A Story of Friendship and Kentucky Blue

It is March.  That means March Madness.  My team is doing pretty well.  I am happy.  Today I am actually wearing my Kentucky sweatshirt.  That used to just make me think of my beloved Wildcats team.  Lately, though, I think more of my friends when I where this.  There is a lovely story.  I'll share it with you.

Back in the early fall of 2014 I woke from one of those mesmerizing dreams that leave you wishing you could go back to sleep.  I dreamt that it was my birthday and all I wanted was hot fudge sundaes and time to pray with a group of eight specific women.  So I promptly emailed all eight of them and told them about my wacky, beautiful dream.  They did not all know each other and we all live in far away places, so getting together is impossible.  But I wanted each of them to know how fun my dream was and how someday in heaven we would have hot fudge sundaes together and plenty of time to pray!

Fast forward to my actual birthday.  Wouldn't you know it, but one of those women is a beautiful instigator!  And she worked her tail off to plan a way for all of those wonderful women to secretly come to my house - everyone made it except one who needed to stay home (but she was so very missed!).  The funny thing is that I was actually cleaning my garage when they showed up!  Steve had taken me out to birthday dinner and then I had asked if we could spend some time working on our colossal disaster of a garage!  (Yes, I know, I know.  Not very cool.   But "acts of service" is my love language!)  I teased him later that he could have said, "Yes, dear.  But you may want to put on a cute shirt to do so!"  He did not.  So I was scrubbing mud off of the back door while wearing my big, well worn, very unflattering Kentucky sweatshirt when my first friend walked in!

In comes  beautiful friend #1 with ice cream.  She said she wanted to give me a hot fudge sundae for my birthday.  Hooray for me!  Nothing too unusual.  Then two more beautiful friends showed up.  I should have been suspicious when I noticed my Arkansas friend wearing a UK shirt.  However,  I was so excited I didn't really process that.  Then my most cherished, lovely Kansas City friend strolled in and I could start crying even now when thinking of how elated I was to see her!  We proceeded to make our sundaes.  Then... they kept on coming!  One at a time!  My beautiful friend from Wisconsin.  Oh, the tears!  And as soon as I stopped crying in walked my lovely friend from Memphis!   More sobbing and hugging!  Then, my lovely friend from Florida waltzed in and I was a weeping fountain of tears!  Y'all - there is video.  I am not joking.  But I will refrain from sharing that... you are welcome!  It was so sweet, yet heart wrenching, to hear that my dear, dear beautiful friend from St. Louis had been
unable to join us for reasons outside her control!    (But boy did we pray for her!)

Bonus - they were all wearing Kentucky blue!!

Oh everyone... have you ever been overwhelmed with how loved you are?  I am so rarely overwhelmed (except maybe by fear!).  But they did it.  I am told that I ate a hot fudge sundae - but I truly don't remember it.  And it was the sweetest time of prayer that I have EVER experienced.  Sadly, at the end of the evening - well, in the early morning, everyone had to go back to their homes and families.  It was truly like a dream.

What a story of friendship and sacrifice.  It was hard to leave families and responsibilities and drive for hours (one friend with a broken tailbone even! and one friend hopping several different flights)!  But I am grateful.  They are such a picture of the sacrificial love of Jesus to me.  Every day.  They love me well by praying and pointing me back to Jesus.  Makes me think of the verse in Hebrews 10:26  "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works."

It is difficult to write a post like this - for I have so, so many good friends.  I cannot tell you where I would be without my Trailhead Church friends and family.  They love me day in and day out and I love them right back!  Truly.  And my husband and parents and sisters and my children!  But these ladies made a dream come true.  Literally.  :)  And I am thankful.

My Dad

We celebrate my dad in the month of April.  He turned 68 this year.  He doesn't seem 68.  Today I looked at a few wedding pictures - of me and him.  He does look older when I see it in pictures... but every day I see him he seems the same.  Look!

That look in the picture on the right is one of my favorites!!  This is him now.  Isn't he handsome?

I cannot begin to describe to you how grateful I am for both of my parents.  I know without a doubt that they are one of the most amazing blessings I have been given.  As I celebrate my dad, I am grateful for all the ways that he has molded me.  He has instilled in me a deep love for the gospel.  I have watched him fight for the truth of Scripture since I can remember.  He loves the Word of God.  What a gift to all of our family!  He has given us a heritage that will be seen for generations - witnesses who will testify to the goodness of God long after my dad is gone.  

I can remember being little and Dad sitting beside me on my bed as I cried and cried, overcome with worry about who knows what subject - school or snakes or sisters!  He patiently answered each of my questions and helped me to learn to trust God's sovereignty.  I have so many favorite moments:  thinking I was gonna die giving birth to Victoria - and Dad standing at the foot of my bed saying "This too shall pass."; crying together for hours the day before I got married  because I would be moving from Kentucky all the way to California; hiking in the Smokey Mountains thinking a bobcat was going to get me; the joy of hearing him explain the gospel to my children, the list goes on!  

Dad is one of the hardest workers that I know.  He has also given me a love of gardening... not that I will ever be able to keep up with him!  But I find pleasure in it.  I am thankful for what I have learned from him about it.  

How can you describe your dad in one short space?  I can't.  But I know the I love him so very much, just like I love my mom.  I love to watch how both of my parents love each other.  It brings me comfort and joy and hope.  Thanks be to God for this beautiful gift.  Happy birthday, Dad.  

My Mom, Birthdays, and Basketball Memories

Happy birhtday to my mom! She is 64 today - 20 years older than I am. We were reminiscing about Kentucky Basketball this week. It may mean nothing to you, but this is the 20th anniversary of "the shot" - the game winning shot by Christian Laettner which gave Duke the last second win over Kentucky in the NCAA tourney in March of 1992. I remember that night so clearly. We were all sitting in the living room of the house I grew up in in Kentucky. We were getting ready to celebrate another Kentucky win - until Laettner, with 2.1 seconds left, shot that nightmare shot. All these years later you can go to a UK game and see "I Still Hate Laettner" t-shirts. We haven't forgotten.

As we talked about that night my mom reminded Steve and I that she had just turned 44 - which is how old I will be soon! It was a strange thought to look back and see her then and look at myself now. She was so young! Man, I was so young!! I was pregnant with Victoria. Oh so long ago and yet some days it seems like just yesterday. This year I can watch Kentucky basketball and the NCAA tourney with my mom and my daughter - who herself is almost 20. My brain cannot fathom this! We have all changed. It is a beautiful thing. My mom is a beautiful woman. I can only begin to describe her to you in a few short sentences. She is a servant who loves the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost. She loves and serves her family faithfully and

self-sacrificially. She has taught me much about caring for others, community, cooking, being a wife, being a mom, and growing in my faith. She and Dad are both such blessings to me and my family. I am grateful!!

It was fun to talk about "the old days" and look back and remember how thankful I was for Mom then. But little did I know that the older I get the more thankful I would become for her - and for dad. I love them both! So, for Mom's birthday, let me celebrate her! I thank God for the gift He has given me.

I have shared this Wendell Berry quote before, but I will share it again. This expresses how I feel about my mom: "As I went about my work then as a young woman, and still now when I am old, Grandmam has been often close to me in my thoughts. And again I come to the difficulty of finding words. It is hard to say what it means to be at work and thinking of a person you loved and love still who did that same work before you and who taught you to do it. It is a comfort ever and always, like hearing the rhyme come when you are singing a song."

Growing Up and Becoming a Man...

Well, my youngest just turned 13. I am partly in denial. And partly, I am so proud of him I just can't stand it! God has blessed us with three amazing kiddos that are growing into three amazing adults. When I look at the girls I am just so excited for them and the things they are getting to do and learn and experience. They are becoming independent and growing into women who are smart and talented and in some ways wise beyond their years. Isaac is just beginning on that road himself.

Today he and I talked about all the "lectures" (his word, not mine!) that I have been giving him over the years. We have tried to prepare him to be an adult who isn't afraid of work and who knows that "the world doesn't revolve around you!". Steve and I try to help Him figure out how the gospel speaks to who he is in Christ and what his actions should be.

This week I have been struck by the magnitude of one of the battles quickly approaching: pornography. Yuck. All wives fear it. But mothers - I hadn't realized that I would fear it more as a mother than a wife! We have discussed it (insert thankfulness here for Steve - most of this falls on him!) and avoided certain video games and prepared him for conversations with friends. But even a quick trip to the grocery store reminds me of what is waiting for him right around the corner. And it makes me angry - but more so it makes me worry. What's a mom to do?

A mom is to have hope! The God who gave Isaac to us has also loved and cherished and fought for his heart way more than I have ever even dreamed I could. This is another opportunity for me to trust. Can I trust God in this moment? Absolutely! I am reminded of the quote "Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel" Obviously we are doing our best to prepare and equip him! We will continue to pray for him. But in the end I have to entrust my son to the

God who can protect him.

Equally important, I think, is the community of men who are walking alongside Isaac. Not only does he have a dad who is fighting for him and a grandpa who prays faithfully for him, but he also has a group of men who are looking out for him.

All these things give me hope. My heart is happy and hopeful! Here's to trusting that we as a community can send out young men who do not have to lose this battle!

A Mustache Cake

November is Victoria-palooza around here. And Victoria's current obsession is the mustache. Not sure how that happened - but it is an obsession shared by all her friends. So when they asked to have a surprise party for her at our house there was no question about the cake! One mustache cake coming up. But how does one make a mustache cake. I didn't find any directions. So, when the need arises for you to make your very own mustache cake, I got ya covered!!

Choose your favorite box cake mix. I chose yellow cake - Duncan Hines is my favortie yellow box cake. Yellow cake goes great with the chocolate ganache I planned to use to cover the cake. Bake your cake in two eight inch round cake pans as directed on the box. Before you begin, though, trace the outline of your cake pan twice. While your cake begins, play around with the type of mustache shape you would like to have - but it must be a shape available with the two circles of cake you will have. Here are picks of my shape.

I cut two of these and then put them together to make the shape I wanted. It meant that I had to trim one of the sides because the papers could overlap to make the shape, but obviously the cakes couldn't. When my cakes where baked and cooled, I laid the papers on top of them and used a knife to cut out the shapes. I then transferred them to a cookie sheet and made sure I was happy with the final shape. I ended up having three pieces of cake pushed togher - I accidently cut off alittle too much of one corner - so I used an additional piece to make up for my mistake. This isn't a problem because the ganache icing will cover all blemishes.

For the icing, I used a recipe for chocolate ganache. Not sure where I found it, but you can find many, many recipes online. Here is the one I used:

1 cup heavy cream, 2 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp sugar, 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a saucepan, bring first three ingredients to a boil. Pour this over chocolate chips and cover with plastic wrap (without stiring). Let it sit for 10 minutes. Mix until creamy. Pour over cake while still warm, but now hot.

Let it cool as directed and pour it over your cake. I didn't want my cake to be smooth so I used a spatula to make designs in the icing. I started in the center and made gentle arcs out toward the edges. I think you can see them in this picture.

I cooled the cake overnight on the cookie sheet. The next morning I was able to move it to a nice clean white cake cardboard. Then we chose yellow icing to add a Victoria saying. The results were pretty cool if I do say so myself!

For an added bonus I used the same mustache pattern on a new blank door mat for the front door. It was kinda fun! Check it out!

Esther's 16th Birthday Cake

This week has been Esther-palooza. A whole week of celebrating our second child who is growing into an amazing woman. Her birthday request this year was for a rainbow cake. A friend had sent a picture of a cake she wanted to make. I randomly showed it to Esther and here we are!

I visited several websites to get ideas on how to make it. In the end I did it my own way - but it turned out pretty well. Thanks for the suggestion, Kara!

So - here's how:

• Two boxes white cake mixe (I have my favorite white box cake - this is about looks, so no need to complicate the process with homemade cake!)
• Eggs, oil and water for cake
• food coloring GEL - helpful hint picked up from blogs - gel colors are brighter than regular food coloring
• round cake pans
• Icing (lots and lots! I included my recipe below if you want to make homemade cream cheese icing)

I followed directions on box and made one cake mix. Divide the cake batter equally among three different bowls. Add one gel to each bowl. I baked each layer about 12 minutes - but my oven is not reliable, so watch carefully. It is a thin layer and will not take long.
Repeat process with next three colors.
ROY G BIV is the acronym I learned in school for the colors of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. I only made six layers... but the sky's the limit!!

Spread a think layer of icing between each cake. A helpful hint: spread a super thin layer over the top of each cake before adding the total amount of icing you want. This allows the icing to spread smoothly without pulling up pieces of cake.

This final product was yummy!



Cream cheese icing:
3 - 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
2 sticks of butter (1 cup of butter)
3 cups of powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla

You may add more powdered sugar to get your desired consistency.

Turning 42

Today I turned 42. There was a time in my life when turning 32 was depressing, much less 42!. But I must admit, since turning 40 I have learned to love my age.

In my twenties life was crazy. Steve and I got married very young and the process of having my rough edges rubbed off was painful. Then we had three children before turning thirty. That changed life to say the least! Good changes, but God can really use your kids to push on things in you that need to be transformed to be more like Him. In our thirties Steve and I grew three kids and followed where God was leading. Not easy things to do.

Now, in my forties, life seems so different. I have more freedom - but still have three kids who are home and for the most part want to be with me. I have an amazing husband whom I love with my whole heart. We still have some of those rough edges remaining, but they fit together a little better and are not so painful. Steve and I could not be more different. But we have learned to work together and to glory in each other's differences. It is a good place to be. And it is better than when I was twenty or even thirty. I look back at that woman who struggled and fought and matured. I don't envy her. Now we have children who are growing into amazing adults who love the Lord and are a blessing to us. We have been married longer than we haven't been married (if that makes sense!). The woman I am now is nothing like what I imagined I would be. But this woman is more dependent on Christ than herself (though not every day), more thankful, a little more confident, a lot more community minded, and more in love with her husband than she could have thought possible. Yes, we have hard days... but life at 42 is good. I love my life. I thank God for His graciousness and mercy to our family.