Mom's Monkey Bread

I have recieved a request for the Monkey Bread I served at my sister-in-law's baby shower. I thought I'd post it here. The recipe is from my mom!

Monkey Bread

• 4 packages of refrigerated biscuits
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start the glaze heating while you are completing this stage. Mix sugar, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a bowl. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces and toss in the mixture. Do them in stages or they will stick together. Toss them into a greased bunt pan. Continue until they are all gone.

Glaze

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Melt together in a saucepan until smooth. (Mine never got smooth after 45 minutes, but mom says hers does. Either way it's good) Pour over the biscuits in the bunt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then turn over on a plate.

My Sister-in-law's Baby Shower

This weekend I hosted my sister-in-law's baby shower for my nephew Saxon that is due next month.
I have pinterest to thank for most of the ideas! Here are some photos.

This recipe was from pinterest, it tasted awesome and super cute! Found it here.

Here is the cake I made.

Here's the diaper cake I made for Saxon!

The beautiful mom-to-be holding one of the babies that was at the shower.

And us together...

By the way, those pom poms above our head were pinterest too..Here's the link!

Here are some of the ladies that attended. Thank you all for all the beautiful gifts and friendship!

Here is a blanket I knitted for the baby.



Not Alone

This morning as I was reading the Bible these verses stuck out to me.

“I thank God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6

It made me so grateful for all the people God has placed in my life at this time! I am so thankful for the team God has given us for Salt Church! I am blessed by all of my home school mom friends that serve the Lord as they teach their children! I am excited about all the new ministry ladies I am meeting and connecting with!

I know I need these ladies in my life. I need people to encourage me when I feel weak. To pray with me when I have to make the second trip to the ER in a week. (Everyone is fine now.) I need to hear their stories and know that they struggle like I do.

I know that there is no way that I could sustain this church plant adventure with out knowing there are others partnering with me across the country. At times you can feel like you're all alone. You feel lost in this church pioneering venture. It's difficult to navigate the uncharted waters.

I find such comfort in the words of the verse "..pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel.."  I am in partnership with the body of Christ. I am not alone in this adventure!

It is such a blessing to have church planters across the country as a part of that support! Last spring I was a part of a VCG (Virtual Community Group) through Leading and Loving It . This fall I am blessed to lead a new community of planters' wives with them. It so so amazing to share with others that are going through the same things you are going through.

I know that God has a plan for my church! I know that He will see it through. (Now if only I could remember that in the midst of the zeros in my checking account and the car troubles.) Paul says "be confident of this, that he who began a good work...will carry it on to completion"! Sometimes it's hard to be confident but I must trust in my calling! He who has called me will carry me through!

Lessons on Worry

The past few weeks have been quite hard financially for this little church planting family! I had become quite worried about how we going to afford to live. My cupboards are getting very bare! I was concerned and started to think about job possibilities. This church planting business is hard stuff, especially on your finances! However; hard things are worth doing!

God spoke to me today through my kids devotional. I honestly wanted to skip it today because I just wanted to get their school work finished so I could move on to other pressing household issues. (Not to mention, this homeschooling mama is ready for summer!) We opened up their Keys for Kids book and it was based on Luke 12:22-31. My heart was opened as my sweet Liam began reading...

"Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens; They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." Luke 12:22-31

There is something so eye opening about hearing God's word read by your child. Through his voice God was speaking to me so clearly! He knows that we need food. He knows that I am stressed! I need to turn it over to him and seek his kingdom first! He will provide if I serve his kingdom! Then, God gave me an opportunity....

There is a man that frequently comes by our house looking for the my husband. He found out he was a pastor about a year ago. He comes by to ask for prayer and to talk things out, but mostly for financial help. We're not always able to give him money, but we usually send him with some food. Today he knocked on my door. In the past, I haven't opened if my husband wasn't home. I opened it today and just that was a blessing to him. He said it made him feel human. So many people, including myself, have ignored his knocking. He needed $12.86 to finish paying for his son's graduation clothes. I told him things were so tight right now. I said my pantry is just about bare and I don't think I really have anything. God spoke to my heart and I told him to wait. I told him I would go check and see if I had any cash (I thought I had maybe $4). I went to my wallet and I had $13 to give him! I told him God was looking out for both of us today! I prayed that God would multiply both of our finances. I shared the about devotional with him.

In providing for that man I was being God's hands and doing the work of his kingdom! God provides. Later today we checked our bank and someone had donated $400 into our account! God is faithful!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" Philippians 4:6

God hears our prayers and worries. My boys and I now know what to do when we are worried. Thank God for what we do have, voice our worries and fears to God, then let go and let him take it! He wants what's best and he will see us through!

Gluesticks: PVC Framed Canopy Bed

Gluesticks: PVC Framed Canopy Bed:  While browsing Toys R Us & Babies R Us last weekend, we came across a cute Tinkerbell canopy bed that Kaylee just loved. She already had a ...

Church Planting Whirlwind

Well, it's been too long since I wrote. My life has been in the whirlwind of church planting! What an adventure we are going to have with Salt Church!

I never realized all the legal stuff you have to deal with. We have been getting insurance, filling for non-profit status, incorporating, waiting on approval from the Assemblies of God -which we just recieved (our church fellowship), and so much more! We are learning so much!

We have started having our core team meetings for Salt in our living room (which means a lot more cleaning!).  It has been going well and by the grace of God our team has been growing. We are still awaiting God to send us a childrens' director and someone with pastoral experience!

I have been learning to stretch our dollars even more! I am already an extreme couponer wanna be, but now it is a necessity. I have learned to be much more creative with our meals. We have been eating a lot more soups because of their meat stretching abilities!

We are about to enter into the adventure of fundraising! In our fellowship, there is a 30,000 dollar matching grant that we could desperately use to make this church a success! We are in the midst of building a website, writing support letters, and planning fundraisers! God has blessed us with many talented people around us that have been helping us pull everything together.

All this, plus homeschooling my children, makes for little time to myself! I have not had time to blog. I hope to get to it more often!

Adoption Navigation

I have recently seen and heard a lot about how opening adoption helps everyone.  I am so mixed about this.  I am trying to see the benefits in our situation and right now I just can't.  I need to protect my daughter.  How would it benefit her to have a birth mom in her life that refuses to call her by her given name, who goes around bad mouthing us, who has not learned from her mistakes and is continuing and get worse in her behavior. 

I try to see things from the birth mother's perspective.  I do feel bad for her.  I can only imagine the turmoil she must be going through; however, does that mean that I should put my daughter at risk because of it? No!

I have people ask me all the time if I have heard from the birth family.  Part of me just wants to forget there was a birth family.  Don't get me wrong, I will be forever grateful that the birth mother chose Rob and I to raise this amazing girl, I am just not wanting it to be a daily part of my life.

I am trying to learn how to navigate this role of adoptive mother.  There is no book that can help me through my specific adoption.  Every adoption is so different and mine is certainly out of the ordinary.  I am caught between more of a familial type adoption and a semi-open.  We knew the birth mother for 5 years before she blessed us with this baby.  It has made things extremely hard.  We didn't go through an adoption agency.  We did have a social worker and a lawyer, but in a way we were left to our own devices.  There were so many times I called my social worker, I know I drove her crazy, because I just had no idea what I was getting into.  I wish there was some textbook on how to deal with it.  I know that is nearly impossible due to every story being unique. 

I thought it would all end once the adoption was final.  It has helped a lot, but there are still so many emotional struggles!  I just hope and pray that one day I can find a way to explain everything to Katrina in a way that makes sense to her and in a way that she feels completely secure.

Thanks for listening!