My version of chicken cacciatore

I used chicken thighs and legs in this meal but you could also use chicken breast to lower the fat content. Next time I think I will remove the skins before I cook the chicken. Ingredients: One package of chicken legs and one package of thighs. (This amount would feed 7 of us, 3 being children with leftovers) One onion, sliced Two bell peppers, sliced (I used red peppers) 6-7 cloves of garlic, minced 4 cups chicken stock (I used homemade, recipe to come later) 3 cups tomato sauce 2 cups or one large can of diced tomatoes Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon oregano Olive oil Instructions: Heat a large pot (I use a Dutch oven) to medium high heat and put enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brown a few pieces at a time in the pot. You aren't looking to cook it through you just want to brown the outside then set them aside on a plate. Keep browning a few pieces at a time until all of the chicken is browned. Next, add the sliced onion, pepper and garlic to the pan and season with salt and oregano. Cook for a few minutes then add the chicken stock, tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes and add salt to taste. Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the chicken back to the pot. Simmer on low until chicken is fully cooked. This will take about an hour. You can serve on brown rice or quinoa. This can also be cooked in the slow cooker. Any leftover can be used as a start for soup.

Lessons from the garden

I love how God uses our everyday experiences to teach us about Himself as well as how we relate to Him. I strongly believe that if we will take the time to look past what seems to be just a mundane ordinary task, we will hear God desiring to speak His truth in our lives. I believe this is especially true when those task involve being outside in the midst of the creation of the Creator. There is something about being outside that just makes me feel that much closer to my Heavenly Father and Creator. Today (Saturday) I was outside working in the garden area. I am starting the process of getting it cleaned up and ready to plant for our spring/summer garden. Because we have a large presence of sand spurs in our yard, we have found that the best chance we have at keeping them at bay in the garden is to put down black plastic. However, despite the plastic there are still weeds and such that end up growing through any hole that they can find in the plastic. So today I was removing the dead weeds that took over one section of the garden after we finished harvesting our bounty last year. In almost every hole that we had made to put a vegetable plant, a weed had take the opportunity to make its home in the now abandoned hole. As I was removing these insidious plants from the plastic, God spoke to me. When I first started this task today, I have to admit that I was a little overwhelmed at what I saw. This particular section was covered in weeds. These weeds were the ground cover type of weed, meaning they spread out for what seemed like miles all intertwined with each other. I couldn't imagine why I was seeing this many weeds when we had put down the plastic to prevent such a take over of weeds. However, being determined to prepare the garden for its upcoming production I set out little by little removing the weeds. With each part of these weeds I removed God started to speak His truth into my heart. The more I worked the more I learned about the weeds and why it seemed that there were so many of them. There actually were not that many individual weeds, but the design of the weeds is what made them so insidious. From one small hole one weed would sprout up and then in turn spread out and around from the center covering as much ground as it could. It didn't take me long to figure out that if I could find the root of the weed then I could loosen the root and the entire weed could be removed. Some of these plant probably measured at least three feet in diameter, but if I could find the root then I could more easily remove the weed. So, I am sure you are wondering just what God spoke to me as I was removing these weeds. You see these weeds are like the sin in our lives. They take every opportunity they can to root themselves in the soil, just like sin takes every opportunity it can to root itself in our lives. Every time we leave holes in our lives by not focusing our entire life on God, sin enters and spreads. And if we continue to let it spread it will take over and keep us from producing the fruit that God desires to produce in our lives. However, with some work and renewed focus we can allow God to remove those areas in our lives that have taken over. Did it take some work and effort and sweat to remove these weeds? Of course, but once I figured out that what I had to focus on was the root of the weed then I was able to remove the weed with greater ease. So, many times we focus on the effects of our sin, when in truth if we want God to remove the sin from our lives we must find the source of the sin. And more times then not, the sin in our lives is a result of not focusing everything on God. When how we think, feel and act are not focused on God then we leave holes that sin can creep in and take hold. God created us as a complex creature. We have thoughts, emotions, physical abilities and a soul. All of these combine to make us the most cherished of God's creation. God created us in His image and because of that we ourselves are complex. That complexity leaves a lot of opportunity for us to loose focus. We have to be strong spiritually, mentally, emotionally, relationally and physically. But thank God He does not leave us to do this on our own. In fact, God has been teaching me that I can not do it own my own, I must rely on Him. I can do nothing good on my own and until I give everything to Him and focus all of me on Him, then I can not produce anything good. Every time I removed one of the large weeds it made me desire to move even more. The more I worked the more confidence I got and the less focused I was on what I thought at first was an overwhelming task. The closer I get to God the more clearly I see the sin that needs to be removed in my life and the more I desire to remove that sin. With every sin God points out in my life and helps me remove, the more I learn to let God have control. Yes, it takes work and yes, it is hard but the end result is worth it. The end result of my work in the garden will hopefully produce and abundance of fresh vegetables for my family and friends. The end results of the work of God in my life are the fruits that His Spirit produces.

Satan's Attack on Ministry Families

I am writing this post with a heavy, concerned heart for all of those who are in the ministry. Within the past six months I have heard stories of at least three ministry families whose family has been torn apart as the result of attacks by Satan on the wife/mother of the family. This concerns me greatly and has caused me to pray and try to put some understanding to what is occurring in many ministry families. This concerns me for not only the families who have been destroyed or at best seriously wounded, but also for the ministries that these families were a part of. In all three of these cases the husband was in some kind of full-time ministry. And while I do not personally know these families, my husband is friends with the husband. I do not know all of the circumstances surrounding these families but what I do know is that in all three cases the wife has decided that she no longer wants to be married to a minister. I am married to a minister and consider myself an important part of his ministry. I consider it my calling in life to be a helpmate to my husband and to be instrumental in helping him be as effective as he can be a minister. I am by no means perfect and have at times found myself feeling very unworthy of this calling. However, I consider it a great honor and priviledge to serve with him. Our roles in the ministry are different, his role is more focused on interacting with people, preaching, counseling, comforting families, being the face of the ministry while my role is to be the caretaker at home and take care of the needs of my family. While I am also involved in several different ministries at our church, my primary calling is to be a godly mother and wife and to make sure our family is taken care of. I believe this is where a lot of the conflict occurs. From what I have been able to understand many of the wives feel as though their husbands spend too much time doing ministry. I do have to interject here that being a minister's wife is not easy. There are often many expectations put on you by people outside of the family and yes there are many times that your husband is suddenly called away for some kind of ministry need. Just like people tend to put ministers on a pedestal so the wife and children are often put in a "glass box." People tend to look at the wife and children of the minister with high expectations, like we are to be super human and make no mistakes. This is simply false and often leads to much frustration for the wife because we are looked to as the ones who are the care takers of the home and children. Yes it is my responsibility to be the caretaker of my home and children, but is not your responsibility to be the judge of how well I am performing. As a result of my God-given responsibility to my family and the world-given view of my family and how it is managed there can be a great source of stress for the wife and when you add a husband who is often away doing his God-given responsibility then there is where I believe Satan has an opening to push his way into the heart of the wife and cause much destruction to the ministry family. Unfortunately we live in a society that is focused on self. We are told to do what is right for you and do not worry about what other people say. As women we are told that we have certain rights and needs, and that if those needs are not met then we are being deprived. On a side note, I believe that the women's rights movement did more for destroying the family and the values of this country than any other tool of Satan. If Satan can get us as women to believe that we deserve certain things, then he can get an inroad in to our hearts and ultimately our families. We have been taught that we deserve to have time for ourselves, we deserve to have a fairy tale romance, we deserve to have everything this world has to offer us. The problem with this is that one, this world is controlled by Satan and the things of this world are corrupt and destructive. Secondly, if we deserve anything it is death and eternity in hell. I do not mean to be harsh hear (ok, maybe I do) but in reality the only thing any of us deserve male or female is death. Follow me here, we are born into sin. We are all sinners. God is loving, yes, but He is also just and righteous. And because He is just and righteous he cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, in our sinful nature (which we are born into) we can not by any means stand in the presence of God. But praise God He has provided away for us to stand before Him blameless and that is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only through the cleansing blood of Jesus can we stand before God blameless. This truth is only the result of God Himself. We can and have not done anything to earn it. It is only because of God's mercy and grace do we have the ability to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection and therefore have our sins removed from His sight. So, if you want to talk about what any of us deserve then the only conclusion one can come to is that we deserve death and eternity separated from God. So, if you want to understand why I serve Him it is because Jesus did for me what I could not do myself. I owe him a debt I could never repay. Satan has caused us to believe in the lie that we deserve certain rights and privileges as humans. If he can get us to focus on what we want or think we need, then he has taken our focus away from God and what His desire is for our lives. When the Psalmist says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart," he is not referring to any type of fleshly desire. He is talking about the desires that come out of an intimate walk with God. The desires that come from God alone and not from our own desires of the flesh which only lead to destruction. These are just a few of the Scripture that speaks about our desires: Mark 4:19; Ephesians 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3, Titus 2:12. Galations 5:24 says "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." WE ARE NOT TO GIVE IN OR LET OUR OWN DESIRES CONTROL US. Satan is a liar and a deceiver, he will make what is not of God look pleasant and right. John 8:44 says "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." We must make it our mission as children of God to be aware of the lies of our enemy Satan. He seeks to destroy us. Those of us who are directly involved in ministry are particularly vulnerable to Satan's attacks. If Satan can get into the head and heart of the wives that our needs or desires are not being met, then he has he can cause us to focus on ourselves and not God. My husband should not be the one who meets my needs. If I am looking to him to be the one to meet my need and desires then my needs and desires are worldly focused. How dare I put him in the position to be the one who meets my needs or desires. He is a sinful human being just like me and if I set him up to be the source of my strength and my provider of my needs, then I am setting him up for failure. God is the only one and should be the only one who meets my needs and desires. When the source of my strength is God and the source of my provision is God and when the source of my desires are from God, then this frees my husband to be the man God has called him to be. Will my husband fail me, yes. Will I fail him, yes. We are two sinful human beings who are married to each other. Neither one of us are perfect and for either one of us to put the other in the position of being perfect is a lie straight from Satan. There have been times in my marriage when I have been guilty of making my husband my source of strength and the provider of my needs. It was during those time that Satan would use even the smallest annoyances to bring out frustration and anger. However, through spending time in God's Word and in prayer, God showed me that the problem was not with my husband but with my relationship with God. God should be the source of everything I need and desire. I had allowed my relationship with to suffer and therefore my focus was on my needs and fleshly desires. Only when I started focusing on my relationship with God was I able to see that I was the problem and I had allowed Satan to influence my thoughts. Satan is author or lies and God is the author of truth. We are either following Satan and his lies or God and His truth. Please be in prayer for all of those you know who are in the ministry. You may never know exactly what is going on in their lives. Just because someone has been called into full-time ministry does not mean that they are perfect or immune from the attacks of Satan. If anything the opposite is true. As a minister's wife, I call on all other minister's wives to pray for each other and to make sure that your relationship with God is the most important focus in your life. Because if it isn't, then Satan has a foothold into your family and can cause much destruction. Please seek godly counsel if you are going through a difficult time. We are not in this alone. I'm going to end with at request that you read Ephesians 2. There is much truth and hope in these words.

Deer Roast Recipe

Here is my recipe for a Deer Roast, but actually it can be adapted to use for a beef roast too. Heat some oil in a large pan. Season the roast with Lawry's Meat Tenderizer and brown the roast on all sides once the pan heats up. Transfer the roast to a slow cooker. In the same pan cook 1/2 chopped onion and 3-4 cloves of minced garlic. When onions are soft add enough flour to the remaining oil to make a mixture that is about the consistency of pancake batter but slightly thicker. Let cook for 1-2 minutes. With a whisk stir in about 1 cup milk. At this point you want the mixture to be like a canned cream of whatever soup. Add milk as necessary to get this consistency. Season with some salt and pepper. Next add 4 cups of water and 4 beef bullion cubes (or use beef broth), 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, and 1-2 tablespoons of Dales' sauce (optional). Add the mixture to slow cooker along with the other 1/2 of the onion cut up. Cook on low for 8-9 hours. This can also be cooked on the stove or oven by using a Dutch oven. Brown the meet in the Dutch oven take it out then follow the steps to make the gravy then add the roast back to the pot. I am guessing it will take about 3-4 hours in a Dutch oven on 350 degrees in the oven. If you are using a beef roast the time needed to cook will be less, because deer roast usually have a bone in them.

My little girl is growing up.

My Hannah B. is growing up so fast, well actually all three of them are. However, this week Hannah has accomplished two rites of passage for a child. First, she has learned to ride a bike without training wheels. The past few weeks she has been able to ride if somebody got her started but this week she figured out how to start all by herself. She was a very fast learner. A few weeks ago when we started teaching her to ride without training wheels, she took to it immediately. We were very surprised at how quickly she took to it. Within 30 minutes of her first ride she was able to circle the yard. The other day she decided to learn to start herself and within 10 minutes was starting herself and riding all over the yard. She was very proud of herself, and we were too. It makes a mama's heart proud to see a child accomplish a goal she wanted to achieve. I wish I had had the camera out there to capture the smile on her face. I wish for my children that they will have the courage to overcome any fears that they have and will not let fear keep them from accomplishing their goals, and I was able to see that displayed through Hannah. Even when she fell she would get right back up and try again.
Another rite of passage she conquered this week was learning to tie her shoes. Her Memaw showed her and then she did it. Again, she was so proud and had to demonstrate to all of us several times her new ability. While it breaks my heart a little to see my children growing up, I am also proud to know that Craigan and I are following God's guidance in raising our kids to be the adults God has created them to be.

Park and Picnic

We went to the park this evening with my sister and her family for a picnic and some fun on the playground. It was beautiful weather and the kids had a blast.

Christmas 2011

I'm sitting here reflecting on this year's Christmas season. For my family, for the most part it was absent of the usual busyness that comes with this time of year. The parties were few, the shopping was minimal and the feelings of needing to cram every possible Christmas activity in before the "big day" was non-existant and to tell you the truth I am so thankful. Thankful that this season was spent in much more reflection of its true meaning. Even though this Christmas season brought me closer to experiencing Christmas in a way that I believe honors God's greatest gift to us, I am still left with the feeling that there are many more aspects of our celebration of Christmas that need to be evaluated and changed. It is my desire that for the 2012 Christmas season that my family will experience Christmas in a new way. That we will spend our Christmas season focusing our hearts on Jesus and the mercy and grace He showed us and that we will in turn be a reflection of that mercy and grace to others. It is my desire that we spend Christmas 2012 with an attitude of giving. I believe that this attitude of giving however must start with the other 364 days leading up to December 25th, 2012. It is my heart's desire this new year to instill in my children an attitude of giving, and I believe that it must first start with me. I am desiring that God will give me an attitude of giving and guide me throughout this year to experience the joy that comes from giving back that which God has given to me.