We Are Not a Different Species

Homeschooling. I’m not going to argue for it or against it in this post. I just thought these two videos were spot on. Because, well, I’ve heard all of this. I’ve been laughed at to my face simply because I was educated at home. I’ve been asked if I will be able to go to college or if I have any friends or, horror of horrors, how do you learn to interact with people?!?!

All I have to say is, I know people who have been home schooled and people who have been public schooled and in the end, we all turned out okay..for the most part. 😉

 

 

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Frosted Irish Cream Brownies

In honor of St. Patrick’s day and Patrick’s birthday, I made Frosted Irish Cream Brownies yesterday. Why not today? Because his party was last night, and because I’ll be in Jackson MS by this evening.

The best part about this recipe? The Irish Cream. Duh! We normally have Bailey’s on the liqueur shelf, but O’Dowd’s isn’t so hard on your wallet and since we’re just cooking with it, it’ll have to do. I may have had a shot or two though. 😉

It’s super easy, and tastes amazing.

Mix together brownie mix, oil, Irish Cream liqueur and eggs

Pour into a greased pan. I used parchment paper so that I could turn it out easily to make it a cake.

My little (tasting) helpers

Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes or until set and it pulls away from the sides of the pan like this

and this

Let cool for 45 minutes

For brownies just leave it in the pan to frost. If you’re making a cake, flip it onto an upside down, foil lined cookie sheet.

Now for the frosting! (the best part)

Beat butter until light and fluffy. It’s done when you can scream “IT’S SO FLUFFY!! I’M GOING TO DIE!!”

Add powdered sugar, irish cream liqueur(yes, more!), vanilla and milk. Beat until spreadable.

Aaaand spread over the top of your cake(or brownies)

You know you’re in heaven when the frosting is as thick as the cake

Drizzle with melted butter and semisweet baking chocolate.(mixed together, of course)

My finished product.

Detailing done by Esther Condit

So there it is! Happy St. Patrick’s day!

Here’s a virtual pinch for all of you who aren’t wearing green today. *PINCH*

And there’s the recipe below, because you know you can’t resist such goodness.

Also, a couple of photos from Packman’s party

I can’t believe my little man is 11 yrs old.

As promised…

Frosted Irish Cream Brownies
48 brownies
Prep time: 15 mins
Total: 2 hrs

Brownie Base:
1 box fudge brownie mix(1lb. 3.8oz.)
1/2 c. Vegetable Oil
1/4 c. Irish Cream Liqueur
2 eggs

Frosting
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 c. powdered sugar
2 Tbs Irish Cream liqueur
1/2 tsp vanilla
2-3 tsp milk

Glaze
1 oz. semisweet baking chocolate
1 tsp butter or margarine

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 13×9 in pan with shortening. In Medium bowl, stir brownie mix, oil, 1/4 cup liqueur and the eggs with spoon until well blended. Spread batter in pan.

Bake at 350°F. for 25 to 30 minutes or until brownies are set and begin to pull away from sides of pan. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool 45 minutes or until completely cooled.

Beat 1/2 cup butter in small bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in all remaining frosting ingredients, adding enough milk for desired spreading consistency. Spread over cooled brownies.

Place glaze ingredients in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth. Drizzle over frosted brownies. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm. Cut into bars.

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Battles: Fought and Won

Today started out as any Tuesday should. With yogurt and cinnamon toast and a nice hot cup of coffee. And then at the breakfast table three different prayer requests came almost simultaneously. And it wasn’t a coincidence. Because we were all there, my family and I, and what better time to lift our voices up to the throne room of God then when we were all gathered together, preparing for family worship. God’s timing is perfect.

 

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

 

That was just the beginning. I feel like I spent more than half of my day in prayer. And that’s not a bad thing. I know I don’t do it as often as I should.

But you know those days where one thing happens, and then another happens, and before you know it everything that could possibly go wrong has probably already gone wrong and you’re left wondering if the day will ever end, because it seems to be dragging on and on and on? Kinda like that last sentence.

Today was like that for me, although indirectly.

But I’ve had bad days myself. Days when you just feel like giving up. Days when having a good cry is wonderfully cleansing. Days when you just want to find a dark place to curl up in and stay until everything is back to normal.

But you can’t. Because there are moats to swim, dragons to slay, and damsels in distress to rescue.

So you keep going. You tackle every issue that comes up. You pray for strength, endurance and peace. And before you know it you realize that with each problem you face and conquer, you gain more energy to fight the next. Because that’s how it works. The knight doesn’t cross the moat just to decide he’s too weak to go on. No. He says to himself, “Sir Knight, you’ve just crossed that moat full of gators and piranhas and whatever else. You might as well go seek out and slay the dragon, or die in the attempt!” How else would he get the damsel?

If not now, one day you’ll see how you grew stronger through certain obstacles. Sure, you’ll walk away with scars and battle wounds, but that’s okay because now you can preach Christ to others by sharing with them the struggles you battled and conquered.

 

 

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Late Night Thoughts

It’s 11pm, far too late for me to write a lucid post. But I need to get a few things out there into the world that is cyberspace.

So Kony 2012. I’m not going to explain it to you, you should do the research yourself, you’ll probably understand it better that way than if I told you. I think it’s great and all, what these people are doing. By all means, support them if you so desire, and certainly pray for the destruction of evil men and the freedom of innocent children.

But I was at work today. And I got to thinking(I have a lot of time to think out there in the fields). And I decided that America has it’s own invisible children. Who are they? Only the 50 million unborn (and sometimes born) babies that the USofA has aborted. **

That’s 50,000,000 human beings, people. Fifty million.

I read that this number of “legal” surgical abortions is equal to the population of these 17 states: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Imagine blacking out these states. Like they never existed. Like you and I never existed, basically.

“Perhaps this visual perspective helps one to grasp the number of people that are gone, dead-robbed of their God given, constitutional rights to life and liberty. How does the “most religious” nation on the planet allow such unspeakable horror?”

Horror. That’s what it is, y’all. An unspeakable, gut-wrenching horror.

I’m a pretty strong person. It takes a lot to make me sick to my stomach. Watching gory movies? I can handle that. Talking about blood and guts at the supper table? No big deal. Butchering an animal? I grew up on a farm, silly. But abortion? Murdering 50 million human lives and calling it legal? Excuse me while my insides try to defy gravity.

All good writings have a conclusion that ties in everything else that was said. Well. It’s simple. Kony is an evil man. He needs to be stopped. Planned Parenthood. Abortion. It’s no less evil. It needs to be stopped.

But we can’t simply say those words. As one meme puts it

We need to act. And I don’t just mean by clicking a button. We need to be doers, not just hearers as James would say. I know he was talking about being doers of the word. But the same principle applies here. If we care deeply enough about something, we’ll get out there and change it.

So what are we waiting for?

**Edit The third paragraph sounds like I’ve never thought about abortion before. It’s always been a big deal to me, but more so just recently. This is just the first time I’ve ventured to share a little bit of what occupies most of my thoughts these days.

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