Colossians

Doing my devo this morning this scripture completely blew me away.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making PEACE by the BLOOD OF HIS CROSS. And YOU, who once we ALIENATED and HOSTILE in mind, doing evil deeds, he has NOW RECONCILED in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you HOLY and BLAMELESS and ABOVE REPROACH before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the HOPE OF THE GOSPEL THAT YOU HAVE HEARD, which has been proclaimed in ALL CREATION under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister." Colossians 1:15-23

This seriously blows me away. Doesn't it freak you out that we can stand before God blameless and holy??? Oh my goodness. This only happened because of Jesus making PEACE by the blood he poured out on his cross. His death brought us peace. His death saved us from death...how does that not blow your mind away?!
Mine is blown.
Thank you Jesus.

Lots...

Hello.

Today I felt like making scones. I love scones. The only recipe I've ever used is one that my dear friend Tammy Weaver gave to me when I stopped working with her in the hospitality department at YWAM Montana. She made me an entire book of recipes...she's an amazing cook. The scones are called, Rebecca's Scones. These scones are so easy and very yummy. Perfect if you're having people over for tea/ coffee...or if you just want to devour some. :)

Recipe:

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of cold butter (the cold part is important in any scone or pie crust)
1 egg
1 cup heavy whipping cream (yum)
1 cup of chocolate chips or berries. You can add whatever you want or leave them plain.

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter till coarse - looks like small peas. You can use a fork, pastry cutter, or food processor...or even hands. Add the wet ingredients until moistened. You can either roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter, or just spoon them onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 7-10 mins.

Hope you try these and love them.

A few weekends ago Peter and I got to go watch a movie with my my sister's and their husbands. It was fun. The movie, that I was convinced that I needed to see, was World War Z...I went to my sisters house very afraid. I am not that girl that watches zombie movies or that horrific show Walking Dead...but this movie did look less scary and appeared to have a good/interesting story line.

I spent most of the movie asking Peter when something scary was going to happen...he had already seen it. God blessed me with a husband that allows me to sit next to him with a pillow over my face asking him what's going on...I am thankful. All in all this movie was really good. It was not the gross zombie violence that other movies have going on. I really enjoy Brad Pitt's character and I loved the story line. I did not enjoy the up close encounters with zombies chomping their teeth together. Freaky! Did any of you see this movie? What did you think?

Lastly I leave with you a book that my husband is listening to and that I have been able to listen to a few times. If you need to laugh please read this. It is called, "Dad Is Fat", but Jim Gaffigan. I love him and he makes me laugh. I plan on reading the entire thing. His view on parenting is hilarious.

Thanks guys!

Reading

I have finally finished the O'Malley Series by Dee Henderson. I have one left called Jennifer. Dee Henderson wrote it quite a while after the series was finished. I'm pretty sure it will be good and sad.

Reading these books was great. I enjoyed the message and hope of Jesus that was displayed throughout each book. I loved that they weren't cheesy. It might sound weird but I did enjoy the darker side of these books. I love a good mystery.

I took my time with reading these. I'm usually a speed reader. I had to take a break after book five. It was really sad throughout. I enjoyed it, but needed a break afterwards.

This is me exactly...

I am sure most everybody has read this series already...I was very late into learning about them. But if you haven't, go for it. They are worth your time.

I am still dealing with some intense morning (all day long) sickness. Trying to remember that there is a little human growing in me and that it will be okay. You can pray for me. :) I want to enjoy each moment with the baby (Benjamin) growing outside of me as well. He is so fun.

Hopefully before the new baby comes I'll get to experiment in the kitchen again... :)

It's been awhile...

Many of you who read this are my friends on Facebook. So you found out yesterday that I'm pregnant. We are so excited and feel extremely blessed.

At the same time this pregnancy has come with the dreaded morning sickness. Apparently I was spoiled with my last pregnancy.  As you can imagine, the thought of experimenting with food has not gone over well. My poor husband as eaten a lot of Bagel Bites recently...so sad. Haha. :)

To avoid the subject of food, I will tell you about what we started watching on Netflix. We just discovered Fringe.

I will admit my childhood crush on Joshua Jackson as "Charlie" from Mighty Ducks. I thought he was soooo cute...hehe. I always thought the Mighty Duck series were the best movies.  In my opinion he isn't the most amazing actor ever, but I like him in Fringe. The relationship between his character and his father is very funny and endearing.

The father, Walter Bishop is played by John Noble. He is an incredible actor. The main female character is Olivia Dunham, played by Anna Torv. I had never seen her in anything before. She's good.

The show can be so intense and grotesque, but so good at the same time.  Netflix has all the seasons on their website. Check it out.

Hopefully someday I'll be able to handle food again. Thanks for reading. :)

A Cookie

I looked up on Pinterest "chocolate chip cookies made with honey."  I found this great recipe. I just made them and they look beautiful.

I did not add raisins, but I am sure they would be good as well.  I also used cinnamon instead of pumpkin pie seasoning...that didn't sound too great to me at the time.

These cookies are not completely free of processed sugar because of the chocolate chips. I used semi-sweet.  All of the other ingredients contained no processed product. Yay! I'm trying... :)

Also with this whole not eating a lot of processed sugar I saw a difference in my face. I was struggling with a lot of break outs...can be really irritating for a 27 year old. Stopped eating so much sugar and my face stopped freaking out. Now I had heard this before but chose to ignore it...go me.

 So now I can say, yes it is totally true! I know this because over the weekend I went down crazy road and ate a lot of sugar. Immediately my face broke out. So if you struggle with this I hope you are encouraged.

Note: Honey is a good replacement for sugar, but it is still high in calories. FYI. :)

Have a great evening!

Blogilates!

My sister told me about this awesome blog full of Pilates videos...all for FREE! They are created by an awesome woman named Cassie. 

I have been doing these videos for almost a month. I feel great.  She instructs on proper technique and proper Pilates breathing. 

I don't think I would like, or do this if it wasn't for all of the videos. She does everything with you and instructs you a long the way. 

 I finally did some exploring on her website and found all the beginners videos and an amazing daily calendar to follow. I started Day 1 today. WOO! 

I encourage you to check this blog out. It is so good and really inspiring! 

Blogilates

When you get to the site hover over the Workout Video section to select a video. There are videos for beginners and for advanced. 

I am also on day 15 of the 30 Day Plank Challenge.  It is getting really hard but I really want to push through. 

Hope you check these things out. Have a beautiful day. 

Ps. Going okay with the no processed sugar thing. I'll be honest though...yesterday was a rough day with a visit to the ER. That night after baby was in bed I totally licked clean a spoon full of Nutella. Uh oh.  :) 

Mini Yorkshire Puddings

A long time ago I attempted to make one of my husband's favorite things, Yorkshire pudding...it ended up looking like corn bread and not yummy.

Randomly a few days ago I decided it was time to try again. Turned out amazing! We didn't eat them like most English would...they are usually served with a meat, potato and gravy type dish. I cooked up some amazing chicken sausages from Costco. Have you tried the Aidells pineapple and bacon chicken sausages? They are so yummy. We also had Pioneer Woman's coleslaw.

For the Yorkshire puddings I just researched for a recipe online...yay for internet! I followed the recipe exactly except I used COCONUT OIL instead of drippings or other oils. The coconut oil gave them a yummy flavor. I also don't own a Yorkshire pudding pan, so I used a muffin tin. They were cute. I also think I finally figured out that the English Yorkshire Pudding is our Popover!
 Learning, it's good for the brain.

Here is how mine turned out...pretty!

I will say that they aren't so good the next day. Good thing Peter ate most of them at dinner. I also thinking having them with a beef stew or pot roast would be delish!

Here is the recipe for the Yorkshire Pudding: http://www.food.com/recipe/my-mums-easy-and-traditional-english-yorkshire-pudding-203349