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From Susan Merrill

The Blog

Sunday Suppers

The Best Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes

So you have enjoyed an amazing Thanksgiving feast with family and friends. And now, you have a refrigerator full of Tupperware containers with delicious leftovers. What to do? It’s SusanMe and Pinterest to the rescue! Here is our compilation of the best Thanksgiving leftover recipes to make the most of what is still in your fridge. Thanksgiving Dinner Casserole Fiesta Turkey Tortilla Soup Leftover Turkey Quesadilla with Cranberries and Gouda Broccoli Cauliflower Parmesan Bake Turkey Cobb Salad Pumpkin Pie Frosting Leftover Cranberry Sauce Loaf Recipe Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins Subscribe to the blog for Sunday Supper recipes and more.

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Encouragement

Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas

Two weeks, that’s all you get to see Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas. Yikes, that’s fast! But it is only in theaters for a short time. This is one I will make time for because of the content. I love Christmas and the story is something that I can relate to. I get a little mad when people want to take Christ out of Christmas. It’s just irrational to me. So I like the story line of the movie–Christmas needs to be saved. And I like Kirk–he loves his family. And so do Phil and Kay Robertson from Duck Dynasty…they like Christmas, Christ, and family. Go see the movie, take the family and remember why we really celebrate Christmas before we are knee deep in a sea of wrapping paper!

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Encouragement

23 Blast

Where there is tragedy and loss, God can still give hope and abundant life. {Tweet this} I thought about that as I watched the movie, 23 Blast. It’s the true story of a boy who plays football in a small Kentucky town where game time looks like something you’d see in Friday Night Lights. The town loves football. The boy loves football. And the boy’s parents love watching him pursue his passion. Then, in a 24-hour span, the boy, now in high school, goes blind. When I saw what his mother and father experienced, it made me think of how I felt when we learned about my daughter Emily’s illness: When you discover your child has a life-threatening illness, you grieve for the loss of the life you envisioned for your child. Knowing they will be bound to a schedule of medication, a body that responds differently to life, and a more high-risk future is painful to take in. But the boy’s story doesn’t end there. He overcomes in a big way. He plays high school football — even with his blindness! After graduation, he gets his Ph.D. I think his parents might feel as I do, as I wrote about …

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Sunday Suppers

Chicken Pesto Soup and Apple Pie

The long-awaited month of October is finally here–all of us in Florida are rejoicing because the “cool” weather is lurking around the corner. Mmm… there’s nothing quite like the sweet aroma of apples and cinnamon circulating through the house on a cool fall day. Does anyone else equate fall with pie?! Maybe it’s just me. This weekend, enjoy a warm bowl of Chicken Pesto Soup and my family’s favorite Apple Pie. Main Dish Dessert Subscribe to the blog for Sunday Supper recipes and more.

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Encouragement

When the Going Gets Tough: Academics

When my kids were growing up, I often wished they would just stop growing up! This was especially true in regards to school–it just kept getting harder. And that meant more and more and more time on school and less and less and less time on us. It also meant that they would, at times, become discouraged. Well I didn’t like that and neither should you. Yes, academics are tough but so are moms and we can help our kids! So here are 3 ways I help my kids when the going gets tough: academics! 1. Give Special Encouragement in the Tougher Years: Everyone knows that some grades are tons harder than others. Sometimes, it’s those difficult grade transitions jumping from one school to the next. That means there are at least 3 opportunities for sure to look out for: between elementary and middle school, between middle school and high school, and between high school and college. Other times it’s subject jumps that throw kids. For mine, it was usually math. Certain math years are tougher. When your kids hit a difficult year you can keep them going with a lot of encouragement and prayer. I have often used …

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Marriage

Marriage Lessons Learned the Hard Way

I think David is one of the most fascinating people in the Bible. He was a man after God’s own heart, yet he fell so far short in many ways. One of them was in his role as a father. As much as he loved his children, he did not always guide them as he should have. His son, Solomon, followed David on the throne and asked God for the gift of wisdom. He received it, but lost it as he lost his way in life. The story of Solomon’s rise and fall, and how difficult it must of been to grow up in the shadow of such a revered father, is the theme of the really great, new movie, The Song. It’s set in modern times and follows a young singer as he tries to step out of his successful father’s shadow and make his own mark. Well, without spoiling the movie for you, I can tell you that he does find success, and he finds love. But like Solomon, his choices lead to heartbreak, loss, and lessons learned the hard way. Win two tickets to the new movie, The Song and a restaurant gift card. Make it a fun date night. Enjoy dinner and …

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Sunday Suppers

Chicken Parmesan Soup and Pound Cake Cookies

Soup is the perfect food in my opinion. Hot and all in one for the most part. Sometimes I add salad but not always. This is a recipe I like to double, serve and freeze the rest for another day. Be sure to answer the question below to be entered to win a 6-month subscription of your choice to eMeals! Main Dish Dessert eMeals Question for Subscription: If you were a dessert, what dessert would you be? Congratulations to CL3Es – You won the 6-month eMeals Subscription! I would be Red Velvet Cake because it is my kids favorite and I want to be their favorite! Subscribe to the blog for Sunday Supper recipes and more.

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Encouragement

When the Going Gets Tough: Sports

So your son grew up playing baseball. He joined the team with his neighborhood friends and enjoyed playing catch, hitting the ball, and of course sliding into home base. But as he got older, little league turned into travel ball and things just weren’t the same. Things got harder as the competition and the pressure increased. When the going gets tough in sports, how do we keep our kids going strong? It’s not easy. Sports are not just for fun anymore. In fact, by the time a child is about 10 there is a good chance that he/she is on a team that is getting competitive. Yet, kids want to play. They want to be with their friends. So what do you do to keep them from burning out and giving up? Well as your child moves from playing for fun to playing competitively, here are 3 ways to help them along: 1. Remind them of their original love for the sport. Pressure to perform perfectly. Pressure to always do things better than before. Pressure to win. When the pressure becomes overwhelming—and trust me, it will!—the best thing to do is have your child take a step back and …

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Encouragement

Just Be You

Once we start playing the comparison game, it’s hard to stop. There’s my friend Marcie—the perfect mom with her counters always sparkling, her carpet clutter-free, and her kids smiling like little angels. There’s my friend Laura—the peaceful mom with her endless patience and tenderness with her children. Then there’s me—texting my kids to ask where they are, unsuccessfully attempting to cook a simple dinner, and hiding in the laundry room behind growing piles of dirty clothes. Sometimes, we hear this little voice in the back of our minds telling us that our kids would be better off with another kind of mom—and we start to believe it. We start doubting, and ask ourselves, “Why can’t I be more like Marcie or Laura??” In this video clip from Moms’ Night Out, we see the main character Ally going through these same emotions. She questions her abilities as a mom, and convinces herself that God made a mistake. But the truth is that from the beginning of time, God has planned for you to be EXACTLY where you are. God put your child in your care…and the mom you are is the mom God wanted your child to have. Like Ally, we …

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Sunday Suppers

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings and Football Rice Krispies

FALL!!! I love it because I crave comfort food. And you can’t have hot steamy comfort food in the heat of summer. Of course I am in Florida and it still feels like summer but psychologically this midwest girl thinks it’s fall. So I just have to crank up the air conditioning. In any case, this is a Merrill family favorite because I served it a lot! Straight from one of my favorite kitchen tools, the slow cooker. I have combined it with a dessert from our favorite fall sport–football. I tried to make these Cocoa Rice Krispies football shaped. Don’t judge my artistic ability! Go Gators and enjoy your Sunday Supper with your family. Main Dish Dessert Subscribe to the blog for Sunday Supper recipes and more.

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