Another Ultrasound Pic

I was going thru my goodie bag from the Dr this morning and found this 1 stray ultrasound pic. So, I wanted to share it w/ you all

Our Wiggle Worm!!!!!

Holy cow....today's experience at the Dr's office was absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!!

I must confess, I was EXTREMELY nervous cause I halfway expected her to tell me I'm crazy....I'm not pregnant. I guess because of the fact I haven't had morning sickness, I couldn't help but doubt that I really was pregnant. But any doubt that I had before today, is now gone cause I've finally seen the proof. Take a look for yourself :-)

At first the baby was just laying, sleeping peacefully. So, the dr decided to give it a little poke to see if she could get it to move. Boy, did it ever start sqirming all over the place. Waving its arms, kicking its legs and even rolling over on the side as if to look at us. The Dr called it a wiggle worm. It was soo cool to be able to see it move like. Once she poked the little thing, it didn't stop moving.

It was definately a GREAT experience and I was soo glad that Efren was there to share w/ it. He was extremely amazed at how developed the baby was. He wasn't expecting to be able to see it's little arms, legs, hands and feet. We also got to hear the heart beat, but what I thought was even cooler was seeing the little flicker on the monitor of the baby's actual heart....totally amazing.

We're scheduled to go back October 22nd and I'll be 15 weeks at that visit.

Seeking Him: Struggling for Words

Thought this could be a good reminder for all of us:

Struggling for Words

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: When our nation experiences a sudden crisis, what do most people do? Flip on the TV. We want the very latest information and analysis. But do you ever find that commentators and reporters struggle for words—especially when faced with severe shock or grief?

There’s nothing wrong with watching the news, but ultimately, it’s not the most reliable source of information.

In dark times, the Word of God gives light, understanding, and wisdom. That’s why we sometimes need to unplug, and open the Bible.

Scripture gives us perspective. It reminds us that God is our refuge. A present help in time of trouble. It gives us faith in times that are fearful. We’re reminded that we don’t have to fear even though “the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.”

Where do you go for true perspective? To the television, websites, or blogs? Or to the Word of God?

Weekend w/ the Family

This weekend my parents came up for a visit. I was sooo excited to have them come as they were our first official houseguests to where they stayed over more than 1 night and I actually had to plan meals. I had soo much fun planning the menu for the weekend and getting to play hostess.

They arrived around noon on Friday and Efren and I took them to a local BBQ restaurant that we recently discovered called Wild Bill's BBQ. It sure was fun to see my dad's face when he whipped out his wallet to pay and I stopped him and handed the cashier the money. He definately wasn't expecting that.

For dinner, it was just me and my parents and I made some Chicken Enchiladas w/ chips, salsa and home made guacamole. The last time I can remember making these enchiladas was for Jonathan when he was still living at his 1st apartment...that seems like forever ago. I'm soo glad they popped into my head when I was creating my menu cause they're sooooo good. Here's a link to the recipe

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Chicken-Enchiladas-2

I must say, these enchiladas are no way AUTHENTIC....my husband gave me the hardest time about making these enchiladas and stating that he was ashamed that anything other than authentic Mexican food was coming out of our kitchen. However, he sure did like them when he finally got to try some :-)

For saturday breakfast I had planned on pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. However Efren and my dad indeeded up leaving at 5 o'clock that morning to go fishing so my mom and I just had a light breakfast and then worked on preparing some food for that evening/Sunday's lunch.

We met up w/ Efren's parents for lunch on saturday at a local Chinese buffet. My dad is such a people person and he doesn't let any language get in his way. It started off a little akward at first, but eventually they got a good conversation going and I think overall it went pretty well.

Jonathan, Emily and William came over for dinner Saturday night. Efren went all out in preparing a meal for them. For my dad and Jonathan he had filet mignon and lobster tail. For my mom, Emily and myself he had halibut and/or salmon. All of this was plated up (no family style serving is allowed w/ my husband) w/ rice, squash and asparagus. Each fish also had it's own sauce. It was a WONDERFUL meal and my family absolutely loved it. For dessert we had homemade brownies w/ ice cream.

Saturday evening I mixed up an egg casserole that I could pull out of the fridge and bake for breakfast the next morning. The recipe called for ham, but instead I used sausage. I had never made this recipe before, but I thought it turned out pretty well.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Overnight-Egg-Casserole-2

For lunch we went over to Jonathan and Emily's along w/ Jim & Karen Lindamood. Needless to say, w/ this group of people, the converstaion was very lively. Efren and I just sat back and listened and laughed. Jonathan had smoked about 15 lbs of brisket that was REALLY good and then I brough potato salad (which my mom made) and baked beans for the side dishes. Karen brough a delicious apple crips for dessert.

I sure was sad to see my parents leave that afternoon. It had been such a fun weekend and i had really enjoyed playing hostess. I can't wait til they come back up and we get to do it again. Efren is already talking about how next time he's going to have to come up w/ an even nicer meal than he had made on saturday.

Dancing Down the Aisle

If you haven't seen this video yet....You really should take the time to watch it. It's really awesome.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2009/07/dancing_down_the_aisle.html

Bunwiches

Bunwiches......they are definately a fond childhood memory. And for some reason, the last package of ground beef that we had in the fridge just screamed "BUNWICHES" so I made some this weekend. I can't remember the last time I had bunwiches, but boy did I enjoy those growing up. Overall, it's a pretty simple receip and I thought I'd share it w/ whoever out there see this :-).

Dough

• 1 c. milk


• 1 t. salt


• 2 t sugar


• 1 pkg yeast


• 1/2 c. warm water


• 4 c. flour (i used half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour)

Filling

• 1 1/2 lb. ground beef


• 3 T chopped onion


• 1 T oil


• 1 1/2 t salt


• 1/8 t pepper


• small can tomato sauce (I used 10 oz of spaghetti sauce)


• 1 1/2 c. grated cabbage

Scald milk, stir in salt and sugar; cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir lukewarm milk mixture into yeast. Add flour and mix well. Turn out on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Place dough into greased bowl. Cover and let rise in warm pluace until doubled in size.

Meantime, brown hamburger and onion in oil. Pour or spoon off fat. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Roll dough very thin on floured surface. Cut into 12- 6" squares. Divide beef mixture into 12 portions; place one portion in center of each dough square. Fold over; seal like a turnover. Place on lightly greased baking sheets. Let rise in warm place for 25 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

I wasn't planning on using any whole wheat flour in my dough, but it turns out I only had 2 c. of all-purpose flour so I used whole wheat for the additional 2 c. I was a little hesitant about it, but they actually turned out really nice.

Here's a pic of the finished product

Through the Eyes of a Child

I thought this was sooo cute and just had to share it. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did:

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible. Tis is amazing and brought tears of laughter to my eyes. I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching???

Through the eyes of a child:

The Children 's Bible in a Nutshell
In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve . Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one badapple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain , who hated his brother as long as he was Abel .

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except forMethuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah , who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob . Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau , because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses , whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses ' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David . He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus . He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.