Summer Camp or BUST!!!

It's Texas and it's the middle of June. Needless to say, it's HOT!!! Along with the heat comes anticipation for GREAT things!

 What an awesome camp we had last year!

This momma has been busy gearing up for our annual summer camp trip with our kids club group. I have been making and freezing cookie dough, hole-punching foam sheets and paper to make craft journals, preparing a sermon, practicing worship songs to lead, praying for my kids and those we are taking with us, calling parents, making spreadsheets for EVERYTHING, and writing and re-writing lists. Whew!

Last year we took 18 youth with us to Beaver's Bend, Oklahoma and this year we are at 29 kids! We will be quite a caravan as we drive North.

Our group cap site will have over 50 kids and over 20 adults. What a blessing! I'm SO looking forward to seeing what God does in the lives of those we are taking with us, and in my  own life.

Just one year ago at summer camp, my husband and I announced our 3rd pregnancy to his parents and the rest of the camp. We are ecstatic with excitement and so happy to be blessed with new life.

One week after camp I experienced my first miscarriage. It broke my heart... but God is faithful to repair broken hearts.

 

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."      

Psalm 147:3

God has healed our hearts and has blessed us, yet again, with new life!

I am 30 weeks pregnant this week with a son! What a joy to my heart! He is a mover and a shaker in the womb and I know that God has a great future in store for him.

So... we are headed back to camp in only 2 days with a testimony of God's goodness and faithfulness.

If you think of me and my family, please pray for strength and wisdom as we help lead these precious kids at camp.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are the fun times at summer camp - making crafts, singing songs, roasting marshmallows with new friends and all the while knowing my Daddy was near by.

My Daddy and my little girl

My father was always a counselor and/or activities director at summer camp each year and this year he will be assisting my husband in his cabin. He will also help with activities. It's a dream come true! We get to lead camp together!!!

I look forward to sharing a camp update with you after we return.
 

Blessings,

Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles

 

 

Here's a family favorite that I love to make for friends too! We are visiting a neighbor tomorrow, so my daughter and I decided that baking some cookies to take with us was a must.

She helped me whip up a batch before nap time. And then it took her over 30 minutes to fall asleep. I think she was too excited to try a cookie  :o)

Here's the recipe... you won't be disappointed! (I posted this recipe on my blog over a year ago but decided it's time to give it a picture face lift and share it again.)

Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles

(my father-in-law's favorite!)

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 ¾ cups flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

 

To roll cookies in:

3 Tb sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

 

Directions:

 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Cream butter and sugar together.

3. Add in eggs, one at a time, add vanilla, until well-combined.

4. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add it to the wet mix in 2-3 stages.

5. Mix the 2 Tb of sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl.

6. Use your hands to roll dough into little (ping-pong ball sized) balls.

7. Roll dough balls in the sugar mixture until covered. Place on un-greased cookie sheet, 2 to 3 inches apart.

8. Bake 7 to 8 minutes, until they spread out and have JUST started to turn brown. Let sit on baking sheet 2 minutes or longer. Remove from cookie sheets and place on a cooling rack. Don’t let them cook too long or they will be hard.

You want a chewy cookie with a crisp outside.

9. Enjoy a few and share the rest!

I got too excited to finish the last few cookies and they got crowded.

Oh well, still so tasty!

 

 

 

Piled high and ready to share!

I love to bless others with home-baked goodies and it's a great time to teach my kids so many things: measurements, how to follow directions (in the form of a recipe), patience (to wait to enjoy the end result or lick the spoon) and that making things from scratch is a better choice every time.

My girl, a baker at heart  :o)

 

Have a blessed week, 

My God-Given Mandate for 2013

Bloom where you're planted.

 

Just as Paul encouraged and charged Timothy, his words resonate in my heart today.

These words are for me.

These few verses make me alert, aware, and increase my hunger to KNOW God and to DO His will no matter what comes my way.

"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Even though I am not a world evangelist, traveling the globe and preaching from a platform, I am called to preach the gospel.

I am called to share my testimony, to love those around me in word and deed, to lift the name of Jesus higher and to bless my family.

May God make it very clear to you what His will is for you in 2013.

We have been given a new year, full of new mercies! Each day is a new beginning in Christ.

 

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:22-23

Be encouraged today and hope in God!

Happy New Year and God bless,

An Eventful Christmas Story Time

Jo, Mo, and our little friends singing for everyone!

 

My, oh my. What an evening! Earlier this week my hubby and I took our kids and two other neighbor girls to our local library for their Christmas story time in pajamas. Daddy wasn't able to join us last year, so we were super excited that he was coming this time.

Daddy was a big help at craft time!

I was prepared for a jam packed room just like the year before. Nope, not this time. There were only a few others there and plenty of room for us all.

All of our kids sat nicely on the floor and joined in watching a short Donald Duck movie about Christmas. It was funny and my kids were laughing out loud - too cute!

Craft time!

They were handed a cup of coca (only half full, at my request) and two cookies. I knew it was coming and had made them meatballs for dinner, with some cheese and fruit on the side. Even though I thought I fed them well, it didn't sit well in some tummies.

Soon enough, the movie lost my son's attention and he began running in circles around the group of sitting children. I kept telling him to sit and he kept jumping up. Eventually I just grabbed him in a bear hug and sat on the floor with him.... then it happened. He burped, made a funny face and then threw up all of his dinner (and Christmas party snacks) on the floor in front of me. Just like a pro, I put my hand out to help the situation and it was soon overflowing with Jo's gift. Oh. My.

I told all the kids, "Don't look over here. Just scoot away. No honey, look the other way." Knowing the way some kids are, we could have really set off a vomit chain.

Our sweet children's librarian came to the rescue with rags for me to clean up the mess. I wiped off my sons shirt and gave him some water. Did he finally take it easy after that? Not one bit! He ran in circles, laughing all the way.

Sitting still for a bead craft.

To top off the night, all four kids stood on the stage and sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". It was so precious!

Even so, after we finished the crafts and checked out a few books, I was glad to pack everyone up and head home... just in time for bed.

Oh, and my daughter was the only child to spill her entire cup of cocoa on the carpeted floor. Good thing it was only half full to begin with  :o)

After I told my mom this story she said, "Oh my goodness! You just never know what's going to happen when you take kids places." That sure is right. Life (and kids) are full of surprises!

I'm blessed to hold my kids, kiss them good night and pray over them. I try to take advantage of their requests to play Candy Land or swing together, knowing that so many moms and dads will not hold there babies on this earth again, after last week's tragedy.

So many sweet faces. They will be greatly missed on this earth.

They are now safe in Jesus' arms.

No matter the surprises kids bring into our lives, good or bad, they are such great blessings!

 

 

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward."

Psalm 127:3

 

 

I thank God today, and every day, for my children. This life wouldn't be the same without them.

Blessings,

Just Checking In

Happy December!

 

I can't believe that Christmas is 19 days away and 2013 is just around the corner!

Time is flying and we are having fun.

Snuggled with a blanket under our Christmas tree.

The past few weeks we have been preparing our Kids Club float for our local Christmas Parade! It has taken lots of work and dedication to complete but my husband and I are blessed to have some great help - his parents!

Last year's Kids Club Float - what a fun, cold day!

 

 

On top of that, my man has been building a shed in our backyard and we just got a puppy from the pound two weeks ago.

A picture of Buster (our dog) would be much more interesting, I know.

I have yet to take one of him!

These things take time and we only have so much of that each day. I like to prioritize and make lists, etc but sometimes I just need to relax and go with the flow... spend an entire morning playing with my little ones (without cleaning up something on the side), enjoy a family outing to the store (without rushing), and listen to the needs of those people that God brings my way (without having all the answers).

Morning fun, decorating gingerbread houses!

 

 

The finished product - pretty houses and kids full of sugar :o)

I pray that I am learning and maturing as time ticks on, may I not be the same wife or mother at the beginning of 2013 as I was this past year.


My heart's cry is, "God, change me! Mold me into the vessel that you have planned me to be - filled with your Spirit and ready to pour out on others your love and forgiveness without thinking twice about it."

Enjoying a sweet treat after learning the story behind the candy cane.

 

May your month be blessed and may Jesus come alive in your heart this holiday season.


In His GREAT Grace,




PS - I will leave you with these verses that are resonating in my spirit this week...

1 John 4:7-11

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.