December 29, 2013 by Stephanie

Cranberry Cinnamon Honey Butter

My family is really hard to shop for. Most of us, when we want or need something we are in a position where we can just go get it. So Christmas and birthdays become increasingly more difficult as the years go by.

However, one truth remains.

We love to eat.

So when I came across this recipe, I knew I had found at least one gift. I did adjust the recipe a smidge on the measurements.

Cranberry Cinnamon Honey Butter

Ingredients

3 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of dried cranberries
3 tsp of ground cinnamon
3-4 tbs of honey

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a mixer. I tried a blender first, and it just wasn’t cooperating, so I put it in my Kitchenaid. Worked like a charm
You may need to scrape the sides a few times and mix again just to make sure all the cinnamon is incorporated.
Store in container of choice.
Best when used at room temperature, but will need to be refrigerated between uses.

Somewhat homemade butter in the making

Excuse the mess behind this. We were overlapping several different projects at one time. Our kitchen looked like something exploded.

The recipe doesn’t not yield an exorbitant amount, so just note that if you are hoping to make it for several people. This is how much we got out of the recipe listed above.

I tasted some along the way, and it tastes so good! It would be great on toast and bagels. I kind of want to go out and get raisin bread just for this butter!

It took me about 15 minutes to make this, so it is super easy to whip up.

Do you have any homemade butter recipes?

December 27, 2013 by Stephanie

Servant of the Lord

I am co-hosting the Faith and Fellowship devotional with the wonderful Susannah from Simple Moments Stick.

I just love her, and really look up to her in so many areas, so you should check her out! We chose to focus on several verses in Luke that focus on Mary’s honor and submission to the Lord. We would love for you to reflect on Luke 1:26-56 and Luke 2:1-38.

I picked out a couple key ones here.

Luke 1:30-31 “But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.”

Luke 1:46-55 “And Mary said:

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindul of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generation will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me-holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”

Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Can you imagine being told as a 16 year old your fate is to be the mother of God?

Here Mary is 16 and engaged to Joseph who is a carpenter (which was not a high class job back in biblical times). Up shows an angel saying she was going to miraculously become pregnant without having sex with Joseph.

Now let’s look at some of the context:

Mary was a woman, which in those days did not mean much. Women’s rights was not even a thought. So to be the mother of all mothers, just hold on a second.
She was a virgin, so if she said she was pregnant don’t you think most people think she cheated on Joseph? Thoughts of others perceptions would have started creeping in.
She said she talked to Angels. Even for biblical times, most people would think that she was cuckoo.
There was a census going on, which meant some heaving traveling for Mary and Joseph.
The Romans and Jews were not exactly friends. So who would want to raise a child in that madness without the choice to plan for it?

I am sure that these are just some of the thoughts that went through her mind as the angel told her what her destiny was. Not to mention adding on the normal stress that a mother has for her first born and embarking into the unknown territory of parenthood.

If you were to think about all these what ifs that faced Mary, I think it is safe to say that most of us would say “Are you sure you want me? I am not so sure about this God. You must have gotten the wrong lady.”

I am sure that Mary envisioned her life going drastically differently. Raising a humble Jewish family was nothing unusual, right? She had plans.

Then God revealed the plans he had for her life, meaning that Mary’s original plan disappeared.

Mary didn’t put up a fight or rebel against the plans of the Lord. She didn’t just ignore what had been said to her. She said, “He is merciful…and I am blessed.” Her faith was remarkably large.

She prepared herself for the coming of the Lord. She humbly accepted what God planned for her because she knew her heart belonged to Him. She was a servant to the Lord. The ultimate follower.

She recognized God’s love and mercy, and knew that all things were possible through God. She had such unabashed faith that

He would provide despite her seemingly unbelievable situation.

He would provide a baby…even though she had never had sex.

He would get Joseph on board…even though it may seem to others that Mary cheated.

He would help them arrive in Bethlehem safely for the census…even though it meant months of traveling pregnant.

He would make it possible for Jesus to be born in a barn…even though it was filthy and not as sanitary or safe as a new mother would hope.

He would keep Jesus alive…even though there was child persecution going on in the country.

He has plans for us, whether we see them or not. We just need to have faith and trust as Mary did. This is a faith I hope to have, and continue to challenge myself to lift my heart up as Mary did.

Glinn Photography

We have turned Christmas into a stressful, go-go-go, hustle and bustle time. We have also sanitized the nativity scene by making it perfectly pristine. While it is beautiful, it has become easy to forget the details of the story. We often just see the glow and the end result, and forget the most unlikely situations that the Holy family found themselves in before the birth.

I love thinking about these scriptures, and reminding myself that this is supposed to be a holy time and time to celebrate the gift of life. It is a time of hope. While we celebrate the blessing of the birth of Jesus and what his life means to us as followers, I feel that it is important to think about the servant hood of Mary during this time as well.

God shows up in the most unlikely places, and in the most unlikely people to do His Heavenly work.

In my own life when there is much uncertainty, I am reminded to have hope and faith. My life may not look as I had once hoped, but in the moments of “Are you sure about this God?” I need to remember that he will provide.

I want to still be cognizant of ways to be a servant to him for I am still truly blessed. I know He has plans for me. I need to take a cue from Mary and just trust.

“If you are faithful, God will honor you.”

We would love to hear what you have to say in reflection of these passages. Join us for this devotion and link up with us below!

December 24, 2013 by Stephanie

Christmas Tag

Merry Christmas everyone!

I don’t normally do these things, but I figured it would be fun during my holiday travels back home.One of my blog favorites (and also hope to be someday neighbor-Just saying Elizabeth), tagged me in this Christmas fun. Be sure to check her out at Army Ever After.

1. What do you love most about Christmas time? Since I have lived away from home for the last 10 years, I love being able to spend time with family and friends I haven’t seen in a while. The food is always a perk.

2. Do you celebrate the holiday in style or is Bah-Humbug for you? I am kind of in the middle. I love the holiday spirit and decorating, but I am kind of lazy about it right now. I do really look forward to having a place that is stationary where we won’t have to travel so much during the holidays so we could actually enjoy the decorations. So I am sure I will feel different once that happens and we have kids. I imagine we will go full out then. I also don’t like opening gifts in front of other people, so that is always a fun endeavor for me. So the last few years I have really tried to focus on the “reason for the season” instead of all the glitz and glam of the holiday.

3. Are you leaving out anything for Santa this year so he remembers to leave you presents? I don’t even remember a time that I believed in Santa. I caught on real fast when my parents (who are divorced) told different tales of Santa that didn’t match up. My brother, however, believed for years. I will never forget that time when Dad, Risa (my step-mom), and I were in the living room watching through the fire place and using the phone intercom in the kitchen where Randall (my brother) was sitting. My dad pretended to be Santa on the intercom, and Randall’s reaction was just priceless. But I don’t really remember leaving anything out for him ever.

4. What is the one gift you are most looking forward to GIVING? {It can be to your kids, another family member, etc – remember to be discreet if they read your blog!} We have a gift for my dad and step-mom that is going to be ROYALLY sweet. Hint on the Royals part…I will be sure to share at a later date.

5. What is your all-time favorite Christmas movie? Since I talked about Holiday Inn and White Christmas last week, I also love Home Alone and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

6. What is your all-time favorite Christmas song? I looooooove “Oh Holy Night.” My dad sings it every year as a solo at church, so it has that special meaning for me. I secretly want to do a duet with him someday on it. My favorite secular Christmas song is “All I Want for Christmas” by Maria Carey. It makes me want to dance and sing into my hairbrush.

7. If given the opportunity would you participate in an “Ugly Sweater” party and what sweater would you wear? Peruse one on the internet or even in your own closet and show us! I have done several of these over the years. But I would have to say this is my favorite because my BF and I made them out of wrapping paper and tinsel…

8. Have you started any Christmas traditions this year that you plan on carrying forward? We have some with our families, but Tom and I do not have any for us. Again, we are ALWAYS traveling so it makes it hard to have traditions when your holidays never look the same year to year. We have some ideas of things we want to take from our families and things we want to start once we settle down somewhere.

9. It’s Christmas morning … what does it look like outside where you live? I don’t know about KY, but Missouri will most likely have snow. Right now there is a thick layer of ice everywhere.

10. You just found yourself standing under the mistletoe … who comes up to give you a kiss first? I would hope it would be my husband! But maybe it will be Crosby. He is always looking to score.

I hope you enjoy your holiday however you may celebrate!
If not, enjoy me humiliating Grace holiday style at the Jingle Job 5K last year at Iowa State!

December 23, 2013 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #15

I was in the kitchen working on the scads of Christmas goodies this weekend, and I turned to this.

Me-Do you get a scoop of peanut butter for yourself when you get peanut butter for the dogs?

Tom-A couple times a day for about 15 minutes, I come into the pantry and just eat stuff.

I giggled.

Tom-I don’t want to commit to anyone food and take it out of the pantry. I want a little bit of everything. I do know that I want everything with peanut butter on it.

He put down the chocolate covered pretzels he was eating and picked up the Cheezits and dipped them in peanut butter.

Then he picked up chipotle chedder pretzel bites.

Me-Those things are disgusting.

Tom-Not with peanut butter. (with a mouthful of them)

Me-So is this why the pantry is always a mess?

Tom-Yes. I like to see my options out.

I guess he can eat whatever (no matter how gross) because he is always hungry because of his workout routine. In his defense, he did leg press over 1000 lbs on Friday.

But I would like to have a clean pantry for more than a couple hours…

December 22, 2013 by Stephanie

My babies are Three!

I cannot believe our darling dogs are 3 today!

I know it is crazy!

Ok so we aren’t exactly sure when Crosby’s birthday is, so we just made it the same as Grace’s since they are so close in age.

So Happy Birthday to Grace and Crosby!

Here is a run down of where they are at 3 years old:

Their past before us

Grace-Her owners before us surrendered her to the shelter because she would run away a lot. We have never had this problem. Even if she gets off leash on walks she never goes far and will come quickly back if you call her name. She also had some scars on her face when we adopted her, so we think there was more to the run away story.
Crosby-He ran the streets before animal control caught him and surrendered him to the local shelter here in town. We assume he had a pretty rough life because he has gashes/scars that tell a tale that we will never know all over his throat and near his eyes. He was also at the shelter for almost 2 months before we took him in, which is a really long time in shelter life times.

Adoption Stories

Grace-We adopted her from a shelter in Marshalltown, IA. We actually went there to see another dog, who had already been adopted out by the time we made the hour drive there. I saw Grace and just knew. She was so sweet and shy. And just the right size for the apartment we were living in at the time. She was 10 months old when we got her.
Crosby-You can read more here. Tom and I were just saying the other day it is hard to believe we have only had him for a few months.

This was our first professional shoot with them!

Names

As I stated Friday, I have a love for old Hollywood. Luckily, my husband goes along with it.
Grace after Grace Kelly. Her original name was Izzy. She has always known her name Grace though.
Crosby after Bing Crosby. His original name was Kramer. He just recently has started recognizing his name.

Breeds

G-Boxer (of the brindle persuasion)
C-Boxer (but we assume he also has something else because of his block head that resembles a St. Bernard)

Weight

G-63 (which is almost twice the weight when we got her 2 years ago)
C-76

Look at me!

Commands

G-sit, shake, and down. She will not do the down if there are other dogs present or too many people to make it a show. She will do the sit and shake for anyone (and any audience size) as long a treat is involved. Tom also had her trained at one point to bark/growl at the sound of the door opening. She will also sit in front of you while you go to the bathroom to protect you.
C-sit and shake. He gets really anxious though and is not patient for treats. He will also shake when he thinks he is in trouble. Trying to warm our hearts-smart dog.

Sleep

G-doesn’t always make it through the night. I never had this problem until we moved here, so I am not sure what the deal is with her pooping in the kitchen if Tom and I don’t wake up at 5 on the dot for her. And it is really random when it happens. She’ll go weeks without doing it. Then, PLOP, there it is. A mystery.
C-he is like a rock once he is down. He is good about making it through the night and is usually a diva about people waking him up. He also snores like a train.

Food

G-Iams Proactive Health. We went through quite a few brands at first, but this was the only one that consistently didn’t give her the runs, and wouldn’t break the bank for me.
C-always Iams Proactive Health.
They both will eat anything in the form of table scraps, which has made them ridiculous beggars. It doesn’t help that Tom gives them part of his meal whenever he eats. (Ok I do sometimes too.)

They are on their best behaviors when food is involved.

House trained

G-It has been a long road for this gal! I think we are finally there, except for the occasionally dumps in the am.
C-mostly successful. We have lost a pillow and a couple remotes are not as aesthetically pleasing. Oh and that couch…
We have gotten into a pretty good routine of what works for them and what doesn’t in order to leave them out in the house by themselves. Tom and I also have had to make some adjustments on what we can leave out and how clean our clutter needs to be. It is so great not to have to worry about them in the kennels.

Bad Habits

G-she still has separation anxiety, but it is much more manageable now that Crosby is around. This is one big reason why we have never kenneled her though because we don’t want her to revert back to where she was two years ago. She also eats poop, then vomits it up, then she may eat it again. It’s a vicious cycle that I wish she would stop doing. Grace also likes digging into my lady trash…
C-he is a nervous chewer, which is why the top of our TV remote is missing. He also is a huge jumper, which we are working on.

We only have single shots of Grace because as we were taking these cuties, Crosby was digging his face in the peanut butter jar….whoops.

Loving

G-she is the best cuddler! I just love laying in bed/on the couch with her. She will nuzzle up to you just so perfectly. It is amazing how a larger dog like her can make herself so small. She will also sit perfectly still so you can hug her. We also don’t have to worry about her in the car because she is a great traveler!
C-he loves to kiss you. While I am not the biggest fan of the wetness, it is super adorable to watch him do it to Grace and Tom. He will dance with me and is just so jolly. He is pretty low key and also a great traveling dog!

As Siblings

They actually do really well together. They play and then clean each other. You will often find them snuggled up together in the most adorable ways. I think Tom gets annoyed when I point out their cuteness at least a couple times every night.
Grace does get really jealous of Crosby at times, and will often grumble at him (or us) if she feels he is getting more attention.
Crosby gets annoyed with Grace sometimes when she is too energetic, and he will put her in her place.
We have only had one brawl between the two of them. Of course it was when we had people over for Thanksgiving. We think it was the combination of the food, lots of people, and another dog that caused the trauma for the two.

They do really love each other.

Toys

G-loves anything she can rip (ropes and socks). She also loves balls, kongs, and bones. She is good at going after toys, but not so good at picking them up and bringing them back.
C-we have eliminated all toys except nylabones. He is a power chewer. He has even ripped through a Kong, which are supposed to last longer than 2 months. He would chew up a toy into large chunks, and then Grace would come after the chunks and choke on them. So we decided that the best avenue was just to stick with Nylabones.

Year 3 Accomplishments

G-not that she knew it, but she was my rock during Tom’s deployment. I am not sure I would have gotten through as well without her. Grace also ran a race with me last year-Jingle Jog 5k. I dressed her up in a Christmas sweater and everything. We also successfully moved her to KY from IA.
C-he got adopted, so I am not sure there is anything better than that!

This was a contender for the card.

Around other Humans

G-She is super shy if she doesn’t know you. This was super helpful when I lived in the residence hall with her because she didn’t go nuts on the strangers who were around us all the time. However, if she knows you, she is crazy! She turns in a U shape and just bounds around until you love on her. She is so patient and gentle with kids. She has let my nieces pull and tug on her every which way, and she just stands there and takes it.
C-He is not shy at all. He will come up to you for a kiss almost immediately! So get your kissers ready for him! He is good with kids, except he also attacks them with kisses!

Around other Animals

G-Loves to play with any dog she meets. She also thinks she likes cats, and she will try to find them in Grandpa and Grandma’s house. They are all her BFFs to her and is never shy. She has also killed a baby bird. Probably the most horrifying moment of my puppy mom life to see the wings of a bird hanging out of Grace’s mouth as she pranced back to me.
C-He does not like other dogs at first. He is super protective and is very skeptical of them at first. So we have to slowly introduce other dogs to him and then he is fine. He has also got a hold of a possum and pranced around the yard with it a bit before Tom made him let the thing go and shooed it out of the yard.

Funny things they do

G-she whimpers so pathetically. It’s kind of like a whine/gurgle/dolphin speaking. When we have food in front of her, she salivates so much that there is a puddle underneath her within minutes. She was also so terrified of the backyard until we got Crosby. She would not go off the porch unless we stood next to her. A lot of it had to do with the birds attacking her just like in the Hitchcock movie. They must have talked with the Iowa birds…
C-gets the hiccups on a regular basis. He tries really hard to howl, but he never quite gets there. He will lay anywhere like a statue. I have to check to make sure he didn’t die in the middle of the kitchen and is still breathing.
They both love toilet water, which I find disgusting and Tom will purposely leave it up so they can have at it.

Since we are traveling, I wasn’t able to make treats for them like I did for Grace last year. But I do want to share an awesome site! I was contacted by DogVacay, and all these thoughts are my own.

They shared several recipes with me that I think look delicious for people, let alone for my pups.

I mean look at this Puppy Meatloaf.

I also want to try the Doggy Candy Canes, Pupkin Pie, and the Dog Nog. I think G & C would love them all! Yum!

If you have a dog, you should really check out DogVacay. They had so many great articles for dog owners. I spent a good chunk of my morning looking at various parts of their site. I also am considering looking into the dog sitter options they have since we don’t want to go the kennel route. Here are dog boarding options in my area. It seems like a pretty sweet deal. I am looking forward to learning more about this company!

All the pictures of Grace and Crosby are ones that I took for our family Christmas card. We ended up sending a version of the one below.