tea time cookies

B made a delicious batch of cutout cookies the other day! she did all the work herself.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

2/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour


Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt and beat until combined. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer, then stir in remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Cover and chill dough for about 30 minutes, or until easy to handle.

Roll out dough on a floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time. Cut with floured cookie cutter and sprinkle with sugar (unless you plan to ice them). Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375* for 7-8 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.






everyday gift: tea parties and cookies with sugar sprinkles

black raspberry scones

are you beginning to think that i am a bit obsessed with my raspberries? wait until i add the pictures and you will not wonder why! oh, yum!

my grandma's rolling pin

fingers in the icing

Any-berry Scones

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter
8 ounces sour cream
1 egg yolk, beaten
3/4 cup frozen berries (frozen berries work best as they don't squish so much)

Stir together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in butter until it is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Stir together the sour cream and egg yolk. Add to the flour mixture and stir until combined. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead lightly until soft dough forms, pressing in frozen berries as you go. Pat into a 7" circle and cut into wedges. Place on a greased baking sheet 2" apart.

Bake at 400* for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

To make a glaze mix powdered sugar with a little cream and just a dash of almond extract. drizzle over scones while they are on the cooling rack.

thank you, kathleen, for sharing your recipe with me!

everyday gift: hot scones and coffee for breakfast

First Light ~ bodie and brock thoene

i just finished reading the first in this historical fiction series by bodie and brock thoene. it is a wonderful book, full of all that makes a great story: love, betrayal, drama, action, friendship, and sacrifice...but it also has truth. what a beautiful picture it gives of Jesus as he walked among us. oh, what it must have been like to live and see Jesus in the flesh; to see him heal; to hear him teach; to look upon him, and even more significantly, for Him to look upon me with eyes of divine love; to witness the dawning of the Son at First Light! also, it gave me a clearer understanding of the political climate that existed and the complex relationships between the ruling factions. the thoenes have created a book that is at once an historical book, meticulously researched, and a story with so much heart.

next i'll be reading Second Touch. already the prologue has grabbed me!

classics of faith ~ reading list

thank you to all who have answered my request for your favorite books which have influenced your faith! in the months to come i hope to work my way through many of these. i will be revisiting this post to update my progress. feel free to leave a comment adding your book suggestions!


The Pursuit of Holiness by jerry bridges
The Hiding Place by corrie ten boom
31 Days of Praise by ruth meyers (prayer; devotional)
Safely Home by randy alcorn (fiction)
Pilgram's Progress by john bunyan
The Imitation of Christ by thomas a kempis

recommended by mom:
Yet Will I Trust Him by peg rankin

recommended by marci:
A Chance to Die by elisabeth elliot (biography)
Stepping Heavenward by elizabeth prentiss

recommended by amy:
Mere Christianity by c.s. lewis

recommended by chris:
Hind's Feet on High Places by hannah hurnard (allegory)
Knowing God by j.i. packer

recommended by leslie:
Something More by catherine marshall
Believing God by beth moore
Israel, My Beloved by kay arthur (historical)
Destined for the Throne by paul e. billheimer
The Sacred Romance (and others) by john eldridge
Rees Howells, Intercessor by norman gruff (biography)
End of the Spear by steve saint (biography)
Secrets of the Vine by bruce wilkinson
My Utmost for His Highest by oswald chambers (devotional)

recommended by karla:
The Pursuit of God by a.w. tozer

recommended by barb:
If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat by john ortberg

recommended by ann @ holyexperience:
Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places by l.l. barkat

recommended by the girls @ fiveinarow:
The Shack by
The Ragamuffin Gospel by brennon manning
Desiring God (and others) by john piper
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by stacy mcdonald
anything by philip yancey
fiction books by isabella alden
The Practice of Godliness by jerry bridges
Becoming a woman of Prayer by cynthia heald
A Lineage of Grace series by francine rivers

around the farm

B balancing on the edge of my raised vegetable beds.

potato blossoms

i am growing potatoes for the first time this year. i can't wait to harvest them and give them it a try. it will be like digging for buried treasure!

mark captured this beautiful dragonfly with the camera the other day.

we have had so much fun watching the baby ground squirrels this year. there are at least 4, but it is hard to count them when they are popping in and out of holes around my gardens! S snapped this picture of one of the little guys munching a seed in my herb garden.

our feisty rooster...i don't remember ordering him, i think he was a wild card thrown in with our order from the hatchery this spring. anyway, he is beautiful and quite entertaining.

an old faithful layer!

everyday gift: simple pleasures around the farm

sweet sounds of summer

the wrens have taken up residence in one of our blue bird houses near the garden. they were singing to me yesterday while i was working. i tried to get a good picture of them, but they flit from fence post to fence post so quickly that i didn't do very well. oh well, i will have to be content with these inadequate snap shots to remember my pleasant summer mornings in the garden.

everyday gift: serenades of the house wren

black raspberries

yesterday...



today...

everyday gift: black raspberries