Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Awesome video

Go to Rene's blog and check out the amazing video he made of India. Thank you Rene for reminding me of the awesome adventure God took us on!

www.livingthegodlife.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Crock Pot Chili


I posted on Facebook that we were enjoying some homemade chili and I've had three requests for the recipe.....so here you go! I hope you enjoy it!

1 pound ground beef
1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, drained
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbs. chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
* I also added a dash of cumin*

In a skillet, cook beef until no longer pink, drain. Add to crock pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4 hours.

Serves: 4-6

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Praying for your enemy

Rene and I started a new Life Group last week. Christopher and Leanne are our leaders. Last week we talked about being "safe" and this week we talked about being dangerous. Our homework, or challenge, for the week is to pray for our enemy.

Huh? How do you pray for your enemy? Or, for me, someone I don't like. Can I do that?

I started last night. At first it was hard because I just wanted to pray for this person to go away. But is that what God wants? No. So I paused and first prayed for my heart. And than I prayed for this person. An amazing thing happened, I stopped being angry at this person.

You have to admit, it's kind of hard to be angry at someone when you are praying for them. I remember before we got married we had to go to a marriage seminar. They had four couples up on a stage telling us about how to make our marriage work. I only remember one thing from that day and it came from one of the leaders. She was an older lady and she said something that I will never forget:

"When you start to fight with your husband, get naked. It's hard to be angry at your husband when they are naked". And it's true!

It's kind of the same thing (just don't imagine the person naked please). When you are praying for someone you don't like, in a way that God wants you to pray for them, they seem more vulnerable, they are being exposed. You get to look at them in a different way, maybe the way God wants you to look at them.

Spiders, spiders everywhere!





Two weeks ago I took the boys to the Spider Pavilion at the Natural History Museum. It was kind of creepy at first, walking into a large "tent" knowing there were spiders everywhere. At times I would forget where I was while looking down at a spider, and than than I would turn around and come face to face with an eight legged creature!

The boys loved it....of course.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: none of the spiders in the tent were poisonous. Thank you Ann for the pictures!