Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mama!!!

Favorite Song

Love Never Fails- Brandon Heath

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

Blonde Toffee Brownies

Gasp! Yes... another post. :D I got this recipe from my cousin, I have no idea where she got it. Enjoy!! :D

Blonde Toffee Brownies

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c. English toffee bits or almond brickle chips.
1 tsp vanilla

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In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in Toffee bits.
Spread evenly into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Yields 1 1/2 dozen.

Note: These are CHEWY bars. Do not be afraid when you take them out of the oven and try cutting them if they are crispy. :D

Carrot Cake

Okey-doke, here is another recipe that I made for church. I did a little funky switches in the recipes...but I think it came out all right. :D

Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake


I used the ingredient list for the cake from the first recipe (Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake) and also the cream cheese frosting but I used the preparation and baking times from the second recipe (Carrot Cake). Hope it makes sense! Enjoy!

Plantation Gingerbread

Okay, okay, I know that I've been a leeeeeeettttttlllllllleeeee bit lax on the whole posting issue... okay maybe more than a little. But we're just not going to think about that. :D Anywhos... I am posting now. Here is a recipe that I made for church Superbowl Sunday. I thought it was pretty good. Enjoy!! :D

Plantation Gingerbread

Be Still, My Soul

My hearts prayer lately...


"Be Still, My Soul"
by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?

1. Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

4. Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Lately...

Wow! It has been a while since I posted some actually writing last. Hm... I guess that's what happens when you are busy. Things have been going very well here. My Senior year seems to be flying by at an incredible speed! Softball will be here in about a month. Can you believe that?! It's hard to grasp... I know! Piano is going well. We have a recital the Sunday after next and then at the end of March we have a contest and then in June I have my Sr. recital. So many things! :D But you know even with all the seemingly chaos around me the one and only thing that remains constant is God. I know it may sound like a "duh" statement, Of COURSE He remains constant!! But these last few months even down to the last few days I have really seen Him in my life. He is constantly giving me strength when I have absolutely NONE! He gives me patience when I'm impatient. It's absolutely amazing!!!

I'll share a couple things that have been eye openers lately that I am really thankful for.

When I practice piano I pray before I play the songs.. or at least I try to remember too... and I do it especially when I am at piano lessons playing them in front of my teacher because I want her to see how I have been practicing. Because I really HAVE been practicing... honest to goodness I have. So I want her to see it so she doesn't think that I have been slacking. So I pray but all most EVERY time that I pray I totally destroy the song! It drives me absolutely nuts!! I get so frustrated that I go home and sometimes I cry. I even cry sometimes when I am practicing at home because when I pray and ask the Lord to help me play the song, that He would help me play it perfectly when I want to. Well, I don't think that's His plan. So, one day I was so overwhelmed with it I went and talked to my mom about it.
I said "Mom, I just don't get it! I pray and ask Him to help me play it but whenever I do I can't play the song! I am sometimes tempted to just not pray because then I figured that I would be able to play it. Well, I tried that once and I played it even WORSE than before!!"
She answered me sweetly, " Well honey, He is showing you where you need to work on the song so that you can play it better later." My jaw dropped. DUH!
You see what I mean? He is constant! When I don't think that He could possibly be in the situation He is here! I thought that because I couldn't play the song that He wasn't helping me. He was! He was helping me in a much better way then I could have imagined. He knew that if He would have just helped me play it perfectly for my teacher and when I wanted to that I wouldn't get any better. That I needed to work harder at it! That just gives me goosebumps! :D

Another thing, the other day my MP3 player went kapoot. Needless to say I was really quite bummed out. I guess I never realized how much I use and rely upon the thing. Well, I do now. I have relied upon it so much that I never really thought twice what I would do if it died. I haven't been saving up to buy another one and I just figured when it died I would just have enough money to go buy one again. No problemo. Well, it died and at the time I don't have the excess funds to go and buy one. The money is needed elsewhere. *sigh* Well ,then it hit me. (Thankfully not literally.) This may sound really funny and...even possibly stupid to the rest of you people...but it was truly an eye opener for me. I realized that just because you want something, and maybe you even have the money for it, that you don't always get it. There are other things that are more important and that need your money first. I have to prioritize! *gasp* Okay, I can't actually believe that I am sharing this with you people. I feel really stupid. Rereading this I am finally realizing how much of a spoiled child that I am. I have always been able to just go buy what I want. God has really been very generous with me. So, now when I have to prioritize and I can't have exactly what I want now, it really helps me to see how "cushy" my life has been. But don't get me wrong! I am VERY thankful for the death of Cornelius (my mp3 player) because, like I said, it has really opened my eyes. It made me thing that when, or if, I ever get married that sometimes there are going to be things that we may want but the money will need to be applied else where and so we'll have to save up for a "want" and use the money on the "needs."

This is going to be a long post... phew.. :D

Another thing that I have been learning is submission to authority. God has been teaching me some things at work about submission and respecting the authority above me even though I may not respect the person. (1 Peter 2:13) I won't go into details with this one, for fear of disrespecting the people involved. But, if you could just pray for me that'd be great. :D

Also, I have learned that if you try to go through the day without Christ, without prayer with the Word, you will fail. It's that simple. You WILL fail. I have tried. It doesn't work! But, I have also been trying really hard to remember to pray and to read the Word and to look to Christ on a daily, hourly, minutely, even secondly basis! Let me tell you, it goes a LOT better then trying to do it by yourself. I know that might sound funny as well. But, OH MY it's true! If you try to glorify God in everything that you do it's hard. You have to stop and think "If I do this will it bring glory to God?" , "If I respond this way to my siblings will it bring glory to God?" It may take extra time but it brings so much joy! The joy of knowing that you have done things to the glory of God! It's indescribable! I now understand a little bit more about Christ suffering for the "joy set before Him"

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

-Heb. 12:2-

So, I can endure through the day. I can endure false accusations, I can endure harsh words all for the joy set me for me. The joy of glorifying Christ in what I do! That is something worth suffering for. THAT is something worth taking an extra 10 second or whatever to answer a persons question or a persons comment. THAT is worth living for!

So, in summery I have learned that even though I don't get the answer that I want to my prayers that God's answer is always better. Even if it means that I have to work harder at something. :D I have learned that patience in savings is a wonderful thing and it requires a lot of work and also that God will supply my needs and wants in His perfect time. I am learning submission and respect for those above me. And last but not least, I am learning joy! :D Now these are just a few.... a VERY few... things that I have been learning lately but I wanted to share them with you all so that you would know what's going on and how God has been working in my life. It is said that spiritual maturity takes a long time. It's true! It does take a long time but it is worth it and the joy that comes a long with it is priceless..

How has Christ been working in your life lately? I'd love to know. :D

Who else but Rosie? :D

Here are some movies that I found from around Christmas time. The last one is from last Sunday at church and she was listening to Tumbling Tumbleweeds on my MP3 player. She LOVES that song! :D