Baking for Labor Day: Cheese Burger Cupcakes

My mom saw this fun cupcake recipe and we just HAD to make them! Mom and I enlisted the help of my sister Joy and a close friend that we claim as our sister, Rachel. Of course we had almost as much fun making them as we did eating them! 

Rachel

Mom

Even Everett got to try

So how did we do it? First...

Here's the Break Down:

We started out with a pan of brownies and a tray of vanilla cupcakes slightly browned. 

Joy used a cup to cut out the brownies in a round shape while Mom cut the cupcakes in half, placing the round brownie in the middle.

Coconut with green food coloring mushed around in a plastic bag made the perfect 'lettuce' for our burgers. 

I had some really great red runny icing to use as our 'catsup.' 

What's a cheese burger without its cheese?

We bought a yellow sugar sheet and cut it in squares as our 'cheese.'

My sister Joy always has her own cheese to add any time we get together. ;)

Of course, topped with some sugar water and sesame seeds. 

Done!

 Happy Birthday Rachel! Her 21st birthday was on the 20th, she's our sister in so many ways. You are beautiful inside and out, you continue to seek God's will in your life despite what the world says. We love you Rachel.

My Dad, My Shepherd

June 14, 1968, it was a stormy night. Lightening, thunder, howling wind were all deafening as my Dad put my sister and I to bed that night. While he was tucking us into bed we heard a tree branch snap and hit the roof, it shook the house.

"Where is Mommy? How come she isn't putting us to bed?" We asked our father. "She is at Choir practice" was his reply. "When will she come home? I'm scared Daddy, what if she doesn't come home? What if she dies in the storm?" We had so many questions! Dad tried to calm us down, relieve our fears and help us to feel safe but it was not working.

We were relentless, we wanted to know the answer. "Dad, what if Mom dies in the storm and never comes home?"  He began to explain to us that she asked Jesus into her heart and if she died she would go to heaven.  She would be safe and happy with Jesus. I asked, "If I die will I go to heaven?" "Have you asked Jesus into your heart?" He asked. "No" was my response. "Well then you won't go to heaven" he told me. A look back on his curt answer it seemed a bit harsh to tell a four year old. I felt a panic overcome me and knew I did not want to die without Jesus. It was then that I asked my Dad to help me to receive the most precious gift I have ever received - the gift of salvation! I prayed that prayer that evening I thank the Lord for my Father for many things but especially for being my Sheperd that night and leading me to Christ.

I cannot imagine how different my life would be if my Father did not have a personal relationship with the Lord. Not only would he have not led me to the Lord, but it would not have been important to him to find a wife that had a passion for the lost. I can only guess that we would not have gone to Bethesda Church or Calvary Memorial Church. Dad attended Milwaukee Bible Institute and continued on to the Mission field, not as a Pastor but as a builder. Because of that, I went to Grace Bible College (MBI's name & location was changed).  Because of his creative way to serve the Lord we have tried to emphasize to our children to combine your love for the Lord with something you enjoy doing and serve the Lord in that capacity. Not everyone is born to be a Pastor.

Right now my parent live in AZ, not far from the border of Mexico. Three times a year they minister to the people of Nogales.  They cross over the border and hand out food, clothing and Bibles to sometimes up to 500 people.

Thank you Dad, for loving the Lord, sharing Christ with us, showing us the importance of attending church, having us grow up knowing the importance of a personal relationship with the Lord and the importance of marrying someone who loves the Lord as well. I am extremely thankful for our godly heritage.  I pray we can continue that godly heritage with our children as well.

When Sharing the Gospel is not my 'Gift'

Some people have a gift for sharing how Christ died for our sins. Giving a relatable message that truly speaks to that person's heart so much that the person takes action and makes a decision to trust Christ as their Savior and follow Him for the rest of their lives. I have one such friend that is so gifted. I asked him to be a counselor at a camp I counseled at for years. This was his first week and his cabin was full of middle aged school boys, as the week went on all 14 of those young men trusted Christ as their personal savior because he was such an example of Christ's love and used his gift.

Every year I  worked at camp, week after week it seemed I would have a cabin of girls who loved the Lord and I was used to encourage them. It was always an intense week of being used by the Lord, sharing life experiences, but I it was rare that I would share Christ with a girl who had never made that decision before. I wrestled with this a lot in my life. Why did my friend have that kind of gift and I did not? What was I doing wrong? Am I not as effective in sharing Christ with others? After years of coming back to this frustration I have accepted the fact that the Lord puts me in a place to encourage believers, and help the kind of kids that I was, who are ready to grow and be challenged. It is a command to be ready to share the gospel or "the hope you have within you" at any time. I firmly believe all Christians should  be ready to share about their decision to follow Christ at any time, whether that is your 'gift' or not. One of my favorite books on this is "One Thing You Can't Do When in Heaven" By Mark Cahill.

 Before reading the book I thought that sharing your faith with kids was a cookie cutter thing. My testimony was the same to just about every person. To a point it always is, when I made that first decision, the way I tell it will always be the same, but what Cahill does is get to know the person quite well in conversation first, find out where they are in their understanding of what Christ did of them. He then shares how he came to trust the Lord as his Savior and a time that the Lord worked in his life that is relatable to them personally. Because our testimony continues to unfold every day, we struggle with new things that help us grow in the Lord. The most important thing we can do is change our mindset, ask the Lord to "restore the joy of our salvation." Let each conversation we have be lightly seasoned with excitement for the change in our lives. I could go on about the book but you get the idea. 

It is still a personal struggle with me. I have lead few to the Lord one-on-one in relation to how much I have shared my faith, but that's how the Lord has chosen to use me. I need to be more content in being an encourager, that is what this blog is for - encouragement. 

How I made Everett's Birthday 'I'm One' Onesie

I am crafty despite my lack of crafting lately. I have been pretty bummed that I haven't done much with one of my 'skills' that come naturally to me. I had always hoped my future child, (and hopefully more someday) would benefit from my creativity. I also find this blog to be a good way to keep me accountable when I get ambitious with my crafts. So when I started getting excited about my little baby turning one I knew I had to make something fun for him to wear.


I bought an iron on denim patch from Joann Fabrics, while there I also found an alphabet stencal in a cute font. Made a pattern for a big old '1' in the dimensions and the font I wanted. Cut out the 'I' 'M' letter and the apostrophe [YES I did Iron the apostrophe upside down accidentally.] I cut the '1' using a pattern I made on Photoshop so that it would be the exact size and style I wanted.
I then placed them where I wanted them [aside from the apostrophe] on a clean white onesie. Ironed them as the denem patch as directed and Voila! Something cute and fun for Everett to wear on his birthday!

Whether you are aware of it or not, his birthday was also the first day of Vacation Bible School. He could proudly display the cute little onesie to everyone who saw him that day at VBS. 

E with my mom at Bible School in my Craft Room.

Celebrating a Different Kind of Birthday

August marks a time when I reflect on how I came to know Christ as my personal Savior and how much that decision means to me today. Some call it their "Spiritual Birthday" How ever you look at it in your own life it is so important to me as I grow and develop in my life.
I was very young and yet I remember it so clearly, possibly 20 years ago. It was the week before our church's Vacation Bible School and my mom was inviting all the neighbor kids we knew to the week's activities. Being such an inquisitive child, I had to ask every question I could think of to my mom. She is such a patient, loving woman, she would always answer my questions, giving me more 'adult' answers, whether I fully understood or not.
This was no different, I realize now that I'm not sure my mother realized how much I would understand that day.

"Mom, why are we inviting the neighbors to Bible School?" my little tiny voice asked.
"So they can learn about Jesus."
I continued to ask questions like that all day. My mom explained to me, in simple terms that we were inviting the neighborhood kids to Bible School so they could learn that Christ died for their sins. Since I went to Sunday School I knew who God was, and that He had a Son. I heard about different nice things that He has done and had no idea how this effected me personally, until that night.
"You see everyone does things that they know are wrong, we all 'sin' we all fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)
"God is perfect and He cannot let people into heaven if they have sin in their life, that's why He sent His, Jesus to earth, to die for our sins, so that we might have eternal life"
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:23) She showed me in her Bible.
That night I insisted on accepting Christ as my Savior, I'm not sure my mom really thought I was ready, but I was. Today I always look back at that first decision I made to follow Christ.

This next week I will be the Craft Director at our church's Vacation Bible School. Maybe I can be part of making the same kind of impact in other kid's lives.