Friday, November 30, 2007

Sugar cookie recipe and icing recipe

I found a good sugar cookie recipe in a Parenting magazine this week. I thought I would share it with you. Here it is. I have to admit that I tried to roll and cut my cookies before the dough was hard enough, so I gave up and formed little circles. I need to practice that. I've never used cookie cutters before... I bought a ton of cookie cutters because I planned on making this a tradition with our children, so I need to figure it out!

In addition, Monica shared an icing recipe on her blog awhile back, so I dug that up and used it. I can't believe how easy it was to make homemade icing. Why didn't I think of this sooner???
Here is her icing recipe (I couldn't link to the icing post alone):


3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
Small drops of milk gradually added

Food coloring as desired

Mix all ingredients to the desired consistency with a hand mixer. This amount will frost one batch of sugar cookies or cupcakes or will fill and frost a two-layer 9 inch round cake (thin layer).
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I just found an overnight coffee cake recipe and am going to try it out tonight to take to a breakfast tomorrow. We're going to Bluffton to a friend's church for breakfast and then to a parade. It should be fun! I will share the recipe if it is any good!

Don't forget to read the post below this one!

Update on Jaden

I read today's update on Jaden's website and had some tears. I have never met this baby, but my heart aches for him and his parents. They have decided not to do the stem cell transplant after speaking to doctors. Please read the blog update and pray for this baby and his parents. This is a fatal disease, but I know that our God is capable of healing Jaden. Thanks for praying! Here is Jaden's website.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thanksgiving photos















Uncle Doug and Samuel















Doug, his girlfriend of 5 years named Lauren, and Samuel















family photo














Papa, Grammy, and Samuel













Uncle Nick and Samuel
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I'm posting a lot today, so make sure you scroll down for 2 more posts.

Jeremy, Samuel, and I spent Thanksgiving in Birmingham with Jeremy's mom, step-dad, brothers, and their girlfriends. We had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer! We had a yummy dinner that Jackie and Donna fixed. We also spent some time and money at a local thrift store, which is the nicest one I've ever seen! Lastly, Samuel celebrated Christmas early, which was so much fun for him! He loves his toys!!! I almost forgot to add that Jeremy and I had a chance to eat some yummy pupusas at a local restaurant. We haven't had one since we lived in Honduras. I also satisfied a craving by eating Little Caesar's pizza. :) Must be those pregnancy hormones... It's too bad we don't have one here. We'll have to move to Atlanta for me to live near one.

Samuel loves Grand-Dad!!!



Samuel loves his Grand-Dad! I took these photos before Thanksgiving.

You can help a little baby boy!


My heart was saddened when I heard about the grandson of a lady from church. His name is Jaden, and he is 5 months old. He was recently diagnosed with a fatal disease called Krabbes. Jaden and his parents are currently at Duke University seeing doctors. The only thing that could save his life is a stem cell transplant, which will cost $850,000. Not only is this a lot of money, but it also has to be paid upfront. I'm not writing to ask you for money, but I am asking you to pray and to consider giving blood to his account. Here is Jaden's website. God bless you for praying!

Monday, November 26, 2007

the pregnancy journey, big news, and prayer requests

I'm 10 weeks pregnant, which means that I'm a 1/4 of the way to delivering our baby. I don't know how I'm going to wait 30 more weeks to meet the baby, but I guess I really don't have a say in the matter... It is very exciting to think about that day!

My morning sickness is basically late morning, afternoon, and evening sickness. I am hoping that I will be better by 14 weeks. The fatigue is also hard when you're chasing a toddler around. I try to go to bed early if I don't get a nap. These days I have a hard time falling asleep in the middle of the day.

BIG NEWS---Over the holidays, we agreed on baby names. Since the middle names aren't set in stone, I won't include them. Vance is our boy name, and Kylee is our girl name. Vance is Jeremy's middle name, which I've always loved. Kylee is a name I came across and liked. Our middle names will be family names, and we will share once we know the sex, which should be in the middle of February.

Prayer requests:

1. Please pray for Samuel, me, and the baby. Jeremy no longer has work in town, so we are spending most of our time apart. Thankfully I have my parents in town, but no one can replace my husband... Those pregnancy hormones are definitely making me sad. I miss Jeremy so much when he's gone.

2. We SO need to sell our house. We have no offers or offers in the works. Please pray for the perfect buyer to come our way. Jeremy and I don't want to have to rent the house, but we will end up doing that if we don't have a buyer in the next few months. Our latest 3 month contract is up on February 23. That will mark 9 months on the market, so we feel like we would need to take it off at that point. Please pray that it doesn't come to that. As we tell our realtor, we are willing to negociate, but it's hard to do that when you don't get any offers... Just pray that God will send someone with an offer or show us what to do with this house.

3. Please pray for Vance or Kylee as he or she grows in the womb.

4. Jeremy and Spencer are looking for more work. Please pray for the Lord to lead them to the right people.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

In case you were wondering...

Some of you may have been wondering why I took such a long break from blogging. I have been sick for weeks, and since I don't expect that to change until the middle or end of December, I thought I would explain. I am so happy to show you the following:

God answered our prayers! To some of you, this sonogram picture and heartbeat mean nothing, but to our family they mean so much! This baby may be small now, but on June 25, this precious gift from God will join our family! I can't express how happy I am to be carrying another baby in my womb! He has filled our hearts with wonder! What a miracle that could only come from God!

On Tuesday, my doctor said that the baby is doing well and had a heartbeat of 171 bpm. We both enjoyed seeing our baby and hearing his or her heartbeat. Jeremy and I can't wait to hold this baby in our arms, and Samuel says "boy" every time you ask him if he wants a boy or a girl. We can't wait for him to be a big brother. He did so well being gentle with Bryce, so that was encouraging. In fact, Amy offered to come help me last week because I was so sick and was having a hard time since Jeremy is traveling now. She was such a blessing! She cooked and watched Samuel to give me a break. What a true friend!

Please keep baby #2 in your prayers! I have another appointment on Dec. 11, and I will let you know how that goes. We might have another ultrasound then since the tech was out sick and the doctor isn't as experienced in these things. That would be fun to have another peek before we have the big ultrasound in February. Oh, what fun to follow! I can't wait to find out the sex!

Have a blessed day!

Amy and Bryce's visit last week

Last week we had a visit from Amy and Bryce. Thanks for making the 5 hour drive to see us! It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them! Bryce is almost 5 months old now, and we hadn't seen him since he was a few weeks old. It's been awhile... He has grown so much since then. Samuel called Bryce by name and called Amy by "Mamy". It is so cute how Samuel is now learning to say names. I love it!

Bryce is such a cutie! Here are some pictures I took while they were in town.





Aunt Jo


Samuel hadn't seen his aunt Jo in a year, and he was so happy to see her! He took to her better than he's taken to anyone. She was just so good with him that he couldn't help but love her! She played with him on the floor and interacted with him so well! It was great to hear him call her, "Jo". He is missing her! We passed a woman in the church parking lot on Sunday, and he called her Jo. He must really want to see Jo again! Please come back soon, Aunt Jo!!!!