Craziness!!

Well, the past two weeks have been a little crazy around here. We've been making wedding plans, baby plans and the newlyweds moving in here plans. We've dealt with migraines, fevers, colds and general illness amongst the three of us. And last night, we had the mother of all storms! Not far from our house, a house and pole barn were completely destroyed. There is debris all over the neighborhood - even found a turtle sandbox in my backyard this morning. Thunder, lightening, hail, 120mph winds. It was scary once I woke up and realized what was going on. Hubster and I were sleeping when his mom called and his brother's wife started texting asking if we were ok. My response? "Yeah, why?" lol Had no clue the storm was so bad. Then I was awake for hours waiting for it to pass and now I'm exhausted. Ciara slept through the whole thing and was fresh and ready for the day when I woke her for school this morning. That kid can sleep through almost anything!!

Please pray for my family in Indianapolis with flood damage. Water was running in through the basement walls and all of their windows. They got hit much harder than we did.

Now I'm going to spend the next few hours working on accounting homework since I blew it off for the past two weeks (we didn't have class last week so I didn't do the assignments) and it's all due tonight, plus a test. Ugh. I hate it when I procrastinate like this. Oh, well... here I go.

In His Love,

Mel

Valentine's Love...

Do you love chocolate? Then Valentine's Day is the perfect holiday for you! My hubster and I both love chocolate and today I tried a new recipe that I found on the side of the Nestle Toll House Cocoa container. Chewy Cocoa Brownies. Omigosh, these are so good! I went to CVS and purchased two individual heart-shaped pans for $1.00 each. I already had a tub of classic chocolate icing in the pantry, so we were set. I filled each pan and baked them for 18 minutes. After they cooled for about 5 minutes, I turned them out onto a pretty, white square plate and glazed them with melted chocolate icing and then topped with pink colored sugar sprinkles. Since we can't afford to do much for each other as far as gifts, these chewy, gooey, iced brownies are perfect for sharing a little extra love. The recipes for the brownies and the colored sugar are below. Enjoy!!

Chewy Cocoa Brownies
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter or margarine
2 Tbsp water
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Nestle Toll House Cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped nuts (Optional)
powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 x 9 inch pan (or individual pans)

2. Combine granulated sugar, butter and water in large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; stir into sugar mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

Melted Chocolate Icing

Spoon a couple of tablespoons of chocolate icing into a microwave safe dish and microwave for 30 seconds.
Stir until completely smooth. Drizzle over brownies.

Colored Sugar Sprinkles
Place 2 tablespoons sugar into a small dish with a lid. Add 2 - 3 drops red food coloring. Place the lid on the container and make sure it seals. Shake until all sugar is colored and food coloring is absorbed. Sprinkle over glazed brownies.

I hope you all enjoy these brownies! My hubster and I sure did!!

In His Love,

Melissa

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Unlocked - A Book Review

Unlocked, written by Karen Kingsbury tells the story of an eighteen-year-old boy imprisoned by autism and how music and a childhood friend begin to unlock the young man inside. This book also explores broken friendships, bullying and teen suicide. Published by Zondervan, ISBN: 978-0-310-26695-2 in 2010, this book appeals to people who enjoy Christian fiction and heartfelt stories about real people in everyday-life situations.

                Author, Karen Kingsbury, has written more than 50 novels (Karen Kingsbury, 2010), many of which have landed in the top ten on national selling lists. Many readers have followed Ms. Kingsbury through the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the Baxter family, the series that eventually flowed into the Above the Line series. It was this series that first introduced fans to the story of Unlocked in the final story titled Take 4. The story was about a Christian Film Production team that was making a feature movie based on a top-selling novel. After writing Take 4, the final book in the Above the Line series, Karen wrote a note to her friends stating that the story was so touching that she simply had to write the book (Kingsbury, 2010).

                The lead character in Unlocked is Holden Harris who has been autistic since the age of three. When he started showing signs of being “abnormal”, his parents’ best friends began to break contact and finally moved away when the father was drafted to a professional baseball team. This is where we first meet Ella. She was Holden’s childhood friend who laughed, danced and sang with him in the backyard while their moms drank iced tea and watched. As autism began to take hold of Holden and he became less and less communicative, Ella began to cry and beg him to play with her. Her parents began making excuses not to see the Harris’s until finally they lost all contact. Over the years, Holden’s parents tried every therapy available to try and bring him out of the prison that held him captive. It wasn’t until his senior year of high school that something finally worked. 

                Ella Reynolds is also a high school senior at Fulton High and she has just landed the lead role of Belle in the hit musical “Beauty and the Beast”.  She is the product of parents trapped in a false marriage that is unhappy and shallow. Her dad, famous baseball player Randy Reynolds, is trying his hardest to get a spot on a major league team while her mother, Suzanne, is getting Botox, tanning and working out in a constant effort to maintain her beauty and recapture her husband’s attention. With her parents being out of touch, Ella begins a friendship with Holden after meeting him at one of her musical rehearsals. At first, she does not remember Holden from so long ago yet she is drawn to him. Ella stands up for Holden when the football star, her boyfriend Jake Collins, and his friends bully him in the halls. She befriends Michael Schwartz, another labeled “loser”, who plays the flute and is also a friend of Holden’s.

                Behind the main story of autism, there is a sub-story about bullying that involves Michael Schwartz and Jake Collins. The harassing behavior becomes so bad that one day after school, despite invitations from new found friends Ella and LaShante, Michael goes home and contemplates suicide. After a couple of hours, he takes a jump rope, makes a noose and hangs himself. In the final seconds, Kingsbury shows his change of heart and yearning to live, but it is too late. The school is rocked with the news of Michael’s death the next morning. Karen Kingsbury covers this issue of teen suicide in depth, covering the emotions of Michael himself as well as the effect on his parents, friends, school and community. She uses this situation to show how one student can step up after a tragedy and make a difference. She uses Ella Reynolds to organize a memorial for Michael at Fulton High with mandatory attendance of all students. It is during this memorial where the healing begins for several people, including Tracy and Suzanne who cautiously begin to mend their friendship. The memorial also shows the entire school the beauty that is locked inside Holden Harris as he sings a song dedicated to his friend, Michael.

                In the final chapters of this story, Holden Harris is cast as the Prince for the final scene of Beauty and the Beast where he will sing and dance with Ella’s Belle. It is in this role that Holden begins to communicate more effectively and become less afflicted by people touching him. His parents and Ella’s parents are thrilled with his progress and Holden, himself, is happy simply to be with Ella. In the end, Holden asks Ella, “Can I give you a hug?” She says, “Yes, yes you can.”

                This story gives a very strong foundation of a child with autism. Karen Kingsbury has done the research and shows the different therapies, the PECS cards that people with autism use to communicate, the effects of autism on the parents of the child and how sometimes a person comes back from the mental prison of autism. She also covers the issues of bullying, teen suicide and community after a tragedy. By bringing these characters to life, a reader can understand these issues first hand and see the consequences of untamed bullies.

This book is definitely one that should be read by all because of how personal it is. There are moments of true sorrow and exquisite happiness and all the ranges of emotions in between. Writing this story, Karen Kingsbury has proven that she belongs on all the national top sellers’ lists. You can find her other novels, including several series and stand alone titles, at www.karenkingsbury.com.

Blog-challenged...

Well, I've been fighting a pretty nasty cold/flu thing for the past couple weeks and thought that I had written some posts to publish periodically. Obviously, they didn't post AND they're not in saved posts. Hmmmm... Pretty sure it was operator error. Anyway, I'm feeling better and my head is a little less foggy so I'm back on track. This week should be post-erific!! lol Look for some recipes I found, a couple of book reviews and some family updates.  Have a great weekend and upcoming week!!

In His Love,
Mel