Books

I am in a season of life where my time doesn't always lend itself to reading.  I really do enjoy reading, but sometimes I feel like I have times where I go forever without reading a book.  The past few months have been that way, but I am picking up more books now that Sam is a bit older and sleeping through the night.  I just finished a book called The Supper of the Lamb (open up a new tab RIGHT NOW and order that book from amazon)!  It is so great!  So now I hit a point where I look through my wishlist and wonder what book I should read next.  It hit me that there are so many books on our shelves that I have not read, so here is my goal- to read every book we own before I buy a new one!  This does not count reading books I have already read over again.  So I will start from the beginning and just work my way through the alphabetical order of authors until every book (with exceptions of some of Andy's obscure reads) has been read by me at some point!  There is no time frame I am shooting for, just reading at my leisure.  

To begin- The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.  If you are a member at Living Faith Baptist Church, you are probably thinking to yourself "Didn't we just read that in small group?"  And the answer is YES, yes we did!  That was when I had Sam and did not read a SINGLE PAGE.  I had Andy give me a synopsis on our way there and listened to David share his teaching. (Hi Kelly- don't tell David! ;)  )  So I am going to read it!  I am a horrible writer, but I think I am going to possibly revive my blog with snippets and reviews as I go along!  That will help me with reading comprehension, learning from my journey through spiritual growth books, and maybe give you a suggestion on a good book!  

Anywho- thanks for tagging along.  And since every blog post needs a picture, I might add some of those in too!

This kid will be 5 months old tomorrow!

I never want to forget... say what?

I love the little words that toddlers say and I never want to forget the way Ella said different things. For now I will blog them so I have one location to find them when needed!

Cookie = keeko (she has already corrected this one)

Raisins = ray rays

Strawberries = bachies

Thomas = pot-us (she has already corrected this one) When she used to say it, I would say "Ella, its T-T-T-T-T Thomas" and she would say "T-T-T-T-T Pot-us".  It was funny!

We used to watch dinosaur train every now and then.  One day when she was in the nursery at church, our friend Kelly and her son were playing dinosaurs with Ella and her buddy Haddon.  They asked the kids what a Dinosaur says- Haddon let out a mighty "roooaaaar" and Ella in her dainty voice says "choo chooooooo".  And that would be her answer for the longest time, but she says "roar" now.

The other day I was feeding Sam and not looking at Ella.  She kept saying to me "hey big girl, hey big girl".  I thought to myself "Where did she learn to say that? Is that what she is really saying?"  I looked up and she is walking towards me with a hamburger from her kitchen handing it out to me.  I died laughing inside and said "oh! hamburger.... whew".

George (for Curious George) = Jew. "Want to watch Jew, want to watch Jew" (She says George now)

Hodges Farm

The fun thing about this time of year is that we have a working farm 5 minutes from our house!  Hodges Farm is located on Rocky River Rd and during the month of October, they are open every day for pumpkin picking, bouncy houses, and on the weekends lots of vendors come and sell their goods too!  After traveling for 3 weekends in a row, It was nice to just have a weekend here with nothing to do- so we went to the pumpkin patch to enjoy the outdoors!  If you are looking for a pumpkin patch in the area, check this place out!  We also bought some local honey, said hello to some farm animals, and took a hay ride around the property!  I really tried to be selective and not overload with pictures!

Ella helping daddy wipe off the pumpkin!

The pumpkin Ella picked out!

The bouncy house- her favorite part!

Seriously taking in the scenery!  She did love the hayride!

Spring

2010

March 30, 2010- first day of my last cycle.

May 18, 2010- a very surprised positive pregnancy test!

June 10, 2010- OB confirmation- 7 weeks exactly.  Baby due January 27th, 2011!

2011


March 27, 2011- Ella is here and 2 months old!

2012

March 30, 2012- first day of my last cycle.

May 21, 2012- a very surprised positive pregnancy test!

May 24, 2012- annual OB exam turns into an OB confirmation- 7 weeks and one day.  Baby due January 9, 2013!


Crazy how similar it is 2 years later!  Praising the Lord for His grace and blessings!

Lent 2012 Reading: Directions for Dealing with Sin

In Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins, he gives some direction for dealing with the sins we tolerate.  I thought it was helpful in thinking through how I can "put to death the deeds of the body".


1. We should always address our sin in the context of the gospel.


2. We must learn to rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.


3. While depending on the Holy Spirit, we must at the same time recognize our responsibility to diligently pursue all practical steps for dealing with our sins.


4. Identify specific areas of subtle sins.


5. We should bring to bear specific applicable Scriptures to each of our subtle sins.


6. Cultivate the practice of prayer over the sins we tolerate.


7. We should involve one or more other believers with us in our struggles against our subtle sins.






For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13


Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Colossians 3:5

Lemon Raspberry and Whipped Icing

This weekend I had the pleasure of working another wedding with my friend Kelly.  The last wedding cake I did, I was 12 weeks pregnant and wanted to die by the time it was all over.  I had decided at that point I would no longer do weddings and I wasn't planning to put myself out there as a baker.  I would keep the cake scene closer to home and make cakes for friends and family.  A family in our church had a daughter getting married at a local park and needed something small and simple.  She had some fun requests (some cakes and icing I had never done before) so I thought it would be fun to broaden my horizons and come out of the wood work for another wedding!  The bride and groom loved whipped icing so I took to Pinterest and found this great whipped icing recipe that I used on all of the cakes!  She also wanted a marble cake- that was fun and pretty to cut into!  One of the cakes was Lemon Raspberry flavored and I used this Martha Stewart recipe that my friend Betsy introduced me to!  I made lemon curd for the first time and it was fun- and good!  Here are some pictures of the simple, yet sweet cake!  Photos were taken by the bride's sister who is a photographer in the Lynchburg, VA area.  Check out her work here.

Since all the cake looked the same and I wasn't there to cut and inform, I made the little signs to tell what was inside all that buttery whipped icing.  They were to look like tiered cakes- can you tell?  My friend Kelly Keller did the flowers for the wedding and added her little touch to the top of the cake!  We decided that next time we do this, I will take my KitchenAid to her house and we will have a cake/flower making party!  I have a baby shower cake and some bridal shower cake pops coming up in the next two weeks!  Be on the lookout!

Lent 2012 Reading: The Malignancy of Sin

"On the contrary, as God is holy, all holy, only holy, altogether holy, and always holy, so sin is sinful, all sinful, only sinful, altogether sinful, and always sinful.  It does not matter whether our sin is scandalous or respectable, all our sin is sinful, only sinful, and altogether sinful.  Whether it is large or small in our eyes, it is heinous in the eyes of God.  God forgives our sin because of the shed blood of Christ, but He does not tolerate it.  Instead, every sin that we commit, even the subtle sin that we don't even think about, was laid upon Christ as he bore the curse of God in our place.  And herein lies chiefly the malignancy of sin.  Christ suffered because of our sin."


Quote by Puritan Ralph Venning in his book The Sinfulness of Sin taken from Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate