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