All by Herself!

Glazed Cinnamon Scones

Delicious recipe-I hope you get the chance to enjoy!

Scone Ingredients:
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, slightly softened
1 egg, separated
3 T. honey
1/3 c. buttermilk (I used 1/3 c. milk with 1/2 tsp. lemon juice)

Crumb topping:
2 T. sugar (I used organic cane sugar, you could easily use sucanat.)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Glaze ingredients:
1 c. powdered sugar
2.5 T. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Separate the egg white and yolk. Set the egg white aside.

In a separate bowl, mix egg yolk, honey and buttermilk (or milk/lemon juice mixture). Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Form dough into a ball on a floured surface. Roll or pat out to half an inch in thickness and eight inches in diameter. Cut into eight equally-sized pieces.

Transfer to a greased baking sheet. Whisk the egg white until froth forms and brush over the tops of scones. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over egg-white-topped scones.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Mix together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until glaze forms. Drizzle over scones after they bake.

**Baker's Notes: I used a wooden spoon to mix my dough, but the very last bit was best done by hand to get a good consistency and to mix in all the dry ingredients. I also found it very easy to form the dough by hand rather than rolling it out. I also only needed to bake them for 9 minutes in my 400 degree oven, so take care not to overbake and pay attention-the only way to tell is whether the bottoms are browned or not. Baking them too long results in a dry scone.

The scones are excellent reheated, and I think would be amazing with a cream cheese glaze as well. With my sister and I making them for the first time, we had them done in 30 minutes including baking, so they are definitely doable for a fresh breakfast treat! (Oh, and this morning hubby said they taste like cinnamon toast crunch...hmmm...)

ENJOY!!

Two Years

My very darling husband brought these home:

(note to self: next year, just forget again that hubby will get flowers, because it's really fun to be genuinely surprised by a bouquet.)

and this evening we had a long dinner at Perkins...
then went and saw this:

(cute movie, by the way.)

My awesome sister stayed with the kiddo, and then attempted to get a decent picture of us two goofballs for historical posterity.

................................
I can't say how wonderful these last two years have been. We have been through a lot...and in every tiny detail I see the loving, mighty hand of God. He has blessed us, and I am thankful beyond words for every moment I am Mrs. Scott Kratzer.

"Dubby"

She wanted her hat and mittens.
(Well, to be specific, she wanted her "dubby". Yes, that word is the same both singular and plural.)So daddy got the dubby and put them on.

She wore them for a very long time, and used her personal mirror to admire her dressed up reflection.

The hat and mittens came off after a while, and we went downstairs to play just before breakfast. Ava saw her dubby, and wanted it on. Daddy obliged, just like good daddies do.

So, an education on Ava vocabulary:
Dubby=all things clothing, and even feet.
Nummy=all things food and drink.
Ball=all things round (including your head).
Puppy=all things animal.
There, you can now communicate in fluent Ava-speak!

Shallow and Profound

As a note of explanation, I have found "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers to be one of the most profound books ever written. I've been doing more reading of it lately, often out of date order, and have been deeply blessed in doing so. I encourage you to check out this website that posts from Chambers' book. It also carries other links to his resources as well. While he is now with the Lord, his influence lingers.

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31

Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.

To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher . . .” (Matthew 10:24).

We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.

Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.

-Oswald Chambers