So Long 2013

This year was full of challenges and trials and sadness for us. I often found myself repeating a saying my Maw Maw always said, "This too shall pass." With each bump we had to decide whether to be angry and bitter or to allow God to use it to make us more like Jesus. Of course the right and mature answer is to have a gentle and quiet spirit and respond in a Christ-like manner. I've got to admit that there was a fair amount of foot-stomping on my part this year. I shed many angry tears and felt bitterness try to take root in my heart. Did you know that bitterness doesn't taste bitter at first? It tastes good and justified and satisfying. But if you let it take root it grows and spreads and chokes out any fruit that shows you are a Christian. I wish I could tell you that I immediately responded to each trial by sweetly thanking Jesus for it and asking Him to use it for His glory. Or that I didn't recognize bitterness, but that as soon as I did, I immediately repented. But that's not true. God heard a lot of "I don't want to do this." and, "It's not fair." and, "I'm so sad!" I knew I was becoming bitter and I just didn't care. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to be bitter even while I prayed. The great thing about God is that He's big enough to take it. He listens and He comforts, but most importantly He corrects. There were a lot of responses from God like, "Really?" and, "Are you finished?" and, "Alright, young lady, that'll be just about enough." He reminded me that I was not my own; that I was bought with a price. He revealed sin and pride in me that needed to go. He reminded me that I was to follow His plan and that He had no intention of following mine. I needed to, once again, make Jesus The Lord of my life and let Him run things. I'm so thankful for God's love and His willingness to work on my stubborn and rebellious heart rather than just leave me that way. So each trial has come to pass and so has 2013. I'm not sad to see it go. I don't know if 2014 will be any easier, but I know that God is with me whatever may come. Always wanting my own way will leave me angry and disappointed, but submitting to God's authority will make me sweet and give me wisdom. Lesson learned. Again...

Christmas Dream Cookies

So the other night I dreamed a cookie recipe. This is not normal. I am keenly aware of this. Oddness aside, the cookies in my dream were completely amazing. Today, I made them. Oh. My. Gosh, you guys. They were just as amazing real life as they were in my dream. And because I love ya, and I don't like to be the only one who jiggles, I am sharing the recipe with you. You're welcome. And I'm sorry.  

Christmas dream cookies 

2 sticks of butter

1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs 

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 pkg white chocolate chips

Ghiradelli dipping chocolate melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together. Mix in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add gradually to butter mixture until combined. Mix in the oatmeal, nuts, cranberries, and chips one ingredient at a time until evenly distributed. Drop on a baking sheet using 2 spoons or a medium scoop. Bake for 13-17 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Once cool, dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate and allow to dry on parchment paper. Enjoy with an icy cold glass of milk while you simultaneously sing my praises and curse the day you met me. 

30 Days of Thankfulness

Thankfulness day 30: I participate in this every year. I know that some people are "over it," but I love it. If you follow my posts at all, you know that I have a grateful heart. Finding only thirty things to be thankful for was difficult; finding time to post them was difficult (as evidenced by yet another late post). I am thankful for so many things: my husband, my children, my home, my family, my church, enough food to eat, warmth, friends, college, hubby's job, laughter, hugs, kisses, new babies. Counting your blessings is easy; stopping at 30 is hard. The final and most important thing I'm thankful for this month is Jesus. He is the source of my joy and my hope. I've heard people say " If there' say God, how come there's so much evil in the world?" Or "how could a 'good' God allow such a thing to happen?" 

God is not the cause of evil. Satan is. Satan tempted Eve, and she disobeyed God. Then Adam. God said what to do and what not to do, and they went right on and did it anyway, and people have been doing it ever since. God doesn't force us to obey Him or love Him. He wants us to do it willingly. He told us in His Word how to behave, how to love each other, how to handle our money, our relationships, our business, our friendships, how to handle conflict, what things we should never do. Because He's a pompous dictator who wants to control us? Not at all. He wants us to have the most abundant life possible. He loves us and wants us to have a peaceful and joyful life. Do bad things happen in the world? Of course. People hurt each other. Because God made them? No. Because God didn't stop them? Sort of. God has never stopped me from being mean, and He has never stopped you either. He asks me to obey him because I love Him. When I don't, there are natural consequences for my actions. There is disease. Bad people get cancer. Good people get cancer. People who love Jesus get cancer. Young people and old people. People lose their jobs. Natural disasters happen. There are places in the world where people are starving. I don't have all the answers for all of those things. 

What I know is this. Sin hurts. It hurts ourselves. It hurts each other. It hurts God. It hurts Him because he loves us. He loves us so much that He allowed His own son to leave the glory of Heaven to be born to a poor, little virgin girl in a stable. He grew the same as every boy grows, and yet He never sinned. He was perfect, yet He submitted to the death of a criminal. They whipped Him until His skin was ripped from his body. They spat on Him. They ripped the beard from His face. Then they nailed Him to a cross. He was perfect! He had never done anything wrong! He had broken no law! Why would He have to die this way?! Because he died in my place. I was the criminal. I broke God's law. He died for me. I cannot think of a greater love than this. The wonderful news is that although Jesus died on a cross and was buried, He did not remain there. He rose again after three days proving that He was indeed both man and God! My heart leaps with joy at this thought! 

It's December, the month we celebrate the gift of His birth. Like all gifts, it is free. Like all gifts, it does you no good unless you accept it. You see, even though Jesus died for all people, He isn't just automatically yours. You have to accept Him. There was a time when I realized that I am a sinner, and that Jesus loved me so much that He died to pay the price for my sin. All I had to do to accept that gift was pray and ask Him. So I prayed something like this, "Dear Jesus. I know I've sinned, and I'm sorry. I know that you died for that sin. Please come into my heart, be my savior, and be The Lord of my life. In Your name, Amen." And just like that I became a Christian. I didn't know how to be one, but that's OK. I began to learn what God said in the Bible about how to live my life, and as I learned, I began to change. I don't get it right all the time, but that doesn't stop me from trying to do better. I'm not what I should be yet, but I'm sure not the same as I was. You see, the moment you ask Jesus to be your Savior and really mean it, your eternity changes. Because of Jesus, you get to spend eternity with Him in Heaven rather than an eternity in Hell. But if you want your life to change, you have to obey what He says in the Bible, and if you don't, I have to wonder if you really made Jesus Lord of your life. Make sense? I still mess up. Bad things still happen. People still get sick, but for those who have accepted Jesus, this world is the only Hell we will ever know. For those who haven't, Hell is a whole lot worse. 

If you have never prayed and accepted Jesus as you own savior, please do. I want you to have the best life you can have. I want you to have joy. I want you to know the hope that I know. And I sure don't want the people I love to spend even a second in Hell. If you do, please let me know! Nothing brings me more joy than knowing that my friends know Jesus too! I don't know where I'd be without Jesus. I am thankful for many things, I am most thankful for Him. "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" ~ 2 Corinthians 9:15

Blessed

Thinking about how blessed I am. Examples that come to mind: 

1) That moment when one of your son's coaches just happen to have an extra, brand new pair of Nike football cleats in your son's size (for the record, he got his dad's super large feet so randomly having his exact size is kind of a miracle).

2) The fact that my husband still has a job and is able to carpool with a great guy so that our gas expense didn't go up even though his commute doubled, and he has company on the long drive home - especially in the mornings after a long night of work.

3) Four beautiful, healthy kids who make me proud every day of my life. Even when they mess up big time and break my heart, they accept discipline/correction well, and always strive to improve.

 

4) The fact that my husband is usually so super healthy that when he injured his back this summer, he had way more than enough sick leave to cover the 7 weeks of work he had to miss. It left us pretty tight financially, but it could have been financially devastating.

5) Random phone calls from far away daughters that brighten the gloomiest of days.

6) The best brothers in existence. Bar none.

7) My Paw Paw. There isn't enough room to write everything there is to write about him. He is a giant among men. He's the kind of man every girl wants to marry and every man wants to be.

I could go on and on, but 7 seems like a good place to stop. Ta ta for now!

Insecurity

Insecurity. Man, do I ever struggle with it. It overwhelms me, and overcomes me sometimes. It's like drowning, or choking, or being strangled. There are times when the wounds of my past coupled with the regret of my sin knocks the wind right out of me. I've memorized a lot of scripture. I know God's word. I have hidden it in my heart. It helps. I pray. It helps. But it's still a struggle. I'm not struggling today. Today, my prayer was about how to overcome my insecurity. I prayed for a battle plan. For something, anything, that could help me have victory over it before it began. The Lord answered my prayer with this:

There is no room for insecurity in one whose soul is eternally secure.

Do you ever get an answer from God that is so perfect, comforting, and reassuring, while also being utterly convicting? Jesus died for me. Jesus is holding me. He's got me in the palm of His hand. I rest in the shadow of His wing. He is a strong tower. A rock. A refuge. A mighty fortress. Completely trustworthy. I cling to verses that say things like at what time I am afraid, I will trust in You. And yet I struggle. I'm sick of it. I'm over it. And frankly, so is God. It's time for me to stop whining and realize that Jesus already fought this battle for me, and won. End of discussion. 

THERE IS NO ROOM FOR INSECURITY IN ONE WHOSE SOUL IS ETERNALLY SECURE.

21

My first baby, Amber Rose, turned 21 yesterday. She is such a beautiful young woman. She loves Jesus more than anything, and nothing could make me prouder. She's smart, funny, responsible, trust-worthy, and silly. She is a mentor and friend to her sisters and brother. She's a competent and hard-working employee. She's a diligent student, and she's a fair and loving RA. she has my daddy's eyes, her daddy's chin, and my smile. When I'm 80 and she's 61, I will still introduce her as my baby. Here's the video I made for her birthday, and since I know you'll ask, the song is "Oh My Darlin'" by Katie Herzig. Ta ta for now!

The Easiest Biscuits Ever

Is there anything better than a light, fluffy biscuit straight from the oven, slathered in butter, and drizzled with honey? Excuse me a minute while I wipe the drool off my face. Biscuits are seriously the easiest things in the world to make. The only reason anyone messes them up is that they make them too complicated. 

All you need for really great biscuits are three ingredients. Yep, three. Buttermilk, self-rising flour, and butter. That's it! 

Buttermilk Biscuits (makes 6 biscuits. I usually double this recipe. Obviously)

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

3/4 cup buttermilk

The technique is the important part. Preheat your oven to 425. You want a hot oven to brown up the outside quickly while leaving the inside melt-in-your-mouth tender. Measure your flour into a bowl. Make sure your butter is super cold. I take a stick of butter and cut it in half length-wise, turn it on its side and cut it length-wise again. The I slice it into cubes. Toss the cubes in with the flour. Then stir it around a little to coat each cube of butter with flour. Next take your pastry cutter and cut through all the butter again. Stir it up a little to coat the smaller chunks of butter with flour. Keep doing this until the cubes of butter are about the size of peas and are coated with flour. You want chunks of butter. 

Chunks are beautiful. Chunks are good. Not everybody does it, but everybody should... Sorry, I can't remember the name of my last child, but I can't forget music from the 80s. I may need help. Anyway, once those beautiful chunks of butter are small and coated with flour, add the buttermilk. Do not stir. At all. Like ever. Use your pastry cutter to scrape up the flour from the bottom of the bowl and dump it into the puddle of buttermilk. Turn your bowl a little, and do it again. Keep doing it until the puddle disappears. Use your fingers to scrape off the pastry cutter whenever it gets to gloppy. 

You will reach a point where you have a bunch of wet dough and a bunch of unmixed flour. Cut through the dough a couple of times with your pastry cutter and continue to toss it with flour until the flour is mostly mixed in. Now you need to get in there with your hands. Scrape all the dough from your pastry cutter and toss it in the sink. Now, press the dough together with your hands. You are not kneading bread here. No kneading. At all. Like ever. Just scoop it up and press all the loose bits into the rest of the dough. Press 3 or 4 times. 5 at the most. You don't want to handle biscuit dough too much. It should be lumpy. 

Mow you have a choice to make. Do you want to cut these biscuits, or drop these biscuits? Cut biscuits are prettier, and have layers. Dropped biscuits are quicker. I usually drop them, unless I need the biscuits for breakfast sandwiches or something. 

For cut biscuits (I don't call them rolled because I do not use a rolling pin on my biscuits. Like ever.), dust your counter with some flour. Lay your dough on top of it and press it into a square-ish shape that's about 1 inch thick. Dust it very, very lightly with flour and fold the dough in half. Press it into a square-ish shape that's about 1 inch thick. Do it 2 more times and you're done. You can cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter, or you can just cut them into squares. 

To drop the biscuits, I cut the dough in half with a knife. Then I scoop off 1/3 of the dough from one of the halves and shape it into a disk that's about 1 inch thick. Repeat until you have 6 biscuits. 

I like to bake my biscuits in a buttered cast iron skillet, but any baking sheet works fine. Bake them at 425 degrees for about 15-18 minutes until they are lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and brush the tops with butter. Then split them open and slather the insides with butter. And honey. Or jam. Ooooh, or sausage gravy.... I may never be skinny again... Enjoy your biscuits! Ta ta for now!