Granola Bars

I've discovered homemade granola bars. They are the easiest thing in the world to make and they taste so good. My first ones were made with peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, oatmeal, and dried cranberries. That's when I fell in love. They were so good. I put some globs of peanut butter in a pot and began to melt it. As it melted I added some honey and brown sugar. When all of that was pretty much in liquid form I added the oatmeal. I stirred until it was all mixed together. I still had the fire on. It wasn't sticking together too well so I added some more honey and brown sugar until it was sticking together. I turned the fire off and added the dried cranberries. Then, I spread it all out on a cookie sheet and let it cool.
I've made several different kinds since my first batch. Some things I've learned since then: Use peanut butter or some oil or your bars will stick to the cookie sheet, wax paper or whatever you use. They will also turn into bricks. Put wax paper on top and press down to make them nice and uniform as possible. Use a potholder, because it is very hot. Do not add more peanut butter if it's not sticking together. Your bars will turn out to be more like peanut butter bars instead of granola bars.

In the midst of the storm

In the midst of the trial I'm glad I can say I have a God that knows my every need. I have a God that cares for me. Even the little things. I have a God that wants what's best for me. Even if what's best is to allow me to go through a storm. That storm is there to change me. It's there to strengthen my faith. That storm is what's going to get me to that next step. There's a purpose for that storm. And, He's there through it all. He gives me peace in the midst of the storm. He gives me strength in the midst of the storm. I'm thankful for my God. I'm thankful for His grace and mercy. It really does surpass all understanding. Because of Him I'm able to stand. I have strength through Him. I have joy in the midst of the storm. Thank you Jesus!

He is moving and great things are going to happen.

God is moving in a mighty way. He's reaching out and changing people. He's preparing us for the work that's coming. For the revival that's coming. I can feel it. It's like we are right on the edge and He's about to push us off into revival. I didn't realize that this isn't just going on in our little ol' church here in Livermore, but all over the world. The Lord is preparing us. The devil is attacking us too. But, our eyes are open to his tricks. We are aware of what he's doing. We don't need to fight back, but to stand. He's attacking marriages, finances, families... He's attacking with sicknesses, depression... I think he knows we are on the brink of a great revival and he's scared. His time is almost up.

Jarrod and I are planning a trip to Houston the middle of next month. We will be driving to Farmington, NM first and preaching that Sunday, September 20. We are so excited that God wants to use us. The next Sunday we will be preaching for Bro.Spencer in Houston. The following Sunday we will be back in Farmington. God has a plan. He's preparing us for revival and He's going to use us for this revival. This is awesome and we are so excited!


For thou oh Lord are a shield for me.
My glory, You lift my head!


Power In The Name

Power in the name of Jesus
Salvation in the name of Jesus
Freedom in the name of Jesus
Everything I need
Protection in the name of Jesus
Deliverance in the name of Jesus
Healing in the name of Jesus
Everything I need is in that name

I wish I would known
About the cross, Your blood
Your tears, Your love
You did this for me
I went for so long
Wishing I would have been told
About how You love me so
I'll stand and testify
About the One who saved my life
Nobody greater and that's no lie
This s what I know and I believe it!

Words and Music by James Avery Simms

Here's my proof.

Every parent thinks their kids are some of the cutest in the world. I'm no exception. Here's some proof.

Here is a video of Simeon and Crimson singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqU3-8F_UdY

Simeon loves Eliana. And, she loves him. I have to really watch him, because while I'm trying to let her "cry it out" he will go and pick her up and bring her to me. He will, also, decide that she would like to play with them or watch a movie with them. So, he will push her around in her bouncy seat. He loves to talk to her too. She loves the attention. Sometimes when I'm busy I will tell him to go talk to her. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiMZOYudHM0

A conversation with Simeon

Simeon: Mommy I want to take a shower with you.

Me: You can't.

Simeon: Why not?

Me: Because you're a boy.

Simeon: But, I don't want to be a boy. I want to be a girl.

Something with leftover potatoes

So, I was lying in bed the other morning. Awake because Eliana woke up to eat. For some reason I had trouble going back to sleep. So, I started thinking about things. Then, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about things. It becomes a deadly cycle that keeps me awake. Anyway one of my thoughts were about a ziploc bag of potatoes in the refridgerator and what they would be like if I mixed them with eggs. So, I woke Jarrod up and told him if he got up and got dressed I would make him breakfast. He's always game for breakfast.

So, I went downstairs and got the potatoes. I had made potato salad, but cooked too many potatoes. I put them in the 'fridge with hopes of making something with them. I don't always remember that I put things in there. I mashed the potatoes and added some eggs I whisked. It was probably about 2.5 cups of potatoes and 5 eggs. I took some chicken out that I had been saving for sandwiches. I cut about 1/2 cup up and put it in the potato/egg mixture. Oh, I had added some seasoned salt to the potatoes before adding anything else. So, I mixed all this together, melted some butter in a pan, and spooned some of the mixture in. I cooked it like pancakes and added a slice of cheese when I took them out of the pan. Mmmmm good. Although Jarrod said they needed salt or something. I disagree.

I took pictures, but they have gone missing from the computer. Like everything else that goes missing I shall blame the kids.

Chicken 2

So, this is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.

I was putting the Cream of Chicken in it and decided let's go for it and add the sour cream. Then, I decided let's go for it and do cheese and biscuits. You can never have too much cheese. Well, maybe you can.

Here's where I had added the biscuits. What? Those don't look like biscuits? I was informed that what I make is called "drop biscuits". I don't roll them out and cut them out. I drop them on the pan. Makes sense to me. Hey! When you have three kids and one of them is screaming becuase you actually left her sitting there and aren't holding her would you make the traditional biscuits? Not me!

And the end result was.... Yummy yummy for my tummy! The biscuits kind of soaked down into the other stff. I was good and I hope to make it again.

Chicken

I think I cook chicken too much. There are a lot of recipes for chicken, but if you think about it there's only so many ways to cook it. When you are thinking about your health you don't want to fry it too often. Sure you can boil it and do some kind of soup with it, but that gets old. And, boiled chicken is bland. Very bland. I think I'm just bored with chicken. I want to try something else. We have hamburger meat, but there's even fewer recipes for that. I want to cook some lamb or veal. I want to be more adventurous with my cooking. If Jarrod were reading this he would probably tell me that I'm already too adventurous with my cooking. Maybe it's just one of those days.

Right now I have dinner cooking in the oven. I've taken a casserole dish (rectangular pan with sides) and let the butter melt in it, in the oven, while the oven warmed up. I cut up some chicken breasts, potatoes, carrots, and corn and mixed those in with the melted butter. I sprinkled some seasoned salt on top and it's now cooking for 20 minutes. I'm debating whether or not to add the can of cream of chicken soup with the sour cream or without. Should I add cheese on top of that or let biscuits bake on top? Do I really need to make more biscuits? Do we have enough cheese? I'll let you know what I decide. I might even take a picture.

That reminds me. I took a picture of what I made the other night. It turned out really good. My intetion was to post a recipe with the picture, but I've already forgotten how I made it. See this is what happens. This is why I cannot make the same things twice unless I get it from some other recipe. I make it up as I go along and plumb forget how I did it. I made this really good chicken and biscuits recipe (trying to copy the chicken and biscuits from Cheesecake Factory) and plumb forgot how I made it. I kick myself every time I think about it. Anyway, here's what I made the other night.

Bye bye clutter!

We are reorganizing boxes of stuff. It's funny how we can go through the same stuff we went through months ago and throw away what we thought we should keep. Slowly, but surely, the clutter is going away.

Unpack?

Unpacking from camping is a long process. I can't just put everything away. Why? Because I got an idea and so I have to reorganize everything. If you were at my house right now you would see the mess. Sigh, I must go get this done.