I Surrender All...

I absolutely LOVE this song by Clay Crosse. I will post the lyrics under the video for you. This song means so much to me. It is so powerful.

I Surrender All lyrics

I have wrestled in the darkness of this lonely pilgrim land
Raising strong and mighty fortresses that I alone command
But these castles I've constructed by the strength of my own hand
Are just temporary kingdoms on foundations made of sand

In the middle of the battle I beleive I've finally found
I'll never know the thrill of victory 'til I'm willing to lay down
All my weapons of defense and earthly strategies of war
So I'm laying down my arms and running helplessly to Yours

I surrender all my silent hopes and dreams
Though the price to follow costs me everything
I surrender all my human soul desires
If sacrafice requires
That all my kingdoms fall
I surrender all

If the source of my ambition is the treasure I obtain
If I measure my successes on a scale of earthly gain
If the focus of my vision is the status I attain
My accomplishments are worthless and my efforts are in vain

So I lay aside these trophies to pursue a higher crown
And should You choose somehow to use the life I willingly lay
down
I surrender all the triumph for it's only by Your grace
I relinquish all the glory, I surrender all the praise

Everything I am, all I've done, and all I've known
Now belongs to You, the life I live is not my own
Just as Abraham laid Isaac on the sacraficial fire
If all I have is all that You desire
I surrender all

Love,
Wendy Darling

BEE Update...

Well, today has been a day, let me tell you. Last night we thought the bees had all flown away. We thought they had found their new home, and had gone to build their little bee kingdom, perhaps in a hollow tree. But, that was not to be; or "bee" if you will. :-) (See, even in times like these I still try to have a sense of humor)

Anyway, yesterday we called a man that was recommended to us. I will refer to him as "the bee keeper." He came over today, and I said, " We think they have flown away, but man you should have seen the pictures we took!" He said, "I would love to see the pictures. May I?" So, I invited him in and took him out back to show him where the bees "were".

OH MY GOODNESS, y'all. The bees are not gone, they just moved under the roof of our house. :-( The "guards" were busy flying around the hole in the roof, which is apparently their new doorway. Turns out that we were not their "stop off point between homes", but their destination. :-(

The "Bee Keeper" then showed me pictures he had of other homes who have suffered the same fate. NOT PRETTY! Let me just say that the photos I posted yesterday are NOTHING compared to what I saw in his photos. Based on the photos I showed him he estimates we have between 20, 000- 30, 000 bees.

So, I asked, "Can you remove them, and how much will you charge?" His reply, "Yes, and about $100." SOLD. We want the bees gone.

At his encouragement I did research bee removal in the area to see how much other people charge, and believe me when I tell you that we are getting a HUGE deal. Mostly because the others would have to come from a far distance and the gas alone would come to more than $100, so we are not complaining. We just want the bees GONE.

Love,
Wendy Darling

BEES...

Yesterday we had a really weird thing happen at our house. Let me explain. During lunch yesterday I looked out the window and noticed there was a group of "something" flying around outside. Upon closer inspection my sister determined it was a group of bees.

My brother decided to investigate and came back for the camera. THIS is what was "swarming" around one corner of our house.


Yes, Internet friends, that is a large colony of honey bees. We have been told that honey bees will often congregate in one place when they are moving to a new hive. While the scouts are looking for a new place, the queen and worker bees stay together. Why on earth they have chosen this one particular corner of our home we have no clue. From what we have learned this usually ends in about 24 hours. It has been over 24 hours, and we are ready for them to move on.

I took the bottom photo out our back door about 30 minutes ago.

I was given the names of two people in our area who keep bees, and I have called them to see if they will come and get them. I am waiting for a call back.

Has anyone else ever had this happen to them? If so, what did you do? I would really like to know, because I am starting to feel like I am in one of those really cheesy old horror movies.

Love,
Wendy Darling

I am a VERY rich woman!!

In the last few days I have won hundreds of thousands of dollars, several trips and several nice cars. I am rich!!

Or... I would be if I was, you know, actually playing the games on the game shows I was watching.

Little Mark is still visiting his Mom in Dallas. Since I can't "get away" for a much needed break I have just done the best I could to relax. For about a week I have been trying to not do too much that required actually thinking. Other than my Bible Study in the morning, I have tried to only use the required number of brain cells to do housework and still function at a normal capacity. My taste in TV shows has changed, and I really don't care to watch a lot of the shows I used to enjoy.

We won't even go into the whole "Jericho" being canceled thing...

Anyway, for true enjoyment that does not require much brain power I watch TV game shows. Yes folks, my life has sunk to watching GSN...

My favorites are Family Feud, old episodes of Card Sharks, and Match Game; Lingo, Wheel of Fortune and my new favorite Bingo. Yes, Patrick Duffy is one sexy man as he reads those questions. :-) Also, it is amazing at just how much useless knowledge I have floating around in my head.

My family keeps saying, "We have got to get you on a game show. We could win lots of money." That's mighty nice of you for the thinking so, but there are a few things wrong with that plan. 1) We can't afford the air fare. 2) When did you ever see a "plus size" contestant on Lingo? and 3) I would probably freeze if I actually got on the shows.

So, I will just be satisfied with sitting in front of my TV "winning" the prizes that will never be delivered, but just think of how much air fare/gas we saved by me not actually going. :-)

Love,
Wendy Darling

The child, she is honest... ;-)

"Angel" came to visit me yesterday. She had her little closing program from pre-school. It was very cute, and her Mom even managed to get her into a dress rather than a Spiderman shirt and jeans. :-) She was so precious singing her little song about the months of the year and something about a marching dinosaur. :-)

She asked her mom if she could go to Aunt Wendy's house for a little while. So, she came over and ate lunch. She then begged to help me make some cookies.

OK, so she actually begged to get on the computer to play "WOW WOW Wubbzie", which I suspect is the whole reason she wanted to visit. :-) After about 30 minutes on the computer I decided she had enough and I quickly came up with the idea of making cookies to distract her.

When in doubt, bake. :-)

I pulled out my recipe book and looked for the recipe that had a lot of ingredients she could put in. I decided on "Ranger Cookies", because a lot of the measurements do not have to be EXACT, and what child would not want to crunch up Corn Flakes in a Ziploc bag? :-)

I pulled out all of the ingredients and asked "Angel" if she would do me a big favor and come crush the cereal for me. She was very happy to oblige. She then helped put all of the other inside, tasting the cereal and coconut before putting it in. She really liked the coconut. :-)

She also liked the dough, because it is one of those that you have to mix with your hands after a while, and then roll into balls.

After the first batch came out we tried our cookies and she exclaimed happily, "Aunt Wendy, you make the bestest cookies and cakes in the whole wide world. I love your cookies!"

Man, did that make me feel good! :-) I know I'm not the best baker in the world, but it is nice to have someone think so. Even if they are 4 years old.

As we all know a 4 year old will tell you truth, whether you want to hear or not. ;-)

I did tell her that she was also a very good cookie baker, because she helped make those cookies. You should have seen her little face beam. :-) I love when children get that "beam" after being told they did a good job. :-) Little Mark still gets that beam too. :-)

So, we bagged up a few for her take home to share with the family, and tell them all how she made the best cookies in the world.

Here is the recipe, just in case you and the kiddos would like to bake some this weekend. :-)

RANGER COOKIES

1/2 C Shortening
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C Cornflakes (crushed)
1/2 C coconut or pecans
1 egg (beaten)
1 t vanilla
1 C flour (sifted)
1t baking powder
1 C Quick Oats

Cream together shortening and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Add a little at a time to the wet mixture, mixing well between each addition. Add the oats and coconut (or pecans). The dough will be very dry. (This is the part where we mixed with our hands.)

Roll dough into balls and press to flatten a little. Press onto a greased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper) and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. ENJOY!

Love,
Wendy Darling

Soldier's Angels needs help...

I know that I have posted about Soldier's Angels before, but I wanted to mention them again today. Right now there are almost 1000 soldiers waiting to be adopted through this organization.

I know that times are tight for everyone right now, but these are the people who put their life on the line for us everyday. If you can adopt even one soldier that will help them so much. All they want are letters, and occasionally packages. They just want to know that we still care. Hearing their name called at mail call boosts their moral so much.

If you can help, please visit this website http://www.soldiersangelsforum.com and sign up. You will be so glad that you did. :-)

And, this weekend let's remember all of the men and women who gave their lives so that we are free today. Have a safe weekend everyone.

Love,
Wendy Darling

We are praying for them...

This was taken directly from the Steven Curtis Chapman website.


MARIA SUE CHAPMAN, DAUGHTER OF STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, DIES IN ACCIDENT AT FAMILY HOME

NASHVILLE, TN...5/21/08... At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

Love,
Wendy Darling

Prince Caspian Review...(may contain spoilers)

I will try very hard to not contain any spoilers for those of you who want to see the movie. :-)
Also, please keep in mind that this is MY opinion. I am not a "professional" movie reviewer; I just know what I like...

Unfortunately, I didn't like this movie; which is sad because I looked forward to it for so long. "Little Mark" and I are reading the books together, and we so enjoyed "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" that I had high hopes for "Prince Caspian."

First, if you have read the book then you will notice A LOT of changes in the movie. A LOT.
Because of these changes I found the movie 1) rushed in parts, 2) totally resenting the "conflict" they created between Peter and Caspian, and 3) most of the symbolism from the book was totally cut out/lost in the movie. 4) A lot that the book explained was completely left out of the movie, therefore causing a lot of confusion, 5) they added so MUCH that was not in the book that it totally changed the story for me, and not in a good way. :-(

Although I liked the acting. The actors portraying the Pevensie children did a great job; just as they did in the first one. Ben Barnes did a great job portraying Prince Caspian and Peter Dinklage made a great Trumpkin.

I also could have done without the whole "romance thing" they tried to create between Susan and Caspian. There was many more changes that I didn't like, but I am restraining myself from listing them here, because I do not want to add anymore "spoilers" for those who have not seen the movie.

I promised "Little Mark" I would take him to see it, since we did read the book. However, we will need to have a talk about "creative licensing", and then I will let him form his own opinion. I look forward to hearing what he has to say.

We are planning to take the nephews to the drive-in to see it next weekend. If nothing else, they will get the drive-in movie experience. :-)

SO, did you see the movie? What did you think? I would love to read your opinions in the comment section.

Love,
Wendy Darling

Guess what I am going to see tomorrow night? :-)



I'll give you my review after I see it.
Love,
Wendy Darling

I am back/and a recipe

Hello friends. :-) I know I have not been posting regularly, I am sorry. The short, vague explanation is that the "crisis that tested our families faith to the very core" mentioned in this post is FINALLY over. I would also like to report that God was indeed glorified, and we are all stronger in our faith for having gone through it. PRAISE HIM!!

Perhaps one day I may give you the whole story and share how God was glorified, but it is not just MY STORY to tell, so I will have to wait until most parties involved are OK with me sharing it.

NOW, the recipe.

I don't usually participate in "Saturday Stirrings" but since I needed something to blog about I thought I would share this wonderful recipe with you. :-)

We got this from the "Kraft: Food and Family Magazine" last month. If you are not familiar with this magazine please visit them here, and sign up to receive this free magazine. They really are full of great recipes y'all.

Anyway, on with the recipe. This is an awesome recipe. Little Mark LOVED them. He ate 4 that night at dinner. FOUR! Even after he declared "that looks nasty; I'm not eating it." Yeah, bud, try saying that with your mouth full of tuna cake. :-) Before posting the recipe let me just say that when we made it we doubled the recipe and only made half of the recipe for dinner that night, and then the rest at lunch the next day. It worked wonderfully. :-)

TUNA CAKES
prep time: 10 minutes Total: 26 minutes, including refrigerating.

2 cans (6 oz each) of light tuna in water, drained and flaked
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top stuffing mix for chicken. (we used the "off-brand" cornbread stuffing and it worked just fine.)
1 C Kraft shredded mild cheddar cheese
1/2 C shredded carrots
1/3 C Kraft Mayo Real Mayonnaise
2 Tbl. Sweet Pickle Relish
3/4 C water

Mix the tuna, stuffing mix, cheese, carrots, dressing, relish and water in a bowl. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Heat a large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Scoop tuna mixture, using about 1/3 C for each cake, into skillet in batches. Try using an ice cream scoop to make evenly portion batches. (We did and it worked great!)
Gently flatten cakes using a spatula. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown on both sides, turning cakes over carefully. Makes 6 servings, 2 tuna cakes each.

I am sorry that there aren't any photos this time, but believe me when I tell you that these are AMAZING, and healthy. :-) Enjoy!

Love,
Wendy Darling

Acappella...

Back in '93 Acappella did a concert at our college. They were, in a word, AWESOME. :-)
I know that these are not the same guys that performed back then, but it is the same group, and they stills sound AWESOME! :-) This is a song that they performed at that concert.

Enjoy!!




Love,
Wendy Darling

Video...

I know I have shared about the movie "Fireproof" before, but they just released a video with one of the songs from the movie and I really wanted to share it with you. It looks like it is going a great soundtrack, just like "Facing the Giants". :-) Enjoy.






Love,
Wendy Darling

I just had to share....

...this guy with you. :-) Adam Paul Williams did a mini concert at our church last night. OH MY GOODNESS, y'all. He has definitely been blessed with a voice! Even "Little Mark" liked him, and we purchased his new CD, "Something New." This is the same "guest speaker" mentioned in yesterday's post. :-)

If you visit his myspace page then you can here some of the songs on the album. I absolutely love the song he sang before the Lord's Supper yesterday. It's called "We Sing Jesus Christ", and let me just say that it is AMAZING. Yes, it is THE song Little Mark watched to see if I would cry on, and yes I did. Sadly, it is not yet on a CD.

He sang the songs "Live Like a King", "You Raise Me Up", and "You Proved Your Love" as well last night. Totally awesome, and they are on the CD that I purchased.

Did I mention that I liked this guy? :-)

He was also very nice, and autographed the CD insert for Little Mark. :-)

I really wanted his other 2 CDs as well, but... maybe next time... :-)

So, hop on over to his myspace and have a listen to him. :-)

Love,

Wendy Darling

Clearly, we need to train him better...

So, "Little Mark" and I went to church this morning. The following is a list of highlights while we were there...

1. Little Mark - "I'm still hungry. Let's skip services and go home."
Me- "You are not going home just so you can get on the computer."
Little Mark- (SIGH) Let's go to church.

2. Upon seeing the guest singer get up to the microphone...
Little Mark - (a little too loudly) "Is that S, our Youth Pastor?"
Me - No. Now be quiet.
Little Mark - "It sure looks like him. Are you sure?"
Me- "Yes! He's a guest singer. Now be quiet. I'm trying to listen."

3. Little Mark then proceeds to keep looking closely at me to see if I am going to cry during the song. Yes, I did.

4. Upon hearing the pastor say, "We will be observing the Lord's Supper this morning and if you are visiting us, and you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, we would love for you to partake with us.... we don't care want denomination you are..."
Little Mark: "I'm half Presbyterian."
Me: - "SHH.."
Little Mark- "I am! I'm part Presbyterian on my Mama's side."
Me- (trying to stifle a laugh) "SHHHHHHHH!"

5. During the Lord's Supper..
Little Mark- "Why do we have to wait to eat the bread? We don't have to wait at Mama's church. They just put it in your mouth and you eat it."
After eating the bread...
"This bread is stale. It needs yeast."
Me- "UGH!" "SHHHH" thinking "note to self. Go over the symbolism of the Lord's Supper with him AGAIN."

6. Little Mark- "Why do we have to be so quiet while they pass everything out?" Why is that person crying?"
Me- "If you do not stop talking right now I will ground you for eternity."

7. Upon receiving the juice....
Little Mark - (Again, a little too loudly) "We get real wine at Mama's church."

Clearly, I have failed him...

Love,
Wendy Darling