June's Recipe of the Month: Zucchini Bread

Every month I post one of our family's favorite recipes, and this one's a good one for summer.  It's one of Christopher's favorite sweet treats.  This is super easy to throw together.  And this recipe makes two loaves, so there's enough for you to gorge yourself on zuccini bread, freeze a loaf, or share one with a friend. Thanks so much Ann Barton for the delicious zucchini out of your garden!

Zucchini Bread

recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

Dry:

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups sugar

Wet:

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup water

2 cups grated zucchini

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients except for nuts in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients; fold into dry, and add nuts.  Bake in two loaf pans for 1 hour, or until done.

Faith Fourth of July Celebration

Our family really enjoyed our 1st Faith Fourth of July Celebration, which conveniently takes place right across the street from our church.  Our new friend Jorge advised us to try the Mexican food truck, so we did...and it was really good!  I ate a torta for the first time, which is a Mexican sandwich, and Tim tried an authentic Mexican taco.  It was spicy, but he could handle it.

 When we lived in Cincinnati, Christopher used to LOVE the giant slide at Coney Island.  To his and John's delight, the Faith celebration had one, too!  (Anna was not much of a fan.  She inherited her fear of heights from her mommy.)

 Anna's 1st pony ride!

But the most important thing going on at the festival for our family was the shelter where our church was handing-out Bibles, free toys for kids, and offering to pray and counsel with anyone who needed it.  Pleased to report great success!

-Kara

So blessed to have had a visit from Mom and Dad this weekend!  Thanks for coming to see our new home.  We love you!!!

-Tim, Kara & kids

One Blessed Swing Stand

Tim and I are so grateful to the Handyman Ministry of Faith Baptist Church, who built us a swing stand for our swing.  Our new porch (a) has an aluminum siding roof and (b) is higher than the average roof, making it impossible to hang our swing.  But now we're swingin' again!  Thanks, guys!

My favorite part of the swing is where they marked John 3:16 on it, which they do for all their projects.  I'll never paint over it!  In fact, the very night the swing stand was delivered and the swing was hung, a HUGE storm blew through Kannapolis.  The storm was so strong, in fact, that it blew down the portico of the Kannapolis YMCA.  During the storm, everything else on our porch blew all over the place.  But our swing stand stood perfectly still.  Perhaps it was the power of God that had been written on it?

The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation that you ever had. -Arnold H. Glasgow

Our New Home

 It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog because we've been busy bees packing and unpacking our stuff and moving to Kannapolis.  

Whew!  It feels good to have that finished...

 Even though we had movers, my guys proved to be super helpers getting boxes where they needed to be.

 We were so incredibly blessed to get our house in Kannapolis, because rental houses are really tough to come by in this area.  The house we rented had only been on the market one day, but four people had already come to see it.  Thankfully, we were able to get our application for lease into the realtor before anyone else, and we got the lease!

 Once the movers were finished, our work really began: unpacking.  Moving can be exhausting, but we didn't mind.  We were sooooo glad to be in our new home and at our new church!

 Even one of our bathrooms was full of boxes for a few days.

However, our biggest challenge wasn't unpacking boxes, but of getting rid of the horrible smell in the house.  The lady who lived in the house before us apparently had free-range cats that did not believe in a litter box.  After she was gone, the house and the cat smell were locked-up for a year.  But thanks to Lysol, Glade Plug-Ins, odor-absorbing-beads, and bleach...I think we've finally made history of those cats.

 Thank you to Faith Baptist Church for making such awesome moving arrangements for our family.  You guys made moving as easy as moving can be!

And I'm so proud of my kiddos, who handled the move so well.  How wonderful it is to have children who joyfully follow the Lord where and when He leads.

It has only been four weeks in Kannapolis, but we love it here!  The house is just perfect for our needs, our neighbors are friendly, and the neighborhood is quiet and peaceful and close to everything we need.  We're falling in love with our new church, and I'm not sure...but I think I'm starting to feel myself growing roots.  God is so good!

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PRAYED US HOME!!!

-Kara