Wordful Wednesday: Ragamuffin

My spiritual life has been rocky, to say the least.
When I was younger, I turned completely away from God and into an opposite direction for a while.
When I returned to Him, I still wasn't the person I could be.
Even now, I am not the model image of "Christian".
I am a sinner.
I am a gossip, a fornicator, a drunkard, and a liar.
I fail, quite often, and I can be quite good at it.
And the beauty of it is:
Christ doesn't see these sins.
When I chose to accept Him, my sins were wiped clean.
I begin each day free and clear.

Salvation is a gift, freely given, of God Himself.
He does not require that we do anything to receive it, other than accept it.
When he sent Christ to die on the cross, it wasn't with conditions or stipulations:
He did not say, "I'll do this, but you have to do something for me first . . ."
Nope. All he wants is for us to accept Him.

Recently I started reading a book called The Ragamuffin Gospel.
This book speaks about Christ in a way I've never heard before.
You see, out of all the holy people in Israel during his life: the pharisees, the rabbis, the sadducees . . . He did not associate himself with them.
Instead, Jesus hung out with the rif-raf.
He dined with prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves, murderers, and the like.
He sat with gossips, fornicators, drunkards, and liars.
Jesus' friends were all, to coin a phrase, ragamuffins.
He knew who needed him most.
He knew who needed salvation most.

Looking at my own life, I realize how big a ragamuffin I am, personally.
I am a sinner, sometimes in the worst way.

I hear a lot of "prosperity preaching", and have even heard some ministers and preachers say: "God has promised you blessings!" "You deserve to be blessed!" This is something that, no matter how hard I try, I just can't adhere to.

We do not deserve blessings. We are human, therefore we are sinners. Sin, according to the bible, is "punishable by death" (Romans 6:23). That punishment was taken by Jesus.

While God does promise blessings for His children, being blessed spiritually and being blessed secularly are two totally different things. God promises SPIRITUAL blessings. He doesn't promise financial, romantic, or any other blessing in that realm. In every scripture I've ever read about blessings, these are never addressed. (There are many of you out there that will disagree with me, and that's okay.)

Accept His Blessing (eternal life) - accept His Love - accept His Sacrifice (Jesus Christ) and you WILL be blessed.

I am His Ragamuffin.
Are you?

God Bless,

Making Your Home Sing Monday: Turn Off The TV!

I'm a day late! But at least I got it posted, right? 

Hey there everyone! It's Monday again (not anymore)! You know what that means: I'm linking up with my wonderful bloggy friend Nan over at Mom's The Word for her weekly link-up Making Your Home Sing Monday! Wanna know more? Go check it out and link up!

Hello. My name is Jen. And I am a TV addict.
So is my husband.
So are my children.
And let's not get started on video games.
We are a total gaming family.
But there's a problem with that.
We spend so much time in front of the TV having "screen time" that we don't really interact with each other much. We don't have dinner at the table. We don't play board games. We don't have very many meaningful, in depth conversations with our children, either.
This is a problem.
So this week, I am going to propose something that I have a feeling my family isn't going to love.
This week, we are going to turn the TV off.
Not completely mind you - my husband would NOT go for that. Rather, we will have the TV off from the time the kids get out of school until after dinner is cleaned up.
As for me, I will allow myself an hour of "screen time" a day.
Rather than watching TV, in the afternoons we will listen to music, play games, talk, the kids and the hubby will help with dinner/setting the table, etc.
My hope is that this will help my family get to know each other a little better.
Pray for us . . . This should get interesting.

Tasty Tuesday: Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken

*I had actually intended on posting this with pictures, but I did not end up making it last night! I promise I will post pictures next week!*

Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken with Sauteed Vegetables

Chicken:

10-12 chicken legs or thighs, washed and rinsed

Marinade:

2 T lime zest (about 2 limes worth)
juice of 2 limes
1/2 C vegetable or canola oil
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 C water
1 T fajita seasoning
handful of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped slightly

Vegetables:
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1 purple onion, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 yellow or green bell pepper, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. place about 2 T of the mixture into a smaller bowl and set aside. Pour the rest into a plastic storage bag. Add chicken to the bag and squish around until chicken is well covered. Set aside and allow to marinade for 15 minutes.

Pour remaining marinade into another plastic bag and add vegetables. Toss to coat and set aside. Allow to marinade for 10-15 minutes.

To cook the chicken:
Remove chicken from marinade and dry off (this is VERY IMPORTANT!). Grill 6-8 minutes on each side, or until a meat thermometer reads 164 degrees in the thickest part of the meat. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

To cook the vegetables:
Heat a skillet over medium heat and add 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp cooking oil of choice. Add veggies and saute until crisp-tender (or as done as you want them to be - I like them slightly caramelized!) Serve warm.

Make it a meal:

Add some prepared quinoa or a salad to round out this delicious meal!

Did you try this recipe? Comment below and tell me what you thought!

Christmas Is Coming!

Monday's are usually allotted for Making Your Home Sing Monday, hosted by my friend Nan over at Mom's The Word. Today, however, she has something else in store! A wonderful two-part series on how to have a self-cleaning kitchen! Yes, I am certainly going to be taking notes on this one! Go ahead and run on over there and give her some love - and trust me when I say you'll probably learn something!
Go on! I'll wait!
...

...

'K, back? Great!!

Guess what time of year it it!
My FAVORITE time of year.
Christmas!
I LOVE Christmas so much. The lights, the decorations, the food, the gifts, the family time . . .
It's all so wonderful.
This weekend we decorated for Christmas (a week later than I wanted, but hey! At least it got done!)
We got the tree up,
Got the little decorations up . . .
Even put out my decorative scent warmer
And gave Leonard, our rat, a bit of festive decoration of his own.
But it's still not enough.
I WANT MORE!


I love what two of my best friends have done in their homes - they've decorated the pictures, wall hangings, and family pictures around their house with little Santa hats and other festive decorations (picture Ringo Starr holding a Candy Cane - AWESOME!!)
I have SO got to do this.

I want decorations EVERYWHERE.
Seriously, folks, I want it to look like the Christmas Elf threw up in my living room.

But I have to stop myself and remember something important.
This time of year is not about the decorations.
It's not about the lights, the food, the gifts . . .
In reality, it's not even about the family time.
It is about a tiny little baby born over 2,000 years ago, the night that His earthly mother held Him for the very first time, and the light and love He brought into the world.
It's about Jesus.
Christmas would still be here without all the other stuff, but it would not be here without Him.
So, this Christmas season, I will be making my home sing by keeping the CHRIST in CHRISTmas and teaching my children the REAL meaning of Christmas.

God bless,

Back Again! New Look, New Format!

So, I have been on a bit of a haitus. Not because I don't love blogging. Au contraire . . .
I have just been lost on this particular blog. With my other blog, it's simple. It's all about my weight loss. Nothing else involved. But HERE. Well, this is my forum to talk about anything and everything.

What's a writer to do . . ?

Then it hit me!

A blog about everything should be just that! A blog about EVERYTHING!
So, welcome to it.
This is my blog about EVERYTHING.
The new format will look something like this:

Monday: I will be linking up every Monday with my friend Nan over at Mom's The Word for her link-up "Making Your Home Sing Monday"

Tuesday: "Tasty Tuesday" will return! And most recipes will be low carb and/or Paleo based (and YUM).

Wednesday: "Wordful Wednesday" will come about - this day will be dedicated to scripture and religious discussion.

Thursday: As a Mary Kay lady, I have to throw in a few posts dedicated just for that, and they will be here! Thursday will be "Thnk Pink Thursday" and all about Mary Kay, including my own personal successes, struggles, and any specials I'll be running for that week/month!

Friday: TMI Friday returns - with a VENGENCE (let's just say that having weight loss surgery has given me a LOT of TMI Friday moments!)

Saturday/Sunday: These two days will be dedicated to photography, art, music, crafts, and writing.

I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, and I hope you'll join me! Thanks for reading!

God bless,

Wednesday Update: My Scale Sucks . . .

Seriously, I need a new scale.

Or I need to make friends with a doctor that will let me come weigh every week.

My scale SUCKS.

One day I weigh in at 220, the next 227, the next 220, the next 228 . . .

REALLY?!?!

And let's not get started on when I step off and step on again.

Did you know it's entirely possible to gain 15 pounds in under a minute?

So here's this week's update:

(by the way, my laptop is a bit out of commission so vlogs are on hold until I can A) figure out why it's being a butt and fix it or B) I get enough money for the really cool gaming laptop I've got my eye on. I'll keep you posted)

Starting Weight: 295

Surgery Weight: 285

Highest Weight: 310

Current Weight: 220

How's my eating? 

Pretty good - I am now where I can pretty well eat whatever I want, within reason. I don't have any more issues with meat or eggs (thank God!). I do not do well with high-sugar items however - remember the discussion we had on dumping syndrome? As it turns out it DOES, in fact, affect a lot of sleevers. I happen to be one of them. Part of me is glad for this, but part of me (the whiny kid that is still addicted to chocolate donuts and pasta) really hates it. But I'll get over it. I need to focus on the GOOD rather than the BAD - both emotionally and food-wise. Making good choices means I don't get sick, I feel better, I keep losing, and, eventually, I reach goal. 

I still have issues with carbs. My husband and I went on a road trip this weekend and brought with us "naughty foods" with the sole purpose of eating as much crap as we could on this trip (this is how our vacations go, for some reason). The unfortunate thing is that we still have some of this crap left over. Guess what I ate a lot of yesterday. Yeah . . . There's a reason why I have to stick to a low-carb lifestyle. I never realized how much my food addiction focused on carbohydrates until now. I had always been taught that carbs were okay - especially whole grain ones. Apparently in MY case, that's not true. I can't resist them and apparently my sleeve really likes them because I can eat a LOT of them.

Now for some NSV's (non-scale victories):

First off, this weekend's trip was centered around a renaissance festival near Houston, TX (yes - we are the nerdy ones that show up in costume). I have, as part of my garb, a bodice that I bought a few years ago for around $250 (I swear I spend more money on clothes for faire than I do for clothes IRL {in real life}) - this bodice has lacings in front and in back. When I bought it, we had to add a second lacing to the back and the front lacing was open about 6 inches. This is what it looked like:

Before: Around 300 lbs

Okay . . . So maybe the bodice is MORE than six inches apart. Yeah. Pretty bad. And I actually thought I looked GOOD. *eye rolling*.

So, HERE'S what I looked like this weekend:

After: Around 220
The lacing in front is tightened all the way, and the back is almost to the point of removing the second lacing.

So, does the sleeve work? 

^^^^^You be the judge^^^^^

So I have 20 pounds until my next goal of 200. This is the weight I was when I graduated high school.

My goal is to reach that by December 1st. 

Tasty Tuesday! What I'm Cookin'!

Today I am making something yummy and delicious. 

Something that was quick and easy, but slooooowwww cooking all day long.

BEANS.

They're wonderful fruit. 

And you know what happens the more you eat of them . . . 

Well, let's talk about the beans themselves, shall we?

First off, I LOVE MY CROCK POT.

It has become my BFF in the kitchen and I use it at least twice a week.

Today it holds a favorite of my whole family.

Pinto beans. 

NOM NOM NOM.

Here's how I did it:

I picked through a lb. bag of pintos, picking out all the broken bits and stones.

I poured the lot into my crock pot and covered it with two cans of chicken broth plus two cans of water 

(I used the chicken broth cans).

I then added a bit of chili powder, some King's Spice 

(from Scarborough Faire in Texas), 

some Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. 

Then I popped on the lid and let 'er rip.

I started them at 7am. It is now 9 and my house smells amazing already.

Tonight we have beans.

Tomorrow night I will take 1/2 the leftovers and mash them and make homemade refried beans.

Thursday they will go back into the crock along with a can of black beans, some hamburger meat, tomatoes, beef broth, seasonings, and bell pepper and onion for a delicious chili.

Yes.

I love beans.

So, what are YOU cookin' today?