Yummy and fun!

Yesterday I had a Pampered Chef party and made delicious & healthy snacks for kids (and adults). I wanted to share one of the recipes because it was amazing and super easy, and really inexpensive! OK, here goes...

MINI FRITATTA'S
Prep time: 10 mins Bake time: 15 mins
Ingredients:
6 slices ham (I just bought the Land-O-Frost pack)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small potato (dice into 1/4 inch cubes)
1 small onion (or 1/2 a regular onion) finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
7 large eggs
6 tbsp milk

Instructions:
> Pre-heat oven to 375. Mist a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Use 2 slices (of Land-O-Frost) ham, press into cups (make a bowl). Warm oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add potato & cook, stirring, until softened and golden, approx 5 mins. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until softened, 3-5 mins. Season with salt (I also added a little Paprika and garlic salt), and divide among cups.
> Whisk eggs and milk and a dash of salt. Pour egg mixture into cups. Bake until eggs are cooked through, about 15 mins.
> Let cool on rack for 5 mins.
I served with sour cream and green tabasco, or salsa.

Well, now we are off to church. Happy cooking!
~Ashley

Helpless

Let me share my day with you...

As a husband and a father, I pride myself on trying to be a source of strength that my family can rely on. With that being said, nothing quite prepares you for when something happens to one of your loved ones that is completely beyond your capability to fix. There is nothing that makes me feel more helpless than seeing my wife or my daughter sick or hurting.

Today was a beautiful summer day in Phoenix. Hot - as always - but not completely unbearable like a lot of summer days here. It was Friday, my work day was almost over and I was gearing up for the weekend. Nothing special planned, just a relaxing weekend with the family. My normal work schedule is 7-4 and Ashley's is 7:30-4 and since my office is on the way to hers, we normally carpool. At 3:18, Ash called to let me know that she was leaving work a little early because she wasn't feeling well. She said she was feeling nauseous, short of breath, and had a really bad headache. This had me a little worried, but not overly concerned. She was going to drive to my office & then wait in the car for me to get off of work. I told her to please be careful driving & that I'd see her in a little bit. The next call I received flipped my world upside down for a while.

Ashley called me at 3:37 when she got to my office to ask me if I could leave now. At that point I knew something was seriously wrong because I know that leaving work early - even 20 minutes - is not something that my wife would ask me to do. She told me that she was now having tingling in her arms, hands, and face and sounded a bit panicked. Luckily I work only a couple of minutes from Chandler Regional Hospital and had already determined that we were going to be taking a trip to the ER before I even ended the call. When I got in the car she was visibly upset and scared, at which point it took everything within me to try to help calm her nerves a bit while all the worst thoughts were going through my head. Over the course of the next few hours I sat there helplessly as doctors, nurses, and technicians poked, prodded, and radiated the love of my life. All I could do was inform her parents and my parents what was going on, call our daycare provider to let her know that we were going to be a bit late picking up Ellie, and post on facebook to inform friends and ask for prayers.

In those couple of hours before we knew the outcome, everything that could have been wrong went through my head. Was it a cardiac problem? An anxiety attack? A brain tumor? Spider bite? I'm pretty sure no scenario was too wild for my imagination to come up with. Thankfully, the only thing that was wrong was that her potassium level was low and everything else checked out normal.

At some point through this ordeal the thought occurred to me, "What if it really was something serious? What would I do? Is this something I could handle?" It was right then that I remembered Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." I then realized that it didn't really matter what was wrong, I would be able to handle it if I just let God take the burden. My strength and reliability as a husband and a father doesn't come from me, but from the Spirit of God that lives within me and gives me strength.

Thank you Lord for allowing my wife to be ok and for teaching me a lesson through this experience!

Haboob!

We are sitting here in our home watching/hearing/smelling the haboob blowing through. The winds are whipping like crazy, slight rain (just waiting for the downpour) and you can't see across the street for all the dust.
As I sit here on my couch watching cable and safe from the storm, I reflect on the poor indian's who lived here long ago, the unfortunate homeless that must endure this now, and our soldiers who are dealing with this around the world. I pray for them and hope they are sheltered from the storm. This makes me all the more thankful for all that God has blessed us with. Even though finances are tight and life is unpredictable, I praise Jesus for all our blessings, and our friends and family. It is times like this - when there is literally a storm outside my door - that I just thank God for security.
God bless our troops and those in more need than I.
I am going to go now and play with my little angel girl and my hubby before we all crawl into our warm beds.
Thank you God for everything!!!

Ashley

The Great Ellie-ini

My child thinks she is a magician. She also seems to think her potty is the magic hat. Allow me to explain...
We are working on potty-training her. She loves to play with toys while on the potty (this is a new NO-NO in our house for the reasons I am about to explain). She has taken to dropping things between her legs into her little potty - everything from a plastic spoon or cup from her tea set to her little piggy from the Melissa & Doug set. Now, we have had to take things away while she goes potty because once or twice she had actually pee'd already (thank God most the time the potty was empty, so that helps some).
Well, the other day she was sitting there, watching something and sucking her thumb, all cute and calm. I noticed she has her hand between her legs and told her to move it. She did as I said, and as she did, she whips out her taggie like a magic scarf! I about bust out laughing - and trust me, it took all I had in me not to, but I had to show her that she did wrong, so I told her not to put her taggie in there, and not to put anything in there, then took the taggie and put it in the wash.

I swear, if you could only have seen the look on her face! Like she was magic and was SOOOO funny - and the thing is - IT WAS!!

My silly little sugar pie is such a goof ball :)

Well, she is sitting with Daddy watching the Yankees and Cleveland in the 6th (still no score, supposedly this makes for a "good game"...I don't get it, but they look precious!).
We are getting ready to go to the Rapp's for a cookout and to be with good friends on this lovely 4th of July!!!

Before I go let me say -
God please bless our soldiers. Our brave men and women who risk their lives daily for our freedoms. Please gracious Lord keep them safe and bring them home. With your mercy and love we pray for them and ask for your provision and guidance, and all to your glory.
Amen.


Thank you, and God bless America!!!

New adventures abound

Ok, so I had a fortune cookie yesterday that said:
"The coming month shall bring winds of change in your life."

Now - I choose to believe that is going to be good change! In that light, I have started yet ANOTHER new adventure...I know, I am crazy...to help me grow and bring the winds of change.

I am not only a Pampered Chef rep (www.pamperedchef.biz/ashleylapp), but I am now also a consultant for Discovery Toys!! The kit was a great deal in installments that I couldn't pass up on for Ellie's educational sake, so, I signed up, and I am super excited! My personal website is http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/happylearning to check it out!

Now I am off to find supper for the family and spend precious time with them :)

Happy cooking and happy learning everyone!
Ashley

Ok, we stink at blogging!

Alright, I just realized that "Oh yeah! We have a blog!" and realized that it had been a while. Didn't know it had been SEVERAL months since it was updated, so for that, SORRY! I am seriously gonna be better about this.

OK, so let's see now...what to update...
Well, Ellie turned 2 on the 17th, she is potty-training, she loves so many things I can't count, and she is still amazing! Not really a terrible 2-er, just getting more whiny, but we are working on getting her to stop and think then tell us what she wants or needs. She has a new childcare provider, Nikki Kieber! We love Nikki! She is a great friend of ours and is amazing with Ellie. She also keeps our friend's daughter Addi, along with her own son Mason. The 3 of them are going to have so much fun!

John started a new job recently for Pearson Education. He really seems happier than he has in a while. Glad for that! PTL for the new, higher paying, better job!

John has also joined a band being formed for Laura Walsh, who is a great friend of ours as well as an amazingly talented young woman. Please check her out on iTunes, Amazon, Facebook and at www.laurawalshmusic.com. If you are interested in helping kickstart her career or learning more about her adventure, please check out www.kickstarter.com/projects/238024233/laura-walshs-debut-album?ref=email please!

John is still doing worship for COC, still leading Celebrate Recovery worship on Friday nights, and is now also part of the leadership team for the COC worship ministry.

I don't have much to share on me other than I am still at Auer Precision - just celebrated 4th year.

Well, I better get back to work. Just wanted to do a quick update while on my lunch break.

Love to all!
Ashley

Long time, no updates...that's why it's so long

Wow, it's been a really long time since we've updated our blog. Life gets so busy, it seems to get away from us sometimes.

I just finished leading worship at our church's Celebrate Recovery ministry & came home to a house full of women. Ash is hosting a "ladies night out" for the company that she is a consultant for, Intentional Moments (www.intentional-moments.com). This means I'm hiding in the office, so I figured, "Why not update the blog?" So here I am.

Now, what to say...

Well, let's start with the updates. Ellie is doing fantastic, though she seems to be fighting off a bit of a cold. She's growing so quickly. I can't believe that she is 8 months old already. I'm beginning to understand why everybody told us to savor each & every moment because it goes by so quickly. She brings us joy every single day & I am so grateful that God blessed with such a wonderful child. Everybody that sees her tells us they can't believe how happy & joyful she is. She is truly a special little girl & I can't wait to see what God has in store for her.

Ashley is doing well. She's such a great mother & wife. I don't know what I ever did that God saw fit to bless me with such a wonderful partner. She hates to have to leave Ellie everyday to go to work (as I'm sure you can imagine). We'd both love for her to be a stay at home mom and we're working towards that, though it's financially impossible right now. As mentioned previously, she is working in her spare time with a company called Intentional Moments that is a Christ centered company that is focused on strengthening and rekindling romance in marriages. They do in home parties (Girls Night Out) that are ladies only & apparently very fun. It's still a very small company, but we hoping to watch it grow into something big. It is really a great ministry opportunity for her. It's something that she is really passionate about and we're hoping that it can eventually replace enough of her income that she'll be able to stay home with the baby.

On to myself now, I suppose. I'm finally getting over a bad cold that's been with me for about 2 1/2 weeks. I'm also recovering from back problems that have kept me from working for the past 4 weeks. There's not really anything structurally wrong, just a muscle strain/inflammation/whatever you want to call it that has led to back spasms and general discomfort. The frustrating thing is that this is the 2nd occurrence of this in just over a year. I'm hoping it's not a repetitive stress thing, because that means I'll probably be dealing with it on and off for a long time to come. Luckily, my company has great benefits & my time off is covered at 100% pay through short term disability, so this hasn't hit us in the wallet.

I guess when you have 4 weeks to sit around with your thoughts, you start to gain perspective. And guess what? Even with the ailments and pains and discomfort and lack of sleep, I still feel incredibly blessed by God and as happy as I've ever been. I've got a family & friends that love me and care about my well being. I've got a roof over my head, shoes on my feet, clothes on my back & food to sustain me. I think I'm starting to understand some of what Job must have gone through in his trials. Thankfully my problems are nowhere near what his were, but the principle is the same. When you break it all down, the only thing that really matters is God. He will never leave us or forsake us. In the tough times, if we draw close to Him, He will carry us through it. I know this is a message that all of us believers--and probably a lot of non-believers--have heard a thousand times, but it really is true.

God cares more about you than any person on this earth possibly can & He only wants what is best for you. It may not always seems like it at the time, but He is constantly growing and stretching us & if we listen to His will in our lives, we will find true happiness.

If you've read this entire post, I appreciate your love & friendship, because it means you actually care what I have to say. I pray that all of you believers continue to strengthen your relationships with God & I pray that any non-believers among you can find the love and grace and mercy and happiness that only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can give you.

Thank you guys for reading this & I promise we will try to better about updating more often.

With love,

John

P.S. We'll be posting some more recent pics soon, so stay tuned. Also, if any of you guys have blogs, let us know. We'd love to add a link to your blog to our page.