My mom’s Carne Guisada

2 lbs of beef stew meat
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 tomato diced
1 tomato sauce can
1 –2 potatoes cubed
cilantro
water (just enough to cover the meat)
2 goya packets seasoning (1 of the Sazón with Coriander and Annatto and the other with Sazón with Azafrán).
salt to taste
garlic (optional) I like to throw in a garlic clove that I press through with my garlic press

1. In a large pot, combine all the ingredients except the potatoes. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add the potatoes and cook for about another 30 minutes or potatoes are tender.  And Julie, don’t break the potatoes down while simmering .

Menu Planning Monday… er Tuesday

Still not feeling good today but wanted to document that yes, I am ready for the week’s meals!  And while I may not be feeling good, I will still produce a sort of dinner!

Monday – Chicken Kebobs with Couscous and a side of fried plantains!

Tuesday – Carne Guisada con arroz

Wednesday – Spaghetti with Spinach Meatballs.  It looks sooo good!

Thursday – Taco Night!  Quick and Easy tacos (can’t believe something so easy is a family favorite!)

Friday – Black Bean and Mango Tostadas.  My sweetie and I had these before and they are so good!  I’m not thinking the boys will eat this but will use some shredded  chicken (pre-made and sitting in the freezer thank you very much!) and make a quick chicken tostada for them!  (shredded chicken, corn, and carrots mixed with mayo).

I have plenty of stuff for Saturday and Sunday but refuse to plan because unexpected things always happen!  Besides, we’re probably gonna be out because a special niece will be celebrating her birthday this weekend!

Worry Wart

That’s what I can call myself.  I don’t seem like that often but I truly am!  Today’s scripture reading was so mind boggling. So many things to think about and reflect on!  All the scriptures sure can apply to me especially about being such a worry wart but I am going to pull out the scripture that I’d love to work harder on.  

S:  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33

O: That is so important!  I can’t say enough how much that seems so relevant but doing so is a whole different thing!  I remember when I was working on decorating my house and my Pastor said, “Just pray about it first.”  Seriously?  Pray about what curtains to choose?  At the time of my spiritual journey that seemed so weird. Now that is completely different!  Before I would walk mindlessly down the aisles (ahem yard sales) trying to figure what I can compile together for our house.  Then walk away empty handed.  I know now to seek Him in everything I do.  EVERYTHING.  Including what I would consider trivial like decorating our house.  Now that’s not easy.  Especially sometimes when I feel that He’s playing the silent treatment with me. 

A: So how do I start?  Well I am going to make sure that I apply this exactly as it is said, “Seek Kingdom of God above all else.”  The NIV says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” and the NKJV “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. “  I like the word FIRST.  That doesn’t mean second, or later, or tomorrow, or when I get around to it.  It means first and foremost.  I really gotta work on that.  I love my morning Bible study and prayer routine.  It’s not perfect and on some weeks I am lucky to do 5 out of the 7 days.  But I gotta apply this.  Because check out the reward “and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Who wouldn’t want that?!

P: Lord, please help me!  I really want to hear you and grow in relationship with you.  I don’t want to feel that you are being silent.  In fact, help me be MORE silent so I can hear what your purpose is for me.  I will work harder in putting you FIRST in everything.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Happy New Year!

So funny that it’s been almost a year since my last post.  I am thankful for the recurring mantra I have in my mind, “It’s about the progress… not perfection.”

I am going to keep this post positive even though I am currently surrounded with an almost empty box of tissues and wads of Kleenex surrounding me .  I’ve been keeping Kleenex in business these days as this is our third box! 

I wanted to start today’s post with my SOAP.  This year, our church is reading through the New Testament and I am excited to be part of it.  Today we are on Day 3 and the reading for today is Matthew 5:1-42.

S – Scripture  - Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

O – Observation – Right after Jesus called his first disciples, he went out throughout Galilee and began preaching the good news and healing diseases and sickness.  This brought a lot of crowds and began teaching on the mountainside. This scripture stood out to me because as His disciple, we are asked to show our good deeds not for our own glory but His. I love that people are blessed by our actions and will result in praise to our Heavenly Father.

A – Application -  I am feeling like I really need to step it up on my deeds.  The crazy thing is that I never feel like it is enough.  It can be the little things, like being an encourager and motivator for our boys, my sweetie, and family (my friends are my family too!).  I’ve noticed that I never feel like I have time for everything and that is because I’ve always let everything schedule me rather than me schedule things.  I know that if I put God first everything will fall into place.  That is what I truly need to work on.  I know God has put people around me for a reason and I feel truly blessed that there is a purpose behind that. I hope I can be a blessing to them so that God can be honored in it!

P – Prayer  Lord, thank you so much for showing me today that my actions speak loud.  Let me be cognizant of my actions so that what I do is

This week's progress

Pretty excited this week about our lessons with Lil G
This week, Lil G working on a unit study on China

• Short research on the the country
• reading Chapter Book "Little Pear"
• reading Chapter book "Magic TreeHouse: Day of the Dragon King
• making Chinese lanterns
• copying Chinese characters

I am so excited! This Unit Study is really fun for both of us...

Happy New Year!

I am feeling so great! What a mighty God we serve! A whole new year huh? I know that it has been a while since my last post.. but I am pretty psyched now to continue documenting my thoughts, dreams, wishes, etc.

So today is the second day I actually completed a 30 minute excercise. WHAT?! I actually said excercise! Now most of my fam knows that's a dirty, bad word in my language. It's pretty much something I have never done. I make no commitments here and frankly I don't even know that it is even excersice (See? i am even having trouble spelling the darn word!). I do few things on the wii fit then turn to cox and demand and try one of their 20 minute workouts. Preferably something of a dance routine so I can concentrate on only achieving the moves than even think of the dirty word.

Anyhow, here is what I have noticed... I am feeling more energetic, MORE hungry (what's up with that?) and I down a whole bottle of water before it's even 8am (it used to take me a whole day to even complete one bottle). So I guess that's good. Just taking it day by day. The good thing is that it's done and off my mind now and I can go on to bigger and better things.... Like starting my new year of homeschooling. Off to teach now..

Best wishes,

My kid is a genius!

WOW! I couldn't even do this!

Just had to share :-)