I’m working on transferring my aswewalk.com address over there, but it might take me a bit.

Thanks!

Stay tuned…

That is my word for this year.

Reclamation.

I love how it rolls off my tongue.

I’ve been taking a course with a similar word in the title: Restoration. It’s awesome. You can check it out here.

I can’t tell you too many secrets about the course, but I can show a little of my work.

I carry these with me to remind me of Truth in my life.

If you’re stuck, trying to figure out who you were once, or who you were made to be, check out Melody Ross’ web site Brave Girls Club and check out her online course, Soul Restoration. It will start up again in April.

Yesterday I whipped up two new desserts for a little party I had. They were scrump-dilly-icious, if I do say so myself.

I’ll provide the links and the recipes right here. The only thing I can’t do is air-mail them to you. Because…they’re gone! Well, almost, but I won’t tell you that in case you live nearby and decide to stop in for a sample. So, yes, they’re gone. (TeeHee)

Before I give you the recipes, though, I have to give one piece of advice. Feed your family first! I know it’s tempting to put out a beautiful, full tray of something-or-others or a complete cake. But you must, must, must cut some for your husband and children first. It shows them you appreciate that they are going to hide away in a room watching old VHS tapes while you cavort with your friends. It makes them feel special. And, incidentally, it makes them more willing to hide away the next time. Be kind to your family first.

Okay, now on to the recipes:

Tandy Cake

Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tasty Kake. Except me. This was spot-on for those round little chocolate covered spongy cakes with a layer of peanut butter. I taste-tested it about half a dozen times, and I can say they are fab!

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs – beat to a lemony color
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 c. sugar
• 2 t. baking powder
• 2 c. flour
• 1 c. milk
• 2 t. melted butter
• 8 oz. milk chocolate bar (that’s 6 reg. Hershey bars)
• 1 c. creamy peanut butter

Preparation -

Use a baking sheet/cookie sheet with sides. Grease lightly or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. Mix first three ingredients together. Add sugar. Sift flour and baking powder together. [Or mix with a large kitchen fork if you can't find the sifter you put somewhere special so you could always find it.] Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Add butter. Spread batter onto the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20-25 mins.

Be very careful not to overbake! This layer should have a moist cake texture. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes; spread with peanut butter while still warm. [Let your five year old lick the spreading spatula and count it as lunch.] Continue cooling on a wire rack, then refrigerate for about an hour. [Strictly warn children and husband not to dip fingers in.]

Melt chocolate; spread melted chocolate over peanut butter. [Scrape out leftovers with finger and indulge before it hardens.] Refrigerate again to cool and set chocolate. [See previous family warning comment.] Cut into 2″x2 1/2″ squares. Store in pan, covered, or wrap individually in plastic wrap. Best if stored in refrigerator. [Still good if left out on counter overnight and enjoyed with chocolate blueberry tea.]

And while we’re adding a few inches to our waistlines, let’s go ahead and include the Brown Butter Toffee Blondies recipe here. I made this especially for my littlest sister, who doesn’t eat chocolate. Yes, we are blood-related and actually like each other, despite this major character flaw (wink wink).

Brown Butter Butterscotch White Chocolate Chip Blondies

[couldn't resist making some changes]

Ingredients [my amended list]:

• 1 1/4 c. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 2 c. packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 3 lg. eggs
• 2 1/2 t. vanilla
• big handful white chocolate chips
• big handful butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Ready cookie sheet with sides.
2. Brown your butter: cook in skillet over medium heat til it turns a pretty golden brown. This takes at least 10 minutes. You can step away early on, but don’t leave once the color starts to change. Scrape out all the butter and deposits (whatever the heck they are) into a small bowl and set in frig to cool. Go watch television or read a novel because this takes another 15 minutes and you’ll drive yourself crazy if you watch it.
3. If you simply cannot walk out of the kitchen, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
4. When the butter is finally coolish, combine it with both sugars in a big bowl and use beaters til it’s combined. Add the eggs and beat on med-high for 3 minutes, til light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat for a few seconds to combine. Slowly add flour mixture, beating inbetween additions. Spread into pan.
5. Bake about 30  mins, til knife in center comes out clean. Cut into small squares, because if you cut them big, you might  not get one unless you squirrel a few away from your family and guests.

These are hugely fantastic! A little dry on the outside, for whatever reason. But yummy to the tummy. I bet you could throw them into the microwave for a few seconds to get rid of that dryish texture on top. Oh, wouldn’t they be good topped with toasted coconut?! Bing! That’s exactly what I’m going to try next time.

I’ve wondered where things are going. Like how, after surviving as a nearly-single mom and caretaker for almost a year, I was going to recover any sense of what life is like outside chaos mode.

Tenth Avenue North summed it up for me…THIS is where the healing begins: knowing who I am in Christ; knowing He has a plan for my life that isn’t all about goals and objectives and works; believing He has begun to conform me to His own image and will be faithful to complete it.

Today I begin to reclaim the essence of me. I’m joining Melody Ross on a journey she calls Soul Restoration. I feel reclamation on the horizon. Lord, create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me.

I turned to my husband last night and said, “I don’t know what life  is going to look like for a while.” He cocked his head sideways, like he didn’t understand. Of course he didn’t; ”No Plan” is not in my vocabulary.

I might not always follow my Plan, but I always (always, always) have one.

Not this year.

Not this minute, anyway. I tried to make one, but something deep inside me said this is not a time for a Plan. [Hmm?]

Matt taught  this morning on giving up control at church. Hmm…was that message for me? Could there be a bit of control in my Plan?

I can tell you I don’t have any real concrete lessons to share with you right now; but I know God is at work.

[And rest assured, dear Plan-lover friends of mine, I'm not floundering. I'm not aimless or lacking direction. I'm just learning to let go a little.]

As we eat and drink, exchange gifts, give money and time to the underpriveleged, and attend church services, let us not forget Christmas is the day we celebrate the God who humbled Himself for us. Let us spend Christmas on our faces, lifting up the very spirits inside us that He came to save.

“He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 2:7-11)

This year the children participated in their first-ever Christmas concert. The boys played recorder

and played handbells, Brooke sang with the choir and also played handbells.

They all performed the PattyCake Polka, sweet things!

Their music teacher was wonderful! We all are excited for next semester.

Brea loved being in the audience, especially since she got to sit with her beloved Grammy,

and even got her photo taken with her favorite “star.”

might be offended by this post.

Our family loves a rip-roarin’ good time,

which often involves loud noises,

crazy acrobatics,

and all around crazy love.

So if you wander by and hear our house rumbling, put on your crazy shoes and stop on in!

We’ll help you join right in

Every year we buy a gingerbread house kit from Costco. They’re awesome!

This year’s kit came with two buildings. So we have a Girls’ house and a Boys’ house.

Dare I say whose house I liked most? TeeHee.

Regardless, we all had a fantastic time licking our fingers