Chocolate Lush

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Valerie

This dessert has been at my family’s gatherings for as long as I can remember.

My mom makes the best tasting lush…but I am getting better!! =)

1 stick of butter

1 C flour

1/4 C chopped walnuts/pecans (optional)

mix together (I use a pastry cutter or a fork) and pack into a 13×9 pan.  It will be thin in the bottom for a crust.  Bake 20 minutes (or until golden brown) at 350 then cool completely.

8oz. creme cheese

1/2 t vanilla

1 C powdered sugar

mix together then fold in 1 C cool whip.  Layer on top of cooled crust.

2  3oz. packages of instant chocolate pudding

3 C milk.

Mix together well, then pour over the cream cheese mixture.

Top with cool whip.

Refrigerate before serving.  (I like this a bit frosty from the freezer too! Yummm)

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Overcome

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Valerie

As I sit here in the dark hours before dawn, I am overcome with a feeling of gratitude.  I look at my life, and I can only rejoice for the people that surround me and the journey that I am on.

I have a husband who, with fierce dedication, has walked beside me through the hardest times.

I have a bright, engaged, and imaginative 5 year old (5 and 3/4 if you ask her!) who shows me every day that life is abundant.

I have a beautiful, strong, and courageous 2 year old who motivates me to be more than is expected of me.

It is so clear…

this vision,

the journey,

the security of knowing I am doing exactly what I am meant to do

and becoming what I was always meant to be.

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Prayer

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Valerie

It is not the inability to pray during pain that is sin; but the refusal or neglect to pray. ~ Margaret Clarkston

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Amazing Find!

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Valerie

Amazing!  Kayla, Rebekah and I were in a thrift store yesterday looking around and Kayla said to me, “Mom, that looks like Rebekah’s chair.”  I turned around and sure enough, they had four little Rifton therapy chairs!

Rebekah is growing like you wouldn’t believe.  She is now 25 pounds and 36 inches!!  SO TALL!  She has outgrown the current chair that we have on loan from Babies Can’t Wait (the state agency providing help for Bekah).  It’s not that she doesn’t fit in the chair anymore, but that she can rest her head on her knees almost.  =)  She’s just so tall!

This chair that we found is the next size bigger and she will be able to use it for a long time.  Also, because we bought the chair it will be ours to keep!  We have to return all equipment to Babies Can’t Wait when Rebekah turns 3 and ages out.  She will then receive help through the public school system, but gets no equipment to bring home.

I was so excited that Kayla tells me I squealed.  I believe her!  The store clerk kept telling me that fate brought me in to the store that day.  I finally had to tell her that the Lord knew we were in need of a chair for a fair price for Rebekah and she was the vehicle.  She would also be able to bless other families with the other chairs that she had there.

So here it is!  Thank you friends and family for continuing to pray God’s blessings and provision for us!

Posted in Rebekah's Updates | 5 Comments

So blessed!

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Valerie

I am so blessed!

Posted in Parenting Adventures | 1 Comment

Presenting Bekah’s Blooms

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Valerie

Well, I have been trying to think of a way to creatively support my special needs daughter Rebekah for a long time.  She inspires me to keep going even when I am so tired, her laugh is a delight, and her smile is contagious.

I attend a MOPS (Mothers of Pre Schoolers) group twice a month.  We do crafts, chat, eat, laugh, and do all the things that mamas do when we get together.  I LOVE it!  We made the cutest felt flower pins at one of our meetings and I instantly knew that there was something special about these flowers.  I made them for Rebekah’s therapists, teachers at church and our family for Christmas.  Now, I would like to make and sell them to help support Rebekah and the Foundation for Microcephaly.

I have a facebook page called Bekah’s Blooms and would love for you to check the blooms out there.  I also have an Etsy account that will list the blooms for sale.  (http://www.etsy.com/shop/bekahsblooms)  All orders can be sent to bekahsblooms@threeoclockshop.com.

This is all very new and is growing very fast.   I can’t wait to tell you more about the people I meet through this experience and the support and awareness we can bring to Rebekah and her special friends.

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A new fruit adventure ~~ Pummelo

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Valerie

Can you believe how HUGE this fruit is?  Kayla saw this at Publix and had to try it.  Daddy loves grapefruit and was willing to try it!

We checked on line first to make sure that we opened it the best way to get the most fruit out of it.  We were glad that we didn’t cut it like orange sunshine slices!!

We got it open.  It smells yummy and the skin was tough and thick.

Some of the sections had popped open inside the pummelo.

Look at how big the section is in Chris’ hand!  The meat was sweet with a little tangy aftertaste.  The skin of the sections was sour like a grapefruit.  We really liked it!

We were only able to eat half of it this morning as it hung off the the paper plate!

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Snow Day 1/10/11

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Valerie

The snow started falling a couple of hours before bed time last night.  It is always a little magical when the snow is falling!  I love our back woods and the stillness the snow adds to them.  This morning, I was up before the girls and there was not a sound coming from the bedrooms nor the back yard.  Usually the birds beat me up and they are tweeting away on the back deck.

Kayla and I couldn’t resist getting out there and playing today.  We had a great breakfast of cranberry orange muffins and then bundled up to get out in the snow.  Snow angels were first on the list!

Nana sent us a snowman kit a few years ago and this is the first we have been able to use it.  It had a hat, scarf, carrot nose, button eyes, buttons for a smile, a pipe, and a heart.  Kayla insisted that he would need arms and Voila!

What great memories we are creating!  She has been blessed to have snow two years in a row!

Our nice warm home!

Our little 12 year old wanted to play a bit too!

Rebekah got to come outside to watch us play.  She was all cuddly in her new stroller snuggy.  Doesn’t she look like a glow worm?

This girl LOVES her Daddy!

Isn’t he dreamy?

Daddy took us for a ride around town.  Most of Paulding County roads were fabulous!  Thanks PC DOT!

Sister fun!

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Roasted Turkey

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Valerie

Well, I did it!  I roasted my first turkey EVER!

12 lb thawed turkey  (follow the directions on the package to thaw)

1 oven bag

2 T flour

2 T butter room temperature

2 pinches of salt

sprinkle of garlic powder

freshly ground pepper

one apple

one lemon

two carrots

other veggies are optional

I decided to wing this and follow a few different instructions on roasting a bird.  Most called for onions, I didn’t have any.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and give yourself 3-4 hours for a 12 lb turkey.

Open the oven bag and put the 2 T of flour inside.  None of the recipes said WHY to do this, so I shook the flour around to coat the inside of the bag so the bird wouldn’t stick…I don’t know if it helped or not.  I made the mistake of not having my pan and bag ready before I rinsed the bird and had to put it down to get them ready then redo the bird.  =(

I rinsed the bird in cold water inside and out then patted it dry.  Chris help the bag open while I shoved ‘er in.  Mix the butter and spices (can be any spices you really like, I suppose).  Smear the butter on the skin of the bird all over the legs and breasts.  The butter will make the skin a golden brown.  Cut the lemon, apple, carrots, and whatever other veggies you have and put them inside the bird.

Close the bag with the oven safe fasten provided with the bag.  Puncture the bag a few times with a fork.  This is harder than it really seems and you will have to work at it.

Put the pan in the preheated oven with the legs towards the door.  The oven is hottest in the back and you want the thickest part of the bird in the hottest part.

The turkey will be done when the thigh meat is 180 degrees or hotter.  Also check that the liquid that runs from the bird when you cut into the thickest part does not run pink.

I will have to do another entry once we have eaten this bird! =)

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January

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Valerie

Once again I find myself in January.  I always find myself in a little bit of a slump during this month.

I feel:

  • frazzled about the schedule I have to jump back into.
  • sad about the holidays being over.
  • overwhelmed about deadlines coming in a few months.
  • tired from the daily routine we keep.
  • like there is never enough time for what I NEED to do, let alone, what I WANT to do.
  • exposed with all the bare trees in the woods surrounding our house.

Is anyone out there with me?  How do you feel after the holidays?  How do you cope with the dull-drums of life?

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