Technical difficulties

Whew! Hello Blog World!

Due to technical difficulties I have had trouble getting on here and posting for the last couple weeks. I'm still experiencing some issues uploading pictures from our camera, but hopefully that will work itself out soon. I try not to get too involved in these problems because chances are that I will worsen them. Only days after we moved into our new house in Suffolk, Dad had just finished setting up our cable when I flipped a switch and turned the whole TV/Wii/DVD player completely off. I have a propensity for ruining all things electronic.

Anyway, things have been getting busier and busier around here. The year always seems to pick up in mid-November and doesn't slow down again until June or July. But this is the best part of the year, in my opinion, because you have the busyness of preparation for speech and debate, etc, in addition to the fun of the holidays.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Jordan brought home a sweet friend, Liberty, for the break and my mom's mom, Grandma Pat, came up to spend it with us. We enjoyed a laid back time with lots of delicious food, a fun photo shoot, and, of course, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I'm especially thankful that God has been providing odd jobs for me during this time of year. I very much enjoy Christmas shopping for everybody's gifts, but it's difficult as I'm trying to save money for college stuff. I have wonderful parents who are willing to put me through college, praise the Lord, but I still need to buy books, things for my room, and other essentials, so money gets a bit tight. Anyway, God has been especially faithful to provide *interesting* jobs for me lately, such as helping out at a huge birthday bash, baking cakes for a cake auction, and plenty of babysitting.

Hope you all experience the joy of our Risen King during this special holiday season and throughout the New Year!

~Hannah Grace

A dessert hybrid

Last week I expanded my horizons from cupcakes to a cheesecake. Pumpkin-Pecan Cheesecake, to be exact. We subscribe to the Southern Living magazine, and when I saw a picture of this cake on the front of this month's issue, I knew I would have to make it. And, yes, this is actually a picture of the one I made! The cheesecake itself had some rather large cracks on the surface, but you cover the whole thing in this yummy praline, so nobody will ever know...well, now you know I guess, but nobody else knows!

My main note here would be to plan ahead- this recipe is NOT HARD. But it is time-consuming, so make sure you read the entire recipe, gather all the ingredients, and set aside a large block of time for cooking, as well as 8-24 hours for chilling. I can tell you with great confidence that it is worth the time to make this dessert. So yummy!

I'm just going to post a link to the main recipe here: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-pecan-cheesecake-50400000117060/. I would definitely advise you to try this one out, especially if you are heading to any kind of a fall or Thanksgiving social gathering. It's fairly easy, quite lovely, and downright delicious.

In other news, that college application that I supposedly sent in two weeks ago isn't entirely submitted yet after all. There was a mix-up with one of my "family friend references" and the poor lady never received the reference to her email, so long story short, it's going to be a couple more weeks before I hear back from Appalachian Bible College. Yuck. I hate waiting! But hopefully it won't be too long...

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Jordan's fall break this weekend! Mom is heading up to Patrick Henry tomorrow to bring her home and she'll stay until Tuesday. Hooray!

~Hannah Grace