a blogger's dream

You may have noticed our blog has just (once again) changed.  It was time for a new look.  I fell in love with this design at first glance, as I did with the last one that we used for so long. 

The artist behind it all?  Her name is Leana Toews.  Ans she is a life saver!  I love her designs!  There's not many things I deem "blogworthy," but her site is certainly one of them.

Check her out!  ::click::

one fine day

One thing I miss about AZ is the sunsets.  They were pretty amazing (wouldn't you agree?).  But on the other end, the sunrises are usually pretty amazing out here in VA.  Today was, of course, beautiful but not what we're used to seeing on a clear morning out here.  Most mornings the sun seems to be this vivid glowing red-orange.  It's breathtaking!  Even though today's sunrise doesn't do VA sunrises justice, I ventured out in the frosty air today to try to capture God's glory in His amazing creation.

Here's what I got:





























If you haven't guessed by now, I absolutely LOVE fall!  I pretty much love all seasons, but fall is my favorite.  I think God's glory is illuminated in the firey leaves, the glorious sunrises and sunsets.  It simply amazes me.  Thank You, God, for giving us the ability to see You within your creation.

dewey, cheatem, & howe

I don't know if I just missed these amazing photo opps in AZ, or if they just didn't exist, but they're everywhere out here.  I love it!  Time to pull out the macro lenses!!!

nunzio the turkey

No one else knows it yet, but I've named our turkey, who is now a cooked carcass of leftovers sitting in a garbage bag in our refrigerator, Nunzio.  It's befitting, don't you think?

As you all may have figured out, this last Thursday was Thanksgiving  A time to reflect on what matters, and to hopefully remind us to reflect daily, not just on a holiday.  This year, among the many things I am thankful for, I was especially thankful for the Grewes.  They invited us to share Thanksgiving with them at their home in Purcellville.  We did the whole turkey thing, including the brining, which we tried for the first time last year, as well as some other new (to us, anyways) dishes like bourbon sweet potatoes, carrots and cream sauce, cranberry apple orange relish, etc., etc., etc.  What an amazing meal!  Not to mention the fresh apple huckleberry pie and lemon cheesecake.  Yum!

I didn't get a ton of pictures, and most of what I got were of Nunzio.  But thanks be to the Grewes for opening their home up to us this year!

Now, what you've all been waiting for, the infamous 20lb Nunzio:

Hello Nunzioooo


Did you honestly think you would see a post from us that did not contain artsy-fartsy pictures, too?




I almost forgot to mention the deviled eggs!  Yum!!!






The boys very into this "glorified Clue" game...


We meet again...you might be wondering what the grid marks are.  We didn't realize until Nunzio was nearly done cooking that we had put him on the rack upside down!  I thought it looked funny...


You can't see him, but Mike is the artist with the knife here.


Beautifully done, Mr. Beckwith.


It made an ugly mess in her oven, but doesn't this look amazing?  Good job, Christie!



Let's not forget the main reason we are so thankful. 

another attempt at a Bakerella original

Thanks to my dear sister, Holly, I just received 10 pounds of Guittard confectioners chocolate.  Apparently the closest place that carries it around here is in Connecticut.  So my sister offered to buy me some and ship it.  You can imagine how excited I was to play with these little boogers!  Especially since my run-in with a cheap craft store confectioners chocolate that just turns out thick and clumpy, which doesn't work well when you're trying to make smooth, delicious cake balls.

On to the purpose of this blog post, Mike and I decided that (just for fun), we'd play with the new Guittards by making a little twist on Bakerella's original Cake Balls.  She's made some other goodies using crushed cookies, rather than cake.  It looked much less time-consuming (and it was!) than the cake, but I dare say that I like the taste of the cake balls better.  Still these turned out pretty awesome, and the best part was how easy it was to dip them!  Once again, thanks to my lovely sister, Holly!

We made two kinds:  one with Oreos, and one with NutterButters.  (Here's the recipe for those who are interested)  We made them simultaneously (Mike worked on the NutterButters, while I worked on the Oreos), so there wasn't always an opportune time to take pictures of each step, but between the two, I think you get the picture.  (no pun intended)



With a little help from our new toy:


this:


and this:


turned into this:


and this:


and eventually this:


became this:


In a word: yum.

In case you didn't get your fill the first time around:


















DOUBLE YUM!

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I'm not sure what this blog post will be about.  I haven't blogged in a long time.  Things have been pretty crazy lately.  Overwhelmed with work stuff, being sick, and other stuff, it hasn't been a great couple of weeks.

In that, I've let loose what I should have been holding onto this whole time, and that's Christ.  Did you know that He offers us peace?  He actually tells us (Philippians 4:6-7) not  to get so worked up about things, but instead to come to Him in prayer, to ask Him for what we need, and to do it all with thanksgiving, and He will provide a peace for us.  Not just any peace, though.  This is a peace that doesn't add up.  This is a peace that we can't fathom.  And it's not just a peace that everything will be hunky dory, it's a peace in knowing that where you are at, be it good or bad, is where God wants you.  It's a peace that only God can offer. None of that "feel good" stuff we hear all about in the media today. 

So, why wouldn't I be looking for that?  Why do we turn away so easily?  I've noticed since not looking to Christ for help in these matters, I'm becoming more irritable, less patient, and in some cases, more rebellious (for lack of a better word).  That's not to say I have a list of rules to follow, or things I can and can't do as a follower of Christ.  But I do have God's Holy Spirit to help me know what God's will is in any given situation, and I've chosen to just ignore that lately.  I've had a sort of "screw it" mentality.  In the words of Cartman (I can't believe I'm quoting South Park, but it instantly came to mind when I spoke of ignoring the Holy Spirit...interesting...), "I do what I want!"

So here I am, feeling completely helpless, shameful, and broken.  I'm going to turn things around today.  I'm going to head a different direction with all this.  I'm laying it as Jesus' feet, and letting Him carry me through it.   I'm asking you all to help keep me accountable to that.

Thanks for reading!  Less depressing posts coming soon!

suck it, cone!

It may sound harsh, but this was the theme of Rachie P's visit to our humble abode in VA.  We did many things, including visiting the Nation's Capital, seeing thee very first Methodist Church in the US, sharing in the Beckwith's first Wawa experience, but by far, this was the best part of her trip:



I keep thinking, man I'll miss Rachie when she's gone, but really, the majority of the time we've had the privilege of knowing her, she was not around.  We first met her at church when she was playing with our worship team for the college ministry, she puked all over herself during practice, I let her borrow some of my pants, and we've shared a delightful bond ever since!  But shortly after that, she attended Pt. Loma in San Diego for a few years.  We got to see her once or twice a year.

Now she's off to England to work at a church out there and to act as a native until they kick her out in a year.  Actually, they'll kick her out in six months, but she'll march right back in and tell them what's what until they do it again in another six months.  Then I'm sure she'll leave peacefully.

Until then, Ta-ta, PomWad!  We'll miss you!

how to make atomic buffalo turds

I know what you're thinking, and no, the first step is not to feed a buffalo a garden of chili peppers, nor is the last step to wait.

There are many recipes for these, and most are alike, though there are a few variations. These are some of my favorite appetizers. The recipe I am using was originally found here. You'll notice the name has changed, but you'll get the same end result. I suppose I could have just posted the link, but I decided it was more fun to walk you through it.

So, if you missed my Twitpic Adventure Live Cooking Show with Hilary (follow my Tweets here, or you can see them on my Facebook), here's a walkthrough blog post.


For this recipe, you will need:
-fresh, whole jalapenos
-cream cheese - I prefer lowfat (neufchatel)
-bacon - I prefer center cut, as there is more meat, less fat.
-toothpicks

Wash the peppers.



Cut the stem end off, trying to keep as much of the pepper as possible. Cut the peppers in half, longways, trying to keep the halves evenly portioned.



Using a spoon, scrape out the insides, seeds and all. Rinse again to assure all the seeds and junk are gone.



Lay on towel to dry, placing the inside of the peppers face down. A paper towel will do just fine if you prefer. To make drying time quicker, use another towel to gently press down on the peppers, being careful not to break the peppers.



Once excess water is removed, use a spoon to pack the peppers to the brim with delicious cream cheese.

I apologize to our small group for this particular pepper. Sooooorrryyyy.



If you chose the center cut bacon, cut the pack in half. If you are using ordinary bacon, which is a bit longer than center cut, you can cut it into thirds. Wrap each pepper half with a piece of bacon, sticking a toothpick through the sides to hold it together.

Place on baking sheet. I like to place them on a rack on the baking sheet to allow any bacon grease to drip off.


Bake at 375 degrees. The original recipe says 20-25 minutes, though I prefer to cook them 5-10 extra minutes, depending on the size of peppers. Now that I've confused you with all sorts of numbers so that you will never remember, I like to bake mine for 30-35 minutes.


Side note: If you are looking for a lowfat alternative, I would not recommend turkey bacon. I tried it, and it didn't work as well. Instead, try fat free cream cheese, or try trimming the excessively fatty parts off the bacon before wrapping the peppers.


Time to eat!

our time has come...

...well, we manipulated the system into thinking our time had come. Not without the "go-ahead" from the lovely folks at Sprint, of course.

The point is, they're here and they're better than we could have hoped for!

Behold...


Now the Beckwiths have joined the rest of the world (if you know us at all, you know we're always a little behind on this cell phone stuff) with unlimited texting and data! Huzzah!

If you have not received our new phone numbers yet, either email us, or join our Facebook group.

Smell ya later!

thirty-two

That is the number of days the car repair shop had my car to repair it from the accident. It's the number of days it took me to realize how much I really appreciate J-Lo, and her big ol' booty.

While she was there, I was loaned, by the lovely people at Enterprise, a Toyota Corolla. Normally, I think this would be pretty cool. Decent car manufacturer, looks almost identical to J-Lo, even. I normally love Toyotas. But the combination of the filthy car, pieces of vents broken off, the faint smell of cigarette smoke, not to mention the sporadically toxic fume spewing air conditioning, all made it just a piece of crap in my mind.

I could have taken it back to Enterprise, but I didn't. First off, we were told it would only take 7-10 days to fix my car. We would later find out (about 3 weeks later) that whoever told us 7-10 days was "stretching" it. I figured, I can handle this piece of junk for a week or so. Second, Geico was paying for it all. The accident was not our fault, and the "other guy's" insurance was taking responsibility. Who was I to be picky? $7300 worth of damage to my car, I'm just grateful we weren't hurt.

So I didn't take it back. Then "7-10" days turned into weeks, and then over a month.

But J-Lo is back, and it appears that Craftsman Auto Body did a terrific job! They even returned my car with the same full tank of gas it had when we got hit!

Though I can honestly say that Geico leaves a lot to be desired. For as many times as we heard the inflated phrase, "my goal is to provide you with level ten service," we have yet to see that level ten service.

Regardless...

it's over!!!