Sharefest day 2

Our day 2 of Sharefest was much warmer than the first, and it was a day filled with...


Caulking...

Painting...

Laughter...

Roof building...

 And Fun!

The finished product! 

Thank you Cassie for taking such wonderful pictures!

Meat and Sweets with the Gardners

This summer Drew and I are beginning a Gardner family summer tradition! Throughout the summer we want to host a BBQ with friends and family and for each BBQ we will be grilling a new meat and method (not just burgers and dogs) and baking a new dessert that I've never made. A couple of weeks ago we had round one of meats and sweets with the Gardners, we had a great time with wonderful fellowship.

Mindy, Mike, Ryan, and Brandon enjoying dinner...after dinner came a heated game of cherades, (I think the boys cheated).

Tim and Ashlyn enjoying some pool time, the pool was a great refresher to the warm weather.

Sebastian having fun in the sand table

The girls chatting and hanging out, and Cassie enjoying her chicken.

Drew and JP hanging out

It felt great that evening when the sun set...Mindy, Kara, and Mike enjoying eachothers company

Ryan being cool and trying on Ashlyn's floaties

Cute couple...Ben and Mikaela

Drew and me

Of course the cute kiddos



For our first ever meat and sweets we grilled chicken, here is the recipe and for dessert we made smores, the kids and adults loved them!

Honey Mustard Chicken:

12 chicken drum sticks

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup country dijon-style mustard

2 teaspoons shredded lemon peel

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons onlive oil

4 garlic cloved minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bottled hot pepper sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Place chicken in a resealable plastic bag set in a shallow dish. For marinade, in a small bowl stir  together honey, mustard, lemon peel, lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt, hot pepper sauce, and black pepper. Pour over chicken; seal bag. Turn to coat chicken. Marinate in fridge for 4 hours turning occasionally.

2. Drain chicken; place any remaining marinade in a sauce pan. Bring marinade to boil. Preheat grill, reduce heat to medium. Adjust for indirect cooking. Place chicken pieces on grill rack over burner that is turned off. Cover and grill for 50 to 60 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (180*F), brushing occasionally with the sauce during the last 5 minutes of grilling.

Makes 6 servings

Answer to Prayer

It has been a long three years since graduation, each spring bringing anticipation of getting a teaching job and then pain and disappointment of being rejected. Through that pain, God has taught me some very valuable life lesson on being patient and waiting on his perfect timing. Although this past three years have been hard for me (as I seem to find my value in the job I have), I would not change them for the world. During the three years Drew and I paid off all our student loans with an inconsistent salary on my side, God always provided a job for me, and he placed valuable people in my path to mentor me and help mold me into the teacher I am today.

I am blessed beyond belief, and praise God for his provision and grace in my life. His timing is truly perfect. I am going to be working with a wonderful team, teaching Special Education in my neighborhood school (a minute and a half drive y'all), and I couldn't be more excited. I knew when this school opened 2 years ago that I was going to work there, of course my plan was the year that it opened, but God knew I had more growing to do. Pray BIG and God answers BIG!

Have you praised God for his perfect timing in your life?

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Meal Planning Monday

There were a couple things that didn't end up getting made last week, so they are repeats for this week!

Monday: Balsamic grilled bruschetta chicken with roasted broccoli
Tuesday: Garlic quinoa with grilled shrimp
Wednesday: Life Group get together
Thursday: Jamaica mission trip dinner
Friday: Church
Saturday: Brazil mission trip dinner
Sunday: Kitchen is closed

The Church Has Left The Building

 Each year our church has an event called Sharefest, it is a time when all the Life Groups in the church get together and help out in the community. There are groups that help with homes in the city who have code violations and can't afford the repairs themselves, groups help at the salvation army organizing donations, and groups that help out at any other place that needs help in the 10 mile radius around our church. Our life group got to help out at the Heritage Farmstead Museum. It was a very neat place and the kids loved coming to help out too, because they got to see all the farm animals.

Here is the house at the museum, we didn't actually work on the house but in areas surrounding the house. This museum is nice because it shows how a farm worked in the late 1800's and they still run it that way (but it's not actually a working farm).

At the Meusem our group helped with the gardening, we were pulling weeds, planting flowers, and triming bushes.

 Along with gardening we also helped fix up the main enterance and chicken coop. That included taring down a plastic roof, ripping down and replacing new siding, and adding gutters.

The boys loading up the rotten siding and plastic roof to take down to the dump.

Keenan and Mike replaceing the siding

 Allie, Drew and Kain preparing the way for the new gutters...Allie is a hard working 14 year old girl!

                              Kara scrapping off the paint getting it ready for paiting on day 2!

                                                  Getting rid of termite rotted out wood.

                                            Jarke cutting the new siding to go on the buildings

                                    Father and son working together to help fix the building

Putting up the gutters

Josh learning how to ground the corn to feed the chickens

The girls after day 1

We are called to be his hands and feet

Meal Planning Monday

Monday: Salmon in a bag with green beans and brown rice
Tuesday: Asian herb grilled chicken with french peas and mushrooms
Wednesday: Chicken Provential with carrots and potatoes
Thursday: Garlic quinoa with grilled shrimp
Friday: Church
Saturday: Meat and Sweets with the Gardners (my summer plan to grill something new and make a yummy summer dessert)!
Sunday: Balsamic grilled bruschetta chicken with roasted broccoli