'Cooking Tutorial' Cousin Addition

  So this week my cousins came into town for Christmas and we had a sleepover and we made oreo balls, which I have never done before. I had also never looked up the recipe before, so my cousin had to tell me what to do. And here goes.

  Gather your ingredients:

 

  And your cousins:

 

  Then be a lazy human being and get them to smash the oreos for you.

 

  Then mix the oreos and (softened) cream cheese.

 

  Stick that mixture (which I did not take a picture of) into the freezer while you melt the almond bark. Just follow the directions on the package.

 

 Then roll the oreo mixture into balls.

 

  Then dip them into the melted almond bark.

 

  And your done! Beautiful right?

 











The Greater Good

  The world is a fallen place. Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden of Eden and ate the forbidden fruit, mankind has been born into sin. Sometimes, a body wonders what the world would be like had Adam and Eve not eaten the forbidden fruit. If there was no sin or death or pain or imperfection in the world. We would be living the good life so many spend their lives seeking.
  The world is broken. We as people can do nothing to amend it. Our own clumsy attempt at bettering our home often mars it further. The world is broken, but not irrevocably so.
  Yesterday was Christmas day, yesterday we celebrated the beginning of the end of this broken world. We celebrated the mercy of a great God who loved His own enough to save us. On Christmas, we remember the coming of Christ to this earth.  Knowing we could not save ourselves from the punishment of death and eternity apart from our Maker we deserve, Christ bore the punishment those He called to Himself.
  We will not know what the greater good is: never knowing sin, or knowing sin and being saved from it by the beautiful grace of God. We are not innocent. We are redeemed, we are justified. In spite of our imperfections, we are still the children of God by the sacrifice of His Son Christ.

Another Random "Cooking Tutorial"

  I do not usually put up two posts a day, but I have others things I want to blog during the week and so I figured why not. This 'tutorial' is on how to make those oreo bars everybody has seen floating around in the social media spheres.

  First, gather your ingredients. In addition to the 2 packages of oreos, 2 packages of marshmallows, and six tablespoons of butter, you will need a 9x13 inch buttered pan.

 

  Second, bust up your oreos. Use a rolling pin like I did. Or your fists, or Thor's hammer if you can manage that. Whatever works for you.

 

  Then, dump your oreos into a bowl.



 

  Then melt the marshmallows and butter in a pot of medium-ish heat. It goes from this:

 

  To this. But melt it all the way.

 

  Then pour the marshmallow stuff into the oreos.











  
  Mix it all together, buttered hands work better than a spoon.

 

  Scoop that goop into your buttered pan. It will be so beautiful.

 

  Press it down, smooth it our, and cut it up.

 

  Bon Appetit!

 









  They are seriously incredible though! I will eat them until I get sick.

 

When Theology is Cold

  Theology is important. Without theology that is firmly grounded in the truths of scripture, a body can go to very dark places. Bad theology is one the most detrimental things to the Christian walk. Theology can be cold though. It is an easy thing to reduce the attributes of God and Biblical concepts to letters and numbers on a page. Admittedly, letters and numbers fall easily into the realm of understanding. Letters and numbers are cold though, and when we depend on them too much we begin to try and squeeze God into the realm of understanding. God is too big to understand.
  Everyday, I read a couple of Psalms when I wake up, and everyday I am struck by how big and powerful and loving God is. He is holy and righteous and just, but God is not cold. He loves His people. He sent His only Son to this earth to die and bear the punishment we justly deserved. While I can understand the fact of God's love for me, I cannot begin to gasp with my little mind the depth and width and height of it.
  Studying theology is important, and I am indebted to godly men who have done their best to explain the hard things of scripture, but studying about the Bible, is not studying the Bible. Studying about God is not the same thing as knowing God. As Christians, we must seek and know God, because just knowing theology is worthless.

Lamentations 3:22-23
  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

What I did this week: I watched the Hobbit.

  The rest is extra. Just kidding. But I did get to see the first showing of the Battle of the Five Armies.

  Monday, I started baking Christmas cookies. I am not sure where all of these went.

 

  Then I made these cinnamon dough ornaments with me little brothers. Cinnamon dough is not very good.

 

  Then Tuesday, I made star ornaments with my bros.

 

  I let myself go a little when I watch Lord of the Rings movies. Well, The Battle of the Five Armies was the first Hobbit movie I cried in. By the end of the movie I was curled up in my seat and covering my mouth while tears came out of my eyes. Yes, I am a nerd, but I am not sorry.



 

  Wednesday, I decided to try a habanero. You only live once right?

  

  The pain was real.

 

  It was very real. The left side of my mouth went numb.

 

  Thursday, I made biscuits that did not fall or taste like baking powder. I felt pretty accomplished.

 

  I also made these ornaments with my brothers.

 

  Friday I made more Christmas cookies.

 

   Then this evening, I made oreo bars which are very good and very bad.

 
 And thus went my week!

 

Kings will Die Here

  This past Sunday, I had the overwhelming responsibility and privilege of teaching the 1st and 2nd grade Sunday school class. Those children are wonderfully inquisitive and energetic. By the end of class, I wanted to drink coffee and take a nap. Which is a strange combination I must admit.
  My lesson, was the story of the Magi coming to worship baby Jesus and Herod's attempt to murder Him. As I told the story, I had more than one kid tell me, "Oh, I know this story." Of course, they are good kids and they listened anyways, but I could only imagine how redundant this story was to their little ears. We came to the point of the lesson, which was that we are to worship Christ as King like the wisemen did, and not to reject Him like Herod.
  At this point I figured I ought to point out that Christ is still king, while Herod died ages ago. Then I remembered how Herod died and thought those sweet children would be interested to find he was struck by God and eaten by worms. I definitely had their full attention at that point. When I take into account some of their reactions, am glad I did not tell them about the King Jehoram who died when his bowels came out because of a painful disease.
  All the dramatic deaths aside, kings die here. No earthly king has every reigned forever. Even a king like David, who was a man after God's own heart, died. Christ, however, is still king. When all the leaders of men fall short of our expectations and needs, Christ is in control. He reigns over all things, even death. When this life crumbles, Christ will still be King.

Short-Haired Girls

So many things are based on the physical in this physical life.
Perception comes from looks.
When we had long hair, we were pretty girls.
Young, wild, and free as the wind.
Then we cropped our locks close.
Now we are cold feminists who eschew society's opinion of beauty because we are above that.
Or not.
Maybe we were never the former.
Maybe we are not the later.
But it does not matter because nobody thought to ask.
They simply assume.
Based on our looks because we are short-haired girls.

What I did this Week: In Black and White

 

  Well, my last post was in black and white, but I thought it would be fun to do another one. So here goes.

  First, I made some stuff for my baby sister.

 

  Then I started C.S. Lewis' space trilogy once again, and once again it is fantastic and beautiful.



 

  Friday, my best friend came over and we baked cinnamon rolls.

 

  Then in the evening, we went to a friend's house and had smores.

 

  And over-lapping into next week a little bit, I am teaching Sunday school tomorrow. The class is learning about the wise-men and we are making star ornaments for our craft, so today I made a proto-type. The pom-poms are there just because they looked so fun in the store.

 

  And that was my week!



 





 

December the 12th in Black and White

  For some reason, black and white nature photos seemed very appropriate today.

I am not going to lie for you.
Honesty is always the best thing.
If the truth makes us cry, then tears are what we need.
Truthful weeping always left one with a better feeling than lying smiles ever did.
When life is hard, I tell the truth.
I have always hoped you would do the same for me.
Because the truth is always good enough, even when it shatters our faith in this hollow world.
And when I am not worth trusting, it is because I am merely an acquaintance.
Fearless honesty is what defines friendship.
It is hard to bring the bitter truths in the caves of our heart to the dazzling brilliance of day.
But we can only see truth as a treasure when we see it in the light.

I Still Need to Be Saved

  Christ did not die so I can save myself. I still need to be saved. For some reason though, I find that thought uncomfortable. I will be the first to tell you that I am an imperfect person. At the same time, I do in some ways consider myself a good person. To a certain extent, that could be considered true. In many ways I am a stereo-typical southern Baptist girl. I do not smoke or drink or sleep around (but I am not really southern-Baptist and I do listen to rock and roll). But that is not what saves me. And that is frustrating sometimes.
  Part of my want to think the good things I do merit God's favor and He overlooks the bad. He does not though. He is too good and too holy for that. Because He knows I cannot live the perfect life, He sent His only son Jesus Christ to live it for me. Because He knows I deserve death, Christ died for me. And by His own death, Christ conquered death so I can live forever. In Christ I am a new person. The old me is passing away and all things are becoming new.
  I still fail though. The poison of my sinful humanity still drips in me veins. As long as I am living on this earth, I cannot conquer it on my own. But I do not have to. In me, Christ is destroying death with each rotation of the earth. Christ is still saving me everyday.

What I did this Week: The last Hobbit movie is coming!

  This past week has been a good one. I have been busy and have stayed out of trouble because of that. And here's what I did this week.

  Sunday, I finished reading Crime and Punishment which I really enjoyed. Though the story was painful at times, it hurt in the best way possible.

 

  I also babysat on Sunday and my brother Daniel and I made this pretty awesome egg and sausage and potato thing. It was a hit even if it is not the greatest looking food-stuff.

 

  As I blogged before, I went outside to take pictures of some birds on Monday. This is a robin and I named him Jason.

 

  If it has not already been made painfully obvious, I am crazy excited about The Battle of the Five Armies which is coming out in a couple of weeks. I have gone so far as to plan what I am wearing to go see the movie. Since my hair is too short to do an all out elf cosplay, I am just going to wear an elf inspired outfit. Monday, I made this hoodie and needle-felted leaves onto the sleeves.

 

  Skipping up a couple of days to Thursday, I made waffles for lunch just because.

 

  And all throughout the week I have been reading the wonderful weirdness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. 







 

  Then today, my brothers showed me what they did to Mater.

 
  Poor guy!

 

  And now I leave you with the song I am listening to right now.

 

 

That was my week!