Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

• I most certainly did not let my 3 year old play in the rain for an hour on Saturday afternoon. I would never give in to his sweet little pleas and allow him to do such a thing.
  


• Then after not allowing him to play in the rain I did not not make him take a bath! I mean what kind of mother counts playing in the rain as a bath? Not me thats who!!
  


• I did not forget to go and register Chase on post at CYS so he could go to the daycare at the gym. I really did not forget to register him because I am not intimidated in the least bit to start going to the gym again!
  


• I absolutely did not do absolutely nothing this weekend. I did not sleep in until 11:30 Sunday morning and I did not love every second of it!!

Who does God want me to be?

I think about this daily, who does God want me to be? He obviously wanted me to be a daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend. He obviously wanted me to marry the Military man I did, he obviously had my path laid out well before I was even born, well he knows who he wants me to be. But I ask, who does God want me to be?



I know God wants me to be a better Christian, I struggle with that daily. I could and should walk a much closer walk with God and as hard as I try, I all too often fall short of the mark. Just today I read an article and I got it! I really really got it. God wants me to be a Bible based Christian while I am living the life of a cultural Christian. What is a cultural Christian you ask? A cultural Christian is someone who has divided his loyalties between God and the things/events of this world. All to often, I get so involved in life (people, places, things) that my faith takes a back seat and I do not even realize it. There are times when I convince myself that it is OK to miss out on church because I had such a busy weekend or have too much housework to do or errands to run, really in the end it is me I am hurting. I am making myself a stranger to those in my church, I am denying my sons the time in nursery they should have to worship the Lord and learn how great he is. I am not only hurting myself and my sons but also God, I am not giving him the time he so deserves! This is not who God wants me to be, he does not want the world around me to dictate how I serve the Lord, I should let Him show me!



God wants me to be a Bible based Christian, he wants me to cling to his word and serve him as the bible tells me. I am to cling to His word and let Him show me!



In Psalm 1:1-3 it says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."



I need to learn to cling to God and allow him to show me whom he wants me to be. I should not let my surroundings affect the way I show my faith. I should let my faith shape my world around me!

How we became WE

This beautiful life we now live all started 9 years ago when Daddy C and I were Seniors in high school. Who would of thought the Baptist preacher's son would marry the Catholic school girl? Who would of thought these two would go on too see each other good-bye as one went to war (4 times)? Who would of thought these two would put together the sweet little life we live with our amazing two little boys? In 2000 if you asked me any of the above questions I would have told you you were crazy! But there was someone that knew all of the above would come true, that someone of course is God! He knew what he was doing that day our Senior year when he got this journey started! And this is a journey I would never want to stop!
( April 2000 Daddy C and I 1 week before we started "officially" dating, going to his senior prom and this happened to be his 18th birthday as well)

(June 2000 Daddy C's high school graduation day, man I look really skinny)

(July 2000 Graduation trip to NYC, that my parents treated us to, two small town kids in the middle of Time Square, it was amazing)

(September 2002 Sophomore year of college, Chad's bid party)


( March 2003 Delmonico Steak House, New Orleans, LA, PiKA formal dinner, by far the craziest week of my life)


(March 2003 City Market in Savannah, outside of Malone's, which is now Wild Wings, we just got engaged)


(March 2004 Smooch, we are now Mr and Mrs G!

(May 2004 After our spring break wedding we finally graduated college in May 2004)

(January 2005, he graduates Basic/AIT)

(April 2005, he graduates RIP and I am 3 months pregnant)
(June 2005, our first Ranger Ball)
( September 2006, he graduates Ranger School)

(October 2007 Homecoming, ASU Boone, NC)


(November 2008, Charleston, SC 7 months pregnant, picture by Stacy Martinez Photography)

(May 2009, our 4th Ranger Ball, Fort Benning, GA)

Wordless Wednesday...I'm taking it way back!

Well almost wordless! What a difference 7 years makes! This is Chad's bid night party for his fraternity (PiKA) WOW! I remember this night, I had walking pneumonia, was sick as all get out but still managed to look adorably cute and do my hair! Plus this was before 2 kids and about 5o lbs ago! I wanted to take you guys way back as most of you did not know us then!

Tasty Tuesday!!!

Every Tuesday I am going to try to post some of my favorite and very cheap recipes!!!! Since this is the first Tuesday I will give you 3! Ready, set, go!!!!

Chicken Salad
3 Chicken Breasts
Chicken broth (enough to boil the chicken with)
1 tbsp mustard
1/3-1/2 cup mayonnaise (to taste)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Dash of sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Minced garlic w/juice (about 1 tsp, I used already minced garlic in the jar)
Pickle (finely chopped)

Boil the chicken breasts in the broth. Chop chicken into small pieces. Mix chicken, mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, sugar, lemon juice, garlic and pickle. Mix well.

Taco Soup
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
280z can diced tomatoes (undrained)
16 oz can kidney beans (undrained)
17oz whole kernel corn (undrained)
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 pkg dry taco seasoning
1-2 cups water or tomato juice
shredded cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream

Brown beef, drain and add onion. Cook until onions are tender. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream. Enjoy!!!

Crock Pot Chicken
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast (boneless)
5 minced garlic cloves (I use minced garlic in the jar found in the produce section)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
1tbsp rosemary
salt
pepper

Place butter and garlic in microwave and melt butter. Roll chicken in the garlic-butter mixture and place in crock pot. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add broth to the remaining garlic-butter mixture and add to the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Sometimes you may have to add a little more broth. After they have cooked they breast will fall apart, I usually serve over rice.

I hope you enjoy and I certainly will not argue if you want to share your recipes as well!!! You can just add them to the comments!

Not me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

• I most certainly did not allow my 3 1/2 year old to eat 3 dum dum lollipops, an ice cream cone and some of my Coke at Jason's Deli on Saturday! Hey, I was hot and tired after being at Best Ranger all day!
• I absolutely did not get that delicious Edible Arrangement that I had hinted to my husband about in last weeks Not Me! Monday!
• I did not get secretly get really excited when,we were starving on Saturday after swim lessons and on the way to Best Ranger, my husband offered to eat at Krystal, after all it is the only half-way descent place on Victory Drive. I do not secretly love Krystal but pretend I hate it, because Krystal is just one of those places.
• I did not have my 4 month old out in the 88 degree weather, with grenade smoke, extremely loud simulated mortar and artillery fire and a lot of yelling and screaming this weekend and loved every minute of it! He, the said 4 month old did not sleep through all of the artillery and mortar fire, which was scaring grown adults!

Some great money saving opportunites and free stuff!!!

So I promised to give you guys the latest and greatest money saving opportunities when I had them and I found some great ones today, so on to you they will go!!

Like coffee? Want some for free? Go to Nescafe by Taster's Choice to try a 6 sample pack for free! I know quite a few new moms that would love that!!

I also found 3 great ways to get really high value coupons and free items!!!

• Sign up for the Kraft Foods Community here at the Kraft Foods Community you will get free recipes, coupons and maybe some free products.
• Sign up for the Kraft First Taste Program here you can get the chance to try new products for free, they usually send out coupons for totally free items once every 6 weeks or so.
• And if you sign up for the Vocal Point here then you will get packets of coupons and free products in the mail on a regular basis. The most recent package they sent out had a coupon for a free box of Kashi waffles and a $1.50 coupon off another package of them.

Want free candy? I do, I do!!! Every Friday from now until September the Mars company, you know the one that makes M&M's is giving away free candy to the first 250,000 people each Friday. If you sign up here they will send you a reminder email so you can score your free chocolate!!

Not free, but really cheap...from now until June 29th you can get a Grande iced coffee with milk from Starbucks for $1.95,click here for more details. Mmmmm, now I can't stop thinking about that.

When I find more great deals, steals or finds I will be sure to let you all know! Until then don't hesitate to let me know what you have found this week! I would really like it!!!