Wholesome Joy Life

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Storms of Life

I love clouds. As far back as I can remember I've loved them (it probably started with that one Winnie the pooh story about the dream clouds. Anyone that's watched it will know the one I mean :p lol) That feels really weird to write that :(

I had the idea of taking pictures of the same part of the sky every day at

different times, to show the difference in just a few minutes

As you can see the same tree is in a lot of these pictures

In the evening

midafternoon

Early evening

afternoon (we had storms that evening).....

But the clouds were gorgeous!

There were two layers of clouds going two different directions...

This one is actually at a park about six months ago

It was beautiful!

At times the sun would come out and all

of the clouds looked really dark.

For a while it looked like it would blow over....

Most of the clouds were gone

This is that evening right before the storm came

We were still able to be outside as it wasn't raining yet

This is one of the archways in our garden

This is after the storm.....

See the blue sky! It was really pretty with the dark clouds

The sun came back out!

And the clouds were Awesome! They looked even

more beautiful on the back side of the storm then they did when it

was coming in!

That's the way it is in life sometimes too, you see a storm coming and it looks

awesome and sometimes scary! But when you look back on it you see

how God brought you through it and you are a stronger person

(in Him) because of it!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Friday, March 28, 2014

A Birthday Dinner Part 2...Manicotti!

Hi Everyone, I finally got around to posting part 2! Hope everyone likes Italian food lol. Here is the link to part # 1. A Birthday Dinner Part 1

Our family LOVES Italian foods, like Manicotti, Lasagna, Spaghetti and goulash to name a few :). And we also use different sauces like alfredo, spaghetti, and marinara.

Okay, for my Mom's birthday she wanted to have Manicotti (for most of their date nights my parents go to Italian restaurants). This was my second time making it so I was still a little unsure of myself :) Here is the recipe I used!

Three Cheese Manicotti

1 (8 oz.) package manicotti pasta (I used lasagna noodles)

16 oz.ricotta cheese (I used two 15 oz. packs.)

6 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

6 oz. shredded Monterey jack cheese

2 tbsp. sour cream

1/3 c. dried bread crumbs, seasoned (I used the end slice of a fresh loaf, I was short on time and it worked)

1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

2 c. spaghetti sauce (I used marinara sauce, and a lot more of it! Lol)

Directions

Oven needs to be preheated to 350 degrees
Bring lightly salted water to a boil, add lasagna noodles and cook for 8 to 10 min. until al dente, then drain.
combine in a large bowl, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Monterey jack, add sour cream, bread crumbs, parsley and salt and pepper to taste; mix up well.
spray a 9x13"pan and spread a thin layer of marinara sauce in the bottom.
cut lasagna noodles in half across (you will use noodle for each manicotti)
place some of the filling on half of the noodle and wrap it up, then wrap the second half around it.
once all of the manicotti's (noodles and filling) are in the pan, place the rest of the sauce on top
cover top with more mozzarella and place in the oven.
bake for 40 minutes and serve.

Sauce

Wrap the noodle over the filling..

then place the other half over it...

fold.

cover with cheese...

Enjoy!

Read part one here!

a-birthday-dinnerpart-1

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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Thorn in the flesh?

This last week we have been getting ready for spring, so I was cleaning out flower beds and trimming bushes. The rose bushes really needed a trim so I decided to do that project on Saturday.

While I was trimming them I had a tiny thorn get in my hand, it hurt a little but more than that it was annoying! After the first 10 minutes I didn't feel it anymore so I didn't do anything about it when I got in the house.

Fast foreword two days and I notice it again, my thumb was swelling on one side, it was infected.
If I had dealt with it right away it would not have gotten infected. We treated it and after two days it is doing much better.

Today I was thinking about how such a little thing when it was left there became a bigger problem, and if we had left it in there it would have gotten bigger and bigger.

Sin is like that we can think that holding onto anger or lying once in a while or having a bad attitude are just little things, but if they are left in there and not dealt with they just keep getting bigger and bigger until one of two things happen, you either stuff it down so much that you don't feel it anymore or, you can't think about anything else and you are eaten up with guilt.

   So What is your thorn in the flesh? anger, lying, bitterness? Whatever it is you need to get it out before the infection spreads!

SIN needs to be dealt with right away or it will fester and destroy you!

Written 3-21-2014

                                                      Thanks for stopping by.


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