by Kimberly | Feb 4, 2013 | Uncategorized
I’ve been doing a lot of dreaming lately and living in reality. So, I was thinking of how the two of these can live in harmony with each other.
My dreams are just those: dreams. I have many ideas in my head and I want to see them come to fruition and be reality. Some of my dreams include: cards, books, clothes, stages. There are a lot of specifics behind those very vague dreams, but know some of them are just tucked away.
But how do I examine these dreams in light of my current reality – which I love?
1. Live during today. Don’t dream away your reality. I love giving kisses to my 4mo little boy. I love cooking meals for my husband. I love making our house a home. I love shooting photos with my iphone and my Rebel. I love sitting on my red couch and hearing the giggles of Little Buddy. I love getting to know our church family and practicing hospitality at Rainwood. But, I dream in the quiet times of the day.
2. Journal. I have a whole box full of journals that need to be used up. I’m doing better at it. I need to write down my dreams and what I want to do with them. For me, I’m not too specific because I think that would be discouraging. But I put down just enough info or sketch just enough to bring a little life to those dreams.
3. Pray. A lyric of a hymn says this about discouragement “take it to The Lord in prayer.” That is my husband and I have been doing. Taking some of these ideas to The Lord and seeing what He will do with them. He knows the every minutes of your day and of your life. He knows what you were designed and called to do (Eph 2.10). He will make it clear and He does care.
4. Examine. Why do you want to do those dreams that you are dreaming? Are they for your glory? Are they for His? Are they for your good or the benefit of others? Some dreams will just be for you – but others will be designed to benefit others.
5. Accomplish. While not neglecting your tasks that you need to accomplish today (housework, caring for your family, working, taking care of your body, time in the Word, etc), then make those dreams a reality. See if God will accomplish great things through for His name and glory. Design little girl’s dresses like a friend of mine did, shoot photography for a living like other friend’s of mine have done and are doing, whatever it is – work, as unto The Lord, not unto men.
What is in your head and in your heart? How do you dream big? How do you live off paper?
by Kimberly | Feb 1, 2013 | food
A friend and I made an impromptu stop at an Asian market here in Little Rock yesterday. She was buying bok choy for a South Beach recipe she wanted to make that night. I got on my trusty phone and looked up recipes, found one, realized I had most everything, changed a few things things, and viola! a good recipe for the hubs and I! Enjoy it.
Spicy Asian Chicken & Bok Choy
The good thing about having a well-stocked kitchen is that you can be at the store and just need fresh ingredients when making a meal like this one. If you like to cook Asain foods, or want to get more into Asian cooking, here are some of the items you should invest in and have on hand: a wok, ginger (store in freezer), chinese 5 spice powder, Asian sesame oil, natural rice vinegar, soy sauce, stir fry sauce. You can make a lot with just those ingredients always on hand.
Spicy Asian Chicken and Bok Choy
1/2 cup chicken stock *I used homemade that I had leftover from cooking down my chicken bones – this saves money and tastes so mcuh better than store bought!
3 T soy sauce
1 T sherry cooking wine
1 T sugar
1 t cornstarch dissolved in 1 T water *Cornstarch is a thickener. In a seperate small bowl, stir the cornstarch and water together, then put it in with the rest
3/4 t natural rice vinegar
3/4 t Asian sesame oil
1 t crushed red pepper
Canola oil *You use this at different times during the recipe, and I used more than the original recipe called for. Your usage will be based on you stove, pan, and how saucy you want the finished product
1 lb white button mushrooms, stem removed, washed, sliced *To wash mushrooms, just dampen a paper towel and wipe them off, otherwise the spongy fungai will obsorb too much water
1 lb chicken breasts, thinly sliced *Salt and pepper this before cooking, I used 2 pinches of each
3/4 lb bok choy, thinly sliced *I just used the white part, not including the hard end which is bitter. Mine was baby bok choy, not the bigger full-grown version
1 medium red pepper, sliced then chopped in about 3/4 in pieces *Make sure you discard of the seeds and inner white part of the pepper, otherwise the dish will be too hot
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp garlic *I used Gourmet Gardens (in a tube) – Thanks Jilly – love the smell of it!
Basmati rice
Supplies needed:
Cutting Board (2, one for the raw chicken)
Zester-grater (for ginger and/or garlic)
Sharp paring knife
Whisk
2 Small bowls
Large, shallow pan
Measuring spoons
Medium pan to cook rice in
Plate
Wooden spoon
This isn’t a hard recipe, just has several steps. And I did great till the very end and then baby started fussing, made me burn some of the rice. Oh, well. It was still yummy!
1. Chop all vegetables and chicken before starting. Will make it very easy just to dump everything to the pot
2. Mix the chicken stock through the red pepper and set aside.
3. Heat a large shallow pan with some of the canola oil. Saute mushrooms for about 5 minutes.
4. Take mushrooms out and place on plate.
5. Add more oil and cook chicken until browned but not cooked all the way through – about 4 minutes. When done, remove them from the pan and put on plate with mushrooms
6. Add more oil if necessary, saute bok choy and red pepper for a few minutes, then take out and put on plate.
7. Add liquid and seasonings (ginger and garlic) and just heat to make the ginger and garlic fragrant. Garlic has a tendency to burn quickly, so you want to act fast here.
8. Add the chicken and veggies and stir until all heated through and chicken is done.
9. Cook rice sometime during this process.
10. Serve on top of rice.
11. Enjoy!
by Kimberly | Jan 30, 2013 | life together, mothering, photo shoot
Sisters. Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters.
S and A and their mom Jennifer are such sweet dear people. Jennifer and I go way back (to her middle school days) and I love the fact that me and my son get to be a part of their lives. For this session we were in Palm Coast, FL at Princess Place Preserves – never been there, want to go back. It is such an old Florida place – trees, moss, water, not a bazillion tourists around! Then we trekked back to St. Augustine and had lunch at her parent’s place and played on the beach with the seagulls!
Such sweet time!
Such a lovely place for an outing – Princess Place Preserve in Palm Coast, FL
Love those lips and that pout!
She had fun doodling in the sand
sweet back seat hugs
I wanna go to the beach mommy!
Thoise eyes!
What is all this white stuff?
Love that belly laugh!
So sweet little girl!
This is the “Mommy it is bright, I don’t want to look” face!
Such sisterly love!
Reading already! She’s brilliant!
Chasing seagulls
by Kimberly | Jan 29, 2013 | Uncategorized
Love her Valentine’s Day line of cards
Out of Central Florida
Oh cards just make me happy!
While i was in Orlando this past week, I was able to take the LB and get a quick peek into the exciting-to-me world of letterpressing. As most of you know, I love cards, make my own with my photography, and keep the post office in business by the amount of snail mail I still send out in an electronic world.
Pull up a seat in their store
9th Letter Press was introduced to me by a friend of the owner/designer, Isabel. She is creative and loves to doodle. How cool that she makes a living and blesses other people with her DOODLING! Sheli, the other runner of the show, seemed to handle the business side of affairs and handles the wholesale side of things – which they do a lot of right now.
For all the food lovers in your life? Color cards: red, yellow, green, and orange – coming your way soon!
These pens cards – I could by a whole slew of them!
I can’t show you a picture of the Valentine’s Day card I picked up for the Mister, but trust me, it is cute and he will love it (he also reads this blog sometimes, and I still want it to be a surprise. I could have dropped some serious money in there because everything I saw I could have found a purpose for and made your day by you receiving something so cute in the mail. They had feminine cards, generic cards, or cards that could be masculine in nature (cards to send to men are very difficult to find): fountain pens card and her nautical cards were among my favorite.
Wouldn’t you love to give this card to a certain Mister or Mrs? Or just get one in the mail from a friend?
I’m sponsoring a giveaway. One card that most people receive is a birthday card. So, there is a set of feminine gray and pink birthday cards (8 in total) ready to be sent out to the winner of this giveaway. Here are some ways you can enter – with each way giving you another chance for your name to be drawn:
These cards could be yours!
1. Leave a comment here and include which one of Isabel’s cards you would like to receive (visit her website).
2. Like KD316 on Facebook
3. Follow KD316 and Isabel9thLP on Twitter (and come back and leave your @handle on a comment)
4. Share this blog on your facebook page and tag me or KD316 in it.
This giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday, February 3 (for all you Super Bowl watchers) and I’ll announce the winner on Monday morning, February 4.
Thanks to Isabel and Sheli for allowing me to come and photograph their shop and get the scoop of letterpressing!
Pretty ribbons…makes all packages lovely
Monograms are all the rage – even in letterpressing.
by Kimberly | Jan 28, 2013 | Books
One of my favorite types of books is sermons-made-into-books. I can’t be in every church on Sundays or every chapel service (in this case) in every good education location in the country. I don’t have to take notes to hectically when they make the sermons into books – just take a pen and do some underlining.
Phil Ryken is one of my favorite thinkers and writers right now – gospel-based writing and life-application that can be put to use by almost anyone.
He charged these sermons to his students at Wheaton College where he serves as President. What better place to pray a series of sermons on grace than a college, right? Well, I found a new place: mommy-hood!
I never knew the demands of being a wife and mom could make you crave grace as much as it does. And in this world of social media – we live under scrutiny of so many others, if we allow ourselves. Do you eat organic? Do you have a weekly date night? Do your kids sleep through the night at 2 weeks old? Have you gotten back in your skinny jeans yet? Is your house like the latest style blog or lifestyle blog out there? The list continues into every realm of life.
I need grace. I loved these sermons by Ryken to remind me of the fact that I can do nothing without the grace of Christ! In his first chapter, he says that we must come to a humble conclusion that we absolutely NEED grace. We can’t do it all. Grace is all-sufficient though.
Grace is also sanctifying – but we will never be perfect in this life. We daily are being sanctified (Romans 8) but are daily in need of more sanctification. Grace does that.
Where do you need grace? This book might apply to whatever need you have – and supply it with the Truth that God offers you grace! And it far exceeds our performance!
