Food, Faith, and Fun

31 March 2014

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Food: there’s nothing better than breaking bread with your friends. In this case, pizza.

 

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Faith: Then gathering around to study God’s word.

 

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Fun: And spending the rest of the day in fellowship, having fun and playing games.

Pretty much a perfect Sunday is you ask me. :)

We’ve come to look forward to our monthly time of hosting bible study and fellowship. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have our children gathered around our feet (with their bibles open), fully engaged and participating in bible study. Of course, as children, you never know what’s going to come out of their mouths. However, their answers and their enthusiasm have been an incredible encouragement to us all!

We are so grateful to the Lord for the gift of godly friendships! 

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” ~Proverbs 27:17

Bird’s Nest Cookies (w/peanut butter)

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Last year, we made these adorable springtime cookies with chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. This year, we changed it up by adding peanut butter instead of butterscotch. Four ingredients is all you need.
*I accidentally dropped the bag of eggs before I opened them so half of them were cracked. I told Faith the eggs were about to hatch. :) 
 
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She couldn’t wait to make these.

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Melt the choc chips and peanut butter and gentle coat all the noodles.

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We used a mini muffin pan and packed the nest while trying to leave a little well for the eggs.

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Cool in the fridge until ready to eat and then share them with friends!
Bird’s Nest Cookies
makes 24
  • 12 oz. milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 12 oz.bag of chow mein noodles
  • mini Cadbury eggs
Melt choc chips and pb in large bowl and stir in chow mein noodles until evenly coated.
Coat/spray the mini muffin pan with vegetable oil and pack in each nest, leaving a small well for the eggs. Top with eggs or jelly beans.
Cool to set in the fridge (about 20 mins.) Using a sharp knife, pop each nest out gently. Store in an air tight container in the fridge until ready to serve.

Friday Phone Photos, volume 2

28 March 2014

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Spring garden.

 

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Soccer match.

 

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Soaking in the sun.

 

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Snacking on seaweed.

 

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New life springs.

 

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Keep looking up.

People wait all week for Friday, all year for summer, all life for happiness.

We must remember to enjoy the right now.

“Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.”

ReMoved

27 March 2014

A deeply moving and powerfully told story, “ReMoved” is the winner of numerous short film awards.

It is the gripping story of a young girl’s journey through the foster care system.

Every year in America, 640,000 children spend time in foster care.

Throughout our adoption journey, we are learning the harsh reality that every child comes with their own heartbreaking story.

However, God has not forgotten them. Their story doesn’t have to end there.

“A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.
God sets the lonely in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”
 –Psalm 68:5-6

orphans

But because we are the rescued.

BBQ & Baptisms

24 March 2014

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The girls always have a great time hanging out with our church family and playing at Jordan Outreach.

 

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Buddies.

 

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Pastor Steve baptized 10-12 people and half of them were kids, under the age of 12. Sweet!

 

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The day was hot but the pool was refreshingly chilly!

 

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Tetherball… takes me right back to elementary school.

 

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Our weekend was full. In addition to all the party festivities on Saturday, our church’s monthly BBQ was on Sunday. Once in a while, they also hold baptisms and we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to witness those who have decided to be obedient to the Lord by making a public declaration of their faith (by water baptism).

It’s always such an encouragement and blessing to see folks get baptized!

Praise the Lord for stirring hearts to action and increasing the size of His Army!  

Butterfly Party

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Welcome to our Butterfly Party! The day finally arrived. The girls were SO EXCITED.

Last month, we found this pretty wreath from a yard sale. I paid one whole dollar for it! For the party, I added some clip-on butterflies to make it festive. Also $1!   

 

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The fabric flower door garland we made turned out beautiful.

I think it says,”Here’s the party. Come on in!”

 

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Our TWO beautiful birthday girls! They love sharing their birthday with each other! Everything is better with your BFF. :)

Decorations: Funny, I realized I had never really decorated for a party before. I may have bought some balloons and flowers and called it good. Let’s be honest, that’s all I had the time and energy for in the past. With the girls being older now, we had SO MUCH FUN planning and making the decorations together. We would chit-chat while doing it and they would talk about how they would plan their future daughter’s birthday and teach them how to make things, too. Lots of sweet mommy/daughter moments.  

 

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We hung paper lanterns over the focal table and hot glued butterflies to them.

 

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Daddy also strung big tissue paper poms and flying butterflies from the upstairs banisters.

 

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The girls and I made all the tissue paper flower poms. They added a girlie and whimsical pop to the party and they were way cheaper than real flowers.

The Food: We had 40 people so I wanted to keep things pretty simple. Our local Super Target’s deli is awesome so I knew I wanted to order a few platters from them. However, I also wanted to make a few “butterfly themed” things for the party as well.

 

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This was an Italian Pasta Salad, made with bowtie (or butterfly) pasta.

 

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I thought this would be a fun treat for the kids and it sort of went along with the theme.

 

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Another easy treat to make were these cute fruit cones.

 

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The Butterfly Nectar went over amazing!

It’s just Peach Mango V-8 Fusion. Lots of ice cuts the sweetness and frozen peaches makes it pretty.

 

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I bought these edible butterfly toppers on ETSY and placed the paper thin creatures on each cupcake, right before the party. I love how they turned out. They looked so delicate… and real!

 

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Lovely!

 

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In addition to the sandwich platters, I rounded out the spread with some chicken wings, meatballs and a few snacks.

All in all, the food prep was easy. It was a good mixture of store bought items and easy to prepare party food.

My goal was to have everything on the table and ready when the guests arrived. In other words, I wanted to be present and enjoy this party, too!

 

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Kara, our sweet artist friend.

 

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Miss Rory and my girlfriend, Hailey.

 

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Kara is so cute. She came with a menu of Garden Creatures for the kids.

Party Games: So, we had 3 games planned.

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First, was Butterfly Badminton.

 

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Basically, it’s just a game of keeping the balloon up with your butterfly net. We figured it would give the kids something to do as they arrived. Unfortunately, the wind picked up a little and the balloons either blew away or all popped. Oh well, the kids had fun with it anyway!

 

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Next came the Cocoon Wrap.

 

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Each team had to use their entire roll of toilet paper to wrap their cocoon. Whoever uses up all their toilet paper first, wins.

 

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I love this picture of Grace.

 

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We have a winner!

 

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Next, it was time to dig in.

 

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More games: The last game was called Catching Butterflies.

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600 butterflies were launched into the air for the kids to catch, using their nets.

 

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Why yes, that is my husband, standing on a chair, with a shop vac.

 

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Look at their faces. So fun!

 

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Fun for all ages!

 

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Morgan expertly “designed” his butterfly blaster. Notice the upcycled water/juice bottles and orange duct tape? Mr. Ingenuity, I tell you. 

 

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Levi gets a lizard painted on his hand.

 

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Time to sing Happy Birthday! The girls get so shy when they’re the center of attention. Sweetness.

 

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Making a wish/saying a prayer.

 

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Really, 8??

 

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James finds a cupcake to perfectly match his shirt.

 

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Present time and lots of hugs all the way around.

 

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Party favors: Colored Chalk

 

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Grandparents are the best.

 

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Grandpa shooting bubbles at Faith.

 

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Managed to squeeze in a family photo before the day was over.

 

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A gorgeous sunset to cap off a FANTASTIC birthday celebration!

One to remember, for sure. The girls had an incredible time celebrating with their dear family and closest friends.

Even though they’re 8 now, I loved that they wanted to do a butterfly themed party. There is still an innocence and playfulness there that is just so sweet.

Thankfully, Pinterest provided lots of ideas and although we won’t be having parties like this every year, I was thrilled to be able to do it this year.

Happy Birthday to our sweet flutter bugs!

We love you so much and we marvel at who you are becoming.

The world can be a beautiful place but you must look for the Light.

Follow the Son and bravery spread your wings.

He will teach you to fly.

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