Don't Miss Out!

Camp!

My big girl is heading off to camp today! Sniff, sniff! I'm excited for her, but I'm really gonna miss her a lot! She is going to have a blast and she is in incredible hands! Can't wait to see what God does in her life through camp! Yay!!

Crockpot Barbacoa Recipe

This is by far one of my new favorite recipes! Enjoy!


Crockpot Barbacoa Recipe

*Combine the following in a crockpot:
3 pound chuck or rump roast (or pork shoulder)
6 chopped garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 chopped onion
2-3 juice from limes
2 Tablespoons whole black pepper

Directions:

Cook for minimum of 6 hours on low, or until meat falls apart, adding water as necessary to keep covered. Cool meat and shred with a fork. Remove broth from crockpot. Strain out and discard solid ingredients. Add meat back to crockpot.

Add to crockpot:
1 large can tomato sauce
1 small can chopped green chilis
2-3 chipotle pepper w/adobo sauce
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
Ground cumin to taste

Return enough leftover broth to keep moist. Cook two more hours on low.

Serve with flour tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, cheese and roll them like burritos or tacos.

Question of the Day!

Come on over to: Question of the Day to check out my new blog!

I'll be posting (hopefully) a new question daily in hopes to spark interest, conversation, etc. Let's see what happens!

If you have any questions you would like for me to use, feel free to email me!

Dark Clouds

Have you ever experienced a time in your life where you felt like a dark cloud was like a shroud over your life? Where everything you said, did, acted and reacted was in direct relationship to the darkness you felt?

I have recently stepped away from a very dark period in my life. A period that lasted well over 6 months. A period of deep and penetrating fear, that at the height of it... had me virtually paralyzed - both emotionally and mentally... and to some degree physically.

I was tempted by fear and fell into the trap of despair and depression. Satan had his "way with me" and I allowed it. I allowed it, because I allowed Satan's fear, rather than God's love, to overwhelm me.

And the reality is... I can quote scripture after scripture from the Bible that deals with fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and grace (Hebrews 4:16). Heck, the scripture on the left side of my blog talks about "approaching the throne of grace... to find mercy and grace in our time of need." I KNOW ALL OF THAT! But, I didn't apply it.

Last week I finally landed in the place where God needed for me to be, to finally cry out to him in desperate need. And you know what happened once I prayed and asked God to get this fear out of my life? It left. The fear left.

I feel like God gave me a visual when I very nearly hit rock bottom. He showed me hanging by a tattered rope, with one hand, swinging around without any stability. He then impressed upon me that He had been waiting for me to reach the end and when was I going to realize I cannot save myself or the world around me? That saving the world is HIS job, not mine.

What freedom.

Since last week, I've been freed from the torment of fear. Oh sure, Satan is still coming around trying to tempt me with those old familiar fears, but I'm rejecting his plot this time. I will not succumb to his lying schemes anymore.

I write all of this in hope that someone, somewhere can relate to my trial. There is freedom waiting for you. HE is waiting for you! Seek God and pray his scripture.

Great Wolf Weekend!

We are back from our mini-family vacation and let me say... we had a blast!

We arrived late on Thursday night because we were getting a much needed A/C unit installed, so we did not arrive until 8:30 p.m. The water park closed at 9 p.m., so we took that time to walk around and get acquainted with the hotel.

It truly is a kid-resort hotel, with various restaurants, an arcade, a spa for both kids and adults, craft area for kids, gift store, and interactive "quest" game throughout the hotel. This place is made for kids!

We arrived in time to see a show geared toward little kids - with singing mechanical animals, etc. After about 5 minutes, the girls were done with it and wanted to move on, but this would have been cute for younger kids.

Our room was great! It had a microwave, a small fridge, coffee maker - all the necessities! Plus, our room had a sitting area with a pull out sofa bed. We did not get the fancy room with the bunk beds, etc., because we knew we'd be spending little time in our room and for the extra money, it was not worth it.

The water park opened at 9 a.m. and we were at the door waiting to be let in. The water park is awesome! There were 7 indoor water slides, an older kid playscape area, a young child play area, a wave pool, lazy river and open swim area with cool stuff like lily pads to jump across and basketball goals. There is also an outdoor area, with two slides and a water play area.

There is a height restriction on two of the slides (48" and up) and Elisan and Kyla were not able to ride those slides, but that did not stop them from having a ton of fun. (By the way, the slides they were not able to ride were so much fun, but I can see why they were not able to go on them... they were fast and kind of scary!)

Elisan and Kyla's favorite attraction was the wave pool. They loved crashing in the waves!

This was one vacation that I would definitely repeat!


Here are few of my personal recommendations:

1. Bring your own food! The food at the hotel was expensive. We ate breakfast, lunch and snacks in our room and went out to eat in the evening. We found a great local restaurant via the GPS and thoroughly enjoyed it.
2. Go on a weekday! We spend all day Friday in the water park and it wasn't nearly as crowded as Saturday morning. I would assume most weekdays are not nearly as crowded as weekends.
3. 2 nights and/or 1.5 days is plenty of time at the park.
4. We did not buy into the "quest" interactive game. It was extra to purchase the quest game 'wand' and my kids didn't even notice that the ENTIRE population of kids were playing the quest game. They were more interested in the waterpark.
5. Next time we go, my girls will be 48" tall and a bit older. Because they were so young and not tall enough, Randy and I had to accompany them on all of the larger slides. That was fine and we had fun, but I would have preferred to have allowed them to go off on their own a time or two... I'm not as young and full of energy as they are! But, there is plenty of stuff to do for younger kids too! I'd just prefer next time we go, that they be old/tall enough to do everything!

So, there ya have it! I hope this helps anyone who is interested in booking a trip to Great Wolf Lodge!

A/C? Why has thou forsaken me?

Yep! You guessed it! Our A/C unit went out upstairs! But, thankfully our house has two units - one upstairs and one downstairs... so we all piled downstairs to sleep last night.

Randy brought down the girls mattresses and put them on the floor in his office area and he and I slept in the guest bedroom. The girls thought it was like a sleepover and were especially excited to be able to stay awake until 9 p.m. Oh, the little joys of life!

After calling 4 air conditioning repair places yesterday morning, I was able to get someone who could come in today. Thank goodness! The other places couldn't schedule an appointment until Monday! Apparently when you have temperatures topping 105 degrees, air conditioners tend to work on overdrive, thus break down more often... or so I'm told.

So, now I'm waiting for the a/c repair man. The hottest ticket in town!


UPDATE: We are getting a new a/c unit. Can you say $8K?