Can't you see why were so excited to go se our family in okc. Dont they look fun!!! We love them so much!

Click on the image to make bigger!!

Today’s new recipe: salsa chicken. A moist and creamy shredded chicken recipe that’s super simple. Just drop a few ingredients into the crockpot and poof, you’ve got a great mixture to put on top of just about anything.

We ate our salsa chicken on top of some brown rice, but you could easily top baked potatoes instead. I also think it would be great to make shredded chicken nachos with any leftovers you have.

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream
Directions:
1. Mix soup, salsa and taco seasoning in the bottom of your crockpot. Sink chicken breasts into the mixture, covering completely. Cook on low for 5 – 6 hours depending on size of chicken breasts.
2. Remove chicken, shred and return to the crockpot. Add sour cream and mix well. Heat until everything is warmed through. Enjoy!

Maddie's Christmas photos

Homemade Laundry Detergent

In the spirit of Laura Ingalls, with wash day being Monday, here's a little recipe for homemade laundry detergent you can use tomorrow, Monday!

wash on Monday
iron on Tuesday
mend on Wednesday
churn on Thursday
clean on Friday
bake on Saturday
rest on Sunday

from Little House in the Big Woods
* I use these utensils for detergent making only. They all stay in the pot until I make a new batch.

You will need:

1 bar of soap (any kind you want)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of washing soda
a big pot ( that holds more than 2 gallons)
a grater

a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers

Grate your bar of soap into your pot.

Fill one gallon jug and pour water into pot with grated soap.

Cook until the grated soap dissolves.

Add the Borax and washing soda.

 

Bring to a boil. It will coagulate.

Turn off the heat. Add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well.

Pour 1 gallon of your detergent into each container.

A funnel helps tremendously.

Now you have 2 gallons of homemade laundry detergent. I use 1/2 cup per load (which I actually just use the old lid from my detergent bottles  to tell how much). With the prices of detergent being outrageous, I feel really happy every time I make a batch of this.

This won't make many, if any, suds. Suds don't equal clean. It took a while to get that into my head. This detergent cleans wonderfully!

Let me know if you make any or if you have any questions.

Happy washing!

If you don’t have a big enough pot to make this, then just half the recipe.
the issue of the detergent becoming too thick. Try using 1/2 of a bar of soap instead.
to add that the detergent should thicken / coagulate when it cools. Usually within 24 hours! ***
estimated cost is $6.00 for 576 loads (depending on soap used and amount used per load, One BOX of Borax and Washing soda)
The savings is incredible.

It's Christmas time, It's that time again!!!!

We had a service project for the teen's last saturday. We had donations given from different members at church of money for us to go shopping with to buy Christmas for 25 kids. We had a great time with the kids.

My Dad, Brother, and Uncle are coming to town tonight. So in attempt to get the house cleaned up and smelling like Thanksgiving, i decided to get my Christmas decorations and tree up. Have i said it a million times yet? I love This time of the Year!!!!

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!!!

We hand feed the cows

Were having a blast getting to know everyone here in Texas. But im pretty sure madeline has been a little obsessed with the Wesson family. They are a very sweet family that we just adore. But almost every week we are with them either laughing and eating or feeding cows. Madeline loves going with Jeff and feeding the cows. She will even hand feed them(shes not afraid, but i am).

This is one of my fav's of feeding the cows!!!

This is Jaycee, We love her so much!!

I love when the leaves turn orange

Thot i would update with some recent pics of what we have been up too...

This is Alyssa Lane, we love her so much!! She's such a sweetie. Madeline was juliet from the movie gnome and juliet!!! And then theres Andrew!!

This is maddie trying to reach the very bottom toy in the toybox, she eventually fell in!!!

Here's madeline's first door on halloween night!! She was tangled!!

Maddie's first hay ride!!! (notice she's holding joshua's hand)

Catch up!!

Starting my blog back up, mainly for the purpose to share my recipes with my friends and family!! And well to keep ya updated with us, since i dont update on facebook as much anymore. Wow am i the only one who is going crazy bc next week is thanksgiving??? This year has gone by so fast. We have been so blessed this year. Were settled in to our new house and loving all the family we have thru the church. We have no blood family for 8 hours, but god has blessed us with wonderful people to be around and fill in as our family. Madeline is growing so much everyday. Everyday she amazes me with something new. just yesterday she was jumping on our bed and counting from 1-13. We have been keeping busy with the youth group and others. Last night i had a pampered chef party and tonight were going over to the Howards to eat dinner and visit. We love being with people and love having people over. Were very excited for my family coming in to visit for Thanksgiving, this will be there first time to see us since we moved in July.

Oreo's and Cheesecake!!!

Ok so i stumbled upon my old blog site.. and was super excited, bc i didnt have to make a new one!! I'm gonna start this thing up again and try to keep all my friends and family updated on how were doing and what were doing.

Well as you all know, we are settled in to our new home (YES OUR NEW HOME!! i love saying that) and adjusting well to Texas!!! I have had plenty of time for crafts and lots of cooking which is my favorite things to do!! Today i made Cookie and Creme Cheesecake Bites for the burger cook-out with our church friends tomorrow!! This recipe was so easy to make and well smelt good also, havent tasted yet:(. i'll post the link to the site i found it on!!!

http://www.handletheheat.com/2010/02/cookies-cream-cheesecake-cupcakes.html

Hope you have a special event to make these for just like i did!!!

coupon's

So today was my coupon matchup day!! Went to walmart and target and just walked the aisles to see whats on sale, and if i had a coupon for it. I found several things for free and things for $0.10. Today's sales werent the best, but still found a few things.

4pk of kleenex, no coupon just on sale $4.00
2 Lysol spray bottles $2.07, i paid $0.88 each
2 lysol refill bottles $2.07, i paid $0.88 each
clorox disinfecting wipes, $0.77
Lysol disinfecting wipes, $0.77
2 mens degree deodrant $0.97 each, i made $0.06 after coupons
2 womens degree deodrant $0.97 each, i made $0.06 after coupons
3 reach floss $0.88 each, i made $0.36 after coupons
Gain fabric sheets $1.87, i paid $0.87
3 Fixodent denture cleaners(for my dad:)) they were i think like $3.40 each and i paid $0.40 each
Glade automatic sense spray $7.89, i paid $1.00
2 Nivea body washes(1mens 1womens) FREE
1 hair brush. needed a new one, no coupon $5.00
1 bag of cheetos. no coupon, maddie was hungry $1.00

..............And for all that i paid like $11 something

Wow, it has been awile since i last blogged! Well not to much has been going on here in our part of the world. I have been doing me some extreme couponing and saving some money!! Andrew is on the phone tonight with a confrence call from Paris, Texas. We have around 10 different churches that we have set up dates with or future plans with. Madeline is now 20 big months old!! She is everything i could ask for! I'm now staying home with her full time and loving it!!! Lately i have been doing a lot of crafts in my spare time away from coupons!

Pray daily

Welp.. I figured i would update my blog, since i havent in forever. It's already the 3rd month in this year, THATS crazy! Madeline turned 18m on the 3rd! She reminds us everyday of how blessed we aree to have her in our lives. I love watching her explore the world around her and show her personality in what she does. She love to read books and sing... Her dora doll has to go with us when we leave the house and she is very fond of her friends. Every milestone in her life has been a new favorite.
Were still living in okc area and attending church at North Mac :). Andrew has put in several more apps in at churches, but no leads yet. As impatient as i am, i pray everyday "god in your time, i know you will put us in a church". God has a plan, and its not what i can plan. Everyday i struggle with the thoughts of "why?" and i remind myself this is the way god intended and there is a reason why. Were constantly praying for the church we will work with in the future and for the youth that we will be with in the future.
I'm still staying home with Madeline and working with Pampered chef and Old navy part time. I have held off on searching for anymore dispatch positions for now. I feel like i need to focus on the time i have with my daughter right now and be as much encouragement for andrew as i can be. Plus mommy and maddie time is fun!

Embracing the culture

Snow snow and more snow! Well we survived the cabin fever and are loving the view from our windows. Had our snow ice cream and did our small touch of the stuff. Madeline is now 17 months old. She is healthy and growing right on track. She knows where all her body parts are, can say anything you say, loves to talk, loves to pray, her favorite show is still sponge bob, her hair is now past her shoulders and its blonde blonde blonde. Madeline loves to play with other kids, and loves her baby dolls. We thank god every day for this happy little girl. She loves to do crafts with me and watch me make cards for people.
Were still interviewing with churches. Alot of people tell me about churches looking for youth ministers. But its a little harder than you think. Yes they have to interview us, but we in turn have to interview them just as much. We want to make sure the church we work in is completely scriptural in everything they do. Were not going to be okay with something that's not scriptural. When we do find the church god wants us in to do his work, we plan on being there for a long time and raising our family there.
Raising our family... As some of you know, i had a very bad pregnancy and was very sick. the pregnancy ended in an emergency c-section. Madeline was healthy but very small when born. The pregnancy over-all scared me about having another baby. So since then i have said that i don't want to have another pregnancy and don't think i could go thru it again. At first i loved the idea of Madeline being an only child and our one and only. After a little thought and something that has been spacial in my heart for awhile. Andrew has embraced the same passion i have for international adoption. We have decided that we would love the opportunity to adopt a child from a foreign country. Right now our focus is mainly on finding a church to work with and a home for our family. But our time frame is within 6 years we would like to have the adoption process complete. International adoption is very expensive and time consuming. There is so much that goes into the adoption and then theres also the unknown, meaning the information the government of the country we choose does not tell us about the child we chose. Were taking a big risk for the child to potentially have health problems due to the poverty in the country or the parents sickness and sometimes the government doesn't tell you about these problems. These are things were keeping in our prayers and handing them over to god. Were very excited about this and passionate about this. Were wanting to wait to start this process until we are settled in to our future home and Madeline is at least 4. Please keep this in your prayers(I know its awhile from now). Theses so much more, but i think I'll end for now.
Thanks for reading ... feel Free to leave me your comments on our future plans.

I believe in God even when He is silent.

This is the last full week to January!!! That is crazy. Alot has happened already this year. My brother turns 17 this Saturday. Andrew has interviewed with 3 churches this month already and has one more the beginning of March. I didn't get the job in Yukon that i was wanting. :( But on the bright side when i searched for more jobs i found out that Bethany, Guthrie, and Edmond were all hiring for the same position!!

I have really enjoyed my Wednesday night class at church. The past couple weeks, we have been talking about prayer and the power of prayer. I challenged myself to pray with Madeline every night before bed no matter how busy. To just take time and talk to god with her. She's very good and knows about prayer bc we have always prayed at home alot but not very constantly lately. So our routine has to turn the TV off for the night early and have mommy and daughter time(daddy works nights). We sing songs and laugh. She is very advanced and loves to repeat the songs with me. I love the fact that when i start singing Jesus loves me, she starts saying "bible bible". Then we end our night in prayer. I close my eyes and fold my hands together while she sits on my lap and begin to pray and she listens and repeats every other word almost. She loves to pray for the babies and loves to say "Amen".

I am enjoying my new years resolution, on writing 365 cards. I love getting a phone call from someone saying they got my card! I love writing the cards and the thought of maybe being able to maybe put a smile on someones face.

I have now stumped my doctor as to whats wrong with me!! Also i have already met my deductible for our insurance this year!! :( I'm going to a different doctor of mine on Monday to see if maybe she might have some answers. The pain is a very sharp pain on my left side of my stomach, comes and goes at any time and last maybe a min to all day. I just keep praying that it doesn't get to bad to go back into the ER with it. I can stand the mildness, but just not the severe! We have done every Gail-bladder test there is, Cat-Scan, Ultra-sounds, Blood work, Scopes, and lots of tests!! I'm just trying to be patient. Thanks for all the prayers tho.

Well i better wrap this up and head to bed.

If you know of someone who is maybe in need of some encouragement or just a hello from a fellow christian, forward me there info and i would love to write them.

Thanks Good Night!

Darcee

Looking forward to sending these cards out!! Made more after i took the pictures. I'm currently on my 17th card for this year!

Keeping up with the Schwarz's

Wow, its already the 11th of January. I can tell this year is going to go fast. Let me update ya on whats been up with the Schwarz's.

• Sallisaw interview/meet and greet.. Went great!! The town consist of like 10,000 and is one of the poorest cities in the state(which means housing will be cheap). Over-all the town is very pretty and has everything to offer including a Walmart (yay). The church was very welcoming and took us in as there own. They had a pot-luck lunch for us after service and we meet alot of th congregation. There were probally around 150 people and theres 4 elders and one retired preacher. Andrew taught bible class preached morning and evening service and got alot of posititive feed back on how great he did. This position is for the full time pulpit minister. Were praying very hard, and know god will put us were he wants us.
• Yukon Police.... i went in for my last (and 3rd) interview today. It went great and i was very pleased with my answers to there questions. I'm not expecting to get this job bc they are only hiring for 2 dispatchers and there is like 15 other people that applied. But im still praying i do get the job, it would be a very awesome job and great training at yukon.
• Doctor visits and test.... So my doctor sent me to a Gi doctor(which is i guess a stomach doctor). So yesterday i went in for a upper endoscopy procedure. They had to sedate me. Which was very weird, and relaxing at the same time. Because of the sedation i didnt feel a thing until they woke me up after. Andrew said the doctor said he didnt see anything wrong with me and he would send the results to my doctor and go from there. So im still a mystery to the medical field as to why im having these stomach pains and whats causing them.
• Madeline.... Is now 16 months old and is perfect! She currently has her 4th bottom tooth coming in which will make for her 8th tooth. She loves playing with her plastic golf set and loves loves cell phones. She doesnt like waking up before noon and loves kissing babies!!
• Pampered Chef... I'm still selling Pampered chef, i took a month off from any shows and am back at it now. I'm still looking for a few people in feb to host a show. If your interested just send me a message on facebook.

Sorry so long, thats whats going on in our lives right now. Have a blessed day!!

Dont save it for the funeral!!!

The 6th day into this year already!! I hope ths year doesn fly by as quick as last year did. But i have heard that once you have kids it gets faster and faster. As for my resolutions..... Diet, im stil hanging in there. I am doing pretty good, but could be doing better. I have lost 6lbs so far. The house is clean and im in the middle of organizing it all, just bc if we do decide on going to any of the churches we have interviewed with, it will be easier to move organized.
I have alrready made several cards for people and have handed out and mailed them. I am really loveing this more than i thought i would. Its nice to tell someone how much you appreciate them. (side note) The preacher in Tulsa's sermon last sunday was "Dont save it for the funeral". This is kindof where i got the idea for this resolution. He mentioned that so many people wait for the funeral to talk about the good they did and how much they meant to them, and really we need to let these people know now not when there gone.
Coupons Coupons Coupons..... head over heels. i keep searching the web for them and asking freinds and family to save them for me. I am expecting to save big$ on our next shopping trip.
Hope your day is a blessed one!!

Busy, busy, and busy

New year, new beginnings and experiences. I'm excited this year has begun, i know god has plans for us this year. This past sunday we visited the congregation in Tulsa (North sheridian rd coc). We had a wonderful time. The church was very good at welcoming us and making us feel at home. There is alot involved with this ministry. Andrew and I have alot to think about and pray about. I'll keep you updated on this part of our lives.
Today was the first day of my diet, it went great. I have ate my 500 cal. and am feeling great. I know the next couple days will be hard, but i have the will power to do this. Today i had my sit-in with yukon police. That was a very awesome experience. Alot of work goes into this job, but i know i have the skills for this. Please keep us in your prayers.