Refreshed

This morning, I (Julie) woke up feeling so refreshed and joyful. The cause of this is my wonderful sister Amy. Last night, our parents and Katie had to go somewhere at about 5:45. Amy and I finished doing the dishes, then we each got a bowl of ice cream (raspberry jam and malt powder on hers, caramel sauce and chocolate chips on mine), and sat down in the living room right about 6:00. We were still sitting there when the rest of our family got home at 9:00! How I love talking with her! If anyone ever needs encouragement, something to make them laugh, or just someone to listen, Amy is the person. We talked about everything, and we could have talked for at least three hours more I'm sure. Thanks, Amy, for a delightful evening!

A Mere Trifle

One day when I (Julie) was at our grandparents early this summer, I mentioned to Grandma that I would love to try making a trifle in a real trifle bowl. Our sweet grandma remembered that and for my birthday a couple months later, she (and Grandpa, although he had no idea) gave me a beautiful trifle bowl. Mom and I signed up to bring treats to our Beth Moore Bible Study this past Monday, so I jumped at the opportunity to try out a recipe for a Pumpkin Trifle that had been calling my name for a while. Doesn't it look good?

It tasted great too! The layers are gingerbread (made from a Krusteaz box mix), butterscotch pudding mixed with pumpkin and spices, and Cool Whip. It is not overly sweet, but very creamy. I will definitely make it again!

You never know what you'll find at the Red Door Book Store

Our library here in town has what they call "The Red Door Book Store." It is just a place for them to sell extra books they have to make money for the library, I think. I love going in there because there are so many good bargains. I think the most I've ever paid for a book is $1, and they always have a cart in the middle with books for 10 cents. Yesterday I found Thomas More's "Utopia" and a book by Corrie Ten Boom called "Amazing Love." Corrie Ten Boom's story has always inspired me. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend "The Hiding Place." Anyway, a few months ago when I went to the Red Door, I found "Markings" by Dag Hammarskjold. I don't know much about the guy, but there was story in a book we have at home about unsolved mysteries because I guess he died in a plane crash in the Congo, and it's never been determined whether it was just a plane crash or something more. He was also Secretary General at the U.N. So I thought his book would be a good book of history. It was quite different than I was expecting. It was a collection of poems and thoughts that sometimes followed a general train of thought, and others, if they did, I didn't see it. I'm not much into poetry, and there were a lot of poems, so those I kind of glazed over, but there were many jewels in there that made me stop and think. Here are some of them:

"God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason."

Not knowing his personal relationship with God, I guess I can't say for sure this "steady radiance" he mentions is the Light of God, but it applies, doesn't it? It is amazing how we wilt without His Light as our focus. Another one:

Give me a pure heart - that I may see Thee, A humble heart - that I may hear Thee, A heart of love - that I may serve Thee, A heart of faith - that I may abide in Thee.

This next one is probably my favorite. It is a prayer, and the wording seems a little odd because it is translated from Swedish, but I think it also makes it seem more thoughtful and eloquent.

Thou who art over us, Thou who art one of us, Thou who art - Also within us, May all see Thee - in me also, May I prepare a way for Thee, May I thank Thee for all that shall fall to my lot, May I also not forget the needs of others. Keep me in Thy love, As Thou wouldst that all should be kept in mine. May everything in this my being be directed to Thy glory. And may I never despair, For I am under Thy hand, And in Thee is all power and goodness.

I have these three on my wall by my desk at work, and they inspire me every time I read them. Like I said, without knowing more about the guy and really studying the theology behind his faith, I don't know exactly where his heart was, and I don't think it's my place to know exactly where his heart was. If you ever get a chance to read his book, there are some interesting things in there.

Oh, the joys of Cool Whip!

I love Cool Whip. When we have a container in the fridge, I have been known to just eat spoonfuls of it (never double-dipping, of course). And now, I have yet another reason to love it. Who knew that Cool Whip could develop fine motor skills? Maybe we should all eat a couple spoonfuls every morning. Well, actually, I guess painting with it is supposed to help little kids learn how to use their fingers better. So Kyle and Ella's mom sent some with them so they could practice. Here are the results:

Hope these brought a smile to your face! - Julie

Cakes

As most of you know, I have developed a hobby (aka an obsession) for baking, cooking, and cake decorating. I thought I'd share some of the cakes I've done in the past few months, partly just because I am rather proud of them ;-), and partly because I am determined to post more often, and being that you probably don't want to hear about the three tubes of caulk I sold this morning, I thought I'd start with these.I made this one for our family picnic this summer. The blue part says "Olson, Guntzel, Gooch, Olson Family Picnic June 25, 2009. The red stripes have all our names, and then "Even when we're miles apart, family is always close at heart." The flag has double meaning, because we were celebrating the 4th of July, and also because Sam is training right now as an Army Ranger and will probably be deployed later this year. Please pray for his protection and for our family through this. As I think back to this past year, I have yet another reason to be thankful that I didn't go to college. If I had, I wouldn't have started working at Kal's and gotten to spend those precious few months with him before he left for training. (He was a delivery/yard/whatever I asked him to do guy) Thank you Lord!

This cake I made just because I wanted to practice. I think I brought it to a Bible Study I was doing this past summer.

This one I made for the birthday of a lady in our mom's Bible Study. I was practicing my roses.

They all tasted very good, but I think this one was my favorite to eat, being that it was ice cream. All summer at work, Ogema and Rob, the other two guys here besides my dad and his partner, kept saying they didn't think I could make an ice cream cake as good as Dairy Queen. By their own admittance, I proved them wrong!

When our friends came back from a missions trip to Poland this summer, we had a picnic so they could tell us all about it. I was asked to bring the dessert.

My aunt asked me to make a birthday cake for a co-worker of hers. I was excited to try out my new pastry tip for making the chrysanthemums.

Good to be Back!

Here's our dog, Charlie, enjoying "the dog days of summer." Isn't he darling?

Hi everyone! Amy here. Sorry for the long pause in posting activity here in our neck of the woods. Thanks, Julie, for putting a post up after my long vacation from blogging. Let me update y'all on what's gone on since the last time I posted (in August--yikes!)

First of all, I want you to know that I am posting all this from my brand new laptop computer, graciously purchased for me as an early graduation present from my grandparents. Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma! I am so excited to have my own computer so that I won't have to inconvenience anyone in my family when I want to do homework, or check out blogs ;-). What a wonderful gift! However, I have not transferred pictures from the other computers yet, so I may have to wait awhile before posting the rest of my Mexico trip (Yes, I am still working on that--three and a half months later!) Bear with me as I get used to the switch, okay?

During the second week of August, I counseled at a Bible camp for Native American children. I have done this for four years now, and I love every minute of it! We had our largest group of campers ever, and some of the kids were dealing with really tough stuff--parents with drug and alcohol addictions, domestic violence, etc. I was so blessed to be able to share the hope of Christ with them during our time at camp, as we enjoyed fun activities like canoeing, swimming, sliding down the waterslide, etc. One night, I even had the privilege to pray with a beautiful little eight-year-old girl as she talked to Jesus for the very first time, and began a relationship with Him. I can hardly wait to see what God does at camp next year!

On a less interesting, but still important, note, my classes at the local colleges started in late August, so now much of my time is filled with reading textbooks, writing papers, and filling out worksheets. I can't say I always enjoy it, but I am learning a lot, and I'm working hard to develop a balanced routine.

In addition, I have joined the student leadership team for my church youth group. Basically, our job is to develop relationships with the youth in our small groups and to model the saving power of Jesus Christ to them. No small task, but with God's grace, I pray that I will fulfill it to the best of my ability. I so enjoy meeting with the girls in my small group each week and encouraging them to live fully for the Lord.

Of course, as you saw in Julie's post, we are still taking care of our adorable twin charges, who will be turning two this week. We love them to pieces!

Most importantly, God has been teaching me some amazing things this past month that I hope to share more about soon. I'm learning to be content in this season of life, to find joy in serving Jesus by serving my family, and so much more!

I know this post is getting rather long, and I don't blame you if you've lost interest, but I just wanted to give you all an update and let you know that I am still alive and well! Check back soon, as I hope to post some pictures of great deals I've found at thrift stores, garage sales, and clearance racks recently. God bless!

Well, all of us are feeling very guilty for not posting anything for quite a while. Amy hinted that I should do it, although I'm not sure what I should write about. Oh, Amy said I should write about my Christmas baking. Yes, it is already that time, at least at our house. Actually, I have been planning for at least a month now. But I have heard that cookies keep in the freezer for up to 4 months, so I figured starting last week is about 3 months to when I will take them out and give them away. So far, I have made two kinds of spritz cookies (with my new cookie press I got at our church garage sale for $2!), sugar cookies cut-outs with my mini cookies cutters, cranberry walnut cookies, and butter ball chiffons. I want to share this recipe with you, because I thought they were surprisingly good. I mean, I expected them to be ok, but I'm not usually a big fan of lemon, toffee, or pecans. So here it is:

Butter Ball Chiffons

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant lemon pudding mix 2 teaspoons water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts 2 Heath candy bars (1.4 ounces each), chopped Directions: In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the pudding mix, water and vanilla. Gradually add flour. Stir in nuts and chopped candy bars. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 3 minutes before removing to wire racks. Yield: 5 dozen.

I haven't taken any pictures of my cookies yet, but I will try to take one before I package them up to give them away.

Another new and exciting thing in my life is that I am going to Poland in January! I will go with International Messengers, like I have before, only this time, the camp will be just for high school students instead of families. The dates of the trip are January 21-February 8, although if we can work something out, I might take a detour on the way back in Brussels and see Marie for a few days. Please be in prayer about this trip. Pray that God would open doors and soften the hearts of our students.

I am still working everyday, and loving it! What a blessing to be able to work with my dad. I am sure I never in a million years envisioned myself working at a lumberyard of all places, but, then again, I never envisioned myself not going to college, so it's a good thing that God envisions stuff we can't even wrap our minds around. I love Twila Paris's song, I don't even remember the title of it, but my favorite part goes:

Couldn't it be that He is only waiting there to see

If I will learn to love the dream

That He has dreamed for me?

I can't imagine what the future holds,

But I've already made my choice.

This is where I stand until He moves me on.

And I will listen to His voice.

Wonderful, isn't it?

My mom and I have started Beth Moore's Daniel Bible Study on Monday nights at church. I love doing her studies, but even more than that, I think I like being with so many godly women. It is such an encouragement.

A couple pictures of our cuties:

Here is Ella wearing Katie's glasses. Isn't she adorable?

Kyle likes to try on our shoes.