Soup's on!

Autumn is here!  That means our Texas days and nights will finally be a little cooler.

I decided to make some soup for us tonight.  I also wanted to try a new recipe.  So I looked a favorite cook book for soups, Taste of Home Soup cook book, and found one that sounded good.  I loved that I had most of the ingredients on hand and it seemed pretty easy to make. Jim and I really liked it. 

Yesterday my sweet neighbor brought us some brownies and cornbread.  The cornbred was perfect with this soup. I wanted to let her know we liked her cornbread (liked the brownies too) so thought it would be fun to let her try the soup so off I went to her house with a bowl of it. She just returned with the empty bowl and said she loved it and wanted the recipe.  What fun to share with neighbors. I am sure you have a neighbor that would love to be blessed by something you have baked, or take them a cup of this soup!

Here is the link to the recipe >>>> White-Bean--n--Barley-Soup

Loving acts of kindness...

We were stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas when my father passed away some years ago.  My parents lived in Ohio and after the funeral it was very difficult for me to leave, knowing we lived so far away.  I remember pulling up in front of our house in Kansas and thinking how everything had changed in my life and how sad I felt.  I was still setting in the car when Jim reached the door.  He yelled to come see what our friends had done.  There were notes all over the place, beginning with the front door.  I saw little notes on the bathroom sink that said, "cleaned with love" and notes on towels that said, "folded with love".  I could hardly see through the tears but kept walking through the house and kept finding notes everywhere. Our friends had cleaned our home while we were gone.  When I made my way to the kitchen I saw food  for us with a note "prepared with love".
On the counter were chocolate bars with a note that said, "baked with love".  We were laughing and crying by the time we walked through the house and saw all the love that had been bestowed upon us by our friends.  God was indeed loving us through these wonderful friends.  I will never forget their kindness and so wish today I could see them and thank them one more time. 
The other night I needed to bake something for our church staff Life Group meeting.  I looked in my recipe box for something to bake. I found the recipe for the bars that our friend Kandy had left on our kitchen counter those many years ago.  A flood of memories came to my mind as I held the recipe in my hand.  I also thought about my sweet friend, Kandy, who is now with the Lord, and was very glad she had given me her recipe. I prepared it and took it to Life Group.  Everyone loved the bars.  It was fun sharing with the ladies the story of where the recipe came from and the precious acts of kindness we received.  Below is the recipe.  I hope you will enjoy it and maybe pass it along to someone in need of a hug!

Peanut Butter Swirl Bars
1/2 C. crunch style peanut butter
1/3 C. butter, softened
3/4 C. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 C. sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 C. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 12 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In large bowl combine peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and sugar.  Beat until creamy. Gradually beat in eggs and vanilla.  Blend in flour, baking powder and salt.  Spread in a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan.  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Place in oven for 3 minutes. Remove from oven;run knife through to marbleize. Return to oven for about 30 minutes (I suggest checking on them at 25 minutes).  Cool and cut into bars. 

Lovin' the beach!

One of my favorite places...

 If you seek Him 

 you will find Him

I have always loved the beach.  The first time I ever saw the ocean or was on a beach was after I graduated from high school and visited a friend in CA. I still remember the wonder of seeing it all, laying on the beach and feeling the hot sun on my back and loving it. I knew I wanted to return some day.  The next time I went was for our honeymoon at Virgina Beach.  It was so awesome to hear the roar of the waves each night from our ocean front room. Then while Jim was in Viet Nam he was able to fly to Hawaii for R and R.  We spent a glorious week on the beach!  We talked about how fun it would be to be stationed there one day.  About two years later we were indeed stationed at Scholfield Barrack, HI.  We lived on the beach on the North Shore for almost 5 years.  An amazing time in our lives and a dream come true. There is so much that I love about the ocean and the beach. I love the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore.  I love the look of the ocean, so powerful and mighty or  very calm and gentle.  I love the feel of the sand between my toes as I walk along the shore.  I love getting up early to watch the sun rise over the ocean. I love seeing it set at night as it looks like it is falling into the ocean. I love looking out at the ocean and catching a glimpse of dolphins or whales jumping or a boat sailing by.  Truly it is one of my favorite places to be.  For the past four years we have been fortunate enough to take a yearly trip to Gulf Shores, AL with our family.  I get to enjoy all the beauty of the ocean and beach for one week. I am full of thanks to God.  I see Him in the beauty all around me.

First day of preschool...

Thank you Lord for this precious child.

"I have a new Hello Kitty backpack and a new Hello Kitty lunch box for preschool". 

 "I am going to preschool the day after tomorrow." 

"My mommy bought me a pencil with flowers". 

All this from a very excited 3 1/2 yr. old going to preschool...our sweet granddaughter.

Bye Mommy!  See you this afternoon!

Amy Elizabeth Pack Memorial Scholarship...

Honduras, 1998

We are happy to once again contact you as the time approaches for the presentation of the Amy Elizabeth Pack Memorial Scholarship. With your help last year we once again presented a $1,000 scholarship to a student from Ruach International Christian Academy in Comayagua, Honduras.
 We are excited to be able to make this scholarship available again this year. Jim was in Honduras last November and was so honored to present the scholarship in person. He will be there again this year as the graduation speaker.

We have an unusual situation this year. There are two very deserving students. We have watched them over these years as they have grown in the Lord, developed into excellent leaders, and have performed well academically. It has been very difficult to make a choice between them, so we are hoping to be able to present both with a scholarship. You have all been faithful over these past ten years so please do not feel any pressure, but if you are able to do a little extra this year we would be honored. Either way we greatly appreciate your faithfulness to this scholarship.

Helping young people fulfill their dreams is a blessing to us, as is keeping Amy’s life story and testimony alive. You will never know how meaningful that is for us, and hopefully for you also, as you remember Amy in this way!


If you would like to donate, please leave me a comment and I will give you the information you need.


Thank you for your love for Amy and for our family. You remain an important part of our lives!


Love,
Jim and  Elaine

Always in my heart...

After five years...

I have not blogged in a long time.  We have been blessed with family and friends visiting us this month.  I realized how busy I have been when I saw when I last posted.  I look forward to posting more.
School has started and my days will be different than they have been for the past five years.  Five years ago I began watching a 4 month old baby girl.  I was planning on doing this for 6 months.  Those 6 months turned into years.  I guess you could say we fell in love with that baby girl.  She became such a part of my life that I could not imagine a day without her smile and hug greeting me each morning. She started Kindergarten this year so now I will be greeted with a smile and a hug in the afternoon when I pick her up from school.  I thank the Lord for this sweet one that He brought into my life. 

Our sweet friendship

It was a month before I turned 9 that I moved into our home on Prescott Ave. It was that summer that I met my friend Linda (I found these old pictures of us...guess we thought we looked cool posing :) ). She lived a street over from mine and her house was on a wonderful corner lot. It was there that all the neighborhood kids would gather to play games. In those days we were outside a lot playing hide and seek, tag, and any other game we could think of. We became close friends enjoying so many things together throughout the years. Linda and I went through elementary school and high school together. She went off to college and I stayed in the same little neighborhood and went to work. We both married the same year and were in each other’s weddings. Military took us both to different states over the years. Linda and her husband eventually moved to IN where they still live. We always stayed in touch and saw each other whenever we could. I know she is always there for me, will pray for me, encourage me, laugh with me and is a faithful friend. Business brought Linda and her husband to Dallas last week. I was so excited to see my friend. We had time to laugh, reminisce, look at old pictures, talk about our families and our life, and just enjoy being together again. She and I know if we lived closer we would spend a lot of time together. I am so thankful that when I was a little girl God brought the blessing of Linda into my life. How wonderful to have a friend for so many years that can share so many memories of school, family, friends, sorrowful times and happy times. Best of all, I am so thankful she and I share the same Father God.  I love this precious friend!

 

I can't believe I said THAT!

We've all been there.  I know I have opened my mouth and said something I later regretted.  Those times are so hard to get over.  I am featuring my daughter, Stacy's, blog today (see link below).  She tells how she received help after she saying something wished she had not said.  You won't want to miss this.  Leave her a comment and let her know how this helped you!

destinyinbloom.com