Find me at Everyday Life!

Do you know about the ministry of Proverbs 31? I've enjoyed participating in She Speaks, which has been a great encouragement to me as a leader, writer, and speaker. You can find me during March at the Proverbs 31 website's "Everyday Life" feature, sharing about how to teach your kids to pray.

I would love for you to stop by, scroll down past the (YUMMY! from LeAnn Rice) recipes, and be encouraged about passing on the gift of prayer to the young people in your life. Read Teaching Children to Pray.

Blessings on you this weekend,

Look at this!

I'm off to decompress in a cafe from two mentally full days. While I'm there, I'll prepare to share Day Two of 7 Days in a Cafe. But for today, I just want to share something that I'm excited about.

At the end of May I'll be leading a missions team of women and young women to work with partners in Asia. It will be so nice to be reunited with part of my heart, since I left it there!!! ;)   Our team will focus on ministering to tribal women and to girls living in an orphanage. You may remember when I went to serve there last year. I shared about When a Path Calls and Got Lice? to name a few. There's a lot more to share about that, but in preparation for our ministry together, we're spending these 4 months in mentoring partnerships. Each of the 4 women is partnered with a teen girl, so they can pray, plan, and prepare together. Before we invest in women "there," we're investing in young women "here." I'm beyond excited about this!

One of the girls on the team will be my own JoHanna. It's a ripe time of life to have another woman speak into her life and to broaden her heart for people and her understanding of God's plan for the world. I'd better stop .... I could go on and on about my vision for this team. Another time ... :)

Jo and I are prayerfully and creatively looking for ways to raise money towards our ministry funds. Together, we opened an Etsy Shop! It's stocked with one-of-a-kind items that the 2 of us made, and all of the funds from the Shop will go towards our ministry this summer. I would love for you to visit our JulnJo Etsy!


Now for some cafe time .... check back tomorrow to see where I went and what I learned.

Life Off Line: Snowman craft

I'm very close to giving up on the hope of any real winter here in our hometown. :) We're going to have to sit down for a "Let's not complain" family chat soon. We really love winter.

Today in our Women's Ministry a new team of ladies launched the first of a ministry called the Mom's Chair. They were encouraged, and I know the moms who came were encouraged, too. Instead of being with the moms this time, I got to spend the morning with the home school students. We did a lesson/activity combo all about winter, and it was so much fun.We read great books, made lists of adjectives/verbs/nouns, did a mural and labeled the pictures, discussed climate and temperature, colored, and even looked at what the Bible says about winter:

Psalm 147:16-18

He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.

He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. 

An awesome science lesson came out those verses! Finally, since there's little hope of a "real" snow, we made our own snowmen ... ones that won't melt. Here's what you need:

To make a non-melting snowman:

• a tube sock
• yarn
• felt
• hot glue or other
• buttons
• wiggly eyes
• rice

We filled the socks with rice and tied them off tightly at the top and in the middle. Fold down the "tube" twice to make the hat. We added eyes, buttons, a foam or felt nose, and a felt strip for a scarf. You can snip the edges to make it look fringed. I also added mittens. Some of us even added cheeks using pink lipstick!

We didn't let the warm winter stop us! :) This a simple craft to make in a little bit of time and inexpensive ingredients. I used this once at a Mother/daughter winter party JoHanna and I hosted - great fun! If you're a mom, an aunt, a grandma, a Sunday School teacher, or someone longing for snow ... this has your name written all over it. :) Next week is going to be even warmer!?!?!  That's okay. I'm going to enjoy it and go for a walk every day ... I've already made my snowman this year. ;)

What "real craft" or project helps you celebrate winter?

Today's Line Off Line Challenge: 
- Make something with real glue. :) A card? A sock snowman?

- Stop by the library & pick up a new book to read before winter melts into spring.

Marriage Mondays: 7 Real Habits of a Happy Marriage

One of the things I do "off line" each week is to meet with a group of young married ladies each Sunday night. Jeff meets with the husbands downstairs, while we gals gather upstairs. It's a sweet time of sharing, learning, and praying together. It's discipleship, mentoring, and growing together. We talk about what it means to be women who follow God and how that looks in our lives as daughters, friends, wives, and someday maybe moms. A couple of "my girls" have started to share with us that they're expecting their first baby, and I'm excited to go through this new part of life's journey together. I'll get to be with them as they become moms!

Today an awesome new online resource is launching to help moms in real life, in life off line. As part of the writing team of mentor moms at The M.O.M. Initiative, I'm working with my friend Stephanie Shott in our vision for moms to help mentor other moms. Check out The M.O.M. Initiative and share this excellent resource. 

Last night I asked my group of young wives what "real habits" they've found to be valuable in their early years of marriage. They've discovered some gems that will serve them well for years to come, habits that don't grow old in the blessings they insure. Here's what my girls had to say:

7 Real Habits of a Happy Marriage

1. Have breakfast in bed on Saturdays
2. Exercise together
3. Pray together in bed every night
4. Verbalize positives and affirmations often
5. Find activities the two of you can share
6. Eat dinner together at the table
7. No phones or TV allowed once you go to bed

1 Timothy 4:16 tells us to watch our "life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, for if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."

If we're careful to do and keep doing the godly habits of marriage that we have been taught, it will benefit us and those we talk to about marriage and family life.

• Have the good habits you once had grown cold? 
• Do you need a little stoking of the fire? 

I'm excited to say that my girls are off to a great start in real habits the will produce real joy in their pursuit of oneness!

Life Off Line: Real truth, real women, real life!

Today I'm off to do one of my most favorite things ... teach God's real truth to real women in a way that applies to real life! :) Woo hoo!  I'll be at Serenity Women's Shelter giving the chapel message; we'll be focusing on the secret to living with full joy. I'll share it "on line" soon. I really want to tell you now, but I'll be sharing a piece of it at our Women's Mini-Retreat a week from Saturday, and I don't want to spoil the surprise!  This message is the theme of my year, off line and on. 

• If you see this post in the morning, I would really appreciate your prayers as I speak at 10 am.
• If you see this later (I bet you get email in your inbox ... awesome!) then I appreciate your prayers for God to grow the seeds of His word that were planted in real hearts. 
• Either way ... thanks for saying a prayer for God's Spirit to guide my mouth and soften the listeners' hearts. 

I'll post a few pics later on the Come Have a Peace Facebook page and give an update.

See you Monday for Marriage Mondays! We'll be talking about another "real life" issue of marriage off line.

This weekend's Off Line Challenge:
- Rediscover the sweetness of a real friend through a Skype call, a phone call, a hug in the hallway, or sitting down for coffee (luxury!).
- Turn some of your on line life to hibernate, and just focus on life off line for a day. Saturday? Sunday? 1/2 day? And then breathe deeply and quietly while you're "off."

News about On Line Friendships

In taking time to think about how Life OFF Line merges with Life ON Line, I'm convinced of this: Virtual is valuable, but off line is not obsolete.

Do you think Life ON Line has changed your friendships? For the better? For the worse? The impact on our relationships sort of gradually crept up on us, but there's no doubt that our friendships are being influenced. 

Three years ago, when I started blogging on Come Have a Peace, (CAN. NOT. BELIEVE. IT's. BEEN. 3. YEARS!!!) I never expected some of the friendship blessings I would encounter online. In fact, I was pretty skeptical about "real relationships" happening in virtual places. Today I want to share about 2 new things for this new year that have blossomed due to online friendships God has gifted me with.

DO NOT DEPART

You know I love writing with the Scripture Dig team, but God is doing a new and exciting thing with our team. We are MERGING with another group of Bible loving blogger gals at Do Not Depart. You can read about how God tied our teams together at Scripture Dig and at Do Not Depart. I'm anticipating sweet relationships and fruit from our partnership at Do Not Depart.



MOM Initiative

In blogging with the Dig team, I developed a friendship with Stephanie Shott. I loved having Stephanie as a partner at our "real" Women's Retreat last spring. We share a heart for influencing mothers and other cultures with the truth of God's Word. Stephanie is launching a ministry called the MOM Initiative, and I'm excited to be writing as a "mentor mom" with my friend Stephanie. She believes that ...

IF THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE RULES THE WORLD –

THEN THE CHURCH THAT MENTORS THOSE HANDS WILL WIN IT!

The M.O.M. Initiative is an acrostic for Mothers on a Mission to Mentor Other Mothers. It exists as a group of moms and a package of resources to equip, enable and support women as they experience Titus 2 in real life.


I invite you, my online friends, to check out these 2 new sites where I'll be writing, and be sure to "like" their facebook pages and follow on Twitter. Have you "liked" and followed Come Have a Peace?


Satan is a spoiler who loves to ruin seeds that would bear fruit, but God is able to take the potential of the on line world and use it for good. I love the God-loving friends I've made along my blogging journey. They encourage, teach, inspire, and bless me.

Tomorrow we'll continue our Life Off Line Challenge as we talk about friendship. How is the On Line world influencing your relationships?

Marriage Mondays: Who's Selling Marriage?

If you're listening to popular culture at all, you'll notice that marriage is sensational. Not that it's just "wonderful, amazing, a mystery, or awesome." Marriage is "sensational" in that it's being marketed as drama to capture the attention and passions of a distant, watching public for the purpose of financial game.  

Our world is selling marriage. 

For some strange reason, marital meltdowns with names like "Kardashian" and "Kutcher" are being peddled on national news forums, taking up the air waves and vicariously feeding the American sense of excitement.  In the process, marriage is gradually being marketed and bought as something temporary, cheap, and unfaithful. The perception of what a marital union is has been falling apart, piece by piece. And it's influencing us.  It's influencing our children. News of a 72 day marriage brings chuckles, jokes, or sarcasm.  USA Today reported that the flimsy union isn't even expected to "tarnish" the Kardashian brand; we don't mind. We've gotten so used to the cheap branding that such news hardly brings "grief." 


Many may gasp or say "what a shame," but we still find ourselves spellbound by the selling of marriage on a grand, sensationally marketed scale. We've joined in the selling of marriage as watchers and consumers.


We know that God first made marriage (Genesis 2:18-25) and set the pattern for how it should look. He gave the definition, wrote the rules, and put limits on the drama (Matthew 19:6). In typical "man fashion," people today take marriage and twist it into something that will sell.  People want sin. Even a lot of us who claim to follow Jesus want to just "watch" some sin. It appears that faithfulness, gentleness, long suffering, purity, and humility don't turn much of a profit. 


And if it isn't enough to slowly buy into the subtle selling of a counterfeit version of what God made, many are going a step further. Many married women (and scores of others who dream of being married) have been swept up into a story of love (Do Vampires really go with love?) that's essentially dangerous, forbidden, unwise, and even violent. Since when did we long for love characterized by violence and intimacy fed by passion that fights the urge to consume and destroy?  I know a lot of broken women who would say that relationships like that are, in reality, abusive. = Hardly romantic.


Our culture is selling a version of marriage, but it's a far cry from the one God made and promoted long ago and still creates today. It's hard enough to try and experience the miracle of two becoming one without countering the good with a lot of confusion from what the world is selling. If we really do long for God's kind of marriage, we would do well to leave the world's feast off of our mental plate. And if we really long for God's kind of marriage in our child's future, we would do well to leave the world's imposter out of our "buy into" list. Marriage is better than that.

Marriage IS truly sensational! Let's keep treating it that way.

Marriage Mondays: What are You Waiting For?

It's not hard to figure out why a book titled What are You Waiting For? - The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex intrigued me. After all, I'm the mother of two teenagers, and I'm always on the lookout for great resources. I'm also also keeping my eyes open for books to recommend in our Women's Ministry and to you, my lovely Come Have a Peace readers. I don't recommend books lightly. There's a lot of garbage out there.

When I read, I'm always looking for a book that: 

• is compatible with God's Word, not contradictory
• helps me know God better, not confuse me
• takes my thoughts to godly things, not worldly things
• makes me more like Jesus, not more like His enemy

I don't ever want to recommend a title here unless it meets that criteria. When I picked up this new title from Dannah Gresh, I was expecting a helpful book for my teens and for other moms of teens ... and I was right, in part. 


Dannah is the author of And the Bride Wore White and Lies Young Women Believe (co-authored w/Nancy Leigh DeMoss). In What Are You Waiting For Dannah really does share something no one ever told me about sex!  No kidding.  And it really does rock my marriage world.  NOOOOOO ... I'm not going to tell you and spoil it! :)   I want you to read it for yourself and be so moved, as I was. She also deals with topics like honest talk about pornography, lesbianism, dealing with sexual guilt, intimate boundaries before marriage, and what's behind the power of romantic bonds before we say "I do." Some writers address delicate topics that deserve to be approached with dignity in an undignified manner, but Dannah dealt with issues like masturbation and virginity with respect and truth.


I've already told my daughter she HAS to reach this asap. I can't wait to talk to her about it, and I want her to share it with her friends. But what I didn't expect was that I would want to share it with MY friends. Dannah did more than share meaningful statistics and practical advice (tho' that's in there, too), she presents deep Biblical teaching in a really accessible, unintimidating way. What she shares gave me insight that unlocked some understanding about "old things" in my dating past, my courtship with Jeff, and our 21+ years of marriage.  I had more than a few "ah ha" moments while reading What are You Waiting For. 


The time changed this weekend, and that means darkness comes a lot earlier and lasts a lot longer. If we're not careful, we can waste a winter of early evenings doing things like hopping around social media sites for hours on end or catching ever episode of Season 2 Ice Road Truckers.  Can I challenge you, blog friend, to pick up a good book and use the time to strengthen your spirit and use the cold season as a time to deepen your roots and grow? 


Dannah says, "My sexual desire is meant to draw me to my husband, and any act that does otherwise abuses and misuses that desire."  What are You Waiting For is a must read for teenagers looking to walk with God through years of romance readiness, but it would be a shame for college gals and adult women (and I told Jeff I want him to read it), single or married, to miss out on this enlightening read.


You can find out more about Dannah's ministry and What are You Waiting For here on her website.

It's going to get dark earlier tonight on this Marriage Monday .... what will you read to help you be a wife who is drawn to her husband?

A little weekend reading ...

Each quarter our Women's Ministry shares the CHAIN to Connect, Help, Attach, Inspire, & Nurture. This quarter's issue is all about future things ... and insights we have NOW.

It's a little weekend reading for your encouragement. :) Enjoy!

Click on the image to read the Autumn 2011 issue of the CHAIN. 

Book Suggestion: What Matters Most

I am convinced it's getting harder to find books we can trust. Many writers today fill pages with their own thoughts and ideas, rather than presenting God's truth. One of the things I love about writing with the Scripture Dig team is that my teammates all share a common point of reference: God's Word.


Stephanie Shott has a powerful life's story that has hammered out God's truth in who she is, and when you're with her, it's obvious His story is the most important thing to her. I'm really proud of her and excited for her to share her first book, a study that addresses a burning question for people all around the world today: What matters most?

Let me give you a glimpse of this new 6 week study. It would be a wonderful study to do starting right after Christmas, through January, to get a new year started with the understanding of what matters most.

Do you sense the need to live for eternity but find yourself living like this life is all there is? Do you long to make your life count for more than a vapor but can't seem to escape the dailies of each day? "Understanding What Matters Most", will help you sift through the gamut of life experiences and learn to make everyday decision based on what truly matters most.

"Understanding What Matters Most" will:

*Help you define your life by what matters most
*Bring clarity to your circumstances
*Learn to make your eternity intentional

Join Stephanie on a six week adventure through this often avoided and misunderstood book of the Bible. Learn why she calls it a "Heavenly Sieve" and how you find significance to these days you are given under the sun.

Scripture Dig Favorites

In the past month, my Scipture Dig team shared some of our favorite posts from each other's blogs. Today I'm sharing a post from Kathy Howard that really resonates with me about fearing God. Here's a sneak peek:

"I’ve never had a pink scooter or a big, yellow dog, but when Kathy used them to paint a picture about life with the God we love, I could relate. I realized that I’m actually a lot more acquainted with pink scooters than I thought I was, and I’m a lot more like Kathy’s Chihuahua Harley than I want to admit! Kathy uses the ordinary to point to the divine in this inspirational challenge about fearing God, first posted in January 2009 on kathyhoward.org." ............ You can read Kathy's post about "Pink Scooters and Big, Yellow Dogs" here. 

This month, my other favorites from the team have included:
Doing Our Husbands Good by Sandra
Philippians, Losing & Winning by Stephanie
Emotional Modesty by Kristi
Laundry Lessons by Teri Lynne


These are encouraging and inspirational posts that help me stay focused on being the woman God wants me to be. Anyone else out there need that kind of help?


Their favorites from Come Have a Peace included:
21,900 Little Things, a favorite of Sandra
Kristi's favorite, Catch Me to Lead Me!
Verbal Accessories, chosen by Teri Lynne
Kathy's choice, My New Favorite Coffee Shop
Be a Woman of the World, shared by Stephanie

Follow me to Scripture Dig today .... Losing & Winning

While Jeff and I are spending time with some of our missionaries in South America, I am reminded of the pleasure of serving with other believers who are passionate about God. In my own country, I've had the fun of getting to know the Scripture Dig team of women, as I've written and ministered with them in the past year. Today I'm sharing my favorite post from Stephanie Shott at Scripture Dig. The post includes some of Stephanie's own story in order to illustrate God's story, and I love that about her. She highlights a powerful passage from the Bible, and I know you'll be blessed.

To give you a taste of what Stephanie says,
"It may not have been a pedigree ancestry, it wasn't a long list of educational degrees or theological training - but in that moment of time, I counted it all loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Knowing Jesus became more important than anything else I held dear - and today, knowing Jesus still is."

I love serving with people who think knowing Jesus is the greatest thing we could strive for. Read the rest of Steph's inspirational testimony and message HERE.

Letting Go, Holding On

Last week I was the "hall mom" for the final day of our co-op, giving me a bird's eye view (and ear) to what the children said on their last class day.  One mop headed boy trying to control his urge to run raced by with a friend, moss covered bird house in hand, declaring, "The only thing I'll never outgrow is peanut butter sandwiches!"  :)

He might even outgrow those someday.  One thing we can not stop is time. When we were serving as missionaries in Asia, home schooling was a piece of our picture. It worked well for us then, and it was a joy in so many ways. Since I have a degree in Education and have worked as a classroom teacher and adjunct professor for Elem. Ed students, it was a natural way to use my training. When we returned to the US, we transitioned our kids into a private school and then into a public school.  For the past 3 years, though, we have schooled Jacob at home for Middle School.

Me forcing Jacob to have a pic with me! ;)

With my trip to Thailand, it means that we have savored our final days of home schooling together, as he prepares to go to high school next year.  It will be a big change ... for both of us. The two of us went out to our favorite Asian restaurant yesterday to celebrate and put some sort of punctuation mark on our years together. When he said, "Mom, I've really enjoyed these 3 years with you. I'll miss it next year,"  I nearly choked on my bamboo shoot with emotion!


When parents would bring first graders to my classroom on the first day of school, they would always cry .... the parents, not the kids. ;)  There's no doubt that it's never easy to "Let go of a season" and move on to a new one.  It's exciting and sweet in so many ways, but it's also bittersweet. I'm feeling some of it.


Today I'm sharing with a MOPS group as they meet for the last time this year; some of them will move on from MOPS, becoming "school aged kids' mommies."  From the life of Hannah, I will encourage them that "We can let go to a season if we hold on to God."  In her prayer of praise (also a lyric poem), she said, "There is no one like our God" (1 Sam. 2:1-10).  Her confidence in who God is and in what He does enabled her to let her Samuel move to a new season, while she held on to God. We can let go and hold on too. 

In honor of the MOPS of Erin Presbyterian, my own season changing, and the little boy who won't outgrow PB sandwiches, enjoy a "lyric poem" of my own ... "Letting Go, Holding On."

My heart is so amazed that I have made it through this time
      of sippy sups and learning sounds and chanting nursery rhymes.
Some days I thought I wouldn't make it through while still alive.
      "Far away" is what I thought of things like turning five.
The little ones that dangled from my fingers and my jeans
      seemed many years from words like"school,sleep overs,cars &teens."
But as the seasons move along, I'm swept along and know
      the seeds that I have watered are meant to sprout and grow.
Letting go a little with the passing of these days
      gives me pause to stop and bow, to ask for help, to praise.
It would be hard to welcome change and think that joy was gone,
      but empty hands are full because my hands are holding on.
And little ones remind that when clinging as we must,
      loving, strong, and steady is the hand that we can trust.
So I will greet new seasons, since I can not stop the clock.
      I'll let go as I need to, while I'm holding to the Rock.

Let's embrace each new season as we hold tight to the Rock!

A Celebration of Beautiful Things

Here's a glimpse of the Serenity Shelter Art Show today. I wish I had more ... but I dropped my camera in the toilet (a clean one!). ;)

I managed to get some photos off of my card (Yay!). You can see the rest of the pictures I saved here.  It was a sweet time of celebrating how God works in our lives to take our "messes" and make them into something beautiful in His hands. 

A Royal Wedding

Be sure to stop over to the Come Have a Peace Facebook page to see pictures of some of the ladies of Serenity Shelter. Last Friday, on the day of the Royal Wedding in England, I shared with them about being the Bride of Christ and about our invitation to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. A friend from church came along and brought beautiful white "wedding cupcakes," and we made bridal bouquets. Most of the ladies have never had a wedding, but each went away with a beautiful reminder that our Heavenly Father wants us to prepare to meet our Groom. 

I hope you'll stop by and see the pictures. "Like" the page on Facebook (In the right hand column of the blog page) to see the photos. I'll be sharing more about Serenity in the next few days.

Rotten Mamas

I have 2 admissions to make this morning: First, sometimes I don't like Mother's Day.   Second, my dinner last night was a total failure.

I had a meeting in the afternoon that started late and went late, and by the time I got home, the kitchen smelled strange ... The venison roast was a total loss. :(   The family ate leftovers (Jeff was sweet to try the roast anyway), and the dog gets roast today. You only have to experience one ruined roast to know what you DON'T want to do the next time.

And as for Mother's Day, all the talk about how moms influence children sometimes leaves me feeling inadequate, with a long way to go. So this week and next, I want to take the chance to "get to know the rotten roast." Or in Mother's Day terms, let's talk about some "Rotten Mamas" of the Bible. They're in there! We always talk about the ones we want to be like, but I think we learn just as much from the ones "gone bad," the ones we don't want to repeat.

Can you think of a rotten mama in the Bible? Do you know what would make her scowl about Mother's Day? Tomorrow I'm going to share the first of my leading lousy ladies. I wonder if you already know her ....

Fortunately, I'm relieved to say that over-cooking a roast doesn't put you in the "rotten mama" category. ;)  Am I the only mama out there who feels relieved to know that?  And for dinner tonight? Fish.

A truth from God's Word about the influence a mom can have:

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Turn to me and have mercy on me; show your strength in behalf of your servant; save me, because I serve you just as my mother did.
Psalm 86:15-16

I want that to be the prayer my children pray.  You?

Something to share

I love to share things with you that I think will encourage, bless, and uplift you.

Our newest women's ministry newsletter is out, and it's all about our city and what God's doing here. There are:

• great insights about how to know your city or the place where you live
• a devotional about a city woman
• a glimpse of a city ministry dear to my heart
• an idea for marketing in the city
• a story of growing up with city roots
• celebrations of how women are making a difference in the city
• and more!

I hope you'll download it and enjoy it this weekend. We call it the "CHAIN," because it's meant to Connect, Help, Attach, Inspire, & Nurture.

Download the spring 2011 CHAIN here.
(Give it a minute to load )

Blessings to you for a sweet celebration of what makes faith in Jesus different from all other faiths .... He is risen!

Tasty Tuesday ... on Wednesday ;)

I hope you enjoyed the Resource List from yesterday. Be sure to go to the Come Have a Peace Facebook page to share YOUR suggestion for a great book to read, and you'll be entered to win a giveaway for a sampling of the resources suggested by Scripture Dig at our retreat last weekend. I'll do the "drawing" on Saturday.

So I wanted to wait and share a recipe idea today, because last night I had a newly married friend over to do a little cooking together.

Women used to gather in kitchens to cook together, offering the chance to pass on kitchen skills, talk about life, and encourage each other.  Not enough of that goes on in our kitchens today. In fact, many of us find it hard to invite each other into our own homes and serve each other through cooking. There really isn't a substitute, though. Cooking and serving together in a home produces a lot more than good smells and messy pots. Here's a glimpse of what Kayla and I prepared together:


Menu:  Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu, Butter Roasted Baked Potatoes, Creamy Cole Slaw, Maple Glazed Baby Carrots, and Yeast Rolls.  We made all of it in the "after work" timeframe, and then Kayla joined my fam to enjoy the fruit of our labors.  Here are the details for the main dish:


Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu ~
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
about 1 c. of shredded Monterrey Jack or Swiss Cheese
3 slices of ham from the deli (I like Virginia ham)
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1 c. of white cooking wine
1 "sleeve" of Ritz crackers
1 stick of butter

• Spray pan with cooking spray. I will show you pictures of the "single" one we made. 
• Put 1 chicken breast at a time between plastic wrap, on a cutting board, and pound to about 1/2 original width (aim for a semi-rectangular shape)
• Lay 1/2 slice of ham on the chicken and sprinkle with shredded cheese.
• Carefully roll up the breast, tucking ingredients inside and securing with two (non-colored) toothpicks.
• Place chicken in pan. Mix soup and cooking wine well and pour over and around the chicken rolls.
• Carefully crush the crackers into a bowl. Put the butter on top and melt in the microwave. Mix well.
• Sprinkle the cracker topping over the chicken rolls.
• Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. 

I love this dish served with baked potatoes, because the sauce is excellent around your potato. Yum!  And I wish I had a picture of the final product .... but we ate them all (the kids fought over the last one) and never stopped to think about taking a picture. :)






Even the kitchen is an opportunity for a woman to serve God.  Titus 2:3-5  encourages the older to mentor the younger:

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. 

A kitchen is definitely a place to create great food, but it has the potential to produce so much more. And isn't it more fun to work with a friend?  I think so! I hope you'll open up your home, your kitchen, and your life and welcome someone else in. While we're encouraging each other "to be busy at home," we're accomplishing that and so much more.

Blessings!

Retreat Resource List

Tara and Katrina serving at the resource table

I know ... this is usually Tasty Tuesday, but I'm going to do Tasty Tuesday on WEDNESDAY this week. ;) Tomorrow, you'll see why I did.  (Tonight is going to be great fun!)

Today, I want to share with you a list of the resources shared at our book table this past weekend at our retreat. As the speaking team, the Scripture Dig team recommended titles related to our theme of what it means to be "in the Family." We incorporated the journeys of 2 of my Dig teammates and how physical adoption has been woven into their lives, so you'll see titles related to how adoption fits with Christians. We also discovered what it is to be adopted into God's family through spiritual adoption, and we considered our part in a local church family. It was a rich time together!

Maybe you'll find a book to tuck into an Easter basket, set aside for vacation reading, or as a study with a friend over the summer.

Recommended Retreat Resources shared by Scripture Dig

Adopted for Life by Russell Moore ~ Recommended by Sandra Peoples

Friendship for Grown-Ups by Lisa Whelchel ~ Recommended by Teri Lynne Underwood

Experiencing God’s Love in the Church by Tom Blackaby ~ Recommended by Kathy Howard

In My Father’s House: Women relating to God as Father by Mary Kassian ~ Recommended by Kathy Howard

Unshaken: Ruth By Francine Rivers ~ Recommended by Kristi Stephens

The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Pocket Edition) ~ Recommended by Stephanie (Her favorite is the big one, but we made the pocket editions available at the retreat.)

The Adoption of Sons (CD) by Pastor Sam Polson of my local church family. – This is a sermon including the story of their family’s adoption story of their son. ~ Recommended by Julie Sanders (yours truly)

The Answers Book for Kids (Vol. 3) by Ken Ham with Cindy Malott ~ Recommended by Kristi Stephens

Reclaiming Adoption by Dan Cruver, editor ~ Recommended by Sandra Peoples

Unshakeable Faith by Kathy Howard ~ Recommended by Julie Sanders

Sharing a study by Kathy Howard.

What are you reading or studying now that you would add to our book table?  Go share your recommended title on the Come Have a Peace Facebook page this week, and Saturday I'll choose a name with Random.org to receive a combo pack of several recommended resources. In short .... GIVEAWAY! :) Just enter by sharing your comment on the Facebook page.