Mustard Seeds

Ash Wednesday 2012

Today is the first day of Lent...the first day of 40 on the journey to Easter.

Today was a hard day...one where exhaustion wears heavy on bones...the kind where piles of dirty clothes loom large and energy is low. (Can I give up doing laundry for Lent?) I've been thinking all about this first day of Lent. I put on my Easter music mix and began to pray and ponder what lies ahead in the next 40 days.

Easter is a big deal to me. It's my soapbox. I wasn't raised in a church that celebrated Lent. But in the last five years, it has become very significant to me. I'm not sure how it all started, but I think it had to do with teaching my first-born Anne about what Easter was really all about. I began to realize how little time was spent on Easter versus Christmas, for example.

I desired to be intentional about taking a season to celebrate Easter with my children. And, as with many areas in parenting, the Lord refined me in the process. He spoke to my heart about how I would honor him in the 40 days.

And so we step into Lent 2012. I don't plan to give up something specific for Lent. But as I was praying today, the Lord told me he wanted me to be nearer.

I look up "draw near." And this appears:

^"...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:22-23

Uhhhhh...yeah. Okay, that might be fitting for my Easter season.

I feel His calling to me to draw near, spend time with him. I've been doing my Bible Study and praying, but to be honest it's been half-hearted at best. Squeezed in, interrupted 5 times by kids, checked off the to-do list. I've not be drawing near.

And now he tells me to draw near...come close....spend time with me....listen.

This will mean I need to get up before the kids. It means I will have to go to bed and not watch episodes of Downton Abbey until 11:30 p.m. If I am to draw near, there are some things I will need to do or not do so that I can peel open my eyelids in the early a.m. And so there is a taking away of something, I suppose. A giving-up of sorts this Lent.

But I expect in the giving up and drawing near, there will be much gained.

------------------------------------------------

Get a free Easter/Lent devotional from Ann Voskamp.

I love this bowl-of-flour idea, also from Ann.

Other Mustard Seeds posts having to do with Lent:

• Ash Wednesday
• Merry Easter?
• My Favorite Lent Devotional

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of the "Mustard Seeds Facelift" giveaway is...Joy!

I will post a picture of the handmade gifts tomorrow (hopefully). Unfortunately, we have all been under the weather and the fabric is sitting on the counter waiting to be sewn into something lovely for Joy.

Joy: shoot me an email with your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail to you by the end of the week.

 

What are you doing next Thursday?

What are you doing next Thursday, March 1? I'd love to see you the Moms of Faith Morning Coffee at my church. I'll be sharing "Becoming a Woman of Influence in Your Child's Faith," emphasizing the upcoming season of Easter.

These morning coffee events happen on the first Thursday of each month. And, they are relaxed and so much fun. Come and learn about fun activities to do with your child during Easter....there will be some awesome giveaways (I'm just sayin.)

This event is free, but there is small fee for childcare. Sign up now right here.

 

The Next SEW LOVELY

Would you like to learn to sew? I would love to see you the next SEW LOVELY class. Go here for all the details.

The next class is Saturday, April 21.

Sew Lovely Recipes

I almost forgot to post about the SEW LOVELY food! We can't forget the food because it's a VERY important part of the day. Here are the recipes.

French Toast Casserole

1 loaf French bread, cut or torn into 1-inch chunks

1 pkg. frozen berries, do not thaw

1 pkg. cream cheese

12 eggs

2 cups milk

1/3 cup syrup

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Grease 9 x 11 inch casserole dish. Layer half of the bread chunks on the bottom. Disperse the cream cheese evenly for the next layer. (I use my hands and break up the cream cheese into little pieces.) Layer on frozen berries. Top with the rest of the bread. In a bowl, beat, eggs, milk, syrup and cinnamon. Pour evenly over dish. Refrigerate overnight. Bake covered on 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes uncovered. Serve with whip cream, syrup, powdered sugar, etc.

Cucumber Sandwiches

1 cocktail-style pumpernickel bread loaf, from the deli section of the store

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced

1 block cream cheese

2 tsp. fresh diced chives or 2 green onions finely diced

1 tsp. summer savory

1/2 tsp. fresh garlic

salt/pepper to taste

Mix all the seasonings with the cream cheese and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Spread cream cheese on slice of bread and top with a cucumber slice.

Taco Soup

1 small onion, diced

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

3 small cans diced green chillies

3 - 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 pkg. ranch dressing

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 can ranch beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 can yellow hominy, drained

 1 1/2 cup water

Brown meat and onions. Throw all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low all day (at least 4-5 hours). Serve with chips, grated cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro, sour cream, etc.

Mexican Caesar Salad

Romaine lettuce, thinly sliced

Cool Ranch Doritos

Mexican-style cotija cheese, I can only find this at Super Walmart

Cilantro Lime Dressing

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 4 tsp. minced cilantro
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. white wine vinegar
• 1tsp.sugar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. minced fresh onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne
• 1/8 tsp. cumin
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Whisk together all dressing ingredients. I used my immersion blender. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Right before serving: toss greens, cheese, dressing and crushed Doritos together.

Grape Salsa

2 cups coarsely chopped red seedless grapes

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup diced fresh or canned Anaheim chilies

2 Tbls. chopped cilantro

2 Tbls. balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. bottled hot pepper seasoning

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl, mix well. Let stand at least 1 hour before serving. Drain off excess liquid before serving. Makes about 2 cups.

The Best-Ever Homemade Pecan Pie

Come meet some new friends

I'd love for you to come and meet some new friends. Come and visit Beautifully Rooted. It's a new blog community created by Rachel and Heather.

It's a place where we can celebrate the journey that God had us on. There are four categories: Believe (faith journey), Create (creative inspiration), Nurture (parenting) and Nourish (home/food). There is a group of about 27 real women (like you) who will write posts for these categories. I'll be there too, contributing to the Nurture section.

I'm gonna quote Heather here cause she said it best:

"A site dedicated to helping you become deeply and Beautifully Rooted in Christ so that you can unlock your journey through Him....Whether it's through writing, singing, photography, art, knitting, crafting, baking, cooking, parenting; the list of ways to create just goes on and on. We think those God-given talents should be celebrated, supported and continually fueled..."

Posts change about three times a day so check it frequently. You can like it on Facebook, too, so you can see when the posts are updated.

Come, visit, enjoy. I am so thrilled to be a part of this special place and to get to know these other women. Won't you join me? Let's get rooted.

Mustard Seeds gets a facelift

It's been a long time coming....the blog has needed a facelift and now it's done. Don't we look pretty? Everything is still here, just a little more organized (check out the top navigation).

I'm still working a on few pages (coming soon a comprehensive family movie list) and some ideas for future but for now, I'm done.

Thanks to Holly for helping me with my social media buttons and to the hubs for when I got in CSS and HTML jams. Otherwise, I am patting myself on the back. Who knew that I could customize my own blog using code? I seriouly surprised myself, people. Now if you ask me in a month to do it again, I will have totally forgotten everthing. But for now I am feeling like a technical guru (not really).

Anyway, leave a comment and tell me what you like best....I think this calls for a givewaway....Comments close next Monday night. I'll draw a winner for something handmade, of course!

P.S. Check out the links on the sidebar. Now you can follow on Pinterest and Facebook.

Beth Mess #5

Beth continues to cause mischief.

I think I will make a cake on the kitchen floor.

Clean it up, girl.

Back in the saddle

I'm back in the saddle and into the trenches of motherhood. We're talking explosive diarrhea diapers and 3 a.m. walk-up calls from the fevered little boy down the hall. We've camped out the day on the couches, watching movies and trying to recoup.

For the most part, I am feeling the norma againl. The whole kidney thing seriously took a week out of my life. I was pretty much in bed from Thursday to Thursday. I'm still a little weak, but I've been able to care for the children today and rest with them. Hopefully, with one more night of good sleep, we'll all be better.

So far we have watched....

The Wizard of Oz

How to Train Your Dragon

In the Good Old Summertime

The Princess Bride

Plus all this couch time means a pretty new blog for you to look at.....coming soon!

SEW LOVELY was SEW wonderful

We had a fabulous time two Saturday ago at the SEW LOVELY class. Here's a few pics from Kristen (who graceously came and helped with food, sewing machine glitches and photography).

 

Everyone learned how to use their machines, thread, bobbin, button hole...

Tutorial on these sewing pattern tissue votives coming soon.

At the end of the day, all the lovely ladies could say...

From the Valentine's Day Archives

Wood you be my valentine?

Valentine's card bunting

Weekend Spent in Hospital

Spent the weekend in the hospital with a major kidney infection. No fun. Home recovering now. So thankful for your prayers during this recovery time. Thanks, mamas.

Introducing...Kit Kittredge

Introducing....Kit Kittredge. At least our family's version.

Anne has been doing a read-a-thon at her school all month so we read all 6 Kit Kittredge books last this month. Friday was the read-a-thon celebration at school so Anne dressed up.

It was super fun making her costume. She told me I was the "bestest mom ever." I will remind her of that when she is 13.

We found her dog Grace at Tuesday Morning's.

I dressed up as Kit's mother for the day and Jack went as Sterling. (Sorry no pics of that).

We also celebrated by watching the movie, which is fabulous if you haven't seen it.

SEW LOVELY vacancy!

There's been a cancellation for this Saturday's SEW LOVELY retreat! If you are interested, email me right away...janna@mustardseedswriting.com.

See full details of the class here.

 

American Girl Trunk

With the help of my dad, I transformed an old trunk (found in our side shed) into a beautiful clothing trunk for her American Girl doll.

 BEFORE and AFTER

She LOVED it. And I have to say that she has been switching out her doll's outfits more now that they are organized and she can see everything. It's been much easier for her to keep things together and put away in her room.