No Exaggeration Here...

Seriously.

This is the list. Click to read more about the book/author.

The ones I've started have an * by them.

Called to Worship*
The Last Song (see previous post)
The Practice of the Presence of God*
Don't Waste Your Life*
Returning to Holiness (no link - given to me Sunday night to read)
Teaching Kids Authentic Worship
The Kid Book (no link- picked it up at Worship Expo)
Waking the Dead
Killing Cockroaches
When the Heart Waits
Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions*
The Radical Cross (AW Tozer)*
Crazy Love (Francis Chan)*
Forgotten God (Francis Chan)
I Talk Back to the Devil (AW Tozer)*

(Sorry...for some reason the links quit working on those last four. They can all be found on CBD.)

So if I start ignoring you too much...remind me that reality is outside of books.

Book-mania

The random thought occurred to me tonight....I either

A) Need to stop buying books

or

B) Read at least 10 of the books I currently have (that haven't been read) before even considering purchasing a new book or borrowing a book..

Of course it didn't help that I bought several books last weekend in Lakeland...and had only days before placed an order with Christian Book Distributors.  I guess instead of the "cat lady" I'll just be the "book lady."  It's much better...right?

This blog was spurred on...because while at Sam's today, I picked up Sparks latest...

I'm making myself finish "Called to Worship" before starting it....because I know I won't put it down until I'm done!

Overwhelmed.

Until I find the words to try and describe the weekend, you'll have to rely on pictures to know that I went, and met fun people and had a simply marvelous time!

We failed horribly at getting a picture of just the 4 of us together. This is as close as it comes. I love these kids! (Though someone told me they were all adults...)

Lori and I with Kathleen Chapman! What an experience to sit under her teaching/leading about Teaching Kids Authentic Worship and Creating Godly Heroes! I've learned so much!  Say...can you find a passage that tells what God's favorite color is?

Yes...look again. She looks a lot like her father. Anne Graham Lotz ladies and gentlemen. She preached. She got in our faces. I'm still not over it.

Terry Williams - Director of Church Music for the FL Baptist Convention. The one who put it all together. I'm pretty sure we volunteer to help plan the next one with him.  This is a man who is excited and passionate about seeing churches and people truly worship God. He'll even come to your church and do a worship emphasis weekend! Look him up!

I'm leaving...on a....Murano?

So this weekend has been anticipated for months. At first it was anticipated because of the Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, Kay Arthur event in Orlando that I was hoping to go to...that isn't going to happen now. Now it's eagerly anticipated for Worship Expo in Lakeland! A group of four (including myself) will head out tomorrow evening after evening services and choir practice and head for Ocala, then on to Lakeland Thursday am.  I'm looking forward to it so much!

I'm warning you now that you may not get a blog update for a couple of days (not that you expect them real regularly out of me anyway). OR...you may get lots of them...if I have time...which I doubt. So don't hold your breath either way.

Last day(s) of summer....

I know many people think the last day of summer is labor day. I beg to differ. The last day of summer is the day scallop season goes out...with weeping.  This is what free time in late summer equals for my family:

Mmmm....a little bit of coastal living at its finest. Beautiful.

And here's how I started off the weekend to myself:

Then I ate a cinnamon roll the next morning to balance out all that green stuff!

Give-away

Let's face it...I love a give-away. If only I could win them. So I'm trying. You should too. Click here.

Mmmm

So I've been wanting to make homemade cinnamon rolls for a very long time. Mom makes some excellent rolls...so I've never dared them on my own. Until this blog post made me want to try this recipe.  I randomly mentioned the desire to make them to Matthew yesterday morning, who then proceeds to bring me one that he had made.  It was reeeally good...and though I thought it would satisfy my cinnamon roll desire, it did not satisfy the desire to try and make them for myself. So I made them.  I've never seen a recipe where you start by scalding the milk, oil and sugar. All I'm going to say is...it works.

Helpful tip from Matthew - instead of using melted butter (ultimately messy) use room temperatur butter.

Then add sugar, cinnamon and....(one of my additions to the recipe)

Mmmm. Pecans.

Almost heavenly.

My other change to the recipe - Cream Cheese Icing. I just used two tbsp of melted butter, 1 pkg cream cheese and enough sugar and milk to make it tasty. (No....I didn't measure.)

By the time I finished mixing the icing, these were almost ready to come out.

I let them stand a few minutes before icing.  Then let the icing soak in for a couple minutes before I selected one from the middle to be taste tested.  Have mercy.  I don't know how anyone could eat more than one. I'm also not so sure what I'll do with the rest of the pan. I had orginially thought I'd take them to my SS class in the morning...but I'm certain they do NOT need that much sugar.

Here's the Recipe I used, except for what I changed.

Oh...and I cut the recipe in half. Can't imagine cooking the entire recipe...unless of course I was cooking for a crowd!

For the record...

I have quirks. Those who have lived with me know this. Those who know me well know this. I don't think it has gotten any better over time. My current quirk - sheets.

I know what you're thinking...how hard can it be? *Sigh* We have someone who cleans our house every two weeks. (For more than what they used to pay another person for once every three weeks...and she totally did a much better job.) Well...about 2-3 months ago, I came home and was getting ready for bed, pulled back the covers and noticed that the sheets looked like they had never been washed (they're supposed to be washed each time they come). Upon further investigation (I won't give away all my secrets) I found they had NOT been washed...and I was not a happy camper. About a month ago, I bought new sheets...that match my comforter better. I'm sooo happy about them. I love them. I like to sleep with them. Today I come home...to find they're not on my bed. Instead this horrible ugly green (used to be in the guest bedroom) were on my bed. Don't get me wrong...there's green in the comforter...but completely different shades! I couldn't stand it. I start looking for my sheets. Mom says they're in the dryer, I check...and it's the wrong set. She suggest I try the guest room...not there either. I open the linen closet...and they are folded up and sitting on the shelf. Now tell me...what would have been so difficult about putting on the sheets that they took off the bed (that match the bed) as compared to putting on the other? Common sense tells me it took them longer to fold my sheets than it did for them to unfold the sheets that didn't match.

My vent for the day.

Ok...one of them.