cupcakes and birthdays

Birthdays are kinda my thing. I love them! A birthday is the one day of the year that is specifically about one person. I love baking, therefore I love baking for my friend's birthdays. (Keep this in mind if you have a favorite dessert and a birthday.)
Recently my friend S had a birthday, so naturally I made him cupcakes. He won't tell me his favorite dessert but I know chocolate and strawberries are always a good choice.  

Chocolate cup cakes made from the Betty Crocker cook book that I grew up cooking out of. Then I made a strawberry puree for the center. This was a new baking idea for me. I had never tried this, but once I got the hang of it it was pretty easy. The icing is cream cheese icing half chocolate half regular. Another new concept...two icings in one icing bag. I wasn't sure if it would be a smear, but I think it turned out quite beautiful.
My favorite thing is to make something new. I like the challenge. Only once have I had something not turn out (Lemon Meringue...meringue was beautiful, lemon was just too runny to be a pie, any hints would be helpful). It would be more likely to find a snowflake in Mexico than for me to use a boxed recipe; everything has to be from scratch.
I was recently thinking "how many of the things I say I love are actually a passion?" I would have to say that baking is a passion of mine. Giving delight to people through sweets brings me such joy! My dad is diabetic, mom is allergic to artificial sweeteners, therefore making things for family gatherings has been a challenge in itself. My goal is to one day have my own cafe with not only goodies for those who have no allergies, but to also make sugar-free and gluten-free goodies!

Focus

I often write things on my bathroom mirror. Currently it says “Where is your FOCUS today?” I have been meditating on that idea and where it leads me. So I ask you, where is YOUR focus today?

In reading this morning I finished Romans and still felt like my focus was elsewhere. I went back to Ps. 57 to remind me to have a steadfast heart (see prev. post), and still felt like I needed to continue reading. I wound up at the end of Proverbs, a chapter I have read so many times; A Wife of Noble Character. This time it was different. It wasn't a desire to be married and be this wife of noble character, more so to be a noble wife of Christ. I am His bride, you know :). In my bible I found where I had written my own paraphrase from 2007:

Strive to be a virtuous woman. A woman of noble character, of a value not able to be priced. Don't base your life on your charm and beauty, but in its place fear the Lord and His light will be your reward.

Thats it, thats my focus today. I desire so deeply to have His light be my reward! I cannot find it by charming people, but by loving on my Maker and knowing who I am in Him. Knowing that “honor comes through humility and the fear of the Lord” (NIV commentary). It is exciting to me to know that I am His. It is exciting to know that He has made me His daughter, to hold my head high with the knowledge of Christ and know that it brings Him glory.

I Peter 3.3-4 says

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit! It amazes me how 'loud' we can be at times! I think that is why we (I) have such a hard time with things sometimes, I am just to loud.

A Steadfast Heart

My heart is steadfast, O God,

my heart is steadfast;

I will sing and make music.

Awake, my soul!

Awake, harp and lyre!

I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;

I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

let your glory be over all the earth. ~Psalm 57:7-11

My heart tonight. I want my heart to be fixed and firm on God. I am ready to move. I am ready to receive His heart into my own. This week has been very peaceful for me. I pray that I allow this peace to continue; only I can  remove His peace in my life. 

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations" Tonight I pray for my missionary friends. Some who are just beginning a new place in life, some who have been gone from the simple American life for years. I praise my Maker for them and the work they are doing. I desire to one day join them but am thankful for where God has me now; in a place of prayer for them, preparing my own heart for when my time comes.

 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ~Phil. 4:6

 

Thoughts

Tonight is my last night here on the farm. Tomorrow I will get up uber early once more to feed the horses and dogs. I will make sure all is ready to be taken home. And after I finish my shift at work I'll come back, pack my car and clean the stalls once more (because no one wants to come home from vacation and clean stalls :) ). Then I will say goodbye-for-now to this wonderful haven with wonderful (save one) animals.
I've always known I want to live on a farm. I've always said I want a big farm house with horses, cows and goats (notice, no birds of any kind). This week has shown me how much I really do desire it. I love waking up to go 'play' with horses. My horses, however, will wake at 9 rather than 630. I would love to have my own trails in my own woods to walk through. I would love to have a pond to watch the sun set across (and maybe on the occasion, rise). All these are dreams for now. Dreams I hope one day do come true.
Until then, I will await patiently. At times it may not be patient, but in all patiently. I will gain patience through prayer and the peace reciprocated. My Maker knows my heart, my dreams, my passions. He knows what I need and in His time gives it. Just think, if it were all in my time, the sun wouldn't rise until 9AM. I am excited to see God's plan unfold.
Its funny, His plan is unfolding as I write this. Sometimes we just don't think so because life seems so blah; so uneventful. I pray that I am fulfilling His plan, though I don't know what it is, nor what I'm doing. I was talking to my college Roommate "J" the other day saying that I want to be somewhere where I make an impact in someone else's life, not just work in a coffee shop day to day. Her answer was "I'm sure you are making an impact on people's lives, don't discount where you are" (paraphrased). Its true though,
The forest is quite beautiful once you look past the trees.

Life on my temporary farm

I've been house-sitting for the past week. While I've house-sat many times in my life, this has been a new venture for me. I not only have three dogs and three cats, I also have three horses, a pony, and a rooster, and a pond full of fish that I feed bread to every other day. I grew up with my mom training horses, so I was not afraid or nervous around them. The rooster. Oh, the rooster. I have an incredible fear of birds in general. My friend 'S' (son of the people I'm sitting for) told me to watch out, the rooster is mean! His sister 'E' said it attacked her too, as well as their niece. Needless to say I've been afraid of this bird, Roo, before I even met him.
He left me alone the while the family was still here, the first morning he didn't bother me, I let the horses out to clean their stalls and nothing; so I'm starting to think maybe we will be okay, I don't bother him, he doesn't bother me...if only it were that easy. I let the horses back in and Roo decides to attack me from behind! Now I had been given a switch and was told to use it on him if he got rowdy, well it wasn't very effective, because after our first bout, he did it again (I have the battle wounds to prove it)! I text S and let him know I needed a bigger stick, he told me where to find his Kali stick (martial arts) and said "swing it like you mean it." I don't know if the last fight we had put Roo in his place, or if he saw the size of the new stick and doesn't want to try anything, but we haven't had any new developments.
One horse, Adam, is buddies with Roo, they even sleep in the same stall. Adam is blind in one eye and always turns that blind eye toward me; ignoring me. Every time I walk into the barn Adam pees. I'm not sure why but Adam and I just haven't had a connection like the others. He doesn't like me coming into his stall and likes to turn his butt to me, therefore I stay clear of that end of it
The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful (thank God!) until today! Today I went out and fed the horses and was extremely tired yet, so I laid back down. About 10AM I went out to tend to the stalls, low and behold its raining. Now every other day I've let the horses out while cleaning stalls, but today I told them they'd just have to deal with it. Adam and I made a connection! He let me love on him AND clean his stall while he was in there! I was quite impressed! I go to clean the pony's stall and of course he escapes (he so little!). Not just into the barn or out into the field, no, out into the yard; not fenced in, not familiar to him. It took about 3-5 min. to get him back, but it felt like an hour! I was so worried he'd run off into the woods or something. I just couldn't believe he ran out! The last horse, Sunny, is my favorite. He's old (you'll learn that I love old things; people, antiques, animals). He and I have a connection. He loves on me, I love on him. Today, it is chilly and rainy, so I was wearing my hoodie sweatshirt. Sunny decided it was a good idea to eat my hood! It was quite comical! Needless to say, I don't think the horses like having to stay in all day and not go out and play.
And Roo was circling me again...

I've never had a blog...unless xanga was considered a blog? In which case, I had one but haven't updated in, oh, at least 7 years. I can't promise I will be good at it now either. 
I will speak my mind. 
I will probably post recipes and daily doings on here.  I will post about God moving in my life, which will probably include scripture and songs on my heart. 
I guess I'm not sure what one writes on a blog?
I will let this conclude my first post, please feel free to comment and tell me what I'm supposed to do with a blog :)