Being a doer!

 "This you know, my beloved brethren.But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls, But prove yourselves doers of the word,  and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man 's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:19-27

 I am so enjoying reading through the book of James right now. This section of verses is so inspiring and encouraging. I love the balance that it has in it. It reminds me that I want to dig down deep in God's word and learn everything that I can but then I want to do what it says! And part of what it says is to help those that need help (and this is truly on my heart!) and then to strive for purity- to not be stained by the sin that is in this world.

These verses challenged me. I hope you are encouraged and challenged by them as well!

Being a doer!

 "This you know, my beloved brethren.But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls, But prove yourselves doers of the word,  and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man 's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:19-27

 I am so enjoying reading through the book of James right now. This section of verses is so inspiring and encouraging. I love the balance that it has in it. It reminds me that I want to dig down deep in God's word and learn everything that I can but then I want to do what it says! And part of what it says is to help those that need help (and this is truly on my heart!) and then to strive for purity- to not be stained by the sin that is in this world.

These verses challenged me. I hope you are encouraged and challenged by them as well!

Peach Gingerbread Upside Down Cake

I was looking through the chest freezer the other day and saw a few bags of peaches from last summer. This peach gingerbread proved to be a delicious way to use some of last year's local peaches. The peaches are baked in the bottom of the pan but you flip the cake over before serving. The spicy gingerbread was the perfect complement to the sweet peaches...a match made in heaven!

Peach Gingerbread Upside Down Cake (adapted from this recipe from King Arthur.com)

Topping
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. water
4 cups peeled, pitted, sliced fresh peaches or frozen peaches that have been thawed and drained

Cake
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup molasses
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
1/2 cup buttermilk (or almond milk with 1 tsp. vinegar)

Preheat the oven to 350*. Lightly grease a 9" square cake pan.

To make the topping, stir together melted butter, water, and sugar. Mix together with the peaches and layer the peaches in the bottom of the prepared pan. Try to arrange them in an even layer.

To make the cake: Beat butter, sugar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt together until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in molasses. Gently mix in the flour, then the buttermilk. Spoon the thick batter over the peaches gently in an even layer. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove it from the oven, wait 1 minute, then invert it onto a serving platter. As an alternative, you can keep the cake in the pan and flip over each piece of cake as you're ready to serve it.

Yield: ~16 servings

Warm Winter Days

 We have had a lot of below zero temperatures around here lately and so it was quite a treat when it got up to around 30 degrees yesterday. The boys spent hours outside playing and shoveling off our deck. They decided that coats weren't even needed for the warm weather we were having!

 The decided to turn our deck stairs into a sledding/ skiing hill. We don't have much in the way of hills so this has been fun for them. They also decided to try to make a half pipe for skiing on. They didn't quite get it done so they decided they had a quarter pipe.

 Mara had started to make a family of snowmen a couple of months ago. She didn't get heads on them though and then the next day we didn't have sticky snow anymore as it had gotten too cold. Yesterday we finally had sticky snow again so Mara and I quickly put heads on the snowman family. I think they appreciated it!

 How is your winter going? It seems like much of the nation is getting cold and snow. I hope you are having fun with it too!

Warm Winter Days

 We have had a lot of below zero temperatures around here lately and so it was quite a treat when it got up to around 30 degrees yesterday. The boys spent hours outside playing and shoveling off our deck. They decided that coats weren't even needed for the warm weather we were having!

 The decided to turn our deck stairs into a sledding/ skiing hill. We don't have much in the way of hills so this has been fun for them. They also decided to try to make a half pipe for skiing on. They didn't quite get it done so they decided they had a quarter pipe.

 Mara had started to make a family of snowmen a couple of months ago. She didn't get heads on them though and then the next day we didn't have sticky snow anymore as it had gotten too cold. Yesterday we finally had sticky snow again so Mara and I quickly put heads on the snowman family. I think they appreciated it!

 How is your winter going? It seems like much of the nation is getting cold and snow. I hope you are having fun with it too!