Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Chicken Tacos with the Perry's

We love Mexican food in our house. My kids will eat most anything with that involves tortilla chips, salsa, and cheese, so we often resort to quesadillas, and tacos for dinner. This is one of my favorite go to's. The thing that makes it crazy easy to throw together is using leftover chicken. I'm a big fan of roasting a whole chicken in the oven (or crock pot). We then typically only eat half of the chicken in one dinner and I can save the rest of the meat for another meal. Sometimes I freeze it. Sometimes I just plan to use it in the next few days. I will also then use the bones to make chicken broth in the crock pot (it's FREE people, so why not?!). So without further adieu.....

Chicken Tacos with the Perry's

Chicken Taco Ingredients
 Chicken Taco Ingredients
Ingredients
-leftover chicken (we use leftover chicken from a roasted whole chicken)
-Chili Powder
-Garlic Salt
-Cumin
-Oregano
-Tortillas of your choosing (we LOVE Stacy's Organic tortillas that we get from Mama Jean's locally)
-Toppings of your choice (we love cheese, salsa, a bit of lettuce, and avocado)
-Rice
-Parsley
-Butter
-Salt

Normally I start the rice first. My favorite lately is Jasmine. I use 1 heaping cup of rice for just over 1.5 c of water. Let it simmer till the water is gone (15ish minutes). Add about 2 Tbsp of butter and a sprinkling of salt and Parsley. Then let it sit till it's nice a fluffy (usually 10ish more minutes). This combo changed my life.

While the rice simmers put the chicken in your favorite skillet and generously sprinkle with garlic salt, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. I don't ever measure on this one. Just sprinkle till it tastes good. Add a few splashes of water to the pan. And sauté until the chicken is warm and water has evaporated.
Warm your tortillas in the oven or microwave and pile in your ingredients! Add some rice to your plate and enjoy! I know we do!


Chicken Tacos
 Chicken Tacos

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Hospital Rooms and Such

Today I'm sitting in a hospital room. A small grey and blue and white room with specks all over the walls and floors. We've been sitting in this room for at least 4 hours now waiting. Waiting on the inevitable and the unknown. My husband is having surgery today. Well I say today. It's 5:37 pm as I type this. Hopefully it's still 'today' by the time they take him back. The surgery isn't life threatening. At least it's not supposed to be. But it does have the power to restore his vision in one of his eyes. Sight is something that we can so easily take for granted. I've never worn glasses. My eyes have always just worked. So I think it's something that I very easily overlook. But today, we're not taking anything for granted. Vision, smell, touch, hearing. All of it. We're praying for God's protection over him as they operate. We're praying for wisdom and steady hands for the Doctor. We're praying for a good recovery and that the original problem (pars planitis for those who care to know) doesn't return. Because even if all goes very well in the surgery, there's always the possibility that all of this will happen again. It's kind of scary to think through, my husband losing his vision. It's most certainly not something that I ever expected. And my husband and I have joked... every year we make all these big plans for the year of goals we want to accomplish: physical, spiritual, financial. You know the drill. New Year's Resolutions. And it seems like every year we just get hammered in January and this year it seems to have happened again. If I didn't know that God loved me, I'd think he was laughing at me as he moved the chess pieces of our lives in exactly the opposite direction we'd choose. But I know that's not how my holy, loving God works. No my God works like this:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)

My God is full of love. Love that is rich in mercy and great love that has made me alive with Christ so that we can do the good that God has prepared for us. This is true for me. This is true for my husband. This is true for every person who has been redeemed. Our God is overflowing with love and he lavishes it on us in the person of Jesus Christ. So my husband and I sit in this grey and blue speckled hospital room and we trust that our good, loving God is not slamming us down laughing every January. But that instead in love, he is preparing us for the good works that He has for us whether my husband can see or not.

Monday, February 4, 2013

This Parenting Gig

I've struggled with this whole parenting gig lately. I'm utterly crazy about my kiddos. Seriously, I don't think I had any idea that I had this much love in my heart before having kids. I know it's cliche, but it's true. There is just something so incredible about having little combined versions of yourself and your best friend to take care of. You can look at them and just see pieces of yourself and this man that you're madly in love with. God had a neat plan with people having kids. What's frustrating though is when your kids start sinning. Am I right?

I knew that I'd have sinful children, but really, I don't think I ever imagined that it would look like this, or that it would evoke in me the kind of emotions that I feel about it all! This is rough stuff friends! So I'm working through a few things:

1) I am reminding myself that this little person is a person that God has purposefully placed in our family. He is perfectly suited to us as parents and that even in the times when I feel really incompetent to handle what the little guy (or girl) is throwing at me, I am competent in Christ. He has given him the perfect parents for HIM and he has given us the perfect children for US. He is growing all of us in His perfect way though these relationships and the struggles that come with them. And the end result for all of us who trust in Christ will be looking like Christ. It will be beautiful!



Little man driving his Jeep.IMG_6325Sweet Toddlers! IMG_6405IMG_6410

2) I always knew that I was going to have kind of a rough time in these early years. Babies and toddlers are most certainly not my forte! I can't even tell you the feeling of freedom I felt when I stopped working in the nursery a few months ago, or the feelings of fear that grip my heart when I think about helping my husband teach our new 3-5 year old class at church. I told him he's going to have to do a lot of the teaching! But while kids this age range might not be my strength as far as communicating goes, I am still MY kids' mom and I can't skip over these very, very important years. For one, I don't want to miss it! There are so many moments of pure joy watching them grow and learn and say the most adorable things. So even in the ugly times of fits and tears and flat out defiance, I have to consistently discipline them in love, showing them Christ and the gospel.

3) And I pray. Pray, pray, pray. I pray for myself-that I would be wise in my choice of words and actions. That I would not be controlled by my own emotions in times of disobedience. That I would be more concerned about the hearts of my children than the image I'm projecting to those around me of myself. Oh, so many things to pray for. I also pray for my kids' salvation. I have to recognize that they have unregenerate hearts at this point in their life. They are depraved. And they don't have the Holy Spirit to convict their hearts like a believer does. And it's my job to share the gospel with them.

4) So I try to turn times of disobedience into Gospel moments in their lives. It's hard, at some level impossible, for them to fight sin. My children aren't Christians. They don't have the Holy Spirit. Not that they can't choose right. But it is hard. And it's ok to tell them that. The book Give them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick talks about this extensively and gives some great examples of conversations to have with your kids (although some of them are pretty long). Here's what some of mine have sounded like. 'L, I know that it's really hard to do what's right. The incredible thing though, is that Jesus came to die for your sins. He lived a perfect life and then died to become the perfect sacrifice for the sin that you just committed in your heart and in your actions. He died so that you can be forgiven! Isn't that incredible. We have a loving God who wholeheartedly extends grace to us in our darkest moments. He loves us more than we can ever imagine.' It's not perfect, but slowly, I think he's starting to understand. Before I read that book I thought it was going to be about giving your kids a break (like don't hold them to too high of a standard, don't discipline them when they sin.... give them grace.) Thankfully I read the book and got the concept right.... give them grace--give them the gospel of grace. Give them the gospel. It's really the most important thing I can do as a parent. So my husband and I try to turn these moments into moments when we can tell them about Jesus. As my son has gotten older, this has gotten easier and more fun.

So.... while I'm struggling, I'm not despairing. I'm working through this time, knowing that it's a season. Parenting is not easy. No one has ever claimed it to be. And it is lots and lots of fun. But in those rough moments, the ones where I kind of want to hide in my closet, I take a deep breath, say a quick prayer, and dive in. Because my kiddos need me to be their mom, to shower them with love, and to teach them the gospel... and I'm happy to do so!