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

I made oven baked flounder, which is my son's absolute favorite.  I take frozen wild caught flounder and rub them with olive oil, then I made a homemade fish seasoning and add that and some extra dill, lemon juice and salt and pepper and bake for 20 minutes.  I made some baking powder biscuits, tartar sauce (I add more pickles and even pickle juice) and prince medley with it:





I made chicken enchiladas, cooking the chicken breast in homemade enchilada sauce all together in the instant pot, then shredding the chicken and filling each corn tortilla with chicken, sauce and cheese and baking.



I don't normally cook on Sunday but I was craving soup and baguette bread, so I made some Pasta Fagioli with kale using a new recipe from The Instant Pot Bible - Next Generation and the soup is definitely a keeper!  Baguette bread is always good, can't go wrong and something we like to have with soup meals.




*If you didn't notice, the bolded words above are links to the recipe.

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.





You can make as many different lists as you want for anything really!  Now that we are getting back to school, I plan on making a homeschool list for the kids and for myself of all that I need to remember to do each day/week, etc.  I have everyone's synced through my main account but they all have their own individual accounts that they can create their own private lists on too if they choose.  I can also edit their lists or change when they are due - anything really.  It is very customizable and the best part of all it is FREE!

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.

After that, I tried to conceive but couldn't and then after tests I was told by our doctor that I was sterile and probably impossible to conceive without help.  Having children was my dream and I was crushed but I prayed for God to heal me.  I was struggling to say the least.  Then, a leader in a church we were in, came to Alaska to preach for us.  I've never forgotten that message.  He preached a message called, TRUST ME!  He constantly emphasized those words TRUST ME over and over again.  The Lord spoke to me and said that I needed to trust Him that I was pregnant at that very moment with a baby.  And sure enough - I was pregnant with my daughter.

We received some devastating news recently that shook up my world once again.  This was a big test of my faith and I was failing sadly and crying a lot.  My husband got up to preach the following Sunday and preached - TRUST ME!  I don't know that he remembers the message from 2003 but I sure do lol.  Throughout the preaching, I was so encouraged, it felt like God hand-delivered a message to me to help me build up my faith and trust Him once again.  Then, we set off for our planned vacation that we had saved up for (debt-free by the way), not knowing what the future held for me afterwards.

On our way back home at a stop in Oklahoma, I woke up in the night and felt like I was dying.  My heart was so bad, I had severe vertigo that I was falling all over the place and I knew this was it, this was the end for me, my heart had finally lost the fight.  Upon waking my husband, him and our daughter prayed on me but I felt it was no use, I was fading fast, I couldn't even speak anymore.  My husband left the room, which kind of disturbed me because here I am dying and where is he going!?  My daughter held on to my hand and prayed constantly.  A few minutes later, my husband marches in the room with some super confidence and comes to me and says: "Bev, God spoke to me and told me to tell you TRUST ME!  God said that Satan is doing this to you and it will go away, you won't die!"  It wasn't but a few minutes later I passed out and hours later I woke up with no problems at all!!

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.