Trading in My Mama Bear Claws for...

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Well... it finally happened. 

I watched my child being mistreated by other kids, and I let my emotions get the better of me. It was certainly not the first time that we had been in a situation like this, but for some reason this time, I became so upset with the other children. I never did anything too regretful in the situation, but inside I was so enraged. I was thinking about all the faults of the other kids, and never took the opportunity to teach all of the kids involved. 

Later (after I had time to cool off), I did have several good conversations with Rush about not returning evil for evil (Romans 12:17), turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-39)= saying "I have other toys that I can play with, you can have it", and doing to others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:31). 

I recounted the whole situation to Ben (my husband) that night. He had some great words of wisdom, as always. [Ben's spiritual gift is wisdom!]  He reminded me that I don't have to let my emotions get the better of me. God gave us emotions, but Christ living in me is what should be controlling my reactions to life. During our conversation, I realized that I have fears about how our son will mesh socially as he grows. It is one of those weird tactics that Satan uses on me sometimes; it comes and goes, but when it creeps in, it's very strong. My fear (aka lack of faith) is what caused my poor reaction. How many times have you reacted sinfully as a result of suppressed fears? 

All I could think was "Those kids are so unfriendly and have no manners whatsoever! They are just provoking my son to the point that his social "quirks" come out.  All they can think about is themselves!"

Deep down in my spirit, I know that there is no reason to worry about my son. If I am living the kind of life in Christ that I should be living, those worries won't even seem valid; I will be able to dismiss them the moment they pop into my head. And my response to conflict will be peace-making, life-giving, Godly instruction. 

"We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God's grace; not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you." 2 Corinthians 1:12

If I can keep this verse and others like it stored in my heart, then my mama bear claws will not come out at the wrong time. My main weapon of defense should always be the full armor of God, because really I am not just protecting my child from other people; I am defending his heart (and mine) from invisible evil powers. 

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." Ephesians 6:11-18a ESV

Lord, please give me the strength and wisdom to show my children how to respond to conflict. Help me to be sincere, gracious; to control my tongue and my feelings; and to use Your Word as my main line of defense and instruction. I cannot do it on my own. Only you can help me trade in my mama bear claws for Your Armor.

Homemade Frozen Fruit Bars and Coconut Smoothies

1 cup frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2-1 cup coconut water (fruit juice will work too)

Put the mango chunks into the blender first, then the raspberries. Pour in 1/2 cup of the coconut water, and secure your blender lid. 

Begin to puree, adding more liquid as necessary. 

Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

Enjoy outside on a hot summer day!

Spinach Coconut Blueberry Smoothie

Big handful baby spinach

1 cup blueberries (frozen)

1 ripe banana (optional)

Small palmful almonds (optional)

1 cup yogurt of choice (We prefer vanilla Greek.)

1 cup coconut water

Put ingredients in your blender in the order listed. Blend/purée until very smooth. 

Meal Plan Monday (6/9) and Scripture Memory

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend!

Last week was fun in the kitchen. I tried one new recipe, and did some freezer meals to have on-hand for friends and family.

This was our line-up for the week:

Grilled honey lime chicken sandwiches with sweet potato fries (new for us)

slider bun topped with avocado, tomato, and salsa verde

Broccoli cheese soup (no photo of the soup, but I got a pic of the HUGE bowl of fresh shredded Gouda!!!) I doubled the recipe and froze half. 

Fish tacos on Trader Joe's whole wheat tortilla topped with avocado, spinach, and salsa verde

Smoked finger ribs with baked sweet potatoes, and green beans

Homemade fruit bar popsicles 

Homemade cinnamon rolls

These were AMAZING and simple to make!

Sneak peak into this week's meals:

Grilled chicken and veggie kabobs with blue cheese stuffed red potatoes

Grilled peach and prosciutto pizza 

Veggie enchiladas with Mexican brown rice

Goat cheese pasta with farmer's market inspired salad

It's a busy second half of this week, but I'm really looking forward to it! I want to do my very best for the Lord in every task and appointment. I want to devote myself to refreshing my memory verses this week, specifically Ephesians 6:11-18 and Romans 1:16-23. I encourage you to get in God's Word and memorize it. It will change your life! 

Summer Eats {Munchkin Meals}

I'm linking-up with Brittany for another month of Munchkin Meals. Go check it out for lots of great ideas for feeding kids of all ages.

I don't know where you live, but here in East Tennessee summer arrived a few weeks ago! It has been hot! I've been spending lots of time letting my kids get wet. We have a plastic pool in our driveway; they love playing with the water hose; we go to the city pool; we splash in Dollywood's splash pad, and now Rush, my four year old, is in our city's swim club! Although we do occasionally spend an afternoon out, we try to do all of our activities before lunch. If we aren't going to the gym, we're going to swim club or a play date. Needless to say, quick and healthy snacks and lunches are a must since we are in the car a lot from morning until lunchtime. 

So this month we are sharing our current favorite summer eats, mostly pool and car-friendly. ;)

I have already done a snack-themed munchkin meals post, so some of these things may be repeats. But we're always trying new things too, so hopefully this won't be too boring. 

Breakfast: approximately 7:15 

Peanut butter on whole grain Eggo waffle (or homemade frozen if I have any) or whole wheat bagel

Snack: approximately 9:30

Anything in our Squooshi reuseable pouches (applesauce, yogurt, pudding) or granola bar of some kind in the car

Lunch: (between 11:30-12:00)

If we are home: Brittany's corn dog mini muffins from the freezer with carrots and hummus, plus fruit

If we are out: peanut butter and jelly with Pirate's Booty cheesy puffs and banana chips and an apple. 

Rush (4), Lottie (2), and Cousin Ella

Snack: approximately 4:00

Smoothies or homemade fruit bars (sharing the recipe soon). Here's a sneak-peak of our mango-raspberry bars. 

Dinner: approximately 6:30

Nothing new or exciting to share, but their favorite meal this week has been broccoli-cheese soup. 

I don't have many pics of meals or munchkins eating, so I'll share some photos of munchkins having summer fun!

Have a great summer with your munchkins!

Meal Plan Monday

Happy Monday! I'm working on a couple of posts other than meal plans (I know some of you don't care about these), but those other topics take a bit more time for me to hash-out. So just bear with me, please. We have a fairly laid-back week this week, so cooking should not be an issue. Here's a glance back into last week's meals:

Last Monday was Memorial Day, and we were hiking most of the day. By the time we got back home, it was too late too cook, and I was too tired. So we ate leftover homemade pizza and I made a quick microwave quesedilla with some fresh avocado slices. The rest of our meals were great:

Warm steak and potato salad (Melissa D'Arabian)

Quiche: I made the usual spinach-mozzarella, but wanted to try something new on the second pie. I had been inspired by a Rachael Ray frittata recipe; so I made Brussels sprouts-scallion-feta quiche. I thought it was really good for a change. Ben liked it too. 

Indian spice curry chicken and veggies

This was my first time making Indian food. It was delicious, and Ben loved it too! (The curry powder was from a friend who is from India.)

We went out for Mexican on Friday night and had lots of leftovers, which we saved for our late Sunday night dinner after church. Ben had the Cuban sandwich and I had chicken fajitas with house-made corn tortillas. Yum!

I am doing some freezer meals this week to have on-hand for my close friend who is getting very close to her due date with her third baby boy and for my mom, who is having surgery next week. I will be making breakfast casserole, broccoli cheese soup, and a chicken dish (haven't decided yet). I will probably also make some muffins for each of them when the time comes. 

Our menu at home this week will look something like this:

Grilled honey lime chicken sandwiches with sweet potato fries

Broccoli cheese soup

Fish tacos

Something in Ben's smoker for the weekend

Do you have any homemade freezer meals that you love? With chicken?

Do you like to venture out and try new cuisines? or do you stick with what you know?

Bible Study Update and (last week's) Meal Plan

I'm about 20 years behind, but I just starting reading Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion series. Oh my! It is such a great story! I have a hard time putting it down sometimes. I'm on book two, and I can't wait to find out what happens. It's such a beautiful story of faith and unwavering devotion to God.

Have you read any Francine Rivers stuff?

Speaking of unwavering devotion to God, Ben taught an amazing lesson yesterday morning about self-examination. He talked about how we all want to know why we do the things we do in reaction to our circumstances, especially the sinful ones that we regret. There are many excuses that we can come up with for why we respond negatively to life, but if we are believers, then we should be able to look internally (not externally) for a solution. And that solution is always the process of self-examination led by the Holy Spirit, which leads to confession of the particular sinful response, which should prompt repentance (turning away from), which should bring us back into worship and closer fellowship with God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "Love The Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength." If we say that we want to obey this command, then we must own-up to our sins, big and small, seen and unseen. 

It was a very convicting lesson, and I am proud of Ben for teaching so obediently.

Last week's meal plan was extremely random. I made several things that I do not make very often, and there were not any repeat ingredients between any two recipes. It's rare that that happens. Here's what we had:

Brittany's sweet potato and black bean chili

Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with broccoli slaw and baked beans

Eggplant zucchini bake (Rachael Ray)

Homemade pizza

Some lunches were:

Leftover chicken tortellini soup from last week

Veggie sliders

I feel like I get in a lunch "slump" a lot. Do you have any lunches that you are enjoying lately?

I remember 7th grade... and why it scares me.

Do you remember those awkward middle school years?

Most of what I remember is embarrassing moments, confusing moments, and wishing I were older... 

When I was asked to talk to the 7th grade girls at our church it took me back to that time. Back to my little classroom at my little K-8 school; back to cheer camp, basketball games, sleepovers, long phone conversations about nothing, huge sibling spats, learning how to put on make-up, and "liking" boys. 

I have to admit something here. When Ben and I were expecting a baby the first time around, I was fearful of having a girl. My fear stemmed from all the bad memories surrounding those middle school (and high school) years that were mainly a result of my being a girl. Those fears still crept up when we were expecting the second time. But around 18 weeks, we found out that God was giving us a daughter. I am not at all saying that I was happy; I was elated! But Satan has a sly way of turning our joy into fear sometimes. I expressed my fears to Ben and a couple of wise friends, and they all had wonderful words of Godly wisdom for me. This is still something I sometimes struggle with. {More on this in a bit.}

The 7th grade Sunday school teacher asked me and two others ladies (all in different stages of life) to talk to the girls about a female from the Bible that we relate to. I really struggled at first on who to parallel my life with. And I also really struggled with feeling confident that the girls would "get" what I wanted to say. 

So, I decided on Mary, mother of Jesus. Funny decision for many reasons, but hopefully you'll see where I was going with it (and hopefully the girls did too). Here's what I shared with them:

I talked about how Mary was asked to do some heavy stuff: become pregnant (by the Holy Spirit) while un-married yet engaged, and then raise the Child as the Son of God. Luke 1 tells us that Mary was initially "confused and disturbed" by what the angel said. But it did not take her long to accept the calling that God had placed on her. 

A few years ago, God asked me to do something that initially disturbed and confused and intimidated me. He brought before me the opportunity to be director of our moms ministry, PEP Moms. Obviously, the task does not compare to the one that Mary was confronted with, but nonetheless, God was asking me to do something that was out of my comfort zone. Luke doesn't tell us exactly how long it took Mary to tell the angel that she was willing to take on the task, but it appears it wasn't very long. I admitted to the 7th grade girls that it took me several days to finally say yes, but I truly believed what the angel told Mary: that with God, all things are possible. 

Less than a year ago, Ben and I were asked to do something that was out of our comfort zone: lead the newlyweds Bible study at our church. In a similar fashion, we were "confused and disturbed" and initially resistant to the prospect. As we prayed and sought advice, again, we came to the conclusion that with God's guidance, we could do it, and that He was asking us to say yes. 

We have learned so much about what it means to be obedient to God through both of these situations. He has entrusted us with these tasks in order to bring Himself glory and to grow us closer to Him. Thinking about how He has guided us thus far and blessed our efforts, ideas, and attempts of new things makes me feel so joyful. It is not always easy or even fun, but I know that God is pleased with my willingness as long as I am doing it for Him. 

Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, praised her for her willingness to be the mother of the Savior of the world. I believe that Elizabeth's encouragement and recognition of God's blessing on Mary's life lifted Mary's spirit and affirmed her. When people give me encouragement and positive feedback, it furthers my belief that I am right where God wants me. Mary responded with a beautiful "song" of praise to God. She said, 

"My soul magnifies the Lord, 

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 

for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name..."

God has been so faithful to me in these tasks that He has put before me. Mary mentions the "generations" calling her blessed. For me, those "generations" are my children, grandchildren, and so on. I pray that as a result of my faithful willingness to say yes when led to do so, they will call me blessed, Godly, wise, obedient, faithful, and loving. 

I think the girls understood most of what I was saying and they seemed to pay attention for the most part. 

Back to my fear that I shared earlier...

Raising a daughter in a world so full of perversion really does scare me. The task ahead makes me feel "confused and disturbed." Ben and I are  incapable of raising our daughter (and our son) in a way that pleases God. But just as Mary never questioned her own abilities and fully relied on God to give her the wisdom and guidance necessary to perform her task well, I pray for that kind of faith. A faith that never even considers my own abilities to be an asset. My only tools come from my relationship with my Savior and Lord. He will guide me; he will protect my daughter. I only need to believe that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37)

How do you handle fears?

What are your memories of middle school like- good or bad?