Yummy Red Potatoes Fries

This recipe comes from my friend Erin's kitchen. It's a very simple, which is probably why I like it so much! It has paired up very nicely with all the grilling we've been doing this summer.

6 medium red potatoes cut into wedges

In a bowl combine:
2 T of olive oil
1 t of rubbed sage

Place potatoes in bowl to coat and transfer to a baking sheet. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the fries and bake in oven (400 degrees) for 40 minutes. Take out and recoat with mixture and bake an additional 20 minutes.

Dip these in ketchup and they'll satisfy your craving for fast food fries!

Future Blogger

It's all about Me

I am always amazed at how much (or all of) my unrest during the day is due to my eyes being on myself. I can unknowingly start to operate by judging every circumstance on “how does this affect me?” Even my own children’s sin I turn into self focus. “What am I doing wrong? Why is she or he still sinning in this area?” Basically "it’s all about me-(singing)". I had that kind of day yesterday. Things just weren’t going my way and instead of focusing my eyes on Jesus and interperting circumstances as His good and perfect will I was constantly aware of how interruptions were affecting "my plan". I woke up this morning aware of those same “self focus” tendencies to be present again today. I was encouraged when I opened up Morning and Evening and read:

It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan’s work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “ Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith… you have such a wavering hold on Jesus” All these thoughts are about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is everything. Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you- it is Christ… We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our deed, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul… Keep your eyes simply on Him.
June 28th Spurgeon Morning and Evening

May my joy today be rooted and found in Christ alone and my eyes focused on him and not myself!

Oh and just in case you’re wondering on why I’m reading the 28th when it’s the 27th… I lost track of the date earlier in the week and got ahead of myself ☺

And they said it would never come....

That's right it's here! The new, the very hip, Sovereign Grace Church Website is up and running! Lots of celebrating going on in this household. My husband has had the privilege of working with Rich (our Sr. Pastor) along with the company they hired, to design the site for the past two years. Check it out www.sovgracechurch.com Personally speaking, I think it looks awesome and I'm excited about the new Sovcast... now when I miss the message due to a sick kid or fussy baby I can go home and download it straight to my ipod!

House of the Lord and the things kids say!

Today was a particularly sinful morning. And it wasn't all the kids. As we got into the car I lead the kids in a little prayer to ask for God's forgiveness for our sins and that we would have a great morning learning about God at church. Before I could say Amen, in typical Taylor fashion, she said "I have a prayer too... Dear Jesus, and help us not to sin in your house! Amen" Afterwards she said "Isn't it great that we live so close to Jesus!"

Rylee learns Bye-Bye

Rylee has been growing leaps and bounds developmentally recently. It's been so much fun! She's been clapping, saying da-da, ma-ma and will mimick my "uh-oh". Actually, this morning as I was getting Rylee out of the car, Taylor unbuckled herself and hurt her hand. Taylor started to react and Rylee, as if right on cue, said "Uh-oh". Taylor and I got a good laugh out of that. Yesterday my mom said and waved bye-bye to Rylee and Rylee waved right back! It was so exciting that we had to get the camera out :-)

Trevor strikes again

It's been awhile since there has been a Trevor induced disaster. It could be because I've practically child-proofed every area of the house!! But low and behold Taylor accidentally left the bathroom door open and while I was putting the clothes from the wash into the dryer, Trevor went in and stuffed an entire roll full of toilet paper down the toilet. That's not all, he then proceeded to try to flush it and held the handle down for only God knows how long. Of course that much toilet paper won't flush, so I walk into him still holding down the handle with the bathroom flooding around him. So much so, that it went through the adjacent walls! Ugh, it was quite the mess to clean up! I put him in his room, a safe place, while I soaked up all water with towels. Towels that I had just gotten out of the dryer nonetheless. After it was (mostly) cleaned up I let him out of his room and he came out with his toddler bible asking to read Noah! I guess that's his new hero in the faitth :-)

Reaching Out

I was coming out of Rylee's room from just having putting her down and I walked by this:



I seriously almost had a heart attack!!

Trevor had fallen asleep with his fingers reaching out from underneath his door. That's my little man!

God's Saving Power Part 2

I mentioned yesterday that Chris' brother and sister-in-law recently became believers. Today I want to share with you Jeff's testimony. Again, it's been absolutely amazing to see him change through the power of God's work in his life! He is so different from the Jeff I remember meeting before Chris and I were married. I hope these testimony's encourage you to keep praying for those in your life that it seems as if God is "slow" to save. Don't give up for the power of God is always at work- even in ways we cannot see! And if you've never heard the Gospel or have not come to believe it I hope you will be encouraged to learn and find out more by reading about these two changed lives.

My name is Jeff Daukas and for the next couple of minutes I’m going to talk to you about the Glory of God and how it’s manifested in my life.

Before Jesus was in my life, I was extremely happy….Happy in my sin of being selfish, self-centered, focused on the here and now. Married for seven years, I was not a good husband, although I thought I was….I was not a good person, although I thought I was that, too…I did a bunch of “good things” ….I was nice to people, I tried to be charitable; however, I was over and over again sobered by the temporary feeling of happiness in my life from these deeds. As my circumstances changed, so did my level of happiness. Scripture shows us that “it is by Grace we have been saved through faith, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:8-10) My good works meant nothing, and “all my righteous deeds are were like a filthy garment.” (Isiah 64:6)

In April 2005, I took a hard look at myself and who I wanted to be. My son was four months old, and I vividly remembered a promise I’m sure every parent makes with their newborn child – Lord, make me a good enough father for this little one. A good enough husband for my wife, and a good enough leader for my family… I didn’t find God then, He found me. The Bible specifically states prior to the gift of salvation, all of us are “enemies of God.” Jesus, through His perfect all-encompassing Grace, saved me from the penalty of my sin that day, and I have been His ever since. My wife was saved about nine months after, and I saw Jesus in her as a supportive mirror of the man God wanted me to be. I am blessed by my wife now, my helper and sister in Christ Jesus. Since that day, I have strived to “be diligent to present myself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15.)

My life is a journey centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know from the book of Romans that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God, and that the wages of sin is Death…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that God so mercifully loved us so much that He demonstrated this love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All He asks is that we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, and we will be saved…for whomsoever calls upon the name of the Lord in repentance will be saved…

1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.” All praise to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God's Saving Power

Yesterday we had the tremendous privilege of witnessing my brother and sister-in-law's baptism. It was such a joyous occasion to celebrate with them the work of God in their life! I have known them both for seven years. Those years have been filled with many prayers and efforts of showing them the light of Christ but sometimes another year would go by and we would lose heart. Also, they have always lived a good distance away so it made seeing them a rarity. Thankfully God never gives up! His saving power was always at work in their life leading up to the day of their salvation! Well, I could go on and on about God's amazing work but I thought it would be better if I let them tell you. I asked for permission to post both of their testimony's for you to read. I'll start with my sister-in-law's Brandy- only cause I don't have Jeff's yet :-) I wish I could post some pictures for you but we hit the road and I didn't realize it until it was to late that I had forgotten the camera. Their church was an hour away. But I hope you are encouraged by their words. I know I was reminded afresh of the glorious gospel in hearing them share it with their church. All Glory be to God!

*just a side note... her husband Jeff is a police officer and when she speaks of chaplain she means of his department.

Hi, my name is Brandy Daukas. Before I became a Christian, I was an extremely self-centered person, always looking for how things would benefit me. But I was never happy, usually feeling anxious, afraid of failure, and insecure. I didn’t have an identity that had any true meaning. I was powerless against sin. I lived this way my whole life watching my Mom battle Cancer and Diabetes and wondering how “God” could do this to her. But she woke each day thanking God for another day. I am not sure she was a Christian, but I do know that God was reaching out to my heart. But all through high school and college, it wasn’t cool or popular to be one of “those” people who went to church or talked about Jesus. There was no one in my family or circle of friends to guide me to Christ, until my husband Jeff became a believer after our son was born. I saw that he changed significantly, becoming a better husband and father, but I was afraid of what being a Christian meant I would have to change. I had a misperception that “submitting” to my husband meant I couldn’t be strong or have a say in our marriage. I misunderstood what my role as a godly wife would be and how important that role is. Jeff invited me to a Beginner’s Bible Study that the Chaplain was leading for couples. I was willing to go, but didn’t expect anything life-altering from the experience. Once I attended that first class, I was forever changed. Watching the love of Jesus Christ pour through Chaplain Darlene was awesome. The Holy Spirit took hold of my heart, making the words come alive to me, that although I was a sinner (“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23), Christ died for me (Romans 5:8) and the “wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It became clear to me how lost I was and that Jesus Christ was the only one who could help me find my way. I had my first quiet time with our Lord on April 17, 2006 and asked him to take over as Lord over my life and Savior of my soul.
Since that day, life has never been better. I have such a feeling of peace and security now knowing that I am never alone. As Jeremiah 29:11 states “our Lord has thoughts of peace and not evil, to give us a future and a hope.” I now have an identity – an identity in Christ. My old self has truly died – “For he who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:7). I am happier as a servant than I ever was as lord over my own life. Praise Jesus!

Momsense

This video has been making the rounds on some blogs... but just in case you've missed it I thought I'd add it to mine! It's pretty funny!

Recent Pictures

Here are some pictures from the past week. They weren't worth individual blog posts but they do give you a glimpse into the comings and goings of the Daukas Family. My favorite is the train that made it into Trevor's dinner... that happened while Chris was at NA. The black and white photo is a picture of the place we stayed at for our marriage retreat. We'd step out of our cabin and have this beautiful view of pine trees surrounding our walking path. And of course what would a day be like without a tantrum from my little man :-)

Home Sweet Home

Chris returned from NA only to turn around and leave again. This time with me! The Pastor's and wives of our church went up to Payson, AZ for a marriage retreat for a few days. I was considering the kindness of God that he knew way back when how crazy this month was going to be, how little communication and time Chris and I would have with each other due to his sickness and then leaving town, he knew all of this and in his kindness provided a retreat for us to go to at the end of it all. We had a wonderful time together. Lots of time to talk, take walks and consider how we can, by the Grace of God, grow in our marriage. Now it wasn't all walks and downtime, actually it was pretty intense. Each one of the six couples got 1 1/2- 2 hrs to receive input from others on issues in their marriage. What a blessing it is to have friends who are for you and can help you see your sin. Chris and I left encouraged and with lots more to talk about.

It amazes me how much you can miss your kids in just a few days! I am so thankful again for God's kindness in that my children did outstanding while we were gone! As you might remember they were quite the challenge in Maryland and I was nervous to leave, particularly Rylee, again. But she as well as Trevor did great! It was so nice to be home again as a family last night. We had lots of fun playing, wrestling with Trevor and perhaps the kids favorite thing- dancing around while Chris plays guitar. Chris writes these cute little songs for them and they dance and sing along around the house. Even Rylee has created her own little dance. She bounces her little bottom up and down and does this head shake thing while the music plays. I keep trying to get it on video but every-time she sees the video camera she stops and crawls towards it to try to eat it! Well taking it all in last night I could do nothing but Praise God! He has been so good to us!