Seasons

I have been walking on campus more these last two weeks, mainly because Beckys out and I have to take stuff up the hill. Anyhow, I have been seeing lots of this:



Couples all giddy and holding hands all over the place. (yes I randomly snapped a pic of one)
It takes me back...

Back to the Fall Semester of my senior year at WKU. That's when Mr.Pate and I started dating. We were so giddy and could not get enough of each other. We would be overjoyed at the opportunity to walk to class holding hands. What a sweet time.

I am finding that I love the seasons of our relationship, though they have all been so different. I loved when it was all new and we had so much anticipation over what it would become. The season if engagement was one of my favorites with the planning and investing for our future together. Life as a newlywed seemed so carefree and spontaneous. When we went through a season of hardships with job loss and health issues, we truly learned to depend on one another. Buying a house was both exciting and terrifying. And our new season of Becoming a family of three has been maybe the sweetest of all.

Seasons. The hand holding reminds of seasons. We are always excited for the start of a new season. Then we get restless and annoyed with it, and then we look back fondly at the memory of it.

I am thankful to be weathering the seasons with my man. I can imagine it any other way. So maybe tonight I will go home and be as excited to hold his hand as I was on the way to MMTH that Fall seven years ago.


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Let Me Count the Ways

Let Me Count the Ways... I Drive You Nuts

In marriage, you have things that drive each other nuts. Usually (hopefully) these are not important things, and they are not deal breakers. They are simply the things that if you could change them about your spouse you totally would. Here are a few things I have been doing lately that drive Mr.Pate crazy:

•  I steal his lunchbox (all the lunchboxes actually). I bring my lunch to work every day, and often I leave my lunchbox here. So by the end of the week I have used all of the lunch boxes, including Mr.Pate's. A few days ago, he walked in holding one of my lunch boxes (I have 3) and said "Here is your lunchbox so you wont use mine!" I just laughed and said "Well yours is actually stuffed inside that one... haha!" I drive him nuts.
• I put my purse and coat on the chaise lounge when I come home sometimes. Instead of putting these things in their "homes", sometimes I just drop them there for whatever reason. It drives him nuts! He will comment to Joey, "Sorry you cant sit on the chaise Joe, somebody's stuff is all over it". Poor spoiled Joey. 
• I am never really worried about being on time somewhere. The man is sooo time oriented! And it kills him to be late to things. I could care less about being late.
• I put my ice cold feet on him. My feet are always ice cold, seriously cold. Mr.Pate always feels like an inferno, so I love to put my cold feet on his hot legs. He hates it.
• I pick my lips. This is probably the habit of mine he hates the most. 
• I pop my bubblegum. I love to blow bubbles when I chew gum. And I love to pop the bubbles. It happens often. He hates it- especially if I do it during church. You would think I just yelled out a million cuss words with the look his gives me after I pop a bubble in church.

What drives the people around you crazy??

Five

Five Years ago today, I married Mr.Pate. It was cold and snowing that day. I can not believe it has been 5 years already. Time has gone so quickly, and yet at the same time it feels like we have been married forever. I was very calm on our wedding day. I wasnt nervous about the event or the thought of forever. It seemed completely right to me to commit myself to this man. God knew exactly who I needed to be my partner for the rest of my life. 

Mr.Pate and I are a lot alike. A Lot! We are both strong personalities, task oriented, very practical, and sarcastic. I love that we think the same way about money, possessions, giving and spending. It amazes me how we enjoy each other more as the time goes. We come down on the same side about most theological issues and so far parenting ideas. I love that. 

Mr.Pate and I are also very different. God knew I would need a man who would challenge me in my weak areas. I needed someone who would call me out when I was wrong. And that Mr.Pate needed a wife that would do the same. 

Our life is not perfect, in fact it is far from it. We have been through job loss, church hurt, medical issues and money troubles. The man has worked three jobs to keep us afloat and would do it again in a heartbeat. We have called 3 places home and loved all three for different reasons. We have had two roommates, a cat and a dog. And we are soon to add a crazy little human to the mix. 

It has not been all butterflies and kisses. We have fought, been apathetic and neglected one another. Marriage is not a bed of roses. But if I was to go through this journey with anyone, I would pick him all over again. He, for better or for worse, is the love of my life. And I couldnt feel more blessed. 

Happy Five Years Pate... here's to another 70! 

FFR's

Favorite Family Recipes that is! Here are a few of Mr.Pate and I's favorite recipes to cook up at home, and a memory or thought on each. Enjoy!

Dinners:

1. Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is hands down Mr.Pate's favorite recipe. The summer after we graduated college, I interned at a church in Louisville. We got to learn all kinds of stuff, but my favorite was a day of cooking lessons from a cool lady named Emily. She taught us to cook Chicken Cordon Bleu the easy way, and it is flat out delicious. Mr.Pate prefers the rolled up fancy way, which really isnt a very hard thing to do. We ate it last weekend, and I always forget how yummy it is.

2. Brown Gravy Pork Chops

Yummy! I also got this recipe from my summer in Louisville, but from my host family. We actually had a night where the other interns came over and we all ate these, and my host dad challenged me to see how many pork chops I could eat (i sound like a man dont i??). I ate a ton and surprised him! Trust me people, these are the best pork chops you have ever eaten.

3. One Dish Chicken Bake

My friend Cheye got me some Campbell's cookbooks while I was engaged, she probably doesnt have any clue how much I love those things! So many of our staple meals come from these, including this one. This is a super easy, quick and comfort recipe. We mainly do it during the fall and winter.

4. Chicken and Dumplins in the Crockpot

I randomly found this one on a blog from Meal Plan Mondays (see they are helpful resources), and since I didnt know how to make dumplins but knew Mr.Pate loved them, I decided to give it a try. So good!!

5. Salsa Chicken

I found this recipe online the first time we did WW. It was a "core" recipe, which was a plan they used to have where you didnt have to count points (they still kinda have it). Anyhow, it basically is a chicken taco salad and easy and great-tasting!

6. Homemade Pizza

This is always a comfort food we go back too, and we love making it together. Its kinda a group project.

7. Chicken Casserole

I found this on in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It is yummy.

8. Chicken Quesadillas

Another one from the Campbell's cookbooks. I started cooking this one the first summer of our marriage and we feel in love. Another super easy one (are you seeing a theme here?).

1 lb chicken breasts cubed (2 cans or canned chicken)

1 can (10 ¾ oz) Campbell’s Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup

½ cup Thick and Chunky Salsa

4 Flour Tortillas (fajita or burrito sized)

1. Preheat the oven to 425º

2. In medium skillet over medium-high heat, add chicken, soup and salsa; heat to a boil, stirring occasionally.

3. Place 4 tortillas on 2 baking sheets. Top half of each with about ¼ of the soup mixture; moisten edges of tortilla with water. Fold over and press edges together.

4. Bake 5 minutes or until hot.

Desserts:

1. Peanut Butter Pie

Two years ago, will I was at home and recovering from surgery and preparing for my treatment, I was perusing my Better Crocker Cookbook and I found a peanut butter pie recipe. We are crazy about peanut butter around here. So I decided to go for it, and we loved it! It is a family favorite at holiday celebrations too. This one isn't that quick or easy, but its not difficult either.

1 pie crust

1 eight oz package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 tbs milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whipping cream

2 tbs sifted powdered sugar

3/4 cups mini chocolate chips

1. Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla; beat until combined.

2. In a chilled mixing bowl beat whipping cream and the 2 tablespoons powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Gently fold about one third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream and mini choc chips into the peanut butter mixture until smooth. Pour into pie crust.

3. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours (I do it overnight).

**It is also good without the choc chips.

2. Molten Lava Cake

I have only had this recipe two times, but we are definitely hooked. I have always been a fan of lava cakes at restaurants, so being able to make it at home for cheap is a joy. But it is not very WW friendly- just a warning!

3. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Someone gave me this when we were engaged and we love them! They are super easy and soo moist and yummy.

1 box Spice cake mix

1 can of pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup of choc chips

1. Mix all ingredients together.

2. Form into small cookies and place on a cookie sheet (batter is extremely sticky, and also this batter will not flatten like other cookies, so try to make the cookies flat)

3. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. The cookies have a cake like texture, so they should be springy.

So what's your family's favorite recipe?

In Defense of Date Night, part 2

Well, here is where I left off yesterday with why marriage is hard work:

Somewhere during all of this, I think we both lost the reasoning for a date night. I mean we dont have kids and see each other practically every night, why should we set aside a night to do the same thing we do every other night?? And so we stopped having date night. During this time we really got lazy within our marriage. For those of you who arent married, when people say marriage is hard work, they arent lying! It always confused me when people told me that, because how could hanging out with someone you love so much be work? ...

Well the hard work is not taking that for granted. (And really it applies to everything in life, not just marriage. Life is hard work.) It takes work to not go on autopilot with the things that are "routine" in our lives. It is not enough to love your husband, you have to say and show it. It is not enough to love the Lord, you have to say it and show it. So you need things like date night in your life...

Thats why I am urging you to institute a date night into your marriage. (For those of you singles reading, institute a girls night or a quality date with the Lord- whatever you are struggling to be intentional) Yes, you may be at home with your spouse every night, but setting a certain night where you both agree to only focus on you will do wonders. This will be your time to talk about anything that has been festering in your marriage, things you have been personally struggling with in life, and dream together of things to come. It may be the time that some of you do a family devotion and worship time together each week, or it may be a tradition to play a favorite game each week. Maybe you will go out and about, or maybe you will stay in and watch a movie. You may spend money or you may not spend one cent. The specifics arent important. Maybe you have young children and cant afford a sitter? Suggestions: swap babysitting time with other parents, set aside one night a month instead, or maybe just pick a night that will be your "date" night after the child/children go to bed.

Make it work for you. But make it work!

You wont regret it. But you will regret putting it off, so I challenge you this year to resolve to start this discipline, and let the Lord bless your time together.

Anyone got any other great ideas of what to do? Or maybe a tip for young mothers on how to pull it off? What about a tip for those of you who arent married? Share share share!

In Defense of Date Night, part 1

(This turned out super long, so I am breaking it up so as not to take all your free time today with my ramblings haha!)

Mr.Pate and I are jumping back into a lost old tradition for us this week, date night.

When we first got married... well let me back up even further. During our engagement, we were very intentional about preparing for marriage. We read books, did counseling and spent alot of time talking about meaningful things. One book we read or went through really, was called "Preparing for marriage" by Dennis Rainey and some other folks (We highly highly encourage people to go through it, it was fabulous). It was a workbook that required each person to do work on their own, then it had a session you did together. We would head to Starbucks, grab some coffee and dive in. These are some of my best memories of our relationship.

Once we got married we declared Thursday nights as Date Night. Since we were both in ministry at the time, there really was a need to set a night where we could not do ministry, seminary work etc, and instead had to focus on quality time together. It was lovely. Most of the time we wouldnt even "do" anything on Date Night, just a nice night in with dinner and games.

Its hard to remember exactly when we got away from this practice but I think it might have dwindled when mr.pate lost his job and then I had surgery. I think that was a season of life where a lot of our routine and traditions changed. I was tired all the time, and it has taken quite a long time to get back to feeling like myself. Then mr.pate started working three jobs and was never home, so our quality time consisted of me hanging out at Starbucks all the time! Haha!

Somewhere during all of this, I think we both lost the reasoning for a date night. I mean we dont have kids and see each other practically every night, why should we set aside a night to do the same thing we do every other night?? And so we stopped having date night. During this time we really got lazy within our marriage. For those of you who arent married, when people say marriage is hard work, they arent lying! It always confused me when people told me that, because how could hanging out with someone you love so much be work? ...

I will tell you how tomorrow in part 2. For now, do any of you have a regular scheduled date night? What do you do? Please share!

Flutter

There are just things in life that make your heart flutter... sometimes these are sappy, romantic things. Sometimes these things are material things. They can be moments, conversations, thoughts or ideas. But regardless of what they are, one thing is for sure, they are moments sent straight from Heaven by our God to give us a glimpse of what eternity with Him will be like.

Here are a few things that make my heart flutter lately:

• When it is time to feed Joey dinner, you can look at him and say "Do you want to eat?" and immediately he jumps up and runs towards the sunroom where his food bowl is. He turns around several times in the running process to make sure you are following him, and thus ends up turning circles as he runs. It is the mostly joyful thing you have ever seen.
• I begin my day at work each morning with a time of planning. I take ten minutes to review my to do list from the day before, my inbox of stuff, my calendar etc and see what needs to be done by at work and at home. As I sit and organize my crazy brain, while sipping my coffee, the beautiful day begins to take shape. This is a peace giving exercise and i love it.
• Zoey has begun sleeping with me again, only she is actually climbing into my bed and curling into my arm. She then begins purring. It is the most wonderful feeling ever. I am going to ignore the thought that keeps coming in my head telling me she is just cold...
  
• Mr.Pate has begun turning the tv to hgtv without any asking. During a commercial break, or if he is just looking for something to watch, he turns it there automatically. I know this is because he knows I love it so much and he is choosing to enjoy it with me. He is just the best man I tell you.
  

Quickie

Got your minds out of the gutter! Haha! Here are a few quick things from Patelife:

1. For those of you how have noticed, I have missed a few weekly posts. Life is nuts and I got way out of routine by not having the internet this weekend (which is when i usually write all my posts).

2. Tonight was like therapy for me. I got my house in decent shape, finally menu planned for the week, started on my grocery list, had dinner with the Pate boys, watched some HGTV with the Pate boys (ha, yes they both like it whether they admit it or not!), had hot chocolate, caught the end of Home Alone 2, and organized my Christmas shopping list. [Insert huge sigh of relaxation and peace]

3. I gained weight at the scale for the first time since I started WW this week. I am again reminded this is not a sprint or an easy task, but a complete renewing of the mind (kindof like our whole life on this fallen earth once we accept Christ?!). It was only .4 lbs and I had a crazy weekend. However, I have to learn how to deal with crazy weekends... my whole life is a crazy weekend.

4. I absolutely adore my husband. Sometimes I feel like my heart could beat right out of my chest with love for him. Spending time with him centers me. The Lord has been so gracious to me in choosing this man to be my leader and friend. (Now be sure to remind me of this when he is hungry and being short with me, mmkay?)

5. I have lots of posts half written... ha I am such a halfway girl its ridiculous. Anyhow, I have plenty to share with you!

6. Next week is Christmas! So, because I love Christmas, and because I love you more than my luggage--- (wait I am not Pioneer Woman am I?? Ha!) next week is going to be Christmas week at Patelife! I am even going to give those of you with blogs a chance to join in and share some of your Christmas decorations, favorite memories or family traditions, favorite christmas music, etc! So get ready!

That is all I can manage to type right now, it is definitely time to hit the sack! Peace out my dear homies!

A new tradition

Recently in blogland, I ran across so many blogs talking about a "Jesse Tree". I had never heard of this before, but I was intrigued. A Jesse Tree is kind of like Advent, which was something my family always did when I was young (I grew up in a Methodist church, this is not a popular practice in Baptist churches so click here if you are unfamiliar with it). The Jesse Tree is based on Isaiah 11:1 which says, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." So the idea is that each day leading up to the coming of Christ, you put an ornament on the tree and have a devotion or study on that person or event in Christ's lineage. What a great way to focus on the real "reason for the season"!

So Mr.Pate and I will be celebrating the coming of Christ this year by taking time to remember God's Word and His divine plan to bring Christ into the world, so that we might have life everlasting through our Savior! Yay!

Well, there are lots of ways to do a Jesse Tree, and most include printing out ornaments and coloring them or making them from felt. I am a lover of Christmas trees and ornaments, so just printing them out didnt appeal to me much- I needed 3-D. So Friday, we set out to find ornaments that would represent each thing for us. I knew we would have to get creative, but I figured we would be able to come up with something...

Fail! Man are ornaments ever pretty generic these days. I found iPod's, cell phones, and santas galore but nothing we could use for our little tree. So we decided we would buy plain ball ornaments and draw the pictures. I was a little worried it would look horrid (and come on, in Christmas decorations looks matter people!), but it was so fun having this quality time together and most of them turned out great mr.pate's turned out great! Mine were pretty rough, but it is the memories that count right??

So here is our new project all ready to go! I'll keep you posted on how this new tradition goes in the pate household! Merry Christmas!

For more information an resources on a Jesse Tree:

• This the devo we bought this year. It is going to be rewritten, but several bloggers recommended it.
• Read Simple Mom's explanation of a Jesse Tree here.
• Shannon at Rocks In my Dryer's post on a Jesse Tree (she was able to buy her ornaments at Hobby Lobby, unlike us).
• A free outline of the scriptures, devo focus and ornament ideas for each day from RCA's website (if I had found this before the one I got I would have just used it for free!).
• Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking's post on their Jesse Tree (she shares some links too).

an apple a day...

well, I haven't done a very good job with my awesome autumn goals so far. why? well because life just doesn't often let you do what you would just like to do for pleasure. Yes, I believe the saying that "you have time for what you make time for" is true indeed, however there is just something built into us that makes time for the "have to's" instead of the "want to's" I believe. I don't know when this practice begins, because if you have ever meet a child you know that they make time naturally for the "want to's" and only do the "have to's" when forced...

nonetheless, my sweet husband did make sure that I accomplished one of my goals on my birthday- eating a caramel apple with nuts! he brought home little stick things, sugar free caramel dip, and some chopped nuts so we could make our own less point version of a caramel apple. how was it? wonderful! isn't he just the best?

All in my head

Just a funny story from the pate household I must share with you.

So as mr.pate and I where talking about my blog last weekend and how i was feeling criticized etc. I made the comment that maybe the judgement was all in my head. Immediately mr.pate began singing the Nelly and Tim Mcgraw song "All in my head" (I think about it over and over again...).

And he has now enacted a new rule that anytime I talk about my blog, he will have to sing that sound for the length of the conversation. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone while they are singing? Not the easiest task. Welcome to my life!

my weekend

i have had a fabulous weekend. it has been so long since we had a whole weekend to just do what we wanted to do, with no events to go to etc. so what did we do?

friday night we had a yummy and easy dinner from the grill at home, then mr.pate decided he really wanted to go play putt putt golf. actually he said he really wanted to go dominate me in some putt-putt golf. ha. what ended up happening? i won, as always. its funny bc i am not skilled i just always get lucky when we play. anyhow, after that we went to kohl's to browse around (i found a pair of jeans i love which my hubby refused to let me try on or buy... i mean i guess i dont have a job, whatever!). then we went to kroger and bought some chocolate milk and headed home to some tv and sleep. 

saturday we slept in! yay! then mr.pate cut grass and i did some laundry (so we were mildly productive). after that we decided to go out and browse around some of our fav stores (can you tell we enjoy this?) in search of a new trash can and a new dining room table for my mom. and then we... went to see a movie!!!! we never go to the theater, so this was a super happy treat. we have had movie gift certificates since christmas, but we just never remember to go! so anyhow, we went to see Julie & Julia- I loved it! it made me want to cook cook cook (but i got over it quick ha). after the movie we went to meet some friends for mexican and came back to our house to hang out. it was a lovely day!

and sunday. we got up and went to our sweet church, i taught my sunday school class (which actually went crazy and was not normal at all today) and then we had a great time of worship. we have had several visitors lately, which is so exciting! then it was off to lunch (small crowd today) and then home to watch juno (we rented it earlier in the week- i liked it except it is really crude) and take a nap! then tonight we played some tennis and now we are chilling out, maxing and relaxing all cool (but not shooting bball...). 

i hope all of you had great weekends too!

old habits die hard

so the other day, mr.pate and i were doing one of our fav activities, browse-shopping, and i noticed a quirk of ours... we always gravitate towards the same items. there are just certain items we seem to always look at or pick up or go by the area of the store. 

so i am wondering, is this something others do? 

what are our "items of interest" you might be wondering? (or maybe you arent, but i am going to tell you anyhow!) in no particular order:

1. cool chairs (like patterned chairs)

2. ottomans

3. pub tables

4. lawn games

5. board games

6. throw pillows

7. french presses

8. art work

9. comforters

10. console tables/ sofa tables

strange assortment i know, but i just noticed that we are always looking at the same things. and the funny thing is, either  we dont need these things (chairs, sofa table, comforter) or we for some reason refuse to buy them (french press, art work). anyhow, i just thought it was a strange habit and wanted to know if any of you do this also?? do share! 

Playing House

so this week Mr.Pate and I are babysitting and housesitting for a family at our church. what does this entail? watching three of their five children, three puppies, one wild dog and some baby chicks. we are living in smiths grove, out in the country. which if you know me then you know is a big stretch for me. i don't feel safe in the country... there is just too much darkness and I am not close enough to people! 

anyhow, these people have a great house with a pool, a tv in practically every room, a huge dream kitchen and a tanning bed! but... 

1. it has rained alot so we haven't enjoyed the pool yet 

2. i only have time to watch tv late at night after the kiddos are asleep but by then i am sleepy too so there is very little hgtv watching happening

3. i am not used to cooking for children and it never fails that kids' tastes suddenly change when mom is gone ("i don't eat that"- child... "your mom says you do"-me... "no i don't!"-child... "its this or nothing"-me.... child eventually eats the food) so the kitchen has not been as enjoyable as i would like

4. i have successfully laid in the tanning bed twice... this is the only perk i have taken advantage of, which if you know my mom and sister sounds about right... tanning is a priority in my family! ha (side-note: i haven't been in a tanning bed in three years!)

you would think watching children is great practice for the future, and I suppose there is some truth to that. but what i have found is that you spend majority of your time just trying to figure out how that family does stuff instead of practicing how you will do stuff... if i hear the statement "our mom doesn't do it that way" one more time!! 

no, but seriously, this week has been a blessing. the kids are good kids and play really well for the most part. they have learned that Mr.Pate and I mean business when we ask them to do something and they have learned to obey us very well. It has been (and always is when we babysit) fun to see Mr.Pate with the kids, that man is going to be such an amazing father!!! I am blessed! 

blogging about watching children gives me a craving to watch Adventures in Babysitting, anyone want to come over and join me? Ha...

a look at my dining room table this week

so my hubby is preaching at church this week, due to the fact that our pastor is heading to a conference all week and needed to begin focusing for the next week's sermon now. he and i are super excited bc he doesnt get this opportunity all that often... but here is what my table looks like: 

haha! normally this table is completely clean (well with the occasional bill sitting on the corner reminding me to pay it), but this week Justin has brought home a million books and papers and declared this his desk. it is so sweet watching him get so passionate and serious about preparing this message. 

dont misinterpret what i am saying to think that he doesnt prepare well for all of our youth lessons, but because of the short notice this week he has to cram alot of study and research into a few days. so be praying for my dear husband as he challenges my church body from the text of Luke 5 & 6 on the importance of discipleship (a topic near and dear to the both of us)!