Return to Me.....

This quote is from Loyola Press, A Jesuit Ministry-

Return to Me with Your Whole Heart

From the first day of Lent, the Ash Wednesday readings make God's call to us clear: "Return to me with your whole heart" (Joel 2:12 NAB). It is an extraordinary invitation from God to each one of us - to me in a personal, individual way. God invites me to drop the defenses that I hold up between myself and God. God wants us to realize that our standards, our ways of judging and loving, are very different from God's way, and so much smaller. God loves each one of us. For an entire Lenten season, for an entire lifetime, God loves each one of us. "A clean heart create for me, God," Psalm 51:12 NAB offers. "Give me back the joy of your salvation." That is exactly what our loving God wants to give us, the joy of salvation. This is the invitation of each day of Lent. Today is the day to accept it.

For me, personally, it has always been difficult to accept that God truly loves ME.  I think as I have gotten older, and I hope wiser, certainly more mature (read more wrinkles) that I have learned I am a perfectionist.  I don't like this about myself.

I don't think perfectionism is an admirable quality in myself.  It helps me to be successful- sometimes- but it also hurts me.  It doesn't let me see what I do well, it doesn't let me enjoy the moment now, I spend to much time hoping to be "the perfect Jennie."

I truly believe God wants us to strive to be as perfect as we can- but he does not EXPECT us to reach that goal.  Here is another quote that helps me- and this is my favorite:

For God so loved the world that he gave^* his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.^k

It can be found here if you are looking for a Catholic Bible.

Of course, this quote is also found in Protestant Bibles :). 

I wasn't always Catholic- I was BLESSED to find my home in the Roman Catholic Church- and it was the crucifix that called to me, and that symbol, which is sometimes misunderstood, comforts me still when times are hard.

Lovely Christmas!

What a lovely Christmas we had! My parents-in-law and brother-in-law were here from Dec. 23 until this morning. We had a wonderful time with them!

I must talk about my stocking swap! Tara at The Well-Rounded Woman hosted this really fun swap where you prepare a stocking for a person only known online and another different person prepares one for you.

Unknown to me Becky at Scripture Mom was my secret Santa. She sent me such wonderful gifts! Which my husband kindly loaded in my stocking.... My two favorites are the butterfly bookplates and the magnetic measuring spoons- although I ate that whole Toblerone bar on Christmas day. The gifts also included an Eiffel tower key chain, spatula, lovely soap, candy cane, and bath beads!!! What fun! Thank you SO much Becky!

Soon I will post again with more Christmas details!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

IV's favorite Christmas cookie (I think) is pictured to the left. Fortunately, it's also an easy cookie to make- just like chocolate chip cookies with cocoa in the batter and chocolate mint chips.

Yum!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag of chocolate mint chips (Andes Crème de Menthe)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat well.
3. Stir together flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in 10 oz bag of mint chips. Drop by rounded half-teaspoons onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 7 dozen cookies.

Check out Our Creative Life for more cookies in the cookie exchange!

Mary, Did You Know?

"Mary, Did You Know?" is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. I love the version recorded by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd. You can hear it here.

In this advent season I can't help but think about what Mary must have been going through during her pregnancy, when she was waiting for the birth of Jesus.

Thank you Mary- for being open to the will of God in a way few of us are.

I pray that I can follow Mary's example.

DV's new apron

DV has a new apron! I got it last week at World Market when I was shopping for stocking stuffers.

But, I couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to him! He needs it for all the baking we are doing!

The apron is actually made for doing arts and crafts and it is a really small size (the other kids aprons I have seen are really too long for DV.)

It is perfect, DV wears it every time we are going to cook or bake anything, just like his mommy.

Children's aprons work for me! Check out the other great tips on Shannon's site!

Gingerbread House

Today DV and I decorated our Christmas gingerbread house. I got the house as a kit from Sams club. Then I assembled the house and let it dry while DV was napping.

After DV woke up (and after IV got home from work) we decided to decorate the house. You can see we really worked as a team- I used the icing and DV controlled the candy.

I think we really got great results this year- and DV's hand eye coordination has improved so much from last Christmas when we also did this! He was able to place the candies exactly where he wanted them on the lines of icing I piped.

This activity is SO much fun and I would recommend it for anyone, especially the kit we got this year which had pre-mixed icing (although if I had made it I think we could have used a little more.)

This is my Works for me Wednesday post, although I am too late to make it on Shannon's list you can check out more great ideas at Rocks in my Dryer.

DV and trains

DV has a thing about trains. Remember how a train table is his only request for Santa? It's not too surprising considering the fact that he LOVES trains.

Here you can see him with two trains- his wooden train on the right and the new Christmas train on the left. The Christmas train was supposed to go in the Christmas tree- but after about 20 minutes of trying IV and I decided not in our tree...

So instead of our lovely tree skirt we now have a train. I already miss the tree skirt- it has a nativity on it and I LOVE nativities (now I only have 7 out decorating!)

Thank you Pop-pop for the Christmas train! It makes some great noises that DV loves too.