Cashew Chicken Stir Fry with Mandarin Oranges | Tasty Tuesday

It’s been a few weeks since I have done Tasty Tuesday but I am back with a new, super tasty one. Both Jay and I really love asian inspired food so when he requested stir fry for dinner last night I decided to find something new and different. I personally think that the leftovers tasted better the day after. This stir fry can be served over rice or asian noodles or you can eat it all on its own.

Enjoy!

“One Word” Anthem

If you read my post about choosing my “One Word” last week, I just wanted to share this song by  Casting Crowns with you. It really goes along with my thoughts in that post and wanted to share it with those of you who may never have heard it before or have and just really love it like I do. I LOVE Casting Crowns in general and this is their newest song. They write some really great stuff that always touches me in some way and gives me encouragement to meet me where I am. Enjoy!

A Headache trip to Wal-Mart and $3 clearance racks

You all will probably think that this is totally weird, but Joel (our 3 year old) LOVES to go to Wal-Mart. If we have not gone there in a day or so, he will ask me if we can go.  He is like his momma and loves to go just to go and walk around.

We were inside all day yesterday, so I decided to make a Wal-Mart run for some milk and a few other things. While we were there, Caroline really started to get restless because it was creeping up on lunch and nap time for her. In order to keep her entertained, I handed her my car keys to keep her busy like I usually do and tried to speed along, getting what I needed so we could be on our way. Howver, on our way to the check out, I became distracted by a big ole’ rack of exercise apparel that was marked down to $3.00! I absolutely could not keep on walking without giving it a good look over. So I rummaged through and found some cute little tank tops and a few pairs of shorts.  It’s not that I don’t like working out, but I prefer to look cute while doing it. This girl sweats in style! After I decided I had more than enough exercise tanks to last me the next 10 years, I headed to the check out, paid and made my way out to the car. My least favorite part of Ohio winters, by far,  is  loading and unloading the kids to the car but I refuse to let that keep me down! Just because I am a stay at home mom does not mean I am a homebody. So after I placed and buckled both children into their carseats, loaded the bags into the trunk and took the cart to the cart coral, I climbed into the car, grabbed my keys to start the car and…… NO CAR KEY! COME ON! Of all the keys she would be able to remove from my chain, did it have to be that one???  So I frantically start looking through my purse praying that it’s going to be in there. Nope. Soooo, out I go. I grab my cart out of the coral, unload the kids and head back in to the store to retrace my steps. Needless to say after walking all through the store, there is my key, laying on the floor next to a rack of sweats. Caroline will no longer be using my car keys for entertainment sufficed to say . That  little doll face 15 month old is not to be underestimated in her smarts by any means. But the trip was still totally worth it for the super cute workout clothes that I got for next to nothing. I am actually looking forward to working out in the morning in one of my new get-ups. Bring it on Jillian!!!!

I consider my life worth nothing…

So after much prodding from my husband, here I am, making my first post in over a month. I know, I know. I am a down right boring blogger and I will try to work on that.

So you may be wondering about the title of this post. No, I am not loosing it. So please don’t worry about my mental health (although I am the mommy to a 3 year old and 15 month old and feel like I might loose my mind some days).  The title  actually comes from the first part of the bible verse found in  Acts 20:24. This was the very first bible verse that I can remember highlighting in my bible and tucking into my “favorites”. If you are not familiar with this verse it reads:

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

This verse just keeps coming back to me over and over again within the last few days. God has breathed new life into this verse for me after our guest speaker used it in his sermon this past weekend. I left church on Sunday really thinking hard about this verse and how this just sums up my life goal as a Christian.

This morning while I was playing with the kids, we were listening to K- Love on the laptop, and they were talking about having one word. I don’t know how this topic even came up, but they were asking listeners, if you had to choose one word for yourself, what would it be? This word could be something that you want to be, work on, do, become better at, make your mission etc. People were calling in and submitting them on FB or by e-mail and there were some really great ones. So I thought, ok, what would my one word be? What should it be? I like to constantly look for something that I can change or make better about myself. There is always room for growth. Anyhow, my word that I came to was Testify. I suppose that it could also be testimony. There are so many ways that I can make this my word for the year that I don’t even know where to begin. This is an area in my life which I could use some major growth but have always felt uncomfortable and challenged with. I absolutely hate stepping on toes and being in awkward situations. Needless to say, there have been many times that I have been presented with opportunities to share but have not done so because of fear, and I am ashamed of that. This is so much more than stepping on toes, awkward silence or even hurt feelings. My greatest hope would be that all of my friends and family would come to have God’s awesome grace poured out on them the way that I have and if I don’t take God up on His opportunities, then I have not done what He has called me to do.  That’s only one way that I can testify however. I think of how I can testify to strangers in the way that I live, testify to my husband and children in the way that I love, testify to my friends and neighbors in the way that I care for them. You get the point.

So what would your word be? I would love to hear them.

A song that K-Love has been playing lately (it’s the only station I listen to if you haven’t picked up on that yet) puts testify into perfect words. It’s by a group called Pocket Full of Rocks and the song is Alive.

I hope to hear back from you with your “one word”.

Many, many blessings!

Christmas Cheer | Tasty Tuesday

I know, I know. Its not Tuesday,but I totally forgot to post this week with all of the hectic preparations for Christmas going on around here! I happened to remember tonight as I was making some food for our Yeater Family Christmas tomorrow.

One of the things I was making was my Vanilla Fruit Salad. It is a fairly new recipe that I found to add to my recipe basket, but I had tried something very similar to it many years ago while visiting one of my good friends grandparents up in Michigan at their lake home. I couldn’t help but think of my good friends and their Grandma Hoopie, who is no longer with them. I only had the pleasure of meeting her a couple of times, but she was such a sweet lady and I will always remember my trip to their home when I make this recipe.

I thought this would be a good recipe to share with you all because it is a very easy and light side dish or even dessert that can be put together in no time. It’s a nice alternative to take with you for holiday get togethers that isn’t so heavy.

One last thing that I thought I would share with you all is an idea a found for homemade  luminaries using mason jars, which I happen to have in excess. I thought I would share some pictures of how my little project turned out (I think they look pretty good). They added the perfect homemade touch to our outdoor decorations and look so pretty lit up at night.

If I don’t get the chance to post again before Christmas, I wish you all a very blessed Christmas with your loved ones! Merry Christmas!

Many Blessings,

Emily