"O Taste and See that the Lord is good!" - Ps. 34:8

Monday, September 22, 2008

Our Birthday Cake Tradition!

It has been a tradition in our family for several years to make any style birthday cake the children want, starting when they turn three.  Paul and I have always done it together, and we try as much as possible to make almost everything edible.  With Josiah's birthday recently, I had expected to make his cake by myself, so I spent a lot of time mulling over his choice-- a jungle cake.  Then the Lord allowed Paul to be home for Josiah's birthday, so we once again had the joy of constructing a cake together! 
Eventually the kids are going to come up with an idea that goes beyond our cake-decorating ability, but so far, we have been able to have some great celebrations.  They really look forward to it!  They even talk about their next birthday cake choice all year long, sometimes starting the day after their birthday as we sit around the table eating leftover cake!
(To see some pictures of our past cakes, see the slideshow on the left-hand side of our blog entitled "Cakes, Cakes, and more Cakes!"  So far we've made a polar bear, a fire engine, a T-rex, a princess, a crocodile, a race car, a pink pig, a tank, a tiger, a princess castle, a globe, Mack from the movie "Cars", and the jungle cake shown above!)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Why chocolate syrup and cookie dough?

Why is our blog title "Chocolate Syrup and Cookie Dough"?

On the day Paul left for Iraq, I had to run to the store for a few things.  As I walked down the ice cream aisle, I realized that my husband was the one that usually bought the fun foods.  I tend to buy the sensible ones.  It struck me that life without him here was going to be a little like plain vanilla ice cream--still sweet, but not nearly so delectable!

When I got home, I told him about this revelation and then said to him, "You are my chocolate syrup."  Our son, Micah, thought that was so funny-- daddy being mommy's chocolate syrup!  From that conversation was born our blog title.  I love chocolate syrup, and Paul loves cookie dough.  We are trying with God's help to cherish the sweetness of each other even though we are so far apart!

A long silence....

It has been a long time since I added a post to this blog.  We had a busy summer and now we are settling back into our school routine.
Paul was home for three days this last week-- a huge blessing!  We celebrated Josiah's birthday and spent time together as a family.  What a great time to be together!
I will try to add posts more regularly now, along with pictures.  I am also planning on adding sections about Paul's traveling companion (a stuffed beagle named Scout) and all of the things the Lord is teaching us through this deployment!
May the Lord make His name very great!