Happy New Year from the Owens! May it be a peaceful one!

” And let the peace of God rule your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” Colossians 3:15

I have been working on making granola bars for the last two weeks! I have some that are my very favorite. They are an organic sweet and salty pretzel one! MMMMMYUUUUMMMMM! They are however about $5.00 a box unless you can find them on sale or in stock at Target. This is not ideal for a family of seven when six come in the box. Nevermind that one of us does’nt have teeth yet. Anyway, I have come up with a recipe after trying several and finally making up my own, so, I thought I would share.

First you need the Granola
1 Stick of Butter or 1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup of honey
4 cups of rolled oats.

Melt the butter or coconut oil and the honey, then pour over the four cups of oats. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. I stir at 5. I put my granola in the dehydrater at 125 overnight to make it crunchy but you don’t have to do that!

Now for the good stuff!

Sweet and Salty Perfection Granola Bars:

1 cup of corn syrup (Karo) or you can make your own.

1 cup of honey sucanat or cane sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 cups granola
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups crushed pretzels
1 1/2 cups of roasted peanuts

Melt together the honey and sugars, put the granola, oats, pretzels and peanuts in a bowl and mix together. Then pour the melted ingredients over the oat mixture and stir until coated.

I line a jelly roll pan with foil that I have covered in coconut oil (you can use whatever non-stick coating stuff you have)
Then I spread out the mixture. I press it down as hard as I can get it with a spatula. Then I coat another piece of foil and press the top. Stick in in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then you can pull it out, uncover and cut into bars. You can let them sit out overnight or I stick them in the dehydrater for about 4 hours on 135.

They are great like this but to make them like the store bought ones:

I melt 1 tablespoon of coconut (crisco) oil and mix in a cup of Ghiradelli chocolate chips. I then dip one side of each bar and then let them cool!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Aunt Tonya! We love you and hope you have a great day! (I am sorry you are older than my mom, but hey you will get a senior discount first!) Love Emme!
Oh, and the rest of the family said Happy Birthday Too but I was waving so mom used my picture instead!

Happy Birthday Ryken!

Ms. Tammy watched the “fab four” while Andy, Emerson and I went to the cabin for a quick overnight trip.  They had pizza and a movie and a great time. I think we forgot to warn Tammy about how early Hudson gets up! He got up at 5 am. So, later in the morning she was resting on the couch, Ryken asked her what she was doing and she told him resting!  He told her she was a “lazy cupcake”!

They Forgot Jesus…

Have you ever had a “day?” You know, one of those days when you get to the end of it and you are done. The kind of day when your husband calls you mid morning and asks, “so, what’s your plan for the day,” and you say, “just to make it through the day.”

Just imagine for a moment, if you can, one of those days when you go on a “chore check” around the house, and you notice that most of your children’s chores are not done. However, the chores they have done have now been undone by your one year old, and your two year old is now standing on the top of the stairs peeing on his sister, who by the way, is at the bottom of the stairs. On your way to the kitchen to get the carpet cleaner you are distracted by the washing machine and dryer that have come to a stand still, so you pull out the dry clothes, switch the wet clothes, and throw in your new load. Then, you go grab your carpet cleaner and head to the stairs, but on your way there you notice that the milk has leaked out of the sippy cup all over your new hardwood floors, so, back to the kitchen to get your “special floor cleaner” to clean that up. Now, you clean that mess and you head back to the stairs to take care of the other mess! On your way back down you think maybe you should check on the baby, who is quietly sleeping, “Praise the Lord,” but you notice out of the corner of your eye that your bed is all wrinkled and you know you made it, so, you better smooth that out. As you pull up the covers and smooth them out again, you notice a dirty diaper on the bed and a nice big dark area on your duvet cover that was not there an hour ago when you made the bed. As you try to process what this could be, you see the opened jar of coconut oil lying on the bed. As you look at it with wonder, your brain suddenly makes the connection between the opened jar and the fresh stains on the bed. No, no, no, no, no, no, is what you comes out when you screech for your oldest child and she comes running. You ask your daughter why there is opened coconut oil on the bed. She says, “I changed the baby and she had a little rash, so I put some coconut oil on it.” And you, with your face contorted, ( in a way that could only look like it came out of some kind of cartoon from your childhood that you don’t even allow your children to watch) say in your most calm voice, “that is great, but coconut oil stains! Not to mention, this is mommy’s new bedding, and you don’t put coconut oil on it!” Then you launch into the “how to be respectful of mommy’s things” lesson, however, you can see daughter #1 checking out, daughter #2 waking up, and daughter #1 just wants you to be done, so she says, “I’ll fix it mom!” Well, you can’t fix it. It can’t be fixed! You say this as you head to the kitchen to grab yet another rag to clean this mess up as best as you can. You come around your kitchen island and “wham!” your shin has been taken out by a dishwasher door that has been left open. As the blood starts to pour out you scream to your oldest son, “why is the dishwasher open?” “I was doing my chores,” he replies, and you say to your precious first born son, “and the door is open, why?” “I got distracted,” he says.

Meanwhile, daughter #2 is fully awake and crying so daughter #1 comes to tell you. You spin around with a look in your eyes that would cause a small army to turn on their heels and run, so she says, “don’t worry mommy, I got her.” When you go back upstairs to check on the undone chores and the little patience that you did have has long since run out, you happen to hear your daughter mumbling something behind your back. You know you heard it but it is so unbelievable you must ask “what did you say?” Knowing good and well this is not something you want to hear your first born, let alone any of your children every say to you. Your daughter says, (the words you said to your mother that you were sure would never be said to you, because you would be the perfect mother) “I will never be like you. When I am a mommy, I will be patient!” Now, instead of repenting for your impatience and begging forgiveness, you look at the little child and say the words you swore you would never ever say to your child. “I am going to pray every day that you have a little girl just like you so that you are able to practice that patience!” Ok, mother of the year award is not coming my way this year, but there is always next year, right?
And, this was all on a morning when Bible Study was the first thing after breakfast.

So, you somehow make it through the rest of your day and when your husband says “hey babe, how was your day,” you just look at him completely unable to give an answer.
You fix dinner, gather the few things you need to return to the local store, load up the baby and call for your daughter. Meanwhile, as your daughter was cleaning up to go with you, there was some kind of incident that has rendered her unable to attend your outing!

Moving right along! So, off you go with new baby in tow. (Who is only about 4 weeks old and has spent the first week of her life in the NICU and then another several days in the hospital…so, really you have only been home with that new baby about 2 weeks! This will be important later.)
Wow, you are in the car. It is dark and it is quiet. You reflect on your crazy day! You take your return into the store, and the guy in front of you is taking forever, but you are enjoying your quiet so much you are thinking, “take your time, no problem!” You spend thirty minutes in the store and you come out feeling refreshed! You sit down, take a deep breath, and you hear a gasping sound. What is that???? IT’S YOUR BABY! Not just any of your babies, but your new baby. The baby that is only 4 weeks old and has spent time in the hospital most recently because, “SHE STOPS BREATHING!” Now, baby is ok and she survives, but you just want to go in a “hold,” and stay there until someone else raises your children perfectly and gives them back to you. Can you imagine a day like that? Yeah, me neither! Poor Lady!

As Christian woman, we know that the Lord loves us, that He forgives us, and that our salvation is secure in Him! However, we tend to hold on to those sins that we think are “unforgiveable.” Christ died for sin…once and for all. Even the ones we want to hold on to because we think, “How can Jesus forgive me for that when I don’t even want to forgive myself for it?” If the Lord always forgives us, then we need to be able to forgive ourselves, too. There is such freedom in Christ for us when we do!!

Just recently, while at a ladies conference, we were given the following verse:
Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:15

The context of the verse is that God never forgets us! I wrote this down. Nope, God will never forget me! That is awesome! But, I still didn’t fully get it!! Then, we broke into small groups for prayer time, and as we were praying, the verse leapt to the front of my brain, (the part where it forgets everything) and it was like a billboard (the black ones that just have one verse in white and say, “From God,” or “Your Father!”) I love my God! He sees me. He forgives me. Even for the unthinkable and the unforgivable. Now I was released from it! But, my God is awesome. He wasn’t done yet. As I was telling my girlfriend about the verse God gave me and how awesome it was that not only did he use that to show He would not forget us but also that it has happened before in the Bible, and that it would happen. Mothers can temporarily forget their children in the busyness of their days. And this was in a time where there wasn’t any internet, text messaging, blackberrys, you name it… there is still nothing new under the sun, not even forgetting your babe! But then, God in his marvelous ways gave me more! He said to me, “They forgot Jesus.” I know I must have looked like a kid in a candy store. In Luke 43, it says, “When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it.” I had an “ah ha” moment…THEY FORGOT JESUS, AND HE WAS JESUS!

So, I guess you have figured out that it was me in the story. I did forget my child. I did not mention, however, that I also forgot my middle child in the car and went to the bank for thirty minutes. Just so you know, it was not a hot or cold day and the car was right outside the window. Ok, I am justifying and I don’t have to do that because in Christ I am FREE!

Is there anything that you are holding on to? How about an unforgiveable sin? Romans
6:10a says, “He died to sin once for all…” He died for that sin. He died for that ugliness that you consider unforgiveable. He didn’t do it just for your friend or your husband or your children. He didn’t do it just for the time you yelled at your child or weren’t kind to your husband. He paid the price for all of our sins…even the unforgiveable ones. He paid the price! Isn’t it time to say, “Thank You,” and let it go! “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Thank you, Lord, that your love endures forever, that you give grace abundantly, and that your mercy is new every day! Because we used it all up yesterday!

Gage had his first season of baseball! They had a great time at their year end pool party. Gage has enjoyed learning how to play and playing with the team!

We have gotten to step up to the step down nursery! We are just waiting for her to be able to keep her temperature up on her own and the jaundice to come under contro!