I know that most of you know this already, but for those who somehow have not heard: my brother-in-law, Daniel, had a mini stroke about two weeks ago. He's doing pretty good now, but he is still at risk for having a major stroke. They have found a good neurologist and are doing some tests, but prayers would be greatly appreciated.
The first neurologist they saw has recommended that Daniel not do any physical labor or be out in the sun very much for the next 3-6 months. Daniel would like a second opinion on that because of course that affects a lot of his ministry.
Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, but also especially for Daniel. At this point if he has a full stroke it would probably be catastrophic (as in, he would not be able to recover and would have to be cared for by someone else for the rest of his life).
His blood pressure was apparently fine for the last few months, but he has been in several accidents in the past where his head took a beating, so it could be that there is damage there from those things that are combining with his blood pressure issues to make him vulnerable to strokes.
Please pray for Priscilla and the children too as this is greatly affecting all of their lives too.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Market Days
Wow, I was just typing in the title for this blog and it immediately popped up with some of the other similar posts that I've done recently like: "To Market, To Market...", "Saturday Market" and "Marketing Mondays".
I have to say, "Marketing Mondays" have disappeared into the oblivion of preparation for the market days. We are now proudly selling at both the Saturday and the Wednesday markets here in Salem, OR (not to be confused with Salem, OH, or Salem, MA, or any of the other Salems in other states). And I'm kept pretty busy with all the prep work for it. Anya took some pictures this Wednesday, so hopefully I'll be able to grab those from her and post them soon.
This is actually the first week we will be at both markets. I was busy the last two Saturdays with family and church things, so (*sniff) missed those markets, but on the other hand, it was nice to have the chance to get a little acquainted with the Wednesday market without immediately having the pressure of doing both.
I definitely had an upsurge in energy this week, for which I am definitely grateful as it has helped me to pull through and get the things done that I needed to, as well as some of those tasks that have been hanging over my head for a while (there are still more of those, unfortunately!). I've also had a bit of a migraine for, well, going into my fourth day today. It seems to be mostly gone today, but at the same time, I can still feel it. Prayer would be appreciated.
Really, prayer would be appreciated for all of this endeavor. I'm really enjoying the baking work and the market days, even though they are completely busy and exhaustingly long (up at 3-4am and running till about 4pm at least, sometimes longer). I am continuously amazed that I have been able to do it so far. I'm a little cautious about being too optimistic. I know that coming into summer is my better time of year as far as energy goes, but I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched (that is the right way to say that isn't it? I have been having a lot of trouble with idioms lately). So definitely prayer for health. I do feel the toll it takes on my body to be so active all the time (and part of that toll is definitely that it is more difficult to eat properly when I am so wiped from doing all this other work, which makes my body unhappy). But I would also really just appreciate your prayers for wisdom in this. I just feel like God has His own plans for this all and His own ideas and I am just running to catch up. Things are going way better than I could possibly have expected, but I don't want to take that for granted. And I don't want to get so caught up in this that I can't hear Him if He tells me He wants me to do something else, or to go in this direction or that one. So, do please keep praying that I will be sensitive to Him and His Spirit's leading and that I will be obedient and honoring and glorifying to Him in all of this. I love baking, but whatever I do, I want to do it in a way that is honoring and glorifying to Him. I don't know how a bakery can be useful for the Kingdom of God, but God works in mysterious ways and I do believe this is the path He is leading me on, at least for now. So, forward! And to God be the glory!
I have to say, "Marketing Mondays" have disappeared into the oblivion of preparation for the market days. We are now proudly selling at both the Saturday and the Wednesday markets here in Salem, OR (not to be confused with Salem, OH, or Salem, MA, or any of the other Salems in other states). And I'm kept pretty busy with all the prep work for it. Anya took some pictures this Wednesday, so hopefully I'll be able to grab those from her and post them soon.
This is actually the first week we will be at both markets. I was busy the last two Saturdays with family and church things, so (*sniff) missed those markets, but on the other hand, it was nice to have the chance to get a little acquainted with the Wednesday market without immediately having the pressure of doing both.
I definitely had an upsurge in energy this week, for which I am definitely grateful as it has helped me to pull through and get the things done that I needed to, as well as some of those tasks that have been hanging over my head for a while (there are still more of those, unfortunately!). I've also had a bit of a migraine for, well, going into my fourth day today. It seems to be mostly gone today, but at the same time, I can still feel it. Prayer would be appreciated.
Really, prayer would be appreciated for all of this endeavor. I'm really enjoying the baking work and the market days, even though they are completely busy and exhaustingly long (up at 3-4am and running till about 4pm at least, sometimes longer). I am continuously amazed that I have been able to do it so far. I'm a little cautious about being too optimistic. I know that coming into summer is my better time of year as far as energy goes, but I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched (that is the right way to say that isn't it? I have been having a lot of trouble with idioms lately). So definitely prayer for health. I do feel the toll it takes on my body to be so active all the time (and part of that toll is definitely that it is more difficult to eat properly when I am so wiped from doing all this other work, which makes my body unhappy). But I would also really just appreciate your prayers for wisdom in this. I just feel like God has His own plans for this all and His own ideas and I am just running to catch up. Things are going way better than I could possibly have expected, but I don't want to take that for granted. And I don't want to get so caught up in this that I can't hear Him if He tells me He wants me to do something else, or to go in this direction or that one. So, do please keep praying that I will be sensitive to Him and His Spirit's leading and that I will be obedient and honoring and glorifying to Him in all of this. I love baking, but whatever I do, I want to do it in a way that is honoring and glorifying to Him. I don't know how a bakery can be useful for the Kingdom of God, but God works in mysterious ways and I do believe this is the path He is leading me on, at least for now. So, forward! And to God be the glory!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Grad Cake
So, my itsy, bitsy, baby brother graduated from college a week ago. He graduated cum laude with a double major in Computer Science and Psychology. You can see many, many pictures of this event on Anya's facebook page.
As it happened, a couple of his friends also graduated. They all have similar interests (primarily computers), so we had a little get together for them (hard to call it a party when you get a large group of introverts together) and I made a cake for them all. This is actually much more the cake that I wanted to make for Matt's birthday (well, not this fancy, but I did want to put a figure of him at a computer on his birthday cake, but wasn't able to pull it off), so I amped it up a little for his grad. I decided to mix the two primary common interests that they have: computers and D&D. Of course, I feel that there is a lot more that I could have added to the cake, but in the end I was pretty happy with it.
I started out with making and icing the cake. Then I made the computer keys. I've decided that computers need less keys and I think I will try to make that suggestion to developers for the future. Or maybe next time I'll just do an IPad. These are made of fondant (of course) and all personally shaped by me. It wasn't until I got to putting them on the cake that I realized that I had made every key, except the space bar. :|
The lid and screen were definitely a learning experience! I wanted to make a really thin screen. Most people use cardboard for this purpose. But, being me, I thought to myself, "Why do something simply in a way that is already proven to work, when you can give yourself for stress by choosing to do it the really difficult way?" So, I made my screen out of gumpaste and covered it in royal icing. It would have worked VERY well, I think, if I had been able to give it more time to dry. Too much humidity here, I guess.
As you can see, I made a Mac (ptooey, ptooey!). I just didn't feel like working with black fondant, and the idea of a black fondant covered cake was...less than appealing to me. So, I did my best to make a Macbook (ptooey! ptooey!). I even did the cute little apple for it and everything.
I would have liked to have spent a little more time on the screen, but I am not unhappy with it. This is the almost completed version. If you check with the completed cake you can play "spot the differences". I did learn that black food coloring makes a great grey initially, then turns purple overnight. Note to self: why the heck did you forget to use silver petal dust and tried to do that with black food coloring?! I also learned that I do not have a steady hand, so please don't look too closely at my painting and writing. In case you can't read the tiny writing, the google search bar reads "gaming jobs".
Here is the finished computer without the screen. This is the next generation of Macbook (ptooey, ptooey.): it has no ports on the sides and no cord. It is solar powered and completely bluetooth. Underneath you will notice the "Player's Handbook". That's the D&D part of the cake. I wanted to do a lot more with that, but don't really feel that I have the artistic abilities necessary.
The adorable! figurines came from my sister-in-law, Melissa. I conned her into making them, cause she is actually good at it and doesn't find it as horrifyingly stressful as I do (and just annoying and frustrating and *rolls eyes expressively). The blonde is Matthew, and then Abe is the one sitting down, and Craig is catching up on some sleep after finals (in the picture at the top of the post, it is L-R: Abe, Matthew, Craig). I think Melissa did a fabulous job and have decided to hire her for all future figurines! :D
Corban's colors are gold and dark blue, so I wanted to include that one the cake too. Hence the yellow and blue on the bottom layer. The side that we can't see says "Corban" and then you can just see part of the "2011" on this side.
The cake was a hit and I had tons of fun making it and am pretty happy with the end results myself.
And in case you are wondering: Yes, I am very proud of him.
As it happened, a couple of his friends also graduated. They all have similar interests (primarily computers), so we had a little get together for them (hard to call it a party when you get a large group of introverts together) and I made a cake for them all. This is actually much more the cake that I wanted to make for Matt's birthday (well, not this fancy, but I did want to put a figure of him at a computer on his birthday cake, but wasn't able to pull it off), so I amped it up a little for his grad. I decided to mix the two primary common interests that they have: computers and D&D. Of course, I feel that there is a lot more that I could have added to the cake, but in the end I was pretty happy with it.
I started out with making and icing the cake. Then I made the computer keys. I've decided that computers need less keys and I think I will try to make that suggestion to developers for the future. Or maybe next time I'll just do an IPad. These are made of fondant (of course) and all personally shaped by me. It wasn't until I got to putting them on the cake that I realized that I had made every key, except the space bar. :|
The lid and screen were definitely a learning experience! I wanted to make a really thin screen. Most people use cardboard for this purpose. But, being me, I thought to myself, "Why do something simply in a way that is already proven to work, when you can give yourself for stress by choosing to do it the really difficult way?" So, I made my screen out of gumpaste and covered it in royal icing. It would have worked VERY well, I think, if I had been able to give it more time to dry. Too much humidity here, I guess.
As you can see, I made a Mac (ptooey, ptooey!). I just didn't feel like working with black fondant, and the idea of a black fondant covered cake was...less than appealing to me. So, I did my best to make a Macbook (ptooey! ptooey!). I even did the cute little apple for it and everything.
I would have liked to have spent a little more time on the screen, but I am not unhappy with it. This is the almost completed version. If you check with the completed cake you can play "spot the differences". I did learn that black food coloring makes a great grey initially, then turns purple overnight. Note to self: why the heck did you forget to use silver petal dust and tried to do that with black food coloring?! I also learned that I do not have a steady hand, so please don't look too closely at my painting and writing. In case you can't read the tiny writing, the google search bar reads "gaming jobs".
Here is the finished computer without the screen. This is the next generation of Macbook (ptooey, ptooey.): it has no ports on the sides and no cord. It is solar powered and completely bluetooth. Underneath you will notice the "Player's Handbook". That's the D&D part of the cake. I wanted to do a lot more with that, but don't really feel that I have the artistic abilities necessary.
The adorable! figurines came from my sister-in-law, Melissa. I conned her into making them, cause she is actually good at it and doesn't find it as horrifyingly stressful as I do (and just annoying and frustrating and *rolls eyes expressively). The blonde is Matthew, and then Abe is the one sitting down, and Craig is catching up on some sleep after finals (in the picture at the top of the post, it is L-R: Abe, Matthew, Craig). I think Melissa did a fabulous job and have decided to hire her for all future figurines! :D
Corban's colors are gold and dark blue, so I wanted to include that one the cake too. Hence the yellow and blue on the bottom layer. The side that we can't see says "Corban" and then you can just see part of the "2011" on this side.The cake was a hit and I had tons of fun making it and am pretty happy with the end results myself.
And in case you are wondering: Yes, I am very proud of him.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
B-day Cake (and other) Pictures
Yeah!!! Blogger is finally up and working again! I tried to blog a couple of times several days ago and whatever google was doing it was "temporarily down for maintenance".So, here (finally) are a few pics of some of the cakes I've done recently.
I'll post the grad cake too, soon. Promise (looks innocent).
Ok, so these aren't just cake pictures. These are some tulips from the tulip fields nearby. Absolutely stunning and something I would love to go see again next spring!
And then, down here, we have some of the danishes that I've been making. Actually, I believe these were some of my experimental ones. In case you are wondering, yes, they are delicious. And no, I'm not set up to do shipping right now! :) More about the bakery in a later post (but there is lots to tell!).
These are my two birthday cakes. One I made for the family and the other for home group. They are filled with thin layers of cake and whipped cream or mousse layers on the inside. The one was primarily chocolate, the other had apricots in the filling and I personally preferred it a little more. 
They also both had meringue layers in the middle of them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)