Brooke Fraser - CS Lewis Music Video

He is forever our destiny. He is our forever Home. Lord to know You to dwell with You forever. I am overwhelmed by Your grace and Mercy.

1. This is definitely NOT the best picture, but.. I was in rush and the other pictures came out totally blurry!
   These are now the infamous Dark Chocolate Cupcake with Raspberry Buttercream. Some were filled with preserves, some were filled with the buttercream, and some (my favorite) had both! They where delightful and well loved by our life group and friends.

For the cake:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

To make the filling, combine the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and set aside on a baking sheet.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk together and set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated.

Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:

1 cup of room temperature butter (I use salted)

2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar (you might need more for proper consistancy)

2/3 cup of raspberry preserves

2 tsp. of vanilla

1 Tablespoon of Razzamataz or raspberry flavoring

1-2 tablespoons of milk

Beat the butter in mixer until fluffy, slowly add the confectioners sugar, scraping the sides after each addition. Add the raspberry, flavoring, and vanilla. If it is too runny add some more confectioners sugar, if it is too thick add some more milk. If you are going to frost a cupcake you should make sure that the frosting is stiff enough to support a knife inserted into the bowl for a few seconds. You can fill your cupcakes with a Bismark tip or just frost the tops! Either way they are yummy! I drizzled melted milk chocolate over mine to make them a little fancier.. It is totally your choice! Enjoy!

So onto the cakes. Wow! It has been so cool. I will have to blog about what we have been through in the last few months/years... (can you say add?)
We recently left the church that we had worshiped at for 11 years. It was the hardest thing that we have done in many many years, possibly ever. So much of our lives where wrapped up in the building. Yes that is what it became. I became so busy serving that the One that I was serving was not the driving passion of my life. I was still serving Him, I was still doing His will and work. He still had His annointing on me, but that Love. That all encompasing Love that makes you drop to your knees and has you bawling when you hear His word, was dimming. I don't know. I could blame a dry church, and a unloving family. Or I could look to myself. Was I just doing because I could? Was I staying out of responsibility? Or of a deeper darker root of power? I was a ministry leader. I ran vbs. I ran girls clubs. I ran the Christmas play. I I I did you get that? My identity was no longer in Christ. It was in who I was and what I did. Yes, I still loved God, but I was missing the point of Grace. It was becoming a love and act of works not Grace. I had never gotten that, it took hitting rock bottom (leaving our church) to get to the place where God could minister to me about His Grace. Wow. It was like a death of sorts. But wow, I would not go back. Now think about this. How can a passionate on fire Christ lover loose that passion? Just think on it and where you are on your walk, life, path, relationships.
Now fast forward. My life was filled with doing for the church. To the point that my family was suffering. ALOT. We where not at a healthy place. We had become like everyone else. Grumbling. So God finally removed us, not quietly, but with a huge hard shove (did I mention that I am kinda stuborn?) Stripped us down to nothing and started rebuilding. It kind of reminds me of Nehemiah returning to Jerusalem after the Israel captivity in Babylon. Rebuilding the walls that where in ruins and rebuilding the temple. God has blessed us so much with His love, His mercy, His life. He has brought us into an absolutely amazing fellowship of believers. He is diligently helping us rebuild the walls that where allowed to be torn down. Amazing.
We are coming up to our 6 month anniversary with our new body of believers. It starts going through my head, where am I going to serve? where am I going to serve? No where for now. It took my new pastor telling me,"You just have to sit and worship" to get me to feel ok, about taking a season to just worship. God is not looking down on me for that, neither is my pastor (yippee!) Do you know how freeing that is? Finally.
Well back to cakes. God used baking as apart of my healing process. :o) Coolness! I needed an outlet for all of my creative buildup. He didn't just stop there, he added in baking cakes. Now if you know me you know that I am a wicked good cook, I can do the dessert thing quite well too. But baking? Ugh. Not so now. It has been so amazing to see how God has taken everything that I am good at. All the gifts and talents that He has given me. Scrapbook designs, sculpty creations, etc and wrapped them all into one. And I am pretty good at it?! Wow. It is crazy how God works. It is a blessing. It is outreach (that is where my heart is), it is nurturing, it can even bring in extra money, gives me time with my daughter (she is loving fondant work).
Six months ago I NEVER would have seen where we are now. God is truly Amazing and Sovereign. He never closes one door without opening another. I can only wait expectantly to see where He takes us next! I can't wait!
Now do you see where the add comes in? Just keep checking in, this is a journey...

Hope

So here we are at another rainy Monday morning.. but the joy! How can we be anything but joyful?! Just think about it. No matter what you do. No matter what you say. There is someone who knew you where going to do it, knew it before you where even born. And guess what? He still chose to die for you. He still loves you. He is just waiting...

Lisa Lynne- Circle of Joy

I am still trying to figure all this blogging stuff out. I need to be able to post a song and write about it.. Hum. Isn't it funny how we can hear a song a bunch of times and then when we NEED to hear it God has it like blazing neon lights in front of us. Today this song was in neon. It is great!

Let Your Mercy Rain