Love for Milk Tea & China

Several years ago, right before we began our family, my husband and I had the privilege of going on a trip to China. We went with a team of 10 and my father in law as our brave and fearless leader. ;)
We stayed in Hong Kong and ventured into mainland China daily. This trip is a pretty big marker in my life. This trip is when the Lord began to grow a deep love in my heart for China and it's people.
Over the last year, He began to take this love to whole new level.  He has placed a burning desire in my heart to live in China with my family. It is a feeling like I have never felt before and it only grows stronger with each new day.
I have no idea when this will happen but I believe with all that is in me, that it will happen some day. I trust that He will do all that it takes to get this family of 6 across the world and that it will happen in His perfect timing. It could be this year. It could be 5 years from now. It could be 10 years from now. As much as it pains me to say that it could be that long, I trust Him.
It is the waiting that is so very hard. I will be very honest here and say that I am one of the most impatient people that I know. THERE! I said it! (babe, if you're reading this.....not a word)  ;)
And so, I also fully believe that the Lord has great purpose in showing me this and then making me wait to see it actually play out. UGH...my flesh does NOT like this part.
But, I trust Him.

I was looking through our photo album from our trip years ago and sharing with my children about some of the pictures.
We talk about the possibility of the Lord moving us to China, the kids and I. We talk about the Lord's purpose in our lives. We share in the excitement of how He may choose to use our family. The kids get excited.
We look at books about China from the library sometimes. We even listen to a cd we bought that is teaching us how to speak Mandarin.
I believe in being open and honest with my children. I want them to know that there is a whole world out there, beyond the city in which they live. I want them to think about others and be open to how God may choose to use them.
I took photos of some of my photos to share with you.
Will you come along on a little journey to China with me?

 A beautiful park in the middle of the city. We walked through this park every morning from our flat to get breakfast.

We sat and drank our coffee and ate our breakfast outside, looking out at the harbor.

Loved watching these women on the harbor one morning. This is one of my favorite photos.

Hong Kong Harbor

The street food vendors were one of my husband's favorite things. He was so looking forward to enjoying a special little treat that he remembered having as a kid when they lived in China.

His special treat.....SQUID on a stick!
That man could not get enough of squid; squid on a stick, dried squid...you name it! He loves the street vendors while I steered clear of them!

Market!
We got to go experience one of the many market's one evening. It was really so much fun. You can find just about anything you could possibly imagine there.

We also got to take a ferry ride to Cheung Chau island.  This was super cool because this is where my husband and his family spent 5 years of their lives.
He has spoken fondly of Cheung Chau many times and his childhood memories there so it was really cool that he got to visit again and that I got to see a glimpse into his childhood.
His family has always said what a wonderful place this island was to raise children and I totally understand that now.
The photo above is one of the apartments they lived in on the island.

Lots of walking, bike riding and exploring. :)

A group of older ladies chatting outside the market one morning. I believe this is actually a photo my brother took. I love this one.
And, oh yes, my brother got to take this trip with us too which made it even more special for me!

Amazing. These photos just don't do it justice.
I love this shot because he is so small standing next to the vast ocean and on top of the large rock. Such a picture of our humanity. We are so small in comparison to God and His plan; that's a good thing to remember. The more He increases in my life, the more "I" should decrease.

I LOVE this shot so much. In the midst of the crazy busy street and the signs displayed in Chinese, there appeared this message, "JOY AND PEACE."
This one speaks for itself.

Our team before heading to minister with a local church body for the evening. WOW, we look so young in this photo....which makes me feel old now!

A shot taken out of the window of the building we were meeting in one evening.

And this lovely little package of goodness. I am not sure how I spent 2 weeks in China and never tasted this....oh wait, I do. I drank iced coffee like it was going out of style!
Daspri just recently introduced me to this little favorite of hers and I am so thankful! It is so delicious!
Remember, Daspri is my sister-n-law, so this was a glimpse into her childhood too!

While I am not big at all on new year's resolutions, I am super excited to see what the Lord has in store for this new year.
Do I hope that He has China in store for us this year?  Well, yes, of course I do.
But ultimately, I want what He wants and has for us and if that does not include China at all this year, then I am good with that.
It is hard at times to feel something so certain in your heart and so passionately and then have to wait. I am not good at waiting nor am I good with the whole "not knowing." But I know that this is something that the Lord has placed inside my heart and I trust Him, with whatever He chooses to do with it.  It's exciting!
I am ready to leave it all behind and go wherever He takes us. The thought of doing that does not worry me at all, which is totally ALL God!
Why am I sharing this with you?
Because I trust that God will do this, someday, and I want to share that day with you when it comes too. How cool will that be!
Any chance I have to share what God is doing....I want to do that. :)

What are you hoping for in this new year?

-Jenny

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Phew, that's a mouth full of a title.
But also a mouth full of peanut butter, chocolatey goodness!

I happened upon this recipe a couple of years ago and thought that I had really found something exciting. Turns out that this is one of the "age-old" recipes that lots of people were already enjoying!
I loved it then because of the minimal ingredients and ease.  I love it now because after switching out an ingredient or two, it is one more treat that I can actually enjoy too.

You have to make these at least once...
.....but that will just be the beginning of a long and lovely relationship! ;)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup Natural Peanut Butter
1 cup  Raw Coconut Sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg

*add in about 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the above ingredients and place balls on cookie sheet
Gently press the top of each cookie with a fork.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.
Let cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing.
Enjoy warm with a glass of almond or coconut milk!

I have just begun experimenting with Coconut Sugar over the holidays. This is the only the second treat that I have made with it.
I think I want to try this recipe next time with a flax egg and make it vegan too!

Yummmm....a plate full of cookies.

Do you think my family liked them?

Have you baked with Coconut Sugar before? Share some recipes!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Jenny


        

DiY Vintage Alphabet Flash Cards

This Chrismtas I made quite a few fun things. Of course I couldn’t post on them until after the celebrations because I didn’t want people peeking at their goodies. But now I can share all about the things I did. One of the first projects I worked on was some fun vintage flash cards. A long while back (before Pinterest) I found some really cool free printable vintage alphabet flash cards. I saved them and planned to print them out but never got around to it until this year.

I got some fun patterned cardstock that was the natural paper sack color on the other side and printed the cards out with the fun patterns on the back. The tan paper sack color helps with the vintage look and feel.

Then I took my scissors and ran them across the sides to give them that warn feel.

Finally, I packaged them up with a little twine and wrapped them. I made about 5 sets of these for all the little ones (18 months or older) for Christmas.

Have a great one!

Daspri

NOTE: The photos of my flash cards have been removed due to a new copyright by the original artist (no longer offering them as free printables). But, you can download this vintage set for free. 

DiY Little Girl's Jewelry Box

Today I want to share a fun little project that I did over Christmas for two of my precious niece's.  I really wanted to show you before Christmas but since one of these was for Daspri's little girl, I couldn't share without ruining the surprise!

I am in love with these little suitcase boxes! I have used them for a vintage baby shower before too!
I found them on Amazon.
I used a fine tip Sharpie and wrote a name on one and an initial on the other. Then I added some design.

What I love about these boxes for little children is the handles! All of my children have loved to have something to put their toys in and carry them around in, from toddler years to almost 8 years.

And next came the really fun part-filling the boxes with LOTS of pretty things!
I SO enjoyed shopping for these little girls. I picked things up here and there when I was out and about.
I threw in one handmade piece in each box too; a headband in one and a rosette wrist cuff in another.
I ordered these super fun light rings off Amazon to add to their boxes too! I just couldn't resist. They are so bright and flash all different colors. I may or may not have saved one for myself.
Baby Girl and I also went shopping for feather boas to top off these jewelry boxes.  Needless to say, these girls are set!

You could do so much with these boxes. They come in all different colors. You could make a spy kit or nature explorers kit for a little boy too.  The options are endless!
And they really are pretty sturdy. My little girl has had one for almost 3 years now and it is still going strong after lots of handling and play time.

Happy New Year!
-Jenny

Happy New Year!!!

I pray your new years eve was fun-filled and safe and that you kissed or hugged someone you love dearly but before I move on to discuss the new year I’m going to share a few fun memories from Christmas. Let me preface this by saying I can’t get enough of my sweet little girl and I usually try not to overload my posts with her pics but this one will have to be an exception.

Jenny, of course, took our Christmas card photos and I LOVE how it turned out:

We sent these out to friend and family. As a side note I am like a kid when it comes to checking the mail. So Christmas time is my favorite because we get so many fun Christmas cards from friends and family all over. LOVE IT!!!

We get to have three (or more) fun Christmas celebrations each year because we are blessed with so much family. We started this year off with a weekend celebrating with Bryan’s family. I love that Keylee is old enough now to deliver presents (excuse the blurry photos, when you are trying to capture a 2 year old sometimes you have a little blur!).

Then we spent Christmas Eve and day as the three amigos. We opened our new PJs and Keylee got her new ornament (again the pic is blurry but look how excited she is). It is a Cat in the Hat sitting on a stack of books on of which is her favorite, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

We snuggled up for a Christmas movie and then talked about the meaning of Christmas and Christ coming to earth as the ultimate gift. As was the tradition in my house growing up the tree remained presentless until Christmas morning and mom spent Christmas Eve wrapping and filling stockings. We never celebrated the santa tradition but we knew mom was hard at work that night so it was difficult to sleep. We celebrated Christmas morning with lots of love and hugs and slowly opening a few gifts but of course her favorite thing was the most inexpensive little makeup compact (it is actually an eraser) that she would not put down all day.

We spend the most wonderful lazy Christmas day in our PJs and topped it off by making some yummy cookies together.

We had a white Christmas blow in on us so when we woke up the next day we got to play in the snow. FUN!

We packed up the car and headed to my parents for Keylor Christmas. Jenny shared some of the fun from that weekend but here are a few more tidbits…

This was Keylee’s view of the snowball fight, safe tucked away on the front porch.

We enjoy lots of games and Jenny mentioned, what she did not mention is that in my parents’ house growing up with three boys everything turned into a competition. This still rings true today as you can see from this pic:

Mom got a fun set of Christmas bingo cards she thought the kids would like playing. Well as the kids were playing the guys jumped in and the kids phased out to leave mom calling out peppermint candies and reindeer for the grown men competing to win the coveted bingo. Yep, we love it around here!

And to keep the competition running the fellas spent a lot of time playing ping pong. Eventually the girls jumped in on the action and we had a couples tournament (even mom played) and well, not to brag, but me and the hubbs took home the gold on that one!

We returned home and spent New Year’s Eve here with a couple friends. I love my little family. God has truly blessed us.

I’m not really a new year’s resolution person. I don’t believe in a calendar year changing the way I live my life. But I do believe in prayers for the year to come. I pray for the same things I always pray for: To grow closer to Christ and see Him in my life more each day. To be a light to my little girl and her daddy and to all those I come in contact with. For wisdom in my daily struggles and laughter along the way. For friends and family to know Him. And thanks for all the blessings of the year past and the year to come.

Happy New Year to you too!

Daspri