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Blueberry Crunch Cake

Valerie Basham

September 20, 2010

A wonderful friend of mine, Wendy, (who lives way out in North Carolina with my sister) gave me this recipe a year or more ago. It’s also known as a “Dump Cake”, because you just dump the ingredients into a pan and bake them. But, she called it Blueberry Crunch Cake and that sounds much more appetizing to me than the name “Dump Cake”, don’t you think? Also, this uses blueberry pie filling as opposed to cherry pie filling as most “dump cakes” call for. As a bishop’s wife, I entertain often. This is one of my favorite desserts to make for company or pot luck dinners because it’s so very easy and SO dee-lish.

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can blueberry pie filling

1 can crushed pineapple

1 1/2 sticks margarine or butter

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°. In a 9×13 pan, pour in pie filling and pineapple. Stir together. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over mixture. Chop up margarine and distribute evenly over the cake mix. Bake for 45 min. to an hour, until golden brown and bubbly on edges. It is best served warm with vanilla ice cream, in my humble opinion. lol! But, my hubby likes it cold and alone. Any way you eat it, it will be good! As you see from the photo above, it goes quickly!

Valerie

To-Die-For Brownies

Valerie Basham

2 comments

September 19, 2010

I have a wonderful missionary friend who requested that I post this recipe. I’m planning on making these again this week for the family, but I must admit, I’m not looking forward to it. You see, I’m trying to lose weight and these things are SO scrumptious. They are very hard to resist. So, to all of you who don’t have to worry about it, I hate you and here you go. (Okay, I really don’t hate you. That was just a joke. :] lol! )

Ingredients:

6 eggs (yep, SIX eggs!)
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 cups sugar (uh-huh, that’s a LOT)
1 T. vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp. salt

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs, butter, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix well until blended. **Valerie’s note: The batter will be extremely thick. You will think you are mixing concrete, but you are not. Also, if you leave a few little bits of unmixed cocoa powder (like I did) it should be okay. After all, my arm just couldn’t stir forever. Plus, I didn’t want to over mix it. End of note.** Thank you. 🙂

Spread the batter evenly in a greased 9×13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake.

Now you can make something delicious and get in your arm workout at the same time! These really are to die for, but please don’t. I’d miss you. 🙂

Lover of chocolate and all things sweet,
Valerie

Taking It Easy

Valerie Basham

2 comments

September 18, 2010

Do you ever stress out about details? My husband and I are quite opposite on this one, which is certainly a blessing! I am very detailed, he is very relaxed. Together, we strike a good balance. I am very talkative and expressive, he is very quiet and composed. Again, it’s a nice balance…most of the time! lol!

Lately, I have found myself with a full plate of life and a clouded mind from lack of sleep, due to our sweet newborn. And let me tell ya, it’s not a good combo! I have been working at losing weight since having Matthew nine weeks ago, but since coming home, I’ve only lost three pounds! That’s right, I maintained again this week, so no loss.

I have had some minor health problems this past week, which threw a wrench in my weight loss efforts. I was really stressing about it, while my husband was, well...not stressing.(Gasp!) I have been placing imaginary pressure from him on myself. I felt that he wanted to me to be right back to my old weight within something like 24 hours after delivery! Did he say this, you might ask? No. Did he imply this with his body language? No.

So…I don’t know why I think this.

Tonight, I decided to ease up on myself. I’m going to try morphing into my husband, to some degree. 😉 I’m going to like the way I am right now while striving to become healthier, even if it means I must maintain this current weight for six months! {shudder} I will walk when I can, and when I can’t, I won’t hate myself. I will eat right, but if I don’t stay exactly within my Points range, I won’t cry.

Last time I checked, my husband liked me the way I am. He is happy to have the five children in our lives that are the reasons for the extra 20 pounds I carry. He loves me. What a thrill!

I can relax. I can relax. I can relax. Sorry, that was just me trying to convince myself. 🙂

Enjoy your week!
Valerie

Pinching Pennies

Valerie Basham

6 comments

September 17, 2010

I have been working at trimming the fat from our budget. Most of our budget items are set, but one variable is our grocery budget. After looking it over, I realized it could be less if I made more items from scratch. Someday, I want to have a small garden, and perhaps can some of my own veggies. Until then, I will be making things myself. Some things I’m going to try making are dry onion soup mix, taco seasoning, spaghetti sauce, rolls, salsa, and brownie mix. I posted about the cookbook I’m using HERE.

This week, I’ve already made rice pudding and homemade brownies from Healthy Meals for Less. I didn’t think about getting pics of it! I had never eaten rice pudding, so it was new for all of us. It is a “custardy” type dish. The kids loved it but I thought it was just so-so. I’m not an “egg” person. It was very easy to make and very inexpensive – only 5 cents a serving!

The brownies I made were called “To Die for Brownies” and let me say, that is an accurate title! When I mixed them up, I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. The batter was extremely thick and hard to stir!

They might look tough, but they are not. They had a nice crust and a gooey center, and as you can see, they are very thick! They were a huge hit and much better than a store bought mix. 🙂 It only cost 13 cents a serving!

They were gone fast. 🙂

This week I was able to soak and cook up two pounds of pinto beans and freeze them for later use. The huge stock pot that mom loaned me was a blessing for this job! I can see I will need to invest in one now that our family is larger. These beans will come in handy when I make bean burritos, chili and soups this winter. I will be making another batch soon as well as some kidney beans. I hadn’t done this in a long time! It was well worth the effort.

It’s taking more time, but it yields a great deal of satisfaction. I’m also able to teach my daughters about cooking while saving money at the same time!

Valerie

Highlights from our Trip North

Valerie Basham

2 comments

September 16, 2010

We were very excited to get spend Labor Day week with our friends and family in Illinois. Terry is originally from Mattoon, Illinois, but we rarely get to go up there. I snapped almost 200 photos during our trip, and there is no way I could post them all, but I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. There are several photos, so I hope you have a few minutes. :]

Snack time. :]

It was a blessing to see my friend, Ava, and her baby, Gracie again! She and her husband met us for lunch at the McDonald’s in West Memphis, AR. Terry and I enjoyed the fellowship with them so much. She brought us some homemade cookies and mini pecan pies for the trip! They were YUMMO! Thank you, Ava!

Matthew finally got to meet his Granddad!

Matthew is my first baby to take a pacifier! That was such a blessing for this trip. He was very content in his car seat sucking on his pacifier. 🙂

Lauren and Mitchell got to camp out in Great Gramma’s backyard! They were so excited that Grandma and Granddad bought them this tent. They have it set up here at our house now.

Leslie liked playing in the tent during the daytime, when it wasn’t too hot.

Great Grandma let us grill out. My Terry did the cooking. Don’t let the flame fool you, the food wasn’t burnt. 🙂

On Wednesday night, we attended church at Bible Baptist Church in Mattoon, IL, where my Father-in-law got saved and grew in the Lord. Here I am with an online friend, Jennifer. It was great to visit with her face to face for a change! 🙂

We ate lunch at this cute Dairy Queen in Arcola, IL. It was the nicest one I’ve ever been in!

Lauren, being cute, which she does very easily. 🙂

The DQ had this awesome playground!

Matthew and his Grandma. 🙂

After lunch at DQ, we went to Rockome Gardens. It has beautiful gardens with shapes formed by cementing small rocks into beautiful shapes. In the photo above, you can see the beautiful weather we had for the day there. The sky was blue, the temps were low and the humidity was zero!

My kids on the “bus”. That’s a stranger is in the first window. We hated to ask her to leave. 🙂

This area of Illinois has may Amish people. Here, the kids pose in an Amish wagon.

They loved this treehouse at Rockome Gardens.

Terry and Kathy got the blacksmith at Rockome Gardens to make them this sign on a piece of wood.

Terry and his Grandma, who graciously allowed us to take over her home for a few days and cooked delicious food for us! Thank you, Gramma!

Here I am with my little home school at the old school at Rockome Gardens. 🙂 I love my students!

The kids loved sitting in this giant rocking chair.

Terry and I liked the rocker, too! We had visited here years ago right after we were married. The trip brought back sweet memories. 🙂

Look at this huge rabbit!!

The girls found this “Three Bears” replica house. Laci was in awe, thinking she had found the REAL house of the three bears!

Leslie at the three bears’ house.

I snapped this picture of the kids as animals by the petting zoo at Rockome Gardens. Can you see what Leslie, the cow, is doing? See below for a better look.

She’s holding her nose!! She’s always been my prissy girl – I guess she couldn’t stand the smell of the nearby animals! lol!!

Laci didn’t mind the smell. She liked feeding the sheep, and Leslie did it, too, surprisingly! lol

I was so happy that a staff member at Rockome Gardens offered to take a picture of our whole family together in the heart! I will treasure this one always.

There were thousands of beautiful flowers at Rockome, but I couldn’t possibly show all of my pics here. These flowers were my favorite! Anyone know what they are? I love them!

On the way back to Arkansas, my husband wanted to swing off the highway and stop in the town where his dad pastored for about six years. Terry was saved at Calvary Baptist Church in Flora, Illinois, when he was fifteen years old. The place is special to him and he wanted to walk down memory lane for a while.

Welcome to Flora!

Here’s a picture of where the church used to be.(Click to enlarge) This is where it was when Terry got saved. Later, they built a building, much nicer than what you see here. The arrow indicates where the front door of the church was. It’s a private home now, we think. 🙂 It was hard to tell.

Eventually, the church outgrew the building they built, and purchased this church in town.

Here’s Terry with the church sign. This church will always be a special place, no matter what its address is.

Crossing the mighty Mississippi.

Whenever we pass through Sikeston, Missouri, we try to eat at Lambert’s so we can get some of their famous “throwed rolls.” Their rolls are good, but their grammar isn’t! 😉 lol!

Tuckered out kids. They had a wonderful time with their grandparents!

The last three hours of the drive home seemed to last forever! We were thankful to find this playground at a school in Marion, Arkansas, so the kids could get out some energy. It was very hard to find restaurants with play places on I-55 or I-57. : (

Mitchell got a bit tangled up!

I am so thankful the Lord provided us the money and a reliable vehicle so we could make this trip. The kids did very well on the journey, despite being crowded in the van and without a DVD player to watch, like we’ve had on previous long trips. I am so grateful that the Lord protected us and that we had such wonderful fellowship with our friends and family. To God be the glory.

Thanks for looking through my “scrapbook” with me. :]

With love,

Valerie

How to Pray for Your Pastor

Valerie Basham

no comments

September 15, 2010

Since I’m married to a pastor, I know first hand the life he leads. I feel certain that pastor’s have many things in common that they need prayer for, so if it’s okay with you, I’ll speak for all of them in today’s post.

1. Wisdom. Every man of God needs wisdom beyond his years – even if his years are many – to do the work God has set before him. Leading people in any area is difficult work, but leading people spiritually is exceedingly difficult. Pray that God will open His Word in a special way and lead your pastor, as your pastor leads others. Ask God to give your pastor wisdom as he preaches and counsels others.

2. Strength for the journey. What a ride the ministry is! One day, everyone loves the pastor, the next day, they are sending angry e-mails to the pastor or telling their friends that the church is going under, or both! Whether the problems are caused by the pastor or not, the pastor bares the blame. The buck stops there. I like to think of the ministry, or the Christian life, as a race – but it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon! It takes stamina and endurance to walk with the Lord while helping others walk with the Lord! The man of God needs strength to keep going during the emotional ups and downs of ministry, and that strength must be supernatural strength.

3. Protection from harm and sin. The man of God is still just a man. He can be hurt physically, of course, and he can also be hurt by sin. Pray that God will keep him safe and keep him clean. I don’t think there is anything that Satan loves more than to see a pastor wrecked and ruined by sin. Likewise, I don’t think there is anyone Satan works harder to destroy than God’s man. When the devil succeeds in his efforts, not only does it ruin that pastor’s testimony, but it throws mud on the cause of Christ as a whole.

4. Family. The pastor’s family is living in a glass house, or a goldfish bowl! When the pastor gets critiqued, so does his wife, children, home and pets. If he doesn’t take care of his yard, people talk. If his child gets caught throwing rocks, people talk. If his wife isn’t smiling one Sunday morning, people talk. This gets old, but it’s par for the course. Pray for your pastor’s family – they need it.

5.Blessings. If your pastor is witnessing, preaching and leading others, his desire is to see results. No one wants to work all day and not accomplish anything. Yet, that is often how the ministry seems to go. You work, pray, talk, love, and then ten people leave your church. It’s not exactly comforting, but the results are not up to the pastor. God alone blesses a church with souls. Pray that God will bless your church and, therefore your pastor, with souls saved and baptized, visitors, and growing Christians. (Giving him an encouraging word now and then helps, too! :] )

Your pastor isn’t doing his job to become wealthy or famous. He does it because he has a calling from the Lord. It’s a 24/7/365 job, and it’s a hard job. The Lord is good and sustains His man, and many times, He does it because His children are coming boldly to the throne and interceding for their pastor.

Things to remember:

Your pastor is human.
Your pastor will make mistakes.
Your pastor is unique, and so is his ministry.

With love,

The Bishop’s Wife

Overcoming Weaknesses in A.C.E.

Valerie Basham

8 comments

September 15, 2010

I attended a Christian school which used A.C.E. for ten years of my education. I home schooled for the last three years using Abeka materials. When I made the transition from A.C.E. to Abeka, I found that I had several gaps in my education. I would like to address these gaps and the ways I’m striving to overcome them as I use A.C.E. with my own children.

Weakness #1: I did not have addition or subtraction facts memorized. I knew my times tables, but that was it.

Remedy: Have students use the Math Builder program on the A.C.E. Readmaster Plus software, or use some other method of practice, such as flash cards.

Weakness #2: I had not read a single book for literature, nor had I had learned any literary terms in my entire A.C.E. experience. I read the material in the PACE’s and I read books on my own, but no outside reading was assigned to me via the curriculum.

Remedy: Purchase the Creative Writing/ Literature PACE’s from A.C.E. (which were not available to me), or use another literature program.

Weakness #3: I was not a good note taker because A.C.E. is a program in which the student works independently – no note taking required!

Remedy: Have your child take notes in church, then ask them key questions from the sermon as a “test”. Enroll your child in a co-op class where they need to take notes and study from the notes.

Weakness #4: I had never written a research paper, and only a few book reports.

Remedy: Many good books are available online or in your library that explain how to write a research paper. Assign a topic and have your child complete a research paper each year beginning in fourth or fifth grade. Also, assign four-six book reports each year beginning in third grade. Two of these should be oral book reports.

Weakness #5: I had never memorized a poem.

Remedy: Assign a poem each month to memorize. This is fun for the whole family!! Also, be sure your child memorizes The Gettysburg Address, the preamble to the Constitution, etc.

No curriculum is perfect. Even a good curriculum that seems perfect might need to be adjusted to meet the specific needs of a child. These are just a few ways we are adjusting a good curriculum to make it even better for our family.

Happy homeschooling!

~ Valerie

From the Java Lady

Valerie Basham

6 comments

September 14, 2010

If you’ve been reading my blog very long, you know that I am not a coffee drinker. I do like cappuccinos, but not coffee. My husband, on the other hand, is a coffee addict. He loves it! In fact, I think he bleeds coffee when he gets a cut. 🙂 On his 29th birthday, I purchased him a BUNN coffee maker. He was thrilled! He has tried to convert me from a cappuccino only girl to a java lady many times over our almost 13 years of marriage. I’ve tried to like coffee, I really have. I’ve tried it black as well as with cream and sugar, but…no go. The bitter taste was still far too over powering.

Recently while shopping, I noticed that Coffee Mate has a line of flavored creamers. I decided to purchase the French Vanilla one to give it a try, since I like French Vanilla cappuccinos. I bought the little travel sized packets of the creamer, so that if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t be wasting so much. Well…I loved it!! I am now a convert! I still enjoy a cappuccino now and then, but I am officially a java lady. :]

And yes, my husband’s eyes lit up when I told him the good news.

Valerie

Matthew at 8 Weeks

Valerie Basham

no comments

September 14, 2010

Here’s this week’s video of Matthew. :] I think I’m caught up on these for now. Hope you like this one! I keep trying to get him to smile, but so far, I haven’t captured that on camera yet. Have a great day!

Valerie

Matthew at 7 Weeks

Valerie Basham

2 comments

September 12, 2010

I’m a little late posting his weekly video due to being out of town last week. He is now eight weeks old. Another video will be coming soon. 🙂 Hope you enjoy this one.

Valerie