and still...love remains

I know I haven't done an entry for some time now. This post won't be perfect, but it comes from the heart. The words and thoughts are pure and true. But this is what I want to say. Jesus loves you, he cares so much for you. He loves you so much that he died for you before you were even born. Because he knew before you were born how important you are. He knew that you are someone special, with an amazing personality and heart that was going to reach out and bless people. He saw something in you, before you even took your first breath. God wanted to be the one closest to you. He wanted to be the one who holds you close when you got hurt or felt upset. He wanted to get to you know, to develop a strong, rewarding relationship with you. Because he saw how unique you are, how perfect and righteous in his eyes you are. So He decided to come down into the earth in human form. A lowly, poor, helpless little baby. And that baby's name was Jesus Christ. When he was older people shunned him, they laughed and ridiculed him, pointed fingers and talked behind his back "That weirdo over there". But even though Jesus got humiliated he still had such a kind-heart, he healed the sick, helped the poor, made blind eyes see, and rescued the neglected. He was so humble, kind, and caring. He held through and didn't ever stop preaching about his heavenly Father and the abundant life we can have with God.

But some people didn't care about what he said. They wanted him dead. They whipped him, and beat him, tore his clothes and pushed a crown of thorns on his head. He died a criminal's death, nailed to a cross, tearing apart. He died for us. Because he believed in every one of us, even those like you and me who weren't even born yet. He died because he wanted to be close to us every step of our life, he wanted us to live with him in heaven when we die, he didn't want us to feel bad and upset at the mistakes we made. Those mistakes, those sins that have entangled us in self-pity and sadness. You see, when Jesus died on the cross he paid the price for our sins. Yes, that means your sins too. The Bible explains perfectly what Jesus' death did for us.

"But there is a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but God's free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins." -Romans 5:15-16

"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus." - Romans 3:23-26


"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires or their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or be jealous of one another." - Galations 5:24-25

" So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ....So God did what law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins." -Romans 8:1-3

"And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." - Romans 5:9-11

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection  from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life." - 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Through all this, God did this because he loves us. This is the most beautiful and perfect example of love.  I feel honored to know that we have this opportunity to open our hearts to God and have a relationship with him. Learning to trust in him, to give every worry and confusion to him to fix for us. And he willingly does it, he freely loves us and gives us life and purpose. That is love in it's greatest. Lets give it up for Jesus!! :)

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference" - Unknown

Mothers Day // Chocolate Cake Recipe

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was such a beautiful day! My Mum is such a terrific friend and a caring and considerate woman, and I must add she is super gorgeous! She is so special to me. And, yes she frustrates me too sometimes...but life wouldn't be as exciting if everyone got on like angels! :P My Mum is unique, funny, optimistic, awesome, fun, and she is so helpful! She puts God first, encourages and challenges me, she tries to be thankful in bad circumstances, and she has the most fun ideas and adventures. I love how she gets excited about her ideas! Love you lots Mummy.

For this special day I baked a Chocolate Cake for Mum. But wait a moment before you start saying "Oh no! Don't start talking about Chocolate, I'm on a sugar-free diet!" Because this particular Chocolate Cake happens to be dairy-free, gluten-free and.... *insert evil laughter* sugar-free!! mowhahaha!

Ahem....

I found this delicious chocolate cake recipe from Elana Amsterdam's recipe book: The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Seriously it is the best cookbook by far, and the food is healthy! Anyway, enough with my rambling on. Here are the photos of the finished chocolate cake I had lots of fun whipping up, and the recipe.



Photographed by Briony ^

Photographed by Briony ^

The whole family sat around the outside-table laden with china teacups, tea, and the chocolate cake. We had a lovely time, making memories and eating the yummy cake. :D
It was a very Mummy day.

Chocolate Cake                         

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup agave nectar or honey (I did 3/4 cup)
2 large eggses :)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting

1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 olive oil or grapeseed oil
3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
1-2 tablespoons vanilla extract
pinch celtic sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch cake pan with grapeseed oil and dust with almond flour.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, combine the agave nectar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 1 hour.
To make the chocolate frosting combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Refrigerate for 15 mins, then frost over the cake Serve and enjoy!

*To make a layer cake, simply double the recipe above and use two cake pans.

xx

P.S. Here is Elana Amsterdam's website link: www.elanaspantry.com

Her fourth birthday // Miss E.R.

After we finished playing a game of polly-pocket outside, I persuaded little miss E.R. to let me take some photos of her. The sun was just setting in the horizon behind us, it was the perfect moment. I quickly dashed into the house and grabbed Briony's camera, faithfully promising to return it afterwards.  ;) I raced back outside to my little sister. After a few bribes and persuasive words I had Miss E.R. situated under the tree with the sun setting as the backdrop, and while she quietly played with her doll, I snapped a few portraits. When I was happy with my work I followed up on my bribe and gave little sis a bike ride on my bicycle, (that's just how nice am, :D)  My sister is an awesome model, even when her hair is messy!

This beautiful, curly haired, hazel eyed, girl is my sister. And it was her 4th birthday!!

This little cutie is no longer going to be little for long! In her eyes she is a 'big girl' now. :) Miss E.R. is such a joy in my life. She is full of giggles and smiles, loves playing with her dolls, and often totters around the house whistling or singing made-up tunes. I sometimes find her either rumbling with her big brothers or having a tea party with her teddies. She comes up with absurd stories and loves playing barbies or dress ups with me. When everything goes quiet you just know she is up to some mischief. She never hesitates to entertain, she is a bubbly, full-of-energy little girl and I love her lots! She is growing up so fast! Thank you honey for the four awesome years, I can't wait for our sister-friendship to grow and blossom more & more over the years to come!


(Long time no post? Well, yes I guess I am a bit slack. I actually have been doing quite a lot of things lately (surprise, surprise). Stay posted for an update post soon! :) And I can assure you I will get on to it. ;)) 

October // thankfulness

Sometimes breaks for me come unexpectedly (as you probably already well know). I would love to blog more but there always seems to be so many other things to do! I would much rather spend the short time with my family or doing another task that I love. I don't choose to take a break, it just comes naturally, it's usually because I don't have any inspiration on hand.  If you think about it there are so many things in life that are overlooked but are so inspiring to us. We just need to look more closely. Like the sweet tang of the juicy apple in your mouth, or the beautiful fresh smell in the air. And the birds! The birds who sing beautiful songs every single hour of the day! Maybe we should sing more often? These are some of the beautiful inspirations that are sometimes overlooked by us in our 'busy' life. I'm sure that there are hundreds more of these little things that I haven't pointed out, but that's one of the exciting parts of being alive, we just need to find out what they are for ourselves and embrace the opportunity to enjoy them.

My mum has recently encouraged us to choose at least three things a day to be thankful for.You may think this sounds quite easy, and in some respects it is. I sometimes have a whole page and a half filled with things I'm thankful for! Even the ugly-beautiful little things like folding baskets and baskets of clean washing....at least we have clean clothes and towels to use, some people don't have anything! But sometimes being thankful is hard. I sometimes have to think very hard for one single thing to be thankful for. Imagine you had your final game of soccer one day and you woke up and it was pouring rain! That is a situation where it is very hard to be thankful. In these circumstances we have to challenge ourselves to think of one or two things to be thankful for. And I can tell you now, you won't be disappointed with the end results of your day if you had chosen to do that. When being thankful both during it and afterwards I always feel so much happier. That is God's little gift for us when we choose to be thankful. God isn't up in heaven with a notebook and pen writing down each and every little mistake we do. He actually loves to bless us and make us feel happy. And if we choose to be thankful more often on an everyday basis, our lives and other people's lives around us will be ever so much happier and filled to the brim with joy and blessing!


I'm not saying my life is perfect. I have my bad days too and I still argue with my siblings. In these situations I have to challenge myself to try to make my day better. Recently I had a ambulance trip to the hospital with numbness in my arms and my brain a bit confused. I didn't know what was up with my body, it turned to be a migraine (a really bad headache). The numbness and confusion were the symptoms part of it all. It was very scary for me and my family! We had never dealt with that before. Maybe God wanted that to happen in my life for some reason or another, I still don't know what or why that is yet. I am so thankful that is wasn't anything serious and that God was protecting me.  I can't wait to see what God has install for my family and I in the months and years to come!

Right now, I think I'll go finish reading a chapter or two in my book.

Au Revoir!

P.S. My three close cousins who are sisters have recently create a food blog where they share delicious recipes and tips on food, and mouth-watering photographs of their masterpieces. Why don't you pop over there and share some love?

lazy mornings

The holidays have been very refreshing and relaxing ones for us. I love it that we can sleep in without a worry about having to start school early. And then waking up after a pleasant sleep at eight thirty in the morning, grabbing a cup of tea and to snuggle in the armchair with a good book and read read read until the morning is almost over!

 I've found that there are so many little blessings in my life that I wouldn't usually notice in my everyday busy life. Yesterday I was in that same armchair and I was reading that good book I was talking about, and I looked out the window to see my little three year old sister walking hand in hand with Mum around the backyard. She was chatting away about all these little things to Mum, asking questions, exclaiming that she saw a kangaroo hopping away in the paddock, just chatting away in her high pitched voice not caring about anything but telling her Mummy this and that about her day. I just sat there and smiled, soaking in that moment that is not going to be there forever. I thought what lovely little blessings God has given us! :)

A few evenings ago around five o'clock I felt a sudden urge to take a little 'stroll' you could say down in the paddock. The dam next door caught my attention at first, it looked so peaceful and still with the twilight sky upon it, with the willow trees on it's bank swaying gently with the breeze. Then the sky caught my attention, for a just a minute ago it have been all normal but now the sky was filled with beautiful pink clouds and the sun was setting on the other side. I just stood there and thought: Oh how I love it here.

 / lazy mornings / pretty sunsets / new surroundings / little sisters / tea parties / books / little blessings / sunny days / tintin comics / letters / my family / baking / They all just about sum up what I'm loving at the moment. 

What have you enjoyed doing these holidays?

Ciao!