Hey, friends! How about a little What's Up Wednesday fun?!
What We're Eating This Week ...
Macaroni and Cheese + Bacon & Peas // Four strips of cooked and crumbled bacon and one cup of steamed peas added to a prepared box of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Easy, peasy, and cheesy!
Breakfast for Dinner // Oven Scrambled Eggs & Loaded Potato Casserole
Instant Pot Chipotle-Honey Chicken Tenders (using chicken breasts that Jason smoked and we froze for future dinners)
+ Leftover Loaded Potato Casserole
+ Leftover Loaded Potato Casserole
BBQ Chicken Tostadas (using IP chipotle-honey chicken // originally smoked it pairs perfectly with BBQ)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz No-Bake Cookies
Over five years ago I clicked through a link to this recipe in a blogging link party. I told the blogger how my husband's grandma made these each Christmas and they were a family favorite. Her post and that simple comment was the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
The day Chrissy and I met in person, taken from the post:
On her birthday I made these "cookies" to celebrate her from afar. They were so enjoyed my family that the treat was on repeat this week. Have you made these? If not check out Chrissy's recipe here.
What's I'm Reminiscing About ...
Our Disney vacations! My husband, Jason, has been working on editing video from our most recent trip for our YouTube channel, Eat, Sleep, Dis, Repeat! We're both anticipating sharing the magic in upcoming Trip Report Tuesday blog posts and in vids on ESDR! Seventeen days of fresh Disney magic coming your way soon!
What I'm Loving ...
I am loving the sunshine, lovely breeze, and sweet birds' songs entering our home through wide open windows! Spring is such a glorious season! This gorgeous weather was absolutely worth the wait!
What We've Been Up To ...
We are working hard on a strong finish to our homeschooling year. Summer break is quickly approaching and we can hardly wait for oodles of family fun in the sun!
What I'm Dreading ...
I can't think of a single thing, and that my friends, is a beautiful thing!
What I'm Working On ...
As previously mentioned, I'm currently at work on a new installment of my Trip Report Tuesday blogging series. I can hardly wait to share recaps of our recent 17-day vacation at Walt Disney World! We stayed at some new (dream) resorts including 5 nights at Disney's Polynesian Village resort and 6 evenings in Disney Vacation Club's newest addition, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge! There are so many new restaurants to review and memories to preserve!
What I'm Excited About ...
All the spring and summer goodness to come! Family walk and talks, picnics, bike rides, swimming and lounging poolside, zoo trips, and so much more await us and I couldn't be more excited about all of it!
Watching this precious family living life, honoring God with the gifts He's blessed them with, and loving each other does my heart good! This show regularly makes me laugh and cry happy tears. We rarely finish an episode that doesn't conclude with me commenting, "That was so good!" This airs on the UP Faith and Family network. Their website says the channel is available through Cox, Dish, Directv, and more. We watch it through a $5/month channel addition to our Amazon Prime Video account. If this channel is available to you and you're looking for a television show with good, clean family fun to enjoy with your own family, I highly recommend Bringing Up Bates!
YouTube // Wretched
This video was so encouraging to me. If you're a Christian obeying the great commission in sharing the Gospel and you've found yourself ever discouraged by not seeing the results of your efforts, please listen to this.
Now, out of sincere care for YOU, precious reader, let me ask you that same eternally important question that that man faithfully asked passersby there on George Street.:
If you were to die today, where would you spend eternity? The Bible says it will either be Heaven or Hell. Would you think about that, please? Thank you.
Can I follow that up with this:
What is your answer to this question based upon?
If your mind heads straight to your own good deeds, how often you attend church, or your accolades in this life, that's an indication that your hope is resting on your own shoulders. What a impossibly heavy burden to needlessly (and worthlessly) bare! The good news is Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30) There is a way to ensure your salvation. Your own personal strivings with the unreachable goal of earning your own way to Heaven can cease today when you take that misplaced hope in yourself and instead place it in the victorious Savior. Note: Our hope cannot be in ourselves and in Jesus Christ. We are not made worthy by our own actions as Isaiah 64:4 says, "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." When we turn to Him in repentance (asking for forgiveness for the ways we have sinned against Him throughout our life) and place our trust in Him alone we can find true rest, lasting hope, meaningful peace - all of which the world attempts to offer in fleeting ways, but that our Creator can and delights in giving freely to His own.
Approximately 150,000 people die each day. Many of those people begin that day as any other, with to do lists and dinner plans, unsuspecting that the day will be their last. Just the thought of that causes me to ask, with great sincerity and love, that you ponder this today. This life, whether brief or long lived, is but a vapor in comparison to all of eternity. Nothing could be more important than making certain where you will spend it.
YouTube // Alex Chacon
Alex Chacon is a former medical student who sold everything he had back in 2012 to travel the world. My husband and I have been watching his adventures via YouTube for about five years now. We're currently watching his recent motorcycle trip through Bolivia. I appreciate his content so much as it's a means of traveling to far away places I'll never physically visit. If you enjoy travel vlogs, incredible scenery, and a peek into how other people live across the world, his channel is well worth checking out!
What I'm Listening To ...
I've been loving the {free} Grace to You Sermon app! I typically press play, tuck my iPhone in my pocket, and do dishes, tidy the house, etc.. It makes housework such a pleasant time (which is definitely a win)! This week I finished the Anxiety-Free Living series and began listening to The Fulfilled Family series.
What I'm Wearing ...
I spotted this hat in a Kohl's ad and knew I needed it. It's so feminine. I absolutely adore it! I need a new pair of sunglasses, so this cute piece has done the trick in covering my eyes in the sunshine when out on our evening family walk and talks!
What I'm Doing This Weekend ...
My parents invited the girls to come stay with them on Friday night which means DATE NIGHT for my hubby and I! Can't wait!!! We have no plans between then and church on Sunday morning which is such a great thing in my book! Looking forward to a wonderfully refreshing weekend ahead!
What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month ...
Celebrating my sister & her daughter's birthdays
Mother's Day
Memorial Day
Celebrating my sister & her daughter's birthdays
Mother's Day
Last Mother's Day weekends was one of my all-time favorites! The sweet deets were captured in this post.
Memorial Day
My favorite way to spend Memorial Day weekend is grilling and then chilling at a free outdoor symphony performance followed by fireworks!
What Else is New ...
That pretty much sums up life at the moment!
