Easter Week Devotionals

If you're looking for an Easter Week Devotional go and check out Kelly Stamps' Dad's blog.  He's a pastor at First Baptist Church in Flippin, Arkansas and he's doing a daily devotional this week.  Kelly is also reflecting each day this week on who God is to her each day.  Enjoy!

Palm Sunday and other Misc Items

This morning Jason and I enjoyed being back in both big church and Sunday school.  I've been having pretty severe back pain that has kept me from sitting down long enough to tolerate both so we've been trying to make one or the other when we haven't been out of town.  It was nice this morning to have the pain gone so that we could attend both the service and Sunday School.  Let me tell you, physical therapy is a miracle worker!  If you live in my area and are pregnant and having pain let me know because I can recommend a WONDERFUL PT who specializes in pregnancy care who has totally gotten the pain removed.

So now I'm taking a quick break from packing to post since I haven't blogged in a while.  I'm headed down to Tuscaloosa this afternoon to spend one last day in the office before Charlotte arrives.  The sweet people in my office are also throwing Charlotte her first shower tomorrow so I'm super excited about that!  I'm also excited because I'm getting to eat dinner with my friend Sarah tonight who I haven't gotten to see in ages!  Yea!  I'm also hoping Mom and I will get to watch Twilight tonight since Kelly was so sweet to let me borrow it.  It should be a fun 24 hours!

On the baby front Charlotte is still kicking up a storm and I feel like she might finally have moved out of breech position which makes me feel a lot better.  I've been feeling her little foot sticking out right under my ribs recently so that's been fun.  I can't believe we're down to 54 days!  It's amazing how quickly time has flown!  I'm trying to get everything prepared now so that I can relax during the month of May.  So a few requests please.  First, I'm trying to freeze meals so that our freezer is pretty stocked by the time Charlotte arrives.  If you have any good "freezable" meals can you send them my way?? I have a list of items that I want to make but it would probably be good to include some items that aren't in our regular food rotation.  Second, if you live near me, do you have someone good who cleans your house that I might could hire once to clean our house before Charlotte gets here??  I've been trying to steer clear of the cleaners with heavy fumes since I've been pregnant and, while Jason is a champ and has been helping so much, I'd really like to get the house deep cleaned before Charlotte gets here.  I can't seem to find anyone who knows of someone who would come and just clean the house once so if you know of someone could you please send me their information?!?!  I would rather have someone that someone I know has used so that makes things a little more difficult.

Ok, I've got to go get on the road.  I'll try and post pictures of the shower from work as soon as I can get back home and upload them!  Happy Easter Week!

Recipe Wednesday - Creamy Baked Fettuccine with Asiago and Thyme

Kelly gave me  this recipe and I made it as one of the three pasta's that I offered at my friend Leigh's shower a few weeks ago and it was great! It's pretty simple to make and the thing that I loved (and was looking for) was a white sauce pasta that baked so that I could have it in the oven with the guests arrived and just pull it out and put it on the table ready to eat.  This recipe was perfect for that.  It rounded out my offerings as a meat-less pasta to go with Baked Ziti and Spicy Chicken Pasta (coming up next week).

Creamy Baked Fettuccine with Asiago and Thyme

1 lb Fettuccine Pasta

2 cups Grated Asiago Cheese, plus 1/4 cup

2 8 oz containers Creme Fraiche (we used Sour Cream since we couldn't find this)

1 cup Grated Parmesan

1 1/2 T fresh Chopped Thyme Leaves

1/2 t Salt

1/2 t Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.

In a large bowl combine the 2 cups Asiago cheese, creme fraiche, Parmesan, thyme, salt, pepper, cooked pasta, and pasta cooking liquid. Gently toss until all the ingredients are combined and the pasta is coated. Place the pasta in a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup asiago cheese. Bake until golden on top, about 25 minutes. Let sit for at least 5 minutes and serve.

Laminin

Have you ever heard about something that you can't quite believe but you think, "If that's true, it's amazing!"??  That's how I felt the first time I read about laminin on Jennie Marie's blog.  I remember reading that post and being awe-struck at the awesome planning of our Creator.  

Being the fairly naive person that I am I simply took what was in Jennie Marie's post as fact.  I assumed that someone couldn't possibly make that up.  And, really, they had a handy diagram and everything, who would go to so much trouble?!?!  But when I mentioned it to some other people they felt like I had gotten my leg pulled.  So I went and googled and looked it up on Wikipedia and as far as I can tell, it's a true phenomenon.  The most basic part of our body is really shaped in the form of a cross.  

Today, Kelly (Harper's Mom) posted a video by Louie Giglio who is an awesome speaker that I've heard before.  Please go check out the video (it also comes up if you just google "laminin") and spend some time thinking about the greatness of God.  That he created our innermost parts to direct us to the cross.

Easter is only a few weeks away and the weeks leading up to Easter are always kind of difficult for me.  Thinking about all that Christ went through for me and for you is hard.  My high school Sunday School teacher always did a lesson on the medical side of the Crucifixion before Easter and the lesson continues to stay with me.  It was no easy thing that Christ did; it wasn't an easy death.  Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado is another favorite Easter read of mine to put me in the right state of mind for this celebration.  The celebration of Christ paying the price for me.  The celebration of redemption and everlasting love.  The celebration of Christ's overtaking of death and sin.  

I hope that as Easter approaches you'll look at some of these articles and sites and books and think about how much God loves you.  Think about what the cross accomplished for you and for me.  And think about the might and power of a God who came to this earth as a baby but loves us so much that he put signs pointing us to the cross at the most basic layer of our bodies.  How Great is Our God!

Lucky

I realized tonight that I never wrote my post about our dog Lucky who passed away a few weeks ago.  I wanted to share some of my memories and pictures of Lucky with you.  We were very blessed as a family to have Lucky in our lives.

Lucky chose us in the fall of 1998.  I had recently been in a bad car accident and had broken both of my arms.  Lucky showed up on our porch and wouldn't leave for a week.  Mom and Dad contacted the vets and the pound and put up signs trying to find the owner but no one claimed her.  So, as a 14 year old girl with at least splints still on her arms if not more, I begged my Daddy to keep her.  And what Dad in his right mind could turn down a daughter in that situation?!?! Definitely not my sweet Dad!  :)

Lucky and I not long after she found us

We determined that Lucky was abandoned at the wildlife refuge that was sort of close to our house.  At that time my brother was playing pick up baseball games in the lot next to our house a lot so there were always people outside.  I'm sure Lucky just found people who were nice to her and decided to adopt us.  I'm so glad that she did!  

Lucky at Christmas in 2007

I don't remember much about her interaction with Peanut, our Yorkshire Terrier that we got when I was in fourth grade, but there was definitely no roughhousing like Luca and Lucky did.  But there was also no fighting.  Lucky was such a good dog!  She learned to sit very quickly and slept out on the back porch at night.  She was small at that point and would crawl on my lap and lick me.  She always loved to be rubbed!

Over the years we moved houses and learned new things about Lucky.  Like that she wouldn't go up steps inside.  She had no problems with porch steps outside but she wouldn't go upstairs inside the house.  I think she was so grateful that Mom and Dad put the elevator in when they first moved in the house instead of waiting so that she got to be included when everyone was upstairs!

One morning after I had already gone to college Mom opened the back door to find a "surprise" that Lucky had left for her.  Due to the upcoming Easter season I won't reveal what kind of animal she had left for Mom, but let's just say that Lucky was protecting her yard from those evil animals that hop!  As I've heard the story Mom yelled and Dad and Charlie came and laughed, but I wasn't there so I'm not exactly sure what happened.  :)

Lucky loved taking walks even though when we first got her she wouldn't go more than two steps on a leash.  Eventually she grew to love the time that she spent on walks and got so well trained that she was pretty good without a leash.  I say pretty good because during one family gathering over the past few years she got out on the golf course and Jason and Sam had to go chase her down.  She was enjoying herself on the course and wouldn't come back and so Jason had to pick her up and carry her like a baby in his arms all the way back to the house!  Dad would let her out the front at night and she also liked to chase deer if there were any anywhere near the house!

Lucky last summer with Mom, Abby, and Caroline

Lucky and Luca were a sight to be seen.  Lucky was about 8 years older than Luca and Luca is a lot more of a high energy dog.  Every time Luca would see Lucky he would start jumping on her and licking her.  They would end up dancing around in circles with each other.  I think Lucky was trying to find an escape but Luca was enjoying every minute of it.  After Lucky died Jason told me that Lucky was probably in heaven telling Peanut about this crazy new dog that the family has.  I think that's probably true!

Lucky meant a lot to our family and she is very much missed.  We were blessed to have her with our family for so long.  She was energetic and playful and loved to run around and play with you.  But she also loved to just sit at your feet and have you rub her.  Dogs do become a part of your family and it's hard when they leave.  But I think, at least to me, Lucky reminded me that there's always good that comes after a storm and that all you need is a loving family to keep you happy.

Welcome to Twitter!

So I finally jumped on the Twitter bandwagon.  Ok, so far, I have only posted one tweet, but that's a start!  I was confused for a while and thought you could only tweet from your cell phone but turns out you can tweet from the web also so that's nice.  And for those of you who are in the same position I was in, oh say 20 minutes ago, a "tweet" is just a status update.  You can see my tweet's or follow me on twitter by clicking "Follow Me on Twitter" down on my sidebar under my followers.  I'm not sure how often I'll tweet -- I haven't been a huge status update person on facebook -- but I bet it comes in more handy when Charlotte gets here or to update people on the status of Charlotte's arrival.  As if you don't get enough information about me just from my blog! :)

This week went surprisingly fast seeing how it was the first week back from vacation.  I am super glad that it's the weekend though!  Jason's going out with some friends from high school tonight for dinner so I'm on my own.  So what am I planning?? Shopping for Charlotte and for groceries!  Not too exciting but maybe I'll find some fun stuff.  My parents got me an embroidery machine for my birthday so I'm so excited to go to the embroidery store tomorrow and buy thread and all the other "stuff" that I need to start monogramming.  Hopefully I'll have some things to show you soon!

Please continue to keep Stellan and MckMama in your prayers.  Stellan is still in a continuous high heart rate.  Thankfully his body is still surviving but they really need to come up with a way to get his heart back into a normal sinus rhythm soon.  Please pray for healing for Stellan, continued strength for MckMama and her husband, and understanding and comforting for their other children.  MckMama is also on twitter and updates that far more frequently then her blog since the hospital where Stellan is blocks Blogger.  You can see her most recent tweet's on the sidebar of her blog or you can follow her on Twitter.

I'm off to start some shopping!  Have a great weekend!

Recipe Wednesday - Creamy Rotini and Salmon

Sorry for the late post! :)  It's been that kind of day! Please remember to be praying for Stellan and his family.  He needs all the prayers that he can get!

Here's another great recipe from Family Circle.  This one is pretty good for you to with the salmon, enriched pasta, and fat-free half and half!  It's pretty easy too!

Creamy Rotini and Salmon

Makes 6 servings

1/2 pound Salmon Fillet (1 piece)

1 box (14 1/2 oz) omega-3-enriched Rotini Pasta

2 c Fat-Free Half and Half

2 t Cornstarch

1/4 t Salt

1/4 t Ground Nutmeg

1/8 t Cayenne Pepper

1 box (10 oz) Frozen Peas, thawed

1/2 c Parmesan Cheese

1/3 c Toasted Walmuns, coarsley chopped

1. Heat oven to 450 degress.  Coat a small baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Add salmon to pan and bake at 450 for 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.  Keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, cook pasta following package directions.  Drain and return to pot.

3. While pasta is cooking, whisk together half-and-half, cornstarch, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne.  Place in medium-size suacepan and bring to a boil.  Simmer on low for 1 minute until sauce thickens.

4. Add peas and simmer for an additional minute, until peas are heated through.  Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 c of the Parmesan cheese

5. Stir sauce into drained pasta.  

6. Remove skin from salmon and discard.  Flake salmon into bite-size pieces and gently stir into pasta.  Top with remaining 1/4 c cheese and the nuts and serve.