The best apple pie you will ever have!

WOW Thanksgiving was wonderful wasn't it? I love getting together with family laughing telling jokes, and enjoying memories being made. There is something so special getting together on Thanksgiving to think people for hundreds of years have done this very same thing. How special is that to think about that?

I will say this Thanksgiving I finally realized that no the rest of the world does not have Thanksgiving. I was shocked to learn that our friends overseas were not celebrating with us on Thursday, but then I realized DUH pilgrims, Indians, big boat....Never realized that before!

So I have to tell you I made my first apple pie the other day....It turned out GREAT! Ok girls hands down this is the best pie you will ever eat! My hubby loves loves loves apple pie and he even will say this is the best pie he has ever had! I know you will love it too!!

Crunch Apple Pie

Refrigerated pie crust (comes in pack of two)

Filling:

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 T. flour

1 T. cinnamon

dash salt

1 t. lemon juice

10 oz. Motts cinnamon applesauce

(yes Motts I have tried all different applesauce didn't turn out as well)

4 c. Peeled sliced apples (Golden delicous)

3 T. butter

Topping:

6 T. flour

2T. sugar

2T. brown sugar

dash salt

Vegetable oil

Time to put it all together!

Step 1.

Pre-heat oven to 350

Step 2.

Mix all your filling ingredients but butter.

Put into pie shell then dab butter pieces all over.

Step 3.

Mix up all crunch topping do enough Vegetable oil that the flour mixture is just barely moist. There should be some that doesn't even get any oil. (about 3Tablespoons)

Step 4.

Cut your second pie shell in to pieces and piece

across top of topping in the first shell.

Step 5.

Put crumb topping all over top of pie.

Step 6.

Place in oven and bake till crust is nice and brown!

(Mine takes about 35-40 minutes so be sure and watch it!)

Hope you all love it as much as my family and friends have and do! Let me know how it turns out! This will be a great treat for you to make for all of your Christmas party guests!

Faith comes by hearing.....

In Romans 10:17 it says that

"faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God".

So where does faith come from? By hearing the word right? That is how faith is built up in our heart. When I saw the biggest change in my life is when I decided to start watching what I was listening to. A lot of people think this just means music but it is so much more than that. You can be feeding your spirit all day long. Yes get good worship music but also get some good preaching.....

Here are a few that I recomend.....Don't just listen to it once but listen to it time and time again! Listen to it until it isn't just something you hear, but it becomes part of you.

You can always get great preaching here to listen to my amazing husband, my wonderful Pastor or myself.

Then you can always listen here. This is Pastor Benny Perez at The Church at South Las Vegas.

Get some word today it is something that has changed my life and I know it will change yours also!

When is it ok to put up Christmas decor?

When is it ok to put up Christmas trees and decorations and when is it too soon? People all have their own reasoning behind it. There are those that say that it is way to soon if you do it before Thanksgiving. For those of us that drive a long way and stay the entire week of Thanksgiving it is almost as though not setting it up after Thanksgiving just isn't soon enough....

Well Chiks at the Sparks house it is Christmas...well it is on it's way to being that way! I always set up the week before Thanksgiving due to the fact that we go way out of town each year to be with Bryan's family. So I have been working on it for the last few days...Shew it is a lot of work!

I love Christmas!!! I have been in full blown baking mode and wanting to make all of the yummy treats. So that I don't gain too much weight I have been sure to pass along the sweets to dear friends and neighbors (thanks guys!)!!

With all this Christmas setting up the kids had the biggest bubble bath ever the other day...Too much bubbles got put in and this is what we got! It was hilarious how much fun they had in the bath tub. There was maybe about 12 inches of water and about 2 foot of bubbles. The kids loved it....I thought I would share with you hope this makes you smile!

So weather you are putting up Christmas like me right now or later post pictures cuz I want to see your winter wonderland at your house!

The best day of your life.....

Everyday is an opportunity. You have never had a day like this one is going to be nor will you ever. There is something so special each and everyday. Things waiting to be explored, opportunities waiting to be found, lives waiting to be changed, experiences that will blow your mind. Each day they are all there waiting for one thing....YOU.

Everyday I wake up and think "This is the best day of my life".

So many times I find that we live for what tomorrow will hold or even worse we think about all the bad that has held us back in the past. Instead of thinking of what lies before us right now. Really taking the time to embrace what is happening today.

When you treat today like it is the best day of your life you will find opportunities happen things just seem to click. There is a joy unspeakable that takes over your life. After all I believe that with each day you are one day closer to your miracle you never know when God is going to show up and use you to do something big in the earth.

I think of Joseph he didn't know the week before, the hour before he was promoted from the prison. He had one job while he was in prison that was to trust God and keep a good heart. He did so he was promoted.

Think of David. Can you imagine the prophet comes to anoint the next king and your family doesn't even think of you to bring you in for the fields...God saw him though and He called him in....

Each day is the best day of our life if we let it be. Each day is the beginning of new things if we will open the door for God to come in and do something big in and through us!

So I have to ask you....are you going to make today the best day of your life or is it going to be just another day that you gripe about having?

Personal inventory......

I love that song by Michael W. Smith "I'm coming back to the heart of worship". What I like the most about that song is when he sings...

You're looking into my heart......looking into my heart.......

Wow think about it for a minute.....Jesus......Looking into your heart....

If we all got real for a minute and really meditated on that line & took time to think about what is in our heart. What is in there when no one is around no one is looking what are those things that are deep within us?

Around this time of the year I always think about goals I had coming into that year. Was I successful after those or not? Did I make the best use of my year or is there room to do better in the next year....if yes then how....

Every good business takes inventory of their merchandise so they know what they have. Shouldn't we do the same thing in our life?

Questions to think about

God: Am I......

Actively choosing God and His ways at every decision, word, moment, thought and step each day?

Consistent in my quiet time?

Daily spending time with God in prayer and Bible reading?

Husband: Am I.......

Praying for him DAILY?

Being a help meet to him?

Preparing for my husband daily?

Spending time with him?

Positively responding to him?

Noticing, regarding, honoring, preferring, esteeming, praising, admiring and loving him?

Bending or bucking with submission?

Being predictably happy?

Giving away to others what I haven't given first away at home?

Children: Am I.....

Spending quality time with them?

Praying with them daily?

Teaching them to follow God by my words and actions?

Home: Am I managing my home effectively. ....

with finances and budgeting?

with housecleaning?

(Managing it instead of it managing me?)

with planning meals and shopping wisely?

by taking care of needs at home?

Others: Am I......

Loving others correctly?

Serving others?

Preferring others?

Self: Am I......

Growing in my walk with God?

Eating properly and exercising?

Making sure I am healthy and give myself rest when needed so I can be what my family needs?

You see I don't think that I am perfect. I wish I could say I could put a big check mark by all of these questions as though I have done them all. But you know what I am just like you a normal person with real issues and real life comes along the way and distracts us. That is why it is so important that we look inward to our self and see what we can do better. Being a good mom and wife is a process not an overnight thing. It is a daily journey with lots of mistakes along the way!

An empty journal

Whenever I pass them in the store I have to pick them up and look through them. I always flip the pages looking at the blank pages. I can never pass a journal without having my heart race a little.

I love to journal it is one of those things that just is a release for me. To put on paper what God is doing in my heart is something so amazing. What is even more amazing is to write things and then look back years later and see how God worked things out. There are so many miracles that happen in our life that at the moment we weep and thank God & even vow that we will never forget that moment. Time goes on and so does life…..and somehow we forget.

A journal empty pages. Empty pages just waiting for someone to write down the wonderful things that are happening in their life. Waiting for someone to write down dreams, prayers, and answered prayers. Waiting for someone to pick it up and read about all the good things that have happened in life.

You see journals are a lot like our life. We start out blank with nothing really. Just a cover and a whole lot of blank space that begins to get filled with time. Some pages are sad, some funny, some happy and some uplifting. They all come together and tell a beautiful story of your life. The beautiful wonderful person that you are.

I think of how I can’t help but stop and look at a journal and see all the potential. I see myself carrying it. I see myself putting wonderful things that are happening in it. I see my children reading it and they are inspired because the same God that did it for me will do it for them.

I think God is a lot like I am when He is looking through people in the Earth. He sees beautiful perfect people with a whole lot of unwritten greatness. He sees unlimited potential. He can’t help but see Himself carrying them through life and performing miracles that blow their mind. He sees them setting up landmarks for their children. That their life will touch so many with what will happen on those blank pages. He sees the funny times, happy, the sad, the wonderful, and the miraculous.

You see the great thing about God is He never puts us back on the shelf. He always wants to take us and use us. Fill our life with such wonderful things.

“Your life is telling a story make it one worth reading”-April Simons

You see we are all journals that are being read everyday. What kind of a story is your life telling? Is it good? Weather you like it or not people are constantly reading it. They are browsing the pages and seeing what is inside.