Thanksgiving Goodies!

My fam got this first recipe from a lady at my great grandmother's funeral. It was your typical Southern Baptist potluck! My dad asked her why it was so good and she motioned him to lean in closer (and my guess is she was about 5' tall because she was at least 85 years old) and she said, "Don't tell the other ladies, but it's the booze."

I usually double it because it’s so stinking good. It’s like dessert. But then I still eat the real dessert... who can pass up pumpkin pie?? Or cherry. Or pecan. Or chocolate. Oh dear, I'm in trouble.

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Sweet Potato Casserole

Boil 2 large sweet potatoes. Beat until smooth

Add and Mix In:

1/4 lb. butter or margarine

1 3/4 cup milk

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons flour

2 eggs (add closer to end so they don’t cook in the hot potatoes)

1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1+ Tablespoons Cointreau

Bake in greased casserole at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Yield: Never quite enough.

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This next recipe will stay good in the fridge for at least a few days. If you came to my house the week after Thanksgiving, you'd find me still eating this... even if it was on plain old turkey cold cuts!

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Cranberry Sauce

Read all the way through this first!! You don't combine all ingredients before you bake!

4 cups fresh cranberries

2 cups sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 (13-once) jar orange marmalade

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

Wash and drain cranberries; place in a large bowl. Combine sugar and cinnamon; add to cranberries, mixing well. Spoon into a 9-inch square pan; cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

THEN, add orange marmalade, lemon juice and walnuts, mixing well.

Store in refrigerator. Yield: 4 cups

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Let me know how these turn out and how your family and friends like them!!

WHOA!

The coolest opportunity came at me today so randomly and unexpectedly that I hardly even know how to react. But after very little hesitation and an encouraging conversation or two, my reaction was solely - and fully - HYPED.

I'm going to move forward with it and I will let you know what unfolds. All I can ask is that you pray that whatever the reason and purpose God has for this strange, odd thing is... that it will happen. It's going to be challenging and mind-bending. Simple and tough. Fun and complicated. And maybe only half of those things! But I am truly hoping it happens and that it will be good.

I will post one of the two recipes I served for Daniel's office Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow. You vote... Cranberry Sauce OR Sweet Potato Casserole. I can promise that you won't be disappointed by either.

Hairless Bow.

This is my new niece, Campbell Blair.

And THAT is her hairless bow.

To use a Pioneer Woman,

and Biblically-tested, phrase...

Amen.

And Amen.

Your Love is Better than Life.

I've been doing a Bible Study with friends for the last 10 weeks... it's Beth Moore's "Daniel" study and it's truly convicting and astounding at the same time. I give it a two thumbs up, a highly recommend and maybe even a gold star.

Last week, I was just kind of plugging along through a day about praying and really thinking about prayer. I got to the part about "worshipping" God. (Is that two "p"s or one?? I'm not going to look it up and the red squiggly line isn't under it either way... so there). Lately, I have been trying to figure out how to even DO that. I mean, saying "God, you are so good" or even "God, your awesomeness astounds me" seems so small. And even "Hallelujah" and "Holy, Holy, Holy" weren't making me feel like I was getting the job done.

After I finished reading, I just started my normal prayer moment and asked God... "WHAT does it mean to worship? How do I even DO that?" Immediately, the word that popped into my head was "Psalms." And, I was like... well DUH. We worship through songs. I personally feel like I'm truly praising God the most when I'm singing a song about how awesome He is... AND I've got a whole book of them right in front of my face. So I paused mid-prayer and opened it up just to see what I saw. And it was this:

O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you,

my body longs for you,

in a dry and weary land

where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of the night.

Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

They who seek my life will be destroyed;

they will go down to the depths of the earth.

They will be given over to the sword

and become food for jackals.

But the king will rejoice in God;

all who swear by God's name will praise him,

while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Psalm 63

When I read "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you"... I felt it. I mean, I felt God like he was sitting on my knee about to tell me what he wanted for Christmas right there on the couch. I haven't let Him in like that in a long, long time. And when I felt it, I just sat there and thought the name "God"... just let it echo in my head. And I was worshipping my God... whose love is better than LIFE. How cool is that? How AWESOME is that?

To Tie You Over

UM.... can I get an AMEN for Pittsburgh, PA and the miracle that they still have JELL-O PUDDIN' POPS??!!! I almost burst into tears of joy when I saw these in my friend's fridge a few weeks ago. I ate one and... though I wasn't just getting out of my grandma's swimming pool and I'm not 9 years old... it was heavenly.

Also, post coming tomorrow on the cool "God moment" from two weeks ago.

But for now... check out my friend Sarah's latest blog entry.

AND... weigh in on THIS. This does NOT make me feel better about all the flying I've been doing lately.

Team Our Sole Purpose!

For the recap of the Komen 3-Day walk with my friend Tiffany and her family, I'm going to send you to Tiffany's blog, Kristen's blog and the Team Twitter. I know that Tiffany and the Our Sole Purpose blog will be updated again... but just to get you started on the recap, here are some pics I took of the group on the last day!

NO ONE should look this cute after walking 60 miles in 3 days.

The face of a survivor!!!

The face of a good friend!

The poster made for Team Zsa Zsa's Komen walks... representing those we walk for.

The team, with both team posters!, about to cross the finish line!

Again, NO ONE should be this cute. Or smiley.

JOY!

I believe these shoes came off even before the previous pic. Nice sock tan, T-Rog.

Dave has been T-Rog's support since she started training MANY months ago! Cute pic!

I made this sign with Cathy, another family friend, on Friday and it got progressively more "bedazzled" throughout the weekend. Yes, it says "follow us on twitter"... and the random smears are from less-than-dry glitter!

The pile of well-worn shoes. The girls were amazing this weekend and I can't tell you how many times I teared up just thinking of all the stories that all the walkers have experienced. This weekend, and their journeys, were a true picture of perseverance, faith, family, friends and hope. I was so thankful to be a tiny part of it. Love all of you!

Vegas, Baby.

I went to Vegas last year Ben's 21st Birthday and it was AWESOME. We went this year with our friends Xio and Alan (parents of Miss Sophia) and Kathryn and Andy (Daniel's sis and our brother-in-law). This was our first EVER "couples' trip" and it definitely lived up to the hype.

We got in at 9:30am on Friday morning and hung out all day, walked around the Bellagio and did a little gambling. In fact, we went to "O'Shea's" which we dubbed "O'Shady's" because of the small people serving beer into large plastic jug/mugs whilst standing on the bar. The outside of the bar advertised "air conditioning and $2 beer and a 9pm FREAKS show." Incredible.

We split up for shows on Friday night... Daniel and I saw "Love" and everyone else saw "O" then the group joined us at the Mirage for dinner at Stack where we had some amazing Kobe Beef Cheese Fries.

Saturday was Alan's 30th birthday (though we were also celebrating Daniel and Xio's 30th birthdays AND Kathryn and Andy's anniversary). We had a leisurely day. Alan and I had a "date" while Xio and Daniel were napping in the afternoon and it was awesome. Then all the couples split up for dinners... Daniel and I ate at the Bellagio Steakhouse, Prime. The worst part of the weekend was not being able to finish this steak!!! It was ridiculously awesome and I was sad to leave ANY of it on the plate.

Afterwards, we met on the small patio outside Prime and had a chocolate rum cake that the hotel made for Alan and some champagne and wine. They accidentally wrote "Happy Birthday, Daniel!" on the cake... but we let Alan blow out the candle anyways. :)

Sadly, these are the only group shots I have of the WHOLE trip. We did a horrible job taking pics.

We were out there for the last fountain shows of the night. It was amazing and gorgeous!

You know Daniel wasn't having a good run on the tables when he sat down to play PENNY SLOTS.

I, on the other hand, ROCKED the penny slots! I got down for awhile, but on the last night I won $225 on $40! I won $133 on ONE PLAY! It was awesome.

The mini Bellagio in the Conservatory made of natural things like pine cones and beans.
The fountains from the front. I'd never seen them from this view before and I loved it. Gave me goosebumps and may or may not have caused me to shed a tear.

Xio and Alan left on Sunday morning and the rest of us stayed until Monday. We went to the Venetian Sunday night for dinner at Enoteca and it was great. What WAS NOT great... the smell of the Venetian. I mean... it was like burn-the-hair-out-of-your-nostrils horrifying.

I was sad to leave! BUT I'm hyped because we just found out last night that the fam is "headed West" for New Year's Eve! We are seeing the Black Eyed Peas on Thursday night, going to the Bellagio NYE party and heading home on New Year's Day. It will be a whirlwind of awesomeness. I will let you know how it goes. Now, back to reality and laundry-folding.