"THE MOM" song! I Love it!

I found this over on another blog that I read and I love it! So I wanted to share it on my blog.

Thank you Mrs. U.

Slow Cooking Thursday: Pot Roast

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun to participate!

Sandra's Slow Cooking Thursday from Diary of a SHAM.



So I am sharing my Pot Roast Recipe. I love how easy this recipe is and how wonderful it tastes. I got the recipe from my mom (I have no idea where she got it from) when I was just newly married and let me tell you I have made it a lot!

I throw it in the crock-pot on Sunday Mornings and Sunday night dinner is HEAVENLY!

Pot Roast

1 large Boneless Pork Roast (I try to find one that is about 4 - 5 pounds)
1 small bag Baby Carrots
1 medium Sweet Vidalia Onion (Sliced)
4 -5 Russet Potatoes (Peeled and cubed)
I envelope Onion Soup Mix
2 cans Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

Place carrots, potatoes and onion in bottom of slow cooker. Add Roast on top of veggies. Sprinkle roast with onion soup mix. Cover roast and top of veggies with Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Cook on High for 1 hour. Reduce slow cooker to low and continue cooking 6 to 8 hours.
I usually give this a really good stir about 30 minuets before I'm going to serve it.

I will serve this with homemade dinner rolls and sometimes hot buttered noodles.

50s Housewife: Be a Cheerleader!

One of my favorite Blogs is 50's Housewife. She always has such uplifting and encouraging posts and once again she did not disappoint!

50s Housewife: Be a Cheerleader!
I am going to cheer on my family this week. Below are some of things that she suggested we do this week.

1. Ask for God's help to focus on the positive.
I think this is a great idea. Of course, I know that without HIM all of my ideas fail but most of the time I need to be reminded to ask for help!

2.. "Catch" them being good and praise them for it. "It's so thoughtful of you to offer to play a game with your sister!" or "Thanks honey for researching all the different dishwashers so we would know which one would be the best buy!"
This is something that I definitely need to work on. Why is that I find it so easy to see the bad or the mistakes in my family and so hard to see their good?

3. Be aware of what I'm saying and try to make sure that my positive comments far out way any negative comments (including the comments to myself in my head).
OH MY how I need to work on this one. I feel that I'm a pretty positive person (when it comes to my children)! I do feel that I'm their biggest cheerleader (but I'm probably one of their hardest critics too). Unfortunately, I'm not the most positive person when it comes to my husband or myself. But since I recognize that, I should be able to fix that right?!

4. Find a small, practical, fun way to bless them such as renting a favorite movie, taking them for ice cream, surprising them with an outing, etc. Do a little something nice for myself too. Maybe I'll light a scented candle in the bathroom and have a long, relaxing soak in the tub at the end of a busy day.
This is an easy one! As a one-income family that tries to live on a budget my husband and I like to plan special (low cost to no-cost) family times. We have family move nights and if my husband has a day off we will go to Sea World or Disney World (we have annual passes).

5. Say something nice about each member of my family to other people.
I think this one should be easy! I think! I'm pretty sure that I'm always positive about my family with others (OK maybe not with my Best Friend, but that's what Best Friends are for RIGHT!?). But I'm going to try and take extra care this week and just make sure that what I think I'm doing I'm actually doing.

6. Respond to complaints and problems in a positive manner and with hope.
This is one I certainly need to work on. I tend to borrow trouble (a lot). So this one will be a great one for me to focus on but also a difficult one at the same time.

7. Avoid any passive aggressive behavior. No heavy sighs and martyrs faces while I say something like "Don't worry, I'll take out the trash myself. I do everything around here anyway."
I think this one is my favorites. I do tend to play the martyr at my house and I'm sure it gets very old to my family. So I am going to try and quit the sighing and the martyr comments.

I am very excited to give these idea a try and I pray that I'm successful and that this new "attitude" catches on and stays much longer than the end of this week.

The Five Love Languages

Last night our church had a Married Couples event that was wonderful. We gathered in around 7:00 pm for pizza, soft drinks and fellowship. Then at 7:30 we watched a presentation by Dr. Gary Chapman on the 5 Love Languages.
It was a wonderful video that was not only funny but also eye opening. I'm pretty sure that I have figured out my love language (Quality Time) and my husband's love language (Physical Touch) but I did not know that children have a love language. I am very excited to give my children the on-line quiz that they have at the above website so that I can know how best to show them that they are loved.
One of the best things that Dr. Chapman said in his video was that, while you need to love your spouse and your children in their primary love language you also need to sprinkle in the other 4 love languages so that they learn how to receive love and give love in those ways also. It kinda makes them multi-lingual :)
Now let me explain the picture at the top of my blog. As I stated before my love language is quality time. Every morning I get up and fix my husband breakfast so that I can sit and have a cup of coffee with him and have him all to myself! The kids are still in bed, the house is quiet and I get all of his attention (OK I have to share some of his attention with the eggs and toast)! But I realized last night that I get up and fix his breakfast FOR ME! Sure, he gets the benefit of a nice hot breakfast but if I was really being honest (and I'm trying to be) I'm not doing this to bless him I'm doing it to bless me and I think that's OK. But my goal for the next few weeks is to try and find ways to bless my husband. I want to learn his love language and how to communicate with him in his own language. I want him to know that I love him and that he is important to me. So over the next few weeks I'm going to be reading Dr. Chapman's book and learning a new language!

What I do Matters!

I found this quote posted over at Mrs. U's blog Making a House a Home! It really encouraged me and I hope that it will bless you also.

C. S. Lewis once said, "A housewife's work...is surely in reality the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government, etc. exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes?... We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. So your job is the one for which all others exist."

There are days when I feel like what I am doing (taking care of my family, cooking, cleaning, educating my children), really does not matter all that much. That anyone could do what I do, and maybe even do it better. But then I read something like this and it's like the Lord is telling me that What I do Matters! Not just to my family but to society as a whole. I am raising three amazing children who will (Lord willing) be great contributors to the human race one day. My oldest dreams of being an anesthesiologist, my middle son dreams of creating and building amazing homes and hotels, and my daughter dreams of being a mother and an artist. I don't know if their dreams will be realized or if there is another greater plan for their lives but I do know that I am working and striving everyday to give them what they will need to reach their full potential. And I do it because I love them and no one could ever love them more than I do!

From OOPPSS to YYUUMM!

The other day I tried a new Banana Bread recipe and well let's just say that I had some difficulties removing the bread from the pan. (I wish I would have thought to take a picture but since I figured I was going to be throwing it away I didn't really see the point in capturing my mistake on film). I could only got the top part of the bread to release from the pan.
So I sat staring at my loaf of ruined Banana Bread that was supposed to be a treat for my family and wondering what I was going to do :(
And then I got a BRILLIANT (even if I do say so myself) idea!
I whipped up some vanilla pudding, sliced up a few bananas, and took a container of cool-whip out of the freezer :)

TA-DA! Banana Bread Trife :) Of course after dishing it up I just could not resist adding one more little thing to it....
CHOCOLATE SYRUP ANYONE?
Needless to say no one seemed to mind that I had some trouble with this new recipe!

What's in a Name?!

I thought I would start off my blog by explaining the name that I picked for my blog.
As you may or may not know I am a homeschooling stay-at-home mother to 3 wonderful children. I love being a stay-at-home mom and I love the fact that we homeschool. But there are days when nothing goes right. The laundry is piled over my head, the kitchen is a mess, the children are crying and not listening to a word that I say and it's not even noon!
It's on these days that I need to rejoice even more. But it's on these days that I have the hardest time trying to remember why I need to rejoice and what I have to rejoice over. So I have decided to start this blog to keep a list (a reminder) of the blessings in my life, the rejoicing moments of my day.

Rejoice is a verb! It's something that you do, it's a choice that you make! It means to be glad, to take delight. I want to be glad in everything and in every day. I want to take delight in all things.
For example, the laundry piled over my head is a blessing. It means we have clothes to wear and a washer and dryer right off the kitchen for me to use.
The kitchen that is a mess means we have food to eat and at least I have a dishwasher that will do most if not all the dishes for me.
The children who are crying and not listening to me are my biggest and greatest blessings and joy. And I know that once I calm down and talk calmly to them they will listen and in just a few minutes the tears will be gone and we will continue on with our day.

I am so excited to be starting this blog and I hope that you will come with me on this journey and together we can REJOICE!