But Seriously, How Did I NOT Know About This!?!?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake… Yes, you read that correctly. Microwave, mug, ingredients you already have at home, five minutes, and you've got yourself an awesome new dessert!

Here's what you'll need:

• one whole (large) egg
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2-1/2 tablespoons chocolate chips

*Make sure you have a microwave safe mug

First, crack egg into mug, add brown sugar and whisk together with a fork..

Then, toss in flower and butter and mix together until smooth..

Add chocolate chip and mix in well..

Microwave on high 1-2 minutes and enjoy!

(Microwaves will vary on timing but I did mine for 1 & 1/2 minutes and it was perfect!)

For a little extra add a scoop of ice cream or top with whipped cream!

I opted for a more 'cookies and milk' feel and dumped a little heavy whipping cream on top!

Booked!

Yay!! I finally booked my flight for Honduras in January!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! And to add to that excitement, I got it for a pretty rockin' good price as well! God is so good!

T-shirt scarf!

I had to face it sooner or later…. I have WAYYYYY too many t-shirts. They are by far my favorite outfit choice but I have so many that I haven't even looked at some of them for years. So i'm now working on 'recycling' them. Here was my first attempt at it…

First, pick your shirt and lay it out flat..

Then cut all across under each armpit..(i had to cut mine down a bit to avoid the logo)

The bottom part is what you will use for your scarf (i kept the top to make bracelets with though! *posts on that part will come later)

Then cut off the bottom seam of the shirt..

Continue cutting strips then, parallel to that in about 1 inch sections, leaving 1 inch across the top..

Now, pull and stretch each 1 inch section and it will 'curl' up..

Open the uncut end and gather it to form a loop. I used some old string to wrap around the uncut section for some added style..

Loop around and add any other touches of 'decorations' … and then.. WA-LA! You have yourself a t-shirt scarf!

I used a size small shirt and it still works but I would recommend a larger shirt if you can!

Bracelet

My next pinterest creation is this little bracelet. I have a bit of a bracelet obsession anymore. I am also one of those girls who will end up with 10 of them up my arm without even realizing how many are there. A lot of my bracelets i get from Honduras but i wear them until they literally wearout so i'm down to just a hair tie left on my wrist now. When i saw this idea i figured it would be a quick easy way to get me a cute replacement bracelet til i could go back to Hondo and get more!

The original design of this came from trying to copy a Chan Lulu that cost about $220! YIKES!!

It was then crafted by this blogger to look more like this...

I then took that idea, modified it slightly and crafted it with some old 'fake swede' string i had at home and my more 'earthy' feeling wood beads. Here are the steps with my modified steps under them:

Cut the ribbon into 3 equal lengths. EDIT: Standard bracelet size is 7 inches so you’ll want it about 29 inches long in order to wrap 4 times. *I cut mine shorter to wrap around my wrist twice then add a few inches (at least 4) for the braided ends.

Start by braiding about 6 inches of ribbon and then secure the end with a rubber band. Anchor the end with something heavy to hold in it place.*Being a hairdresser i have a ton of those teeny tiny rubber bands laying around and i used those which worked great!

Start braiding in the beads by feeding the ball onto the middle strand and then tightly braiding the other two strands around it. Continue feeding beads onto the middle strand until you run out (I had about 25) or until there’s about 6 inches of ribbon left.*After each bead would cross/braid it five times before putting the next bead on the middle strand.

Finish with another 6 inches or so of braiding. Then clamp the ends with ribbon fasteners or just tie it in a knot.*I went with the knot method for this part.

Best Dip Ever

Alright, if you know me, you know this about me, I LOVE FOOD. So naturally, my first post is going to be on just that. This dip i found on pinterest took 3 of a few of my favorite food items, mixed it into one and made me feel like i died and went to heaven! It's super easy to make too so you should try it out! Here's the recipe..

(side note apology: after eating majority of it i realized i never took any pictures of the process so i had to steal them off of the original site it came from)

Oreo Peanut Butter Dip:

1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup white chocolate morsels

1/2 cup Nutella

12 Oreos, crushed

In microwave, mix peanut butter, nutella and white chocolate morsels. Microwave on medium heat for 1 minute. Stir and heat by 15 second intervals until white chocolate is completely melted.

Stir in crushed Oreos and store in glass jar, completely sealed. Serve with crackers and fruit enjoy! Also great with Pretzel Crisps!

*We had ours with 'graham cracker cookies' aka: Honey Scooby Snacks and Pretzels. Both were good but the pretzels definitely were the favorite.

Also, if you are wanting to transfer it to a serving dish, do so right after stirring in the Oreos. It will still be pretty liquid like then and after about an hour of sitting it hardens to more of a peanut butter substance.

Hope y'all like it!

Here we go!

Well hello there, it's been quite a while! Sorry about that! Originally this blog was started to update friends and family on my Honduran excursions. So, to get you caught up since I last blogged, I went back to Honduras again with a team in June this past summer and it was as usual quite an amazing trip! (You should click on Ashley's blog up top and read some of her older posts to check out what was going on while our team was there!) I am now planning to head back down mid January.

Now that that's all caught up here comes the point of this post. Rumor has it, if you get enough followers on here you can start having google show ads on your blog and then get paid for it! So, as i naturally jump on any extra fundraising ideas for Honduras, I thought, "Hey, why not blog to raise money?". I never really blog from home because well, frankly, i just don't feel my life is that exciting to blog about. But at the chance to earn some money off of it I've decided to give it a whirl. I also have taken up a new obsession with pinterest so I will probably be blogging a lot on my 'adventures' creating some things i found on there!

Happy Easter!!

Glorious Day- Casting Crowns

Back to the typical American life

Well, here I am. I've been back in the states for about a week now. Tonight I have been snowed (or rather 'iced') in since about 6 pm and it just keeps coming down! I took a look at my bedroom when I got back and kept thinking how much it could use a good cleaning so tonight is the perfect night for that!
I started with my closet. First sorting out the clothes I do and don't wear and then out of the ones I do, the ones I should not! ha. This is typically a good feeling for me. Once I get everything all cleared out and organized I always feel much better. Tonight has been different. Tonight I look at piles of clothing and feel physically sick.
You see less than HALF of the amount of clothes I want to keep take up an overflowing 3 large laundry baskets. It would be a safe guess to say all of my clothes could easily take up 10+ baskets. I am not kidding when I tell you, I had no idea I owned this amount of stuff. I had things so tightly packed in my closet it was ridiculous.
It's a very typical thought, when I talk about Honduras people always say something to the affect of "We have so much here in America". It's a thought I've had many times, especially while I'm in or right after I get back from Honduras. That's really all it's been for me though, a thought.
Tonight, I look at my 3 overflowing laundry baskets and I see a small one room house with a family's combined amount of clothing equaling less than that.
How I long to be there. Thinking that I will be giving away the other half of my clothing there just seems so insignificant right now.
After my short month of serving in Honduras, I think I have just grown acustom to a more simple life. I'm overwhelmed by all the things I see in my room. In Honduras I had only what I could fit into my carry-on sized bags. (Which for me, is more than most but still!) When I woke up and got dressed my main thought was not of how I looked it was how I could serve Jesus more that day. Why is that so much more diffcult here? He is the same God no matter what country I am in but my life has so many more distractions around here. I have never thought of clothing as a distraction until now. I never realized how worrying about how I look in a certian outfit here differs from how God wants me to spend my life. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I feel everyone needs to give up they're cute clothing and dress like slobs all the time in order to please Jesus. Trust me, I have kept my fair share of nice clothing tonight and I plan on wearing it all still. I am just saying, to stop worrying. If we could stop over thinking how people will view us, if a shirt makes us look too fat, if a pair of pants don't fit just so, if your hair doesn't lay just the right way... then maybe we could see each other how God sees us. How God created us, beautiful, just like Him.

A New House with a Tear Soaked Floor

Tears and sweat covered the floor. A woman stood next to me crying out to Jesus. Heads were bowed and hands were either holding each other or lifted high. We had just finished building a house. This is normally a time when the only tears shown are ones of joy. Today was much different.
Today Jen, Jess, the boys and I headed out to help the Mi Esperanza board build a house. The site we built on had a large extended family who all live in the same compound. It was quite the hike to get there from where we were able to park! The Mi Esperanza women were great to work with and we had the house mostly finished in just under 4 hours. We all were slightly patting ourselves on the back for how quickly and nicely we had done it.
It was one of the hottest days I've built in. As the last few pieces of the house were being nailed up, Jess and I sat inside the house to get away from the sun. I was visiting with a few Honduran boys when we heard yelling all in Spanish outside. Jess asked me what was going on and I, not paying too much attention, thought the women must just be excited that the house is done. As I listened in more I quickly realized it was angry yelling and men were yelling too. I looked outside to see 4 men dressed pretty nice accompanied by 2 police men.
The men said that their boss owned all of that land and they should not have built there. The family had papers of their ownership of the land but sadly, in Honduras, sometimes those papers mean nothing. Especially when the men seemed to be from money where they could afford a lawyer. The yelling went on for quite some time and we decided it best to hurry and get out of the way.
I stayed inside and the mother of the family came in sobbing. Jess and I hugged her and tried to console her as best we could. I looked over to see one of her sons who was probably about 13 years old hiding his head in his shirt crying. I went over and held him as he wept. He had worked so hard with us all day on the house. He was soaked with sweat from how hard he worked and now he was soaked with tears.
As yelling still went on outside, we gathered the family to pray inside as we always do after a build. Luvin prayed and did so quickly so that we could leave the family to figure out the property issue. I was humbled at what came after his quick prayer. One of the Honduran women was praying at the same time as Luvin. After Luvin was done she went on. It was the most heart felt prayer I have ever heard in my life. It was completely in Spanish so I couldn't understand much but I could sense God with us. With almost every word she spoke a tear fell to the floor. She gave thanks to God and praised him over and over again. When most would be asking for more of God, she praised Him for what they had and we all felt Him near.
It was humbling to realize as we wanted to leave them to figure things out, they put their trust in God to figure it out. God is in control, siempre (always).
Spoken in the woman's prayer today over and over.. "Gracias a Dios! Jesus es Senor!"
('Thank you God! Jesus is Lord!')



This is some of the walk to the house


The beginning of building


Isn't she precious!?


Some of the famliy

Talonga and Reina

At Amber's building there is a couple named Talonga and Reina. They are from the streets and both drug and alcohol addicts. In order to live at Amber's building they had to get clean. They did and then became 'house parents' to the others when they would come to stay. They both have such good hearts and I have come to have a soft spot in my heart for both of them.
Reina is 32 years old, HIV positive and pregnant now. She is for sure a hard worker at the building and helps out with anything she can.
Talonga is 26 years old and HIV positive as well. To look at him you would think he was AT LEAST 46. The hard life he's had has definitely worn on his fragile body.
In the few weeks that I've been here I have seen Reina and Talonga at some pretty low points. The first week when the group was still here we got to the building to find out that Talonga had been drinking again and was not allowed to live there. When Reina showed up that we realized she too had been drinking. It was so hard to see her like that especially when I had seen so much hope in them before.
They promised to stay clean and were let back in on the condition that if it happened again they would be out for good.
About 2 weeks ago we went to the building and Darwin told us that they both were kicked out. He had heard from the others that they had been doing cocaine. When he asked them Reina denied it but Talonga said he had.
Reina came over to us with tears streaming down her face and asked David for money for a hotel. I know it took everything inside of him to have to tell her no. I stood there hugging her and Jess talked to her. Jess told her that she had done many dumb things in her life too and she needed to just keep relying on God. He will provide her every need. She went on for a minute in English and before David even translated Reina was nodding her head in agreement. We watched as she gathered her small plastic bag of belongings and had to leave. I knew what was done was what had to be done but there was a big part of me that wanted to just go grab them and tell them to come home with us.
A few nights later we went to the building to see both Talonga and Reina there. Reina ran up to hug us with the biggest smile on her face. She told us that she had been telling the truth all along and she was allowed to live there again. She kept pointing up and praising God for His faithfulness. I loved seeing her giving all the credit to the One her guided her through those dark, scary nights.
I never got the whole story on why Talonga was let back in but after seeing him that night it didn't really matter to me. He sat outside the building with his knees tucked to his chest. David and I went over and sat next to him and told him how happy we were for him. Talongaa is a quiet reserved man in the first place but this night he seemed extremely humbled to me. He started telling us about how he had been studying a few passages in the Bible. One being the story of the prodigal son. I think this story really hit home with him after using drugs again and then being shown the grace to be let back in the building. As he spoke tears filled my eyes. He talked about wanting to be the change in his area. He told us how he wanted his baby to grow up seeing him as a servent of God and not an alcoholic. He went on and on and I could have sat there forever listening. He only speaks Spanish and I couldn't understand everything he said but what I could touched me and how he spoke about it humbled me.

The Things You do for Love

This morning Jen and I woke up at 4:40 to go get the brothers and take them to breakfast before school. They were beyond excited to see us at their house that morning. Waking up was a killer but seeing their faces and knowing they were going another day not hungry made it more than worth it!
Once we got them to school poor little Antonio realized in all the excitement this morning he forgot his back pack. He was sobbing! So we spent a few minutes comforting him until we realized, he was this upset because he had the left over pizza in it that was supposed to be his lunch. It broke my heart to see such a little boy have to worry about when and where his next meal would come from. Thankfully we had some breakfast leftovers in the truck with us and he was able to take that and off he went!
After we got back Jen and I snuck in about 20-30 minute naps and we were off again! We took Jenn Hines to the airport for her to head back to the states for 2 weeks. After lots of running around and long talks about the brothers we went and bought them some rice, beans and eggs along with a a big thing of fried chicken and fries for dinner tonight and took it over and got to hang out with them a bit. You would think after getting up so early for them this morning we would be bound for bed but chasing those cute brown faces around for a bit was way better! Its funny the way God will guide you and give you strength in the most simple form when you are serving and loving for Him. And now we are home and ready to hit the sack! Please keep those precious boys in your prayers!

Those Sweet Brothers

The brothers are weighing heavy on my heart right now. Today as we were out running errands Jen got a call from a teacher at their school that they boys had come with no lunch for 2 days now. Which means they probably were not getting much food at home either.
We went and picked up pizzas and took them over to them. They were thrilled! My heart was excited to be with them and broken for them all at once. Their dad had gone off to work a few hours away from here for a few days and left the boys and their mom with 100 limps. 100 limps is the equivalent of 5 American dollars. Can you imagine trying to feed 7 boys and yourself for at least a week on five dollars!?
Jen asked Francisco if they had been eating. He told her they had but not much. When she asked him what they had eaten the boys told us raw cabbage and tomatoes. For over two days they have had nothing but small portions of cabbage and tomatoes once a day.
I loved getting to spend some extra time with them this evening eating pizza and helping with homework but I wish the circumstances that brought us there were not so. My heart breaks for these little ones.


Francisco and Miguel




Jen with Antonio and Francisco


Homework time

Jessica's Birthday- January 11

Today was Jessica's birthday so we all went out to an absolutely beautiful waterfall a few hours from here, Pulapanzak. We started out suprising her with a pretty rockin' breakfast buffet that we all ate wayyyy too much at. Then, Jess and I both love the outside so we rode the whole way in the bed of the truck and got some pretty nice farmer's tans by the time we got there.

Once we got there David told us we needed a guide if we were going to go into the waterfall so we went for it. He pulled me back at one point to explain how intense this little adventure would be and he knew the other girls wouldn't go if they knew. I was beyond pumped for it though!
This waterfall was seriously breathtaking. Pictures just do not do it justice. I was in complete awe of God's beautiful creation.




First the guide took us on the trail that any one can go on along side of the waterfall. Which was somewhat of a slippery fun hike in itself. Then we got to a point where he told us we shouldn't have the camera out anymore. He wrapped it up it a big trash bag to keep it 'safe'. Then he guided us down a slippery, misty, rocky path that some were struggling to just get through that. Then we got to the fun part. Up and down slippery boulders, rocks, logs, pools of water up to our chests, rushing water, and we hadn't even reached the actual waterfall yet.
We got to the first cave and we took a minute to regroup and catch our breath. The guide pulled out my camera at this point to try to get in a few more pics and then he wrapped it back up and stuck it in a high dry spot in the cave to come back for. Next came the REALLY fun part. We had to go through water up and down from our feet to our chest climbing rocks all while the first 'mini' waterfall rushed don on us. When you get to the point he group all has to stay holding hands so the water doesn't push you down. We formed our chain with the guide first then Jess then Jenn Hines then me then David and last Jen Wright. We got just a few steps into it and Jen and David let go and the guide went back for them. The three of us made it to the next cave and waited to see what was happening. Finally David and the guide came swimming into the cave and said Jen was staying back at the last cave.
At this point Jenn Hines realized she was claustrophobic and could not go any farther. We stood in the cave with the waterfall rushing and splashing in right beside us. The guide told us he needed to go in first and see if it was safe to take us. And now Jess realized she was terrified and could not go any farther either. The guide came back in and said he would take us one at a time. It was down to just David and I now and we were all in!
He took me out half way first to see if I was ok with it and I still was but I made David go the whole way with the guide first. After just a bit the guide came back for me and we were off! Water was rushing down all over me as me climbed up and down in and out of rocks and caves. In his broken English the guide would yell out to me "head down! breath through mouth! big step!". We finally made it back behind the falls and it was awesome! He then guided us through a tiny hole that led into a huge cave. It was awesome! We regrouped for a minute in the cave and then it was time to do it all over again in reverse!
We picked up Jess and Jenn in the one cave along the way back and then finally made it back to the other Jen. Oh yes, and back through the first set of slippery pools of rocks.

All of us right when we got there

This is the last spot you can go without a guide

And here we are in the first cave

David and I with our guide, Louis after making it all the way through!

After all that fun and crazziness was said and done Jess and I moved on to the next adventure of the day.. zip lining across the waterfall! Zip lining is something I have been dying to do for a long time so to do it in Honduras over the waterfall there!? I was beyond excited! And it was just as great as I imagined it to be!

Getting in some practice!


Our faces in this one crack me up. This is when we saw the cliff drop off.


Off I go!


Woo! Go Jess! And she even poses for the camera too!


My turn!


We made it!!

We ended the day by eating at a little village lakeside restaurant on the way back. It was another beautiful view!!

The brothers

The brothers are a family of now 8 little boys that the missionaries here work with. Five of them came to live at Casa de Esperanza a few years back and that's how they first got connected with them. They now live with their parents but Jen and David are still very much the support of their famly. They are a big part of the reason I keep coming back. You seriously cannot help but just love these boys. Each one has something special about them that just grabs your heart.
Jen and David had worked hard at fundraising enough support this year to send all of them (minus the 2 babies of course) to bilingual school. They absolutley love it too and are so smart!


When I first got down here I am pretty sure that was one of my first questions to Jen. "Can we go see the brothers?". She told me for Christmas they wanted to visit some family that live about 4 hours away. The dad, Chilo, said he had plenty of money to get them there and back but David and Jen said for Christmas they'd drive them out there but made it clear they had to fund their own way home. They would have our team here at that time and would not be able to pick them up. Chilo and Maria assured them that that was fine. They were supposed to return home on January 4 and the boys needed to be back to school on the 5th.
The 4th came and went and no sign of them. A few more days passed and still they weren't here. They had called a few times and calls kept getting missed and then were in and out of service areas up in the mountains. Something that has been a big struggle for Jen and David is getting Chilo to take care of his family. He needs to be the support and provide for them. It's hard to use tough love when it comes to the well being of these sweet boys though. They finally kept calling asking to be picked up and after a few days of letting it sit and the boys missing a week of school, Jen and David decided to go get them.
So Sunday morning we got in the truck at about 7 am and started the long drive. I know it was tough for them to keep enabling the parents like this but I know we all were beyond excited to see their little sweet faces! They took a bus down from the mountain where they were staying to meet us. The bus pulled by and they were all hanging out the window waving. I seriously could hardly contain my excitement. We jumped out to help them unload their stuff but really I think I was jumping out more to give them each a squeeze! Little Antonio yelled out 'Caity!!' when I went to pick him up and Frncisco gave me that sweet smile he has and best hug anyone could want. All seemed right with the world and I was thrilled to get to see them all again.
We took them back to their house where they all seemed to be ready for some much needed naps. The boys are back going to school this week and I am looking forward to getting to see them some more in the rest of my time here.

Here are a few of the brothers from previous trips..

This is Antonio


This one is Francisco


This is Marvin