In the meantime

Since I'm on a posting spree here... here's the latest at the Stanleys!  We are incredibly excited, thankful, scared, and [lots of other emotions!] But super thankful that God, the Father of lights, Who only ever gives good gifts, has seen fit to give us this good gift. We love our precious Little One.

If you read any blogs, you’ve probably seen a number of posts over the past few weeks that were along the lines of “Top 10 Books for 2016” or “Top 10 Posts of the Year.”  Well, you won’t get posts like that here…because I don’t think I’ve even read ten complete books this year, or had enough of a blog-audience to have a list of the ten most-read posts on this blog. Haha… Instead, I thought it would be fun to do a  slight variation: The Books I Wish I’d Read (or finished) in 2016 and The Posts I Would Liked to Have Posted in 2016.   So here goes… 8 Books I Wish I’d Read (or finished) in 2016: 1.  None Like Him, by Jen Wilkin (On the attributes of God.  Really good—at least the few chapters that I’ve read so far!)  2.  Future Grace , by John Piper (About sanctification...got about halfway through...and then got distracted.  Again, really good so far!) 3.  A Peculiar Glory, by John Piper (Why we believe the Bible is the Word of God!) 4.  Knowing God, by J. I. Packer

So I wrote this post back when it was still fall...not early 2017 with piles of snow everywhere. Haha... ********** Fall is totally my favorite time of the year—the weather, the colors, the food.  It’s the best!  Because of all the great sales at the grocery stores lately, there have been lots of apples around our place lately, and now sweet potatoes (or yams) are coming around as well!   I have enjoyed the opportunity to make some yummy apple and sweet potato dishes. Some of my favorites have been sweet potato french fries baked in the oven with a little coconut oil and seasoned salt...mmm, I could eat a whole pan of them! Sliced sweet potatoes fried in a skillet with  olive oil and salt are just as good—even though they have a slightly different shape. (And every. single. time I make this dish, I almost have to physically restrain myself from adding more seasonings to it, but you really only need the olive oil and salt with these potatoes!) And then the other day,