Ahh... next week is the last week in January. Goodness time fly's by at our house. Well i thot i would update ya on our happening lately. As ya all know we went back to Oklahoma for Christmas. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends. As much as we miss our family and love being with them, i somehow got home sick and was ready to be back home, Yes home as in Odessa TX. lol.. It was quite strange to be with family but yet not feel complete. I believe that's bc we have a family in Odessa also. We have really enjoyed the this adventure God has given us. We love everyone down here so much.. yada yada... anyways enough bout those cazy texans...:) We came back right before New Years, and brought my brother with us (ya only so he could see Ma....e lol). We had our first Lock-in the on the 30th with our new youth group. It was a blast and they all stayed up all night except Andrew!! Which decided to snore very loud during our movie!! So as the new year starts i am not making any new years resolutions, just a simple challenge to myself to be more Christ-like in everything i do. Because God called us to do EVERYTHING as for doing it for the lord. So in this challenge i pray to be more graceful in my knowledge of his word, i pray to become a better wife and mother, i pray to become a better friend, and better in all i do, bc i believe if i am striving to be Christ-like then i can only do better in all that i am.

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!!