It's Official

Top of the morning to ya!

   

    I am positively *elated*... I found an incredible graphic designer, Ingeborg (IngeWorx), who lives just 5 minutes from my house. I felt VERY disorganised when I went to her and shared the fonts I liked, my whimsical but simple lines personality, my "happy" colours, etc... Apparently, she was glad to have someone who knew what they liked (I can't IMAGINE anyone less decisive on this matter than me!!).

   So... She sent me several designs to work with.

    Keeping to my personality, I selected and combined designs from three of the card templates and she did the magic.

   Here 'tis with some additional food photos from this week:

Confession: I stole this photo off of my mom's instagram and cropped it. 

Rylan promised to take a better photo that I can put on my instagram

account so I can tag Inge in it. If you want to see a better photo, you're going to have to

follow me. ;-) 

Morgan made some SLAMMING Orange Chicken a few nights ago...

AND she ate it. She's been eating extremely clean. The girl is dedicated.

I told her the other night I had a dream (nightmare??) that she

gorged herself on brownies. That's how dedicated she is.

So Gabbi and Rylan have been competing in photography. I believe

I mentioned that before. I am posting both of their photos on here of my Cinnamon

Pretzels... I won't tell you who did which one. I have a feeling some of my readers

may be a bit biased. ;-) haha!

I am not being diplomatic when I say this... But I absolutely LOVE both for different reasons.

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

Where Have I Been???

Top of the morning to ya!


    I would not be surprised if by now you all have given up on me... I have come on quite a few times with the good intention of blogging... Not sure what happened.

    I want to take a moment to extend gratitude to the faithful few in Germany, South Africa, occasionally some other countries, and all of my American friends and family! I'm not sure who all of you are... But I get so excited when I see the numbers of people from each country still coming on here. ;-) ... It's like Christmas every time!

     - Anywho... Just a little "shout-out" to all of you.


    April was our respite month... Not really. But we tried. It was also the only month that we did not have overseas guests. Now, we eagerly anticipate the arrival of friends from overseas each month for the rest of 2014. - I'm so excited!

     The Lord has been gracious to this pathetic anxious little being. Despite my worries, He has remembered my prayers and reminded ME of my prayers. One of which being that wherever I go with Douceur, that I never stray from the path He has blessed and that all would be for His glory. Shortly after I prayed this, I sat back - didn't feel like preparing my fields for rain - and shrugged everything off "in the name of Jesus". My attitude?? Eh. I'll wait and see what happens.

    I was quickly humbled by a call from a friend who asked me to send a last-minute quote for 6 savoury tarts for a friend's wedding.

   I was floored.

   But I didn't take that order as justification for my apathetic attitude. Rather, I realised that the Lord was graciously prodding me on and showing me that every good gift is from Him. I need but prayerfully seek out opportunities.

    In short... That got me going again. With more encouragement from family and friends - and my life-long sister-in-crime, Mo, by my side - I summoned up the guts to talk with our friends who own The Food Fundi... And boy, did God bless above and beyond there!

    Words fail me.

     So... I've been baking my little heart out recently and here are just a few of last month's personal favourites:


 

I taught a friend how to make a cake for her daughter's 3rd birthday. 

I found an *incredible* chocolate cake recipe on FOODESS.com. 

Naturally, I added my own twist and also made an espresso-shot buttercream frosting. Not espresso buttercream... Espresso SHOT buttercream. "Shot" bears much significance in the outcome. :-)

It. Was. Delectable.

This was my first-ever Challah bread. 

Everyone kept looking at this bread and saying "CHALLAH!" like valley girls... I'll never look at this bread the same way again. So annoying. 

Every year, my father leads us in Pesach and we usually invite others to join us. 

I decided to go all-out

and look up traditional Pesach dishes. (I didn't follow all of the

rules and I incorporated traditional

Shabbat foods, as well... We follow the Messiah, anyways. There's freedom in Christ! 

Challah-lujah!) ...Ok. Enough of the corn-ation.

 As believers, we commemorate how the Lord brought His people out of Egypt, and remember the anticipation of the Messiah throughout what we call the "Old Testament". 

The exciting part as

believers is that we not only celebrate Pesach... but we rejoice because the Messiah has come, he conquered death, and He is seated victorious on His throne!

Morgan made this spectacular Israeli flat bread that we also found in our research.

It's a regular part of our lives now... That and dipping oil. Yum! ... And if you're American, it's even better warm from the oven dabbed in butter. Oh yes, people!

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

A Valid Excuse for No Posts

Top of the morning to ya!

    It has been about a month, I believe. My apologies. Below is a sneak-peek into our month. The Lord has blessed us tremendously! Zach and Kait moved here with their two handsome boys!!!! Anddddd... My long-time friend and partner-in-crime ~Ash~ has also flown halfway across the world to spend March with us.

      Again... My cup overfloweth. :D

I think this blog will begin to get a facelift. Gabbi and Morgan

have been having fun with the camera. I know they will have a heart-attack because

I see their photography through rose-coloured glasses and tend to upload their least

favourite photos. However, here is the lovely Gabbi. 

I think I've seen Big Foot more times than I've seen a photo

of Graham smiling and even making a funny face for the camera. He usually ducks as soon as a 

camera is brought out, so this is definitely my favourite. (We'll just ignore the fact

that this is his mischievous smile because he probably stole that cheese from someone and ate a huge chunk.)

This is my lovely friend, Kait. She exudes joy and radiance! She is passionate

about the Lord, LOVES her husband, and absolutely adores her boys!

Morgan and Gab liked this photo... I don't even remember this being taken.

So, I just love this photo. I didn't find the one where Gabbi played around 

with the exposure and Morgan got 85 likes on the first day. But this is Morgan. Mo. Slo-Mo.

Speedy. Ashleigh... Depending on who you're talking to and where they met. 

She is my best friend.

We ~ Douceur ~ did a photo shoot per request on DIY Pom Poms... The entire tutorial is on Facebook.

When Ash is in town... We take FULL advantage and had to make 

the Woodser-famous cheese blitzen. *moment of silence*

Meet "The Bruce". Highly intelligent. Charming. Handsome.

Hilarious. Curious. Athletic. Loving. Never meets a stranger. TALL for 2yrs of age. 

A miracle and a blessing. I look at him and see God's grace. 

I never would've thought when I was 16 and met his mom that we would reconnect,

she'd be married, and THEN we'd have Bruce and Wyatt joining their parents to live in Africa with us!! God is good.

Wyatt. "Wy-man". 5 months old. He is also tall. Precious. 

Quick to smile. Absolutely ADORES the sight of his brother. Loves coo-ing at us.

I could kiss his scrumptious cheeks all day!!! MMM!!

Ash's dear precious Grandma Long sent a present to me through

Ash from my favourite store: Anthropologie. Made my day! I love her so much!

So... This morning I made her a Thank-You card. 

We also went for a Sunday walk in the Botanical Gardens. 

Tangled is one of our favourites... And for some reason, we girls think

that we have a pretty convincing smolder. So... We tried it again.

It looks more like all the typical teenage girl photos we make fun of. Yeesh!

It has perplexed Mo and me how celebrities can talk and always look 

ready for the camera... I think the airbrush edit must also make their faces

look normal or something.

Graham photo-bombing like a boss.

You know those 50's horror movie poses??

That's what we also tried.  (^^^ Morgan was taking this pretty seriously.)

This one is a little more convincing but I couldn't help but think of this... 

Hold on a moment...

It's probably dumb how much this makes me crack up

every time I look at it.

 

Bruce is such a ham!! And this family is so lovely!

These are way out of order but Ash and I have been to the Food Fundi

so many times now that I can't remember when this was!

Even though we are 21 and 22... We will always be kids deep down inside

and our husbands and children will just have to give us grace. This was our water olympics day in the pool. Ash's splash was just a little too large.

Mom had the excellent idea of a beading class at our new favourite shop!

We had a girls' day making jewelry and it was quite fun!

I like to tease Ash that she copies me a lot...

But in reality, I love love love this girl! She has a beautiful heart and I am so blessed

to have her as my friend. That she would spend money to fly all the way over here just blows me away. I am so excited to see and rejoice with her as she enters new seasons of life. She has been faithful and kept the Lord as her central focus. God be praised!

And finally... For now... The 3hr zip line day as a family with Ash. 

While we waited for Ash to zip her way to our station, we decided to be brave and see if the equipment could really hold 5 adults up as we leaned back over a steep ledge.

I must admit... I felt pretty cool!

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

Ode to Graphic Designers... Well, Not Really.

Top of the morning to ya!

Morgan's reversed-engineered granola recipe... She fell in love with a specific kind 

during her time in Israel.

    I have a new respect for graphic designers. And I love Wix. And I am singing the praises of my friend's husband who introduced us to this ingenious website.

   Morgan and I worked ALL DAY on our webpage for Douceur. There are so many details we have to critique, grammatical errors to be corrected, descriptions to be edited... the list goes on! I stared at it so long yesterday that my eyes crossed and what I initially thought looked beautiful began to look ugly.

   I see why most people have to walk away from their work for a while. I also don't understand how people can love web design and do it for a living. I have a lot of respect for you graphic and web designers out there. Seriously.

   A praise is that we received really good feedback from our friends and my prayer is that God will bless the path ahead for Douceur and that we would solely tread in the centre of His will for us! I've learned that I cannot manipulate His will and there is much joy and blessing in embracing His plan for my life!

"Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it." -Julia Child

    We shall see where this venture will take us! No matter what happens, I am grateful for the opportunity to step out in faith in the entrepreneurial realm.





"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

   

Douceur

Top of the morning to ya!

     So... My father has encouraged me for several years to consider entrepreneurial pursuits. I have lived in fear and worry and refused to try. I enjoy expressing creativity through decorating, baking, and fashion and have often wondered how I could do something that involves those entrepreneurial passions. However, I procrastinated and talked.

    The name "Douceur" is French for "sweetness". My 'brother', Jusob, who speaks french amongst other languages, came up with several names for me to choose from. Jusob is 17 years old and I am continually amazed at how business savvy he is! My dad helped us with our basic business slide and my mom and other cheerleaders have been supporting us and giving us lots of ideas and contacts.

     If I ever write a book, I'll have to dedicate it to a LOT of people. 

    Marli, who has an event planning business, started talking to me about ideas that she had and connections that she also had. Morgan and I decided to start working on a business plan and asking for advice from everyone we could. 

    Morgan and I have these amazing friends - sisters- who are highly gifted in fashion and baking. Raeesa, the older sister, is a fashion designer and does custom dresses and gowns for girls and women. Ridwana, her younger sister, is a highly gifted baker. We have enjoyed her treats quite a bit. 

    The week that Morgan and I went to Pretoria with Marli, Marli informed us that she would be having some government officials at her lodge. They requested a revised menu and Marli decided to out-source the starters and desserts to us. It was an exciting opportunity and I made mistakes. But I thank God that He gave us the strength and support to step out and do it. 

   Ridwana heard about our order and got very excited. She gave me presentation suggestions for my pies and offered to make sugar domes for them... I had never heard of those before!

   Below are a couple of photos of one of the starters and one of the desserts... 

I would tell you what all this involved, but I'd have to kill you!

 Just look at these!! I watched Ridwana make four of these domes in a span of 5 or so minutes.

Morgan made a delcious foccacia bruschetta... She went above and beyond with the ingredients... Unfortunately again, I'd have to kill you if I told you. ;-)

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."