was so moved by this chapter that it took me another 20 minutes to digest what I read. It's a chapter often used in evangelism because it takes people from sinners to saints in a matter of 31 verses.

>We're all sinners, we all fall short of God's glory. (verses 10, 23)

>We are made right with God through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. (verses 22, 24-25)

See how simple it is???

Being a Christian is so simple. We just have to realize that we are sinners and because of that we don't meet God's standard. So we need something to bridge that gap. That's why Jesus came. That's why He shed His blood as a sacrifice that we could be made right with God.

It's Christmas time and we sing songs and celebrate the birth of Christ, but He didn't just come to find out what it felt like to be a human. He came with a purpose of bridging the gap between man-kind and God. So celebrate your freedom from sin! Don't just celebrate a fat guy in a red suit.

Isn't it a wonderful thing that all we have to do is say, "Yes, Jesus!"?

New Years Resolution=FAIL!!!

In a previous post I told you all about my 2 resolutions for the year 2010. While I have done a good job at one, I recently found out that I FAILED the other!

That's right... I'm pregnant! 2 days before Thanksgiving I took a home pregnancy test and it came back positive. I'm due July 28th, which makes me 8 weeks along. It was a bit of a surprise to find out that we're expecting again, but a good surprise. I've always wanted a big family, at least 4 kids.. but now that I have 2 and I'm pregnant with my 3rd I'm wondering if 3 could be our magic number. :) We've talked about adopting, so I guess we'll see what the Lord has for us in the future.

For the past 2 weeks I've been struggling with fatigue and morning sickness, but thankfully everyday it gets easier.

We've decided to wait until the baby is born to find out what we're having. Everyone says it's the best surprise! Since we have everything we need for either a boy or a girl we're fully prepared. If I had to guess, I'd say I'm carrying a girl because the morning sickness has been nothing compared to when I was pregnant with Jayden... but maybe my body just handles morning sickness better with the more children I have?? haha! Who knows!

So the age gaps will be almost 3 years between Jayden and baby #3. And 21 months between Gabriella and baby #3. I'm hoping to get both the kids potty trained by the beginning of next Summer so I don't have 3 kids in diapers! Even if I can just get Jayden potty trained I'd be happy!

One more thing! We've applied for CHP+ which is an insurance company that is government funded for children newborn-18 years and pregnant women 19+. We meet the income requirements which means we'll be able to have this baby without having to pay a dime!!! All the prenatal care, labor and delivery and postpartum care is free!! It's a huge blessing!

One of those days...

This has been the longest day EVER!!!!!

I don't like Tuesdays to begin with because it's my long day. Jordan has been taking a class for the past 10 weeks every Tuesday night in Longmont so we only get about an hour together as a family.

I slept terrible last night... probably because of the 2 hour nap I took yesterday. Then Jayden came into our room at least 3 or 4 times before 6:30am. I finally crawled out of our bed and landed in his around 7:15 to allow Jordan more time to sleep.

We came downstairs after I showered and Jordan left for work and I got the whiney kids breakfast and milk. Gabri and Jayden both chugged their sippy cups dry. While Jayden finished his yogurt I took Gabriella upstairs to change her diaper and her clothes. When we got to the bottom of the stairs she puked all over the both of us. So I went back upstairs changed her clothes and my shirt, cleaned us both up and then went back down to get Jayden.

Probably an hour later I was upstairs changing Gabriella's diaper AGAIN and I was on the phone with my sister. I had just put socks on my cold feet and I started walking down the stairs holding Gabri in one arm and the phone in the other when I slipped and fell down the last 4 or 5 stairs. I managed to hold on to Gabri and my hip and hand caught us as we slid down. It was painful.

Gabri took her nap and Jayden and I just hung out and watch "Go, Diego, Go" since I wasn't feeling well, I wanted to just rest. Lunch time rolled around and after eating only his 4 slices of apples and maybe 2 or 3 bites of chicken noodle soup Jayden was throwing a tantrum. I took him upstairs to his room and within 15 minutes he was asleep (that was a bonus!).

Anyways, I won't continue to bore you with the details, but it's been rough around here. I feel like I've been the ugliest person to my kids, especially Jayden. I realized Jayden was just getting stir crazy and need to run around outside and play. He needed attention. One of the hardest things about being a parent to more than one child is learning how to balance their needs. It's not always easy and I fail a lot. Isn't it amazing how children learn from our bad behavior so much quicker than they learn from our good behavior?!

I'm so thankful that His mercies are new every morning and His grace is sufficient for me! I need God's help everyday. I lose my mind when I try to do everything on my own. God is the perfect Heavenly Father, He's the best parent there is, therefore He's the best example. I know that I'm far from perfect and I have a lot of learning to do as a parent, but I am so thankful I have the perfect example to follow!

Grandma Jean

A couple weeks ago my grandma had a stroke. As of right now she's in a rehab facility doing her therapy and trying to get better. It's not easy for a person her age, but she's a tough cookie. If you think of her, please, please, please pray for her healing!

During these last few weeks my mind has been flooded with memories of my grandma. I can't help but look back at the impact she has had on my life over the past 23 years. I think I have as many memories with my grandma as I do my mom and dad. My dad lived with her from the time I was 4 years old until I was 21. So as you can imagine I was able to spend a lot of time with her.

I love my grandma's history. She's lived through a lot and has a lot of wisdom to bestow. Grandma Jean was 1 out of 14 kids. She grew up on a farm in Nebraska. Every Summer my grandma would take her grandkids out to Nebraska for the annual family reunion. It was a huge deal. We had lots of cousins and aunts and uncles and it was so much fun getting to spend an entire weekend at the lake getting to know them. I've been so incredibly blessed to get to know my extended family and my family history. It's something most people don't get to experience first hand. It was one of my grandma's goals in life to make sure her grandchildren knew each other, I think she did a beautiful job of accomplishing that goal.

When I was in the 4th grade my grandma told me she was going to move 4 hours north to Casper, Wy. I remember sitting on my bed crying because I didn't want her to move. I was fortunate because it wasn't until 2 years ago that she actually did make the move. However, now that she's going through all of this it's hard to be away from her.

This was the day after I got engaged, Aug. 2006

The last time I saw my grandma, Aug. 2010

Thanksgiving Break

This week has been great! Jordan had the entire week off paid, because his work calendar follows the school district and he gets the same days off paid.. it's amazing! :)

Anyways, we've had a great time! The first weekend I had my mother in law perm my hair. My naturally curly hair suddenly went straight after all the hormones from 2 pregnancies, and I was really missing the easy hair style. So for $18 and a couple hours of my MIL's hard work I now have curly hair again!!! :)

We've also taken the kids to the library for story time; rotated days to sleep in; took LOTS of naps; baked cookies and breads; cooked lots of yummy food; celebrated Thanksgiving at church for the Something Pumpkin service and at my in laws for dinner; and then broke out the Christmas decorations! It's been so nice to just having Jordan home all day and night! I love it!

I'm not looking forward to Monday when Jord goes back to work, but it's only like 3 weeks until Christmas break and he gets 2.5 weeks off and we're going to TEXAS!!!!!!! I can't wait! It's going to be great!

Here are few pictures from Thanksgiving.

Amazing food,

Friends

Family,

Games,

And Naps!

A Dime A Dozen

I'm talking about "photographers"...

Have you noticed how many of your friends claim to be photographers?? Pretty much anyone with a digital SLR calls themselves a photographer now. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just making an observation.

I have a friend who is a photographer and he really likes polaroids and I honestly never understood why. Then it dawned on me the other day when I was looking at some photos he posted on his blog.... In order to take a good picture with a polaroid you have to be a talented photographer. You only get one shot. You don't get photoshop to fix your lighting, exposure, dodge and burn, crop, layer, etc. It's raw photography.

If we were to take out photoshop and digital cameras how many so-called photographers would still possess the ability to take a beautiful picture??

It's kind of like singers... Autotune and other studio magic tools are great, but what about when they're singing completely unplugged?? Are they still a great singer?

Think about the true ability Ansel Adams possessed as a photographer. I mean this guy was talented!!!

I took 2 semesters of photography in high school and I do own a digital SLR camera.. but I in no way shape or form consider myself a photographer.

Anyways, it's just a silly observation I made.. What are your thoughts?