Indeed he is. =)

An Answer to Prayer

Just saw this post from our pastor on Facebook. I think my comment accurately conveys my thoughts on the matter:

The Women Who Shaped Me

I've been showcasing the women who have played the role of "mother" to me in my life on Facebook. I wanted to share those on here as well. Whether I feel warm fuzzies over the fact that God thought I required more than one mom to raise me is questionable, but each and every one of these ladies have influenced me and shaped me into the mom I am today and I am blessed to have each and every one of them.

This is my birth mom. For selfish reasons, she left me with my grandparents at the age of three. She popped in and out my life until I was fifteen and I haven't seen her since. I don't know where she is or if she's even alive, but I forgive her and thank her. Unknowingly, she gave me a better life and put me on the path to where I am, and who I am, today. So, in a way, abandoning me was the best thing she ever did for me.

I pray and think of her daily, hoping that her eyes will be open to Truth and that she someday finds peace, since her life has been anything but peaceful.

 This is my grandmother, who sacrificed her empty nest for one more. Grandparents shouldn't have to raise their grandchildren, but I'm grateful that she willing and able to for my sake. She was such a fun grandma and I have many fond memories of sitting with her at her piano as she played and building a house out of lawn mower boxes in the store.

 This is my aunt, who helped raise me. When I was 15, I moved to Everett, WA with her, where our relationship really started to bloom. It was a matter of survival for us over there, so we had to stick together, but we also had a lot of fun together as our bond grew. I'm proud to consider her my Mama, when she didn't have to be.

And yes - I was a filthy child. If you're a farm kid, you understand.

 This is my step-mom. Despite the sensitive situation of me meeting my dad, she accepted me with open arms from day one. I took her for granted for many years, but in my adult life, when no one else seemed to care, she was there for me. It was then I started to see her as much more than just my dad's wife. She is so much more than my step-mom. She's my mom, my sister, and my best friend. She has been there for me more times than I can count and she's gone above and beyond her title. She's an immense blessing in our lives. 

Motherhood is not for the faint of heart - whether you come by it naturally or by extraordinary circumstances. It will hurt you, drain you, break you, stretch you, and overall change you for the rest of your life. But scars do heal and people grow, and what you end up with is this incredible God-given chance of a lifetime; a chance to carry, deliver, love, and bond with these simple creations that were made just for you by God's own hand. They demand everything from you - your heart, your mind, your soul, but the reward is great; unconditional love from a child, who's whole tiny world revolves around you.

After the diapers have been changed, the messes cleaned up, and the balls of energy are finally asleep, the once-forgotten joys of the day shine through despite the stresses and tears. Sloppy kisses, pure giggles, and untainted affection from our children is what we thrive on. It's what makes our jobs worth it at the end of the day.

Thank you to those women who were willing to sacrifice part of themselves for me.

The Gospel in Four Minutes

"...'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'" - Mark 1:15

Robby Quotes

If you've never been around him for more than five minutes, I'll just tell you - Rob can be a crack up without even trying. I guess most parents would say that about their kids, but I feel my oldest son is especially comical.

I set out to sift through my past Facebook statuses (I love to share the hilarity) to find all the funny/cute things Rob has said since he started talking (obviously) to today. Here's a list of my favorites so far:

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Matt just told Robby, "Tomorrow, maybe we'll go to the Cat dealership and look at dumptrucks." Without skipping a beat, Robby replies, "MEOW!!" 1/22/10

I think Robby and I had our first actual conversation. It went like this - Rob: "Hey Mama!" Me: "What?" Rob: "Hi!" 1/27/10

Me: "Robby, say 'grandpa'." Robby: "Mama." Me: "No, 'grand-pa'." Robby: "Ma-ma." Me: "Gr-and-pa." Robby: *in patronizingly-slow tone* "Maa-maa." 2/3/10

Matt: "Hey Rob! What does Mama say?" Rob: "Ooh-ooh-ee! Moo!" 6/16/10

Matt just broke out the squirt gun for Rob to play with outside. Matt asked him, "Do you want to squirt Daddy?" Rob replies, "Squirt Mama!" 6/27/10

Rob: "Oh, Mama! That train!" Me: "Yeah, it is a train. Good job." Rob: "Hoo hoo (train noise)." 7/2/10

Matt: "We have to get ready, go bye-byes, and do stuff." Rob: "Uh-huh. Bye-bye and stuff." 7/3/10

Backstory: Our lawns are mowed on Tuesdays. Me: "Is there a guy out there weed-whacking?" Rob: "Guy out there whackin'!" 7/13/10

While talking to the toaster, prompted by me, in the cutest voice imaginable. Rob: "Come out, waffles. I want to eat you!" 7/14/10

I've been trying to emphasize different sounds so Rob can learn how to say certain words correctly. He's all of a sudden a literalist because he just came up to me asking for "fffffffff-ruit 'nacks" (fruit snacks). 8/4/10

Robby all of a sudden just yelled, "I'M SPECIAL!!" - should I worry? I mean, after I stop laughing? 8/4/10

Robby just informed us that he's "tired of Drew" and wanted him to go "night-nights". 8/15/10

Matt: "Don't say "pretty" unless you're talking about Mama. She's pretty. Do you think Mama's pretty?" Rob: "No. *giggle*" From the mouths of babes! 8/16/10

Rob tries so hard to be big. While changing his diaper, I told him, "Now, don't cry. You're a big boy." He had a bit of a rash, so he told me, "Hurt bad. Gonna cry, Mama." It broke my heart. You could tell he was trying so hard to hold back the tears, but just couldn't contain himself anymore. Poor kid. 8/23/10

I guess it's just a cute Robby day. While trying to "decide" what to "write" with his crayons, he put the crayon to his mouth, said, "Hmm...hmm...", pointed one little index finger into the air as if an thought had come to him, and continued "writing". I about died laughing - I do that while I'm writing lists! 8/23/10

Robby is taking care of me for a change. I'm laying on the couch and he came over to me, rubbed my hair, kissed my cheek, and then said, "Feel better." What a sweetie. 10/11/10

Rob: "It's a mouse!" Me: "Actually, it's supposed to be a butterfly." Rob: "Butterfly? Are you kidding?!" 10/16/10

What have I created? Rob was given an old, broken camera this weekend and now he's following me around saying, "Smile! Cheese! Mama, smile! Cheese! Mama!" If there was such a thing as karma... 10/25/10

Rob referred to pooping on the potty as "making brown" today. I about died. Excuse the bathroom humor, but too funny not to share. 10/26/10

Rob, evidently, is a literalist. He's holding the phone book to his ear and saying, "Hello? Anyone there? Hello?" 11/5/10

I survived my first Thanksgiving dinner. The only thing on the menu that didn't turn out was the Egg Nog Cream Pie. (It made for dang good pudding, though.) Favorite line today: In the middle of dinner, Robby all of sudden exclaims, "Oh! I farted!" Yeah...great memories were made. :) 11/25/10

Favorite line from the dinner table: When seeing chicken strips on his plate, Robby exclaimed, "Oh, chickens!" 11/28/10

As I'm stirring my coffee this morning, Rob comes up to me and says, "Clean Mama...very messy," and starts scrubbing away at my pant leg with a diaper wipe. Hmm. 12/16/10

I gave Rob a potato chip and he tells me, "Hershey wants one too, Mama." I'm thinking, "This kid's a con artist, now," but then he tells me, after pretending to feed the chip to his teddy bear, "Here you go, Mama. You can have it. Hershey's done." 12/21/10

Matt just told Rob that if he (Rob) made me mad, I would eat him. Rob then came over to me, got right up in my face, and said, "Don't eat me, Mama!" 12/28/10

Listening to Rob talk about his toys "freaking out". Example: "Oh no! Giraffe is freakin' out! Now dinosaur is freakin' out!" 1/6/11

Random Robby Thought: "God made lots of giraffes and Jesus loves lions." 2/3/11

Rob made up his own song: "I'm so haaapppyyy, I'm so spppeeeccciiiaaalll, I'm so haaapppyyy, I'm so spppeeeccciiiaaalll..." 3/3/11

I repeated a made-up word Rob came up with. He shook his little head and said, "You don't know what you're talking about, Mama." 3/10/11

One of the episodes of Blue's Clues, Season 4 on Netflix was dubbed over in Spanish for some reason. All the rest of them are in English. Rob keeps cracking up, saying that Joe is "talking crazy". 3/25/11

We're watching the new Alice In Wonderland and when the Red Queen came up, Rob's all, "Oh, McDonald's!" (Ronald McDonald) 3/30/11

After setting Rob's breakfast in front of him this morning, I said, "Now, eat, drink, and be merry!" He looks at me and says, "I'm not Mary! I'm Robby!" Literalist. 4/12/11

According to Rob, Old McDonald had a zebra. Who knew? 4/12/11

Rob, while standing on a pillow, tells me, "Look! I'm big now! Can I have a bicycle for my birthday, now?" 4/18/11

Rob requested eggs, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cereal, milk with chlorophyll, and a pickle for breakfast. 4/20/11

Me: "Let me go in the kitchen to see if I can scare up some food for breakfast." Rob (running after me): "I wanna scare the food, too!" 4/26/11

Rob's watching Hansel and Gretel on Super Why. When the witch slammed the door, Rob said, "She needs to shut it quietly so she doesn't wake her witch brother!" 5/3/11

It's quite humbling to have a little voice asking you at key moments, "Hey, Mama? You remember the cross?" 5/3/11

Rob: "Hear the ocean, Mama?" Me: "No, that's the dishwasher." Rob: "Oh." 5/4/11

Glasses

He thinks it's cool to wear glasses, since both Matt and myself (obviously) wear them. We'll see how long that lasts, right? We took an old pair of mine, took out the lenses, and now he has his very own pair of glasses. He claims he can "see better", now.

Springtime Stroll

Click to enlarge.

Yes. Another collage. I love 'em. They help tell a story. So yeah.

Lots of pictures of that red-hatted kid. You'd think I was playing favorites or something. *shrugs*

We decided to soak in the beautiful weather (while it lasts!) by taking a stroll through the College of Southern Idaho's campus this evening. It's so lovely there in the spring and the warm air was inviting - since we've been begging for it all winter! C'mon! It's May already! Can we PLEASE have some sunny (without wind) days?! Is that so much to ask?

My ABSOLUTE favorite:

I'm one blessed woman. :)

Here's some other shots I took. I just can't help myself when it comes to flowers. And surprise, surprise - it's in collage form.

You can see them individually by visiting my photostream.

Click to enlarge.

Sidewalk Chalk

Click to enlarge.

Outside with chalk. These were taken awhile ago. I forgot about them, of course.
FYI: Rob's super secret superhero name is Robby Guy. Don't tell anyone. :)

The BEST Chocolate Cake & Frosting I've Ever Had

I keep forgetting to post this. Please forgive my brain-deadness.

I came across this recipe awhile ago, but didn't want the fuss of cutting out the cakes and whatnot. So, I decided just to make a 9x13 sheet cake and frost it (just like all my childhood birthday cakes were - I didn't know round, multi-layered cakes existed). Oh. My. Word. Seriously - this will be the absolute BEST cake and frosting you'll ever have. End of story. There. I said it. So stop asking. And yes - this whole cake has four sticks of butter in it. Shut up, eat it, and smile because it's so dang good. Your grandma would have.

This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman. Some of her comments the whipping of the frosting process amused me greatly.

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
½ cups Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

That’s the Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had

5 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Grab a spoon and taste this wonderful goodness. If there is any left after your taste test, spread it on a cooled chocolate cake.

Melt in Your Mouth Lemon Bars Recipe

I stumbled across these on Just A Pinch (darn you Facebook ads!). Driven by my sweet tooth and love for citrusy-things, I just had to make these. By chance, I was given some lemons from a family-owned tree from San Diego. Oh, happy occurrence. :)

First off - YUM. Second, although they are seriously delicious, they do require some fine-tuning, I think. While making the frosting, I substituted one of the tablespoons of cold water for lemon juice. While it helped, these bars still lacked that tangy bite I had my mouth very ready for. I saw a comment below the recipe suggesting some lemon zest, so I may try that next time. I might cut out the water in the frosting all together and just use lemon juice, too. They just need to be more...lemony. Also, I'd like to go on the record - my oven is retarded. Despite cooking for the correct time at the correct temperature, it caramelized the edges. Not a huge deal, as these bars still live up to their "melt-in-your-mouth" status, but still a shame.

Melt in Your Mouth Lemon Bars

CRUST
2 c flour
1 c butter softened (no substituting)
1/2 c powdered sugar

FILLING
4 eggs (slightly beaten)
2 c sugar
4 Tbsp flour
6 Tbsp lemon juice

FROSTING
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 c powdered sugar
1 tsp milk

Directions

1.   MIX CRUST INGREDIENTS WITH FORK AS YOU WOULD FOR A PIE CRUST. PAT INTO A 9X13 PAN WHICH HAS BEEN GREASED AND FLOURED. BAKE AT 350 DEGREES FOR 15 MINUTES.
2.   AS CRUST IS BAKING. MIX FILLING. AFTER CRUST HAS BAKED 15 MINUTES, POUR FILLING OVER CRUST AND CONTINUE BAKING FOR 25 MINUTES. COOL BARS COMPLETELY
3.   MAKE FROSTING BY BEATING BUTTER,POWDERED SUGAR AND MILK FOR 6 TO 8 MINUTES ON HIGH SPEED. THEN ADD 2 TBS. COLD WATER ONE AT A TIME. BEAT UNTIL SMOOTH. SPREAD OVER COOLED BARS.

And Again...

An editorial this time. Atleast they were nice. Ish.
I love how they called him "reverend". He's so not a reverend. He's a pastor. There is a difference.

Congregants vs. Celebrants in Downtown Twin Falls?

On The News

This is getting kind of silly, now.

Is it necessary to stick in the part about us not drinking alcohol, really? I'm not going to get ex-communicated if I have a margarita at the Mexican restaurant next door. Seriously, people. They treat us as if we're some sort of temperance group.

In The Paper Again

Our church made the paper again this morning:

Tale of Two Downtowns

I later read on Facebook from our pastor that the reporter had taken him completely out of context. "He did, however, take my quote out of context. I emailed him about this. What I did say is that it seems like Hepworth is desiring to make, for a lack of a better word, a "red light district" out of Downtown and not that it is. But such is the confusion out of a long night and long interview."

I find it interesting that one of the tattoo guys is behind us. Wish I could give him my business to thank him.

Photos

Tell me this isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen.

Photographer in training. Yes, the camera's backwards. That's just how he rolls.

Victory In Christ

An interesting thing happened last night.

I haven't said much of what's been going on, because of it's sensitive nature and some of the negative attention we've been getting, but our church (Magic Valley Bible Church) has been looking into purchasing the old Cain's building in Downtown Twin Falls. In order to do this, we had to go before the Planning & Zoning Committee and request a Special Use Permit. The first time we did this, the committee shot us down, but we later found out that it was botched because they didn't give us a chance for rebuttal. It was quite the deal, as it made the local newspaper and even talk radio. Soon after, we were called back and we met again last night, but this time we were more than prepared. We had letters and signatures from neighboring businesses in our support, the law on our side, and pictures (taken by some fantastic photographers :) ) of the empty and decaying buildings downtown, including the Cain's building, which has been empty since August 2008. Downtown is withering away. There's nothing there but pubs, tattoo shops, and a hookah bar. Many businesses are leaving the area due to these unsavory neighbors and I can't say that I blame them, but that aside, these once-beautiful buildings are literally just rotting away - the building in question especially. But it's PERFECT for us and despite the amount of work it will take to restore it, we're more than willing, able, and eager to do whatever it takes to make this building our church home.

I didn't get to go to the first P&Z Meeting, but I went to last night's to support my church family. The majority of the room was filled with our group, but there was some opposition. Some interesting ones: The co-chairman for Downtown Alive (a group trying to revitalize Downtown) said he'd much rather have bars and we just "didn't fit" into his "plan" for Downtown (interestingly enough, he also wanted to kick the thrift stores out of Downtown because they "didn't fit" - which makes ZERO sense to me), a random guy got up to say that he had much more exciting and imaginative ideas for the building...when he had the money to buy it (the owner of the building then got up to say that he had no idea who this guy was or didn't know anything about his offer - the guy quickly left after that), and one of the P&Z Committee Members said that the only thing that could help Downtown would be a couple of bulldozers. It was an interesting thing to watch, really and despite this minor opposition, the committee voted in our favor, just barely, 5-4. I was on pins and needles the whole time! Now, there is a 15-day period for someone to appeal against us, which would then take us before the City Council. I'm hesitant to really start celebrating, but if anything, by God's grace, we had a minor victory.

These people, speaking of our church family, never cease to amaze me. When they come together for a cause, they don't do it half-heartedly. They go all the way. Together. For God's glory. I'm proud to be apart of that and I have no doubts that we'll be able to do something marvelous in Christ's name. There was definitely some spiritual warfare going on in this situation, but God was gracious and stood by us all the way and together, again with His strength and grace, we will make that building beautiful again, with our own two hands.

Watch and see what the body of Christ can do.

Here's the article that was posted in today's Times News.

Matt's Photobook

Click here to view this photo book larger

I put together this photobook from Shutterfly of Matt's trip to California for him for Father's Day. Thanks to Groupon, all I had to pay was $18.14 ($10 Groupon + S/H) rather than the $40.26 it would have cost. Good deal!

So, by now you're probably thinking, "You just blew your secret, dummy!" He already knows about it. We've learned just to start telling each other about our gift ideas so we know if it's a good idea or not. It just makes things easier. It'll be fun to see how this turned out. It was fun to make!

Easter Photo

Easter. Terrible picture. The boys were starting to meltdown. Rob is shocked by the flash. Drew's miffed in general. A do-over is in the works, but here we are, together, nonetheless.

The Boys

Finally got them to sit still together long enough! The first one may just be my favorite of them ever.

That's My King!

Blessed Resurrection Day!

"He is not here, for he has risen..." -Matthew 28:6

Thief

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” - Luke 23:39-43