Double Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Thanks to Megan at "My Baking Adventures" for choosing this weeks Sweet Melissa recipe, Double Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies. This recipe was WOW , Rich and chocolaty. It had 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

and 1/3 cup of dried cherries. The cherries gave it a burst of a fruity taste.

They were really rich so we put them with a scoop of vanilla yogurt

and made a sandwich. I also only cooked them for 10 minutes as

they seemed to be getting done really quick.

The recipe was really easy and a different change of Pace.

Confidence

Lesson 2: What is confidence and where does it come from?

Confidence is an important quality for women of character. Confidence gives us that inner self-assurance that helps us interact effectively with others. It equips us with the belief that we can live out our purpose in life. Without confidence, we shrivel up and hide, and we don't believe in ourselves or in God's power working through us.

I have seen myself as pretty confident. It has taken a lot of work over the years. But there are times when I see myself looking around at others for reassurance; When I am in a new situation, new environment, trying something new or meeting a new person. I think we all see ourselves here. We wish we were that person that seems to always have it all together , the person who walks in a room and takes command but the truth is even that person struggles with confidence at different times. Some are just better at hiding it than others.

I have seen my teenagers struggle with confidence. When they were belittled at school or by a so -called best friend and then they just want to lock the door and hide. One negative word and it takes 4-5 positive words to overcome, and move forward.We somehow just never forget.

In this book she talks about three confidence restorers:

1. Knowing who we are in Christ.

2. Where we fit in His Kingdom.

3. Finding my purpose or why I am here.

First we are His. Psalm 139:14-18 says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

He knew us before we were created.

That means there are no mistakes!

Second each of us have a special gift. The body of Christ is not all made up

of preachers, singers ie. We each have a different gift

and God wants us to find that gift and use it to fulfill the purpose that

He has called us to.

Third, our greatest purpose is to bear fruit

and to point others to Christ.

That gets me excited.

I have a purpose and that purpose or gift will and should point others to Him.

I know that we are all on a journey, this journey will take us an entire lifetime

but when we keep our eyes focused on Him, He will lead us along confidently.

Finally, bothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or

praiseworthy-think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

Room Redo

My sister wanted a few more pictures so she could see the whole room.

Bedroom makeover

Darci's room has had been yellow since the day we moved in , 9 years ago.

At that time she had a cute flower bedspread for a 6 year old.

When she was in 4th grade for her birthday she wanted to redecorate her room.

She went with the Tye Dye,tweety, and beads. I made this topper and put Ric rack on the edges, its hard to see in this picture, I found these beads for $1 at a garage sale and they fit perfect in her window, complete with smiley faces.

We found these comforters for her bunk beds at Wal-mart.

Yes, you see a leg, I wanted to take a picture before we got rid of it and couldn't get her out before her dad took it all apart.

She decide this year that a 10th grader needed a more mature room.

She found this at JCPenney and this was her inspiration but we couldn't find it anywhere and you can't order it online now. It's called Whirl and is only 200 thread count, I was glad that we didn't find it because I don't like 200 thread count.

So we began the search for something similar, we got close.

This is the only window in the room.

We got this drape at Target, it fit over the window

and I found this ribbon at Hobby Lobby to make ties.

No sewing involved, that I loved.

This was her lamp that grandma made for her years ago to go with her yellow, bead room.

It is one of those lamps that you unscrew and fill up with stuff.

We took the fabric off the shade and emptied the beads out and painted the base and came up with this hip, new burlap shade.

It was easy.

She took the fabric and layed it out and cut out the burlap from the previous pattern.


Then we sprayed the shade with this spray adhesive, then wrapped it , we even were able to use the spray adhesive to adhere the trim.
It only took an hour to dry. But be careful, your hands can get very sticky.






Then she wanted a mirror to put her makeup on and do her hair with.
When she was in 4th grade this wasn't an issue.
I found this mirror at a garage sale for $2. It was perfect. A good size and sturdy.



So we got some white spray paint for .96 cents at Wal-mart and
covered the mirror and she painted it.



We found a little wicker basket for $1 to hold all her products!
The details of the mirror trim really look cute against the brown wall.



I found this cute picture at a Garage sale for $1, the colors fit her room.
It had never been taken out of the package and the trim was brown.
It says Serenity, Simplify, and Peace. All things teenagers need and she liked it.



We found a couple of pillows at Hobby Lobby on clearance to accent her bed,
they are also comfortable for laying on.
The bedding we found at Target. It is 300 thread count, much better.




She wanted to get rid of the bunk beds and so we needed to get a frame and headboard. She really wanted something she could paint so I went to a few garage sales.
Thought either of these would do, Both for $15. Now the brass one will be in our garage sale.
The wooden one is dark enough that she decided
it didn't need painting after we got it in her room.

The colors were perfect together.



We talked her dad into painting one wall a brown color.
It is called 'Brown Log" by Porter.It took three coats and we
only painted one wall so it wouldn't be too dark in here.



We still need to find a table for her stereo.

The cute lamp at night.

We had been searching forever for something to put behind her bed.

She wanted some type of mirrors.

We found this mirror , on clearance at a home store and it is sooooo Darci.

It says 'Be silly.....laughter is contagious"

This was the perfect accent to a teen room.

Enjoy your new room Darci!

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having a "Today's Thrifty Treasure Party"

go over and check out all the cool deals everyone has found.

Humility

This week our study has been about Humility.

I have never really seen myself as a prideful person but as I have studied this week,

God has helped me see there are several faces of pride.

Take a look with me maybe you will see yourself here.

The writer of this book suggests several areas of pride:

1. Exalting myself, "It's all about me"

This person thinks too highly of herself and she used as and example

William Hung from American Idol.

Even after Simon said something derogatory about his performance

he still wanted to make music his living.

She also suggested you see this person ....

...constantly showing off the accomplishments of their children.

...exaggerating to get a reaction

...serving to be noticed.

...maneuvering for a preferred position in their extended family, community, or workplace.

2.Belittling Myself: "Woe is Me"

This is the person that is doing, doing,doing and then asking "That wasn't very good was it".

I think about the girl at school that is always asking do you think I'm fat?Over and over again.She is too focused on herself to the point of pride.

3. Attacking others: You're not as good as me"

this is the person who constantly devalues others and is tearing them down.

4. Ignoring input from others "You're not the boss of me"

This shows up in not being teachable, remaining stuck in bad patterns,

never admitting fault.

We can never be perfect I know but a right attitude about God helps

us put things into perspective.

For example Psalm 103:1-22. In this chapter who is God? He is our redeemer, forgiver, healer, saviour, surrounds me with love, is tender, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love, compassionate. Who am I in relation to Him? I am renewed , forgiven, satisfied, saved, loved and His child. How can this understanding help me become humble? To sum it up, In myself I don't have the power, self worth or goodness to do all these, He gives these things to us.

He does, not me.

The big take away this week was that I can never be perfect enough. God is in control, not me. As a child, I never felt good enough and vowed that I would be one day. I feel like I have spent my whole life trying to prove that I am something.I don't need to prove anything to anybody but be the person that God wants me to be. I need to have a right view of Him, then I won't struggle so much feeling that it's all about me. See there, that's pride.

There is nothing wrong with Pride, a healthy pride that gives God the proper glory. It shouldn't just be look at me or look at my kids, husband or church but look what God has done in and through us. We forget that.

She suggests that it takes humility to...

...truly worship God.

...have a healthy self-esteem.

...to be truly honest.

...to obey.

...to be teachable.

...to serve.

...to wait on God.

and a truly humble person is a broken person.

At the point we feel most useless,

that's when God can choose to transform us into the highest usefulness.

In John 3:30, It says "He must increase, but I must decrease"

That is the formula.

Focusing on Him, spending more time with Him, learning about Him, talking with Him and setting your sights firmly on Him. This takes work, obedience, time, practice and devotion but I think we can all achieve this

day by day.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds

This weeks Sweet Melissa recipe was chosen by the one and only Melissa Murphy.

You will have to go back to the Sweet Melissa website to see her version.

Melissa says these are the all-time bestsellers in her store.

As you can imagine, who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie. I didn't use the chopped chocolate but used baking chips, Nestle, our favorite.

I put the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to get the dough cold then I rolled it out and started cutting.I think mine were a little thicker because I am use to just scooping them out.

I also only put almonds in only half the recipe, but they were delicious.

Denae had a friend over when they came out of the oven. They didn't have just one....

Great choice for the summer!

Domestic Deva

This has been a crazy week.

You think summer should be more relaxing but it has been busy.

Yesterday I took someone to a different place almost every hour, at one stop I had to wait for an hour so... Denae and I visited this cute little store called "Adrians A to Z".

While we were there I found this cute apron.

I love the ruffle and on the pocket it says Domestic Diva.Now who wouldn't smile while your cooking with this on!!!???

Character Makeover

This was the first week of Character Makeover.

We had a great time in class and I am actually looking forward to starting the teen version of this called "Becoming Real in a Fake World" with my middle daughter and some of her teen friends. Pray for me.

One of the statements from the introduction was about strongholds. Do You know what those are? I loved her description.

" The term strongholds refers to areas where our enemy, Satan, has set up camp and dug in , creating for himself a fortress from which he launches attacks and tries to destroy us. These are the places where we repeatedly experience discouragement, stress, defeat, and damage. These are the monsters that keep us from our God-given dreams."

She suggests these are the 8 qualities that we will be working on:

1. A stronghold of Pride is addressed by focusing on Humility.

2. A stronghold of Insecurity is addressed by focusing on Confidence.

3. A stronghold of Fear is addressed by focusing on Courage.

4. A stronghold of Anger is addressed by focusing on Self-Control.

5. A stronghold of Impatience is addressed by focusing on Patience.

6. A stronghold of Envy is addressed by focusing on Contentment.

7. A stronghold of Greed is addressed by focusing on Generosity.

8. A stronghold of Quitting is addressed by focusing on Perseverance.

After taking a self inventory, I was not surprised by the things that discourage, defeat and distress me. I am excited about the weeks to come.

My garage is so full of junk right now that I wouldn't want anyone to look in but if I ever want to get my car in there I am going to have to face it and clean it out.I am going to have to raise the door and take a chance that a drive by might peer in, that is how I feel about this study. We are going to be pealing back the layers of junk to get to the good stuff. I am so ready to free myself of unwanted baggage to soar like an Eagle, Head held high and free.

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary and they will walk and not be faint.

Bears's Peach Cobbler

This weeks Sweet Melissa Recipe is Bear's Peach Cobbler

and was chosen by Andrea of Nummy Kitchen.

I had waited to bake this until Sunday so I am a little late posting

but my girls have been gone to church camp and knew that Darci, my oldest,

especially would love the peach cobbler.

After a week of camp food she wanted something good to eat and this was a hit.The fresh peaches were delicious.

I took every ones advise and only added 1/2 cup sugar and it was perfect.

I think 1/4 cup would not have been enough.

This topping was cut into biscuits and they were delicious.

I guess we will add heavy cream and lemon zest to everything in this book.


I served mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
It was delicious,easy, and a desert I'll make again.

Character Makeover

We all get so excited to see a makeover.
To see a change and a big reveal. I'll be the first to say, I do!

From Home Decorating to the Biggest Loser, I'm in.

This summer I am having a Character Makeover.

I facilitate a small Sunday school class of single ladies, and we are always on the

hunt for new things to learn. One of my dear friends Lynn suggested this book.

It is called Character Makeover by Katie Brazelton and Shelley Leith.

I think it fits perfect with some of the things that I have been thinking and praying about.

Like...

What does it mean to be in a vibrant relationship with the Lord?

What does it mean to do more than just come to Church?

When will I know that I am making a difference?

AM I making a difference?

Here is a quote from the book that gets me excited.

"God cares more about the character we bring to our life mission than he does about our ministry's strategic plan. He cares more about our Christ like integrity than our kingdom-building productivity. He wants our honesty in all areas of our lives more than our accomplishments for him."

This book looks at Eight Character qualities that we all struggle with : Humility, Confidence, Courage, Self-Control, Patience, Contentment,Generosity and Perseverance.

The writers are very clear this is not a shallow formula with blueprints

but is collaborative effort between God and You.

There is also a website that you can go on for a virtual message in every chapter and a blog http://charactermakeoverblog.blogspot.com/ that other women are using as they read each chapter and post the things that God is teaching them.

Every week on Tuesday, I will be posting something from this book.

We get started this week, I hope if you haven't found your study for this summer that you will check it out and read along with us.