Deepening our worship...

Hello friends, I am enjoying a cup of coffee... Not "the best cup of coffee I've ever had" but this will do until my coffee order gets here.

These past weeks I've had a cold and then a lingering cough... I am the translator of the sermon during the second service and I have been needing help with the translation because of my never-ceasing cough. Yesterday, even when I was still coughing I was embarrassed to ask for help from anybody with the translation, it's been too long and people have been so gracious to continue to help week after week... so I just tackled it...

This is my little translating space. #behindthescenes

         Our Pastor based his sermon on the last words of Paul to the church of Ephesus... it wasn't just a "final salutation" or a "nice way to end the letter to the Ephesians" it was a message from God to this specific church:

Ephesians 6:23-24 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Translating the sermon made me have to PAY ATTENTION to each and every single word... The focus of the sermon was on the gifts that we, as believers, receive from God... "peace, love and faith" from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.... These gifts are already ours, indeed, but the increasing amount of those gifts is received as we abide in Him and as we LOVE Jesus, loving Him with UNDYING love.

So, we receive peace by loving Him, we receive love by loving Him and our faith is also increased by loving Him... our pursuit and passion is (or should be) for Jesus... and the final Bible verses Pastor shared were from the book of Revelation chapter 2 and how it speaks precisely about how that same church, the church of Ephesus received a letter  from the Lord where the biggest issue is addressed.... How regardless of how good they were and their good works and perseverance, they abandoned their first love....

Besides this, I'm part of a Ladies Bible Study, right now we are finishing the 3rd. week of Deepening Your Worship  by Lorraine Hill. It has been a great study and I love it that God always tells ME something, specific, clear and unavoidable when I join a group like this.... He tells me over and over the same message and verses of whatever it is that He wants me to discover in my life that should be changed....

Well... guess what the issue is.... The importance of loving HIM first... and how much I fail at it!

Last night as I opened my book ... the message was the same from the morning... And even when I thought I had "messed up MY studying schedule" by getting "behind" with the homework... I now realize I did the exact lesson on the exact day that God wanted me to do it...

The assigned title for the day of the week I was studying was: "Surrendering Our Hearts" ... and besides going again to "Revelation chapter 2" the author made such a great point, something I guess we all "kind of know" but then fail to remember:

"Sometimes, one of the greatest competitors for our affection for the Lord can be our service to Him"

.....

My question is... am I just busy with work for Him? what are my real motivations indeed? I do want to please HIM but I think that sometimes I want to actually please everybody else... and I end up "exhausted for HIM" and neglecting my relationship with Him.

Are you like me? Praise God He is good, forgiving, faithful and compassionate!


Psalm 52:1-2 (emphasis added)
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

© Paloma K.

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Last post of the year.... Thanks and MORE!

Hello everybody! December has been hectic with good activities here "en Mi casa" which is "Tu Casa" too! I've had visits from Mexico, friends and family! I also had lots of baking to do and cooking, I sold tons of Christmas Cookies and Chocoflan Cake so I got a new camera with part of the money I made from alll the baking (I was soooo needing it for better pictures) and I've also been enjoying hubby being home! He's been off of of work for about a week now, he'll go back to work on Wednesday (I wish I was rich to keep him always to ourselves! LOL!) So... it's been impossible to post more often or reply but once things go back to normal I am sure everything will be better here!

I just want to take the opportunity to thank you all for being with me in 2012! This year has been the "come back" of  "The Coffee Shop" and I've been very blessed to get to know more people through this blog! Thank you all for being here! For sharing, for commenting, for being so supportive! And for encouraging me with my projects! Thank you for trying my recipes!

I hope 2013 will be filled with new blessings that we can all share together!

Do you have any goals/resolutions for this year? Would you like to share? Whether they are personal or blogging goals... feel free to share

I lost 40 pounds in 2012 and I'm going for the rest this year! I hope I'll do a better job with homeschooling and finally have a serious calendar/schedule that I'll adhere too... and in the blogging area ... well... I hope our Coffee Friday Party just "takes off" !

By the way... join us this Friday ... we will have a featured blogger!

Pic: New Year's Eve 2007 ... I was the photographer -sigh-

... Anything else? Well... I just wish you all a Happy and successful 2013!


© Paloma K.

My Thanksgiving Tree

I finally got the chance to make this! I've been wanting to make it from the very beginning of November but my girls have been sick and I just couldn't gather the inspiration to make it! Last night I decided this couldn't wait any longer, once the girls went to bed and regardless of being tired, I made it. It was easy because I already had what I needed and hubby helped me put the branch in the pot while I traced, cut and "prepared" the leaves. The branch is in a pot and inside the pot there's cardboard to make it steady, the cardboard is cut round to have a tight fit inside the pot, with a hole in the middle for the branch to go through it... so... there's rocks, cardboard, rocks, cardboard and more rocks on top. Those rocks you can buy in the gardening section of any big store. I bought a bag of them last year in Home-Depot.

The leaves are made with brown and yellow cardstock, The shape of the leaves I got it from some artificial leaves I have, you can find great leaf shapes from clip-art or even looking for leaf images online.Once I traced and cut the leaves I just colored their edges with crayon to give them a more "real" look. (used brown crayon for the yellow leaves, dark orange crayon for the brown leaves).

Then I just wrote the things we are thankful for, used some yellow sewing thread to hang them (passed the thread throw the leaf stem with a needle) and hung all the leaves on my branch (you need a dry, "nice looking" branch) the size of it will depend on the size of your pot.

Voila! You have a cute, earthy looking, Thanksgiving Tree!
 
© Paloma K.

I'm Baking Friends! Yes, with a B!

Hello friends! I usually post a HAPPY Monday Post on Mondays... but...  It's already that time of the month when I post about my experiences baking a cake for the great baking club I belong to: "The Cake Slice" (don't worry... it's a Happy post anyway)

This year we have been baking from a FANTASTIC book: The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, we've been enjoying month after month great, luscious cakes and desserts that have been voted by the members of this special baking club.

This month the selected cake was "Ultimate Lemon Roll"... I am not posting the recipe this time but you can find it here

Today I just want to mention that I am enjoying so much this whole baking a cake a month because I am actually "baking friends" LOL! ... I've used my passion for baking as a great opportunity to meet other people, this month I just made the cake and posted an open invitation on fb to all my friends for whoever wanted to join and eat some of the lemon roll! I've done that previously ... I had some friends show up and some others that requested a slice... it was a lot of fun! I just moved here a year ago (from Wisconsin to Texas) and it's about a year ago that I joined the Cake Slice Bakers club, so it's all worked out perfect and now I have made great friends that have just gotten closer through my baking! I enjoy cooking/baking a lot... but mostly because it brings people together! Everybody enjoyed this cake... although I must say that I did get some "it's too lemony" comments, so if you are not a "lemon lover" this might not be for you.

Now... some pictures of the making of the cake and the enjoying it too!

The lemon curd / Chilling in an iced water bath

The sheet cake before going into the oven

Cake right out of the oven

Rolled up, cooling off

I had some issues when filling it up, and the cake cracked a little but I still think it looks great

Some of the sweet friends who enjoyed this dessert (and my almost 4 yo)

I also baked some M&M cookies, my girl of course had to pose.

 So... I think inviting people out of the blue... and or having something sweet always at home for those who want to stop by is one of many great friends to get to know people.. what do you do to make friends? Sometimes when we feel lonely we isolate ourselves even more... but.. if we want friends we can find ways to meet people and/or get to know them better... who knows... maybe they are waiting for you to give the first step.

 © Paloma K.

Something I was longing for!

Today I finally got to hold princess Johanna! My friend Sheri from "Table For Seven" (which I am sure will now have to change the name to "Table for Eight") has a heart full of love and she's been showing off her newest daughter Johanna on her blog! But since Johanna was adopted in China, all I could do was see pictures and follow their first moments together as they went to pick her up in China and then came back home to the rest of their family.  Knowing they are finally here so I went to church prepared with my camera because I NEEDED  a picture with this cutie!

I am so blessed to be part of their wonderful story, if at least as an excited spectator who cries tears of joy and prays for them as the hand of God moves and blesses them with yet another gift!

If you want to know more of the daily adventures and wonderful journey of "The Wallings" go visit their blog! click here!

So... here is the picture.... You can see I am really happy! I don't think I can have a bigger smile!

She is adorable! And is so cute sucking on her upper lip!

 I am so happy thinking of how her and my littlest one will hopefully be great friends!

© Paloma K.

Tuesday of Quotes... and gifts from above!

 Hello dear friends! What a great week I am having! First of all... let me share "the Quote of the Day"

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."  - C. S. Lewis 


And on that same note and talking about friends... let me share about my day yesterday... Well... it turns out that I baked a chocolate cake for Father's Day on Saturday... I can't describe much of that cake right now because it's "June's Cake" for "The Cake Slice Bakers" and it's supposed to stay a secret until we all reveal our cakes in June 20th (so the name of the cake and the recipe will be revealed that day!) ... anyway... I made that cake thinking about sharing it in church on Sunday to celebrate all the father's ... long story short the cake was not eaten! There was a very low turn out in our lifegroup and the few people who were there didn't eat cake (it was probably to early in the morning) ... The cake looked great (well... you'll see when I can share about it and the pictures on the 20th) but it was pretty good... and I felt disappointed but I didn't want it to end up in the garbage... of course!

So... I posted an open invitation on FB for friends to join me to eat cake on MONDAY ... and that was a great idea! I had friends come early in the morning, we went to the pool, then we had lunch and at the end we ate the cake (their comments about the cake will be shared on my "cake post" on the 20th too) ...

My daughter (middle) and two of her friends who came over for cake

 Then another sweet friend Mrs. Diane who also stopped by for a slice of cake, she gave me an AMAZING GIFT... Well... look for yourself:

 You see that? It's a beautiful ROMERTOPF Clay Pot... when she told me she would give me something (she explained it was some clay dish) I thought I knew what she was talking about but when I saw it I was soooo shocked! This thing is beautiful!!! So I started to look it up online to see what I could make and it turns out that is such a neat thing to cook with (I mean... I immediately knew it would just by looking at it) but then I found GREAT info online....

So I can cook from a whole chicken in it to a delicious cobbler for dessert! It's pretty awesome... For first time use I made my own combination of ingredients and I am sooo happy with it...  it's kind of a Chicken with Rice and Vegetables Casserole! I'll share pictures and recipe tomorrow (after we try it)... I made it for today's lunch so... we'll be tasting it later but it looks pretty good!

So it was a great day all around! I am so blessed to have such great friends... they are truly a gift from above... and then they give me even additional gifts like a beautiful claypot! Thanks Ms. Diane! I love my pot!

 And thanks to my friends who stopped by for cake... The fun, company, conversations, sharing my food with you was just very special and made my day that much better! Thank you!

Finally, to end the day... God still kept pouring His blessings and gave me this beautiful sunset to look at (the only edition made to the picture was the frame and text but there's no enhancement, boosting of colors or anything like that)

I'll be sharing my "Clay Pot Recipes" as I cook! and don't think I've forgotten about the other recipes I owe you (the chocolate cupcakes with festive frosting and chicken tacos I made for hubby on Friday) that's all coming!

Have a great Tuesday! Go tell a friend how much his/her friendship means to you!

© Paloma K.