CWeeds Adopt

I'm so excited to share this news with you. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law have decided to adopt a little boy, from Africa. We will have a new nephew! You can follow their story and even help support them to bring him home....www.cweedsadopt.blogspot.com. So thankful they have said yes to bring this little boy into their home and family and surround him with God's love. Please join us in praying for them through this long but exciting process.

Guerilla Lovers

So one of the sayings for our church is "Love God, Love People, Turn the World Upside Down". Vince Antonucci, our lead pastor, wrote a book called "Guerilla Lovers". He gets this term from guerilla warfare and uses it as a way to love people. We want to ambush people with God's love, in practical ways. This week he challenged each of us to make cookies for our garbage man. I know, it may sound silly...but some of the stories have been amazing. Seriously. They're like "You did this for ME?? Why?? No-one does this!". Try it! You may be surprised at the impact it has on you, your garbage man, and those around you!

SerVegas

So...over the last several weeks you heard and saw us talking a lot about "SerVegas". This was a day that Tommy has been working on and planning since we moved to Vegas. The idea was to reach out and serve our community but rather than start a new project in only one area we decided to serve non profit organizations who are already serving here. We had a team of volunteers were in on the planning and organizing of the event. We lined up projects with non-religious, non-profit organizations for us to serve all on the same day. The organizations included Shade Tree (a shelter for abused women and children), Street Teens, NV Partnership for Homeless Youth, Family Promise, St. Vincent Thrift Store. We also had volunteers serve at "Neon Reverb" which was a music festival that same weekend and we had our youth do a "Free Car Wash" for the community. We had atleast 60 volunteers show up and it was an amazing day. The organizations were blown away and very grateful and the volunteers were grateful to be apart of something where they could "give back" and serve. We also had an after party that evening with catered h'orderves, a live band, and a comedian/magician, for the volunteers and the organizations we served. A great time was had by all and this is definitely something we all look forward to doing again in the future!

(I tried adding pictures to this post but it keeps giving me some sort of error...I will try to add them again later!)

I want to make these...

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

1 (12-ounce) box uncooked jumbo pasta shells (if all of yours survive the boil this is enough, to be safe you may want 1 1/2 boxes)

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 cups fresh chopped spinach

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (15oz) container ricotta cheese

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened (I think you could get away with one package)

1 (5oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1 2/3 cups)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (26oz) jar prepared spaghetti sauce

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Be careful not to overcook them or they will tear easily when trying to fill them. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two 9x13 baking dishes.

3. In a large bowl, combine chicken and all the rest of the ingredients except mozzarella and spaghetti sauce. Stir in 1 cup mozzarella. Spoon into shells.

4. Spread half of spaghetti sauce into prepared baking dishes. Arrange shells over sauce; top with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. If you are freezing one of the 9x13 prepared pans, freeze it after this step. Include a baggy of the remaining mozzarella for when you cook it.

5. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Bake for 5 to 10 more minutes.

Makes 8-10 servings.

http://thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/

10 things I love about you...

I am one blessed wife and mommy. There are so many things I see everyday that you don't get to see and I want to share them with you.

10 things I love about you...

1-I love Brodie's heart. It's like no other I've ever known. Just a few examples...

The other night, I was cooking dinner and Brodie comes up to me and says "Mom, we need to go check on John." My response "I know honey, we want to..we've just been so busy lately." Brodie "We can't just leave him out there." You probably don't know about John but he is a homeless man we've tried to help and stay in contact with. It's been weeks since we've gone by to see him or take him anything and Brodie said this out of nowhere. Tommy wrote about how we met John, on his blog at www.tommyaltman.blogspot.com. Another occasion recently, Brodie asked for ice cream. I told him there was only a little bit left but probably enough for him. He immediately turned to Daddy and said "you can have it Daddy." When Daddy told him that he didn't want it and it was ok for him to have it, he turned to me and said "You can have it mommy." I again told him no, he could have it. He responds with "yall can have it later!." Really? I ended up fixing it for him and he ate it, but sometimes I wish my heart and attitude was more like he showed here. I could give you more examples but I'll move on now.

2-I love Tristan's scrunched up grin. It's tough to catch on camera but it makes me smile every time. Actually, Tommy and I usually find ourselves cracking up together when he does it. He will scrunch up his nose and grin at the same time. It's even more adorable with his 2 little teeth on the bottom. I love it.

3-I love how Tommy loves me like no other. Seriously. This man of mine has shown me love like I've never known or seen. Here's a small example from just the other day. We were on a date and were walking down the strip and through a few casinos. Of course I had on high heels. Well, If you know me you know that I walk pretty fast, so Tommy knew something was wrong when I was hardly keeping up with him. He asked what was wrong and I showed him the blister that was from my shoes. Soon after, I went into the bathroom in one of the casinos...I came out and he has a box of bandaids. My response "Seriously...we're in a casino! How much did those things cost?!!" "$7.00." Oh my. Smart or not...it didn't matter to him. He didn't want me to be in pain and would do whatever it took. I took my shoes off in the parking garage (I know, gross...but it hurt that bad), and he picked me up and carried me all the way to the car. I remember a conversation I had with my mom when I knew that Tommy was the man I wanted to marry. I remember her telling me "You'll never find someone who loves you the way he does". How very very true mom. He loves me even when I'm unlovable.

4-I love Brodie's warrior spirit. I know you've all seen the sword...but have you seen him use it? He's becoming a warrior. He's in a stage where he loves to pretend. He will tell me "Mom, pretend the bad guys are coming and tell me to come save you." So he comes to my rescue.

5-I love that Tristan is learning to do new things and will turn around to see if you're watching. I love his rasberries. I love his laugh. I love his arms and legs wrapped around me grasp, like he'll never let go. I love his arms stretched up, "pick me up" look. I love when I bring him down stairs in the morning he looks at Sugie and says "dog-dog".

6-I love that I still think Tommy is the most handsome man I've ever layed eyes on and that I would chose him again in a heart beat. I love that I get to go to bed and wake up with him next to me every morning.

7-I love hearing Brodie walk around or in the car, singing songs he heard our band sing at church.

8-I love to watch my babies sleeping. I love to rock and cuddle and scratch their backs as they fall alseep. And I love to check on them and stare at them while they look so peaceful and innocent and adorable, sleeping.

9-I love that Tommy is so sincere and passionate about God and leads our family in learning how to love God and love people.

10-I love my family and I love feeling like the luckiest girl in the world with 3 amazing guys in my life, who bring me undescribable joy every day. Thanks God.