Love Grace and Chocolate

I've always wanted to be a mom. Honestly, I planned my life around it, my major was purposefully chosen so I could stay home and have a career while homeschooling our children. I've had a passion for children since I was a child. I have PCOS and have had it since I was a young teenager. What this means in short is I have cysts on my ovaries that make it difficult to ovulate. While the normal woman ovulates once a month my body only allows this process to happen about twice a year. When ovulation does occur the conditions of my ovaries make conception and implantation almost impossible. After I got married I knew that our journey to parenthood would be a difficult one, but I never expected how difficult the emotional toll would be.

To expand our family we have started the process of fertility medication. I never imagined that I would know my vaginal ultrasound doctor by name, that hormone pills have extremely weird side effects, that I would seemingly get over my fear of shots because needles are the easy part or that bursting into tears over nothing while making dinner was a possibility because the estrogen levels are just to much. . However, I also would have never been able to experience the incredible patience that my husband has, the feeling of completeness that comes from a night of crying out to God with frustration, the comfort of my husbands voice after another failed pregnancy test reminding me that I'm not broken, and the graciousness of friends who have allowed me to call them at unseemly hours to hear my cries. In our case it truly takes a village to have a child and for those of you who have been by our side you will never understand how grateful that we are to you.

To our friends and family. Mainly we ask for your prayers. That God may show us how he wants us to proceed and that he may bestow on us a miracle. We know that our God is a good God and to quote C.S. Lewis " I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless he sees that it is good for him to wait." Our father knows our souls better than I could ever even begin to fathom. Somehow, someway this is apart of his plan. Too much focus has been placed on the bad things that the devil has placed in our lives. Instead we need to focus on the fact that God has allowed this trial in our life for some reason he has deemed it good for us to wait. He hasn't been caught off guard by my medical issues and if he wanted us to have a child at this very second he would make it happen. Instead, at least for a little while, our precious savior has called Tim and I to wait. Waiting isn't easy and it doesn't feel good, but somewhere in the silence God is using this situation to further His glory.Even if we never receive an answer to our prayers our savior is still good and he is still mighty. We ask that you pray for patience as we go through this journey together.

To Elihu/Elise your father and I have prayed for you with everything that we have. No matter what may happen in this life we will always be here for you. Even before you were born we have been trying to make the best decisions for you from the medicine your mom takes to the amount of caffeine that I consume in the morning you are always on our minds. As sure as I breathe I can tell you this, you will experience trials in your life, you will experience pain, heartache and sorrow your father and I will try to protect you from these things, but we will fail you., Above all else realize that in the pain and suffering that IS NOT where your story ends. Jesus loved us so much that he sent His son to die for us so that if we trust in him we may spend eternity with Him. Your father and I will fail you, but no matter what pain you may go through in this life realize that your heavenly father will never fail you and he has never left his throne. The struggles that we may face in this life are nothing compared to the glories that are to come. Beauty will always rise from the ashes and God is always good.

Pecan Crescent Cookies

A few months before my husband and I got married I sent out a Facebook invite to almost EVERY married woman in my friends list to a secret Facebook group and asked them for their favorite recipes.Within a few days I was sent over 200 different recipes and was excited to try them out (at least most of them). It was one of the best things that we did before we got married. With Christmas right around the corner I decided that it was time to bring out my mother-in laws Pecan Crescent Cookies. They are absolutely delicious. Tim and I have started to watch out for things that we hope to make traditions as our family expands. These are so delicious I cannot wait to make them a tradition in our own home. These Pecan crescent cookies are melt in your mouth delicious and are relatively simple to make.

Recipe:
1/2 lb of Butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 c flour
1/2 pound ground finely pecans
1 tsp Vanilla.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325
1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.
2. Slowly add flour
3.Add nuts and mix thoroughly
4. Roll into small balls
5. Place thumbprint in the middle.
6. Fill thumbprint with raspberry jam or maraschino cherries or leave plain.
7. Bake for 25 minutes on the top rack of the oven.
8. Cool and dust with powdered sugar

I personally like this recipe the best with raspberry preserves, but you can substitute with any jam that is a household favorite to make your own little twist on this classic recipe. I hope that this recipe brings as much joy to you Christmas as it did Tim and I's!

If i'm honest when I met my husband I wasn't sure that I was ready for a relationship. I was nineteen and liked living on my own. He was one of my most unexpected blessings and I love him more every day. I thought that I should spend one post showing the reasons that I love that man.

I love the kid because he always makes sure to keep me on my toes. It doesn't matter if it's a trip to Mexico or aN AirBNB a city away I love adventures with this kid.

He expanded my family. I am incredibly blessed with my inlaws they have been an encouragement in my life and I couldn't be more grateful.

He always lets me be a goofball.

He always puts so much thoughts into gift giving,

Top Five Things I’ve Found From Being A Full Time Student/Full Time Work and Wife

5. A favorite tea can do wonders

After a long day there is nothing more I want than a cup of peppermint tea with my feet up.

4. Make time for fun

Yes, it sounds cliché, but there are some days where if I wouldn’t have gone out with my husband I would have had a breakdown.

3. Scheduling time with people can be stressful

I am an extrovert and thrive on organization. With this in mind planning things with my friends is a nightmare during this period of life. I hate being flaky, and late most times I go without seeing people just because there is an off chance that I will have to cancel last minute. I have had to learn to balance everything and make sure that I have time to be with friends.

2. Don’t be afraid to admit that you NEED help.

Typically I don’t ask for help until the urge of a mental breakdown is within the near future. However, I have learned in order for me to keep my mental state intact I have to tell people what I need every now and then. My husband is a rock star and helps by taking over the daily to dos around the house, but there are somedays that in the grocery store aisle when I fell my eyes well up asking for help is a necessity.

1 Nothing is more important than your prayer life.

No matter how AMAZING your spouse is or how tough you are you will lose your sanity if you don’t bring everything back to Christ. There are some days that I just can’t handle everything. Praying makes me realize that it’s not about me. It’s about the one who created me

10. Board Games- You can't go wrong with the classics board games are 100% funner around the holidays.

9. Christmas music- All Day every day since November 1st.

8. The Desserts- Pumpkin Roll, Chocolate Roll, and sugar cookies! My oh my!

7. Vacation time- I love my job, but nothing beats getting paid time off to be with family

6. Christmas decorations- I'm a sucker for Christmas lights, every year I have to see at least one show or it doesn't seem like the holidays.

5. Christmas Cards- I am a firm believer in sending Christmas cards I love running to the mailbox to see whats in store!

4..The spirit- Everyone just gets happier around the holidays I love the way everyone interacts with one another.

3. Christmas Shopping- I love trying to surprise everyone on my list whether its a trinket or a appliance seeing someones reaction is one of my greatest enjoyments

2. Family-I always get to see my family at the holidays and I can't think of a greater blessing.

1. The true Christmas story- The reason for the holidays our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who came to be a ransom for many may His name be praised!!!

My husband and I met January 7^th 2015 we started dating March 2015 and were engaged by October by May we were married. I was 19 and he was 25 when I met him and three days after turning 21 I became his bride. What I never expected was the way people would comment in that October of our engagement. I don’t want to give validation of any of the comments, but I will say one thing they hurt. Naively I wanted to believe that everyone would be happy and that simply wasn’t the case. For those of you getting married before society expects you to I want to remind you of just a few things.

It is possible to be young and know who you are- I had always been an old soul. I didn’t enjoy people my own age and found the most enjoyment talking to women in their sixties from the time I was around nine years old. I knew what I wanted from my life and I knew that God would lead me in the right direction. Trust the Lord, not your age, not society.

Get married because you found a Godly man NOT because the timing is right.- Whether I was eighteen or eighty my motivation to get married was to find a man who would lead me. Sure there are more convenient stages in life to plan a wedding and start your lives together, but once you find a Godly man pursue God’s timing not mans.

Your story is beautiful- When we first got engaged more than anything I loved telling our story. It was so personal and so beautiful to me, however for the first few months of engagement I would leave out how long we had been dating I was tired of the raised eye brows. I had grown tired of hearing “how long” or “wow that was quick”. Your story is beautiful and you matter.

You WILL miss out on some things- Let’s face it your going to miss out on a few things that typically come with being on your own maybe it’s an apartment to yourself or maybe it’s something else that is completely different be comfortable with your choice, but don’t dwell on what could have been and let a seed of bitterness drop in dwell on all the GLORIOUS things that come with marriage. I never knew my favorite place in the world would be on a sofa snuggled up with a cup of hot chocolate arguing about if IQ is a proper Words with Friends play.

Jesus should still be your most important relationship- I will admit I’ve failed Him in this area every now and then. When you get married young balancing it all is HARD. I have found myself trying to find a balance between life, school, and married and I know what that’s like. Just remember never put Jesus on the back burner HOLD FAST and if it means you have to switch up your routine a little. A good man will understand.

You WILL screw up, but you will survive- Marriage is the easiest and the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. No matter how old you are or what stage of life your in you will never be perfect until you see the Lord never. I never knew loving and serving someone could be so easy, but there are also HARD DAYS like really hard days. If it’s something you cant control ( I have panic attacks) and you feel bad that you aren’t “normal” remember that your husband picked you because he love YOU. If it’s letting sin get the upperhand or just a blow out argument ask for forgiveness, but this does not mean that you failed.. Remember than you are human and by no means does that give you an excuse to be complacent, but it does give you the peace to know that you can apologize to the ones that you love and leave it at the feet of Jesus.

It's worth it- Every struggle is worth EVERY second. I promise!

Jesus love you and you are beautiful!!!

Christmas tree lights decorations ornaments winter house home decor

Essential Christmas Gifts for Expanding Your Kitchen

Christmas is my favorite time of year except when it comes to making a Christmas list. I never know what I want so often I wind up with clothes or jewelry which are lovely, but typically useless. If you are starting off on your own or are newly married these are a few of my kitchen essentials that I couldn't live without.

1. Kitchen Aid

I know how expensive these seem when you first starting out, however, I can honestly say that most of my cooking would take forever if I didn't have this lovely appliance in my kitchen. They run for about $250, but if you go out and brave the cold on black friday like my mother and I did you can typically find them for $150-$200 which is an amazing deal for something that will last you at least a decade.

2. Anchor Tupperware

This is another item that seems to be a little pricey but they are safer to microwave than the plastic containers and they are amazing. My husband and I use these everyday for our lunches and they are durable and make our lives a little easier in the morning.

3. Wooden Spoons, Spatulas, and Thongs

These may go without saying, however, I have known several friends who do not have numerous pairs of all three and it makes cooking more tedious. I have a drawer just for these essential and I love it.

4. A Dutch Oven

This is more of a luxury item, but trust me when I say that these are extremely versatile. They can be used on the stove top or the oven and they are simply gorgeous!

I hope that you enjoyed this list and maybe even add a item or two to your Christmas shopping!

With winter officially here I have made my first batch off homemade hot chocolate. There is something absolutely wonderful about having a warm beverage in your hands. I love coffee mugs and if it's 9 or 90 degrees out I typically have a cup of something in my hand. However, hot chocolate is one of those warm beverages that gets saved exclusively for the winter months in our household. I decided to include a basic hot chocolate recipe because most times those are the best. The following recipe will make enough for about 2 nine ounce glasses of deliciousness. I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and that you have a cookie or two to go with it.

Hot chocolate for two:

Ingredients:
Two tablespoons cocoa powder
2 Cups milk
Four ounces semi-sweet chocolate
Two tablespoons sugar

Directions:
Add milk into a skillet and bring to a slow simmer
Quickly add and whisk the cocoa powder until it is well incorporated
Now add the sugar and the chocolate until it is all well incorporated.
Pick your two favorite glasses and have a cozy winter <3

Last week I got a break! It has been an insane semester that seems like it just will never end, however last weekend was one of those precious times in the semester where I was able to be myself. There was no school no distractions and I was just able to be Hadassah a wife and a human being not a full-time worker or a student just and individual interested in other things than French lessons and advertising projects. I will say that it is amazing when after a long period of having to focus on school just how much a weekend to yourself can allow you to recharge and regroup from the craziness of life that is about to unravel. Tim and I actually went to the zoo I was able to dust off my camera and see the beauty of Gods creation abandoning my laptop for a 48 hour period and just allowing myself to be myself with my husband. When I was younger and grew up in a small town I never understood the wisdom behind God’s words when He tells us to “be still and know that I am God” Now that I’ve grown and have many more responsibilities the moments in which I am able to reflect bring me much needed clarity and comfort. God’s Holy Spirit truly has time to talk to me in those moments to convict as well as to comfort. What a mighty God we serve . I was able to see his majesty going through the zoo. Amazed that the amazing creator of the universe took time to think of me. I hope you enjoy some of these pictures.

I am a Christmas addict. I love anything and everything to do with the holidays. The flavors, the smells, the lights, decorations, and sights. I look forward to December from January every year. I love Christmas music and nothing is better than making a batch or Christmas cookies with the stereo blazing all of my favorite songs. There will always be something absolutely magical about this time of the year. For all of my friends out there who have been playing Christmas music since September this ones for you. Play those Chipmunks loud and proud! For this week’s post a few of my favorite Christmas songs in order to spark some holiday cooking inspiration.

Alvin and the Chipmunks-The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)

I don’t know if it’s the squeaky voices or the tradition, but nothing feels more like Christmas than Alvin and the Chipmunks.

ClaymationChristmas - California Raisins - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

This may be a little old school, but nothing can replace the soul in those voices.

Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

Christmas isn’t Christmas without the boss.

Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This will forever be necessary to slow dancing while the cookies are baking in the oven. That voice could make the coldest snowman melt.

Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Perfect for decorating cookies on a December morning.

Dean Martin - Let it Snow!

Last, but certainly not least is this classic. Let the baking begin!