Today I experimented with Tiramisu Cupcakes. 

The base for the cupcakes was a white cake mix with sour cream and buttermilk added.

The cupcakes themselves didn’t come out so great. The recipe said to make marble cupcakes so they were half white and half coffee flavored. They looked perfect in the oven but then shrank down a little after cooling.

I tasted one just to make sure it was ok. Good flavor, just small and not great looking. Good thing I got to cover them with frosting. The filling for the cupcakes was made out of mascarpone cheese, sugar and strong coffee. Delicious. The frosting is the true amazement.

It is SO good. It is a cream cheese, whipped cream frosting. I have never made anything like it before and I never thought of putting cream cheese and whipped cream together for frosting but it came out awesome. So smooth and not too sweet. Great flavor and thick enough to be able to pipe it out onto the cupcakes.

I topped them with sifted dark cocoa powder and cinnamon and added a chocolate covered espresso bean. They came out so pretty. Hopefully they will be a big hit for Liz’s going away party tonight.

Here’s the recipe. I will change the cake part and try a new recipe so stay tuned for that!

Tiramisu Cupcakes
Yield: 24 Cupcakes

Directions

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
~ C.S. Lewis

True friends are hard to find, and a kindred spirit is one in a million. Well maybe that’s an exaggeration but I’ve had about seven kindred spirits in my life so I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating. Those people in your life who know what your thinking. Who suggest garbage plates before you even know you want one. Who stay over all night watching How I Met Your Mother, or Downton Abbey, or really stupid movies that make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts for hours. You can communicate with them just by looking at them. They’ve seen you at your worst and still love you. And you can tell them your dreams and they don’t think you’re crazy they just want to help you achieve them. They get you. Liz is one of those friends.

Today, Liz did something brave. She got baptized. She stood before her friends and family and told us about her relationship with God and publicly declared that she wants to follow Christ with her life. I’m so proud of her. I’ve known her for her whole life and it has been so amazing to see her grow into the beautiful, loving, Godly, kindred spirit that she is.

Baptism is a beautiful symbol of dying to ourselves and our new life in Christ.

It was a great time with family and friends. I’m so happy that I got to share this moment with them. 

True friends are always together in spirit.
~ Anne of Green Gables

Tomorrow, Liz is going to do something just as brave. She’s leaving. She’s packing all her stuff up in her car and moving to Kansas. God opened the door and she’s taking a huge step of faith, walking away from all that is familiar and comfortable, and leaving. And although this is making me the most sad I have been in a long time, I couldn’t be more proud. I know that God has huge things in store for her and I am so excited to see what amazing things come from Kansas. It seems unlikely. It’s so far away. I miss her already and my heart hurts because there aren’t too many people left here who get me. But she’s doing something exciting. She’s not wasting her life. She’s pursuing God AND her dreams with all that she has. She’s chasing a lion. That’s the way I want to live my life. I’m so thankful for her friendship and for her courageous heart. I love you Liz!

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” 
~ C.S. Lewis 

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
The rising of the sun had made everything look so different – all colours and shadows were changed – that for a moment they didn’t see the important thing. Then they did. The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that rand down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.
“Yes!” said a great voice behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seem him before, shaking his mane stood Aslan himself.
“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!”
Both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses. “But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer. “It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know.”
“Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Then with a roar that shook all Narnia from the western lamp-post to the shores of the eastern sea the great beast flung himself upon the White Witch. Lucy saw her face lifted towards him for one second with an expression of terror and amazement. Then Lion and Witch had rolled over together but with the Witch underneath.
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis

The Bible: The Message 

A great crowd of people were standing all round the Stone Table and though the moon was shining many of them carried torches which burned with evil-looking red flames and black smoke. But such people! 
All the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.
Here were all those who were on the Witch’s side and whom the Wolf had summoned at her command. And right in the middle, standing by the Table, was the Witch herself.
They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?” And he replied, “You say that I am.”
“The fool!” She cried. “The fool has come. Bind him fast.”
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter.
They rolled the huge Lion over on his back and tied all his four paws together, shouting and cheering as if they had done something brave, though, had the Lion chosen, one of those paws could have been the death of them all. 
Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it.
But he made no noise, even when the enemies, straining and tugging, pulled the cords so tight that they cut into his flesh. Then they began to drag him towards the Stone Table.
Then they led him away to be crucified.
But he never moved. And this seemed to enrage all that rabble. Everyone was at him now. Those who had been afraid to come near him even after he was bound began to find their courage.
The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself!”
When once Aslan had been tied on the flat stone, a hush fell on the crowd. The Witch stood by Aslan’s head. She stooped down and said in a quivering voice, “And now, who has won? Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor? You have lost your own life and you have not saved his. In that knowledge, despair and die!”
Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
The children did not see the actual moment of the killing. They couldn’t bear to look and had covered their eyes.
Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in tow, from top to bottom. Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. 
As soon as the wood was silent again Susan and Lucy crept out onto the open hill-top. The moon was getting low and thin clouds were passing across her, but still they could see the shape of the Lion lying dead in his bonds. And down they both knelt in the wet crass and kissed his cold face and stroked his beautiful fur and cried till they could cry no more.

The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis

The Bible: The Message

Check out this video. This guy does some of the coolest stuff. I love watching him create his artwork.

Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!
Mark 11:9-10

Jesus was on a donkey and he was in the center of a crowd. People were laying their coats on the road. And leafy branches. It was a red-carpet reception for Jesus. Mark says that He was the “center of the procession”. Everyone was shouting. They were SO happy to see him.

Can you picture tons of people shouting “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” Close your eyes and imagine what it would be like. What would you be shouting about?

Just finished this sweet little painting. I have to admit that I LOVED it when it was just the green background with the flowering tree. I like it OK with the added animals, but I would have preferred to keep it plain. Oh well! Gotta do what the people want!