A Double Blessing!

I have been waiting so long to write this post!  A couple of months ago Jared and I found out that I am pregnant!

Yes, that is TWO babies in there!!!  We found out at my first doctor's appointment when I was about 6 1/2 weeks along (I am currently 13 1/2 weeks), and we were thrilled and very surprised!  I never thought I would have twins...I didn't think twins ran in my family at all (we found out later that my great-grandmother had a set of twins).  But I remember wanting to have twins so badly when I was a little girl and then finding out that there weren't any twins in our family.  So I just always assumed that it would never happen to me.

But God has an awesome way of revealing his plans for us.  He has definitely blessed us more than we asked or imagined.  And not because we deserve any bit of it, we certainly don't.  But what an amazing gift he has given to show us his love and grace.  Many of you know that I had a miscarriage last fall.  It was really hard to lose that baby, but God was teaching so much through it.  I had to accept that there are some things that happen in this life that we will never understand.  But God does, and we have to trust that he loves us, knows what is best, and that he is working for the good of those who love him.  At the end I had to come to the conclusion that He is still God, he never changes and I will praise him through this storm.  Not to say that it isn't still hard, and I still struggle with it sometimes.  But he gave me his incredible peace that "transcends all understanding" and I know that he was right there with me through it all.

Here is "Baby A" on the left, and "Baby B" on the right!  All of these ultrasound pics were taken at 11 1/2 weeks.

 
This pregnancy has had its complications too.  There have been several times when I spotted, we found out my progesterone (the hormone that sustains the pregnancy) levels were extremely low and I had to start taking progesterone to bump up my levels, and we have been in and out of the doctor's office for bloodwork and ultrasounds.  God is teaching me so much about faith, fear and spiritual warfare.  These babies are his children and I know that he loves them more than I can fathom and that he has great plans for their lives.  Instead of worrying, I have to release them into his Almighty hands every day and trust that he is protecting them.  It is a daily, moment by moment surrender.  He is also revealing his promises in his word to me and teaching me to believe and claim those promises.  "Whatever you things you ask in prayer, believing, you will recieve" (Matthew 21:22).  That is a promise from Jesus and I ask God daily to increase my faith to believe for all these things I pray for concerning these precious children.  I want to have unwavering faith in God that can move mountains.

There are so many other amazing things that God is showing me through this, but I think I will have to break it up some so this isn't too long!  We are so thankful to God for these babies and our prayer is that they would bring glory to his name. 

Key Lime Pie

Key lime pie is definitely in my top 5 favorite desserts of all time (everyone has a list...right?).  Seriously, I could eat it all day.  I have tried several recipes in the past for key lime pie with ok results, until I found "The One".  This is it people.  Look no further because this is the perfect recipe.  The crust is crisp and buttery and the lime filling is uber creamy and rich, with just the right amount of tartness.  Then the whole thing is topped off with fresh whipped cream.  What could be better?

So the secret ingredient in the filling is sour cream.  Everything is better with sour cream.  Here I used a 9" tart pan, but a pie plate works just as well.  Also, I have made mini tarts with this same recipe.

Key Lime Pie (filling adapted from http://www.allrecipes.com/ , crust from The Best Recipe cookbook)
Crust:
9 graham crackers, crushed in a food processor to crumbs
2 Tbsp sugar
5 Tbsp butter, melted

Combine everything in a bowl. Press into one 9 inch pie plate.  Bake at 325 for 14-15 minutes.  Set aside to cool while you make the filling.

Filling:
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (doesn't have to be key lime- just regular limes work great)
1 Tbsp lime zest

Whisk all ingredients together until well blended.  Pour into crust, and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until very tiny bubbles appear on the surface. Cool and refrigerate several hours.

Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
splash of vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until firm peaks form.

Daisy the pug

This needs no words.

Look at Daisy's face in this picture.  I think her eyes are going to pop out of her head!  Emma felt so special holding the jar of peanut butter.

Hmmm... I wonder why we have such a chubby dog???  Don't worry, it is an empty jar, and she only had this privilege for a few seconds :)

Easter 2010

"Easter is not an elders' meeting; it's an end-zone dance.  The curse is over, death is conquered, dawn is here.  The words joy and Easter may not sound the same in English, but they are synonyms in the heart of God." -from Story by Steven James

I think that is a wonderful description of Easter- an end-zone dance.  It is a celebration, a joyful day.  Our church held several services over the weekend, so we went to one of the Saturday evening services.  It was an incredible time with God.  Jesus is alive, and we are free!  I can't wait to teach my children the true meaning of Easter.

Sunday afternoon we headed up to Gardendale to see Jared's family.  Emma "hunted" Easter eggs again.  Here is Emma with Uncle Gary and Cousin Jennifer.

Chilling with Cousin Jordan

When we got back to Birmingham we went over to my parents' house to have dinner with them and my sister and her boyfriend.  My dad made some massive steak kabobs, and my mom made her yummy creamed potatoes and a Greek salad.  It was all delicious!  Melissa made homemade ice cream for dessert- caramelized banana with homemade hot fudge sauce!  A-mazing.

Our little hunter and gatherer.  She played with eggs all weekend long.

I dyed some real eggs for Emma to play with while we were over at their house.  I didn't think about how heavy they would be!  I made a dozen and when it was full she could barely carry the basket!

Look at all those eggs!

Grandma's Birthday

We celebrated my Grandma's 83rd birthday on Saturday with my family in Opelika.  My Grandma is an amazing Christian woman, and one of the best cooks I have and will ever know.  She doesn't cook much anymore since she lives in a retirement home, but I will never forget walking into my grandparents house and being met by the intoxicating aroma of the food my Grandma was cooking.  She always cooked a huge, from scratch meal every time we went to visit.  It was usually her famous fried chicken fingers (the real thing- and the best in the world), her amazing creamed corn (which is absolutely nothing like the frozen or canned stuff), cornbread, turnip greens or collards with sweet tomatoes, sometimes macaroni and cheese or sauteed broccoli with almonds, and occasionally fried okra or roasted sweet potatoes.  When I was younger she would make a big bowl of that fluffy pink or green salad, made from cool whip with pineapple and cherries in it.  Of course I always dug into that because it was like dessert!  She would always have one or two homemade desserts also.  Many times it was a big, tall layer cake, like carrot cake or red velvet.  Completely made from scratch. 

But, my Grandma is so much more than an incredible cook.  I will always remember how excited she was when we came to visit.  She would literally jump and down.  My grandparents lived in Opelika, so we usually didn't get to see them but every few months when we were growing up.  But when my sister and I lived in Auburn we were able to visit much more often.  It was so nice to have family close.

As you can see, Emma was being a wiggle worm the entire time we were there.  We got together at my Auntie Ann and Uncle Don's house in Opelika.  My aunt is a fabulous cook also.  Really, I love everything she ever makes.  I wish I had gotten a picture of all the food because it was all so good!  She made the best macaroni and cheese that I have ever put in my mouth.  Not only does she make fantastic food, but she writes articles for the magazine, East Alabama Living, and for a local weekly paper.  She is my culinary hero :)

My sister made this delicious coconut cake.  The cake was soaked in cream of coconut and topped with a fluffy frosting.

And my mom made these mississppi mud cake brownies.  They were very good- basically a very chocolatey brownie with swirls of gooey marshmallows and crunchy nuts, topped with a fudgy frosting.  Yum!  Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.

Mississppi Mud Cake- from Southern Living, October 2007
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butter
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 (10.5-oz.) bag miniature marshmallows

1. Place pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet.
2. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted.
3. Microwave 1 cup butter and semisweet chocolate in a large microwave-safe glass bowl at HIGH 1 minute or until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds.
4. Whisk sugar and next 5 ingredients into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into a greased 15- x 10- x 1-inch jelly-roll pan.
5. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and sprinkle evenly with miniature marshmallows; bake 8 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle warm cake with Chocolate Frosting, and sprinkle evenly with toasted pecans.

Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until slightly thickened; remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

First Easter Egg Hunt!

We had such a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating our risen Savior and enjoying time with friends and family.  It is going to take me several days to post everything that happened over the weekend, but first I am going to share some pictures from Emma's very first Easter egg hunt.  All the mommies and toddlers from her playgroup got together on Friday to hunt for eggs.  Emma had so much fun!  Once I showed her what to do, she was off.  She talked about "eggs" all weekend long.

What made it even more fun was the baby ducks that came along for the hunt!  One of my friends brought a couple of ducklings for the kids to hold and pet.

Everyone loved the ducks :)

Of course, she had to open it up and see what was inside.  Stickers!

Look at all those eggs! This was the only time I could get Emma to sit down to take a picture.

Thanks to Michelle and Mary Ann for putting it all together!