Hot and Sour Soup

I love dinner parties. Especially at my house. Even more, I really love people who love creative food. Let me tell you, I made some creative tofu soup. 

So here it is.

First, get your ingredients. 

Chicken Stock (64 oz)

Ginger (root or powder)

Scallions (you pick the amount)

Tofu-extra firm (1 cup or more cut in cubes)

Tomato (Roma work best...you pick how much)

Mushrooms (I love mushrooms!)

Corn (Sweet it good!)

Hot sauce (you pick how spicy)

Balsamic Vinegar (you pick how sour)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place chicken stock in pan and heat. Add Scallions and ginger. Boil for a few minutes.

While that is boiling, thinly slice scallions in the vertical direction into long strips and place in cold water. Watch for magic! They Curl!

Back to the hot soup. Remove the scallions and ginger 

(if used root). 

Get your veggies out!

Add tofu, mushrooms, corn, hot sauce, and vinegar. Then boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. I'd say let it simmer for it about 25 minutes so the tofu can soak up all the flavor!

Get your funky table setting ready.

Garnish with those curly scallions!

You can also cook Ramen noodles and eat them on the side. Or, do what we did! Dip the noodles in the soup! 

There you go! A creative, easy, and fast way to make some soup!

Craft.

Josh and I moved. I realized how much stuff we really have! (especially how many clothes I have!) We had this collage frame of engagement pictures from three years ago. I loved this pictures, but I thought it was time to switch things up. 

I began to think about what pictures I could put in this frame. Then it hit me! Haiti! Josh and I LOVE Haiti. We never want to forget about what we experienced and always want to remember the sweet faces we met. Needless to say, Haiti pictures moved their way into our engagement collage.

It wasn't enough for the frame. I wanted something crafty to do with them. Plus, I had a whole Saturday to myself and I was a little bored. So, I came up with this! 

Simple. Crafty. Yes. Love.

Can't wait to go back!

Haiti, I'm coming back!

A team from Fellowship Church is headed to Haiti August 6th-13th! We all met together last night and got to spend time with each other getting ready for our trip. I'm so excited! We have such a great group going. We're doing some fundraising! Here is the list of events

We're selling muffins on Sunday mornings! Look for the "Change for Change" buckets too!

Yard Sale on July 2nd

Tip Night @ Pizza Hut (all tips accumulated will be given to us that night): July 9th

Sonic (25% of total take in from 6-9 p.m. will be given to church):Dates coming!

Texas Roadhouse (10% of total order with flyer will be given to church): July 18th

Puebloʼs (10% of total order with bulletin will be given to church):Every Sunday!

July 10th @ Puebloʼs for Fellowship Fun Night

We're getting so pumped! Please pray for our team! If you feel led to give you can give online to the Haiti Mission Fund. Anything will be greatly appreciated! 

We're coming back to see your sweet faces!

What I'm Reading.

 

Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid's Week.

By Sue Miller

It's a great book. Her ministry started from nothing. I mean nothing. They met in a movie theater where she had to clean up popcorn every Sunday Morning. So, far here are some things that have stuck out to me.

-When a leader lives out the vision in front of volunteers, they will serve with passion, enthusiasm, and commitment.

-Ministry fills up volunteers who serve in the right places; they leave each Sunday feeling energized rather than exhausted.

-Serving teams in children's ministry might be the only place people will experience community.

-Never consider letting current circumstances dictate compromise or settling for ministry to be done "good enough."

-If done well, the best hour will impact the way they live the other 167 hours each week-and even change the rest of their lives.

-Ever volunteer needs to understand how their role fits in the big picture of the church, and believe that reaching lost kids and teaching all kids makes a difference.

-To see kingdom potential means believing ever child might someday serve Jesus: this increases the urgency of children's ministry

-How many families stop attending church because the struggle to get the kids to go isn't worth the effort?

-No matter how lost a person is, he still cares for his children. If a child wants to come back to church because he had a great time, they'll come back.

-The older a person gets. the less likely it is for him or her to start a relationship with Christ: urgency of children's ministry

-Get better every year, get better every Sunday. An unresponsive kids' ministry is on a path toward obsolescence and irrelevance. It will actually become less effective in reaching real kids.

-A clear mission-one that leads to clear-cut results-is the starting point for making any children's ministry the best hour of ever kid's week. When a mission is stated well, everyone in and around the ministry knows what they will collectively strive to accomplish. Get it right and ministry potential knows no limits.

-Children are more likely to exhibit a matter-of-fact faith in Jesus, than we adults who are skeptical of anything we can't experience with our five senses.

-Imagine a generation of kids growing up expecting God to save people through the local church.

-Our kids' faith should cause them to change from the inside out- not because of a bunch of rules but because they want to.

This is great stuff! I'm excited to keep reading!

Graduation.

Saturday was Taylor's graduation party. I can't believe she graduated! We went shopping Thursday, Friday, and picked up the cake and balloons Saturday morning. We decorated FOREVER on Friday! Then the festivities began on Saturday! We went to pick up the cake and that silly Mother of mine got me a cake too! Bless her heart she surprised me with a graduation cake too!

Surprise to me!

Taylor and her cake!

Then there were the decorations!

 Making the Taco meat!

 Tea that I learned how to make from Amanda at Fellowship Church!

 Taylor's Senior Pictures on the board.

 Taco bar!

 Tables.

 Cake table.

 Ladies hard at work cooking!

 Table of Scrapbooks and pictures.

 All her awards and the mailbox for all that money!

Bottles of water in here. Good thing some guy was selling it at Dad's auction so we could use it and then dad could sell it!

After over 100 people, we were tired and ready to go! But, we had to clean up. I guess it was all worth it! We all had a great time and it was good to see friends and family that I haven't got to see for over a year!

Scrapbooking Haiti

I love to scrapbook. There is nothing better than reliving your favorite memories. You know, it is that good refresher of those memories and feelings. Sometimes it reminds you of people and other times it reminds you of why you do what you do. I've been scrapbooking our Haiti trip. There is nothing better then writing a little tid-bit beside those pictures that mean so much.  My mom, sister, and I have been scrapping like fools! Sometimes there is nothing better then  little scrapbook mess.

Some of the best pages have come from the greatest messes! Check out my Haiti trip so far!

More to come!