See inside our lil home :)

Greetings and Happy New Year from the Gilpatrick's!! I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas Holiday and have gotten some time to rest up for this new season we are all entering into. Christmas was a true blessing for Brett and I. We got to go home for about four days to visit our families. It is awesome to have both of our families in the same hometown. We get to see EVERYONE in a short amount of time. It is always great to get away from the city to rest and visit with loved ones in the country. Over the break, we also got to celebrate a very important day ;) My 22nd Birthday!! I was very blessed with getting to eat dinner with my family and going on a weekend getaway with Brett to Houston. It was exactly what we needed before the craziness of 2013 begins. We got to rest, shop, and just spend quality time together. It was nice to not be busy for while and just be together.

I want to switch gears however and give you a promised peek into our little home in Garland. I have said for months that I would post this, but I wanted the final touches to be in place before doing so. Well, here you go for all you curious people out there. Our first home :)

Living Room

Dining Room (my favorite room)

Kitchen (notice the chalkboard pantry door)

Guest Bathroom

Master Bathroom

Our offices (two guest rooms)

Our Bedroom

There you have it folks! Our home has been such a blessing. Its awesome to know that we know that we aren't throwing our money down the drain renting. This house was an answer to the prayers we prayed to be able to live in closer proximity to our church family in the Rowlett/Garland area.

In my next post, I plan on sharing some of my personal 2013 resolutions and some new exciting stuff coming up in the near future! Stay tuned ;)

With love, Brandi

Success to share

This past week I wrapped up my fall courses (all of which ended with successful grades), and I had a bit of a break to catch some rest. However, that did not last too long before I had to jump back into the mode of school work. I started my winter mini this past Saturday. I am taking Fine Arts and will complete the course in only two weeks! I really have been enjoying the course so far, and I think its because of my artsy background. Believe it or not this is my first art class since the sixth grade. Looking forward however to this class flying by and having a few weeks of NOTHING before the spring semester kickstarts.

I thought I would share a few recipes that have been quite successful for me this past week. I stumbled upon a new cookbook called 1,001 Recipes: Short, Easy, INEXPENSIVE. The title sounded great, but I really thought that it had to be too good to be true. I decided to pick a handful of recipes from it and mix up our menu for the week. Here are some of the recipes that were serious hits in our home:

Chicken Taco Pie (my fav for the week)

1 lb. chicken tenderloins

Vegetable oil

1 (1 ounce) pkg. taco seasoning mix

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 cup shredded Mexican 3-cheese blend

1 (8 ounce) pkg. corn muffin mix (I use Jiffy)

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut chicken into 1 inch chunks and cook on medium high heat in skillet with a little oil. Cook for bout 10 minutes. Drain and stir in taco seasoning, bell peppers and 3/4 cup water. Reduce heat, simmer and cook for about 10 additional minutes. Stir several times

Spoon chicken mixture into 9-inch (23 cm) deep-dish pie pan and sprinkle cheese on top. 

Prepare corn muffin mix with egg and milk and mix well. Spoon over top of pie and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes. Serves 4 to 6. 

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 (8 ounce) carton whipped cream cheese with onion and chives, softened

butter

4 strips bacon (I used turkey bacon)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread 1/4 cream cheese on each chicken breast. Wrap each with bacon strip. 

Place seam-side down in sprayed baking dish. Back uncovered for 40-45 minutes or until juices run clear. 

To brown, boil 6 inches from heat for about 3 minutes or until bacon is crisp. Serves 4. 

Tangy Pork Chops

4-6 pork chops

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup honey

Preheat over 325 degrees

Mix ingredients in separate bowl. Place pork chops in baking dish. Pour sauce over meat. 

Cover and bake 45 minutes. Serves 4-6. 

I hope you get a chance to try some of these extremely simple and tasty recipes. I would highly suggest any young wife picking up a copy of this cookbook. It's a great tool to stay on budget and mix up the menu. Have any recipe successes to share? I'd love to hear about them :)

Brandi 

Forgetting to Remember

photo by Pinterest

I don't know about you, but one of my biggest downfalls is my ability to forget to remember what God has accomplished in my life. So quickly after a prayer has been answered or a hope has come true do I move on to something else that isn't the way I want it to be. I spend much too much time complaining about things I want God to change rather than giving thanks to Him about the works He has done in my life.

With November being the month of thanks, I really wanted to check my heart and attitude. I haven't jumped on the daily thanksgiving posts on Facebook bandwagon and have had sort of a sour attitude towards the whole "giving thanks" idea. This month I have felt really attacked with negativity, misfortune, and self-pity. I could list you a ton of rotten things that have happened in our life within the past four weeks that have stolen my joy and replaced my thanksgiving with frustration and complaints. However, I'd rather give you another list. This list is all of the wonderful things God has done this past year and serves as my reminder right now (when its hard to be thankful) that God is working and is faithful.

• God gave us a house
• God allowed us to move closer to our church community (this was a prayer I prayed for about nine months)
• God gave me a job that allows me to be home in time for dinner with Brett every night
• God has been faithful to us financially
• God has allowed me to go to school and provided the finances to do so
• God has continued to grow our marriage everyday
• God is opening doors for our future careers 
• God kept my mother safe while she received a pace maker last week
• God is working in our student ministry kids and growing them
• God allowed us to fix the plumbing leak we had a few weeks ago
• God provided a new car battery for my car
• God allows us to spend the holidays with our family
• God provided Brett with a great work place and great people to work for
• God provided our every need

This list could go on and on. Most of these things stated have been things the enemy has attempted to steal and twist around for me to complain about. It is so easy to blame God instead for hardships and overlook how He blesses us through them. I choose to be thankful and remember the things He has done for us this year. It encourages me when I look forward to the possibilities to see God work in our lives next year. 

Blessings,

Brandi