Happy Thursday!

Good news for today...

GOD is still in charge and in control.

HE is beside you, behind you, before you,

and for you.

No doubt about it,

no way around it -

HIS plan is good,

HIS POWER is great,

and HIS best is yet to come!

Happy Thursday!

~R

A special occasion...

I was saving it for a special occasion.
My last bag of coffee from Costa Rica,
but not any more.

Today is a special occasion!

I am healthy,
I am alive,
I am free to be me,
I am a daughter of the most high God,
the creator of the Universe.

Today IS a special occasion,
today is a GIFT.

I am blessed and I am having a cup of my favorite coffee.
I can smell its rich aroma,
I can feel the warm coffee cup in my hands
and I can enjoy the taste of coffee from the mountians of
Costa Rica.

Last Friday,
I spent the day on a coffee break
with Mr. Sweet.

It was a gift.
A day spent together drinking coffee,
sharing a soft pretzel from the local farmers market,
stopping at garage sales along the way
and just being friends.

Today is a gift!

Have a great day!

Join me for coffee here

Courage and weeds.

Be brave, I say.

You can do it!

And my children look into my eyes

looking for courage to move,

to trust, to succeed.

Finding strength in a word of encouragement,

a smile, a note or a pat on the back ~ from Mom or Dad,

or a coach, or a teacher, or a friend.

You can do it!

But what about me?

Where is my bravery?

Can I do it?

Where is the courage I long to show to my children?

Some days I lose sight of the

source of my courage.

I get in the way.

But then GOD.

He is I AM - He is my source.

 I have been watching the beauty of the tulip

unfold.  There are weeds growing all around this tulip

but in the midst of the weeds comes this beauty.

Intricately designed by God.

So in my life, with weeds of

doubt, selfishness, resentment and pride,

will beauty come forth?

Yes, by the grace of God and by getting out of the

way of the holy spirit,

beauty will come.

But the weeds must be dealt with in my

flower beds and in my life or

the weeds will choke out the life of beauty.

So today I am dealing with weeds

and praying for courage.

Tell me, do you have weeds in your life?

Do they choke out the beauty sometimes?

Blessings!

~R





Click Here

My Redeemer Lives!

Death could not hold Him!

Christ is risen from the dead,

In Him and by the power of His resurrection

I am alive and free.

Many times today my eyes filled with tears

as I counted the cost 

that He paid for my sins.

Blessings to each one of you!

He is risen!

Thank you, Jesus!

I am loved by the King!

Blessed !

Coffee break...

If you were joining me for coffee this morning...

I would have so much to say and you would probably have to

interupt me to get your chance to talk.

First off,  I would tell you that IF

I have updates on my blog any day

then you will know that I have spent at least

10 minutes exercising that day.

Yup, its my new plan,

no exercise - no blogging.

I would also tell you that

my husband and I celebrated

our 16th wedding anniversary

this past weekend.

He brought me flowers and

I made us a little cake,

and then we went out for dinner, Friday night.

And Saturday was a rain out so I got

to stay home all day

and create this.

I would also tell you that our family is moving,

we are moving to a place where the

coffee is plentiful and also the

mangos

bananas

passion fruit

avacados

and

coconuts.

Our family is moving to

COSTA RICA!

more on that later.

But I really would like to know

how you are, too.

I would ask what is new with you

and what you are looking

forward to.

Are you looking forward to warmer weather
as much as me?
I need warmer weather so
my son can wear shorts
'cause he don't have too many
jeans left that don't have holes in the knees.



These were for Ted's Sunday school class
for his birthday.
People have told me that
Ted loves paper and so paper inspired
cupcakes was Ted's birthday treat.


Be blessed today and may the PEACE
of our risen Savior be your
strength!



Happy 40th, my friend!

I love creating cakes for gifts,

and I had fun making this

for my friend

and surprising her with it!

She is an amazing director of the

children's ministries at church.

She creates amazing "art" with

yarn that I only dream of.

She is talented in so many ways and

loves to play games and will

beat you at Banana Grams without

even trying!  =)

A well deserved cake for an amazing person!

Happy 40th Birthday, Julie!

I am blessed to call you

friend!

HERE

http://www.bubblynaturecreations.com/p/linky-parties.html

He loves YOU!

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord,
Let every creature praise His holy
name for ever and ever.

Psalms 145:8,21

~WINNER~

The winner of CUPCAKES AND CHOCOLATE is...

LISA

  and this is what she said..

I love everything in this giveaway! It's very "sweet" of you to do this.

Check out her great blog HERE!


Thank you to all who entered!

{ ~ Pumpkin Pie ~ }

Pumpkin Pie in the spring.

This is our favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

And there is a story with it.

No, I do not make my own crust,
but maybe one day I will.

After getting married and buying a house,

my dear friend, Sharon from high school

moved in next door to us with her husband.

Whenever I needed an ingredient for a

recipe she usually had what I needed.

Over the years our children grew up and

played together all year round.

In the winter they sledded down the big feild

between our houses,

and in the summer they came swimming.

As her family grew she taught them

about giving.  When the first pumpkin

from their garden was ready, they made

us this amazing Pumpkin Pie.  It  disappeared

quickly and Mr. Sweet (aka my husband)

LOVED it. 

That was probably when I started

making pies.  It is the simplest recipe

and so good with fresh pumpkin.

Thanks, Sharon

your kindness will always be remembered!

She moved now and I miss her.

Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs

2 cups pumpkin (canned or fresh)

3/4 brown sugar

1 -12 oz can evaporated milk (1 1/3 cup)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Beat eggs lightly then beat in remaining ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.

Enjoy!

1 Pie gone...

...but it was so good!

Enjoy the sunshine today!

and there is still time to enter the giveaway

here on my blog.

A gift...

From a sweet daughter

to her mom

on her 60th birthday!

And the inspiration for this cake

was a napkin.

And some cupcakes to go with the cake.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway

HERE for

CUPCAKES & CHOCOLATE.

Before and After

Today if you were joining me for

coffee we would be meeting at

a local restaurant and I could introduce you

to my amazing friend who would be

joining us as well.

Days like this is when I remember the phrase,

April showers,

bring May flowers,

and I am content to have another cup

of coffee and enjoy the pitter-patter of

the rain and enjoy the company of a friend.

I would also tell you that my bathroom is well on the

way to being transformed with some paint and

hard work.  I think I'm liking it!

And my husband is proud of me

because there were days when he was

having his doubts about my vision.

So many times I have a before and after picture

of a project I am doing.

And hopefully it is an awesome transformation.

So I was thinking about the

before and after

of Jesus in my life.

Before Jesus,

My day is overwhelming and stressful

After spending time with Jesus in

prayer and bible reading.

I can do all things thru Him.

Before the rain and sunshine
no flowers.
After the rain and sunshine,
Beautiful, amazing flowers.

His design in my life and
in His creation is evident every day
if I just stop and spend time
with Him.



I found a new setting on my camera and was
 trying it out on the flowers around my house.



I would also tell you that you have until Friday

to enter my CUPCAKES & CHOCOLATE

giveaway, just click here.

Enjoy your day,

I'm off to have another cup of

coffee with my friend,

and you can join the rest of the

ladies over at

virtual coffee.

 

~Inexpensive Happiness~

They just make me feel HAPPY!

I just love all the the fun colors of cupcake papers!
A SWEET TREAT for me.

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet,

go here to enter

CUPCAKES AND CHOCOLATE

giveaway!

So since we were having guests on Sunday,

I could justify,

I knew these cupcake papers could be put to good use.



Vanilla cupcake with black raspberry filling and buttercream icing. 



Guess who is coming for dinner?

Actually, dinner is over but we were guessing.
A couple weeks back, at church
we could either sign up to be guests
or sign up to be hosts.  We signed up as hosts.




Vanilla with strawberry filling.



And then a couple who is way more organized than I

figured out all the details and divided the guests out

to all the hosts.  So we knew we were going to have

8 guests for lunch after church on Sunday, but we didn't know who.

We had a fun afternoon getting to know
two families from church.



Vanilla with nutella filling.



Happy Monday to you all!



~Great is your faithfulness~

Because of the Lord's great love
we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness!

Lamentations 3:22-23

Be blessed today and know that HE
extends His love
mercy and grace to you,
each morning.

You have till April 15 to enter my
CUPCAKES AND CHOCOLATE
giveaway.

~ A Giveaway ~ Cupcakes and Chocolate!

I decided to have a giveaway here on my blog.

Sweet - right?

Of course its sweet, I happen to like all
things sweet and chocolaty!

CUPCAKES AND CHOCOLATE

What you will get if you are the winner:

A Cupcake Oven Mitt
A Box of Dove Chocolate
A Roll of Cupcake Ribbon
And A Bag of M & M's

To be entered in the drawing to win
CUPCAKES AND CHOCOLATE

1. Please leave a comment on this post, below in the comments box.
   (please include your email so I can let you know when you win.)

2. For a second entry Follow this blog (over there at the right) and post another comment telling me you are my newest follower.  If you are already a follower, let me know with another comment.
(this giveaway is for US shipping addresses only)

I will pick a random winner.

Giveaway ends at midnight on April 15.

CUPCAKES AND CHOCOLATE