Blueberry Streusel Muffins (Heavenly Homemakers)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard  white wheat)
1/3 cup rapadura  (you can use brown sugar or honey if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh, frozen or freeze dried (gently toss berries with flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of your muffin)

Mix dry ingredients together well.  Add egg, butter and milk, stirring until all ingredients are mixed.  Gently stir in blueberries.  Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin tins.  Sprinkle with Streusel Topping and bake in a 400° for 20 minutes.

Streusel Topping:

3 T. rapadura or brown sugar
1 T. butter, softened
2 T. chopped nuts (optional)

These are quite good. They aren't very sweet at all (which I like, but you could add more sweetener if you want a typically sweet muffin.)

Why do I re-post recipes I find on the web? Because I've learned sites that SWEAR they'll never quit publishing often do. I suppose it's my way of pinning my favorites...without actually joining the pinterest craze quite yet. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Yuuki's Antics - Video

 I heard an UNGODLY barking and howling...came out and saw Yuuki on the back of the chair in our reading nook....and JUMPING to her kennel - to the left of the nook...lunging at the window...doggy slobber everywhere...turns out there was a CAT in the neighbor's garbage.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Learning New Tricks?

Well....after seeing the following video clip....Stacia (6) ran upstairs, grabbed her dog and told me she wanted to teach me to "balance your wrist." Evidently, I'm to practice speaking with the dog balanced on my wrist...keeping him from falling.....Guess SHE noticed the stray fingers flying into the screen shot? 

I'm not sure this old dog can learn the trick of speaking without flailing my arms

This week's attempt at a video clip for PWOC Asia Regions TnT....getting better....but gotta figure out how to EDIT music and video CLEANER....still....it's an improvement over last week. Volume is so high it will blast your ears if your computer volume is up. ::snort:: 

TnT: Watch Your Heart

I'm believing God to bring a lady with tech savvy on to the regional team. I need her...but I'm not letting a little thing like "know how" stop the vision. ::snort:: 


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

I AM

"Do not be afraid of them; YHWH your God himself will fight for you."
Deuteronomy 3:22, NIV


The above is a verse someone sent me "out of nowhere".....really straight from Abba's heart to mine.  I got the message and it was good.  I had just been thinking "I AM" is I AM over every situation when I checked email! 


I was up at 01:30 and worked until I felt sleeping at 06:30.  I got a lot done...then I crawled back into bed and woke up about 08:30.  I don't think this is a good plan for most days...but it worked today. 


When I got up I had some local and regional PWOC stuff to "tend to."  We got school done. I'm working on an outfit for Saturday's Spouses Dining In. 


Due to miscommunication Jared had no ride to work....but he's resourceful! 

Mike dropped by and we took the van to Big D's for some work. He took the older kids and a neighbor girl to youth group and I enjoyed watching Rio with the younger set....and blogging. LOL

I also packed up for our "base day" tomorrow. I need to go to bed now that I hear everyone coming home....sort of tired and tomorrow will be early too.  OH more candy - more bags to work on - then bed. LOL


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Dogie Curtain

We discovered last week that Yuuki takes an active interest in the soundtrack from Lady and the Tramp. She chases around and looks for Tramp in the song "He's a Tramp." 


Sunday was one of those busy Sundays. We made it to two services, the kids went to Sunday school and we attempted a hospital visit, then Michael took the kids to lunch and bowling while I attended a baby shower....and we decided not to go to the 3rd service....we came home and played Ratuki and entertained ourselves watching Yuuki react to cats on you tube. LOL 

Yes, I need to buy curtains for the patio door. I'm cheap and didn't want to spend the $ when they can't be used in other homes - unless we never leave Japan.  I like the sun...but I really do like a bit of privacy - I guess. We've lived without curtains at all for 2 years. When Jim and Twyla moved they gave us their curtains...so we put some up......now that we are extending I really do think I'll drive to the town south of here and find some to fit the door and maybe a matching set for the window above the table....I may get carried away and buy black out curtains for our rooms too. ::snort::  BUT Yuuki really seems to like having the window clear. It's a dogie (spell check insists this is correct) curtain. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Snowy Prayer Walks et al

Jared needed to be at work early today. 

Michael wanted to attend PMOC today. The men were having breakfast and watching Courageous.

I wanted to meet die hard PWOC sisters for a prayer walk....and spent the early hours playing with movie maker (see post below).

At 0900 I headed over to the track....and wow....4 - 6 inches of powdery snow on top of iced over ruts....ugh. We decided to walk on the sidewalks instead....

I was a bit unsure of this idea - but WOW - what a great way to spend a morning. This week Ruth, our prayer coordinator and a dear friend, had asked women at all PWOC studies to write prayer requests on index cards. We planned to grab a card and pray a lap for the request...which we did.  It may have been a bit out of my comfort zone...but it turned out to be a BLESSING. Moving, praying, together, in the snow, a memory I will treasure! Blessed all around. (P.S. Ruth is the friend that began MOCA  - Moms of College Aged - with me - where we pray for our "kids" back in the states).

For some reason coming home from my last trip has been hard. I love being home...but I've had a hard time getting back into the routine of local ministry and home life. I seem to remember meetings AFTER they happen, dates changed and I'm playing catch up....just more befuddled than I usually am after a trip....Today was precious. I felt connected again after walking with Ruth and praying for our ladies and the needs on their hearts.

Now it's time to play Ratuki.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

New Project

One of my new ministry projects has been to try to form an online reading group using PWOC Asia Region's FB pages. We call it TnT - Truth N Treasures.  The thought is for everyone to  read a chapter a day...and we'll go through the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs by the end of the year.  The hope was everyone would post a daily thought on FB....that hasn't caught on yet....but I can tell folks are checking in to follow...I pray they're reading along with us too. 


 I wanted to post a QUICK weekly video fleshing out one verse from our weekly reading. Lauren helped me make an announcment slide for local groups - because mine was truly terrible. I asked for help to fix it and she just redid it. ::snort::  I needed to figure out how to make a video - and this was the week I was determined to make it work. I found the webcam (in Movie Maker LOL), I learned to change colors, add some words and music.....still rough. Next week I'll figure out how to edit, and to turn the sound up, find a less distracting setting and keep it to 60 seconds....but here's what I've been trying to teach myself. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...