Taste and see ....

Taste and see that the Lord is good Thursdays! ( Ps 34:8)

Okay I now have a title for every Thursday, I'm excited about this day. I'm planning on putting up a fun recipe here that I love, most of them are probably going to come from dear friends or family... or a favorite from a cookbook. Let me tell you I love cookbooks, my new favorite one is the Ivy Bakeshop cookbook. It's the bomb! Ha Ha just had to use some 1995 jargon from my senior year.

The recipe for today is from my friend Donna. Let me brag on her and then I'll share her sweet treat with you. Donna is a friend, like a sister to me. I would say we kinda have the relationship of kindred spirits. She and I are a lot alike and different at the same time. She is wonderful though, someone who loves Jesus with all her heart, soul, strength kind of person. I want that... you know to love God like that. I love how she is such a giver of her time... she and I share in this area we both are involved in many things, almost like full time job things but not getting paid jobs :)

Thanks Donna for being a leader of Bible studies, a Titus 2 woman and a purpose driven woman of God. If you don't know her, you should she is a real blessing to all with whom she associates. I wanna be like that. Thanks for using your gifts to bless others. I could go on and on, I could also go on and on about many others too, that are like Donna. Maybe I will, another Thursday.

Okay so here's the wondeeefulll recipe:

Best ever Banana Bread- from Donna

1st set aside 1/2 cup milk and 1 T vinegar. Mix and let sit

Cream 3 Cups sugar, 2 Sticks of margarine, add 4 eggs. Then add 2 1/2 cups of flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
2 1/2 Cups of mashed banana
Now add the first thing you did, the vinegar mixture. It will look curdy. (That's a good thing)

Grease 3 pans
Now put mixture in the pans and top with chocolate chips... i like lots
Makes 3 loaves
Bake @ 350* for 55 minutes

Side note: I like to bake one at a time... works better in my oven. The choco chips end up going to the bottom of pan so when you flip it out you will see. This is divine!

What's noble?

Okay Let's just say I'd like to be noble...


To me a noble person is reserved for some upperclass aristocrat. Not a midwest living, small town mommy of two. Well, as I decided to find out what noble means in the first place I went to the Bible first... read some 9 passages and then thought, yeah that's noble. But first you may need to know what the word means before using it in context. So that means I have to dig out my dictionary..oh boy I don't have one, but I can look it up on dictionary.com. So noble according to the website means:

Admirable in dignity, of conception manner of expression; of an exalted moral or mental character or excellence.

So there you have it... that's noble according to the dictionary.. I'm still not sure I understand. Let's dig deeper. As I pull out my NIV bible and my online bible (yes I'm loving it) I see Ruth. Ruth probably exemplifies noble character, in fact she is told that "All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character" Ruth 3:11. I love that here Ruth is the leftover-grain-picker-upper (that's her job) yet she is known as noble, I'm sure she did her job with fervour as if serving the Lord. I wanna be like that.
The 2nd woman told in the bible that is of noble character is our well known Proverbs 31 woman. She is told in 31:29 " Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
I like the New Living Translation for that same verse it says "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!"
I still love the Proverbs 31 woman though, even if I can't measure up... who says I have to though. God only wants me to find Him, seek Him, love Him.
In Proverbs 12:4, this woman is described as being a noble woman once again and being her husband's crown. I like that she is described like Ruth, and probably brings him honor and joy.
I too, like Ruth and this Proverbs 31 woman want to honor God first. I'm so glad the our Father in heaven sees our heart... and loves us anyway.

Thank you Lord for using the simple word noble to focus more on you, to seek you and then find You. I pray that I will be Proverbs 31 woman, not seeking perfection, but finding comfort, rest and contentment in your arms. Thank you for the gift of eternal life, Thank you for your Word.

My thankful list

Okay as I am writing I am avoiding responsibility. I should right now be doing something... ya know the L word. I'll spell it out for you .. L-A-U-N-D-R-Y. But I am avoiding it by reading blogs, writing blogs and everything in between , like googling the sound a cicada.
I think when a stay at home mom has some alone time it's like one big party. Sometimes I like to do the folding of the laundry... today I'm going to put if off for awhile.
Okay so what I really want to write about is not really anything ordinary like laundry but things I'm thankful for this week:

• I'm thankful for God stiring in me a desire to serve him

• A long walk yesterday, great reflection

• Family time making smores

• Drew counting... it's so cute

• Real genuine friendships

• What and how God uses my daily quiet time to teach me and apply God's word to some area of my life.

• The beauty in Fall, cool nights, warm afternoons, windows open ( and the birds haven't been waking me up... Yes!

• The Christian music channel on my T.V.

Okay that's my thankful list... what are you thankful for this week?

The little things

You know sometimes I'm just great at little things.. like keeping the dishes clean, (not put away) and laundry, I'm the queen of starting it and then not finishing it for awhile. Why is that??

I think I'm sometimes just ADD with it...I'm one of those that walk to the basement to get a specific something and then go down there, start some laundry that I never finished from earlier, pick up some toy the kids left out and the W-H-A-M.........

I remember I'm suppose to get something from the downstairs... ( I store lots of kitchen items down there and tons of who knows what on shelves). So what do I do...... I go back up the stairs to figure out what I forgot downstairs in the first place. Hmmmm am I getting that old that my memory is only about 2 minutes long for my short term? Hmmmm...............sometimes I remember what it is I was looking for, but more often than not I forget.

I usually shrug it off. One thing I can't shrug off and it really really annoys my husband is when I lose something. I think I turn green, red, and purple all at the same time. It is my loss of control that really bugs me. You know you can't find that one certain paper that you know was their like 2 days ago. I don't like to not be in control. Hmmm I think God has had some talks with me about this subject.

At any rate, I do know I'm not the best of at control and I do know that when I let go and let God, things are smoother. I have definitely felt like the fool in Proverbs 29:11 which says
" A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control"

Although I can still get very impatient you know trying my way to find things, God is again trying to lovingly tell me that it doesn't matter.. and I often see it later after my mess up of what I could of done different. As I read through the proverbs I am thankful for all the wisdom.

I pray that God you will give me your eyes so I can see You and work through things I'm not always good at. I keep missing things and I want to not miss those things.. even the little things that happen throughout the day. Please let me see your people as you do. Please give me eyes to see, arms to hold and a heart to pour out ... In your name.

Tara .....who just read Proverbs 16:32 & 17:1 and thinks she should apply that also to what she just wrote.... Hmmmmm

Family Reunion

Mom and Mark enjoying all the great food

Mom doing what she does best.. eat and cook!


Chad playing catch with the little people


This photo looks like Drew is really listening to Daddy! I thought it was cute.

Mark's family here

More Coovert family



This is Lizzie, she is my cousin Eric Dunlap's daughter. Lindsey had never met her until this day and they played all day. They were so cute holding hands everywhere they went. Most the day they would bounce from the park to Grandma's camper or Lizzie's camper. I never saw her, at one point I went to check on the girls at the park and I told Lindsey that Lizzie was her cousin. Lindsey was so excited.. she doesn't have any girl cousins (first cousins that is) Well, obviously Lizzie's is not a first cousin but Lindsey was so happy about her "new cousin" she was telling everyone at church Sunday. In fact a friend asked her to come over after church and Lindsey said no because she wanted to go see her new cousin at the camper.



Great Aunt Nancy and Drew

We brought out the bean bag game out.. it's always fun. Especially when you win.. I only won when Chad and I were not partners.

swimming does a body good

I love to swim. Let me clarify that, I love to swim outdoors with the kids for fun and a good dose of vitamin D. Right now I'm talking about the the kind of swimming you do in a indoor pool, the flip turn, lactic acid sets, leg cramp and feeling like you just swallowed the entire pool. I haven't always loved it though. Just recently I learned to swim, four years ago to be exact. It's not something I wanted to learn to do or even remotely thought much about. I didn't even know there was more than two strokes in swimming, but I could save my life if I drowned.

About the time Lindsey was 18 months I started taking classes at the local YMCA. It was summertime so the classes consist of like five people max. I really just like to soak things in so I do what I do best, listen to people's conversations. You know you can learn a lot about a person by what they talk about. One time I overhead these people talk about training hard for something called a triathlon. I didn't even know what that was, I had to keep listening to their conversations to find out what it was. Well, before long I was gaining confidence in this exercise thing and I decided that if I could learn how to swim, I would train for the triathlon. Wow, this is a big commitment on my part.... could I do it.. I could not even move in the water. Okay I had a great teacher who was very patient with me and some others in my same place and little by little I was learning to swim.

I can still picture that very first lap I did when the teacher said "Go". I laugh now, and the entire time I was given so much encouragement. Wow, I am so thankful that someone took time to believe in me and patiently teach me how swim.



Some great things God showed me through this whole training process:

1. The journey was so much more important to me than the actual race day


2. I like to work hard, it feels good


3. "But encourage one another daily"-Hebrews 3:13 This one was really important. It was probably the heart of what I learned. It was fun to work together, so many of us of different backgrounds, religions, political views, single, married, divorced, and all ages.


4. I got out of my comfort zone


5. I met lots of new christians


6. I need to have a passion for Jesus, just as much as I had a strong desire to train

Okay so as I think and reflect about that time in my life I can say it was a great time, and I will always cherish that season in my life.

Thank you Father God for using something as simple as swimming to teach me and mold me. I am thankful for the constant change you bring about in me and the way you work all things for good. Thanks for guidance and bringing about change that only you can give.

A trip to the pumpkin patch

The corn pool was a big hit this year for Lindsey and cousin Hayden

Drew is loving cousin Nile on our wagon ride

This is the first year Drew has been able to walk in the corn, it is so deep and last year he was just walking . So cute to see him play in the corn!

Baby "cartin" as drew says for Carson

Drew, Hayden and Lindsey are ready to go pick pumpkins in the field

Hmmm, I think we went to the field with the biggest pumpkins.. next year let's go to the small pumpkin field

I found my pumpkin

I found mine too, and I can't believe my mom gave me the cutters

Gotta love time with our cousins. Lindsey and Drew had so much fun with their Campbell cousins. It was perfect weather and we were lucky to have a private wagon ride.. fun. I think we need to go back and play. Drew and Lindsey loved the play area.. I think Lindsey liked to just be off on her own and play with Hayden.. guess I have to let her grown up and have some independance.