Fluffy Helping With School Work

MOSI Trip

For her birthday last month, the Princess requested a trip to MOSI. This is the first chance her dad has had to take her. (I chose to opt out and have it a Father/Daughter day.) The Body Works exhibit is still here. A very good biology class.

             And here is a friend from the Butterfly Garden. 

Pastor Anderson Beaten and Arrested by Border Patrol!

The story can be viewed from here. 

Surprised - no. 

Sad - yes.

If the Border Patrol felt they had probable cause - all they needed to do was get a search warrant.

New Brake Pads

I love that my kids all like each other and help each other out. This was definitely a 2-man job. #2 son (under the car) needed new brake pads on his car. #3 son (kneeling) helped out.  

Old - left side.

New - right side

Chocolate Pie

This is based on a recipe I found in a Taste of Home magazine - but I changed so many things, that I can truthfully call it my own creation. 

In a double boiler melt 4 or 5 squares (1 oz. each) of semi-sweet chocolate along with about 1 tsp. of shortening. Hold to one side. You can adjust this to personal preferences.

Bake a single bottom pie crust. (about 10 mins. @ 450 degrees) Be sure to use a fork to make holes in the crust so it won't puff. I often use the Pillsbury pie crusts you get in the refrigerated section of the grocery store - but you can make your own single crust too. Let it cool. 

In a bowl place:

6 oz. of softened cream cheese

1/4 c. butter, softened

1 and 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar (10X powdered sugar)

1/3 c. baking cocoa

2 T. milk (I have used 1T. powdered soy milk and 2 T. water or you could use canned milk - and I suspect just 2 T. of water would be okay too. )

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix it all smooth. Then scoop into the chocolate mixture most of a regular sized container of Cool Whip and fold. Sometimes I also use fresh whipped cream. (Then you would fold in about 2-3 c. after whipping ) 

Meanwhile....

Pour in most of the melted chocolate (to taste) into the cooled crust and spread it over the crust. (This is the secret bottom layer you don't see in the picture above!)  Let the chocolate cool for a few minutes to set.  

Then scoop in the whipped chocolate filling mixture. You can use a pastry bag to make a fancy design on top with the rest of the whipped cream - or just drop it on as I did in the picture. Then drizzle with the remaining melted chocolate. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Keep any leftovers in the refrigerator. 

Flute Ensemble

The Princess playing at the community college flute ensemble she was invited to join under Concert Master Shaul ben-Meir (pictured with The Princess below.) She played the third flute part. 

Family Helps

This is a poster you can download and print (it probably needs some resizing) from the website of Dr. SM Davis. We probably have about 70 of his videos now - and we have viewed almost all of them - only a couple still waiting for us to watch - and some we have seen multiple times.  They have been a huge help to our family. As with any help, we take that which is of benefit to us, and leave the rest, but with Dr. Davis we have never had much we didn't take to heart. 

The Lord has given Dr. Davis an extensive ministry helping families.  Parenting is hard work, and it seems that most of our society is inclined to activities rather than training. Even the most well-meaning parents have little to follow in the way of godly examples.  

We beagan with the Wisdom Series he offers, and now have the Anger Series, the Courtship Series, most of the Parenting Series, and the Doctrinal Series. We also have various tapes/dvd's of other sets we haven't yet completed, but will eventually purchase. 

Last year Dr. and Mrs. Davis visited our area and preached in our church. Funny, he was just the same as on his tapes! We were so privileged to meet him and his wife. But even if you can't hear him in person, you will feel he is there with you after watching several of his illustrated sermons.