Gratitude and a Birthday Cake

Those smiles bring me so much joy.  

If you look closely you can see all three of them have the same dimple on their chin.  (When Anna was born the nurse exclaimed, "She has her father's dimple!")

They all have the same goofy sense of humor.      

To celebrate my husband's birthday this week my daughter wanted to bake his birthday cake all by herself.   She did a FABULOUS job and the cake was crazy good.  

It was quite providential that a friend of mine from co-op had just emailed our group the recipe for a cake she had made for us the week before.  Everyone raved about how good it was.    It was the perfect cake for my daughter to make for her dad. 

Of course I had to throw in the question:  If you need 8 oz. of chocolate chips and you have a 12 oz. bag, what fraction of the bag should you use?  She knew the answer immediately, since one of her math lessons this week was fractional word problems.   

 She was even gracious enough to let her brother lick the beater.   

It turned out just beautifully, and it was truly one of the best birthday cakes I've ever eaten.  

Just to remind her dad of his age, she had to buy the 4 and 2 candles to top it off.
 

The recipe was so simple that I had to share it with you.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 box chocolate pudding mix

8 oz. chocolate chips

4 eggs

3/4 cup applesauce

8 oz. sour cream or plain yogurt (we used sour cream)

3/4 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a bundt pan.

Mix all ingredients (except chocolate chips).  Stir in chocolate chips last.

Pour mixture into bundt pan and bake 50 minutes.   Cool in pan for 10 minutes.   Dust with powdered sugar, or drizzle with a chocolate glaze.

I'm beyond thankful for these three precious gifts in my life - my two children and my husband.   I'm reminded of the reading from church two weeks ago, a reading that our pastor preached about and has really stuck with me:

 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.   

~ James 1:17

In a week where there have certainly been some annoyances, I'm choosing to look beyond those and focus on the things I am thankful for: 

a dear homeschool friend who always finds the PERFECT ways to encourage others

the continued recovery of a young man in our church who broke his neck after he was hit by a drunk driver

a new pastor for our church (who is also a blogger! yay!)

continued opportunities for my blogging and writing

finding a fun LEGO game for my co-op class and Grant helping me work on this week's lesson plan

God giving me the strength to live out James 1:18:

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

What do YOU have to be thankful for this week?