Shame on me...

I have to admit I'm feeling a little ashamed of myself this morning. Many of you know that I love to bake. I could not care less about cooking or cleaning. But baking is one of my favorite things to do. I have several desserts that I'm "famous" for. There is my peanut butter brownie trifle; my spice cake with caramel icing, my Hershey's chocolate syrup cake, peanut butter cookies, my cinnamon chocolate cake, my Reese's peanut butter fudge, my chocolate candy, my no bake oatmeal cookies, my orange cream iced cookies, etc. I love baking homemade goodies. At any given holiday, my family can count on no less than 3 scrumptious desserts to choose from. I try to make everybodies favorite. Every event that I attend where you take a dish, I get requests for specific desserts.

Well, tomorrow is my 31 Party and I get to bake the dessert of my choice. Decisions, decisions. What shall I choose? Should I do the cinnamon chocolate cake with the warm chocolate fudge frosting that you pour on while it is hot? Should I do the peanut butter cookies where you chill the dough for 3 hours and lovingly roll each individual cookies before imprinting it with a fork? Should I make a mixture of items so my guests can have a choice.

Here is where my shame comes in. I have been debating this for 3 days and am at the point where I was thinking I would go to Krogers and just buy a tray of their sorted slices of pudding pound cake. Horror of horrors. What am I thinking? I cannot serve my guests "store bought" desserts. My reputation would be ruined. Guess I'm going to go hit my recipe books until inspiration hits.

A great new find that excites me

It doesn't take much to please me or make me happy. Every once in awhile, I'll find that particular item that just tickles my fancy and I get so excited about the product that I just have to share. I'm hosting my first 31 Party Saturday and I've been going through their book making my wish list. Then I saw it. That one item that called my name. It is a large 12 x 9 zipper pouch that can be used for many things. I fell in love with it. I can see many uses for it, but I wanted it because it will hold standard letter size paper and folders. This will be perfect for those Sunday's I have Children's Church and can tote my papers and handouts for the kids. I have to decide on what pattern and what I want to have it monogrammed with . But I am so excited about this bag.

It comes in a smaller 7 x 6 size as well, which I like, too. I'm just going back and forth between these two patterns as to which design to go with on the bigger pouch. I'd welcome your opinions. I love the vidid colors in the brown one, but the practicality of black and white draws my eye as well. Help!!

Are we there yet?

As children, we are always in a hurry to get somewhere. Our little minds cannot conceive time or distance. The most asked question in our youth is "Are we there yet?"

As we grow up, things don't change all that much. But now, instead of a whiny "are we there yet" we focus on how soon events are coming up on us. So now we are always "Do you realize it's only so many days until....".

This is the time of year when that phrase is muttered the most. So I wanted to take a moment to look at some of the upcoming events that we are counting down to in my family.

-Do you realize it's only...about 26 days until my new grandson will be here. Jamie has stayed on her bed rest and Baby Boy has stayed where he's supposed to be. He is showing signs of great health and all his vitals are really good. We still don't know a name, but they are narrowing it down.

-Do you realize it's only...46 days until Halloween or as I like to call it Trick-or-Treat. The kids are looking forward to trunk-or-treat at church. Fall is in the air and I saw some awesome pumpkins yesterday at Food City. I need to get my decorations out. I'm running behind this year.

-Do you realize it's only...71 days until Thanksgiving. Turkey and all the trimmings. The Macy's Day parade. Pouring over the sales ads with the girls after dinner. This year, the girls can tell me about the ads because I'll be holding Baby Boy and loving on him. It will be his first visit to Mamaw's.

-Do you realize it's only...72 days until Black Friday. Yes, that's right. I am one of those crazy up at 5:00 shoppers. I do get some really good bargains. It's not for everybody though. Some would rather shop online, but there is just something about the thrill of being out that early on a mission. And I have met some very fascinating people standing in lines. It's amazing what you can find to talk about with complete strangers.

-Do you realize it's only...89 days until my birthday. I am going to be 54 and proud of it. Most days I still feel 34 thanks to my grandbabies. But sometimes, being with the grandbabies and acting 34 leads me to feel more like 94 the next day.

-Do you realize it's only...101 days until Christmas. This is my favorite time of year. The time of our dear Saviour's birth. A time for celebrating. A time for Christmas programs and choir rehearsals. A time of sharing and caring for each other. A time for family and friends.

What does a miracle look like?

A miracle is when you receive a call while you are on vacation that says "Your granddaughter is coming two months early."

A miracle is that precious little girl being born healthy at only 1 lb and 14 ounces and only 13" long. But they had to keep her so she could be monitored while her lungs finished developing and she put on some weight.

A miracle is when Mommy gets to lift that precious bundle from the bed, to touch her, to feel her.

A miracle is that first feeding in Mommy's arms. Snugly and soft, like holding a tiny little baby doll.

A miracle is Daddy getting to hold his little bundle of joy. His daughter, his princess. The one who took his heart and will never give it back.

A miracle is Papaw getting to hold his first granddaughter just a week or so after she came home from the hospital. Just 2 months old and only 4 1/2 pounds. But she had Papaw wrapped around her little finger.

A miracle is watching that little tiny baby grow into a precious energetic little princess.

A miracle is that princess growing and having a head of long beautiful hair that weighs more than she does.

A miracle is watching that dainty little princess graduating from kindergarten. She's about 1/2 the size as the rest of her class. They call her the back pack with hair.

So what does a miracle look like? Like this. My granddaughter, Alexis Caroline. Happy birthday princess. You are the light of Mamaw's life and I love you. Thank you God for our little miracle.

A great message....

Our pastor preached a wonderful message last nigh from I Corinthians. I wanted to share something with you from his message.  He was talking about Faith - Hope - Love. He simplified these three very important topics by saying this:

Faith is believing.
Hope is anticipating.
Love is accepting.

I have a very analytical mathematical mind that is always looking at things from every angle to see if any patterns emerge. Now, to some what I'm about to say may sound a little strange but bear with me.

As we look at these three words that are the basics for all Christians, look closely at what the preacher described them as:

Believing
Anticipating
Accepting

When I saw this, my first thought was "Oh, it's an acrostic for the word Baa." Then my next thought, was "Like a sheep." Which led me to think about Jesus is our shepherd and we are his sheep...obedient and following wherever he leads us.

Isn't it amazing that EVERYTHING God does or shows us has an underlying meaning that just re-enforces His word?

And the winner is....

Congratulations to Rachel Ashworth. She is the winner of our book gift package. Thank you for being a faithful follower. And thank you to everyone who entered. I wanted to place the random generator on here to show how the winner is chosen, but for some reason the link wouldn't work. But, again, thanks to everyone who entered.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. - Psalm 122:1

In the U.S. Constitution, the first ten amendments make up our Bill of Rights. The first amendment, in the very first words says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; .....". This very clearly gives us the right to worship in our own way in our own manner.

We, the people, believe that we are one nation, under God. In 2004, Fox News did a poll in America. The results showed that 92% of American's believe in God, yet only 85% believed in heaven and 82% believe God still performs miracles. In 2007, Pew Forum did a survey of 35,000 people. There results showed 78.4% of the people surveyed were practicing Christians, 4.7% practiced in other faiths, and 16.9% did not believe in anything. In 2009, they did an extensive national survey using U.S. Census information and determined that 79% of Americans are Christians.

This leads me to two questions: First, if 79% of our country are Christians, why do we have so many pews empty in our churches. We complain about it being so hard to find parking when we go to ball games, car shows, or the mall. Wouldn't it be wonderful to say "I have to leave early to go to church so I can find a parking place."

My second question is, if 79% of Americans are Christians and the first words of our Bill of Rights gives us the freedom to exercise that religion, why are we not allowed to pray in schools? Why is there such an uproar to remove In God We Trust from our government...the very government that gives us the right TO trust in God? Why can we not display our Ten Commandments in public, why must we be "politically correct" in everything we say and do?
If the majority of the United States of America are Christians, why are we made to feel like a minority with no rights?

I for one will continue to exercise my rights. I will pray when and where I want to pray. I will put my trust in God. I will attend the church of my choice and I WILL BE glad when they say unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.