Ann's mini birthday cake

A very special lady in our church turned 81 this past Monday, so I just had to do something for her. Ann Aaberg has been such a blessing to me and Q these past few months. She housed us for a couple days at a time while we were working on our home. She lives just three blocks down from us so we're practically neighbors. 

I made a double layer yellow cake decorated with butter cream frosting for her. I put frosting and raspberry jam between the two layers. It was so rich and sweet! I set the cake on a small dish covered with aluminum foil.

I've enjoyed using my four-inch cake pans for other things in the past, including a fun teen girls activity. A few years ago, my 9th and 10th grade ladies and I decorated mini cakes and gave them to Senior ladies in our church. Each cake was wrapped with cellophane, tied with ribbon and included a note from the girl who made the cake. It was such a blessing to those who received these mini cakes. This might be something you can do in your church to minister to others. Lately, I've been thinking and praying about a way I could use my love of baking to minister to the ladies in my new church. This may be just one of the ways I could do that.

We surprised her with it after our Evangelistic service on Monday night. We knocked on her door and sang, "Happy Birthday." She invited us in to enjoy a slice with her. Today, we received a thank you note. This really meant a lot to her.

Here's the picture of Ann's mini birthday cake:

I had fun decorating this cake, and you will, too. Here are the recipes I used to put it all together. Please note that the batter will be enough to make three to four (four-inch) mini cakes plus one 9-inch cake.

Starlight Yellow Cake (from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1-1/2 cups milk

3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large eggs

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of one 13x9-inch pan, two 9-inch round pans or three 8-inch round pans with shortening; lightly flour.

2. In large bowl, beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).

3. Bake 13x9-inch pan 35 to 40 minutes, 9-inch pans 25-30 minutes, 8-inch pans 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. (You'll have to check the 4-inch pans every few minutes; I think mine took between 25-30 minutes.) Cool rectangle in pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

4. Frost 13x9 pan cake or fill and frost round layers with buttercream frosting.

Buttercream Frosting (from Wilton Enterprises, Inc.)

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened but not melted

1 pound confectioners sugar (about 4 cups)

2 tablespoons milk or water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream shortening and butter. Add sugar, water and vanilla. Blend on medium speed until all ingredients are mixed well. Blend a minute or two more until creamy in texture. If using a hand mixer and icing is not creamy, use high speed or add more milk a drop at a time. This icing can be refrigerated in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Rewhip before using. Yield: 3 cups stiff icing. To thin icing, add 2 teaspoons milk per cup of stiff icing.

pretty and delicious!

The faces we will miss, part 2

Here are more pictures of our teens....

Grant, Jon and Jason

Nicole with younger brother, Josh

Taylor and Andrew

Bessie with the two sisters, Bethany and Abigail

Will and Nathan

While we will miss these teens, we know that God is leading us to a new group of people to minister to. But, we also know that the impact made on these teens will last a lifetime. We hope and pray that what they have learned and will continue to learn will help them grow in Christ. Down the road, Q and I hope to say this:

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." III John verse 4

The faces we will miss, part 1

Last night was our final time in youth group. We had a great time watching old videos and looking at pictures from Q's five years of ministry with the kids. We laughed so hard the entire time! At camp, Q and I took some pictures of the kids that weren't just action shots. We wanted to get some posed "smiley" pictures. We were able to get most of the kids, so here you go--the faces we'll miss in our current ministry....

Bethany and Brooke

Dave and Iman

Nicole and Kimia

Jordan, Matt, Garrett, Colin, and Austin

Jenny and Makenzie

Next time....part 2 of "the faces we will miss"

Teen Camp, part 2

There was a lot of team spirit going on all week long. Take a look at these guys....

Colin, Matt and Garrett made capes out of a green-checkered tablecloth to support their green team--Safari. 

Besides playing games and saying memory verses, another way they could earn points for their team was to sing in the choir. Every day after lunch, they practiced a song, then sang it that evening in the service.

The last competition is called "The Quest." It is a clue-type scavenger hunt. At each location, every member of each team has to participate in an activity before receiving the next clue and going to the next location. At the final destination, each team has to choose an envelope that has a point value inside. This year's winner was the Expedition!

One of our teens, Abigail, enjoyed signing her name on the Quest cup. Each member of the Expedition signed the cup with pride.

At the end of the week, Q got all of the youth pastors and their wives together to take a picture. I thought it was a fun thing to do and remember. Three of us couples have been doing this for the four years that we've had camp at Silver State. Pastor Matt (second from the left) has been the camp director for this and has done a fabulous job every year! 

We praise the Lord for the decisions that the teens made during camp. There was a great spirit overall and we had fun with them for our last year with them. Praise the Lord!

Teen Camp, part 1

I'm so glad I can show you some pictures of our time at Teen Camp. I was having troubles uploading the pictures yesterday. We left for Silver State Baptist Youth Camp on Sunday evening after our annual church picnic. 

Q is on the far left, and I'm on the right next to Mrs. Fiedler, who came to be a help in the girls' cabin. Andrew, the intern, and Nick and Zach also came to help in the guys' cabin. For the first time in four summers, Q and I got to have our own cabin. We felt so much more rested and relaxed this year!

On Monday morning, the teens were divided into four teams: Safari, Expedition, Posse, and Crew. All week, they competed in basketball, softball, volleyball and other team games to earn points for their team.

This was a usual site at the basketball court during the week. Whether it was for team competition or during a break, this was a popular spot.

Everyone met in the chapel three times during the day. We sang songs, heard special music, then listened to preaching from God's Word. A few men rotated on the preaching. We were excited to have our very own pastor preach a few times during the week.

Each morning, Q led in a time of devotions for all the campers and counselors. He led in a song, then had everyone spread out in the chapel or outside to spend time with God alone. He made up sheets with questions on them so that we could go a little deeper into the reading. Our devotions this year came from I Peter.

Next time....part 2 of teen camp!

The "thank you" journal

Q and I received a special surprise from the teens this past Sunday night at our last singspiration. I was still quite emotional about it yesterday, but I think I can now write this post to tell you about it.

As we were concluding our song and praise time, our Pastor interjected with words of praise to both of us for our years of service at the church and school. Then he said that the teens had something to give us. One of the graduates explained to us that they put together a journal that included a note and picture from each of the teens so that we can remember them for years to come. They also inserted a restaurant and Starbuck's gift card, which was great--but we loved the journal more.

I shed a few tears at Pastor's home as this gift was presented to us. The girls came up to me and gave me a hug with a few words of thanks. When we got home though, the tears came like a flood and we started reading through the journal. I told Q that I'd rather cry it all out then and there, so we read the entire thing that night. The first note was a general one from the entire youth group. Then as we turned each page, we laughed and cried at the pictures and notes the kids wrote.

They all said "thanks" in their own way, and some shared their favorite thing about youth group under Q's leadership. A few of them shared how they had fun in my class years ago (third grade), as well as in recent days in my choir these past two years. One of my favorite notes came from a young man who started attending our Christian school a couple years ago. He came from Korea and got saved last year! His note said, "I got saved because of you." WOW! All the praise goes to the Lord for that. There have been recent times that I've been discouraged, but this journal encouraged our hearts in so many ways! It came at the right time. God is good, isn't He?

Perhaps you're thinking of a way to show your appreciation to someone at your church. Whether they're staying or leaving, I think this "thank you" journal is a treasure that they'll keep for a lifetime.

By the way, I tried uploading pictures from camp, but was unsuccessful. Camp was a blessing and the teens made many decisions for the Lord! We were glad we were able to spend all last week with these kids that we've invested our lives in for several years. To God be the glory!

We're on our way to teen camp!

Q and I are heading up to camp today with about thirty teens and a few other sponsors. We're leaving in about an hour! I'm pretty much ready to go, but I've got to head to the church in just a short while.

We're going to Silver State Baptist Youth Camp and staying up there until Friday night. There will be preaching, games, good food and tons of activities for the teens. Please pray for safety and that the Lord would work mightily in the hearts of the teens and leaders.

I'll post about our time there and will give you an update on week three of the grocery challenge. It officially ends tonight, with week 4 starting tomorrow....but I just did not have time today with packing and all to write about it.

Have fun this week and I'll "see" you in a few days. In the meantime, you can look around my site for ideas, as well as the blogs listed on the side.

Adios for now! :)

M.O.M. Bible Study

For the last few summers, we've been hosting a Bible study for the teens in our church. We usually just have four or five study times, but they have been so good and thought-provoking. This time, Q wanted to do one just for the guys. It's called, M.O.M., meaning, "men on a mission."

While I hang out in another room, Q gives a lesson on Biblical manhood. It's a topic that isn't taught or endorsed in today's society. Besides the Bible, the book he's using as a guide is called, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, Ed. John Piper and Wayne Grudem. Last night, they began talking about Biblical femininity and how they need to support it. They will finish this series next week.

I really like the definitions he's been reminding the guys of during these weeks, so I thought I'd share them with you.

At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for and protect women in ways appropriate to a man's differing relationships.

At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive, and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman's differing relationships.

Isn't that good? I hope these guys continue to learn and apply these concepts as they become godly men who love God and their families well.

Teen Singspirations

We enjoy our teen singspirations very much! We have them several times during the year. We divide the teens by having some singspirations just for the jr. high and others for the high school. Teen parents get involved by hosting them in their homes. They provide a meal, then we share testimonies and sing praises to God.

Last night, Q and I hosted a jr. high singspiration in our small condo. We had quite the crew--12 of them plus our intern, all trying to squeeze into our living room. We ate pizza, chips and cake (all super foods for very hungry teenagers!). Quentin had each of them pick a song to sing and he asked for testimonies between songs. He ended our time together with an encouragement from God's Word. This is always a neat time for fellowship, as well as a good time to honor and praise God with our voices.

When I was a teen, our church would host these after an evening service. Sometimes, we had them church-wide. I've even heard of town-wide "hymn-sings." Isn't that awesome? Do any of you participate in things like this?

One of my favorite passages about singing is found in Psalm 104:33-34:

"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord."

Isn't it true that when we sing of the Lord, we fill our minds with thoughts of Him? So, go ahead--sing away! It doesn't matter how good of a voice you have. God's Word  says to "make a joyful noise." Sing a hymn, a verse or your favorite Sunday School song. Do some extra singing during your family devotions, before a meal, or while you clean. The key is to just praise God with your voice.

He's waiting to listen....

GPS Search

We had another fun teen activity tonight! It's called GPS Search. The teens are divided into teams and they are to go out and search for coordinates that will lead them to different places. 

My team was all girls, except for our driver, Mr. Wells. A ladies ensemble from West Coast Baptist College was with us, so two of them joined our team. My husband gave each team a set of coordinates to start off with and then we were off!

There were six places we had to go to and it took us two hours! All of the places were parks and we had to search high and low for the next set of coordinates. We walked and walked some more, until we found...

...a Cool Whip container at each location! Inside lay the next set of coordinates.

At our final destination, we had a picnic. We ate burgers or brats, chips, grapes and apple croissants for dessert--yum!

Before we left, the West Coast ladies sang a special for us. Then, their leader gave a devotional. He compared our searching for the next clue in our GPS search to following God's will. God leads us each step of the way. 

I'm sure the teens in your youth group would love this just like our teens did. I think this would make an awesome family activity, too! 

Jr. High Parent/Teen Cookout

We had a super time yesterday at our annual jr. high parent/teen cookout. All the families that have a new seventh grader or eighth grader are invited to this event.

When everyone arrived, the teens got together to play basketball, while the parents mingled around the picnic tables.

Meanwhile, the burgers were grilling and the food was being set out on one of the tables. Each family was asked to bring either a side dish or dessert. We had an awesome selection of salads, chips, cookies and brownies.

When the juicy burgers were done cooking, we prayed and ate. Everyone filled their plate to the max! We had fun conversations around our outside dinner tables.

The jr. high guys had a wonderful time hanging out together. The young man second in from the left is our summer intern. His name is Andrew and he is currently attending West Coast Baptist College. He will be doing a myriad of things in our church, including helping my husband now and then with youth group activities. Each summer I'm reminded that Q was the intern who did so many things before he became the youth pastor. However, he was already done with college and grad school when he came out, so he was a few years older than Andrew. College kids look so young to me these days. I must be getting old...

And here I am with the best youth pastor in the world! I had to get this first summer picture of the two of us. The cookout turned out so well. We had a great time of fellowship with the parents and jr. high kids.

Grad Getaway

Earlier this week, we had a youth activity called, "grad getaway." Each year, my husband invites all the high school graduates for a cookout at a park up in the mountains. Seven graduates were invited, but only three were able to attend.

We were so glad that Stephen, Katelyn, and Nicole were able to come up with us. Steve and Katelyn were two of my third graders a long time ago. In fact, you can probably spot them in the picture I posted with the graduation coke glasses. It's amazing how kids grow up while we teachers just start looking really old.

While the teens played soccer, Q got the food ready. Our meal for the night was all finger foods. We had tamales, corn on the cob, quesadillas, barbeque ribs and cookies. I wish I would have taken a picture of the ribs. They looked and tasted so good!

Because of our small attendance of graduating seniors, my husband called up several people from church to see if they would join us. The only ones available to go were these sweet widows who we love dearly. Jo and Maisey were a great help to us and they were just awesome with the teens. The interaction between them and the younger "seniors" was great.

Right after our meal, Quentin spent a few minutes giving them a challenge from God's Word. He encouraged them to do right as they went out into the real world. A tradition that we do on this activity is to have all the teens and Pastor J climb onto this big rock. It's a little tricky getting on there since it's right on the water, but they managed to get on just fine. 

It was fun being together and celebrating their success. But more importantly, I hope and pray that they were challenged to live God's Word in the path He has for them.

Where's Colin?

We did a fun game with the teens this past Wednesday in youth meeting. Our assistant pastor is very good at photo editing and making posters for our church ministry. He found a picture, then placed the face of one of our teens in a few different locations. The original idea of "Where's Waldo?" turned into "Where's Colin?"

The teens were divided into teams according to grade level. They were to work together and circle Colin's face every time they found him.

The picture was of fans at an athletic event. Colin's face was placed on bodies that were not really his. It was hilarious! 

And here's the infamous Colin. Now, doesn't he look a little like Waldo? Hmmmm......

Rocky Mountain Youth Conference

This past weekend was a busy one for my husband as he took over 30 teens to the Rocky Mountain Youth Conference in Denver.  This event is held every two years during Easter weekend. They all left the church on Thursday afternoon and returned on Saturday. About 500 were in attendance, including the youth leaders. They met at the Westin hotel, where they bunked up in rooms and had a meeting room for the services.

During the two days, the teens got to hear two speakers preach on different topics. The theme for this year was called, "apologia," meaning "defending the faith/knowing what you believe." I heard great things from the teens on what they learned. The Gospel was also presented and 31 teens accepted the Lord as their Savior! Praise the Lord!

Along with the services, the teens took part in many activities: games on the field, ice skating, bowling, and gladiator games. I'm always amazed at how much energy these teens have--they love to play!

My husband came back with awesome things to say about the conference itself and about the teens. They behaved well and enjoyed themselves immensely. They also learned many things from the preaching times. I hope and pray that the things learned and decisions made will last a lifetime for these young people. It's neat to see spiritual growth as they mature in the Lord.

Lunch at Hu Hot Mongolian Grill

We had an activity today with the jr. high kids.  It's the end of spring break, and what better way to enjoy it than to go to Hu Hot and then play a few games of volleyball? Some of the teens had never been to this restaurant before, so for them, it was quite the experience.

The restaurant is located in the old part of town. This building, like many others, is made of brick.

The first thing we had to do was fill our little bowls with raw meat, vegetables, oils and sauces. Chicken, beef and fish are the main meat choices and the veggie section is a well-stocked salad bar!

After you get your bowl filled, you wait in line until one of these cooks takes your bowl and places it on the huge grill.  The aroma is awesome and it's so fun to watch how these guys get several bowls cooked at the same time.

Here are two of our guys, Grant and Jon, enjoying their meal. Forks are given, but several of the teens chose to use chopsticks.

Below is my first bowl (yup, I had seconds!)--doesn't it look scrumptious? I love chicken and noodles. I also added broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and onions. Crunchy noodles and sesame seeds were added to the top! We were so full of our food and wondered how we would play volleyball when we got back to church.  We managed somehow--and had a great time!