Out of the mouths of babes

Antique Mommy has a wonderful blog HERE! This particular post caused me to recall a precious memory I have of me and Daniel. When he was just a baby until he was a toddler, I would put him in the bath tub with me and we would have fun bathing, blowing bubbles and just playing while taking our bath. This also saved me a little time. Well, when he got a little older, I thought the time had come to kind of make a change in this area and start giving him his baths by himself. But one night, as I was running his bath water, he begged and begged me to take a bath with him. I thought: "Ohhhh, he wants to blow bubbles and do all of the fun stuff we usually do." But I told him, "Daniel, Mommy is going to give you your bath with just you in the tub,k?" To which he replied, "Mommy, please get in 'cause you make the water go up realllll high!!!" (Being interpreted, that means I take up ALOT of space, right? *feeble grin* I got in. And the water went up. )

More news!

Ed and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary on Friday, February 15! Daniel and Erin and Ed and I went to Outback Steakhouse in Parkersburg for dinner that evening and had a wonderful time. There is nothing like having a delicious dinner and spending time with those that you love the most, hm? *smile* To the left is a picture of Ed and me coming down the aisle after our wedding ceremony was over. My, but we look so young!! *smile* What a wonderful day that was!!

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I wanted to share a dessert recipe with you, especially for the chocolate lovers! I fixed this for the carry-in dinner that we had on Pastor Appreciation Sunday. Now, I am not particularly fond of sweets. Oh, I'll eat a poptart or cookie in the morning when I have my coffee but other than that, I can take it or mostly leave it! Anywayyyy......anytime that I fix this trifle, I get raves on it! So here it is and it is really easy to fix!!

Chocolate Trifle:

2 packages of premade brownies (i.e.Little Debbie or Freshleys or you can make a 9X13 of brownies from a mix. I don't think you'll use the entire pan of brownies.)

2 small packages of instant chocolate pudding

2 small packages of instant white chocolate pudding

1 large container of Cool Whip

Chocolate Syrup

Caramel Syrup

Butterfinger Candy Bar crushed

Break up one box of the brownies or half of the homemade brownies into bite size pieces and place in the bottom of trifle dish.

Mix both packages of the chocolate pudding mix with 2 1/2 cups of cold milk. Do the same with the white chocolate pudding. Put a layer of the white chocolate pudding over the crumbled brownies. Next put a layer of the chocolate pudding. Then a layer of Cool Whip. Sprinkle half of the crushed candy bar over the Cool Whip. Drizzle the syrups over the this. Repeat the layering process. This will more than fill the trifle dish. Again, top the Cool Whip with the remaing crushed candy bar. Crisscross lines of the syrups across the top. Chill for at least one hour before serving.

You could also sprinkle pecan bits over each layer if you like along with the crushed candy bar.

Hello, Everyone!

Yes, I am still among the living. *smile* It's been a rough couple of weeks but hopefully, prayerfully, things (my body in particular) are on the upswing. I mean, come on.....it HAS to get better!
Anywayyyy.......I finally got the prizes from the big bloggy giveaway sent out! Next time, IF I participate, I'm going gift cards all the way! To give away, that is! The first reason being that I had no idea of just how much it would cost to send a couple of rather small packages! Whew!! AND the second reason being that for some reason, Ed just couldn't get the peanut butter fudge right and ended up throwing out three batches! This just isn't like him! He had only used this particular recipe one other time, so after making some adjustments on the cooking time and so on, he finally got a really good batch AND the chocolate fudge with pecans was his very best ever! Yum! I wanted to keep it! BUT I didn't. I mailed it all the way to the west coast! Both of the ladies who won, live on the west coast. Congratulations, ladies!!
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As you can see, I have been playing around with my blog appearance. I am ready for spring!!! We have had snow, freezing rain, and ice. Then ice, freezing rain, and snow. Or maybe it was in reverse. It doesn't matter. We've had a seige of winter weather, including very cold temps and more is on the way I hear. Here are a couple of pictures of the weather we had last week. I do love the snow!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last week at church, we had Pastor Appreciation. I know, I know. It normally is in October, but October just hasn't worked for us the past couple of years and besides, this way it can be more of a surprise for Pastor and Sis. Martin because they don't know WHEN to expect it! *smile* Anywayyyy.....it was a wonderful day and week for them!
Pastor Clark Baker from Hamilton, Ohio, preached in the morning service and what a beautiful presence of the Lord was there! When contacting him to speak, I had forgotten that he had such a rich apostolic history with our church. His father, Bro. Bob Baker, along with his siblings came into the church in Logan many, many years ago under Bro. Stanley Hanby, who started the church here in his home. My, my. It was very moving to hear Bro. Baker tell of the spiritual history of his family here in Logan. And how fitting that he was the speaker on Pastor Appreciation Sunday.
Sunday evening, Bro. Jim Phillips from Nelsonville UPC preached and again, it was awesome! There was such a spirit of victory in our midst! Bro. Phillips is married to Sis. Neda who is also a part of the Baker family. She is Bro. Clark Baker's first cousin. I didn't even put all of this together when praying about who to have speak that day. The Lord has a way of just weaving it all together for good, doesn't He?
We had a carry-in dinner after the morning service and you talk about some wonderful food!!! Oh, Hallelujah!!! LOL I wish I had taken pictures of everything, but I'm sorry to say that I didn't. I'm not sure if anyone did. I'm usually the resident picture taker. *sigh*
Pastor and Sis. Martin received many wonderful cards and tokens of appreciation and the church family gave them a special gift of dinner, a night's stay and breakfast at Shaw's Inn in Lancaster, Ohio.
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I pray I still have some readers left after having been absent from my blog for so long. I will endeavor to get back to regular posting as of today!!!

Wanna win an Oreck sweeper?

Good Tuesday morning, everyone! The wonderful ladies at 5minuteformom are giving away....yes, you read correctly.....are GIVING away an Oreck XL® Ultra Vacuum Cleaner! Just click on the link above to enter!

We use these sweepers at church and they are wonderful! They are so lightweight, yet powerful!

Hey, someone has to win! It could be ME or YOU! *smile* You don't have to be a blogger to enter and win, so head on over and sign up!!

Helllloooooooo!!!

I'm sorry that I have not posted for like a week, I believe it has been. Hmmm....maybe a little longer? I'm not sure. Anywayyyy.....I haven't had the flu or anything like that, I have just been in a lot of PAIN. I am not sure what is going on but my mobility has really diminished, meaning that it has been very difficult to walk or get around, even here at home.
Sooooo.......I have had to put first things first in their proper order which would be: The Lord, my dear husband, my home, the pets. What? You can't believe my blog didn't make the top 4? *little smile* Oh, and I also stayed faithful to church which has been the only place that I have gone this past week. Prayer on Monday night, Bible Study on Wednesday night, church on Sunday. Then this weekend a dear saint from the Nelsonville church passed away and I was asked to do her hair, so Ed took me into the funeral home yesterday afternoon. Yes, you read correctly. I know that some may find it a bit......oh, I don't know......gross, morbid, whatever......to think of doing the hair of a person who is deceased BUT I look at it as a ministry. I really do. I mean, the dear saint isn't in that body any longer and I am so thankful to be able to do something to help the family at this most difficult of times. And there just aren't that many people who do long pentecostal hair any more. I am one of a few, it seems. What is really interesting is that the dear saint whose hair I did yesterday? I also did her mother-in-law's hair when she passed....dear Sis. Baker and also her sister-in-law.....dear Sis. Lyda, Sis. Baker's daughter. It was truly a privilege.
BUT.......after doing Sis. Baker's hair yesterday, I was a mess physically. I just came home and went to bed. I just don't know what is going on but the Lord does and I am trusting in Him to know what is best for me.
Also, our electricity was off yesterday for about twelve hours. I'm sure the wind took some lines down somewhere. Not to worry though because we have alternative heat, as in a woodburner and also propane wall heaters. But then, a few hours later, we also lost our water supply as there was a main break up the road somewhere. We always keep bottled water and the break was repaired around 8pm yesterday evening. Sooooo......everything looks to be back to normal around here except for my lower body. *little smile* BUT......we just keep on pressing on.
I know that some may wonder "How much energy does it take to put up a blog post, though?"
Well, it is just that when I am struggling with pain and a lack of mobility, I have to really apply myself to what HAS to be done, as I said above.....those things that are REALLY important and matter. And I have a little difficulty focusing mentally.
The only time that I can say that I am ever without pain at all is when I am laying down, soooooo I have kind of devised this little game for myself. I tell myself that if I get THIS, THIS, and THIS done, then I can go and lay down for a little while. Then after laying down and recovering for a while, I start over and do two or three more tasks. Some days I get more done than others. Trust me. *smile*
Now, I did not tell all of the above to get your pity or sympathy. It is just how my life is right now. But I would cherish you prayers. I really would. For healing. For grace. For my dear husband,who is so very wonderful to me.
I'm not sure how this week is going to progress but hopefully I will be able to get back to some regular blogging! ((BIG WARM HUGS TO ALL OF YOU))
Oh, and my adopted son put up a very timely and thoughtful post here that I agree with one-hundred percent.
Two other blog posts that I found very interesting, concerning ministering to today's youth, can be found here and here. Even though we are no longer youth leaders, I still read as much as I can about ministering to youth. I love young people and want so much to see them succeed in living for the Lord and finding salvation in Him if they do not know Him.
I signed up a few years ago with Larry Gibson's Yahoo UPC Youth Workers group. He sends out interesting articles and other helps to youth leaders and I have gathered great information and helps over the years.
Okay, that is all for now. I have sat here a bit too long so I must arise and get moving. Have a great day!!

And the winners are.......

Laura at Smiling Mother of 6 won the baking mixes! And Diane at Meyers on the Hood won the fudge!! Congratulations, ladies!! Thanks to all of you who entered and stopped by my blog!! This has been so much fun, even if I didn't win anything! :-( Okay, I HAVE to pout just a little, k? *grin*