My Daddy's Birthday Surprise

My precious Daddy turned forty-five last month, and to celebrate, we gave him a surprise! Our family is pretty close and we don't ever keep secrets from each other, so this was really a challenge for us, me especially.  We did it though in the end, and he was very surprised and happy!

I won't explain to you how we did, (because it was very complicated) but we ended up getting him on an island on a beautiful lake and surprised him with his gift-- a canoe!  We ended up spending the afternoon canoeing around the island with my Uncle Tim, Aunt Kris, and cousin Mariah who brought their canoe as well.  Afterward, we went home and had hamburgers, watermelon, and brownies. 

Daddy before he had discovered the surprise (it was on the other side of the island).

Can you guess?  Yes, he just saw it.

The surprise

Can you believe how gorgeous this lake is?!?!

Uncle Tim, Aunt Kris, and Mariah in their canoe.

Us in our canoe.

The other side of the lake, with very different scenery.

~Kiah

Homemade Yogurt

My brother is a big dairy fan.  He loves milk, butter, yogurt, and especially cheese.  A couple of weeks ago, he decided that he wanted to make some homemade yogurt!  We tried it, and it turned out really well!  I was actually surprised at how easy it was, and how well it turned out!  In this post, I'll just be outlining the steps of the process and showing you some pictures that we took.  If you would like to learn the specifics of it all, and how it works, you can go to the website where we learned to make it, by clicking here. 

Step 1:  Pour milk (we used whole milk) into four quart sized mason jars.

Step 2:  Place the jars into a pot of water with a dishrag at the bottom (to keep the jars from wobbling around and breaking) and bring to a boil.  Place your thermometer into the water to sterilize it.

Step 3:  Boil until your milk comes to a temperature of 185 degrees.

Step 4:  When your milk has heated to 185 degrees, turn your heat off, take the jars out of the water, put the lids on, and transfer to a sink of cold water.  Your objective here is to cool the milk down to 100 degrees.

Step 5:  When the milk has cooled to 100 degrees, add 1 tablespoon of plain yogurt to each jar.

Step 6:  Put the lids back on the jars, and place them in a cooler with towels and your pot of hot water (this is to keep the jars and their contents nice and warm).  Put the lid on the cooler.  Now is the waiting part.  You can leave your jars in here for 4 - 24 hours depending on how you like the taste of the yogurt.  We left ours in for about 6.

Step 7:  Place the jars in the freezer for one hour.

Step 8:  Enjoy!

Our homemade yogurt with homemade granola

~Kiah

Winsome Womanhood

For my birthday, my cousin Mariah and her family gave me a wonderful gift.  It is a book, but not just any book.  It is called Winsome Womanhood, and was written by Margaret E. Sangster and published in 1900.  It encourages women in their roles in the home, beginning at a girl's youth, and ending at her death.  I've been reading it, and parts of it have been very encouraging.  Chapter two was called "The Daughter At Home" and was very encouraging to me, as that is the chapter of my life that the Lord has me in.

There is a note in the front of the book, written in pencil and a very pretty hand, that says,"Presented to 'The Five' Cunningham girls, By their loving Father, Dec, 25, 1901, Galena, O."  I don't know what in the world Galeno, O. is, but I absolutely love old-fashioned things, and this book is so special because of that.  Every page has beautiful dainty drawings all around the edges.  I just love it.

Me with Aunt Kris and Mariah

Thanks B Family!

~Kiah

My 16th Birthday

Last Saturday was my 16th birthday. It was a unique one for me. Over the years, it has become customary for us to spend my birthday together as a family at home just hanging out. This year, however, was different. I got to spend the day with my precious friend Natalie. Perhaps you will remember that her family travels the country as evangelists. Last Saturday, they just happened to be in Phoenix, and invited us to come down for an outreach with them. Of course, I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to be with Natalie, so I got up at the early hour of 4:15 so our family could drive to Phoenix to see them. I'm so glad that I did.

Me playing with my new phone, a gift from my parents.

Me opening my card from my family.  They are so precious to me!

We met at Cracker Barrel for a delicious breakfast.

At the Cracker Barrel

Then we headed to a local park to hand out tracts, make balloon animals, paint faces, and share the gospel.  It was my first time making balloon animals, and it was quite fun!  Natalie taught me how to make a couple of basic things.  (We didn't get any pictures of the outreach.  Sorry!)

After the outreach I opened some gifts from Natalie's family and her cousin's family.  I was so blessed by their kindness to me.

 

 

Then came the most difficult part.  Parting with Natalie.  I miss her so much already.

Afterwards, we made the two hour drive home, and hung out the rest of the day.  We played Boggle (my favorite if you'll remember!), made pizza for dinner, had one of my favorite desserts (Guadalupe Pie), and watched a movie.  In all, the day was very special and blessed for me, and I am so thankful to the people who strove to make it so.

Conflicting Seasons and My New Favorite Music

I am thoroughly confused right now.  Can someone please tell me what season it is?!?  Let me explain to you my dilemma.  According to me, it is summer because I'm on summer break.  According to the calendar, it is spring (the first day of summer isn't until June 21).  And to further confuse me, the weather is telling me that it is still winter!  That's right, it snowed for a couple of hours here today.  It never did stick, but it snowed heavily for quite some time.  Now do you blame me for being bewildered?

I accidentally ran into a Christian music group last week that has quickly become my favorite!  It's a husband and wife group -- Keith and Kristyn Getty.  Keith writes modern hymns, and Kristyn sings them.  And it sounds absolutely beautiful.  I won't say anything more about them; I'll just give you a sample.  This my favorite of all their songs: By Faith.

School Is Almost Over!

I am thrilled!  Next Wednesday is officially my last day of school for the year!  I can't wait for summer.  The one drawback to my happiness is that I have a research paper that was due a couple of weeks ago that I haven't even started writing yet.  The research has taken me a very very long time.  I've finally finished that part of it though, so once I start writing it shouldn't take me too much longer.

Summer has got to be my favorite time of they year.  This summer Mamma and I are planning on working on homemaking skills, so I get to do lots of sewing and cooking and laundry, and whatever else we can find for me to do.  These activities are not always so appealing, but I really am so excited!  The beauty of summer is that by the time it ends, I am always ready to go back to school and get back into a routine schedule.  Right now though, I just can't wait for summer to begin!

How Time Flies!

I say that for two reasons.

Firstly, can it really be almost four months since I last posted??  I know my blogging behavior has been positively inexcusable and for that I'm sorry.  This may be, however, a new opportunity for you to forgive me as Jesus has forgiven us.  We certainly didn't deserve his grace then, and I don't deserve yours now.

My second reason for stating that time flies is that two days ago was the first anniversary of our move from my childhood home.  I can hardly believe it!  This past year has passed away so quickly!  It seems strange to me that when I think of moving it does not seem like I have lived a whole year since that time, and yet living in our old house and old town seems so far away.  I believe that God has used this year full of change for good.  It hasn't been exactly what I thought it would be, but God's used it to teach me and change me.

There's not really much to report on the home front.  We are just pressing on and doing our best to serve God where He has put us.  We are traveling an hour and forty-five minutes to church every Sunday.  We love the church that God has placed us in, and yet we believe that it is only a temporary position where we need to grow and learn for a time.  Our living situation is also feeling quite temporary.  Our landlady has had some major issues with the septic in the backyard and it is not entirely clear that we are going to be able to stay here for too long.  We are placing our trust in God however, knowing that He is in control and will provide for us all that we need.

Well, I'd better head to bed.  I can't make any promises, but I will try to do better about posting.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures to show you soon!

God bless you!

On the Box

Living Waters is presenting a new program called On the Box! The show is hosted by Ray Comfort, Tony Miano, and Chad Williams, as they discuss issues and answer questions regarding evangelism, apologetics, the Bible, and more. The show airs for a half hour on Ustream at 11:30 a.m. PST Monday through Friday. (Click here for the Ustream channel.) If you can't watch the show live, you can always catch it later on Ustream or Youtube.

My opinion: I love this show! It's been airing for a week and a half now, and so far I've watched every episode, some live and some not. I would strongly encourage you to check the show out, and if you can, watch it live. While it's only 30 minutes, taking a minimal amount of time out of your day, it is greatly encouraging and usually humorous as well. It really is well worth your time.

A Chilly New Years Eve

Well, New Years came and went, and it's now 2011!  Sort of hard to believe, but I think I'm starting to get used to writing 2011 on all my schoolwork.

We had a very lovely and quiet New Years Eve.  It was very cold, and we had gotten lots of snow just a couple of days earlier!  That week was the first time this winter that we have gotten snow that stuck around for more than a single day, and I loved it!  Even now, there is still some on the ground.

These pictures were taken on New Years Eve.

Our cousins came and played some games with us that night, but they only stayed until about 10:00 I think.  As they were leaving, we discovered that it was -6 degrees outside!  BBRRRRR!  We (minus my dad who was very tired) stayed up until 12:00 to usher in the new year, and then went to bed immediately!  :)

God bless you all in this new year!

It's About The Cross

This is one of my very favorite Christmas songs! The lyrics are just so true and so simple.

It's About The Cross by Go Fish



A very merry Christmas Eve to you all!