2 Great Dinner Recipes

Just had to share these recipes! It has been nice to be home and cooking in my own kitchen again. I've been able to try many new recipes that I've had sitting around for a while. These two were a hit!

Parmesan Pork Chops

(from Taste of Home, I think)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp flour

2 tsp Italian Seasoning

2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/4 tsp pepper

4 boneless pork chops (I didn't use boneless, and it still turned out great!)

2 Tbsp olive oil

In a large plastic bag, combine Parmesan cheese, flour, Italian seasoning, parsley, and pepper. Dip each pork chop in butter; place in bag, one at a time, and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, cook pork in oil over medium heat for 7-8 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.

I loved this recipe! It turns a plain pork chop into something delicious :-)

Ham & Broccoli Casserole

2 cups uncooked macaroni pasta

2 cups cubed ham

3 cups cooked broccoli

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 can dried onion rings (opt)

Shredded cheddar cheese

Mix uncooked macaroni and ham. Place in 9x13 casserole dish. In another bowl, mix soup, sour cream, and milk. Pour 1/2 of wet mixture on top of ham and macaroni and stir. Arrange broccoli on top. Add rest of wet mixture. Top with cheddar cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for 55 minutes. Take out of oven, place onion rings on top and bake uncovered for 5 minutes.

This is a great way to use left over ham! I didn't use the onion rings for our family since they are not a favorite.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Treasures

Memories are treasures. Aren't they? We had a fun time making memories this Thanksgiving. My mom drove back to SC with us and spent Thanksgiving week at our house. It was so nice to have her see our trailer as well as just experience life in our neck of the woods. We were also able to drive to my sister's house in NC on Thanksgiving day. Ethan was so excited to see his cousins again (he calls them "my friends") as well as Dixie, the dog we were watching all summer. One memory is hearing my 3 year old nephew say "Why is her tummy so big?" as I got up from our Thanksgiving table. Maybe he thought I ate too much :-) After nap time we had the boys decorate gingerbread houses. My son let me do all the decorating while he sat there and pigged out on marshmallows :-)

Family Fun & Fall Favorites

We love the fact that we are now stationed at home until baby #2 makes his appearance. It is so wonderful to be able to spend time with family. Here are a few pictures of Ethan and the fun he's been having with his cousins...

Ethan couldn't figure out how to get his shoes off. Leave it to a girl :-) She does so much better with shoes than he does!!

Best of Friends

Ethan was proud to show of his "fif wheel" to his cousins when we arrived home. It was like a big play place for them!

Enjoying the fall leaves in Pennsylvania!

Visiting Papa at his store, Home Depot. Ethan was fascinated by the forklift and all the Christmas decorations. He even got an orange apron like Papa.

So glad we were able to see my Pop-pop (Ethan's great-grandpa)!

Ethan is ready to help in Grandma's kitchen

We had such a nice trip to Pennsylvania to see my family and church. Wish we lived closer! (I am 7 months pregnant by the way with boy #2)

The Case of the Missing Hat

As we have been traveling, I have been teaching myself to crochet. It helps to pass the time while we are driving and it keeps my "creative juices" flowing :-) One of my creations this fall was a winter hat (as modeled above by a cute little boy). It was fun and relatively easy to make. At the beginning of this month, he finally had a chance to wear it! As I was cleaning up after his first day of wearing the hat, I couldn't find it anywhere! We were packing up our trailer at the time, so I thought maybe it got mixed up with all that I had packed so far. I couldn't get it out of my mind though. Not that it was an expensive hat, but I had put a lot of time into making it, so I really wanted to find it. Well, at the same time I was looking for a missing hat, I was also wondering what had happened to the pile of trash bags I had sitting outside our trailer waiting to go to the dumpster. It had mysteriously disappeared during nap time. I normally wouldn't care about that, but the place we were staying that week was back in the woods, and I was often "home" alone. Naturally, I started to wonder if there was someone creeping around outside my trailer taking trash and a random hat that I may have dropped outside. Well, I put my husband to work on the case when he got home that day, but we had no answers by the time bedtime rolled around. The next day being Sunday, I scoured the church for the missing hat while my husband searched the dumpster for me, in case whoever took our trash took the hat by accident. (what a sweet guy!) Nothing turned up with either endeavor, but as we were heading back to our trailer, my husband noticed a dirty diaper in the woods a few feet from our doorstep and then about 20 feet away, the rest of the stolen trash. Hoping that the hat would be there too, he looked around the area, but did not find it :-( Apparently Greenville must have unusually strong squirrels to have carried the trash that far away, not just one bag, but 3. And judging from the size of the acorns around our trailer, they must be well fed squirrels too. Well, we went inside, still very disappointed that the hat was no where to be seen. At this point I had started making another hat and hoping that whoever took the first one really needed it. Before church that evening, my husband was packing up the trailer and walked to the opposite side of the trailer where the trash incident occurred. There, about 20 feet away in the opposite direction he saw the hat!! It looked like the squirrels had tried as hard as they could to tear it apart to make a nest out of it, but the seams were too tight and they just left it! O happy day!! I had my hat back, although it looked pretty pitiful. But with a little TLC, it is back to normal and ready to be used. Who knew what a bunch of squirrels could do!

God still answers prayer!

I don't know about you, but I've often read missionary stories with wonder as they tell of specific answers to their prayer. At times I finish reading a book and think how wonderful it would to be that missionary. Their faith in God always seems much stronger than mine will ever be, and they always seem to receive such amazing answers to their prayers. I often doubt that I could ever be like them.

As these thoughts swirl around in my head, the Holy Spirit frequently, yet gently guides my thoughts in another direction...I may never actually be like them by experiencing the same adventures in their life of faith. I may never have the same prayer requests they have, but I do bow before the SAME God. Even though my requests may seem small and insignificant compared to the great victories read about in missionary stories, my God receives just as much glory in answering my prayers as He did in answering their prayers because both of us are depending on Him.

So as I share these simple answers to prayer, glorify God with me and see what simple requests you can bring before Him to receive your own answers.

If the shoe fits...

My husband has been in need of black dress shoes for a long time. I don't even know how long...the only way I found out was by asking him why he wasn't wearing his black suit to church. He then finally showed me the problem with his shoes. (Obviously a big male/female difference...he just stops wearing something to solve the problem, I on the other hand would be frantically looking for new shoes.) Church shoes can be on the expensive side of things, so I started praying right away for some new shoes for my husband. This was sometime during the summer months. I didn't feel like it was really a "need" because he has brown shoes and a brown suit that he was still able to wear. Off and on I would price shoes in the store to see if they would fit in our budget. Off and on I would pray for the shoes. Several Mondays ago, the Lord answered! I hadn't even thought about it for sometime. I was visiting a thrift store with a pastor's wife we were spending the week with. It was half price Monday!! I had a few things in mind to look for while there, but shoes were not one of them. It was so hot and crowded in there too that I really wasn't focused very well on getting a "good deal." Well, while allowing her to have time to shop I scanned the store over a few times. I really just found myself stuck in the men's aisle with people on either side of me. While waiting to get out, I saw men's black shoes right in front of me in excellent condition. I picked them up with little faith that they would be my husband's size, but they were! And they fit him too! What a great reminder that God hears our prayers and remembers them, even when we may have forgotten.

Our old truck and hospital bills

At the beginning of our journey this fall, I was hospitalized overnight for what turned out to be the flu. Since then we have been praying that God would specifically provide for whatever bills we would receive. Upon returning home from our travels, there were several bills in the mail but also a surprise check! Somehow I must have overpaid one of our doctors last year and they were sending me a check for the discrepancy. The following Sunday we learned that we were finally able to sell Jonathan's faithful but now old and dead truck. We never even imagined we would get paid for it. We thought we would have to pay someone to take it away :-) Those two blessings combined were enough to cover the costs of the pressing doctor bills at the time. Another great encouragement!!

I just wanted to end with a verse that I have been bringing before the Lord often in my prayers. "And my God SHALL SUPPLY all your need according to His RICHES in glory by Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19

Be Still...

We heard a wonderful message at church this morning about standing still and allowing God to be God. It was one of those messages that was exactly for me to hear. Now that we are home I have been looking back to all that happened to us during our travels. Many of the things that came our way were not circumstances that we would have asked for (we have not even left home if we knew ahead of time what was before us.) For me it wasn't just the "big" things like car repairs or illness, it was also the small things like missing family and friends, having to use yet another gas station bathroom, putting my son to bed way past his bedtime again... that caused me to question why God has called us into this ministry right now. Whether big or small problems, it does no good for me as a Christian who has hope in Christ and the promise of His CONTINUAL presence with me to question whether He knows what is best or to cry out to Him with a complaining heart when things seem unfair.

Today's message focused how the Lord lead the children of Israel to be "trapped" between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. Moses' command to the Israelites was to "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord" (Ex. 14:13). Standing still at that point doesn't seem like the first option I would I have chosen. I would instinctively say "Run!" or "Hide!" But when they stood still, God did greater things than they could have ever imagined!

It may feel at times that the Lord has backed me into a corner and I have the option of either trying to find my own way out or simply standing still to see what God will do AND what He wants to teach me through it. I know how hard it is for me to stand still and wait for God when I don't physically see anything taking place or I don't have the answer handed to me in clear terms. But, I do have the unfailing promise from God that He will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).

Las Vegas & Grand Canyon

It has been neat how our basketball tournaments have taken us places that you always hear about, but don't always get to see. Two weeks ago we had a great time helping a new church in Las Vegas host a tournament. I've never seen such a large city like Las Vegas. Not that I haven't seen large cities. It is just different from any large city I've ever seen. Maybe it's because as you are driving through the desert to get there, you see basically nothing and then, boom...there's the city. It was also unique because there are no trees or mountains to block your view, you have a clear view of the whole city which is pretty breathtaking at night. And it is one of the cleanest cities I've been to...clean as in no trash, very well kept, not clean as in the billboards etc. We took one part of an afternoon to go see the Bellagio fountains in the downtown part. They were amazing!! We saw them during the daytime and I am sure they would have been even more impressive at night, but I didn't really want to be downtown at night. Here is a picture of our family near the fountains.

After our week in Las Vegas, we began our journey home. We left on Sunday and finally reached our house late Thursday night!! We were able to stop by the Grand Canyon on Monday as we drove through Arizona. We just had part of the morning to spend there, but enjoyed every minute of it. In trying to describe the Grand Canyon to Ethan, I told him we were going to see a "big hole." I guess it stuck with him because sometimes he still talks about seeing the "big hole."

Here is what my husband does at the Grand Canyon. I should have just left him there...



Oh the trip home...maybe you can imagine what it might be like with a pregnant mommy and a two year old. (daddy did fine :-) Mommy kept asking to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes and begging daddy to switch lanes to the less bumpy one. The two year old was like a broken record..."Daddy, go outside??" Let's just say, lollipops do wonders at keeping kids quiet. We all have the Curious George and Baby Einstein movies memorized, even Ethan! I did finish croqueting a baby blanket on the trip and Ethan learned how to look out the window better and find ways to entertain himself. Apart from seeing miles of nothing, we were able to see the largest cross in the western hemisphere, the Hoover Dam, and many other things that left us wondering ;-) By personal experience, I could also tell you what roads NOT to drive on while pregnant.

But for now, it is good to be home again for a little while. Time to rest and let our bodies remember what it is like to live at sea level with humidity and in eastern standard time. I'll tell you how long it takes to adjust :-)