Triple Berry-Rhubarb Birthday Pie...

Youngest daughter reached a milestone birthday last week.

I'm not telling which one, because than you'll think that I'm old, which, of course, I am not.

Anyway, all lying aside, the girl loves pie and wanted a berry-rhubarb pie for her birthday.

Now, here's where things start getting tricky.

I pride myself on being a pretty good cook.

I'm not a fancy or gourmet cook, but I pride myself in being an above average home cook.

Well, pride does go before a fall friend, and pies have always been my fall, or fail.

Mama said I didn't have a light enough hand with the crust.

Youngest daughter is the best pie maker in the family, so I was determined to make her a beautiful birthday pie, now that I have mastered pie crust.

 I have discovered the miracle pie crust secret, which is 1/2 cup of sour cream or greek yogurt in the crust.

At last, I have conquered pie making...

or so I thought.

For the crust:

In a food processor pulse together:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Add 2 sticks, (1 cup) cold butter cut into small pieces

1/2 cup cold plain greek yogurt, (which is what I used), or sour cream

2-3 Tablespoons of icy cold water

and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pulse in food processor just until dough is combined

Form dough into a ball on a sheet of wax paper and chill in refrigerator while you make the filling

For the filling:

3 cups fresh rhubarb

3 cups frozen triple berry mix-raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, 

(since fresh berries aren't in season yet)

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Stir above ingredients together in a mixing bowl and add to unbaked crust in 9 inch pie dish.

The crust rolled out flawlessly.

After I assembled the pie I brushed it with a bit of egg wash, (one egg beaten with a bit of water),  and sprinkled the top with a bit of sugar.

I baked it in a preheated 400 oven for about an hour, until the crust was golden brown.

(I put a foil guard around the pie crust edges for the last 20 minutes or so, so they wouldn't get too dark.)

It looked picture perfect.

But alas, when we cut into the pie, the filling was perfect in sweetness, but too runny.

I guess I still have some pie perfecting work to do.

At least it tasted good, and that crust, it's to die for!

(Now to you expert pie bakers out there, what did I do wrong this time?)

Still following,

(Top photo edited with one layer of Kim's 1301 texture, multiply mode, 30% opacity)

http://www.kimklassencafe.com

http://www.nadafarmlife.org

Sunday evening eucharisteo...

I realized something as I sat down to type this post this evening.

When I first write down my thanksgiving, count my blessings, gather my gratitude,

writing them in my journal is the acknowledgement that I've seen and noticed them.

But it's in the re-writing them here,

chronicling them online,

reviewing them,

typing them out,

each Sunday evening,

that the reality of God's goodness takes root in my heart

and blossoms into true eucharisteo,

thanksgiving.

*************************

In 2013 I'm going back to the way I did it in the beginning,
just noticing and recording the many extraordinary blessings in my ordinary life.

And so I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal.

(and capturing some of them via my camera or iPhone)

#3004-#3030

4-8-13-

-white tulips

-yellow sunflowers

-a husband who brings me flowers

-seeing youngest daughter's new apartment

-stopping by our oldest daughter's to see the two youngest granddaughters

4-9-13-

-a quiet morning before the granddaughters come over for me to watch them for two days

-the fact that God wants us to ask Him for what we need, even what we desire!

-look who's sleeping in my bed-our own little "Goldilocks" taking her nap

-yellow tulips lining our walk

-spaghetti dinner at our second born daughter's and making chocolate chip cookies there with my granddaughters

4-10-13-

-the two granddaughters slept through the night

-God's goodness, kindness, love and wisdom

-it was pouring rain during nap time, but sunny enough afterwards for us to take a walk

-making rhubarb/triple berry pie-youngest daughter's birthday request

-reading Beezus and Ramona to four year old granddaughter before bed, 

the third generation of us who have loved Beverly Cleary's books

4-11-13-

-our youngest daughter on her birthday

-a fun afternoon and evening, me and my three daughter's, celebrating together-

I love them so much and thank God for the honor of being their mom

4-12-13-

-reading Jesus' intercession for us in John 17 and realizing afresh that His ultimate act of intercession was laying down His life for me

-talking on the phone to the Hubs about what God is doing in his life while he's at the "Passion for Jesus" conference 

-finding the tablecloth I've been wanting 

4-13-13-

-a good night's sleep

-a really good heart to Heart prayer time while on my knees mopping the wood floor

-the Hub's safely home from the conference

4-14-13-

-good reports of God's work in hearts and lives at church this morning

-lunch with one of the single mamas from church

-a friend messaging me that she feels like God has something good ahead for us

and me feeling that same bubbly anticipation in my spirit

-God's help to get my least favorite chore done and remain at peace while doing it

Gratefully yours,

Isaiah 43:1...

I love that our God is so personal.

He knows us by name.

He knows

our likes,

our dislikes,

our hopes,

our dreams,

our strengths,

our weaknesses,

our victories,

our defeats,

every thought,

every word,

every deed,

the good and the bad,

and yet He still loves us

and made the way,

through Jesus,

for us to be forever His,

just because of His great, great love.

Still following,

Friday's Favs....Fabric Pennant Garland

I've got another one of my quick and easy, "third grade level crafting skills"

 projects to share with you!

You've seen my drying rack photo display before.

It hangs on the entry hall wall that leads into the living room.

I wanted to add some spring color and cheer to it,

so I made this quick and easy fabric pennant garland.

First I made a quick run into JoAnn's Fabrics, armed with my coupons.

I picked out my first fabric,  with it's cherry little birds and flowers.

Then I picked out some red fabric with dots and some patterned aqua blue fabric.

I bought 1/3 yard of each and, with my coupons, spent about four dollars total.

To make the pennant garland I made a card stock template of a triangle with a three inch base.

I folded the fabric in half and ironed it smooth.

Placing the template with the base side on the folded edge of the fabric I cut out the triangles.

(This way your garland looks great from the front or the back.)

I used baker's twine that I already had to hang the pennants.

Simply sandwich the twine in the fold between the front side and back side of the triangle adding a couple of small dots of glue with your glue gun to keep it in place.

Decide how far apart you want your pennants from one another, (in my case about 3 1/2"), and then just alternate the colors....bird fabric, red fabric, aqua fabric...being sure to leave at least a 6 to 8 inch "tail" of twine at the beginning and end so you can hang your garland.

I chose to use my pennant garland to add some spring color to my old drying rack photo display.

But this colorful, inexpensive, easy and fun to make pennant garland can be used to add color and cheer...

to your child's bedroom,

your kitchen window,

over a mirror,

to decorate for a birthday party or baby shower,

anywhere your heart desires!

Of course, you can make it as long as your heart desires or make the pennants bigger as well.

Easy, quick and inexpensive, yet cute and cheerful.

Now that's my kind of crafting!

Well, it's almost Friday, friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and

a BLESSED weekend!

              

                                            

Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday
and 
Thrifty Decor Chick's It's The Little Things Linky

Hope deferred, when God has you in the waiting room...

I imagine we've all got some unrealized dreams, 

dare I even say, some unfulfilled promises from God.

Since I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, 

and that every word is included for a divine purpose,

I find it interesting that He included these words,

"hope deferred makes the heart sick",

and yet He's the one with the power and ability to make the waiting stop.

The Hubs and I have three daughters.

They are all grown women now.

And every single one of them has been chosen by God,

{yes, I picked those words on purpose},

to go through long seasons of hope deferred,

long seasons of waiting.

Oldest daughter waited ten years and suffered through 3 miscarriages before she had her miracle.

Two beautiful little girls later, she looks back on those years with wisdom, compassion and gratitude.

The waiting made her better, not bitter.

Middle daughter waited and wondered and wandered looking for the open door 

for her to live and minister in her beloved Ghana, West Africa.

This has been her dream since she was a young child.

God has opened doors for her and her husband to minister in Ghana, 

even to stay for quite a few months at one time,

but at this time, it seems God has said, "not yet" to living there.

Youngest daughter is walking through her own wilderness of hope deferred.

As a mama, nothing has been harder for me to endure than this,

to see my girls hurting, waiting, wondering,

so see the enemy swooping in and lying,

breathing foul whispers that God doesn't see,

that He's turned a deaf ear to their cries,

that maybe their dream will never come to pass,

that maybe God's promise to them will never be fulfilled.

I know those are lies.

I know God is good and He does good.

He has good plans for each of my girls, my sons-in-law, my grand babies.

He even has good plans for my husband and I for these later years of our life.

He has good reasons for the waiting seasons.

Reasons that, at this time, are known only in the depths of His great heart.

But, I know that the beautiful words sung by Matt Redman ring true.

"His name is great and His heart is kind."

If God's got us in the waiting room,

it's in our best interests that we're there.

It's for our own good.

I believe that with as much certainty as I know my own name.

As much as I hate to be in God's waiting room myself,

I hate even more to see my loved ones there.

I hate to see them suffering from hope deferred.

I hate to see them heart sick.

Yet, I believe the rest of the verse.

Yes, I believe it's there for a reason, 

just like the first half of the verse,

"but when desire comes, it is a tree of life."

Notice it says when, not if.

And since I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God,

and that every word is included for a divine purpose,

I find that very hope-full.

Still following,

The most lived in room in the house...

I'm pretty sure that the most lived in room of our house is our bedroom.

We live in a small 1400 square foot house, with a fairly large master bedroom.

And so, this has become the bedroom/family room for the Hubs and I.

We prefer that the living room is tv free, 

so our tv is tucked away in the armoire in our bedroom.

Grandkids over for a visit and want to watch a movie?

Pile up on Papa and Nana's bed, (the aftermath as seen above), and enjoy!

Our room probably gets the best light in the house.

With it's soft gray walls and white breadboard,

 it's reminiscent of the beach cottage I've always wanted.

A little bit of beach shell art goes with my beach cottage wanna be room.

Hello, smartest and easiest solution to where do I keep my handbag!

And what you don't see is,

our nightstands that are always loaded with books and such.

How do people keep their nightstands perfectly styled with only a few well chosen trinkets on them?

You also don't see the elliptical machine on the other side of the room,

ready for me to work out on days when it's too rainy to run outdoors.

Oh, the things we don't show in blogland...

giving the illusion that our homes are always clean, neat and decorated like a magazine!

Not in this well loved, well lived in room!

Still following,