I've Met My Match

I have truly met my match. Her name is Haven Barker.

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I honestly do not know what the future holds but I do know that Haven Barker will get.the.job.done. 

Happy birthday to my sweet Haven Elizabeth. She turns 4 years old May 24th and I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by! This little pistol is as much of a joy as she is a pain, and of course I mean that lovingly! Well, mostly lovingly....Haven is hands-down, THE most strong-willed child I have ever known. Ever. And I know a LOT of people. I've seriously met my match. It's a daily battle of the wills. She is hard headed and spirited and has a will of steel. Like her mom. But oh, somehow more.

Let's put it this way: my daily prayer for Haven is that the Lord "breaks her will but not her spirit" and let me explain.

I want Haven to have determination. I want her to have a severe passion for what she believes in, so much so that she never ever backs down from it. I want her to be so self-disciplined that no one can talk her out of following the dreams she has her heart set on making come true. I do want these things for my child and I believe her strong-willed personality will allow her to do these things and so much more! What I mean when I want the Lord to 'break her will' is that I want her to submit to authority: mine and her father's of course, but more importantly her heavenly Father's authority. I want her to have such a fierce passion for the ways of the Lord that she never backs down from a challenge of her faith. I want her to believe so strongly in the TRUTH of the Gospel that she wins hundreds of people to Christ and that she makes an impact on this world and for eternity!

I believe she can.

The Lord made Haven the way she is and its my job to help mold her to be a submissive child, and ultimately a submissive wife and submissive Christian woman. Its my job to train her in the way she should go. Its my job to be the example of the Proverbs 31 woman she should be come. 

I doubt myself every day. 

What a huge task that is so difficult at times! Especially when we are butting heads in Hobby Lobby and all the other shoppers and employees are staring at me with Stone tucked in his sling and Micah obediently pushing the shopping cart treading lightly not to make me even more mad and I am literally dragging my middle child through the store while she is screaming "OW OW OW MOM YOU'RE HURTING MY ARM!! OW OW OW!!!!!!!!!!!!" and the poor woman cutting the fabric is almost afraid to wait on me because she fears that she too, will be subject to my uncontrollable wrath and temper that inevitably causes me to spank my child in a public place while still wearing my baby on my chest and still managing to shop (because I am a multi-tasker after all and by golly I am BUYING my stinkin' fabric) and still somehow I am managing to pick up the GIANT rolls of fabric that said middle child has managed to knock down off of the racks and are now unraveling across the Hobby Lobby aisles while I chase after them in my 4 inch wedge heels...

but I digress...

I know that days like today will be a part of the stepping stones that form Haven into the spirited young lady she will one day become. I know that when she doesn't have a nap that she is more irritable and that it was my choice to leave the house at naptime to run errands and take all 3 kids to Stone's 9 month check up. I know that when Haven is a teenager that I will long for the days I could drag her by her arm through a Hobby Lobby. But I will not give up. I will continue to try my best to train my strong-willed child and help her to become strong-willed for the Lord. I will pray every day that God leads me in the right direction regarding the precious gift He has entrusted me in Haven Elizabeth. 

And I will never ever give up or back down. I learned that from my middle child. She too, has met her match.

Happy 4th Birthday, my sweet Haven. You bring me joy and make me laugh every single day. I love you more than you will ever know!

Hit Me With Your Best Shot!

For almost 2 months now, my husband and I have been having weekly lunch dates every Tuesday (along with our youngest little one, Stone) as well as a date night every weekend. Everyone knows you're supposed to have occasional date nights with your spouse, but since we have made it a MUST for every single week, I am amazed and humbled by the impact it has had on our relationship!
We take turns every weekend planning something: sometimes its just dinner, other times something a little different. This past weekend, however, was VERY different and gets the Date Night "stamp of approval" from both Gary and myself! We went to the shootin' range! Yessirreee!

Oh. My. Word. How fun! And so different! You got to choose your weapon (they had CASES of handguns, pistols, rifles, etc. to choose from if you don't have your own. Luckily my husband knew a good one to pick: a .45 Sig Sawyer...now I know.) and gave you all the necessary protective gear (cue fashionable glasses and headphones above) and let you each pick out a target (yes, if you're wondering, they did indeed have targets with zombies on them).We also got 2 BIG boxes of cartridges!

Let me just say, thank goodness for those headphones and glasses! Not only was it SO LOUD in the range area, but those empty shells were going crazy! I got hit once or twice by not only my own empty shells but Gary's when he was shooting (which he shot very well I might add). This was my first time touching a gun. EVER. And I feel very brave now. But that's beside the point.
Here is a picture of my target afterwards:

Gary pointed out that all my shots were basically in a 5 inch margin straight up the middle. I would like to say I meant for it to be that way. But, in all truthfulness, I was aiming at the bulls-eye 'x' most of the time. Oh well!

Here's the best part, all of this was just $39 plus $10 weapon rental and get this: It also included dinner! They have a nice grill cafe where you can get sandwiches, baked potatoes, appetizers, salads, paninis, etc. and its all included! We even had time afterwards to get Starbucks and run by the mall. Yes, close to a perfect date!

You can check it out for yourself if you're interested: 'Date Night' on a Friday or Saturday night. Get there early, by 5:30 or 6 is ideal, no wait!

I am loving spending so much time with my husband, God is doing some amazing things in our marriage and in our home and I am so grateful and blessed!

Easy Creme-filled Cupcakes

In the light of the growing popularity of trendy cupcake bakeries, I have found myself becoming quite the cupcake connoisseur lately. I've sampled quite a few cupcakes (before Gary and I--specifically Gary--decided to swear off desserts and sweets for a while) in my day and I have decided that AnnOlivia's in Hernando and of course, the infamous Muddy's Bakery in Memphis are definitely the best!

That being said, this cupcake recipe is probably not worthy of opening up my own funky little bakery shop and selling them to the public, but when I had the opportunity to make some cupcakes for my mom's 55th birthday last Thursday, I decided to get a little crazy and add creme to the inside. Here's the finished product:

Now, I also don't claim to be the awesome Trendy Wendy at decorating, but I was pretty impressed that these at least looked halfway decent. Here's the recipe, its super easy and just takes a little bit longer than regular cupcakes to make:

Ingredients:

Butter yellow cake mix & ingredients to make cake (or any cake flavor)

Pillsbury cream cheese frosting (or any frosting flavor)

Pillsbury chocolate fudge frosting (or any frosting flavor)

sprinkles

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1/4 cup shortening

1 pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp milk

Directions:

Preheat oven according to cake mix, mix cake and pour into cupcake cups and bake accordingly.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, take a bullet-sized plug out of the TOP of each cupcake (I used an apple corer and it worked perfectly plus all the holes were even!). Set aside or eat discarded cupcake holes. They are perfectly bite-sized. And yummy. Though I promise I didn't try one...

Blend butter and shortening together in a mixer until smooth. Add confectioner's sugar and continue to blend until smooth. Slowly add in salt, vanilla and milk and continue to blend until smooth and fluffy. It won't look like enough filling, but it goes a long way! Here is where I did sample some of this recipe. The filling is YUM! (I had to make sure it wasn't too vanilla-y!) 

In a plastic bag or icing cone (I used a 1/4 inch tip in my icing plastic, but you can simply cut a small hole in the corner of a plastic ziploc bag, too) fill each cupcake hole with creme filling. It will settle a little bit and then you can go back around and top off each hole for good measure..

Ice over the top of the cupcakes and decorate.

 These were a huge hit at my sister's house for our Mom's birthday, or at least they seemed to be! :)
Happy Birthday Mom!