SSMT - Adventures in scriptures, verse 2

January 15, 2015 I started to work on memorizing my next verse as a part of Beth Moore's Siesta Scripture Memory Team...this one has been a tad more difficult, but it's such a great reminder! 

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. (Philippians 2:3-4 NLT)

Here's another version of it that I like:

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

I found this recipe in Pinterest and tested it out...it is DELICIOUS!! For the instructions I followed, check out the blog I got it from: Favorite Family Recipes blog. (They originally got it from the Skinny Taste blog where you can also find all of the nutritional content!) I tweaked the recipe some since I was only making two squash boats...

Below are step by step photos of when I made this delicious dish!!

Scooped all the seeds out of the spaghetti squash...

After steaming squash on stovetop for 15-20 mins, I scooped all the spaghetti squash out...you keep the outside layer to use as a bowl!

One filled! One more to go!

Add meat sauce, then ricotta cheese mixed with parsley & more cheese...

2nd layer of meat sauce...

Top with mozzarella and bake for another 20-30 mins or until cheese is melted...

ENJOY!! It is very yummy!

SSMT - Adventures in scriptures

On January 1st, 2015, I joined Beth Moore and Living Proof Ministries in a 12 month Scripture Memory challenge, AKA Siesta Scripture Memory Team (SSMT). The goal is to memorize 24 scriptures in 12 months - just two a month! I'm very excited for this endeavor because every person chooses a scripture that is meaningful to them in their stage of life and because this will help me to get in the Bible to search the scriptures, to dwell on them and to hide them in my heart. To learn more about this adventure, check out the initial blog post from Beth Moore: http://blog.lproof.org/2015/01/siesta-scripture-memory-team-2015-verse-1.html



For my first scripture I have chosen:
"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Romans 12:12 NIV 

I found this beautiful printable on Pinterest that another blogger had posted, if you would like to download it, check out her blog here.

I am looking forward to the amazing things to come for my future in 2015!

New Year, old year...

‘May the LORD bless you and protect you. 

May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. 

May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’ 

(Numbers 6:24-26 NLT)

May you draw closer to God in 2015...be thankful that He has blessed you in years past...never forget what you've come through...

Here's a recap of my December 2014!

Seeing the Christmas lights in my sweet little town. 

Made reindeer cupcakes with my sisters and nieces! 

Helped our church youth group and an awesome organization wrap presents for local children for Christmas!

Drank lots of coffee at our local coffee shop (recently re-opened in a an awesome new building!) The Bull Shack is awesome and they have a great back story!! To learn more about them click here. Or visit their FB page! 

Decorated my little house for Christmas to celebrate our savior's birth!

Took a "pre-shopping" nap...because that's necessary! 

Went to see The Nutcracker at the Houston Ballet!

Made some homemade presents! 

Decorated Christmas cookies for Santa Claus! #Texas

Watched A Christmas Story! My husband IS Ralphie! #familytraditions

Had some wonderful quality time with my man!!!

AND had a wonderful family Christmases with both my side of the family and with his! I love family time! Oh and we managed to smoke an amazing turkey for Christmas dinner!

This year has been great! Looking forward to what God has in store for 2015!!

Green Drink!

Green Drink!

This last week I started a regimen of oil that are supposed to help detox your system and flush out fat (will post more about that later...) and in conjunction with the oils cleanse I've been drinking this Green Drink suggested by my doctor!

It's so very easy to prepare! I've had one nearly every morning on my way to work this week.

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 frozen bananas
1 cup of grapes (or other fleshy fruit)
2 fistfuls of spinach (or kale, I use both)
1 tsp of milk thistle
1/4 cup of flax seed (I use approx. 1/8 cup of flax seed meal)
1-2 cups of water depending on consistency preference

This Green Drink is surprisingly delicious and fills me up without having to eat breakfast too! Note, adding blueberries to it is delicious but it turns the drink a brownish purple color! Lol :) 

Kathrinka thinks...sometimes

Kathrinka thinks...sometimes I catch myself caught up with thinking: 

thinking about the future

thinking about the past

thinking about the unknown 

thinking about things I fear

But then I'm reminded of these verses:

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...

Proverbs 31:25
She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

So be reminded that there is no need to fear the future or get caught up in your own thinking... We need only to trust in God. 

Thank you God for always taking care of me. I will continue to work on trusting You.

Mellow yellow...

"They call it mellow yellow..."

Yet...how could yellow ever just be mellow when you know the ray of sunshine that it brings, the smiles that it can generate and the joy one can feel in the light of yellow!

Have a blessed day! 

Share a smile today...share some yellow!

Kathrinka thinks...4 years ago today

Four years ago today, I prayed it would stop raining long enough for me to marry my best friend, Mr. Jesse Emerson. We were blessed with a humid, but sunny outside ceremony.

I remember beautiful vivid memories from that whole day...and many memories of our adventures for nearly 10 years we have been together. I love you Jesse, thank you for asking me to marry you! 

With all my respect,

Mrs. Katherine Emerson

Chicken, veggies & ranch crockpot meal

I looooove having a crockpot for cooking easy meals! This last weekend I spent most of my morning prepping and cooking meals for the week. One of the meals I prepared was one I discovered by throwing together the very few ingredients I had in my kitchen a couple of weeks ago! 

All you need is: chicken, celery, bell pepper, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of chicken broth and a packet of ranch dressing mix. 

I cooked 6 chicken thighs with these ingredients in my crockpot on high for 4 hours. While it cooked I also had time to prepare other meals!

Let me know what crockpot recipes you love! 

Kale, bacon & onion

I've been working lately on eating healthier, especially homegrown food and when I heard a friend still had kale growing in her garden I asked for some! 

Kale is a leafy green that is packed with flavonoids which have antioxidant and anti-inflamatory benefits. It's called a "super food" that can help lower cholesterol, detox your body, and lower your chances of certain cancers!!

She said she loves to sautée the kale with a little bit of bacon and some onion. So this week I tested it out!

It was delicious! Thank you Gaytha for the fresh kale from your garden! 

Tips on cooking kale: cut the stem out from the middle of the leaf, it can be very tough and difficult to eat. Please let me know if you have other recipes that include kale!

Happy Birthday!!

My mother is a wonderful woman, and yesterday we celebrated her birthday. I am so blessed to have her in my life. I am so very thankful that she made the sacrifice on a daily basis to homeschool each of her children, she continues to share God's love to her family, friends and even strangers, and to be a beautiful example of a woman who honors God. 

Thank you momma for being so awesome! Happy Birthday Karen Coburn!! I love you Mom!! 

This was when we was younger, mom always loves to take photos in the bluebonnets. 

This was taken after a super fun day planting potted plants with my momma. 

Father's Day 2014

Today I ponder the effect my father has had on my life...my father always pointed me to look to my Heavenly Father for guidance... 

My dad has always been awesome. When I was young he read me great books with such fun expressiveness, he hugged me often, and always made me feel loved. He made many sacrifices over the years to be able to provide for his six children while mom stayed home to homeschool us. I'm very grateful that he provided my mom with the opportunity to homeschool. 

Now that I'm an adult, he still makes me feel loved, he's taught me how to manage finances, to plan for the future, to show honor and respect for those who deserve it, to work hard and to always show those you love just how much you care.

I love that he still tells me "I have confidence in you."

I believe my dad embodies this verse:

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6 NIV)

And...

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; (Psalm 103:13 NIV)

Thank you dad for showing me a small glimpse of our Heavenly Father's compassion. 

This is me and my daddy at the family's long standing vacation location walking arm in arm...lots of wonderful memories have been made in that small town in Texas. :)

Hello yellow!

I just looooove the color yellow! It makes me so happy! 

Here's some sweet summer-like yellow photos that make me smile, ENJOY! 

 

:) yellow, yellow, yellow! 

Kathrinka thinks...

...we need more JOY in our lives! 

Do you ever feel like this: 

Yeah...me too sometimes. But it doesn't have to be that way, we make the decision to be joyful. It's even found in the Bible:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4 NIV)

So, next time you feel down, REJOICE in The Lord! He has given you life! Enjoy every moment of it! Today I will rejoice because:

- I have breath for another day!

- I have a God who loves me unconditionally!

- My husband is a great man who I highly respect!

- I have a home (a 552 sq ft "square" room, but it's our home that we've been blessed with for the time being!) 

- I have a great job!

- My family is awesome, supportive, and loving!

- I have five beautiful nieces!!

- My church family is just as awesome as my biological family! 

- I am blessed with wonderful friends!!

We are called to be like Christ. I encourage you to find out who Jesus Christ is, how he shared love with people, how he sacrificed so that we may have eternal joy, how he loves unconditionally and how he helps people. 

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus..." (Philippians 2:1-5 NIV)

Let's look to the needs of others, express your joy today in what you're thankful for and then seek out how you can attend to the interests of others. Be a blessing to someone else today! 

Here's a little handmade token from me as a reminder to find the joy in your life today...

Aaaannnnddd something cute to make you smile. :) This photo is of me and my brothers when we were young. Enjoy your day today! 

I am a pro-procrastinator!

I am a pro-procrastinator! 

Procrastinator confession: I wrote this post yesterday and told myself I would post it tomorrow! 

I started this blog, to the day, 5 years ago. May 29, 2009. I blogged off an on for a little while, quit completely for a while and then blogged again about my food adventures...but quit again a little while later. 

I have such great ideas, plans, dreams...but I just can't quite seem to get them off the ground. My goal at the beginning of 2014 was to start blogging again. Well...Here we are almost halfway through 2014, and I just keep thinking about it and never doing it! 

Oh believe you me, I've come up with excuses:

• I can't commit to even one post a month

• My pictures aren't pretty enough

• I ramble too much 

• No one is really gonna want to follow my blog anyway 

• ...I need to go cook dinner

• I should be working on my budget right now

• Laundry, laundry, laundry

• It's midnight already...

• I'm not interesting enough

• Work takes up all my time

• I don't have time to blog

And yet I keep coming back to a desire to blog! I want to share exciting experiences. 

I want to show the young, newly married woman that you CAN learn to cook! (I thought I was gonna be the biggest failure of a wife/cook/housekeeper...don't get me wrong, I'm still learning, but that's the point! You CAN learn to do what you really want to do!) 

I want to share my love of the color yellow. 

I want to enrich people's lives with beautiful photography. 

I want to help people live healthier lives by introducing them to the multitudes of benefits that Young Living Essential Oils has given to me. 

I want to encourage the depressed, to share the Love that my God so generously shares with me. 

I want to share how awesome marriage can be. 

I want to be adventurous!

I want to share my adventures in cooking, life and love! 

SO... here's to the end of procrastination and the beginning of adventures! 

Five years ago, I prayed this prayer and I'll continue to pray it: ((Lord, please give me your revelation to help guide me in my everyday walk, so that I can be the woman that I want to be. I pray for your guidance and direction, help me to be receptive to all you have to offer me. Give me clean hands and a pure heart so that everything I do will be done to the best of my ability. Thank you Jesus for all that you have given me already, and thank you for the days to come…Amen.)) 

May we all be reminded to pray: 

"Dear Jesus, give me revelation...I've got nothing without you."

Preparing breakfast for the week...

This is how I spent my late morning/early afternoon today...preparing breakfast for the week! Jesse and I are on a low carb diet right now. He's competing at work in a Biggest Loser contest, so we're going low carb! :)

Since I ended up cooking this mixture almost every other night this week, I decided to avoid having that happen again by cooking a LOT in one setting so we can eat it every morning this next week! By a lot, I mean 4 times the recipe! See the final product below.

This recipe comes from our friend Cole, who is also on a low carb diet. Thank you man!

Recipe:

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 dozen eggs

breakfast sausage

salt & pepper

 (we added jalepenos to taste)

 

 

 Our new stove!! :)

The final product in a large tub...