2012 is ending...

What can I say, 2012 has been a pretty great year for The Griffis'! Randall and I at the beginning of the year felt if God was about to do something great in our lives, and little did we know we'd be where we are today. At the beginning of the year we began to feel as if we didn't belong anywhere, and as children of God, that's a scary place to be...You begin to question and wonder where God is going to take you. Well in about March, God's plan began to unfold for us. Randall came home and told me about an opportunity to become a Pastor of a Church. To be honest, my first initial thought was I CANNOT be a Pastor's wife....I'm not good enough. You know the times when God just smacks you in the face? Well I was sitting in one of the services that Randall was preaching at the church, and God just whispered to me "This is what I've been preparing you for." And then it all was made clear, why we felt we didn't feel if we belonged. It was because God was changing the direction of our life. Well from there I told Randall it was okay now....and we placed it into God's hands and we were voted in I believe the Sunday after Easter. Every ballot said yes! So we became Pastor, and Pastor's wife. Another big change that we decided to make was to try to have a baby. Well we began to try in about May...and July 1st we bought the tests, and not one but all three said yes, almost instantly! We were beside ourselves!! So we are expecting our little boy, Anderson Michael Griffis, on February 26th, 2013!

I can't complain about 2012...it was an amazing year....I pray that 2013 is just as great!

Where has the true meaning of Christmas gone?

As I sit here and watch all of the Christmas movies and different store commercials on TV, and as I visit department store after department store, it makes me wonder where has the true meaning of Christmas gone. Much like there was no room for Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, today it seems like there is no room for Jesus on his OWN birthday. Imagine if every one were in a hustle and bustle around your birthday and pushed you out on your own birthday. How would you feel? Jesus didn't have to agree to be born for us, and he most also didn't have to die for us. He came and was born just to die for us! And we are all guilty of leaving him out on his own birthday. Parents, as you rush around this year, remember to take the time out to read the REAL Christmas story, out of the Bible. Instill in your kids what Christmas is all about! I know this isn't a Christmas song, but I want to post it on here anyways. The song is called Had it Not Been! Had Jesus not been born, where would we be? Had he not agreed, because he looked down the streams of time and seen a world that would leave him out on his own birthday....Think about it!

Homemade Chicken and Dumplings :D

So I grew up in the south, and I love some Chicken and Dumplings! So I set out on a search for a chicken and dumpling recipe that was sort of like my mom made (minus the *ahem* frozen dumplings!) I found a few that I liked, but really ended up having to come up with my own! So here goes.


For the Chicken:
I used 5 chicken legs (its what I had) But you can use what ever type of chicken you like!
1 whole cut up onion
2 celery stalks (cut up)
2 Cloves of garlic minced (yes; GARLIC)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Enough water to cover the chicken and stuff :)

For the Dumplings:
3 c. flour (I used AP)
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
4 1/2 tbsp Shorting (I suppose the butter kind is okay too)
3/4 to 1 c milk

Now on to the preparation!

Place your Chicken, Onion, Celery, Garlic, Salt and Pepper, and your water in a big enough pot. You want to place it on a Medium High heat to boil. Boil it for about 30 minutes. (until your chicken is done.) When your chicken is done you want to turn it off and pull it out of the stock (yes, you just made homemade chicken stock) and you want to place all of the chicken on a plate to cool. While your chicken is cooling you can move on the the Dumplings of the Chicken and Dumplings!

This part can get pretty messy! Take your three cups of flour and place it in a big bowl, along with your salt, baking powder, and shorting. You want to "Cut" this together with a pastry cutter, fork or a butter knife. You'll cut it until it looks like small peas. Once you reach this step you'll want to add your milk in 1/4 cup at a time and you'll stir it until it resembles a big ball. You may not use all of your milk. Once it reaches this step you'll want to flour your working space and prepare to roll the dumplings out. Roll them out and cut them into strips the size you like! Now that you've made a mess...time to pull the chicken from the bones.

Separate the chicken from its skin and bones, and shred it up to the size you like. Once you've finished this step you'll want to strain your stock and discard the vegetables. Replace your stock back into the pot and turn it on a medium heat. Place your chicken back into the pot and wait for it to come to a simmer. Once it is simmering, place your dumplings in one at a time (okay maybe two or three) And let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30-45 minutes! Wahlaa, yummy Chicken and Dumplings!!

The Best Apple Crisp!!

Yesterday, I had a few apples lying around that Randall's granny had brought us back from the mountains. Well, they were the yellow apples, and I don't eat the yellow apples. To me they are to gritty! Give me red, or give me green!! Anyways, I got to craving an apple crisp so bad yesterday..but there was a stipulation; It couldn't contain oats. I just don't care for an apple crisp with oats...so I began my search online for a recipe and what I found I just had to share!!

This is what you need-
4-6 Apples, washed, peeled, and cut into slices

1 Tsp Cinnamon 

1/2 Cup of Water

1/2 Cup Butter; Melted 

3/4 Cup Flour 

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your 8x8 glass pan. In the bottom place your apples, cinnamon, and your water. In a separate bowl, mix your butter, flour, sugar, and brown sugar. The mixture will be kind of thick and gooey. Spread the mixture over the apples, as best as you can. It's kind of difficult. Once you've got the mixture over the apples, place in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until the topping is golden brown...Take it out and enjoy the best apple crisp you've ever put into you mouth!!

Homemade Dish Soap- not a total fail

So, I posted a little while ago about making some homemade dish soap...well, it wasn't a total bust....I had to tweak it a little bit.. The recipe was as follows...

1/4 Cup Felz Naphtha Soap

2 Cups Water

1 TBL Spoon Vinegar

You melt the soap in the 2 cups of water, on the stove, but don't let it boil...That part was easy. Then you added the vinegar and let it cool, that was all fine and well...but when it came time to wash the dishes, I found that it left my dishes still greasy feeling...Not cool...So to my mixture, I added a tablespoon of vinegar, and a tablespoon of Borax...It seemed to help...now it works!! Yay!!

Wives are you helping or hindering??

So I have been reading different posts on facebook, as well as watching different couples in public. What I have learned while just sitting back is that there a lot of women are tearing down their husbands instead of building them up. I am a very fortunate wife, and my husband works very hard to support our growing family. I know that sometimes I let stuff pile up around the house sometimes, but he doesn't nag me for it. But it's almost as us being women, if a man forgets to do something, we nag and nag and nag. I got to thinking, what if the shoe were on the other foot, and husbands began nagging the wives about backed up dishes, or backed up laundry, or sandy floors? It wouldn't go over to well, would it? I love what the last part of Ephesians 5 says:
²¹ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

²² Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

²⁴ Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

²⁶ That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

²⁷ That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

²⁸ So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

²⁹ For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

³⁰ For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

³¹ For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

³² This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

³³ Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

 God took woman from man, not to be walked over but to fit under his arm, and to work together. Life deals some pretty hard cards, and we should work them out together, hand in hand. Husbands are a gift from God, and I know I hardly ever take the time out to say thank you to my husband, but I do thank God for a man that works so hard, and who leads his family under God, and the Bible. Thank God I got a Godly Man :) This song is an awesome song and I pray that our kids see their daddy like I do!

                         Brian Free and Assurance- I wanna be that man

Homemade vs. Store Bought

So, as a stay at home wife, and soon to be mother, I try to come up with ways to save money for our family. One of the ways we do save money is make homemade laundry soap. It makes 10 gallons, which lasts us forever. Now I'm on the hunt to make homemade Dish Soap. I will let you know as soon as I find something. I may even have to come up with my own. But I'm willing to try anything once. :D

I just had to have the Tuna Salad!

So as you all know I had to go for my Glucose test. Well the night before, we had revival at our church, and we had some refreshments afterwards. Well, there was some tuna salad there that looked sooooo good, so I at a little bit with 4...count them...1...2...3...4 Ritz crackers. That was it. I hadn't eaten anything sugary or high in carbs at all that day. Well anyways. I drank the Glucola stuff (which wasn't that bad, by the way) and sat there and waited to get my blood drawn. Then I went home. Well the next day I received a call from my Doctor's office, and my number was 134....it's supposed to be 130....how much was I over? Count it 1...2...3...4....Ugh. lol; So now I go back next week for the 3 hour test. Luckily I have Netflix on my phone!! 

Glucose test.

So yesterday I went for my glucose test. I was pretty nervous since I read a million horror stories about reactions. I began drinking the drink on the way there, and it was not that bad. It actually tasted like a melted orange Popsicle. I don't know if I was the only one that the glucola burnt my throat, but after I finished it my throat was on fire. But it went away after a few minutes. So now it's just a sit and wait kinda thing.

Stand Still...

So there is a song called Stand Still by the Isaac's. This is an amazing song and it has reached out an touched me today. We got some news the other day (nothing major or to do with the pregnancy) but it kind of brought us both down...But God has a way of working everything out in His time. I know he has a plan for us and we will be where he wants us...we've just got to keep on praying for what we need. He knows our future and he knows what we need.
                                                     Stand Still by The Isaac's 

The father has a plan,

though it's hard to see it now.

You feel you're walking all alone,

but he is there no doubt. 

When the storm around you rages,

and you're tossed to and fro.

When you're faced with lives decisions,

and you're not sure where to go.

Chorus: 

Stand still and let God move, 

Standing still is hard to do.

When you feel you have reached the end

He'll make a way for you,

Stand still and let God move.

When the enemy surrounds you,

and the walls are closing in.

When the tide is swiftly rising, 

and you're not sure where he's been.

Friend there never was a moment

when his arms weren't reaching out.

You can rest assure, be secure,

God is moving right now.

Repeat Chorus

When you feel you have reached the end,

he'll make a way  for you.

Stand still and let God move.

The answer will come,

but only in his time.

Stand still and let God Move!

Pinterest makes life easier :D

So I know most of you out there have a pinterest account, and if you don't, you're just plain crazy. It makes life soooo much easier...If  you don't just go on a pinning spree, and actually do some of the stuff. I recently found this pin on there. I mean the title said "Cut your grocery bill in half", and who doesn't want to do that right? So I clicked on it and looked at it and it had some AMAZING ideas....all about going homemade! Randall and I have been making our own bread for a while, since my mom gave us a bread machine(tastes way better) But anyways, I read on in this blog, and it had so much more about going homemade & had a lot of tips on grocery shopping. Go once a month, and you make your meals at home, so you cut out the cost of going out to eat (we are worlds worst at doing that) But anyways, what you do is pull out different recipes that you have collected from Pinterest, cookbooks, and such (I use a lot of my papa's and my moms too!) But anyways, you take inventory of what you already have in your house, and then you write down what you need from the grocery store, and you plan out for one month of meals...so you are only having to go to the store one time a month...who would've thought. In plus, you can use a web site like www.couponmom.com to see if any of the items you need have a coupon for them...On nights you don't feel like cooking (we all have those nights) You can have sandwich nights, or, breakfast for supper...(who doesn't love breakfast for supper?) Any who, I've added the link to this blog...it has so many ideas....http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/2012/03/31-days-to-yumminess-grocery-shopping.html?showComment=1342681248761

Follow me on Pinterest
Now, I shall go finish cleaning, and go ahead and get started on dinner :D

This morning sickness is for the Birds!

I know all you former pregnant people out there know what I feel like. This morning sickness is so horrible, and what's so bad is it isn't even in the morning; IT'S ALL DAY. Blah. lol. It's always comes at a time when you are the busiest. But hey, it will all be worth it in the end. A little bit of humor below :P

A little other update on The Griffis life; I finally get to go get my wedding rings back tomorrow. I miss them so much. I had to send them off to get serviced. :P Stupid warranties; lol. Things at the church are going well. We finally are starting Sunday night services back in September, with a revival. We are excited to see what God is going to do. We are also praying hard for God to show us what direction to go in with getting a new house. We have a few things in mind, but, he'll put us where he wants us. Sometimes it's just hard to sit and wait...I'm sure we've all been there :P But anyways, I've got to go, the cakes are calling!

                                          My engagement ring...oh how I miss it :p

Baby Griffis = life changes!

So, a lot has happened since the last time I posted! The Griffis family is expecting their first child! I am beyond excited & so is Randall.(not to mention both of our parents) We are just beside ourselves. We went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and Baby Griffis checked out fine..hearing that heart beat for the first time was AMAZING. It brought tears to my eyes, knowing that our lives are about to change forever. The baby's heart beat was 180 bpm. And I just pray that the Lord uses Randall and I to raise this baby to the best of our ability.

Baby Griffis :D 

Holy Cow!

So yesterday, I went shopping with Sarah, my sister and Sarah's sister-in-law, and boy oh boy did we find some deals. So we went to Belk, since we can't shop at JcPenny's anymore(ugh, makes me mad) But anyways, I REALLY had to pee,(lol) so we went up stairs and went to the restroom. When I came out I looked and seen this rack that said 50% off, with an additional 40% off lowest ticket price. I looked for a few polo shirts for my husband when I found them....the pants he's been wanting forever. A pair of the "Golf" pants...I don't know what the big deal is with them...lol. But anyways, I looked at the price tag, and they were normally $60.00. I so didn't pay that for them. They were marked down to $30.00, and then to $14.99. I thought well that's a good deal, but I decided to scan them at the little price scanner, and would you believe it they were only $8.99...WHAT!!  So then we went to the kids section for Sarah, and we pulled a lot of the kids outfits off of the rack and took them to the price scanner, and one out fit that was supposed to be $18.99 ended up being $2.99, another was supposed to be $20 and we got it for $5.49....WHAT!!

It doesn't end in Belk my friends, we went into Fredrick of Hollywood (they have my size in there, and not anywhere else..) and wouldn't you know it, they had a sale in there too. I got two bra's for $43.00. WHAT!!  They were $38.00 a piece....WHOOT WHOOT.


It doesn't end here my friends. We stopped by a thrift store, called Quigley House, and they had a room full of books. You could fill a bag full of books, for $3.00. We were thinking that it was a small bag. No, it was a big paper bag. Sarah got like 60 or so books, and I got over 20. So we got 80 books for $6.00. Little Andy was happy.  

People...

Okay, so these past few weeks, I've seen more and more people on facebook talking about how bad their lives are, and how bad that they have it. We all have problems, and we all face trials. Have you ever stopped to think that there is someone out there who has it worse than you? There is always a person that has been through way more than you. We can all sit here and talk about how bad off we had it as a kid, and how it's shaped us today. I had a pretty bad childhood, and my mom supported two kids by herself for many years by herself. Before she met my stepdad, she had no help. She worked and went to school. She earned her BA in criminal justice. I know that she struggled through it, but she did it to better herself, and her family. It is possible to be independent and even more so, it's easier to get along way better if you have God on your side. I mean truly have him on your side. Not just say oh I believe in God, but yet while out of the other side of your mouth you're cussing up a storm and not being Godly at all. The Bible says that you'll know the tree by the fruit it bears. Lord, I hope my tree is bearing ripe fruit and not rotten fruit.

:D

So we've been really busy lately. Things at the church are going really well, as well as things at home.  Three years ago if you would have told me I'd be married, and be a pastor's wife, I'd tell you that you're dead wrong. But when God has a plan for you, and your life, you better go with it. I look and I see a lot of the people that I graduated with, and it makes me plum sad to see them in the bottom of a bottle somewhere. I thank God for Randall. When I got him, I got one of the best people ever. He's not only my husband, but my best friend. He helps me with so much stuff. I hear a lot of women talking about their husbands, about how they don't like to help out with chores and such. I'm so glad that all I have to do is ask and he comes running. I just wanted to take the time out and tell him Thank you and I love you so much. You never really will know what you mean to me!!

God Gave Me You

Busy as a Bee

     I know, I know. It's been a while, but honestly, I have been so busy. Last week I had four cakes in on week. And this week I have two, and I've got to put up squash, and can some green beans. The duties of a house wife are never ever done it seems. ;)
    Why am I taking time to sit down and blog you ask? Well, I'm kind of at a stand still and can't do anything since the pipe under my kitchen sink is leaking. Yeah, I know, if it isn't one thing it's another. But I suppose I work best under pressure. ;)
    I pulled out a bread machine my mom gave me and made the best loaf of bread ever. No more store bought bread for my family. We've also cut some cost by making our own laundry soap. And our garden is producing away. So we won't need store bought veggies for a while.
    I've also been dieting (well, eating healthier.) I started by cutting out caffeine, huge step for me because I love my coffee&& Dr. Pepper!! But I prayed and asked God to take the desire for it from my body, and he did, and I've been caffeine sober (you know it's funny) for a little over 3 months!! I lost 6 pounds just from cutting caffeine out. Then I started cutting back, and trying to cut down my carb and sugar intake. From there I lost 6 more pounds. And I started doing Zumba on the Wii this week, and guess what, we're down two more pounds this week!!  I am determined.
    I seen this on a friends facebook, and I loved it!!

 

Acquire the "Fire"??

This weekend I went with a group of young people to Acquire the Fire. It was an experience! There were some great things, and some not so great things.

Pros:
The drama was amazing. They did it in three parts, and it seemed to follow my life when I was younger, and it followed the life of many, many teenagers today. The girl used to be an "agent" in a service when she was younger for God. She prayed and everything despite all that had happened to her in her past. But then she let being normal get to her and she formed herself to fit into the in crowd. To cut the story short, she ended up saving her life by stopping what she was doing. It was a great drama. One of the speakers, I loved, Joel Johnson. He was amazing. I can't say enough about him. Here's his website, http://www.joeljohnson.org/, Go check him out for yourself... And the last thing that I really loved about ATF was Tenth Avenue North. They were the most real artist there. The lead singer finally told the young people that were there, "It doesn't matter how much you jump around a scream in here, and how much you claim to be a christian in here. What matters is how you are when you step outside of these doors. Are you living like you're supposed to everyday?" Then they proceeded to sing "You Are More." AMAZING.

Cons:
The cons of ATF was all of the other performers. None of them were real....I mean on group got up and sang about a cell phone? And we wonder what has happened to our generation. It's time we stop trying to entertain young people, and it's time that we start teaching them that what they put into their bodies eventually comes out. It's time that we teach them that Hell is a real place, that many young people are busting wide open today, as I type, because they choose not to believe what people are telling them. And it's our fault for not trying to reach them. We don't tell the truth any more.


Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

New Steps for the Griffises!

Well, I'm starting back blogging again. Yay. I deleted the old blog a while back and I missed it a lot, so here I am. What's new you ask? Randall has been voted in as a Pastor at a new church, I went to Culinary school for a semester, and had to quit. I still love to cook and I do it quite frequently. As for the house, we still live in the small trailer, but it's became more of a home! 


This was just a little intro to what we've been up too, and an intro to what the blog will be about. I'll post recipes, different craft projects, and just stories about the day to day life of US!!