baked chicken dinner

Yesterday I spent some time with my mother and she let me try a new recipe she had created. She has always made very good baked chicken, so when she told me she had tried something new with it, I wasn't sure how it could get any better. As always, her recipe was great. This new baked chicken recipe tastes like a gourmet meal, and is actually easier than her original recipe. I decided to make it tonight for my family (and so I wouldn't forget her directions).

Baked chicken, steamed potatoes, candied carrots

Baked Chicken

Thaw chicken breasts and trim fat. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with vegetable oil cooking spray. Place chicken breasts in dish. Coat topside of chicken with mayonnaise, then lightly layer with herbs. (I used basil, parsley, ground pepper, cilantro, oregano and an Italian spice mix.) Crush Ritz buttered crackers until fine and coat the top of the chicken breasts. (I crush the crackers by placing them in a ziploc bag and roll with a rolling pin.) Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Test the thickest part of the breast with a food thermometer; poultry should read 170 degrees when finished cooking. This chicken is so tender and the taste is absolutely delicious. Thanks Mom!!!!

baked chicken fresh from the oven

Candied Carrots

I like the look of petite whole carrots. I washed the carrots and trimmed the ends of the greenery. I put them in a microwave-safe covered dish with about 4 Tablespoons water and microwaved for 5 minutes. When done cooking, I brushed butter on the carrots and lightly coated with brown sugar. I put the lid back on the dish to keep the carrots lightly cooking until ready to serve.

Steamed Potatoes

I found a yellow potato in the fresh produce section at Meijer that is in a steamable bag. They cook in 8 minutes in the microwave and taste so good. These fresh potatoes are great without anything added, but if you prefer, you can add a little butter and herbs.

A gourmet meal start to finish in less than an hour. No leftovers, so I think we will do this again!

team sierra

I am strong!

I am doing this special post on a young lady named Sierra. My family was first introduced to her through our neice, Kaitlyn, who is her friend and fellow student at Newton High School. This past year Sierra was diagnosed with cancer, and has undergone a series of chemotherapy treatments. She is 16 years old! Sierra is only a freshman and has such a positive outlook on life. She has been living in Columbus many weeks of the year away from her friends and family as she is under observation and cannot be around sickness.

Philippians 4:13

Today, I am asking for specific prayer for Sierra as she is having surgery to scrape her lungs. She will be in an induced coma for three days and will have air forced through a tube so her lungs will continue to receive the required air necessary. This is an important part of her cancer treatment, and she needs all the prayers possible.

Sierra's family is also in need of your prayers, as they are hurting for their daughter and sister. I have seen firsthand how a community can rally around a family and be a source of encouragement, support, and love. Sierra's hometown of Pleasant Hill has allowed signs to be posted to remind community member to pray for Sierra. The highschool hosted a benefit for Sierra to raise money for her family. Many other local events have helped raise awareness of Sierra's need.

Elauna (center) with cousin Kaitlyn at Sierra's benefit

If you are on Facebook you can follow her progress at Team Sierra and find more ways to be involved. For those not on Facebook, you can reply to this post at anytime and I will keep you informed. I thank you, so very much, for your prayers.

The girls from Newton. Sierra in the front.

Photos copyright Studio Nine Photography.

bling for the bull

Here is another project I did for our conference room. I found an old cow skull in my woods a few years ago while I was walking. I thought it was a rather strange find at the time, but I really liked it and saved it for a future project. The skull has been sitting in my hubby's shop so it was nice and dry now, and the loose parts fell off easily. (I did find it in the trash once....guess Jeremy didn't see the potential). Oh well. He did paint it white for me the same time he was painting another one of my projects. He really is a dear, helping me with all these. :-)

After the white paint job

After is was painted white, I added some "bling" with turquoise colored shells pieces and some rhinestones. I used Gorilla super glue to attach them to the skull. I definitely suggest using the Gorilla super glue over regular super glue because your fingers won't glue together and the glue comes off your hands much quicker. (Mom, that tip is for you). It took about an hour to glue these pieces individually, and I probably should have had more ventilation because the smell was getting to me by the end of the project.

When I do the post of the entire room I will show this piece again when I have it mounted. I thought the colors gave it a nice Southwest feel, with some cowgirl charm added.

laura: worldrace 11n11

This month I would like to introduce you to my friend Laura who is now preparing herself for a mission called the WorldRace. She will be leaving everyone and everything she has known, to go with a group of people on mission for eleven months, touching the lives of people all over the world. It was a big move and I have seen so much excitement as she prepares for this journey. She will be traveling to Ireland, Romania, Ukraine, India, Nepal, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, and Taiwan.

Laura with a little friend

I was first introduced to Laura's desire to go on mission last summer when she told me she was accepted to be a part of the WorldRace. She informed me she was selling most of her possessions, moving back in with her parents until she left (she has been on her own for awhile now), and dedicating herself to the mission to which she has been called. So what will she be doing on this mission? Holding babies, building homes and churches, fighting human trafficking, living in real communities and sharing Jesus with people the world over.

You can help! Really. Laura needs to raise $15,000 to fully participate in this mission. Essentially, she is living off of that amount for one year, while traveling to several communities around the world, eating what they eat and living like they live. If 150 people give $100 she will be covered. So what is the next step? You can be a prayer partner, you can financially support, you can help raise funds, you can create opportunities for Laura to share what Jesus is doing in her life.

1. Visit her blog, get acquainted, and click "Support". 
2. Follow her blog while she is on mission: http://lauraschaefer.theworldrace.org 
3. Print her support card (below) and share with friends
4. Allow her to share about her upcoming journey at your church or school
5. Fill a jar with spare change and let kids join in the fun of supporting a missionary
6. Send tax deductible support via mail to:  Adventures In Missions P.O. Box 534470 Atlanta, GA 30353-4470

Caring for others in Jesus' name truly is the adventure of a lifetime, whether they are in your community or across the ocean. For the least of these we share all we have been given, because Christ gave all for us!

happy LOVE day

My sweet hubby surprised me when I arrived home today by having these lovely roses in the kitchen for me.  These light pink with yellow are my favorites, and he had them in my white pitcher - nice! He had cards (which I love) on the table for us too. My mom and dad also had sent the kids cards in the mail, and my Elauna was very excited to open hers.

The co-op we attend decided to let the kids share "valentines", so I designed some today and assembled them. I pasted the kids pictures on the back side of the card. My family has called Valentine's day "love day" for awhile as we have a friend whose last name is Loveday and February 14 was her special day.

I was making valentine bags for my co-op class to put their cards into and take home. I took brown paper sacks and used scalloped scissors to trim the top of the bag. Next, I folded the top over and and punched two holes and ran a red ribbon through. My mom had been cutting hearts out of a paper towels to amuse the kids and I loved the way it looked. She cut out some more for my bags.
Thanks, Mom, for all your help!

ladders from heaven

My children have been afflicted with a virus for the past week and a half. It started with Elauna, then Frederick, and finally Claire. The virus causes high fevers, makes the kids very tired (where they sleep several hours a day), and very thirsty but with no appetite. Claire peaked at 104.6 degrees with her fever, so we were taking this serious. We have been doing a lot of praying and staying home.  We don't take children around others if they have a fever within the past 24 hours....I hate to share sickness. After that long at home we are really ready to leave the house and see people again.

When I was younger, my mom would show us the rays from the sun and call them "ladders from heaven."  It always is a source of joy to see them, especially on days where they are so beautiful coming from the sky, shining through the clouds down to the ground. We would say someone was praying or their prayers were being answered, and especially liked the days they were at our house.

This morning, the sun was shining through our window as I sat playing with the children. I was trying to FaceTime my brother when I noticed it shining on our faces. It reminded me of how the Lord had answered my prayers this week to heal my children. They all three are feeling much better, back to their active, talkative selves. I wanted to catch the moment and remember to be grateful for the goodness of the Lord.

custom lantern lights

One of our projects this year was to finish a meeting room off the shop for groups to come in, as well as a place for Jeremy to meet with clients. He wanted a rustic theme and I will do a complete post of the room when it is finished. I have designed most of the light fixtures for the room. The first group of lights are old lanterns wired to work with modern electronics. We did not want to change any of the physical features of the lamps so as to preserve their originality.

Most of the lamps only required cleanup with a rag and cleaning solution, but one lamp was so rusted it needed restored. I had found this lamp in the cellar at our house, and it is an old Dietz. I wiped it down, then took steel wool and made it smooth. Next, I sprayed it with Rustoleum polished bronze paint. The final step was to clean the glass.

before

after

To wire the lamps, I used three components: 

1. 18-2 brown lamp wire (2 feet per lamp)
2. Leviton 15-amp 125-volt 2-pole light duty plug
3. Leviton 167 outdoor pin socket

I assembled the lamps by running the wire through the top of the lantern on the backside (most were through the ventilator), down into the globe. The lanterns pull apart so the globe can be removed for cleaning. I stretched the lanterns part, wired the socket and screwed in the light bulb. I closed the lamp and wired in the plug end. All finished! The hardest part is getting the lights to hang straight in the lamp. We purchased wrought iron hooks from Hobby Lobby to hang the lanterns from the wall. (At 50% off, they came to under $3.00 each.) 

Here are some photos of the finished products:

An art-deco lamp. We left this one rustic-looking as it has a nice patina.

A Dietz fire truck lantern.

Dietz large skaters lantern.

Another Dietz large skaters lantern.

Two of the lanterns in the room.

Most of the lanterns came from Jeremy's parents collection that they purchased in Maine several years ago. We enjoy upcycling antiques, or doing the same thing they were intended for, just in a modern way.