I Am...

I wrote this a few months ago when I was feeling depressed and very invisible. Sometimes I still feel this way. For anyone who feels this way I just want you to know that you are not alone and you are not invisible. God is always with you and He always sees you.

I am the wallflower.
I am invisible.
I am the one is there, but not seen.
I am the "sweet" one, the one who everybody "likes" but nobody ever remembers to include.
I am the one who is expected to change my schedule and bend my wants and needs to accommodate others, but no one takes the time to accommodate me.
I am quietly sitting in the corner waiting to be noticed.
I am easily forgotten, the last on people's list.
I am the afterthought.
I am the one who works quietly in the background, who is only noticed when something goes wrong.
I am the shy one.
I am the quiet one.
I am the "goody-goody" that nobody likes.
I am the child who nobody loves.
I am the voice you hear crying in the night.
I am the silent one.
I am the reserved one.
I am the one who is afraid to make waves.
I am the one who is afraid to push in.
I am the one who cries when no one is watching.
I am caged, trapped by my own fears.
I am disabled.
I am challenged.
I am different from you.
I am the one who doesn't act like you want.
I am the one who doesn't say the right things.
I am struggling to speak.
I am struggling to be.
I am hurting.
I am aching.
I am ignored.
I am not noticed.
I am lost.
I am broken.
I am human.
I am capable of great love.
I am gifted.
I am talented.
I am unique.
I am an individual.
I am passionate.
I am a princess.
I am happy.
I am alive.
I am loved.
I am a daughter.
I am a sister.
I am strong.
I am intelligent.
I am capable.
I am an aunt.
I am a mother.
I am special.
I am the one who sees the best in others even when I can't see the best in me.
I am accepted.
I am known.
I am seen.
I am the one who Christ died for.
I am the one who has been forgiven much.
I am a daughter of God.

Frustrated

I have been very frustrated today. My phone was shut off last week and so I can only be on it when I am some place that has wifi. But to top it all off yesterday my computer stopped working. It didn't crash or anything like that, but it is not something easily fixed. So today I have been praying that The Lord will give me peace and help me accept these frustrations. As I told Addie, it is just the fertilizer that helps the fruit of the Spirit to grow.

Feather Rolls

While I loved the Parker House Rolls, they turned out to be a little crusty and dense for some of my family members.  My mom asked me to make rolls that were lighter and softer so I went looking for a recipe that was and I found the PERFECT SOFT ROLL RECIPE!!!!     It is a no knead recipe and I found it in the 1959 revised edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. These rolls turned out so light and airy and delicious that Cowboy Carter (my nephew) ate about 3 full-size rolls and 3 baby rolls. These rolls were a big hit in my family, and they are so quick and easy to make! I will definitely be making them for the Boone Family dinner on Sunday.

 I will just say that I doubled the recipe and forgot to make sure that I had enough muffin tins for the rolls so some of the rolls where made by just dropping the batter on a cookie sheet which made them look more like biscuits than rolls and some of them were made in a mini muffin pan (the baby rolls). What can I say? I am a big picture person, not always a details person. J

Feather Rolls

1 cup warm milk (not hot)

1 package yeast

4 tablespoons soft butter or oil

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

Put milk and yeast in mixing bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir well. 

Add butter, sugar, salt and egg. Mix until thoroughly blended. Stir in the flour. Dough will be sticky and gooey. 

Cover the dough and set aside in a warm place. Let rise until double, about 45 minutes.

Prepare muffin tins with butter. Stir down dough. Fill muffin tins half full. Set aside and let rise until muffin tins are full. 

Bake in 350º oven until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

                

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope that you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving day with your family and friends.


Photo from Called Magazine's Facebook page

Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude

One of the things that I struggle with the most is a tendency to focus on the negative things in my life…no job, selling everything, not able to pay the bills, etc., but one of the things that the Lord is working on in me is having an attitude of gratitude in the hard times as well as the easy times. He is teaching me to not only be grateful for the good things but that there are things to be grateful for in the not so good things.

When I am worrying and fretting about things like finding a job, moving in to take care of my grandmother, and all those other things, I am telling the Lord that I don’t trust Him.

 I am saying to Him, “Lord, I can do better than You can do for me."

On the other hand…when I am grateful, I am telling the Lord that I do trust Him, that I am focused on Him and all the good things that He has brought into my life.

I am saying to Him, “Lord, You can do better for me than I can do for myself and that I know that You love me.”

One of the ways that I am working on cultivating an attitude of gratitude is by using Ann Voskamp’s 1000 Gifts app on my iPhone. I like it because I am a very visual person and I can add photos of what I am grateful for.

 I have seen other people who keep gratitude journals and write down something that they are grateful for everyday.

What are some of the ways that you cultivate an attitude of gratitude?

Why the BarnPrincess?

Well, I’ve taken the time to introduce myself. I’ve supplied you with a few recipes and a couple of books and devotions, but I’ve never taken the time to explain the name BarnPrincess. Well, the barn part comes from my love of barns…I love the smell, the atmosphere, etc. Older barns are the best. I’ve lived in a barn on the second story. We built the barn with an apartment. I would like to restore a barn one day and have even thought about what it would take to remodel an old barn or stable into a functional home. While I would not say that I am obsessed with barns, they are one of my favorite things and growing up they were where I spent a good deal of my time.

The princess part comes from the fact that I used to tell everyone that I am a princess. I truly believe that all women and girls are princesses, but I usually tell people that I am a princess because I am a daughter of the King of kings. I was adopted into His family and that makes me a princess. This is something that I used to share with the teen girls that I used to work with. I also wanted to teach them (and I’m never sure if I got it across) that being a princess and acting like a princess doesn’t mean that we are divas and need to have our own way, but rather being a godly princess means putting aside our own wants and desires and living the life that our Heavenly Father has laid out for us to live. It means loving others and treating them the way that we want to be treated.

Because of these two things, my family starting teasing me and calling me the BarnPrincess and it stuck…All glorious is the princess in her chamber—even if it is a barn. J

Book of the Week: Argosy Junction by Chautona Havig

I love reading. It is one of my favorite things to do. I love getting lost in a book. I love the places that a book can take you. I love the truths that you find in a book. When you read a book, it becomes a part of you. It helps to shape who you are and who you are becoming. Reading can be a retreat from the world or reading can bring you back to the world. Because of my love of reading I want to share this love of reading with you. Last week I posted my first ever book review and to be honest, well it turned out to be more of a synopsis of the book than a review of the book. This week will be different I promise.

This week’s book is titled Argosy Junction. It was written by Chautona Havig. The book is about how sometimes we get so caught up in our man made rules and judgments and comparing ourselves to others that we don’t see the damage we are causing until it is too late. In this story, Lane meets Matt who is a new Christian but who is strong in his faith and falls in love with him, but she refuses to have anything to do with his faith at first. Lane grew up in a church that forgot that Christianity is about loving God and loving others. They became cult-like in their faith. Everything had to be done the way everyone else was doing it or you weren’t considered a true Christian.  It became about who was the most spiritual or godly. In this story we see Lane grow as she struggles to come to grips with the hurts from the past from the church and her family and an acceptance of Jesus Christ as her Savior. We watch as she learns that Christianity is about rules and regulations but about the saving grace of Jesus, a man who gave up his life and overcame death so that we might truly live.

Chautona Havig paints a wonderful story of the struggle that most of us have when it comes to reconciling the saving grace of Jesus with trying to earn our way into heaven. She weaves together life in the inner city with life on a sheep farm. Her characters are relatable and lovable. Her stories will touch her heart and emotions. I cried in one part when Lane’s younger sister was comforting a prostitute. Chautona made me think about showing love to others and what can happen when we start comparing ourselves to other people. Read the book. You will be blessed by it.

For more information on Chautona Havig and her books visit: http://www.chautona.com.

To connect with Chautona online:

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chautona

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chautona-Having-Just-the-Write-Escape/320828588943

Movie Review: Breaking Dawn, Part 2

Now I am not a film critic and I don’t get to the movies very often, but last night I had the opportunity to go and see Breaking Dawn, Part II. I have to say that I LOOOVVEEEDDDD this movie!!! J But then again I also have to admit that I am a diehard Twilight fan.  The movie closely followed the book. There were a few noticeable differences at the end of the movie, but the differences just really enhanced the story and did not detract from it in any way. The movie brings to conclusion the story of Edward and Bella and Jacob in a happily ever after type of way.

I do have to say that while I loved the movie there were a few things that did detract from it for me. The opening credits are a long and drawn out series of videography that is meant to show the world from Bella’s newly opened vampire eyes. The problem I had with it is that while the video is beautiful. They could have shortened it and not lost any of the wonder. They also showed all of this before showing Bella or Edward so it wasn’t clear at first what the point of it was. They also didn’t place as much emphasis on Bella’s gift as a shield as the book did which disappointed me because in the book it was Bella and her gift that leads to Aro’s decision to leave the Cullens alone, but in the movie Bella is not the reason that he changes his mind. (And that is all I can say without giving away the ending of the movie. ;-) )

I do recommend the movie especially if you love the Twilight series. I do not recommend it for children 12 years or younger though. There is some violence and nudity that is inappropriate for young children. It is definitely not a family friendly movie.

Parker House Rolls

This recipe is one of my favorite recipes for rolls. The recipe originated at the Parker House,  a hotel in Boston.  I made them just yesterday for my mother. She works in a doctors’ office and the office was planning on having a special lunch today.  She asked me to make four dozen rolls! I had to find a recipe that was easy to multiply.

After preparing the rolls, I had to taste one. J My nephew was with me. He helped shape the rolls, and when I tasted one, I gave him a bite. He immediately asked for another one so they are 4-year-old approved!

Parker House Rolls

7 ½ teaspoons dry yeast (3 packages)

3 cups milk

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

6 tablespoons sugar

6 eggs, beaten

12 cups unbleached flour

6 teaspoons salt

Extra butter melted for glazing rolls and greasing baking sheets

Sprinkle yeast into 1 ½ cups of the milk in the bowl. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Warm the remaining milk in a saucepan with the butter and sugar. Stir until the butter has melted. Cool until lukewarm, then beat in the eggs until evenly combined.

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the dissolved yeast and the butter mixture. Mix in the flour to form a soft, sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead until smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 10 minutes. Knead in extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky. Resist adding too much flour, as the dough should not be dry, but soft.

Put the dough in a buttered bowl and cover with a dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 ½ hours. Punch down dough, then let rest for 10 minutes.

Shape the rolls as desired. Place the rolls on a buttered baking sheet. Proof until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425º. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter. Bake rolls for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden and hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack.

 This recipe will make about 4 dozen rolls depending on the size of the rolls.

God Approves of You!

Last night I was reading my daily devotional on my YouVersion app. It was entitled God Approves of You! I want to share that devotional with you.

Nobody knows you as well as God does. Yet even though He knows everything about you, including all of your faults, He still approves of you and accepts you. God sees your heart, not just the exterior shell (the flesh) that seems to get you into so much trouble. He does not approve of your wrong behavior, but He is committed to you as an individual. God can hate what you do and yet love you. He has no trouble keeping the two separated.

God never intended for you to feel bad about yourself. He wants you to know yourself well and yet accept yourself. You must be able to say, "I can love what God can love. I don't love everything I do, but I accept myself because God accepts me." God is changing you daily. Ask Him to help you accept and love yourself in spite of your imperfections.

(From Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer)

As I was reading this, the story of the adulterous woman kept coming to mind. In John 8, a crowd of people brings a woman who was caught is the act of adultery to Jesus in order to trap Him. They asked Jesus what they should do with the woman since the law demanded that she be stoned. Jesus stooped down and began to write on the ground. They continued to question Jesus and He said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to thrown the stone." Then he stooped down and began writing on the ground once again. The crowd slowly began to disperse until only the woman and Jesus stood there. He stood up and asked her where the people had gone and had they not condemned her. She answered that no one had. His response was this "Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."

To me this is a wonderful of story of how God approves of who we are but does not like what we do. He approves of  her, but because He does not like what she is doing, He tells her to stop living that lifestyle. This is my definition of unconditional love, accepting someone even if you don't agree with what they are doing.

Book Review: Be Still My Soul

Be Still My Soul is the first book in the Cadence of Grace series by Joanne Bischof. It is a beautifully written story about two young people who are forced to marry after her father sees them kissing. It takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in the early 1800’s. Lonnie is a young woman of 17 years who loves the Lord, but earns to be loved because she came from a home where she was abused. Her husband, Gideon, is a young man of 22 years who is fighting against a belief in God and who refuses to take responsibility for his actions when things don’t go his way. When Gideon becomes abusive as he and Lonnie are traveling to Stuart so that he can find work, an older gentleman named Jebediah steps in and then offers Gideon and Lonnie a place to call home. As Jebediah states throughout the book, Gideon “has a few lessons he still needs to learn.” As Gideon grows closer to Lonnie, he also grows closer to a belief in God. This is a wonderful book about a young woman’s faith that God will provide and a young man’s struggle to become the man that he is supposed to be. 

November is National Adoption Month

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:

To visit orphans and widows in their afflictions,

And to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

~~James 1:27

One of my dreams has always been to adopt. While the Lord has not yet seen to bless me with this opportunity, I pray that in future He opens the door for this dream to be fulfilled. In His Word, He admonishes us to care for the orphans and widows. I have done a lot of research into the process of becoming a foster parent and adoption. I want to share some of those resources with you today.

Show Hope is a Christian organization that promotes adoption. It was founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. While they do not provide adoption services, they do provide information and resources on the process of adoption and the need for orphan care around the world. Visit http://www.showhope.org for more information.

The Christian Family Services is an organization in Overland Park, KS that helps mothers-to-be and families interested in adoption. They are licensed in both Missouri and Kansas to aid families in the adoption process.  For more information visit http://www.cfskc.org.

Other sources for information on adoption in Missouri include:

Hope for Orphans http://www.hopefororphans.com

Bethany Christian Services http://www.bethany.org

All Blessings International http://www.allblessings.org

Adopt Us Kids is a photolisting of children who are currently available for placement in Missouri. http://www.adoptuskids.org/states/mo/index.aspx

Cornerstones of Care also offers foster care and adoption placement services in the Kansas City area. For more information visit http://www.cornerstonesofcare.org/

Please take the time to pray and consider adoption. There are many children out in the world who are in need of love and a family.

Who is the BarnPrincess?

I realized recently that I have never taken the time to introduce myself and to tell you about who I am so that is what today’s blog is about.

My name is Misty Boone. I am a 37-year-old, single, Christian woman. I have never been married, and  I don’t have any children although my niece says that I am “like a parent.” I have a niece and a nephew who I get to spend a lot of time with. I don’t think of myself as shy, but I tend to be introverted and quiet especially in a group setting. One –on-one I have a tendency to relax more and be more outgoing. I love to read. I will usually read anything that is suggested to me, but my personal taste does run more towards non-fiction and romance. I love to craft and repurpose things. I usually always have a crochet project in the works as well as several books that I am trying to get read. I enjoy sewing, embroidery, and painting as well. I like cooking and baking.

Up until last May, I taught preschool. I love the children that I have taught, but it recently came to me that I don’t love the directions that our schools are heading and the lack of discipline in them so I decided that it was time for a change. Right now I am trying to get this blog going, and I have started selling books and gifts online through Amazon marketplace. I am also trying to find work to support me until I get everything else going. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time finding a job. I am also in the process of searching for my calling. I always thought that I was called to work with children and to a certain extent I still believe, but I don’t believe that I am supposed to teach preschool anymore which is one of the reasons that I am having difficulty finding work.

Quickie Facts

1.       I’m 37 years old.

2.       My birthday is in September.

3.       My favorite color is red…not fire engine red, but a deep red like the color of burgundy wine.

4.       My favorite book is the Bible.

5.       I am most passionate about my faith.

6.       I am also passionate about children and families.

7.       I like to crochet.

8.       I like to sew.

9.       I like to do crafts in general.

10.   I love to read.

11.   I like to dance.

12.   I like to cook. My favorite recipe is chicken parmesan.

13.   I like to bake. My favorite thing to bake is snickerdoodles.

14.   I like the outdoors, camping, and horseback riding.

15.   I enjoy exploring old barns.

16.   I am learning to garden. Until recently I couldn’t seem to grow anything, but in the last couple of years I have actually managed to keep plants alive all summer.

So what about you guys? Introduce yourself to me and tell me a little bit about you. I love making new friends.

Chicken with Potatoes

I have not tried a lot of Greek food before. I have mainly eaten gyros at local fairs and festivals, but I found this recipe for Chicken with Potatoes in an old Kansas City Star magazine. It was submitted by Mrs. Adam Kanas. I think I fell in love with this recipe. I will definitely be making it again.

Chicken with Potatoes

4 large potatoes, julienne

3-pound chicken, cut up

¾ stick butter

Salt

Pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

½ can tomato sauce

1 ½ cups water

Flour and brown chicken quickly in butter in large skillet. Remove from pan. Sprinkle potatoes with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne. Sauté potatoes in the same skillet until well coated. Place potatoes in large baking pan. Place chicken over potatoes. Bring tomato sauce and water to a boil in the skillet. Add to the chicken and potatoes. Bake covered for 10 minutes. Then bake uncovered for 20 minutes or more at 375 degrees. Add small amount of water, if needed.

My Drowning Experience

This weekend at the Women of Faith conference I received a copy of Sheila Walsh's new book God Loves Broken People (And Those Who Pretend They're Not) as a gift from a new friend. I started reading the book and one of the things that Sheila talks about in the first chapter is how we go through periods of life where we feel like we are drowning. We are waving and waving, waiting for someone to notice that we struggling, but the people who see just wave back and walk on. One of the things that she asked us to do is to write down our own drowning experiences. I decided to share mine with you so that you will see that if you feel like you are drowning in the circumstances of life you are not the only one.

My drowning experience started five years ago, and honestly on most days I still feel like I am drowning. The first wave that hit me was closing my daycare center. Opening my own child care center was a dream come true and I worked hard to make it come true and was very successful at first so deciding to close the center was a difficult decision. The second wave that hit was a much larger wave and it close behind the first one. I had fallen in love and I thought he loved me too and that we were going to get married. One weekend he was asking me to marry him. The next weekend he was breaking up with me, and the weekend after that he was engaged to someone else. This sent me into a long period of depression and struggle in my relationship with the Lord. A third wave shortly followed and while not as big as the second it left me doubting myself. I was accused of something that I didn't do at work and even though I was found innocent in the investigation I still lost my job. I spent the next year struggling with depression and self-doubt plus I was experiencing financial difficulties because I was unable to sell the building that my child care center was in. 

After a while the sea of my life smoothed out for a while, but I still felt like I was struggling, barely treading water. I moved in with my parents for a while. They lost their jobs and their house with it. Then we moved to Kansas City which is something I didn't want to do. While living with my parents, I had started grad school and was working on my Master's degree. After moving to Kansas City, I got a job full-time and was in school full time. Then for the first time ever I failed a class. My studies were one of the few things that I took pride in. I never failed. I was always at the top of the class. Shortly after that I lost my job again and for once again it was for something that I didn't do. Then my grandma ended up in the hospital. After I was finished caring for my grandmother, my sister fell and broke her leg. After she was well enough to get around and take care of her family, I became extremely sick. 

After I recovered, things smoothed out again for a while. I got another job and really enjoyed my work. After four months, I received a promotion, but then the wave started hitting again. I was teaching preschool, but I was teaching children who had been very traumatized in one way or another. I was dealing with their behaviors and I was taking stuff home with me. I was working about 80 hours per week but was only getting paid for about 50 of those hours. Because of the behaviors in the classroom, I had to take all of my paperwork home with me. I started having problems sleeping. I stopped eating. I lost 25 pounds in 1 month. I was suffering from something called compassion fatigue, also known as secondary post-traumatic stress disorder. When things settled down in the classroom, I struggled to recover. I went to counseling, but the waves didn't stop. Since November 2011,  about 15 of my family members, friends, and acquaintances have passed away including my grandfather and two of my cousins, one who was only 24 years old and the other one was only three weeks older than me. 

During this time, I have made some bad decisions in a relationship that should never have been more than friendship. I ended up pregnant, and I ended up miscarrying the baby. I found out that I have a condition that will make it hard for me to ever have a baby. Things started to go wrong at work. I ended up quitting my job because I was just done and decided to change careers. Now I am still looking for work, struggling to find myself again and my purpose and calling. I am struggling financially, physically, and emotionally. Most of the time I feel like I am barely able to keep my head above the water. 

But one of the things that the Lord has been bringing home to me in the last few months is that He has always been there, that He can use all of this for His glory, and that He wants me to not just tread water, but to soar. Like the surfer in the photo depends on his board to carry him safely to the shore, the Lord wants to be my surfboard and wants to carry me through the waves of this life. I am tethered to Him like many surfers tether themselves to their boards so that even if knocked off coarse I cannot be separated from Him. See the Lord doesn't promise that we will never face the waves. In fact, He promises the opposite, but He also promises that He will carry us through the waves and see us safely to the shore.

Original photo can be found at http://collectpics.com/Sports/Surfing/Surfing-Backgrounds-Wallpaper-1920x1080

Women of Faith

This weekend was the Women of Faith conference in Kansas City so I want to share a few pieces of advice and reminders that I received this weekend.

1) God wants us to praise Him in the middle of the storm as well as in the good times.

2) Every single one of us has an emptiness that only God can fill. Food, sex, men, drugs, or whatever you put before your relationship with God will only fill that emptiness for a short time. Only God can fill that hole permanently.

3) Build up an arsenal to fight Satan's lies. Sheila Walsh suggests writing Bible verses on 4x6 cards and carrying them with you.

4) God lavishes His love upon us.

5) Liz Curtis Higgs suggests that every morning after you get ready stand in front of the mirror and say, "Tada!" She says that it can be life changing.

6) When all we see is dirt, all God sees is hope because He has plans for us.

7) No matter how lost you feel or how far away from God you seem to be He chose you and He can use you.

8) Salvation is all a work of God. It is not about being good enough.

9) Walk Chosen

10) Treat every moment as a gift because that is what it is. Every moment is a gift from the one who took our place and died in our stead.

11) We are all in this together. You are not alone. Christ walks with you and everyone of us is broken.

12) Live fully alive in Christ.

13) God loves broken people.

14) In our weakness, The Lord provides His strength.

15) God's plans for us are greater than our own.

16) Trust Him!

17) Be a living sacrifice.