Mississippi Mud Roast

First, let me apologize for my absence however; I have been severely under the weather.  But, thankfully I am doing much better.
Let me introduce you to one of my favorite recipes:  Mississippi Mud Roast

Put chuck roast in crock pot, sprinkle with Hidden Valley ranch dressing, ass McCormick Au Jus Mix, a stick of butter and 5 pepperoncini peppers. DO NOT ADD WATER. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.   We serve ours with mashed potatoes and the left overs make a great sandwich. Enjoy!

Creation Story: Day 3

Creation Story: Day 3

Today's tot lesson was about Day 3 of the Creation Story.... “And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.” -Genesis 1: 9-13

Where God made flowers, plants and trees's and the snack we enjoyed... We planted seeds and decorated our number 3 with flowers, plants, and trees. *Apologies I forgot to take all the pictures.

Creation Story : Day 2

Creation Story; Day 2


Today at tot school was Day 2 of Creation : Sky "And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault "sky." And there was evening and there was morning -- the second day." Genesis 1:6-8.


We first reviewed day 1 with the marshmallows being the light and the raisins being the darkness.

We reviewed our Number 2 and colored it blue for the water/sky and added clouds. Our other craft was a sheet of blue construction paper with water waves colored with blue Rice Krispies and cotton for the 

Our snacks for today are popcorn (clouds) and water

and blue jello "water" and cool white "clouds". 

The Creation Story: Day 1

"The Creation Story"
Day 1

Since today I was thankful for homeschool here is some of what we did in tot school ... Today our lesson was "The Creation Story" Day 1. 

We took a shoe box and painted it with black paint on the inside.  Next we put two hole in the side with one on each end but not parallel. When they first looked in the box it was black and then we placed the flashlight on the other end.  When they looked this time there was light.  They truly enjoyed this activity. * Sorry I forgot to take a picture

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day."  

Lastly, for our snack today we enjoyed Oreos which when closed they represented the darkness. However; when we opened them to reveal the cream in the middle the day or light was represented. 

I truly enjoyed the lesson today and the fact that since we are homeschooling our children are able to learn about it in a learning environment. I would love to hear any ideas that my fellow home school parents have to share. 

The Un- Pepperoni Pizza

Toddlers are very picky eaters.... mine's included. She loves pepperoni pizza without the pepperoni. Yes, we have tried plain cheese pizza but nope its not Pepperoni Mom.  So, when I stumbled across this recipe for pepperoni pizza in a bundt pan; I had to give it a try.

Ingredients:  

2 Cans of Grands Jr. Biscuits
3.5 ounce package of Pepperoni 
16 ounce package of Mozzarella cheese 
1/2 t Italian seasoning 

1 T Parmesan cheese 

Directions

You will cut the biscuits into 4 pieces and layer them in the bottom of the pan.  Next slice the pepperoni's in half and that will be your second layer. Sprinkle your mozzarella cheese on and that will be your 3rd layer. Finally you will sprinkle Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning as your 4th layer. This process will be repeated 3 times until the Grands are gone. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Make sure that you grease the bundt pan or use a nonstick pan. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. I hope your family enjoyed it as much as mine's did.  We enjoy dipping ours in marinara sauce. My toddler even asked for seconds... Yay Mom! .

My First Attempt at Verse Mapping 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Let's keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to verse map. In some instances teh verses will lend themselves to some very deep verse mapping, while others will be more simplistic.  My friends, do no overlook the simple. More often than not we get caught in the rut of thinking that  we have learned all there is to learn. Something so familiar becomes something we don’t give a second thought to, but just let the words roll off our tongues. This verse is way to important to become mundane and something we just repeat without truly meditating on and continually having a new hunger build inside of us. Let’s break down this very familiar, and probably one of the most memorized verses, John 3:16.

The first way I verse map is to look at the verse and see if there is anywhere I can replace pronouns with proper names. Most are God of course, but sometimes the verse is speaking to or about me. This verse is no exception.

For God so loved Kangelia that God gave His one and only Son, so that, Kangelia, who believes in God, shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Put your name in place of mine. The verse still fits and is still relevant. God loves every single one of us, and He knows each of us by our name! You can personalize that verse specific to you! I love that.

Next, I pick out words that really stand out to me and look them up in a dictionary and thesaurus. Loved, believes, perish, and eternal stand out. Let’s break them down.

Loved:  an intense feeling of deep affection

Believes: accept as true

Perish: suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way

Eternal: lasting or existing forever; without end or beginning

Wow! God had such an intense feeling of deep affection for me, that as long as I accept that as truth, I won’t suffer death, but rather I will last forever! When we make this personal it has such a more heartfelt meaning when it’s all written out in that way!

For God had such an intense feeling of deep affection for Kangelia, that God sent His one and only Son. As long as Kangelia accepts this as truth, Kangelia  will not die, but rather exist forever in God’s presence!

Verse mapping in the simplest of way for the deepest of meaning.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”.

* I would like to thank Angela Marks over at http://www.intentionallygrmazing.blogspot.com/ for first introducing me to verse mapping. Please be sure to head over and check her blog out. 

Let's Revive: Sunday Dinner

One of my favorite childhood family traditions growing up was Sunday Dinner.  I loved having all of my family gathered around the table and sharing a home cooked meal. What meant the most to me were the stories shared, the laughs, and the memories created. Since I enjoy meal planning and love to cook we are restoring a valued family tradition of Sunday family dinners.  We always ask two questions: "What was the best part of your day?" and "What was the hardest part of your day?" We avoid the word worst because it infers defeat and our main goal here is to get our children talking.  


Some of you call it Sunday supper, some dinner, but whichever you call it, it was considered the main meal of the day on Sunday, most often served earlier than the usual weeknight dinner, usually between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. 

Even in the south though, it appears that Sunday dinner has taken the back seat to the busyness of life, but I am praying for a revival.  Even in the age of modern technology, we all need to unplug and reconnect with other human beings, face to face.... not on Facebook, email or texting but real live conversation.  We recently went out to dinner and I was astonished at the number of people whose phones were right under their nose, so that they could read and respond to every text or Facebook post.
Seriously why are these parents not engaging in conversations with their children? More importantly, what are they teaching their children?  If you can't be away from technology long enough to sit down and enjoy each other's company and your meal, then, well you might just be addicted. So my challenge to each of you is to put all technology away for an hour or so, and enjoy each other's company.  Let's revive not only Sunday dinners but our families as well.

What are some of your favorite memories of your family Sunday dinners? Do you have a favorite Sunday dinner meal?