I’m taking a spring break from blogging this week in order to refresh myself. I’ll see you back here next Monday!
Refresh yourself, too!
A Little Break
We’re Celebrating Easter!
Easter weekend is my FAVORITE weekend in the whole year! It encapsulates the reason I can face tomorrow – Jesus is alive! No matter what we’re facing today – even with all the craziness, confusion, unrest, hatred and division, the truth that Christ arose from the tomb promises us all victory over sin, death and hell!
Because of that, I believe we should celebrate to the hilt!
Let’s magnify Christ!
Let’s share the Good News of eternal life that comes by placing our trust in Jesus alone for salvation!
Here are a few ways I’m celebrating Easter this weekend:
Reading the chapters in John about Jesus’ death and resurrection. I love to read the Scriptures early in the morning and think about the women at the tomb and the joy that filled their hearts to learn that their Savior was alive! Their joy is MY joy!
Resurrection Rolls – This treat is such a fun and delicious way to remind children of the elementary facts of Christ’s resurrection from the tomb. Here’s the idea –
A simple marshmallow is rolled in melted butter, then tossed in cinnamon and sugar, reminiscent of Jesus’ body being covered by spices before He was buried. The crescent roll is wrapped around the marshmallow, reminding us that Jesus body was wrapped in linen cloth. The roll is then placed in a muffin tin, reminding us of the tomb where Jesus was laid.
The pan is then put into the oven to bake, and in about 12 -14 minutes, the baked rolls can be eaten.
When you open the rolls up you find the inside (the tomb) is EMPTY! My grandsons loved this activity!
Resurrection Rolls
Ingredients
- 8-ounce package refrigerated crescent roll dough
- 8 regular-sized marshmallows
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8 wells in a muffin tin with baking cups (for easier clean up) or spray the wells with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Unroll crescent dough and divide into 8 triangles at the perforations
3. Mix sugar and cinnamon together in shallow bowl.
4. Dip marshmallow in melted butter, then in cinnamon and sugar.
5. Place marshmallow in the middle of a crescent roll. Wrap dough tightly around the marshmallow, making sure there are no openings.
6. Place roll in muffin tin. Repeat with the rest of the rolls. Brush rolls with remaining butter and sugar.
7. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Cool sightly before serving.
Good Friday Service – Today is Good Friday and my church is having a Good Friday service at 3:00 in the afternoon. I always LOVE these afternoon services! We will be observing the Lord’s Supper, singing, reading Scripture, and being reminded of the sacrifice of Jesus’ death. If you’re in the area, we would love for you to join us. Here is the link to our website where you can find the address at the bottom of the Home Page.
Sunday service – Of course I’ll also be attending Easter service at church on Suinday. Remembering back to last year when we were unable to get together makes me doubly thankful to be able to meet together to worship and praise the Lord with other believers! Again, if you don’t have a church home, we welcome you to attend! Go here to learn the times of the services.
Cake – My family will also get together to enjoy an Easter dinner after church. It will include this traditional Coconut Cake with Lemon Filling! We’re all a little very excited about that!
If you need something a whole lot simpler for your Easter dessert, here’s a cute little bunny sundae my dad always made for our family every year. Everyone could make their own and add what they like. You could even have a contest to see whose bunny is the “Best dressed!”
All this takes is a scoop of ice cream, some whipped topping, coconut, for whiskers Jelly beans, M&M’s or chocolate chips for his face, and some banana slices for ears.
I pray that your Easter weekend is filled with the joy of the risen Savior! He loves you and died in your place so you could have eternal life in Him. That’s the only thing that will truly refresh you for now and all eternity!
Happy Easter!
Jesus’ Final Words To You
This week my husband pulled out a journal that he wrote in when his father was dying of cancer. On his death bed, my father-in-law spoke to each of us. With ears leaned down, straining and attentive, we wanted to hear every word he said to his family before he died. His words were precious. They were written down so we would not forget.
In John 17, we have Jesus’ final words to His disciples. This was His prayer for them as He was now facing the cross. But He didn’t just pray for those that followed Him during His time on earth, He also mentioned me and every other person who would trust Him and follow Him as their Savior! How amazing is that?!
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Could we miss hearing His precious words? Would we turn away and not lean in to hear what He wanted to tell us before He died? Here’s what He prayed for us in His final hour:
- He wanted us to have unity as modeled by the Godhead. The Father and the Son were one. Unity among the Body of Christ is so important. Has the cross helped me to love others, or am I divisive in my spirit? Our love for others proves our love for God.
- He wanted us to be one in Christ. This is our position once we are saved – in Christ. We’re not one through church membership, good deeds, or our pastor, but in Christ. Is the cross work of Christ and my identification in Him my only hope of salvation? Nothing else will save me.
- He wanted us to be marked by glory. Jesus gave His glory to us through His presence, His Word, and His Spirit. It’s the manifestation of His presence. Can the world tell that I’ve been with the resurrected Christ?
- He is anxious to be with us! Jesus greatly desired for His people to be gathered to Him in heaven and to see His glory. Jesus longed for heaven’s completion of all things. Am I longing for heaven where I will be with my resurrected Savior and view His glory face-to-face?
- He wanted us to know the indwelling presence of Himself. “I in them.” Am I abiding in Christ today?
One of the things my father-in-law said on his deathbed was, “I’m going to miss my family, but I get to see the Man I’ve been preaching about all my life!” It’s normal for us to think about our family members longing to see us, but to think that the Lord Jesus is anxious to see us in heaven is amazing, isn’t it?
Because of Easter, the celebration of our resurrected Savior – we can have the assurance that we can have Christ living in us now simply by putting our trust in Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins. Then, we have the solid assurance that we will see Him in all His glory one day when He brings us home, and we can see His glory by abiding in Him now.
If you’ve never read Jesus’ last words to His followers, or if it’s been a while, you can find them right here. Open your “journal” and be overwhelmed by what He wanted you to know before He died in your place!
Rejoice in His love letter to you,
Sheet Pan Fish Tacos
New recipes are found everywhere…even in the Kroger Magazine! I love Kroger for lots of reasons, but this magazine they send out is a new reason to love shopping with them! The recent edition had tons of great recipes, as well as some craft ideas! I found some super good spring recipes that I tried this week. As a matter of fact, I tried FOUR recipes from in one week! But this recipe I’m sharing today was our favorite!
A lovely spice mixture is sprinkled on both the veggies and the fish, giving a normally plain piece of fish great flavor! The Crema that is added to the taco will make you want seconds or thirds! Wow. It’s just so good.
There are a couple changes I’ll be making in their method, and I’ll note them in the recipe below.
Directions
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 orange bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1⁄2 medium red onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 1 pound tilapia, cut into 1” strips – I used Mahi Mahi and it was super good!
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
- 1⁄4 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- Salt
- Warm corn or flour tortillas
- Avocado slices
- Step 1 Place rack in center of oven; preheat oven to 400°F.
- Step 2 In small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne and salt.
- Step 3 On sheet pan, drizzle peppers and onion with 1 tablespoon oil. Toss with half the spice mixture. Bake until lightly browned, 15 minutes. (I like my veggies a little crisp, so I’m going to add the fish and veggies on the pan at the same time. These were too cooked for my preference.
- Step 4 Meanwhile, in medium bowl, toss fish, remaining 1 tablespoon oil and remaining spice mixture. Set aside.
- Step 5 Push roasted vegetables to one half of pan; lay fish on other half. Return to oven; bake until fish is opaque and reaches a safe internal temperature of 145°F, 10 minutes. Drizzle 1 tablespoon lime juice over pan. Again, I’m going to add the fish and vegetables at the same time and cook them for the 10 minutes.
- Step 6 In medium bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice and cayenne. Season with salt, to taste.
- Step 7 Serve fish on warm tortillas with sauce and avocado slices. Refrigerate any leftovers.
I served this with a homemade creamy coleslaw and it was the perfect side dish.
If you have a love for tacos like we do, and you enjoy fish, I hope you’ll try this recipe and be sure to make the Crema, too; it makes it extra special!
Also, like this recipe I shared a couple weeks ago, this is a one pan meal! Gotta love that!
Happy Taco Tuesday one day early! Thanks, Kroger!
Here’s another take on fish tacos that we love as well as this recipe for my homemade tortillas.
Mini Mudroom in the Garage
When your garage is messy a disaster and needs some good organization and then you see that your neighbor is giving away a lovely piece of furniture that would make the perfect mini-mudroom, you slam on the brakes and go get that piece of furniture! That’s exactly what happened to us last weekend!
Garages easily become catch-all’s for everything that you don’t know what to do with or don’t need anymore (can I get a witness?!). Over the winter months, our garage got Out. Of. Hand. Now with this beautiful piece of furniture in tow, I decided to use it to make a mud room of sorts. It will be a place where shoes can be slipped on and off, and also used for some extra storage space for the thing my husband needs more room for – his books. I failed to take a picture before we moved the piece in, but here it is just piled up and not yet organized.
I’m married to a sentimental guy. He likes to hold onto things that were his from long ago, his parents’ possessions and maybe even his grandparents’. That means an old cell phone from his mom, a CD player/Boom Box, a ton of CD’s (you know what those are, right? Ha!), letters, and year books are treasures to him. I wanted to help organize his belongings, not really toss them, so that was part of my task in this garage clean-up job. I made a place for his mom’s CD player (and have it plugged in and accessible) and also found storage for the CD’s. I also made a place for his shoes when he comes in, as well as space for some car accessories, yard games and fire pit tools.
Since we always come in through the garage, I like to make it inviting. A wreath, a cute greeting on the door say, “Welcome Home!” If you’re going to hang art work in your garage, why not hang up a picture of a cool, old truck?! A young man at our church gave that to my husband a few years ago.
I also added a tin for bats, balls and other toys so that my grandsons could easily access them. The aqua cushion on the furniture was one I had already and wasn’t using anymore. Now it’s providing a soft place to sit down and lace up shoes!
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I love that this new space cost me $0, thanks to kind neighbors who needed to unload a piece of furniture. If you have a garage that could use some organization, why not look on Facebook Marketplace? People are often selling pieces like this one for little to nothing, or maybe you’ll be blessed with a free piece like I was!
What could you do to create an inviting space in your garage or car port? Sometimes just adding a wreath and a pretty rug can transform the garage from just a place for the car to a place that welcomes you home!
Refresh your garage with a little spring spruce up!
RefreshHer 