Asking a favor of you all

Tonight, I'm feeling a bit discouraged. Yes, my life is wonderful and God has blessed me so much. But every once in a while, you just hit a rough spot.

There are lots of things going on in my life right now. Things that hurt. Things that make me weary. Things that I can't understand. And there's also those things that bring joy to my life. Like a husband that offers to clean up the entire kitchen after dinner. :) And being able to chat today with my sister who lives far away.

I'm so thankful that I have a Savior who is always there to listen to me. He is the One I can lean on. He is faithful and His mercies are new every morning. He is a wonderful Friend to me.

But I am also a firm believer in friendships. Every girl needs friends that she can draw encouragement from. Girlfriends who make her laugh and brighten her day. Someone who is always ready and willing to pray for her.

So, tonight I'm asking you - my friends (and blog readers!) - to do me a small favor. Nothing would encourage me more than to "meet" my lurkers and faithful readers. Would you mind leaving me a comment and telling me a little bit about yourself? I'd love to find out more about those who read this blog.

And while you're at it, tell me what you'd like to see more of on this blog. Or new suggestions you may have! Or anything else you can think of. I'm very curious to find out what you like to read on blogs.

So...will you do this for me please? :)

Weekly Poll - February 25th

Can you believe it's time for our weekly poll again? This past week has flown by!

Last week's poll answers came as a great surprise to me. Seriously, I thought you girls would have more shoes than that! Wow.

0-4 pairs - 26%
5-7 pairs - 28%
8-12 pairs - 28%
13-16 pairs - 9%
17-20 pairs - 0%
21 or more pairs - 9%

No one has 17-20 pairs of shoes? Weird.

And I have a confession. After I posted last week's poll, I found another pair of shoes that I hadn't counted. Fourteen pairs of shoes. I still can't figure out how anyone could get by with only 4 pairs of shoes. Really.

So for this week's poll question. Coffee, mocha, hot chocolate, or tea. What is your favorite winter drink?


Given a choice, I would choose a mocha. Iced or hot. It doesn't matter.

Tea just isn't my kind of thing. However, there are a few kinds I actually do prefer over others. My Mom introduced me to Organic Throat Coat tea a few months ago when I was sick. I loved it. That's the only kind I want to drink now. I know it may have a strange name (which made me somewhat hesitant to even try it!), but I"m glad I didn't let the name judge the tea. It's very soothing when you're sick, but it's just as good even if you aren't sick.

Coffee smells wonderfully delicious, but at a young age, I was disappointed to discover that it doesn't taste quite like it smells. I was the girl who poured a small amount of coffee into a glass of milk and loaded it with sugar.

And I've never like hot chocolate. I guess it's too just sweet for me.

One day I discovered "my" perfect kind of drink. I dumped a package of hot chocolate mix into a mug, poured about a 1 c. of coffee on top and added a few tablespoons of milk. Voila!

About a year later, I was introduced to Starbucks and Caribou Coffee and their wonderful mochas. I knew I had finally found what I had been searching for all these years. There really was a hot winter drink out there that I could enjoy. To my delight, I also found that they sold these "mochas" iced...so I could enjoy them in the summer as well!

Every now and then, Joe will treat me to the Starbucks right around the corner. Or he'll come home with a warm mocha for me to enjoy (like he did earlier this week - yes, I have such a sweet husband!).

So which do you prefer?

God's Unfathomable Love for Me

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom.
Written by Stuart Townend

This song has been ringing through my head all day. Tonight I pulled the words out and read through them while listening to a recording. I love this song. I love the words. But most of all, I love my Saviour!

To think of all He has done for me, an unworthy sinner... I am nothing; I have nothing of which I can boast. Only Jesus and His power in me. His dying breath has brought me life - so I can use my every breath for His glory.

I cannot and will never be able to fathom God's amazing love for me.

Scolded by a Bird

Today I came home and was walking up to the door when this bird began scolding me loudly. He was obviously very upset about something but I couldn't figure out what I had done. I stopped and watched him for a while, but he didn't fly away and kept on scolding me. So I went in the house, grabbed my camera and came back out to take a picture.

Molly was fascinated by him and wouldn't dare move a muscle (Instead of wishing she could catch the bird, I actually think she was terrified of it...yes, she is totally an indoor cat!)

The bird finally flew away, scolding me as he flew. He had no idea that his scolding had given me (and Molly!) some entertainment and a chance to use my camera. :)

And since I'm posting pictures, I thought I would post these adorable pictures I got of Molly last week. My Mom came over and brought a bunch of stuff in her tote bag. Molly thought Mom had brought the bag for her and wouldn't get out of it, despite my coaxing.

Of course, my Mom thought it was cute and left the tote bag here for Molly to play in.

Our spoiled (but smart) cat, who just learned how to "sit" on command. (Yes, you read that right!)

Okay, enough about cats! I'm off to make dinner for my sweet hubby.

And the winners are...

1st Place: Julianna S.

2nd Place: Hannah F.

3rd Place: Stephanie T.

Congratulations to each of you girls! You should have received an email with further information from us.

And thank you to ALL of you who entered and helped with the voting! It was such fun to host this.

Vote for your favorite finalist!

Okay, you've read the entries here, here and here. Now it's time for you to vote for your favorite finalist! Who do you think should win? Remember: You can only vote once so choose carefully. The poll will close on Monday morning and we will announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners that afternoon.

Update: Poll is now closed

Valentine's Contest: Finalist #3

Here is third finalist from our Valentine's contest.

Finalists #3 - Julianna S.

The table setting, including the little packet of information
and paper for notes, silverware, and a tin of M&Ms

"For the past two years, I have hosted a special, dressy luncheon for single young ladies between the ages of 13 and 30 around Valentine's day. I want to use this time of romance and love to encourage my generation to continue to keep themselves pure, to prepare themselves for their future homes and husbands, and to be shining examples to others.This time around – year three! - I sent out more invitations than I ever have in the past. The turnout was very good – 20 girls, including myself, plus my mother and my two speakers.

One of the tables at the luncheon

This year, my speakers were Laura Guido and Denise Pohlman. Laura Guido is my aunt, a happy, homeschooling mother of five – I was in her wedding, she was in my mom’s wedding - she and her family are beloved parts of our lives. Her talk centered around her testimony, how she eventually met her husband, and her marriage at the relatively late age of 30. I’m not sure about the other girls, but I find personal stories such as this very touching.

My sister (on the right) and me at the luncheon

Mrs. Pohlman is a member of our congregation. She is also a homeschool mom, direct, wise, and I knew she would be able to easily share some nuggets of her wisdom with us. :-) Her speech focused on the story of Ruth, using it as a springboard for teaching important truths, such as contentment and submission to authority.

The girls working on a pen-and-paper activity during lunch

All in all, I was very, very pleased with how things went. I can only pray that the lives, hearts, and souls of the girls in attendance were inspired, and that they were encouraged through these speeches, fellowship, and bonding time.

Most of the girls who attended (some had already left)

The main point of this luncheon is to take the focus off of “I’m single and my parents want me to be pure ” and onto “I’m single! And God has the perfect guy for me! One day, I’ll be happily married, and while I wait for that day, I’m going to focus on serving others, obeying & respecting my parents, and preparing to be an Excellent Wife!”

I hope and pray that’s what came across to these young women, and to everyone watching, hearing, and sponsoring. God has truly “established my handiwork”. May He continue to do so!"

Valentine's Contest: Finalist #2

Here is the second finalist from our Valentine's contest.

Finalist #2 - Hannah F.

"When I first heard about this challenge I thought I'd would want to make a special meal for my parents. So back in January I made an invitation and an RSVP card that I sent to our address in the mail as a surprise to them.When I received the RSVP card, I was so excited to see that they had accepted! We have a small log cabin in a wooded corner of our property and that is where I planed to have the dinner for them. The cabin is a favorite place for our family to go to when we just want to have a quiet time, so I knew my parents would love to have dinner together there. I had so many thoughts about what I could make for the dinner. I finally decided on something that I had never made before but I knew they would like it. There is a small restaurant near us called The Cook's House and one of my parents' favorite dishes that the chefs make there is Braised Lamb Shanks with apples, turnips & lentils. The Cook's House just came out with their cookbook called "Cook's House" which we have. After finding the recipe, I took some lamb shanks out of our freezer and began! The way everything worked out was amazing! The Lord definitely gave me the desires of my heart. Daddy, Mama, and my two younger brothers all had to run so errands and stop by my grandparents house on the 11th. I asked them if they could pick up some salad greens for me, and they said they could. I had really wanted to serve a salad but I was not sure how I would get the greens (I don't drive). Right there God provided. He knew that I really wanted to have a salad with my dinner! It was just my older sister, my older brother and I home. I put the shanks in the oven in the early afternoon because they have to slow cook. Meanwhile, I tidy the cabin up a bit kept the fire going and did other prep work for the dinner. My sister, Grace, was a big help with the whole thing. She skied a couple miles to harvest some watercress in a river near us to use as a garnish (the sticks on her back are willow, the watercress is in her pocket ). She also made a lovely loaf of bread.I called my oldest sister who is married to see if she had any ideas for the desert and she thought I should do something like a trifle where you layer cake with fruit and whipped cream mixed with pudding (to make a mousse). I thought that was a good idea, but I did not want to make a large portion in a bowl like regular trifles. When I read in a book how you can make individual ones, I thought that was the perfect thing. I mixed up a sponge cake while listening to some classical music on the radio. After pulling the cake out of the oven, I realized I had forgotten the vanilla and the lemon flavoring. First kitchen disaster of the day. Little did I know that it was not the last. "No, this won't do," I told myself, "I am making another cake." With a sigh and a smile (I don't know why I thought it was funny!), I took out the bowls again and made another cake, this time making sure that I put in the flavorings. The cake turned out lovely. (You can see the "flop" in the background!) After the cake was done, I made some vanilla pudding that I planed to mix with whipped cream. Setting that aside, I begin on the lentils and veggies. Since we had no turnips I figured a potato would do. Meanwhile my parents and brothers arrived home and I did the last bit of preparation. After everything minus the food was set up on the table down at the cabin, I let Mama and Daddy know that they could go down there. Grace and I got all the things ready to take down to the cabin - the shanks, the lentils, the potato, the apples, the bread, and the salad. We carried everything down on a tray and assembled the plates once we were in the cabin.We served the cakes with Lemongrass tea - one of my parent's favorites.Overall, I think it was a wonderful experience for me. While I had never really done anything like that before, I think I now have an idea of what it will be like to cook for two when or if I am ever married! It brought a lot of joy to my heart to do this for my parents."

Valentine's Contest: Finalist #1

At long last...we have chosen the three finalists from our Valentine's contest. I must say, you girls had some great entries and I was thrilled with how many of you participated in the contest. There were so many amazing and wonderful entries that it was very difficult to narrow it down to three. I wish we could have picked all of you, but I know that each of you has won a far better reward from your Heavenly Father than we could ever offer you. It was encouraging to hear so many of you say how much joy it brought you to look around and find ways to show someone else love on Valentine's day. That was my desire.

Before I post the finalists, I have a little surprise to tell you all. Instead of us choosing which finalist gets 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, you all get to be the judges! I will be posting the three finalists' entries and then leaving a poll here on the blog. Each of you can vote once (no more than that) for your favorite entry. The poll will close Monday morning and we will announce the winners depending on how many votes each person received. So are you ready to meet the finalists?

Finalist #1 - Stephanie T.

"For my Valentine's day entry I sent out letters to some of my single friends encouraging them in waiting for the one man that God has for them and also reminding them that He is their Prince and in Him we have the best Love Story we could ever have. I tried to send them out so that they would get them on Saturday (the day before Valentine's Day). Below is a copy of the letter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Sister,

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! Okay, so maybe it doesn’t seem so happy to you, but by the end of this letter, I’m hoping you’ll change your mind.

Valentine’s Day can be hard for those of us still waiting for our Prince Charmings to come. Everywhere we look we see couples holding hands, gazing deeply into each other’s eyes, and buying secret presents for one another. Everywhere there are advertisements of couples madly in love or special deals for your sweetheart.

It’s easy to feel forgotten and let loneliness creep in. We feel like no one see us or even cares, they’re so consumed in themselves. If we’re not careful we can let traces of bitterness creep in, and if not dealt with immediately we’ll be on cleanup duty for a few months afterwards.

Sometimes we just let ourselves slip into a state of hopelessness and despair, wondering if we are even loveable. What we fail to realize is that we are focusing on ourselves instead of the One who love us beyond measure. When we put our eyes and Him and bask in His incredible love for us it is amazing what a change in attitude takes place!

What we don’t realize is how much our Spiritual Prince Charming does love us! He came down to earth to die a cruel and painful death because of His love. He came to be our sacrifice, talk about sacrificial love! He is perfect and He loves us! That fact never ceases to amaze me. After all I’ve done, all those mistakes I’ve made, His love never decreases. His love is so deep, wide, and high that I cannot even comprehend it. Nothing can separate me from it!

While the rest of the world goes crazy over one day in the year where they imitate love, you can turn to the true Lover of your soul. The one Man who will never fail you, and who will always be able to satisfy your deepest needs. Although there will be no chocolates or flowers He makes the sun rise and set in brilliant colors for you. He sends you love notes everyday of the year each in a special way. He is crazy about you and He is trying to show you how much!

Savor this time of singleness! I honestly used to cringe inwardly when other married women told me that. I thought it was easy for them to say that because they had everything I wanted. As I have reflected and pondered that phrase the past few years though I have realized what wisdom there is in that. Think about it. Marriage is wonderful for sure, (at least, that’s what people tell me J) but it is not without its difficulties and challenges. It takes time and work to be married and like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:34, “The woman who is unmarried and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” So it is for us.

Now is the time to pour into our relationship with the LORD, while we have the time! Don’t waste the season when you can feed your soul at leisure. When we can be so close and so intimate with the Maker of our Souls, why would we wish it away? Let us embrace this season with joyful hearts and thankful spirits. For truly, not all can count themselves as blessed as we are! Moms with little ones long to have the time to study God’s Word like we do. Wives who have to plan the menu & meals and keep the house clean, long to just sit and soak in the beauty of God and His Word but don’t often have the luxury. This season is critical in our development for future years. Who we become while we’re single will shape who we are while married and mothers. If we cannot be content with what we have now, a perfect, sinless Man, how can we think we’ll be satisfied completely by a human man?

This Valentine’s Day revel in the love that is offered you from the best Valentine of all. And remember that the best men are worth the wait. We want God’s best, not just good or better than average. Lean on Him and draw strength from His character and love. He is the essence of our lives and we are His aroma to others. This Valentine’s Day spread His love to a world who is so blinded to their state of sin that they can’t see through their own façade.

Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day 2010!

A Princess of the KING of Kings,
Stephanie"

Weekly Poll - February 18th

It's almost 11pm and I'm just now getting around to posting on my blog. Here are the results from last week's poll.

What kind of hair do you have?

Straight - 46%
Wavy - 14%
Frizzy - 2%
Curly (Permed) - 3%
Curly (Natural) - 31%
Other - 0%

It was fun getting to see the results as they came in. Thank you to all who voted! I'm excited to discover that some of you share the "bond" of naturally curly hair with me. How fun!

This week's poll should be a fun one (at least I think so!).How many pairs of shoes do you own?

For some of my readers, you may wonder why I even ask this question as no one could possibly own more than four pairs of shoes, right? Or...could they?

And then there's those of us that...well, let's just say we blush at the question. Before we head to our closet to count.

I'm one of those people. At least, I would be if it wasn't for a tight budget and an extremely small closet with no space for shoes. I have a "thing" for shoes. I love shopping for shoes. Particularly sandals. With high heels. And I think flip flops were one of the greatest things ever invented. In fact, I wore flip flops at my wedding. (I went barefoot at the actual ceremony, though.)

When Joe and I were married, I knew we wouldn't have space in our new home for all my shoes, so I sadly chose out about 5 pairs that I didn't wear very often and got rid of them. Since then, I've thrown out several more pairs as we just didn't have have the space to store them. So, my shoe collection is actually down at the current moment and only numbers 13 pairs (that includes flip-flops and my precious purple and black zebra-striped furry slippers). :)

So, without further ado, get up, go count your shoes, and come back here to leave your number on our poll for this week!

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Another Valentine's Contest Entry

The Valentine's contest is over and I must say, you girls have blessed me tremendously. Wow! When God first laid the desire upon my heart to do this, I had no idea how fun and encouraging it would be to read all the entries as they came in. Each one of you that participated was used by God to bless someone else and brighten their day. My prayer is that as you spent your time showing love to others, you, in turn, were encouraged and blessed. There are so many wonderful entries that it's going to be very hard to narrow it down to three. Stay tuned as we're hoping to post the three finalists sometime before Saturday.

It's been a busy day with work, teaching, and a doctor's appointment. I'm completely wiped out and just want to crawl into bed and sleep for a long time. My brain isn't giving me any profound things to write, so you guys will just have to wait until later. Not that I ever have anything profound to say anyway...

I did want to share another entry I received for the contest as it was so sweet. Knowing first hand how long making noodles from scratch can take, I appreciated this entry for the time and effort I know it took. Without any further ado, here it is.

"I had been trying to think what to give my secret sister for Valentine’s Day. She’s a wife and mother of four and is struggling financially. I thought about a restaurant gift card--quick and easy, little thought and effort. The more I thought about it, though, the more I decided against it. Why not just make them a homemade meal for dinner? So I did.

On Friday, my sisters and I made a batch of cherry cookies. I couldn’t find my heart shaped cookie cutter, so I cut a few in hearts.
Then I made a batch of homemade bread.
For the main dish, I made homemade chicken noodle soup. First step: rolling out the dough. This picture shows only 1/3 of the dough--I made a lot because it’s easier to get them thinner this way. It also means sore muscles the next day. :-)
Then I sliced the noodles. After stacking them on each other with lots of flour, I cut them again.
I repeated this entire process three times. Here’s my heart shaped mound of noodles.
I brought about a gallon of chicken broth/water to a boil. I carefully dropped in the noodles.
Sunday morning, I packaged everything up. I wrote her a note on the back of the heart. Cookies are in the foil, and the soup’s in the Tupperware. I sure hope they enjoyed it! I had lots of fun making it--and sampling it, of course!"

Pictures

Last night I surprised Joe and made one of his favorite meals ~ Spaghetti, green beans, braided bread, tossed salad, 5-cup salad, and sugar cookies. While he was gone for a couple of hours at school, I managed to make the meal, set the table nicely, clean up most of the house, and dress up in a fancy dress. I think he was pretty surprised when I greeted him at the door in my formal. :) It was fun and we had a romantic candlelight dinner.

This afternoon we went ice-skating with some friends. It was fun. And cold. And tiring - I realized just how terribly out of shape I am these days.


The guys decided to play a game of hockey (using their feet...hmmm). Yes, that's my cute hubby in the center kicking the puck. In my unbiased opinion, he was definitely the best player out there. Seriously.

I like how this picture turned out.


This is the effect of a slower shutter speed. Cool, huh?

Me and my wonderful hubby - I can't get enough of this man!

Last Day of Contest!

Just a reminder that TODAY is the deadline for the contest entries! Please send any entries in by 11:59pm CST tonight. We plan to announce the winners this weekend so stay tuned.

Valentine's Contest Entry

And yet another entry for the contest which I thought was so sweet I had to post it. :)

"I am going to try to bless someone on Valentine's Day by cooking a special meal and dessert for my family. My Dad has been out of town for two weeks straight and all seven children plus Mom have been sick this week.

Here is the Menu: Turkey Enchiladas, Queso dip with tortilla chips, refried beans, and Valentines cookies for dessert. I am planning to set the table really pretty. Hopefully this will cheer everyone up and make Daddy happy. I have attached pictures so you can see how everything turned out!"

Valentine's Contest Entry

Here is another entry I received last week for the Valentine's contest that I thought you all might enjoy reading.

"When I first heard about this challenge I thought I'd would want to make a special meal for my parents. So back in January I made an invitation and an RSVP card that I sent to our address in the mail as a surprise to them.When I received the RSVP card, I was so excited to see that they had accepted! We have a small log cabin in a wooded corner of our property and that is where I planed to have the dinner for them. The cabin is a favorite place for our family to go to when we just want to have a quiet time, so I knew my parents would love to have dinner together there.I had so many thoughts about what I could make for the dinner. I finally decided on something that I had never made before but I knew they would like it. There is a small restaurant near us called The Cook's House and one of my parents' favorite dishes that the chefs make there is Braised Lamb Shanks with apples, turnips & lentils. The Cook's House just came out with their cookbook called "Cook's House" which we have. After finding the recipe, I took some lamb shanks out of our freezer and began!

The way everything worked out was amazing! The Lord definitely gave me the desires of my heart. Daddy, Mama, and my two younger brothers all had to run so errands and stop by my grandparents house on the 11th. I asked them if they could pick up some salad greens for me, and they said they could. I had really wanted to serve a salad but I was not sure how I would get the greens (I don't drive). Right there God provided. He knew that I really wanted to have a salad with my dinner!

It was just my older sister, my older brother and I home. I put the shanks in the oven in the early afternoon because they have to slow cook. Meanwhile, I tidy the cabin up a bit kept the fire going and did other prep work for the dinner. My sister, Grace, was a big help with the whole thing. She skied a couple miles to harvest some watercress in a river near us to use as a garnish (the sticks on her back are willow, the watercress is in her pocket ). She also made a lovely loaf of bread.I called my oldest sister who is married to see if she had any ideas for the desert and she thought I should do something like a trifle where you layer cake with fruit and whipped cream mixed with pudding (to make a mousse). I thought that was a good idea, but I did not want to make a large portion in a bowl like regular trifles. When I read in a book how you can make individual ones, I thought that was the perfect thing. I mixed up a sponge cake while listening to some classical music on the radio. After pulling the cake out of the oven, I realized I had forgotten the vanilla and the lemon flavoring. First kitchen disaster of the day. Little did I know that it was not the last. "No, this won't do," I told myself, "I am making another cake." With a sigh and a smile (I don't know why I thought it was funny!), I took out the bowls again and made another cake, this time making sure that I put in the flavorings. The cake turned out lovely. (You can see the "flop" in the background!) After the cake was done, I made some vanilla pudding that I planed to mix with whipped cream. Setting that aside, I begin on the lentils and veggies. Since we had no turnips I figured a potato would do. Meanwhile my parents and brothers arrived home and I did the last bit of preparation. After everything minus the food was set up on the table down at the cabin, I let Mama and Daddy know that they could go down there. Grace and I got all the things ready to take down to the cabin - the shanks, the lentils, the potato, the apples, the bread, and the salad. We carried everything down on a tray and assembled the plates once we were in the cabin.We served the cakes with Lemongrass tea - one of my parent's favorites.Overall, I think it was a wonderful experience for me. While I had never really done anything like that before, I think I now have an idea of what it will be like to cook for two when or if I am ever married! It brought a lot of joy to my heart to do this for my parents."