Monday’s Menu Musings
In my attempts to simplify a bit more this year for Christmas, I chose not to bake
a slew of goodies to pass out. We stuck to Christmas cards and some more simple ideas such as mason jars filled with things like dried fruits and nuts. I love to bake though and I’m looking forward to tackling it maybe a few years from now when we are done with the baby stage and when the girls are a bit older and able to enjoy it with me.
We did make these yummy candy-like treats today though to bring for dessert to some friends’ house and they were really good!
Buckeyes
2 C.peanut butter (crunchy, creamy or both!)
1/4 C. butter
1 1/2 C rice krispies
2 C. powdered sugar
Chocolate candy coating
Melt butter and peanut butter in saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, pour over cereal and sugar mixture. Dip fingers into water and form into bite-sized balls and place onto cookie sheet (no need to grease or line) Refrigerate for 1 hour. Dip in melted candy coating and drop onto waxed paper. Let harden and enjoy!
Ears, Ears, Ears!
Please be in prayer for our sweet Ellie Joy. Tuesday morning she will be getting tubes put into her ears – a minor out-patient surgery that should help her poor little ears to have a break from the numerous infections and stubborn fluid that have been there in her short little year of life. We are so thankful for a fabulous ENT doctor who will be caring for Ellie. This has been a crazy past week with strep throat ripping through our household but thankfully, we are all on the mend and Ellie has healed up just in time for her procedure (we hope! hoping there will be no infection in her ears from this recent sickness) Pray with us…
Christmas card 2009
So…here it is. I finally mailed off and delivered all of my Christmas cards for this year….with a few bumps along the road but all is well and we ended up getting 200 cards for FREE! Here is the photo we chose…(and a big shout out and Thank YOU to Shannon who took these for us and helped us to create such wonderful memories…)
And here are are few that we loved as well but didn’t use as the card…
Until Next Year…
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!
God’s Will in the nativity
The Holy Family’s first few years were not tranquil. They were filled with grueling travel during the hardest part of pregnancy, a birth in worse than a barn, no steady income, an assassination attempt, two dessert crossings on foot with an infant, living in a foreign country, waiting on God for guidance and provisions just in the nick of time. It was difficult, expensive, time-consuming, career-delaying and full of uncertainty.
And it was God’s will.
The unplanned, inefficient detours of our lives are planned by God. They are common for disciples, and they commonly don’t make sense in the moment. But God’s ways are not our ways because our lives are about him, not about us. He is orchestrating far more than we know in every unexpected event and delay.
So when you find yourself suddenly moving in a direction you had not planned, take heart, hold tight, and trust God’s navigation.
Each Christmas season, I reflect. And I wait…
I wait for God to show me something new about the “Christmas story” that I’ve not seen or understood before and I wait in joyful expectation of that veil being removed from my eyes so that I can see.
This morning it hit me – that something I needed to point my heart back to what Christmas is all about anyway. I’ve been surprised and thankful at how “simple” this Christmas year has felt. Our good friend said the other day something like this, “You know, Christmas is really simple if you make it that way.” While the culture hurry’s itself about, I sit here amidst a warm candle glow, a lit tree, a warm cup of coffee and an open heart, and I’m reminded that my God never fails me. And this morning He has opened my eyes once again to the beautiful meaning in the birth of the Christ-child.
I knew early on when I met my best friend and the man I would marry that my life probably wouldn’t be easy. Knowing we would pursue full-time ministry as a career and lifestyle meant nothing short of being willing to sacrifice a comfortable income, move wherever the Lord called us, and be open to things I had never imagined for myself. There seems to be something in every little girl that pictures themselves married to a doctor (*ahem* although many of my dear friends are married to them and I’ve learned it’s not so glamorous all the time afterall :), living in some giant cinderella castle where life whisks you away and you smile all the time and are never touched by trouble or heartache.
You don’t have to look very hard at Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus to see that this family knew something about walking the hard road. What has stood out to me most from the Christmas story this year is the fact that their lives took many “detours.” Their lives were hard, uncomfortable….maybe not exactly what they had expected or pictured the way life would be for them. Sounds strangely similar to me. But if you would ask me, I wouldn’t change a thing and that also means that I can be free to continue to release my grip to the Lord trusting that the next steps are His will. Sometimes God’s will is hard. Like Mary and Joseph, I hope I can be willing and ready to go where I’m sent, and accept what I’m given and fully embrace God’s gracious, beautiful, plan for my life no matter how difficult it may seem.
A Christmas Visual
We spent part of the afternoon today helping to point our little one’s hearts to worship through watching some parts of The Nativity put to music and listening to/watching some Christmas hymns. It’s neat to watch them start to understand more and more of the meaning of Christmas and to picture that Jesus came as a real baby in a real world for real sinners like you and me…
A very special date
The day after Thanksgiving myself, Ashtyn and Jada had a very special date. We got all dolled up and excited to eat dinner and go see the Nutcracker ballet with my dad – a 25 year old tradition he and I have shared together ever since I was 4 years old. I can’t explain the joy it is to now bring my own girls along on a day that I have many wonderful memories of. I’m so thankful for a dad, and “papa” who loves Jesus and loves his girls!!
the girls were so excited! they ran out the door to greet papa
all dolled up and our little friend Samantha (my childhood doll) came along too in her Christmas dress
papa loves to give gifts to his dates (and they never refuse his gift-giving)
explaining the advent calendar to the girls
the girls also made papa a gift!
getting ready to leave
We enjoyed a yummy dinner and dessert at the Bollweevil and another ballet filled with wonder for the girls…this year was Jada’s very first time going. To say she loved it, was an understatement! Ashtyn began going when she was this very same age and the dress that Jada is wearing is the dress Ashtyn wore at her very first Nutcracker. Until next year…(and yes the girls are already asking if it’s time to see it again, oh boy this is going to be a long year!)
Ashtyn Grace
Yesterday we rejoiced over how God’s hand has been on our baby girl’s life and tried to pick our jaws up off the floor over the fact that she turned 6! We are so thankful for this little lady God has graced us with…
The morning of her birthday, her Mimi and Papa stopped by and brought her bagels and cream cheese and surprised her (and her sister) with this(that daddy built the night before until 2:30am!)…
She went to her Nana’s house the night of her birthday and was surprised with a wealth of balloons, cupcakes and a “twin doll” made to look just like her!
Party Animals
It seems as though we’ve been partying these days…at the end of October we celebrated our little Ellie’s first birthday with an animal themed party (we had a triple party with 2 of Ellie’s buddies who also turned 1 at the same time!) and this past week we threw a “Monkey Joe’s Rainbow party” for Ashtyn, Jada and their friend Maria who all share birthdays within days of eachother. We hauled everyone off to a local indoor jumping-dreamland with slides and jumpies galore. The kids had a blast and my friend and I had so much fun making rainbow cake and creating the girls birthday outfits together!Here are some snippets of both parties over the last weeks…
Elliana Joy
1 year old
Ashtyn Grace & Jada Love
6 and 4 years
December 20, 2009
December 20, 2009
December 18, 2009