another year...why marriage works.

wow, has it really been 4 months since I last posted?!?! I guess I can officially hang up the title that I'm a "blogger"...ha! 

 I guess because the hubs and I just celebrated another year together, I find myself thinking about this more lately. 

I also thought about it as we drove home yesterday from our little get away. I said.. "you know, we're gonna have to fight harder to stay together..." to which he replied..."I know..."



Good. We're on the same page. 



A friend texted me over the weekend and part of her text read..."I'm not disillusioned to think it's perfect(talking about our marriage), but it's evident that God is first and it is blessed..." humbling and encouraging.... whew! I'm glad she sees it as not perfect, because we are not perfect. And I'm convinced in all of our imperfections of life, His perfection shines and is shown. 

I've wondered when I might be "qualified" to write on such a topic. I still don't think I'm "qualified" , and if I were given the opportunity to sit at the feet of a couple that has been married double our marriage time, I would take every opportunity to listen to their wisdom....so with that , this is for you newly weds....

This is why I know marriage works.


I know it works, because when we said "I do".....we had no idea what marriage was really going to look like. 

I know it works, because when we said "I do" I didn't know Tim wasn't going to be able to fulfill all my needs...and vice versa....

I know it works, because when we said "I do", Tim didn't know he was going to have to help his wife get through her "daddy issues"....

I know it works, because when we said "I do" I didn't know there would be a time I would want to just walk away or ignore each other when it got tough. 

I know it works, because when we said "I do", we didn't know that we'd have yelling matches that would last into the wee hours of the morning.

I know it works, because when we said "I do", I didn't know my husband would look me in the face one day and tell me "if you walk out that door, then I will too..." 

I know it works, because when we said "I do", I didn't know that one day, I'd view my husband... the one I looked in the eyes at that alter; the one that made me have butterflies, plan big dreams together, my hero, my lover.....I didn't know that one day I'd view him as my enemy. 

I know it works, because years ago, that husband....my husband, looked me in the eyes and said "I am NOT your enemy....I am FOR you, I am FOR us.".... and those few words, rocked my perspective forever.....


I know it works, because when we said "I do", it's wasn't the only time we said it 17 years ago...it was only the first time we said it.

I know it works, because we say "I do", every single day. No, we HAVE to say it every.single.day. 

But not what was said 17 years ago.... "I, Katie, take thee, Tim, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith [or] pledge myself to you."

But more like, "I, Katie, take thee, Tim, every.single. day, to be my husband, my companion, my best friend, my accountability partner, my only lover..... to have and to hold, every.single.day. For times in battle, for times in temptation, for times when we fight struggles that make us want to quit..... when we question each others motives... when we struggle in our sin....when we try to find fulfillment in each other or others, and not Christ. To love, cherish and honor each other.... to point each other to Christ... to view each other as our biggest fan, our proudest supporter; a partner in the crazy life that lies ahead...to make time for each other when time is not available.... to fight for greater purpose. To praise each other big time, but our God bigger. To make decisions together. To listen in our struggles; to fight through each of them and not push each other away.  To serve together and not stray far from each other. To not give opportunity for something to come between us. To hold each other in high respect and value so that we may keep trust. To always strive to stay true to the word, and listen to God's calling for us....and when one strays the other is used to bring him/her back. To view our only enemy as Satan and not each other. That our marriage would be bold, raw and always in need of a Savior; and when we fail in these areas, walk in forgiveness and look for God's grace and mercy to redeem and sustain us. "

This is why I know marriage works. Because it's a choice to say "I do", every.single.day. 

I do, Tim Pilcher, I do. God is good. I Love you. 

helllllooooooooo out there....

Miss you guys, but I have a little toddler, (aka: Tasmanian Devil as of late) on my hands that keeps me busy....

This pic was from yesterday...she was upset I put her down from holding her, and the pic on the right makes my face like Hope's when we have a house showing and she keeps doing this to every room.

I told our Realtor that I hope the people like toys that he was showing the house to....it is what it is...


In all honesty, this little girl has all of our hearts...

She brings so much joy to our lives. She keeps me super busy, as she "investigates" everything. And I wouldn't be surprised if she's potty trained in the next 2 mos, because she tells us when she's "pooped".....and reminds us that it's "yucky", when we are changing her.


Yep, she's talking....quite a bit. She can tell us just about everything she wants. But she will repeat or try to repeat exactly what you say.

Our older girlies are on the school soccer team...

I feel like that entitles me to a soccer mom car decal.....I'm joking. If I had a decal for everything we had our hands in, I'd need a 15 passenger van to display....

Life with four kiddos, a dog that decides to vomit on the only carpet in the house right before a showing, and a super hunk of a hubs keeps us going, going. But I wouldn't want it any other way. Our life is full.

Our little home front is still on the market. If it doesn't hurry up and sell, I'll be on to the next project in it.... like ripping out our master bedroom ceiling, because the hubs discovered we had a tongue and grove ceiling in there...what what!!

We have precious friends that moved on our street. Elizabeth has played with her friend almost every day since their move. I would be lying if I told you that she wants to move....I mean, hello!, who wants to leave a friend you can take adventures with everyday! Not to mention, the mama is truly one of the greatest.

Whatever God has in store for our little family (can we say little anymore??? I mean, there's 6 of us..), we are ready to take on that adventure...even if that means, our house sells and God sends us to China....

For those of you reading, stop freaking out.... we have no plans to move to China. Tim and I just joke because, we've been in a relationship with God long enough to know that we shouldn't hold on to our plans too tightly, His may be waaaaaaaayyyyy different then ours.

That's what He does to us sometimes... Katie wants to build a house...God wants...(fill in the blank)...

And I'm okay with that, because I'd rather pray "His will be done", and not my own. But I'd be lying if I said that I'd be a little sad if I had to throw my drawings of our new nest aside.

But He hasn't failed us yet. Through hardships and change, His love is greater and shines brighter through every season of our life. I just need to be reminded of that more often then not. I'm pretty sure that's why He takes us on these rides....trust.

Hoping your 2015 is starting out with a reason to trust and rest in your Father's love.

Happy Friday, peeps!

it's not about the china....

It's funny how life throws the unexpected at you. It often comes as you would expect...when you're not ready, hence it's meaning- unexpected. The unexpected is when things get real, and makes you think deeper, otherwise, you just keep doing the day to day routine...or at least that's how it is for me.

Often times, I feel like I don't do all of what I should or want to do. Mainly, because it would cramp my style.  Or I've thought that if I, would have just waited, or done it a long time ago, then it would be better and the timing would be or would've been, just right. And let's face it...Life is tough, why open the door for things that could make it harder???


Sounds even worse as I type it then when I thought it.


The words Legacy and Heritage have been used around me more often in the last month then probably my lifetime. Or maybe the older I get, I just pay a little more attention to those things. The more I think about those words and the value they carry, the more I realize that I've gotten it all wrong.


We've been "cleaning out"...If you follow me on Facebook, then you've probably seen that we've had two yard sales in the past week. And you might have even attended them and wondered, what in the world is up?? Why are you selling all of this stuff??

Here it is in a nutshell....

Stuff.

Lots of stuff.

Lots of stuff is keeping me from God.

Trust me when I say, I am a lover of all fine things. I think nothing wrong with having beautiful things. Our Creator makes beautiful things and I believe delights in the creation of His hands...likewise, being created in His image, I believe we do as well;and I do believe we can bring Him glory through our things.


But our family has too much stuff. I'm so ready to simplify the things in my life that hinders me from digging deeper in the eternal things.

As I was cleaning out, I came across my grandmother's china. And before most of you gasp in horror, calm down, I didn't sell it in the yard sale. I didn't even think of doing such a thing, until my mother found out that we were having a yard sale and said "please, don't sell my china..."...

China.

That is when it hit me harder and my feelings of what a legacy is and what kind of heritage I pass down just grabbed my heart; and questions like, "unless I'm feeding the poor with this China, what use is it to my children's children?"


I started thinking, as hard as it would be....I want to be Paul.

I want God to take me out of my comfort zone in the stuff, and bring me into the complete comfort of His provisions for my life. I want to be ready for the unexpected without the clutter of things hindering me from going deeper then the surface. I want to teach my children that dirty floors are worth the feet that brought them. That "precious and valuable" items are not to be stuck behind glass doors because we are afraid of them being broken. Because, that message is not true. Beautiful things should be used, and should be broken from their use; because that is the picture of a beautifully used life.

I want to be broken. I want to be used and broken time and time again from my ways, because that is what draws me from myself and closer to our Creator and His ways. I've gotten it all wrong, time and time again, and I know I will continue too. But there is the beauty in Grace. Thank God, for His grace!

 I don't want to stay behind glass doors, where I am seen but rarely used. That is what I want my children's children to see.

That is what I want my legacy to be.


It's not about the china. If that is all I pass down.... if that is the most valuable thing in my possession to give, then I have not lived at all.

a hello...and a super yummy and simple healthy recipe :)

So, it's not my Nana's pot roast recipe yet.....but I did just whip this up for lunch and decided it was blog worthy because of it's simplicity, AND after hearing Elizabeth's...."Mmmmmm, this is so good, Mom."

After a week of a completely blessed and thankful vacation to the sand and sea, and a hectic week while Tim was away prior to that; our "diet" of choice has been one not to brag about.....

Honestly, the last 8 weeks or so, we've slacked on the healthy eating and I'm feeling it through my whole body...mind and soul included.


So, I told the family that we were back at it, so better get ready. It's hard to eat clean when you're so busy.....BUT, it's not the cooking on the hard part...it's the preparation for the week, so that you don't "do easy" and "cheat"..... Those Buy One Get One frozen pizzas look mighty easy and cheap, but is it good for you....I'll let you decide.

So I had some ground chicken that I was going to use for dinner tonight and just ran up to the little grocery down the road for some fresh green beans and decided to use a little of both for a quick and healthy lunch for Lizzy and myself...


Again, since I wasn't planning on blogging it, you only get the finished product and none of the cooking. It truly is simple and you can whip it up in 15mins.

Ingredients-and I don't measure if I'm not planning to record it, so you might have to adjust a tad..

1lb of FRESH green beans (snap the ends off)
1/3lb ground chicken
1 chopped green onion
1 generous tsp of curry powder
salt to taste (about 1 tsp)
olive oil (drizzle)
coconut milk
toasted almonds


I heated the oil in the pan while snapping my green beans and added them as I snapped. Then I immediately added my chicken , salt and curry powders. On med-high heat, I stirred and tossed until chicken was done (white in the middle- easy to tell with ground chicken. about 5-7mins)

I then added my onion and drizzled with coconut milk until I had the chicken mixture coated. I didn't want a "soupy" mix, just kind of "dressed", cut heat down to low, stir it to completely coat the beans and chicken,  put a lid on it and walk away for a few minutes.

Serve it up with some toasted almonds (lightly salted)-


And enjoy your "clean" and healthy meal :) Serves 2 (FYI- I think this would be delicious served cold, so the left overs are going in a mason jar to school tomorrow for the big girl's lunch)

I've changed my menu tonight and decided this was just too easy not to repeat! I 've got a meeting at supper time, so this would be super easy to prepare for the fam before heading out. I'll be tripling the recipe tonight but might only do 2 tsp of curry powder. If you love curry, then add to taste :)


I'd love to hear your feed back.... Do my recipes help you busy peeps out there? What would you like to see more of? Comment below, or on FB if you have a suggestion or say "keep 'em coming!"...



I brought the "real" camera out on our beach trip, along with the phone one.... Enjoy some of the pics below.

Our girlies are growing up and sweet, little Hope will be ONE YEAR OLD next month! Our girls make me smile. Happy Monday!

smile....

I sat down long enough to upload some pics from Saturday. We traveled to one of my brother's home up north for some pool and cousin play. Our littlest nieces that live in the States, (because I do have some cuties in Africa) came up as well; and so of course, smaller peeps are more fun to photograph, so it is what it is folks :)  These were just too cute not to post. To recap, there was dress up, swimming, and a big time dance off, just to set the scene; since my niece that is in most of the pics is wearing a dress from her big cousin's closet ;)  and just to warn you....if you are drinking a beverage when you get down to the "goggle" pic, you might just spew it, or if you are over the age of 40 (or given birth to a child) you might wet your pants...yes, that funny.

It was good to be with all of them.

Happy Thursday, y'all!