I love living in the south and I love the foods of the south!  When I moved to South Carolina for my first teaching position and job after going to college, the cook at the school introduced me to a southern favorite – rice with gravy.  I loved it.  However, it also helped to pack on pounds that I’d never had before!  So a little in moderation is a good thing!  

Cook one cup rice.  I use the instant kind.  Saute’ an onion and 3/4 cup celery in 2 tbl. butter.  Add the rice,  2 Tsp parsley, a little salt and pepper and 16 oz. baby carrots or frozen peas.  Place rice mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish.

 In another bowl, mix a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup and 2/3 cup sour cream.

 Place a cut up fryer or four chicken breasts on top of rice mixture.

These chicken breasts were huge, so I only had room for three.

 Top the chicken with the soup mixture.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Uncover and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake for 15 more minutes, or until chicken is done.

Enjoy!

What regional food is your favorite?  

With love from my country kitchen,

Cars get lots of use and abuse, and as result, they deserve need lots of care and attention.  Aside from all the regular maintenance stuff that has to be done to the engine, the inside needs a female touch to keep it smelling nice.  Let me define “nice.”  It is NOT a pine tree fragrance or whatever other smell fragrance those plastic rear view mirror thingy’s come in!  How about a Macintosh apple fragrance?  Lovely. Clean Cotton or Bahama Breeze?  These are all fragrances put out by Yankee Candle.  Take a look at this:

That is a vent clip.  You simply slide it into your vent and voila!  It makes your car smell wonderful!  I have a sweet neighbor who gave me a package of these Macintosh clips.  I put it in my Jeep, and later when I was loading my groceries in my car, I thought, “I didn’t buy apples, but it sure smells like them  in here!”  Then it dawned on me that the delicious smell was coming from that Yankee Vent clip!

They come in a package of four and last for two weeks.  A package is $5 – so that’s eight weeks of a great smelling car for five bucks!  Not bad!

I also love how cute they are.  I’d say they’re a whole lot prettier than a pine tree hanging from my mirror!  Here’s another one I saw on their web site:

How cute is that?!

Refresh the smell in your car with something that will smell cute and provide a little decor and style for the car!

Be refreshed,

Ever wish you could hide from everything?  The people that are irritating you, the work load in front of you and the burden inside of you?  I was at that point last week. If you’d have seen me last week I was calm on the outside, but weary on the inside. Pitiful.  Sad.  Tired and worn.  

Then Sunday came.  I went to God’s house where we stood and read the Word of God together as a congregation.  I read verse 14 out loud, “The Lord upholdeth all that fall,and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.”  That was me.  Bowed down.  Wanting to hide, but so happy and joyful to be reminded that Christ will hold me and lift me up!  As the service continued, a sweet friend stood and sang this song and it made my heart flow over with peace.

This is my prayer closet – my place to Hide Away

Hide Away

VERSE 1 
Come, weary saints, though tired and weak 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Your strength will return by His quiet streams 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

VERSE 2
Come, wandering souls, and find your home 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
He offers the rest that you yearn to know 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

BRIDGE 
Hear Him calling your name 
See the depths of His love 
In the wounds of His grace 
Hide away

VERSE 3 
Come, guilty ones weighed down with sin 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
The freedom you long for is found in Him 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

VERSE 4 
Come, hopeless hearts, do not despair 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
For ten thousand joys await you there 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

How do we do that?  How do we Hide away in Jesus’ love?  It sounds wonderful, but do we know how to do it?  It requires an intentional effort to indeed “hide away.”  The first thing in the morning we get to a spot alone with Him.  We run to Him with our burden.  We talk to Him.  We spend time with Him.  We read His Word.  We spend more time saturating our thoughts and our mind with Him than we do the world.  We turn off the noise and we reject all that is opposed to His Truth.  

As I’ve spent time with my Lord this week, my heart is indeed strengthened and my head lifted up!  Oh how sweet to Hide Away in Jesus!

How/where do you hide away to be with the Lord?  Are you carrying something He needs to carry for you?  Hide away with Him and lay it at His feet.  Be intentional.  That time will make a difference in your day, your walk with Him, and your influence on this world that so desperately needs the Lord!

Hidden in Christ,

I love all my pins on Pinterest for springtime, but realistically I know I can’t buy or make everything on that board.  What I do is look for inspiration.  I’ll take what I have, move it around, and come up with my version of that look.  Here’s what I’ve done so far…

That little bunny was found at the Dollar Tree! I’m borrowing the candlesticks until someone gets a home to put them in! Thanks, Alli!

This adorable tray was in another room, but for now it’s on my dining room table, along with my sweet little birdcage and my potted herbs.

The entryway

I borrowed this greenery from another room and added the bird’s nest that had been abandoned a few years ago.

My chalkboard signs – Jesus lives within my heart.

This is on top of the fridge

The only thing I purchased was the dollar bunny!  I love that!  Shopping at home is fun and fulfillling!

I also have a couple pictures on my phone from window displays at the mall I was at this week.  I’m hoping to use one of the ideas for my Easter table! 

Where do you get your decorating inspiration?  

From my country porch,

Well, this was supposed to be published for Tuesday, April 8, 2014, but was posted on Monday…

Last night when I looked out my bedroom window and saw the sky pictured above, I was reminded of my awesome God who created what I was looking at.  The clouds kept changing as they glided across the hillside. It was breathtaking.  Had I painted on a canvas a picture of a sunset with clouds, it would have resembled a kindergarten rendition of the hills lopped together in the middle, little puffy clouds, and a half sun between the slopes.  Pretty lame.  I cannot reproduce what my God can do.  He is awesome!

While viewing the brilliant sky, my next thought was about the answers to prayer that God had wrought that very day!  Not one, but two specific answers to prayer in one day.  Huge requests.  Huge answers. Long-time requests!  The day before that, God answered another one that I’d prayed about for months.  He indeed is an awesome God who is alive and at work in our lives every single day.

Sometimes we question His working because we cannot see.  The clouds we see in our sky aren’t so beautiful.  As a matter of fact, the sky is dark and dismal.  The sun isn’t shining anywhere – not in the sky; not in our hearts.  “Where are you, Lord?  Do you not hear?  Do you not see?”  Then one day we look up and we can hardly believe our eyes.  The answer has come.  We bow in humble adoration, and also shame that we did not trust.  All the time we were doubting, our God was at work doing what we could not see so that He alone might get the glory.  It’s amazing.  It’s perfect!  It’s done very unlike we would have accomplished it with our Kindergarten crayons.  God answered in supernatural ways because, after all, He is a supernatural God! In my situation, I watched Him answer in the things which “I knew not” (Jer. 33:3).

I’m praising God for my answers to prayer.  There are still many for which I’m waiting for the Lord to take care of, but I know He will – and in marvelous ways.  Why?  Because He promised and because He’s an awesome God!

Keep praying. Keep waiting.   Keep watching.  

Are you praying about a need?  I’d be happy to pray with you. I don’t even need to know the need.  Are you rejoicing in answered prayer too?  I’d love to hear!

Because of our awesome God,