Sweet Treat!

Just as I promised, here is the first sweet treat I want to share with you. I came upon this recipe on food network (and of course it's Paula Deen), Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies. I made them for the first time today and they are really good! Will is not much of a chocolate person, and these are just the perfect amount of chocolate flavor for him. So they are not a very heavy or rich cookie, just a bite of gooey goodness! They were very simple too, so try em and let me know what ya think!!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

1 8oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 box moist chocolate cake mix
Powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in egg then beat in vanilla. Next beat in cake mix until well blended. Cover and chill dough for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into tablespoon size balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will be slightly gooey. Cool completely on cooling racks.

Obedience - Easy or Hard?

At church on Sunday nights, we do what's called Worship KidStyle for the kids while the adults participate in connection groups. I lead the craft portion of Worship KidStyle and last night our topic was obeying. We made obedience lanterns to serve as a reminder for us to obey God. So while the kids were putting together their lanterns, I was asking them if they thought it was easy or hard to obey God. Most of them said hard right away and then we discussed some times when its hard to obey and times when it can be easy.

I've been reflecting on this topic and thinking about my own obedience to God. It is very easy for me to obey God when the situation involves something I desire. It's not so easy when the situation is not something I desire. There are numerous times in our lives when obeying God just simply doesn't make sense to us, when obeying God would completely change our lives, take us out of our comfort zones, and ultimately make us feel very insecure. I was reading in Exodus last night and the story of Moses. Moses obeyed God each and every time God told him to stand before the king of Egypt and basically threaten him. He trusted God and endured what I'm sure was a very uncomfortable and quite unnerving situation. He even trusted him to walk all his people through the Red Sea and remove them from the servant life in Egypt. Amazing. It's very encouraging to read of these courageous characters in the Bible and to see how God always has a plan for us when He asks to obey him. We may not see it at first or even while we are going through these moments in life but God's ultimate plan prevails. We simply have to trust that He knows best for us. We do not know best for ourselves even though many times we think we do.

"If you love me, obey my commandments..." John 14:15

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Scrapbooking!

I started a long awaited project today...Emma's first year scrapbook! Over the past year, I've been collecting paper, stickers, etc to make her book just right. So today, it felt so good to finally get the first page done. I love scrapbooking. I got interested in it in high school but never really started doing it regularly until I found out I was pregnant with Emma. I have a tub full of things to do my engagement, wedding, and honeymoon. I also have a Christmas scrapbook I started when Will and I got married and I plan put pages in it from our family's Christmases each year. My favorite project was the book I did from my pregnancy with Emma. It turned out to be exactly how I had envisioned it.

So now I start Emma's first year. I have printed several pictures already and if you are in to scrapping, scrapbookpictures.com is the absolute best site to print your photos. You can print them in just about any size you want and for a really great price too! Another resource I must share is a little about my cricut! If you've never heard of a cricut, it is a scrapbooker's best friend! It can cut out just about anything on any paper you desire. For those of you that do know about a cricut, I just got two new cartridges that I absolutely love and would highly recommend; Nursery Rhymes and Create a Critter. They will definitely be used lots throughout Emma's book! Here is the first page of the book I did today. The cricut cut out the letters of her name as well as the flower like things on the bottom of the page. I plan to write Emma's birth info on those but I haven't found the right pen yet!

Before, I started the book today, I had already laid out the pictures I had into how I wanted them to go on my pages. I am a very sentimental person, but going through the pictures of Emma's birth, I cried the whole time. Everyone always told me how fast they grow but I never fully grasped that until now. My baby is almost 15 months old and yet I feel like I should still be pregnant with her! But this brings me to why I really enjoy scrapbooking so much. When you go through special moments in life, you will always have the memories that will never leave you but it is easy to forget the little things about those moments. With a scrapbook, not only do you re-live these moments as you are putting together the pages but years down the road, you can open the book and re-live them all over again, especially if you journel within your scrapbook which I plan to really do with Emma's book. But scrapbooking for me is also very therapeutic. I love to sit down and put together a page or two.  I love it even more to do it with a friend who shares the same passion. So if you've ever thought about scrapbooking, it really is very rewarding in many ways!

The Bible

When you were a kid, did you ever sing that song The B-I-B-L-E? I did! I used to see sing it over and over just to see how fast I could sing it. It goes like this...

The B-I-B-L-E. Yes that's the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God. The B-I-B-L-E! Bible!

As a kid, I simply enjoyed singing the song and never really thought about what those words really meant. And now, as few words as they are, they simply put one of the most important principles in our lives. Our pastor is doing a sermon series called 'Diving Deeper' and looking at just how important the Bible is in our lives. Some of you may be thinking, well sure, of course it important. But do you ever stop and think just how imperative it is for us each and everyday? Last Sunday, the main points of the sermon were how the Bible is Relavent, Reliable, and Real. Our pastor talked about if we are going to live our life by the Bible, we may question or simply want to know is it relavent to us today? Is it a reliable source? And is it Real? The answer to all of these is YES!

This message was further expanded upon this week when our pastor talked about how the Bible is Inspired, Infallible, and Inherent. And while I knew all these things about the Bible, it is always amazing to see how they are all proved true throughout different verses in the Bible.


All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)


God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind... (Numbers 23:19 ESV)


Every word of God proves true...(Proverbs 30:5 ESV)


Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17 ESV)


The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground purified seven times. (Psalm 12:6 ESV)

God cannot lie and all scripture is inspired by God; therefore, the Bible in its entirety is TRUE! This means that we can completely trust everything written in it. This also means that we can turn to God's Word whenever things get tough. Now it does not mean that Bible has answers to every difficult situation we encounter but along with prayer, it will provide us comfort and strength to face these situations and those we have yet to battle. If we bathe ourselves in scripture, the tough moments in life we have yet to face may just be a little easier to overcome if we know the promises God gives us. So I encourage you to get familiar with God's Word. There is no reason not to. For above any other book, it rises to the top!

I Have a Blog

So for many months my friends have been trying to get me to start a blog. Not that I haven't wanted to but this past year has brought on many changes to my life and I just haven't found the time! But I finally did it, so to all of my blogging friends...here it is!! It may take me awhile to figure out how to manage all this before I get my page looking exactly how I want it but I'll get there :)

I wanted to also share what you can expect from my blog. I will be sharing new recipes that I have attempted and succeeded at making. You most definitely will be seeing a few pictures of my precious little girl as she continues to grow. And lastly, I hope to post thoughts and happenings in my life that will not only update you on our family but hopefully some will be inspiring and encouraging in your own life.

So I hope my followers enjoy my blog as much as I know I am going to enjoy putting it together!