Words to Live By

Sweet Treats - Stars and Stripes

I'm trying to decide what sweet treat to make for our 4'th of July Bar-B-Que.  So many choices!

Cute idea I found on pinterest!  These marshmallow treats are darling.  I couldn't find a link, but I think they look simple enough.

A Stars and Stripes fruit pie?!?!  Yes, please!

 Patriotic Pops

If you've ever had cake balls before you know how yummy they are!  I love these pops with a patriotic theme! Click here to find out out to make them.

1. Spangled Ice Cream Sandwich Pop 

2.  All American Chocolate Covered Cherries   

3.  Red White and Blue Cupcakes

4.  Red White and Blue Ice Pops

5.  Fourth of July Pretzel Sticks

Even patriotic drinks! 

CAKE!  A white cake mix, some food coloring and some icing.  Hmmm,  maybe!

I seen these red, white and blue rice krispy treats on pinterest and thought they were quite clever.  I couldn't find a link for the recipe, but it has to be easy.  Who doesn't know how to make rice krispy treats?  Add a little food coloring and viola'!

Flag cupcakes.  Who comes up with this stuff!  So simple.  Why didn't I think of that? ;)

This may be the winner for me.  Fruit and pizza in patriotic form!  What's not to love here as well!  Sounds yummy and easy.  Find out out to do it yourself here.

This Scarlet Cord - A Book Review

I have always loved the Bible story of Rahab.  When you read about Rahab in the book of Joshua you get the facts of what this great woman does and how she goes from harlot to heroine. However, there are not a great deal of details shared about this brave young girl.

Joan Wolf takes the story of Rahab and tells us a beautifully written story of what Rahab's life might of been like.   It is a story of love, faith and the grace of God.  Keep in mind though as your read this, that this is a fictional story.

SPOILER ALERT - The writer does not have Rahab as a prostitute.  She shows that because of the false gods the Cannanites serve and their sinful beliefs that most people think that Rahab has been defiled and therefore consider her a prostitute and that this has been a misconception.  I will admit that this idea bugged me a little.  I do feel that when writing a fictional story based on a biblical character one should at least keep with the facts that the Bible shares with us.  With that said though, I really did enjoy this book.  I finished the book in three days because I could hardly put it down.

After reading this book I began to look a little more to what the Bible has to say about Rahab.  Her story goes beyond the pages of Joshua.   In the book of James (James 2:25)  she is used as an example of someone who's faith causes them to do good works.

In Hebrews 11 Rahab is listed with Abraham, Moses and Noah as a hero of faith.  What does this tell you about God's mercy?  He took a harlot who was despised by many and brought her to a position of honor.

In Matthew 1:5 Rahab is listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ!  How awesome is that?  If God can take a sinner like Rahab and use her as part of the bloodline of his son, the Messiah, can't he use you too?

***This book was provided to me by booksneeze.com in exchange for my review!

Legacy Road - A Book Review

Book Description:  Wes Watkins's journalism career took off when he was asked to eulogize Michael Gavin, a stranger to Wes but a hometown hero to the humble folks of Talking Creek, Georgia. While researching Gavin's life, Wes was confronted with an estranged relationship of his own that he wasn't prepared to address, having ignored for years the occasional letters from his imprisoned father. Wes has chosen to focus instead on his growing career and his budding relationship with Emmy. His life is looking up . . . until his marriage proposal to Emmy goes south. Left to wonder if he can reconcile with Emmy before she is deployed to Afghanistan, Wes can no longer avoid the other reconciliation that troubles him. But when Wes uncovers a painful truth about his parents' past, patching things up with his father may prove impossible. Wes's life is close to spiraling out of control. Will Wes learn to forgive? Or will the best year of his life turn into the worst?


My Thoughts:  I really don't like to give negative reviews, but I see no other way around it with this book.  No matter how hard I tried I could not get interested in it.  In the beginning of the book it jumped around from character to character and found myself very confused, not really knowing who was who and what was going on.  By the middle of the book I just wanted it to be over, it never picked up pace for me or captured my interest in anyway.  I have since learned that Legacy Road is the sequel to Hero's Tribute.  Maybe it would of made a difference if I would of read it first, but as it is now I have no desire to read that one either. 


***This book has been provided to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Don't Judge Me

There's something you probably would never suspect about my son.  He's an avid Judge Judy fan.  He's dedicated to never missing a show.  Actually it's the only television show he watches.  He catches a lot of slack from his loving family over this.  After all, how many 19 year old Judge Judy fans do you know?  So of course we have to make fun of him. ;)

Because of his obsession  fondness off the show I thought he would love his Birthday this year being completely dedicated to his favorite judge.  I was right!  He loved it!  

Words to Live By

Bees in the Butterfly Garden - A Book Review

Raised in an exclusive boarding school among Fifth Avenue's finest, Meg Davenport has all she's ever needed . . . but none of the things she's wanted most, like family, or dreams of a future that includes anything other than finding a suitable match. So when her distant father dies, she seizes the chance to throw etiquette aside and do as she pleases. Especially when she learns that John Davenport wasn't the wealthy businessman she thought, but one of the Gilded Age's most talented thieves.Poised to lead those loyal to Meg's father, Ian Maguire knows the last thing his mentor would have wanted is for his beloved daughter to follow in his footsteps. Yet Meg is determined, and her connections to one of New York's wealthiest families could help Ian pull off his biggest heist yet. But are they both in over their heads? And in trying to gain everything, will they end up losing it all?

Isn't the cover of this book just beautiful?  The cover is actually what drew me to the book in the first place.  All it took was one chapter for me to realize that there was more to this book than a pretty cover.  It had my interested from the first chapter to the last and there were a few times that I was sitting at the edge of my seat.  Meg is such an interesting character and her determination to not be the fine young lady her father desired her to be and instead be a daughter just like him is refreshingly entertaining.   Ian wants to protect Meg and honor her father's wishes by keeping her away from the life of thievery that he led, but Meg has other plans.  Ian finally realizes the only way to keep her safe is to do things her way and they become partners in crime.  The faith of the family they have their sites set on put a whole new twist on things and Meg and Ian both find something they never intended on finding....grace, mercy and forgiveness.  

Such a good book!  I'm loaning it out to my mom and then I think I'll read it again.  Yes, it's that good!

***This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Herb Water

Nothing quenches your thirst on a hot summer day like water.  A great way to enhance the taste and beautify the presentation is by adding herbs.  Here's some pictures of the herb water I fixed tonight.  I used my borage ice cubes and I threw in some fresh chamomile and some lemon verbena.  It was very tasty!

Borage Ice Cubes

I love to grow Borage in my herb garden.  It is an easy to grow annual that has beautiful blue flowers (sometimes a few pink ones too) that have a cucumber flavor.   It is good for attracting pollinating bees which makes it a good companion plant for strawberries and tomatoes.  It's even supposed to keep tomato hornworms away and improve the taste of the tomato if planted close.  The leaves and flowers are edible both having a cucumber-like flavor.  The leaves are best when they are young because the bigger the plant gets the fuzzier and pricklier the leaves get.   Some people cook the leaves as you would greens such as spinach.  I've never tried it though.  The fuzziness of the plant kind of discourages me from that endeavor.  But I do so love the flowers!  They are great in salads.  Not only does it add flavor it makes such a pretty presentation.  This year I've been picking the flowers and freezing them in ice cube trays.  I'm thinking some mint and maybe some chamomile flowers frozen into ice cubes would be a great addition.  When I get that done I'll fix me a glass of lemonade or maybe some tea and use my beautiful ice cubes to enhance the look and the flavor.  It's going to be great!  

Always use caution when ingesting edible flowers for the first time.  The borage can be a mild laxative for some people so you would want to see how your body reacts before ingesting too many.

I'll post more pictures later of my ice cold beverage!

Park Days

Me and the kids love to go to the park for some fishing and relaxation.  A couple days ago we enjoyed a beautiful evening there.  I brought my favorite denim quilt and my nature journal and was able to capture some of God's beautiful creation on paper.  The kids did some fishing and when Bethany tired of that she shared the quilt with me and read for a while.

Dakota caught this snapping turtle in his fishing net.

This crazy bird became Dakota's instant buddy when he thought he could get a fish treat.

 Dakota only caught one catfish this time.  The big one got away.  Seriously.  One of his fishing poles was on the ground and suddenly it shoots out into the water and doesn't come back up until it's halfway out in the lake. lol  Luckily he was able to get it back by casting another line and "catching" it.  We're just sure it was a big one. ;)