ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

I've never shared a recipe before, but I think this one is worth it.  John is a picky cookie eater.  They have to be chewy and soft, and chocolate chip.  But there is only so many times that you can make the same cookie recipe before you get sick of it.  So I tried this recipe.. and I love it.  I found it in the cook book called
"At Home in the Kitchen."  It is a collection of Mennonite, Hutterite and Amish-Style cooking.  It is a recipe book that my Dad bought me at the Lethbridge Home Show several years ago.  Here goes:

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 T hot water
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together until fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until creamy.

Blend flour and salt; dissolve soda in hot water.  Add to creamed mixture; mix well.

Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets.  Flatten slightly with a glass tumbler.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes for chewy cookies.  They will look light and moist
-- DO NOT OVER BAKE--.  Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

Yield: about 5 dozen cookies.

**I did not dissolve soda in hot water, just added it to with the flour.
**I did not flatten.
**They do not spread too much
** It made about 3 1/2 dozen cookies when I did about 1T size dough balls
** Bake only until slightly brown.  I did 10 minutes and that was enough.
**I did not add nuts, as John is not a nut fan. 
** I buy mini chocolate chips and use 1/2 as much as the recipe calls for and there still seems to be lots of chocolate chips in the cookies!

If you do end up making them, let me know what you think!

The Good Wife's Guide

ENJOY

1.  Have dinner ready.  Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return.  This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

2.  Prepare yourself.  Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up  your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking.  He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

3.  Clear away clutter.  Make one last trip through the min part of the house just before your husband arrives.

4.  Gather up schoolbooks. toys, paper, etc and then run a dust cloth over the tables.

5.  Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by.  Your husband will feel he as reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too.  After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

6.  Prepare the children.  Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces, comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes.  They are little treasures, and he would like to see them playing the part.  Minimise all noise.  At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

7. Be happy to see him.

8.  Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

9.  Listen to him.  You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time.  Let him talk first- remember his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

10/  Make the evening his.  Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you.  Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

11. Your goal: try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquillity where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

12. Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night.  Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone throuh that day.

13.  Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

14.  Make him comfortable.  Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom.  Hae a cool or warm drink ready for him.

15.  Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes.  Speak in a low, soothing pleasant voice.

16.  Don't ask him question about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, his is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and thruthfulness.  you have no right to question him.

17.  A good wife always knows her place.


***Taken from  a Housekeeping Monthly  magazine from May 13, 1955**

I had to chuckle when i read this.  Yes, we need to respect our husbands, but I think this is going a little too far.  John actually said that it sounds like "heaven," meaning that it sounds really good!

What is Grace?

"Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."  Romans 5: 20

What, then, is the grace by which we are saved and under which we live?

Grace is G.O.D.'S FREE and UNMERITED  favor shown to guilty sinners who deserve only judgement. 

It's the love of G.O.D. shown to the unlovely.  

It is G.O.D. reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him.

  

 Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part. 

To say it another way: Grace and works are mutually exclusive. 

 As Paul said in Romans 11: 6, "If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." 

Our relationship with G.O.D. is based on either works or grace. 

There's never a works-plus-grace relationship with Him.

  

Further more, grace doesn't first rescue us from the penalty of our sins, furnish us with some new spiritual abilities, then leave us on our own to grow in spiritual maturity. 

Rather, as Paul said, "He who began a good work in you [by His grace] will [also by His grace] carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

  

Paul asks us today, as he asked the Galatian believers, "After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to obtain your goal by human effort?" (Galatians 3:3) 

 Although the issue of circumcision was the specific problem Paul was addressing, notice that he didn't say, "Are you trying to attain your goal by circumcision?"

 He generalized his question and dealt not with the specific issue of circumcision, but with the broader problems of trying to please G.O.D. by human effort, any effort--- even good Christian activities and disciplines performed in a spirit of legalism.

***taken from a devotional from Jerry Bridges called Holiness.  It is a daily devotional.  It is short devotions, packed with good theology.  I suggest it to anyone, to take one up and follow it daily and you will be richly blessed.***

Valentines Day

H.A.P.P.Y.  V.A.L.E.N.T.I.N.E.S   D.A.Y.

Every year the girls and I make John a "Love cake".  Here is this years!  It is an icecream cake with mint chocolate chip icecream on the bottom, then a layer of dark chocolate icecream sauce and then crumbled chocolate filled chocolate cookies topped with vanilla icecream!

R. E. S. P. E. C. T.

R. E. S. P. E. C. T.

def.:  a feeling or attitude of admiration and deference toward somebody.

1 Peter 2:17

   "Show proper respect to everyone..."

Luke 12:3

   "What you said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs."

Psalm 69:6

    "May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the Lord Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God."

Matthew 5:23-24

    "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

Proverbs 18:8

    "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts."

Matthew 18:15

     "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother over."

James 4:11

"Don't speak evil against each other... if you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law.  but your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you."

• There is nothing like respect.. respect for other people, based on the fact that they are created by God just like you.  And if you respect others they will respect you.
• When you go about your business, you not only represent yourself and your family, but you also represent God.
• Too much food will put on extra weight.  When you gossip it's like feeding your soul high-fat junk food.  People get hurt when you gossip. 
• Call up someone who has wronged you and win them over.  So many problems could be avoided if we did this. 
• What we say about others actually says more about us.  We are called to be careful to treat others with respect and that included what we say about them when they aren't there to hear.

(This was taken from the 2012 Devotion Planner from The Bible League of Canada)

Dear Gramma

Here is the school and school bus that we made:

This is the front of the school. The sign says "Welcome to school"

On the left we have monkey bars and on the right is the slide.

  It isn't a very good picture. :(

This is the inside of the school.  The teacher is standing by the carpet and in the right corner you have the chairs and desks for the students.

And here is the school bus.

Let us know what you think.

Today

It was hard to get a good angle on the clothesline, but this is 3 loads of laundry drying on the clothesline on this balmy winter day.  It snowed about 2 inches last night and there's about 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground.  I was outside in a t-shirt while I hung it out, and I can't say that I was cold. 

The patch of snow down the middle of the picture is actually a pond frozen over.  If there wasn't 2 feet of snow on it, I'd be tempted to shovel it off to make a skating rink... but when there's a good one just 2 minutes down the road, why bother, right!

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L