Do you ever stop and wonder...

Since I became a mom, my stop and wonder-dreams for the future quickly stopped revolving around me and started to invest in my daughters. I often look at them and wonder how God is going to use them. I think about their personality traits and think of all the ways that God can use that for his glory and all of the ministries and careers that could result. This morning I had a moment like that in a big way with Mary Kate. A lot of it was spurred on by our conversation. Shortly after I we woke up this morning I was flipping through the channels on tv and came across a special on PBS about Iran. It was interesting to watch a tourism guide to the major cities and landmarks and people. I had never really seen or heard much about life there or what the cities look like or the people dress like apart from what our newspapers show (which is not that informative). I decided to stay there and watch because I was intrigued. About 15 minutes in, the host started talking about the mosque in this one city which is one of the biggest in the country. It was beautiful. And then they showed them praying and worshiping Allah. I wouldn't have normally thought anything of it really except that Mary Kate was sitting next to me watching as well. I wasn't quite sure what to say, but I knew I had to say something. I didn't want her to come to any conclusions in her head that weren't accurate. So I said, "In Iran, they worship a different god that isn't the real God. They don't know Jesus. " I wasn't sure how much she would understand, but I felt good about what I said. She got it. It clicked. She turned to me and said, "They don't know Jesus so they worship Idols. I think that is so sad, mom." WOW! She really understood. I didn't even mention anything about idols. But she is right. I told her it was sad...what she said next blew my mind. She turned to me and said, "I think I want to go tell them about Jesus mom...Is that ok? They need to learn about him so they can worship God and stop worshiping Idols. We should pray for them mom, all day and all night and pray that God helps us to get there because it is really far and will take a long time!" I almost cried. I knew she was a very compassionate child, but I never realized that her compassion flows from a heart of missions. A heart to reach people for Him. I don't know what she will end up doing with her life, but after today, I would not at all be surprised if she became a missionary! Dear Lord, Help me to raise Mary Kate and teach her how to follow you and become a Godly woman willing to follow wherever you lead her. Help me to nurture her compassion and guard her heart against the things of this world that seek to steal her joy and destroy her faith and innocence. Thank you for the joy of mothering this beautiful little girl and the blessings that she brings to my life every second of every day! Amen.

Amazing banana bread recipe!

I found myself with a large bunch of banana bread ready bananas this week. I imparted on a quest for a good recipe for lowfat banana bread, as I wanted to make it, but didn't really want all the fat and calories to go with it. I found a recipe that looked good and I made some modifications. I don't use splenda and the recipe called for splenda brown sugar blend. So I used regular light brown sugar. In a recipe like this it doesn't make that much of a difference on calories per serving. I also split the flour 40% white flour, 60% whole wheat flour, used olive oil instead of canola oil, and added 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the results were amazing. I LOVE this recipe and it was great. One batch makes 24 mini-muffins, or 12 muffins, or one Large loaf of bread (I have the 10 inch calphalon pans). The nutrition specs are:

For mini muffins-
calories- 71
Fat- 0.9 g
fiber- 1.1 g
protein- 2.1 g

For Muffins or 1/12 of a loaf of bread (the large loaves easily make 12-14 slices that are at least 1/2 inch thick.)-
calories-142
fat- 1.8 g
fiber- 2.2 g
protein 4.2 g

Here is the recipe! Enjoy! Let me know what you think if you make it!

LOW FAT OATMEAL BANANA BREAD/MUFFINS:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 c. brown sugar (or if you prefer 1/4 c. splenda brown sugar blend)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 egg (beaten)
2 egg whites (beaten)
1 c. mashed ripe banana
1 c. dry oats
1/4 c. unsweetened apple sauce
cinnamon
nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Beat the egg and egg whites in a small bowl. In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients except for the cinnamon and nutmeg and oats. Add the eggs, oil, and applesauce to the dry ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer. Add banana and beat until mixed. Add oats and beat until mixed. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (approx. 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg). Spray bread pan or muffin pans with cooking spray (or use paper/foil muffin cups). Pour all batter in bread pan, or divide into 12 muffins or 24 mini muffins. Cook in oven for following times:
Bread approx 45 min.
Muffins approx 25 min.
Mini muffins approx 15 min.

So much has happened...

I have been MIA from this blog for a while. Life has been crazy this year and I think it is calming down enough for me to catch up a little bit. Let me catch you all up a bit:

JANUARY-

• We got back from Massachusetts and jumped right back into the semester and my job at Travis Avenue. I also started watching two more kids on a temporary basis.
  
• Brianna took off with walking and started tearing the house apart.
• My parents moved here from Kentucky for my dad to start working on his D.Min. at SWBTS.
  

FEBRUARY-

• I started working on my updo portfolio which is almost done now. All the hair is done, just waiting on the rest of the pics so I can drop them into the book and get going.
• We had two consecutive snow days as we recieved the most snow ever to fall at once in fort worth, 12 inches. It was the BEST kind of snow too. Nice and heavy and easy to make huge snowmen. We made a 7 1/2 foot tall snow bunny!!! It was great...people from the neighborhood were coming by and taking their picture with it!
  
• My sister Shonda came up three weekends out of four.
• My grandparents from Minnesota came to visit for a week.
• Kim and Cameron came up Valentine's weekend for a big family lunch and birthday celebration for all of the jan/feb birthdays
  
• Valentine's Date night double date with Shonda and Mark...Believe it or not, this was the first time we had been out just the four of us on a double date without kids. After 3 years, its about time!
• I started leading the women from our small group in an in depth study of the book of Ephesians while the men do a study with our pastor.
• We entered Mary Kate's name into two lotteries for charter schools here in Fort Worth for next year
• I stopped watching the two kids from January due to stress and behavior issues with the children.

MARCH (so far)-

• We found out Mary Kate has a spot at Chapel Hill Academy Charter School in Fort Worth and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall there. She is very excited as some of our neighbors go there and one of them is also in kindergarten. I don't know if I am ready for this...
• Mike will be going with my dad next week to get the rest of their stuff that wouldn't fit on the truck when they moved. He will be gone monday and tuesday. We will be hanging here by ourselves.
  
• My Aunt had brain surgery to remove a tumor and massive lesions in the left frontal lobe of her brain. She is doing fine and has been released to go home. My mom is out in Cali right now helping her out as she has two small children at home.
  
• I have reached a major goal with my weight loss. I have lost to date 32 pounds in four months and am now under 200 pounds for the first time in a long time. Probably 6 years. It is very exciting for me. And a huge milestone to even admit as I am embarrassed that I ever let myself get that bad. But, those days are gone. This is a new lifestyle for me. NEVER AGAIN!!!

I have been doing a lot of hair lately and I am going to be taking my portfolio by a bridal shop soon. I have a connection to them and I think she will recommend me and let me put a portfolio down there to advertise my work. My end goal is to build up successful updo business that can supplement our income, but can also bring me some fun and enjoyment as I LOVE to do updos! This summer we are heading back to Massachusetts for a great friend's wedding. His wedding is actually in Vermont, on Lake Champlain in Burlington. It will be fun. Mike is the best man and MK is the flower girl. I can't wait. I am hoping to have lost another 20 pounds by then. We will see! Ok...that is probably information overload, so I will leave it at that for now.