Our twins turn 13!!

This has been a special week at our house.  Our twin daughters turned 13 on Saturday. That’s the age we decided marks the first real transition from girl to young lady in our family. My husband’s family all celebrated Bar Mitzvah’s or Bat Mitzvah’s, a beautiful Jewish tradition at age 13.  Since we are Christians and believe in the Old Testament, New Testament and the Grace of Christ, we decided our daughters would celebrate becoming “daughters of Grace,” “Bat Chanan,” with the similar expectation that each begins to put away childish things, prepares herself for the responsibilities of being a young woman and pursues her relationship with God.  Last Saturday our twins celebrated their 13th birthday.  They both had asked to be baptized.  This took place in the ocean here on Maui by their youth pastor.  Down on the beach they had a blessing in Hawaiian and my husband blessed them in Hebrew in addition to a Father’s Blessing in English followed by their water baptism.  We are so grateful to have the influence of our family and friends to surround our daughters with love, laughter, insight, faith and character building throughout their lives.  We asked 13 loved ones to contribute to this milestone birthday by writing a letter to our daughters on specific topics that would speak blessing, wisdom and guidance into their lives.  These 13 letters were a huge surprise!  We’ve made the letters into a keepsake book for each daughter.  We are so thankful to all who’ve contributed to making this 13th birthday have deep meaning and help

 to create a beautiful memory for our daughters to cherish forever.  Our hearts are full. Mathew 28:19

Happy 4th of July

Family, food and fun on this Fourth of July! Wishing you all a blessed day~ 

Bday#27: 27 Dresses Love Notes Blessings

Brittany's 27th bday

It's hard to believe my daughter is 27 years old today. It seems not so long ago I was waiting around in L&D for her to make her arrival. She was after all 3 weeks late and we were eager to meet her. She's always been on her own time schedule a gift given to her from God himself. She has brought so much love, laughter and worry into my life and sculpted my path of motherhood with feelings that can't be placed into words. There's a feeling that can only be felt inside your spirit of that deep rooted kind of love for your child that God placed inside mothers. It's a blessing that never expires. I know this feeling because of her, my beautiful, smart, wonderful girl.  Happy Birthday Brittany! Today we celebrate you!!

A birthday surprise for my daughter who turned 27 today~

27 love notes and blessings given to her around the city. Each stop representing purpose and meaning for her future.  Stop#1 The Legion of Honor for "thinking, wisdom and knowledge is power." Stop#2 Golden Gate Bridge for remembering the importance of creating bridges in relationships. Stop#3 Kuletto's Restaurant for realizing that what you put into your life is what comes out. Making healthy choices gives you nourishment for life. Stop#4 The Palace of Fine Arts because the "finer" things in life are things you can not buy. It's the things you feel in your spirit that matter the most! God planned it that way~

The Legion of Honor~

Golden Gate Bridge~

Kuletto's~

The Palace of Fine Arts~

My first born daughter! What a blessing she has been in my life. I love you sweet girl~

Grace Trumps Frienemy

Teaching my girls about friendships I tell them to be the kind of friend you want to have... I'm so thankful for true friends in my life I can trust, that come alongside, cover me in prayer, share their time, speak the truth, blesses me with their encouragement, celebrates my joy, inspires me to move past my roadblocks, accepts my weaknesses, and live authentic lives. Truly touches my heart. True friends are there for the good, bad and sometimes ugly parts of life and always hold dear the value placed on trust. Thankful that I know Grace trumps a frienemy.

Peanut-Butter Pie with Golden Oreo Crust

Peanut-Butter Pie with Golden Oreo Crust:
Trying to fatten our daughter up is not an easy task. At age 12 she's growing taller at warp speed and her Grace Kelly neck accentuates her much too thin frame. Anorexia is not our problem but rather a rare form of a variant migraine attacking her stomach...Abdominal Migraine. Certain foods trigger gut wrenching vomiting anywhere from 2-9 hours! Thankfully we are close to Children's Hospital where the head of Neurology has experience with this rare condition. He has been such a gift to us through this journey the last 3 years. Thankfully we haven't had an episode since August! Thank you Jesus. However she is looking too thin and my goal to keep her healthy is front and center every day! So trying to work with what she can eat and make it something she wants to eat I tried something new and it was a huge hit for our entire family! Can I get a whoop whoop?!
Peanut-Butter Pie with Golden Oreo Crust!
25 Golden Oreo Cookies pulsed in food processor
Melt 1/2 stick butter pulse into cookie mixture
Press into pie dish
Bake 7 minutes @ 375
Let cool completely
Meanwhile mix together
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 8oz cream cheese
1 large tub Cool Whip
Spoon into pie dish and chill 30 minutes
Crumble a few Oreos on top for some added prettiness!
(We actually didn't wait and ate it right out of the bowl!) So good!
Note: it is pretty rich if you use 2 cups of peanut butter. Maybe a dollop of additional cool whip on top would be nice too! Enjoy~

Baked French Toast

Weekend breakfast made easy~
{Baked French toast}
2 small loaves French bread cubed up
8 eggs, beaten
2 cups Half and Half
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 generous teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
salt~just a dash

Topping:
1 cup butter, softened, 1 cup light brown sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup chopped pecans, 2 tablespoons corn syrup and ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Butter a 9×13 pan lightly. Arrange bread in pan. Beat all other ingredients together and pour over top of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Mix together all topping ingredients (these can set in refrigerator over night as well...note...topping will firm up from fridge...spoon it out like shavings or let it come to room temp to drizzle). When ready to bake, crumble, drizzle or spoon out the topping ingredients over the soaked bread. Bake in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes until topping is browned and knife inserted in center is clean. Enjoy~

Hello Twenty Thirteen

Showing love with actions and words are some of life's greatest gifts to give and receive. Two thousand twelve brought many unexpected treasured moments that touched my heart deeply. It also brought a few unpleasant situations that taught me valuable lessons. As I make my New Years resolutions with the excitement of a brand new year, I'd like to start off twenty thirteen by wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year!