Easy Turkey and/or Bacon Wraps

We just recently visited my mom and she fixed these little puppies up in a snap!  They were delish and really you can get as creative as you want with it! 

My Cast of Characters

1 Whole Wheat Tortilla (8-10inch)

Deli Turkey

Shredded Cheese

ChowChow and/or Corn Salsa

Light Honey Dijon Mustard Dressing for dipping (or whatever dressing floats your boat)

Optional Ingredients:

Turkey Bacon (I use this a lot in addition to the deli meat)

Roasted Red Peppers

Banana Peppers

Tomatoes

Start with a Tortilla

Load up all your fixin's

Fold in right and left sides first, then top and bottom.

No Pic~ Sorry

Place on your George Forman Grill (or panini maker or griddle or in a pan slightly heated) and heat thouroughly on both sides (appoximately 5-7 min.~ just enough to heat through and get the cheese melted.)

What you get is a deliciously toasted hot wrap!  Serve it up with some dipping dressing and ENJOY!!

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good!!

Note: The more stuff you plan on piling on, the bigger the tortilla you'll need so it'll fold easily and stay together.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Ten Things...

Ten things that I absolutely adore...

1) My Jesus

During this season of Lent I'm walking closer than I ever have with my Savior.  He is revealing truly remarkable (and sometimes even painful) things to me.  His love is one that I can never completely understand because He did what none of us (myself included) would ever do.  He died for me.  And though it hurts to know what all that entailed, I'm thankful His passion was great in extending grace to my sinful soul.

2) Holding my Hubby's Hand

I can be having the worst day ever.  Straight up crummy.  That man can reach for my hand and everything becomes calm.  He is my rock.  I yearn for his love and touch.

(photo by ClassiclyAmber Photography)

3) My Girl

This child makes everything right with my world and I couldn't imagine it without her.  She makes me want to be better at everything.

(photo by again by ClassiclyAmber Photography)

4) SouthPark real estate in Charlotte, NC

I will never own (nor would I want to~ too much cleaning) any of these ridiculously large and expensive homes, but I just love driving through the various neighborhoods checking out architecture and landscaping.  If only I could see the inside of one of these suckers....

Tour of Homes here I come!!

5) Our home and our jacked up grass

Having mentioned #4, I have to pay particular attention to our home.  It's smaller, we have ugly lanscaping (though this pic shows the old~ we've perked it up a bit), and I hate cleaning this one too, but it is truly our safe haven.  It is where we have fun as a family, where memories are made and where God keeps us warm and dry.  I'm so thankful for this house.

6) My Family

They're creepy and their kooky....oh wait...

Seriously, I love my family.  We're a weird bunch and some might even call us a little crazy.  But I'd rather be called crazy and be rich in love and joy then to be sane and not know a hill of beans about it.

7) My Friends (both real and bloggy)

You know who you are.

It seems as if some of us have been cut from the same cloth.  For others, we are as different as different can be.  But I love you all.  You spark inspiration in my day and help me to strive at being all the Kelli I can be!  Thank you.

8) My Klean Kanteen

Ok, so I was trying not to go with actual products (though there will be another one at end), but honestly, I'd be lost without this lil' baby.  27oz of pure water fun.  I used to never drink water, but now that I keep Barky (affectionately named because the color happens to be called Tree Bark) with me at all times, I get my fair share of H2O in.

9) My Cookbooks

Thanks to my aunt for downsizing her roughly 1000 cookbook collection years ago, I got to start my own.  Note: this is but a fraction of what I have now.  I love looking through these darlings.  Oh...the food, the photography, the instruction.

I think from now on, instead of sitting in a bookshelf only to be used when I cook, I'm going to make some of these beauties coffee table books!

And last but not least...

10) My new Natural Home Bamboo Cookbook Stand

I just got this from Target today.  I've been in the market for a stand for some time and though I originally wanted something metal, I couldn't resist the streamlined design of this one.  I can't wait for it to cradle one of the beloveds from above.

I'm sharing this as part of Works for me Wednesday at We are That Family

and

Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.

Hop on over to see what everyone else is writing about!

Blessings,

I'm Blushing....

 

No really!!  I am!!

My buddy Amber over at ClassiclyAmber has written an amazing little ditty about me over at her place today!!  Check it out here!!  

And please visit with her for a little while!  She is so crafty and quirky and fun and creative.  While you're there you might learn to make your own butter or read a story about her Daisy Duck!!  There's no telling what's going on at her homestead, but I assure you, you'll love every minute of it!!

I'm super stoked and honored that she wanted to feature a tad about little ol' me for my upcoming shop RE-reveal!!  Beautiful new aprons are right around the corner.

I've got a ton of new stuff in store beginning Monday, March 8th!  There might even be a give-away around the same time!!  So stay tuned!!

Thanks Amber!!

Lent

This Ash Wednesday, 2010, marks the very first year I have ever observed Lent.

I distinctly remember, prior to being a Christian, one particular Ash Wednesday.  I was working in DC and I had gotten to work pretty early that day.  Later, when people started to trickle in, one gentleman from my office got there and after our usual morning hello's I informed him that he had dirt on his forehead.

Fortunately for me his English wasn't that great so he smiled and walked off.  But my other co-worker then informed me the man had attended mass that morning and that was ash on his head...not dirt.

I was still pretty lost (for years), but accepted it and moved on.

I tell this story not to be funny.  But instead to relay just how clueless, up until recently, I have been to the practice of Lent.  I contribute this largely in part to, though I was raised in the church, my denominational background, but also the individual church I grew up in.  Lent, to my knowledge, was never discussed or taught.

In some ways I feel slighted.  I feel I have missed out on years of walking closely with my Savior these 40 days leading up to the cross.  The intimacy that is associated with spending that amount of time with any one, but especially Jesus as He prepared to die...I wish I had known it long before now.  However, despite that, I know that now in my life, at this very moment, the observance of Lent settles perfectly into my walk of faith.  I may have never done it before, but I think now is exactly when God would want me to start.

I go into this particular Lenten season, though new to this traditon, knowing that for me it will be less about what I am giving up (though I am giving up soda) and more about what I am adding to my life and that's Jesus.  I go into it knowing that God has been preparing my heart for this for quite some time.  I go into this, not because I expect to end my 40 days with a higher and deeper theological clarity, but because I long for God in my life to be clearer, to me and to others.  Most importantly I am going into this praying for a changed heart...to be so deeply affected by my God's passion for me that He hung and died on a cross...that I AM CHANGED.

Change is such a bad word, isn't it?  But as much as I can't stand change, even I know it needs to happen sometimes in order to reap the good that's in store.

Now is that time for me.

So.....

Along with giving up soda, I'm also committing to ADD some things to my life as well.  During these 40 days I commit to two Lenten devotionals guiding me in this walk and also to fervent prayer for my own relationship to Jesus and those around me.  I would say I commit to writing more about my experience along the way, but I'm not.  Of course I will if called to, but for now, my personal detailings will remain mine.

I do, however, encourage you to join me in this.  It doesn't matter if you've ever "done" Lent or not.  Why not start now?  It doesn't have to be this logistical, churchy, thing...It's just between you and your Almighty.

I'd love to start a dialog as well.  I know I still have a tone of questions and would love to come alongside my sisters (and brothers if you're reading) in Christ and learn from one another.  Let's band together in prayer and in discussion, no matter our different traditions.  I know this would be a blessing to my heart, indeed!

May this time, for you, be one of healing and renewal.  I pray your souls are enriched with the absolute depth of God's love.  And may that love's spark in you be a shining light to all.

Blessings dear friends.

Speechless.....

A lot has happened this week that has left me searching for things to write about. Though I have a plethora to discuss, somehow I can't find the words.  It's been a tough week in a lot of ways...for me, for the people I love.  And sometimes, in light of being hurt, the best thing to do is to say nothing at all for fear of saying all the wrong things.  That's where I'm at.

Inevitably, when I come to moments like this, S.M. Lockridge always speaks to my heart exactly what it needs to hear.

It's encouraging, it's hopeful, it's truth, it's promising.  And God is all-knowing and good, despite our human frailty in both body and mind.

What a beautiful reminder...

This is a favorite of mine...so wise and so true.

Enjoy!

Friday...

It's raining outside and I've been up since 6:oo am (which is really early for me).

I haven't had my coffee yet either.

Wouldn't seem like a very good start to the day...

Except this is who I get to snuggle with all day.

She makes everything right with my world.

Beautiful State of Mind- The Project

With a title like that, I think it's funny that I posted a picture of me at the top of this post!

It's an old picture and though it hides my double chin and the lighting is forgiving to my acne prone complexion, I can still pick out a thousand flaws.

In my mind...I am not the picture of conventional beauty.

But I think that's a good thing.

My (very beautiful) friend Holly over at 504 Main invited me to participate in a project titled Beautiful State of Mind.  It is the brainchild of (the extremely gorgeous) Rhiannon at Hey Gorgeous and it has spurred something beautiful, in it's own right, in me.  It has prompted me to define what "beauty" actually is and means to me.  I've dug deep and it's been a revealing process.

Beauty, to me, is a coat of many colors so to speak.

(huh? say what?? follow me on this one...)

I'll just go ahead and say it...

I don't feel pretty.

Whew...boy is that a load off!

There was a point in my life when I felt beautiful.  I was thin and graceful.  I was prompt to schedule hair appointments, I exfoliated and I even took daily showers.

I wasn't a mom.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible, and a more well-known one, is the tale of Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors.  His daddy loved him so much he made this ornate jacket for him, which made all his brothers sick with jealousy so they plotted to murder him.  Turns out, they didn't kill him, they just sold him into slavery and for the next several years of his life, Joseph ensued a great deal of pain and misfortune.

All because of a coat of many colors??

No.  Not just that, though that was probably the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.  His brothers wanted nothing more than to be loved by their father as much as he loved Joseph.  The coat was just a representation of that love.

So Joseph experienced some really bad things because of his brother's anger towards him.  But his faith in God never waned and ultimately that (and his obedience) is what saved him.  His faith and God's love made his life, his whole testimony, Beautiful.  And remembered forever in God's word.

You know, I'm scarred and marred and life has taken it's toll on me, too.  I've got stretchmarks and fat deposits in places I didn't know I had.  I've got crows feet and the gray hairs are starting to take the brown ones hostage.  I'm quirky and crazy.  And on a good day I don't even make sense to myself.

On the outside, I'm the farthest thing from beautiful.

But I have been clothed in a coat of many colors.  And so have you.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

Christ's blood= red

His bruises= black, blue and purple

His tears= clear

His glory and majesty= gold

We were never promised an easy road in this life, but despite all the things that make us "not so pretty" God still loves us.  We are extraordinary in His eyes.

And that makes me (us) Beautiful.

Would you like to chime in one what beauty means to you?  I think you should!  The actual "Project" will be launched in April, but discussions on the topic are underway right now!  Shoot on over to Hey Gorgeous and let Rhiannon know you want it!  I think we can all learn a lot from one another!

(I'm also sharing this today at SteadyMom as part of the Mom's 30-minute Blog Challenge)

Blessings ya'll!