Sharing Songs for Easter...part three

I didn't get a chance to post my song for Friday, so I'm going to do that now.

I mentioned before how much I like the group Casting Crowns. Well, on that CD I bought, there was another song that I thought was fitting for the Easter season. This song is called "Glorious Day".  It was a Glorious Day when Jesus rose from the grave, and it will be an even more Glorious Day when He returns to take us Home!

Glorious Day by Casting Crowns

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises

One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed


Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day


One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day


One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine


Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

Sharing Songs for Easter....part two

I am a fan of the group Casting Crowns and recently bought their newest CD. Granted, this CD has been out for a while.  Track #11 is a song called Blessed Redeemer.  I did some research and discovered this song was originally written in 1920 by a lady named Avis M. Christiansen.

Blessed Redeemer
Up Calvary's mountain one dreadful morn
Walked Christ my Savior, weary and worn
Facing for sinners, death on the cross
That He might save them from endless loss


Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree
Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading
Blind and unheeding, dying for me


"Father, forgive them," my Savior prayed
Even while His lifeblood flowed fast away
Praying for sinners while in such woe
No one but Jesus ever loved so


Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree
Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading
Blind and unheeding, dying for me
Dying for me


Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree
Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading
Blind and unheeding, dying for me


Oh, how I love Him, Savior and Friend
How can my praises ever find end?
Through years unnumbered on Heaven's shore
My songs shall praise Him forevermore


Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree
Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading
Blind and unheeding, dying for me


Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree
Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading
Blind and unheeding, dying for me


Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him....

Sharing Songs for Easter.....part one

This Sunday is Easter Sunday.....Resurrection Sunday.  I am so excited to worship with my church family about the fact that Jesus conquered death when He rose from the grave.

So in the next few days to come, I plan to share some of my favorite songs that mean a lot to me, but especially at this time of year.
The song I want to share today is "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin.

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"


Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead


And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees


And rise


I will rise


There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes


Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead


And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise


I will rise


And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"


And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise


I will rise

"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."   1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17

Step Challenge: Week Two Stats

The second week of my Step Challenge did not go as well as my first.  I'll be honest and say that a few evenings I got lazy. Partly because there were 3 out of 5 days at school I was in meetings until at least 4:30, one day until 5. By the time I picked up Quinn, got home, cooked supper and cleaned up, I was honestly ready to SIT down for a while, and the last thing I felt like doing was more steps!  Unfortunately, between that and SITTING in those meetings, I did not get as many steps. Oh well.

For those who want to help keep me accountable, here's my stats from last week.

Monday: 10,604 steps

Tuesday: 8,968 steps  (meeting until 5pm)

Wednesday: 8,193 steps  (meeting before school AND a meeting after school until 4:30)

Thursday: 9,564 steps  (parent conference after school)

Friday: 9301 steps

Saturday: 10, 464 steps  (yay for Easter Egg hunt to get my steps caught up...plus I did some Wii games!)

Sunday: 9512 steps

Weekly Total: 66, 586 steps

Divide by 2000 to get mileage : 33.29 miles

Some of you may say...why are you upset....this is more steps and more miles than last week.
Last week the challenge started on Tuesday, so I didn't have a Monday to use like I did this time.

I just hope all the other people participating are "playing fair".  Yes there is a pot of money on the line, but it's not worth cheating over.  We are adults after all.

"Try a Cake Pop....it will change your life!"

That's what I was told this past Christmas at our family's gathering when I asked what a cake pop was. My aunt had made them for a couple of years, but I had somehow missed out on this wonderful treat. I of course tried one and instantly fell in love with a cake pop!

Fast foward to last month when it seems like all of a sudden, everywhere I went people were talking about cake pop this and cake pop that. I finally asked my aunt to share with me the wonderfulness that is cake-pop-making. She sent me some pretty simple instructions that made me feel confident. She also sent me to this cake pop website which made me feel like I should be in the remedial cake pop class. I quickly closed that website, went back to my aunt's instructions, and the rest was easy-peasy! 

Here is my simple way of making cake pops. Enjoy!
(These instructions are the ones I used from my dear, sweet Aunt Louanne!)

First get a box cake mix...any flavor you want. And bake it per the instructions on the box. It doesn't have to look good because you are just going to crumble it up later.

Pour it into any size pan/pans that you have. I used my 9x13 pan, but you could use anything. Like I said, we are just going to crumble it, so it doesn't matter if you cook this in one pan or ten! 

Once you are done baking your cake, let it cool COMPLETELY! I baked my cake while Quinn was napping. I didn't do the rest of the steps until after supper.

Next you want to add 1/2 to 2/3 of a can of frosting to your cake. You would want to choose a complimentary frosting flavor. For example, I made a strawberry cake, so I chose a vanilla frosting. I wanted cream cheese, but they were out of that one. Using your hands (because a spoon just doesn't do the job) you want to mix the cake crumbles and the icing. You are about to get M E S S Y, but it's totally worth it. Mix it all up until it looks like the picture below.



Next you want to lay a strip of wax paper onto a cookie sheet. Then take the cake mixture and begin to shape it into small balls. I would say mine were about 1 inch in diameter.



 Then you want to add your sticks. I used the sucker sticks from Walmart. These are found in the same section with candy molds, wedding supplies, etc. I bought the long ones and had Buddy cut them in half for me. Next time, I will look for shorter sticks. After you put the sticks in, take the cake balls and put them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. My aunt leaves them in overnight. I did 30 minutes, but I think I should have left them longer, as some of the sticks didn't stay put.

You will also need some candy melts (also found in that same section of Walmart.)  I used the white chocolate melts, but there are a variety of colors. I have heard that using food coloring isn't the best way to change colors as the consistency messes up. Apparently you should either mix the colors of chocolate melts or by the small color melts to change the color. (I've heard those are sold at stores like AC Moore).

You need to melt this according to the package direction, but buy more than you think you will need, so when you dip the cake balls, they go completely under. Mine did not, so that's why you can see the cake showing through.

Dip your cake pops while the chocolate is completely melted and still warm. As soon as you pull them out, roll them in sprinkles, candy pieces, cookie pieces, etc. I used blue sprinkles, yellow sprinkles, and some just plain.  Also lay another strip of wax paper on your counter. Set the cake pops on this, and the chocolate coating will harden in a few minutes.

Meet the cake pops!



Things I learned during my first attempt:

1. Buy shorter sticks....or even use thick toothpicks.

2. Let them stay in the freezer longer, as some of my cake pops lost their sticks.

3. Use a deeper bowl so the cake pop is completely submerged in the chocolate.

I really enjoyed making these. It was a really easy process, although I can see things I will do differently next time.

Thank you Aunt Louanne for "changing my life"!!

Step Challenge: Week 1 Stats

My blog friend Beth suggested I post my steps on the blog for each week, so here you go.

The step challenge started on Tuesday. I had 10,515 steps.

Wednesday: 11,529 steps

Thursday: 10,624 steps

Friday: 11,087 steps

Saturday: 9,444 steps.  (You would think Saturday would have more steps than during the week, but I had a lot of laundry to catch up on, and then in the evening, we had some bad storms roll through, so there went the after-dinner walk.)

Sunday: 7,538  steps  (Not as happy with this number either. Hard to get steps in while you are seated in the pew at church for a couple of hours.And I'll be honest...for those of you who know me...Sundays are hard days for me right now, anyway.)

That is a total of 60,737 steps. We were told to divide by 2000 to indicate the number of miles. So my total mileage last week was 30.3 miles!
So there you go...my stats for week one of the Step Challenge.

School Step Challenge

**This was originally written earlier this week, but I had some issues with publishing.....**

The PE teacher at my school had another cool idea this year. And this one did not involve duct tape!

She won a grant that she applied for that allowed her to get several really nice pedometers to use with students. But before she lets the kids use them, she asked teachers to compete in a step challenge.

For the next 4 weeks, there are about 20 or so us who are wearing pedometers from the minute we get up until the minute we go to bed. We are recording our steps each day and then adding them up for the week. At the end of the week we convert our steps to miles. At the end of the 4 weeks, the teacher who took the most steps wins.....bragging rights, plus a small pot of money! We each pitched in $5 to compete. I can't remember how many are in this challenge, but I know the pot is over $100!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day of the challenge. I had to spend the day home from school with Quinn who was feeling a little under the weather. I managed to get in 10,515 steps though! We did have to run an errand in the afternoon and then went for a walk around the block after supper. I'm not to that number yet today, but there is still time.

I have also started using our Wii game unit again. I have the Wii Fit Plus and board, and Buddy got me the Biggest Loser game for Christmas. Here's hoping between these two games combined with the Step Challenge, I can even drop a few pounds. The numbers have definitely gotten to a point where I am frustrated with myself, so any time the scale goes down is a good thing.

If you know me in real life, I ask you to ask me about my steps. I would appreciate the encouragement and accountability!