Oh gosh its been a while. I have been so busy lately. Trevor and I have been praying about our future for a while now. While Trevor did get a job we were praying about this other option months before and it has still been a possibility and we have continued to pray. God has clearly showed us that we need to keep pursuing because of the outcomes of various steps to get there. We might get a final YES within the next few weeks and then its on with a great adventure. It will be revealed at that time.

Carillons and Circus Clowns

So this Thursday I went to Carillon Historical Park in Dayton with the grandparents. I had been there before when I was in 5th grade for a field trip. But all I remember is the wright brother's bike shop and some other historical buildings. I have lived in Dayton all my life and thought that "Carillon" was someone's name. Did anyone else know that this is not so and that a carillon is a musical instruments containing at least 23 cast bronze cup-shaped bells. The deeds carillon in Carillon park has 50 bells. It is played just like a pipe organ by a carillonneur. He plays it in a little room in the bell tower. They are really popular in Belgium and the Netherlands and France. Mrs. Deeds was visiting Europe and was enamored by the beauty of this musical instrument she wanted to bring it to Dayton. So the Deeds family had the Carillon built in Dayton in 1942. How did I not know this. Did anyone else know this or am I the only one. I always knew the bell tower was there but I thought that it just chimed like a clock tower...which it does but that is not all apparently.

Moving on the Antioch Shrine Circus is in town and my grandpa is a Shriner so I get special coupons and get to go in a special entrance for the "Nobles" It makes me feel like a kid again once a year. I have gone since I was just a wee thing. It's always a good time.

A Bridal Shower for my Cousin

This Weekend my mother and sister and I threw a bridal shower for my cousin. She requested an "outdoor theme" because she likes to camp and enjoy the great outdoors with her soon to be husband. So here are some photos of the wonderful spread we had. First is the glorious cake I made to resemble a log. White cake rolled up with chocolate frosting and decorated to look like wood with the tines a fork. Thanks to my wonderful mother in law for the recipe for a "jelly roll cake" and the tips...this was my third cake the other 2 fell flat...literally. Amanda made the flower cookies to garnish my masterpiece.




That brings us then to the stuffed mushrooms, two kinds to be exact that simply melted in the guests mouths. One of my favorite appetizers my mom, sister and I make. We enjoy them frequently and enjoy the aromas that fill the house when preparing them. Notice the delicate scattering of smooth stones, fern and baby's breath to add simple elegance and girlish beauty to a theme that may be considered masculine by some.

Another shot at the glorious mushrooms and a simple pinwheel that I made that day. It is simply two 8oz packages of cream cheese, one packet taco seasoning and one small can of green chiles. Spread on tortillas...roll up and slice....yummmm. On the top tier of our perfectly fashioned stumps (my idea for our outdoor themed shower brought to life by my mother's boss who had the tools to perfectly slice and sand these beautiful creations) is the favor which we will get to in a moment. Peeking out the bottom of this photo below is our sliders....nothing says outdoors and camping like hamburgers but to fancy up this pastime we added a special sauce topped with cheese and pickle.



Next we have the favor a mini s'more kit to make at home to remember this fun day.



Other menu items included a delicious cheese tray, a veggie tray, the ever popular buffalo chicken dip and little smokies. Refreshing beverages included a Pink Lassie (a delicious punch including orange juice, cranberry juice and vanilla ice cream) and my homemade sugar free (sweetened with Truvia) raspberry ice tea and a vanilla nut coffee...there wasn't much left overs from this day. My cousin went home with an awesome assortment of gifts. It was considered a success and it was super fun to plan this party and come up with creative ideas to express the theme. What party should we plan next.

It's the start of something new, feels so right to be here with you....

So Trevor got a job hey hey hey hey!!! Hopefully he will like it and it will be a good match. If he stays there for a long time ie till we have kids that are college age they could go to wright state for free.

I can't tell you how excited I am to save the money we spend on COBRA each month.

Some thoughts

A month has went by since Mexico and it is still vivid in my mind at times. Sometimes I wish I could do more for others. Sometimes I just want to feel like I belong somewhere. Sometimes I want to get out of here and start fresh somewhere else. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the generosity of others. Sometimes I want to turn some of my poems into songs.

My Week in Mexico

I have not posted anything in a while. I wanted to post something about Mexico but the words weren't really coming to me. Not the ones I really wanted to attempt to express the magnitude of this trip. This trip was amazing and a completly new experience from 7 years ago when I went. God definately had a new purpose for me this time around. If I could sum up the week in a few words besides, "It was amazing" it would be "God is moving in Monterrey"

I was going to do a blurb for each day but I thought that would get a little boring to my readers. Of course it was exciting to me I was there. So I will high light the high points. We worked at 2 children's homes. Casa Hogar del Norte (CHDN) and El Retiro Juvenil (ERJ). I had been to these 2 before and I was so excited to see the counter top in the kitchen at ERJ. I helped build this concrete/tiled one after removing a crummy wood one 7 years ago. To see the completed project in use made me smile. We also took the kids from ERJ ice skating one day. It was so cute, some of the kids had never been and they don't get to do stuff like that very often so it was a fun experience to share with them.

CHDN has younger kids than the other homes on average. It is the only one that takes babies. They are always the ones we want to stuff in our suit cases and bring home with us. I helped build bookshelves for the new library that they are making for the kids.

But the best experience of them all was Cadereyta. Cadereyta was an impoverished neighborhood near Monterrey. I have never been touched so much by a place and by the people in it than while I was there one evening and then the next day to work. We went to a church there, just a plain concrete building, no paint, just a few small banners with scripture and some wooden benches to sit on. No distractions, no video games for the teens to play before the service, no cafe tables to congregate at. It was a night just for worship. I spent the first bit of time just observing, I didn't know any of the songs since they were in Spanish. What I observed were people passionate about the God that they serve, if they weren't walking with God they were passionate about seeking Him and passionate about praising Him in that moment. The Holy Spirit filled that place. The genuineness of the worship and the people there just tugged at my heart. Why you ask? Well I will tell you. First of all these people have next to nothing and they were in there on their knees raising their hands and praising God with all that was in them. They could have said that night "what has God done for me, why does he deserve my praise, I bring home $5 a day to a shack and sleep in the dirt" but that night they chose to Worship God and let Him fill them with the Holy Spirit, they stood their broken and wanted nothing more than to be with Jesus. This made me angry, not what they were doing but the comparison of what happens at home in the "American Dream" of a life. We go to our fancy church buildings, we take a shower and put on nice clothes before we go, we worship for 15-20 minutes and stand their with our arms crossed, some don't even sing. We are distracted about what nice restaurant we are going to for dinner after wards or who we might hang out with, we think about work on monday at our cushy jobs, we might be tired from the night or day before and just want to go home and sleep. What the crap people!!?!?!?! The people of Cadereyta put all their troubles aside (legit troubles, like how am I going to feed my kids) and praise God with 100% of all they have within them for hours because literally that is all they have in this world, they go dirty and smelly and yet if someone did that here we would judge them for it. But God loves the dirty and the smelly and loves their genuine heart. He is their only hope and they know that and they rely on Him for everything. After observing I had the opportunity to pray for a girl who lived in this place, I laid my hands on her and prayed for her and it is a moment I will never forget.

Over all I was really convicted, I felt a giant slap on my face every day. I sit at home in my nice apartment and I have a fridge full of food and a furnace in the winter, a shower, a bed to sleep in. And those are more of what we might consider necessities. That's not including, my TV, my computer, my phone etc. the list goes on. And yet I feel slighted because I am getting payed by unemployment (more than $5 a day, mind you) and not by a job. What the blast. None of that freaking matters, our life is only a vapor, stuff can't go with us when we die and God always provides.

So, now that you have ready my story, I would like to ask you to pray for the people of Cadereyta because they need prayer, the kids need prayer. Their only hope is Jesus. Pray that they would rely on Him and continue to rely on Him. Pray that seeds would continue to be planted in their hearts. Pray that God would always provide for them and for the Church that only stands because people have faith. When I go again I pray that church is busting at the seams with the people of Cadereyta giving their lives to Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading.

Potato and Cheese Stuffed Chilis

This recipe was a fun one to try, it was not diet approved for me but did have some health benefits and was super yummy.It's pretty authentic Mexican. People don't consider potato Mexican because they don't have anything potato typically at Mexican Restaurants. However, Mexican's use it a lot and typically mix it in with the meat that they use for a taco or burrito etc.
So here goes.
3 large Anaheim or Poblano peppers or 6ish small sweet peppers (i used sweet peppers this time because the store I went to didn't have poblanos but I do know I have seen them before at other stores.1 1/2 C chopped sweet potatoes or potatoes (i did half and half and kept them separate because I wanted to try both.
1-3 TBSP of milk
1/3 C finely chopped green onion

2 teaspoons of Chili powder1 clove garlic minced1/2 C shredded asadero, queso quesadilla, Chihuahua or monterey jack cheese (most of these cheeses can't be found at your average store and the "mexican blend" supposedly has a mix of some of these however it is NOTHING like cheese in mexico sorry Kraft but that being said it will taste good in this recipe
1 egg white beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350. Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and membranes.In a saucepan cook peppers in boiling water for about 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain well.

In another saucepan cook potatoes for about 15 minutes in boiling lightly salted water. Drain, mash potatoes adding milk 1 table spoon at a time until mixture is fluffy. Stir in green onions, chili powder and garlic. Stir in 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and egg white.Spoon potato into peppers. Place peppers close together in the prepared baking dish. Bake covered for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle tops with remaining cheese. Eat and enjoy....