Out of the Mouth of Babes

I'm sure that you've all heard that statement used. Well, It never has been more true to me than the other day. My daughter, yes my baby, was reading my new blog. When she finished reading she said "Mom, you've got it all wrong! You don't say, When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Lemonade! You should say, When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Grape Juice and let people wonder how you did it!"

So, I started thinking about that. She took something that I say and made it her own. It is still all about taking a problem and making something good out of it. I am very open and honest with my children. I guess that comes from having them so young. I told them yesterday that I wanted them to know my mistakes so they wouldn't make the same ones. My brilliant son said "But Mom, we may still do the same things that you did not because we want to make a mistake but because we think maybe if we changed one thing then there will be a different outcome." So, that goes back to me making lemonade and Beth making grape juice! We all have different ways of coping with problems and adversities, but we should all try to turn it around and create an opportunity.

Sugar Free Apple Butter

For more slow cooker recipes or to link to your great recipe, visit Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

Fill crockpot 2/3 full with sliced/cored apples (I do not peel mine because of the vitamins)

I use several types of apples - Granny Smith, Yellow Delicious, and any type of cooking apples.

Add:

3 cups splenda

4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp Mortons

Lite salt

Fill crockpot heaping full and add 1 more cup splenda.

Start on high for a little while and then turn to low for 7-9 hours.

Put in blender or food processor until smooth.

Can it in a water bath or put in containers and give to family and neighbors.

(This is a great Christmas gift with a loaf of homemade bread!)

Easter Basket Giveaway

It helps if you have the link....Don't forget to enter the Watkins Easter Gift Basket Drawing. See the link on her Watkins blog for details..

Watkins Easter Basket Giveaway

Mississippi Songbird is going to giveaway an Easter Basket. Check out her blog to enter the drawing.

Here are the contents:
(1) Watkins Cinnamon Cocoa (6.7 oz.)
(1) Watkins Lavender Firming Lotion (11 fl.oz.)
(1) Watkins Gentle Facial Cleanser (3.4 fl.oz)
(1) Watkins Peppermint Room Freshener (4 fl.oz.)
(1) Menthol Eucalyptus Room Freshener (1 fl.oz.)
(1) Watkins Roasted Garlic Snack & Dip Seasoning(4.2oz)
(1) Watkins Shortbread Cookie mix (12oz.)
This giveaway is open to all U.S. and Canada Residents!

Dutch Boy Pancake

Random Recipes hosted by Pam at Random Thoughts. Today's theme is breakfast. I love to cook, and actually collect cookbooks. I only cook breakfast on Saturdays, and even then my family loves the old southern favs, eggs, bacon or sausage, biscuits & gravy! So, this one was a stretch for me. I haven't made the recipe that I chose but it is on my list to make next Saturday for my family. I hope you all enjoy!

2 tbsp. Butter or Margarine

1/2 cup Flour

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 cup Milk

3 Eggs

4oz. Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup Marshmallow Creme

1 cup sliced strawberries

2 medium peaches, peeled & sliced

1 cup blueberries

PREHEAT oven to 450°F. Add butter to 9-inch pie plate; heat in oven until melted. Tilt pie plate to evenly coat bottom and side with butter. Beat flour, salt, milk and eggs with wire whisk until well blended; pour into pie plate. Place on lowest oven rack.

BAKE 18 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and marshmallow cream with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

FILL pancake with fruit; top with the cream cheese mixture. Serve immediately.

Oh My Gosh!! It looks delicious! I can't wait for Saturday!

1st Youth Trip of 2008

I originally wrote this post on Sunday, February 24th. I didn't realize it didn't go through until today.

I have taken several youth trips in my life, but yesterday was one I'll never forget. Every trip is memorable, but you always remember certain things about each one. We took the 6th grade - 12th grade to Ober Gatlinburg on a day trip. There were only 13 youth, and 8 adults. We were scheduled to leave from the church at 10am, but if you've ever been around a church youth group you know that schedules are made to be flexible! After waiting on a late arrival we left about 10:30. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to Gatlinburg. I had a fabulous time on the drive just listening to the young people interact. It always makes me feel young again!

As we arrived in Gatlinburg, it was very dark and gloomy. It looked like it was going to rain, but we were determined to not let it deter us! We all left the parking garage headed for the Tram station laughing and joking about how it looked like something from a horror film. On the tram ride to the top of the mountain it felt like we were literally just floating in the clouds. You could barely see the tops of the trees through the clouds. Very frightening!

We arrived at Ober Gatlinburg around 1pm. We all basically ran to the nearest food vendor. Well, with the exception of 2 people, and of course they were my son & his girlfriend. We didn't miss them until we arrived at the food vendor, and started counting off. My son is a very reliable child. He very rarely gets in trouble, and he is the one missing!! I could have killed him. We finally found them and they were by the skating rink just watching! He said they weren't hungry yet...I said, I don't remember asking if you were hungry! I guess I shouldn't have said that, huh? So, shake it off...We get everyone together and we eat. Then we split up into groups. Some went straight to the arcades, others went to the chairlift, and still others went ice skating! I will upload pictures of the ice skating later. It was truly an adventure!

The kids all seemed to have a good time, and on the way home starting asking when the next field trip would be. Of course, my husband responded by saying "Who am I picking up for Sunday School in the morning?" BTW, the next field trip is scheduled for the summer. We are going to take them to Pigeon Forge, and we hope to make it an entire weekend trip! Let's pray we can raise enough money.

When Life Gives You Lemons

We've all heard the old saying, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Sometimes it seems such a trite saying, especially if someone quotes it to us when we are in a great dilemna in our life. There are things such as a health situation or something traumatic happening with our family members that we may not be able to make lemonade out of or change the situation. However, God does give us the strength to deal and handle even the most trying of circumstances. So even though we can't stop the lemons from falling or make something better of a situation, we can determine to better the way in which we handle those 'lemons'. Remember life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it!

Lemons are going to fall into our lives. There may be circumstances arise that we can't change, but we need to do our best to make the most of them and to deal with them. Sometimes we forget that God is still in control. A few weeks ago my Pastor quoted a saying for F.E.A.R that I loved. He said FEAR is Forgetting Everythings All Right! We don't always know what God's outcome is, but I am so glad that God does things in HIS plan and timing and not ours. My sincere wish is that I will be willing for HIS will in my life!

Blogging...Can I really do this?

I was inspired today as I read an old friends blogs to start one of my own. I'm sure that I won't be able to be as eloquent as she is, and I probably won't have anywhere near as many visitors as she has, however, I think this might actually be a type of therapy for me. I am excited, and I hope that something I might record here could be a help to someone.

Well, I hope that you enjoy my first blogging attempts!