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.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe this year has gone by so fast! Just wanted to get the New Year Rolling on the blog with a new post. I will post a longer post with pictures and all about our trip to Massachusetts later, but here's a little update on the last month. After Brianna's birthday, Mike finished up his finals and his last week at work before vacation. He finished the semester with two B-'s and a B. I am so proud of him! 9 credits a semester is a lot to take as a graduate student, especially if you are also working 40 hours a week. On top of that he always makes time for us as a family and he is involved in our church as a small group leader and running the AV for the Contemporary service every week at our church. He is a busy guy, and I love him for all he does! Anyways, it was nice to get away for 2 1/2 weeks and have time as a family! It was also nice to see all our family and friends in Massachusetts who we haven't seen in a while! In the midst of a snow storm, we flew out of Boston last Saturday the 2nd; and after almost missing our connecting flight due to late planes and large airports and only 15 minutes to get from one end of the airport to another, we landed in Dallas on Saturday afternoon. While I miss being on vacation, It feels good to be home. I am anxious to get back to work and back into life! Brianna is now starting to walk. She started by taking several steps to her Memie over Christmas Break! We have found that cell phones are the best motivation to get her to walk! Anyways, we are back and are ready to see what God is going to bless us with this new year!

ONE!

Brianna turned one last Sunday! We had a party for her at my good friend Serena's house. It was fun. I can't believe she is already 1!!!! It is crazy! On Monday she had her one year check-up. She is 31 inches and 21 lbs. 6 oz. Our pediatrician was a little concerned that her weight dropped off, but I think alot of that is just from her getting so much more active. I doubt that will change between 12 and 15 mos. since she will likely start walking, but hopefully she will have gained enough weight to make her Dr. happy. I am going crazy trying to figure out how to get her to gain weight. She is a good eater, but she LOVES her fruits and veggies. She will eat those first if given a meat, rice, and veggie. It is crazy. Good, but crazy. I am giving her cheese and I started giving her mini bagels with whipped cream cheese. I think I am going to switch yogurts to a yogurt that comes in a bigger size since she will eat yogurt like its going out of style. Yobaby has a 3 in 1 yogurt that has yogurt, fruit puree and vegetable puree all in one container and it comes in a 6oz. size instead of 4 oz like the other yobaby yogurt we normally get. All in all though, we are doing well. Brianna sleeps like a champ 12-14 hours a night, she is starting to get better about napping, she is happy, and brings joy to our lives daily! We are working on trying to wean her. She is down to 2-3 nursings per day, but is hanging on for dear life to those. We decided we will work on it some over Christmas since Mike will be around much more while we are on vacation. We are not going to really push it though until January when we get back. I will leave you with some AMAZING pictures taken by my dear friend Serena Garciadiaz. She is an AHHHH-mazing photographer and loves our family almost as much as we love her. She always finds a way to capture us in a way that really shows our personalities and love for one another. If you need pictures done, I HIGHLY recommend her!

Bad Brakes

It seems like as soon as things are going smoothly for us...SOMETHING happens. This month its the brakes on Mike's car. Last night he was driving into work and suddenly without notice, he heard metal grinding on metal as he tried to stop. Luckily he was able to stop without issue and got to work and home safely. I decided that instead of freaking out about not having the money to get the brakes fixed, I would think outside of the box. Last night I ordered a set of brakes for the front axle and as soon as they get in, we are going to explore the world of fixing our own car. It should be interesting. We have several offers of people to help who have worked on cars before, as well as many phone connections who can offer expertise. I have been searching online for diy tutorials and found several unofficial "Idiots-guide-to-replacing-brake-pads" sites. I am pretty confidant that we can do this. Also, I was doing a friend's hair yesterday and she offered to sell me her elliptical machine! That is the highlight of my week! I am working hard to change my eating habits and feel like I am in a really good place as far as resisting unhealthy foods and planning out my calories so that I stay within my daily range. The one piece that is missing that I would like to add is exercise. Right now it is very hard for me to find the time to exercise. Between my jobs, Mike's job, Mike's classes, the kids and trying to keep up with the house, I literally can't figure out a good time to go. We have a membership to the Recreation Aerobics Center on campus included in tuition, however there is no childcare. We can't afford a gym membership with a child drop. And the few hours a week when Mike is home and I could go to the gym, I feel guilty sacrificing the family time since that is also very limited. So the thought of owning an elliptical machine is almost too good to be true. To be able to workout in the evenings after the kids are in bed and while Mike is at work, or in the morning, or at naptime, or pretty much anytime. I am very excited. I hope it will work out. On another note, it has been cold lately and I have been enjoying having a nice cup of coffee in the evenings once we are in for the night. However, the coffee has been keeping me up at night. My predicament: everything I can think of that doesn't have caffeine in it is much higher in calories than I am willing to ingest in a drink. Does anyone know of a low calorie (less than 50) warm drink that I can enjoy in the evenings during the winter that has no caffeine, and no artificial sweeteners (I have no tolerance for them and get migraines)??? I am not sure it exists, but I would appreciate the suggestions.

14 days and counting!

So, we made it through Thanksgiving! It was a lot of fun, but a lot of stress...my house still isn't completely recovered from it. The food was amazing, and I managed to continue making healthy food choices. All of the recipes were really good and if you want specific reviews or suggestions based on my experience with any of them in particular, just let me know and I will give you my two sense. I am really proud of myself. As of the Thursday before Thanksgiving I had lost 10 pounds. My goal for Thanksgiving was to not gain anything. Somehow even with A LOT of eating out and Thanksgiving dinner and everything, I managed to not gain weight. Not only that, but as of today, I am down another 4 1/2 pounds! My total weight loss to date is 14.5 pounds...over Thanksgiving (actually 3 different Thanksgiving dinners over the course of the month). That is 15.9% of the total amount of weight I want to lose to get down to my goal weight! It gives me hope that when we go home at Christmas it won't be detrimental. I hope. I think I picked the worst time of the year to change my eating habits and lose weight. However, I am hopeful that after the first of the year I should be able to lose a bit easier because there will be less "eating" holidays. I don't know. I am just going to keep going and doing what I am doing. This is about a lifestyle change for me. Things are always going to come up in life that I am going to have to work around. So, I am very excited because two weeks from today we will be on a plane heading for Massachusetts. I am getting more and more homesick by the day! We haven't been back in 2 years. I miss it so much. Today's snowfall only proved to make me MORE homesick...too much like home...luckily it didn't hang around long enough to send me spiraling into a homesick depression. :( This weekend we are getting ready for Bria's first birthday! I can't believe she is almost 1! I will write more about that later, but I am very excited about it! I will leave you with a picture of MK, Bria, and my niece and nephew: Haylie and Jeremiah. They are all in matching pjs and are so cute! It was fun to see everyone and get the babies together!