Monterey Jack Cheese Soup

Last night my parents and Matthew joined us for dinner. We had the soup mentioned above with garlic bread and salad. Everyone agreed that it was yummy and definately a "make-again-recipe." We finished the evening with a round of Scrabble and buttery popcorn.

Monterey Jack Cheese Soup

1 cup chicken broth
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp green chilies, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cups milk, divided
6oz monterey jack cheese, shredded

In a 3-qt. saucepan, combine the broth, tomato, onion, chilies and garlic; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In another saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth; gradually stir in 1-1/2 cups milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.

Slowly stir into the vegetable mixture. Put on medium-low heat; add cheese and remaining milk. Cook and stir over low heat until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

**I doubled the recipe and used a combination of monterey jack, pepper jack, and colby cheese.

Grain Overload & God's Grace

This past Thursday we received our first bucket of wheat berries - forty five pounds of it. :) In the past few days I've made biscuits, flour tortillas, chocolate chip cookies, and even bagels {which I think I need to boil a little longer next time as they were more "bready" than "bagely" - if that makes since. :) } So if you can't tell already, I have really been enjoying the new addition to my "maid staff" - the grain mill. She sits beautifully amongst all my other modern day appliances that make life just a tad bit easier. Which reminds me of a radio broadcast with Nancy Leigh Demoss titled "No Mundane Tasks" -definitely worth reading or listening too! Actually, that entire series on Proverbs 31 is edifying!! God has taught me so much through Nancy's teaching.

Work and school have been keeping Tony pretty busy! I am so grateful for the time we're able to spend together - even amongst all the studying. :) I do not always take on the task of helping him study joyfully ... it is not my most favoritest thing to do. But I know that even these moments are a gift from God and by HIS grace, I resolve to take the future times of helping my sweet husband to study with much delight!! Over the weekend we were able to spend some mall money we recieved for Christmas, take a three mile walk in the nice winter air, visit with our family, walk through the farmers market, enjoy a plate of sweet & hot chicken wings, have a Sunday afternoon nap, and eat Tamale's made by my dad. Sweet memories of togetherness!!

Sunday morning we ventured to the Sovereign Grace Church of Apex to hear CJ Mahaney speak. He spoke from James 4:1-2 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. Everyone can related to this passage of scripture because everyone is all too familiar with relational conflicts - particularly married couples. These conflicts are much worse, much simpler, and much easier to resolve than we think. We tend to trivialize and minimize our times of quarrels and fights ... but James uses some harsh language that proves otherwise - this is a serious sin against our Creator. The source of all conflict comes from within you!! (I would underline that word more than once, but blogger don't offer that feature). Your passions are at war ... You desire and do not have ... You covet and cannot obtain. You fight because you do not get what you want - whether that be affection, attention, power, vindication, comfort, a hassle-free life, etc. Cravings underlie conflicts!!!! Our sinful, selfish cravings! Oh how true this is! We are to examine our souls and by God's grace identify our sinful cravings and apologize. Humble yourself before the Lord and HE will exalt you. God's grace is much greater than our sin. If you confess your sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. The ultimate conflict is between us and God and this is resolved by Jesus Christ's substitutionary death on the cross. What sweet hope and comfort this gives to the Christian! How kind of the Lord to give us this wisdom!

The Ladder

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place

and he stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the

stones of the place, he put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and

the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending

and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it ... Genesis 28:10-13

And [Jesus] said to [Nathanael], "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened,

and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. John 1:51

Christ IS the ladder

by which God and man are joined together,

and by whom the angels minister to us:

all graces are given to us by him,

and we ascend to heaven by him.

(Note from the Geneva Study Bible)

What a glorious truth that is!

Winter Wonderland

(The snow is still lingering in our front yard)

(Braving the cold air so that we could collect more snow

for ice cream - and get a picture. We decided to make

some extra to keep in the freezer. Mmmm)

My parents stopped by a little while ago and dropped off our dinner -veggie soup with tortellinis, made mostly by dad. Mom said she added some seasonings. ;) I finished moms hat while they were here and didn't think to take any pictures of it. So I'll have to get some the next time I see her. Now I'll be starting on a blanket for dad. He brought me all the camouflage yarn today. It will be neat to see how it turns out. Oh and I came across a recipe for Artisan Herb Crackers and decided they would accompany the soup well. They actually weren't all that hard to make. I'll definately be trying these recipes in the future - cheese crackers and graham crackers. Okay, the last one causes me to think of Smore's. Yeah, I'll need to make those soon. Haha.

It is pouring

****SNOW**** right now and I am loving it oh so very much!! I have opened the blinds throughout the house so I can see the beauty! I'm about to curl up in the recliner, sip some hot tea, listen to a sermon, and crochet my mom a hat {that I've already taken apart twice ;) Proving I'm still a beginner at these things}.

My alarm first went off this morning at 5am - when I saw that the roads were still pretty clear, I crawled back in the cozy bed with my sweet husband for another 50 minutes or so. :) Up again at 6 and Tony was out the door in 30minutes. He called me to let me know that he arrived to work safely. ;) I do love that man a LOT!!

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12:25 I just got off the phone with that lovely guy pictured above and he is coming home EARLY from work!!! I'm so excited!!! And the snow continues to fall... six inches and counting. :)

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2:00 My husband is f.i.n.a.l.l.y. home from work. Traffic was crazy. But boy am I glad he's home safe and sound.

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3:00 And now we are enjoying some snow ice cream! Yummy! We used Grandma Smith's recipe: Beat 3 eggs in large bowl; stir in 1 3/4 cups sugar; add 2 tsp vanilla and 1 1/2 cups of milk; now add the freshly collected snow -about 6 liters. Stir until combined and then eat! I also added some pumpkin pie spice.

Busy with school

Well Worth It

By God's providence, I received a message through myspace from a guy named Steve this past Sunday. He explained that he grew up with Tony in Indiana and that he was doing a job here in NC until Wednesday. Oh yes ... Steve Lamping. The name rang a bell. They haven't seen each other since 6th grade. He and Tony corresponded back and forth through myspace and we made plans to eat dinner with him in Durham. So last night (after a few u-turns) we finally made it to Steve's hotel and we went to eat at Carrabba's Italian Restaurant. The food was so yummy! The fellowship even better!! The guys had a great time catching up on 16 years of life. :) Lord willing we'll be able to get together again real soon.

We dropped Steve off at the hotel and started our hour and a half drive home. About 20 miles from the house, Tony asked me for his phone - which he had handed to me as we walked into the restaurant. I reached in my purse and only found my phone. I started calling his phone, thinking that it was in the car somewhere. Nope. Nowhere to be found. :( So now I'm trying to playback in my mind and remember my every step. We had went to Carrabba's, then to Starbucks [which ended up being closed, but we did get out of the car there], then to the hotel, and then to a gas station. There was no telling when I actually lost it. In my prayer journal that night I prayed "Lord, please let it be found by someone that will call my phone and return it to us with ease. Please keep it safe and cozy wherever it may be." May sound like a silly prayer to you, but it was prayed with all sincerity and faith. And this afternoon I drove back up to Carrabba's restaurant to pick up Tony's phone. You know where it stayed the night ... in a safe. Lord, thank you so very much for keeping Tony's cell phone in a "safe" place last night - literally!!

Fact

I use my left thumb a whole lot.
This was confirmed when I cut it this morning while slicing apples. :(
Nothing too major ... but it is wrapped in a bandaid and I am not able to use it like usual.
Thank you LORD for my left thumb!! And I am sorry for taking it for granted!!

A Surprise

My very sweet husband did a wonderful thing today! He surprised me!! :) When I got home from running errands today, there were two packages sitting on the porch. One was from iherb.com - which included our good for us vitamins. The other was a rather large box from a name I didn't recognize in Brooklyn, NY. It was addressed to Tony, so I let it sit there by the front door. When he got home from work, I was telling him about the mystery package. He got a smile on his face and said that it was a gift for me. :) Oh... I was so excited. I really like surprises! He told me to get the camera for him -so I did. You can watch the video for the rest of the story.

Yay! We have our very own grain mill - and I am very surprised and very excited!!
Thank you so much My Love!!!

A Hat for Brittany

New Years Eve

I give you thanks, O Lord,

with my whole heart;

before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name
for your steadfast love
and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.

Psalm 138: 1-2

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Last night we joined about 25 precious siblings in Christ on the streets of Richmond, VA.

The glorious news of the gospel was proclaimed over and over again through open air,

one-to-one conversations, and gospel tracts. Thousands of people were reminded of how

fragile this life is and that they will one day give an account to the Creator of the universe.

Many mocked. Some got angry. Others listened.

God was glorified!

Because we had such a large group of laborers, we were able to set up four different

preaching stations. It was great! I don't know how many times I heard someone walk

by and say to their friends, "Man, they're everywhere. Come on. It's New Year's Eve." As the time neared midnight, the crowd got much thicker and louder and hyped up. It was hard

to hear the one preaching ... so what did we do? We joined together and sang hymns to our

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!

What a wonderful way to start the NEW YEAR.