Encouragement during quarantine 2020

Chronological Bible reading is not something I ever really thought about until I had the opportunity to do it. As a church family, we are reading the Bible chronologically. Today I will begin Ruth and it will be day 97. To be completely honest, I have read several 30 day devotionals but I have never read the Bible 97 days consecutively in a row. It is a true accomplishment and I am so thankful for the opportunity. 

Yesterdays reading provided me with some encouragement and I thought I would share. 

Yesterday I read Judges 19: 1-30,  Judges 20:1-48, and Judges 21:1-25

In Judges 20 verse 19, I read about the Israelites. They left early to attack the men of Benjamin. Benjamin's warriors killed 22,000 of the Israelites that day. Then in the very next verse without any hesitation; verse 22 "But the Israelites encouraged each other and took their positions again at the same place that had fought the previous day."  I can't imagine how it felt to lose 22,000 of their men in battle and still find a way to be encouraged BUT by the grace of God. 

How many of us are taking our same positions (on the couch, or home office, or maybe going to an office) but we are discouraged because of the mess that we are all in right now? Be encouraged! Simply stated: We can trust God! 

Be encouraged today and be an encourager today. 

Looking for a church to call home? Look no further than right here.

Quarantine 2020

Clearly, I am not good at updating this blog BUT I do enjoy writing and now have a little extra time to do so.

My girls are growing up quickly. Neilie is 14 and Claire is 12. She will be 13 in May. Neilie is taking voice lessons at Converse and has performed in shows with Spartanburg Repertory Opera and even more shows with the Dorman Theater Department. This year, Claire joined in with the Dorman Theater Department's production of Matilda. They are both loving being a part of that.

I think I will write a little during the quarantine. Here's hoping it's over soon.

www.spartanburgrepertory.com

oops!

Last week my family was on vacation in Tennesee. We had a great time with my parents. I was cooking supper one night and realized we didn't have any salad dressing for Claire (who doesn't love my homemade Caesar). She LOVES ranch but I didn't have a ranch packet to make her some and she is highly allergic to the stuff in the bottle (and it is gross). So, mom and I thought about what we should do with what we had in the condo. I had some season salt, green onions, garlic, sour cream, mayonnaise. I sprinkled about 2 teaspoons season salt into about a half a container of sour cream and about a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Then I added 1 minced green onion and 1 clove garlic. I stirred all that together and it was the perfect Ranch dressing. When I got home I added parsley to it. So here is the recipe a little easier to follow.

Begin with a handful of fresh parsley, 1 green onion and 1clove of garlic.
Mince them. I do them together.
Add that to 1 cup sour cream
Add about 2 tablespoons mayonnaise.
Add season salt to taste.

This will be thick like a dip... so if you need to add a little milk until it is as thin as you like it. I would add the milk by the tablespoon until you get the consistancy you like.

The sleepover

Neilie and Claire have a friend named Averi. The great thing about their friend Averi is her mom and I have been friends since high school (which was  - Im not going to tell you how long ago).
These ladies had fun doing so many things.

The fun began outside umping on the trampoline.
Then they moved inside, washed up and ate some pizza.

They made a toast, "To Sleepovers" and said, "Cheers" with their desserts.

They entertained the grown ups with a fashion show. I wish I had videoed it. It was terrific.

They started out "camping out" in the playroom... but that didn't last. These ladies wanted to get in their beds! They finally went to sleep around 11:30 and woke up happy and hungry.  Doughnut holes and chocolate milk for breakfast it is!

These girls had so much fun! I'm so glad Averi could come over!

Here is the pic of the moms when we were younger. This was college before husbands or kids.

On the menu tonight

As promised on facebook... a Chappell family favorite recipe.

Tonight we had tuna melt crostini. My girls like it because it sounds fancy. Here's the story... Ingles had their twin french breads BOGO free. So I ended up with 4 twin french loaves. One bag (2 loaves) went in the freezer. One became garlic bread with lasagna and one became tuna melt crostini. We had tiny cans of tuna. Serioulsy, tiny cans. I used 5 cans of tuna for this recipe. I added about 1/4 cup mayonnaise. (Dukes of course), season salt, pepper, and half of a dill pickle I chopped and tossed in. I cut the french loaf into slices and loaded it with tuna salad. I put swiss cheese on top and sent them to the toaster oven. I served them with a pickle and chips. Certainly a family favorite!

We're back!!!

So much has changed since the last time I blogged. My last entry was in 2009. My girls were still babies. Neilie is now 7 and Claire is now 6. Since my last post Neil left traffic and became a school resource officer. I earned my Master's + 30! My cousin Shelley had a sweet baby girl. My cousin Autumn got married. My sister-in-law Courtney had a sweet baby girl. My sweet Nanny passed away. My cousin Haley is getting married in less than a month. I could go on and on. It feels good to be back. I'm thinking about sharing some Chappell family favorite recipes on here. Hope you enjoy! ~ Abee

Playing outside

My ladies love to play outside!
They are great little girls. I love being their mom!



Neilie was trying to get a drink from the hose.





Neilie accidentally sprayed Claire with the hose... of course this made her cry... everthing makes Claire cry. :)