Who am I?

Gail and I are very blessed to be able to go to Arizona in the winter.  The weather is so nice and gentle compared to the Colorado winters.  

When we are in Arizona we stay in our little living quarters in our horse trailer.  I was packing it last week and the thought struck me, "Who are you? Shall I put in my cowboy boots and hat?  Am I a cowgirl anymore (if I ever was!) What shall I pack? Who am I?"

I didn't have to think long and the Holy Spirit reminded me that I AM A CHILD OF THE KING!!!

Praise the Lord! I need to know no more!!!  

Are you struggling?  Are you identifying yourself according to where your role in life is now? Single adult - mother - grandmother - husband - grandad - employee - retiree - teacher - student 

Remember each of those roles will pass and change.  The thing that won't is your status as a CHILD OF THE KING!  

(Above are the words to a hymn with this title.  Sorry they didn't come through good.  Trying to work on my laptop!)

Enjoy each moment as a CHILD OF THE KING!

Red Christmas cake with Waldorf Astoria Cake Frosting!

 My family has had Red Velvet Christmas cake for years as one of our traditions.  My brother, Brad, was born Christmas Eve in 1960.  Since he was small we have had this yummy cake at Christmas to celebrate both the birthday of a special brother and to celebrate the birth of Christ!  Our whole family loves it - especially with the unique frosting!

I wanted to get a good picture of the cake we made this year but I wasn't as quick on the draw as I wanted to be.  This picture shows, at least, what it

looks like.  The brilliant red color is so fun! I am sharing the recipe!

Red Christmas Cake

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Crisco or shortening - cream these two together.  Then add:

2 eggs

2 cup flour

1 cup buttermilk ( I use powdered buttermilk to make the cup of buttermilk.)

1 Tbls cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ounces (2 bottles) red food coloring

Put in three round layer cake pans.  Cook at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. When the cakes are done, I let them cool, remove them from the pans, and freeze them in the freezer on greased sheets of wax paper.  This makes the cakes easier to frost.  The crumbs stick to the cake and keep the frosting cleaner.  

Waldorf Astoria Cake Frosting

3 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk - Cook flour and milk until thick, stirring constantly. Cool. I usually do this when I make the cake and let it cool in the refrigerator overnight.

Mix until well blended and fluffy:1 cup sugar

                        1 teaspoon vanilla

                        1 cup butter (NOT softened- but since it is cold you may need to cut it in chunks.)

Now add the milk/flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture.  Continue beating with the mixer until it looks like whipped cream.  This may take about 8 to 10 minutes depending upon your mixer. 

I usually make this recipe and then 1/2 it again so that there is plenty of frosting for the cake. 

It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO yummy.  It gives this red cake a completely different taste than the cream cheese frosting that is often used.  

Through a child's eyes....

 

This year we had a very beautiful and meaningful nativity area up in our living room.  I so very much enjoyed and appreciated it every day of this Christmas season.  Our family had a big Christmas celebration at our home a week before Christmas.  We wouldn't have company the rest of the week.  Gail and I were planning to leave to go to Arizona where he could rope the day after Christmas.  So - before Christmas even came - I began to 'undecorate' the house.  I was a little depressed doing this.  Who takes the decorations down before Christmas????

I was babysitting for Austin and Missy that particular day.  I thought I could take down the decorations while the children played.  I didn't think they were watching or knew much about Christmas yet. Then..... the angels reappeared!

Little Lucy had gone over and gotten them and climbed up the stepstool to replace them where they were. This was a God moment for me.  Just as she was watching me - God is watching us.  He cares for us and loves us.

As it turns out we won't be leaving for Arizona for a little while now AND I have a new and beautiful spot that shows me Christ's love and the reminder to see through a child's eyes! 

When your family members irritate you by the little things they do....

  I am blessed to get to teach Sunday School to the kids at Cowboy Church.  Last Sunday I stepped out of the room for just a second and when I returned two of the brothers were in a disagreement.  I found out one of the brothers wiped his face on the other brother's napkin.  AND the napkin owner was mad!!  As I talked to the boy, I said it that really anything to get all upset about.......

This started me thinking this morning as I folded the laundry.  For years now Gail had taken his undershirt off over his head so it is turned the wrong side out when he throws it in the laundry.  Years ago this used to irritate me.  I'd think "Doesn't he know this takes my precious time to turn these right side out every week?"  I have two options here:

I can suggest to him (at just the right time) that he could help me out a little and not turn the shirt the wrong side out every time he removes it. This would help me in the end with my time management.

OR I can use this as an opportunity to pray for him.  Every time I fold the undershirt I can pray for Gail  - for our marriage, for him to grow spiritually, to him to be a Godly leader, for safety, for wisdom, and the list goes on and on.

We are growing older - I am not so busy.  I will choose the second option at this point in life.

What are others doing that annoy you?  Choose one option or the other. Show love.  Enjoy peace in your life. 

Idolatry - What are our idols today?

I have been reading in I and II Kings where idols are often mentioned.  It said the good kings walked in the way of the Lord.  Some of them took down the high places and destroyed the idols.  Others were good but did not remove the idols.  II Kings 23 talked about Josiah, a good king, who took down all the high places that Solomon had put up over 300 years before Josiah's reign.  The footnotes in my Bible said that we as parents should be very careful what we allow in our homes as our children will carry on with many of our traditions and ways.  

This started me thinking about idols.  What would our idols be today in our current world?  To answer my question I found an article entitled 'What are some modern forms of idolatry?' on Got Questions.org. I will summarize the article below.

1.  Materialism - is an idol today.  Acquiring stuff that we don't really need.  It is actually covetousness. God knows we will never be satisfied filling our materialistic desires.  Doing this is Satan's ploy to keep us focused on ourselves rather than God.    You shall not covet your neighbor's house.  You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:17

2.  Our own pride and ego can be idols.  Often seen in trying to get to the top in our careers and jobs. We spend time pursuing them rather than taking care of our children and families and teaching them about God.    21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from call the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For dall his days are full of sorrow, and his ework is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. Ecclesiastes 2: 21-23

3.  We idolize mankind. We do this through science ( environmentalism, evolution, naturalism). Our focus shouldn't be on these things but on living holy lives while waiting for the Lord's return.     But the day of the Lord will come like a thief....What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the of God ... 2 Peter 3:11,12

4.  We worship making self first to the exclusion of others and their needs and desires. We see this in self-indulgence by way of alcohol, drugs, and food. "The self-control we so desperately need is spurned in our insatiable desire to eat, drink, and medicate more and more. We resist any effort to get us to curb our appetites, and we are determined to make ourselves the god of our lives. Man's desire has been to be God. The worship of self is the basis of all modern idolatry." (Got Questions)   5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:5

Our hearts and minds must be centered on God and others.....Matthew 22:37 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.    When we do this, there will be no room for idolatry. 

I am asking myself what are my idols. My desire is to love and serve and glorify God. What must I change in my life to do that better? What might you need to change in your life? 

 Last year I wrote a blog about leaving your flower pots and flower gardens covered with the old plants through the winter until spring.  This keeps the tiny seeds that have fallen from the old plants in the planters or garden and lets them compost in so they come back up in the spring.  

This flower garden was one that I built in the driveway a few years ago using lasagna gardening.  You put down cardboard where ever you want to plant.  Cover it in layers with leaves, manure, straw, grass clipping, and/or peat-moss.  I took the old-growth off of it in the spring and all of these flowers came back by themselves.  Most of them are annuals that I originally planted there about four years ago and that have come back by themselves but there are a few perennials too. 

In the spring I laid two soaker hoses in the flower garden that are attached to one hose that goes to the hydrant. When I water I just turn the hydrant on and let the soaker hoses run until the water runs out at the edges of the garden.  So easy and quick! 

Fun and easy way to garden! 

Four o'clocks - so fun, pretty and easy

I have had fun with four o'clocks for years! When we lived north of  Genoa we had them on the east side of the house and they came back year after year.  Then a few years ago my grandson gave me some seeds.  I planted them on the west side of the garden so that we see them from our house and yard.  They also have come back now for several years from the seeds that have dropped on the ground each fall.   I think they provide a little shade from the afternoon sun for the cucumbers I grow in the garden. 

Four o'clocks open up in the morning and again in the late afternoon.  They bloom from June to late into September and October. They can get about four feet tall if they are well watered. They have rather large seeds that can be picked up as they fall to the ground so that you can plant them elsewhere fairly easily.  I just let my seeds lay on the ground through the winter and they compost in and the new plants come up by themselves.  

Such fun and beauty that God has blessed us with!!