January 5 - God's Blessings

Today was a fun/lazy day at our house!  Caden went back to school today (and had a blast), Bates slept ALL morning and ALL afternoon, so it was just me and Calder having some special time together!  We put dinner in the crock pot this morning and tried a new recipe that was wonderful, cleaned the bathrooms and played puzzles!  He LOVES having the one on one attention and I love that I have the opportunity to give that to each of the boys at different times throughout the week!  We picked Caden up from school then went to Sam's.  They had LOTS of samples and I felt silly getting so many samples for the boys!  One of their favorite things about Sam's is the samples so they had a blast!  I also love that they have the buggies that hold more than one child in the front so it's easy to push all three through the store!  We stopped and grabbed a chocolate milkshake on the way out and came home for naps!  I love taking them shopping with me and don't understand why so many people complain about taking their kids places with them.  It is much easier to run in alone but I rarely go anywhere alone and have just taught them how to act when we're in a store.  I like them to be able to get out and experience life!

One of the things I'm really trying to focus on this year and seeing the blessings of God in our family.  I know that blessings don't always look the way we picture them. Sometimes they are better than we could ever imagine and sometimes they are painful but God loves us enough to bless us in ways we could never imagine on our own.  I think in the day to day business of life we tend to overlook some of the greatest gifts God gives us!

Our family received a huge financial blessing through another family this past year and to be honest, I had a hard time accepting it.  I do not like to allow people to do things for me but I learned through this that God often sends people to meet needs and it is just as important to receive as it is to give.  I have always been a giver but had a very hard time receiving anything...even birthday and Christmas gifts.  With Bates having lots of medical tests for his stomach issues, several surgeries for me and the boys, ER visits, somehow our insurance wasn't as great the year Bates was born as usual so our hospital bill was high, etc... our medical bills had piled up.  While I was paying a little a month on most of them and knew they would eventually all be paid off, God sent someone to us that wanted to take care of them.  I cried!  What a HUGE blessing and weight lifted off to have your debt taken from you!  Although it was tough, this family told us that they felt God had led them to do this for a few people and we were one of them!  I'm thankful that God allowed them to be obedient and that we were blessed by it!  I pray HUGE blessings over their family each day!

Today, we received another blessing.  I am just amazed that when you stop and take the time to sit quietly and listen and see what God is doing, it's overwhelming to see how much he LOVES us and takes care of us!  Even the tiniest little things matter to Him!  I would encourage you  to stop this week, look around and see if you can see the blessings God has placed in your life that day/week!  I think you will be amazed at how much He loves you!

This is what it looked like when we dumped it all in the crock pot before it was ready!

Recipe from tonight:
Chicken and Dumplings:
Feel free to substitute any ingredients you wish, and increase/decrease amounts for the size of your family!
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of butter
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of celery soup
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
Chicken boullion seasoning or cube (I did not use this)
salt & pepper
*As for the dumplings... You can make your own dumplings, or use 1 (10 oz) package of refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces :)  (we tried with the biscuits and I prefer my regular recipe for dumplings!)
1. EXCLUDING THE BISCUITS put all ingredients in...
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.
3. About an hour (give or take) before serving, remove chicken and pull into pieces and return to the soup mixture, place the torn biscuit dough in and cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.