A special poem

My sweet cousin sent this poem to me and it made me cry.

It spoke right to me and I wanted to share it with you.

It's a good reminder that the Lord is in control and He has a plan and purpose for everything, even if that means waiting.

Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied. 

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . . 

And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply. 

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate 

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait? 

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign, 

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 

We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 

As my Master replied again, "Wait." 

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . . 

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me. 

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint. 

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

Have your cake and eat it to!

Well...as long as you have one real cake and one diaper cake!

One of Paul's classmates is having a baby this summer and we're going to a baby shower for her tonight. Brittany and Kaleb are a sweet couple, and we have enjoyed getting to know them over this past year. We are so excited for them and their anticipated bundle of joy. They are having a little boy, Max! I love that name! I think it's so cute. :)

I offered to make a diaper cake for the shower. I made one a year ago (OMG! has it already been that long) for my sister's baby shower, and knew I could make another one for tonight. It was easier this time than last and turned out super cute!

How to make a Diaper Cake


1. Start by rolling 60-70 diapers. You can either roll them so the picture on the front of the diaper shows, or you can roll them backwards so the diapers are all white. I chose to let the pictures show - the baby Sesame  Street characters are adorable.

2. Using an empty paper towel roll, start by making a ring of 6-7 diapers touching the paper towel roll, and secure with a rubber band. Then make another ring with 13-14 diapers, secured with a rubber band. Finally, make a third ring with 18-20 diapers secured with a rubber band.

3. Using the same method, make a second layer with two rings.

4. Finally, one the top layer, stick one diaper inside the paper towel tube so there's about an inch or so sticking out. Then make one final top layer with diapers.

5. Add some decorative ribbon.

6. Then add some other embellishments - I used some baby spoons, pacifiers (designed by dentists of course), and some burp cloths on top.

I had fun making it! I had an episode of "Terra Nova" on in the background. We just got Hulu Plus and I like dinosaurs, so I thought it would it offer decent entertainment while I played worked. I don't really consider myself crafty - I would love to be, but most of the time my "crafts" don't turn out well, so I'm glad this one turned out pretty good.

Hopefully I can take some pictures tonight of the shower itself and post them later.

God bless!

Cooking and Reading

This weekend was great having my parents here.

Friday we shopped downtown Homewood, ate at Mama Goldbergs for lunch, and Avo for dinner, which was amazing!

Saturday we did a little more shopping, went for a nice long walk around the neighborhoods behind our apartments, hung around the apartment for a while, and then for dinner we made pasta! My parents were excited to see how to, and help, make pasta, which we then turned into ravioli. We made two kinds whole wheat ravioli - butternut squash with a maple cream sauce, and spinach goat cheese with a roasted tomato basil pesto. However, here's the thing - we made the pasta first, obviously. While we were getting the sauces ready, I realized something...we couldn't tell the two kinds of pasta a part. From the outside they really looked exactly the same. So how were we to know which sauce to use on which ravioli?!? We made some very educated guesses, and I think we actually all guessed right. Both turned out very good!

Rolling out the dough with my Dad.

Filling the ravioli. 

The result of not knowing which sauce to pour over the whole plate - just put a dap on top. It just looks funny, but was still very tasty! 

We went to church Sunday morning, which was incredible again. We are so blessed to be able to attend the Church at Brook Hills while we are here. Dr. Plate is an amazing pastor who preaches the Word and nothing else. We are studying the book of Matthew, and this week was the Passion narrative. It was a good message about understanding the cross and the true importance and significance is has as we prepare for Easter next week.

I also finished reading the first two Hunger Games books. Obviously they have gotten a lot of hype recently, and I finally decided to see for myself. I'll admit, they were good. Maybe not the best books I've ever read, but still page turning and an interesting plot line. I'm still on the waiting list for the 3rd book at the library.

God Bless

A tourist in our own town

We've been here in Birmingham for a little over nine months. And it's been great! We have really come to love this city and all that is has offered us. It's big, but not too huge, and has quaint, small villages that have a variety of cute stores, tasty restaurants and other businesses.

However, we haven't seen everything or experienced all that Birmingham truly has to offer - the Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, all the restaurants, the antique stores, and of course all the shopping!

My parents are in town this weekend, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to do some of those touristy things. Yesterday morning we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was a perfect sunny, warm spring morning for walking through gardens (minus the screaming field trip kids).

I, of course, took my camera and practiced close ups of flowers. I wish I could tell you what each flower is, but I unfortunately have not started my botanical training yet. Some day, when I do have my own garden and green thumb, I hope to be able to tell you all about flowers because I really do love them.

And I really do want a big, colorful, bright, fragrant garden.

For dinner we tried a new restaurant, Avo, and loved it! It's a trendy California style restaurant in Mountain Brook Village. We split a plate of avocado dip with house fried chips, Paul had a Cali burger, I had a farro and roasted vegetable salad, my dad had a steak, and my mom had fish tacos. It was all SO good!

Tonight, we are cooking in. We're making pasta to make into ravioli. Can't wait!

God Bless

Awesome God and Blueberry Muffins

I love Pandora and healthy recipes!

And they go so well together! I turn on Pandora on my IPad, turn the volume up probably too loud, and jam out while cooking or baking...it's the only way to be in the kitchen baking.

Today, I was listening to "Group One Crew" radio station - they're a Christian mix of pop, rock, and a little rap, which is awesome to listen to for great up-beat songs that can get you singing way too loud and dancing around while mixing a teaspoon of this and tablespoon of that. One of the songs that came on was "Awesome God". Now, I grew up singing this song. We sang it at all of the Christian summer camps I ever went to, and I loved Michael W. Smith's version. However, this wasn't the summer camp version. It's my new favorite song right now. If you can stand rap, and yes, there are Christian rap bands out there, this is a great song! It's called Anthem by R-Swift. Then I remembered this version by Rich Mullins, another one I grew up singing, which is a flash back to the 90s! And then there's the Kirk Franklin version, which I first heard live at a Christian Music Festival in high school - it just makes me smile while walking down memory lane.

Oh Kirk Franklin...there are no words.

While I was singing out to my God full voice, I was also making these blueberry muffins. My sister made them for us when we went to visit a few weeks ago, and I have been waiting for an opportunity to make them my self. My parents are coming to visit this weekend, so I thought I would whip up some muffins for breakfasts of snacks.

Blueberry Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1 blended/mashed banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil and applesauce into a bowl; add the eggs, vanilla, blended bananas, and milk to fill the bowl. 
3. Mix this with flour mixture. 
4. Fold in blueberries. 
5. Fill muffin cups right to the top.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Very tasty! Thanks Mera for the recipe! 

God Bless

"Our God is an awesome God

He reigns from heaven above 

With wisdom, power, and love.

Our God is an AWESOME God!"

A Cajun Wedding

My childhood friend, Andrew, who has been like my brother growing up, got married last weekend in Baton Rouge. My sister, Meredith, and I decided to make a road trip out of it, so she and her baby, Henry, drove to Birmingham to pick me up and we drove over to BR. The drive was beautiful and was so easy. We drove through a lot of middle of no-where places, but got to see some beautiful landscape of Mississippi and Louisiana. Plus, we had six hours each way to talk and catch up and enjoy spending time with each other. Hanna had to work that day, so unfortunately she couldn't join us for the ride and she was greatly missed, but we were still able to catch up when we met up with her at the hotel.

 

My mom taught Henry how to say "yah" with his arms in the air! So every time we would say "yah, Henry!" he would hold his arms up! It was the cutest thing ever! 

As he is learning to make sounds and "talk", by making the "m" sound, he has learned how to make bubbles in his mouth! It's really funny, but so adorable. 

First time trying lemon at lunch on Saturday...he didn't like it too much. :) 

On Saturday before getting ready, we were able to walk around the city a bit. I had never been to Baton Rouge and although it was quiet in the city, it still looked like a neat city.
We walked to a pier and got to see the Mississippi River. This is also a view of the city from the pier. 

Looking down the Mississippi - made me think of Huckleberry Finn and Mark Twain. 

A proud Papa at the reception. 

The wedding cake. It was gorgeous and very tasty. 

Mrs. Overcarsh, Bev (my God-mother and also the mother of the groom), and my mom. 

 Mr. Overcarsh, my Dad, and Mr. Hutchinson (the father of the groom).

Me, Bev, Michael (grooms brother), and Hanna. Bev has always considered us her three daughters, and she has been like a second mom to us. Needlesstosay, Andrew and Michael are like our brothers!

 

Sadly enough, I did not get a picture of the groom and his beautiful bride. However, Kati looked absolutely stunning and I am so happy for the newly married couple. I pray their marriage will be full of wonderful life long years. 

God Bless

She said....

YES!

Congratulations to my wonderful brother-in-law, Scott, and his amazing fiance, Holly, on their engagement! 

We are so excited for you both and cannot wait to have Holly as a sister. 

We love you both so very much! God bless your marriage and your life together. 

God Bless