Are you afraid?

Today at church I dropped Kara off in the nursery for the first time since she was born, and so for the first time in a long time I was able to focus completely on the message and worshipping God. It was wonderful :)

The message this morning was about how we often times live our lives in fear instead of faith. We read about the night that Jesus walked on the water, and how Peter had faith enough to step out of the boat, onto the water in the middle of a storm. (Matt 14:22-33) Because Peter had faith to take that first step out, he was able to experience something that no one else ever has. We too have to put fear aside and have faith in Jesus in order to experience real life! Our pastor today, Mike Breaux, shared some quotes that I loved from Max Lucado's book Fearless.

“When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god.  When safety becomes out god we worship the risk free life.  Can the safety lover do anything great? Can the risk-averse accomplish noble deeds? For God? For others?  No. The fear-filled cannot love deeply.  Love is risky. The fear-filled the cannot give to the poor. Benevolence has no guarantee of return… the worship of safety emasculates greatness. No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear.”

“Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry.  Fear never saved a marriage or a business.  Courage did that.  Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidities did that.  But fear itself?  Fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors.  Wouldn’t it be great to walk out?”

"When Christ is great, our fears are not. As awe of Jesus expands, fears of life diminish. A big God translates into big courage.”


We sang this song at the end of the service. It really speaks to all the things the sermon was about. I love it!

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

Today's message really got me thinking about what I am afraid of, besides spiders and snakes :). What fears am I holding on to that keep me from living the life God wants me to live? Fears of failure, rejection, sacrifice... I am not sure. I do know I want to live a good story, one of faith not fear.

4 months

Kara is 4 months old! I seriously can not believe how fast she is changing! She seems to learn something new everyday. Her personality is really starting to come out now. She loves being around people and hates to be left alone. Anytime one of us walks into the room she perks up and smiles really big!

She can sit up now with a little support, chews on her fingers all the time, and loves to blow raspberries!

I love her big blue eyes! and those chubby cheeks :)

Kara loves playing under her little gym, she pulls down on the toys so hard trying to get them to her mouth. She scoots all around on her back pushing off with her feet. And she is quite the giggler!

Her big sister makes her laugh all the time!

 I love you Kara Mae! Happy 4 month Birthday!



baby giggles

A lot happened this weekend.
Thursday night we took the girls to a kids program (called Off the Hook) at our church. It was a really cute play about how we should forgive others like God forgives us: For Real, For Free, Forever! :) My in-laws also drove into town that night to spend a few days with us.

Friday for lunch we grilled out hamburgers and potatoes and I made baked beans. I followed this recipe from The Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/the-best-baked-beans-ever/ and they really were the best baked beans ever! Super easy and very tasty!
The remainer of the day my mother in law helped me clean the house for a showing we had that night. (We have had our house up for sale for over 6 months now. We would like to move closer back to Missouri at some point and want the freedom to do so whenever the right job comes available.) Our realtor called later that night and said the people wanted to see the house again Saturday afternoon. Then Saturday night they made us an offer on the house and after a little negotiating back and forth, we finally have a contract to sell our house!

Part of the contract called for us to fix the fence on our property, it has been leaning since we bought the house two years ago. There are a bunch of trees and bushes next to the fence that have been growing over the fence and pulling it down. So after church on Sunday Jack and his dad spent the afternoon fixing the fence. It is now standing pretty and as good as new!
Jack took a little break from working on the fence sunday night to take me out on a date for our anniversary. We wanted to go somewhere casual where we could just relax and talk so we chose Red Robin :) We are a burger and fries kind of couple!  And it was perfect just to get away for a couple hours by ourselves! We hardly ever go out on dates, and need to make a point to do this a lot more often because we like each other :)

Here is some little baby giggles from tonight...sorry if the mommy/baby talk is over the top. I'll do anything to make my girls laugh! :)

Let's Pretend

All Kirsten wants to do lately is play pretend. She has a great imagination and loves to pretend everything!

Through out the course of a day she is a doctor, a mommy, a baby, a cook, a bride, a princess, a dancer, and many other things. We play "check out" over and over again, which means pretending to buy things and then check them out like at a store.

We go on airplane rides, and take trips to grandma's house. We have tea parties, and picnics. She drives her mini coup to "sonic" and to get mommy a cherry coke :)

She is so particular too. Even in her imaginative play everything has a specific place and  correct way to be done. She is so much fun! I love when she says "Mommy, I want to play with you!" I hope she never outgrows that!

How about dessert for breakfast?  Chocolate Covered Banana Oatmeal!

Cook 1/2 oats and 1 cup water in microwave on medium power for about 2 minutes. Add a little milk to make it the right consistency, then stir in 1/2 a chopped banana and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Yummy!

One of our favorites

I haven't been making this dish long but it has quickly become one of our favorite dinners. It's super simple, and has TONS of flavor!

I first set out to make Chicken Piccata because Jack tried it at the Cheesecake Factory and loved it!

Now, I'm definitely not claiming this to be equal to that of the beloved Factory but it's pretty darn good!
The recipe that I use comes from another blog that I follow: http://www.ahealthysliceoflife.com/

Chicken Piccata

4 chicken breasts, pounded down until they are 1/4 inch thick

1/3 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 c white wine

3 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp parsley

1 large garlic clove, pressed

2 Tbsp capers

Combine flour, salt and pepper in dish.  Add 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil to skillet over medium.  Dredge pounded chicken pieces in flour mixture, and cook 3 minutes on each side in skillet until golden brown.  Remove the chicken, and keep it warm (under a tinfoil tent).  Add 1 Tbsp butter, wine, lemon, garlic, parsley and capers to skillet.  Stir until warm. Once the sauce has warmed up, either spoon over chicken, or, like I did, stick the chicken back in the skillet and then serve.

I wasn't able to pound out my chicken breasts as much as I should have for 2 reason:

1) I don't have a meat mallet, instead I was using the side of a can of fruit. lol!

2) I didn't want to wake my sleeping baby :)

No big deal though, they just take a few more minutes to cook if you leave them thicker.



The KEY ingredients for AWESOME flavor!




On the side we had angel hair pasta and roasted green beans



Toss frozen or fresh green beans in a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
 Cook at 425 for about 15 minutes.

What's one of your favorite dishes to make?