There's a what in the bedroom?

So last night I was doing my couch duty watching the Grey's Anatomy stressful finale & then onto Real Housewives of NYC. As I was all caught up in my RHONY drama (and there was a lot), I hear Eric yell out something from the back of the house. I mute the tv & ask what's wrong.

The rest of the story....

Him: "There's a snake in the bedroom!"

Me: "What? (Jumping off the couch and not wanting my feet to touch the floor)
There's a what in the bedroom?!"

Him: "Yes, a snake! I think its just a garden snake."

Me: "A snake is a snake and it was in our bedroom! What if it had crawled across my face in bed? I would've died immediately from fright."

Him: "Get me a towel, I see it & am going to catch it."

Me: "Um....ok...."

Him: "Got it...open the door & bring me the camera"

Here is the outdoor shot of it once he let it go. Sorry I didn't get pics of the situation in action, I was so creeped out. Can I just say GROSS on so many levels. We have no idea how it got inside. I'm just so relieved we discovered it before bed. YUCK. I will still probably have a nightmare about it.

Spring in Oklahoma

"Get the children to the cellar, Grab a Bible if you can, Something wicked comes this way, To tear apart the land. Let the horses from the stable, Put the fire out in the still, An evil wind is blowin' through the hills"-Jason Boland

As I type this the tornado/wind sirens are going off in Tulsa. For the 2nd time in a week. Last week they decided to blare out at 5 am. Not cool, especially on a work day! Turns out last Thursday there were some "gust-nados" in parts of Tulsa & tornados elsewhere. Ugh. We drove to work this morning while it got pitch black out & a crazy lightning/rain storm went on. Too bad I wasn't still asleep :) I don't mind a good thunderstorm, in fact that is something I love about Oklahoma. Especially when I can sleep in :) But the tornado stuff is not for me. It always seems to hit at night too.

Not to mention ALL the weathermen continuously broadcasting all night on every channel taking up programming. Seriously? I am grateful we have people who love this stuff & tracking it for us, but they really don't need to be on every channel the whole evening. I mean hello, I have American Idol to watch!

Anyway, May is half over, so hopefully tornado season will end soon and I can go back to waking up to my birds chirping :)

Healthy Chicken Enchiladas

Prefacing the recipe, I have to come out & admit I am a full-fledged fan of the Real Housewives series on Bravo. Specifically the Real Housewives of Orange County & the Real Housewives of New York.

I know its awful.

These people live in such a different land than I do, I am just intrigued, and sometimes saddened by their mindset and how they act.

I do have a decent opinion of Bethenny, on RHNY. She is the most normal in my book. Anyway, she's in very good shape & has put out several books & DVDs (yoga, etc) now on a healthy lifestyle. She has come up with some pretty good recipes on healthy cooking and I just recently subscribed to her newsletter (get it HERE). Her May newsletter featured this recipe for chicken enchiladas for Cinco de Mayo. We ate out for Cinco de Mayo, but I made these this week. And we really liked them!

For the chicken, she shredded a roasted chicken from the store. But I went ahead & boiled 3 breasts & shredded those, it worked just as well.

An Unbelievably Delicious Low Fat Enchilada
Makes 5 Enchiladas
Bake Time – 20 minutes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Part 1 – Chicken Mixture
3 cups shredded chicken (white meat). *I shred by hand using store-bought roast chicken or boiled chicken breasts, skinless). Costco has great chicken roast for 4.99
4 oz canned green chilies
1 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon of garlic salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt

Combine all of the above in a large non-stick pan over medium high-heat. When heated through (approximately 5 minutes), remove mixture from pan and set aside.

Part 2 – The Sauce
15 oz can tomato sauce
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 ½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Combine all of the above over medium heat in until warm. Use the same pan that you used for the chicken mixture. You should heat for approximately 10 minutes.

Part 3 – Assembly
1-cup extra sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
5 medium whole-wheat tortillas (5-6” tortillas)
Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 8x11 lasagna/casserole dish
Divide chicken mixture in tortillas evenly, fold over left and right side and place seam down snuggly in the dish.
Top with remaining sauce evenly spread amongst the enchiladas.
Sprinkle with shredded cheese
Bake at 350 degrees on center rack for 20 minutes

Serve with brown rice

Good news for Gavin

Here is the post on his test results posted by his mom, Stacie. What an awesome God we serve!

NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE!!! And it looks like the shunt is working just fine as well.

It sounds like Gavin's doctor was as concerned as we were that this was not going to be a good scan. He couldn't really explain the eye crossing. We'll need to follow-up with the ophthalmologist for that one. We were all just so grateful that new tumor growth wasn't the issue.

And perhaps there was something to be found -- but our prayers were granted and God removed it all before the scan got started. Whatever the case may be, we're one blessed family tonight. Praising God and loving on these precious boys.

Our world keeps spinning. :)

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for keeping little Gavin in your prayers. And thank you so much for all of the kind words you shared with us during the last few days. You really have know idea how it carries people through a storm like this!

Psalm 111:1-4 (NLT)
I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord!

Prayer for Gavin

This a blog I read frequently about a little boy named Gavin Smith who has had & is in the process of *hopefully* getting over a brain tumor. He has been through a lot of chemo, etc, etc since he was 3, I think he's 5 now.

His scans have been clear for a little while now, but he is showing some symptoms now that say otherwise. His MRI is tomorrow and the family is asking for lots of prayer for this little guy that nothing has come back.

Please lift up little Gavin & this family.

http://smithscooptexas.blogspot.com/

Thought for the Day

This showed up as my daily verse on Facebook today. Its quite perfect & the reminder I needed :)

I'm going to see my good friends' daughter, Kylie, get baptized this Sunday morning. I was there when she was born! And she is 10 now. Crazy! Should be a fabulous Sunday :)

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
Hebrews 11:6

Happy May Day!

First, Happy May 1st!!! Hope spring has been as lovely for everyone as its been around here :)

I've recently been listening to the Christian radio station in Tulsa, 100.9 quite a bit. My Chrisitian music taste since being out of college has tended to be more towards old gospel, hymns, etc. I've been told I'm "an old soul" because I like the old stuff, and I have more beliefs in common with my grandparents than I do people my own age :) Which is fine with me, ha! I was into the contemporary stuff when I was in youth group and in college, but then once I was out I fell a little behind in who the latest artists were, etc.

Its funny because they will still play some Steven Curtis Chapman, and DC Talk that I remember from around 1993. And I heard Rich Mullin's "Awesome God" the other day which I hadn't heard in years and we used to sing all the time.

In saying all this, there are few of the new songs that I really like right now. I used to love Point of Grace (Circle of Friends, etc) but I haven't heard any of their newer stuff until this week. "How You Live" was played and I loved it! I really like the lyrics. I immediately activated my Shazam app on the iPhone so I could add it to iTunes right then :) I'm also a big fan of Amy Grant's new one, "Better than a Hallelujah".

Anyway, there are several more that Eric & I really enjoy, so we keep it on that channel now all the time in the car! This music keeps me grounded, keeps me calm and my worries at bay.

Their dj's aren't annoying either :) When they go to commercial I do switch it over to the GenX channel just to see what they have pulled out of the time machine, ha!

I'll end this with a couple of videos of those songs: