Good News!

I can see that no one wanted to comment on my last post. Too heavy for you huh?!?!? Just teasing!

Yesterday was an exciting day. We found out we are having another little girl! I went and had an excellent ultrasound and there she was movin' and a groovin'. She had all her body parts, she rubbed her face with her hand, open and closed her mouth, had her feet crossed at one point, and was totally bent in half with her feet by her head. Great pictures! What a wonder to see what God is creating and fashioning inside of me. It really is unbelievable that a tiny human is in my stomach. Right now she weighs about 11 oz. and is probably about 10 inches long. We're halfway there in weeks, weight and length! Christmas will be so much fun when we introduce Phoebe Glenn Witcher!

ps. If you haven't seen our friend's MAJOR slip up while preaching go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVrCTc6329I

We spent Sunday afternoon with Blake and his wife Ally! This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen and I've seen it a thousand times. I still laugh so hard. Last night I had to run for the bathroom.

It's rated PG, he slips up the words "pitch" and "tents" and well, you'll see.

This guy really is such a great guy! Too bad it happened to him!!

Comments please

JT and I have had a conversation that I want your feedback on.

Look at some of these short phrases in the Bible: "get rid of," "rid yourselves of," "put off," "purify yourselves," "throw off anything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles," "watch out," "keep away from," "have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness," There are more found in the small Epistles in the middle of the New Testament, but you get my drift of what I'm pulling out of Scripture. There is clear teaching on sinless lives. And yet, why are we so sinful still?

Jesus said to the adulterous woman, "Go and sin no more."

I wonder:

Can we live lives without sin? Can we actually be people who do not let sin rule us? Can we be so yielded to the Spirit of Christ within us that sin actually repulses us? Could it be possible to be in such a humble state before the Lord all the time that we live a life of purity? Not out of pride or self-righteousness, but out of a complete surrender to the power of the risen Christ within us? Could we become people that are not taken off guard by our own weaknesses and impulses? Can our impulses then become ones that come out of having the mind of Christ? Can we be in life what we are in Christ, holy and blameless?

I'm not asking to look at the church and believers in general to make your decision. I'm asking you what does the Word say? Does it say we can be victorious all the time, walking in the Spirit and not gratifying the flesh? Or does it say, something different?

I challenge all who read this, including me, to take a good look at the Word to find out the true power of the Spirit in us. What is His role? What does He do? What does the Word say about our sin? Does it make these claims of purity or not? And if it does, what do we do about it?

Be challenged to find out what Christ is doing in the life of those who follow him. Don't look at your own life either to make your judgement. What does the Word say?

Give me your thoughts. I'll post again with my own findings.

Freebies

Free summer movies! Yep, Quail Springs offers free movies at 10am every Wed. I load up the girls and we join about 1,000 other kids under the age of 10 to go watch a previously played movie.

The last one we saw I thought, "Sheesh, that screen is dark!" This week I figured out why...

While we were waiting for the movie to start a computer screen flashed up on the screen. Hmm, what's that? I mused. Clips of the movie started popping up on the screen. Ah, a DVD. I figured.

I wondered if the manager said to one of the workers, "Hey Sally, can you bring your copy of Flushed Away for this weeks showing?" "Sure, if you'll just grab your computer we can hook it up to the big screen. I know it's kinda crappy and dark, but what the hey! They're getting in free!"

So, we watched a movie on a DVD in a room full of kids and honestly, are quite grateful! It's nice to take your kids to the movie and not drop $40 bucks for tickets and food. $3 for a kids pack, chocolate in my purse, and water isn't too bad for summertime fun.

We'll be back next week to watch the DVD of Charlotte's Web.

Yea for Quail Springs and their DVD's!!!

This ain't your mamma's camp!

JT and Paige just came back from 5 days at Camp WOW somewhere in Eastern Oklahoma. Friday night was Parent's Night so I piled in with the Heinecke's and headed for camp. What a place! Not what I was used to, I can tell you that.

Let me start by telling you about the camp I grew up going to. We drove the 30 minutes from church to Pink, Oklahoma. I thought it was forever away! Once on the dirt road, we knew we were but minutes away from our summer haven. Oh, what we consider wonderful at such young ages.

The drive into the camp is just as you'd expect. Trees, dirt, a short winding road. As we came out of the trees we could see our camp. In a semi-circle to our right was our most hallowed cabins. 1 through 14. 1-7/boys. 9-14/girls. The Draper Park girls ALWAYS got cabin 13...always. These cabins were made of cinder blocks with high shallow windows. Most of the years I went there the beds were iron, flimsy, and we could move them anywhere. I think we could sleep 20 girls per cabin. We never had that many, but we could squeeze them in if needed. Clothes on the bottom and sleeping on the top. No air conditioning, just fans.

The bathrooms were just a short walk away to a common building for all of us girls to share 4 shower stalls, and 4 toilets with 600 crickets and other weird bugs.

We had a 5' pool, a basketball court, a swing set, nurse's cabin, dean's trailer, mess hall/worship center, 3 or 4 pavilions for our classes (outside), and a chapel area. I loved the chapel area. The walk to it seemed about a half a mile away, but once you got close, the trees came over you on the path to the "holy of holies" of camp. Down inside the trees were rows of benches that faced a tiny stage. That's where I decided to follow Jesus. That was the place I went forward and gave my heart to Jesus.

The mess hall was also the main worship center. Complete with metal folding chairs and most of the dirt from outside. One ginormous fan that kept the place cool, I believe, is still doing it's job down there. I used to think that building was huge! Of course, I was about 4' 5" and thought everything was huge.

Oh, we had a camp fire area. Also a half a mile away. Loved it. We'd bring sweatshirts for campfire nights. We must have gone in early June because sometimes we actually needed them.

There are certain things that take me back to that camp: Off bug spray, Aussie hair products, Reece's peanut butter cups, bad hamburgers, Jellies shoes, and anytime I hear "As the Deer."

I have so many memories from that run down camp. All of them full of fun and laughter. We had no idea we were so primitive compared to the big names of our time like Kanakuk and Falls Creek. We had each other and Camp Sooner, that's all that mattered!

Now, my children have not attended Camp Sooner, and I'm WAY okay with that. They attend one a little bit different than mine.

Their camp is also found at the end of a dirt road surrounded by trees. They too have a worship center, bunks, heat, and swimming. However, theirs is a bit more up to date. They have a lake complete with a huge slide, blob, some iceberg thing you can climb, lifeguards (we had those too I think), zip line, monkey rings...endless fun. Oh, and a mud pit. I'm glad to say we didn't have that. We did have a nasty cesspool thing complete with goats. I don't even want to know what was on the other side of that fence.

Their bunks are huge, still just as dirty, but air conditioned. The worship center is complete with air, big, cool lights, and bathrooms. Their mess hall is big and ...air conditioned.

It's not so much the camp grounds that rival Pink, Oklahoma as much as what these kids are getting. JT is the brains behind the things these kids got this year. Awesome video's that the kids love! Costumes, lights, music, the works...LifeChurch style. What they have in technology and "stuff" puts Camp Sooner at the bottom of the list!

However, Paige's camp and mine from 1982 and following have this in common: All the leaders and teachers wanted nothing more than for these kids of both generations to come to know Jesus in a real way. The avenue for teaching might be different. The bells and whistles might look different and sound different. The food might be light years away. The heat might be at bay in the bunk, but one thing stays the same...the message of Jesus.

No doubt about it, even if all the things kids like these days is given to them at camp, LifeChurch refuses to let the Gospel of Jesus be watered down in this technologically driven age. We had transparencies, they have videos. We had mics on stand with crappy speakers, they have cordless mics on their heads wrapped in outrageous costumes. We had loving, engaging leaders. So did they. We had Bible verses to memorize. So did they. We had worship we loved. So did they. We heard that Jesus loved us and died for our sins. So did they.

I love that Jesus meets us all in our generation and the message stays the same. I met Jesus in a dusty, old camp site in 1982. Paige and Piper are meeting Him every week in a wild, video driven, flashing lights with loud music kids worship center! What a wonder He is! I wouldn't take from my girls what they are experiencing in their generation for anything! I used to think I wish they could have the same church experience I did growing up, but now, I want them to have whatever God is giving them. It is completely different that what I had, but I wouldn't want to take that from them. He is doing a work in them and it will be glorious.

They are called to this generation and they will meet Jesus in this generation. I applaud LifeChurch for meeting this generation where it is. I applaud the fact that they take very seriously that the "worldly" competition for our kids is packaged in Mickey Mouse, PS2, X-box 360, and the like. I love the fact that they go the distance to present Jesus to these kids in ways they can connect to.

Her camp and her church experience is for her. God set my time in that old camp, in that wonderful old church. God has set my girls time in His way for them. They will one day look back with such tenderness, as I do, to the days that Jesus called them to Himself in a place called Toon Town in an innovative, multi-site church called LifeChurch.tv. I can't wait to hear their stories.

God is good, all the time.

Something greater than a chess piece

I want to share with you some thoughts from my prayer time this week. I've been giving much attention to the fact that the Holy Spirit has taken up residency in me. Not that I haven't known that or even operated out of that belief, but there has been an intense draw to understand more about His power, affects, jobs, and influence in me.

Regarding the idea that God has taken up house, I noticed something about the Temple from the Old Testament. Here are my thoughts.

I Kings 6:7 says, "In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and not hammer, chisel or any other tool was heard at the Temple site while it was being built."

The inner work of the Spirit of God in the inner man is quiet and strong. Quiet in the sense that we must be keen in faith to believe that God is at the seat of our inner self, also called in the New Testament, the temple. When God enters us as believers, He takes up residency in the holy of holies, the deepest place inside of us, the inner self. Out of that residency the "inner court", the soul, is where we offer up prayer, incense, and sacrifice to this Holiness now ruling us. The "outer court", our body and it's functions, is now conduct regulated by God. This is where are actions and service act out of holy obedience to the inner Holy of Holies in us.

Andrew Murray said, "Acknowledging the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit will enable us to regard the whole temple, even to the outermost court, as sacred to His service and to yield every facet of our nature to His leading and will. ...we must learn to know the secret place of the most high within."

Now, to the inner work of God in us where it is quiet and strong. Since God takes up residency in the holy of holies of these new temples, I began to wonder if the work done on the temple in my heart is done also in quiet, yet precise work. This must mean that the clashings and working of our flesh do not interrupt or interfere with the building up in the Spirit inside. My sin will most certainly hinder the full filling of the Spirit, but none the less, a heart that is bent toward repentance and confession will most certainly perk the ears of an ever-present God in me. In 2 Chronicles 7:15 God says this about His temple; "Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there."

So, if we are walking in relationship with Him that has an up to date confession of sin, then we can bank on it that God is in the business of working righteousness in us, faith in us, and setting us up for ministry.

We must approach the inner work of God with respect and awe. We can trust in the quiet inner building through faith. This is done even with the outer construction of ourselves which comes from demolition, struggle, testing, failing, and hard work. Even if the outer life is full of struggle, loud hammerings and chiseling of our faith, it is faith we hold to. It is faith that God is doing a work inside the inner temple away from the loud noise we hear. It is a deep faith in the promise of God that He now resides in the most deepest places within. And God's work may be quiet, but is it powerful. Not quiet like weak or timid, but quiet like the unseen power of the wind or the a comforting voice of a father in the dark. Like a lion perched silently atop a hill watching, protecting, challenging the very forces of the evil one. Like the power of the unseen forces of the universe holding it together, creating new life, and calling things into being, is the work of the Spirit in the inner man.

Notice something else in I Kings 8:10-11

"When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place (the Holy of Holies) they cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple."

"When the priests withdrew..."
When we come to a saving knowledge in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we become the temple of God. In order for Him to take over in the deepest place in the holy of holies with in us, we must withdraw ourselves from that position. Even if we are trying to operate out of service to God, we must withdraw even the most valiant efforts to serve. We cannot take the seat in the inner parts of ourselves to bring about the filling of the Spirit. We cannot perform any amount of service to bring forth the glory of God in our deepest place. Only God can fill His temple. We simply make the "building" available. We withdraw in humility and acknowledgement that this is His temple to be filled by Him. From the filling of the temple by His Spirit, we have the promise that he hears us, His eyes and heart are with us, He forgives us, heals us, that He will turn our hearts to Him to walk in His ways, that He will reveal Christ in us and cause us to live and move and act out of His great love through His Spirit.

This comes through obedience and faith in us, the temple. A deep, sincere, awestruck faith in the promises and love of our God. His moving in and filling us with His Spirit comes from the deep, inexpressible love He has for us. To be that close and intimate can only come from love.

Too often I try to live out my days and pray that God would move me. However, the picture that comes to mind is more like a chess piece, rather than a deep, conscience experience from intimacy within. Yes, I am in Christ, but what is more amazing, daunting, difficult, brilliant and crazy - Christ is in me.

Out of this knowledge I am then equipped for every good work God has planned for me. I am equipped to minister in the new covenant. I am equipped to comfort, pray, lead, love, and laugh. He has made me a minister of the new covenant. Only through the shedding of blood, and the filling of the Spirit can this be possible. What an awesome and glorious God He is.

Father, give me a deep, conscience knowledge of your Spirit within me. I pray that I learn the work of the Spirit to know your will, to know how to pray, to glorify You, to bring forth a harvest, to know how to use my gifts, and to love others. Fill this holy of holies with your glory. In the Name of Jesus

Exerpt from next book "Between the Blinks"...let me know what you think

"I’m sure you’ve played the staring game. Facing your opponent, who is usually under the age of eight, you say, “One, two, three…GO!” and then you see who can hold their eyes open for the longest amount of time. Usually my eight year old can do it better than I can. I guess because I wear contacts, or maybe because I am 25 years older than her, I just can’t hold them open as long. We try not to laugh as we stare into one another’s eyes. Soon the drying out is too much to take and I blink. Not just a little blink, a hard blink, the kind that I think will actually squeeze more tears out of my ducts. I shake my head, rub my eyes and exclaim, “You win!”
No matter how long I hold my eyes open they are always forced to blink. Ever been to the eye doctor? There’s a place where you are faced with real challenges of holding your eyes open. If you haven’t had your eyes checked before, let me give you a taste. For those of us who visit once a year, you can feel my pain.
“Now, just stare at the dot at the back and don’t blink” says the eye technician. I so confidently say, “Ok, sure.” All the while thinking, What! Don’t blink! I have to blink! Don’t you know I can’t win the staring game? Inevitably I can do it, but there is always a fear I will fail the eye test because I blinked. What about the puff of air test? Who thought a puff of air in the eye was good a thing? We should hold that person down and blow in their face while laughing an evil laugh! Mu-wah-ah-ah! Well, maybe not.
“Okay, hold your eyes open, Mrs. Witcher. There will be a puff of air…try not to blink.” Right. Every time that puff of air hits my eye I feel like leaping back about twenty feet and yelling, “You shot my eye with a puff of air! How can I not blink?” Okay, it’s not that dramatic, but boy that is a hard test.
There are others like it. I’m afraid if I blink I’ll mess up the test where I’m supposed to tell the technician when I see the blinking light. I’m supposed to hold my eyes open for as long as I can to see those little changes in the white screen. The changes are like little fuzzy flies jumping in and out of view. I chant when I can see the changes, “Now. Now. Now.” Don’t blink Witcher; you’ll mess up the test. Was that one or just a floater in my eye? Oh no, I missed one! Did I blink? Did I fail? Do I still get new contacts?
“Just stare at the red spiral in the back and try not to blink.” Another one? Okay, I can do this. When I think I can’t hold them open any longer I hear, “Okay, you can sit back.” Oh, thank you sweet Jesus!
Staring is hard. Staring at some point forces our eyes to blink. The little organ can’t take the pressure and tears are forced over them. In contrast to that, I actually like the feeling I get when I’m staring off in space. That moment in time when, for a little while, I am in another world, not looking at anything, not focused on a specific point. Just staring. Usually at the same time my eyes are coating themselves with moisture, someone’s hand waves in front of my face to bring me back to reality.
Just as in the eye doctor’s office, some things in life force us to really pay attention. We try very hard to look out for subtle changes, we wince at times that blow the hard wind of life in our face, and we wait for the prescription of life to come through for us. Usually, if we are followers of Christ, we wait on Him to bring all things into focus.
And yet, the “staring off” trap can happen in our spiritual lives. Physically it might feel kind of nice to escape for just a moment. Almost like sleeping with your eyes open. (Spiritually speaking, we’ll get to that concept later.) However, staring off in my spiritual life has happened too often. I have been one to be discontent with life, stare off at some unseen wish and find myself in a place either wishing for yesterday, whining about today, or waiting for tomorrow."

That's it. Intro to Ch. 2 It leads into those last three comments. Writing is hard!

I love to laugh!

I gotta tell ya, I love to laugh! It doesn't take much and it can just about be anything. Usually my greatest laughs come from JT. However, I do get a kick out of myself!

Anytime JT and I watch a movie at night we have to have a bowl of cereal to go with it. Unfortunately, the milk tends to make our breath most unpleasant. I told JT that his last night was worse than the gas as Auschwitz! (I mean no disrespect, of course) It could have knocked out a small child. We both cracked up, but it was one of those things that kept me going for a while. Even now I have a good case of the giggles just typing this!

We also laugh at the kind of toilet paper he bought this time. One roll maybe lasts a day and a half. You know the kind! Cheap, but just about useless. The roll in our bathroom was out just before we went to bed and I asked JT to refill it. He got the new roll and said, "This is the last one." I said, "Thanks, I'll use it tonight." Again, cracked myself up.

I realize this is probably not near as funny to you as it is to me. Like I said, it just doesn't take much.

Another one that made me chuckle...

The other day, JT and I drove up to a parking spot and waited for the other driver to finish loading their car so we could park next to them. This person had brown curly hair. That's all I really saw, so I said, very lightly and with no real agitation, "Move it, Frodo." That kept me going for a good five minutes.

One time I caught JT using his FACE to fold a towel. He was holding it up to make the second big fold of a towel and actually used his face to push the towel into a fold. I about wet my pants. So last night he had his T-shirt practically folded to it's smallest proportion when he saw me watching him. So, he takes the small, I don't know, 4" X 6" t-shirt and uses his FACE to fold it even smaller. I rolled!

I absolutely love America's Funniest Home Video's. Piper truly asks me to hold it down during the program because it just cracks me up. It's usually the video's of people falling down, falling out, our just plain getting hurt. Those bring tears of laughter!

I don't know about you, but I love to laugh! I think it is one of the best created parts of being human. If I love it so much, how much does God love to laugh? I'm not saying he'll bust a gut on account of someone's unfortunate tumble down a ladder, but I'm sure he loves it when we just belly laugh because of good, clean fun.

There is no ab workout like the kind of laughter that causes a "swimmer's cramp" in the side.

This happened to me one summer when I went swimming with my friend Tonya. I was lounging on the raft and she was standing in more shallow end. The water was about to her shoulders. Maybe not quite that deep. Regardless, she decided to put on some goggles and dive for something. I can't remember what it was, but the point is it took her WAY too long to dive the 4 feet down and retrieve the object. All I could see was her feet kicking over and over as she wrestled with some unseen force that bewitched her and kept her from getting to bottom. She came up and I was absolutely about to fall off my raft. She came up laughing, tore off the goggles and we laughed until we could laugh no more! That's not the first time I've laughed like that with her!

I've cried with laughter listening to one my dear friends describe an Easter outfit she wore when life was not so great! I've rolled as I watched my mom walk up to a dark building down town to just peek inside only to see a janitor vacuuming! She just backed off a bit, waved and hurried on down the street. I've rewound home video clips to watch that certain hilarious moment in time over and over. There have been countless times I'm simply could not breathe from laughing so hard being around my sister and brother. JT will "talk" for people as we watch them walk as I bust out laughing. Anytime JT or I attempt to dance is cause for some giggles.

Oh, the joy of laughter! I hope you love to laugh! If you've got some good, clean laughs you want to share, please post a comment. It may only make you belly laugh at your computer, but it will be worth every letter you type!

Laugh it up everybody! It will increase your life!

His and her jobs

We, meaning JT, always puts the dogs away in the garage at night. So, that means there are no critters in the back yard. This morning, however, at around 4:00 a.m. I hear what sounds like something hitting on the wall outside my window. I wasn't nervous or anything because it just sounded like maybe a raccoon or something was out there.

I woke up JT and said (no surprise), "Hey, I think something is outside. Go look." As I'm peeking out our window he is looking out the piano room window. Nothing. He comes back in the room, leans down toward the vent and says, "It's the vent."

"What!" I reply.

"The water in the vent is causing that noise. Lay back down until you hear it." Sure enough, the phantom coon was in the vent. We have floor vents, and because of all this rain there is about 3-4 inches of water in them. I guess the one directly to the right of my HEAD is the one making all the noise.


JT suggested we trade sides and maybe I wouldn't hear it. You know, try to go back to sleep. Alas, we both hear it and can't go back to sleep. JT decides he has to fix it. 4:45 am he is putting on his shorts and making his way to the pond to get the pump out of it so he can pump the water.

This is a "his" job. I'm OK with the fact that there are his and her jobs. I'm certainly not going to be the one fishing around in a pond looking for a pump and then have to bring it inside to pump water out of vents at 5 o'clock in the morning. Noooo sir! I'll take a baby at 5 am, but not air vents and water pumps.

I'm perfectly fine with watching JT mow the yard in 100 degree weather as I wash the dishes. I'm good with not taking out the trash, scooping poop, or getting under a car to change the oil. These jobs just fit JT better than me. I'll take the dusting and mopping. Give me laundry over feeding the dogs any day.

So, as I sit here on the bed at 5:06 am, JT is in the bathroom with a pond pump, about 12 feet of water hose, some tools from the garage and an "I will prevail!" attitude. Such a manly man job.

My job? Just do what the man says and not try to help!

It was funny a few minutes ago. I was holding the water hose under the sink faucet to create a suction. JT was going to plug in the pump at the precise time. (This isn't like a sump pump, it needs water in it to pump water through it...whatever) Well, as we made the switch from the sink to the vent, water sprayed everywhere causing the outlet to trip so the pump wouldn't turn on. As JT went to trip the breaker, I thought it was a good time for a water break. As he is coming in from the garage I'm standing at the fridge having a nice cool drink.

He says, "What are you doing in here? How will I know if it works! This is no time for a water break!" Said only in his funny JT way.

I giggled as I went trotting back down the hall to give him the "We're a go!" signal. I just don't think like a man. I'm good with that. As the joke goes in our family, "Think like a carpenter!" Meaning, try to think about what I'm thinking so we're both thinking the same thing and one of us doesn't have to tell the other one what to think!

Hey! The bathroom door just opened. Looks like this pump got the best of JT. He looked slightly defeated as he came out of the bathroom hauling the useless pump back to it's dark residence at the bottom of the pond.

Still, what a man.

My job? Rinse out the shower. Dern, it won't drain. Pass off the job back to JT. But, that will be for tomorrow. Maybe we can get a couple of hours of sleep in yet.


Good morning.

New gadgets, old terms

The other day JT and I and the girls went to McAlisters for lunch. MMM good. Well, we began talking about baby monitors. I don't know how we got on the topic, but Paige wasn't real clear about what one was. I began to explain.

"Paige, a baby monitor is how I can listen to the baby when it's in it's room and I'm somewhere else. There is one end that look like a little box and it goes in the baby's room. It has a microphone in it."

So far so good.

"The other part I can carry around the house. It looks like, well, a CB."

She gives me a blank look. JT says, "A CB?" We broke out in laughter! How in the world could I explain a baby monitor to a 7 year old using a term like CB?! It doesn't even look like a CB! I was thinking a walkie-talkie, but I defaulted to about 1979.

I don't know if she really cared about one, but it sure gave us a laugh.

At least I try...

Let's just say, I don't have a knack for cooking. Not that cooking is a spiritual gift, but it goes hand in hand with the gift of hospitality. I have a partial gift of hospitality. I can have you in my home, make you feel welcome, loved and cared for, but you are not promised a delicious home cooked meal to go with it.

My dear friend Kim and I laugh at our differences in this area. Kim has had our family over for dinner (I sheepishly admit) more than we have had them for dinner in our house. We spend loads of time together, but it just never seems to be in our house. I think there's an unspoken reason: no one is sure how dinner will turn out if Natalie is cooking it.

Don't get me wrong, I can cook dinner. It's just something tends to go wrong when I reallytry to make something really cool. I really am no good at chicken. It always comes out hard or tough. The only time I can think of when I really did a good job was when I hosted dinner for my parents and my sister and brother-in-law for their anniversaries. It was a smash hit! Nothing went wrong.

Back to Kim. As I mentioned she hosts and does it quite well. She's creative with her cooking and even the set up. Her table always looks beautiful. The variety of food is always appetizing. She'll even plan out really cool things for her guests to do or participate in. Nothing ever too serious or intrusive, but always delightful.

We have an ongoing joke that actually originated out of my mouth in all sincerity. One night I told her I would love to have her and her family over for hot chocolate. Yup, I said hot chocolate. I was so sincere and serious. Within moments we were crying laughing so hard at my sweet, yet lame invitation to them for a dose of my hospitality!

Alas, it has happened again. My mom asked me to get a cake for Summer's birthday. As in most things I want to create, I can really think of something amazing in my mind and yet when I go to create it what comes out is never close to what I imagined. Here's the story.

I had in mind to just make her a beautiful cake with two squares cakes, one on top of the other with some sort of yummy filling and beautiful icing. I called Kim to see if she had any pans like that because clearly I do not. She said, "Why don't you use my rose bundt pan (is that how you spell it?), sprinkle powdered sugar on it and then make little notes tied with ribbon to cascade out the hole of the bundt?" I said, "I'll be right over."

I get there and she has everything ready, knowing full well I don't have a glass cake holder she has it prepared and gives me a recipe to boot. She asked me if I had a little shaker thing to put the powdered sugar in to make a beautiful sprinkle over the top. All I said was, "Are you serious?"

She sent me off with a recipe and all the fixin's for a beautiful birthday cake.

I ran home eager to put the cake in the oven. I followed all the directions. Well, I followed them after I called Kim back to get the directions again because I left my first list at Target when shopping for the ingredients.

So, back at home, I mix and stir and measure and spray the pan and pour the batter. MMMM, it smells good. While it cooks, I sat down in the living room to make the beautiful ribboned notes to place so beautifully out of the hole of the cake. All done. Buzzzzzz, cake is ready.

I pull it out, let it cool for a while and then attempt to shake it out of the pan. Nothing.
JT gives it a try. No good.
Maybe we let it cool longer, I muse.
To no avail, I shake and shake and shake.

But wait, there is movement. I place the cake over the dish, I feel it move and voila! half the cake comes out. Dang it. It's too late, I've got to go to bed.

Next day, day of the party. I have a class all day. I mean from 9-4. The party is at 6:30. I don't have time to make that cake again, it's took almost an hour to bake it. I go to Wal-Mart to find a cake. No good.

Target. Blast! JT, in the meantime is going to another cake shop. Closed. An idea occurs to me. Just make another one. YEAH! I'll buy a new bundt pan (good to have one around) and all those fixin's I could remember Kim told me to get. I run home, throw it together, put it in the oven and wait.

Something tells me I should go check on the cake. I've set the oven to 375 degrees per the instructions on the box. I open the oven, look at the thermometer in there and it reads 425! My cake is burning! I can smell it. I open the door and let some heat out hoping I can save what's left. The ticking clock goes on.

I poke it and make sure it's done in the middle. Ok, just take the darn thing out, throw it on the pretty glass cake thingy, put those pretty ribbons on it and let's go! The outside was bit dark, but the inside was nice and moist! Maybe that hard shell kept the inside soft!

To my happiness, the cake was a big hit! It really wasn't that bad. Just a hint of burnt, but the inside was delicious!

I'll keep attempting my chef escapades, but we all know, it could make for a great blog post later!