Mmmm - A Morning Favorite

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I ran out of bread... again.  Also had a sick girl at home so I couldn't go to the bread outlet to get more.  The bread outlet is my new favorite haunt.  But alas, I had to make it from scratch... again. 

I know, terrible isn't it? ha ha

My favorite morning thing to have on warm bread, fresh out of the oven is Peanut Butter.  Mmmmm

What is your morning favorite?

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Forgot to share!

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I just remembered I forgot to blog / share a Valentine gift that I received from my Mother-in-Law!  She asked me what I would like and I really needed a waist tie apron so I went looking on Ebay and found the cutest one ev-ah! 

Here is the pocket!

Cute huh?!  I lurve it!

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Guess what! There's a new blog in town!

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Guess what!  There's a new blog in town!

I have a dear girlfriend who wanted to learn how to blog and begin documenting the wonderful history of her family for generations to come.  So today we spent the afternoon together and she graduated from ChaChaneen's basic blog tutorial class and joined us officially in bloggyland! 

I'd like to introduce you to 

Memories with Ann!

She enjoys tea parties, traveling, loving on her beautiful and numerous grandchildren, sewing, crafting, scrap booking, reading, shopping and talking as much as I do!  

Please share the lurve and stop by and say Hi and tell her Janeen sent ya!  Thank you!

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I didn't see it coming...

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Oh what is a Mother to do?

(Alert for my Mother-in-law... brace yourself)

My boy, my baby, came to me this morning and asked me to look something up online for him...

Tackle Football 

He saw my hesitation, he saw me stop breathing for a moment.  He said, "Mom, they do wear gear ya know."  Oh my stars, he KNEW what I was thinking.  I couldn't help it, I started smiling and he then he started smiling.  However, our smiles had entirely different meanings.  

 My little man lurves to watch sports.  He will easily sit through hours of a entire football game (with his Dad and I changing the channel during the garbage commercials) happy as a clam.  Early on when we'd ask him who he was rooting for, he'd reply... "The white shirts".  Last season he began learning players names and now he recognizes logos for teams.

I have to admit I think I have been in d-e-n-i-a-l.   Yes me... Nancy Drew... didn't think to THINK where this would lead too.  Me who laughed off the joke of when we played football in the backyard and he told me I was "off sides", yet it was only him and I playing and I had tackled him down with the faux pig skin tucked snugly in my arm.  I think he was trying to throw me off track.  Nah, not this former cheerleader, I know my offense and defense.  

"So"... he says, "would you please look it up for me?"  

He said please after all... 

the results..

SEVERAL teams for little people right here in town.  

D-A-N-G!  

I suddenly wished we lived in Montana... working a cattle ranch... (Heck my Man and I already get up at o'dark-thirty) I'd have some chickens that I'd call my "girls"... a couple of lambs and goats (for weed abatement because I hate pulling weeds).  My daughter and I could drive into town and shop for clothes cuz I can't sew.... well does sewing in junior high count?  

Well anyway, I've forgotten how to.  

I would be home schooling my kids and making biscuits~n~gravy with my eyes closed.  Oh wait, I already do that.  Miles away from Tackle Football.

I said, "Well I will have to think more about it and talk about it with Daddy."

Then he said, "Let's call Dad!"  Well Dad is fishing... now that's a sport!  

So he makes the call, shares his request and can you guess Dad's response?

""I'll have to talk to your Mom, son."

 Update -  We have said the big N-O to Tackle Football. 

However we are considering Flag Football for now...

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A fun little Friday thing to do

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Saw this in blogglyland and decided I would play along!  What are 10 things - right off the top of your head - that we would only know about you if we knew you really well? 10 random things ranging anywhere on your personal map that make you a tad distinctive? Or just plain weird? Think quickly. Don't go for deep. Go for quirky. Don't try to put them in any kind of order and don't make them long. Just start typing. I'll go first to give you the idea.

1.  I lurve to watch movies, but I rarely finish them in one viewing.

2. I am a read-aholic. I read over others' shoulders.  I read what's laying on people's desks during meetings while they think I'm listening... you get the idea.

3.  I dream of having the closet that matches the one in my head.

4.  I lurve sweets, especially candy.  I would chose that over cake or pie any day.

5.  I lurve to sing but do not sing well.... not even close.

6.  I lurve BIG hair... the bigger the better!  If there was a way to permanently install a bump-it in my hair, I'd do it. The higher the hair, the better.

7.  I lurve British accents, Irish accents, New Zealand accents... you get the idea.

8.  I got A's in high school Drafting class and drew/chalked a woman in a mascara advertisement that looked striking!  I think it was the Dial-a-Lash... ha ha

9.  I, along with my sister, look Hula lessons for several years while growing up.  

10.  I could spend hours in a stationary store or book store.... H-O-U-R-S!

Okay, your turn!

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Recap of Week 9 ~ BF

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Recap of Week 9 ~ BF

Are you still breaking free, releasing strongholds and experiencing God’s amazing and forgiving love for you? If not and your still seriously struggling, I would ask you #1… how far are you behind in your homework and #2… are you REALLY committed to this? This study is a journey of our own character. We have been the subject God wanted to address week after week and it’s nearly killed some of us but I believe he is also healing us. Our very first week I emphasized this was a bible study, not a support group ~ if you have found yourself on the side of acknowledging 10 weeks later, you are still REALLY struggling with the battle, I strongly encourage you to get plugged into the next session of the Cleansing Stream ministry.

You’ll remember last week I told you to do your homework with no short cuts! Every lesson was richly filled with knowledge and power to fight strongholds. Recognize the Captor!!!!! He certainly showed up this week for me. How about you? Did you recognize that it was him? The enemy tries to disguise himself as other things, like a job loss, a complaining friend, a defiant child, a sassy spouse, but it is really Satan on the prowl. If you have joy, he wants to steal it and he fights dirty. He loves to jump on ANYTHING that keeps your thoughts from centering on Christ.

I lurved, lurved Beth’s examples of “tearing down the high places” and “deprogramming and reprogramming” our minds. I know so many people who have bibles that are collecting dust. Walking by the bible will not set you free but walking with God through the Bible will!

Beth gave instructions for making Truth Cards to carry with you, in the event of facing a stronghold. If you have done a Beth Moore study before, you’ll remember having done those cards MANY, MANY times. I've got mine and I do recommend the spiral kind so you don’t drop your pile of loose cards in the grocery store trying to get your checkbook out like someone I know has done in the past…. ME!

What are your Truth Cards focused on? Would you be willing to share a scripture that you have choosen?

Let’s pray…

Father, I ask you for a supernatural awareness of our thoughts and strongholds that are holding us captive. Our heart’s desire is to saturate our minds with truth from scripture, and speak these truths into any battlefield of the mind or situation we are faced with. We release all other idols in our lives as we realize that strongholds exist and are holding us in captivity. Like the illustrations in our homework, we want to be freed prisoners, standing on the other side of the cross with you. Amen.

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Had a memory today...

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Please pause my playlist music at the bottom to watch this very short video for a trip down memory lane!

We were listening to a oldies music station during dinner tonight and the theme song "Harper Valley PTA" came on and oooooh the memories of my childhood came a flooding back.  It's 1978 and this movie was all the rage at the theater!  That's when a movie stayed at a theatre for months, not a few weeks like now.  It was such a hit I remember it also had a television series run for awhile.  I didn't quite understand the movie THEN, but I certainly do NOW.  

  I'm growing out my hair because I had recently gotten the MOST hideous hair cut EV-AH at the salon because my Mom couldn't stand to hear me whine while trying to get the knots out of my L-O-N-G hair anymore.  My best friend, Lucille, goes to private school while I attend public and I can't wait for her to get home so we can ride our bikes!  My favorite subject is Art and I'm reading Judy Bloom books!  

Enjoy the short video with the theme song...

Synopsis ~ Stella Johnson is a single mother living in the town of Harper Valley. Now most of people, particularly on PTA board think that she is a little too liberal for them. So they are making things tough for her and her daughter. She then decides to get back at them by pulling all sorts of pranks on them. She also decides to run for the position of PTA President, which infuriates them.

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At last!

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At last...

my favorite flavored coffee creamer now comes in the 32 oz size!

Sweet!

That is... Italian Sweet Creme!

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I'm craving for breakfast

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~ Eggs Benedict ~

I lurve this! I want it for breakfast... whimper... sigh... but I can't because I don't have all the ingredients at the moment.  I make the hollandaise sauce from scratch using the Better Homes New Cook Book recipe and the lemon juice really makes it pop with flavor!

(it's worth the time and effort)

Speaking of lemons... my M-I-L recently shared a recipe for Lemon Bread Pudding (I won't use raisins though) with a creamy whipped topping/sauce that I am going to make for our upcoming Easter gathering.  Sounds good and it's something different for a change!

What is your favorite breakfast dish?

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Recap for Week 8 - BF

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Recap for Week 8 ~ BF

We are in the home stretch Ladies and I am so proud of all of you!  If you are behind in your homework, get caught up as quickly as you can because I've already begun working ahead on week 9 and it is a pivotal lesson for us.  One that requires you not to skip or take shortcuts if you want to reap the rewards!

Our homework last week focused on God's Unfailing Love!  Most of us as children learn to "feel love" from our parents and we all long to experience healthy love.  However, if your parents loved you in their way of showing you but you really never felt loved perhaps you can relate to one of these... perhaps you felt the disappointment of conditional love or maybe you experienced the abandonment of parent love that leaves a deep, lasting hurt and a distorted view of "love".

Then as adults, we spend much of our lives focused on finding the perfect mate to experience the deep satisfaction from marriage ~ however human love has limits and usually it is from the heart already experiencing brokenness.  Beth said in our homework, "If we don't allow God's truth to take up full residence in our hearts, we may learn just enough to move out of one prison into another."   So true... so true...

We know how important it is for a believer to really know and believe that God loves them.  Unfortunately, there are some unsound teachings out there telling you to ignore your feelings and justify it with scriptures they have twisted into their teaching... hence... "the heart is deceitful" and then an individual ends up stuffing down their feelings they haven't dealt with because they feel guilty for having them in the first place.  Ladies, God is a God of order ~ not confusion!  To live in freedom it is essential for us who feel unloved by our human father, to feel loved by our heavenly father.  Let's encourage one another that we are lavishly loved by Him, as we may be the only people within the study group that another woman would hear it from.  God's love is not human love, so it won't disappoint you!

Let's pray ~

We pray for the adults and children who feel unloved by human fathers.  I ask that your presence would be so overpowering within their souls, they can't mistake it is YOU.  I pray these women can receive it and then like a vessel, be filled up and then pour out to their family and friends that they are loved and treasured by the Father who created them and their hearts will fill up with the knowledge of your Unfailing Love!

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Got a hanky?

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Got a hanky?  

I need one because I've got a C-O-L-D!

I usually have a few around the house but I've already gone through them all today and I don't feel like starting a load of laundry just to have another round of blowing my nose into them.  Ugh ~ I might have to break down though.  

Once a year I usually buy a HUGE lot (hence 100 count) from my regular Ebay hanky seller since I'm also known as the "Hanky Lady" among my friends.  Yes, it's true, yet another of my alias names.  Not only are they pretty, but they are a great way to meet a new friend in church or at a party with lots of laughter or similar setting when you see someone all teared up.  I always tell them it's theirs to keep... for the next time.  Often, later I've been approached by a lady who said, "You're the one who gave me a hanky...".   

On day while I was interviewing a person, the individual was sneezing up a storm so I offered my clean hanky from my jean pocket.  The person looked at me with a strange stare and I offered it again.  The individual said, "Oh I'm sorry, I just didn't think people used them anymore... last time I saw one used was with my Grandma."  I told them I was bringing Hanky's back! ha ha  Then the next statement made me laugh until I cried... "Well my Grandma never pulled her hanky out of rhinestone covered blue jeans before!" ha ha

Do you use Hankies or Tissues?

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A little weekend fun!

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This one is fun, you don't have to write it out, but think about the answers you would give!

~ Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.

~ They have to be real places, names, things..nothing made up!

~ Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.

~ You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?  Janeen

4 letter word? Jobs

BOY NAME: Jack

GIRL NAME: Jacqueline

OCCUPATION: Janitor

COLOR: Jade

SOMETHING YOU WEAR:  Jacket

FOOD: Jell-O

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Jacuzzi Jets

A PLACE: Jerusalem

REASON FOR BEING LATE: Jay Walking

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT:  JESUS

A PICTURE: Jewel

Okay, now your turn... Have fun!

 

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Recap for week 7 of BF

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Recap for week 7 of BF!

We’ve made it through the 7th week – Yahoo! I learned a lot this week and I hope you did too!

Perhaps you were able to identify with Day 1 - how obedience / rebellion reflects the rewards / consequences for our behaviors from a Biblical perspective.

Or Day 2 - building a wall around yourself that your not going to let anyone or anything penetrate it, yet you find yourself not being able to experience what God’s plan is for you because you’ve become that cracked pot that is crumbling into isolation.

Or Day 3 – where we are crying out that we just want to be FREE! Yet without God’s word as our guide, we seek freedom in the wrong people, places and things.

Or Day 4 – where Beth explained the connection between our obedience and trust as children of God. Hence, her own story of rebellion as a child who learned not to trust adults. We learned that living by our own rules instead of God rules is unhealthy and leads us into bondage.

And finally Day 5 – I always enjoy day 5 of our homework, Beth always wraps it up in a positive message…. our lesson was about God’s daily presence in our lives. We learned in our study of Psalm 84 about our pilgrimage - “our journey”. Did you recognize the connections from the Garden of Eden story to the Footprints in the Sand poem? We were reminded to DAILY imagine ourselves on a path leading to a sacred place with God. In the chaos of daily life we often forget about the path we’ve set our feet upon. Our ultimate pilgrimage path - “journey” - is to Heaven!!! Not our place on the social ladder, not the wealth we’ve attained, not personal achievements of success, etc.

Day 5 reminded me of the benefits of waking up with God. At 4:45am, I roll out of bed and walk straight to the shower. Afterwards I take a seat at my vanity table and reach for my devotional reading because now I am AWAKE! It does feel like God illuminates my path when I do this because I'll ask Him to walk with me and so that I STAY on the path WITH Him throughout the day.  I ask Him to go before me clearing the enemy from the path. But... if I change the routine, my mojo is seriously out of focus and so is my day!

This weekend while attending the Sweet Life Café Conference, Lisa Whelchel... the real deal Christian by the way ~ she was very relatable and the story of how she met and got engaged to her husband is hilarious ~ talked about her long time friendship with Stormie Omartian of which I have several of her books and the lesson on Day 5 reminded me of another of Stormie's books called “Just Enough Light for the Step that I am on”.  I have the original book that came out in 1999 but more recently she has updated it like Beth did with this study and now the new book includes a study guide – hmmm that might be a good one for a future study! I remember it not being too meaty but perhaps for someone who struggles with the amount of homework like a Beth Moore study OR…. if you are just struggling through the day to day living on how to get into a routine of having that intimacy with God every day. I think you could benefit from her as Stormie is a gifted teacher on prayer and she teaches you how to pray through many, many issues.

Okay let’s pray!

Lord, I ask over every woman here that our feet stay on the path and in the direction You desire! That we will focus on the daily pursuit of knowing You, staying obedient to You and enjoying the intimacy of Your love. Please bless us as we continue to study and Break Free. Amen.

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Four Things

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Steviewren at

A Little Birdie Told Me So

shared ~Four Things~

and invited us to do the same, so here are mine...

Candy

Reading

Afternoon Tea

Great Conversation

Now it's your turn to name Four Things...

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Womens Day!

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Monday is International Womens Day!

I have been supporting this organization for almost 7 years now and it has been a very fulfilling way to give of myself through personal letters exchanged with my sponsored sisters.  I encourage you to visit Women for Women International to learn more about this organization for Women Survivors of War.

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Recap for week 6 - BF

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Recap for week 6 of Breaking Free

How are you doing Ladies?  We are half-way through and I’m feeling like I’m going to have to do this study about 4 more times because I’ve just got that much stuff – talk about strongholds!  I lurved our discussion time and how much feedback several of you have shared with me after class.  And to answer Nancy's question, most likely I will be leading something for summer - not sure what yet but I am thinking even of doing BF again for those who were overwhelmed in the beginning and have gotten behind in their homework.  I know how easily it can be to say... "Oh well forget it, I'm done.  I'll never catch up now."  Yet in all honestly, your not done - your still miserable.  Ideally, I’d love to camp out at week 6 for a loooooooooooong time and really go through all the wounds that have not healed to truly Break Free!  I'll share one with you...

One thing surprised me this week because I never looked at it as a stronghold before now.  I spent a HUGE portion of my youth ALONE, hence the phrase “Latch-Key Kid”. I would walk to and from school every day and had reign of the house until my family came home around dinner time for many, many years. At the time I loved it… hours and hours to myself to read books and the television was my best friend – hence my babysitter - so it’s no surprise that I love movies and I think in terms of a movie reel when I am reading my bible and imagining Gods word played out in movie scenes.

To this day I still enjoy my solitude but I came realize this week in our homework that the stronghold is this…. being so independent and responsible for myself at a very young age has made me unable to easily depend on others, including God. I’ve come a long way since my salvation in believing He will take care of me, but giving up control has not easy. So when we got to the section on what our dreams were (….be a bride, be beautiful, be fruitful and live happily ever after), I KNEW I wanted children and KNEW I had to be married for that, but I didn’t dream about being a bride. Even though I was a youthful boy chaser and pretty much always had a boyfriend, I didn’t dream about my husband to be, I dreamed about my future children. I struggled through the entire Songs of Solomon homework trying to imagine me as the Bride of Christ with that kind of intimacy. It’s a stronghold in that I have transferred that same “independent will” as I live today.

This week we focused on verse Isaiah 61:3 = “and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

Let’s breakdown the first portion of the verse to something we can understand and apply today:

And provide (we don't have to worry, God is bringing it to us) …

for those who grieve (anyone who has suffered any kind of loss.. think “Ashes” here)…

in Zion (in where ever you live)…

to bestow (to present as a gift)... on them a CROWN of beauty, instead of Ashes.

I’m sure most of us have more “ashes” than we want to remember in our lives but we have a PROMISE that whatever our “ashes” are, they are going to be lifted off our shoulders and we’ll be able to stand tall with our heads up to receive the freedom that comes with the crowning!

Let’s pray…

God, I come against the Enemy right now in the name of Jesus Christ who has aimed his fiery dart of LIES from the pit of hell, that any woman who believed any lie told to her about her dreams. I ask that you would give us supernatural understanding to have the peace in our hearts to KNOW that we KNOW that we KNOW our dreams, our security, our dependency and our beauty rests in the eyes of Jesus Christ. Father, we praise you for giving us the most beautiful Crowns for being daughters of the King. In Jesus name, AMEN.

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