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Ham & Cheese Sliders {Thoughtful Thursday}

April 19, 2012 by Jules 2 Comments

Do you have anything thoughtful you ‘d like to share this Thursday? Some little helpful hint? A fun recipe? A tool you love? Please share by linking up below {linky messed up so add them in the comment section} and then posting the “Thoughtful Thursday” button to your post so other ladies can get lots of thoughtful helps! Consider visiting the link above yours and encouraging them through comments!

Here’s my thoughtfulness for the week:

I love simple meals. My kids love being with me...everywhere. The kitchen is no exception. Some times meals are too time consuming to add the child chief to the mix if we want to eat before bed. But, because I enjoy teaching my kids through making meals, I like finding healthy simple things where they can easily help!

Today I wanna give you the "recipe" for

Ham and Cheese Sliders

1 pkg frozen rolls {we used Sister Schubert}
8 oz mozzarella cheese
8-10 slices of deli ham
Butter, salt, and pepper {optional}

Gather all ingredients. Pre-heat oven to according to roll pkg. Make sure children have chairs or step stools near the counter to stand on but away from the oven.

Shred cheese with a grater over a small bowl {my 2 and 3-year-old were capable of doing this}.
Rip ham into small pieces {almost any age could do this}.
Slice rolls in 1/2 {for older children or parent} and place on a cookie sheet.

Layer ham and cheese on one side of the roll and stack the other 1/2 on top.
Try to keep the shredded cheese and ham on the rolls as much as possible {HARD with littles helping layer but they love this part}
Bake rolls according to pkg.
{if you like your rolls a little more moist, I like to add a tiny bit of butter on the tops before baking and sprinkle a little of salt and pepper}

Add a side of fruit and the kids will eat it up because it's yummy and They Helped! You'll enjoy it because you got to spend time with your kids in the kitchen, made a simple meal with them, and it was healthy!

Sorry, my link-up is messed up and I haven't had time to fix it yet but I'd LOVE to have links to your thoughfulness!
Add a link in the comment section below. Thanks!!!

How to Handle a Lifestyle in Limbo

April 17, 2012 by Jules Leave a Comment

As many of you know, the Rothacher “lifestyle” has been in a world wind of changes!

{you can read just some past posts about our "household" to get an idea of what I'm talking about}

I'm sharing over at The Homemaker's Challenge today. I'll be talking briefly about how God used 2 David's in our life over the past couple years to prepare us for the most recent season we're in: limbo. Dave Ramsay and David Platt have been huge influences in our families life.

Go check out how at homemakerschallenge.com!

Filed Under: Being a Help-Meet, Homemaker, Parenting, The Ones about Homemaker's Challenge, The ones about the Rothacher Home Tagged With: dave ramsay, David Platt, Financial Peace University, God's preparation, life in limbo

Life in Limbo

April 16, 2012 by Jules 4 Comments

God began working in my husband’s life around last Easter. Not in the simple realization of God’s plan of salvation but this inner turmoil of a man who already knew Christ and wanted to know what the heart of God really looks like.

I journeyed through this with him. Watching him read book after book alongside his Bible and commentaries. I waited patiently to see where God was leading our family through my fresh new husband. Radical was of course one of those many books. Life Changing! Another was Kisses from Katie. This is a story of a high school prom queen turned adopted mom of 14 and counting Ugandan children. My heart began to stir. I surrendered to foreign missions years ago. Months before I’d even met Matt {my amazing husband}. To me, that meant I was surrendered to serve wherever God would have me, whether that be in the States or abroad. I thought maybe this is why God had laid that on my heart so many years before now. Where we going to move somewhere like Uganda to love one the masses there who had never heard of Jesus Christ?

With that question lingering in the back of my mind we, as a couple, went to our first Catalyst Conference in October. We listened to strong men and women of faith talk about what it looked like to be leaders in the body of Christ. Katie Davis, the author of Kisses from Katie was there. Her interview gave a brief insight into the normalcy of ministering over in Uganda. Her nervous laugh and passion that came out as she talked stirred my heart even more to step out and do something more than what I was doing now.

In November, Matt came to be and said, “…I think God wants me to be a Pastor.” You have to know what a surprise this was for me to hear {and not erupt into laughter}. I married a YOUTH pastor. The man who hated watching guys with no passion for students use youth pastor possessions as a stepping stone to become “real pastors” one day. The guys who need to have some experience on their résumé but had no real intention of staying in the student ministry for any longer than they had to. Nope, he was a self-proclaimed “Lifer”! Now he thinks God wants him to go be a “real pastor”…

Another few days passed and he came to me again and started asking my option on Church Planting. I, of course, gave him my good ole, “We should be fixing the churches that already exist. We can’t leave them to die. All these tiny churches need to unite, get over tradition, and become kingdom minded and not territory minded!” He didn’t seem to affirm my rants…we’re normally on the same page. I was confused. He didn’t argue any of my points but wasn’t condensed either. I began praying really hard. I assumed he was interested in church planting as an easy alternative to pastoring an existing church. I didn’t want my husband to jump ship into what seemed like no-man’s-land because he was bored, depressed, or tired of fighting the same old stuff. God’s not going to lead a couple in two different directions.

Matt did lots more reading, studying, researching. He came back to me with stats. My heart had been melted and remolded by Christ. Here are just some of the staggering results about church planting.

embedded by Embedded Video

vimeo Direkt

I honestly feel like a missionary stepping out into the deep dark regions of…Arkansas. Bahaha
This is the most unsure we’ve ever been about the possession we are about to step into. We’ve never done anything like this. The failure rate is high. We will have to rely on sporadic funds to live on. We need to sell our current home and find a reasonably surprised home there that will fit our growing family. There are so many unknowns yet God has given us an unexplainable peace that seems to bother most people we speak with.

What is God asking you to step out and do? This new adventure isn’t just for those of us God called to “work” in full-time ministry. As Christians we are all called to minister full-time, with all we have, in everything.

Read more about our journey in these posts:

The New Adventure

The New Adventure {video announcement}

How to Handle a Lifestyle in Limbo

Also linked up at The Better Mom and Graceful.

Filed Under: Being a Help-Meet, Homemaker, Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home

“We love snow! We love snow!”

April 3, 2012 by Jules 5 Comments

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Those kids are too quiet...what are they in to?"

My hubs and I were finally at home with our entire family! Not traveling. Everyone wake {a rarity with 3 kids different nap schedules}. Resting {hear the sarcasm?}.

Jamin, our 1-year-old was playing in the playroom and the girls, our 2 and 3-year-old were playing "house" in the kitchen pantry. We could hear them giggling and singing. Singing Loudly! This was the song they were singing:

{well, singing as well as a 2 and 3-year-old can}

Jamin attempted to join the party a few times but was turned away. Guess his name wasn't on the list. The little tikes car however was invited and shoved right inside our walk-in pantry. Giggles and singing continued until we heard Jamin screeching with disappointment for being rejected yet again. Matt headed in there to make sure he hadn't got his fingers smashed by the eager double duo. Not, no fingers smashed!

Matt yelled from across the house in a frantic yet snarky voice, "Julie! Come see this..." To which I of course replied, "...I don't want to..." as I slowly rose from my chair with hesitance to go "see". Matt replied, "Yeah ya do! ...bring your camera!" I literally snorted as I quickly turned around to grab my camera behind me. This was gonna be good. Matt knows I LOVE tracking my kids childhood via photos {who am I kidding...I take pictures of Everything}.

THIS is what I found:

~~~ "We love snow. We love snow!" ~~~

{note the toddler "Vanna White"ing their project/game/discovery/mess}

They were still dancing in it and showing us how they were playing.
Matt and I hadn't really made it clear that this had been a "bad choice", we were too busing trying not to laugh.

Gross! It was head/hair to toe, LITERALLY!

It was at least 1/4 inch thick.

What is that, you ask?

I'm sure you've figured it out by now: Sugar. Substitute sugar to be exact.

An entire canister of off brand Splenda was a good 15 min or more of Awesome summer fun indoors. Pretending it was snow was genius! Light fluffy snow. Joyfully enjoying childhood in a tiny 4x5 pantry with a canister of sugar and your sister. What bliss! Great science experiment! Good sensory lesson! Wish I'd been invited to the party...maybe Next time! I saved the nasty sugar to use again- for play!

I'm thinking in a more controlled environment I would at least be prepared to spend my Entire morning cleaning it up. Their poor sweaty feet made the entire pantry floor sticky, as well as any where they tracked it before we began the quarantine.

The pantry has no quarter round around the baseboard. Guess where the excess sugar remains?

Matt did bath duty while I swept, swept some more, shook things out, swept pantry, swept the kitchen, swept the dinning room, picked everything off the floors and mopped. Although, if you ever find yourself in this exact situation, don't mop right away!

Remember the photo with the dirty specks on the lens? Yeah, the air was filled with a sweet aroma! Matt mentioned his nose burning when I 1st came into the kitchen but he can't smell {for real} so I didn't think much of it.

I closed the door during my 1st round of sweeping to try to keep Jamin out of the fluffy mess. I soon realized that there was a cloud arising from the pile. THIS is what was disturbing Matt's nose. I quickly found myself unconsciously licking my lips like it was some sort of twitch. Each lick was yummy! My face was covered in sugar dust. My nose was so stopped up from the thick cloud I began to sniff and swallow. Again, tasty! Oddly sweet.

This is why I suggest letting that dust settle before giving it a fresh wet surface to plant it's stickiness down upon.

I love my children and their creativity. They are how ever not allowed to enter the pantry again without permission from a parent ;O)

What amazing shenanigans have your kids gotten into? Please Share!!!

"Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it for himself" -J. Piaget, 1962

Filed Under: Cleaning, Homemaker, Parenting, The ones about the Rothacher Home Tagged With: mess, moping, sweeping

Recovery?

March 27, 2012 by Jules 4 Comments

This past week Matt and I took some of our Relentless students to St Louis on a
Spring Break trip while our children had a 5 day sleepover at their Nanna's house.

Limbo doesn't even begin to explain where I'm at right now. Our family is not playing a simple game of see who can keep their balance while crawling under a pole. No, we have been on a full-blown roller coaster with an end beyond the horizon filled with flips, tight turns, giant loops, and hills that take your stomach away and force out feelings you didn't know you had. All this since October of 2011. Going and going and going...

Preparing to travel. Traveling. Preparing kids to be away from home. Readjusting to being home. Preparing to travel again. And the cycle starts over.

Where is the recovery in this cycle?

We're all running in circles.

Where is the rest?

We're all tired and sick.

Where is the peace?

We're all on edge; our bodies sore with stress.

Our poor home has felt the wake of this coaster. It's winds blowing through reeking havoc in every corner of clutter. Filling trash cans with debris. Tearing our home to pieces, literally.

We need time to stretch the aches out of our inner most muscles. Time to rest our eyes not just in sleep but from the hustle and bustle of looking for what's next. Time to regroup, reorganize, clear out, clean up, settle down, have a seat, Enjoy one another.

I'm ready for a smaller house. A smaller yard. Less maintenance. Less responsibility. I want a to-do list diet: fewer things on my plate that are making me chubby with anxiety.

I'm ready for routine. I'm ready for predictable. Not just knowing about the millions of things that are filling up our calendar but a standard. I'm ready for almost dull, monotonous, SLOW way of life.

I'm trying to find peace and enjoy this stage. I don't wanna miss life as we are traveling through it. I'm so glad I have my camera back so I can remember to stop and capture each moment. Not only to remember it later but to notice it now.

I know God did not build us to run as fast as the machines we've created. I want to get back to the pace of the garden. Walking in the cool of the evening! Chatting with our maker. awe...