Let your love shine.

When we were in the market to buy a house here we contacted a couple that work as a team. They turned out to be trustworthy people to do business with and completely lovely people to get to know. After going through a few houses together we discovered that we shared something; we all love Scottish Terriers. They had two, Mac and Molly. We often talked about Mac, Molly and Baxter. A while back I got the most heart breaking email from them. They lost their 12 year old Scottie Molly to stomach cancer. I was so sad; that email really broke my heart. Obviously, there was nothing I could do so I pulled out some paper, a stamp, some ribbon my Cuttlebug, new Nestabilities and ink, and made a card. Somehow that always makes me feel as if I have contributed something positive in the life of those grieving.

This is not the first sympathy card I have sent for a Scottie.  In February 2007 a wonderful little Scottie boy named Duncan passed away. He belonged to two of our friends in Shawnee, Kansas. this is the card I made for them.

I realize that I am talking about fur family and not traditional family, but the loss of someone we love is painful. The absence of a loved one leaves a really big hole in our heart, one that can never be replaced because everyone, including our furry friends, are unique, irreplaceable. I could go into a little talk here about how God meets all of our needs, and He does. I could talk about how He mends the broken hearted, and He does. I could talk about putting our trust in Him, and better advice is not to be found. I could mention how much He loves us and His love and mercy endure forever, and He does and it does. But what I want to say right here, right now is don't take those you love for granted. Show them you love them and make sure they know it. Don't squabble over little things that when they become strife can open the door for all sorts of nastiness and evil. Give love freely and unconditionally. Never let those you love have to wonder whether you love them or not, give them the gift of confidence in your unconditional agape love (the kind of love God has) for them.

Cookies, cards, family and friendship.

Thank you, Kim. You are a good friend and a generous one!

Those items in the picture above are gifts my dear friend Kim gave me for my birthday in September 2009. I feel awful because I am just now posting them. They are all from her heart. The Nestabilities are the only ones I own and I love them. The pad comes with them and the stamps are so beautiful, she knew I would love those. I have never seen All Creatures Great and; Small, until she sent the DVD's to me. What wonderful tales of veterinary medicine and animals in York! The card. Kim has made some very amazing cards over the years. This is my favorite. I is the most beautiful card. My favorite colors, vellum and baking too! I have it displayed in my spare bedroom with other cards she has sent me. Thank you, Kim! 


I believe the last time I made a card was July, 2009. That is SO sad! I am redefining my life right now; I am taking it back and making it what I want it to be. Card making may not be the defining point of my life, nor sadly enough it may not be a huge part of my life, but it is most definitely one of the pleasures of life as far as I am concerned. It is therapy at its finest as it provides stress relief, an outlet to create and time of quite and meditation ~ even if I have a DVD popped in. I made a this card that same weekend we tried this church. That is huge. Sad, yeah I know. It was the first card I have made I think since Kim sent me the Nestabilities, I used one of them. They are wonderful! How easy to make that circle now. Did I say, Thank you, Kim??? My daughter had a VERY trying week that week, and that was the easy part. My son~in~law and grandson experienced big time yuck that week. Card and cookie time! It is so hard as a Nana to be so far away when nastiness strikes. So, what does a Nana do? Pray. Pray and pray. Then when you have done that she stands firm on the promises she just prayed over those that need it and then she makes a card, bakes some cookies, and heads to the post office.

Loads of Love!!!!!

And how better to say that than with pink M & M's?

     I can not end this post without saying how happy I am for the Green Bay Packers win this year at SuperBowl XVL! Any of you that followed my blog back when I was faithful to write in it know they are my team.  My husband and one son~in~law are Chicago Bears fans. Another son~in~law is a Washington Redskins fan, and one of my grandson’s is a Minnesota Vikings fan. Christmas this year brought plenty of evidence of that. NFL.com made out quite well with my family this year as you will see in the picture below, and that was not all of it. The amazing thing was that as devoted as we are to our respective teams; the Christmas Spirit was also abundantly evident in how we all gave each other that which meant something to the recipient even though it was a little against our own preferred favorite team. Green Bay did win the SuperBowl and I was proud of them and delighted, but not anywhere as much as I was this past Christmas of my family, when giving from the heart is always more of a win! The blessed life.

Christmas Spirit!

Just a word?

I just love seeing these colors when I drive up to my house and pull in. I love Autumn!!

Since my last post was in September and titled Summer is over..., and this is November, clearly I could call this post Autumn is here... if only it were the same year. It is though not a little over a month later, but a a little over a year later. I enjoy writing and sharing things, and I have been reading some of the blogs I enjoy. This last year has been quite a growing time for me. With growth there is usually stretching and often some pain. Let me just say, I have grown a LOT this last year. I would start to blog and become overwhelmed. There was so much I wanted to say and share. Too much I suppose. I imagine some of what I have learned will start to come out over time here on my blog. I do want to share with you some wonderful, life changing things I have been discovering. I also have a few things to share that do not come with such energy, just simple good things from the year.

In the mean time, and for quite some time, there is something that has really made me quite uneasy. Truth be known, it has honestly grieved me at times. That grieved feeling just occurred as I just encountered this particular issue again. I decided it was time to write about it. Writing seems to sort it all out for me. I have been writing this year, just not blogging. While writing what follows, I decided it was time to and that I was ready to get back to blogging. I don’t typically post a rant from a soap box, and I do wonder if it is really the way I should step back in to the blogosphere. This entry on my blog is a bit of a rant and it is how I am getting back into this world of blogs that I do enjoy.

Here goes.

The word “sweet” is used as a verbal response to everything from a job well done to kids succeeding at some mischievous deed. The latter concerns me. The word that I feel is so vastly and erroneously, if not simply ignorantly used is “awesome”. The way this word is so cavalierly thrown around honestly disheartens; no it actually grieves me. We have “dumbed down” our society in so many ways and lowered the standard for so many things once held dear. Language and good communication have an important role in achieving and maintaining a good quality of life. I suppose I could roll off into a tangent here about texting, IMing and other social medias where loose abbreviations, flat out misspelled words and little if any grammar or punctuation is used. What I really want to comment on here however is the way “awesome” is abused. The word “misuse” connotes simply using something wrongly where no harm is present. Abuse denotes using something so wrongly that harm is brought to bear. The correct word here is, abuse.

awesome:

c.1600, "profoundly reverential,"

Original meaning in 1600’s according to the Online Etymology Dictionary Douglas Harper, Historian.

I understand that some of the events God caused were and are awesome. Since an offshoot definition of awesome is: to be characterized by awe, and awe inspiring, it is still connected to who God is . The root of those things is the things God created or did, and He is the only One that could create or do them. So basically, they still go back to the original meaning, “profoundly reverential”.

c.1670’s from awe + some. Meaning"inspiring awe”

Online Etymology Dictionary Douglas Harper, Historian.

The Lord replied, “Listen, I am making a covenant with you in the presence of all your people. I will perform miracles that have never been performed anywhere in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people around you will see the power of the Lord—the awesome power I will display for you. Exodus 34:10

By the early 1960’s this word had adapted a dumbed and watered down usage. Awesome was truly weakened and stripped of its original beautiful meaning. It became the familiar and common vernacular for something being really good, impressive or great. That is a huge step, leap down from "profoundly reverential". What is worse, typically the word “totally” is said directly before awesome. How many times have you heard, or sorry to ask, said, “That is totally awesome!”? In a current Thesaurus, under the word “spooky” the synonym “awesome” was listed. WOW! From a wonderful adjective to describe God, to a being a word to sensationalize the word spooky is so very sad.

If we diminish our language by using words that are intended for the majesty and glory of God for the works and emotions of man, then we deny ourselves the opportunity to have the incomparable and unparalleled relationship with God we were created to have. We diminish our ability to rightly give God his rightful place, or at best desensitize ourselves to equate God with being really good, impressive or great. Both are sabotaged by simple familiarity and common mediocrity. When we in any way compromise the value of our personal relationship with God and all of the promises and love therein, we put ourselves in a position to experience harm.

God’s handiwork is awesome. His authority, power and majesty are awesome. HE is awesome, and there is none like Him! Now that is awe inspiring to the degree of life changing!

The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God.He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne. Psalm 89:7

And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel , they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the Lord in the cloud. Exodus 16:10

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—

glorious in holiness,

awesome in splendor,

performing great wonders?" Exodus 15:11

There are other wonderful verses with the word awesome perfectly placed by describing our Awesome God.

Given the vastness of this word being used (abused) the way it is used, it is likely and I am aware of this, I could be standing alone on my soap box. Before he left this world and stepped into glory, at least I had one concordant soul.

C.S. Lewis once said:

“Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

Summer is over...

although here in Oklahoma, there are days that still hit the 90's, like today when the mercury easily hit the low 90's. Oklahoma, has much to offer, but I think I have come to the conclusion, I am a colder weather girl. I like and miss the snow. Anyway, technically summer is over and here is a my offering to its close. Like everything else I have no business eating, I will take this to work in the morning.


As always, click piccies to enlarge if you like.

Front

Back

The cake is dark chocolate filled with cappuccino crème and frosted with vanilla buttercream. I am thinking about calling this combination, Cappuccino Cocoa Cake.

Needless to say, this post will not be getting the Healthy Eating or Nutrition label.

Autumn is here!!! My favorite time of year!!! I will be doing something for the office to express that, soon. Stay tuned. :-)

Cake and Friendship

I don't suppose I have ever mentioned this on my blog, but I am not a social network fan. I have a Facebook page so that I can see pictures of family and keep up on their day to day goings on, as well as a couple dear friends in Europe. I however do not really like Facebook, MySpace, or ClassMates and definitely not Twitter where people shoot off streams of tweets to each other. I like a quiet uncomplicated world and see no use for the time or energy spent to throw food at each other, play Mafia Wars or Farkle, see what a persons favorite tattoo is, discover what city they should be living in, which Michael Jackson song they are, what Disney character they are most like or any of the other mindless, useless and time consuming twaddle that goes on. I have so many other things that I love to do and want to accomplish that to engage in, or even read all of that nonsense makes no sense. I have a list of books I really want to read, and the list grows. I never seem to have enough time to read my Bible like I like to, or spend time just talking with God at length... really spending quality time. I love to sew and enjoy making cards. I don't get to spend enough time out with Debra, or on the phone with Kim, in Georgia. I like the art museum, zoo and even the National Cowboy Museum, go figure. Though I try, I never seem to get my fill of those things. Not to mention painting some of the rooms in our new home. Suffice it to say, I guard my time and those social network activities, even reading others activities like those mentioned above simply have no place in my life.

Now, having said and meaning all of that I have tell you a little something. Jon enjoys the connections he has made through some of the social networking he does. Michael Hyatt, is a christian, runner, and writer, all things Jon is and does. Jon enjoys keeping up with him through Twitter. He has discovered helpful things through that connection like better note taking skills that suit his personality while in meetings, better shoes for running, an author named John Eldredge, just to name a few. Recently, Jon pressed in to connect with classmates from high school and college. He has re~connected with a few friends that he has wondered about over the years and is now enjoying contact with them. I imagine there will be a meeting of some sort before long. One of the friends he connected with is a high school classmate named, Scott. Scott has put an adult lifetime into a career that has served him well thus far. His passion however is cakes.

Allow me to digress here briefly. Remember that list of those things I enjoy doing up above? Those of you that follow this blog may have noticed that I did not mention baking desserts and making cakes to decorate. I have mulled over the idea of baking full time and stepping out of corporate America as far as punching a clock for someone else for a couple of years now. Within the last month I decided to start taking steps to do that. With pen in hand and constantly thinking about just such a venture, I am beginning to see how I can do that. Since making that decision it is amazing the things that have transpired. It is like I raised my rod (made a decision), and God parted the Red Sea and showed me how to get to the other side, and with His blessing.

Back to Jon and his rekindled friendships. In the course of conversation, Jon mentioned to Scott, my love for cakes. After a week or so, Scott and I were communicating. Since that time he has made me privy to priceless professional decorating tips, ingredient ideas, tools that he uses that he designed himself and so much more. Scott, has a cake business called, & Eat it Too! He does NOT use fondant, bar the few flowers surrounding a cake on rare occasion. He had me right there! I know it is pretty and all the craze right now, but it does not taste good, has a nearly repulsive texture to chew and is way too much work on the back and shoulders to ever be worth using. He is strictly a Buttercream man and has a great selection of flavors to choose from. I don't think they are all listed on his web site. Here is a link to that web site. I have added his business card as a link to my sidebar as well. Beyond all of this new information I am blessed to be receiving, I feel like I have made a friend with a kindred spirit.

The cake photo below is a cake he made for a wedding yesterday. The couple met in a book store, hence the tiers being books. How creative is that? He designed and decorated this cake, and those are regular cakes, no shaped pans here. Now lets take it a step further. Autumn begins this week. The cake is a spice cake with apple filling and cinnamon buttercream frosting. Books, apples, cinnamon and spice... how much more Autumn does it get?

I am so excited about my new friend and his beautiful work that I wanted to share this with all of you.

Once Upon a Time, and Happily Ever After.

I still have no use for the folly frenzy mentioned at the opening of this post, but I am so grateful to have the opportunity to have made a friend like, Scott. I am thankful for Scott, period. Take a little time and go look at his web site and its sidebar links. If you like to play with icing and cake, you will be inspired. If you just enjoy and appreciate good craftsmanship, you will be impressed. If you just like pretty things, you will be pleased. If you live in the Canton, Ohio area or within 75 miles and are in need of a cake, call him! :-)

A hit with hubby.

Can I just say right off the bat that this recipe does not qualify for my "Healthy Eating" label? If however I were to create a "Happy Hubby" label, and I probably should... yeah... okay I will, the recipe does qualify for that one.

While on the phone with my daughter Melissa, she told me about a recipe she had made the night before for her family. They really liked it. That was not a big surprise since she can cook, and she makes the kind of down home food that most everyone enjoys. I am however considered the family "foodie" the "health nut". I was raised on and taught down home cooking, ie. biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, real mashed potatoes, baked goods including bread from scratch, casseroles, homemade soups etc. You get the idea. Oh, no bars held in the fat, sugar or white flour areas. In fact, the only rule was that it had to taste good... really good, and it always did. In the midst of all of that however, my father who taught me to cook and bake, did have a bent toward fresh fruits, vegetables and meat as well as using "real" ingredients like butter, milk, the freshest eggs and cheese in town, and no mixes or dehydrated things like instant rice or potatoes, or imitations like imitation vanilla or that colored corn syrup they call pancake syrup and try to pass off as an economical alternative to real maple syrup. In the end, that bent of fresh and pure became my focus in cooking and baking. I realize most prefer the down home country style cooking, but I do more of the fresh ingredient style cooking. Jon is okay to eat that way, but he prefers Melissa's culinary creations if the truth be told. So, if I want to make something quick, easy, inexpensive and to please Jon's palate, I only need to make whatever Melissa has been preparing for her family. Melissa is a Rachael Ray fan. This is one of Rachael Ray's recipes, and I will print it here exactly as it appears on her web site.

Cheeseburger Bread

Pre-heat oven to 375°F.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 pound ground sirloin
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoons chili powder
Salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup beef stock
1 tube frozen pizza dough, defrosted
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or cornmeal
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten with
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

• Place large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the meat to the pan and cook until golden brown, 5-6 minutes.
• Add the onion and chili powder to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the onion is tender, 4-5 minutes.
• Add the mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock to the pot, bring up to a bubble and simmer until thickened, 4-5 minutes. Let cool.
• Dust your hands and lightly coat the pizza dough with flour or cornmeal before rolling it out onto a work surface.
• Roll out the dough slightly so it's approximately 11x16".
• Top the dough with the cooled meat mixture and top that with the cheese. Leave a one-inch border on each side.
• Fold all the borders in and over onto an inch of the meat mixture. Roll the dough up into a log shape forming a spiral in the middle.
• Brush the roll with egg wash and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. Transfer the roll to a baking sheet and bake until dough is evenly golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly.
• To serve, slice up the cheeseburger bread and serve with a side of ketchup for dipping. Like a cheeseburger and a pizza all rolled together!

Browned meat, onions and seasoning placed on pizza dough.


Cheese spread on seasoned meat and onions, dough folded around.


Done baking.


Jon likes his hamburgers to have mayonnaise and classic yellow mustard on them. He likes pickles every now and then, so added them. Iced tea and dinner is done! In Melissa's culinary world vegetables are always a negotiable item... emphasis on the neg in negotiable. Keeping in the tradition of enjoying Melissa's cuisine, Jon was pleased to let the pickles suffice as greens.
Me? I did sample a bite. It was what it was, and for this kind of thing (which is not my preference) it was good. This is just not my kind of thing. But Jon really enjoyed it as did Melissa's family.

I used Pillsbury's thick crust pizza dough that is in the refrigerator section of your grocery. I dissolved a bouillon cube in a cup of hot water primarily because I had no beef stock or broth on hand. Also, I will not any salt next time. We don't use much salt around here and I thought it was too salty. Most of the recipes I have tried of Rachael Ray's seem to be that way and so I guess a good rule of thumb might be to re~think the salt in any of her recipes I may consider using for our house. Overall, I recommend this one for a family dinner or I would not be sharing it here. If you try this, be sure to let me know what you and~or your family think.

Exalting Christ, Award!

Kim, this award sums up the whole of how I want to be remembered when my days this side of Glory are done. A verse that is so dear to my heart and one that I want used in reference to my life here on earth is, John 17:4.


I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. NKJV

So, to be given this award means so much to me. Thank you! Big {{{HUG}}}.

Adding beauty onto gratefulness, you have given me a wonderful place to go and visit. The women that created this Exalting Christ Blog Award at Women to Women: Sharing Jesus, have made a true place of beauty on the web and in blogosphere. I have added them to my sidebar as I will be visiting them regularly.

Here are the Rules of this award:

1. Post the blog award in a regular post on your blog with the explanation, including the original link to WTW and the rules for passing the award along
2. Name five people (more or less is fine!) to whom you want to offer this award and link to their blogs. The blogs need to obviously exalt Christ in some manner.
3. Contact the bloggers you have named to let them know they can pick up their blog award from you.
4. Invite them to permanently display the WTW blog badge and/or the award on their blogs. The badge can be obtained on the WTW site.

Drum roll... with no further ado I list my choices.


1. Angie at Sonflower. This blog began as journal of devotions. In my opinion, Angie writes with warmth, compassion, openness and most of all the love of Jesus. She exalts Him in everything she writes.

2. Barbara at Ramblings From an English Garden.
Revelation 12:11 tells us that in defeating our enemy Jesus gave us His blood, and we exalt Jesus through our testimony*. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. NLT
*testimony: Proof, evidence, witness, proclamation of personal experience. The tabernacle, which evidences God's presence, is a testimony to the covenant between Him and His people. Strong's #3142

I realize that Barbara has been given this award previously. The task at hand here is to name five blogs I believe exalt Jesus Christ. I simply can not compile such a list without mentioning Barbara's blog. Please visit her blog and while you will enjoy her beautiful photo's and blog entries, I strongly recommend you go to her Subject Archive list, scroll down to "My Story" and begin reading her amazing testimony. There are 23 entries. Don't cheat yourself, take the time and go to the oldest entry #1 Introduction, and read up until you have finished. This took me several visits to her blog, but she exalts Jesus so beautifully in these candid posts about her life~ a life given to the leading of the Holy Spirit and of making Jesus Lord... not just Savior only. I am so encouraged when I read these that I have gone back and reviewed them from time to time. Barbara's blog in its entirety does also exalt, Jesus Christ.

3. Denise at Free to be Me, has a wonderful way of taking God's Word and sharing it with the blog world in such a personal and practical way. She writes economically and always has an encouraging word.

4. Melanie at The Fruits of the Spirit, though very deep an intellectual, has a passion that comes across very personal and edifying. Her love for and exaltation of Jesus Christ is not only woven through her enjoyable blog, it is who she is and represents her blog in its entirety. One my favorite entries is just here. Incidentally, the fruit of the Spirit is the subject matter the Lord laid on my heart to write a Bible study on that I mentioned earlier. So... I like her blog name, too. :-)

5. Pam at Without Fear. Pam, about herself says in her "Profile", "Daily I'm discovering the truth that "only perfect love casts out fear." Amen Pam! Faith and fear are diametrically opposed, light and dark. Light dispels darkness and her blog exalts Jesus Christ in such a way that encourages us to not fear, but to have faith in Him... whereby which we can receive His love and not live in fear. Oh, I have never posted the evilness of fear that I have had victory over. I should as it is an enormous part of my testimony ~ the crux of it actually. Keep posting Pam, we all need to hear of God's love for us through the completed work of the cross in Christ Jesus! Just a side note here, Pam enjoys reading, making cards, healthy eating and loves her family. Kindred spirits we are, I should imagine. Sisters in Christ definitely.

Blogs are listed in alphabetical order of the author's name as I would not want to try to list them subjectively. How could you?