My Mother

My Mother

 

My mom came to live with us 3 years ago.  Though physically healthy, she suffered from dementia and needed extra care.  We had had many memories prior to her moving in with us but the adventures increased with her present.  Mom enjoyed the multiple grandchildren that flowed through our home; and she kept up with our many family outings.  She blended in with our family and continued to pour her love out to all.

On March 30th, my mom died peacefully in her sleep.  I am grateful she is with Jesus; but really missing her quiet presence.  With that I want to express my tribute...

To My Mother 

I am thankful you were my mom.  So, where do I begin to rise up and call you blessed?

I am thankful for your example of service.  I appreciate how you were attentive to those around you who might have a need and readily met those needs.  Your joy was in meeting the needs of those around you.  Thank you for your example in following Jesus as He told us to serve.

I am thankful for your example of hospitality.   You opened your home for Bible Study to enable young women to be mentored in the Word of God.  You opened your home with the mindset to give.  You rose to the challenge of graciously hosting large dinner parties to making the one individual who came to your home feel like a king.  Thank you for your example in following Jesus who made a Jewish wedding the best.

I am thankful for your example of love.  You followed I Corinthians 13 in your demonstration of love.  You were kind and thought no evil of others.  As I gathered memories for the funeral, all your children and grandchildren have had one major theme: they knew you loved them.  Thank you for following Jesus' in His command to love.

I am thankful for your example of a burden bearer.  You were my help and comfort for many storms of life as you quietly shared many of my burdens.  Thank you for following Jesus' command to bear one another's burden.

I am thankful for your example of a quiet listener.  You let me ramble on whether it was sorrows or funny stories.  I so enjoyed our quiet visits in your living room as my children played elsewhere.  I treasure the tears we have shed together in both laughter and sorrow.  Thank you for following Jesus' command to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.

I am thankful for your example as a prayer warrior.  You were before the throne of God on behalf of me and our family.  Thank you for following Jesus example Who is also our interceder before the Father.

This tribute cannot hold all the ways I have seen Jesus in your life, nor the ways I appreciate your sacrifices for me and our family.  I am so grateful God chose me to be your daughter.

Through your life you deserve and earned the promise of Proverbs 31:28, "Her children rise up, and call her blessed."

I RISE UP AND INDEED CALL YOU BLESSED. 

I love you mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing all you moms out there...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.

This applies not only to those biological moms but to the women who have mentored and have their 'spiritual' children.  I think we all will be surprised when we get to see the whole spectrum of eternity and see all the lives we touched by our living for our King.

Enjoy your season mom.

Whether your mom is still alive or not, call her blessed today.  They deserve it. :)

Great timing for Mother's Day

 A perfect movie to take mom to, especially for Mother's Day!

I don't know whether I was just so tired that the movie "Mom's Night Out" was above and beyond hilarious or it genuinely was funny.  I opt for the latter that it was just down right funny as my whole family was in stitches. This is a movie that will make you laugh which is good medicine for your soul.

I think the movie is so funny because all the situations have happened to us whether a mom or not.  Have you ever been in a public bathroom waving your hand frantically over the automatic towel dispenser only to have nothing come out?  You then wave harder and then resort to pounding on the towel dispenser.  Of course, you would only start talking to the dispenser IF you were the only one in the bathroom.  Then, to your horror, you realize you are not the only one in the bathroom and all your ranting/ravings have been documented!   Well, this is just ONE of the funny scenes in the movie, "Mom's Night Out."

This is a wholesome bring the whole family to movie.  It is perfect for a  Mother's Day appreciation type movie.  In fact, that is exactly what my kids did for me.  We all packed up and went to the movies with my kids treating me.  I had soooo much fun and I know you will too!

Don't miss this movie...."Mom's Night Out!"

Watch the trailer... Click Here....this is the most hilarious movie.  YOU DON"T WANT TO MISS IT!

Hello Oklahoma City!!

Paula's Bread as a team coming to the OCHEC home school convention this May 2 and 3 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City! 

You will be able to see all the 'stuff' that is on the web site plus we will get to visit!  I consider you all my friends, not 'just customers.'  Come by and visit Paula's Bread!

Don't forget Mother's Day is coming and this is the perfect time to pick up things that mom will love!

Hello Kansas City!

On the road again with a team.  I look forward to meeting new people and seeing old friends at the Midwest Parent Educators Conference!

This  will be a time for you to see up close the items on my web site.  See the Bosch Universal Mixer in action; come to my workshop teaching nutrition and bread making techniques.  We have a team on location Friday and Saturday.  Hope to see ya there!

Peace in the Storm

March 1 was a bleak and cloudy day with the weatherman predicting potentially debilitating storms.  March will come in like a lion.  Wasn't it supposed to come in like a lamb and leave like a lion? 

With the life storms our family has weathered lately, God has directed my thoughts to view this weather storm from the top side of the storm.  If I could ascend the clouds, it would be sunny and bright.  I would be looking down on the storm with a cheery sun shining down on me and could see that this storm system is only covering a small region for a limited time.  Life's storms are the same.  We need to look down from God's perspective.  These life storms are for a short season in God's time.  A comfort to me is that Jesus is the peace in the storm.  "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  John 14:27.

God knows I will have trouble getting that 'above the cloud glance' at my life storms, so He promises to come into my storm and be my comfort.  

As March brings its 'lion weather', I consider it a reminder to get an above the cloud perspective of the weather storms and life storms.

May Jesus peace in your life storms be with you.

Our Loss...Heaven's Gain

Nettie B. Sutton

Our family has been rejoicing and yet extremely sad as we said goodbye to my sweet mother-in-law...Granny B. She lived to a ripe age of 91 years and left a long trail of great memories for all her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  We are all rejoicing that she is no longer suffering and would not ask for her to return from dancing the streets of gold in heaven.  However, we definitely have a void in our lives as we realize she is truly no longer here with us.

I honor you and thank you Granny B for your investment in my life and in the lives of my children.  You have left embedded memories for us to treasures till we join you in heaven.

"Aging is God's idea...It's one of the ways He keeps us headed homeward.  We can't change the process, but we can change our attitude... What if we looked at the aging body as we look at the growth of a tulip?  Do you ever see...gardeners weep as the bulb begins to weaken? Of course not...Tulip lovers rejoice the minute the bulb weakens.  'Watch that one,' they say. 'It's about to blossom.'

Could it be heaven does the same? The angels point to our bodies.  The more frail we become, the more excited they become. 'Watch that lady in the hospital,' they say. 'She's about to blossom.' 'Keep an eye on the fellow with the bad heart. He'll be coming home soon'. "

My dear mother-in-law told us she would be going home in two days.  Her frail body gave way to her new glorified body in heaven...two days later!  She was home.

by Traveling Light

Without a Vision The People Perish

Many welcome the New Year with a chance to wipe the slate clean and make those New Year's resolutions. I usually shy away from such resolutions as I feel I make these grandiose ideas/goals for the year only to set them aside months...days later. In fact, my hubby read a statistic saying that most resolutions are broken after the first week!
This year we decided to make the challenge as a family. Perhaps help each other stay accountable. Our mantra is Proverbs 29:13, "Where there is no vision the people perish." We hope to have a vision and goal for this year so on December 31 of 2014, we can say we are better person and have matured in our walk of life.

To begin our vision for 2014, I passed out paper to each family member. The top of the sheet read S.M.A.R.T. (Acronyms for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time Oriented.) We had categories for four areas for our year goals (Spiritual; Knowledge; Monetary; Physical)

Following the SMART guidelines, we penciled in what we wanted to accomplish by year end. I had us do this in pencil so we could mull over the goals during the first day of 2014 to see if that is really the direction each person wanted to go. At days end, I typed the goals and made two copies. Each member has their goals to post as reminders and the other is stapled to December 2014 calendar page.

This helped to solidify my resolve for goal making. In the past I never could find what I had intended to accomplish for the year. Now, each family member has a finish line and knows that the finish line is coming!

We will see how this year pans out. One thing I do know, it has made me personally more motivated. With goals set, I want to see a better person on December 31, 2014.

Hope you all have a great 2014!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thank you to my readers...whom I call friends.  You are a blessing to me and I hope that you have been blessed via my "Tips for the Harried Woman" which is to encourage all of us ordinary people in our journey with Jesus.

I hope you have a blessed day!

Christmas Shopping Made Easy!

So how does this post on gift giving fit the Tips for the Harried Woman? I think Christmas shopping is the toughest time causing pressure and harried women as most of the gift giving falls to us. So, here are some great inexpensive gifts that will enhance a cook's kitchen! Sometimes we amble through the store trying to find something unique for this long list of people that we want/need to buy for. We end up buying a cheap item that falls apart and is history within months.

Below are some Christmas gift ideas that will make the cook smile and are great products that will last! They are also items that are easy gifts to meet the tight Christmas budget! Let me help you this Christmas!

Here is a great solution to avoid the crushing crowds. Stay in your p.j.s, go to www.paulasbread.com and simply click your gift choices. I have fast shipping service and can have your gifts delivered directly to your recipient or to you. Make life easier while you bless your loved ones.

LOTS OF PRICE RANGES TO CHOOSE FROM...SCROLL DOWN AND FIND A PRICE RANGE THAT SUITS YOUR BUDGET!!

FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER $100!!

Gifts ranging from $10 to $25!!

Pie Kit (pie pan, pastry blender, pie topper): $24.99 (click here)
A great kit to give to get the cook ready for great pies! Save money with the kit purchase.








Stainless steel bread pan: $11 (click here)
Stainless steel bread pan makes a perfect sandwich size loaf.



Bread Making DVD: $15 (click here)
Learn how to make bread, cinnamon rolls, mock rye bread, pull aparts, pizza and much, much more!


Stainless steel cake pan: Round $16 (click here)
or  8" square pan! (click here)

Stainless steel pie pan: $16 (click here)
Heavy duty 9" pie pan



 



Stainless steel jelly roll pan: $20 (click here)
This durable Jelly Roll Pan will stand up to years of constant use. It conducts heat evenly for uniform baking of jelly rolls, cookies, French fries, and more.






Stainless steel cookie sheet: $20 (click here)
Bake cookies, pastries, biscuits and rolls, pizza, tater tots, french fries, etc. Features a flat end for sliding off baked goods quickly and easily with no mess.






Stainless steel muffin pan: $24.99 (click here)
Heavy-duty stainless steel muffin pan makes 12 standard sized 2.5" muffins. Use for making cupcakes or hors'oeuvres.






Stainless steel pizza pan: $16.00 (click here)
I use this 16" pan for making pizza but also as a serving tray.




 







Steel French Loaf pan: $12.00 (click here)
Heavy gauged steel that makes 2 great loaves.

Gifts ranging from $30 to $45!!

Bosch Cookie Paddles w/ metal whip drive: $34.99 (click here)
The cookie paddles are made especially for the Bosch Universal. Makes your cookies with oats and chips and nuts. Highly recommended accessory to purchase with your mixer.



 

Stainless steel lasagna pan: $36.00
  (click here)

This stainless steel baking pan is ideal for baking lasagna, cake, and for roasting meat. It is made of heavy gauge stainless steel and is dishwasher safe.

 
Stainless steel lasagna pan w/ rack: $45.00 
 (click here)
Heavy gauge stainless steel that includes deluxe rack and spatula. Great pan for serving large crowds!






 

Bosch Citrus Juicer: $25.99 (click here)

The Bosch Citrus Juicer Attachment is designed to easily juice lemons, oranges, grapefruit and large limes. The powerful motor takes the hard work out of creating freshly squeezed juices.

 

  

Gifts ranging from $50 to $100!!

 

 Chef Pro Tortilla Maker: $69.99 (click here)
Bake fresh, healthy flatbreads at home! This Tortilla Press makes a 10" large size wrap to hold plenty of your favorite fillings.



L'Equip Juicer: $119.99 (click here)

The best price performance ratio on the market. Fresh juiced produce taste great every morning. Very user friendly. Great addition to your kitchen.

Accessorize your Bosch Mixer!!

Bosch Cookie Paddles w/ metal drive: $34.99 (click here)
The cookie paddles are made especially for the Bosch Universal. Makes your cookies with oats and chips and nuts. Highly recommended accessory to purchase with your mixer.

Bosch Blender: $69.99 (click here)
The Bosch Blender will pulverize, puree, mix, blend and crumb. Makes marvelous beverages, soups, sauces, fresh nut butters, baby foods, and sandwich spreads.


 

Bosch Slicer/Shredder: $119.99 (click here)
This is my favorite attachment and our family uses it weekly. It does a great job shredding cheese and slicing veggies. Get the new slicer/shredder dough hook free!

Bosch Food Processor: $104.99 (click here)
The food processor will be great if you are making lots of salsa, meat pâté, or chopping large amounts of nuts. The bottom blade makes these type food products a breeze.


 









Bosch Meat Grinder: $145.99 (click here)
The Bosch Meat Grinder Attachment grinds and minces meats, stuffings, and virtually all foods.

Give the long waited for Gift!!

Bosch Universal Plus Mixer 399.99 (click here)

This kitchen power tool will serve you and your family like no other mixer. You will not only be able to make up to 9 loaves of bread at time, but can make large batches of cookies to the smallest item like one egg white whipped. This kitchen mixer is my right hand tool for my kitchen and you will bless all when you give this wonderful gift!

 L'Equip Nutri Mill $229.99 (click here)

Grind all your grains and beans in minutes and enjoy FRESH ground flour with all its bountiful nutrients and flavor.  This is the lowest price and best grain mill on the market!


I have all in stock and can help make this Christmas season easier and bless those who you give to! So, kick back, relax and avoid the crowds!

www.paulasbread.com

Grandma Camp!

So what does Grandma Camp look like? My first rule is that the grandchildren have to sleep through the night! I have learned my aging body limitations and am not young like their parents to stay up all night and still function all day.

Grandma Camp is all about memories not extravagant activities. All my grandkids are under five years old. I found lots of low priced outdoor play toys on Craigslist which will bring years of play memories. I made a play area and large sand box as one activity; we painted with tempera paint; we played with sidewalk chalk making roads and designs; we blew soap bubbles; we made homemade play dough; we cooked together; bubble baths; ‘swimming’ in my Jacuzzi; and we ate grandma Sutton food with milk (they call my homemade granola this!) The four day camp was really nothing huge but my grandkids’ mind it was different at grandma’s house because we called it ‘camp’ and we did constant games focused on them. At the end of the week, I had spent $20 on small items to entertain them. They walked away with great memories and want to know when is the next‘grandma camp.’

As the holiday season approaches, the world will tell us to buy/do so many things that are putting strains on the budget but promised to make that memory. We end up with lots of money spent and no memories! Keep it simple for the holidays. Really, all kids want is your attention and your time. Spending $20 for Grandma Camp is proof!

Homemade Playdough
2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbs cooking oil
Food coloring

Mix dry ingredients. Mix water and food coloring; add oil. Add we ingredients to dry ingredients. Cook over medium heat in low flat pan. Stir constantly until mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and cool slightly. knead until smooth. Store in zip-lock bags.

We had fun making it and then playing. I pulled out the cookie cutters and pizza rollers. The kids had a ball and I spend practically no money! :)

For a special breakfast meal, we made special pancake shapes using the pancake rings.

I let the grandkids cook with me. They got to add the ingredients, count the items going into the creations and then lick the spoons!!

They played with chalk and we made roads with chalk with the Craigslist toys I found. These toys will add years of fun for the kids and future grandkids!!

We painted with tempera paint. This was little more nerve wracking as I was trying not to get anything on their clothes. I should have planned better and collected old mens shirts to put on them. When I taught preschool Sunday School, we would use old men's dress shirts and put them on the kids backwards. With the buttons in the back, we had them completely covered. Should have planned better...next time. :)

The best was our 'swimming party' in grandma's bathtub! If you turn the jets on in your jacuzzi, you will have major bubbles. The kids had a ball and we had lots of bubbles. I got in with them and we had fun making bubble creations. Life is good. :)

A New Sutton!

I have been out of pocket due to another precious grandbaby being born.  How much fun I am having with my grandma role.  We have gotten to spend several days cuddling our sweet granddaughter who is simply perfect!  She loves to cuddle and has a beautiful head of strawberry blond hair just like her mom. 

One happy person here!  Thanks for being happy with me!

Natural Halloween Candy

Well our family does not celebrate Halloween but we do hand out candy to trick or treaters with Gospel tracts. The kids are so used to having candy put in their sacks that they actually get more excited about the tracts than the candy! To have the tracts in time for Halloween, you will need to order them now!!

We buy ours from Living Waters Ministry. They have a large selections of fun tracts!! We like giving the "Million $ bill" It really wows everyone! :) Click here to see the large selections of tracts!

For those of you who want to have candy for your kids but not all the chemicals and sugars, I found a web site that has healthy candy!! I haven't tried any from this company as the health food store is too convenient for the small amount I would buy. I have true confessions that we simply buy the candy at the local grocery store which is probably laden with more chemicals and junk that I care to read. We don't eat candy all the time so I give on the occasional candy. sigh

This site is for you more healthy people...enjoy! Click Here!

Trophies...the good and the bad

I have posted before about insights I got from Gideon (Judges 6-8) He was quite a character and really just an ordinary guy who God chose to do amazing things. This gives me hope that little me and really anyone who can relate to a plain ordinary life can have a huge impact on life...the world.

My blog title mentions the good and the bad. The good was in the last post , now for the bad! The problem with those of us who might not be used to extraordinary things happening due to our impact in a situation is that it can really do a number on our ego. Gideon was no exception and again, he is a role model of what not to do. Gideon had a miracle defeat of the Mideonites and decided to make an Ephod from the gold and jewels taken from the battle. The Ephod was to be a symbol of God's deliverance and giving God the credit for the great victory. What could be wrong in having a reminder, a trophy and even putting God into the picture. If you read the ending, Gideon and the people worshiped the ephod and it became a stumbling block to them.

So what is our life lesson? We often get trophies or memorabilia with great intention to merely put it on the mantel as a reminder of how God helped us; God's victory in a battle; we may even put God's Name on it! What began as a spiritual victory with the intention to give God glory; then becomes bragging rights. We very "humbly" tell/show everyone about the victory and how God so mightily used me! My conversation becomes more about me and not about Him. Trophies and memorabilia in and of themselves are not wrong. We just need to keep our guard up to realize what that trophy could become in our lives...an idol!  

When I wrote the statement early about what not to do.. my mind reverts back to a children's book we read to our kids "The Bike Lesson" via the Berenstain Bears. Over and over the Berenstain Pop made mistakes and told his son "Now let this be a lesson to you. This is what you should not do!" That is pretty much been my mantra for my kids in life lessons....learn from my classroom of mistakes so you don't have to repeat them! This is another type trophy that though it is made of humble pie can give a clear picture on following hard after God, which is what all trophies are meant to do.

The Sutton Team

Many of you may remember me posting my funny about calling the police if you ever see me running!  This was funny to me as my family loves running...biking...swimming...athletic stuff.  Me?  I am the couch potato but I make an awesome cheering squad for my family when they do their events!!

My 'boys' did an event this past weekend.  A triathlon (swim/bike/run)!!  My husband did these in his younger years and hasn't done one in 25 years.  One son just did his first triathlon two weeks ago while my other son did his first this weekend.

We called the triathlon a Sutton Team event.  There has been so much hype between the brothers and dad about who would school who.  It has been an exciting summer preparing for the event which came to a head this past Saturday in New Braunfels, TX.  It was a "sprint triathlon."  I loved it as all the events were in one location, so I simply stayed put cheering and encouraging my guys on as they transitioned from swimming to biking to running.  It was so much fun.

For the record, I was over the finish line before any of them...it pays to be the keeper of the camera!  I simply had one of my other kids take my pic while the my athletes were carefully preparing their racing gear in the transition stage. :)

My guys were carefully laying out their gear and planning how they would run from the swimming stage to the transition and quickly put their bike helmets on.  There was much anticipation/excitement for the race to begin.

They had decided they would stay together and do this race in togetherly family fashion.  This sounded like a great plan till my two sons (15 years old and 31 years old) reached the transition stage after their swim.  My 15 year old determined he was going to beat his older brother.  The older brother saw the younger brother take off on his bike and said to himself, "Forget the waiting as a family...I am going to win!"  The race was on.  Well, it was on when they hit the water, only now it was official!

Dad on the other hand was left behind by his 'boys' but wasn't that far behind.  Not bad competing against young whipper snappers at age 58!

Another funny to our weekend: people took pictures of our cheering family.  We were hooping and hollering so much that people took pics of us!  We had way too much fun cheering our guys on.  My guys told me they could hear me cheering them on while still 100+ yards away....like I said, I am a great cheerleader for our family.  I have always told my kids that I am their biggest fan! :)

The guys have decided to get a Sutton trophy.  The winner gets to keep the trophy for the year along with bragging rights.  My 15 year old came in first of the Sutton family.  Well, technically, I was first...remember?!  My 31 year old has his eye on the trophy and tells the younger brother, he is going down next year!  What a great family weekend.  Thanks for enjoying it with us!