The best cookies!

These are my favorite cookies to make!

I made a batch for an event recently that I didn't end up actually attending, and well, we had monster cookies for days! They are gluten free and can totally pass for breakfast in a pinch because of all the oatmeal and peanut butter. -Or at least that is what I told myself on shopping day when breakfast items were running low. : )

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

During spring break, my friend and I went to see Miracles from Heaven.
We both are both former Alias/Jennifer Garner fans. : )
I didn't know what it was about exactly and had I known, I may not have gone, only because being reminded of hospitals, diagnoses, and feeding tubes is still painful for me.

BUT, it was an awesome, true story and God got the glory. You should totally see it! And if you are a Third Day fan, Mac Powell leads worship in it.

As I was walking down the stairs of the theater to exit, a woman stopped me to tell me that her husband got a miracle too!  She said his "heart died three times" and "now he has a new one." I said "Praise God! That is awesome." And then I followed her and her happy, elderly husband while desperately hoping she wouldn't turn around and see me doing the ugly cry all the way out of the theater. And my sweet friend M, cried too because she knew...
At that moment all I could think is:
It is rough to be the ones who DIDN'T get a miracle...

I love when miracles happen. I totally believe in them. I've seen them happen many times. And I've been miraculously healed myself of reactive airway disease. -I had been sick in bed for three months and was supposed to be on meds all my life and would always susceptible to getting pneumonia. But God completely healed me that day, 14 years ago, when a dear man came to my house and prayed for me.

I may have had a bit of a pity party that night after the movie, but I ended up giving our lack of a miracle to God.

The next evening, as I was reading The Barbarian Way (a favorite of my Hubby and I) for a devotion time with my kids, something totally stuck me!
In chapter two, the story of John the Baptist being in prison is discussed. And we all know, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One or if they should we look for another.
-We know that John was convinced He was the One earlier, because he testified to that fact to everyone who came to hear him speak. "I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God."
But being in prison must have been rough and made him have his doubts. His time was short and Herodias' daughter was working on her dance moves. ; )
I always thought that he sent his disciples to ask Jesus this because he had NOT heard of all the miracles Jesus was doing.
But Matt. 11:2-3 says that "When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him..."
Jesus has his disciples tell John about how the lame are walking, the blind are seeing and the kingdom of God is being preached to the poor. And then He also had them tell John
"Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

And then what I read next, totally hit me like it was JUST for me!
It was the answer to not getting a miracle and it gave me peace.

"Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." Erwin McManus writes, is Jesus "saying to him, 'John, I'm not coming through for you. I'm not getting you out of prison. I'm not sparing your life. Yes, I have done all this and more for others, but the path I choose for you is different from theirs. You'll be blessed, John, if this does not cause you to fall away.' "

It was just what I needed to hear! "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me."
-On account of what we think He should have done,
on account of what He didn't do,
on account of the way it happened.
All of it.

Let's never let our lack of a miracle cause us to "fall away."

This song and its declaration means so much to me right now.



~Becky

Sent back with love

Nathan flew back to California on Friday. But before that there was a mandatory family wiffle ball game,

 pizza and lots of hugging!

He's the guy who sings through the house at the top of his lungs and who stays up til 2:00 or 3:00 AM because he can. He rarely plans ahead but is never stressed. He is the guy behind the camera and rarely in the photos. He is a visionary. He is always passionate about something and it is contagious. He always hugs me when he walks by and tells me he loves me several times a day. He's cheered me on through every hurdle I've had to face since Hubby's passing and I'm grateful!
As you can imagine, we are going to miss him like crazy!

~Becky

Waterfall Hike

This is a video that Nathan made of a hike we took in on our trip to CA.
~So many sweet memories connected to this trip!




~Becky

For the love of books

On Monday,  all of our kids had to work and so I decided that it would be fun to take M's son on a tour of all the best bookstores in our city, because he absolutely LOVES books. We are kindred spirits in that way. I recently bought this:

Notice the "not really" at the bottom. ; )

According to Google, we had already, accidentally, taken him to 3 of the best bookstores out of 10. So, I made it my goal to hit 3 more! 

J is one of my favorite bookworms. He has a wish list of 110 books he wants to buy and those books are categorized! He even has a favorite publishing house! 

We disagree on one thing. I'm a big fan of the library and reading books for FREE but he doesn't care for the library because he wants to OWN ALL THE BOOKS he reads and fill his room with them. (I love him!) 

          This store was just darling! It sold new books and carried half of the ones on his wish list! 

This store sold mostly used books. When you walk in, the comforting smell of old books hits you.

We love these editions of the classics

The one we visited last, wins the award for most passionate staff! 

 When J bought a book, she asked him why he wanted to buy it. : ) -The homeschool mom in me loved that!

If you bring back the books you buy here, you get store credit for your next purchase.  And if you buy anything from one of their neighboring stores, you can bring in your receipt and get half off your first book! Super cool! This store was his favorite!

I might have had as much if not more fun than he did that day! : ) 

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

"There is none upon earth that I desire besides You." Ps. 73:25

"Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things. O God, who is like you?" Ps. 71:19

"Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day." Ps.71:8

"I will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of your righteousness, of Yours ONLY." Ps. 71:16

"I will hope continually and will praise You yet more and more."
Ps. 71:14

"...To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness every night."
 Ps. 92:2

~Becky

Spring Break is here

Our very dear friends from CA are here spending their spring break with us! Hooray!

 We could not be happier about this!

So far, we've had coffee at this hip and cool place ; ) 

One of the reasons I love M so much! She's always ready to praise the Lord! Anywhere!  :) 

We've shopped at the new outlet mall

Thursday we planned to go tubing down the Rainbow River, but everyone opted for more sleep that day! So we settled for our favorite beach instead. And the Californians didn't think that 72 degree water was so bad, but it was too cold for the rest of us! : ) 

Our kids all saw the midnight showing of Batman vs. Superman. And we were out looking for lamb on sale at 11:00 PM! Things like that only happen when M is in town. LOL 

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was Hubby and I's favorite romantic comedy for years, so I was beyond excited to see the second one on Friday! And in honor of that day, I made a BUNDT cake. ; ) 

Except I couldn't get it out of the pan and it ended up looking like this. 

So those lines about "What is it?" from the movie, were pretty applicable. 

M made us the most delicious Passover lamb meal. 

Then we all went to our church's Good Friday service. It was SUCH a beautiful and moving service! 

Accidentally "twinning"

We've had a wonderful time talking to the kids about what happened in Jesus' life on each day that week from the book of Mark and had some awesome Bible studies. (insert lots of heart emojis here)

Nathan is leaving next week, so we gave him a "Send Off Party" last night. He didn't want it to be called a "Going Away Party" because that sounded too sad. 

(Speaking of which, I may be one SAD mess on Friday) : ( 

We had a blast with a houseful of kids! 

On Easter, Andrew had the honor of serving in the worship band playing bass. 

And the worst thing ever happened. I promised to wake him up at 5:40 so that we could leave at 6:15. And my phone did an update and 

MY. ALARM. DID. NOT. GO. OFF. 

Did I mention it was Easter Sunday?! 

I got him to church 20 minutes before the first service started! 

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! 

I felt terrible! 

But, thankfully that kid can roll without much practice! Hallelujah! He's got a gift!

It was a beautiful service and such a blessing to all be together!

After he finished playing for the third service, we had a lovely Easter meal at the home of Zac's in-law's! 

It has been such a blessing to spend the week celebrating what the Lord has done for us,

 with some of our favorite people. The Lord knows just what we need and when! 

 ~Becky