Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

When I first saw the list of ingredients for this Asian chicken dish, I almost didn't make it. I'm not a big fan of getting a whole bunch of sauces and spices out to just use a pinch here and there. Call it laziness or just being in a rush, but that extra work doesn't appeal to me in the kitchen. These barbecued chicken thighs changed my outlook completely. Once you have all the ingredients, you can store them all together and use them over and over. That's how good this recipe is - you may never bake chicken any other way. Ingredients:  1/2 cup hoisin sauce 2 Tbsp rice vinegar 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp Sriracha sauce 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp toasted sesame oil 1 Tbsp ground ginger 3 Tbsp minced garlic 2 Tbsp honey 1 Tbsp vegetable oil 2 Tbsp sesame seeds salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 cups fresh baby carrots 2 cups broccoli florets 4 chicken thighs 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly spray a large sheet pan with nonstick spray. 2. In a small bowl, combine hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, 2 ...

Relationships are hard. That's what it comes down to. If you have two people in any kind of relationship, partnership, family, or friendship, it will never be sunshine and rainbows all day, every day. That's just unrealistic. Instead, what we see every day is the give-and-take necessary to preserve peace. It's so simple to reject, raise our voices, let words be our weapons, turn our backs, and stir things up to get our own way. That's what our flesh and our emotions tell us to do - whatever it takes to protect ourselves. Sound familiar? Feel familiar? But that's not what the Spirit whispers to us. No, His response is love and humility. What a stark contrast to the flesh and its red-hot desires. Abraham is an amazing, realistic picture of how to handle the aggravations in our everyday relationships. He and Lot were kin, uncle and nephew, but that blood relation didn't stop the strife. (Oh, don't we know it!) When the herdsmen from their two estates quarreled ...

Summer's in full swing, and nothing makes the hottest months of the year more manageable than lemonade. Unless it's strawberry lemonade. Better yet, strawberry lemonade cookies. Still better, strawberry lemonade cookies made simple with boxed cake mix! Yep, I'm sold. Not only are they easy to make, they're also thick, soft, and totally addictive. The added bonus is that you'll be using two cake mixes, so you'll have twice as many cookies - more than 3 dozen, depending on how large you make them. That's enough to share and to keep some to enjoy yourself. Ingredients:  1 box lemon cake mix 1 box strawberry cake mix 4 eggs, room temperature 2/3 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. In a medium bowl, combine lemon cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Set aside. 3. In a separate bowl, combine the strawberry cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. 4. Place both bowls in...

The best big dog in the whole wide world took a trip to the vet's office last week. She's ok for the most part, just getting older and starting to hurt more ... just like the rest of us.  The trip itself was an adventure, as it was her first time in the new car. We got it specifically to keep the dogs safe and sound in the back, not jumping and jostling all over the car and getting us all in trouble. The only sad part is that now Molly's all the way in the back and not up with me. Ok, it's sad for me. She absolutely loved it. She had the windows all to herself, she could see people in the vehicles behind us, and she could sit up and lay down as she needed to. It was also the first time we'd been to our vet's new office. Their new, larger building is perfectly sized for a Great Dane. There were lots of new smells, a new layout, and a new floor to get used to. She wiped out on the kitchen floor once when she was a puppy, and now she's very skittish on slick fl...

A couple of weeks ago, Southern Iowa was attacked by intense, straight-line winds. We were both at work when the storm hit, so we didn't get to see what damage it did to the property until lunchtime. That's when I started up the driveway and saw a couple of massive trees across the driveway. From the other side, the house side of the driveway, it looked even bigger.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the only tree down. A second fallen tree was just around the bend in front of the house.  This would be the first one we needed to cut up so it didn't finish falling and hurt someone. Bring out the biggest chainsaw! This is the best way to put the trees in perspective - that's Danny. By the fallen tree. We were blessed beyond measure that there were no buildings, vehicles, or people in the way when they fell. The best part - for me anyway - was getting to drive the tractor. Danny hooked up the trailer to it so we could transport the cut branches over to the tree branch pile. I...

If there's one thing that clogs up creativity and stifles artistic motivation, it's clutter. Beauty has a hard time existing in the same space with piles. Nothing flows when there's too much stuff in the way. That's why having a new, clean, organized studio makes me smile wider than I have in a long time. For many years, my craft space was set up in the sunroom. You can see it just up the stairs in these photos - all that light is coming from seven large windows and two skylights. But the problem was that it gets super hot in the summer, and that same beautiful sunshine also fades everything in its path. So it was time to move all my supplies to a new room and get organized. The emotional issues tied to clutter are real, and they're serious. I am literally getting anxious just looking at this picture. All I see are bits and pieces, projects that need to be done, and tools and supplies that need a place to live. Thankfully, it only took a few days to set things to ri...

I love avocados. It was one of those grown-up foods that I grew up thinking was super-sophisticated. Once I was an adult, I could have them whenever I wanted, and I still do on a regular basis. On top of being a source of vitamins C, E, K, and B6, riboflavin, niacin, folate, magnesium, and potassium, they provide omega-3 fatty acids and beneficial fats. Thank you, avocado, for being healthy as well as so yummy. While avocados are fantastic all by themselves, there's nothing like stuffing them with even more goodness. Last week I browned a pound of ground beef with taco seasoning to make the base for taco-stuffed avocados.  To put them together, I added even more staple ingredients for Latin food - shredded cheese, salsa, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and a few tortilla chips for scooping up any extra bits at the end of your meal. What are your favorite toppings and stuffings for avocados?

In Sunday School yesterday, we took a break from our chronological study of the Bible to do a fun Fourth of July lesson. We made the youth a packet full of patriotic pictures with Scripture on them. Then we talked about each one in context with the verses around it, not just pulling out verse that sound nice or fit well. After studying several of them, we found a few favorites. They're perfect for creating some digital art of your own, or for using on and in a greeting card. Galatians 5:1 - Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Psalm 33:12 - Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Romans 8:2 - For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Psalm 118:5 - I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. Romans 8:15 - For ye have not received the ...

Someone very special has taken hours of her time to create these beautiful stained glass windows. I stamped the intricate design for her and cut them out, so she could color the tiny details that make them so pretty. Then we matched each one with a coordinating decorator paper and attached the window in the middle. And the result is so gorgeous. But now we're ready to embellish them. For me, this is the fun part. I'm not a tedious-work kind of girl, so I don't enjoy coloring, but picking out bits and pieces to dress them up is the best. With such a variety of colors, there are endless possibilities of making them stand out even more. I could... * cut squares of coordinating paper in half diagonally to make corners in the corners. * tie a length of ribbon along the fold of the card and tie a pretty bow. * choose eyelets or brads for the corners. * randomly space tiny gems over the stained-glass window. * stamp or print out a small word or phrase for inside the window. * use ...

Once again, a month has sped by and I'm not ready for it. Maybe you're feeling the same feeling today. I have had much more time recently to read, so at least there's that, right? I picked up the most eclectic collection of books at this year's Pages for Pennies, so I have dozens upon dozens of books to pick from. I always have more than one book going at once, and during June it was such a wide range of topics. Ten years ago I would never have believed that I would be interested in reading history books, but now I love them. Four of the six books I got all the way through this month were historic in some form or fashion, and they were so interesting. Treasures of Tutankhamun is actually the catalog of an exhibition in the 1970s that the Cairo Museum lent to several American museums. It combines history lessons, documentary photos of King Tut's excavation, and color photos of the pieces on display, and the details of the significance of each item were fascinating. D...