Making a House a Home

I LOVE LOVE LOVE bread!!! Other than bacon frying, fresh bread baking in the oven is the most mouth-watering smell. YUMMMMM...

Years ago, I came across the best recipe for French bread. Not only do I use it for French bread loaves, but I also use it for my pizza dough!! It does great double duty work for our family!!

French Bread
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cups bread flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. yeast

I place everything in my bread maker, set it on "dough" cycle and let it go. After the "dough" cycle is done, I take the dough out, divide it into two even sections and shape them into French bread loaves and place on my bread pan. I use my sharpest kitchen knife and make little "slashes" across the top to allow the bread to rise even more. Then I set it in the oven to rise for 1 hour (I let it rise in the oven because it is a draft free place). When the hour is up, I bake the bread in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Now... if you do not have a bread maker, you can easily mix the ingredients by hand and then knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Let it rise for 30 minutes in a greased bowl, punch it down, knead it again for about 5 more minutes and let it rise again until double in size. Then divide the dough into two even sections... and go from there in my original directions.

You can also lightly brush a beaten egg across the top of the loaves just before you bake them and they will have a beautiful golden shine to them. I often will do this when I make bread to take somewhere.

For pizza: Make the dough according to directions. You can either divide the dough into two even sections and shape into two "thin crust" pizzas OR you can use the entire amount of dough for a "deep dish" style pizza.

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Mr. U is a pastor and we live in the parsonage that our church owns. It’s a fine house and we are very thankful to be living here. We have had some major water problems in this home since we’ve been here and the floors have been in need of repair. So, while we were in China, the men of our church undertook the task. Not only was the floor soft, but apparently it was rotted and even the joists were swollen with water!! It was so bad that even the beams under the stove and refrigerator were collapsed in two!!! We’ve been told that the only thing that kept us from falling through the floor was the linoleum- oh my!! How many times have I complained about that linoleum, I have no idea. How grateful I am that it held us up all these years!!!!

Here's a picture of the men working on the floor. Yes, that is the ground you see!! Every bit of wood was ripped out of the kitchen floor!!



So… here are some before and after pictures. I LOVE the look of the new flooring! Believe it or not, it is linoleum, too, but it looks SOOO much like wood!! It’s lovely! Now I just want to get that wallpaper off and paint the wall! When? Ummmmm… sometime in the future!!


(before)

(before)

(after)

(after)

Also, we were blessed with a new stove! I’ve been so used to cooking on the old one that it’s taking me a bit to get used to this new fancy one!!! LOL! Isn’t it nice??!!!

(old stove)

(new stove)

How blessed we are!! A new STURDY floor, beautiful new flooring and a new stove all to welcome our new little blessing home!! The Lord has spoiled us for sure!!

We are finally home from China!! We got home on Saturday, March 10th and have spent the past several days trying to get Elizabeth to adjust to our time zone. Bless her heart, she was ready to play at 3:00 in the morning!! She's been doing better, though, and I'm sure will be sleeping through the night soon. :)

I've missed my blogging friends and hope to catch up with everyone. I have been so very blessed with such wonderful blogs to learn from. I'm not sure how often I will be able to post, but I will definitely share what the Lord is teaching me in the areas of homekeeping and motherhood when He leads.

This picture is the first one I took of Elizabeth when we arrived home. She fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport and I just hated to wake her up. She looks so sweet in her pink flowery outfit.



This picture shows Elizabeth's personality the best!!! She is a very happy 10 month old little girl and is full of life!!! She is such a blessing and we are so very thankful that the Lord has chosen her for our family. God is GOOD!!!

This is going to be my last post for about a month. Why? Because we are leaving TODAY to go bring our daughter home!!!! We are BEYOND excited and oh-so-ready to end this almost 2 year wait we've had.

She's coming home!!! She's coming home!!!!

If y'all happen to think of us, please pray for our safety, Elizabeth's adjustment to our family, that none of us will get sick (my sister gets massive migraines- especially pray for her as she's going with us.) and most of all that we will be an example to all we meet of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the meantime, take some time to look at the wonderful websites and blogs that I have listed on the right side of this blog. There are plenty of really great blogs to be reading!!!

His,
Mrs. U

Mr. U always chuckles when he sees me fussing over a room- straighten a little here, move this pillow there, stack those books, fold this afghan, etc. But fuss I will because I want to make our house a home.

I consider our home to be clean, but clean doesn't always mean tidy. These two pictures are just a small example of the difference between tidy and untidy. I've discovered over the years that it's the small things that really do make a difference.

Yes, I am quite aware that YESTERDAY was Valentine's Day and that I should have posted this then. Sigh. I may be a day late, but I am still in love with Mr. U so I do want to share about how we met and a little about our wedding.

We met December 9, 1997, online. Yup, you read that correctly. We met online. :) While we did email back and forth a bit, it still seemed kind of creepy to me to be conversing with a man that I hadn't met face to face. Then one day, lo and behold, he happened to mention the name of his aunt and uncle and I knew them personally!! I was very well acquainted with them and, in fact, LOVED this family!!!! I knew that I just had to meet Mr. U at that point!!!

We met face to face on December 23, 1997. There he was- so handsome, so kind and caring, so SMART!!! And I was a nervous wreck!!! For him, he said he fell in love on our 2nd date. I asked him how in the world he "does" a funeral (I couldn't think of a better word- HA!!). He's a pastor, so I was curious. Just how does one "do" a funeral. He smiled and told me later that at that moment, he knew I was "the one".

It took me a while to know he was "the one". After almost 2 months of knowing him and after MUCH prayer and fasting, God gave me complete peace that Mr. U was the man for me. I knew that I loved him, but I wanted the Lord to confirm that he was the man God had chosen.

Mr. U asked me to marry him on July 20, 1998. I may share the details of how he asked me one day, but not now. :) We planned our wedding day to be December 12, 1998, and boy was I ready!!

The day was overcast and COLD!!!! I had always had dreams of a very sunshiny wedding day, but this was not to be. However, I think we had MORE than enough sunshine beaming from the smiles of Mr. U and myself!!! I walked down the isle on the arm of my dad and walked out of the church, 30 minutes later, very proud to be Mrs. U. What a dream come true!!

Since the Lord saved me in 1989, I had been praying about being married one day. I prayed about my husband- for him and his possible needs, for his character, for his walk with the Lord. I also prayed that the Lord would teach me what it means to be a loving, godly wife. I am so blessed that the Lord gave me such an incredibly husband in Mr. U. He is a man of great conviction and character and I truly admire his walk with the Lord and the wisdom he has from studying God's Word so much. I have far to go in becoming a loving, godly wife, but with Mr. U by my side, leading the way, and with the Lord as my Strength and Shield, it will happen. Slowly but surely, it will happen.

To God be the Glory.

(This picture was the last shot taken before Mr. U and I drove away from the church after our wedding reception. We were in Mr. U's Jeep and it was WAY too small for my dress!! LOL!! My dress was smooshed in the Jeep and it was so poofy that it came up to my armpits when sitting in that car!!! I was holding a container of food that the caterer had prepared for Mr. U and myself and it was sitting on top of my dress almost up to my chin!! LOL!!!)

For more encouraging posts on "Celebrating Marriage", please visit The Homespun Heart.

Cute, huh? Well, it's MUCH more than just cute. It's TRUE!! I DO love Mr. U!! He's the most wonderful man I've ever met!! I'll tell y'all just a smidge more about him tomorrow on Valentine's Day!!

Oh, and I found the heart here.

The Homespun Heart (another neat blog I recently discovered) is hosting a Blog Tea Party!!! All of us are invited to participate!!!

Here's what she says...

So, here's what we are going to do...our tea will be themed on celebrating marriage. You can tell us all about your wedding - show a photo of your invitation, program, dress, flowers, etc... Tell us about the ceremony or reception - just whatever you want to share about it. We'll do this on Valentine's Day ~ come back here and I'll try to figure out the Mr. Linky thing, grab your favorite cup of tea and enjoy visiting with each other!

Here is my hope for this, that we will encourage one another in the gift of marriage and celebrate what God has given us in our spouse. You will see more about this in my posts on our tea party that is taking place at my home.

Here are the rules:

1. Come back here on February 14th to enter the link to your post. You may use the above button to advertise this on your blog.

2. Share photos and details about your wedding.

3. Only share positive qualities that you enjoy and appreciate about your husband. I am not interested in hosting a gripe session. Include something you love about your husband, so that he is encouraged as well.

So don't forget, y'all! It's tomorrow!! What a neat way to show your love for your husband- declare it to the world!!!!

The Lord is good!!!!!

We're not "rich" by worldly standards. We ARE rich in the Lord, but sometimes needing "stuff" to function in this life is a necessity and we need "stuff" for Elizabeth when she finally gets to come home.

This past Saturday, our church family gave us a baby shower and BOY did they shower on the gifts!!!! I was in awe as I saw the the mountain of presents for our baby!!!! I feel like the Lord has spoiled us to pieces- He gives us salvation, He gives us Elizabeth, and now He makes sure she has things she needs. How GREAT of the Lord to provide like this!!!!


I have to tell you, though, of all the gifts that we have received, my FAVORITE gift was the sweet bunny slippers in the photo!!! Aren't they just BEYOND adorable!!!!!

Also, a lady in the church made us this incredible diaper "cake"!!!! Can you get over it!?? I counted and there are 90, yes NINETY diapers all rolled up and stacked on top of each other. Plus she "decorated" the cake with lots of sweet baby things all around the cake- hair bands and bows, socks, bath scrunchies, bunny rabbit on top (complete with bunny slippers to match!!!). It was lovely!!!

Now... I'm off to try to straighten up Elizabeth's room. It's amazing to me how a little bitty girl who is on the other side of the world can have such a messy bedroom already!! Haha!!!

EDIT- For another EXCELLENT example of a diaper "cake", please visit Susan's blog, A Place Called Home.

Diet Coke.

Since the fall, I've been on a big sweet potato kick. My FAVORITE way to eat them is to bake them in the oven like french fries! YUMMMM!!!! Here's the way I make them...

Sweet Potato Fries
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut up like french fries
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or whatever oil you use)
salt
pepper

Once all the sweet potaotes have been cup up, place them on a cookie sheet and drizzle the oil on the fries. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and mix the sweet potatoes around to make sure they are all coated with the oil. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. About 1/2 way through, you may want to flip them over on the pan for more even cooking. When they are done, sprinkle with a smidge more salt and enjoy!!!

These are really good, in my opinion, and I've eaten this VERY often for breakfast!

Not only are sweet potatoes mighty tasty, but they pack a great big healthy punch of good nutrition! Check it out here.

Yesterday I made tastiest drop biscuits to go with our lunch. I'm pretty sure that I could have eaten every single one of them!! Oh my!!!

I got the recipe from a cookbook from The Bread Beckers. I buy wheatberries from them and grind them into flour. While this recipe does call for freshly ground wheat, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use regular whole wheat flour from the grocery store instead. I haven't tried it, but I certainly would try it if I didn't have fresh wheat.

Okay... enough talk... here's the recipe and, oh my stars, are they delicious!!!!

Cheese and Herb Drop Biscuits
(from The Bread Beckers)

2 cups freshly milled flour (hard white)
1 T baking powder
1 tsp.salt
¼ cup oil
1 cup milk
2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T parsley
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix dry ingredients together. Make a “well” in the middle and then stir in milk and oil. Drop by big spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 12 biscuits.

I just LOVE when spring flowers start blooming!!!!!

Although it is quite cold here, springtime bulbs are starting to open already to remind us that the Lord is soon going to be sending the next season our way.

These are paperwhites. They are in the daffodil family. While I usually see paperwhites in the section with other bulbs, like amaryllis, to grow "by force" indoors each winter, I like to plant mine outside with my daffodils. Every flower in the daffodil family makes me SOOOO very happy when I see them. They are a sweet reminder to me that even though things may seem gray and cold, the Lord is always in control and will soon send His change of season to us soon!!

Daffodils are probably my most favorite flower of all. How happy, sunshiny and smiley they are!!!

Okay... you ALL can think of MANY blogs that you love to visit, right? And most of you love to find more, right? Well, Everyday Mommy is hosting Hidden Treasure 2007 Blog Awards and wants you to do just that- get out there and discover new blogs!! Then, once you find some you really enjoy, hop on over to her blog and nominate your new favorites between February 1 and February 7 in the following categories- Children & Family, Faith, Marriage, Motherhood, Homemaking, Humor, Current Events and Life. On February 8, the voting will begin.

So, what are you waiting for?? Get out there and discover new blogs!! So many "hidden treasures" are out there in the blogsophere just waiting for us to stumble upon them!!!

Okay... I was tagged about a week ago by Jordin and I am just now posting this. It took a while to narrow all the weird things about me to only 6. LOL!!!

6 weird things about me…

1) When I get Taste of Home magazine, I first look through it backwards AND upside-down at the same time. I simply CANNOT bear to look at the recipes until I find that hidden toothpick!!!!! Drives me NUTS!!!

2) I MUST have dishes in the dishwasher facing the same direction.

3) I do NOT like monkeys. Something about them gives me the creeps.

4) I cannot stand being licked by a dog. Ewwww!!!!!

5) I do not like ANY kind of seafood. At all. If it’s in water, I’m not touching it.

6) I cannot sleep in an unmade bed. The sheets have to be pulled tightly with no bunching and tucked in all nice and neat.

I made a chocolate pound cake recently. OH BOY!! I love all kinds of pound cake, but apparently people don't make chocolate pound cake as often as I thought. So people are missing out on such a great tasting cake? HORRORS!!!

In case you've never eaten a chocolate pound cake, please try this recipe. While it is far from healthy, it is INCREDIBLY good!!! Oh, and it is VERY easy, too! Can't beat that- tasty AND easy to make!!

This is my mother's recipe. You can see in the picture that I wrote it out- but that was years ago. That poor piece of paper has drippings from the batter all over it. I definitely need to write it out again and put it in a special place. I would hate to lose such a mouth-watering recipe!!!

Chocolate Pound Cake
1/2 pound of butter, softened (2 sticks)
1/2 cup of shortening
3 cups of sugar
5 whole eggs
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup milk
3 cups plain flour (all purpose)

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let it cool in pan for 5 minutes and then turn onto cooling rack.

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the chocolate pound cake. I baked it for a business near us that was holding a raffle to raise money for cancer research (Relay for Life).

I've been part of an anti-procrastination challenge all week long!!! I've been reading some of my very favorite blogs and BOY did the conviction set in!!!! I even left a few well-meaning comments on others' blogs that I needed to heed myself- "Good job!! Isn't it amazing how little time it takes to do something that we've been putting off for weeks?!!" HAHAHAAA!! All the while I was sitting here staring at my own little pile of procrastination.

So... without further procrastinating, I finally did it!! I've been wanting to purchase some day to day towels and then Susan over at A Place Called Home recently found some Martha Stewart dishcloths which were exactly what I've been wanting!!! So I purchased them the other night and brought them home to launder. I (Oops. Confession time here.) completely forgot about them being in the dryer and they came out looking like this...

You can probaby tell what I had been procrastinating- ironing!! LOL!! So I FINALLY have these all crisply ironed and ready to use. Aren't they just lovely now?

Thank you, Mrs. Wilt, for encouraging us to stop procrastinating!!