if you met me...

{inspired by Beloved Star}

If you met me (depending on who you are) I would give you either a handshake or a big hug

If you met me you would notice that I don't make great eye contact, even when I get to know you (please don't ask why)

If you met me you would realize from the very start that I like to ask a zillion questions: I like to hear about your hobbies, convictions, etc. :D

If you met me you would realize from the very start that with me strangers never exist

If you met me I would play you a song on the piano

If you met me I would try to convince you that the piano is the best instrument to learn how to play

If you met me I would invite you to bake some delicious goodies together and show you how to make a pumpkin latte

If you met me you would find me in a long skirt, a looser fitting shirt and my hair would most likely be in a ponytail

If you met me you would find me constantly smiling

If you met me know that there would (at times) be an awkward silence

If you met me you would soon realize that I love to talk and that I have a bubbly personality :D

If you met me know that I would do my best to make you feel at home

If you met me we would discuss all the things we have in common: whether it be favorite Bible verses/hobbies/TV shows/etc.  You name we would discuss it :D

If  you met me I would give you a tour of my home sweet home

If you met me I would most likely turn on Southern Gospel music and we would attempt to sing for the glory of our Father

If you met me know that I am by no means normal

If you met me you would find out very soon that I am very clumsy

If you met me I would "drag" you outside to do a photo-shoot and hope to have a good ole time with my new friend

If you met me we would most likely talk about the things we hope will one day be accomplished :P

If you met me I would ask you if you would want to make cards with me

If you met me we would go outside and make macrame necklaces

If you met me we would most likely do each others hair (and maybe give each other a little make-over)

If you met me I would most definitely invite you to my church and then enjoy more fellowship afterwards

If you met me know that we may just go to the nearby mall and window shop :D

If you met me know that you weren't placed in my life by mere accident.  I believe that there are no mistakes when God wants certain people to meet!

Now, if I were to meet you what would it be like?

Do tell!!

Serving HIM,

Alisha

Our little man

Don't be deceived by his cuteness :P

Serving HIM,

Alisha

My how she's grown

The screensaver on our computer is set to display our favorite pictures...and lately Sydney and I love to eat our lunch and just look at the photos being played.  From today's I had to chuckle at some of the pictures at Sydney...some were absolutely cute, others were just plain silly, and there those where I wanted to cry tears of joy because my "baby" sister was growing up to be such a beautiful young lady!!!  Thought I'd share some with you...enjoy!

Sydney's beautiful smile is infinite :D

Syd will be...well...Syd

She still loves nature

 getting along with Uncle Nathan and Aunt Jenny

She has a huge heart for little children...praise God!

The only thing that keeps her out of the water...winter time!

She has the most incredible voice {then again...I am just a little biased :D}

No kidding though...she sounds like Mandy Moore when she sings Rapunzel's songs from the movie Tangled

absolutely beautiful!


Yep she's definitely my sister...accident prone and a goober :P



She will always be the greatest friend to me...even though we disagree sometimes!

Serving HIM,

Alisha

My how time flies

Is it just me or does time fly as you get older and older?  As I was looking through some old portraits, I stumbled across some that I thought I would share with you all.  Enjoy :D

yours truly in 2002

Sydney in 2002

me in 2005

Sydney in 2005

me in 2008

Sydney in 2008

 me in 2010

Sydney in 2010

me and Sydney in December 2011...

...we haven't changed much since then, but eh!

Serving HIM,

Alisha

Our Saturday blessing

My mom grew up in a family where the world evolved around one word...

...sports...but not just any sport..football!

Does her family still like football?  I would say so.  Allow me to explain...

Mom went to football games her 4 years of High School (in fact she was a cheerleader one year and in the drill team the rest of the time), my uncle was in football when he was in High School, my grandpa watches football, my cousin (who is also a Junior in High School) plays Varsity, etc.

Now for me...well let me just put it this way...I had never been to a football game in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have I ever been associated with this sport?  Sure I have, but in the past I couldn't say I understood it.  Sure I've "played" football (two hand touch football), and going to your friends football game in Middle School doesn't count because I didn't even watch game, I'm not going to count watching the Shiloh Eagles vs. the Richland Giants either, and I don't think I can count the football game "I watched" on TV last September when I visited my grandparents in IA.

Thinking that I would never have the memory of going to a football game, I was beginning to envy those I knew who did go to football games (like my two good friends we went to the game with).  I know being envious is wrong!  But I have every right to be...because I'm an uneducated, inexperienced, deprived 17 year old home-school Junior in High School (yeah right)!

Friday we were blessed by our friends giving us three football tickets...God is so good!  Which means that yesterday Daddy, Sydney, and I were able go to our first football game, while Mama had some well deserved mama time!  I couldn't believe it...I would actually have the game explained to me by a friend who had been going to football games for awhile, I would have the memory of my first football game to share with my (Lord-willing) future children {much like Mama does with her memories of drill team}, not mention I was able to go to my first football game with Daddy, Sydney, and our friends.

Daddy let me take his camera so I could get tons of pictures...yeah that didn't happen...I was too busy watching the game.  Luckily Daddy took pictures of the three of us...here are two of them:

Without us knowing, Daddy captured pictures of us talking.  I had mentioned doing a "funny picture", but the guys mentioned they didn't do "funny" pictures.  That's okay these "funny" pictures may not have been posed, but they made me chuckle!

To make a long football story short...our team won the game by 1 point with 6 seconds left in the game!!  Let me just say that we were extremely happy afterward :D

Hey gang -
thank you so much for the wonderful time yesterday...I enjoyed it immensely!  It was great to have the game explained to me, and to watch it with great friends like you all.  

Serving HIM,
Alisha  

The Rivercrest boys

It all at a summer camp in Fremont, Nebraska. The name of this camp was Camp Rivercrest. This was honestly a really fun camp to spend a week or two with new friends and learning about our Savior. 

 One might say, “Camp Rivercrest draws you nearer to God” 

while another might say, “your whole time their you want to have revenge on the boys!”

 Honestly you do draw closer to God, but you also despise the fact that the camp is a boy/girl camp...when you only get three hours of sleep.  I learned this the hard way at nine years old!

One fine night in cabin 2, my friend Claire and I decided to have a sleepover on Claire's bunk. Claire was my age, and basically my best camp buddy! The night we decided to have a sleepover was also the night the boys decided to be...well boys! At 1:00 in the morning Claire and I woke up to, “Wake up girls! Rise and shine!” Now the counselor my cabin mates and I had that year was an awesome counselor! Until she was woken up to stuff like what the boys pulled off.

Claire and I take all we learned in Chapel the previous day, and start asking God to deal with the little things. Both of us were down on our knees begging God to make the boys go away. Finally at 1:45 in the morning the boys leave!  However, we had trouble going back to sleep (gee I wonder why?).  So instead of counting sheep or our blessings, we whisper and quietly laugh at each others jokes. Suddenly I hear Claire say, “Ali-cat the door knobs moving!” I tell her that she is going insane...until I hear, “Shhh you're gonna wake up Christi!” After the two girls pray, they hear the screen door slam. However the cabin 2 boys were not gone...in fact this is how the conversation went outside:

(Jeremiah=counselor Brian=Jonathan's 11 year old brother Jonathan=Brian's 12 year old brother)

Jeremiah: Jonathan, Brian, you've got the supplies?

Jonathan: Yup we've got them! Who do we irritate?

Brian: Let's do Claire and Ali-cat...they're the funniest in the whole cabin, they should be fun to watch!

Jeremiah: Good idea

So they sneak into the cabin and put shaving cream on my hand. Just when the three guys think they have pulled a prank on Claire and I, I rubbed the shaving cream all over Jonathan's face. Let me just say that the boys never pulled this stunt again!

So...what did you think?  This was a work of non-fiction...however I couldn't remember the male counselors name.  So that is the only thing that is not true!!!

Serving HIM,

Alisha

My life in a nutshell :D

 School has started...FINALLY!!

 Photography

and more photography

Serving HIM,

Alisha

Jordan and her huge predicament

Joshua and Jordan always quarreled...and it was always over little things. One day the quarreling went to far!

One snow day in Red Oak, Iowa, Joshua (11)  and Jordan (7) sat in the basement of their house playing the PlayStation 2. Not being able to decide on what game to play the quarreling soon began.

Joshua: No Jordan we're going to play Tony Hawk today, because we played the Disney game last time!

Jordan: Joshua we played the Tony Hawk game last time!

Joshua: No we didn't! You're just saying that because you want to play the Disney game!

Jordan: Joshua I'm not that selfish!

Joshua: If you don't let me play Tony Hawk, I'll lock you in the closet!

Jordan: I'm going to tell Mommy that you're acting like this.

Soon Jordan found herself locked away in a dark closet, while Joshua was playing the game he wanted! After about 45 min. of being locked in the closet Jordan started crying until...knock, knock, knock. Somebody's at the door! Please be Mommy or Alisha! Thought Jordan as she pressed her ear to the closet door so she could hear better. From the closet this what she heard:

Me: Hey Joshua can you and Jordan play?

Joshua: Um-mm....well I can, but Jordan can't....she's in trouble!

Me: Really what did she do?

Before Joshua could answer my question, Jordan let out a loud scream: H-E-L-P M-E!!!!! I recognized the voice and where it was coming from.  I made my way to the closet in which poor Jordan was contained.

Me: Jordan are you okay?

Jordan: No...Joshua locked me in there!

Me: Why because he wanted to play the game he played last week...Tony Hawk?

Jordan: Yep!

As Joshua, Jordan, and I walked up the stairs Heather stopped us.

Heather: Who screamed at the top of their lungs?

Alisha: Jordan did...she was locked in the closet downstairs!

Jordan: Yeah Mommy, Joshua locked me in the closet because I wanted to play the Disney game on the PlayStation 2 with him. But no he wanted to play the same game he played last week!

Heather: Joshua you are not allowed to play with the girls today, you're grounded...this time I mean it !

As Jordan and I happily played with each other, Joshua sat at the window watching us play in my backyard. For those of you curious...Joshua never locked Jordan in another closet again!

So how did you like this story?  This was actually a work of fiction and non-fiction that I came up with...

Josh really did lock Jordan in a closet because he didn't get his way, but he was never caught (due to a promise I made him)

Serving HIM,
Alisha

Matthew 12:50

"For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Do we do the will of our Father in heaven?
Does Christ call us His brothers and sisters and mothers?

Lord,
please give us all the wisdom to come to You in everything we do.  Help us desire to do Your will...without You we are nothing.

For the rest of the week, desire to do the Father's will!

Serving HIM,
Alisha

Josh and his marvelous idea

It all happened with three very best friends: me (7), Josh (9), and Jordan (5).  

One cold winter day we decided to play at Joshua & Jordan's house.  Since I lived behind Joshua and Jordan,the three of us played with each other 24/7!  Anyway, Josh was grounded this particular very cold winter day, and Jordan was taking her afternoon nap.  Being the trouble-maker that he was, Joshua decided to go against what his mother, Heather, had told him, and played with me anyway, since I was playing in my backyard.

      Josh: Hey Alisha, come on over so we can play!

      Me: “No Josh we can't your grounded, maybe tomorrow.”

      Josh: I'm only grounded from going over to YOUR house...we can still play.

      Me: Oh, okay I'm on my way.  So I started heading toward the drive way.

      Josh: No, no, no, it will take too long, just climb over the fence.

       Me: Joshua are you nuts, I'll get stuck, no way, I'm walking over!

       Josh: I'll even help you over, I climb over the fence all the time!

      Me:  Fine, but you better help me!

As I was climbing over the fence, my right leg got caught between the pickets.  Josh had no clue what to do...if he told his mother...he would be in deep trouble.  If he leftme in the fence, I might end up with a broken leg.  So Josh decided to run for help...he jumped the fence I was stuck in, and ran into my house yelling “Ali's stuck in the fence!” over and over!  Now my mom had just finished getting dressed after a nice hot shower.  Hearing Josh yell this, she ran outside with wet hair, and helped me out of the fence!

Three hours later, Heather returned from her friends house, and she and my mom talked for quite some time.  My mom told Heather how I had gotten stuck in the fence after being convinced by Josh.  Heather then told my mom that Josh had been grounded for the day, and wasn't allowed to play with me.  My mom apologized for allowing us to play together.  While our two mom's talked, Josh, Jordan, and I had our own conversation...I told Josh that I would never take his advice again.

Serving HIM,

Alisha

A random act of goofiness...

she is just full of surprises...kinda like yours truly...just don't tell anybody :D

Serving HIM,
Alisha

PS. Grandpa if you're reading this...this is proof to never let Syd drive the Arctic Cat {wink}

Words to ponder...

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Keep this verse in mind as you face life's daily struggles and when you feel defeated!

Serving HIM,
Alisha

Cottage Cheese Fluff

• 1 container of cottage cheese
• 1 can of crushed pineapple
• 1 package of Jello (strawberry, cherry, flavorings taste best :)  But feel free to experiment with different Jello flavors)
• 1 container of Cool Whip

In a large bowl put in your cottage cheese.  Then drain the pineapple juice from the can (you can do this by pressing firm on the lid once you have opened it).  Mix the cottage cheese and crushed pineapple together.  Now add your package of Jello to your cottage cheese and crushed pineapple mixture.  Mix these three ingredients REALLY GOOD!  Once you have mixed them really good, add in your Cool Whip.  You will need to mix REALLY, REALLY GOOD, because you need to have all the Cool Whip mixed in.  Once all the Cool Whip has been mixed in really well, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put the bowl into the fridge.  Let cool for some time before serving, for some reason it doesn't taste the same.  
I hope you and your family enjoy this recipe, like my family and I enjoy it :)
PS. This makes a really good dessert if your going to a potluck!

ttyl,
Alisha

Dear ______ {insert Author's name}

I really enjoyed your book _____________ {insert book title}...until the 12th chapter.  This is when I started to cringe and question your decisions on why you had to add in the content that you did.  Sadly my flesh won the battle and I didn't put the book down like I should have (I'm by no means perfect)!  Since then I am constantly reminded of 2 Timothy 2:22  where we are commanded to "flee youthful lusts".

With the way our society is today, you should be writing books that edify the soul, provide challenging faith questions, etc.  We don't need books with party scenes, somewhat sensual actions, etc.  I you proclaim to be a devout Christian author, then shouldn't your work reflect your faith?

Your book has proven something to me...not all "Christian" authors can be trusted!

Serving HIM,
Alisha

King Ranch Chicken

• 1 lb. dried small white beans
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 oz. can green chilies, chopped
• 1 tsp. oregano pinch each: cloves and Cayenne pepper
• green onions, tomatoes and lettuce, chopped and grated MJ cheese
• 1 1/2 qt. chicken broth
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp.oil
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

After the beans have been prepared for cooking, soak them overnight.  Before cooking, pour off the water and add the chicken broth.  Add half the onion and garlic and the salt to the beans; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until tender.  You may add more broth or water as needed while cooking.  Heat oil in a skillet; add the remaining chopped onion and cook until clear, about 5 minutes.  Add green chilies and all spices; mix well. Cook about 15 minutes.  Add this mixture to the beans; add chopped chicken.  Serve beans topped with cheese, then green onions, tomatoes and lettuce.