Tina The Storyteller

Today, I'm thankful to be the mom of an 8 year old. I can't express to you the miracle is she is, though I can say that before she was born, we thought that we would have a large family, but God has a different understanding of family than we did. He has blessed us with more than we could have imagined. I am thankful that though I still struggle some days with the why, I still appreciate what we have. And part of what we have is a beautiful, smart, independent, friendly, young lady who is sharing our lives with us. Happy birthday, Hannah!

We recently had this soup and I had Joel take some of the soup out before adding the corn tortillas, making it effectively low carb! Yeah for my tummy! I added some diced avocados to the soup and it was even more amazing than the traditional way that we eat it. The original recipe we started with was Hot Chicken Enchilada Soup from Cooks.com. We were looking for something similar to the enchilada soup that Chili's serves. It's better in my opinion. 1 doz. corn tortillas 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbsp. oil 1 (14 1/2 oz.) can beef broth 1 (10 oz.) can chicken broth 1 (10 oz.) can cream of chicken soup (undiluted) 1 (6 3/4 oz.) baked fuego chicken* 1 1/2 c. water 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. chile powder (spicy not the soup stuff) 1/8 tsp.pepper 2 c. Cheddar cheese, grated Paprika Cut 6 tortillas into 1/2 inch strips and set aside. Cut remaining tortillas into thin strips and fry in hot oil until crisp, salt to t...

I thought that I'd share a photo book that I made with you. Let me know if you have any problems viewing it. Click here to view this photo book larger You'll love Shutterfly s award-winning photo books. Try it today.

Thanks to Rhetta from On Raspberry Hill , I've received the Sunshine Award!! Thanks, Rhetta! 1) Favorite color? Sea Blue. I feel in love with it all over again in Hawaii. That inky blue is just amazing. 2) Favorite animal?  Probably the river otter. They are just so cute and playful. Love to see them when we go to aquariums. 3) Favorite number? 7, it's a nice number, full of perfection. Followed closely by 40 and 12. 4) Favorite Drink? A nice, hot cafe mocha from just about any coffee shop, with the cold version running a close second 5) Facebook or Twitter? I like them both for different reasons. I feel like I get more news on Twitter and more drama on Facebook. 6) Good Book or Good Movie? I love reading a good book and then seeing a well made movie about it. It doesn't happen very often, if ever, but I still love that. 7) My passion? Learning. I love learning new things. I especially like studying the Bible and seeing what God has to teach me.  8) Giving or get...

Whether you know it or not, you are a person of influence. Now that you can't say you didn't know that fact, what kind of influence do you think you have? Mel Lawrenz does a great job of explaining how you can increase your spiritual influence in this world. The primary focus of this book is to get us to a place where no matter where we are, or whom we serve, we are proclaiming the goodness of God. He addresses many shortfalls that we encounter in our culture and gives practical ways to keep moving forward. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this work was that Lawrenz reminds us over and over again that you don't have to have tons of adoring fans, you don't have to write a thousand and one books, you don't have to be the CEO of a large company to have positive influence on the life of others. What you need is to pursue wisdom, humility, grace, and most of all God. This is one of those highly encouraging books that lets you know that you can change ...

I was very excited to read Tidewater Inn by Colleen Coble. I had heard many good things from her from other authors that I enjoy reading. Sadly, I don't think that I will be reading any more of the Hope Beach Series. I think the thing that I didn't like was some inconsistencies in the story in regards to my perception of beach life. Having grown up near the Carolina coast, I spent a good deal of my summers on the water. I was even able to take a scuba diving class as a young lady. And I think that knowledge made this story a little less enjoyable. Things would happen and the time line or reality of it would just not sit right with me. A hurricane is in this story and the damage that is caused on the main island is inconsistent with what occurs on a much smaller island. People's ability to survive is just amazing. And then there is the dog that can do things that I've never seen any other dog do, ever. And I've owned a couple dogs in my day, too. The idea of d...

I, for some reason, always have a hard time re-acclimating myself to day to day life when returning from visits. It takes me a good week of recovery. I'm thankful that my job isn't so demanding that it's difficult to take that kind of time. I often think about that story of the African tribes people that stopped on the side of the road so that their souls could catch up with them. That's me. I also think that part of my soul is still in Hawaii. It got lodged there the first time we went six years ago. I left more of it there with this recent trip. Probably sitting on some lani on the big island wondering when I will come back and join myself together. Life does go on here in the present, even with a broken soul. And as proof to that we have added a new member to our family. Meet Pumpkin. We got her from the Humane Society, unlike our kitty, Tinkerbell, who was at the shelter for three months, this little girl was only there for a week and a half. There haven't been ...

Call of a Coward is the story of Marcia Moston and her family as they explore what it means to follow God. The Mostons were what appeared to be typical North American middle class folks, but then they answered a call placed on their lives and it was obvious that who they appeared to be and what God saw were not the same thing. Call of a Coward shares how they were called into Gautamala to serve a community of single women and children. The story is full of complications and unexpected failings, including a return to the United States before they expected to. The most powerful part of this book is how Marcia shares that in the midst of seeing their dreams crumble to the point of having to give them up entirely, God answers our hearts desire with a bigger and better dream. Call of a Coward is a great insight into the life of missionary and a very quick read. It was enjoyable and wonderful to see God at work not only in our misery, but in our good days as well. I highly recom...