My Hope is in God...

"We find our stories in theirs. We find our hope where they found theirs. In the midst of them all...hovering over them all...is the hero of it all:

God. Maker. Shaper. Rescuer of sinking hearts. God." - Max Lucado.

Jim and I are reading a book by Max Lucado called Cast of Characters, Common People in the Hands of An Uncommon God. We read about a different person each day. Today was Job. I wasn't so sure I wanted to hear the woes of Job. I had really enjoyed the one we recently read. It was about David and how God called him a man after His own heart. But Job had such awful things happen to him and I wondered how I would be encouraged by this. Turned out it was all about what Job learned about God. I think God wanted me to learn or be reminded of some things about Him today too. After we finished I read my email and one of the first was from a friend with an article by John Piper. He used Job 5:8-10 "But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. "He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields," This time I was seeing from Job what God does! The next email was a verse for the day. You guessed it, it was from Job. Job 5:17-18 says "Behold, happy is the man who God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. Turns out I was encouraged afterall by all these verses because they were all about God! My story is not the same as Job's but I find my story in his and know that the hope he had I have too.

Bear hugs...

Our theme last night for Apples of Gold was Valentine's Day (our teaching was on hospitality). I found this cute craft in a magazine called Family Fun. I added a heart shaped cookie cutter since they were going to go to adults instead of children. I placed one at each lady's plate.

You can find this at: FamilyFun: Valentine's Day Treat: Bear Your Heart - and More Family Fun You might want to make one for your Valentine.

Fun with play dough...

Valentine's Day is this week so I thought it would be fun to do something with hearts each day this week. Today I made play dough and Colette made a heart ... along with other shapes. I think she really had the most fun making birthday cakes for her doll. I have included our recipe for play dough.

Play Dough

1 Cup flour
1/2 Cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Cup water
1 Tablespoon cooking oil
food coloring

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar in a pan. Slowly add the water, cooking oil and food coloring (or wait and add food coloring when you knead it). Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto wax paper, let cool for a few minutes, and knead until smooth. Divide into 2 balls. Store in plastic air tight container.

Honey Bun Cake...

The first time I had this cake my sweet friend Marjo made it. I thought it was delicious. Thanks Marjo!! I like it for breakfast or dessert. Either way, you will find it easy and will get compliments from others.

I made it for our Bible study this morning and several asked for the recipe. So here it is!

1 box yellow cake mix

4 large eggs

2/3 cup oil

1/3 cup water

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these but it was good with them)

Icing
1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 Tbsp milk plus 1 teas. milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix cake mix, oil, eggs and sour cream; pour 1/2 of this mixture in greased 12x9 inch pan. Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon. Put 1/2 of this mixture over batter in pan. Put rest of batter in pan, then other half of cinnamon and sugar mixture. Gently swirl batter with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

For the icing: Combine all ingredients and pour over cake as soon as you remove it from the oven.
Serves: 15