It works!

This may seem trite, but I often decide to bake spur of the moment, and in the evening, Nehemiah likes to enjoy the fruits of his/our labor before bed--surprise, surprise! Anyway, it takes too long to soften butter to room temp in our chilly house (in the winter), so I went in search of an alternative, and wouldn't you know, I found one! We made a batch of chocolate chip cookies this way tonight, and it worked! I've done it with the microwave before, but I find the results to be inconsistent at best.

Photo credit: simplyrecipes.com

Praise the Lord

This morning I woke up to find this picture of Keanan (from Haiti on Diplomatic Parole) greeting his daddy in Orlando. Praise the Lord and thank you for praying!


A few days ago I mentioned this situation from a blog I follow called, Rage Against the Minivan--I'm so glad that Keanan is home and some good is able to come from an impossible situation. The Lord is merciful in His provision for and salvation of His little ones.

Storming the Gates

I have come across a blog called Rage Against the Minivan in the past few months, and while there are things I don't have in common with Kristen (I mean come on--y'all have seen my minivan proudly tooling around town!), I want to focus on what we do have in common...a faith in Christ and a love for our kids. She was in Haiti with her baby girl visiting their son (who they have been in the process of adopting for the last 3 years) when the earthquake struck. She and her daughter have made it home safely--praise the Lord! Join me in praying for their son to come home. Here is some information she has given about the process of something called humanitarian parole--where Keanan, her son, may be able to come to the States and to their family until Haiti's infrastructure improves and it is safer for him to be there again--it has been extended to some; I am praying that her family will make the list. Kristen is one of many US parents waiting on their Hatian children. Here is a powerful music video by the talented Aaron Ivey, another one of that group.

Join me in praying for these children and families please.

Before and After

Along with my new camera, I have been doing more photo editing than in the past. Here are some before and afters, so you can see the difference between what my camera does, and what my computer does after. :) Fun stuff! PS--My new camera is a Nikon D-3000 and I am editing with free Picasa software.

Befores: Afters:

Snowy fun!

Both kids are taking decent naps this afternoon, so I have had time to edit more pictures of our morning--here they are! :)

Nehemiah was plotting the perfect snowball hit for me all morning--this photo proves his devious mind!

It is rare to have a picture with both kids in the frame!

Us, today.

So I have a million new pictures taken with a brand-spankin' new, shiny, fancy camera, and all that jazz--and things in my head to write down, but we all have to start again somewhere, so here's to a start...this is us, today, in the snow. :)