Wife After God book review

So for the 24 days, I have been reading a devotional titled Wife After God: Drawing Closer to God & Your Husband by Jennifer Smith. It is a 30 day devotional that encourages women to pray for themselves, their husbands, and their marriages. By praying and becoming closer to God, you can potentially strengthen your marriage. Each day starts off with bible passages to focus on. Then Jennifer shares the message for the day. She offers a prayer, then issues a challenge for the day, as well as give a few questions for you to answer. She also has a Facebook page where she encourages daily participation with more questions.

I have prayed for my husband since we were married 3.5 years ago. I would simply thank God for my husband and ask Him to watch over my husband. But since starting this devotional, I have really been praying for him more passionately. I thank Him for the special gifts my husband and I each offer to our marriage and ask Him to continue to allow us to have our hearts open to each other, for example. I feel there has been a result with my deeper prayers. I am starting to see my husband respond more to me. Maybe his heart is opening to God and to me as I have prayed. And it could be because of my prayer, my heart has been opened more also, and by learning to be a better wife, I am learning to take the time to see his responses. Either way, I'm glad I found this book!

If you have been looking for a way to get closer to God and you husband, I encourage you to pick up this book. Her website is http://unveiledwife.com/wife-after-god/. You can purchase the book from her site through Amazon or for your kindle. I don't think you will be disappointed in this decision! 

cheers y'all: Wife After God Thoughts and Reflections {Link-Up}

Some people

So I wrote this rant last week on Facebook about what not to say to a pregnant woman. It really just amazes me the audacity some people have. Or lack of filter. Or common sense...

I don't understand how people think certain comments are ok. Especially the ones about a pregnant woman's size. I had someone tell me during my first pregnancy I looked like I would go any day. I was 6 months pregnant! So for the last three months, I thought I was huge and was embarrassed. I WAS NOT HUGE. Not at all. But comments like that towards women at a time when they already feel less attractive because of their changes does not help.

What the commenters fail to understand is they have no idea who this person is. And even if they know them, they may not really "know" them. They may not know that this person is already a mother, with 1, 2, 3, etc. kids running around at home, and she is beyond exhausted and doesn't see the point in dressing up to go to the grocery store. She isn't Kim Kardashian and why the hell would she want to be??

Or they don't know that this woman is struggling with her first (or sequential) pregnancy and the thoughts of "is my husband still attracted to me?" Sometimes, this goes through even the strongest woman's head and heart. Physical appearances are put to the front line entirely too much in this country. I hate to tell ya, but Barbie would look like a whale if she were pregnant! Ok, maybe not, but I like the thought.

They may not know that this woman will be a single mother and is just simply struggling in general.

People don't realize how a simple statement can make someone's day. She doesn't need to hear she is small for this point. That will only make her worry she is not gaining enough weight, and may be hurting her baby. She certainly doesn't need to hear the reverse. The best thing you can say to any pregnant woman is simply "You look great, dear."

And on the same topic, the question of "Are you gonna have another?" and "Don't you think it's time already?" are just as rude. You don't know the couple's story! Maybe this pregnancy was hard enough on the mother and she just wants to focus on having a healthy delivery of this one child before thinking of another. Maybe they have been trying for years to no avail. You don't know if this couple prays every day for a child, and this statement is just a slap in the face. Either way, the couple has probably put their childbearing life in God's hands, and it is up to Him. SO BACK OFF.

Rant over. :-) Yes I feel better now.

My learnings

Have I mentioned that I thoroughly enjoy meeting with my doula monthly? I feel as if I have learned so much through our meetings, my own research, and the books she lets me borrow. 

I am currently reading The Doula Guide to Birth by Ananda Lowe and Rachel Zimmerman. After reading the introductions alone, I wonder why we don't have births like the women did a hundred years ago, with other women by our side to support us. Why have we gotten into the mindset that we don't need help, and can manage this (birth and post partum) on our own? 

I remember times of sadness and feeling alone after my first delivery only have my mother say "You are fine, you need to learn how to deal." Because that is what she was told I guess. 

We need someone supportively saying "You will loose sleep, romance, freedom. It is perfectly ok not to soothe every cry. You don't have to do everything yourself." Just as we need someone to say before we get married "It's ok not to always agree. Don't be afraid to rock the boat. The first few years are HARD, but you will get through them." Especially since most girls grow up with this fantasy idea of the perfect marriage and being a mother. 

I continue to look forward to this delivery after what I have learned and continue to learn. I am so happy that I found a doula who will help me try to obtain the experience I want so that my husband and I can enjoy the birth of our second child. And I looked forward to my daughter to be a big sister. 

Ants and dirt...

So for whatever reason, my child is scared of ants and dirt all of a sudden. She loves to play outside, and will play in the dirt, and asks to hold worms. But if she sees an ant in her bathtub, she freaks out! (On a side note, I'm trying to figure out where the little things are sneaking in at.)

It's the same with dirt. Since my husband has broken his ankle (which is getting better), he takes a bath in her bathtub, since we only have a shower in our room. The next day when he bathes her, if there is dirt in the tub that sneaks around her, she screams and claws her way out of the tub. It is very stressful. I've told him to rinse the tub after he finishes and agin before her bath. It helps. But kids have dirt on them... If she bathes with me, it's not as bad. So we will try that for a while.

On a side note, here are some recipes I've tried lately:


For breakfast today, we had these breakfast ham cups. Talk about good!! I served them with cheese grits. Yes the instant kind. It's what we have. I really enjoyed them and the recipe is so simple. I didn't put onions in ours because I'm not big on onions in my breakfast. Also served with a cup of Community Coffee, because there is nothing better! ;)







For lunch, I made these Southwestern Chicken Crispy Rolls. I had done chicken tacos the other night, and used a cup of this with the recipe.




For dinner, we had shrimp and steal kabobs. I made this spicy and sweet maranade for the shrimp. We also had roasted asparagus and baked sweet potatoes.






For dessert, since it was Shawn's birthday, I made this cheesecake. It stayed in the fridge overnight. Soo good!

Chicken tacos

So I made chicken tacos tonight and they are so good!!! I am sure there are recipes somewhere online. I know I pinned one that is similar, and only calls for chicken and salsa. I didn't have salsa, so I used what was in my pantry:

3 chicken breast fillets
1/2 packet taco seasoning
3/4 jar taco sauce
1/4 cup pureed tomatoes in sauce
tortillas

Add all ingredients to crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Shred chicken once done and serve. Top with your toppings. I like cheese on mine. Sorry I don't have a picture. This went so quickly! Plus I ate mine like a burrito, so you wouldn't really have seen the chicken anyway.

I am using the leftovers to make southwestern chicken rolls tomorrow. I'll post that recipe then!

Preparing

So, I have been feeling better the last few days. Thank goodness! The nausea has subsided and I have more energy. I got my husband to watch "The Business of Being Born" this past weekend. Now I want to watch "Pregnant in America." They both show women who choose home births and natural births. Although my husband is not for us having a home birth, after watching the movie, I feel he has more understanding of why I want to do a natural birth with no meds this time, and have a doula. Not that there is anything wrong with medical interventions when necessary. I just want a different delivery this time.

Speaking of doulas, here is mine's website. She also works with Birth Works in Little Rock as well as being a midwife in her own business. I have met with her once and am already so pleased! I am currently reading The Birth Partner, which is really good information about the doula and the woman's birth partner (husband, lover, friend, etc) role in the delivery.

I know that even with all the planning, something can change that day do to unforeseen issues. I pray not.

Second trimester

So I am now in my second trimester! I'm still dealing with "morning" sickness. Last week, I ran out of my medicine on Thursday and my insurance wouldn't refill it till the 1st. So I had to deal with a terrible weekend of nausea and throwing up every day. My in-laws were up and I did my best to entertain.





Let's see about some things I've cooked lately. I cooked skillet buttermilk biscuits for breakfast last weekend. They were good. I didn't take the time to roll out the dough and cut biscuits, and I think next time I will. May help to assure the flavor is even.









On Easter, we also celebrated Jeanne's birthday early. I didn't want to have a cake because I didn't want to have the leftovers. So I made the jello parfaits, which was a great treat for Easter! Everyone loved them.

The other night, Jeanne helped me make goldfish pizza. It was so fun having her help me. The pizzas went fast! So next time I will make more.

Last night , we had lemon chicken. I made Knorr chicken rice side and steamed broccoli to go with it. I only did three chicken breasts and there were no leftovers!






Lastly, I made spasgana. It's a combination of spaghetti and lasagna. I made it tonight because I already had homemade spaghetti sauce in the freezer. I didn't have to make some tonight, otherwise we would have just had spaghetti. I'm not a fan of cooking two separate things and then putting them together to bake. Took many dishes and waste of time in my opinion.