In the meantime

These are some of the yummiest and most addicting cookies I’ve ever had.  My aunt often had a fresh batch in a cookie jar filled with pretty cellophane paper sitting on the kitchen counter when we’d come to visit.  Boy was it hard to not to eat them all up as soon at we got to her house!  These cookies are super simple…and really not a special recipe at all because you can almost always find the recipe on the back of a Funfetti Cake Mix box or a  Funfetti Frosting can!  And yet as available as the recipe is, I’ve never eaten them anywhere than at my aunt’s house, which makes me wonder if anyone ever reads the sides of boxes!  Anyway, here it is: 1 Funfetti Cake Mix 1/3 C. Oil 2 Egg Mix together and form into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Remove from pan and cool for a few minutes. While cookies are s...

I haven't really spent too much time on the Pioneer Woman website until recently.  I found several recipes that sounded good and clipped them to my Evernote  (which is super handy, by the way! It’s free too! ) So when we got invited to a “let’s- watch-the-college-football-national-championship-game” get-together, I thought these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars  would be the perfect goodie to take!  (Never mind that I had never made them before! How can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate?) These bars had several things going for them: 1. They were no bake—hence, a quick and easy dessert to whip up after work and before the game. 2.  They had peanut butter…and chocolate chips…and more chocolate chips. What's not to love?? 3. They kinda (ish) had the Reese’s Cup look—with a layer of peanut butter and a layer of chocolate. So, while I was somewhat skeptical of them, they actually weren't too bad.   Some of the guys...

A year ago this time we had just found out we were expecting, and twins at that. “Wait! Us? Parents?! Can this be happening??”   The dust from the excitement hardly had time to settle before we found out that something had gone wrong and we had miscarried. That was a year ago. In one sense it feels like it happened so incredibly long ago…almost as if it was only a bad dream.  In another sense, my life has been forever changed by those two little ones that God appointed to live for only a few short weeks.  Sometimes I cannot help but think of what would have been…that they would be close to 4 months old already. What would life be like with two boys, or two girls, or a boy and a girl in our family?  What would we have named them? How would life look like if we were a family of four right now?  And I probably would hardly remember what it feels like to have a normal night of sleep. But thinking of “what could have been's” is utterly futi...

We sang this song in church this past Sunday, and while we've sung it before, I had never really noticed its message...until now.   How often have I not felt in utter despair and in search of a place to run or the metaphorical shelter from the storms of life?  How often have I not forgotten that the very Refuge I seek is with me every minute of every day?  How often have I not searched for other sources of comfort and strength?   I love how God uses music to remind us of Himself. 

For some reason, this Describe Him post has not come together very easily.  I've started it...and then a paragraph later, gotten stuck staring at the screen.  So I let it sit for a few weeks, and when I try it again, I only get stuck again.  arrrg. But now we're hardly a week away from celebrating Christmas, and what better describes God as Near than the very thing we celebrate at Christmas?  In one of the most miraculous events in history, Almighty God became flesh--a baby born of a virgin.  God became a human and dwelt among us.  Christ was a man, died on the cross, and rose again: all of it was God's initiative so that we might be reconciled with Him.  Being reconciled with Him means we now stand clothed in Christ's righteousness so that we can now draw near to Him.  Because He came near to us.  This song, The Unbelievable , says it better than I can. Christmas is the time to celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, God with ...

With 2016 almost here,  the New Year provides an opportunity to start new goals for our Bible reading/study routine. Maybe you already have something in mind that you're planning on doing.  That’s great!  However, if you don’t, here are some suggestions: 1. Chronological Reading Plan:       This is the kind of plan I've been using this year and I’ve really enjoyed it (I am dreadfully behind though…)  Reading all of the events of the life of David side-by-side, along with various Psalms mixed in, has made things fit together a lot better in my mind!  Or reading the Major Prophets and all the pronouncements of judgment that are being made makes a lot more sense when they are  side-by-side with events going on in Kings and Chronicles.       The Chronological approach is really helpful in getting a mental grasp on how all the historical events, the Old Testament prophecies, poetic liter...

I’ll be honest: I don’t ever remember Grandma making this…but that’s because I only remember celebrating Christmas with her one time—back in 1996—and I was only 7 years old  (because chese balls and who made them are not very important to 7-year-olds....)   Ahh, that Christmas in ‘96 stands out in my mind…hanging with my cousins {playing Mario and Donkey Kong} , aunts and uncles and grandmas being around, going ice skating, snow, a real Christmas tree {I think that was the first and maybe even the only time we had a real tree} … Yes, that is one of my favorite Christmases. Anyway,  we’ve made this cheese ball recipe practically every year… I’ve tried other cheese balls, but this one always is still the winner!  I think it is the pineapple in it that makes it unique.  I think you’ll agree once you also try it.   Grandma Lehrman’s Christmas Cheese Ball 2 – 8oz. packages cream cheese 1 c. cooked pineapple, drained and squeezed dry (I usuall...