Prayer for Today

Today at Joy for Today all I can think about is the people who are suffering right here in our own amazing country. Lives have been torn apart, literally, never to be the same again.

 (Can you tell that's a Hobby Lobby in the background?  Sadly, crafting is probably the last thing on these folks' minds)

I want to believe that everyone has arms to be held in during this time.  I don't feel confident of that.  I want to be able to get in the car, go to Alabama and just hold and hug people... old people, children, everyone.  I want to but may not be able to, so, I'll do what I'm asking you to do...PRAY.

Over at Kelly's Corner blog today you can find out resources where YOU can help the people devastated by the tornadoes and also join in prayer requests of so many who are hurting in many ways.  Please click HERE and lift up others in prayer.

Call on me in times of trouble.  I will rescue you and you will honor me.  Psalm 50:15

Shabby Apple Giveaway!

Do you all love just love Shabby Apple??  I do!  Their dresses are so feminine and I always feel nostalgic when I look on their site.  I kind of wish I lived in the day of women dressing up for no reason at all.

ANYWAY, YOU can WIN a dress from Shabby Apple!  Just head over to Centsational Girl and enter to win!  And long live the dress!!

Kupcakes for Kids and JoyCakes

I had the really cool privilege of being involved in a fundraiser some students at HHS put on this weekend to benefit the hopeful building of our local children's hospital.  You can read the article HERE.(I even got a little shout out on page 2!)

The cool thing is, one of the girls' dad's (Mr. Mike Steele and graphic artist extraordinaire) designed this logo for me...

I mean really, isn't that the cutest thing ever??

I made three kinds of cupcakes

The chocolate one is a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate ganache filling and a chocolate ganache icing...yeah, they were delicious, even if I do say myself.  The other one shown is a vanilla with a hulled-out center and a strawberry in the middle with a lime confectioner glaze!

Last but not least, a MAGNOLIA vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream icing and toasted sweet coconut...for the season.  

I had a great time even though I was exhausted!  I will definitely admit that wonder woman I am NOT, and if I ever get to open my own little pastry shop, I'm taking applications ASAP!

Life is Short...Use Your Grandmother's Silver

Or at least that's my motto...

I've been doing some cleaning and organizing which lead me to look for a better way to store my grandmother's silver given to me after she died.  That's when I decided, why STORE it just to bring it out only for special occasions??

I do love my Oneida cala lily...

...but I've used it every day for the last 20 years.  It's what I registered for when I was getting married,  and although I still think it's lovely, I'm a little over it.

So, I pulled out Grandma's beauties

...and decided these lovely pieces are going in the drawer.  I'm going to use them everyday!

Do you have something old that you use all the time just for the love of it?



Cute Easter Idea by Martha

Now, I don't have little, teeny girls (though it seems like they were yesterday), but I think I might bribe, um, beg, um, encourage them to join in this craft with me...

martha stewart.com

Yarn flowers!  Aren't they adorable, and so easy to make!  (For those of you from my era, it might just take you back to the majorette pom-pom making days!)

You can get all the "how-to"s right here.

Enjoy!

More About Prayer

I don't know why I find it fascinating...and humbling and amazing and lovely, but I do.  The whole concept of talking, just talking, to the God of the Universe, the great I AM, the very same God that holds the sun and the seas in his hand and thinks life's existence into being, who walked among us fully God yet fully man, who bore every sin, broke the chain of death victoriously...

and I can ask him to heal a friend, watch over my child, provide more, carry me, and HE DOES!

Here's what Beth Moore says about it:

     The privilege of prayer is the flagship proof that God created man to participate in His kingdom agenda and not just dangle from His fingers like a puppet.  That a sovereign God welcomes mere human beings to touch His heart and affect His work is nothing less than stunning.

"stunning".   Yes!