you'll thank me later

My apologies, Ina, but I changed your recipe. For starters, I didn't have flaked coconut in my pantry. But also, I prefer dried figs and raisins to pitted dates. And I have to have my milled flax seed....really, it's not that I don't respect your cooking expertise...I just wanted to make it my own way.

Deidre's Granola Bars

2 1/4 cups quaker quick oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup milled flax seed
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped dried figs
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8x12 dish and line with parchment paper.

Combine oatmeal, walnuts, and flax seed. Spread on a sheet pan and toast in oven for 10 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add wheat germ.

Turn oven down to 300 degrees.

Combine butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir, and pour over oatmeal mixture. Add the figs and raisins and combine well.

Pour mixture over parchment paper and press evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool for a couple of hours. Cut into squares. Eat. Enjoy!

pics of the babe

Here are some new pics of the baby. I can't believe how big he is; it seems like last week that I was anticipating his arrival. And he'll be four months old next week and I'm already mourning the "newborn" phase.
I read a good friend's blog tonight. Her son just turned 13, and as she reflected on the speed with which he arrived at this age, I couldn't help but cry. Before I was a mother, I never understood...and now I just sit by and watch the whirlwind of growing up happen before my very eyes. I want so badly to just push pause for a second, so I can feel like I'm enjoying and savoring it...so that I feel like not missing anything...so that I can stamp it all on my heart so that I never, ever forget. I think that's why I love my camera so much. It keeps what I can't--a perfect picture of right now.
I took a few minutes the other day to set up a "photo studio" in my bedroom. He is such a beauty. I hope you enjoy.






oh, and I can't neglect to give credit to another photographer, who is my greatest assistant! here he is reviewing his latest shot. *wink wink*

You make all things new

2009:
a new job.
a new (to me) car.
a new baby.
made some new friends.
grew apart from some old ones.
reconnected with some really old ones.
four twilight books, two beth moore bible studies, and a dozen road trips.
4,000 pictures (maybe more).
less money, but more time...what a great trade-off.

I'm very excited for 2010. I hope for a few things:
living with even less, so that we can give more.
patience and kindness. sometimes I think I don't have any of either.
when I don't have possessions to give, that I remember to give time.

the following prayer has been taped to my mirror for almost 10 years...but it is still my prayer as I begin 2010.

Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Your will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to You to be Yours forever. Fill me and seal me with Your Holy Spirit. Use me as You will, send me where You will, work out Your whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever.