Everything's going great! Now what?

 Hooray for good news!

Andy got hired at another job that he interviewed for last weekend.  His current job is full time in Honolulu as a delivery driver for a small gelato company.  While this was great, he already has a full time job as the praise leader of our church.  And like before, his work became his life, not through his own choosing but the days were long, the commute longer [3 hours round trip, a day] and our family began to come in second again.  This new job is part time and only 15 minutes away!  It's amazing to see God answer prayers, and I think we are finally learning how to just give up on things we can't control and trust in him to do the right things for our family.  True, we will be making a lot less money but we can deal with that.  Time is of the essence for us, money is not.

Second great piece of news we received yesterday is that we got accepted into the Keiki O' Kaina marriage course!  It's a great government funded program that they are starting here in Hawaii.  We have orientation this Saturday to hear what it is all about but in a few weeks we get to go to a weekend long marriage retreat, than 9 weekly classes and after that we will have a celebration ceremony in the beginning of September, just a month before Tulip is due!

The course includes child care and they also serve gourmet dinners weekly to you & your spouse while you discuss things you learned during the course.  All for free.  Pretty sweet deal.

We have been so blessed to be given these opportunities to work on a marriage during a time when we really can use it, although honestly marriages to me are always a work in progress.

Now if your like me, which I'm starting to think isn't that weird anymore.  Anytime something good happens, or if too many good things are happening you're just waiting for the second
 it will all go wrong.

Life isn't like that, right?  Good things don't come to those who wait.

Good things don't come to those who believe, who pray, who have faith.

Right?  Maybe not.

I have always been a believer of life sucks.  I'm not one of those lucky girls that's naturally skinny, somehow gets an inheritance from an unknown dead relative,
or wins a car in a grocery store drawing.

But maybe that's my problem, maybe I need to BELIEVE I am that girl.

I have more in this life than I could ever dream of.  Healthy children, a loving husband, a mission field in Hawaii, all the coffee I can drink, an iPad....

Seriously, I AM a lucky girl.  

I think it's something I have to learn to change about myself.  We will get nowhere in this world and never be happy if we're not willing to give our lives over to God and trust that his plan is the right one for us.  Yes, there will be hard times, we live in a sinful human world.  But sometimes, sometimes there will be good times, even great times and I intend to enjoy those times.

To be at peace with what God has given me, and it's ok to know there will be more waves in the ocean but for now it's smooth sailing.  My ship is on course as long as I am in his will.

So I am choosing to be merry!  To not wait anymore for the bad to come, but to be grateful and thankful for all that is given to me today.  

 

The Nutella Chronicles: Nutella Swirled Banana Bread and Nutella filled mini donut muffins.

I am one of those people that grew up on Nutella.  I don't know how and I don't know where but we have always been a home with Nutella.  My Mom is a junk food junkie, not in a bad way [I love you Mom!] so this was just one of those things, her favorite way to eat it is with Walker's Shortbread cookies.  Sigh.

So I didn't go on a magical trip and discover it as an exotic treat, Nutella is a thing of memories & my childhood.  I hope my kids have those same memories. :) 

I bought a big 2 pack at Costco of the stuff a few weeks ago so I've basically been baking anything that has it, cause really why wouldn't you want a surplus of Nutella and baked goods?  

This is also my first lesson learned in blogging.  I found both of the recipes on Pinterest and like almost every recipe I make I tweaked it to fit what I thought would be better or for what I personally had on hand.  When I went to write this blog I hadn't pinned the exact recipes I used so I had to go through pages of recipes to try and find them so I could reference them here. Errr.  Ok blogging world, lesson learned.  I will start writing my recipes down!  There, you happy?

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

adapted from www.barbarabakes.com

 

1 Cup mashed very ripe banana, about 3 medium bananas

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

2 cups AP flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup Nutella

 

[1] Combine mashed banana, brown sugar, Greek yogurt, butter & eggs in a stand mixer and mix on medium until well blended.

[2] In a separate bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

[3] Note: I made these into mini loaf pans, cause I had disposable ones and didn't want to clean up but you could use one big standard loaf pan here. It makes 4 mini loaves.

Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture.  Mix until it just comes together.

[4] Grease pans, I make my own Pam type spray, and spoon batter into bottom.  About halfway up.

[5] Use about 1/8 cup of Nutella per pan, a little more won't hurt anybody.  Kind of layer the Nutella between two layers of batter and then put a big scoop on top.

[6] Use a butter knife or skewer to swirl the Nutella through the layers, I made the mistake of not swirling enough which gave my bread kind of a crispy Nutella top which I kind of liked.

[7] Bake at 350 degrees F, or 300 degrees if your using a Convection oven, which I am while my oven is out of order.  For about 35-40 minutes.

[8] Let cool on a rack, if you can wait that long!

Nutella filled Mini Donut Muffins

adapted from www.mochithoughts.com

 

   3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg 

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. Nutmeg

1/4 cup Veggie Oil

3/4 cup low-fat milk

1 t. Vanilla 

Nutella for filling

 

[1]   In a large bowl whisk together sugar, egg, veggie oil, milk & vanilla.

[2] In another bowl whisk together dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt & Nutmeg.

[3] Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

[4] Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and fill each one halfway.

[5] Using a teaspoon add a dollop of Nutella to each muffin.

[6] Cover Nutella with a little more batter each, try not to fill too high, I did and they came out ok but it could be a mess.

[7] Bake at 350 degree F for 12 minutes.

[8] When the muffins have cooled down for a few minutes run a butter knife along each edge.

Pop muffins out while they are still warm and then roll in cinnamon sugar! 

[1/4 cup sugar & 1 t. cinnamon]

Makes about 36 mini muffins.

Have a Nutella-licious day!

Mom enough?

I know I'm kind of behind on the big Time magazine cover controversy but that's ok, I have other things to do.....like, oh, being a Mom. :)

For those of you that didn't see it here is the cover of the magazine.

I will admit, I never read the actual article.  The debates people had about it were interesting enough, and I read a few good blogs about it.  In case you were wondering I have no problem with extended breastfeeding, although I've never done it.  I also have no problem with the cover in general.  I feel secure enough as a Mother, finally! to not really care what anyone else besides my husband and my God have to say about the way I parent my children.  But, this is supposed to be my attempt at a funny blog and I digress.

I am Mom enough, Mom enough to.....

• Wear my yoga pants inside out for over half a day because I don't pay enough attention to myself.
• Smash Kix into the carpet so they are easier to vacuum, rather than pick them up one by one.
• Allow my son to poop on TOP of the kitchen table because he has a diaper rash and I don't want to make him wear a diaper.
• Go a week without showering.
• Let my kids eat brownies in my bed for breakfast because I'm too tired to get up in the morning.
• Laugh at every joke my 4 year old tells even tho the punch line is always "diarrhea."
• Watch a slice of pizza fall face down on the floor of Costco and then let them eat it anyways.

Power to all you Moms out there trying your hardest to do the best for your children. <3

We are all in this together.

Red Velvet Brownies & Mewithoutyou Ten Stories Review.

I love love love Red Velvet.  If I pass by a cupcake shop I have to stop and see if they have it, I try it anywhere I can find it so when I came upon this recipe on Pinterest...of course I had to try it!

I think these would be good with Cream Cheese frosting or even just a sprinkling of powdered sugar, I was just out.  I also have the awesome super power of being able to resist baked goods once I've made them.  I tried them, they were delicious.  And the kids ate the rest. True story, I swear.

They come out redder than they look in this picture and the original recipe had DOUBLE the amount of red food coloring.  If your going for that I'm sure it would be fine.  In case your wondering this is definitely NOT one of my healthier recipes, but hey, they all can't be.  Happy Baking! 

Red Velvet Brownies

adapted from www.newlyweds-blog.com

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tubes red gel food coloring, about 1 oz.

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups AP flour

6 heaping tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tbs. milk

Before you begin:  Butter a 9x13 Cake Pan and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

[1] Cream butter & both sugars in a mixer.

[2] Add eggs one at a time, stopping and scraping down sides of mixer when necessary.

[3] Add vanilla, milk, and red food coloring.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl......

[4] Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

[5] Slowly add dry mixture to wet  until combined, use your spatula to make sure nothing gets stuck to the bottom.

Pour the mixture into your pan and bake for 35-50 minutes depending on how gooey you like your brownies.  Now devour! 

And now for some music.

Ten Stories- Mewithoutyou

I have recently re-discovered Mewithoutyou.  I liked them before, I LOVE them now.

The music is awesome, interesting and just something as a musician I can never really grasp at how they came about their radness.  The lead singer, Aaron Weiss, has such a unique voice and their lyrics simply blow me away.  While not really considered a Christian band it is refreshing to hear what I consider Christian music but not have to necessarily listen to Top 40 type stuff all the time, I'm not that old yet!

I have only heard 2 previous Mewithoutyou CDs, Brother, Sister and It's all crazy!  It's all false!  It's all a dream!  It's alright. [They have 4 albums]

Hearing their newest CD, which has been called a cross between the two albums I love and their earlier work I am really inclined to go buy the other 2 right now.

Musically wise I think it's comparable to the other CDs I love, this being my first CD review I'm not even quite sure how one goes about describing music in words?  You just feel it man, or other hippie references here.  Is indie a style of music or just lesser known music?  Either way I'm probably not qualified to even have an opinion on this. 

BUT I do like this CD.  One of the reasons I like Mewithoutyou so much are there lyrics, they ask real questions I think most Christians have asked at some time or another, they question God, his plans and life but somehow always come back to the fact that they trust in him. This time around it's their first concept album?  It tells the story of a traveling circus and the animals on the train. 
I'm having a hard time finding the lyrics on-line and even after more than a dozen listens I'm trying to figure this CD out, but I guess the conclusion is that this CD makes me want to do just that.  I won't stop listening anytime soon. 

One of my favorite lyrics from Mewithoutyou.

Pretty sweet tattoo design as well.

“The LORD is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
Exodus 15:1-3

Introducing.....The G Family! Part 1. Mama & Papa.

I'm still new at this Blogger stuff and I'm always so inspired by everyone's super cool personalized blogs where they can put stuff like this right on the front page.  But alas, after an hour or so of looking at tutorials on how to customize my blog, change backgrounds, edit fonts, etc.  I gave up.

Computer stuff is not my forte, along with sewing, crocheting, patience, and hugging people I don't know.  So my blog is what it is, unless someone out there wants to help me? ;)

So our intro will go here.  In a blog, cause I know how to do that without pounding my fists into the keyboard and scaring my children.  Aloha!

The Gutierrez Family

est. November 20, 2004 <4

Our family's Pacific Northwest trip we took this past February. 

At infamous Gasworks Park in Seattle, WA

Introducing Mama G.  aka Hippie Housewife aka Nicole Fury

I'm Nicole Hope.  28 years old.  Pregnant with Baby G #4.

I love my family, faith and children more than anything.

I am VERY pro-life, Republican with less and less liberal leanings everyday.

I play drums for our church, can cook like a beast & slowing getting better at baking.

I like lists, order, organizing, watching Hoarders and Modern Family.

I am what you would consider a Crunchy Mama, I guess?  And some would consider me an Attachment Parent although I'd rather not be put into a mold that I might not fit into.

I cloth diaper, try to eat organic when we can afford it, [not often] & drink iced coffee pretty much 24/7.

I love reading and learning.  Currently working on my birth doula certification through DONA and looking forward to going back to college this Fall after an 8 [!] year hiatus.

This is Papa G.  aka Andy Panda aka Andy Crowder Band [did you like that one babe? ;]

Also 28 years old.  Praise & Worship leader for our church, Risen Lord Community Church

and better at it than he would ever let himself believe.

Never voted in his life, tsk tsk.  Likes to eat everything I cook and also washes all our cloth diapers.  

We met in high school as Juniors and from the minute I saw his thrift store puffy vest and corduroys I knew it was love.  It took him another year or so to agree.

Loves music, playing the guitar & his children.  God gave one of us patience and it wasn't me.

Enjoys road trips, juicing, tapping on EVERYTHING, gardening,

 and being the spiritual leader of our home.

This man can calm my anxiety like no other and I truly believe we were intended for each other by God.  This year we celebrated our 10 year dating anniversary, which he says "doesn't count" and will celebrate our 8 year wedding anniversary this November.

Song of Solomon 4:7 ♥
How beautiful you are, my love; how perfect you are!

So I guess for now I'll start off with us!

The kids will be in the next edition, since I noticed this was getting a bit long.

I think I'm getting a little too excited for this blogging adventure cause I've started a list of "fun topics to blog about" that and I'm always looking for a reason to make a list.

Recipes to come soon as well! 

Easy Peasy! 5 in 5. 5 Fun Projects under 5 supplies!

I love projects.  Projects to do with my kids.  Projects to eat.  Projects to help me save money, to organize, to clean, etc.  I'm a project kind of girl.

Here are 5 really easy simple ones I have done in the past few days.

More to come. :) 

Try them out for yourself! 

1.  Easy bubble refills!

[1] Empty Container [2] Water [3] Original blue Dawn

The simplest of all the projects is making bubble refills.  I am constantly buying little containers of bubbles for the kids, they love them, they're fun and easy to do outside.  How can I say no?  

But moving back to Hawaii I'm realizing just how pricey this stuff can be so after buying the latest bubble installment of 2 bubble wands and they used them up in about 30 minutes I decided no more!

Besides the waste factor it's just so easy to do with something I already keep on hand, for stripping diapers, plant spray, etc.

Basically just mix the Dawn & water together, each container is a different size so the ratio will always be a little different but it's super easy to tweak.  Try and blow a bubble, didn't work?  Add more Dawn.

Now go have fun!

2. Banana Pops!

[1] Bananas, cut in half. [2] Popsicle Sticks [3] Melted Chocolate [4] Toppings

With all these easy projects they really are pretty self explanatory.  Something I like, sometimes I'm not in the mood to read directions and if I think I can figure it out on my own I'll usually try.

With these banana pops you just cut the bananas in half, insert a stick [be careful depending on how ripe your bananas are] dip in melted chocolate, chips warmed in the microwave work fine here & then sprinkle with whatever toppings you like!  I did chopped almonds for me and sprinkles for the kids.

Then you can either refrigerate them or freeze them depending on your mood.

I did fridge cause it's easier for the kids to eat.  Enjoy!

3.  Home made multi-purpose cleaner.

[1] Empty spray bottle [2] Citrus peel from one fruit [3] White distilled vinegar [4] Water

I have been looking for ways to save money all over, reduce waste in our home & environment and find some non-toxic ways to clean around all the babies.  Vinegar and citrus go great together!

After you eat a fruit, any kind will work and it will give the cleaner a slight smell, lime. orange. grapefruit. lemon.  Cut the peel into pieces that can be put into an empty bottle, make sure you don't have any of the fruit left on the peel, scrape it really well.

Add some white vinegar, a funnel is handy here if you have one.  I do enough to submerge the fruit about halfway and kind of use the end of the sprayer to poke the rest down.

Let that sit as long as you want, an hour or 24 if you feel like it.

Then fill the rest of the bottle with cold water and shake!

I actually don't know if this stuff "goes bad" I clean A LOT and my bottles are always empty before anything funky happens.  I haven't figured out a method to get the peels out of the bottle yet tho either......

4. Grape popsicles!

[1] Popsicle Molds [2] Halved red seedless grapes [3] White grape juice

Being ever thrifty this project is even a free one for us!  We get white grape juice & fruit vouchers on WIC.  Oh yes, thank you Women, Infant & Children.

Fill the popsicle molds with as many halved grapes as you want.  I like mine full because the frozen grapes are my favorite part, the kids only like a few.  Top off with the white grape juice & freeze!

A pretty healthy snack and nice when I'm sweltering to death 5 months pregnant in a 3rd story apartment with no air conditioning.  Boo.

5. Coffee Pot Fish Bowl

[1] Marbles, rocks, etc. [2] Water [3] Old Coffee Pot [4] Fish [5] Fish Food

This one really is as easy as it looks!  I cold brew all my coffee and someone had given us this coffee pot so I just put it away knowing eventually it would be good for something!  A few months later, someone gave us a pregnant guppy, now named Rainbow Dash, thank you Lily & that's the story! 

You can cut the cord off the coffee pot if that kind of thing makes you nervous, I just put tucked ours into the space for it on the back of the maker.  I took the filter out of the top too so I can store the fish food up there and there's no muss, no fuss!

Just keep swimming! 

 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,
Deuteronomy 30:8-10

Mom's Day Out [w/ What to Expect When You're Expecting review]

So, I'm new to the blogging world.  Kind of.  I've always loved to write in journals and then on-line. 

I was a big Myspace fan, yes I'm dating myself but it is true.

I had a TEEN Live Journal, super cool and a few other Blogger blogs along the way that I've kind of just forgot about, or forgot the password to.  But this time I'm committed!  I swear.  I would love to be able to look back at this 10 or 20 years from now and remember the things going on in our lives, my kid's when they were little and it's kind of like a virtual scrapbook, something I use to enjoy doing when I was younger, like high school, if you haven't gathered I was/am a nerd. 

That was a long winded explanation as to what this blog will be about, while I would like to envision sharing my wisdom, reciped, diy, cleaning, perfectionist tendencies with the masses I would also like this to be a personal journal of the things I enjoy, the people I enjoy doing them with & the God that lets me enjoy them at all. 

Had a great Mom's Day Out yesterday! 

Since getting to Hawaii I haven't really been able to connect with anyone too much despite having lived here before.  For me, that's hard, I'm a people person and while I do love my computer as much as the next person I like BEING with people.  Actually being with them, letting our kids play together, talking, eating, and more often than not drinking coffee.

So when the opportunity came up to spend the day with a new friend from church I pounced on it!

I met up with K at Ala Moana Mall in Honolulu, it was a perfect timing since she's actually in the hospital today delivering her 2nd baby, a sweet girl named Noel, by C-Section today.  Many prayers and birthing dust sent her way!

We're both bargain shoppers, I love a good deal and really try to teach my children the true value of money.  So we shopped around the mall for a bit, I found the perfect kitchen table for us at Sears for $89!

I'm really excited for this one since we've been using a folding table and chairs since we got here.  The benches open up for storage which is also a huge plus for me!  I've also started Christmas shopping as well, in May, I know.  But with 4 kids this Christmas as well as everyone else I try to pick up a few things here and there that I find for cheap so it's not overwhelming us towards the end of the year.  I don't believe Christmas is something to get in debt for!

Got Lily a "My Dad is Rad!" shirt, Thor & Hulk Ugly type Dolls at the Disney Store for Jonas and an adorable yellow plaid jumper for Tulip.  Also my beautiful friend K brought me a bag of brand new clothes for Tulip!  It amazes me how God can provide so much through the people that truly care about us.

After some very fun shopping we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  Food is one of my greatest pleasures, both cooking it & eating a great meal someone else prepared!

                              Small bites! Asparagus & Arugula Salad with Korean Beef Tacos.

Our preggo lady fancy drinks for lunch.  Peach & Raspberry Italian Sodas with cream.

The food was great and the conversation was even better.  It has been so great to find some really good Christian women friends in that we can encourage and support each other without gossip or negativity, two things that I really cannot stand in my life anymore.  It has been hard lessons learned that these things we're not doing anything for me.

After lunch we ended our wonderful day out with a trip to the movies!

What to Expect When You're Expecting

Pretty fitting if you ask me, although if you ask me I would also not recommend that book to anyone pregnant woman!  We do not need a scare manual, pregnancy is a beautiful, natural process that we as women are blessed to get to experience. <3

The movie follows 5 couples as they go through the journey of being pregnant.  

I thought it did a really good job in showing the many different sides of pregnancy, they depict a miscarriage, someone that ends up getting a C-Section & an adoption.  All sweetly and without too much drama.  I read some other reviews that talked about the thin plot line, etc. And yes it doesn't have the most in depth stories ever but they are all done well and my favorite part was the Dudes Club, a group of Dads that like Moms complain about their kids and how challenging it can be at times but also love them and feel happier than they have every been in there lives.  It really reminded me of my husband and what a great Father he is, if you've seen the movie the Chris Rock character reminds me of him the most! 

Maybe I'm getting older, or maybe life has been harder on me where I don't want to see fights, back stabbing, affairs, or maybe I have gotten *gasp* more conservative but the light hearted story line was exactly what I was in the mood for. It is definitely one I will buy when it comes out, plus anytime I see a newborn I pretty much bawl. 

All in all a great day, awesome deals, good lunch, and a cute movie.  

Can't wait to do it again!

My beautiful friend K, the day before she gave birth to her daughter Noel & me at 21 weeks with Tulip!

Take a hike!

Took a hike today!

We wanted to get out of the house & I've been checking out this site called

www.outdoorohana.com

where they list a bunch of kid friendly hikes here in Hawaii.  

So our first hike into Waimano Valley begins! 

I consider this our test run since I'd prefer not to bring McDonald's cheeseburgers on a hike but hey, that's what happens when you want to go explore nature more than you want to go grocery shopping.

A pretty successful hike, it took us about 2 1/2 hours round trip.

The older kids Lily, 5, and Jonas, 4 did the hike on their own without much complaining although Andy ended up carrying both of their backpacks, as well as Oliver in the Ergo most of the trip, lesson learned.

And at 21 weeks pregnant, as of today!  A hike a 4 & 5 year old can do is about as much as I can do too. 

Here's Daddy with the kids before we started.  You can choose either the Upper or Lower hike & we let Jonas pick and he chose Upper.  You hit a spot where it becomes a loop so we ended up doing both parts anyways, either way would have been fine.  We ended up finding out later that there is a waterfall at the very end of the trail, we didn't make it that far but definitely want to try again!

The hike is easy, for the most part, but we did have kids sliding on their butts when they weren't willing to hold hands [Jonas "I'm being careful!" Gutierrez] there were some muddy slippery parts and you most definitely are on a ridge.  Here was a fun little rope someone tied to help you get along the steepest bit of trail. 

There was a nice little spot under a big mango tree with a beautiful view and lots of room to have a snack, let the baby stretch his legs & pee in a bush without being precariously near the edge of a cliff.

Some beautiful Hawaiian flora along the way & a look into Waimano Valley.

There were also some tunnels along the trail, we decided not to go through them cause I'm kinda creeped out and claustrophobic about things like that and Lily was scared of vampires.  Maybe next time....with flashlights. 

Following the lower trail on the way back you walk along a stream, or basically during dry season here a bunch of wet, slippery, mossy rocks.  Be careful!  So all in all an awesome hike to do with the family, fun & not too difficult but don't expect a paved path the whole way through.

Also note to self for next hike, bring mosquito repellent!

Anybody have a good natural concoction? :)

"For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains
and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:12

Starting over.

I chose to start this blog today because I needed it.  I've recently gone through a lot of life changes, which at 28, feel utterly impossible.  I'm pregnant with our 4th child and we have made the transition from Stockton, CA [if you know of this city I'm sure your shocked we're not dead yet] to Waipahu, HI [not as nice as it sounds but Hawaii nonetheless.]

My husband and I have been married for almost 8 years, together for over 10, and we've had some major hurdles to get through in that time, the past year especially.  And as hard as things have been I am trying to change my normally negative outlook on life and try a different approach.  Giving it to God.

Sounds easy, it isn't.  I am a slight control freak that needs order, schedules and lists to get through my easy days.  The theory of letting someone else, someone much bigger than me even, take care of my problems for me sounds a bit ridiculous.

But I'm trying, because I think at this point I'm starting to know better.  No matter what I write down or plan in advance or budget for life will get the better of me.  I cannot be it all.  So I am learning to let it go and let someone more qualified for the job take care of it. 

A craft Lily, 5, made in Sunday School.  The pepper represents the bad we keep in our hearts that only God can get rid of.  Very fitting.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians: 12-19