Mulberry Madness

These aren't the best pictures in the world because I snapped them quickly with sticky hands! We found 3 mulberry trees in our backyard and we have been taking advantage of all the free berries. It's great! We all know the old song, "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush..." Well, it turns out that mulberries actually do exist. They look just like blackberries and have such a nice taste. Since we found the trees, we've made mulberry smoothies, mulberry biscuits, mulberry pancakes, mulberry muffins, and mulberry and granola yogurt. Yum, yum! We have such an abundance of these, so if any of our Knoxville friends want to come over and gather some berries, come on over!

On another note, my wonderful brother, Sam, is getting married on June 7th to his lovely fiance, Brooklynne. We pack up and leave for Arizona Sunday morning. Actually, Aaron, the girls, and I leave for Little Rock Friday, then we all fly out to Arizona Sunday morning. Jack will not be joining us. He'll be busy getting spoiled rotten by Aaron's family here in Tennessee while the rest of us make the big trip ;) I'll get Beth (Aaron's mom) to take lots of pictures of Jack on his little vacation. We will all return on June 9th, so I might not be able to post anything until then. Please don't forget me, though!!! I'll post a nice blog with pictures from our trip and from the wedding. Everybody have a great weekend and a great first week of June.

Gospel-Centered Parenting

Parenting is hard! This is not new to many of you. There are books and books out there dedicated to parenting children in all stages of life and sometimes it's hard to discern what is good teaching and what is not. Aaron and I have made meager attempts to have a Gospel-centered approach to all things in our household, especially parenting. Most Christians would say this, but, unfortunately, because we are all sinners, much of what we read and much of what we practice becomes self-centered or child-centered (which basically teaches our kids to be self-centered). One book that has been very helpful to us is called "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. As with any book, we don't agree with every aspect of it, but the basic principles are great. Basically, Mr. Tripp teaches that we are all sinners (including our children) in need of a savior and we should seek to point our children to the Gospel in all that we teach them. One complaint I have about the book is that it doesn't spend as much time addressing how to do this with really young children. Jack is just now starting to get old enough to "get it," but the girls aren't quite to that point yet. When they were all younger, like 1 and 2 year-olds, it was really hard. I was reading C.J. Mahaney's blog this morning and there was an except from a Q&A session with he and his wife, Carolyn, about this very subject. They have raised 3 daughters, who have all grown into Godly women and they have a 15 year-old son, who is a Christian. So, they have a lot of wisdom to share with the rest of us! Here is a link to that clip and I encourage you to take the 6.5 minutes to listen to it this afternoon.

http://sovereigngraceministries.com/Blog/post/Gospel-Centered-Parenting-2b-Young-Children.aspx

Old School Blessings

As many of you have probably heard by now, New Kids on the Block, the popular teen idols from the late '80s/early 90s, have reunited. I heard about this awhile back, but didn't really care at the time. Then, as I was doing my morning "ritual" of drinking coffee and reading the newspaper while watching television (I like to multi-task), I saw this...

The memories started flooding back and I had to sit and smile for a moment. I remember daydreaming of Joey day after day, hoping that one day he'd realize that he should leave showbusiness to move to Little Rock, Arkansas and sweep a chubby 10-year old girl off her feet! Ha ha! I remember constant debates with Rachael Goad, my BFF, over who was the cutest--Joey or Jordan (her fav New Kid). Most of all, though, I remember my dad taking me on a date to the NKOTB concert when I was in the 6th grade. This was HUGE! Let me tell you why...my parents wrote the book on picking your battles with kids. They could have easily said "no" when I asked for tickets for my birthday that year. While their music wasn't what one would call evil, it was pretty crappy. The guys are kind of tone deaf, and since I come from a family of musicians, this would be the night from hell for my dad. Add the loud, bad singing to the sound of screaming adolescent girls and you've got the seventh circle of hell for Dad. But, he gladly took me to this concert--ear plugs and book in hand--and as we walked up to the front of Barton Colosseum that February night, we noticed that the guy taking tickets at the front door was making all of the fans throw away the handmade signs they brought with them. I just happened to have made a sign, myself, so I was really disappointed. My awesome dad saved the day when he gently took the sign from me (it said "JOEY" in red marker) and quietly folded it up. He helped me put it in my pocket so I could sneak it in. Boy, I was so floored that MY DAD not only was taking me to this blessed concert, he helped me sneak in a sign!! WOW! We had a great time--or should I say, I had a great time. I screamed and held up my wonderful sign while Dad sat and read for 4 hours, God bless him! I will never forget that night, not because the New Kids were so memorable. I will treasure that night because of the memories I made with my dad. That can be added to thousands of memories that I have been so blessed to have with him. God has been so good to me--He saved my sinful soul and I definitely didn't deserve that! But God also gave me the best parents ever, and I can say with certainty that I don't deserve that. Thank you Dad, and thank you Jesus!

Another List

My friend, Sarah, just wrote this and tagged some of her readers to do the same. I thought it would be fun, so here it goes:

What was happening in my life 10 years ago?
1. I was finishing up my freshman year at Harding University.
2. I weighed 10 pounds more than I do now, probably because...
3. I was getting ready to work as a hostess at Macaroni Grill for the 3rd summer in a row.
4. I was debating a break up with my then-boyfriend, but didn't have the guts to do it (little did I know, I was about to meet a certain Aaron Mitchell)
5. I was active in serving at my home church, Little Rock Church.

5 things on my to-do list:
1. Sweep up the 3-day old crumbs under my kitchen table.
2. Laugh with my kids
3. Laundry, laundry, and more laundry (this is always on my to-do list)
4. Lose 10 lbs.
5. Meet with 2 personal training clients tonight

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Cheese
2. Grapes
3. Cinnamon toast on homemade bread (hence, then need to lose 10 lbs)
4. Celery with peanut butter
5. Juice Plus Complete chocolate smoothie with bananas

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
1. Pay off all of my family's debts
2. Open up some sort of charity organization
3. Get a housekeeper
4. Travel, travel, travel
5. Get the best speech therapist possible for Jack

5 bad habits
1. Saying the occasional cuss word
2. My dark, sarcastic sense of humor
3. Procrastinating important tasks (see #1 under to-do list)
4. Not finishing those tasks that I actually start
5. Leaving lights on

5 places I have lived
1. Little Rock, Arkansas
2. Mountain Home, Idaho
3. Columbus, Mississippi
4. Prattville, Alabama
5. Knoxville, Tennessee

5 jobs I've had
1. Hostess at Macaroni Grill
2. Receptionist at a temp agency
3. Wellness Coordinator for Juice Plus
4. Personal Trainer for The Rush Fitness Complex
5. Homemaker (job description: chef, maid, comedienne, singer, teacher, driver, etc...)

5 people I want to know more about..a.k.a, tag!
Any 5 people who are looking for something to blog about

Hidden Talents

As I get older, I learn more and more about myself. Sometimes this is bad--like when I am teaching my kids something and I realize mid-sentence that I am repeating something my mom used to say that was really corny! But, sometimes, I find out that I have little hidden talents. Like this past weekend when I was planning out Jack's birthday party. Sunday night, we invited Aaron's family over for dinner and cake for Jack's birthday and Mother's Day. As I was planning the meal, I pondered what type of cake to order. Our grocery budget has dwindled since living in a non-officer salary world, so the most practical option was for me to bake this cake myself. My friend at work gave me a recipe for an Italian Cream cake, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. Saturday night, I spent 2 hours working on this project, expecting meager results. When I was finished, this is what I came up with:

Glorious!! I kept it in the fridge overnight, then I set it out on our counter all day Sunday. When I presented the cake after dinner that night, candles lit, the reaction was wonderful! Everyone was so impressed. Then, when the cake was served with Starbucks Italian Roast coffee, no one said a word! All we could hear were forks clamoring against plates and sighs of delight! It was soooo good!!! Wow, who would have thought that me---the historically bad cook--could pull this off!! Now, if I could just get a nice big kitchen, I could make a little extra money! What hidden talents do you have?

5 Things I Love...That You Have to Try

Okay, here's another "list" for you. I just thought I'd recommend a few things, but I couldn't think of 10. Here's this week's "10 Things I Love" list with only 5 things:

1. Peppermint: I love the smell of natural peppermint and I read recently that if you have fresh peppermint on hand often and smell it, you will eat less. This got me started on a peppermint "kick." Not only did I plant some mint in a pot the other day, I also bought some pure peppermint extract from the store and started putting it in my tea and water. Let me tell you that this has been wonderful! I love the sweetness it provides without having to add sugar or sweetener. There's also this wonderful cooling sensation as I swallow it. It's great!

2. High-Quality Cheese with Wine or Grapes: The other day, I went to the Knoxville Farmer's Market and bought some locally made sheep cheese. It is a bit expensive, but it's sooooo good! Good, high-quality cheese has to be eaten slowly in small doses because it has such a strong taste (kind of like dark chocolate), so this forces me to eat less. Having sheep cheese along with grapes or a good glass of red wine is a great combination and leaves the most wonderful aftertaste. Speaking of wine.....

3. Protocolo Red Table Wine: This is great stuff and it's CHEAP! Professional wine tasters always rank this wine as one of the best wines out there and it only costs $6 a bottle--less if you buy it in bulk. We don't buy wine often because our budget doesn't allow it, but when we get the chance, we always get Protocolo! Try it with some good cheese (see #2), a steak, or some very dark chocolate.

4. Seeds Family Worship Albums: You guys all know that I am dead set against listening to kids stuff because I don't want to spend my roadtrips listening to cheesy kids crap. My kids have been raised on Dylan, The Beatles, Led Zepplin (the un-raunchy stuff), The Band, Joni Mitchell, Patty Griffin and Ryan Adams, among other brilliant artists that Aaron and I love. We also listen to lots of worship music, but it has to be stuff we, adults, like. While we still enjoy our grown-up music most of the time, we have bent the rules just a little bit for this one series of albums. It all started when I began singing at our church on the kids worship team. Obviously I had to learn the songs that I'd be singing, so I listened to this series with the kids and loved it. It's all Scripture-memory stuff, so it's straight out of the Bible. Plus, the singers and instrumentation on these albums are actually good! Click on the link at the top of this blog entry to hear a song from one of the albums.

5. "The Cow Who Clucked" by Denise Fleming: This is a children's book that my mom bought the kids several months ago. It is so clever and cute and my kids love it! We've been reading it a lot this week and I had forgotten how fun it was.
There you have it! You are all tagged to write 5 things you love that you'd like to recommend, if you want. I hope you are having a good week!

Happy 5th Birthday, Jack!!!

5 Years ago today, my sweet Jack Riley Mitchell was born after 11 hours of labor! What a blessing he has been and we thank God for him every day!!

55: The Magic Number

Is your gas money dwindling? Are you as shocked as we are about the high gas prices? Here's something we've been doing lately that has saved us big money!!! Aaron has a 2004 Nissan Sentra, which is a small car that gets pretty good gas mileage. When he first got the car in January, he tracked that gas mileage very well for several months--he drove 65 mph on the highway with a little stop and go traffic here and there on his 30 minute commute to and from work every day. Doing this, he got between 28-30 miles per gallon. For the past 2 weeks, he has slowed that speed down to 55 mph, which has resulted in less stop and go on the freeway and much higher gas mileage!! He has tracked it well for 2 weeks and has seen that he gets over 40 miles per gallon just slowing down to 55!!!! Isn't that crazy!! Anyway, he notices that in going 55, everyone else on the road FLIES past him, so he does feel like an old man. It's funny that so many people find it so easy to complain about the gas prices, but aren't willing to do anything to help make things better. Next time I hear someone complain, I will ask them, "How fast do you drive?"

A word of caution here: Going below 50-55 mph will not help gas mileage. Ideally, go to 55 and set your cruise control, if you have it. Also, when you have to stop, gradually slow down and when you have to start up again, gradually increase your speed--don't slam on your brakes and don't slam down on the gas pedal.

Has anyone else out there heard of a good trick in saving money on gas? Share it with us.