Making Time For the Important Things!

I was reading a blog that I read a lot the other day. She had a story on there that really hit me and I wanted to share it with all my readers. She was talking about her pastor's sermon on Sunday. He got up there and in the middle of a sentence, this guy come in who was trying to run in a race and he had a heavy backpack on. The pastor asked him if he could help him and the runner told him that he was trying to run a race but he could not run because he was too weighed down. The pastor asked him what he was carrying and the man started getting stuff out of his backpack. He took out a cell phone, a laptop computer, several e-mails, a tv guide, and many more things. The pastor said I can see why you were so weighed down and could not get direction. This pastor told his congregation that a lot of the worldly things weigh us down and make it harder for us to get to where we are going. We spend so much time on worldly things that we forget about why we are really here and how important it is to spend time doing the "important" things. For example, prayer. We need to take the time in our lives to have personal prayer. That is our special time to talk to our father in heaven and ask for direction. How many of us say to ourselves, I don't have time for that? How are we going to find our way if we don't make time for it? Also, studying our scriptures is our time for our heavenly father to talk to us. He can help us find the direction that we need to go in our lives, but how many of us say we don't have time to study our scriptures, were just too busy. What are we so busy with that we don't take the time to do this? Kids, our house, that's some of my excuses. But how many of us take the time to watch a certain tv show each week? Play a computer game? Read our e-mail? Update our blog? Surf the web? Take a lot of calls on our cell phone? The list could go on forever. We seem to make time for those things we want to do, why not make time to do those things we need to do to find our way in this world? I added a lot of my own thoughts here, but the girl who this story came from said her pastor gave each of them a challenge. He wanted them to give up one of those worldly things that was preventing them from doing the things they needed to do for one week to see how they felt. Personally, I think this is a GREAT idea. I know that when I make time for those important things in my life, and I haven't mentioned this but that includes spending time with family too, I feel so much better. So, starting next Monday, I am going to give up the computer for a week. So, what am I going to do instead? I am going to spend more time playing with my kids and I am going to spend more time talking to my father in heaven (prayer) and listening to my heavenly father talk to me (reading scriptures). My kids and I are also going to go and visit my parents for the week. It will be nice to take a break from blogging and the computer. After the week, I will come back and report on what else I got done and my feelings during that time. Do you want to join me?
Is there something you could give up for one week?

Neil, My Baby!

I have not posted much about my kids lately on here, so today I am going to focus on Neil, my baby. He is really growing up! I can't keep him in the playpen at all to go do something, even take a shower because he climbs right out! I do not think it will be long before he climbs out of his crib. That makes me sad because he is only 17 months. I hope he would stay in his crib until he was at least 2! He also does not want to keep his clothes on. He takes his clothes off and puts his pants on his head. He is also sucking his tongue when he is tired, just like his brother Nathan did. He really is quit the character!

4 day weeks?!?

School is going to start back soon. I can't find the date that it starts back though. I looked on the county and school websites but I find nothing? I guess this would have been a good time to get the local newspaper. Anyways, I have heard rumors, which I think now are true that our school system is going to 4 day weeks. This is due to the rising gas prices. The kids will go 1 1/2 hours extra each of the four days. For me this is really not a big problem, as I am a stay at home mom, but if I was not, this would mean more money out of our budget to provide childcare for the day that the school system is "saving" money. A lot of schools around here seem to be going the 4 day week. As a former working mom, I see there side, but as a stay at home mom, I see this as time to spend with my ds doing different things for fun and learning. Hmmm. I am undecided on how I feel about it. Are any of your all's schools going to 4 day weeks?

Where have I been?

I got to do better at keeping up this blog! Summer has just been so busy, but I promise I will be back! We were going to the library Mon-Weds and last week was the last week of that so I am back and will update this blog soon! I think I have put a lot of energy into my weight loss blog too because that is a HUGE focus in my life right now! Come visit me over there if you want.

My budding artist!

My budding artist, Katie Sue is 3 and sometimes she really surprises me at how well she can draw! Her new thing is drawing people! These are so funny because they really look like the person. I have laughed and laughed over these. I am so glad I got some pictures of her work because she usually does her drawings on her magna doodle!
Here is some of her work!

Her Self portrait:

Her Mommy (me): lol

Her twin Brother, Nathan:

Her daddy:

Her brother, Nicholas

Her brother, Neil:

Tasty Thursday Mexican Edition

Easy Enchiladas

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast or very lean ground beef (can also use shrimp or crab)

1 can FF cream of chicken soup

2 cans Old El Paso red enchilada sauce, divided

1/2 c. RF shredded Mexican Weight Watchers Shredded Cheese

6 FF flour tortillas

If using chicken, cook and shred. If using beef, brown and drain. Preheat oven to 350. Reserve 1 c. enchilada sauce; set aside. Reserve ¼ c. cheese; set aside. Mix chicken or beef with all remaining ingredients except tortillas. Spray a 9””x13”” baking dish with Pam. Spoon enchilada sauce in bottom of baking dish, just enough to cover bottom, saving rest to top enchiladas while baking. Place mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place enchiladas, seam side down, in dish. Cover with reserved enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake 25-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
6 servings at 6 Weight Watcher Points each. (The points reflect that I used lean beef in this recipe. You will need to check your ingredients because you could get different points on this one)

See more Tasty Thursday recipes here.