I know many of our family and friends are curious as to why, after calling this baby Joshua for my whole pregnancy, we named him Judah after he was born. Here is the journey God took me on and why his name was changed.

The hills and the valleys - A lesson in faith through the storm

Isaiah 49:15 NLT

"“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!"

When I married my husband and took on his last name, which means “hills and valleys” I didn’t fully realize about the hills and valleys in the life I was going to live. This lesson started long before I realized what I was learning so I wont start at the beginning I’ll start where I first realized God was doing a work in my life. It was August 25th 2012. I was pregnant with our 3rd child and quite excited about it. After two normal and healthy pregnancies I assumed this one would go exactly like the others, after all I was young and healthy, why wouldn’t it go well?

Undeserved Grace - a lesson in forgiveness

Ephesians 1:7, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace

As you'll read from the stories of the past two years of my life God has been hard at work. This story is one that actually began several years ago. I had been married for just over a year, and somehow the honeymoon phase had skipped over us. I was miserable and lonely with no one to share what I was feeling with. You see I couldn't tell my family because that would be to admit that I may have been wrong in getting married so young and I didn't want to hear the "I told you so's" or get the unwanted divorce advice I was sure would come. Mostly I didn't want to admit I had gotten in over my head and bitten off my than I could chew after I had spent most of my teen years trying to prove I was not like my family and that I didn't need them.    

My darling boy loves bread so I thought I'd make him a little something special packed with more then just your usual bread. He loves it so does the little girl. Here is the recipe no pictures though we ate it all to fast.

• 2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp all-spice
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 14 Tbs melted butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 zucchini
• 2 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1 sweet potato

Peel and grate all the "fruits and roots" and then use an emmersion blender to blend it all up into a mush and set it aside. Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside. Beat the eggs for 3 seconds then add the butter and vanilla. Once combined slowly add the dry ingredients then fold in the puree.

Bake at 350 degrees.

• large loaf pan (makes 2) 1 hour 15 minutes
• small load pan (makes 4) 50 minutes
• muffins (makes 24-30) 40 minutes
• mini muffins (makes 4-5 dozen) 22 minutes

Okay so many of you know I LOVE to bake, but having to toddlers doesn't exactly give me time for making bread as often as I like with all the kneading and stuff. This book has made it so we can have fresh bread, rolls, buns, pizza at least 3 times a week and sometimes more. Not to mention it's good and has that bakery taste to it ater you've made a few batches, my little boy jumps out of my arms when he realizes there is fresh bread in the house. This book is a must buy for any bread baker with kids.