CHRISTIAN ENCOURAGERS ~ JANUARY

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You've found a great place to come and vent, share or ask for prayer support. This is a great group who will be very encouraging, caring and loving....anyone is welcome to join!

A Servent's Prayer

Jesus, My Jesus....How marveleous your ways....
Far more splendid than my mind can envision.
What an honor to be chosen by you.
A lowly child I am, but empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the great hope to which you have called me.
I give myself totally to you, Lord.
Take my imperfect heart and make it perfect.
Peel away the hardness.
Close the doors I have opened to the temptations of this world.
Gently remove the roots of painful memories, sins, doubts and fears.
Discard anything that separates me from you.
Lord, fill the emptiness with the light of your love that I might be a beacon calling the lost back to you.

To love as you love.....
To serve as you serve.....
To forgive as you forgive.....
Always mindful of my nothingness while doing great and marvelous things in your name and for your glory.
This I pray, Jesus, in YOUR name.
Amen

HAPPY NEW YEAR LADIES

Since our CE #218 was getting long, I thought today would be a good day to start new! I think, since we are getting a lot of action here, that it is time to have monthly threads.

Our party went well. We had 18 people over...had some confirms that didn't show...oh well. Our food was a big hit, everyone loved my...OK..Rachael Ray's pasta sauce and Angie's chicken caccitore....SHY...Angie is going to post her recipe for you later today or tomorrow.

We were able to get everyone off to home just before 10:00...although some of our...including me..."party people" were noddding off faaaassssssttttt!

I think I fell asleep about 11:30...Angie asked me this morning if I heard all the fireworks....ah...NOPE! snnzzzzzzz

Well I will problay check in later. I will be home most of the day watching football as Angie starts boxing up Christmas decorations in the living room. But when the ROSE BOWL comes on and my USC TROJANS play, she knows to get out of the way of the living room TV...our 42" HD! But the rest of the day I will watch down here in the family room by the computer.

Have a great 2008 ladies!

Gary, glad the party went well! I'm actually hoping for a few no-shows for the birthday party for DIL today - LOL. We are apartment sitting for their neighbors and trying to fit 25+ people into this teeny, tiny apartment will be a challenge. I'm so spoiled living in northern Michigan. Our house is small by comparison to some others but my 2300 sq ft (which doesn't include the basement) house seems absolutely huge by comparison to apartment life in Oakland.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun new year's eve. We went out to eat at a nice microbrewery (Gary - DARK beer finally) and then came back to the kid's apartment. I pooped out about 10:30. My body still thinks I'm in MI.

I continue to keep each of you in my prayers! I'm sure that God has some wonderful things in store for each of us in 2008. I can't wait to see what the new year brings as I try to walk faithfully with my Lord

Happy New Year from the COLD South Y'all.

We had the college kids from church over for a New Year's Eve party last night. We had loads of fun. We played "Mad Gab." and "Scene it." We ate Chinese and drank sparkling cider at mid-night. The "kids" stayed til 1:30 am. I think after cleaning up I hit the hay at 2:30 am.

We had lunch at some friends today....LOADS of food...nuttin healthy I'm sure. The host deep fried EVERYTHING! Onions, bacon,hot dogs, potatoes, chicken, and hog jaw ( prolly a southern thing) nothing low fat.
Add in cornbread,biscuits, potato salad, black eyed peas,chili, brunswick stew, trays of cheese and crackers, turnip greens, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate pis, cookies of All kinds, etc. etc. etc. etc. Good thing we aren't starting the diet until in the morning! But we're READY. I have the oatmeal setting on ready!

May God bless you all with a safe and healthy New Year in 2008!:

I know God has something special in store for each and everyone of us. Last year is behind us and a new year begins. Don't you just love new beginnings.

EZ
Thanks. I love the stuff and am always happy to have a new recipe to try.

Okay...today is the day.

My husband did good at breakfast. He ate his oatmeal (like a good little boy)
I made it with 1% milk, diet butter, and bananas. Boiled the milk and then added the oats. He thanked me for breakfast and said it was pretty good. I think it is the texture that will take getting used to.

So latter on this morning I fixed my oatmeal. I thought I would try my in the microwave....I did just like the Quaker man on the box said. OH MY! The oatmeal flowed over the BOWL...what a mess. So I started over. I let the oatmeal soak in the milk a little and then I heated it in the microwave a little at a time. Whew...it worked. I added splenda brown sugar and some cranraisins. It tasted good and boy I'm full...

Okay...now I'm going to get to moving and take down the Christmas decoration in the house. Gotta get that done before school starts back next week.

Pray that I'll stay on track today...that's how I'll do it one day at a time.

tiger
I love oatmeal out of the mic but yes, you have to make sure it doesn't flow over lol. I am doing the same thing. Getting the Christmas stuff put away that is still up and getting the house back to normal. I like normal lol.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!!

Have been very busy the last few days; we had a great time with our friends on New Year's Day. We had a nice homemade 'Chicken and Riblets Dinner (with salad and veggies); it all turned out great. It's a lot of work, but well worth the effort.

Am doing well and back on plan today; Dh and I gathered up all the lefover goodies and gift treats, and boxed them up and put them in our locked storage. We are thinking of ways to get rid of some of them; some he can have as snacks as he doesn't have a weight problem. I just don't want them in my home, but thankfully we only had one small box this year.

We also will be taking down our decos soon; we just do a bit at a time; and we already unplugged some of the lights. If I can figure out how to show you some pics, I will share them.

Anyways, am trying to get over an odd flu; had a two-hour nap this aft and that helped me a lot. Just check'in in; will catch up with posts later. Take good care and WE HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A VERY SUCCESSFUL AND BLESSED AND GREAT ... 2008!!!

And prayers continue, as always ... ROSEBUD

Just a quick fly-in to say hello and see how everyone is doing. Tigerdawg - I have the same problem with oatmeal in the microwave. I use a really deep bowl so that it doesn't overflow. I keep a box of quick oats and some DaVinci syrups in my offices at work. I love oatmeal as a snack in the winter

Dawn- good for you getting your Christmas stuff put away. We will need to take down the nativity and outdoor lights when we get home (if we can get them out of the snow). Sometimes we can't get them down until the snow thaws in March. We will see what weather we go home to.

Rosebud - I hope you are feeling better soon! Good for you getting rid of the stuff. We purged the house before we left. I re-gifted a few things, and threw a few out. It was hard (I am so frugal about some things), but it needed to be done. I think you CAN teach this old dog some new tricks

We are flying back to MI tomorrow, so I probably won't post again until Friday. We had a great last day in CA - we walked for several hours in the park, ate at a wonderful Thai restaurant, visited another couple breweries (more dark beer Gary) and just hung out with the kids.

I continue to keep everyone in my prayers - blessings!

Counting
I didn't get the lights off the tree so the tree didn't get put away. Everything else is reboxed and labeled and ready to be taken to the garage. Will do that tomorrow after I get the tree down. Have a safe flight. Will chat when you get back.

Justwant
Sorry you aren't feeling well. The flu bug seems to be going around and has been for a few weeks. Stay warm and take care of yourself.

Good evening...

We've had a pretty good day here in sunny but COLD Georgia. My goodness it was 17 this morning.

I went shopping this evening....chicken breast were on sell....yum. So tonight we had grilled chicken, broccoli, and salad. I did stop at Starbucks and had a "Skinny Latte"...OH MY! It was 2 weight watcher points.

For a snack I had an "Ole" jalapeno and herb wrap (2 pts) with black bean dip (0 pts) on it . It was spicy good.

I'm going to make some hummus using navy beans this weekend, cause we go back to school next week.

I need a good recipe for baked salmon patties...the whole family likes salmon patties.
Also what kind of fat free refried beans do you know that are good?

My son's 14th. b-day in tomorrow...So we are going shopping in the morning and I guess the family will go out to eat tomorrow evening.

Have a great evening!

HELLO EVERYONE ~ we had a bit of a snow storm today; mostly blowing what was already here all over the place ~ lol. So we just stayed home and spent about half the day taking down Christmas decos; just have the tree to do and then we are finished.

Had a good 'ON PLAN' day today; I am hoping have more of those this year. 2007 was actually a very good year for us. Near the end, some of our family had some misfortune, but we are keeping the faith and trying to encourage each of them through their personal trials. We have seen a lot of answered prayer last year as well; and I am expecting great things for 2008 too!

HI LORI ~ glad to see you back and posting again; I imagine you had a busy holiday season with all your children. How's AJ doing?

TIGER DAWG ~ you may be able to find some good recipes down at DIET CENTRAL where all the diet and food plans are ...

THANX LADIES ~ I felt a little better today; the fever was milder, but still have the fox trots a bit; sorry, too much info ~ lol!

Well that's all for now; I tried to put in a couple of photos last night, but it was taking forever. I finally gave up after 1 am; but will try again. If I can't get them in, I'll try to find a place to post them and give a link like COUNTING suggested, as that may be easier. P.S. I think the problem is that some of them are too big, so I will try to make them smaller and see if that makes a difference.

Take good care for now, your fellow encourager ROSEBUD ^prayers^ continue, as always ...

justwant
Glad you are feeling a bit better. Take care of yourself. A bit of the flu can turn nasty if you don't take care of yourself and make sure you get all the way better not just feeling a bit better. Still have the lights to take off the tree. Tummy is a bit nasty tonight and I don't feel like doing it.

Tiger
Break out the bbq and the swim wear you are having a heat wave lol. I get chicken breasts at a store called save a lot. 1 gram fat for 4 oz and they are darn cheap. Not sure if you have that store or not. I take salmon, egg, crackers and spices mix it up. spray a pan with a bit of oil and then put the salmon patties in. Spray the top of the salmon pattie. Bake thats it. they come out great. use very very little oil so they are as low in fat and such as salmon can be. I have to say I was surprised how much fat there is in salmon. Hope you have fun shopping for your sons birthday.

mom2
Hope things are well. You aren't posting as much as you use to. How are the boys doing. Are they settling down in school?

We're back. The flight was delayed 2 hrs because of weather and mechanical problems. Thankfully, Delta had scheduled us on another connecting flight since we missed the first one. We still arrived in Cincinnati only 15 minutes before the final connector of the day took off. DH and I sprinted through the airport and arrived at the gate with 2 minutes to spare. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement over the last several months! I'm sure that without having done the WATP videos and without losing that 50 lbs., I would have NEVER made it on time.

We got back to Grand Rapids and found lots of snow and ice on the car - it took about 15 minutes to scrape it so we could drive. Welcome back to northern Michigan Consequently, we didn't get back home until the wee hours of the morning. But we made it!

I'm also very pleased that I was still 163 this morning. Which means that I actually lost 1 lb. while we were on vacation over Christmas. I think all of the hiking and walking (we logged over 25 miles) really helped balance out all of the restaurant food Back to my WATP videos now that we are home.

Rosebud - glad you are feeling better, hopefully you will be 100% soon!

tigerdawg - happy birthday wish for your son! I hope it warms up for you - 17 is colder than it was here in MI!!!!

Well, laundry is calling my name! I hope you have a wonderful day!