i am sitting in the midst of chaos.....getting new carpet upstairs, so the whole downstairs is full of upstairs furniture. it is so crowded that we can't hardly move. so.

what do we decide to do?

cook.

don't ask me why, but we are relegated to the dining room and kitchen, so we are eating ;)

we are having a birthday dinner and a going away dinner for my oldest son tomorrow night (that is a whole 'bother story...for later)....and gretchen decided she wanted to make the dessert{s}...yes....3 to be exact...and not too small or easy ones, i might add.

i had to look up some recipes for her to get ingredients...to go to the store. yep. we didn't even have any ingredients to make the things she wanted to make. o. well.

and now. we are on the 2nd trip to the store.....but, i digress.

i had to look up these recipes. to do that, the old recipe book has to be pulled out. this book has some history to it. i think i bought it about 20 years ago to 'organize' my recipes. it worked. for a while. then it got out of control.

it always happens....i find recipes i have forgotten about. recipes that bring back great {and not so great} memories. recipes that i have intended on trying.

and i found this one. chicken enchiladas. it has a great story. the recipe is from my friend gail. gail has been such a great friend. when this recipe surfaced at our house was when gail came in to take care of me after the birth of my last living baby.

for those who might not know. i am pretty much on my own as far as family goes. i have been on my own with each of my babies and with the last 2 being 16 months apart and husband working, i needed help. so, gail came in for the week and became my doula. she took care of me, she helped take care of reagan needing cosmetic surgery right after birth, she did laundry, helped with homeschooling the others, and brought recipes.

great recipes. recipes we still love. my kids will still talk about 'that dish that mrs. ferguson made' ....{side note: it was always a running joke that we could get our kids to eat anything if we claimed it came from another mother-as long as it wasn't 'ours'}

so. she made chicken enchiladas for us and they became an instant favorite. and they are soooo easy! they are pictured above...and i will type it out just like it is written.....

chicken enchiladas

boil chicken. chop and shred chicken. add 1 package taco seasoning, 1 can chopped green chilies, 1 cup shredded cheese. mix well. roll meat mixture in flour tortilla. secure with toothpick. place in greased casserole dish. pour whipping cream (1/2 pint) over enchiladas. bake at 350 for 25 minutes. remove from oven and garnish with green onions, lettuce and tomatoes.

now. i will tell you what i do ;)

i do all that, except i blend the green chilies up. my kids do NOT like the texture of them in anything. i also don't secure with a toothpick...too much of a hassle. and then i use more whipping cream. we like them juicy ;) we also top with a tomatillo sauce the that gail's sweet husband made up....and we serve it with a big green salad and chips and salsa. that's it. makes a great dinner! i also usually have left over chicken mixture, so i freeze it for another meal. the left over enchiladas are really pretty good too!

tomatillo sauce

1 jar herdez salsa verde
1 clove garlic
1 bunch cilantro
1 ripe avocado

blend all ingredients together. try to keep out of it til its time to eat.

when i first took this wedding, i had another one in the wings. both were for friends, both i had given my 'friend deal' too :). one, though had to fly us to him and provide our room and board. so, that was the fee, basically. i wanted to be at both and do both, but both were for the same day and 1,000 miles apart. there were underlying commitments to the one that was long distance, so i needed to take that one and let the other one go....which meant no cash in hand. I had been basically unemployed for 3 months now and the money would have been very much needed. time to trust god. he knew what we needed and it might just be some time away. these were also very new friends to me. so, on to Reno and lake tahoe i go.....

when i shoot a wedding (or ANYthing for that matter), my heart is ALL in. I LOVE taking pictures and capturing those moments. i know i am not the best out there and it is a constant struggle to not compare myself against all those who have more training or a different gifting than i~constant!!! AND it is training for me to do what god has called me to do.

i went ready to shoot my heart out....the venue was beautiful--a river boat on the lake. the food was yummy, the weather perfect...you could not ask for a better day....the family was excited and it was a fun time.

my plane left the next morning, so i had to be up and ready to go. i got a call from the grooms mom (a precious, PRECIOUS woman of God) to come and have breakfast with her and her family. i did. And as i was leaving, she handed me a card~a thank you note (i assumed)....i got in the car, rushing to catch my flight and I opened the card to read. inside was a check in the EXACT amount i would have made had i done the other wedding. she had NO IDEA that is how much i charged my friends....none.....it was such a God thing and such a confirmation to me that i had made the right choice. not that i would not want to be there for my other friend, but i had to walk in what god was saying and trust god to provide for that friend too. to see some of the pictures from that wedding click here.

linked up with chatting at the sky and sweet shot tuesday