Spring has arrived!  I don’t know about you but I am glad to see the sunshine.  I am eager to be outside working in the yard, grilling, playing with my kids and getting fresh air.  I also enjoy seeing all the flowers that have been dormant for the winter season spring back to life and full of color.  If you think about it, we are like flowers.

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This is a fun little quiz.  Check out this site and see how accurate it is.  Leave me a comment too!! 

http://www.martinarmand.com/Lipstick_Shapes.html

I am a mix of these:

You train for marathons and races.  It is not easy.  You know what you have to do.  Be in shape.  Run with all you got.  Focus on the finish line.

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So spring is almost here and with the warm weather comes one of our families favorite things to do….grill!  I thought it would be fun to share some recipes.  Send in your family favorite, weeknight time crunch recipe, side dish, dessert or snack.   Happy cooking and sharing!!

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

1/4 cup Sun -Dried Tomato vinaigrette dressing, divided

4 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tomato finely chopped

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves

Place a large sheet of foil over half of grill grate; preheat grill to medium heat.  Pour 2 Tbsp. of the dressing over chicken in resealable plastic bag and coat chicken.  Refrigerate for 10 min.  Grill chicken on uncovered side of grill 6 min.  Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, cheese, basil and remaining 2 Tbsp. dressing.  Turn Chicken over; place, cooked side up on foil on grill.  Top evenly with tomato mixture.  Close lid and grill an additional 8 min.   Enjoy with grilled veggies or pasta.

Blueberry Cheese Rolls

1 pkg. (8oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

4 oz.  ( 1/2 of a block of cream cheese) Neufchatel Cheese

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup blueberries, divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Unroll dough into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations together to seal.  Combine cream cheese and sugar; spread onto dough rectangles to within 1/2 inch of edges.  Top evenly with blueberries.  bring opposite corners of rectangles together; press together to seal.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 11-13 min. or until golden brown.  Makes 4 servings, 1 roll each.

It has been gorgeous here in Northern Ky.  Sunny, warm and lovely.  It is   fun seeing God’s creation come back alive.  My daughter, Phoebe, has been hard at play outside.  Riding her bike, sidewalk chalk, digging in dirt.  Oh, to be a kid again.  I have enjoyed watching her and cheering her on as she flies down our street on her bike, that does have training wheels. 

So, I wanted to look at some things I learned at Hearts at Home.  Stop over to a friend’s  blog,  Jennifer @ focus findings.  She has a great article on “reclaiming your family.”   That was the jest of the weekend.  Reclaim your marriage, reclaim your children, reclaim authority, etc.

I felt another theme was “foundation.”  The definition of foundation is:

• We need to build a foundation in our homes before we can move forward to a plan of action.  You would not build a home without a blueprint so we need to have a blueprint of what we want our family to be.  Think about it, there is a foundation to every building, tower, amusement park ride.  There is even a product called foundation for the makeup we wear.  It is the base for everything.

Where is your foundation and what is it made of.  I want my families foundation to be Jesus Christ.  Here are some biblical truths: 

Ephesians 2:20 

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone

Psalm 62:2  

² He alone is my rock and my salvation;  he is my fortress, I will never be shaken

Psalm 31:3  

³ Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me 

I want Jesus Christ to be the foundation for my family.  I want my girls to know that he is the rock of salvation.  When tough times come and they will, I want them to lean on Christ.  Know him and his word.  I want them to build character, morals, respect, obedience, and all of the fruits of the spirit.  I want to build my families foundations on biblical truths. 

We will have a tough job in these worldly times.  More pressure to be of this world and conform to it.  It is hard because we live in a culture where we try to keep up with others and we base our worth and value in what we do, where we live, what we drive and the list goes on and on. This is dangerous.  This can make for an unhappy home.  Competition is grueling on the soul.  Instead of competing and trying to keep up why don’t we support and encourage one another.  Families are gonna be different.  But one thing remains the same.  GOD!!    Stand strong, dive deep into God’s word!   Know  your worth in God.   He loves you so much that he sent his son to the cross so we could live in eternity with him.   

We are called to be like Christ and bring others to know him.  This takes being a disciple.  Be grounded in the foundation of His word, having daily quiet time, prayer, surrounding ourselves and family with christian friends.  Being accountable to one another.  Encouraging one another and loving one another. 

 The stakes are high.  They are worth it!

I am back from the Hearts at Home national conference.  We had a blast.  I had so much fun I forgot to take lots of pictures, but here are some. 

from left to right: Karla, Carol, Jennifer, Lori and Tricia

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Well I head out for the Hearts at Home conference tomorrow morning.  I am so excited to go and be spiritually fed.  The laundry is done, groceries are bought, house is clean…

The theme for this conference is REAL MOMS.  I adore this theme.  I have found that being real is really difficult.  We want others to think we have it all together.  We don’t want others to see our weakness.  I struggled with this early on as a mom.  I eventually learned to remove the masks and be real.  This is it.  I am who I  am, period.   Christ has made me this way for a reason and I have to find my security in Him.  We sometimes throw ourselves into different things so that others don’t see the “real”.  Like, hobbies, careers, serving, church, sports, bible studies, how we look, what we drive, where we live, etc.   In the big scheme of things none of this matters.  It is our hearts that we should be concerned about.  What are we cultivating in our hearts? 

Do we have patience, joy, love, kindness, gentleness, peace, respect, laughter, faithfulness or contentment?  That is what God’s word calls us to have in our hearts to be more like Christ.  Pick one or two that you struggle with and do some research on them.  Pray about them, asking God to grow you in those areas. 

I will touch base when I get home and will load some pics of our adventure.  It is about a 5 hour car ride.  It is gonna be heavenly.  Being able to hold an adult conversation in the car with no interruptions.  I will miss my family and will call home to check in, but I am looking forward to whatever crazy, zany, things our gang is gonna get into!!

We had a beautiful weekend here in Northern Ky.  It was beautiful on Saturday.  My girls were outside enjoying the sunshine.   It is so nice to get some fresh air.  I can’t wait for more days like that! 

I am doing two bible studies (yep, I am a junkie)  It is amazing to see God weave them together.  What Happens When Women say YES to God, by Lysa Terkeurst and Esther by Beth Moore.  Both are so powerful and have spoken to my heart and soul.  I just love seeing the possibilities of life when you are walking hand and hand with the Lord. 

So, they get me to thinking.  What is my ” theme” for the year.  That is a question Beth Moore asks in Esther.  I don’t want to go into to much details for those of you that are in the study.  I don’t know where you are and I do not want to spoil anything.  The question on themes is a good one to ponder.  I would like to change the question to ”what is your theme for the month?”  This is more up my ally.  My life changes so frequently that it would be hard to come up with a theme for a year.   I will share that my ”theme” for now is listening.  Yep, I am a talker and fixer.  Got a problem, well you do A, B, C  and it will be fixed.  It is just that easy…come on..get to it, move on.  When friends come to me and tell me what is going on in their lives I immediately want to “help.”   Type A personality  that has to control and manage all.  So God has been working in me lately. 

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I am getting so excited.  I am going to get away and get my “juice box” refilled.  If you haven’t heard of Hearts at Home you need to check them out.  It is a wonderful ministry  for women of all ages in all stages of life.  They are having their national conference next weekend and I am going.

This is not my first one.  I have been two other times and let me tell you, WHOA!  You come back so revived, encouraged and on top of the world.  I love spending time with my friends, talking, crying, praising God and learning from some of the best speakers around.  When thousands of women are singing worship songs in an auditorium…wow it is an awesome sound.  I am definite that God is just smiling from ear to ear listening. 

I have signed up for some fun classes.  I try to cross the board with what I pick out.  I chose one on marriage, one on parenting, one on spiritual growth and one with Jill Savage the founder of Hearts at Home. 

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I read this on another blog that I follow and thought this would be fun.  Describe you or your life in 6 words.  It can only be 6 words so be fun and creative.  I can’t wait to see what we come up with…I will start.

When life hands lemons, make lemonade

can I,  HE can,  HE will

Now it is your turn.  Have fun!!