We celebrated Mandy's birthday over the weekend and it was so much fun!
Big Steve and I don't really do much together, but we did discover that staying up until 5am is for the birds; he spent the entire day Sunday sleeping and I spent it counting down until Stevie's bedtime.
The weekend was so worth it, though!
Good friends and good food - what more could you ask for?!
[me and the birthday girl! at some point, i decided a fire hat was necessary and made this face...also necessary.]
[JULIA GULIA! on a side note, she's finally going to be living with her horse and i am so happy for her!]
[the birthday lady and her maaaaaaaaan.]
[BOBBY! somehow we also decided to talk about ghosts which gave me incredible nightmares last night, btw.]
Well, Mandy can't eat Oreos or chocolate (which makes me really depressed), so I tried Vanilla Truffles for the first time - just as easy and just as delicious!
Vanilla Truffles (aka The Mandy Truffle)
1 package WhoNu Vanilla Cookies (or generic brand)
1 8oz package of Cream Cheese - softened
White Chocolate for Piping
Festive Sprinkles!
Crush up your cookies (I use a food processor, but you can just as easily crush them using your hands) - add you Cream Cheese and mix it all together. I use my hands because I'm not scurred.
Melt your white chocolate. Cut a small slit in the corner of a plastic baggie and decorate your balls (a joke can be made here somewhere). Then add sprinkles of your choice and serve!
You know the deal - mix dry ingredients (Pancake Mix, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Baking Powder) in one bowl and the remaining ingredients in another, large bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the others, mixing constantly.
Pour batter into muffin cups and sprinkle with cinnamon mixture!
Bake 14-18 minutes.
Bonus points for having reusable muffin cups. Thanks, Mama!
Thinking a lot about my childhood and how fun it was.
My mom was SO strict and we weren't allowed out if she or my step dad weren't home.
Considering they both worked all the time to provide for 4 kids, we spent a LOT of time together.
I attribute our closeness to the amount time my siblings and I spent together growing up.
I also attribute my oddities to that time.
We have inside jokes that, even if they were explained to you, you'd still wonder why we're laughing. Essentially, this post may or may not be written specifically for their/my enjoyment.
Here goes:
"What happened to the bread? I dunno what happened to the bread."
"Wendy, that's not what Marlaina did."
"Push pops. Comes in Chewwy and Gwape."
"Susan, you made me cuss!"
Hits in head with frozen burritos.
Drinking coca-cola as fast as we can, passing around in a circle, microwaving so it doesn't feel cold, then putting the evidence of the soda drinking in the trash can out back. When we were in high school...
Breaking into our house with credit cards and/or pool pass.
Singing "When You Say Nothing At All" to posters - here's to you, Devin Sawa, Leo DiCaprio, Rider Strong, and JTT.
And last, but certainly not least, the 'Going to Daddy's Song:'
Ever since Steven proposed to me, I've been thinking about our future - naturally.
I don't have a single, teeny weeny doubt about marrying Steven; I know he's the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.
I worry about my own little self-sabotage sometimes, though. I worry about that silly little divorce rate and I worry about the odds.
Truth is, Steven and I have been through a whole bunch together. Lots of those things I have chosen to keep private and will likely continue to keep them private.
But, we made it.
[circa 2008]
We made it through an accidental pregnancy that not everyone was totally stoked about.
We made it through nearly 7 months of a colicky baby; I'm talking little more than 2 hours of consecutive sleep...for 7 STINKIN' MONTHS!
Not to mention the 9 months of dirty looks I gave him pre-baby. Seriously, Steven, did you HAVE to breath so loudly?
We made it through ex-girlfriends/ex-boyfriends showing their pretty little heads back up in our lives.
We made it through fights with the other person's family members - physical and verbal.
We made it through a fight that caused us to miss the Cowboys v. Redskins game. THAT IS HUGE!
We made it through our own personal vices.
Seriously, though, there's very little that can shake us at this point.
When I realized I was pregnant, there was a series of events that occured:
1. Uncontrollable sobbing.
2. Visions of my Granny's disappointment.
3. Told my Step Dad, still sobbing, whose response was "THIS IS AWESOME!!! Does the pink line mean it's a girl?"
4. Called my Mama, whose response was "It's gonna be okay, I'm always here for you."
5. Called Steven, whose response was "So does that mean you're coming back over?!"
6. Drove back to Steven's house.
7. Prayed. For hours and hours and hours.
I'd never felt so close to God and never felt so much forgiveness in all of my life. You see, some people think that being a Christian means not making mistakes, being perfect, and following all the 'rules.'
Maya Angelou said it best when she said:
"I am not claming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible But, God believes I'm worth it."
Ever since then, God has been kinda whispering for me to be something more. Those whispers have gotten louder over the last couple of years; I'm not sure if it's because I've chosen to be more and more obedient to Him or because He's straight up yelling, but my heart is longing for more.
I had great plans to make my big debut back at church on Sunday, then was knocked off my feet with whateverthatwas.
So, I thought I'd tune into good 'ol Joel Osteen (who, per my sister's request, I will not be spiritually fed by on a regular basis) and his sermon was about God's voice.
Wellllllll, isn't that a coincidence? I've been half-way listening for God's voice for a couple years now!
He was talking about how God always gives us little warnings, little 'signs' if you will, but we have to be open to seeing them.
I know that without God and without obedience to Him, Steven and I will either crumble or go up in flames.
I SUCK at arguing. I cry, I bring up seemingly moot points, I even *gasp* instigate.
None of these are intentional, but they still occur.
I know that these two subjects - marriage and God - seem totally unrelated to a lot of people and I am probably a little scatter-brained this morning from an occurance on the homefront, but I guess my point is that crying out to God works and God makes things work.
I know that having a baby when I did may not have been what God wanted me to do, but He sure did make it work. He made it work better than this guy:
If you're still reading, HEY THANKS and color-me-shocked!
And if something in your life feels off, I'll leave you with this:
