Andrew....

Please pray for Bella Mella as her twelve year old son, Andrew, passed away yesterday.

So far....

I love this picture from Better Homes and Garden.

Last week I was a bit overwhelmed, this week things are starting to fall into place.

Well to date:

1. I have my Indiana Nursing License!!!!
2. Talked to one school, got a basketball try out for my middle daughter the last week of December and lots of information, getting closer to a decision about schools for my kids but still praying

3. Almost finished with my Statistics paper and will have my final on Tuesday and have been studying
4. Found out about health insurance and have started the paper work
5. Decided we are staying in the offered house for the first month or until we buy a house.

I feel really blessed that the Lord is working out the details.

My Life...at the moment!

Yesterday we came home from a Thanksgiving Holiday with our relatives in Arkansas to find that our modem was dead.

So...in true Cowell fashion we decided to wait on replacing it until we get to Indiana,

since we have only 3 weeks until we move.

Did you hear that, 3 weeks until we move.

In the mean time we need to...

1. Continue to look and pray for a house

2.Continue to search for health insurance

3.Pray our guts out about what school to send our kids to

4. Go to two band concerts,

5 basketball games,

to watch our daughter dance at 5 games, and cheer at 5 games, and

one vocal concert

5. I have a Statistics final

5. Pack everything and the movers will load on the 22nd

while the girls are finishing their last day of school

6. Get my nursing License transferred to Indiana

Thankfully we have decided that we are not decorating anything for Christmas.

We are going to Arkansas on the 22nd and will spend Christmas with my husbands parents.They have promised to make it fun for the girls.

I am not complaining, just telling you what I am thinking about right now.

I will not be doing SMS for December since I have no computer,

Your asking where are you now.....

and that would be at the public library.

Anyway, I will be following as time permits and I am able to get to the public library.

Blessings to all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that your Holiday is blessed!

That you enjoy time with family, rest and get to go shopping on Black Friday!

SOLD

We sold our house!

We started this journey in August and would never have believed

that we would sell our house in 1 week but God had other plans.

Now we are getting ready for the next part of our journey.

(I made everybody wear their Plainfield shirts.)

Two things....

This has been a crazy month.

We have been trying to sell our house and to do that you have to stage and clean.

My oldest daughter asked if she could decorate the table, I was flabbergasted but said yes!!

I had bought these cute round place mats at Wal-mart for $1 and she went to work.

I love the fact that she wanted to help. That table has been set now for 2 weeks.


And while cleaning we found this note in one of my husbands old shoes in the back of our closet.
In 2006 we had some sweet friends move about 30 minutes away and when they would have a chance they would come to town. One night they came by and we were not at home, they put 27 and now 28 of these notes in odd places. We have been finding them for years.
We all laughed and cried.
What sweet memories.

I'll miss this....

Can you tell what it is?

This is that line that we have in our home that we have drawn when our kids have grown.

When we sell our house we will have to paint this.

Did you notice that the girls put my line up there many years ago, it hasn't changed!

Continue to pray that we sell our house.

SMS Pear Cranberry Muffins

Today's delicious recipe was chosen by Jennifer of "Maple N' Cornbread".

She chose Pear Cranberry Muffins with Gingersnap Crumble.

I have never used fresh cranberry's before and loved them.

They have a bit of a zip but when baked they are delicious.

We added 1/2 cup of Fresh Bosc pear. So Sweet....


I didn't have any gingersnap cookies to make the crumble so I made all the rest of the ingredients and it gave a nice topping.
These were delicious. I even had to make myself a cup of coffee to enjoy the whole thing.

The last recipe that we made with the Fresh Peach muffins were heavy so I divided the recipe between two pans and made 18 and they were perfect.
This was a simple recipe that I will try again.
Thanks for the choice Jennifer.

Kitchen counter lamp

I have been wanting a lamp for under my cabinets ever since I started blogging but have been unable to find one that I like. I found this really cute pineapple lamp at the Goodwill the other day. It was perfect and for a perfect price.

I love the pineapple thing...It means welcome!

Have a great day!

No SMS today

I don't have any Sweet Melissa to post today.

This week has been hectic.

We flew to Indiana over the weekend and then came home to try to get our house on the market and then went to an all day band festival yesterday.More pictures to follow....

Will look forward to next week.

Clean......

Today I did some major cleaning...

the computer room
Denaes' cute room

My room

The guest bath

Living room

Kitchen

Family room

Girls bathroom


Wonder why?

After much praying and consideration

We are moving...

To Plainfield , Indiana.

My husband has accepted a job there as Pastor at First Baptist Church.

Please keep us in your prayers, there are many things ahead.

Selling our house,

Getting our girls ready for the move,

loving our church while we wait,

and

moving!

Blessings,

Debbie

Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes

Today's Sweet Melissa Recipe is Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes. This is the Recipe that I got to choose. I really wanted something with pumpkin in it because it is so close to Halloween. They were a real treat and my family loved them.

Before you start Position a rack int he center of your oven. preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,(I don't have one of these so I just used a regular mixer), mix together the brown and white sugars on low speed to get rid of any lumps. Add the butter, and beat together until light and fluffy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Add the molasses and egg, and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the pumpkin puree and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture in the three batches, alternating with the milk. Mix well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Blend thoroughly, but do not overbeat.

Using a pastry bag fitted with an Ateco #808 1/2 inch round pastry tip, pipe the dough into cookie cakes about 1 1/2 inch in diameter onto the prepared cookie Sheet. (Alternatively, drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of one of the cookies comes out clean.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.

To make the Filling:
In the bowl of and electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, orange zest, and vanilla. Start mixing on low speed and then continue on medium speed until just fluffy and smooth, 2-3 minutes. Do not overbeat.

To complete the cookie cakes:
Turn half of the cookie cakes upside down onto a freshly lined cookie sheet. Using a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch round pastry tip( she uses Ateco #801) ( or using a resealable plastic bag with a corner cut off or a teaspoon), pipe or place about 1 teaspoon of filling onto each upside-down cookie cake. Place the remaining cookie cake halves(right side up) on top.
Refrigerate briefly until set, 15-20 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
(I forgot this step. but no one seemed to notice :) )
Keep the cookie cakes refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

I took these to a church dinner and they were a hit. People were asking about the filling and what the zest was. It gave just enough taste to stand out.

For the Cookie cakes:
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons(1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1 cup pumpkin puree fresh or canned
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup whole milk
Confectioners sugar for dusting

For the cream cheese Filling:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup confections' sugar
3/4 freshly grated orange zest ( about 1/2 orange)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Hope you enjoyed this recipe.

Fall Colors

A few fun fall pictures from around town.
This is the entrance to a nursery called Stutzmans.

Mums!

My front porch

And a few friendly ghosts

Still.....

Be still and Know that I am God. Psalm 46:10



No SMS this Sunday as I have been extremely busy this week.
God is really teaching me to Be Still, Enjoy the everyday moments and Trust in Him.
Have a Blessed day.

Sweet Melissa Sundays...Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble

Today's Sweet Melissa started with these delicious apples.
I choose three different types. They were tart and perfect.
Peeled then sliced, and added lemon, sugar, cinnamon and flour.

Then the crumble topping was pecan pieces, flour, brown sugar,
salt, nutmeg, allspice and butter.

Baked for 1 hour 20 minutes....

Delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Thanks to Cristine of Cristine Cooks (http://cristinecooks.blogspot.com/)for choosing this Sundays recipe.
It was delicious and a hit with my family. Something I will make again.

Savory Muffins

Caramelized Onion,Sage, and Cheddar Muffins were the Sweet Melissa Recipe for this week.
I made them on Saturday but was soooooo busy on Sunday I didn't have time to post them.
Here it is on Thursday and I am posting, does it tell you what my week has been like?

They were delicious.

I think they would be the perfect addition to a soup or salad meal.
I made them with brunch.
You add 1 cup of shredded caramelized onions, 2 tablespoons of fresh sage,
and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Thankful

I am so thankful that my daughter goes to a school where the Cross country coach prays with each group before they race. I have not stopped thinking about this all week.
I hope that your kids get to have this same experience.

Perfect Pound Cake

This weeks Sweet Melissa Recipe is Perfect Pound Cake and was chosen by Michelle of Veggie NumNums.This was a very easy cake to make and wasn't overwhelming but fresh and light.

My family did think it was a bit dry but they still enjoyed it. I served it with fresh strawberries and whipped topping.


This week I won a give away from Ruth at The Beautiful life blog.She and her sweet husband decided to give away not 4, not 5, but 12 gift cards to Starbucks to enjoy a special drink and I won.Go over to her blog, it is filled with lots of great decorating ideas.
http://thebeautifullifeblog.blogspot.com/

Have a great week!

Please pray for Andrew

They just did brain surgery on Andrew and removed most of the tumor.
They are praying for complete healing.
We are praying for them.

Please Pray for Andrew

Melanie of Bella Mella has a special prayer request. Last week, on Friday, she found out that her twelve year old son Andrew has three lesions on his brain. Please pray for this family as this week they will give them the prognosis and treatment. I have a button on the side of my blog that you can go to and can read her story.
Having a twelve year old daughter this really hit home.
I am praying!

Sweet Melissa's Fresh Peach Muffins

This week our Sweet Melissa recipe came from JoVan of the Givens Chronicles.

She choose Fresh Peach Muffins.
This recipe included a cup of fresh diced peaches
and orange zest.
They were delicious.
I did think they were a bit heavy and a little dry but they were still eaten by my family.I love anything with fresh fruit in it.
This is something we will try again.

Spirit Night

Spirit Night was on Thursday. This is the night , after 3 weeks of school ,that the band, foot ball team, cheer leaders and dance team,and the other fall sports like golf,cross country, volley ball,tennis,and soccer teams are introduced to the school

DeAnn runs cross country and they had the wildest t-shirts. She is one of 4 9th grade girls.

The band also did a low key performance of their new show. It was awesome. You see DeAnn playing the Clarinet.

Darci plays the flute.
Do you see the precision of their steps.
Awesome!

And Denae started cheer leading this week.

They got their uniforms but won't put them on until next week at the first season football game.

It's going to be a busy but fun year for the girls.