April Happenings

Good afternoon, dear Friends!

You know how it's hard to fill your mom, sister, or good friend in all the details of things if you haven't talked to them in a while?  In turn, it usually takes longer to actually make that long phone call to catch up on everything?  Ha....I feel like that here at my blog.  Life is happening in wonderful ways, but as time slips between each post and I'm taking more pictures the thought of sharing all the stories, photos and thoughts from the past day, week, month becomes all the more daunting.  As I write I'm going to incorporate some photos I've taken over the past few weeks to share with you inside my family's world.  With spring break behind us and both kid's birthdays and not to mention Easter, I don't have time to share it all but ... anyways... enough with the rambling! 

Where do I begin?

What a better way to start than the present....

Right now it's a beautifully rainy looking afternoon and the yard and zillion trees we have on our property look gorgeous in their Irish green!

This morning the kids and I spent most of the morning outside as the sun was shining and I wanted them to get some outdoor times before all the rain comes over the weekend.  The kids played and I began some maintenance yard work, which I really enjoy. Once they saw I was in the flower garden pulling weeds they got excited to join me and I was happy for the help!

These pictures here were taken over the course of the last month...

If you don't know, we live on 4 acres of land that borders several acres of woods on one side.  We have a few established flower gardens in our landscape and around our yard, and those are one of the reasons I was so attracted to this home because they are gorgeous!  The yard our house sits on has over 120 trees alone (yes, I've counted!), so when I say yard work, there is always lots to do! Let's just say it's a very good thing I love the outdoors so much.  It's actually a real blessing for us to have large yard to enjoy! 

Sweet girl has the sun in her eyes!  We were enjoying some quilt time in the yard on a hot April day.  This is one of the many ways we've enjoyed our home this spring!

There's Pebble, basking in the sun with us. 

Our cat is the best cat ever!  I've had a few litters in my lifetime, so I should know!

Watering our newly planted hydrangeas! My husband has spruced up our landscape beautifully this year with new plants.  Thank you, Honey!

So this morning the kids wanted to help me out with the yard work, and it almost became like a game to all do together!  They usually enjoy helping my husband and I outside and since they're growing up at 6 and 7 years old they really do help!  So we were picking up limbs out of the yard, pulling weeds in the flower gardens and I even trimmed some new growth branches on trees that we don't want.  We took a walk around our meadow to see the big evergreen that's covered in honeysuckle!  It smells dreamy when the wind catches the flowery scent and carries it across the field. The temperature was perfect today and while as I sit here typing my back is aching from bending over so much on the ground, being outside and doing all those things along side my kids put me in my "happy place". This time of year is just refreshing for my soul!


Friends, I just got finished doing what I love doing most and haven't done for months!

I just got finished whipping up a big batch of dark chocolate Ghiradelli chocolate chip cookies!!!  Oh my word, these are going to be delish!  The batter is resting in the fridge before I bake a few off tonight after supper.  If you've followed me for a while you already know that years ago I discovered from a pastry chef-friend of mine that most cookie recipes taste the ultimate after allowing the dough to be in the fridge for at least 8 hours or up to 3 days. 





This cookie batter looks and smells so good!  I've never made the Ghiradelli's recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but seeing that that is my favorite kind of cookie to eat, and my favorite kind of chocolate chip, I thought it was high time! 

Let me fill you in on a little guilty pleasure of mine....  Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips, right out of the bag!  They are just so creamy and smooth and larger than the average chip!  In a perfect world --or who am I kidding?--after a long day, they are my go-to treat with a cup of coffee and a good book or movie. 

So this cookie recipe is right on the bag.  I'll let you know how we like them.  If you want to know my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, check this cookie recipe out for my double chocolate sea salt cookies!

This will be the first treat my husband and I have had for quite a while.  We have began a healthier lifestyle that drastically reduces desserts.  We'll never totally cut them out, because a dessert is part of life's little pleasures, and saying "never" is just shooting yourself in the foot when you're talking about a lifestyle change.  We've decided to be very thoughtful about what we eat throughout the day and have the occasional favorite treat...  so needless to say, I am that much more ready to bite into a deliciously warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie!! 

I've got a pork tenderloin cooking down in the slow cooker with BBQ sauce for homemade BBQ sandwiches.  (Heath and I will be enjoying sans bun.) It smells divine in the house right now!  I plan to make some sweet potatoes and green beans to go along side.

Before I go, I have to say that I hope that you all had a beautiful Easter celebrating The Resurrection!

Bubby's eyes were swollen on Easter due to allergies, but aren't they precious!

I just love this sweet eyelet dress.

Easter has become even more meaningful to me since having children.  From the weight of dwelling on our Savior's death on "Good" Friday to the overwhelming joy and praise that comes on reflecting on His resurrection on Sunday always makes me cling tighter to Jesus and the power of the gospel in my own life.  I want them to see us living out that celebration year round... 

It's the story that my life sings!!! 

And I love sharing it with my kids and finding creative ways to do so.  One of our favorite traditions is making yummy resurrection rolls with the kids!  They're an easy way to incorporate the story of the resurrection with children and something they help make and eat! They have come to ask to make these every time spring rolls around!  We still give the kid's Easter baskets, although candy is not what we want it to be all about, it's just so sweet to see their eyes light up at the sight of the basket.

I look forward to putting together a cute Easter basket for them.  For many years Heath and I dreamed about being able to do these family traditions with our own children.  I would walk the candy isle praying the Lord would bless us with a child to love.  I can testify that God has been so faithful to us, and now we have 2 kids!!! 

I hope you're enjoying the last weekend we have in April, before the busy month of May begins.   The month of yard sales beginning, Mother's Day, and when the end of the school year field trips,  award programs and graduations are being held.  Memorial Day will be after that and then we'll be in the Summertime swing! 

We're ending the month of April with a Night of Worship (woohooo!) at our church on Sunday.  I'm excited about that as we're practicing and preparing for the Lord to change lives that night.  That's what He does best!

Have a beautiful weekend and talk to you again soon!

The Beauty of Imperfect Traditions

This morning I'm reflecting on family and tradition, something our family in particular thrives on!  There is something I find so comforting about a long standing tradition, because we grow to look forward to it and love it so.

A wonderful example is one we always had of worshipping God together at church every Sunday morning, followed by the big meal perhaps homemade or a favorite restaurant,  and then the glorious nap.  

The birthday celebrations with family or friends involving a favorite meal and dessert followed by a nap (just kidding), more like good conversations on the front porch swing while sipping coffee.

The most classic are the various holiday traditions customized to your own family's liking.  If your family is close in spirit as ours is, they usually include the most magical memories and are always oozing of cozy aromas in a bustling house, favorite movies, reminiscing, and excitement that brings you back to the good ole days of childhood!

I particularly thrive in this sort of thing!  I love wholesome traditions!

But, God is helping me to grasp not so tight on the same things that I see needing be perfectly predictable, because the past several years there have been many changes in our life.  

I'm learning that although usually uncomfortable in the beginning, change can be a wonderful thing!  

Comparing to an iconic literary character on this, I would be like Jo March from Little Women.  Growing up I always wanted to marry, but other than that I wanted a very consistent, change-free life for myself and siblings!  (That seems so naive and selfish, come to think of it.)

Hahahahahahaha!!!!

Excuse my chuckling, but that was before I really asked the Lord what He wanted from my life.  For me, that was indeed a big change!

Yes, I married the love of my life, which was answered prayer.

After just a few years we moved away from our entire family... to the city!   I'm a country mouse, remember?

Albeit, we stayed in Kentucky, but 3 1/2 hours away might as well have been halfway across the country!  No one in our family has ever moved away like this!

Of course that came with everything a big move involves: new church, friends, work, grocery shopping, zip code, neighborhood and insecurities.  This is the beginning of the real change God was doing.  The one inside myself!  My comfort zone had been obliterated, minus my husband by my side.

He was in medical school which meant I worked a lot to compensate to the investment my hubby was making.  My mom has always been blessed to be a "house wife", so me being the breadwinner for several years was a big difference.

Getting back to where we were...

These days, other than Christmas (praise God), our traditions have had to be much more flexible in order to remain.  I can't be at all my siblings and parent's birthdays or at every Easter and Fourth of July celebration, bonfire, or wedding, as much as that hurts.  One year, my husband worked on Thanksgiving so we didn't see family at all that year!  I wouldn't have dreamed such a thing 10 years ago.

Before this sounds like a pathetic pity party, let me explain.  It gets better! God always has worked things out for us to have our most important traditions, but we've learned to get creative and become flexible!  Any growing family understands this concept, but if you haven't just take it from me, it'll make life much easier!

That particular Thanksgiving, no we didn't go home, but the weekend before when Mr. Cozy had a day off, my family came in, and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the very first time ever!  Mom helped by bringing some of the food, but I cooked a turkey for the first time among other new dishes.  It became a memorable celebration we'll always talk about!  On Thanksgiving day that year I decided to actually get out all my Christmas decor and decorate the house.  No reason to mope around!

This goes for many birthday celebrations, too.  The exact day doesn't matter a bit, and yes sometimes my brother (who now lives in Chicago) can't fly in, or Papa (who works out of town a lot) may not be able to make this time, but it's okay!  Life goes on, so I don't want to be left crying over all the "imperfect" traditions when there is still much to celebrate!

This brings me back to the present.  Last Sunday was Easter or Ressurection Sunday, and my groom had to work all day and night long on that particular day.   So on Friday night, our own family of four celebrated together at our house-- Easter egg hunt and all!  The day didn't matter a bit to the kids, and if anything it just extended the holiday.  That way as parents we could still have festivities in our own home!  It was great fun!

 

Mr. Cozy encouraged us to go back to my parents house for the rest of the weekend since he wouldn't be around anyways.  He didn't want for the children to miss out a thing.  (He's a wonderful Daddy!)  I decided to do that, and I'm so glad we did!  My brother and Papa (my dad) wasn't able to come in either, but it was me and the kids, my sister and Mom.  We had the best time!!!! Being our children's first Easter with us, it was a very special one!!!

We came in Saturday evening to find the front porch ready for a beautiful, country Easter dinner.  

Fried chicken, homemade coconut pie, and all!

My favorite kind of food!

Mom took the time to make the setting relaxing and casual, but oh-so beautiful and serene as we indulged in fresh cut corn, cheesy potatoes, rolls with strawberry butter, and the likes.

Sometimes with a sweet little pea on my lap!

Of course sweet tea with lemon was in order-- and the children just loved their little bunny mugs to drink from!   They were big stuff! Hehe

They had their own precious table and chairs set for them.  It's one my parents have had since I was 5 years old.  If only that small wooden table could talk!

The kids had fun playing with Grammy (Mom) while I caught up talking with my sis.

The next morning I woke up and went to relax with warm cinnamon coffee in my robe on the porch before the kids awoke.

I breathed deep the fresh country air, hearing only birds chirping and the warm breeze blowing in the baby leafed trees.  

I can feel God more when I'm outside,  it's something about being surrounded by His creation that surrounds me with His love!  But especially on Easter morn.

What lovely memories we made, although not our usual Easter traditions with some family missing, it was the best celebration I could've asked for!  I am so in love with my children, and was so proud of them at church.  I wanted to stand us and praise him the "charismatic" way in that small, sweet Baptist church. ;)

I never tire of hearing the gospel message and being surrounded by my family in the church pews.

The beauty of the day was birthed from the calm in my heart.  

The steadiness of our family remains despite distance.  

Tradition is all well and good, but true celebration and heartfelt love will run deep nonetheless!

Happy Easter, A little late

Jesus is alive!!!!

He has saved, set me free from my sin, and redeemed my life through His finished work on the cross!

I could go on and on about God's love for us, and mine for Him.  For now I'll leave it at that as I take a few more minutes on my parent's front porch to meditate on Him before getting the family ready for church.

If you don't know Him as your Lord and Saviour... Don't wait any longer.  He loves you infinitely no matter your present or past situation!  Please find a Bible believing church to go to or email me and I would love to tell you more!

Happy Easter!!!

**I wrote this yesterday morning while sipping coffee at my parent's house in the country, but I just realized it didn't publish until just now. So here it is now, but with a few extra pictures of the rest of the day which was lovely and included church with grandparents, dinner at a restaurant on the lake, and an Easter egg hunt.  So blessed!  If you notice, Mr. Cozy isn't in the pics because he had to work all day and also was on call that night at the hospital, too.  We sorely missed him!  Here goes...**

Amazing Family, Delicious Food, and the Love of Christ!

 

It's a another cold day here in Kentucky, as I woke to a heavy dusting of snow as more fluffy flakes fell to the ground.  It was one of those keep your robe on, lights some candles, and get an extra large mug of coffee kind of mornings! 

 

We've had a few of those lately despite the rumor that spring is here!  I don't want to complain, because I do love snow and the excuse to keep my fireplace on all day.  But, where was this over Christmastime??

 

My husband has the day off, as he worked 'till 3:00 am last night and deserved at least a morning to sleep in!  I thought it would be a perfect time to make some homemade Good Morning Blueberry Muffins and surprise him with the smell of cinnamon and sugar when he woke up!

 

 

We enjoyed our muffins and coffee.  We talked about some uncertainty in our lives, but my hubby was quick to remind me of how the Lord is sustaining us and has given us amazing peace when we aren't for sure what the future holds!

 

I won't go into details in this post, but most of you who have read my blog for a while now know that we're praying and believing for children.  We have actually tried for almost 7 years now, and while it feels like we've been running a marathon of a race for years without a break, the Lord has been faithful.  He has truly accomplished a miraculous thing in us by taking away constant fear, anxiety, stress, discouragement and hopelessness that I felt for a long period of time.  I still have difficult days when I miss our baby girl in Heaven, but God helps me manage those with His love and peace that is no less than unexplainable!

 

The more I read His Word, the more I trust Him.  The more I trust Him, the easier it becomes and the better I hear His voice.  

 

He is showing us the way and giving us direction, but that will be for another blog post! :)

 

 

I have a big pot of chili simmering in the crock pot and should be ready tonight just before worship team practice at church!  I can't wait for practice tonight!!  We're singing in the ensemble this week on Easter, and I'm really looking forward to it!  Praising His name on Resurrection Day is my honor!

 

 

So I'm going to back up to last Friday, and let you in on my weekend that was full of family and food!

 

Since we were having complany, I bought a lovely bouquet of delicate tulip buds that were too pretty not to photo! 

 

 

 

I haven't seen my family in a while, and I've been missing our "girls time", so Mom and my sister Faith, came up for a quick visit!!!

 

When they arrived and after all the hugs, I made us a pot of delicious French press coffee to enjoy in some spring tea cups.  We love being girly!

 

 

They delivered to me a spring/summer wreath that I ordered from my really good friend, Sarah from Wreaths By Sarah.  She made it custom for me, and I just love it!!  The gorgeous "C" in the middle is my favorite part, and it looks beautiful on my black front door!  It makes a statement, even from the street.

 

Now my door is officially ready for Spring!

 

 

We decided to stay in Saturday night and make some homemade pizza.  Oh my goodness, we had so much fun!!!

 

Here you can see a variety of things including, Roma tomatoes, green and kalamata olive, red and orange bell peppers, red onion, fresh basil, turkey pepperoni, parm cheese, fresh mozzarella slices, more grated mozzarella and Colby-jack cheeses. 

 

Everything looked yummy!

 

 

Here I am trying my best to roll out and pat fresh pizza dough from Trader Joes (garlic & herb fresh dough) into the pan.  It kept tearing and giving me trouble, so I had a frown-y face!  (hahaha!)

 

 

Success!!!  Thanks to us all working together, we built two gorgeous pizzas!

This one is half margarita, which is sliced fresh mozz, Roma tomatoes, and basil leaves with a drizzle of olive oil.  The other side was grated mozz and turkey pepperoni. 

 

The other one (that you don't see here) is a veggie pizza on fresh whole wheat dough with red and orange peppers, olives, thinly sliced onion, tomatoes, basil and mixture of mozzarella and Colby-jack cheese.  We showered both pizzas with Italian seasonings and dried oregano.  YUM!!!

 

 

We're excited to put our masterpiece pizzas in the oven! 

Please don't mind the "every day-around the house look" about me.  I originally didn't think about all these pictures going on the blog. :)

 

 

Like I said, delicious.

 

 

 

Oh, and the pizza sauce is my own that I made from scratch! It's really easy to do. I don't have the measurements, but it consists of:

crushed tomatoes

tomato paste

minced garlic

onion powder

Italian seasoning

dried oregano

pinch of sugar

extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper

I make it a few hours ahead of time and store it in a mason jar in the fridge. It bakes on the pizza, but isn't cooked before so the flavors are bright and fresh! It's so delicious!!

 

 

We had a green salad of English cucumber, romaine lettuce, and baby spinach to go along with the meal.  We all agreed that making the pizzas was the yummiest idea, and the memories we made were just as good as the pizza! 

 

 

The next morning, Mr. Cozy actually didn't have to go into work which was a surprise.  He fixed us one of our favorite breakfast treats, Delicious Sticky Buns to go along with eggs and bacon.  These sticky buns filled with raisins, pecans and cinnamon and are some of the easiest and best little things a person can eat!

 

It was a very special way of starting off Palm Sunday before we headed to an awesome service at church.

 

It was cold and rainy on Sunday, and when Mom suggested we go to The Grape Leaf for lunch we agreed that was a terrific idea.

 

The Grape Leaf is one of our favorite local places!  It's an authentic Mediterranean restaurant in Louisville that serves everything so fresh and full of flavor. (As you can see, I ordered the beef-lamb gyro with lots of tzitziki sauce with cauliflower rice that was full of almonds and herbs and spices.)

 

The atmosphere is very cozy with candles on every table, warm golden colors and even a large fountain in the back corner that is so tranquil!  We sipped coffee and enjoyed the experience on a drizzly day.

 

 

The whole weekend was a blessing to us all! 

I am reminded of the good things the Lord has been so gracious to give me.  I don't deserve to have such an incredible family that loves one another so much, but I was born into that kind of stable home.  My praise and thanksgiving to God has power to help diminish the other things that I too often focus on not having!

 

I'm going to go now and check on my chili, but I hope you can also reflect on how the love and grace of God has been poured into your own life this Easter week. 

 

 Jesus Christ died on the cross because He loves us so very much (too much to comprehend)!  John 3:16-17

 

He actually carried all of the sins of the world.... all the sins that ever happened and will ever exist.  The perfect and blameless Jesus was carrying that load when He died, so that now we have eternal life and have a blessed hope of eternity with Jesus Christ!  We can boldly pray to God in Jesus name to forgive us of our sins, and we will be cleansed, set free and redeemed!!  Friends, I will tell you that I don't deserve that kind of love and grace.  But God thinks so! 

 

So when I have a moment of discouragement, I think about how much He loves me.

 

  When I comprehend that love--as much as my human brain can--I realize there is NO REASON for fear in my life.  If He loves me enough to die an agonizing death and bring Himself back to life, how much more will He do in my own life for His glory and praise!? :D   1 John 4:18, 1 John 4:4&5

 

He is Risen!!!

 

 

.... Now I really need to check my chili. :)