The War Room

Have you seen the new movie The War Room yet? My husband and I went and seen it last Sunday. All I can say is WOW! It is a real powerful movie. It is about fighting our battles in prayer! It so hit home for me. I hate to admit but my prayer life is not the best. Yes, I am a Christian, yes, I pray, yes, I read my bible! But, do I really take all my battles to God in prayer? NO!

It says in the Bible, "The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." Exodus 14:14. Hmmmm! I seem to fail in this time and time again. I always seem to try to fight on my own. That is something I am trying to fix. I am trying to take all to the Lord and let him fight for me. I am not saying this is easy. It is hard! Hey, I am human! We think we know what is best, what needs to be done. But, in reality our Lord has a plan for our lives that is bigger and better than we could even fathom. 
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I hope that you too will join with me in this journey in taking everything to the Lord in prayer. I am beginning a bible study starting next week on prayer. Each week I am going to blog about the things that I have learned. My hope in this is to help you as well. Who is with me? 
With that I leave you with this verse that was one of the many verses in the movie.
"But you, when you pray, Go into your inner room. Close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:6.

Till next week my sisters and brothers! :) 

Lavender Scrub

It is hard to believe how time flies. It seems like only yesterday I was bringing my first born son home from the hospital. Now, he has been married almost 2 months now. He married his High School Sweetheart on August 29th. It was a simple ceremony but, oh so beautiful. I do have to admit I cried. I think I was good and hid it well! ;) Making the powerpoint for the beginning of the ceremony was so hard. Just looking at all those pictures of him growing up made me realize how fast time really does fly. I do wish them both a long and happy life together. My prayer for them is to always keep God first!!
For the bridal shower, she made little jars of honey for the guest to take home. The honey was from my son's beehive that he has. I made little jars of lavender scrub for the guests. I used dried lavender buds in this recipe but, you can omit them if you want to.

Lavender Scrub

1 Cup White Sugar

2 TBSP dried lavender buds

8 to 10 drops lavender essential oil

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

2-4 TBSP olive oil

If you are using lavender buds, grind them with a mortar and pestle or in a coffee grinder. In a bowl, combine the sugar and ground lavender buds. Next, add the oils and stir to combine. Then, add the essential oil and stir. Place into a jar and label.

Lavender Buds

Mortar and Pestle

Put sugar in bowl

Grind the buds

Coconut oil

Melt coconut oil

All of it mixed together.

Lavender Essential Oil

The scrub in the tin.

Here are some of the finished products.

Viola' Lavender Scrub! See how easy!!! The guests loved it! I also used Pinterest a lot to get ideas for the shower and wedding! Below are some of the pictures from the shower.

The Wild Honey

The Scrub

A game I found on Pinterest.

An idea I found on Pinterest. 

Instead of Guest Book. Pinterest again!

Found idea on Pinterest. Then made it!

Lol!

Pin the mustache on the groom.

Another game found on Pinterest!
The beautiful bride!

Hope you enjoyed the pics! Till next time hope everyone has a blessed day!

It's the Simple Things and Elderberry Tincture!!!

Hello my blog peeps! Hope everyone is having a blessed Tuesday! I got the sweetest surprise today from some of my sweet PreK children. On top of all the hugs and I Love You, Mrs. Smith that I get on a regular basis, a few of them sent me a carnation for Do Something for Someone Day.

Attached to the flowers was a note from the child. I even got from one of my sons and one of my students from last year. I thought it was so sweet! This is just our second day back from Fall Break. It is always hard to come back to reality when we have had a whole week off. :) 

During Fall Break, A few friends and I went camping in North Toledo. It was so pretty and quiet there. Here are some of the pics from our trip.

My sweet Friend and me!

Two more of my sweet friends and LuLu (aka Our Guard Dog)

LuLu aka Guard Dog

We had a blast! Can't wait to go back! I also canned over the break. I will be posting more canning recipes soon! 

I also started some Elderberry Tincture. I used 1/3 cup of dried Elderberries.

Then, pour vodka over the berries to about an inch from the top. You can use 80 proof or 100 proof. When making tinctures, I like to use 100 proof. I use 80 proof for my homemade vanilla. 

Next you want to put a piece of plastic over the top before you put the top of the jar on. This is just to keep the tincture away from the metal of the lid. 

Last, you date it, write what it is, and when it will be ready. For this one it needs to sit for 14 days. Just put it on a dark, cool, shelf and shake every now and again. Once the 14 days are up, you strain the tincture off the berries and bottle the tincture! I will show you mine once it is finished. There you have it Viola' Elderberry Tincture! Till next time, Have a blessed evening and week!!