Honey Bunnies

Fidget and I had a little party today. The ladies who sit at the same table as I do at Bible study came over with their kids for lunch. They brought the lunch with them, all we did was offer our place and make some sweets. Here are the honey bunnies. Fidget loves helping in the kitchen so we picked these out to make. Though it was tough deciding on whether to make the peanut butter turtles or the honey bunnies.

The nicest part after preparing the house a little and baking, was just being with the ladies while the kids played together. It is so rare we get to lose track of time and just enjoy fellowship. There's practically nothing so encouraging to me as meeting with other believers, other women from any walk of life. I was enriched by our time together today and felt afterward I need to continue to seek out these times. For myself, yes, but for building up others, and for showing Fidget how we should practice hospitality. It isn't the grandness of the home or the dishes that make teas, lunches, or other gatherings special. It is giving time that says to the others, you are important to me. Don't we all want that?

"Let us not give up meeting together....but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25.

Control Freak

There is so much going on in the world that's out of our control. Okay, let's face it, none of it is under our control. Recently I caught myself inwardly fretting in an idle moment. What if...? But then the words of Jesus in Luke 9:20 from our church's ladies' Bible study came to me,  

"Who do you say I am?"   

I have been thinking about this, and answering this question in prayer, for a week now. It is a convicting question. I have read the parallel passages in Matthew 16:15 and Mark 8:29. Peter answered him, "You are the Christ, (and in Matthew 16 it goes on:)  the Son of the living God." I have examined my heart  on this. Do I really live like I believe Jesus is God? If I believed it truly, if I set my eyes and heart on Him, would I fret so about world events and have nightmares about my fears? 

I love impetuous Peter of the Bible. With him I answer, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." I pray today I will take the Jesus of the Bible so closely to my heart that I do not fear the world and its chaos. I know I am not in control of it, but God assures us, He is in control. So there's no better, safer place to be, than with the God who created the world and each one of us who are walking it today.

Happy Birthday to the Pres

This sorry sight is from a great recipe in my Hershey's chocolate cookbook. I've made them before and they were delicious- and looked nothing like the above! This was supposed to be the Pres' birthday espresso-filled mini cakes.

F

Fortunately, my anniversary baking went better. Here's the mini apple pie and tiny grape tarts, with the little peach tarts in back. They were made of dough scraps- just rolled out the dough and cut into rectangles, put a teaspoon of peach preserves on one side, folded the dough over and crimped it, and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. Even though Fidget has no interest in eating baked goods, I like that she wants to help. Making tiny tarts reminds me of baking when I was little. Even if she never likes baked goods, I hope Fig will bake with her kids one day. 


I'm glad I started baking in the morning, so there's plenty of time to try my recipe again. I already have no present for the Pres. I'd hate to have nothing baked for him too!

A Valentine Lunch Tea

 Fidget and I had a lovely little lunch with ladies a couple weeks ago.  It started as a valentine party, but that was just an excuse to get together. I really wanted to get to know folks better and fellowship with them. We had a great time and the kids played outside all afternoon on what turned out to be a lovely warm day. I took some pictures as my baking progressed. Above are some of the goodies: valentine sugar cookies, oatmeal scotchies that we later made into ice cream sandwiches for our guests, checkerboard cookies...

 mini ham and cheese frittatas,

 spinach and cheese pinwheels,

 mocha madeleines (before the scrumptious espresso glaze),

 

and scones. The spoon is there for the lemon curd, which took a couple of tries before I got it right. But it was worth the trouble. I've already made it again. Now we're planning another lunch with friends from Bible study and their kids. It's so nice to see mild weather returning. We're ready to shed our winter wear and feel the sun again. 

Of the ladies who came to the last lunch, the overwhelming feedback I got was what a welcome break it was from real life's demands. Which is probably why I am planning another lunch so soon. Any bit of encouragement, and I am off and running. I am lucky I get to have people over, and that life with the Pres and Fidget allows for quiet times enjoying the blessings of home.

Musings from a Wandering Sheep

God is leading me. Where, I don’t know. You’d think I’d be better at knowing His voice, after 19 years of being a Christian. “My sheep,” Jesus said in John 10:27, “listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” I am listening. But the more I glimpse what I think he’s leading me to, and the more excited I get, the more I tend to discount His voice.  Yet, I am praying for Him to lead, to show me. So why do I question it? I am purposing to follow Him, but am I just a wandering sheep?

It feels presumptuous to say God is leading me to this or that. To know, really know. There have been times, not too distantly, that I have felt sure God was leading me, and I got to a dead end. I was stunned. Heartbroken. I questioned myself. Did I mis-hear Him? A close Christian friend pointed out that a dead end does not mean God did not lead me, and that He has purpose in everything He leads us to. I wonder if as He watches me, He wants me to go forward more boldly. I can tend to be impetuous though, so especially when it is an important decision I try to be deliberate. I long to have the faith to rush forward like Peter. When Jesus walked on water, in Matthew 14:28 it says, "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." And when Jesus said, “Come,” Peter did. We live thinking we can’t walk on water. But Jesus did, and Peter, with his faith in Jesus, did too.

 I, too, want to do something amazing for Jesus! If I am hearing Him right, everything He has brought about in my life has prepared me for this sweet calling. Even my heartbreak. So I say as Peter did, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you.”  One thing we know for sure from His word: He does answer.

Some of yesterday's sweetest

A Valentine

How long, O Lord? David wrote in the Psalms. All of us have felt overlooked or unanswered at one time or another. I am not feeling overlooked, but am tired of looking to God and wanting something. Of course I have many needs that God supplies without me even being aware of it through the day. But there are other things I have asked and asked for and have not gotten, in God's wisdom. I have searched my heart- and God's word about that in the past 2 months.

And now I am at a place of losing preconceived notions about what God will or won't do, or what His will is for me. Who knows His will, until He bends our paths and leads us? We know some general things that are His will for us in Christ Jesus, as His word tells us. But specifically, He shows us as we go. He shows us through sermons, circumstances, and the wise counsel of trusted family and friends. He even shows us through dreams sometimes.

I am to a place with my husband, The Pres as I call him, of not wanting to manipulate him into doing what I want. I find I appreciate him more and more for who God made him to be, and how he serves us- me and Fidget- every day of the year. Maybe the best valentine is accepting each other just how we are and loving each other for who they are, who God gave us to love. 

We all want to be better than we are, lose our bad habits and be charitable toward others all the time in our thoughts and actions. But we are who we are, and having someone love you for who you are right now is priceless. There is no more genuine love. My husband has long followed Christ's example of loving me in the meantime, not just at the end when I am better- and in heaven, perfect. No one, not even someone great, deserves that. His love is a valentine that doesn't depend on flowers on a certain day or chocolates, though those are nice. His love, like God's, is a valentine for every day of the year.