Late Fall Hiking & My Daughter's Moon Pics
Open Rebellion or Playing Opposities
In today's modern Christian church, many are told they can just ignore the Bible because nobody's perfect. These false teachers and preachers are never short of those that are seeking such lies. We can look back on the Jewish people and see how it wasn't just that they couldn't keep the law in perfection, it was more so that they WALKED CONTRARY to what God said to do! They literally forsook God's law and openly rebelled against it. Such is happening today in the Christian church. We can look around everywhere and see those that claim Christ walking contrary to what the Bible told us to do. They aren't striving to obey God's Word, they willfully REBEL against it by doing the exact opposite!
Let me give some concrete examples.
Current Prices for Food in Ohio
1 Pound of Meat Feeds a Family of 4
Prayer Can Change God's Mind - Podcast
Prayer is powerful and can even change the mind of God! You may be only one, but you are one and your prayers are powerful. Don't let Satan make you think there is no use and your prayers don't help! Pray anyway and believe, have faith and let your petitions be known unto God. Don't accept what you can pray against. Stand in the gap and pray for others, our President and our country - that God will spare us all so that others may be reached for Christ.
Out With the Old...
In with the new! I've been replacing a lot the past year seems like because a lot of things are definitely due for a replacement. My former living room rug doesn't look too bad in photos but in person it was wore down to nothing almost and really impossible to clean because there was no height to it. I bought the rug when we moved here 5 years ago for $28 at Walmart, so I think I got my money's worth out of it! To replace it, I wanted something that was black and white and modern looking and better quality and thankfully found a very nice Safavieh Dallas shag rug that is so soft and vacuums well for $74.
My Baby is an Adult, Recipes and Other News
My daughter turned 18 and I'm still having a hard time with that lol. My baby is an adult! What a wonderful woman of God she has become and that is my greatest joy. I found this awesome birthday kit that came with everything to decorate for cheap and she loved it! I, of course, crowned her an adult!
What's Been Cooking
Homekeepers Need to be Informed about the Stock Market!
We've had a 401K since we were 26 and didn't know really anything about it except that our money grew very well. This past year we made an absolutely incredible amount and I didn't understand why my conscience always bothered me about the 401K. I don't believe it is gambling, so why was I feeling so wrong?
I started understanding more about it all and then realized these "mutual funds" we are invested in, are actually a basket of companies. I wondered what kind of companies are we involved in? That, to my horror, was when I realized why all these years I felt my conscience feel so sick towards our 401K. We were invested in Fakebook (gag me already), Abortion, Pornography... you sick yet? Even Caesar's Entertainment! OH MY GOODNESS, forgive us God! So, I'm thinking how ashamed I am and then I find out that some "Christians" say it's ok to do this and they enjoy the money made off all the evil. SAY WHAT!?
So, to check on the proposed "ok-ness" of all this, I did some research and spoke with some experts on the phone. Guess what folks - you are PART OWNER when you invest in these companies.
More Fall Hiking
Hard to say it's fall because it has been in the 80's but the leaves don't lie - definitely falling!
What's Been Cooking
I've really been enjoying these new cookbooks and so far, everything I've made from them has been excellent!
I made their orange chicken, which came from the Next Generation book and it is a keeper for sure!
I know this one doesn't look good necessarily but it was absolutely delicious and the whole family loved it! It was Chickpea potato stew:
They called for a lot of Instant Pot accessory pans and ramekins that I didn't have but thankfully I found them on Amazon:
I made my first cake in the Instant Pot with the Coconut Bundt Cake recipe and it was good but I wish I had made the strawberry sauce to go on top of it instead of the icing.
I made the World's Easiest Shepherd's Pie made with ground turkey and it was soooo good! I actually made 2 Instant Pots of this so my husband had leftovers for work. Everyone was scraping their dish to get every bite, so good!
I made the Broccoli, Sausage and Cheese soup and it tasted good but didn't have enough in it for me, I guess I'm more a stew girl than a soup!
This last recipe, Curried Tuna Casserole, was from the Kroger coupon magazine they send out that has recipes in it. It was good but needed more salt.
Trusting in What? - Podcast
Just what are you trusting in, in these last days? Heed the warnings that God gives us and steer away from the love of self, love of money and love of pleasure. Trust in God and have faith in His Word and His promises that will never fail. It's time to find out just who you really are and what is really important to you.
Early Fall Hiking
I still can't get over enjoying the four seasons here in Ohio. I love seeing the changes in each season that I missed out on for so many years living out West. I guess as a child growing up in the south, I didn't pay much attention lol, because NOW it is a WOW every time I see changes in everything around me.
What I love about fall is the crispness of the air at night and the crunch of the leaves as I walk. I also love seeing the mosquitoes go bye-bye when it drops below 50! Here are some pics from our recent hikes:
What's Been Cooking
Keep the Right Mindset! - Podcast
Don't let Satan rock you to sleep to commit sin, awake to righteousness God's Word says! Stay away from the evil influence of women that claim they know God but their works deny they know Him! Keep your mind right and think on the hope of the hereafter - death has no victory for the Christian!
Using Remember the Milk for Chores
There is an app (also a website version) called "Remember the Milk" that has been a valuable tool for me to keep my to-do's and chores organized and to also have my kids (and even husband) know what it is they need to do in the house on a daily, weekly, monthly, etc. basis. It has been the BEST tool I've ever used and something a lot of people don't know about unfortunately.
Not only can I put all the house chores and the frequency they need to be done, but I can easily see who has done what through my main account. Both of my kids have a phone with the app - my son has a phone with no cell service and limited usage availability and monitored! So they look at their chore list every morning and check off when they've completed their chores as they go throughout the day.
Here are screenshots of our lists and I also included a MISC list I had of random things I want to eventually get done. I have most chores set to repeat at certain times I have set - some repeat daily, some weekly, etc. I have the whole house cleaning organized for the year! We've already done our big deep clean a few months ago, so it won't happen again until spring.
TRUST ME!
Some of you long-time readers may remember my story I wrote a decade ago (I Know "Her"...) about how I was told I would go to hell if I had a baby. I told how later I was told from another man of God that no, I wouldn't go to hell for having a baby. However, I still thought I would until God spoke to me Genesis 18:19. You can read all about that in the link to that post above.
In our darkest hours and upon receiving our most devastating news and our spirits being crushed by the harshness of life, we need to remember that there is one thing God is saying to us all: TRUST ME!!
Arizona Vacation
We did a 15-day vacation to Arizona, staying mostly in Tucson for 8 days, which was my favorite part of Arizona! The low humidity and high heat was heaven to me. We also saw Phoenix, Sedona and Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.
We did a lot of hiking in Tucson and our first evening, we didn't realize how soon the sun sets in Arizona lol and we got lost in the desert in the dark. We saw 4 tarantulas across our path and one, the largest of all, was on my daughter's leg! Yes, I screamed and she was able to shake it off. I think the spider was just as afraid as she was and the locals told us tarantulas don't hurt you usually, so no big deal besides they are HUGE! Thankfully no rattlesnakes, although we did see the skin of one laying in the desert. There are tons of butterflies in Tucson, so pretty! Then of course all the saguaro cacti everywhere - they are amazing looking.
We had our own private pool during our stay and we swam day and night every day. We also met up with some old friends on our trip, good times! We drove Route 66 from Flagstaff, Arizona all the way to St. Louis, Missouri on our way home. We went through a total of 11 states on our trip. We were going to go to San Diego for a night and drive up the coast to Santa Monica and stay in Palm Springs but we nixed the California portion to spend more time in Arizona. We did a stop in Placitas, New Mexico and hiked a trail there that we missed last time we came there in 2019.