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Yummy Chicken Pot Pie

My friends, there is absolutely no reason to wait to try this recipe in your own kitchen. It's delicious and easy to make!

Yummy Chicken Pot Pie

(from Allrecipes)

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1-3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

2 (9-inch) unbaked pie crusts

Preheat oven to 425.

In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. (While sauce is simmering, shred chicken with two forks.) When sauce thickens, remove from heat and set aside.

Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Why, Lord?

I admit it. I am struggling. I will start by saying that I consider myself to have a strong faith. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and I believe that it is true, cover to cover. I believe every word that God says in his Word and I believe that He loves me so much that He sacrificed His own Son to be my Savior so that when he sees me, He sees His Son in me. This makes me His child and there is no other Father for me.

Now, that being said... I question, I struggle, I misunderstand. I am limited by my human understanding. I am not on the same level as God Almighty and therefore do not have the omniscience He does. I constantly remind myself of this. I do not see things as He does. I do not know His plan, I only know my desires.

I have the same questions as the next person. Why is cancer taking loved ones from families on a daily basis? Why do children get sick?

This weekend, a family in our neighborhood tragically lost their husband/father. He was out jogging and died suddenly, just about four blocks from his home. He leaves behind a wife and three children under the age of 6, with the youngest being 1. His oldest son is in my son's kindergarten class, which is how I know of this family. It is heart wrenching to say the least. And I don't get it! Why, Lord?

In times like this, I have to cling to what I do know. God is sovereign and He is above all. He is omniscient; knowing everything: the beginning, the middle, and the end. His plan is a perfect plan and only seems imperfect because of my limited understandings. He loves His children because the Bible tells me so. His plan for me is to spend eternity with Him and He provided the way when he gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior for my sin.

While there are many things I question and don't know, I do know the end of the story. While the rest of the story at this point is fuzzy details and many times, painful ones at that, I will cling to the end of the story, the day when there will be no more pain, no more tears, no evil, no cancer, no sudden deaths. For, in that day, I will be with Him and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever!

The countdown begins!

As I glanced at the calendar this morning and counted the days until Christmas, my heart rate began to rise a bit. There are simply 43 days left until Christmas! How is it here again so soon?

And, again this year, I want to make every effort to keep this Christmas from getting too big and focused on the materialism. (Yeah, can someone tell me how to explain that one to my kids?) Several years ago, I heard a great idea from a friend. They give their kids 3 gifts for Christmas just as 3 gifts were brought to Jesus after his birth. Sounds simple enough, right? However, I've been trying to do this now for umpteen years and haven't succeeded yet! Someone help me here!

In our traditions, the presents from Santa are not wrapped and are set up and sitting out waiting for each kid's delight and squeals. The presents from Mom & Dad and family are wrapped under the tree. As I attempt, yet again, to stick to my 3 present goal, and the catalogs are surpassing their quota in my daily mail, it's already giving me a headache.

So, if you are like me and you haven't begun to plan for your kiddos, nieces, nephews, grandkids, check out this website. This catalog has awesome gifts, not your every day Target toys. (...not that there's anything wrong with Target...I pay their light bill for sure!)

Happy shopping!

(& if you have any ideas to help me stay in control, I beg you, post them here!)

Time Flies

I can't believe it's actually been two months since I last blogged. The Curtis Crew is alive and well and busy as bees. Speaking of bees, aren't these cute?

We had a great Halloween. Our street was very busy and we gave away every last piece of candy! Emily & Ben made it to every house on the street (with a porch light on, of course) and Abby made it about halfway before she said, "I want to go home and eat my candy!" Check out my little goblins...

Emily, the bzzz-eutiful bee...

Never fear, Ben Lightyear is here!

Abby, the busy, busy buzzing bee...

This year, Jason and I joined in and dressed up (sort of)... Jason was a cowboy and I simply wore a witch hat. Most people thought Jason was wearing the clothes he must have worn every day while in Texas.

Here's the entire Curtis Crew in our duds....

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and the holidays and getting back to blogging. Grandma is coming in a few days and we are more than excited!

So, here's the question of the day...Fresh Market turkey dinner or homemade all the way? Hmm...

Gotcha!

We have the cutest little chipmunk who lives under the foundation of our house. I've tried numerous times to get a picture of him but he's so quick to get away. Finally, I got his picture. The quality is not great because it's taken through my window screen, but nevertheless...gotcha!

Isn't he so cute?

Abby's First Day!

Abby started preschool this week. She was more than ready to go. Watching her sister and brother start last week made waiting for her first day quite a challenge for her little self. She walks right into her room without a second thought and dives right in. So proud of her!

I have lots of pictures with this kind of smile...

But, I love it when i get this kind of smile...

Ready for a great day!

Bloom

I've never participated in a book club, much less an online book club, so I'm excited to see how it will work. It just so happens that a friend of mine on Facebook recommended this book and the very week I ordered it, Angie announced she is using it as her first book for the new Bloom Book Club. You can order the book here on Amazon and the club begins next week. Join us!

Love these sweet crazy kids!

Back to school...

I love the first day of school. As a former teacher, I am easily excited by new backpacks, lunch boxes, crayons, pencils, notebooks, etc. The anticipation for the first day of school comes once a year and contains all types of emotions. However, when I'm the Mommy and not the teacher, the emotions are a little heavier on the sad side. Don't get me wrong, we had lots of fun getting ready for school with all our things in place. New shoes, too. But when the first day actually came, it hit me that here we go again; another year will fly by as they are growing up way too fast in front of my eyes!

Emily started 3rd grade this year...3rd grade!!! How did we get here so quickly? She had a great first day and told us last night this was the best first day of school she's ever had. She couldn't stop talking last night about her day. She is in a class of 12 girls, knows most of them already, and got the teacher she wanted. Her year is off to a great start!

Benjamin started kindergarten today...kindergarten!!! How did we get here so quickly?

We walked to school this morning as we will do every day. I could feel my steps getting heavier as we got closer to the school. Whoa...materials are ready and in hand, but I forgot about my heart and how it would feel.

Our neighborhood school is amazing and we had a great day at "Meet the Teacher".

We've heard wonderful things about our teacher, so we are glad to be in her class. Lining up this morning in front of the school before the class goes in, I noticed the line seemed long. And, it kept getting longer! Ben has 25 kids in his kindergarten class. Many prayers will go up for his teacher this year...can you imagine? I have to admit, 12 in a class is nice. It's going to be a while before 25 sits well with me.

Next week, my baby will start her preschool class...preschool!!! How did we get here so quickly?

So, what is a mom to do?

I first opted for these...

And then, I remember I really need to opt for this...

A Mother's Prayer for the First Day of School

Here we are again, Lord.

Their backpacks are loaded and their faces are scrubbed and their lunch accounts are full.

And I know you will walk with them, Lord. You always do. But a mom still has to ask. Will you walk with them?

Will you whisper to them what they need to hear, when I'm not there to whisper it?

Will you please, oh please, cover their school with the protection only you can give, and will you keep harm far away?

Will you make their minds strong and ready to learn?

Will you help them understand that hard work honors the One who created them?

Will you guide their teachers, giving them patience and wisdom and creativity and more patience?

Will you bless them for their efforts?

Will you love all the children there, the ones whose lunch accounts aren't full, the ones who feel alone?

Will you teach my children to be kind and unselfish and to love those who are different from them?

Will you point them back toward home just as soon as you can?

Lord, I give them to you today and every day, trusting them to your care.

Amen.