The Law

"As Christians we are not called to keep the law, we are called to fulfill the law. We fulfill the law by loving eachother, being available and becoming a living sacrifice." Romans 12:1
Bill Thrall (our pastor)

This is the message we talked about this last sunday at Church and James and I have been really learing and contemplating what this means and the reality of it in this life. Good stuff!

I wish I had a camera

We had one of the best days ever the other day and I forgot my camera! I was so bummed. Now that the weather is getting "better" here in Phoenix, Catie J and I have been walking to the park. Its about a 2 mile walk. We love it because we get time to talk and sing and look at bugs and all that fun stuff. Well the other day we were planning on walking up there and I looked outside and it was a little cloudy. So I checked the weather online and it said there was no chances of rain until that night. Well, Catie J and I get all ready to go on our walk and get on our way, it was beautiful! No sun, and a really nice breeze. So we are about 1/4 mile from the park and it starts sprinkling rain, that actually made the day feel even better. Not too much longer after that it starts pouring rain, so I book it to the park, because we were at that time closer to the park we could run for cover there. Normally when we go to the park I let Catie J get out of the stroller at the hill and we run the rest of the way together. Well, to Catherine, this day didnt make a difference. So I let her get out and she got the biggest kick out of the rain. This is coming from a little girl who usually doesnt see anything but sun. So we ran and played in the big field in the rain. It was so much fun. After we got tired and the rain died down, we played for a bit on the swings and the slide. All the sudden it started pouring again, so we hid for cover underneath one of the play structures and we pretended that we were in a castle and that we had to protect all of our people from the rain. While we were in lala land, James came to get us out of the rain. We went home and had coffee and hot chocolate and pretended that it was super cold outside and cuddled up and talked. It was really fun. Such and unexpected pleasure in our routine of life. Wish I would have had my camera so you could see us all soaked and my Catie J's laugh that is what keeps me going day to day! Have a fun day!

Catie J Cam

Oh My Catie J!!! She loves to take pictures.....Here are a few of the funny ones she has taken. She is actually getting pretty good at setting her animals up so she can get a shot of them. Here is a day with the Camera by Catie J.





here are her beautiful doggies

What movie is this???

Mr. Elephant...you can never have too many

her lovely map of the world


Mama Pooh is reading to baby Pooh

Just a random shot

again what movie is this??

her craft table

and daddy!!!!!

Hope you all enjoy! She did!

Breakfast Enchiladas???

You heard me, they are amazing!!! James and I have made an attempt at cutting flour and sugar out of our diet. At times we are great and other times its a very sorry attempt. Well I am trying now to conform our meals that we like into the "no flour, no sugar." We used to make green chile burritos for breakfast. With eggs, bacon, green chile and cheese wrapped in a big "Flour" tortilla. I was trying to figure out how to rework this recipe and little did I know I would come up with something amazing!! Heres the recipe!!!

15 corn tortillas
6-8 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 lb of bacon or sausage (whatever your liking is)
1 tomato chopped (optional)
1/4 cup of onion chopped (optional)
1/4 cup of bell pepper chopped (optional)
1/4-1/2 cup of green chiles (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tsp of pepper
2 cups of cheese
2 tbs of tabasco (optional)

First I start the bacon or sausage (whatever we have) then, while thats cooking I beat the eggs and add in the milk and veggies and spices. Then I get 5 corn tortillas and tear them up and cover the bottom of an 8x8 pan. Then I pour 1/3 of the egg mixture on top of the tortillas. Next I layer the bacon or sausage over the eggs and then I put a layer of cheese. I repeat this 2 more times. It goes into the oven on 300 for about 30 minutes and then on 350 for another 15 minutes. It should be to where you stick a fork in the middle and the eggs are cooked through. It serves about 4-6, depending on if men or women are eating. James usually eats about 1/2 of it. Its our new favorite breakfast and its super easy. Kind of like a breakfast burrito, omlet thingy. It reheats really well too.

Hope you enjoy!!!

JL

Project Detox

I love doing projects!!! I love the thrill of thinking out what I want to do and the creativity that comes along with it. I love trying to figure out how to get it exactly how i want it. Doing projects is almost like reading a book, there is a high at the beginning, I get excited to read, but i also get really excited to see how its gonna end. But when I am all done I am so sad that its over. Same with a project. I love thinking it out and excited to see the end result, but when all is said and done, i get very sad when its over. I think I may be a little weird, but its just who I am. So the project over the last couple of days......well its kind of a lot. I went into Catherines room and just got fed up! She has so much stuff. Too many toys, books, stuffed animals and waaaaaay to many clothes!!! So in an attempt to clear out her room, I went a little, (ok, a lot) bizerk!!! Project: Catherine's room. I went to target to get groceries and came back with a new bookshelf. I know, I shouldn't be adding stuff to her room but my idea is to minimize. So I put this bookshelf together, by myself, it only took me about 2 hours with the help of an amazing 3 year old. Well this is one of the shelves with the little 12"X12" squares. There were 9 squares 3 up and 3 down. So I had the insert boxes to go in them. I cleared out her dresser and got rid of a trash bag full of clothes and filled the 6 inserts with the rest of the clothes. We cleared her dresser out of her room and also her other bookshelf. I cleared out toy boxes and threw away stuff that is not used or useless anymore. After another 2 hours of cleaning, moving furniture and rearanging her room looked about 20x's bigger. Well, although i did love it, it just needed something more. So after a trip to the craft store today.....I came home with stuff to create labels for all of her clothing bins. I spent another 2 hours today painting, and hot glueing. I finally finished and I am so happy, yet very sad its done. I find myself sitting in her room looking at the shelf very pleased. I am so weird!!! Well, here are some pics.....now onto the next project!! Hope you all like it.

Oh My Girl

My Catie J says and does so many things to make me laugh so hard. Today we were about to eat lunch and I asked her what she wanted. She responds ever so serious and says "I would like to go to fred reckers house please." Of couse my response is "what the......fred recker?" Well after about 10 minutes of laughter on my part and frustration on her part we concluded that she wanted to go to Fudruckers for lunch. What a cutie pie.

She also came out singing the heck out of a song the other day. After the same phrase came out about 10 times I finally started listening to what she was saying. To the tune of the song and the words "All things are possible" My girl was singing, mind you, eyes closed, hands raised in the air, shouting and singing "I'll sneak the pasta bowl." over and over and over again! I couldnt stop laughing.

She is getting some of her grandma (jerilyns mom) in her. She is big on practical jokes and trying to be sneaky funny. So we were putting a puzzle together and I couldnt find 3 of the pieces anywhere. She starts giggling and then turns into full on laughter and I still cant find the pieces of the puzzle. She tells me to look in my pants. Lo and behold, 3 puzzle pieces. She had come behind me while doing the puzzle and put 3 pieces down the back of my pants.

One last funny one or just really cute one. I love rain and whenever it rains, which is not very often in Phoenix Arizona, I always wake up and say, "Thank you Jesus!!!" Well, We use James' tip money from starbucks to fill up our car with gas. Yesterday as we drove into sbucks to go get the tip money our low fuel light went on. I, exasperated and excited at the same time say, "Thank you Jesus!" And my Catherine says "But i dont see rain mommy?" Very cute! It is also nice to say it did rain last night and its a very cloudy day today! So "THANK YOU JESUS!!!" Have a fun day!

rejoice always?

Philippians 3:1
Finally, my brothers, Rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

Yesterday was purely Christ speaking to me at Church. We have been going through Philippians lately and our family has been gone so much of the series. We helped out 2nd service with Childrens ministries for the month of July and then we were out of town for 2 weeks and yesterday for the first time in a while, we were able to soak in the refreshing sound of worship and the soothing words that Jesus knew we needed to hear yesterday.

We went into yesterday burdend and heavy. Longing, weepy and tired. We have been in the last 2 weeks given some unexpected obstacles pertaining to work for James and needless to say anything with money is aweful stressful. We also walked into yesterday learning yet again for the 18th month in a row we are not expecting. The night before our cabinent with all of our baking supplies was attacked with bugs and our refrigerator door wasnt shut all the way. I went through a spell of wondering if this would ever end. Now our bigger obstacles made these little ones seem bigger than they were but nonetheless, when you are expecting to finally sit down after a long night already, and all of this needs to be dealt with...well, it was a little overwhelming.

So back to walking into Church yesterday.....so refreshing to be in a place that is full of acceptance, love, grace and mercy. When I complain about life, I dont hear "you need to not complain." I hear, "how can I help you?, or, When can we bring you a meal?" This amazing church is full of "no condemnation" and beautiful, messed up sinners that know they are fully saved by the amazing grace of our precious Jesus. We learned how hard it is to rejoice in Christ in all of our circumstance. When life throws everything at you and you cant imagine you can deal with anything else, he calls us to REJOICE. He has given us so many reasons to rejoice. He has promised us eternal life with HIM. He knows life is not easy and he know exactly what he is giving us, he is not suprised and he is not running away. He longs to stand right next to us as we struggle and limp through this life. He longs for us to understand and lean on his promises, even if we dont understand them. When life is good and right and everything feels amazing, he longs also to stand next to us and go through it with us. He wants to rejoice in our blessings with us too. He knows more than anyone, that this world is not where we belong. That the treasures of this earth will not last, but He will last and HE is our treasure that we need to be seeking daily and always. He is who we will be rejoicing in always when all the things of this earth pass away.

So do I still long for another chid? Of course I do. But i am learing to Rejoice in the knowledge that we have an amazing God that knows my future better than I do, and he is not against me, he is not punishing me. In fact, he is doing this out of pure love.
We are still learing to rejoice during the struggles and blessings of life in the one who created them all. On my worst day I am Christ in Jerilyn and if thats true, and I believe with all of me this is true, then I can do nothing but rejoice in the beautiful sacrifice of the gift of his son.