Just My Civic Duty....

to inform you of any GIVEAWAY I come across. Check out this site for a Noodles and Milk giveaway. There you will find all of the directions you need to become a winner! Would love to know if you win, so comment back and let me know.

On to other news...Yesterday was an AWESOME day at LifeSong Church! We left the building to invest in the lives of others in our community. This was not a "door to door, let me tell ya about LifeSong" day. This was a day to take time and look around at all the needs around us and pray about how God would have you meet these needs and DO IT TO IT! We distributed over $1300 to families in attendance at LifeSong yesterday and waited to hear how God chose to use our people to show the love of Christ in practical ways to our community. THIS is my love language, y'all! I love hearing how people are blessing others and receiving blessings in return. Hop on over to my husband's blog and read all of these great stories. It is very much like my "Pay it Forward" post a while back, but OH SO MUCH BETTER to see firsthand!

The girls are on Spring Break this week. We have no concrete plans, but today we took a day of rest and we all slept in! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I stuck my earplugs in and didn't even hear Jeff leave to go to work! Gotta love that! Hopefully we'll see the outdoors this week and take a day to go to the park.

Quinn is keeping us smiling these days! She may be 25 months, but this child knows the culture around her. Today she told us, "I want to have that iPod!" iPod??? Since when did one of your children's first few complete sentences contain the word 'ipod'?

For any friends that may live in the area, check out our Aroma blog in our women's ministry at LifeSong, and consider taking part in our first ever COMMUNITY Bible study. We'll be studying "Esther" by Beth Moore. No question that you'll love it, but the question is, "will you come?" I would be honored to have you!

Hopefully, we'll update this week with pictures of our Spring Break! Happy Spring Y'all!

Menu Plan Monday

Menu March 30-April 6^{th - I had to repeat some things this week b/c we didn't follow our plan so much last week due to this or that!}

Monday, 30^th – Mini Chicken Sandwiches

Carrot Sticks in Ranch

Baked Chips

Tuesday, 31^st - Barbecue Sandwiches

Green Beans

Potato Salad

Shoney's Strawberry Pie (taking this to my cousin...we're having it Sunday)

Mother/Daughter (s) Tea Party (just my girls and me)

We'll eat our regular dinner and then enjoy tea with Graham Cracker Sticks and
Lemon Dip

1/2 cup lemon juice (from bottle) mixed with 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

(this tastes just like lemon pie!)

Wednesday, 1^st – Arroz con Pollo

Salad

Thursday, 2^nd – Honey Lemon Chicken with Brown Rice

Lettuce Wraps

Friday, 3^rd – Hamburger Helper for girls

Saturday, 4^th – Wedding/Pizza for girls

Sunday, 5^th – Chicken Pot Pie

Herbed Mashed Potatoes

Garden Salad

Shoney’s Strawberry Pie with Whipped Cream

A Late Menu Plan - Menu Plan TUESDAY!

I'm a little behind on life right now, but I'll post our menus, and what we ate on MONDAY, even! Take time to eat at least one meal together this week! Make a memory!

Monday, 23rd - London Broil with Mushrooms (I cook mine on a low heat for about 3-4 hours in coffee and cream of mushroom soup)
Squash and Zucchini over Whole Grain Egg Noodle Pasta (topped with parmesan cheese)
Steamed Green Beans

Tuesday, 24th - Arroz Con Pollo with Black Beans

Wednesday, 25th - Barbecue Chicken
Potato Salad
Green Beans
Shoney's Strawberry Pie

Thursday, 26th - Honey Lemon Chicken with Steamed Broccoli
Lettuce Wraps
Brown Rice

Friday, 27th - Out

Saturday, 28th - Pabellon (my love meal from Venezuela)
Carne Mechada, Plantanos, Rice/Black Beans, and Arepas

Sunday, 29th - Chicken Pot Pie
Mandarin Orange Garden Salad with Vinaigrette
Herbed Mashed Potatoes
Pound Cake with fresh Strawberries and Whipped Cream

My New Love Affair

I have found a new love. Well, it's not really a new love. It has always been there, but just recently, it's made it's way to the top of my "I gotta have 'em" list, and so far, seems very secure in first place. The options are endless, and the joy it brings my heart is limitless. Is it wrong to dream of these all day long?

OK, on to some news. Here's more of what we've been doing around here at The Hickman's home recently.
Quinn loves to go to the park...LOVES to be outside, so that's where we've been...A LOT!

I should have included this in my last post, but Jeff got his first pedicure in Vegas. I got one, too, but this picture of Bobby and Jeff is so much more fun. So, definitely, pedicures is what we have been doing and hope to do more now that flip flop weather is coming back!

We had the LifeSong Youth over Sunday night. I'll admit it...it traumatized me slightly to have so many in our house (about 30), but I love them. Here the boys are trying to set fire to our house with the S'Mores maker!

What's a youth gathering without a little "see" food?!

Finally, we have also been working on, "Sisters LOVE each other!" Here I forced them to hug b/c they are just at that age where THAT is NOT Cool, Mom!

Lean On Me

So much has been going on since my last post, and if you were one of the three comments made on my Pay It Forward post, your gift will be coming soon. Rest assured, you have not been forgotten! We have been traveling so much...well, at least I have. Jeff and I both had the opportunity to visit LifeSong Las Vegas recently and spend some time with our dear, dear friends Bobby and Britt Tyler. We have known them since we served in Dillon, SC almost five years ago. They are some of the people that God brings into your life that, once you first meet them, your hearts are bonded for life. They are like flesh and blood to us, so planting LifeSong Lyman and LifeSong Las Vegas has certainly been an extra special experience for our families. We are so excited to become adopted Uncle and Aunt to their new baby girl set to arrive in July. She will be one more loved on baby!
We so enjoyed our time spent encouraging them, loving on them and spending time with them in their work in Las Vegas. We're ready to hop the next plane back to see them soon!
We are so grateful for Jeff's parents and our sister-in-law, Renee, keeping Quinn for us, and for our sweet friends Beva and Barbie staying here in Lyman to keep the other girls. How blessed we feel to have them invest in our life in order for us to go!

A couple of days after we returned from LV, I packed up again and headed out to Nashville, TN with two of our Pastor's wives here at LifeSong Lyman for the Living Proof Live Minister's Wives Conference done by Beth Moore. It was such a time of refreshing and encouragement to be in the same place as other pastor's wives, worshiping together as Travis Cottrell led, and just leaning on each other for love and fellowship. When Jeff and I were in seminary, the word always was, "Bless your heart. You'll be so lonely." In seminary, I never realized just how precious my days were there with other people in my same boat, with my same focus and just getting to live life with them in a safe place. Who knew that life "out there" would be so threatening, confusing, ups and downs, highs and lows?! Jeff and I wouldn't go back to seminary at all because neither of us felt it gave any practical word for what's really out there, but we would go back in a heartbeat for all of the relationships that God gave us that have continued to be our biggest source of encouragement. Because as life would go, I became that person that said, "yes, it is lonely." Now, if you are reading this and you have been in any church where we have served, please don't take this the wrong way. Never for one second would I change living my life with you, loving you and serving you. You are my life's calling! But, the truth is...ministry IS lonely. You move from place to place and you must make new friends. You make some. You lose some. You are the person that sometimes has to stand for the unpopular thing and you lose relationships because of it, or people just think you are way too serious. Well, I am! I am dead serious about seeing God change your life, but I sure have had a ball living it out! There is no amount of compromise that would make me think my life hasn't been a blast. The lonely times come when people say for you to be real and share and then when you do, you're told you shouldn't feel that way, or you'll get over it. Well, sometimes I don't want to get over it! Galatians 5:13,14 says, "For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love." That sooooo sums up how I feel. I love this life God has called my family and me to, and there are times when I want to kick and scream and NOT go, NOT do, NOT say what's right, but it's the times of "serving one another through love" that makes all else make sense to me. What an honor and privilege to serve those God has put in our life. It may mean risking "fitting in," being popular, or doing what I want to do from time to time, but the reward in the end of seeing lives changed is SO worth it. I love it. I love who God has put in our lives to serve alongside in this season in ministry. He alone has created a team that comes from every walk of life and in that walk they have seen God change them and use them, and they wanted MORE! Jeff and I feel so blessed to walk with them in this new journey in our lives. They uphold us, serve us, love us, teach us...OH, I could go on! What a blessing they are. Going on this trip to Nashville with Barbie and Lynn is something I will always cherish. Thank you, LifeSong, for allowing us to go. When you give us wings like that, we go away and come back fuller and better than we were when we left. We are so gratefull to serve you and be a part of your life. I am so grateful that God has given me three pastor's wives to lean on and call friend. They are truly special. God sure has used the last two weeks to fill our hearts. It was a chance to look around and, in some pretty hard times in our country, see that God IS on His throne and He IS changing lives and using people all over. What a challenge it is to go forward and be the best we can be!

Me With You

My cousin, Kristy Dempsey, is set to release her first children's book on May 14. You can pre-order at Amazon.com. You don't want to miss snatching this book up! The book captures your heart from the get-go, and the illustrations done by Christopher Denise and are just stunning! For all of you friends of mine that live locally, Kristy will be coming to my church for a Moms/Kids Day out to do a book reading and book signing in August, so stay tuned for a specific date for that. Be sure to watch this trailer and order your book today!