Deborah

This past Thursday was our Women's Bible Study group. The ladies have graciously agreed to meet at my house so that I can still watch the kids and Brad can continue working, rather than taking half a day off to come home. The kids were great! Aria and Finn napped while Cadence watched "Care Bears", or as she likes to call them, "The Carenstein Bears" (like "The Berenstein Bears"). Pat, the lady who usually leads the group, is taking a few weeks off due to losing her husband and moving. So, I volunteered to step in as facilitator for the time being. I was so excited, after preparing for the study, that I got to start off by leading the study on the topic of Deborah. Do you know much about her? I didn't. In fact, Esther used to be my favorite woman in the Bible, but now Deborah is. She is an amazing example of what it means to take the supportive and submissive role as a woman/wife/mother and be powerful in the Lord. A brief summary, Deborah was a judge and prophetess in Israel. People would come to her for advice and God's guidance. The reason Deborah was in this leadership role was not because she was trying to be stronger than the men, but because no men where stepping up to lead, so the Lord called her to do it. The cool thing about this, though, was that she stepped up to the task with the attitude of trying to lead and guide the men back into their leadership roles. She was a leader, but she was still supporting the men and always encouraging them in the leadership roles that the Lord made for them, never trying to take over or push out the men. Many women, especially today's liberal feminists, may think this is weak. That women are just as strong as men and can and should be able to do anything they do. I see Deborah as powerful! It can be hard to support and submit and not going around boasting about all the things you did, but that is what she did. Yes, people came to her for advice and direction, but at the end of it all, the people followed Barak, the male leader whom Deborah walked along side and supported in his leadership role. Then, as a result of their defeat of the Canaanites, more men had faith in the Lord and reclaimed their leadership roles. All this because a wife and mom had enough faith to follow the Lord and obey what He said.

Fishing Trip

Today was an awesome day! We woke up, not too early, and enjoyed some yummy crepes filled with blackberry jam, lemon curd, and Nutella. Our friend, Sara, made them when she and her family were visiting and they made a yummy impression. After devouring those, we decided to take the kids fishing for the first time. So, we hopped in the car, stopped at KMart to buy some kid fishing poles, and headed up the Poudre. It was a perfect day...warm, but with a cool breeze.

Finn liked his SpongeBob pole, but he wasn't too interested in actually fishing.

He preferred to play in the mud and throw rocks. He managed to only roll a large rock on his hand once, which he needed help getting off, and snagged his hand with his hook one time as well.

As you can see, he got a little messy.

Cadence, on the other hand, enjoyed fishing with her pink Barbie fishing pole, but had an interesting technique. She had trouble getting the timing down of releasing the button when she cast out her line. So, instead of calmly trying again, she would wildly wave her pole around in frustration almost hooking herself and Finn. Luckily, she didn't hook anyone, but she did manage to tangle her line up quite a few times, which Brad graciously untangled again, and again, and again. Hopefully, we can get them out there more to practice and then Brad will be able to fish too, instead of just untangling and casting their lines. Doesn't Brad look snazzy in his cool new hat?

Aria was a good sport and hung contently in the baby carrier. She must like fishing! She loves that fresh mountain air!

I am looking forward to more outdoors trips like this and camping next summer!

Recipe Highlight:

Since we had delicious crepes this morning, I thought I'd share the recipe I used (from Sara). I didn't take a picture of our crepes, though, so you'll have to use your imagination. Remember to fill the crepes with your favorite topping, after cooking, and sprinkle with powdered sugar after you roll them up!

Crepes

Ingredients

Makes thirty-two 6-inch or twelve 10-inch crepes

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 cups whole milk, room temperature, plus more if needed
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 1/2 ounces (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet

Directions

1. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together milk and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture, whisking to combine. Whisk in butter. Strain mixture into a medium bowl, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 1 day). Batter should be the consistency of heavy cream; add more milk if needed.
2. Heat an 8- or 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, and brush with butter. Ladle or pour 3 tablespoons batter (for small crepes) or 1/3 cup batter (for large crepes) into pan, turning and tilting skillet to coat bottom evenly with batter. Cook until top of crepe appears set, bottom is firm and golden brown in spots, and center is lifted by pockets of air, about 1 minute. Run a spatula around edge of crepe to loosen. Slip spatula under crepe, and gently flip in one swift gesture. (If it doesn't land quite right, that's OK; use the spatula to unfold or rearrange it.) Cook until bottom is firm and golden brown in spots, about 45 seconds. Transfer to a plate, and cover. (The first one will not be your finest.) Repeat with remaining batter, brushing pan lightly with butter as needed (every 2 or 3 crepes). Serve immediately

A Wonderful Visit

Over the weekend, our friends, the Diperts, visited us from Arkansas. I lived with Erich, Sara and Elizabeth (who was 1 at the time) when I was in Prague. They were kind enough to let me live with them when I withdrew from school for a semester. Now, they have 4 kids! Elizabeth (who is now 11), Aaron (9), Jonathan (6), and Katherine (3). The kids slept in our playroom and Erich and Sara stayed in the office. They were amazing guests! So thoughtful and considerate. They helped with dishes, cooking and holding Aria. We had so much fun sitting around after the kids went to bed talking and laughing. They are awesome friends and we are praying that the Lord would open a door for them here so that they could move closer. It is rare to find good friends like them, but of course, they live far away.

While they were here we walked around Old Town, went to the park and went to Estes Park. I didn't take very many pictures while they were here, but here's some from Estes Park. Cadence and Finn liked playing with all their kids, but Cadence seemed to get attached to Elizabeth.

It was a great weekend full of wonderful friends, delicious food, and a lot of laughter!

They also picked some apples for me from our neighbors tree, with which I made some yummy apple pie bars. It was so satisfying to make something with fresh ingredients grown right in our neighbors backyard. The apples weren't very sweet, which I think was perfect balance for this recipe.

Recipe Highlight:

Apple Pie Bars

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 egg
• Milk (about 2/3 cup)
• FOR THE FILLING:
• 1-3/4 cups cornflakes
• 8 cups peeled and sliced cooking apples (see first tip below)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• FOR THE TOPPINGS:
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Separate the egg yolk and white, reserving both parts. Beat the yolk in a liquid measuring cup, then add enough milk to measure 2/3 cup and blend well. With a fork, stir together the yolk-milk mixture and flour mixture until the ingredients form a sticky dough. Halve the dough and flatten each half into a 3/4-inch-thick disk. Cover the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until well chilled, at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the cornflakes into a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to lightly crush them.

3. On a sheet of waxed paper, roll one portion of dough into a 15-1/2- by 10-1/2-inch rectangle. Transfer the dough to an ungreased 15- by 10-inch jelly roll pan. Sprinkle the crushed cereal over the dough, then layer on the apple slices.

4. Roll out the remaining dough as in Step 3. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the filling. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples, then lay the dough on top. Use the tines of a fork to seal the dough edges.

5. In a small bowl, use a fork to beat the reserved egg white until foamy, then brush it over the dough. In another small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping and sprinkle it on the crust.

6. Bake the pastry until lightly browned, about 50 to 55 minutes. Let it cool for an hour, then mix the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to make a glaze and drizzle it over the top. When the dish has completely cooled, cut it into bars and serve.

Burch Wedding

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Burch! Brad, Aria and I went down to Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs to celebrate Mimi and Kevin getting married! We are so happy for them! They are awesome people and an awesome couple. We headed down Saturday morning, after my mom came up to our place to watch Cadence and Finn, to go to the rehearsal. The wedding was Sunday afternoon and it was a perfect day.

This may sound odd, but they had the best wedding kiss ever. Kevin dipped Mimi and gave her a sweet kiss, not too much or awkward (we were at a wedding the month before where the wedding kiss was very awkward to watch).

The reception was a fairy tale theme, very appropriate when getting married in a castle. Then, dancing out on the patio under the stars. Kevin and Mimi didn't do much dancing. They snuck out early, but Kevin's brothers are definitely good to have at a party. They love to dance and keep things alive. After that, we headed home on Monday morning.

These are the two beautiful ladies I got to sit next to during the ceremony. Kelli and I kept whispering to each other and Karen kept shushing us.:)

Here are our handsome men! Look at that one in the tux...good-lookin'!

Kevin and Mimi had a "private" table in front of everyone to sit and eat during the reception. It was nice that they didn't have a head table because then the bridal party got to sit with their families.

Aria was the bell of the ball (besides Mimi, of course)! She made the rounds and took pictures with everyone. What a good girl.

Splash Park

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I went on a short (Aria doesn't let us stay out too long) morning outing to a fun splash park in Loveland.

We met Stephanie, the kids' Sunday School teacher, there. She is super sweet and well prepared, she brought goldfish for the kids to snack on.

Cadence and Finn were a little aprehensive of all the water gadgets at first, but then they warmed up.

There was also a little playground under an awning that was fun. Cadence really like spinning in these little pods that were like the Tilt a World at an amusement park. I would have been sick, but she liked it.

Finn followed Cadence wherever she went and really liked the goldfish, he must have been hungry.

Recipe Highlight:

Zucchini and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
• 2 pounds zucchini
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Bring water to boil, add rice. When water returns to a boil, reduce temperature to a low. Cover rice and cook until rice is tender.
2. Preheat oven's broiler. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Cut ends from zucchini and steam until tender. Reserve 2 zucchini for garnish, then dice remaining zucchini.
4. Combine butter and oil in a Dutch oven and heat until butter is melted. Add rice and diced zucchini, then saute until golden, stirring frequently. Stir in the cheeses until melted and add salt and pepper to taste. Let cool slightly, then stir in eggs quickly. Pour into a prepared baking dish and sprinkle generously with bread crumbs.
5. Slice reserved zucchini and arrange around the diced mixture. Drizzle melted butter over top.
6. Broil about 6 inches from the source of heat until lightly browned and bubbly.