The Journey of Mrs. Jones

2011-08-26T16:10:00.000-05:00

Well, Selah wil be here in 11 days!!! Wow!! We moved the date up from September 13 to September 6 bc she is breech and we have to have a C-section... I really really wanted to do natural birth, but I guess God had other plans :) I was super scared at first, but I have come to terms with it. Ive never had a surgery before or even been admitted to a hospital, so that is what scares me the most I think. But the fact that we get to meet our little angel a week early is worth it! I am SO excited!! I have had the most fun buying cute little outfits for her!

I cannot wait for her to be here. I am so excited about looking into her beautiful eyes and falling more in love with her :) God is so good. We don't deserve such a blessing. I will try to update again before she comes... But, if not, next post will have pictures of our little miracle :)

Life changes

2011-07-30T19:17:00.000-05:00

Wow! 6 more weeks (give or take a few days)!! We are sooo excited!! I cannot wait to meet our little girl :) Allen is so sweet, we were talking about Selah the other day and he said "Im in love with someone I havent even met yet!" It makes me tear up when I think about him saying that. Selah and I are sooo blessed to have him. He is AMAZING.
I am getting super excited about moving apartments too!! It will be a down-size(from 3bdrm/2.5bath to 2bdrm/2bath), but there are soo many things about our new place that will be better than the place we are at now!
1. The most exciting thing about the move is that we get to paint!! That means my dream for Selah's room will be able to come true!!
2. We will actually have a separate laundry room!! The washer and dryer will no longer be in the middle of my kitchen!!
3. We will have a pantry too! No more storing food in our cabinet space!!
4. Everything will all be on one floor now so no more walking up and down stairs 50 times a day! Which will make taking care of a baby much easier!!
5. We will have walk-in closets!! We have to tiniest closets here where we are now that we cant even share one! My closet is in the study and his is in the guest room! No fun.
6. We will also have storage space on the balcony! So no more storage boxes taking up our closet space!
7. Our kitchen will actually look new as opposed to the 1970's look our kitchen has now!!
8. Walnut Hill has a 24-hour fitness center, 2 pools, tennis courts, a car wash area, etc! The place we are at now has NO amenities except a tiny, gross-looking pool!
Anyways, those are just a few of the reasons why I am excited to move!! It will be a difficult one, considering Selah will only be about a month and a half old(assuming she comes on time), but it will definitely be worth it! It will just take me a while to unpack Im sure. But thats ok! I will be glad to take my time!

Since I get to decorate Selah's room the way I want, the next things i need to be working on is picking out a paint color and ordering the fabric for her bedding that my mom is going to make! Yay!!! These are a few paint colors i have been looking at:

This one is Benjamin Moore Silver Dollar

This one is Sherwin Williams Steely Gray

This one is Valspar Beguile

Well, these are just a few i have found online. I want the wall to be a gray, but not too soft because her baby bedding is going to be a soft gray... So we will see!! Im super excited though!! :)

Selah's first shower!!!!

2011-07-24T22:13:00.000-05:00

Today was Selah's first baby shower!! It was with the college girls/youth leadership from GBC and it was soooo fun!!!!! We got so many amazing gifts!

It is such an awesome feeling to be loved by so many people :) We are so blessed to be a part of this church family. Allen also snuck a little gift in the pile:) Selah's first Bible!!!

I definitely cried a little when I opened it. He is going to be such an amazing daddy :)

Now that we actually have some things for her I feel a little more ready for her to come!! I cant wait!!!
7 more weeks seems like forever, but I know time will fly and we will have our little girl in our arms :)

Selah :)

2011-07-23T10:55:00.000-05:00

Wow! Only 7 more weeks till our baby girl gets here!! So crazy!! I feel like this pregnancy has gone by so fast. Our lives are about to change forever. This will be an amazing journey :)
We will be moving around the end of October to a smaller apartment just so it will be easier on me and everything with a new baby. So we arent going to set up her baby room till then. I have quite a few ideas, but i am also glad i will have a little more time to think through her room! I decided on gray, yellow, and pink for her colors.
This is what the dream baby room for Selah will look like:

I found a website where you can design your own bedding so that is what i came up with:) To buy it from the website would be super expensive, so I have been out shopping for fabric to try to match this as much as possible. I am so excited!! I am not sure what to do with the curtains yet... I also made this to hang from the ceiling above her crib:

Anyways, we will see how it all comes out :) It will be a few more months before we are actually able to set her room up, but it will be soooo cute!!!! :)
Ok, thats all for now!!!

Trusting God in ANY circumstance

2011-04-27T11:06:00.000-05:00

It's confession time. It is so very hard for me to trust God with finances. It has been this way my whole life! I can trust Him for healing during illnesses, safety during trials, etc, but, for some reason, not so much when it comes to Him providing for me financially. This is one of the sins that I constantly struggle with.

It has really been hitting me these past couple of months realizing that we will be having a baby and i will be quitting my full-time job to take care of her. Allen and I have really felt the Lord leading us to have me stay at home(if possible at all) and raise our kids instead of having to send them to a daycare to raise them. We believe that it is our primary responsibility to disciple our children and raise them to love and glorify Him. (Not that people who have to go back to work are bad or doing something wrong, this is just a conviction the Lord has given us.)

I have gone to school and am a certified medical transcriptionist, but I cannot find anyone who will hire me!! I know He has a plan through this, it is just discouraging because I dont want to feel helpless. I want to contribute financially to my family.

It makes me wonder, though, if this might just be good for me. Right now, we both make enough money for me to not really have to worry about much. Which, in turn, causes me to feel like I dont have to trust the Lord as much to provide for us. This is a completely wrong way to think!! We are to trust the Lord AT ALL TIMES:
Psalm 62:8 says, "Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah."

I found this super-cool verse the other day that is slowly changing my perspective:
Deuteronomy 33:26 "There is none like the God of Israel, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty."
How cool is that?! The God of Israel, Creator of the Universe, Saviour of the world, King above all, "rides the heavens to our help"!! The fact that I feel this God is not worthy of my trust is shameful. If I cannot trust Him, who am I going to trust?! I am His adopted child and He promises that He will take care of me.

Matthew 7:11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"

Matthew 6:31-33 "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED TO YOU."

As long as I am seeking Him above all else, He promises that He will provide my needs! So, instead of scrambling to trust Him when things get difficult, I need to be trusting Him every day, even when it seems like I can take care of things myself, because He is the only One who is forever faithful.

ITS A GIRL!!

2011-04-26T13:58:00.000-05:00

Well, Elijah is a girl:) Well, i guess she was Selah all along! haha! We were so shocked at the ulstrasound, it was so funny! But the other ultrasound was so early it was hard to tell...

Its taken me a while to get my head around a little baby girl! I can't believe it! I am equally as happy as when i thought she was a "he":) I am super excited about making all kinds of cute little things for her (with the help of my friend, Anna Wakefield, of course!!This is her amazingly cute blog:thecozyapt.blogspot.com.

Anna introduced me to this blog: http://jonesdesigncompany.com/ which has tons of cute and creative ideas!!

The first thing i thought of making was the flower mobile. It is found on her website!

I think i will use daisies and either yellow or gray ribbon, probably a pretty, light gray.

I also want to make lots of little flower pins for all of her cardigans(and other cute outfits) that she will wear. Found here:http://jonesdesigncompany.com/tutorial/flower-pin-tutorial/.

I am so so excited! Its so nice to know for sure that it is a girl, I can pray specific things for her now. First of all, I pray for her salvation. I pray the Lord has already chosen her to be a child of His and that He will turn her heart towards Him at an early age. I pray that she grows up to be a godly woman, who values modesty and always puts Christ first. We are so excited to be having our first "Arrow" to be shot out into the world!

YAY!!! Alright, Anna, lets start making cute things!!!!!!! :-)

Insert Title Here

2011-04-23T14:12:00.001-05:00

I used to be so good at writing... Finding things to blog about used to come so easily to me! But lately, every time I want to blog, I can't get my thoughts together... Maybe it's little Elijah:) You know, I never believed in this "pregnancy brain" stuff until I experienced it. I am so forgetful and scatterbrained these days. Oh well:) Speaking of little Elijah, I've started to feel him move around pretty regularly! Especially when I eat. It's such an amazing feeling:) Its so crazy that there is a little life, being formed by God, growing in me! Such a big responsibility too. I pray every day that Allen and I never take this lightly, that we glorify God with this life He has entrusted us to take care of. What we want more than anything is that Elijah will give the MOST glory to God that he is able to in his lifetime.

So many changes!!!!!

2011-03-02T07:36:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I am finally writing on here again!!! I wanted to start again at the beginnning of this year, but with the baby secret, there was no way I was going to write on here without spilling the exciting news!!
God has blessed Allen and I beyond comprehension. We are expecting our first Arrow in September!!! It is very interesting how the Lord changed our hearts all of the sudden!! A year ago we werent even considering starting a family! We didnt want to give up our "freedom" or gain that responsibility. But it was like he "magically" changed our hearts out of nowhere and gave us the desire to raise and disciple a big family to send them out to shake the world for Christ!! We are so excited about where our lives are headed. It still feels weird that THIS YEAR I will be a mommy!!!!!!!!!!! It kinda happened faster than we expected, but we are ready!!
Please be praying for this little one that the Lord will save him/her at an early age and that they will give their life for the sake of Jesus Christ.

p.s. Read Psalm 127:3-5- that is why we are calling our little blessing "Arrow" :-)

The House Hunt

2010-05-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

Well, we might have found a house to rent!!! We have been looking FOREVER!!! Our contract at seminary housing ends June 30th so we have to find something!!! We are going to look at this house in Collierville tonight! I am excited, I hope it is a nice one!
Allen graduates on Friday!!!! He will be getting his MDiv! We are SO excited he will finally be done with school!! Now that he is done with school, he will be able to focus more on being the Director of College Ministry!! Yay!!! God is SO good to us!!!!!

Time Flies

2010-05-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

Wow. I hadn't realized it had been this long since I blogged!! Don't worry, I have cooked in this absence :-) haha
Life has changed a lot since my last post!! I am still working at Vera, but I also have a part time medical transcription job at Memphis Gastroenterology Group! I love it when the transcriptionist actually needs me to help her!!!
Allen got promoted in his job! He is now the Director of College Ministry at GBC!! I am SO proud!! God has blessed us so. I also have insurance with him now!!! yaya!!!!! So, in case we want to start our little family, we can!! :-) But all in God's timing.
Guess that's it for now! I will definitely try to keep this updated more often!

Lately....

2009-11-30T21:00:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven't written on here in a long time! Life has been so busy! I got a holiday job and Bath and Body Works AND at Vera Bradley!! I love both of them(but Vera Bradley the best :-))... That is really all that has been goin on lately! I cannot find a job for medical transcription so that is discouraging, but I know that God has a plan and He has a job for me somewhere!!! I just need to trust Him! God is so good to us in spite of when we fail him every day!!
Oh! My birthday!! I had to work all day but before work Allen woke up and took me to Cracker Barrel(one of my favorite places) for breakfast!!! Then he met me for lunch in between jobs!! And then I was just exhausted from work that day so he ordered pizza and we had a pj party and watched The Holiday!!! It was sooo fun! It ended up being a great birthday!! He bought me seasons 9 and 10 to complete our Friends collection!! And he bought me 2 pairs of jeans and a new shirt!!! AANNDD on Sunday he took me to Red Lobster for birthday lunch!!!! He is the sweetest husband ever!!!
Julianne and Mo also got me gifts for my bday! They are so sweet!!

P.S.

2009-10-30T17:03:00.000-05:00

I got a job at Bath and Body Works!! AH! YAY!! Candles, lotions, and bubble bath!! Its definitely gonna be a goood Christmas!!

.....

2009-10-30T16:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't cooked in SO long!! We are so busy every night, we haven't been at home together for a few weeks I think! AH!! I will hopefully get to cook next week sometime!
My aunt came to visit from California and we had SO much fun! One of the days my aunt, my mom, and I went to the Vesta Home Show in Arlington. There were some really nice houses there! Anyways, I got an awesome decorating idea from there! I have been trying to figure out what to put on our wall behind our bed and I finally saw something that I liked!

First, I bought a really long thin dark brown rope. I cut it into thirds and braided it.. (It took 2 hours!!!) Then I bought two metal coat hangers.. -all at Hobby Lobby! I LOVE that store!!
I had some extra pictures lying around that we hadn't used and I bought some scrapbook sheets of paper and this is what I came up with:

I really love how it looks! And it is so creative!! The pictures are held on the rope with the old fashioned paper clips. Bought at Hobby Lobby also :-)
Anyways, yay for our new wall decor!!!!!!

A New Saturday Tradition

2009-10-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

So, since my friends keep telling me to go to garage sales, I decided to try it out this morning! I actually found quite a few useful things! On the Today Show the other day, they were advertising a website that finds all the garage sales in your area and maps them out for you! I used that website and it worked perfectly! The website is yardsaletreasuremap.com!!!
Anyways, here is what I found:

I love mirrors and we haven't been able to get that many so I was happy to find this one! ($2)

Well, I couldn't figure out how to rotate this pic... Anyways, I found a Christmas countdown chalkboard that hangs on the wall!! SO cute!! ($1)

I use snowmen for Christmas decor so these snowman salt and pepper shakers were a great find!!! I really love them!!! ($1)

A really really cute wooden snowman to put on our entertainment center for christmas!! I am SO excited!!!!!! ($1)

Garage-saleing was a success this week! I am very happy that I found all of these things!! Yay! We shall see what I find next week :-)

Ramblings...

2009-10-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

So, guess what?! I will be done with my school tomorrow!! AAHH!! Then I will take my exam next Tuesday and then be able to start applying for jobs! If I get a pass this time.... I am definitely praying that I do!! The Lord will help me I know it. But that is the exciting part of my life right now! I am SO ready to be done and hopefully get a job before too long! Ugh! Its like when I get rid of one type of stress another one just follows closely behind! I am definitely learning to trust God in everything through all of this for sure. It is no fun not having money, but He has provided all our need so far! And He wont let us down! It would just be nice to have a little extra money for the holidays for gifts and to try out some fun holiday recipes! Hehe!!
Lets see, what else is new... Allen and I just celebrated 1 year of marriage!! Crazy!! I cant believe how much time has flown by! It has been so much fun being married to my best friend :) God has definitely used Allen to teach me more and more about His agape love. I just want to be the best wife ever!
Thats all for now...

Anniversaries, beginnings, and endings....

2009-10-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I can't say that much exciting has happened in my life lately... I am still struggling to finish school, it is taking up my whole day, literally. I will be done on Wednesday or Thursday of this week though! Praise the Lord!! Tomorrow is mine and Allen's 1 year anniversary! Wow! Time really does fly by! I wish we had money to do lots of special things for each other, but we dont.. So we will just celebrate it by spending time with each other, which is even better! :) My sister is having her C-section for the twins tomorrow too! So we will be pretty busy tomorrow.. Wish i didnt have school to do. Ugh. I am SO ready for it to be OVER!! Can't wait to have a real job and start earning real money! ha! I am SO blessed that Allen's aunt is letting me work for her in the meantime though. I dont know what we would be doing if I didnt have that!! Um, I think that is all for now! I can't wait till I have the money and time to start trying out new recipes! The end is in sight!

Beef.... It's What's for Dinner :-)

2009-09-28T20:24:00.001-05:00

Well, tonight I decided to try one of the Crockpot recipes from the recipe book that Mrs. Cindy kindly gave me! This recipe was one that she suggested so I figured I would start with it: Beef Stroganoff. Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:

4 cups beef cubes

1 10.5oz can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Brown beef cubes in skillet, adding salt and pepper to taste. (I added a little water to the pan when they were done browning before I poured it all into the crockpot).

Pour cubes in crockpot and cover with cream of mushroom soup.
Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours.
Stir in sour cream before serving.
Serve on rice, noodles, or baked potato.
YUMMMMM

Getting ready to start cooking in the crockpot...

The finished result! YUM!

It was definitely nice to cook a good meal again! I have missed cooking, but sometimes we are just so busy!! This was not as fun as usual bc it pretty much just sat in a crockpot, but it turned out so good!!!

Life is going pretty well... I am enjoying the part time job that Allen's Aunt gave me for now! I wake up at 5 am but it is nice not to sleep the day away... Running is slowly becoming a part of my life that I crave! And I love it!!
The Lord is really showing His faithfulness to Allen and me. See, I have always had a full-time job, ever since I took my high school graduation gown off. So, it is hard for us not to have the money that we are used to having.... Money stress can cause so many issues, so we try to just rely on the Lord so we don't have to carry around the worry. He is so good. We can't do some of the things we used to do, but through this, it is teaching us what is really important and it is causing us to be drawn to The Provider. I pray that I finish school soon, pass my exam with honors, and hopefully find a good enough job so that I can continue to work part time for now! Having extra time to hang with the students and just be able to cook and take care of our home is very important to me! So we will see... :-)

Mexican night!!!!

2009-09-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight is Mexican night here at the Jones household!! Taco ring here I come!!! :) It's gonna be SOOOoooOOO good!!!

Titus 2

2009-09-23T15:06:00.000-05:00

Well, I went to the Girls Ministry Conference at Bellevue with Bretta, Cindy, and Gina. It was SO good! We learned so many helpful things about girls ministry but we also learned many things to help us grow in our own walk with the Lord! Iva May and Donna Gaines spoke and they were AMAZING!!!!! I am pumped about starting a study with the chronological One Year Bible with my mom!! It is going to be SO good!!! Then, after a year of that, I am going to start going through it with other girls! What better discipleship tool than the Bible?! :-) I am SO excited!!!

4 pounds.... 5 to go...

2009-09-18T18:48:00.000-05:00

So I have discovered a new love... RUNNING!!! I never thought I would like it so much! Technically, I alternate between speed walking and running, but mostly running... Soon I think I will be running the whole 2 miles!! Crazy! I crave it every day! And I have been watching my calories because I gained about 14 pounds since my wedding! Ugh. But I feel so much better! hehe!!!
Anyways... I went with Allen to visit Houston High School for lunch yesterday and one of the girls thought I was a student!!! That doesn't make me very happy!! I am almost 25 and apparently I look like I'm 16. I really want to look my age. Makeup? Should I wear dressier clothes? Hmmm... Everyone says I will like it in a few years. We will see. :-)
I CAN'T WAIT TILL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a while...

2009-09-17T16:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been SO busy lately I haven't had time to post!!! I haven't cooked much lately, But I made a pillow!! Yay!!

Do you like it??!!! I LOVE it!!!! I picked out the fabric and we made the covered button ourselves!! I have been trying to find a pillow to match our token yellow chair that Allen's grandma gave us and I just decided that making one would be so much easier!!!! It is!! Im going to make so many more to match our couch and bed!!!

Anyways, that's all for now! I am making fried chicken with rice and some kind of veggie tonight! Gotta start eating healthier.. I have lost 5 pounds though! That's a start! Gaining 14 pounds after you get married is just unacceptable to me :) hehe. Bye!

How to make Garlic Breath :-)

2009-09-03T21:12:00.000-05:00

So, tonight was baked spaghetti and garlic knots night!! Yay!! My twin brother and sister-in-law and their two girls came over for dinner!

My sister-in-law said that she is usually picky about food but she loved it!! So did my neice Allie (in the above picture)!! Success!!! Here is how I made it:
Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 lb ground beef (depends on how much meat you want in it)

10 oz spaghetti noodles
1 (20 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
2 c cheddar cheese
1 c mozzarella cheese
1 tsp minced onion
1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
In large skillet, cook hamburger till brown, add onion and garlic powder.
Mix spaghetti sauce in skillet with beef. Add in italian seasoning, garlic salt, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. *I added in a little more garlic powder too ;-) Reduce heat and simmer.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Mix in pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.
Put the noodles and sauce mixture in a 9x13 pan. Top with cheese and bake for 30 minutes

I decided to make it a little more difficult for myself and make some garlic knots in the meantime. It was kind of hard to do at the same time! Anyways, there are TONS of garlic knot recipes out there but I finally decided on this one: (and I'm GLAD I did!).
Ingredients:
1/2 c unsalted butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 c grated parmesan
2 tbsp parsley
1 container of Pillsbury pizza crust
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Unroll dough into rectangle and cut lengthwise. Then cut each half in several 1inch sections. Brush dough lightly with olive oil.
Tie each section of dough in a knot and set on greased cookie sheet (you will need 2 cookie sheets) about 2 inches apart.
Bake till golden brown- about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, combine butter and garlic in a small sauce pan over low heat. Cook till garlic is fragrant and tender- about 3 to 4 minutes.
Cover, remove from heat, and set aside.
When dough is done cooking, transfer to mixing bowl and toss gently(I rolled) in the warm garlic butter mixture.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
ENJOY!! These were SO good!!!

This was a great dinner! The only bad thing
is that I ate WAY too much...
As far as life is concerned.... Still waiting on my test score to come back!! The Lord is really teaching me patience and how to depend on Him. He is the only thing worth trusting in this life and He definitely takes care of His children! Even when they are broke!! :-)

The waiting game...

2009-08-31T21:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I am still waiting on my grade for my final... AH! I am praying so hard that I get it soon so I can start applying at jobs! Being broke is SO not fun at all.
At least I got to cook dinner. That makes my day much better:-) I LOVE cooking!!! I thank the Lord that He gave me a knack for it!
Tonight was an easy Garlic Chicken... Here's how you can make it:
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp and 1 1/2 tsp butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
Directions:
Melt butter in skillet on medium high heat.

Add chicken and sprinkle with garlic powder, seasoning salt, and onion powder.

Saute about 10-15 minutes on each side till chicken is cooked (juices run clear).

SO yummy!!! I served with rice and black beans.

Well, hopefully I can update soon on my final grade!

Pork chops and Friends! (the show)

2009-08-27T20:09:00.000-05:00

YUUUUMMMM!!!!!!!!!

So tonight I cooked pork chops!! They were SO good!! And we watched Friends :-) I love that show!
This was an epic night because it was my first time to make pork chops!! Here is the recipe I used:
Ingredients:
1/4 c ketchup

1/4 CocaCola

1 1/2 tsp brown sugar

2 pork chops

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix ketchup, coke, and brown sugar together in a bowl and let sit for a few minutes.

Cover pork chops in garlic powder and seasoning salt and whatever other seasonings you like and lightly brown on a skillet.

Place pork chops in baking pan and pour cola mixture over, coating well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for about 40 minutes.
Before:

After:

Oh yeah! I also made cheese broccoli! I just used a steam bag of broccoli and whipped up a Velveeta cheese based sauce:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 c milk

1 1/2 c cubed Velveeta cheese

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

dash of pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in saucepan. Remove from heat.

Blend in flour till smooth.

Gradually add milk.

Return to low heat and stir constantly till boils.

Add cubed cheese and continue to stir till cheese melts.

Remove from heat. Add salt, pepper, and sugar.

Top your desired veggies!!

But BEWARE!! THIS RECIPE MAKES A BUTT-LOAD OF SAUCE!! I have a lot left over.. Ha.

Anyways, I finished my exam also... The waiting for the grade part is going to be soooo hard!! Its gonna take a whole week!!!! What will I do???!!!!

Oh, I made a little decoration thingy for our bathroom! I am trying to be more creative! Let me know what you think or how I can make it better! Here it is:

It has some of the leftover sand from our wedding and some seashells that Allen got for me about 2 years ago when he went to the beach! I have been wanting something to do with these things! Does it need anything extra though?? It is in my bathroom decorating our counter. It looks really cute I think! AAAnd it matches our bathroom colors!!!

48 hours.....

2009-08-27T08:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I didn't quite finish my exam yesterday. Luckily, we get 48 hours to take it! Little did I know it would take me that long!! Ha! Anyways, I woke up early and have been working on it a little more. I will definitely be done by noon! I am SO excited!!!! Can't wait to start applying for jobs and see what the Lord provides for me!!!

The End of an Era... or at least hopefully :-)

2009-08-25T14:34:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like I will be taking my final examination for medical transcription school tomorrow!! I am pumped! I am praying that I do well, I want to graduate with honors... We will see... I am going over to my sister's house to take it so she can help me if I have any issues (she has already been through this school). I think I will do fine though! I am SO ready to be done with school and start applying for jobs! This is so weird

to think that I will finally be done with school!!! AH!!!

I will update tomorrow after I take the exam for sure.

Good 'ol southern food

2009-08-24T18:50:00.000-05:00

So I decided against the pork chops... Allen's sweet aunt took me out to a late lunch/early dinner at a chinese food buffet so I wasnt hungry when I got home... :-( So, I made Allen some cornbread and black-eyed peas. I think he liked it! As far as the cornbread, it was a little crumbly and a little too sweet.

I shall try harder next time!

Anyways, generally the meal was a success! It smelled so good I wished I was hungry!! :-)

Decisions Decisions...

2009-08-24T14:12:00.000-05:00

Ok, so i was totally going to make some coca-cola pork chops tonight, but realized that they will take about an hour, so I may not have time... I am still trying to decide... I am definitely making some cornbread and black-eyed peas though! YUM! It will be my first try at cornbread so I may just get one of those packaged kinds, like the Jiffy cornbreads just to break myself in.. Cornbread is something I must tready lightly upon :-) or so Allen implied! Too bad his grandmother was such a good cook!
I sat by this cute little pond in Collierville this morning to enjoy the weather and ended up making a new friend!

He just came running up to me expecting me to feed him! Poor baby acted like he was starving! So I grabbed the only thing I had in my car to feed him....

He didn't like it :-(

And that was my adventure of the day! haha! I will let you know what I end up making for dinner!

2009-08-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

So, tonight we went to Perkins with a few of the youth kids then some of the girls came back to our apartment for a night of RockBand... So, I took this opportunity to try out my Dump Cake recipe! They were very skeptical at first, even Allen was, but they tasted and LOVED it!! Yay!
Dump Cake:
Ingredients:
1 can cherry pie filling
1 can crushed pineapples
1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter

Directions:
All you do is preheat the oven to 350, use either a 9x13 pan (i used a bundt pan) and mix the cherry and pineapple together. Then just pour the powder cake mix on top and pour the melted butter on top of that! Then just cook in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes! Magnifique!!!!! (or however you spell that :-))

Bday parties and such

2009-08-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

So this morning we went to my niece, Taylor's first birthday party! She is so cute and there are sooo many little girls running around! See, my family has girls... That's apparently just what happens.. I want to at least have one boy, but we will see how that goes :-) My sister is having twins and one is a boy so that will be the first one around! ha!
I found out from my brother that I can get an iphone! Ah!! It will only cost us 10 dollars more a month! Wow! SO exciting!! We have to get both of us our tires first though...

2009-08-21T20:37:00.006-05:00

Ok, so dinner went very well!!! How to make Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a 9x13 pan

2. Blend olive oil and garlic... In separate bowl, mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, basil, italian seasonings, and pepper. Dip chicken breasts in olive oil then into bread crumb mixture. Put in pan and top with leftover crumbs.

3. Bake 30 minutes in oven

4. Serve on top of noodles and marinara sauce

After the baking process.... haha don't let looks deceive you, they were really good!

The finished result:

DELISH!!! I LOVE COOKING!!!

2009-08-21T11:33:00.002-05:00

Ah!!! I AbSoLuTeLy LOVE to cook!!!!! It is one of my very favorite things to do!! I am making a Baked Garlic Chicken Parmesan tonight! I will make sure and update tonight when its all done!! I can't wait!!! I've just really got to stop starting small fires in my toaster oven :-)

2009-08-21T08:48:00.003-05:00

SSOOOOOOOOOO sore!!!! This Slim in 6 video is already kicking my butt!!! I am looking forward to the results though! I kinda ruined my workout yesterday with Sara! We ate lots of pizza and cookies!! Ah!!! Oh well, it was good. Vegging out is a definite must on a girl's night! I need to start taking more pictures of my life! That is my new goal... :-)

2009-08-20T07:04:00.003-05:00

Yeah. Its 7am and I've been up for 30 mins... I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep! Dangit!! Well, at least I can start on my school early.. I guess :-) Well, yesterday I tried to do a p90x workout video (I bought it for Allen about a year and a half ago). I have never tried it before but I decided that I need to slim up and tone just a little... Well, yeah, I totally couldn't even get through half the video! Some of those exercises I can't even do!!!! So I have decided to go back to my Slim in Six video... I can actually do those exercises and its mostly lunges and squats-which is where I need to tone up :-)

Today, I have lots of errands to run!! Got to go price some things for Allen's bday present!! I am SO excited about that! He is gonna LOVE it! Well, as long as I find a job and am able to afford his present :-) God will provide.

Well, thats all for now.... I'll let you know how shopping goes.

2009-08-19T11:30:00.002-05:00

Wow. So I really need to get done with my school now!! I just got a notice that starting September 1st you have to finish EVERY module in the school and make an 85 or above before taking the final!! Ah! Sounds weird, I know, but so far with my school it has been a rule that you didn't necessarily have to finish the whole thing as long as you got the jist of what's going on... So that's what Ive been doing!! Not fair that they would change it!! So, if you've been wondering what I do in my spare time... The answer will be SCHOOL for the next two weeks!! I am praying that the Lord helps me get done!! I have like 500 transcriptions to type up. Yikes. And right now they are taking me about 10-15 mins each!! So I will have to mathematically figure that out and really get down to it.
Guess I needed to get done soon anyways... SO stressed!!!

2009-08-18T19:25:00.001-05:00

Ok, so thanks to Sara, my blog looks much better!! Now I will enjoy logging onto here! I still have some editing to do but for the most part I am liking this...
Storm coming... Please stay on electricity!! I need to start uploading pictures and stuff on here! hmmm.....

2009-08-17T12:26:00.000-05:00

Totally need to figure out how to make my blog look better! It's just so bland but this website is hard to work.... So excuse the "plain-ness" right now, I will have it looking better in no time! :-) Feel free to make suggestions!

2009-08-17T11:59:00.000-05:00

New entry!!!! God had blessed us so much!! Before we left for college mission trip, I was having trouble with my tires... I have to get new ones very soon! Allen does too! Allen has been at his base for a while so he hasn't been to work but Sunday we walked into his office and we had a card addressed to the two of us from an anonymous person!! They gave us $200!!!! Thats just about how much I need for my tires!!! God is so good! Now we have money to buy my tires and he can use his money from the Air Force to pay for his tires!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!

The reason for my blog

2009-07-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

Well, hello there. This is the beginning of my blogging journey. I have not tried this before, but I realized the other day that I need to keep track of my life and the things that God does in my life so I dont ever forget... So here I am.... :-) This will be fun!
Hmmm... So where to even start, I have no idea.
God is so faithful to me. I have needed $140 for a bridesmaid dress, but since I am not working full-time right now, it has been impossible to come up with the money!! Today, I went up to Eads to look at the schedule and do some other things and I had a check in my box!! And guess how much it was? A little over $140!! Wow!! What an answer to prayer! God time and time again shows me that He really does care about my life and about the little things. Lately, in my quiet times, I have been studying the Fruit of the Spirit. It has been interesting and very very eye-opening!
Allen and I are leading our first trip next week! This makes us nervous yet excited! We are taking the college students plus a few older youth students to Westwego, Louisiana. We will be painting a sanctuary, doing some minor construction work, going door to door, and maybe a back-yard Bible club! I will keep you updated on how it goes.
I cant think of anything else right now... Oh yeah, I will update you on my life right now:
Allen and I are almost to our year wedding anniversary!! October 11th! This year has gone by SO fast!!! We have a sugar glider named Stitch. He will be a year on September 28th... We live in the seminary housing across the street from Bellevue Baptist. He goes to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and will have his Master's degree in May! I am going to finish Medical Transcription school in August and hopefully find a job doing that! Our life is very busy hanging out with the youth kids at Germantown Baptist. We LOVE doing that, I cant think of a better thing to be doing right now! We are definitely where the Lord wants us to be right now and that is a peaceful place to be!