2010 at 10:33 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under
Fun Stuff Friday Funnies
Kristy sent us this adorable picture of her boys and the funny story behind it. Don’t forget to pull out your camera for our Pick One Spot Contest!
Nicole for my mom and sisters
Hi Girl Talk Ladies! I just had to send this because it made me laugh so much. I was considering entering your contest for “Pick One Spot” so I had my camera up in my room…I was still deciding what spot to tackle. Today, I allowed my two older boys (3 and 2) to watch a show on my bed while I took a quick shower and the baby napped. My oldest called to me in the bathroom and asked if they could play with “the paper.” I vaguely remember having some post-it notes on my dresser, so I said sure. What’s a couple post-it notes scattered around?
Oops. So much for saving the wrapping paper for next Christmas!
Kristy
2010 at 7:16 pm | by Kristin Chesemore
Filed under
Homemaking Recipes
As we’ve mentioned before, Mom was very intentional in training my sisters and me in homemaking—for which I am very grateful. Most of this training occurred in the home and she was our teacher. But she also tapped friends in the church to teach us candy making and sewing and together we took classes through the county and our local craft store.
Some lessons took off, and others fell flat. The bow-making class at Michaels, for example, was a complete waste of the registration fee. We had a good laugh about it this Christmas when I showed up to the family gathering with beautifully tied bows on my presents. Mom thought those lessons had finally paid off (fifteen years later) only to discover I had used pre-tied, elastic ribbons. Oh well!
The cooking classes, on the other hand, were worth every penny (easy to say when it wasn’t my money, but I think it is true!). They sparked a life-long love of cooking and the Lord knew that one day I would have three boys who love to eat. One of our favorite classes was Italian Cooking where a local wife and mother taught us how to cook some of her family’s favorite recipes. We still make many of her dishes today. This week, I whipped up a batch of her minestrone soup and put extra jars in the freezer. Mmmmm…perfect for winter! Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!
Minestrone Soup
4 slices bacon
2 onions, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
3 cans chicken broth
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes with juices
5 cups shredded cabbage
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
Ditalini
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
In large pot cook bacon over medium heat until browned and crisp. Remove; drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside. Drain off all but 3 tablespoons drippings from pot. Add onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook stirring often about 8 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomatoes with juice, wine, parsley, bay leaf, basil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add cabbage. Cook 10 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf. Serve with ditalini cooked separately. Top with crumbled bacon and Parmesan cheese—freshly grated.
2010 at 7:23 pm | by Janelle Bradshaw
Filed under
Homemaking
For the girltalkers, the New Year usually sparks a cleaning and organizing frenzy. We blame Mom for this condition. Last week Nicole went on a crazy two-day organizing spree. She’s insane! But Mom and I were jealous of her newly organized home; so today we tackled our kitchen. We are giving each and every cabinet a thorough clean. Writing this post is my chance to sit down for a few minutes!
All this organizing reminded me of one of my favorite girltalk contests: Pick One Spot! Oh, I loved that contest! We asked y’all to:
1. PICK ONE SPOT in your house that was in dire need of some TLC
2. Take a “before” picture
3. Proceed to give said spot some TLC
4. Take an “after” picture, and
5. Send your pics to us for a chance to win some prizes.
Your entries were amazing! The transformed spots were just short of miraculous!
So, I’m bringing that contest back. Join us in our New Year organizing frenzy and try for a prize while you’re at it. Pick One Spot in your house—it can be a room, a closet, or even a corner and follow the directions above.
Grand-prize winner gets $100 gift card to a “home” store of your choice. Deadline is in two weeks: January 22.
OK, I’m getting up from the computer now and so should you. We’ve got work to do!
PS – If you have trouble inserting pics in the contact us page, you can email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
2010 at 4:41 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under
Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Spiritual Growth
When CJ leaves for work at the end of the day, he tells Tony, his assistant, and Nora, his secretary: “We’ll try again tomorrow,”
That’s short for: “Well friends, we worked hard today, but once again we failed to accomplish everything we hoped. Maybe we even made mistakes, used poor judgment, or experienced setbacks. We are frail and finite creatures. Only God gets His to-do list done. And only God does it perfectly, every day. So, let’s humbly acknowledge our weakness and insufficiency in contrast to His strength and sovereignty. But let’s not give up in despair. If God wills, let’s come back tomorrow and by His grace, do our best to serve Him faithfully, for His glory!”
Let’s try again tomorrow.
I think CJ’s little phrase can help us in the New Year.
Are you discouraged by unfulfilled resolutions from years past? Maybe you’ve already failed to keep your resolutions for 2010.
I can easily get discouraged when I consider this past year: My recipes remain half-organized on my computer. My reading list is only two-thirds completed. Certain relationships I wanted to invest in remain untended. My unbelief still dogs me.
But I read more books this year than if I’d never resolved to read at all. I’ve taken more initiative with people, even if not as much as I would have liked. And the recipes are half way-organized instead of one big mess! By God’s grace, I think I’ve even grown in faith, however slow my progress.
I may not have completed my to-do list for 2009. But I’ve done more than if I never tried at all.
So, I’m going to try again this year. I’m going to make new resolutions to glorify God. I’m going to seek to make them humbly—recognizing my weakness and inability to complete them all perfectly.
But in the words of Paul: “one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). I want to press on to be more like Jesus and be with Him more often in 2010.
As we bid goodbye to 2009, I say to you: “Let’s try again this year.”
2010 at 3:17 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under
Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines
We’ve all made our New Year’s resolutions: Spend (a little) less money on shoes, organize the kitchen cabinets, dig out the exercise DVD from under the bed, check the facebook feed fewer times per day.
But wait. Have we resolved to do the one thing that is necessary in 2010?
Donald Whitney, in a timely sermon at CLC yesterday, challenged us to pursue holiness: “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
“Our purpose in life—if we have the Holy Spirit” he says, “is godliness: you want to be like Jesus, and you want to be with Jesus.”
And there’s only one way for that to happen.
By practicing the spiritual disciplines.
By sitting at Jesus’ feet.
“Godly people are godly people primarily because they are disciplined people. And it has always been that way” insists Dr. Whitney:
“You can go all the way back through the history of the church and all the famous heroes of church history. You can be sure that all those men and women became godly men and women – not because God zapped them in some way that he hasn’t zapped you….Those great men and women of faith became more like Jesus the same way you and I do: by means of sustained, unspectacular, routine discipline. Godly people are godly people because they are disciplined people. It’s always been so.”
To help us be more disciplined, godly people, we have an exciting new feature coming soon to girltalk. So stay tuned.
But today, I want to urge you to listen to this message by Dr. Whitney. It will strengthen your desire and resolve to be more like Jesus and be with Jesus more often in 2010.
Let’s sit in the new year together.
2010 at 4:47 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under
Fun Stuff Friday Funnies
We conclude our Year-in-Review with a memorable Friday Funny—the grand prize winner of our Funniest Wedding Story contest (see Friday Funnies category for the other nine winners).
Hope you are rejoicing in God’s faithfulness in 2009 and eagerly anticipating His goodness in 2010. Happy New Year!
Nicole for the girltalkers
June 26 2009 at 10:35 am | by Janelle Bradshaw
Filed under Fun Stuff Friday Funnies
Y’all are amazing! We received tons of entries for our funniest wedding story contest. It was a hard job, but we’ve narrowed it down to ten winners, and we’ll post their stories over the next few weeks. As promised, our 
winners will receive the book of their choice from our books and audio page. So if you see your entry posted, contact us with your address and book choice and we will send you your goods asap. Congrats to our first winner, Katie.
My husband, Greg, is a musician and often plays the organ for weddings. Over the years he has learned to be ready for anything at weddings. His mom and I still chuckle over what happened at Cassandra’s wedding.
Cassandra, Greg, and I all grew up together. At one time Greg and Cassandra liked each other. As the years went on, the Lord brought Greg and I together and gave Cassandra a wonderful husband. At Cassandra’s wedding, Greg was the organist for the ceremony, and one of the groomsmen was supposed to play a piano postlude while the audience was dismissed. Greg played the recessional, but no one came up to relieve him. Silence would have been terribly awkward, so he decided to play a few hymns “off the cuff.” Unfortunately, what he chose to play was “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”
