"Thank you, Lord for your blessings on me"

I know the graphics and the spelling are a little corny on this video, but it's the words of the song that I love. This song has been floating around in my head all morning, and I wanted to share it with you!!!

More of God's Provision

Yesterday afternoon, my mother-in-law called and told us she had a "trunk full" of things from a couple of sweet ladies at her church (which we used to attend) for our children for school. I thought I would share with you what these ladies just gave to us.

Now, I didn't tell anybody that we were completely out of pencils, and had no paper yet, and no glue, and that our crayons were all gone. But the Lord knew. He knows the needs we have. He laid it on the hearts of these ladies to think of our family and to collect all these things that will be immensely useful to us this school year, as well as to encourage my heart with such an abundant supply that I won't have to go shopping for all this now. He knew that this very weekend we would be setting up our schoolroom and that the timing was just perfect for all this to arrive! Thank you, Lord for knowing our needs and always supplying what we need!!! How has the Lord supplied your needs lately, even those you didn't even mention to Him?? Have you thanked Him?

Saturday's Super Mom

I really have enjoyed reading this week's "Super Mom's" blog and website. She is very industrious and organized, and has tons of tips and ideas that are fun to read through. In fact, I will be referring back to her very soon in an upcoming post about a project I've been working on that has been so very helpful for me. I think it will be encouraging and inspiring for you too. Read about this interesting lady here and here.

God's Provision

Last week I was praying for some specific needs our family has. There are several things that were on the "urgent" list, and the bank account was empty. I spoke at length about how we live on one income here, and here I was again praying in some needs. I wanted to share a picture with you of what the Lord sent our way. In the last 2 weeks or less, a couple friends just gave us
all this school related stuff. Honestly, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. In reality, it happens several times a year!! I wasn't praying specifically for school items of this sort, but these were "bonus" items that came in. I thought you might be encouraged to pray for your needs too!!!

Saturday's Super Mom

I've never met this lady either. Don't think I'd recognize her if she was in line next to me at Wal-Mart. But I happened unto her blog one day a while back, and I always come away encouraged, challenged, or inspired. I think you will too. Meet Kim Brenneman here.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe

Oven Fried Chicken

Oh, and it's not just good....it's finger-lickin' good!! I have to be honest again though, and tell you that even though I grew up with this recipe, it is NOT an old family recipe passed down through the generations. It's not even a recipe handed to me from a friend. You might even have this recipe in your own kitchen, and never even knew it!! It comes from the pages of my handy-dandy "Betty Crocker Cookbook"!! But boy, can Betty cook!!!



1/4 c. butter or margarine

1/2 c. all-purpose flour (or more if you have more chicken)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 1/2 to 3 lb. broiler-fryer chicken, cut-up

(I used about a 4 1/2 lb. package of chicken drumsticks)



Pre-heat oven to 425'. Place the margarine in a 9 x 13" pan and heat in oven until melted. I lined my pans with tin foil (shiny side UP) to cut-down on the extra scrubbing afterward.






Mix flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in a bowl. I actually skipped the salt, pepper, and paprika here and used lemon-pepper seasoning instead. Can you say YUMMY?!







Coat chicken with flour mixture.






Place coated chicken into pans, skin sides down. Of course, if you're using drumsticks, as I was, it's always going to be skin side down!!!







Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Turn chicken to other side, and bake until thickest pieces are done, usually about 30 minutes longer. When using only the drumsticks, it doesn't take a full 30 minutes after you've turned them over. My oven took about another 20 minutes.
This isn't super crispy unless you let it stay in the oven a little longer, but it's crisp enough for us and so delicious.








We love this the next day for lunch either warmed up or cold from the frig!!
So wonderful served with garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, some green beans, and strawberry shortcake for dessert!!!! MMMMMM.......
(And did I mention that the crunchy stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan is a taste sensation too?)

More summer fun on a shoestring!!

The Village Green

Apparently this little fun spot is well-known in our area (though it just opened up in the last year or so), but we just found it this summer.

We ventured out here several times this summer, and I have mixed reviews about it. It's really hard to entertain an entire family full of mixed ages. In my family, either the older ones are bored while the younger ones are having a ball, or the older ones are thrilled and the younger ones are scared out of their minds!
My older ones tried really hard to be bored last night, though the water really pulled them in eventually. My 3 year old isn't as enamored with the water as he is with climbing and running around the entire area, hence, giving me a heart-attack when he ventures out of our sight! This place is really cool because it has bathroom facilities right there that are usually nicely maintained, they offer a "guest towel service" so if you're shopping and happen to have a hankerin' for jumping in the water you'll have a way to dry off, plus it's surrounded by some really fun shopping!
The only kicker is that everything is pretty expensive. There's this really awesome Italian ice cream shop nearby, but it's so expensive we'd have to take out a small bank loan to feed all our children. The macaroni and cheese shop is the same way!! So we just take our snacks and drinks with us. It's a really fun family atmosphere and I love visiting it....now if I could just get all my children to feel the same way!!

Here we are bored and posing because Mom made us.



....and now we're silly.



Okay, so this is fun after all!!



Loving the water!!



Enjoying water spraying water up his hind-end......





Though much preferring to climb on light poles....




.....all around the area!!