Vacation Day 1: Traveling to Florida

On Friday, I gave you a few hints on where our family went on vacation this month. The answer is. . . . we went on a cruise! My Grandparents wanted to go on an extended family cruise to celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary this past month. It was a really special time together as a family.

Since it would take a really loooooooong time to summarize the trip, I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to break it down by day. This way, you can “come along with us” on our trip via photos and descriptions. J

(4/14/12) Saturday

To start our vacation on the right foot, we had a large, clean-out-the-fridge-of-any-perishables breakfast!

Mikey was ecstatic that he got to spend the week in the kennel. When we drive him to the kennel, he is all over us until we get there!

We’re finally on our way to Florida! After two years of planning, we are really excited about this trip. In this photo, we are on the shuttle bus from the parking lot to the Detroit Airport.

Photo Credit: Mark.

We had a few glitches going through security at the airport, but nothing major. We were quite early for our flight, so we had time to eat lunch at Quiznos.

Ben and Rubia waiting to board our flight.

Unfortunately, our flight left 45 minutes late. A pilot (passenger) was late on the flight, and he needed to catch our flight to Atlanta so that he could fly a plane out of Atlanta (hopefully that wasn’t too confusing.)

While we were waiting, the Captain invited the younger kids to go and see the cockpit! It was definitely a highlight for them, since that type of experience is rare in our post-911 society.

Photo Credit: Mark.

The flight from Detroit to Atlanta was a bit turbulent. Our ears were popping and hurting very badly on the descent. And that’s saying a lot considering we have a pilot in the family and go flying frequently! After a difficult landing, and pain in his ears, Josiah was very upset to find out that we had another flight to go through.

Photo Credit: Mark.

He perked up a bit when we ordered pizza for dinner. J We had about 35 minutes before our flight from Atlanta took off, so we had a short break. Thankfully, this flight took off on time.

I loved watching the clouds and scenery pass outside my window! I especially enjoyed going over the Everglades in Florida!

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on time and claimed all our bags. Getting a ride to the hotel was quite an adventure. J

We were under the impression that the hotel we were staying at had an on-going shuttle from the airport to the hotel. But we couldn’t find it anywhere! So we called the hotel, and they said the shuttle would be there in about 10 minutes. We were supposed to keep our eyes open for the van. We were watching, and all of a sudden, the van sped right past us! The kids took off running with suitcases and backpacks in tow to flag him down. They went to the other end of the terminal as he drove away.

We called the driver again and tried to explain where we were standing. We walked back to where we had been, and who goes speeding by again? The driver from the hotel! We were rather frustrated, but thankfully Ben—who was lagging behind the rest of us—heard our shouts and was able to flag the driver down.

We finally made it to the hotel around 9:00 p.m. We enjoyed exploring the colorful lobby while Dad checked us in.

Photo Credit: Roma.

We went upstairs to say hello to my Grandparents and my Uncle’s family (who had arrived in Florida several hours earlier than we had.) After our little reunion, we decided to go get some more dinner since most of us were quite hungry.

We ended up at a little restaurant called “Dough Boy’s.” It was an Italian cafe within walking distance of the hotel. We ordered several appetizers to split as a family, including an amazing antipasto salad, BBQ chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and garlic rolls. It was all really good!

I’m sorry the picture is blurry, but this is what our hotel looked like.

After our late dinner, we went back to the hotel to shower up and get ready for bed. There weren’t enough beds for everyone in our room, so I slept on the sofa bed in my Grandparents room. I didn’t make it to bed until midnight! It was a long day, but we were really looking forward to boarding the ship the next morning!

To be continued. . .

Priesthood of Believers

“Why has God chosen me? Why has He left me on the earth, instead of whisking me off to the joyous ease of heaven the instant I received Christ? To live a blessed life while millions from unreached people groups suffer under Satan’s dominion of darkness? To be specially treated like a spoiled child, my disobediences tolerated until I finally die to live in Christlikeness eternally? Or have I been chosen as one in a kingdom of priests to perform the responsibilities of God’s purpose—to offer redemptive blessing to all the peoples of the earth—my own people included? To be used as a set apart vessel to demonstrate God’s character, His name, to all the nations?...

…The priesthood of the believer—more accurately, of believers—is not just for our own benefit. Our priesthood is about being blessed in order to bless the nations—to intercede for and to serve the nations. Our own nation included!

Best of all, as we fulfill our role as a nation of priests, we’re serving God:”

“To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen”. (Rev. 1:5-6)

Bill & Amy Stearns, “2020 Vision”

~ Posted by Betsy

Recipe--Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Bites

Awhile back I mentioned a bake sale that the youth group from our church had. I made these little cookie dough bites and sold them for 50 cents each. They went over really well! The great thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t use any eggs like most cookie dough. So the dough is perfectly safe to eat! J Except for the little problem of consuming all the butter and sugar! J You can find the original recipe here. I’ve added my notes in italics below.

Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Bites

1/2 cup butter, slightly melted and really soft

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (or regular chocolate chips, chopped smaller)

Semi sweet chocolate melting wafers (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)

White chocolate for drizzling (I dyed mine green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day)

Whip butter with sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in all dry ingredients including chocolate chips until completely combined. Dough should be moist and slightly crumbly. Roll into desired sizes and shapes. Place on baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Store in refrigerator until ready to coat in chocolate. (If you want to keep them plain, refrigerate them 30 minutes or so until they are hard and can retain their shape and transfer them to a ziploc bag.)

Melt chocolate wafers (or chips) in microwave or over double boiler. Drop dough balls one by one into melted chocolate. Drizzle chocolate over dough to coat and using a spoon, remove chocolate covered balls, attempting to remove any excess chocolate in the process. (Tapping the spoon on the side of the bowl helped rid excess chocolate.)

Place on waxed paper and chill in the refrigerator until firm. Store in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge for up to 5 days. These also freeze well in an airtight container. Serving Suggestion: My Mom says these are best eaten cold!

Big Family Vacations

Over the past 10 years, we have gone on a few big family vacations with my Mom’s side of the family. A lot of planning goes into each trip, but the memories make all the sacrifices worth it in the end!

Our first big family vacation was to Puerto Rico. My Grandparents were both born in Puerto Rico and grew up there until they were teenagers. We spent one day up in the mountains. The views were stunning!

We stayed at a nice resort on the ocean with lots of palm trees, swimming pools, and things for us kids to do.

Our primary reason for visiting was to meet our 90-year-old Great Grandmother. Lord willing, we will visit her again in the next year or so.

One day in Puerto Rico, we took a ferry out to Old San Juan and toured the town. Here we are in front of the old fort and cemetery. It was fascinating to see! As you can probably judge from the photo, it was HOT! We walked several miles that day in the hot, humid heat.

A few years later, our families went to Disney World for a week. We spent a day in Epcot to start off our trip.

Another day was spent at the Kennedy Space Center. We were able to see the Discovery getting ready for a trip to the International Space Station.

For us kids, probably our favorite day was the one spent at Magic Kingdom. We loved going on all of the rides!

We returned to Epcot another day to tour the world showcase. Here we are in front of the Norway exhibit.

At England, we visited with Winnie the Pooh and friends! This was a big highlight for the little guys. J

Our family recently returned from yet another extended family vacation. I’ll give you a few photo clues, and you try to guess where we went! Ok, where can you look out over a city . . .

. . . watch a parade. . .

. . . eat amazing foods like roasted lamb with wasabi mashed potatoes. . .

. . . dress up in gala clothes and attend a party. . .

. . . go boogie boarding. . .

. . . and climb a rock wall? I’ll give you the weekend to leave your answers, and tell you where we went on Monday!

April Pictures

April is a very easy time to see beauty in Creation! Whoever designed our landscaping did a great job of making sure that there was always something blooming from April until September. Sadly, some of our flowers have been ruined by multiple late-frosts we’ve had. Our lilac was supposed to bloom this year (it only blooms bi-annually), but I believe it is dead from all the cold. L But there are lots of hardy tulips and other flowers to brighten the landscape!

A beautiful tulip getting ready to open.

I love yellow flowers! They are so bright and make me smile! J

The crabapple tree by our creek is loaded with buds and blooms. I’m hoping that we’ll get lots of crabapples this year so I can make jam.

It looks like it’s time to make jelly again! We have hundreds of dandelions in our field as well as tiny purple violets.

"It's (Not That) Complicated" Book Review

When I taught at Bright Lights last month, my lesson was inspired by the book “It’s (Not That) Complicated” by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin. I had the opportunity to meet Anna Sofia and Elizabeth last year, and was very excited when their new book came out last fall. I received the book for Christmas, and started reading it earlier this year.

The book is geared towards young, unmarried ladies and deals with how to relate to young men in a healthy, sane, and Biblical way. Many Christian young ladies are confused about their friendships with unmarried boys. Boy-Girl relationships have become very complicated over the past several decades, and there are lots of questions that girls have about what scripture says about these relationships. How close is too close in a relationship? How do we handle crushes? What does it mean to treat “younger men as brothers, in all purity?”

The book discusses these problems and the solutions from all angles. It talks about what makes guy-girl relationships complicated, about learning to see men as God sees them, having proper relationships with our brothers, getting our hearts in the right place, practical tips on interaction and conversation, and lots more!

This book really caused me to evaluate my relationships with men, including my father, brothers, and young men outside my family. It inspired me to think about the following questions:

*What is my attitude towards other young men? Do I desire to flirt with and gain attention from them? Or do I have a desire to build them up, help them, and encourage them?*

*Is my relationship with my brothers what it should be? Am I demonstrating respect towards them? Am I helping prepare them for their future marriages? Or am I living selfishly and ignoring them?* (You can read a longer post on this topic here.)

*Am I allowing my emotions to drive my relationships, or am I leading my heart in the direction God wants me to?*

*Am I truly content being single? Do I view this as a (hopefully) short period of waiting before marriage someday? Or am I reclaiming the time to serve the Lord and others?*

*What do my actions, words, and conduct around young men say about me? Do they say that I’m fishing for compliments or attention, or striving to have edifying conversations and interactions with them?*

*Am I encouraging or meddling in other people’s romantic affairs?*

*Am I striving to become a girl that a godly young man would want to marry? Am I striving to grow in my character and relationship with God during my single years?*

This book really provoked a lot of thoughts, and convicted me in many areas that I need to work on. It is a book that I would definitely recommend for young ladies, especially those who are asking these same questions!

"Duncan's War" Book Review

A few weeks ago, I started yet another Douglas Bond book. I’ve been reading a lot of his books lately because they go so well with my history curriculum. I started the “Crown and Covenant” series, which takes place in Scotland during the 1600’s.

The first book in the series is called “Duncan’s War.” Duncan M’Kethe is a 14-year-old boy living in Scotland under the persecution of Sir James Turner. His family belonged to the Covenanters: those who pledged to uphold a Presbyterian form of church government rather than submit to the authority of the Catholic church and their rites and rituals of worship. Duncan and his family live very peaceful lives in the countryside as shepherds.

Duncan has a fiery temperament and wants to go to war against Sir James Turner and his dragoons who are terrorizing the Scottish people. But his father instructs him to show love to them and live at peace with all men.

But the M’Kethe family cannot avoid the conflict forever. They must defend themselves against Turner in a battle After the battle, Mr. M’Kethe disappears, and Duncan goes on a search to find him.

This book does a great job of showing what it was like to suffer persecution during the time of the Reformation. It also helped me learn a lot more about Scottish history, which in turn helps me to better understand the motivations behind the founding of America. I would recommend this book for all ages.

Redemption Unsought

“Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan Land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand.

That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.”

Phillis Wheatley, .1753 – 1784

~ Posted by Betsy

All Replete

“If thou could`st empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell dishabited,
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf,
And say, ‘This is not dead’,
And fill thee with Himself instead.

But thou art all replete with very thou
And hast such shrewd activity,
That when He comes, He says, ‘This is enow
Unto itself – ‘twere better let it be,
It is so small and full, there is no room for me.’”

Sir Thomas Browne, (1605 –1682)

~ Posted by Betsy

Recipe--Red Velvet Cupcakes (from scratch!)

I’ve been posting recipes from a church bake sale for the past couple of weeks. One of the things I made was Red Velvet Cupcakes. I had never made them before and wanted to try them out. I found a recipe for Red Velvet Sheet Cake here, but decided to tweak the recipe a bit, and turn them into cupcakes. It worked well!

What really intrigued me about this recipe was the frosting. I had never heard of such a frosting (5 Tablespoons of flour?) But I was amazed at how delicious it was! Apparently, it is the original frosting used on Red Velvet cake. Make sure you try it!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (from scratch!)

1 cup shortening

1 ¾ cup sugar

2 ½ cups cake flour

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons vinegar

1 ½ ounce, fluid red food coloring

1 ½ teaspoon cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake papers. Sift together cake flour and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add vinegar and stir. Set aside. In a separate small bowl, mix together cocoa and red food coloring. Set aside.

Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk/egg mixture until all combined. Pour the red mixture in and beat until combined.

Pour batter into cupcake papers. Fill each cup about ¾ full, because the cupcakes will grow. Make sure you don’t fill them too high or they will grow out of the cups and stick to your pan (speaking from experience. J)

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes, and then take out and cool on wax paper. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before icing.

Frosting

5 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If you’re in a hurry, place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don't want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat it. If it looks separated, you haven't beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Frost cupcakes the same day you are going to serve them. Keep any leftover frosting in the refrigerator.

The Boy's Room Grows Up

When we first moved into our house, the boys’ room had jungle-style wallpaper on the bottom part of their wall. There was a chair rail, and white walls above. We had lots of fun with the wallpaper when we were younger. We could play with our stuffed animals and pretend they were in a forest.

The jungle wall paper.

But, the boys grew up, as everyone does. They had sports comforters on their beds, and really wanted to change the theme of their room to match the sports. They worked hard on stripping all the wallpaper, cleaning the walls, prepping it for paint, and finally painting it Easter weekend.

The boys working on cleaning the walls and putting spackle in the dents.

The walls look so naked without anything on them!

This was the wall after one coat of blue paint.

And this was the final color!

They really like having a more “grown up” room now! They are hoping to freshen up the white paint on another weekend. In the meanwhile, they are enjoying the new look. J