My Pictures!

Some pictures from my trip to Africa were posted on Baby Be Blessed's website for Too Cute...Tuesday!

Take a look:
http://babybeblessed.blogspot.com/2010/09/too-cutetuesday.html

Win This Lion From Baby Be Blessed!

Hello Ladies!

So I've never done this before, but I want to try and hit my $1,000 goal for shaving my head and I'm willing to try anything at least once, right?

I love Baby Be Blessed Dolls! And I have a lion that I think your child would love!



How cute is he?!

And here's what his belly says:
'For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.' Psalm 57:10

Want to know how you can win him?

Here's what you have to do:

1) Donate to my St. Baldricks page. Even if you just donate $1, you will be entered into the drawing! Think about it. These dolls run for $55 on Baby Be Blessed website and would take 12 weeks to get to you. You could win it for $1. Of course, I would love if you donated more, but I'll take $1! Even $1 could help solve childhood cancer.

https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/divinemrsd

2) Comment on this post with your name and your e-mail so I can contact you and I'll be able to see how much you donated by looking at the site.

I will choose the winner through random.org on Thursday, April 1st at 6pm. I will rush to post the doll to you so that you can enter a chance to win a $55 gift certificate on Baby Be Blessed website (information is here.)

Thank you so much for all of your help and good luck to you!!

It's Almost Time

It's almost the end of this month's Give A Blessing for Baby Be Blessed and little Malachi Stephen is at $600. We have two days left to get to the $1,000 goal.


How cute is that face?

I understand that everyone's been in your pockets (that's what my mom always says...especially around Christmas time). I don't mean to be in your pockets, but I know that this little boy deserves some love and his parents could use some help.

Here's what his parents have to say about his first few days of life:
Within the first couple days we learned that he had a tracehoesophageal fistula that needed repair; his heart defects consisted of aortic atresia, ASD/VSD, and he needed meds to keep his PDA open so blood would be sent from his heart to his body; and choanal atresia. He has reflux which will require a g-tube and problems handling thick secretions which will most likely need a tracheostomy so we can bypass his upper airway. A week or two after his admission to the children's hospital, he was given the clinical diagnosis of CHARGE. Since the initial diagnosis of CHARGE, we have also learned that he is most likely completely deaf, adequate vision is questionable as he has bilateral optic disk colobomas, and his MRI showed evidence that would suggest moderate to severe mental retardation. We definitely have our work cut out for us!

Malachi has since undergone his TEF repair, Norwood stage I modified repair with placement of a Sano shunt, choanal atresia repair, and a closed-heart surgery where they placed a secondary shunt to help with pulmonary blood flow of which he is now recovering. He has also had a brain MRI, head CT, numerous echocardiograms, and too many x-rays to count. He had been having trouble keeping his oxygen saturation levels above 60, but after this recent surgery, he seems to be doing better.

CHARGE, according to Wikipedia, is a syndrome caused by a genetic disorder. It was first described in 1979. In 1981, the term "CHARGE" came into use as an acronym for the set of unusual congenital features seen in a number of newborn children.[1] The letters stand for: Coloboma of the eye, Heart defects, Atresia of the nasal choanae, Retardation of growth and/or development, Genital and/or urinary abnormalities, and Ear abnormalities and deafness. These features are no longer used in making a diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome, but the name remains.

Maybe you can't afford to donate any money, could you please forward this along to someone who might? Or could you at least keep this little boy in your prayers? God is faithful and prayers are definitely a welcome currency.

Just know that Baby Be Blessed does offer a drawing for those who donate. (E-mail order.babybeblessed@gmail.com to send your ChipIn information. The money goes directly to the family)

This month, first place is their newest item:


A lion! Grrrrr.

Second prize gets a shirt from Wild Olive Tees. I'm kind of actually in love with these t-shirts. They're beautiful!


So if you could donate, that would be wonderful. If you know someone you think would be able to donate, that would be great too. And if you could please pray, I'm sure they would thank you a thousand times over.

Church Jokes and Paxton

Hey everyone!
How's it going? I was excited to find I had a new follower. So I checked out her blog and I was CRACKING UP! Heavenly Humor is great and you should look her up. I love some good jokes. Since it's been an eh kind of day, I thought I'd add some church jokes that I found too to cheer us all up (especially if it's as cloudy where you are as it is here).
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A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally, he took out his card and wrote on the back: Revelation 3:20 and stuck it in the door.

The next day, as he was counting the offering he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was the notation Genesis 3:10.

Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me."

Genesis 3:10 reads: "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked."
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(This is one of my favorite jokes.)

A southern minister was completing a temperance sermon. With great expression he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."

With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."

And then finally, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." Sermon complete, he then sat down.

The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn #365: 'Shall We Gather at the River'."

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Also, Paxton is halfway there!!!



Baby Paxton is as crazy/beautiful as his Ma Ma says! If you want to check out the story behind Baby Be Blessed's November Give A Blessing, you can click here (or there). If you'd like to hear how proud his Ma Ma is, click here!

I'm sure baby Paxton would TRULY appreciate your prayers too, so if you feel inclined to donate, thank you! If you feel inclined to pray, CAN I GET AN AMEN!!! :)

Friend-Makin' Mondays

WOOHOOO!!! This week's Friend-Makin' Monday is after my own heart.

Favorite winter recipes.

I actually don't have a recipe that's SPECIFICALLY what I like to make in the winter, but I do have a favorite cupcake recipe. They're called Car Bomb Cupcakes (or Irish-Guinness Cupcakes). I make them a lot. As you can see.





They're a little involved, but totally worth it. I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. LOVE Smitten Kitchen!!

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes

While the Guinness in the cake gets mostly baked out, the Baileys is fresh and potent, so if you’re making this for people who don’t drink — ahem, nobody I know, but I hear such people exist — you’ll probably want to swap it with milk.

The Baileys frosting recipe makes a smallish amount of frosting — enough to just cover the cupcakes. Because they were so rich and this frosting so sweet, I felt it only needed a little. Double it if you want more of a towering effect.

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling (Updated to double it, based on many commenters suggestions — thanks!)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes. [I used a star tip and made little "poofs" everywhere and sprinkled it with various colors of sanding sugar to keep it looking festive for New Years. I bet shaved dark and white chocolates would look gorgeous as well.]

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I thought I've given an update on Baby Paxton as well.

It appears that Baby Be Blessed now has almost $500 for him!! Almost there!!

If you would like updates on how he's doing, you can always follow his Ma Ma's blog, the Wild, Wild Wests.

If you want to follow the progress on the fundraising, check it right here!

Do You Believe In Fate?

I think I have a special dance going on with the idea of fate. I believe that we have free will, but that God puts things in our lives, which I equate to fate, but are probably not.

Last night, as I was coming out of the PATH station, I see that my husband is talking to a man who looks like he could be homeless. I try and give all people the benefit of the doubt and believe that they are telling me the truth. So he's talking to us and is telling us about himself (his name was Eddie) and about generosity in his life and how he wished that he had never come to America (he was Puerto Rican). We listened and he asked us for a ride to a hospital the next day.

Of all the things we do not own, we do not own a car. He asked us for the cab fare to get to a hospital in the morning instead (which was where he asked for the ride to).

We continued talking and the subject came up to God. I'm not sure how long we talked when it's all said and done, but it was maybe 20 minutes and it left my husband and I with a feeling...and I can't describe it really. But I know that, for me, it really made me look at myself and what I have and what loving our neighbor really means.

Have you seen the movie Dogma? In it, God comes down in human form to play skeeball. I know, I know! Weird. But it's one of my favorite movies. My husband said to me, could it be the Dogma idea? And this scripture just kind of popped into my head:

Don't forget to be kind to strangers.
For some who have done this
have entertained angels without realizing it.
Hebrews 13:2

On a somewhat related note...on the idea of loving a stranger, I guess.

This is Baby Paxton.



Baby Paxton had heart surgery at 4 DAYS old. I almost put months. It was DAYS and he's still struggling. Only half of his heart works at this point and he won't have a full functioning heart until he's two years old. BabyBeBlessed has chosen him as their Give A Blessing Recipient.

It's not entirely about money, but more about prayers and what you feel moved to give. If you feel moved to pray more than give money, that's amazing because God really uses prayer. But if you feel moved to donate, the goal is to get Baby Paxton $1,000 by the end of November.

If you'd like to read more of the story, visit Baby Be Blessed and click on 'Give A Blessing.' (There are a few links in that sentence too)

Here's the widget if you want to check the progress through the month:

Mr. Studson

Yes. I married that lovely man.

I tried my hand at making sushi, so we had to take pictures. Some of those pictures are priceless. But there's a reason for this picture...

HE SIGNED UP FOR MUSTACHES VS. CANCER!!!

I couldn't be more proud. But he said that if he looks like he's a pedophile or homeless for more than 2 weeks, it goes. But I'm hoping that people will donate and then he has to keep it. ;)

If you'd like to visit his page, it's this one: http://www.mustachesvscancer.org/index.php?task=profile&id=259

We'll have a better picture up tomorrow.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It's been a great weekend so far.

1) I won a doll from BabyBeBlessed! I have been obsessed...umm...in love with the dolls. I want to collect a few to take with when I go visit Vashti in South Africa. But this one is going to be for one of our sponsor children. She's adorable and I think she'd appreciate it.

2) I thought I lost my make-up, but I found it! I had a 'mini-meltdown' as Steve called it, but I found the make-up in my desk at work. I know. Don't ask!

3) We had a REALLY good dinner. I've been saving up to take Steve out for earning his CPA license and we went to Peter Luger's in Brooklyn. I think that was the BEST steak I've ever had. It was so good! If it didn't take me two months to save up for it, I'd want to go back immediately.

4) Today is Zombiewalk!! Steve's at work, so I'm doing my best to make him proud and am cleaning and DOING THE LAUNDRY WHILE I TYPE THIS!!! I never thought I'd be able to say that.

What about you? What are you up to this weekend?

A Nightmare

So I'm sitting on the floor of our now empty apartment and I'm exhausted. Moving has been a disaster. The movers showed up over 2 hours late, which, normally would be fine, but we could only move into our new building between 1 and 5pm. And the movers showed up at 2:30pm. Since I've had to take so much time off for weddings and such as of late, I decided that I should work and Steve would handle the move since that's what happened last time.

To say the least, the movers coming late, they were going to be late. My husband calls the apartment building (who we had to pay $600 to just MOVE our stuff in) and they say 5:30pm is the latest. It's 4pm when he gets that answer and...they still haven't moved the couch or our bed. My husband has to work with the people we've paid to move our stuff so that they can book it.

Now, I'm going to say this and I hope you believe me...but I'm not a person to just fly off the handle and send angry e-mails. I mean, there's only been once in my life that I've ever NOT tipped and I have never tipped under $5. But I was seeing more than red. I think I may have snapped a few synapses. It was actually for the best that I sent the angry e-mail because it got us two extra movers to help my husband at our apartment building. And the concierge took pity on my husband and let him move.

Kingsley gets an extra special Christmas present.

In a completely unrelated item, I think I'm going to drive both Children's Hope International and BabyBeBlessed Dolls insane. I know that God is trying to teach my patience and it's somewhat obvious that I pick and choose what to pay attention to. BUT there's a reason!! I really want to get some of my sponsored children (and non-sponsored children) BabyBeBlessed Dolls and you can win them on their blog!! So I keep e-mailing and stalking these people. I swear, I'm not trying to be creepy - I'm just excited!! And I had to make sure that I could buy things for my one sponsored child. But now I'm just waiting for my numbers and it's just KILLING ME!! Especially since I'm not sure if I'm going to have e-mail at our new place.

I'll have to send you pictures of our new place. It's incredible. :)

How are you guys doing? How's your day been?