We're waiting!

We are home early from school!  We are watching the radar and peering out the window...hoping and praying for those first flakes of snow.  It has been a while since we saw those flakes fall and actually cover the ground, and I have two eager girls who can't hold their excitement much longer.  We sure want some snow cream and a snow man.  With a few extra groceries and my oldest making sure we had carrots for a snowman nose...we wait!

We wait for so many things.  I waited in line at the grocery store for a very long time last night.  I waited a while in the pick up line at school today as the whole school was released at once.  I wait for phone calls, for important dates, in the dentist office, for my girls to get their shoes on in the morning, and the list of waiting goes on and on.  But my biggest wait and my hardest wait is waiting on answers to prayers.

As a new list of waits and questions formed again at the beginning of the year, I had wondered if I could start another year with so much uncertainty looming again.  But an old faithful verse was brought to my attention last week.  As I faced a week of craziness with my husband out of the country, planning the biggest party I have ever thrown(and a surprise one to top it off), and so many other deadlines looming...the verse came and I was calmed.  It not only dealt with the waiting I feel like I am constantly doing, but it reminded me of my Source of strength and the only way I can get through it all!

Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

We wait; He gives us new strength; we soar with His help; we run through this life and we keep going because He is there...we wait because He asks us to and because we know He has the perfect and best plan!  

So we will wait for snow the rest of the day...just like answers to prayers it may come today or it may not...but we will have fun while we wait.  Just as I hope to have fun this year even with looming questions and prayers that have yet to be answered!


Stay warm if its cold where you are...if it is warm I might be a little jealous!



We do have a roll of cookie dough in the freezer we may be breaking out to bake if we are snowed in tomorrow.  We made this recipe last week, but only baked half and froze the other half to bake later.  It was a great recipe.  It's called Cowboy Cookies, but we changed the recipe just a tad (including adding the pink and purple MMs dad brought back from a trip) so we called them Cowgirl cookies.  Hope your family enjoys!

Ingredients

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup MMs candy
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
2. In a separate bowl, blend the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until fluffy, about 1-1/2 minutes. Blend in the vanilla extract.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir the dry mixture into the butter mixture one half at a time. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Refrigerate the dough for 1 to 2 hours.
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large, preferably light-colored baking sheet with aluminum foil, then grease the foil.
5. Using a scant 1/4 cup per cookie, shape the dough into balls and place them on the sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Use your fingertips to flatten each ball to 1/3 inch thick. Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for 13 to 14 minutes, turning the sheet about halfway through. When they're done, the cookies should be very lightly browned and still look moist. Don't overbake them.
7. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.

2014

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know we are a week into the new year,  but it is still relatively new!  Excuse my delay but better late than never in my opinion.  The new year has been awesome, Christmas was spectacular, and as my husband said...the break was good enough that we forgot how hard real life was for a while :)
Now that is a great break!

We have hit the ground running in 2014.  Things usually slow down in January, but it hasn't in our household...with trips and birthdays approaching, it looks like a crazy first quarter.  I am still in debate and prayer over what to do about blogging.  Oh don't get me wrong...the ideas are still there,  and the love of my fingers hitting the keyboard is there, but the time to do so seems less and less and less.  So we will just have to see how 2014 goes!

We have been organizing up a storm, and I have to say that it is going pretty well...the best start of a year with kids ever!  We are not tripping over new toys like usual!  New bins have been bought, things taken to the dump and to the thrift stores, junk drawers cleaned out, and cabinets reorganized.  There are still several things to do and one whole closet to completely reorganize, but we are excited about our progress. But here is the thing...I can't do this in January and expect it to just stay this way until next January.  It takes work.  It takes effort.  It takes discipline to keep life organized.

My relationship with God can be the same as organizing life.  We can start the year off right.  We may promise to pray more, love more, read more, serve more... but it takes work to accomplish these things.  We can't just buy the prayer journal and devotion book in January and expect it to impact our lives without our effort.  Just like keeping an organized house takes daily work, keeping in tune with God's will takes daily work, prayer and reading.

I hope to keep or home life in order and not get overwhelmed with stuff, just as I hope to not let my spiritual life overwhelmed with anxieties and lack of time.  I pray 2014 will be our best yet...we will focus on the positives and not on the negative, be thankful for everything, and know God is in control of this year!

This verse is a favorite and our verse for the year...
"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."  
Psalms 32:8


I was excited about my new kitchen appliances...the stand mixer and the new blender.  For my first use, I thought milkshakes with fresh whip cream would be the best option.  It was even better with our new milkshake straws from my aunt!  These are great!  We just blended milk, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and a touch of vanilla.  For the whipped cream, we used the mixer on high speed.  The heavy cream turned into whipped cream in no time and we simply folded in a little sugar...so yummy!