Merry Christmas Cookie Plate

So I decided to do the Peppermint plate from Pinterest. Super easy! Arrange peppermints  on wax paper.  Cook for 4 minutes on 350°...  tada! A beautiful edible cookie plate. 

How to cook a Pumpkin

Grab that sucker...

Remove the stem

Muscle up and cut it in half...

Remove all that stringy stuff and the seeds

Fair warning, it smells weird and it's kinda slimy. Hey we are all big girls here...

Place face down in a casserole dish

Bake at 350° for about and hour or till soft...

Tada!

Are you willing to wait for your Promise Land?

Many times I think about the children of Israel wandering through the desert. We think of how they were delivered and how God gave then visual signs of His presence. We think "how silly where they to keep doubting."  I don't know about you but I find myself many times doing the very same thing. Wishing I was back in "Egypt" where I "thought" I was happy.
God just looks on shaking His head and thinking, she wants the crumbs when I have the promised land. A land flowing with milk and honey. He has our promised land. Do we dare to venture far enough to reach it, to grasp what He had for us? Will we last the trying and the testing that it takes to reach this land? Or will we give up or settle for what we thought would make us happy or not be willing to go through what it takes to get there? Jeremiah 29:11, God has promised good things. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to claim this promise and hold onto that when the storms come.  I definitely don't always feel this confident but I'm working on that. Because I don't want to quit or settle. I want to finish and to take hold of my promise land.

It's the simple things

So life is teaching me more and more that it's the every day things that can make my day. The simple things... also the frustrating and everyday seemingly monotonous things that make life what it is. This is life... how will we do it? How will we see it? Another opportunity to talk to that hurting person or a inconvenience in my day? Life is truly "what you make it" . It can be fabulous or boring. It's all up to you. Make it fabulous. Everyday...

Strangely Dim

 

 I took these beautiful pics on my recent vacation to Oahu, Hawaii...

At the time I remember seeing these beautiful spots and feeling such peace.

Now they are a reminder of the uncertainty of life, Sometimes your life is peaceful.

The next moment you feel like the tumultuous water about to be dashed on the rocks.

Then, you remember the one who made those rocks, and water. 

He who "Holds you up with His right hand..." Never will let you crash on those rocks who is there like the faithful lighthouse. "Through the strom and through the night"... 

 "When I fix my eyes on all you are and every doubt I feel in my heart, grows strangely dim. All my worries fade and fall to the ground, cause when I seek your face and don't look around, any place I'm in grows strangely dim... "I don't know, I don't know what tomorrow may hold... I don't know, I don't know but your holding it all...."

Order Up!!

Sooo here is my first order from my cupcake business!! 

Chocolate Sour Cream and Strawberry Cream-cheese!!

They were fun to make and delicious. Thank you Jeanette for my very first order. 

Life's too short not to eat chocolate!!

What are these puppies?! Peanut Butter High Hats!! My first venture in my baking business. 

I plan to start small, take things to my orthodontist and sewing shop...

My dear cousin Diana in Alabama sent me cupcake pans and a cupcake book which I was able to use today.  Very exciting and encouraging!!

My family called, I love them lol and they needed me so I was kinda rushed and I think I would get a C in presentation! They are quite delicious but I will leave that to your imagination!!

 

This cupcake tree my sister gave me for Christmas!!

Pumpkin Cookies - time ta think...

Being alone isn't always fun. Being afraid of being alone is a human condition I believe. If we would stop long enough to face it and embrace it, not being pleasant but being able to learn so much from it. Job 6:24  I truly believe that you come to know just how strong you are from being alone, and also that there are things that you cannot learn unless you are. At least for a while...
Who we truly are, what we believe, what is truly important, and where we are going can all be more explored from silence. Silence is a teacher... So what do I do? Think, pray, be thankful, and cook!
Getting out my running shoes tomorrow!

P.S. That Rachael Ray non-stick pan is amazing! The cookies just slip right off :)

Friends are like...

So I'm wondering if there is like a book of "blog rules"! lol Are you not allowed to do more than one post every once in a while?! Oh well, I just want to share so here it is...

Friends are wonderful things. They are like warm fuzzy socks in the dead of winter, a welcome glass of water in summer and a fresh flower in spring.

Good ones are few and the best take looking for and aren't always in the direction  you may be looking. That is one thing I have learned. Friends can come at the most unexpected times and places. The best will love you no matter what and when you least deserve it. They come over to your homestead in the cold to bring you flowers, because you are sick. Why?  Because that's what friends do... Proverbs 18:24

Friends do come in go in life, but I am glad I have a friend that will never leave me or forsake me. He is with me always, so in fact I am never alone.  Deuteronomy 31:8

Pictures from our kitchen...

 I love this little nook that my sis found at a rummage sale.... Perfect

 

 I'm totally obsessed with pie and cupcake pans...

The red colander is Martha Stewart. Can't say I'm a big fan of hers but I love her dishes!

These wooden salad scoops are from Africa...

 

I absolutely love our kitchen!

 

My Kitchen Aid is my pride and joy...

 

 The sign was made by my friend Natali...

Martha's Pots mmmm...

 

 Best whisk ever...

 Thanks to my friend Heather for the lovely magnets!