Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

 

Can you believe I had never baked cupcakes before last week? When I stumbled upon this delicious recipe about a month ago, I went out and got a cupcake tray, cupcake paper, and a bag of powdered sugar. Most of the ingredients were already in my pantry!

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• orange juice
• oil
• 1/2 orange, zested

Icing Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 8 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 orange, zested

For cupcakes, follow the directions on the cake mix box, only replacing water with orange juice. Add in the orange zest, too. This should make about two dozen cupcakes.

The frosting is super easy, also. Just mix all the ingredients until they’re nice and smooth. Add orange juice three tablespoons is not enough to get a workable frosting.

Original recipe (with more beautiful photos) found here.

Photo of the Week: African Daisy

This is another assignment from last quarter made using graphite pencil and color pencils. There are definitely ways I can still improve this, but its way better than anything I thought I could do.

What I’m liking best about all my classes so far is realizing how much creativity God used in creating everything. I may be able to tap into my artistic side to make a drawing like this, but how could it ever compare to God’s creations?

Style Idea 13: Skirt and T-Shirt Kind of Day

I love skirts. If I could, I would wear a skirt every day. You don’t need a special occasion, a date, or any reason whatsoever to thrown on something a pretty as a floral skirt. Put one on even if your plans for the day are grocery shopping and dish washing. Dress it down by pairing it with a simple T-shirt and relaxed flat sandals. Seeing the pretty print every time you happen to glance down will brighten your day.

Purple V-Neck: $12.50 Gap

Leaf Necklace: $30.00 Top Shop

Floral Skirt: $44.95 Mod Cloth

Casual Black Sandals: $49.95 DSW

Proverbs 31 Challenge: Beauty

She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Proverbs 31:22

Of all the verses that describe the virtuous woman, this is probably the most surprising one. All the hard work, the effort to take care of others, the willingness to invest time in skillful work are expected characteristics. We shouldn’t be surprised to learn that a godly woman does all that. But now a verse about her home decorations and clothing?

I think we can sometimes get so caught up in the need to be hard-working and industrious that we forget the value of beauty. Beauty, of course, is not the end for which we should strive or the matter around which our lives should orbit. It isn’t of highest priority or importance. It isn’t the pinnacle towards which we climb.

That doesn't mean, though, that it has no importance at all. It doesn’t mean beauty should be ignored, thrown out the widow, rejected as a vain endeavor. Beauty should have a place in the life of a Christian woman, especially one striving to be more like the Proverbs 31 woman.

Your home, whether an urban apartment, humble mobile, or single-family house, should be a place you and your family enjoy. It should be a place you all get excited about heading to after a long day or work, school, or errands. It should be a place where everyone can gather, rest, share, and grow together. It should be a place where your family glorifies Christ in every way. There’s no shame in investing time, skill, and resources into making it a beautiful place, because making it beautiful and enjoyable will help make it everything it should be.

The same goes for how we dress. We can care about our appearance and avoid vanity at the same time. The clothing we choose communicate something to everyone around us. What are your clothing choices saying about you? Whether we like it or not, sweats can convey as negative a message as an immodest dress. There is nothing wrong with taking a few extra minutes each morning to pick out something that reflects our character a little bit better.

Our challenge this week? Think about how you can make your home and your style better reflect Christ. Is there a mess in the kitchen that only speaks of neglect? Does your clothing make you seem lazy or like you don’t care about modesty? Lets make changes to fix that and align this aspect of our lives to Scripture as well.

Ministry

I used to think that most status updates and Twitter feeds were pretty insignificant. Who cares, after all, if on Friday at 5:02 you were stuck in traffic but were looking forward to the weekend?

A few weeks ago, though, I thought I’d scroll through my youth group’s status updates even if it meant swimming through a deep sea of endless “I love you”s between a boyfriend and girlfriend and reports on who’s house so-and-so were headed to.

It ended up being more difficult than I could have imagined. The annoyingly excessive PDA ended up fading into the background while the emotions, problems, and misplaced hope jumped off the screen. I hadn’t expected that.

One of my kids posted about feeling depressed several times. Another about plans to go out to a wild party. Still another constantly exposed an apparent idolatry of her boyfriend. Where had I been for all this? And why was MySpace the one to clue me in?

The truth is, the blame rests solely on me. For whatever reason, I stopped talking to my kids, stopped seeking them after class, even stopped caring when I knew they needed help. I became completely apathetic toward them. No wonder they didn’t take me up on invitations to talk whenever they needed to. No wonder I never got phone calls when something important happened.

I though I was fulfilling my responsibilities as their teacher simply by having a new class installment ready each week. I stopped caring about their specific needs for guidance and put an end to my availability for more personal teaching.

I let my ministry to 11-13 year old kids focus on just the mechanical part: investing hours in preparing class, showing up to church, giving class. I paid no attention to the actual people I was trying to reach.

Ministry shouldn’t be mechanical. Ministry shouldn’t ignore the people being ministered. I learned that lesson and now I’m trying to figure out how to better help the kids understand the gospel and all things necessary for their salvation. I think a big part of it will be spending time with them individually, explaining how Biblical principles apply even to them and the problems they face. I hope that after a while of helping them in that way, things will get better.

Style Idea 12: Bright Spring Days

Spring in Las Vegas is a lot different than Spring anywhere else. It rarely rains, the temperature is quite warm, and most days feel like the beginning of summer. Transitioning from cold weather to warmer weather is not a big deal; the change usually happens over night. Having said that, today’s the perfect day for an outfit like this.

True Blue Top: $32.99 Mod Cloth

Lightning Yellow Shorts: $17.80 Forever 21

Licorice Belt: $15.99 Mod Cloth

Gladiators: $79.00 Piperlime

Proverbs 31 Challenge: Prosperity

She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed in scarlet.

Proverbs 31:21

A sudden snowstorm or the beginning of winter may not be a big deal to us now. Most of us have a winter coat to pull out of storage, a home to take refuge in, blankets and heaters to keep us warm.

But what would an unexpected storm mean for a woman in ancient Israel? The verse implies that changes in weather were something to fear. If caught unprepared, a family could suffer the death of several members.

But the woman of Proverbs 31 was confident. She knew her whole family would be safe and survive to see the end of the storm. Why did she have this confidence? Because her family had enough. To be clothed in scarlet was a sign of financial prosperity, which means this family had the resources it needed to survive.

Its important to note that the family’s prosperity wasn’t spoken into existence or made to appear out of nothing. We’ve seen in verses prior to this one that the woman described was hard working, industrious, and creative. She used all that to take care of her family and thereby help her husband be successful in what he did. Their financial security did not come from a secret formula, a mysterious over-night success, a financial peace seminar, or some 10-step plan schemed by a Fortune 500 CEO. It came from the hard work both husband and wife contributed. Hard work pays off.

What the Proverbs 31 woman didn’t do was ignore her household duties in order to provide. Notice that verses 10-20 speak about the work she did directly for her household. Ignoring our responsibilities at home is never acceptable, even if it means an extra paycheck every two weeks. If your job or the amount of hours you put in negatively affect your ability to keep a good home, something has to change.

Our challenge this week, then, is to seriously think about our family’s finances and how we’re affecting them. Are we helping our family be prepared for whatever comes? Are we using our gifts in ways that help bring security? Is there a balance between work and home that allows to fulfill our responsibilities? Make whatever changes you have to make, knowing that God delights in obedience.

Update

After an unintended week-long break from blogging and social networking, I’m back and ready for the dive back in!

My last day of work over a week ago came just in time for a completely free Spring Break. I’ve been working on home improvement projects, fun DIY’s, and some baking recipes I can’t wait to share, Look for those posts throughout the week, intertwined with the regulars.

On a different note, we’ve now reached the halfway point in the Proverbs 31 Challenge and I’m thrilled to present you with the complete list of entries written so far. I hope they’ve been, and will continue to be, a blessing to you. They’ve been a blessing for me.

• Introduction
• Trustworthiness
• Doing Good
• The Hard Way Out
• Looking for Quality
• Sleep Less
• Smart Spending
• Strength and Submission
• Thankless Work
• Investing
• Giving

Photo of the Week: Vintage Village

     

This is a photo of the final project I turned in last night for my drawing perspective class. It is definitely an improvement from my first perspective drawing which I'm too ashamed of to share with you. The best part? It was chosen to be used as an example or exemplary work during school accreditation meetings and such. Honestly, even though I don't think this is a masterpiece, I never thought I'd ever be able to draw anything, much less something like this.  

Evangelism

Do you evangelize? Witness? Preach the gospel? Obey the Great Commission (Mar 16:15)? I don't. I have on occasion, but I don't do so regularly at all. I can happily announce that I'm a Christian, but announcing the message that makes me so is a different story.

I'd been ok with this for a long time. I'd watched Ray Comfort rightly preach the gospel several times and felt conviction and a desire to do the same. I bought tracts, passed some out, encouraged the youth group to "get out there" and share their faith, and even helped an established evangelism team one night. The thing is, the conviction and desire always faded away and I ended up back where I had started: discouraged, apathetic, and intimidated.

After going through the process a few times, I'd gotten tired and settled on apathetic mode. Concern for everyone else's eternity was near the bottom of my list. That's probably why I was more excited about the drive out to California than the actual reason behind the drive. I'd made up hundreds of excuses for not evangelizing and they all seemed legitimate enough. "I need to brush up on some apologetics first," "Paul did take years to prepare before he did anything."

As the seven of us headed out in one very large church van, Sarah leaned over and told me she was already very excited. "I'm also a little scared, though. I mean, Ray Comfort is so direct," she said. She knew what was ahead of her. She knew she would feel conviction, but she was ready for, even looking forward to, it. I, unfortunately, was not. I honestly didn't think anything would happen. I'd heard it all before, so what could possibly change?

We'd been settled into our seats for some time and one of the guys had just finished his message. Videos of evangelism encounters were playing as people shuffled in their seats. One particularly caught my attention.

The camera focused on Ray was speaking to a woman near a fancy fountain. "Have you ever told a lie?" he asked. She answered with a simple "yes." "Have you ever looked at another person with lust?" He continued until the look on her face showed she realized how sinful she actually was. Before saying good bye and walking away, he asked her if she had ever heard what he told her about Christ. "No, never," she replied.

Never? Hasn't everyone in America heard the gospel? Doesn't everyone know at least vaguely about what Jesus did and accomplished on the cross? I don't know why I hadn't realized it before. Hardly anyone has heard the gospel. I hadn't heard it before I converted. I'd been told that Jesus loves me. I'd been told he had a plan for my life. Never had I heard that he died on the cross so that if I believe and repent, my sins will be forgiven. Never.

The conference I attended achieved much more than I thought it could. It showed me, once and for all, that there are countless souls who have never ever heard the good news. I cried. I cried not only because I thoughts of dying hospital patients who never heard of the wonderful sacrifice Jesus made flooded my mind, but also because I feared that the urgency I felt at the moment would fade away again.

This time, I'm determined to stay on fire. I know I have to seek the lost and tell them of the salvation that has been revealed to me. I have no more excuses. They were all destroyed during a later message when somebody said something about not needing to know anything but the gospel to go out to preach it. They were destroyed when somebody explained how to start a conversation. They were destroyed when the great men of Living Waters made evangelism seem easy.

So, my dear readers, you have become my accountability group. Next week will mark the beginning of a new post category: Testimony Thursday. I'll make time each week to head out and do some street evangelism and report back any interesting stories on Thursdays. Please pray for me!