Harvest

Saturday, January 29, 2011

All By Myself

Jackson has been making great progress on feeding himself these last few weeks. The art of using utensils seems so easy...until your sweet boy keeps dumping the contents. But alas, he can spoon feed all kinds of goodies now - yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal.


Now, if Mr. Jackson is super hungry, ALL bets are off and the fingers are once again his greatest tool. And those finger "tools" don't end at feeding. They are also quite useful for combing through hair.
 Ohhh yeah...apple sauce mousse, anyone?
 Happy Eating (or combing) Y'all!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Be Intentional

Yes. Today is my birthday.

{Sigh}

I really don't dread getting older. I just like to be silly about it. I especially don't dread it now that I have a child. For each year I get older, so does he. Every new week of his life is exciting, so to dread my age halts his and I am very excited about what God has in store for Jackson.

But today, rather than share with you something about my little boy, I would like to share with you something that God has taught me very recently.

Many of you know that I returned to Bible Study Fellowship {BSF} this past Fall. This year was my first year in study with BSF as a wife and mother. And for BSF, this is the first year that they offered a study on the book of Isaiah.

For the first semester of the study, I was a participant. I loved my group. Each Wednesday morning I was surrounded by a group of women who were sincere and transparent. Our discussions over each lesson were rich. And they were absolutely beautiful to me. Why? Because I saw them the way God saw them and I could relate to so much that was going on in their hearts and minds.

On a personal level, I was growing so much through the lessons of Isaiah and Jackson was thriving in the children's program.

Life was good.

But then on January 4, I got a call that would change all of that...

"Kristin, we would like for you to serve in leadership in the Children's Program."

The timing of the phone call was completely God. For I had been praying intentionally that the Lord would use my time for His glory. So, when I was asked to begin leadership in the children’s program, I knew that I was supposed to be obedient and accept the position.

But actually being obedient to do it was entirely different.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday were my first days in service to BSF. And they were two of the hardest days I have had in a very long time.
 
I felt every fiber in my being... being rebellious

All I could think about was that I had been asked to leave a group that I cared about deeply. I wanted to be in MY group. I wanted to just attend and not be responsible.

But there have been too many lessons in Isaiah this first semester that have taught about not heeding the instruction of the Lord and the consequences of that decision.

The consequences of disobedience could potentially pass over me and affect my children. {Isaiah 39.5-7}
And that's not ok with me.

I looked at Jackson on Thursday and thought:

“I never want to intentionally cause you pain because of my disobedience.” 

Our teaching leader closed our lesson last week with a thought that shaped this ability for me to have an attitude change and therefore experience the richness of God's blessing:

"Sometimes God does not change our circumstances, 
He changes our heart instead."

I needed that heart change. 
I needed to grow up. 
and...
I needed to be intentional in my obedience.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is Trip's birthday. 
So, this post is a shout out to him. "Yay Dad!"

I am blessed to be married to a man who passionately loves his family.

Jackson is blessed to call him father.
Jackson 1.24.2010

 ~ Ephesians 1.17-19 ~
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,...give to you 
the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes 
of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is 
the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance 
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward 
us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

We love you Trip!

Friday, January 14, 2011

{17 Months!}

Jackson is 17 months today. So, we decided to celebrate with a bit of tub painting. Tub Painting has been featured this winter on two of the websites I follow, as well as this book:

The Toddler's Busy Book
The tabs are the great ideas I have chosen to help us 
survive the winter {or rainy day}. We will survive!! :)

The ingredients are things you have in your house. It's really quite simple and it was so much fun for Jackson.
Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Cornstarch
2 Tbsp liquid soap
Food Coloring
Mix cornstarch and soap together. {I doubled the recipe.} Then add a few drops of food coloring to get the desired color. The consistency you're going for is finger paint. If those exact measurements don't work for you, modify to get it like this:

The box of food coloring I had did not include primary colors. So, when I mixed up the three colors I chose, it looked like we had flashed back to 1981.

The flash lost the essence of the 
Lime Green, HOT Pink and Turquoise. 
But I assure you, it was "totally awesome".


Jackson enjoyed painting himself and the walls of the tub. After at least 30 minutes of fun, it washed off of him and the walls perfectly. This will definitely be repeated at our house. Happy Friday everyone!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Our Little Sous Chef

Jackson has officially entered that stage of "if you're doing it, I want to do it too!" Most of the time we love it. :) A website I follow daily is Cooking with My Kid. I am convinced that if you involve your child in the cooking process, they'll want to eat the result.

As we have experienced "Snowpocalypse 2011" here in Atlanta, we were desperate for ideas to entertain a very busy toddler. Trip thought it would be fun to have Jackson make his own pizza for dinner. It turned out to be an incredible idea.
The cooks:
Don't you all love Jack's apron??
The ingredients:

The sauce:

The cheese:

The pepperoni:

The final product:


Winter is always such a fun time for me to try out new recipes. With the snow, I have had even more time to try out a few new ones. For those of you who are GF, I will make comments regarding my substitutions. Otherwise, the recipes were done in their entirety.

Breakfast ~ Baked Oatmeal
This recipe was printed in a local magazine along with an article about gluten intolerance. I gave it a try since I love oatmeal on cold mornings. It was delicious!!

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked GF oats {I used organic steel cut}
1/2 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup dried fruit {I used a mix of golden raisins, cranberries and cherries}
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk {I used almond milk, but rice, soy or cow's would work equally well}
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce {I used one of Jack's "no sugar added" cups}
1 tbsp melted butter

Directions:
-Preheat over to 375 and spray an 8in square baking dish with non-stick spray.
-In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients, mixing well.
-In a separate bowl, whisk egg and then add remaining wet ingredients.
-Combine with dry ingredients and pour into prepared baking pan.
-Bake for 25min. Serve warm with fresh fruit or a dollop of vanilla yogurt.
-Leftovers may be refrigerated for one week.

Lunch ~ Giada's Lentil Soup
My friend Julia sent me home with a bowl of this soup last week. Oh. My. Word. It was incredible. If you love a soup that is savory, you must try this one. Three notes: One, I threw in some ham after the onions, carrots and celery had softened. Two, I omitted the noodles entirely. I could have used my Rice Pasta, but the soup is hearty without them. And three, if you can't find a decently priced wedge of parm {particularly during a Snowpocalypse} simply use a bag of Sargento's Artisan Blend of Parm & Romano cheese. {Just don't tell Giada...}  :) Once I cooked this recipe, I took half of the final product and froze it. On a busy weeknight, it will be perfect to thaw and eat.

Dinner ~ Dijon Chicken with Panko Rice Chex Crust
This dinner was incredible with a side of rice and broccoli. The sauce you drizzle on the finished product truly completed the meal. So, splurge and buy sesame oil if you do not have some on hand. After you try this recipe, you'll be tempted to try other recipes that call for sesame oil so it will not be money wasted. Two notes: One, for the GF among you, instead of Panko, put a cup {or two} of Rice Chex in ziploc and crush. Then substitute in the recipe. And two, I used boneless, skinless chicken and it turned out perfectly.

Happy Cooking...AND EATING! Let me know if you try any of these. I'd love to know your thoughts.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Better Late than Never...

I am aware that it is January 6 and I have yet to post anything from Christmas.

But between the recovery of being away from our home for 7 days, getting back into somewhat of a routine and the preparation for the Ball, I have had little no time to blog.

But I wanted to take a minute and share a funny Jackson moment and a few photos with you.

Jackson had his grandparents to himself Christmas night. So, after opening a few gifts, he decided to run out some wiggles before heading to bed. You will notice the progressive loss of clothing in each photo. He decided to assist his speed by wearing as little as possible.








What these pictures do not capture are the SQUEALS of laughter when I began to "chase" him. When he would run to the end of the hallway and realize he had nowhere else to run, he would just double over in laughter. This, in turn, caused me so much laughter. Jackson has a very funny personality, but this was one of his silliest.

Definitely a Christmas memory, I'll never forget.