Hey There, Delilah

There's nothing sweeter than a boy and his dad, singing a duet.



Xav made Merrick a "guitar" to play while he accompanied his dad.  Micah had a rough time keeping a straight face.

Funny Find - Snickers

I think the folks at Mars were inspired by a few members of my family when they labeled these Snickers bars.

Recipe - Creamy Banana Bread

The ripe bananas have been sitting on the counter calling to me for a few days.  I finally got around to making banana bread and we've all been scarfing down this amazing bread all afternoon.  We can't seem to stop eating it!  Merrick was my assistant cook.  He "reads" the recipe to me as well as any three year old can and he dumps the food I measure into the mixing bowl.

I used my usual plain old banana bread recipe, but I decided a few spices would be fun.  I added a bit of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a tiny shake of ground clove.  Of course, I didn't measure any, but it really was just a taste of each.  That's just how I cook, if no one has an exact recipe.  I also add chocolate chunks because I don't love nuts in baked goods.  Then the party started.  I found this recipe and made the cream cheese filling for it.  The egg in the cream cheese kind of threw me off.  To me, cream cheese is mostly for bagels.  Who mixes it with raw eggs and bakes it?  Very smart people, let me tell you!

First, I used the small and medium Pampered Chef scoop thingies to make muffins.  One medium scoop of batter, one small scoop of filling, topped off with about half of a medium scoop of batter.  Then I still had plenty for a large loaf of bread.  I did the same thing in the loaf pan; batter, filling, batter.

Four out of five loved it.  Malachi refused to even try it.  His loss and the more there is for us!  Now I think I've eaten too much to exercise tonight!

My CFS chapel 2015

I can't believe we are on our *seventh* year at Christian Friday School.  Time flies.  Each year, all the kiddos are assigned a week to present on a topic of their choice or play an instrument.  Moms get to come up with a chapel presentation.  Some moms invite a guest to do their chapel.  I admit, every year I am sorely tempted to do the same thing.  I haven't yet, but I do half-heartedly attempt to get Micah to do it for me. He won't present, but he does sometimes help me prepare.  

My chapel presentation at Friday School this year was a mixture of Micah's idea last spring and some thoughts I had as I started to try to put it together. Every year, I think of some great chapel ideas. I never write them down. So when Micah suggested a topic along the lines of “Don't believe the lies you're told, you have value.” and mentioned someone trying to sell a rare comic book and being told it was worthless by the nefarious comic book store owner, I wrote it down. I've read it a few times since then and I've mulled over how to make it my own, keeping the great message.

What I ended up doing, was a game show. I invited three of our co-op drama kids to help me out as well as one mom. Each of the girls were given the assignment of finding some crazy object around the house and making up a silly story about it's origin, uses, and value. Then I (the crooked talk show host) would try to take advantage of them.

Two of my helpers were very quick to “sell” their items to me. One, in exchange for a “genuine” chicken egg (a pink, plastic egg) and one for a candle with the wick removed (so it could never be lit, natch!). The third girl flat out refused my offers of pocket lint, fame, fortune, etc. It was quite frustrating, actually. But our co-op mom stood behind her and kept telling her encouraging words about her value as a child of God. 

At the end of the show, I asked her how she was able to resist the wonders I offered. She had a Bible. And darn it all, she *read* it!

Then I spoke about the enemy's lies. The egg represented the false things we believe are true, how something can be nearly right, but deceives us. The candle without a wick could never be lit. The darkness can never overcome light, but without that wick, this particular candle can't shine.

The real “secret” is to hide God's Word in our hearts. Memorizing verses can seem tedious. Maybe we think we've forgotten all the verses we've memorized. But when the time comes and we really need a verse, it's still there. We find it when we need comfort, protection, and guidance.

What are some lies you've been told?  Do you know your true value?