Welcome to the Addiction

We like food around here.  My mom is a fabulous cook and I could be entertained all day by the Food Network.  My girl is a foodie like me and my hubs has come around from a meat and potatoes guy to an adventurous eater.  I tend to get recipes and tweak and perfect them, but usually its to make them tastier and healthier.  Not an easy task.

I have been making granola bars for a few years now.  My old standby recipe was sooo good, but had (way more than I'd like to admit) sweetened condensed milk in it.  Not too healthy, but my family requested it every week.  So I went online and search and searched until I found one that looked promising.  I tried it an decided the base was workable, and then I spent a month tweaking until I got what I wanted.  So, here ya go!

Go-to (healthy) Granola Bars

3 cups oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup honey

1/2 vegetable oil (you can sub 1/2 applesauce)

2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c peanuts or peanut butter

add ins: (1/4-1/2 cup each)

walnuts*

craisins*

raisins

chocolate chips*

cashews*

almonds

other dried fruit

etc

(* signifies what is regularly found in my granola)

Add dry ingredients together and mix.  Add wet ingredients and mix until everything is combined.  Press into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350.  Try not to eat them all before breakfast tomorrow.  :)

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

We have been praying since April 2011 about what would be next for us.  With Clint being in Seminary full-time and our desire that I stay at home with the kiddos, we had to figure out how those kiddos were going to be fed!  In May, we thought the answer was clear.  A big, awesome church initiated to Clint about becoming a campus pastor close to the Seminary.  Perfect scenario.  But as the summer went on, it seemed less and less ideal.  So, the prayers continued, and we mentioned our situation to a pastor of a supporting church who had teased Clint about coming on his church staff in the next 5 years.  He agreed to pray and help us think of job options.  A few weeks later that pastor went on vacation, and when he came home his elders called an unscheduled meeting.  With no information about his conversation with Clint, the elders pressed the pastor that they needed another pastor on the church staff.  The pastor mentioned Clint's name and the rest has been the logistics of getting us there!

As we have prayed about church ministry we have dreamed about having a church in a building downtown somewhere.  We never knew what city that might be.  One day it was Philadelphia, others Monroe, Greensboro, anywhere.  But, no matter what city we dreamed about, it was always in a downtown building.  The Lord is mysterious.  He gives us desires and dreams that seem like silly preferences and then, later, you look up and realize he was preparing you for something.

So, this is it.  Freedom Church.  Located on Main Street in downtown Lincolnton, NC.  When I left Lincolnton to go to college I swore I would never come back.  I wanted to go to a big city, live in a loft apartment and have a Rottweiler (for security :)).  I left my life and (less than ideal) high school days there and moved on.  But the Lord knows better than I do, and He has made it clear this is where we will call home for an indefinite amount of time.  We are excited, thrilled even.  There is so much new, so much to learn, so much to adjust to.  A new normal, a new home, a new job, a new city, a new team.  But the mission is still the same, to make much of Christ.  And that is what we will do, Lord willing.

Its Official!

We are still praying for our house to sell.  It's a bitter sweet kind of praying.  I love this house.

So, why are we moving?  About 10 months ago, Campus Outreach Charlotte began growing like crazy.  Until that point, Clint was the only area director on the team.  In March, 3 others joined the Directors Table.  Which made...a lot of directors.  Too many actually.

We love our job.  We love having students in and out of our house, we love living 2 blocks from a university, we love teaching new believers how to walk with God, we love seeing the rapid growth at the Summer Beach Project.  We are so thankful for CO and for all we have learned here.  We believe in this ministry more now than we ever have.  So, we are leaving.  We believe the Lord has raised up leaders to take our place, and we believe he has lead our hearts elsewhere in the midst.  And no one wants to do the Brett Favre thing.....

My hubby is a heck of a preacher.  If you are surprised to hear that, you clearly haven't heard him from the pulpit.  Our long term goal has always been the Church.  Church planting, church revitalization, something "church".  The Lord has made it clear over the past year, those dreams are just coming to fruition a little quicker than we imagined!

So whats next?  Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary !  Clint will be a full time graduate student for the next few years!  We are excited for this, and for the ways this (awesome) education will feed and fuel our ministry in the years to come!

There is still much to unveil, but for now, theres a teaser.  :)  We believe the Lord has some great things in store for us in the near (and distant) future!

Broccoli, Celery....

My kids love Veggie Tales.  But, I'll be honest, it took me a while.  I think we saw an old one first and it just didn't do it for me.  But I've warmed up.  At Christmas we bought The Little Drummer Boy and I was hooked.  Since then, we have watched it and various other Veggie Tale stories on a regular basis.  They are wonderful!  Entertaining, cute, safe (not all "kid movies" are!) and opens doors to some great conversations with E.  

So...when we heard Bob and Larry were going to be at our local Lifeway, the hubs and I were sooo excited!  We made a big deal about it and went on a "family date" to Chick-fil-a (of course) and headed over to meet the ginormous vegetables.  It was a little crazy, but so worth it to hear Eden say "Mommy..they're HUGE!"

The Potty Wars

 About 2 years ago we began a process that we had no idea would end up the way it did.  Our little 18 month old baby girl was sharp as a tack and could speak in sentences.  She was clearly able to use the potty....ha.  We had another little one on the way and I was anxious to get her potty trained before #2 made his grand entrance.  So, I did some research and decided I was going to go with the "potty training in a weekend" route.  Sigh.

She was terrified.  She hated using the potty, she refused, she would sit on it and scream until we let her off.  We asked our parents, friends, looked online.  As always, the opinions differed in every possible way. Some said spank, others said wait, some said try reading to her while she's on it, others said take a break and try again later.  We opted for the break.  I can't remember exactly when it was when she started consistently pee-peeing in the potty, but it was a while ago.  Success right?  Nope.

Going #2 was a whole different issue.  Again research ensued and we came up confused and defeated.  This little tiny girl was either scared to death of it, exercising her power over us, or had some trust issue we were unaware of.  We have prayed about it a good bit.  We have offered rewards and given correction.  Nothing worked.

Last night, after an interaction with her that seemed to make it clear it was a power struggle, we decided it was time.  We gave the ultimatum in the car and told her she must go when we got home (we knew she needed to).  I was so anxious.  I knew this meant the next week may be awful.  Tears, discipline, pouting, consuming our days.  Ugh.  When we got home I sat outside the bathroom door and listened to our 3 1/2 year old pray to the Lord to help her poo-poo in the potty.  I couldn't believe it.  A few minutes later she opened the doors with wide eyes and declared somewhat shocked "I did it!".  We danced, we sang, we put on her PJ's and drove to Target to buy the train we had been promising FOREVER.  A 2 year (2 year!) weight was lifted from our shoulders.  She was so proud of herself.  We called grandparents and she told the cashier at Target about her success.  It was glorious.

The more days I live as a parent, the more I realize how much there is to learn.  I have been ashamed of my "way too old" girl not using the potty "on time" whatever that is.  I have compared myself to the moms who potty train their kiddos quickly and efficiently.  I have questioned our decisions around it 1,000 times.
The Lord has taught me so much about patience, perseverance, grace and encouragement through this.  I am thankful for the lessons, and I know one day we will laugh about how hard this has been for us.  But I think the most significant lesson was Eden's.  Our God answers prayers.  Even small, seemingly insignificant prayers.  He longs to hear us and he longs to answer.  I pray she would never forget that lesson.  And if every day of the past 2 years was for that, it was worth it.

"And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."  Matthew 21:22