Sandy

There are no words.  Only tears, and hugs.  How do you say goodbye to someone who has meant so much to you?  Who went to be with Jesus so unexpectedly, turning all of our worlds upside down?  Sandy was my mentor for years, showing me what it looks like to be a godly wife and mother.  She always had time for me - even in the midst of raising her own 4 children and home schooling them.  For a long time I drove out to her house on Wednesday nights to talk about marriage and parenting and pray together.  Looking back, I'm sure she was exhausted at the end of a busy day.  Yet she sat with me.  

During her funeral today there were definitely thoughts that were repeated over and over.  "Sandy had a way of making you feel special, like you were the most important person to her" and none of us realized that she was doing this with lots of people at the same time.  "She was so encouraging and cheerful.  Even in the midst of great physical pain, she was still asking others what their prayer requests were and proclaiming that God is good."   Her husband, children, siblings, nieces, nephews, and friends all stood up to tell us how much she meant to them.  What a testimony of her life - that God used her in such a way to reach so many people, and then He took her home.  Her work here was done.

We do have hope.  We know that right now Sandy is rejoicing with Jesus in heaven and that she is completely healed and free of all suffering and pain.  That brings a lot of comfort.  And we will see her again, and she will be reunited with her family and friends and we will all live for eternity with no pain, mourning, tears, or sin.  It is hard to be left here without her.  But I am so grateful for the time I did get to spend with her and I cannot wait to see her again.

First "real" snowstorm!

The kids made this snowman all by themselves after it had only been snowing for 90 minutes.  He has bottle caps for the mouth and buttons.

The designers

Spelling Bee!

This week the girls were in their first Spelling Bee at Dayspring.  They were only given a week to practice their words, but we did practice a lot.  Yesterday Amelia participated in the 1st grade bee and she was one of the last 4 standing!  This means that she gets to advance to the Roanoke Valley Christian School Spelling Bee in Roanoke on March 1st.  

From the first moment she saw the words, Emma said she wanted to win.  Some of her words were really hard like elide, triumphal, and administrator.  But, she ended up being one of the last 4 kids standing, so she will also get to go to Roanoke.  The word that got her was "administrator".  I guess we will be practicing spelling a lot over the next few weeks!

My Little Gymnast

Today Amelia started her first gymnastics class as a Leaping Lizard. She was so excited to go, I thought she would be shy and need me to walk her onto the floor, but she ran right out to join the class.  She's been practicing gymnastics at home for years, her flexibility amazes me.  Here are some pictures:

She was able to do her first back bend all by herself! She starts standing up and then bends backward to the floor.

Chocolate Truffle Cake - for Sheena

Here is the recipe for Sheena's favorite chocolate cake.  She has been very patient waiting for it!  I really, really wish she was here and I would gladly make it for her every day.   (Warning:  if you eat too much of it, you will be awake for a long time.  For that reason, it's great for breakfast :)

Chocolate Truffle Cake

From Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts 1991

16 servings

Begin 3 hours before serving or day ahead

Ingredients:

2 8-oz packages unsweetened chocolate squares (16 1-oz squares)

1 cup plus 6 T. margarine or butter (2 1/4 sticks) at room temp.

3 large eggs

2 t. vanilla

2 2/3 cup flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 1/2 cups. confectioners' sugar

3/4 c. heaving or whipping cream

10 1-oz squares semisweet chocolate (I only use 8 squares b/c I don't grate the last 2 squares on top of the cake, see step 11)

Rose for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1.  Grease three 9-inch round cake pans.  (I use cooking spray. Then I cut out 3 circles of wax paper to fit in the bottom of each pan, then spray again.  It ensures that the cakes will slide out easily!)

2.  In heavy 4-quart sauce pan over low heat, heat 12 squares unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup margarine or butter (2 sticks), and 2 1/2 cups water, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat; cool slightly.

3.  In large bowl, with wire whisk or fork, beat eggs and vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in warm chocolate mixture.

4.  To chocolate mixture, add flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; continue beating with wire whisk or fork until batter is smooth and well blended.

5.  Pour batter into cake pans.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in ceanter of cake comes out clean.  Cool cakes in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove from pans; cool cakes completely on wire racks.

6.  Meanwhile, prepare truffle mixture:  In heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat, heat remaining 4 squares unsweetened chocolate, stirring frequently, until melted; cool slightly.  With spoon, stir in confectioner's sugar, remaining 6 T. of margarine or butter (3/4 stick), and 1/4 cup heavy or whipping cream until mixture is smooth and blended.  (Don't use mixer, it gets too crumbly!)

7.  Prepare glaze:  In heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat, heat 8 squares semisweet chocolate and remaining 1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream, stirring frequently, until melted, smooth, and slightly thickened, keep warm.

8.  Assemble and glaze cake:  (I put the cake on a large plate or serving dish before assembling it so I don't have to transfer it later when it's really big and heavy).

                   

     With metal spatula, spread 1 cake layer with 1/2 c. truffle mixture.  Top with second cake layer, pressing down gently but firmly.  Spread with another 1/2 cup truffle mixture; top with 3rd cake layer.

      Glazing cake:  Over assembled cake, pour prepared glaze.   With metal spatula, spread glaze to completely cover top and side of cake.

     

9.  Refrigerate cake until glaze is set, about 30 minutes.

10.  Remove cake to plate (mine is already on the plate, I put it on a large plate before step 8).  

     Piping border (optional, it does cover the messy bottom of cake, you could also use whipped cream instead of truffle mixture):  With rosette tube, pipe border of remaining truffle mixture around bottom of cake.  

11.  Grate remaining 2 squares semisweet chocolate; sprinkle around top edge of cake.  Garnish with rose.  (I don't do either of these.  Mine isn't as fancy.  I think I usually pipe more truffle stuff around the top edge of the cake too, or just leave it plain).

 

       

Christmas in PA

We spent Christmas in PA this year for the first time in years.  First stop - my brother's house where we got to see grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Oh, and the kids got to open their present from Nanna and Pap Pap.  You can see the excitement below!

Luke asked for the Lego police station in September.  He was truly surprised though when he actually got it! He kept asking me if Nanna and Pap Pap were really going to get it for him.

The girls both wanted the American Girl doll McKenna. She was the 2012 doll of the year.  

Sarah got her first AG doll!  It looks just like her :)

Emma loves McKenna :)

One of the best parts of Christmas this year - Natalie! She's almost a year old and she is so cuddly and sweet.  She got some new toys too, and especially loved it when Uncle Joel flew her around like an airplane.

After my brother's house we headed to Greensburg to see Grammy and G-Pap. We don't have as many pictures because the batteries died in my camera and we didn't get new ones for a few days!  Oh, and while we were there the radiator in the van cracked.  That added a little bit of excitement and wonder to our trip :)

On Christmas Eve we headed to Indiana, PA and got to go to the service at Grace United Methodist Church, where Joel's dad used to preach.  It was beautiful and the kids loved the electric candles they got to hold.  There was a little bit of snow on Christmas!  

Emma chewing her new fairy necklace.  Fairies were definitely a theme this year, especially Tinkerbelle and Periwinkle.

Luke and Mia during movie time.

Emma with Merida from "Brave", one of her favorite movies.  I think they watched it at least 5 times since Christmas Day.

Emma introducing Felicity to McKenna.

Christmas night at 1am!  We ended up leaving a day early to beat the ice/snow we got on Wednesday.  I actually gave the kids Dramamine and it worked so well!  They were all out by 10pm.

Amelia's 7th Birthday!

This past Tuesday we got to celebrate Amelia's 7th birthday.  She wanted her presents  upon waking, she gets that from me :)  This year she got a Hello Kitty  bubblegum machine, a gymnastics leotard, a Barbie wedding dress, gymnastics lessons from Grammy and G-Pap, and a huge Lego set from Nanna and Pap Pap.  It was definitely a great birthday!  In the evening she had her Christmas program at Dayspring so we listened to the kids in K-2 sing Christmas carols and shake lots of jingle bells.  They did a great job!

Yesterday, Dec. 15th, she had a Pinkalicious party!  There were 11 girls at the party and 1 boy, who was tortured the entire time by girls chasing after him :)  The girls made crowns, colored, and decorated pink cupcakes with icing and sprinkles.  We hid pink Christmas ornaments around the yard for everyone to find, unfortunately the boys didn't know that so a few of them got buried or tossed into the gutter :)  It was a sweet time with friends and this year I was especially grateful for my 7 year old and that I got to celebrate another birthday with her.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Amelia at the Christmas program, this is her new smile for pictures :)

She wanted a pink strawberry cake.

The best part of the party!  Joel had the brilliant idea to buy pink hair spray, and all of the girls had some pink hair.  He finished out the can on Luke's hair, and this was the result!

Amelia's new leotard

The book that inspired the whole party!

Crown making station

Decorating cupcakes

Gaeligh :)

Coloring station

Look at all of the pink!