A few thoughts on prayer...

Matt and I have been talking a lot about prayer lately. I think I tend to take prayer for granted and I don't always take everything to God like I should. The past few days.. going on weeks I guess I have been feeling very overwhelmed. Gracie has been sick and my days were hard w/ a sick little one and then another 3 month old that I am caring for. This morning I was feeling once again stressed. Gracie is better but the little boy I watch now is sick and Gracie was throwing a fit.. So I prayed.. I prayed for God to give me strength.. to calm the babies.. to give me just a few minutes to get myself together. And you know what? Gracie fell asleep and Issac stopped crying. I even had time to make me some lunch. The thing is at first I didn't even think to thank and praise God for answering my prayer. At first I just felt relief and "oh it's about time.." But then it hit me.. God heard my prayer and he answered it.

Project 365: 46-52/365

46/365: Tonight, Matt and I made Gracie carrot baby food. I'm going to try and make as much of her food as I can... mostly to try and save some money. We froze it in ice cube trays and then put the frozen cubes in freezer bags. She hasn't tried it yet... but hopefully she will like it! (This is a pic of the book I got on making your own baby food)


47/365: I had received a starter for some friendship bread from my mom:) Here is the finished product. It was WONDERFUL!


48/365: Here's Issac, the little boy I watch, just hanging out... He loves this bouncer chair!


49/365: Every 3rd Thursday we (as in our church) are starting to provide dinner for a group of youth as a new part of their ministry. We are really excited to join them in trying to reach more teens for Christ! This Thursday was our first time doing it.. we had frito chili pie. YUM!


50/365: Gracie loves playing w/ my make-up! It's not so bad yet since she can't open any of it up!


51/365: Hanging out at Borders on a Saturday night... Gracie is highly entertained by receipts:)


52/365: My snuggle bug:)

Baby girl is still sick...

Well we finally found out what is wrong with Gracie. She has RSV w/ such a nasty cough and really runny nose. I guess there is nothing we can do except watch her and keep clearing her nose, use a humidifier, etc. Any home remedy type tips to help w/ her cough?

Not fun for Gracie and not fun for mom...:(

Project 365: 39-45/365

39/365: I asked Gracie time and time again to pick up her toys...:)


40/365: Matt and I ordered some Chinese food for lunch today from the New Chinese restaurant in town.. it was pretty good!


41/365: Gracie just after a bath...


42/365: Gracie loves her bouncy chair.. especially now that she can make the music play all by herself!


43/365: My mom called us in a pizza all the way from Wichita for a little Valentine's gift to us.. Thanks mom:) It was delicious! Perfect dinner to go along w/ watching the Olympics!


44/365: I made Red Velvet Whoopie pies to take to some of our neighbors today. Delicious! I did cheat and started off by using a box mix for red velvet cake. I didn't really do it to make the recipe easier.. it just cost so much less than buying red food coloring!


45/365: Happy Valentine's Day- a self portrait of the Maestas family (minus Aldo) :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Matt and I celebrated last night by making a nice dinner at home. My thought was at some point in the evening Gracie would take a little nap giving us time to cook dinner together. Well, that didn't happen.. So she just watched and "helped".

We used this recipe from Pioneer Woman for Steaks over a Blue Cheese-Onion Sauce w/ mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. Then for dessert we had Baked Fudge (another PW recipe) and vanilla ice cream. It was DELICIOUS! The steaks were cooked just perfectly and the sauce was sooo good. We hardly ever cook steak at home so it was a special treat. And the dessert was just as good.. a perfect ending to a great meal.

Our Valentine's Days will probably never be exactly the same as they used to be.. atleast for awhile.. but I dont really mind:)

A couple recipes...

Here are a couple recipes we tried this week... both were excellent! I love the Pioneer Woman:)

Lazy Chile Rellenos- great for breakfast,lunch or dinner!

Pan Fried Porkchops- These step by step instructions made for the perfect pork chops.

Project 365: 32-38/365

I'm finally posting last weeks pics! This week has been sort of a crazy one.. Matt was out of town, my mom came to visit, Gracie's been sick w/ a cold and I have had a sinus infection for the past week and then Matt hurt his back.. blah! We are starting to get better finally. So here they are.. better late than never:)

32/365: My baby girl...


33/365: This chocolate sheet cake is very yummy. I meant to take a pic before it got dug into but forgot. The recipe actually makes enough for a jelly roll pan but I halved it this particular time. Go here if you would like the recipe!


34/365:This has become Gracie's worst enemy lately.. She has had her first real cold and her nose has been running like crazy. She now freaks out when she sees this...


35/365: Gracie turns 5 months! She is such a big girl! I had her weighed this week and she was 15 lbs 9 oz so she is getting close to doubling her birth weight. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz at birth.


36/365: A snowy day inside...


37/365: My mom came for the weekend since Matt was out of town. This is right before we headed out to breakfast


38/365: She sits up!

Bible Reading Plan

I have always had a hard time w/ being consistent in reading the Bible. I've always had quiet times spent in the Word and prayer but I'll have a week where I'm really good about it and then the next week not so good. This year with being at home for the first time I just realized I don't have a good excuse.. not that I ever had a "good" excuse and so I sought out looking for a Bible Reading Plan. With Matt's help I came across the Discipleship Journal Plan. There are 25 readings a month which allows you some makeup days as well. The plan takes you through the entire Bible in a year. I know we have just begun February but for the last month I have been consistent in waking up and spending time in the Word. Matt is reading through the same plan so it has been a good way to keep each other accountable and to talk about what we are reading currently.
I always struggled, especially in my teen years feeling like I couldn't "hear" God, like He wasn't speaking to me. This would always make it harder for me to be diligent in reading the Bible. I'm learning now though by being consistent and actually reading and taking a deeper look into God's word that He is speaking to me in various ways every single day.

This post isn't supposed to be a "way to go me!" post in anyway.. more just an encouragement to anyone out there who struggles in this area like I have. This time I have with just the Lord and I is now one of my favorite parts of the day. I look forward to reading and feel like in some ways that I'm reading the Bible for the first time all over again.

Today I was reading in Exodus and was just taken back when God tells Moses that He is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.. the God of the Bible is still our God today. Even though I know that.. sometimes it is just amazing to think on.

How do you schedule your daily quiet time with the Lord? What are you reading right now?

Project 365: 25-31/365

25/365: Gracie was laying on her blanket w/ her toys while I was in the kitchen. She started fussing but then quieted down pretty quickly. When I went into the living room she had rolled herself over on top of all of her toys.. too cute!


26/365: Gracie, her daddy and Aldo... spending a little time together:)


27/ 365: Gracie was rolling all over the floor and rolled right up into her blanket.. it was very cute:)


28 & 29/365: I messed up and completely forgot to take any pictures!! I was so mad at myself! So this picture isn't from the correct date but it is a pic I took this week... Sausage, red pepper and spinach frittata.. Delicious!
Here is a link to the recipe. I did a few things differently just b/c it was what I had on hand. I used ground sausage and shredded cheddar cheese.


30/365: My dad came to visit this weekend so Gracie got to spend some time w/ her Grandpa:)


31/365:Matt and Gracie after church. Gracie wore her Christmas dress..I wanted her to be able to wear it one more time before she outgrew it!