my wife instincts are kicking in

I think my maternal instincts...or maybe WIFE instincts are finally kicking in.  I've recently been inspired to try cooking some new recipes and bake desserts and use some of the bakeware I got when we got married.  Last weekend I made spaghetti squash with sausage.  Yesterday, Rollin was gone in San Antonio support raising and so I did a lot of baking.  First, I made a double layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting for a girls nights I had Friday night, then I made peanut blossoms and marble swirl pound cake!!!

Here's the double layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

It's not perfect.

Making peanut blossoms!

Then last night I felt really guilty for baking all of this sweet stuff that I definitely don't want to eat!!!  So I've been giving it away so I'm not tempted to eat too much :)

Surprised by the Power of the Spirit

About 15 minutes ago I finished this book.  Awesome book!  I highly recommend reading it.  The book is a "narrative theological argument" talking about the gifts of the Spirit and healing and talks through scripture that supports those beliefs.  The book also contains amazing stories of people being healed and miracles that are really encouraging.  Reading this book has really challenged me on those topics: the gifts of the Spirit and healing.  Since reading this book I've felt really convicted that I need to start praying for healing more; I need to obey the Lord and trust him in faith.  It's okay if I pray for healing for 20 people and nothing happens, the most important thing is to pray and ask the Lord and to obey when I feel like he puts it on my heart!

What I like about this book is that Jack Deere talks about all angles of these sensitive issues.  Yes, I think gifts of the Spirit and healing is a sensitive issue.  Why?  Because it's been abused and so there's fear.  You can tell by reading the book that Jack Deere isn't some crazy charismatic just throwing out his opinions, but that he has diligently read the Bible and studied it and asked the Lord about these things.  Also, the underlying basis of this book is Jesus: having intimacy with Jesus and having passion for Jesus.  The last chapter of the book is about developing passion for Jesus and he talks about how scripture even shows that the disciples walked in the power of the Spirit because they had intimacy with Jesus.  Healings and miracles were the overflow of their passion for Jesus.

Jack Deere talks about developing passion for Jesus at the end and shares a prayer that he prays daily:

"Father, grant me power from the Holy Spirit to love the Son of God like you love him."

I like that.  I think I'm gonna start praying that everyday.

Red Velvet Cake Cookies

These are cookies made out of a Red Velvet Cake Mix!  I read through the recipe on the blog and saw the pictures and it looked too yummy to resist!!!

If you'd like to try making these yourself click, HERE to go to the blog where I found this recipe!