Yes...we like pancakes.

We like pancakes at our house. There's something so delicious about the simple, yet oh-so-yummy taste. And it's easy to make. Which makes it a must for mornings where we have no cereal, or any other breakfast food. You can put just about anything on pancakes, and we have. Syrup, butter, jam, hot sauce...





I was just kidding about the hot sauce part.




But pancakes taste even better when you have a certain three old boy make them. Or at least stirs them. And if he decides to lick some pancake batter that he accidentally dropped on his finger, that's fine by me.





After all, all great chefs taste their food, right?




Oh goodness.



And sometimes, we put green food coloring in our pancakes. Except this "sometimes" was only once and it didn't turn out so green after being cooked.




The boys thought it was cool though. The green made up for the pancake letters that somehow broke--let me just tell you that to do a "B" is nearly impossible. And Eli loved being able to say he made the pancakes. We had fun.



And that's good enough for me.



What's a favorite breakfast food at your house?

Happy Birthday Eli

Today is my sweet brother Elijah's birthday.

He is turning three. Or as he says, seven.

We're still working with him on his math skills.

Eli is a man of many names. Such as Moochie Man, Lijah, Muscle Man, Eli-Boy, Lijah-Boy, Moochie, Buddy, Buddy-boy, and Lijey, to name a few.

We like nicknames in our family.

Eli is smart. Funny. Creative. Darling. A lover of food. Silly. Goofy. A dreamer. Inventive. A toughie. A sweetie. Adorable. And very loved.

He is a mischief-maker sometimes.

But when you see this face...

 oops. not that one. hold on a second.

when you see this face...

...it's hard not to smile.

Happy Birthday, Elijah.

I love you.

I wanna take a big 'ol bite...

What causes our hesitancy in our relationship with God? For me, I know that I struggle with really and truly knowing Him, and completely giving myself to Him, because I know that I'm not good enough. But then, I'm missing the point--completely.

We aren't ever going to be good enough. Yet I persist in thinking that I have to be perfect before trying to form a relationship with Jesus. There's a sense of reluctance and the lie of, "Unless you are blameless and perfect and have fixed everything in your life that is wrong, you cannot come to the Father. You cannot have a relationship. You cannot."

What lies! Yet they are so deeply ingrained that to root them out is painful, and hard, and it takes effort. The truth of the matter is that I am weak without my Savior, and I cannot rely on myself. I cannot save my self. Only He can save me. But I have to come to Him and ask--I can't try to make myself "perfect" and then seek to have a relationship with Him.

There is a point where there needs to be humbling. On bended knees. Crying for forgiveness. And it hurts.



Living for Him is not just a one time thing. It's not a fling. It's not something that we can put on the shelf. If you want to get to know a person and become friends with them, what do you do? You'll spend time with them. Ask questions. Learn about who they are, what they believe in, what their likes/dislikes are.

The same goes for our relationship with Jesus. He doesn't want to be the friend that you call on when you need a favor. He wants to be your Savior. And that requires us to be diligent in our relationship with Him. We can say we love Him. We can really love Him. But unless we have fellowship with Him, our love isn't worth much. We have to be active. From passive to passionate.



And it's hard. It can hurt. It means that we might have to deny what we want and listen to what He's saying. Give up what we're holding onto and let Him take over. It's a daily struggle for me. Because it is hard. I can't stress that enough. When you give your life over to God, it can be hard. It is hard. But we have Him to lean on. It's a choice though of whether or not we'll lean on Him, or ourselves. Itt has to be Him. Always.

But in the end, we can go from just tasting at a relationship, to eating full out. Savoring it. Enjoying it. Celebrating it.

Living for Him. With every bite. And believe me--when you do that, every day is so much brighter. Vivid.

just a few things...

...that I love...

orange crocs on little orange-haired boys


writing and the written word


watermelon cakes


zippers


frayed ribbons


cute shoes



those darling little pins you put on crocs


jeans


woodland water and blue toe-nail polish


my aunt's eclairs


and so much more.

what are some things that you love? <3

Winner of the Lovelies giveaway!

I apologize for the time it took to reveal the winner. I've been helping out at my dance studio for the past few days, and was there (as well as at the theater for the little girls' performance) from 9:15 till about 5:00 today. So I was very excited to come and let you know who won!

Random.org selected number 45 (out of 260!); and the lucky winner is...

Jocelyn! Looks like you're getting the Tamar Necklace. ;-) Thank you to everyone who entered; I hope it was fun! Also, a BIG thank you to the lovely Rafya for giving away some of her amazing jewelry; make sure to give her shop some love!

And stay tuned; another giveaway coming up shortly...:-)

The Watermelon Cake

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was turning 8. She wanted a boombox for her birthday, and an incredible cake.

On her birthday, her mom and sister decided to go out to Target and buy her a cake. They come back with a fabulous looking...watermelon cake.

The girl hates it. As in really bad. She's afraid to tell her mom and sister that though, because they're very excited about it, and think it's very cool. They think that she loves it.

She doesn't of course. And the truth finally comes out.

They are, undoubtedly, upset and somewhat confused. What girl doesn't want a fabulously cool cake in the shape and color of a watermelon?

Well, this girl doesn't. But that's besides the point.

They eat it anyways. The girl glares at it and is caught between feelings of disgust, bewilderment and guiltiness. Her mom was so excited. How could she--the girl--not like it? But then again, how could someone have such bad taste...?

Flash forward to another birthday. A fourteenth birthday. A few days before her actual birthday, her mom and sister come home from Target, bringing with them, oh, yes...

A watermelon cake.

disclaimer no. 1: all of this is true.
disclaimer no. 2: she really did hate the cake the first time.
disclaimer no. 3: but she loved it the second time.
disclaimer no. 4: the cake is one of the best cake that she's ever had.

Lovelies (giveaway!)

Don't get me wrong...I love my jeans...but I'm starting to really love my skirts and dresses as well. So much that I've started buying some  in order to refurbish my jeans and t-shirt wardrobe. The "flowy" look is one that I'm starting to call my own. And along with my new style, I've started to look for some cute jewelry as well. That's why I was super excited when I found out that Rafya was going to giveaway some of her sweet jewelry on my blog.

She's offering readers a choice between three of her darling necklaces...

the Sahara Necklace

the Tamar Necklace

or the Little Bee Necklace

To enter, leave a comment telling which necklace you would choose if you won. For extra entries...

• Follow my blog
• blog about this giveaway (or facebook, tweet, etc...anything to spread the word! :))

Make sure to leave a new comment for each entry! The winner will be drawn at random next Friday...good luck, sweet friends! :-)