The Last of the 2009 Memory Verses

Memory Verse #23

Psalm 34:4
"I sought the Lord, and He answered me;
He delivered me from all my fears."


Memory Verse #24

Colossians 4:6
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

I chose this last verse because it came up in one of our Sunday School lessons not too long ago. We talked alot about how we are the salt of the earth. I need to remember that my words have such an impact and that I need to "be careful little mouth what I say."

Wow! I can't believe I've actually kept up with my verses for an entire year! This has been one of the best things I've ever done! I am so looking forward to the Scripture Memory Celebration with Beth Moore next month! Not only is the conference FREE, I managed to win a FREE room at the Omni Hotel as well! Hallelujah!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

In the Beechem home...

Well, it's taken me longer than usual, but I finally have our house looking like Christmas! I guess the 4 days of strep throat kind of slowed me down a little. I'm so thankful for antibiotics and rest! Now that we have the house cleaned and the decorations all around the house, maybe we can take some time to relax and spend time reflecting about the true meaning of Christmas. God has truly blessed us, and we want our boys to realize how important Jesus is in our lives. We pray that HIS love will shine through us throughout this season.


Our living room

Our study

Our snow village and snowman collection

Eric's Sour Cream Twist Creation...

For the past 15 years, Eric has talked about his grandma's delicious sour cream twists that he remembered from when he was young. Well, he got a wild hair on Friday night and searched the internet to find a recipe that sounded like his grandma's. He was so excited that he stayed up until well after 1 a.m. making them! And, yes, they are delicious! He said they taste just like he remembers them! I think he's already eaten a few dozen in just a few days! :0 Here's the recipe just in case you'd like to try them too.

Sour Cream Twists

3 ½ c. flour
1 t. salt
1 c. shortening (part butter)
1 pkg. yeast
¼ c. warm water
¾ c. sour cream
1 whole egg or 2 egg yolks, well beaten
1 t. vanilla

Refrigerate 2 hours. Using half of dough, roll into 8x16 inch rectangle. Sprinkle with sugar and fold each end into the middle and roll out again in rectangle and sprinkle with sugar. Do this 3 times using 1/2 cup sugar for each half.

After the third time, roll out in a rectangle and cut in 1x4 inch strips and twist. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen.

Thanksgiving Gratitudes

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! I'm a little slow on writing about my week because I chose to enjoy spending time with our family in Texarkana instead of being on the computer all week. And then, we came back to reality and had to go to school on Monday. Then, I guess my body didn't think I'd had enough of a break and decided to get strep throat! So...I've been either laying on the couch or in bed pretty much since Monday evening...except for the 2 1/2 hour wait at the doctor's office yesterday. But I am very THANKFUL for the antibiotics the doctor gave me! I do feel much better today...I might even have to go back to work tomorrow!

Here's my list of 25 things for which I am thankful during the week of Thanksgiving:

1. I FINALLY got my wedding ring fixed after about 2 months of not being able to wear it! The prong on the point of the pear-shaped diamond had broken and I was afraid to keep wearing it! We took it to our jeweler when we got to Texarkana on Wednesday and they made it look like new (for a small fee of course!)
2. Visiting my family in Texarkana for 4 days
3. God’s provisions & excessive blessings
4. Making homemade rolls on Thanksgiving day
5. Mom's wonderful cooking—yummy mashed potato casserole, turkey & dressing, homemade noodles, sweet potatoes…
6. Kevin made some delicious cherry cheesecake tarts & pecan pie tarts
7. Eric made a scrumptious pecan pie
8. Shellye’s overnight salad was pretty tasty too—I think it was the only green vegetable we had! J
9. I’m just thankful for FOOD!!!
10. Going to see "The Blind Side" with my family on Thanksgiving afternoon…what a wonderful movie to remind us of how fortunate we are!
11. Getting up at 4 AM on Friday morning to SHOP 'til we dropped with my family
12. Eric always trying to make me happy—I know he really didn’t want to get up and shop all day but he did it for me! J
13. Ethan’s funny personality—he’s always making us smile!
14. Evan being so excited about buying Christmas gifts for others this year
15. Dad & Mom being so generous to us
16. Putting up our Christmas trees before we left for Texarkana
17. Ethan’s excitement when he walked into Evan’s room after we hung lights all the way around his room. He said, “Wow! Beautiful lights!”
18. Listening to Christmas music
19. Cold weather
20. Papa Murphy’s pizza
21. The pretty colored leaves on the trees in the fall
22. Having such a close Christian family
23. God’s love for me…even when I don’t deserve it
24. My daddy’s stories
25. PawPaw & Grammy loving on our boys...here are some examples...
*Evan & Ethan LOVED sleeping on mats in their bedroom every night we were there (When we got home Saturday night, Ethan said, “It’s time to go sleep on my mat in Grammy’s room.” He doesn’t quite get the fact that we live 3 hours away.)
*Ethan enjoyed PawPaw giving him a bath every night (because he lets Ethan play a lot longer than Daddy does)
*They both enjoy Grammy's pancakes and rides in PawPaw’s truck!

Memory Verse #22

Wow! We're almost there...only 3 more verses to go this year! I still haven't heard anyone take me up on the offer to do this together next year, but I'm praying that I will within the next six weeks!

Today I'm using Beth Moore's suggestion for the memory verse. She is using Proverbs 8:34...she talked about how we are to trust God to show us our steps each and every day and to wait patiently for Him to guide us...instead of asking for the end result ahead of time. It really spoke to me, so I looked up the verse and liked the verses on each side of it, so that is going to be my passage for the rest of the month.

Here it is...

Proverbs 8:33-35 (NIV)
"Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.
Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord."

Have a blessed week!

McCarty Family Thanksgiving Traditions

I've had fun thinking of recipes to post all week and link up with this new blog friend I've found. Today, her challenge is to tell about our Thanksgiving memories/traditions. I absolutely LOVE our Thaksgiving traditions. For one thing, it seems to always get us in the mood for Christmas!

Because we moved to Texas from Illinois in 1978 (a long time ago), we had to create our own family traditions. I think there were a few times that we made the drive to Illinois at Christmas AND at Thanksgiving, but it was too much on Mom & Dad. So they had to make the decision to stay in Texarkana for Thanksgiving, so we could be with all of our relatives in Illinois for Christmas.

We always have a great traditional meal that Mom mostly cooks...she's an excellent cook! Now that we're grown, my sister, brother, and I try to help out some but it still ends up that Mom cooks most of the great food. We usually invite some friends or relatives to join us for a wonderful meal.

Two of my favorite traditions come in the afternoon (usually after a little nap because we're all so full). We always get all of the ads from the newspaper and start plotting our Friday morning shopping excursion! We go through every ad and find which ones have the best early bird specials and make our plans. That "day after Thanksgiving" shopping frenzy is the BEST!

After we rest up and make our shopping plans, we always go to a movie matinee. We try to go to a Christmas movie to get us in the spirit but some years those types are lacking. This tradition started about 30 years ago when we were stuck in Texarkana alone and had only lived here a short while. I think we were all pretty sad about not being with the entire family in Illinois, so we went to see Sally Field's movie, Places in the Heart. It's funny how you remember things like that, but we had the best time going to the movies. Our family did not go to the movies very often, so this was a big treat! And so our tradition was born.

Now that we've all grown up and are married and have kids, it's a pretty big endeavor...sometime up to 14 of us go to the movies together! And even though we are stuffed from our Thanksgiving feast, we still have to get the movie popcorn! It's a must!

I'm getting so excited about Thanksgiving now...it's just a little over a week away. We've already started talking about what movie to watch this year. It has to be one that is good for all ages...from 3 to 64! :) Any suggestions?

I'd love to hear some of your Thanksgiving traditions too! Who knows...we may need to add them to our family traditions. :)

Thanksgiving Recipes-Desserts

Dessert. One of my favorite food groups! Especially anything chocolate! For Thanksgiving, though, we don't usually have much chocolate--it's more of the pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and my brother's delicious cream cheese/pumpkin bread. (I'm going to have to get that recipe from him so I can post it soon.) For our pumpkin pies, we usually just follow the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can. And for our pecan pies, we usually try a new recipe every year in search of "the best pecan pie ever." We haven't had much luck...except one Thanksgiving...we made a really good one but then we lost the recipe. :( So the search is still on. Maybe we'll find one through all of these blog recipes. :)

So...for my dessert recipe today, I thought I'd post my super easy and fairly dietetic spice cake recipe. (I got it from Weight Watchers several years ago and it's one of my favorites to make.)

Super Easy & Delicious

Spice Cake

1 box Spice Cake mix (or Carrot cake or Devils Food cake)

1 can pumpkin

3/4 cup water

Mix together thoroughly. (I usually use a mixer.) Bake at 350 according to package directions.

I usually make this in a bundt pan or into mini-muffins. The cake is so moist and you really can't taste the pumpkin! DELICIOUS!

Thanksgiving Recipes--Main Dishes

I have a confession to make. I've never made a turkey by myself. (I have warmed up a smoked turkey a few times--does that count?) We always go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving and Mom is the turkey cook! I usually make the homemade rolls and help make the other sides & desserts. Instead of sharing how to make a turkey, I thought I'd share a recipe for what to do with all of the turkey leftovers. My Mom and my Aunt Sandy like to make TURKEY TETRAZINNI with our turkey leftovers, and it is YUMMMMMMMY!

Turkey Tetrazinni

1 (8 oz) pkg thin spaghetti

1 small onion (chopped)
2 T. oleo
1 c. broth
1 t. salt
1 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. pepper
1 large can evaporated milk
1 small can sliced mushrooms (we use more)
3 c. diced cooked turkey
1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c. parmesan cheese


Cook spaghetti and drain.


While spaghetti is cooking, saute onions in oleo until soft. Remove from heat. Blend in flour, salt, dry mustard, and pepper. Return on low heat. Slowly stir in evaporated milk and broth. Stir constantly until sauce thickens slightly.

Pour white sauce into drained spaghetti. Mix in turkey and mushrooms. Pour everything into a greased 9x13 pan.

Sprinkly cheeses on top. Bake at 425 uncovered for 20 minutes. ENJOY!