A Favorite Place

There is a magical place that will whisk you away to anyplace you can imagine and it is one of my favorite places to visit. Where is this place you might ask? The local library! A place full of worlds to visit, countries to explore, interests to discover, talents to develop, and more discoveries than my mind can comprehend. I love to wander the aisle and browse the shelves discovering new treasures. After my brief visit there over the weekend I came home with a pile of magazines for the kids, The Children's Homer, DSLR Photography Books for me, On The Banks of Plum Creek audio cd's for the kids...just to name a few. In the last few weeks I've read The House at Sugar Beach, The Relaxed Homeschooler and many a picture book to the kids. Whatever your interest I urge you to visit the library and see what treasures you can discover. Happy Reading!

Cookies for my Cookie Monsters

What child and mother doesn't love cookies? Baking cookies is a favorite around our house, measuring, stiring, eating the dough, shaping the cookies, baking, eating...MMMMM. Here is one of our favorite recipes.

Coconut Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

1 cup of coconut oil(butter can be used, but coconut oil is yummier and healthier)
1 cup of raw sugar
1/2 cup of honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour or fresh ground white wheat
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of quick cooking oats
1-1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans
1/2-1 cup of shredded coconut(I use unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease the baking sheets. In a large bowl cream the coconut oil with the sweeteners until light and fluffy, then add eggs one at a time, beating well. Stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. Add slowly to the creamed mixture, then stir in by hand oats, nuts and coconut. Shape into small balls and bake for 10-12 minutes.

If you are using fresh ground flour you may need more of the nuts and coconuts and if you used all purpose flour you may need a bit more of the liquid sweetner. Just have fun experimenting. This recipe always turns out well no matter what adaption I make to it.



Enjoy!

Coffee Cake Memoir

Sometime back my husband brought me home a wonderful coffee cake from The Honey Baked Ham Company. This coffee cake was of a pound cake consistency and texture with a cinnamon nut crumb topping and a marbling within. Very Yummy! Ever since that first cake he brought home I purposed to attempt to recreate it and the bleak, dreary day yesterday provided the opportunity I had been waiting for. The results were, in the words of my nine year old..."this is the best cake ever" I take that as success. I must say yesterday's cake was even better this morning after the crust had hardened slightly and the flavors had increased in intensity.

Here is what I did. I found a pound cake recipe(my favorite is the sour cream pound cake in an old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)since my favorite recipe was not at my disposal I used Grandmother Paul's Sourcream Pound Cake from Paula Deen's Lady and Son's Cookbook. I followed the recipe exactly, but next time I will cut it by 1/3 since it ended up being a bit more batter than needed for the bundt pan I used.

Here is the recipe as written by Paula Deen

2 stick of butter
3 c. sugar
1 c. Sour Cream
3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda(I guess I did make a change here, I added to this 1 tsp of baking powder for more rise)
6 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together; add sour cream. Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla.

Here is my coffee cake addition to the recipe. I didn't measure, but I'll try and give some estimated measurements here.
Place the following in a bowl:

1-2 cups of chopped nuts(I used pecans)
1/2-1 cup of brown or raw sugar
2-4T of cinnamon
4T of butter
Blend together with hands.

Place half of mixture in the bottom of a greased and floured bundt pan, pour in half of cake batter and sprinkle the other half of crumb mixture in, cut through with a butter knife and top with remaining batter. Bake at 325 for an hour and then sit back and enjoy or save for the next morning to have with a cup of coffee.


Enjoy!

Bail Me Out

Today I found myself in over my head with laundry, toys, laundry, dishes, laundry, sweeping, laundry and did I mention laundry? Days like this is when I miss being in my midwest home where a very dear friend would come bail me out. Bailing out is what I needed! When I get to this point I feel so overwhelmed that it is difficult to begin, but since there was no dear friend to bail me out I pressed on. Tonight things don't look so bleak, the laundry is well underway, most of the toys are put away, the floor is swept and tomorrow looks promising. Praise God for his grace and mercy that is sufficient for the tasks He has given me.

In Him,

Living Free

WANTED

One sweeper
One bus boy/girl
One dishwasher
One laundry maid
One cook

Oh, wait! I forgot I have one of each of those, they are just MIA! I also have one chief mess maker who is in action and is the reason for needing all of the above :D

Reaping and Sowing

Harvest season is upon us and what better time to reflect upon reaping and sowing, although that isn't exactly what came to my mind this morning as I opened my Bible. God had a different lesson for me this morning than the lesson I thought I needed. I was turning in my Bible to Galatians to read through the fruit of the spirit, some fruit that seems to be lacking in my life and my family, when an underlined verse in 2 Corinthians 9 caught my eye.

"But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

I have heard many a sermon on this verse used to encourage giving and tithing, but this morning the Spirit impressed on my heart how this verse applies to me as a mother and the harvest I am reaping in my home.

As an overwhelmed, frequently exhausted mother my reaping and sowing techniques have been more of a survival mode, haphazardly tossing the seeds and yanking weeds for survival, but not planning, preparing the soil and seed and faithfully nurturing and tending those seeds until they become a bountiful harvest. It should be no wonder that I am reaping weeds of clutter in my home, suffocating piles of laundry, nagging, bitterness, unkindness, clamor, anger, wrath. The few seeds of joy, kindness, love, gentleness, meekness that have been planted have been choked by the weeds and thistles of this world.

It is time for me to stop being a puny mother and begin to sow bountifully the fruit of God. This goes right along with verse 7, "Every man according as he has purposed in his heart, so let him give..." God has told me to choose whether I want to sow sparingly or bountifully and then to give of my time and strength according to my choice. This sounds very daunting to an already tired and overwhelmed mom who is frequently incapacitated by fear and the seemingly unending and unrewarding tasks at hand, but verse 8 tells me how I will do it. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" God is sufficient and will make me to abound in every good work that He has called me to. That is energizing inspiration for a weary mom!

God, my loving and gracious Father, forgive me for sparingly sowing into my family and for attempting to bring forth a harvest of my own strength. I purpose to sow bountifully into my family with all the resources you have given me. I will depend upon you for the sufficiency to abound in these good works that you have called me to. Set my eyes on you and let me persevere, forgetting what is behind and pushing on to what is ahead. Thank you for you grace and forgiveness.

Where God Wants Me

Yesterday's sermon was a great reminder of the importance of being content in the location God has planted me in and the role He has called me to. Satan desires to distract us from God's purpose and plan for our lives and one of the ways he does that is by sowing discontentment in our lives. When I'm focused on what I don't have or can't do, I miss all the daily opportunities God gives me for ministering and sharing His love. When I'm distracted by the daily busyness of life I become self absorbed and miss the hurting all around me. There are so many things that wrestle for my attention each day and the urgent crowds out those things of eternal value. Really in eternity will it matter if my laundry is not folded, the dishes are sitting in the sink, the floor is sticky, and the bathroom shows traces of boys using it? Seeking God with all my heart and leading others to Him will last for eternity. Hugging a hurting neighbor and listening to her for hours, will make a difference to her now and possibly eternity. My hearts desire is to seek God for His guidance every hour and moment of the day, so that I respond with His love to those He brings in my path each day. People need the Lord, will I bring them to Him, even in the daily choices I make?