FISH!! Tilapia Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

4 pieces of tilapia

2.5 tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

pepper to taste

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2.Rinse tilapia under cool water, and pat dry with paper towels.
3.Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle butter on top. Sprinkle with garlic, parsley, and pepper.
4.Bake in preheated oven until the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork, about 30 minutes.

10 people I have met who inspire me the most (and why)

10 people I have met who inspire me the most (and why) IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

1) Pastor Tim:
We came from churches where the pastor did everything and went out to eat with everyone, and went to visit everyone. Church and God were melded in to the same priority. Not with pastor Tim. He really showed us, just through his life, where our priorities should be. God, Family, Church. If your family is not strong, your ministry wont be either. Plus he inspires me to be a better person each week through his messages at church. I went from knowing about Jesus to having a relationship with Him since coming to New Hope Church.

2) Alex:
Sweet little boy from my church that just went to Heaven after battling brain cancer. I did not really know him, but from the one time I met him and hearing everyone stories about him.....wow! He loved Jesus with all of his heart, and he always had a smile on his face. He never complained even in the midst of cancer. Alex inspires me to stop complaining!! Also to just love Jesus more and more everyday and to let more people know it!

3)My dad:
In the midst of any trial or tribulation my sweet daddio always brings out the positive.
When any bad situation arises he will seek out any shred of good that he can find and he will cling to that. He is and always has been an amazing dad and friend to me. He is not judgemental, he is honest and loving and fun and funny. He inspires me to be a more positive person.


4)Matthew:
He is my best friend, amazing husband and father. Matthew inspires me to work hard for the things I love. He works and works and works to take care of me and the kids, he works so that I can be at home and raise our children and not have to have daycare raise them. He also inspires me to learn new things. When he wants to do something, he does it, and if he doesnt know how, he learns how. Whatever he does, he does it well, or he doesnt do it at all.

5)
Glenda:
She is not only an amazing singer, but she is such a sweet sweet person. She inspires me to be a better friend, to always give a listening ear and to always bring everything to Jesus, to always look to the good. She inspires me to be a better person.

6)
Lauren:
She followed God's calling and is in Cambodia for a year. She packed up and left all that is familiar and safe and went to another country to do God's work and to help people in so many cool ways. She inspires me to listen to God and to go and do anything He says, no matter how big or scary or far or whatever it may be.

7)
George:
My father in law. Died of pancreatic cancer. He inspires me....... I learned that even in death you can glorify God, you can be humble, and you can teach people so many things. He inspires me to be strong, not only physically, but also to be strong in the Lord.

8)
My Kids:
They inspire me to be a better me. They inspire me to be a better person, mom and friend. They inspire me to always try harder and do better for their sake if not my own. Plus they make me laugh everyday

9)
My Grandma:
Inspires me to be a better wife. She always tells me to get off the phone and get the dishes done, or get that dinner made for hubby before he gets home. She always reminds me to take better care of the things that are important to me.

10)
Grandpa Bud:
His death brought me to Jesus......which led to an 8 year journey of learning what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. I dont know where i would be right now if it werent for my grandpa. He inspires me to tell people about Jesus. To share my faith more. To include Jesus in everyday conversations. and to always give all glory to God.

Write A Letter to Someone You Miss

Todays writing prompt is a toughy.

I think the person I miss the most is the person I never got to meet in life.

So, here it goes.




Dear Ryley,

How is Heaven? I think of you often. I know Heaven has got to be the most amazing place to be. I miss you.
I just wonder some days, would you have had my brown hair. Would you have been the one child that would have looked like me? :-) I can not wait until I get to see you for the first time in Heaven.
I will never forget the day we lost you.
My whole world fell apart.
Just know that we wanted you so badly. And we grieved so bad when we lost you.
I never thought we could thank God in a tragic loss, but we did. God was good to us, He comforted us and gave us such peace. I am thankful that I can rest in the fact that you are with Jesus. You never have to go through any pain or heartbreak in this world. You got to be born right in to Heaven.
But I do miss you.
I will never get the picture of your tiny little body out of my head. It is forever engrained. You were so perfect, but I know you are even more perfect now.
I Love You Ryley Jacob and I think of you every time I see a butterfly. I have never told anyone that. That is a thing I kept between me and God, but I am just so thankful for it.
Tell grandpa Todd Hi for us. I am a little bit jealous that he got to meet you before we did :-)
-Mommy

10 most important things in any relationship

Ok, so I found this website that gives you writing prompts, and this is one of them. How fun!

1) God - I think without God being #1 any relationship will be struggling.

2) Trust - Trust is vital in any relationship. You have to trust your significant other or friend or co-worker. Without a level of trust you will never really feel at ease and get to be the real you.

3) Humor - Ok This one is high up for me because if I dont laugh with someone, something is wrong. I love to laugh and be silly and have fun and I think that is so important for everyone to do. It makes life better. It makes life fun and it feels good.

4) Honesty - sometimes honesty hurts, but after some time you will be thankful for it. Honesty is so very important, but the key is to speak the truth in LOVE and so many people just speak the truth without regard to anyones feelings.

5) Communication - HUGE!!! Communication is vital. Ask for what you need and want and talk about what is upsetting you or what you dont like, talk and talk some more.

6) Respect - Basically boils down to treating others how you want to be treated. Right??? Remember your momma teaching you that, then somehow we seem to disregard that as we get to be adults.

7) Humility - You really dont have to win every argument. Seriously. Even if you are 100% sure you are right...... just shut up and drop it and move on sometimes....ya know. Is it worth fighting about who forgot to do this or who said that.

8) Patience - Take a deep breath and be patient. There will be things that annoy you, but those are the things that make the other person "them", so get used to it and get over it. Dont try to make them change who they are so you wont be annoyed. Stop, slow down and be patient. It is so satisfying to slow down sometimes and not be in such a rush with life. Being patient with people is very satisfying.

9) Alone Time- I also think it is important to have time alone, for some solitude.....some reflecting and some God time. You have to be content in your own skin to be a great person in any relationship.

10) Have a hobby - I think everyone needs a hobby. Period! :-D

Blessings

Ok.
Sooooooo.

When something good happens in your life do you say Thank You Jesus, or do you say "That was a coinsidence."

I know I would much rather thank God for the blessing than think it just happened by random chance.

I would much rather soak up the fact that the God that created the universe cares about me so much, he will even take the time to bless me with some little trivial thing in my life, knowing that God cares about the details of my life is pretty amazing.

I will take that over random chance anyday!

Whine Whine Whine

So I dont know if I am a whiner or not. I like to think not but who knows....

Lately though I have really quit whining.

I look at my "problems" and see people out there with HUGE life problems that have a right to whine. My migraine or sinus infection or whatever seems so trivial when I look at others lives and see that I am blessed and healthy and loved.

When you get stuck in a negative rut, you bring people down with you, so next time you want to whine, stop and try to remember that there are people out there in very bad situations, and they are probably not whining!

I know I say it all the time but in my life I have a lot of negative whiners, while I love them to pieces it irritates me beyond belief.

Suck it up and take your whines to God! He has the patience for you, I dont, and guess what....... if He doesnt fix what you are whining about He will change your heart. Either way your negativeness will stop! Life gets better!

FML

Ok, so if you dont know what FML stands for, then google it.

I get so sick of people saying FML.

It is basically saying "There is nothing in my life for me to be thankful for"


When you are having a bad day, its ok to say "I am having a bad day" but "FML" really....? Your whole life hmmm?


Just try to be positive. Happieness is a choice. You also choose to be stressed and mad and irritated and everything else. You choose to be happy. You choose to over-react........ In everything you have a choice!

This makes it all worth it.

I LOVE capturing people baptisms and giving them pictures of the special moment.

But

Situations like this move me to tears

Alex.

Little sweet boy with brain cancer.

They let me know ahead of time that he had cancer, and this was an extra special kid.

His smile lit up the "room" and he had joy radiating from him.

He had Jesus radiating from him.

Reading all the comments about him on facebook gave me a little peak in to the great faith and love for Jesus that he had.

He inspired me to be better, do better and love better.

I always do the baptism pictures, and sneak off and head home. I like to get in and out because I dont like recognition of any kind. I am wierd like that i guess.

Well Alex's mom sent me a facebook note that touched my heart and made me happy to have the chance to do these baptism photos.

"I just want to tell you thank you so much for the photos you took of Alex,
You hold a special place in my heart, thank you for the prayers. "

Those kind of comments remind me that what I do is valued and even though I dont get a "thank you" from people, I know the pictures are treasured.

Matthew bought me a new car :-)


So my old car broke down, we bought it for $2,000 and it turns out it needed $1,000 worth of work on it.

I thought we were getting it fixed.

Well Mr. Sneaky decided that he was going to go down and get me a new car, went and test drive it and everything, then we went down and i thought i was getting my old car back and the guy walks me in front of this brand new car and says its mine. I didnt believe him at first then cried then was in shock, Matthew drove by with a huge smile on his face. He totally got me.

Got what I needed.

Ok, so I figure with Trevor and his school, that no news is good news. But with report cards coming out next week I wanted to be sure Trevor is doing good and see if there is anything I need to wkr on with him more at home.

Well we got a GREAT email back from Mr. Hall. I had to read it 10 times because it makes me so happy to hear how well he is doing!

Here is what he said:

Trevor is doing very well in class. As of today, he has an overall yearly average of a 99. For the 1st Nine Weeks' he made a 100 in both Language Arts and Math. In terms of weekly grades, he has a yearly average of 100 in Math and a 96 in Language Arts. His average came down a little because he made a 90 on Week 14 Assessment (Identifying objects that began with initial short /a/ vowel sound such as apple) and an 80 on Week 15 Assessment (Identifying objects that began with the initial /n/ sound such as nail).

Next week we are taking our 2nd Nine Weeks' Assessments. Trevor did wonderful on his weekly assessment so I think that he is pretty well- prepared for this exam.

Trevor is doing really well in my class. I really do not have any concerns about Trevor's success on this assessment

Trevor is doing really well in class. I very proud of Trevor's reading ability. Many thanks for helping Trevor at home.



Those were just snippets of what he said, but I couldnt be more proud of my little man! I love that we still "homeschool" while he is in public school too. He goes to school and we have extra workbooks and fun elarning games and things for him at home. So the learning doesnt stop when he gets out of school.

Kids are amazing

Ok, so last night, I was going to the garage for something and there was a bang and something dark ran out. It freaked me out a bit, so I was going to wait for Matthew to go get what I needed.

Trevor came up to me, he said "Mommy you cant be scared, God is in your heart and with God in your heart, you dont need to be scared."

Soooo I went in the garage alone :-)

Wise words of a 5 year old!



Then Hannah asked "If God is in my heart, is he making it beep, like is he in there pushing a button?"


Trevor also said he wished that he could go up to heaven without dying, and come back home so that he can go to heave and see grandpa because he misses him. Also asked why we have to die to be able to go to heaven. Whew. He was FULL of questions last night. I pray I answered them all well.

He also requested his first bible. You know, a real one, not just a picture story book.

Oh How People Change.

I sat here the last few hours reflecting back on my life.

After going to a funeral of a young man, i really got to thinking about life. Got me thinking about depression, and drugs and parties and suicide.

I remember when I was a stupid teenager. I was doing drugs, parties, stealing, lying, and on and on. BUT I was also going to church, and singing in the choir and having good christian friends and going to youth group. I was living a double life at 15. Before that I was just bad. It all started at like age 12. Crazy I know.

Anyways. I was addicted. To many things. I got in a DEEP depression. No one saw it though, and if they saw it, they did not care. No one cared. I never told anyone before but I even wrote a suicide note........ I saw no point to living. I dont think I would have done it, but life was hopeless and pointless.

I was stuck in this crowded room and felt alone. I know people say that all the time but it was so true for me then. I had no real friends, and really thought no one cared.

Life sucked.

Then, I have typed this before but it is honestly the turning point in my life, my boss at KLTV reached out to me. I was dragging in everyday, I was moody and mean and sad and grumpy. Everyone steered clear of me or poked fun at me. John reached out to me. I dont think he will ever know how much it genuinely means to me even now that he did that. I dont know where i would be if he hadnt. He simply said that it seems i am depressed and having a hard time and that his door is open if i ever needed to talk. And the look in his eyes was genuine and very sincere. I knew he cared. Someone in the world cared!! about me! He kept tabs on me, checked on my grades and school work, talked with me, maybe even prayed for me. I still get teary thinking about that day. Never will I forget it.

My whole point is, that if you are depressed and struggling, and you even have a thought of suicide..... even if you think you would never do it......TALK TO SOMEONE!!! Please please please. I didnt and I thank God daily that someone reached out to me. It doesnt always happen that way.

AND to you people..... if you have someone in your life that is showing signs of depression, reach out to them..... even if someone is NOT showing signs of depression, reach out to people, let everyone around you know that you care about them. Love people. Smile at people. Be there if someone needs to talk or needs a friend.

Sometimes people will end their life, and it kicks the feet out of everyone that loved them. No one will have seen it coming...... No matter how much you loved and reached out. Then you just have to seek God. He can and will heal your heart. The empty hole will always be there but the pain will fade. God is always faithful and always gracious.

Seek God in everything. I thank God daily for my life and where I am now and I REALLY want to use where I have been to help others. Pray for me, that I can find out where I am supposed to be doing that...... I have no clue but I know beyond a shodaw of a doubt that I am supposed to be helping people.

The Little Things

Dont ever forget that the little things matter.

Those things that seems insignificant.

A simple smile to a stranger, a hello, a hug for someone sad or struggling, a handshake. Simple things make a difference in peoples lives.

Be different! Make a difference!

Reach out to people, and form connections. Not just with people like you, reach out to people NOT like you. Step out of your comfort zone and reach out to someone that you normally wouldn't talk to or be friends with.


Be the hands a feet of Jesus. Read the Bible and see who He reached out to :-)



I remember one point in my life, being depressed, and all I needed was someone, even a stranger to offer me a smile. Somehow I thought if I could just get a smile, that someone cared in this horrible world. Never underestimate the power of a smile it might really make a difference in someones life.

Also if you love Jesus, TELL PEOPLE!! If you have something so amazing with Jesus, dont you want other people to have it too??????

Heavy Hearted

I am so sad today.

So sad for my friends and the loss of their son and brother.

So sad and heartbroken for them.

All of the unanswered "why's".

I pray that God fills that hurt. I pray that He gives them peace. I pray that He heals their heart. I pray that He gives them the strength to move on and forward. I pray that seeds were planted in peoples hearts at the funeral, and that people will come to know Jesus through it. I pray that this situation prompts people to love a little bit more, to give a little bit more and to wrap your loving arms around your family a little bit tighter. Remember that life is SHORT and we never know what tomorrow is going to hold. No matter how good of a person or parent or friend we are. God has all of our days written down and He knows what will be before it even comes to pass.



Also sad for the police officer, with terminal cancer, dying, with young children and a wife at home. Little ones that will grow up without a daddy. Sad for the mom that is losing her son to brain cancer, he is young, 8 or 10. He does not have many days left on this earth. So sad.


Pray for the hurting, pray hard for them, because Gods perfect peace will get them through the hard times.

Hug your family tight and love them unconditionally.

Prayer

God is so amazing.

I am just so thankful that I can pray to Him, and that He loves me, and cares, and hears, and answers my prayers.

The God that created the universe, the vast huge amazing universe, loves me, and cares about me. In comparison I am just a little blip. And He loves me. He cares about the little things in my life, and the big things. He brings me peace, and comfort, strength and hope.

Ya know what? God is all of that for you too! It is so easy to say that "God love you, God loves me" . But to really internalize and believe that God loves me and cares about me is a little more difficult. I mean, we are all wretched selfish sinful people right?

But He loves us. And He wants us to love Him and follow Him and accept Him.

His way is the only way! I have learned that, sometimes the hard way.

Just remember that God loves us so much that He sent His Son to this world to die in our place so that we might have eternal life in Heaven with Him. So open your Bible, read, pray and get to know Him, accept Him into your life. Fall head over heels in love with Jesus, He WILL rock your world!!