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

Love this cake...

Warm Winter Lemon Cake

Prep: 15 min. Total time: 1 hour 15 min.

Add 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of lemon zest to the pudding mixture for some extra lemon flavor. You can substitute a chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding.

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
2 cups cold milk
1-1/4 cups water
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

*Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Pour into greased 13x9-inch baking dish; set aside.
*Pour milk and water into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes and granulated sugar. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Pour over batter. Place baking dish on baking sheet to catch any sauce that might bubble over sides of dish as dessert bakes.
*Bake 55 min. to 1 hour or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Check for doneness at 45 minutes. Cool 20 min. (Sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spoon into serving dishes to serve warm. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Icy day in Texas...

This day won't mean much to you that live where you often have snow and ice, but to those of us in Texas, this day is not something we have often. In fact, I heard on the news that the last time we had ice like this was in 2003. Today was also our coldest morning of this year...21 degrees! Because it is so rare here of course I had to grab my camera for some shots of the ice.

Love & Marriage...

This morning I attended a breakfast for ladies at our church where we listened to Gary West give us some pointers to help us in our marriage. After breakfast our spouses joined us for another message on marriage. Jim and I will soon celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary but I feel we will always want to learn or be reminded of things that will make our marriage even better and stronger.

One of the scriptures he used was Ephesians 4:23-32. A couple verses that spoke to me were:

v. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

and v. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

We heard how powerful words are and how they determine the direction of our lives. How different marriages would be if we truly obeyed these verses.

Gary also recommended the book

The Five Languages of Apology by Gary Chapman.

It can be purchased at Amazon.com.

I am looking forward to tomorrow morning when he will speak to us once more about marriage!

Parties, Food, Fun...

We have enjoyed having my sister, Stephanie, here from Honduras. She goes back this Saturday and we will miss her. We had a party for her this past Saturday and she was so blessed by her friends!

On Sunday she fixed us some Honduran food. We all liked it...even Ashlynn! Thanks Stephanie for bringing this from Honduras! We all had fun tasting the different things.

I love kids!

Sunday we sang a song by Matt Redman called You Never Let Go.

The chorus starts,

Oh no, You never let go

Through the calm and through the storm

We heard our granddaughter Ashlynn, age 20 mo., singing the song...like this,

Oh no, You never let go

Oh no where did he go?

She sounds so sweet and we can only smile as she sings these words.

I am so glad that Jesus never lets go! Aren't you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other night my sister, Stephanie and I were invited to a friend's home for dinner and play Scrabble Express. While we waited for the meal to finish cooking I decided to teach her 6 & 8 year old how to play. I told the 6 yr. old it was a spelling game and this was our conversation.

Me: What is a word you can spell?

No response.

My friend: You can spell dog.

A smile from the 6 yr. old.

Me: OK, what other word can you spell?

No response.

My friend: You can spell cat.

A BIG smile from the 6 yr. old as she says: I can spell Mesopotamia!

I just love kids!!!

Apples of Gold...

Last week was our first week of Apples of Gold. This is the second group we have had go through this mentoring program. It is a 7 week course where women are mentored in different areas.


They learn some cooking skills from two wonderful mentors. I was especially excited to have my sister help in the kitchen this week.

It is also a time where they learn about kindness, how to love their husbands, love their children, along with other things. We have a wonderful teacher that shares with the women while our cooking mentors are preparing our dinner. And believe me, we have some delicious meals.

The program is taken from Titus 2:3-4

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home; to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God

I am privileged to be the host home as well as a mentor to the ladies. Thought it would be fun to post a few pictures over the next weeks.