Touch of Spring

Isn't this a pretty sight? I came home to and found these on the countertop yesterday. We all need a touch of Spring in January!

Interesting Bible Battle Tactics

Actually, these tactics are unorthodox... they would never be considered in the army... they are not natural... they are Under God's Influence.

David - He refused to wear armor and took out Goliath with a stone and a slingshot.

David - He ran from Saul's wrath and could've took him out while he slept. Instead he cut a piece of Saul's cloak off and showed it to him the next morning, saying that he would not kill his leader.

Jonathan & his armor bearer - The enemy was at the top of a rocky hill and they were in the valley. They climbed up the stone face, in full view of those who wanted to kill them, to get to them.

Jehoshaphat - While being invaded from every side, they stood before the armies and sent the musicians and singers out first.

Sampson - Used a jawbone to slay 1,000 men. Toppled a stadium to take out all the Philistines.

Gideon - Gathered together all the people he could to form an army. Filtered them down to 300 men, blew horns, lit lanterns and shouted the name of God.

Joshua - Circled the city of Jericho with the ark once a day for 6 days, then 7 times on the 7th day. Blew horns and shouted the name of God after the 7th circling.

Jesus - He walked through the mobs that rose against Him, and was taken only when it was time for Him to offer His life.

There are many more examples. What ones come to your mind?

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Jehovah." -Isa 55:8

Let's be creative together

Anyone who has been around me enough knows that I like to make stuff. I enjoy taking a bunch of things that don't mean anything on their own, put them together and have it be something useful or pretty or interesting. So.....

It is about time to think Stampin' Up again. I will be ready to start up a workshop or a club as soon as next month. If you have never done Stampin' Up before, you GOTTA try it at least once. I got lots of ideas and projects to do. My parties go beyond just making cards. Let me know if you want more information.

Let's be creative together - it's fun.

Music!

We had rehearsal tonight for this weekend's services. Starting with Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone (Tomlin), then we do Faithful (Fee) and go right into Everlasting God (Lincoln Brewster). After the message is over, we will do Forever (Tomlin). Can't wait til the weekend!

I love playing music. I love being with other musicians. I love being on stage and am so glad that my stagefright days are long past me! The best thing about this gig is the people. Everyone I have met is so friendly, and we have had the privilege of playing with such talented people . We are both immensly thankful to be a part of the worship team at Northway Church. You gotta come out and worship with us sometime!

"I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord!" -Psalm 122:1

Finally! Tasty GF Bread!!!

Trying to find an edible GF bread is practically impossible. The stores carry loaves that are disgusting. It's a wonder they even sell them! I bought loaves of bread for $6 each that were in the garbage can after one bite of one slice. I am happy to report that I have been given a bread recipe that is just great!

Elizabeth Barbone is a local chef who is dedicated to helping out us GF'ers. She has a website at www.glutenfreebaking.com and has compiled a cookbook, which I own. I was able to meet her at the GF convention that I went to a couple of weeks ago. She was an excellent speaker and she demonstrated making this yummy sandwich bread. I even got to meet her and she signed my cookbook. Man, it was like meeting a tv star or something. I told her she should be on the Food Network! Thank you for all you do, Elizabeth!!!

There isn't anything quite like the home-made bread experience. The thing I like most about it is smelling it as it bakes. Secondly, I like slicing a warm piece, spreading butter on it and eating it right up. The loaf in the picture is what came out of MY oven tonight. It is cut up on the edges so I could get it out of the loaf pan, but don't forget that it was my first attempt at making it. I have learned: bigger loaf pan = better for this bread! It holds up well to slicing, it doesn't crumble on you, it freezes and thaws perfectly, but most importantly, it tastes good.

Ahhh...Saturdays

This is one day that I love. We get up later or earlier than usual. The routine is a free for all. Yes, it is the day to do errands (I kinda don't like that word) but they are on my terms. Afternoon naps are a good thing to do on the weekend! Sparkie gets to be with us most of the day and sometimes gets to go for a ride or two. He really loves that! Housework can wait! So can the laundry!!! We had Cracker Barrel for dinner so I didn't have to cook today. Sometimes we get to play music in Malta. Yes, I really like Saturdays. Ahhh

Going visiting...

... hop in the car, turn on the radio, decide that all the preset channels are playing stuff you don't want to hear, flip open the visor to find a CD that you like, pop it in the CD player, hit FF until it starts up with your favorite song ever, sing your heart out with it, make sure you don't get lost or run off the road while being so distracted. Going visiting is alot of work!
I went to see my niece tonight. She's been asking me to see her apartment for over a month so we finally set the time to have me over. We talked about everything under the sun, looked at pictures, ate yummy food, shared cooking secrets with each other. What a fun time. Love you sweetie!

66 books - 365 days

Here we go! You can get through the Bible in a year! We have been challenged to do this at Northway Church and have been given an awesome resource to help us do it.
http://www.youversion.com/
This site gives you the chapters to read each day, and a place to put your thoughts down as well. If you want to see what others have journaled, you can do that. Highlight verses that meant something to you.
Why not give the Word your time? A little bit everyday can make a whole lot of difference in your life!

"Good people..."

"...cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano! Invent your own new song to Him; give him a trumpet fanfare." Psalm 33:1-3 (the Message)

This verse reminded me of us. My husband on the guitar and me on the piano. What do you do to praise Him, good people?

Black Jeans

Being on the worship team at Northway Church has been such a great experience for us. We have met the greatest team of musicians. Been learning amazing music. Been able to use our gifts for God again. One thing has been a bit of a change for us - the way we dress. We have played in churches for years. We have never been able to dress casually until now. It is fun to be able to pick out comfy clothes to wear in church!
The crazy thing is, Vince just had to get black jeans. I have a couple of pair of them but he didn't have any black jeans. They seemed like the perfect thing to wear. Have you tried to find a good pair of black jeans? It isn't exactly easy. They either look like blue jeans that have been covered with tar, or they have weird embroidery all over the pockets, or they look like a pair of "Sears Toughskins" from the 70's. (Wow, do you remember those? They really never wore out, like their name implied.) Anyways, the color is not right on black jeans.
So, I was at Kohl's last night and turned the corner and there they were . . . black jeans. Well, they were actually kinda dark grey jeans, but close enough! Anyways, the chorus of angels started aaaah-ing as the light shone from above and I picked them up. They were beautiful! They were the right size!! They were on SALE!!!! And 20 minutes later, they were on Vince. Would they fit? Too baggy? Not the right look??? No - no - NO! They were keepers. He will be wearing the freshly washed black jeans tomorrow while he wails out riffs on his Les Paul at church. Life is fun!

Knit Night!

My sister and nieces got together tonite to do some knitting projects. My sister is making a caveat and my niece is making a regular sized scarf with cables. We had a fun time just talking and goofing around with each other. I have about 5 projects all started and I go between them as I am ready to tackle them for a while. This is why it takes me a LONG time to finish anything!

Do you have a craft that you like to do?

It all starts with the plie.

Dance has given so much to me over the years.
It taught me how to get strength and balance.
How to hold myself with grace and power at the same time.
How to take instruction and develop it with practice.
There is nothing quite like stretching out and realizing that your mind is clearer afterwards.
I haven't taken any dance class in a while, and my turnout isn't what it used to be.
Regardless, my slippers, pointe shoes, jazz shoes and character shoes will always have a place in my home, even if I never take class again.

"...praise Him with the dance...let everything that has breath and life praise the Lord!" Psalm 150

La Maison de Baim

Believe me when I say that I am no culinary genius. But until we can afford a cook, a maid, a butler and a gardener, we have to fend for ourselves. *sigh*

Tonite we have roasted turkey with broccoli florets and GF elbow noodles (Tinkyada brand) lavished in roasted red pepper alfredo sauce. Sounds pretty good! We like it.

What's on your plate?

January Thaw and Sparkie

I love the January thaw! Having 40 degree weather is so nice in the middle of winter!

The snow is melting away and Sparkie is able to wander around the entire yard again. . . at least until the next snowfall.

How can you not love that face?

Anyone out there with dogs or cats?

Gluten Free Thoughts

About two and a half years ago, my sister was struggling to live. Her tall, anorexic-looking body was loosing it's fight. She was told by a chiropractic/nutritionist to go gluten free (GF). She was not diagnosed with Celiac disease but he said she had the signs of severe intolerance. After alot of research and trial and error, she ate herself back to wellness. It's an amazing story. A year ago, I was so inspired by her success, we decided to eat in this manner also and it works for us!

I went to a "GF" convention with her tonight. That might sound really boring, but I was pleasantly surprised. Price Chopper is "committed to serving the needs of those with food challenges", or something to that effect. A local GF chef demonstrated making bread which was really good! I bought her cookbook and can't wait to make some of the yummy things it offers. There were many vendors there giving away free food samples. I brought back a bag of stuff - cookies, bread mix, snack bars, noodles, chips - all gluten free. Life is tasty, even if you go GF!

"But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, [and] kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found..." Luke 15:22-24

Reflections of 2007

Since this is my 1st post, it is going to be kinda long. Bear with me! I got a lot to say!!!
Wow, what a crazy year 2007 was! Just about anything that could happen happened...from the good to the bad to the exciting and to the sad.

Jan and Feb - were probably the most difficult time we experienced in our life. Without going into the gory details, we were facing a time of unexpected happenings, and ultimately a time of spiritual analysis. These months brought us to the point of the decision to heavily rely on God's strength and grace. This is what kept us sane during that dark time. We decided to try going gluten free. It seems to be working for us!

March - we started going to Northway Church on Sundays. The Pure Sex series was the topic that month. Quite surprising for a church to speak on this subject for 4 weeks in a row. The music was cool. We liked it enough there to keep going back.

April - The series 24 started at Northway. Jesus didn't have to do what He did for us. He had a choice but love won and He gave His life that we may live! My family got together for Easter. We had so many together, we used the church hall for the big event.

May - Things are getting settled down and we had the chance to "mend some broken fences" with people that were torn up long ago. God is so gentle and kind. I am thankful that was able to happen! Northway is addressing things that women face today. Yes, I am His daughter! I spent time with my mom for Mother's day. I made her breakfast and we talked about whatever we could think of. It was great!

June - Man Law is the series this month. Northway asked us to come to the membership meeting but we haven't decided what to do about that quite yet. Spent time with Dad for Father's Day. Sparkie came down with a weird throw-up problem. It was gross. He was put on antibiotics for a week. That fixed him up.

July - If you ever want to see an interesting series, get Northway Church's Heroes dvds. I really liked learning about Isaiah's faith, Jonathan's loyalty, Gideon's trust in God, to name a few... And we can have and use the same attributes because they were people just like us. We decided to ask if there was a need for musicians and would be set up for an audition in August. Exciting! Back to Sparkie - he had some weird lump on his face and when I got the tweezers to it, I pulled a 3" long worm out of his skin. Eeewwww! The vet said it was from a certain fly's egg and they had seen some other animals with the same thing. Then they told me Sparkie had lyme disease. E-gads! Back on medication for a month for that diagnosis.

Aug - Summer is just beautiful this year. We have been bar-b-qing almost every weekend. Ever had ribs off the grill? Yum!!! It's guest speaker month at church. We had our audition and were accepted to be on the worship team. Hooray! We hoped something like this could happen for us again. Thank you God!

Sept - We were on the schedule once this month in Clifton Park with Kevin's team. We could hardly sleep that weekend! Little scary but thrilling at the same time. Culture Shock is the series. Let's shock the unsaved with God's love through us! Happy birthday Vince and Northway Church! Iris started to have a thing going on with her tongue. It would hang to the side when she would meow. My precious kitty goes to the vet and they found a blood blister under her tongue and popped it. Now I gotta give her medicine for 2 weeks. She is not liking that one bit. She stays perched on the pole alot. Not too active. We're hoping it's nothing more serious.

Oct - We were scheduled to play twice this month. Man, did that go great! Vince really let loose on the guitar. We love playing together and worshipping by giving back our talents to Him. Jeremy is a great leader. Welcome to The Experiment! What would happen if you loved God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength? Try it and see what happens! Iris goes back to the vet on Columbus Day and we are told that she has mouth cancer and there's nothing that could be done for her. She had lost so much weight - down to 4 pounds. We had to let her go that day. Her time was up. I can't express how sad that was. To hold her, and pet her, and have her cuddle up on your lap so happy to be with you, and see her look at you for the last time, to have to say good bye to our precious, sweet, little kitty... It still makes me cry. I only hope she had a happy life with us for the 10 years we had her.

Nov - This was a really busy month. Four times on stage, Thanksgiving, time off from work, trying to get into the Christmas mindset. I got a knitting machine. That was a cool find! I started to make some things but ran out of time. The projects will have to wait for me. I actually went shopping on black Friday. 7 a.m. at Target = disasterous results. They didn't have what I was looking for and if they did, I wouldn't have stood in the 50 person line to cash out!

Dec - Home for the Holidays. I wasn't sure how things would be for Christmas services at Northway. Well, they were big, bigger, bigger and huge! We were scheduled 4 weeks again. The Christmas weekend services were intense but we got through them. My parents came to see us. Thanks for your support! We totally appreciate you both! I didn't have the gumption to decorate until the 15th and it was minimal. I was full of the Christmas spirit, though. The lights and boxes and bows are just a dinky part of it. Couldn't get enough of the Scrooge movies. The family parties were wonderful. Vince's family is so small and mine is so big. I think we took family pictures for about 45 minutes, since everyone (but 1) was able to be home this year.

*Phew* I told you it would be long. I had to get it down though. This is stuff I want to remember. God bless and may our 2008 be full of interesting stories!