Restaurant Review
November 29, 2007 at 6:54 pm | In K's Posts, Restaurant Reviews | 1 CommentOne of my family’s all-time favorite places to go out to eat is Sweet Tomatoes. To those of you who aren’t familiar with this delightful restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes is a massive buffet with every kind of soup, salad, pasta, bread, and dessert you can imagine. Allow me to give you a tour…
When you first walk into the building, you find yourself in the salad line. This 55-foot salad bar is a vegetable lover’s dream! It contains every kind of salad topping known to man with several delicious dressings to choose from. At the end of the salad line, you receive your silverware, cups, and napkins. You also pay for your meal and then you are seated according to the number in your party.
Once you have settled in at your table and have enjoyed your salad, the real fun begins! You can now choose what you want to eat from their ever-changing selections of soups, breads, and pastas. Some things that they serve are: spaghetti, baked potatoes, chili, vegetable soup, cornbread, blueberry muffins, tomato bisque, french onion soup, foccacia bread, and fruit such as cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, and honey dew. Their menu changes every month and they usually have a theme to their limited edition items. There is literally something for everyone at Sweet Tomatoes!
Probably the main reason my younger siblings love Sweet Tomatoes is that they get dessert! There are many things to choose from to create your dream dessert including, but not limited to: vanilla, chocolate, and mixed ice cream, brownies, nuts, chocolate syrup, caramel, granola, chocolate sprinkles, fruit, tapioca pudding, chocolate pudding, and chocolate chip muffins. (Is your mouth watering? ☺)
You can probably see now why we love this restaurant so much. We eat a meal there about once a month and on nearly every family birthday that comes along. It is usually a 45 minute drive for us to get to a Sweet Tomatoes, but it is very worth it! It is one of the few truly healthy choices in restaurants out there. Check here to see if there’s a Sweet Tomatoes near you.
Have you ever been to Sweet Tomatoes? What did you think of it? What is your family’s favorite restaurant?
Quilting
November 27, 2007 at 6:44 pm | In Craft Projects, S's Posts | 1 CommentOur quilts have been coming along… We now have our quilt tops finished and we will be working on the border tomorrow. Here they are:
K’s
S’s (mine)
A’s
Yes, they’re starting to come together! The pattern is called Rail Fence, by the way. Along the edges there will be a thin border and a larger border. We’ll give you another peek once we’re done with that step!
Our silence
November 21, 2007 at 11:46 pm | In Events, Home Organization, K's Posts | 1 CommentI just wanted to pop in here real quick and give an update on why we’ve been so quiet lately! We have wanted to blog this week, but several things have prevented us from doing so.
The biggest thing we’ve been up to is what we’d call an Extreme Home Makeover. ☺ Basically, we have rearranged all of the childrens’ bedrooms. We used to have three girls’ rooms and one boys’ room, and now we have one girls’ room, one boys’ room, one clothing room, and one toy room. Our rooms were in desperate need of a good cleaning out! It has been a lot of work, but I believe it will be very worth it when it’s all said and done. Right now we are still working on some of the more tedious projects such as going through clothes, books, and other miscellaneous items. We will be sure to post some before and after pictures of our new and improved rooms sometime next week! So, be on the lookout for those. ☺
For now, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving weekend! Let us remember to praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
Amazing Love
November 13, 2007 at 4:40 pm | In Bible Verses, K's Posts | 4 CommentsAs girls, one of our basic needs is to feel loved. Many times we look to our dads for love, and that is a great thing. But, unfortunately, dads are imperfect (as we are) and we will often be disappointed when they don’t meet our expectations. Sadly, when this happens, many girls today look for love and acceptance from the world. As Christians, we know better than this. We should look to God as the only One who is able to fulfill our need for love. He is the One who created us! He sent His only Son to die for us!
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19
If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to choose something (anything) that will remind you of God’s amazing love for you. Whether it be a certain color, flower, animal, or car, every time you see it remember that God loves you like crazy! Tell God what your reminder is and He will always be faithful. He delights in it!
My love-reminder is a coupon. I know that may sound silly, but God has used a simple piece of paper many times to remind me of His love. One day when we were at a store checking out, I dropped something. When I bent down to pick it up I realized that it had fallen into one of those candy bar boxes that most stores have by the registers. I reached into the box and picked up a coupon! Evidently, someone had dropped it while checking out and had not been successful in finding it. The Lord planned for that person to drop that coupon and for me to find it on that particular day. Can you just imagine God waiting for me to find His special love note?
So, what is your special reminder? Do you have a testimony of when God used that item to remind you of His love?
Can you guess what our latest project is?
November 9, 2007 at 5:41 pm | In A's Posts, Craft Projects, Events, K's Posts | 2 CommentsHere are a few pictures to give you a clue…
If you guessed quilting, then you’re right! We started a great quilting class yesterday. In three hours we learned how to choose fabrics, cut, sew, press (iron), and more. We used some fabric scraps for praticing. The class intructor was really nice and helped us with our mistakes. She gave us “homework” to finish by the next week. After the class, we went to a fabric store to choose fabric for each of our quilts. We each needed nine different fabrics in three colors. We’ll let you know how the quilts turn out! Have any of you ever tried your hand at quilting?
Couponing
November 7, 2007 at 7:49 pm | In Frugality, K's Posts | 1 CommentSince taking the awesome Supermarket Savings 101 class, we have been gradually building up a stash of coupons. It has become so much fun for us to clip coupons, organize them, and match them with store sales to get things for free or almost free.
We obtain coupons mostly from the Sunday paper, but there are also other sources where we have been able to find them. There are many printable coupon sites on the internet which are very helpful. You can print the coupons for free and they usually have a wide variety. Also, ask others to save their coupons for you if they aren’t going to use them. Just keep your eyes open and you will find coupons everywhere! The other day I found a stack of some for people to take on a table at the hospital where I volunteer.
Organizing coupons is a little bit trickier than obtaining them. Once we had built up a nice stash of coupons, we were aware that our little envelope divider was not capable of handling the job. So, last week, we ordered a large coupon box from Refund Cents. Today I tackled the project of transferring all of our coupons from the envelope to the box.
Here is a picture of what our previous method looked like…
As you can see, it wasn’t working very well. We had many coupons yet to be clipped and organized.
Here is a picture of the coupons glad to be in their new home…
Happy Birthday!
November 7, 2007 at 12:09 pm | In Events, Photos, S's Posts | Leave a CommentTags: birthday, T
Our brother had a wonderful 25-hour birthday on Sunday. To celebrate, we ate out at Burger King for breakfast (mostly because of the time change) and at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch after church. Later, at home, we sang “Happy Birthday”, ate cake, and he opened his presents. He had a wonderful birthday! 
Got Curl?
November 3, 2007 at 4:23 pm | In Hair, K's Posts | Leave a CommentTags: Curls, Curly, Hair
Do you have annoyingly wavy, frizzy hair?
Do you blow dry your hair straight because you think it’s “in the middle”?
Have you constantly struggled with ”bad hair days”?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, welcome to the club! Five months ago, I would have answered yes to all three of those questions. All my life, I fought my “annoyingly wavy, frizzy” hair. When I finally discovered the flat iron, I thought all my problems were solved. I blow dried my hair and ironed it straight twice a week and touched it up daily. This took an enormous amount of time, but I thought it was worth it. I didn’t know why God had made my hair so unmanageable!
Then, miraculously, my sister and I found out about the book “Curly Girl” through Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. The girls shared their “Curly Girl” testimonies and pictures. At first, I didn’t think it would work for me. My hair was different. Well, the Lord had other plans. My sister, S, who is much more willing to try new things, really wanted to get the book and give the technique at try. I was stubborn, however, and didn’t want to give up my straightening routine.
One day, after I had washed my hair and blow dried it, I went to turn on the flat iron. To my dismay, it would not heat up. I tried to bargain with God and asked Him to just make it work this one last time and then I would try the “Curly Girl” method. Well, He decided not to grant me my wish. I had no choice but to go curly that day. 
My sisters and I read the book, got the needed supplies, and jumped in. The result was amazing…I found my inner curl! I was finally treating my curls the way they wanted to be treated! Since that day, I’ve been wearing my hair curly, in it’s natural state, and I haven’t looked back! My curls are free and happy to be themselves again.
Through this experience, I have realized that this is the way God lovingly designed my hair. I rejected it all my life, and now I am finally accepting it. I tell you my story with the hope that someone out there can learn from it and be changed as I have. If you have even a hint of waviness, I would encourage you to get the book from your library and see if you have an inner curl!
Here are a few tips for girls with curly hair:
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Never, ever brush it! Brushing separates the curls and makes it all frizzy!
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Never use shampoo. Conditioner is the best thing for curly hair. Just using that and cold water in the shower is enough to clean the hair and scalp.
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Always use the coolest water you can handle. Hot water strips the hair of its protective coating. You’ll eventually get used to cold water, but try to lower the temperature gradually. Nowadays, I shower in cold water only, but it took me awhile to get used to it!
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When you get out of the shower, scrunch your hair with a small amount of clear, unscented gel to encourage the curl.
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Have fun!
Shining Bright
November 2, 2007 at 8:38 pm | In Bible Verses, S's Posts | Leave a Comment
In Matthew 5:16, Jesus instructs us “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” But how do we “shine before men”? Here are some answers I’ve found in Scripture:
1. Spend Time with God
Jesus calls himself the bright and morning star in Rev. 22:16. If we spend time with Him, we will start to reflect that light. This was exactly Moses’ experience after meeting with God on Mt. Sinai, as you can read in Exodus 34:29-30.
2. Lead Others to Christ
Daniel 12:3 says, “And they that turn many to righteousness [will shine] as the stars for ever and ever.”
3. Be Christlike
” Do everything without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:14-15)
1 Samuel 25:3 says that Abigail had a beautiful countenance. We should all desire to be like her and Moses, whose faces reflected the light of the LORD in them.
What if it were me?
November 1, 2007 at 10:53 pm | In Books, K's Posts | Leave a Comment
I just finished reading a book called “Joni”, the unforgettable story of Joni Eareckson Tada. If you’ve heard of her, you know that she does indeed have an amazing story. At the age of 17 she was involved in a diving accident which left her paralyzed from the neck down. She struggled with bitterness, depression, and searching for meaning in life. She described her journey to accept God’s will for her life and how she began to use her God-given talents such as painting, drawing, and singing for His glory. I learned many lessons through reading of her experience, but the most significant one is to never take anything (in this case, my physical health) for granted. Many times we do not realize how blessed we are. I now understand that because I am able to walk and use my hands in everyday tasks, I am extremely blessed. Today I resolve that I will be grateful to God for these blessings and seek to use them for the furtherance of His Kingdom. I am looking forward to reading the other books Mrs. Tada has written and the lessons God wants to teach me through them.
Graphic from JoniandFriends.org – painting by Joni Eareckson Tada
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