In Need of Some Grace? {hebrews 4.16 printable}

I need this as a CONSTANT reminder!

Enjoy this free 8×10 printable!

 

 

Grace in the face of Mommy-Hood: Accepting Help

A piercing cry tears through the quiet night. I groggily open my eyes and see the clock – 3:28 a.m. I go through the motions of making a bottle, only half awake, my body and mind heavy. As I pick up my son to feed him for the third time that night, tears begin slipping down my cheeks. Exhaustion courses through me. But that exhaustion isn’t just from sleep deprivation. Or the extreme level of hormones my body’s trying to wash out of my system.  It comes from someone needing you – all the time. It comes from being in constant contact with people, but feeling all alone. It comes from feeling like accepting help shows weakness. It comes from constantly trying to prove to someone – anyone, that I am capable of handling anything thrown my way.

I could probably take you through my life’s story and point out situations and examples of why I became the way I am, but if I did that then I would only feel justified where I should not. Almost every problem in my life comes down to one major flaw. I am filled to the brim with pride. And I cannot accept grace. I cannot accept grace because of my pride. Even the process of deciding to write all this down, for people who know me to read, was a battle with my own pride.  It goes against every fiber of me to admit that I had hard nights with my son. To admit that I should have accepted help when it was offered to me, but I didn’t.

I have always felt that if I needed help, or if I am overwhelmed, then I have failed. Yet when I look at others who ask for help, I think they are perfectly justified. They deserve help, where as I do not. I suffer; I make my family suffer, because I have a double standard for me and those around me. I hold myself to an extreme standard of excellence. I feel that if I am not stressed to my breaking point every day, then I am lazy. And all the while I feel like no one can know. That I have to keep a smile on and tell everyone (mainly myself) that “I’ve got this,” that we live in a state of perfection.  All these feelings and expectations rob my family and me of happiness and comfort.

So how do I combat this? How do I accept grace? How do I let go of the rules and stress that I have placed on myself? For me it is an everyday choice to lay down my pride and accept gifts from God in the form of help and encouragement from others. Really it all comes down to LIVING this Bible verse:

                “And He said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”    2 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)

I am not perfect. I have bad days. I have bad nights. Sometimes I don’t think I can take one more second of crying, one more load of laundry, or one more stinky diaper. Sometimes I need help! And that is okay. In fact it is wonderful! Maybe some days are too much because I need to look around and see all the blessings that God has given me; the people willing to pick me up when I am falling, willing to love me even when I don’t feel lovable, willing to accept me even though I am not superwoman. Accepting help does not mean that I am falling short of what God wants for me. It means that he is daily molding me into what He intends for me to be. And what He intends for me is NOT to be self-sufficient, but whole-heartedly dependent on Him and willing to accept the gifts he offers every day. Truly amazing grace.

Easy Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Today is a very special day. ALL the laundry in the house is DONE! We have been stuck in the house for over a week because my little man has been sick. So what is a momma to do, but clean!  But the cleaning is done so next up is baking!

I have been having a crazy cookie craving! I rummaged through my cabinets to see what I could scrounge up. Tobi helped. : )

Here is what we ended up with:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Stick of Butter

1 Cup of Splenda (or sugar)

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs (beaten)

2 t. Cinnamon

2 t. Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Flour

3 Cups Oatmeal

-Cream together Butter & Sugars

-Add Eggs, Cinnamon, & Vanilla, Blend well

-Add Flour

-Add Oatmeal

Spoon out teaspoons of dough onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes. 

They may not look done, but they are! Let cool, & enjoy!

Yields: About 3 Dozen, 90 Calories each

YUMMY! 

Netflix Date: Chuck

My hubby and I spend a lot of our down time watching Netflix. Netflix dates are awesome because we just put a date like spin on our normal evening activities! Currently we are watching Chuck. There are so many things that you could do with this spy series.

Tonight’s date featured a spy invitation, my version of Chuck’s Famous Chicken Pepperoni, and Frozen Yogurt. We don’t drink alcohol but we LOVE Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice (just so you know 🙂

Here is the printable if you want to invite your man to a Chuck Night Date!

The Chicken Pepperoni turned out really good! Here is the recipe:

2 Chicken Breast (thawed & cut into 1 inch pieces)

Half Package of Pepperoni (about 20, cut in half)

1 Can or Jar spaghetti sauce

1 Can Black Olives

1 Package of Linguine

2 Tbls. Oil

Sugar, Italian Seasoning, Salt, & Pepper to taste.

Shredded Cheese

Cook linguine. In a Skillet, cook chicken in oil. Add pepperoni and olives. Pour all of spaghetti sauce in skillet, and season to taste. Top linguine with sauce mix and top with cheese.

The hubby LOVED it! : ) score!

We had frozen yogurt for dessert. Super easy. Just freeze…yogurt.

Other food ideas for Chuck date nights are: Subway, Fancy hotdogs (for season 1 at least), or cheese puff balls as a snack! You could also send your hubby on “missions.” This could become super elaborate and really fun! There are 5 seasons, so plenty of opportunity for date nights! Here is the clip art if you want to make your own missions or invitations.

Got any netflix/date night inspiration you want to share? I would LOVE to hear it! Comment on this post, and don’t forget to pin it (button found below!)

Happy Dating!

Spiced Chicken

I found this fantastic recipe for Spiced Chicken! Thank you Pinterest! Here is the Original Recipe. I tweaked it just a bit for a smaller portion.

 

Spiced Chicken 

2  tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (Optional)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 chicken breasts – thawed

Put all ingredients (except for chicken) in a large ziplock baggie. Shake and Mix ingredients. Add chicken. Shake to coat well.

I refrigerated mine for about 30 minutes.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until juices run clear.

 

This was delicious! And only 209 Calories per serving – based on a 6 1/2 oz chicken breast.

Pinch Yo’ Pennies: Date Night Fund

Date Night isn’t always free, but it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Like I have already said, I love at home dates. Those still take a little cash though. We do a weekly budget and take out a small amount for fun things. Any extra cash I put in my “Date Dollars” Jar. As you can see – it is overflowing. 🙂 Right.

Oh well – Every little bit helps

Here are some printables for you to make your own!

 

 

 

My Book of Love: Tab Dividers

As I have already said – I LOVE organization! Lists and binders are my best friends. So here are some tab dividers to go with the cover page you have chosen for your Book Of Love. Believe it or not, these little tabs took me longer to design than anything else I have made. Hope you enjoy!

Cream Cheese Chili Chicken

My family has a few meals that are sure fire winners, and Cream Cheese Chili Chicken is one of them!

This meal is SOO easy! Of course it is another crockpot favorite that uses frozen chicken.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you can throw them in frozen!)

1 can drained and rinsed black beans

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can rotel

1 pkg. cream cheese

1 pkg. ranch seasoning  (or go here to make your own!)

Instructions:

Simply throw it all in the crockpot. Chicken on bottom, add the can of beans, corn, and rotel. Put the cream cheese on top and season with the ranch. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. If you are at home you can stir the cream cheese down into the mix after about an hour. If you are leaving it to cook while you are gone just stir it all together when you get home. When it is all cooked, take a fork and shred the chicken.

We like ours over rice but it is good by itself too. I LOVE how easy this recipe is! I have even started tossing cream cheese packets in my freezer so I can stock up and since the cream cheese melts in this recipe you don’t even see a change in texture. It is super easy, and super tasty!

For those of you counting your calories with me, one 1cup serving “costs” 450 calories (without the rice). The recipe yields 5-6 servings.

One of THOSE days.

Being on a diet can get mighty depressing if you let it. Today was one of those days! It always happens about 2 weeks in. I get sick of the measuring, the more limited choices, the littler portions, and being conscious of every little thing I put in my mouth. I just want to eat everything in sight. Is that really to much to ask? Just a little binge. Or maybe go out to eat and not worry about looking at the nutrition facts and just order what I feel like eating. Oh resolve where have you gone? Yep, it was definitely one of those days!

It started out as one of those days when I woke up this morning. I just wasn’t right. I started the day later than usual and I was tired and draggy. It was a day that normally I would have started with a LARGE bowl of my favorite cereal, just to make me feel a little better. Not today though. Today I was greeted with my no-calorie hot tea. ugh. I love the tea, don’t get me wrong, it was just not a day for hot tea. It was a day for cereal.

My plan for lunch was to make ham sandwiches. I waited to make lunch until later than usual because I had some errands to run. By the time I made it to the kitchen we were all hungry and the grumpy me had begun to set in. When I realized we were down to 3 slices of bread, I had just about had it! Now, normally right about then my diet and budget would have been blown. I would have jumped in the car frustrated and hungry and raced to the nearest “fat food” place and ordered whatever the heck I wanted. But, today I said no. I saw this coming, mounting up little by little until the top was about to bust and when it got to the pivotal point I had the strength to say no. I have been praying about this change in eating and I know that God really helped me today to not go crazy. Seriously, that is the only explanation because I know me and I know what I do. It had to be a God thing.

Pete sweetly came in the kitchen and helped me find something else for lunch. We ended up eating ham quesadillas on corn tortillas with a little queso to dip them in (577 calories). Not the most gourmet meal but it filled us. The bad attitude did show several times in the day. My poor family. But, in the end we were able to eat at home all day and stay on track with our calories. For supper we enjoyed one of our favorite meals, Cream Cheese Chili Chicken (w/1 cup. rice, 669 calories). Afterwards we were even able to have a few cookies that I had made.

It may not seem like much to anyone, but this was a huge accomplishment for me. THOSE day’s have defeated me for far to long! I am so glad to realize that even with this food plan  “There hath no temptation taken you (me) but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye (I) may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Now if I can just give Him that attitude… 🙂

My Book Of Love {Date Night Planner}

About 6 months ago I decided I needed to plan out the bare bones of several dates in advance. This helps me look through ideas I already have (mostly) prepared and takes the stress out of coming up with an awesome date at the spur of the moment. I created a Date Night Planner full of printed invites to date nights for my hubby, games, recipes, and printables to set up for the date theme. This is a great combination of my favorite things: Dates, Cute Printables, and Organization! I will be posting several pages to print off (free, of course!) for you to make your own Date Night Planner. Here are 3 choices for a cover page. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!