Tasty Christmas Bites: Candy Bark

By Beth V

For the next few weeks, I’d like to feature some of my favorite Christmas recipes that are likely to be found on my own table and the tables of my sisters as we come together to celebrate Christ‘s birth. A few Christmases ago, just after my Dad passed away suddenly, I was understandably struck with a greater appreciation for the brevity of life. I created a memory book of family recipes with pictures from our childhood Christmases, photographs of recipes written out by mother’s hand over the years, recipes that my mom and her sisters brought to those family gatherings and new ones that I and my sisters and sister-in-law (and brother!) have added to the collection.  I gave one to each of my siblings and my mom as a Christmas gift that year. This recipe comes from this cookbook - The Family Cookbook, as we have come to call it - contributed by my sister, Bonnie. I love this bark recipe. It is amazingly simple, easy and inexpensive and  it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare. For such a small investment of time and money, the deliciousness factor of this recipe is out of this world.

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OCC Shoe Box Impact Stories: Costa Rica (Part 2)

In Lluvias de Bendicion Sarchi, there is an 11-year-old boy called David Perez Jimenez. David had been asking God for a kite. Just before opening his box, he turned to his mother and said, "I bet this is my kite." He opened his box and there inside, was his kite.

[Editor's Note: During this week of Thanksgiving I thought it would be nice to share some stories from kids and their families receiving shoe boxes from Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. My friend Stacey Wilson from SP OCC, who has written for this blog before, was kind enough to send them to me. Even though last week was the official collection week for the shoe boxes, the organization collects and delivers them all year long. I want to encourage you to keep Samaritan's Purse, as well as all the children who receive these boxes in your prayers. That children all around the world will be led to the feet of Christ, one shoe box at a time.]

Every Day Life: Thanksgiving

By Lara

Several years ago, my mother approached me regarding our family tradition of Thanksgiving. She felt that Thanksgiving hadn't felt festive since my grandfather died. I agreed with her. She asked me for suggestions for making a more festive holiday. I set to work immediately.

I spent some time thinking about what we used to do to make Thanksgiving festive during my elementary school years. I remember dressing up as a pilgrim. I remember shaking a jar of cream for 6 hours trying to make butter. I remember making turkeys out of hand prints. I remember making maracas out of dried seeds, brown paper, and popsicle sticks. However, I do not remember any Thanksgiving SONGS. I had thought that "Over the River and Through the Woods" was a Thanksgiving song (probably because of the pumpkin pie reference), but I was mistaken. It's a Christmas song.

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OCC Shoe Box Impact Stories: Columbia

A little girl with end-stage leukemia opened her shoe box and found a hat that she needed because she didn’t have any more hair. We were surprised on how God give each child what he or she needs. Only God knows what our needs are.

[Editor's Note: During this week of Thanksgiving I thought it would be nice to share some stories from kids and their families receiving shoe boxes from Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. My friend Stacey Wilson from SP OCC, who has written for this blog before, was kind enough to send them to me. Even though last week was the official collection week for the shoe boxes, the organization collects and delivers them all year long. I want to encourage you to keep Samaritan's Purse, as well as all the children who receive these boxes in your prayers. That children all around the world will be led to the feet of Christ, one shoe box at a time.]

Boot Camp Conversion

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

I can’t walk. Or climb stairs. Or bend to pick a shred of lint off the carpet. Or apply deodorant without groaning audibly.

Don’t be alarmed. I brought this misery upon myself.

Last Saturday morning I enrolled in my first-ever session of Boot Camp. The name, of course, should have been the first hint, but I figured I could handle it. I’m a runner right? How hard can “Boot Camp” be?

Yeah. Pretty hard. Especially when the instructor is the son of Satan. Seriously. Combine medicine ball thrusts, squats, lunges, jump roping, running, push-ups and the plank with suicide sprints, bicep curls with resistance bands and  “burpees” (don’t ask), and then– if you’re me – when it’s all over return home and paint your entire bedroom. Not just a touch-up job, mind you – I painted the entire bedroom, on a ladder, with a roller…after Boot Camp.

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