Fitness group, starting soon!

Hi Ladies, I'm excited to be starting a fitness encouragement/accountability group soon.  I'll be starting Monday, December 3rd, and going for 9 weeks (60 days). 

Watch for the first post Monday!

-Taylor

Just Be There

I've had a few people in my life who I've been trying to encourage or mentor, both now, and in the past.  But I always have the questions Am I saying the right thing?  Am I mentioning God and the Bible enough?  How much do I just listen, and how much do I try to encourage someone to do or say the right thing, and give input in their life?  Has anyone else experienced this?

I wanted to share an article that I read this morning:
http://www.roomag.com/mentoring-moments-or-meetings/

This article probably said it a lot better than I can, but this is some of what I gleaned from it:  It's okay to "just listen" at times, just be there, get to know someone, and build a relationship.  The bible says that even Jesus spent time just being with his disciplines.  Conversations don't always have to start specifically about the Lord.  You can talk about cooking, kids, relationships, work, marriage.  One of my pastors when I was growing up used to call this "common ground," things that we can enjoy talking about with both Christians or people who are not Christians.  If we hope to encourage people towards a closer walk with the Lord, or be a witness to them, we can start by just showing care and being a part of their lives.  Then ask God for wisdom and guidance, to lead to deeper conversations. First, just be there.

-Taylor

Wassail (Spiced Cider)

                       

I've always affectionately called this drink by it's traditional name, Wassail, but many people call it Spiced Cider or Hot Spiced Mulled Cider.  It originally came from England, where it was made at the first of each harvest, to wish for a good harvest the following year.  Now its often made just as a Christmas drink, but I think it can be enjoyed all Fall and Winter.

You might recognize this carol, usually sung at Christmas:

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.                        

                          
Recipe:

The basic ratio- 2 parts apple juice, 1 part orange juice, 1 part cranberry juice

1 bottle of part Apple Juice or Cider (64 oz. standard juice)
1/2 bottle of cranberry juice 
1/2 bottle orange juice (if this is a larger bottle of OJ, make it 1/3rd)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves

5-6 whole cinnamon sticks
8-10 whole cloves
Orange sliced in the rounds

Make in a Crockpot or large pot on the oven.  Add all ingredients (except sliced oranges, add later after cider has heated up, so they don't get mushy.)  Cook on medium-low for an hour or more, to let the flavors mix..  Or if you have limited time, heat until hot, then turn down to low, simmer.  This recipe is very much "to your taste preference".  After you have added all ingredients, pour a glass, taste it, and you can add more spices if you wish.

For decoration and flavor, you can add cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and orange slices.  I've even seen this made with whole cranberries.  You can pour these right into the individual glasses for decoration.


Have a blessed Thanksgiving, Enjoy!
-Taylor

3am Thankfulness

         

I have a lot of friends posting "What I'm thankful for" comments on Facebook this week, and for some odd reason I've found myself avoiding it, like the plague.  It's not that I'm unthankful! I just can't fight the feeling that it seems really forced or contrived, to be thankful just during the month of Thanksgiving.  It's 3 AM right now and I just finished a middle-of-the-night feeding with Maddy.  Can't quite relax enough to go back to sleep, so I'm finding myself blogging and still bugged by this Facebook Thankfulness thing.  I had to ask myself, "Am I really thankful for the things in my life?"

I came to this conclusion: whether or not someone chooses to participate in a Facebook or similar outward declaration of thankfulness, it's always a good reminder.  Yes, we should be thankful all year.  We should tell God and others what things in our lives we are grateful for, and often.  We can use this month as a reminder to slow down, and be aware to be grateful.  I love that Thanksgiving is near the end of the calendar year, so we can use it to reflect on the entire past year.  Hopefully, if we are sincere about our gratitude and thankfulness in Novemeber, it will spill out into more of the year.

 So here's what I'm Thankful for this year:


I'm Thankful for my beautiful daughter Madelyn Anne (Maddy), born May 31st.  She is sweet and joyous, and smiles so much.

I'm Thankful for my son Kellen, who is 2 years and 3 months.  I'm thankful for his energetic, creative, wonderful personality, and sense of humor.  I'm thankful that he's starting to talk so much, and comes up to me saying "Mama......"  He's loves to show me things and tell me stories.

I'm Thankful for my wonderful husband Travis.  He is a loving, compassionate man, so caring and supportive of me, and sweet and gentle with our children.

I'm Thankful for a job that I love, and that I can do on a very part-time schedule and still be able to be a full-time Mommy.

I'm Thankful for both my Phoenix and Washington families, and loving church friends.

I'm Thankful for a relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.


-Taylor

Taylor's Autumn Pumpkin-Banana Bread

       

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1 small can (13 oz) pumpkin
splash of orange juice (about 4 Tbsp.)
splash of cranberry juice (about 4 Tbsp.)
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla

Stir sugar and butter until well mixed.  Add eggs and mix again.  Add bananas, mash well.  Add pumpkin, milk and vanilla, mix with a spoon.  You may use a hand mixer to get rid of any banana lumps, if you prefer.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tps. baking powder or 1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
(1 cup chopped nuts, if desired)

Add all the dry ingredients, stir well with a spoon.  Stir in nuts at the end.  Spray or butter baking pan, divide batter evenly between two pans.

This recipe makes 2 loaves, or 1 loaf and 12 muffins.

Bake at 350 degrees- 1 hour 15 mins for loaf, 22-25 mins for muffins

Enjoy!  -Taylor

(Original recipe lightly based on Banana Bread- Betty Crocker, New Edition.  7 ingredients added or altered from Betty’s version.)

Happy Friday, Blogging About Blogging

Happy Friday out there!  I'm so thankful for this upcoming weekend.  It's been a long week here, my husband had to work overtime a couple of days.  About 10 minutes ago, Kellen requested Winnie the Pooh, and I said "Great!" and set it up.  He's sitting on his doggie rug from Grandma, babygirl is snoozing, and I'm sitting on the couch with coffee, writing to you.  So hello from me, Kellen, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, the whole gang.  For Christmas last year, my sister-in-law's family gifted him a Tigger stuffed animal, saying "We thought, is Kellen more a Winnie or a Tigger?"  Oh, he's definitely a Tigger; practically bounces off the walls sometimes!

Last night I finished the "Mondays Always Start Fresh" series.  I really enjoyed writing it, but mid-work I felt like it was getting way too long.  And I did a LOT of editing from the length it started!  Half way through, I wondered if I should just write a short book about this topic sometime.  But nevertheless, I really felt obligated to finish.

I started blogging in the end of September, but realized that my own posting started to go in a direction I don't want to go.  Too long, "article-type" writing.  Okay for sometimes, but not my goal with blogging.  I don't want to write articles that are too long to read!  As a busy mom, sometimes I'm catching just a quick break to check out my favorite blogs.  I'm looking for a short bit of encouragement or words for the day.  My guess is that if you're a busy young mom or working woman, you're looking for the same thing.

So watch for some new shorter posts, and a couple of my favorite recipes, coming soon.

I hope you have a fun, restful weekend.

-Taylor

Mondays Always Start Fresh- Part 3

Settings Goals

I started writing about fresh starts because of some of the things I've been experiencing in my own home, as life has gotten even busier with the birth of my daughter in May.  I've had to think of ways to "make it work" and plan out my time better.  Most of my time management struggle has been with housekeeping, so that's what I'm going to share.  But I think these principles can be applied to any area of discipline or relationship in our lives.

I've learned that people have different personalities, strengths and weakness, when it comes to housekeeping, as well as in life outside the home.  I'm one of those people who- if I don't keep "on top" of things- my house can go to shambles in a second!  I've been trying for the past couple years to build better habits, especially in the midst of caring for my growing family.  Last week my husband paid me the biggest compliment, saying that he can tell how especially hard I've been working these last several months in our home.  He said he can see changes in our home and in me.  It was so encouraging!

Each one of us is unique.  We don't need to do things exactly the same way.  But here are some general thoughts and things I've learned about Setting Goals, that I'd love to share with you:


1.  Decide what YOUR biggest "Priorities" are, and try to accomplish them every day.  That's a great place to start, and you can build upon it. 

For me, it's housekeeping- the dishes and having the entire main living area generally picked up the end of the night, including all toys.


2.  Keep a daily schedule.  It can be detailed or a general guideline.

I'm one of those "creative types," and awhile back I was almost afraid of making a daily schedule.  I thought, "That's sooo boring, and it's going to drive me crazy doing the same thing every day!"  Well, I've found that with a 2 year old, following a basic schedule for our day has not only helped my sanity, but it's helped to give my son some structure.  It's also helped me to get more housework done during the day.  I do schedule in time to get out of the house with the kids at least two or three times during the week, that's so important.


3.  If your house all of a sudden "explodes," just focus on getting caught up.  Don't worry about the extra stuff, like deep cleaning projects.  Don't spread yourself too thin, just do the dishes and pick up the house.

This happened to me a couple weekends ago.  We had illness, overall exhaustion and total sleep deprivation from babies.  So my husband and I ended up just hanging out, resting and watching movies.  It was the weekend, right?!  Well, on Monday morning I realized that my house had become a disaster zone!  I focused on just picking up the house and getting caught up that day.  Actually it might have taken even a day and a half, but best decision ever.


The Best Advice in the World...about Setting Goals

I heard a story about a very successful businessman who claims, "Every day I come in and set three goals that I want to accomplish.  Just three."  At first I thought that was crazy, but I've since learned what a fabulous thought that is.  I love to write to-do lists, so I used to sit down and write a dozen things down, then burn out and not understand why I didn't finish it.  Maybe you already have a daily chore list, or maybe you are new to these kind of goals.  I'm still learning myself.  Start with a few attainable goals, things that you know you can get done.  It that becomes way too simple, you can always add from there.

Don't spend extra energy dwelling on what was left behind.  I don't believe God wants us to spend time dwelling on our past and living with guilt about shortcomings.  Spend a good amount of time reflecting on how you are doing things.  See areas you need to grow.  Between you and the Lord, tell him about the areas in which you want to improve.  Then move forward, with His help.

Set your goals, and start again!

-Taylor