52 week Bible Reading Plan - Week 1

 As I mentioned several blogs ago, I have decided to commit to reading my Bible over the next year. This was a reluctant commitment in the beginning but I am happy to say that after only one week I am feeling completely blessed and so glad that I followed through with what God was leading me to do. Not only do I feel a sense of accomplishment, I feel as if many of the verses I have read this week have spoken specifically to things going on in my life.  Just an awesome reminder that the word is living and God breathed.  I just shake my head at the woman I was a week ago, choosing to let fear and laziness get in the way of starting this awesome journey.  I am excited to continue delving into the word and it brings me much pleasure to know that I will be able to say a year from now that I have read the entire Bible.

If you are interested in checking out the plan I'm following you can find it at: http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.html

Big boy beds

 I just got done ordering the boys new bunk beds! Starting to get things together so we can move them into the same room and turn Jordan's room into the nursery. Because of the way our ceilings slant we are going to start out with the beds separate but it will be nice to have the option to bunk them later on. Tomorrow we are organizing Nathan's closet so we can fit both the boys' dressers in there. Then we will be ready to set up the new beds when they come. I am stoked because I got a great deal on them at Target including 10% off and free shipping. It was also cheaper than any two individual twins I found. Here's what the beds look like, I will put up pictures of the room when we are all done with it.

Free Nursing Covers!!

 So I have recently fallen in love with Udder Covers and Hooter Hiders and all the other crazy names for the cute nursing covers that have the strap around your neck. But I definitely have not wanted to pay $35. In fact, I have seriously considered making my own. I may still do that just to see if I can, but I just got done ordering my very own Udder Cover for FREE. Okay, I had to pay 9.95 for shipping and handling, but that's not bad at all. Interested? Go to www.uddercovers.com and when checking out put in the promotional code thanks. This will make your purchase free minus the S&H. If you order one, leave a comment on which one - I am getting the Carson.

Double duty

Two of the things that I like to focus on when planning my grocery list is my budget and buying healthy items when possible. Now I have slipped some in the healthy area. For awhile we were really trying to cut down on our processed food, trying to avoid things with HFCS and extra preservatives. But as life has gotten hectic we seem to have slipped back into old habits of buying more for convenience. Not only that, but it seems that when money is tight it is easy to buy less healthy. I would like to get back to healthier shopping while still saving money where I can. So I have decided to start making small changes that I hope will add up in the long run.

The first change I am making (and I told you I was starting out small) is to stop buying jarred spaghetti sauce. I have read a zillion times from Rachel Ray that all you need is some crushed tomatoes, olive oil and seasonings to make your own sauce that is more cost effective and has less salt than the jarred version. So the other day I finally did this and realized how it is just as easy to prepare and really is cheaper. Plus you cut out any unnecessary preservatives or extra sodium. I also like that you can add whatever ingredients you like to make it your own.

Here is to small changes!!

What we had for dinner

I want to try to start sharing some of my favorite recipes that I cook for my family. I am always trying out new recipes and love when people share what they are cooking for their own families so I thought it might be helpful for others if I pass along some of what I cook as well:) This first recipe is for Tuna Noodle Casserole that I probably make every month or so. I found it when I was doing Weight Watchers and it is by far my favorite version of this recipe. Enjoy~~

TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE

Ingredients:
*12 oz uncooked noodles (I prefer whole wheat shells)
*12 oz water packed tuna, drained
*2 c button mushrooms, sliced
*1/2 c to 1 c of chopped onion (red is good for a little extra bite)
*1 c frozen peas, thawed
*16 oz FF sour cream
*1/2 c FF mayo
*2 tsp Dijon mustard
*1 tsp dried thyme
*1/4 tsp pepper
*1/2 c shredded RF cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles according to package, drain and transfer to a large bowl.
2. Fold in tuna, mushrooms, onion and peas.
3. Whisk sour cream, mayo, mustard and seasonings together in a separate bowl. Fold into the noodle mixture.
4. Transfer to a 4-quart casserole dish, top with cheese.
5. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

**For those of you watching your weight, 1 cup of this is 320 calories.

Finally making the commitment

One of the big struggles I have in my Christian walk is committing to read my Bible like I should. Sure, I spend time in my Bible weekly. I am doing studies in both my woman's group and my home group but that usually consists of me flipping through the reading and questions the night before or the day of. Where I am really lacking is in my daily reading. Spending that quiet time in the word truly taking it in. I have tried to commit to this several times in my life but like many other ventures I start with a lot of enthusiasm and quickly lose interest and motivation. So when our group leader in woman's bible study brought up the idea of all of us choosing reading plans for this new year, I wasn't in a hurry to get on board. Not because I don't know that I should read, but to be completely honest, I don't really want to. I WANT to want to, but I really don't have that desire. So I completely drug my feet when it came to even looking at reading plans let alone settling on one. Well, being the awesome and persistent leader she is, she again brought it up last week and had everyone share what they chose. I was honest in saying I hadn't chosen one yet and told her I would look into it.

It really forced me to think about why I was so reluctant to do something that I know is right and will be good for me. I thought about it the whole way home and talked about it with my husband later that night. What I realized is that because my desire is lacking, I knew that it would be a lot of work if I wanted to commit to this. And if I was being held accountable by the other women in my group, I would really feel obligated. I ultimately realized that I didn't want to fail like I had so many other times. In order to avoid failure, I have been avoiding making a new commitment to start reading again. I especially didn't want to fail when others would know about it. The thing is, as soon as I recognized this fear and spoke it aloud, I realized that it was silly. That I did not want to be held back by my own fear. Especially not from something that would help me grow spiritually. The more I thought about it the more it became apparent these were the devil's words being whispered in my ear. He was the one telling me I was going to fail. And I let him do it! This was the push I needed to get me going in the right direction. I began to allow new positive thoughts replace the negative ones and no longer was hearing the words failure or fear. I am happy to say that today I have started a 52 week Bible Reading Plan. I am making this commitment to myself and to God. I may not do it perfectly but I am going to do it.

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