Chicken Tacos - Instant Pot

I have found this to be a great Wednesday night or busy night meal. 

Ingredients:
2 lb of Chicken
1/4 C Ranch dip mix
1/4 C Taco Seasoning
16 oz Salsa

Desired toppings, tortillas, taco shells etc.

Directions:
Click Saute on the Instant Pot and heat to hot.

Add chicken and saute.  Remove chicken and shred. Add back to Instant Pot.

Add the next three ingredients.

Click Poultry setting and walk away. Takes about 15 min.

Quick release the pressure, add your toppings and eat.

*NOTE to speed things along by keeping the pot warm, I leave the pot on saute, add the other ingredients and let them begin to simmer - while I shred the chicken. Then I add the chicken. Turn the pot off and turn it back on by clicking the poultry setting. 

The Nook or Sanctuary Space

This post is apt to seem weird to some of you. As we looked for a home, I felt like God dropped a thought into my spirit. "Build a sanctuary for me." I did a topical study on sanctuary; complete with word studies and cross references. Yes, I felt I was to look for a home that would have a space for me to build a Sanctuary....not in a legalistic way. I recognize God's presence is everywhere - but still I wanted a physical spot dedicated to meet with God, filled with rest, a place to study, a place to encourage others - it would also serve as my spiritual "war room." I envisioned it as a place bathed in prayer and adoration, a welcoming spot. I envisioned others in the family drawn to the space. 

Obviously, in the 6,000 SF home we put an offer on, there were a zillion options for this space. 

But here, in this home we bought, there was a "nook." It's off the kitchen.  It has a pantry in it. When we visited the home, there was nothing but a high chair in the nook.  I knew it was my sanctuary space. One, it's open and I don't like being in closed space. The room is lined with windows - and I like light. It turned out everyone had thoughts of how the room should be used. It should be game room, an office, a play room for the grands....the list went on. I shared with Michael what I was thinking and he immediately said, that sounds right. 

Mom had given us furniture and some things when we thought we were moving to the BIG HOUSE....we worked hard to fit it all into this house. This was a challenge as we've tried not to put a lot in the family room - so CoRielle have a sitting area with their bedroom and kitchen.  We moved the antique furniture Mom had from her Aunt Della's restaurant into the nook. My grandpa's old rocking chair ended up in here too. My cross collection fit on the walls, My tea cup collection and tea set up fits perfectly in the entrance to the nook. I guarded this space so it would be a sanctuary and not another work area.....

Recently, we acquired a new-to-us desk top and printer. The study is small - actually it sits below the nook. Michael suggested moving the desk down there (gift from Mom G) up to the nook, along with a printer. I've learned not to say, "NO," immediately. I took a few days to think about it...to pray about it....and in the end, I agreed. 

I've not mentioned it much, but I'm having more and more trouble with my hands. Some days I can't hold a pen to write without my knuckles dislocating as I write. Some days I can't hold the pen. ::snort::  I think it will be good for me to be able to do my Bible study on the lap top....and it does take care of the problem of having files up and down stairs....I'm not thrilled with a printer in the nook - but it works. 

No one refers to the room as our Sanctuary Space...it's Mom's nook or the nook.....and I do love finding various ones drawn to stop by the nook. We have had some nice conversations in here, I do feel the room is special in some way....I suspect, as God's presence is EVERYWHERE in our home, that mostly it feels special as it reminds ME that His presences is everywhere...and that we are consciously building a sanctuary for HIM - not just a calm place for us.  His purposes. His way. 

Today, the boys brought the desk up. We moved one of Krista's end tables (a gift from Mom G) down to the study. The other one is covered with a lace cloth mom had sent up in June and the printer. 

Note some of my tea cups and the tea area as you walk in from the kitchen...and the pantry door holds prayer requests.....The tea cups are in the entry way, this is the pantry/prayer wall....

As you continue looking around the room - this is the next section. It is taken standing in the tea area. It is working really well for Bible study. I especially like having the laptop right here because after study, the next stop is to check in with Bible Babes - a virtual study group. Lest anyone think I'm really scholarly, the Bible and my notebook are there  - the  other books are my personal journal and my bullet journal. 

To the right of the desk is another chair and that ottoman is left as a table....which currently houses library books on greenhouses and chicken coops. 

In Alaska, we leave our Christmas lights up until the last dog reaches Nome in the Iditarod race. I love Alaska.  I have candles in the front windows as well - and I really love how cheery it makes a dark afternoon feel. BTW we have 5 or 10 min of extra light every day...soon it's going to be 20+hours of sun and believe it or not, that's harder for this gal. LOL 

It wasn't supposed to work out this way, but many of my favorite things are in here. My tea cup collection, all the furniture is from Mom or Mom G, things on the wall were gifts or made by the kids and my two antique photos are in here too.  This is a very relaxing and restful space.

The rest of the story: We invited the original builders of the house over a few weeks ago. We found him when trying to locate a 2nd septic vault the owners we bought it from said existed. It doesn't. But we enjoyed getting to meet Wayne and Cynthia. We had a great time swapping life stories. They have 10 children. They lived in the basement while they built the upstairs. The tiles are laid out in the basement in one of Cynthia's favorite quilt patterns. Wayne shared stories with Michael, and info about the house, Cynthia and I shared more of the personal stories....We discovered we have a giant driveway because they often hosted church fellowships here. The nook was built to be an eating area for kids when they entertained.  Wayne said he wasn't sure why he changed the shape of the room and put all the windows in.....I know why. I love it. God was looking down the road. ::wink:: It was a blast to get to spend time with them and learn more about the place.

Mom's "Last" Gift to Michael

My mom was a gift giver. Gifts were her love language - gifts and cards. She loved wrapping them as well. She planned all year long for Christmas. She often bought things at end of the year sales and held them for the following year.

Now that we are in a home where we are fairly certain we'll stay - in other words there won't be surprise orders to move and we aren't living in an RV - we find ourselves seeing great merit in squirreling things away for a later date. I bought a ton of wrapping paper for .61 a roll. Our immediate family of five, hasn't had Christmas yet, but we have plenty of paper for when we do. LOL

We all got Christmas gifts from Mom on Christmas day. Even though she was fighting with cancer, she was determined to get the gifts mailed to Alaska. She didn't make it, but I was able to bring the gifts back with me - we love Alaska Air Club 49!!!! None of us had the money, the time, or the heart to do a lot of shopping....but we had Mom's gifts. I'll post more about that later...it's still a surreal time for me.

Years ago, mom discovered that Michael and a couple of our kids loved puzzles. Each year she worked to find one more difficult or unique than the year before. This was her final gift to Michael....

Dakota, Bre and Gideon watch as Michael is introduced to this year's challenge

This is an AMAZING puzzle. It's in the shape of a leaf....there are NO straight edges....not one. In case that wouldn't be hard enough many of the pieces were odd shapes...a cat, a moon, a sun, a wheelbarrow...you get the idea. Izaak brought a card table in and he, Jamin, Nolan and Michael set to work it.  

After the first night, Nolan and Michael did most the work on the puzzle. 

Krista and I covered it in Modge Podge....OF COURSE we would save the last puzzle mom gave Michael...Michael is holding the EXTRA puzzle piece they found in the box! LOL

We have several puzzles we're ready to hang on the wall in the game room/family room, which right now is more like CoRielle's living room.....

Ginger Gherkin Celebrates with BreZaak

The first Mr. Gingerbread Post of 2018.

Hi, I'm Gingerbread Gherkin aka, Mr. Gingerbread, or Gingerbread man. This is my first week to be hosted by the Gherkin MEN.  There was a lot of excitement this afternoon.

BreZaak and kids took me in to the big house, where Mom and Dad G live, along with Nolan, Alex, Stacia, CoRielle and Benny.  I guess Mom and Dad G can't get the moving bug out of their systems. We found Mom G busy rearranging the "nook" so it will hold a desk and printer. Dad G was setting up new equipment in the office.  She didn't notice us come in.

Izaak mumbled, "I quit my job today."

"Really?" Mom G graciously responded.

"Yes."

Now, Izaak makes a mean pizza, but he's qualified for much more than making pizzas. However, this is  the work God gave him to do and he'd kept his hand to the plow so to speak. Mom G was puzzled as to why he'd quit now.

She glanced at Bre and Izaak, they had solemn faces,  and gently asked, "Why?"

With a gleam in his eye, Izaak announced, "Because I HAVE ANOTHER JOB!"

They've been praying and fasting around here for jobs for all.....

Mom G screamed! She laughed. She yelled for Dad G and stomped her foot so he would hear her in the office below.

Dad G bounded up the stairs into the nook, thinking she'd caught something on fire or the new stove had malfunctioned. Izaak proceeded to delightedly proclaim the news of his new employment to Dad G, as well.

Dad G did a happy dance when he heard the news.

This is a miracle. Izaak interviewed back in December for the job. First they told him they'd decided not to give him the job. Then they called him and said they'd prayed about it and decided to have him go ahead and put his background check in the system. It took much longer than expected to hear back, but he got the call today.  Izaak was pretty sure they'd turn him down after the background check. He's been scrupulously honest at each job interview, several have thought it wouldn't be a problem, only to have corporate offices rescind the job offer.

Izaak is the newest Substance Abuse Counselor for Set Free Alaska. They are a Christian treatment center that uses a mind-body-spirit approach to recovery.  We (Mom and Dad G and me) have long known God was going to redeem Izaak's past and use it in his future.

Mom and Dad G are so proud of Izaak. The past six months have not gone as planned; yet he was faithful during the wait.

And here are a couple of pictures of Gideon 2 days short of 8 months. 

Appliance Adventures with Steve

This week was filled with home repairs. We've had to call out the appliance repairmen 3 times for this stove. Each time we pay $100, the warranty pays most of the rest. The 4th time we called them, Steve, our great appliance repairman, told them he could do nothing more with the stove. The motherboard had gone out. He had never seen them replace an appliance.

I got a call one morning to see how my stove was working. Steve had fixed it the week before. The code had come on the night before....which  means it wasn't working. They told me they would authorize a new one.

Our dishwasher was taking 3 hours to do the quick cycle and was spewing water on to my counter. Steve had come out once and seen which parts he needed to order.

Monday, Steve came to install the stove which had been delivered on the previous Friday. Sears was supposed to LEAVE our old one, we were at therapy and Nolan didn't know they were supposed to leave it. They took it. We had  nothing over the weekend. When Steve came to install the new stove, the parts he needed from the old one were missing. He also discovered the gas hookup was for a dryer and not a stove and something was different about the electrical cord as well. It's a hybrid - gas/electric. He had to get new parts.

He cam back again one one day and I can't remember why he couldn't  finish it - but finally - it's done....and the dishwasher now does a cycle in 32 minutes. It's like a new kitchen.

I know I need to read the manual. It bakes and then it has a steam bake and a convection oven too. The first few times I used it, potholders caught on fire and rubber handles got tacky. Michael said not to use the power burners unless I have a big pan....but those back ones are a bit of a stretch for me to reach. LOL 

It's amazing the difference it makes to know the temp will stay even, the burners all light up....heaven.

"Stacia's" Sledding Hill

All Stacia asked for was a place with snow like Misawa, Japan. We assured her there would be snow in Alaska. Alas, there hasn't been much snow this year in the valley. We've had several strangely warm snaps (high 30's and 40's) while the rest of America was having abnormally cold weather. We've had all the snow melt off several times.  This is a bummer as it's hard to do things like skiing, ice fishing, sledding and snow machining without a good layer of snow.

The kids had planned to sled down the side of the yard. The snow was powdery and kept disappearing. Stacia spent a day building a "ramp" of snow. She thought this would give an extra "push" at the start of the ride....then we had one of those warm days and things melted. Then we had a cold day which resulted in a layer of ice over the snow (and roads too).

Stacia is the most devoted to sledding. She discovered that the hill was FAST when the snow was a bit wetter and covered in ice. She even got me to try it. They were stopping at the deck, now they zip across the yard, around the septic pipe, and either into the pasture or into the fire ring.

Alex came out and enjoyed the icy sledding hill 

Here's a clip. 

All the photos I took of Stacia were blurry. We'll try for more.

Note - I received a text from Stacia, on the 19th, while in Anchorage, "We just had a huge sledding crash but nobody is mortally injured." Seems they hit the wire of the electric fence going full speed. The wire will be put down for the rest of the winter.

2017 Gingerbread Competition Winner

We have a winner! Facebook Poll seems the way to go. There were 95 votes and the winners took 69% of the vote.

Mr Gingerbread Man will be going home with :::drum roll::::: The BOYS team this year!  Last year he drove RV,s went to the CA coast, OR, CO, Mexico, moved to Alaska and welcomed new grand gherkins. I look forward to following his exploits this year.

Now that the voting is over, I can share photos of the works in progress. For pictures of the finished product, click here. 

It is only right to mention the girls had some extra challenges this year. First, their team has shrunk. Mom, Lorri and even Mom G had been past participants and weren't here this year. Seconly, they had some darling two-legged challenges this year.  At any given time someone was off feeding a baby, or calming a baby....but such lovely distractions. I was impressed with what they got done. They opted not to mix the teams. LOL

Bennie's first New Years Eve 

Bella was the cutest little distraction. She calmly ate the snowmen as fast as Arielle made them. LOL

Who? ME? 

Psst - Did it make a difference not to know which team made which village? I don't know.....

For more gingerbread readings - click the label in the sidebar and check out the past winners.

Past year's competitions and winners:
2013 Competition - Men won with their Town square complete with a clock tower.

2014 Competition - Women won with their sweet Chapel; Men's Night Before Christmas disqualified them according to judge Michael.

2015 Competition - Women won with Mad Hatter's Tea Party over the Men's rendition of Santa's Village.

2016  Competition - Women won with their  "Portrait of  2016."

2017 Competition - Men won with their "Alaskan Getaway" - this was inspired by their favorite hike/fishing getaway - Redshirt. Note the red shirt in the canoe.