I have dicovered my happy place.

Target. Target is my happy place. Today I spent a little more than 2 hours there. Going there makes me want to be a little stay-at-home wife and decorate my little house with little goodies from Target. Laundry Baskets. Picture frames. Plates. Everything that I DON'T NEED. Poo. 

I posted this on Instagram earlier:

Yes. those are freeze dried apples and yes, they are delicious. And yes, I ate them ALL while we shopped.

My mom and I went to get sunglasses. That is all. However, that is not all we bought. Christmas leftover goodness mixed with new Valentine's day lovelies reeled us in. And we were caught in the trap. 

First came clothes. A dress I "had my eyes on for a while now" didn't fit. One top swallowed me like a sack. But, I found one little treasure...

 

I found a skirt with little baby bicycles on it. Awww, I love it!! It so vintage-y and perfectly modest. It hits right above the knee and is made of red silk {fake, but whatever}. Y'all will most definitely see this skirt in some outfit I show you later.

Then we made our way over to the journals. My favorite. But on the way, I got side tracked by candles. These candles.

Eeeep!! Needless to say, I wanted one. Well actually I wanted all of them, but it would be ridiculous to buy ALL of them. So I got this one:

 It'll be sweet for Valentine's day!

And of course, all of the journals were precious. As always. I have a strange attraction to office supplies. I ended up with this cutesy one:

Momma got some pajamas and I picked up soap and such. Then I found these {necessary} beauties for my ski trip tomorrow:

I will actually wear these in "real life" too. I LOVE them. They fit my "shoes for hanging out at the ski resort" needs perfectly. 

We checked out and we left. I was on cloud nine with new goodies and a stick of my freshly bought favorite gum in my mouth. Then my mom remembered... WE FORGOT THE STINKIN' SUNGLASSES. So we went back {much to my delight}. This time, however, JUST FOR SUNGLASSES and we were actually successful in doing that. Yay for us!

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So, I WILL be taking a short skiing hiatus with my youth group until Saturday. :( But I will try to write from my iPad. So there will be a delay in the apple chip recipe post. But when I come back you will be treated with:

-The official apple chip recipe!

-New year's!

-Pictures from the slopes :)

-Outfits with the skirt and the boots {not both at the same time.... i just laughed at that thought.}

  Love and Joy, 

     Emma

Music Monday! {corny name... i know. help me think of a new one??}

When I started this blog, I knew I HAD to do music posts. Music is, as my mom says, a salve to the soul. Different songs come in and out of my life, becoming the soundtracks to my days. I'm not sure yet how many songs I want to share with y'all at one time... There are so many I love right now! But there is one ALBUM {a whole album? that happens very rarely for me. the last time was the new Gungor album}, that stands out above all melodies that have enchanted me in the past few weeks. 

Leeland's LOVE IS ON THE MOVE

 Yes. It's old. But I looove it. Every single song on this album speaks the words of my heart that my mouth can't. Every. Single. Song. Very rarely do I find an album that I can say that about. 

My dad had a copy of it playing in the CD player in our car and I asked him who it was and told me it was Leeland. Earlier that week my youth pastor had told us that if we ever needed any music to listen to during our quiet time, we should check them out. I had made a Leeland Channel on Pandora Radio, but it didn't play only Leeland, if any. So I listened to it in the car for about a month until I finally got fed up with not having it as my own, on my iPod, and put it own my computer, then on my iPod. And *BOOM* the angels sang! Just kidding. But really, it is great. Go listen to it. Now!....Please. 

My favorite song is... ALL OF THEM. Like, seriously, I can't choose a favorite. Maybe Via Delarosa or Carry Me On Your Back. I love all the songs because they ALL focus and revolve around Jesus and His gospel of love. The lyrics are beautiful, as is the music itself.

It is my most favoritest :P right now.

   Love and Joy,

       Emma

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Coming up soon...

- A recipe for apple chips!!

Merry CHRISTmas to everyone!

For a child has been born—for us!
   the gift of a son—for us!
He'll take over
   the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
   Strong God,
Eternal Father,
   Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
   and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

Isaiah 9

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  Merry Christmas, friends! I hope you are having a great day with your friends and families! Rejoice in the love that God has lavished upon us in giving Jesus to be all that verse says He is: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. He is our Savior, born as a meek, gentle baby, who grew up to be the perfect sacrifice for all our sin! 

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My family has had the loveliest Christmas :)

Beginning this morning with gifts...

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Santa's cookies: all gone!

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discovering new verses makes me happy :)

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MY NEW BABY!
yes. the big secret was: I was getting a new camera! i love it!

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We headed off to church... It was beautiful, as always. The children and babies were in there too today so it was also quite noisy... but still beautiful.

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Afterward, my daddy cooked us a yummy turkey and momma made vegetables to go along with it.

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This season always brings great joy, but this year has been especially joyful and beautiful. If only it would stop raining...

      Love and Joy,

         Emma

{not} Not Your Grandma's Cookies

From the time I was about a year old to when I was 9, my family lived next door to to a sweet, old lady with a secret. Many old ladies share this secret but not many people now-a-days do {which is a real shame}. 

She could bake. Amazingly. Her pound cake was to-die-for. Her brownies: delectable. But the most tasty were her sugar cookies. They were the old-fashioned kind. The kind Grandma gives you, along with a glass of milk, when you go to her house. So when we moved, my mom asked her for the recipe {along with many other recipes}. They've kinda become a Christmas tradition.
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OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES 

1 cup butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

1 cup Crisco oil

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups and 4 heaping tablespoons plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugars, add eggs and salt.  Beat well.  Add oil and vanilla.  Sift three dry ingredients together and add.  Beat well.  Makes a soft dough.  Drop teaspoon full on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten with smooth-bottomed glass dipped in sugar.  (Rub a tiny bit of oil on glass bottom first, dipping in sugar so it will stick.)  Dip in sugar before every every cookie.  Press flat just enough to sugar the cookie.  (Oil the teaspoon that you dip with and the one you use to push the dough off the spoon.)

Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees until light brown.  Remove from cookie sheet immediately and spread to cool. 

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... And so it begins...

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My dad *mysteriously* took my camera to work {I was told not ask much about since Christmas is tomorrow} and I was forced to use my momma's. her camera was being all silly and made the pictures turn out all shiny-looking. I promise my photos aren't always that horrendous. Better ones will come soon...

 

  Love and Joy, 

       Emma

Bathing in His Light

God is God,

  He has bathed us in light.

  You're my God, and I thank you.      
...
O my God, I lift high your praise.    
Thank God—he's so good. His love never quits!

~Psalm 118:27-29~

Yesterday, it stormed. A lot. This storm was rough, with the kind of thunder that shakes the earth and lightning you swear could blind you. The water was up around our feet and the extreme winds didn't help anything at all. If I looked outside, all I saw was a black, dreary sky. A hopeless sky. 

Sometimes, our situation is seems hopeless. Sometimes our lives are covered in huge storms. Things happen that shake our earth: big life changing events. Sometimes these things are so out-of-the-blue and unexpected that they almost blind us. "Where did that come from?!", we ask.

But God tells us, "My child. Oh, my child, you don't get it. I've never let you go. The water, all the sin in your life, around your feet makes you slip away from Me. You can't hear My whispers over the wind but if you just stop and stand still for a moment, get your feet firmly planted in Me and in My Word, you won't fall anymore. The sin can be cleared out. That's all YOU have to do. The rest... is MY job. And I care about you enough to do that job in a way that will be the best for you and, in the end, best for Me and My Kingdom.".

This picture is of today's sky and it was even more beautiful in person. As quickly as the storm came, it went, and all was calm. God is in control. We hear in Christian culture so often that it has become cliche sounding, but it always will be true. If we will only give Him our cares, He will take care of EVERYTHING. All that's left for us to do is praise Him.

Late Nights and Caffeine

So, funny story. 


Last night, I sat down with a cup of Holly Jolly black tea and watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe for the first time in four years. 2 hours and 3 cups later, I decided to have a late night conversation with God. So, out came the journal and the Bible, and my thoughts and my heart began to pour out onto paper.

2 more hours and 3 more cups later, I looked up at the clock and realized it was 1 a.m. and I wasn't tired at all. 

I walked over to my tea stash and looked at the caffeine content on my newly bought tea. "Hmm... fifty milligrams of caffeine per cup. That means I've consumed about... 300 milligrams tonight.", I thought to myself. That explained my abnormal energy level for the time of night. Excuse me, actually, morning. 

So what did I do? I flipped to Matthew and soaked in the words of my Savior. Wrote 6 and half pages, front and back, in my journal asking God to give me patience and praising Him for the joy of Christmas. Alternated between AIR1 and KLOVE radio depending on the song playing and whether it suited my fancy. Ordered a t-shirt from Sevenly. Drank some more tea. Decided to start a blog. 


So here I am. At 6 in the morning. No sleep. All caffeine. And what did I come out of this with? A renewed spirit, some new songs on rewind in my head, a shirt on its way to my humble abode, and a blog. 


Pretty efficient night, if I do say so myself.