Giving Thanks; Day Four: Mt. Olive Church

Almost everyone knows my struggles with my faith.  I grew up in the New Apostolic Faith.  My mother, when I was like 13, moved us to another city away from my sister and I's friends and family to make a new life for us and attend her childhood church.  My sister and I never really had a choice what we wanted.  Needless to say I grew spiritually...attended a fantastic youth group, which gave me even more friends and travel opportunities that I never would have been given otherwise.  Met so many people and dated a lot of guys from different places.  But in all of these great experiences...I questioned a lot of the beliefs.  I mean core beliefs that whenever I was teaching or going to service made me feel like a fraud because I was there and didn't believe. 

Our church was just a small congregation of a huge organization...we went through a lot of hard times.  The church basically went through 2 blowouts and rebuilds before a certain Pastor came along.  This man then tried bringing the church more into the community, but since it was such a small congregation they fought it the whole way.  It was when the 3rd blowout was coming that I decided...hey I'm not being fed spiritually, I'm not growing in my faith...I've questioned a lot of it...and why am I here?  I finally realized I was there because I felt like I owed it to my mom to be there.  Even though both she and my sister never really attended anymore. 

That's when I found Mt. Olive.  It was presented to me as a non-denomination church, but have since learned it's Methodist.  And you know what...I don't care!  Yea, there are some weird things they do, but I realized it was only weird because of the amount of time I spent in the NAC church.  Their worship services are fun, uplifting, and loud!  Hands are raised, people are clapping, and everyone is singing!  Sermons are inspirational and have a message.  Whenever Pastor Barry gets up to deliver a sermon I know he's been working on it...at least all week if not longer!  There's still that chorus of Amen's or Hallelujah that freaks me out a little...but its getting easier and easier to just let myself go and feel the love of God in my worship experience.  They are a very big face in the community.  They feed the community, do toy drives, give away coats and clothes, they are to me the very definition of a Christ centered church.  We always hear Christ said bring me your tired, poor, and hungry.  Well this church sends them away energized, a bit richer, and very full.  I couldn't have asked for a better church family to belong to. 

Giving Thanks, Day Three: Kristen

So what do you say about someone who has known you practically your whole life?  Kristen was my big sister in my youth group when I was growing up and we basically became sisters.  Her mom thinks of me as another daughter...her brothers certainly picked on me like another sister and to this day are very close with me.  This year was about the greatest gift she could ever give me when she moved to town.  See she grew up in Oklahoma City, which is about a 3 hour drive depending on how slow or fast you drive.  When she got married she then moved to Ohio, which is when we really lost contact.  But several years ago she moved home and in May (I believe...or June) of this year she moved to Fort Smith.  Now whenever I need her...she's just a 15 minute drive.  I'm still working on two other friends...but once their here (which will likely never happen) my life will be complete and I won't ever want to move away from here.

So to my soul sister Kristen...you complete me!!!

Giving Thanks, Day Two: Duck Pond Peeps!!



The Duck Pond Peeps!


On Day Two I am thankful for the opportunity to know and work with this great group of people.  This is their Halloween picture from this year...they dressed up as people from Clue.  From left to right is Aston, Chris, Monica, and Courtney.  I have learned much from them collectively, but each person has gifted me with a new sense of me.  They've helped me discover things about myself that I previously didn't know or care to know and how to be a better person in my work.  I am thankful that I can call each one of them my friend and I got the chance to work with each and everyone of them. 

Giving Thanks, Day One: Amy

And with this picture ends Halloween & October!  And it's on to the most exciting time of the year.  I have to say November is, for me, the best part of the year.  The colors, cooler weather, and thanksgiving, all wrap up to make this the best month possible.  This year has flown by so fast I can't remember everything that has happened, but I wanted to do a 30 day post about what I am thankful for.  Now don't get me wrong...I've spent the better part of this year re-training myself and my prayers to be more thankful in nature and less...can I please have this, lord I want that...but especially this month I want to take a little time out to single out people and things I am extremely thankful for.   Soooooooooooo.......

Day One: Amy



Amy has been one of my best friends for a long time.  We've been through a lot together...bar fights (please don't judge), chick fights, driving lessons late at night for a stick shift while she's drunkenly giggling beside me trying to tell me how to make her truck go at a green light...thats actually a funny story.  I can't work a clutch and I'm driving her drunk butt and a friends from Downtown to her apartment.  I get stuck at a light for (I kid you not) thirty minutes because I can't get the clutch in gear!!!  She's now a mommy and I'm a wifey so we've settled down since those times.  But, I don't know what I'd do without her or her tendancies to get us in some sort of trouble whenever we go out together.  And after the dinner we just had together I can't wait to fly across the ocean and visit another country with her to see what kind of hijinx and shenanigans we can get into together.  I don't think our guys have any clue what they just signed on for!!!

Carolina and Mommy (Amy)

Catching Up

Today is Sunday...a normally fast paced...church..home...spending time with Daniel and Laura day where we just go-go-go-go!!!  But I had to work this morning, which created an 8 hour hole that was filled with guests, cleaning, paperwork, and stolen bits of me time.  It was quite nice actually to be able to sit down and produce a well thought out plan for attacking the rest of the day and week.  I've managed to do a bible study, plan an approximate menu for next weeks dinners, and put together some photo collages which I will proudly display here. 

As you've noticed I've been on a little bit of a baking and cooking binge here lately.  Russ isn't complaining because he's missed my cooking here lately, and begrudgingly admitted... me too.  So with going back to days...YAY!!!!  I've been able to start cooking more and not just for me!!!  Of course...since I only snapped one photo of each meal that I'm highlighting, I threw in some more memorable moments of wine and whoppers, and Michigan Margarita...that margarita was soooo stout and not in an alcoholic way...I got acid reflux from the mix that night...but it sure did hit the spot!!!

These little and not so little girls are my heart and soul. Zoey and Punky are two completely different girls, but same in many ways.  Zoey and Punky both love to play.  But Punky loves to be outside and Zoey loves to be inside.  Punky sleeps with mommy and daddy but wishes she could sleep outside and Zoey sleeps outside, but wishes she could be with mommy and daddy.  They both love to pick on their older brother Brutus.  They both love to swim...Punky more than Zoey, but Zoey still loves to be in lakes and ponds.  Punky's loud, Zoey's soft.  Zoey's big and Punky's small. Punky loves her daddy more than me and Zoey loves me more than her daddy.  Brutus on the other hand, loves us both, but doesn't like anyone most of the time.  (Leave me alone growls or your playing too loudly is a staple in our home.) 

And next lastt...Roberta's Baby Shower.  I was asked to make the baby shower cake of a very old friend of mine that I hadn't seen in too many years.  In the process of this they invited me to the shower.  (I can hear my BF Tiffany telling me...Of course you'd be invited stupid..your her friend!)  But seriously folks...the last time I saw Roberta I was almost 14.  I'm super older than that now.  So it was great to be invited. 

So I grabbed my sister and a friend Kristen and we headed over the hill to NWA.  Ended up in Rogers at Roberta's sister's home and chit chatted a while before the shin dig started.  We played games, laughed really super hard, ate, had cake, won prizes, and visited some more.  You know the old saying that best friends are defined by not seeing each other for a million years but still being able to pick up right where you left off a million years ago??  That was exactly what it felt like to be with Gina, Melissa, Tiffany, and Roberta.  We all went to school together and hung out together.  My sister Amanda and Tiffany's sister Melissa are BFF's just like Tiff and I were.  Gina is one of our BFF's and Roberta is one of theirs.  After my sister and I moved away and Tiffany's sister moved out Roberta and Tiff got super super close.  There's always that petty jealousy when someone calls your BFF their BFF and you're like...nuh uh she was mine first...yea I always get that way and have to tell myself to quit being so vain.  I absolutely love my girls and am sooo glad to have them back in my life.

The last thing I wanted to share with you guys was a study we're doing in church.  Every Sunday for six weeks Pastor Barry from Mt. Olive Church (my church) will be discussing how to be a follower of Jesus...not just a fan.  A fan is defined as an enthusiastic admirer.  My eyes were opened last week when Pastor Barry basically described how I was going about my life in my faith as a fan.  HOLY COW!!!  I'm not a follower??  So they said join a small group...being back on days...YAY!!! allowed me to do just that.  I found an open small group that was doing the Not a Fan series.  And because these people are so nice they agreed to start all over.  Now mind you they would have been starting week 2, but they didn't have to start again, but they did.  Already in a week the changes in my daily life has been phenomenal.  I'm praying more, actively studying my followers journal (and keeping up with it!)  Russ and I have started praying together at night and last night he told me that he had been thinking about what I told him when I got back from Wednesday's meeting and it made sense to him.  So he prayed last night that we become followers of Jesus not just fans.  Now guys...whenever my husband prays period, I get choked up...but to hear him pray to God that we do something I have been earnestly praying about on my own, did me in...I didn't bawl hysterically...but I was close.  If I hadn't been so ding dang tired, I probably would have.  I definitely encourage you to check out Kyle Idleman's page here, (it's facebook)  and the Not A Fan website here.

Alright y'all...my hands are tired...this has taken just about all afternoon to do..so I'm checkin' out...I'm still gonna post the Pork Chop recipe and the Rice recipe...so keep checking back for that. 

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken with Roasted Potatoes

Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce used!

So today kiddies I wanted to stop all the reading and posting of literary reviews and tell you about this awesome meal I made fo my honey, who LOVED it, and the subsequent out pour of please give me that recipe!!!  

After scouring my pinterest for a great crock pot recipe I settled on this one.  Just because it seemed the simplest to put together with minimal watching, stirring, or any other preparation from me.  (One day off's suck!! And you tend to not want to do anything on those days)  So anyways...with recipe in hand I ran to the store at midnight when I got off work and got potatoes and BBQ sauce.  Use whatever you have on hand or your favorite and this recipe will become one of your go to favorites.

Ingredients: 
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast (I used 4; 2 to eat that night and then shredded 2; mixed with sauce in pot for Shredded BBQ Sandwiches the next several days.)
1 bottle BBQ Sauce du Jour! (Mine was Sweet Baby Rays.)
1/4 cup Vinegar
1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2-1 tsp. Garlic Powder

(Potatoes)
1 Smallish Bag Red Potatoes (these are just what I used.  You can use nude, golden, bakers, sweet, pretty much the sky's the limit...just use what your family loves!!)
Butter This step is hard because I use spray I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.  I just sprayed the chunks.)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Minced Onion
Rosemary

Directions:
Mix the BBQ Sauce (in a separate bowl; yes I made this mistake) with all the ingredients for the chicken.  You can use frozen chicken...I just grabbed them from the freezer...tore open the Ziplocs and threw them into the crock pot.  Pour sauce mix over the chicken.  If you make the sauce and then throw in the chicken, the crock pot police are not going to come sirens blaring up to your house and take you away.  (Believe me I waited on the front porch for them.)  The purpose for crock pot cookin' is the simplicity of it.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Take your potatoes and chunk them however you want.  Line them on a baking sheet that's been oiled up somehow.  Pour some EVOO and spread, spray Pam, or what I did was Pam Olive Oil.  (VERY NICE!!!)  Spray with butter and season to taste.  (OH...inserting brilliant idea!!  Melt some butter and brush over the potatoes with a pastry brush or ladle with a spoon..that way if you don't have spray, you still get that buttery goodness!!!  Now back to the originally scheduled recipe.) I salted, peppered, garlic'd, minced onions and rosemary'd the entire pan.  I then stuck in the oven at 375 degrees for somewhere between 30-45 minutes.  The timing depends on how crispy, brown, golden, or done you like your potatoes. 


This recipe is like a week old now and already my husband has asked me to make it twice!  Stay tuned for our next recipe which is Grilled Brown Sugar Pork Chops and a side dish of Cinnamon Rice with Apples!! (Sorry no pic as people just gobbled without stopping long enough for a picture.)  And as always...let me know what you think of the dish after you've tried it in the comments!!!

"Lip Service" by M.J. Rose

Wow...where to start with this book...  The blurb for Amazon gives this blurb about the book: 

 "On the surface, Julia Sterling's life seems blessed. Married to a renowned psychiatrist, living on Manhattan's tony Upper East Side, Julia deeply loves her stepson, and is forging a career as a journalist.

When a writing job at The Butterfield Institute - a sex therapy clinic - exposes her to the world of phone sex, Julia glimpses a world that stirs her erotic fantasies but threatens her

carefully constructed reality. As she explores her emotional and sexual

connections to the men she knows and several she will never meet, she confronts evil, perversity, and her own passions.

Tracing the currents of desire, illusion, and psychological manipulation,Lip Service is an astonishingly vivid glimpse into one woman's inner life. At the same time, this electrifying

thriller grips the reader as it builds toward a battering climax."



Again I was so excited to read this book because it had been compared to Fifty Shades of Grey.  Granted I haven't read Fifty Shades of Grey personally, but if I didn't have a lot of people who said it was a great book and one they know I'd love...I wouldn't read it after reading this novel. 

Julia Sterling is the quintessential repressed housewife, mother, and fragile woman child with a horrible past.  In college, she went through a breakdown and as a result of that never went back.  She finally met her husband Paul (who you hate through the entire book) and quickly married. 

Skip forward too many years where you meet Jack the best friend who has been secretly in love with Julia for so many years.  I found myself through the entire novel rooting for Jack and Julia.  Max, whom you know already knows his parents divorce is inevitable and a whole host of other people who float in and out of the story line.

I don't know if it was just me, but the story seemed disjointed.  We start the novel on one of Julia's calls and she talks about how she has always been disturbed by this caller and then are plunged into the back story.  How she became a repressed adult/child who is constantly talked down to by her husband and whom doesn't have any passion towards, what their social life consists of, and how she was introduced to the owner of the Sexual Therapy Center where she starts her alternate life.  Then get into the awesome nitty gritty dirt where lets just say, you really don't need to be reading it at work, and then page turn your dealing with all the scary crap. 

I have to say the novel would have been better written if it would have just been one flowing story.  Build it to a crescendo and then let all hell break loose!  Other than that it was wonderfully written with semi-believable characters.  (I can't imagine that Julia would be so repressed, her husband such and ass, or Jack hang on so long for Julia to realize she loves him, much less as a man call her everyday without letting on his feelings.) 

If this is a mindless read like many of my books are for me..I would say go for it!  If your wanting a compelling and gripping erotic novel compared to Fifty Shades of Grey, skip it.

Thanks to Net Galley for the great read!