Something...

is about...

to happen...

Springtime...

Too Lovely NOT to Share

I looked out the back porch door window this morning and saw this...

How much the Lord must love us to bless us with such breath-stealing beauty...

A Prayer of St. Patrick

Unexpected Delight

I entered a contest - a blog naming contest at a blog I have followed for a couple of years. I've mentioned it before...

Our Quiverful is the family blog of the Estes family. This lovely family of ten home schools, has their own family business, and deeply love the Lord. Noah, their youngest boy has a mitochondrial disease and is often very sick. Mrs. Estes has often been an great encouragement as she shares what the Lord is doing in their lives, and is teaching them.

So, when she announced she was having a blog-naming contest for a blog on Biblical womanhood, I knew I wanted to enter...

& in the Lord's very kind Providence,

I won!!!

That was at the beginning of February, and I'm still excited! :)

On top of the joy of my blog title being chosen, there was a prize - a $50 Amazon gift certificate! I was planning on purchasing books, but Mother counseled me to think beyond books (is that possible?). Therefore, it took me a bit longer to choose and at the end of February I had decided, I ordered and in less time than expected - they arrived!

Cath Kidston stationary and a very special muffin tin...

I'm now hijacking some of your most valuable time to show you. :)

In the Lord's Providence, I'll be using these sweet roses for a wedding shower on Saturday. :)

Thank you again, Mrs. Estes. I'm very thankful for and am praying for you all... <3>



Make certain you check this link so you can read In Ruby Slippers when it's officially launched!

Our First Tutorial

Received a query concerning the purpose of marbles in baking a cake. :)

Ideally,to make a cake like the one below, one will use two 9-inch round cake pans and two 9-inch square pans.

You will then need either one large cake recipe or two boxed cake mixes.
Please allow me to take a moment recommend the rich cake recipe from my 1920's high school home economics textbook - Everyday Foods.

Once baked and cooled, cut both round cake pans in half. Take one square and two half-circles, assemble as above. Ice top, then next layer, assembling as the first layer.

Ice as any other cake and devour.

But, you say... What about those marbles?

Well, I will tell you. Only in ideal situations will you posses two round and two square cake pans. We posses two round and one square cake pans. Since we've only made this cake as a one layer before, it hasn't been a problem. Mia longed for a two layered heart cake so, necessity being the mother of invention, we busied ourselves with finding a solution.


The solution? Marbles. In a 9 x 13 pan. A "compartment" of aluminum foil kept them contained and out of the cake.


Just to refresh your memory...


It worked perfectly.





Hopefully, we have inspired you make your own heart-shaped cakes...


Have fun!


Note: We knew this was safe as we've baked with marbles before. Ordinary cupcakes in paper wrappers can become heart shaped if before baking a marble or two (stacked, not side by side) is positioned between the wrapper and the baking tin....

And Here it Is!

Mia's cake. Our resident linguist wrote

Herzlichen Glückwunsch

Happy Birthday or Congratulations in German... :)

On January 31st,

someone

was making

a birthday cake.

<3

May I Have Your Attention, Please!

Two of my friends are entering in a Scholarship competition by CollegePlus! Part of the prize is determined by the number of views they have by midnight tonight (CST).

If you wouldn't mind watching... It's only 3 minutes... Thank you! :)

Kate's Description of the Christmas Snowstorm

Thought you'd care to hear from more Careys than just myself...

The Friday before Christmas, this part of the country was hit by a snowstorm! Mother and Lynne were out shopping at the time, and Father was at work, so it was just Mia, Murray and I at home. About 1:00 we were making cookies,etc. when we noticed that the wind had picked up, and that tiny ice crystals were falling. The precipitation changed from ice to snow to ice a few times, and then it really started falling fast (within half an hour, the ground was nearly white!). Mother and Lynne started for home swiftly, but they had to drive very slowly along the twisty, ice-coated roads, and the drive took longer than usual. About the time they started home, Father left work for fear of being snowed in and also started for home. He, too, had a rough drive, and passed several cars in the ditch, before he finally came home. All this time the snow hadn't slowed at all, and by the time of his arrival (about 2 hours later) the ground was completely covered, and blowing, swirling clouds of snow obscured much of the surrounding landscape. It only slowed a little over the next night and day, and we were snowed in all weekend.

Fortunately, the snow was perfect for sledding, and Saturday morning we ventured out. It was at least three inches above our knees almost everywhere, and, in the drifts, a good bit deeper than that! Moving was difficult, but we managed to blaze a trail up the hills, and up a gap cut into the tree-line for our sledding convenience by our landlord. That first day, sledding was tough because the snow was so deep, but the next afternoon it was much easier, and we rode down several times before we came in. Molly loved the snow. She delights to chase us down the hill on our sleds, pouncing on us and licking us when we get to the bottom. As it was up to her chest in many places, she had to bound like a dolphin to get anywhere, and thus she wore herself out to a perfectly-content-to-lay-in-front-of-the-heater state.

Tuesday morning we got up early so as to shovel out the driveway. Our driveway is rather long, and it slants upward fairly steeply, and the snow was deep enough to bottom-out the van, so we had a lot of work to do! It took us a few hours to get the driveway clear, so Father didn't get to work until past noon.

The snow had stopped by then, but the wind hadn't. Tuesday, it got very strong, and by Wednesday the power company reported 1,000 customers without electricity in a nearby state. We thought we would probably lose power, too (after all, it made sense- the power goes out and stays out on the slightest excuse in this valley). However, on Christmas it only flickered a few times (an incredible fact) and, even though the wind flatted an old barn in the field, knocked over a tree in one of our friends yard (squashing an old building, but not harming their house) and ripped the siding off another friend's house, this area never lost electricity!


NB~ And it has kept snowing. Some melted over Christmas and a few days later, but we have nearly non-stop snow this week... ~ Miss C.

Happy New Year!

2010... Seems to be a date from science fiction novel, doesn't it?

Here at the Carey's House, we're ushering in the New Year by watching a family favorite - a stirring story of Good battling Evil against all odds- namely, Lord of the Rings. It's Murray's first time through the trilogy, and he's stayed in the room for 3/4 of the movies. Last night we watched the Fellowship, today we viewed the Two Towers, and tomorrow we will finish the trilogy with Return of the King.

This past year has been brimming with blessings, joy, and surprises. We can't wait to see what our Lord will do in the next twelve months!

As soon as I am able to gather photos I will recommence posting. I've several posts written and they are eager to be read. Soon...