5 Weeks Old

My niece is 5 weeks old!  Love her.  I knew before she came that we would love her to death and she would create so much fun and joy in our family, but my expectations weren't even close to the reality.  She is perfect in every way!
I asked my sister-in-law if I could come over and take some pictures of Autumn on our day off Monday.  I hear these days of being a wee one will be gone before we know it and we will soon forget her newborn ways.  Just being her Aunt, I didn't want to forget anything about her while she's in this stage- from the hair on her head {copious amounts!} or the wrinkles in her feet.  It was the first time I shot in Manual and RAW.  Loved it!  Here are some of the sweet things we were able to capture:

Recipes that Work

I love Pinterest.  I really do.  In fact, every morning when I get to work, I "warm" up by pinning for 10 minutes before getting to work (don't judge- I have first hour plan anyway!).  But, there have been several times that I see something and wonder, "does that really work?"  I am sure there are more of you out there that think just like me.  So, I thought I would post about some pins I have tried and have found to be true.

• Canned beans from dry beans.  At Crockpot 365, I found a recipe for making 3 cans of black beans from 1 bag of dried beans using your crock.  YES PLEASE.  It works great, and I actually had about 4 cans in the end, which ended up being $.25/can.  That's a 75% savings!  When you cook them yourself, you can also add other flavors, like lime, garlic, and jalapeno (which is what I did!  Put these ingredients in during the cooking part, not the soaking!).  When they are done, let them cool and separate them out into baggies, then freeze.  We ate some last night with Crock Pot Sante Fe Chicken (we made them into tacos.  and P.S. LOVE Gina's Skinny Recipes!) and they were great!  We like to add beans to just about every meat dish we make- taquitos, tacos, meatballs, burgers- to make it stretch (and I can spend less on meat).  By being able to add beans for only a quarter, it saves us some serious change!

• Freezer Apple Sauce.  Did you know apples will soften when they are frozen and be mushy once defrosted?  Yep, true.  Back to Her Roots has tons of easy, healthy recipes like this one.  Simply peel and core apples, soak in lemon-water, drain, and freeze in a bag with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Once frozen solid (I let mine go overnight), take out and defrost, then put in the food processor.  This would be easy baby food or just plain applesauce.  I made it and used it instead of oil in our fav Six Week Bran Muffins to make them fat free. 

By golly, that is Temptations ovenware!  Seriously, love love love this line from QVC.  My grandma hooks me up all the time with their stuff.  It's gorgeous, dishwasher, oven, and microwave safe, and comes with lids and trivets.  Check them out!

• Glamour magazine (one of my personal favs) wrote an article about an all-purpose textile stain remover that is made with one part Dawn dish soap, two parts hydrogen peroxide.  It claims to be pure magic, and I was skeptical.  TRUE DAT it is magic!  I use it on the multiple pee stains our lovely puppy leaves for us and any stain I find in the carpet or laundry.  You can add water and soak clothing in it, too.  We used to spend about $12/month on Spot Shot for the dog (which I used on any stain we had) and it worked great on urine- not old stains.  This stuff is A) much cheaper, B) works on urine and C) works on old stains I could never get out before.  I bought the clear Dawn for my first batch and then used blue "Dawn" from Aldi the second time.  Both work great.  The blue dye will turn clear in a few days, but you can use it immediately.
• Freezer Love.  Before Pinterest came along, I came up with a lot of little quirks and routines to make our life easier and save money.  However, Pinterest has definitely fueled this obsession of mine.  I love finding freezer-friendly, healthy meals and meal kits that allow me to cook on the weekends when I enjoy it and have the time to do it.  We can easily get in meal planning ruts, but Pinterest keeps in on my toes.  Let's be honest:  Pinterest is the new google.  Whether it's a tutorial for my 6th grade sewers or the recipe for DIY whole wheat pizza dough, just search on Pinterest and you are in business.  I'd rather find a recipe from a blogger who knows what she's talking about than some commercial website. When my sister-in-law had her baby, I made up some cookie dough and put it in the freezer, then bagged it so she could easily make one or two cookies when her and her husband needed a quick, yummy dessert.  Searched for a cute printable and you've got a great gift for a new mommy!

Printable Source

• Photogshop Tutorials.  Thanks to photogs who are willing to share their secrets, I have learned so much about photoshop and our DSLR from Pinterest.  Check out my sweet niece:

Just thought I would share some things I love about Pinterest.  I haven't done a sewing tutorial in a while.  I'll get on that!

My Testimony

I have been a Christian for 6 years. When I was I was in college and constantly meeting new people, I shared bits and pieces of my testimony rather often. At first, I had to get used to the concept of "Hi", then "What's your testimony?", but it quickly became second nature. Now that we are "real people", aka adults, and settled into our permanent church home, we don't meet new Christians as often as we used to. We know our church family so well that I often forget that most of them don't know our whole story, nor do I know theirs. After thinking about my life pre- and post-Jesus, I realized that my testimony has changed even in the time I last gave it. What a blessing it is to know that Jesus didn't just save me 6 years ago. He saves me every day. Here is my testimony.


As a child, I grew up with the knowledge and belief in the historical Jesus. I didn't know I wasn't saved then. I thought I believed in Jesus, but, in reality, I believed He existed. I believed the things I was told He did, but there were no identifying marks in me that I was a Christian. I guess I believed he was the Son of God, but it was more of a story to me. I relied on "feeling" it's truth-and never felt it. My "religion" was something that I dealt with at our Catholic school, but we didn't talk about it at home. It was something I could easily turn on and off. I've always been a people-pleaser, so, naturally, I wanted God to be pleased with me for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, like a lot of people, I believed the lie that I had to earn it, to perform for acceptance and salvation. If I had a bad day, I felt like God was just done with me. How could the God of the Universe love someone like me?

I have been chubby for-well-as long as I can remember. I can remember getting sick of lunch meat and eating butter sandwiches that were an inch thick. My mom told me I used to eat whole bags of sour cream and onion chips. When I felt like I couldn't do anything right (or when things did go right!), food would comfort me. It always tasted good, and a happy stomach never let me down. As I went into middle school, I became more and more aware of how different I was (aka bigger than everyone else) and how much I hated myself for it. It wasn't just hate. I loathed myself and started to "cut". I realized I could punish myself for the hate I felt and let it out without hurting anyone else (or so I thought. Just ask my parents how that went). When my plot was foiled it turned into alcohol, drugs, and bulimia. As thankful as I am that my parents moved us to Europe for most of my adolescent life, the readily-accessible alcohol and drugs didn't help a girl like me. My biggest problem was being able to be everything and everyone at once- top of my class, a jock, club volleyball, principal's babysitter, tutor, coach, smoke pot and get drunk. I hid the bad things like a champ. I was so far past wanting to please God that I flat out didn't care anymore. As I approached the end of high school, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. Somehow God pulled me to K-State and I followed.

One of my high school friends went to K-State, too, and was a Christian. One day, I decided I wanted a Bible-something I had never owned before. We went and bought one in September of 2005. On our way home, we ran into a girl that invited us to Navigators, a campus ministry that met every Thursday. I didn't know her or what "Navs" was, but we gave it a shot.

It blew my mind. I didn't know what contemporary Christian music sounded like. I didn't know people-young people- worshipped. Hands in the air, arms and heart wide open, tears and joy all at the same time. "Where am I?" I thought. Somewhere I want to be, that's for sure. I joined a freshman bible study (who was led by the girl that invited us to Navs and who also discipled me for several months!) and accepted Christ as my savior at a conference in Iowa on October 22nd in 2005.

My life pretty much changed overnight and rightfully so. The feeling of not being loved, not being able to earn God's favor was shattered by the unconditional love of a God who wasn't a Savior because I deserved it. The hatred I felt for myself slowly dwindled because I finally understood that I was accepted and redeemed, that I was who I was and looked the way I did because God wanted me that way. I realized He's given me gifts in areas that I enjoy more than I can explain and has withheld in areas that would probably get me in trouble otherwise. My thirst for love and acceptance turned into a thirst to know God, to know his heart, to know his Word. The distant, unable-to-please God of my youth became the God who knew me intimately, who was as much of a part of my life as my best friend.

He was and is my Savior because he is holy. Because he is Lord. Because he is not only glorified by being just and righteous- he is also glorified by loving and dying for us while we are still sinners. The first verse I ever memorized was 2 Corinthians 5:17- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come! How true this rang in my life! At one point, my mom told me she didn't know who I was anymore. At the time it hurt, but I understood how she felt. I was just getting to know myself as this new creation, too. Now that I look back on that time, I couldn't have asked for a better compliment. I was so changed by the gospel that the one person who knows me best in this world didn't know me. Slowly she did, and we are so much closer because of it.

The next January I met Daniel through our bible studies and, again, I was blown away. God had prepared for me a husband that I would never have imagined could exist. He loved me with a godly love, whose utmost desire was to see me grow in Jesus. He is handsome, strong, and works hard. He is funny and enjoys the fellowship of others. He loves me deeply, but loves Jesus more. My relationship with Jesus is independent and does not rely on my husband, but because of my husband, I have learned things about God and his Word that I wouldn't have learned without him. I am thankful for him, for his family, and for the blessing in them that God has given me-even though I never knew to asked for it. God always knew me and knew what was best for me, even before I knew Him.

Every season of my life has brought blessings and trials. I have failed miserably in both circumstances so many times. Being a Christian doesn't mean I'm perfect. Being a Christian means I believe that the God who made the Universe and everything in it sent his holy Son to die on a cross to reconcile sinners to himself-not because He couldn't live without us in eternity, but because He is glorified in saving us.

Life is hard. It's an ongoing battle. Some days-or years-are better than others. I will never be what the world considers perfect or beautiful. Sadly, I am sure I have been one of those people who has made a person not want to be a Christian. I will always wish I didn't have to worry about fitting into my pants or wearing a swim suit. I will always wish I could remember to call people back or send them a note to say "I love you".  I will always wish that people would be proud of me, but somedays I'm just a rotten person. My story isn't one that I consider uncommon or "poor you". My sin was and is just as bad as the next person, but that doesn't make it okay. That's not why I share it. I share it because when I do, people say, "I would never have guessed that about you". It's a cool thing to hear, because I know that's not a testament to me, but to Christ.

Through it all, I am forgiven, I am redeemed, and I am loved.