Mother's Day Celebration: Reagan HS Teen Moms

Two other moms groups are joining us to put on a lunch for the teen moms & to celebrate them this Thursday at noon. We are providing a Mexican lunch of tamales, rice/beans, chips & queso, fruit, veggies and water. We are planning on feeding 35 people.

Our own Kelli took photos of the kids and the moms. The pictures will be presented as gifts to the teens.

What our mom's group is covering is the cost of the tamales and the cost of developing the pictures and either providing rice and beans or paying the tamale lady to make them.

There is no obligation to participate, but let Sara know if you want to help out and/or attend lunch. The cost of the tamales is going to be $100, and the cost of developing the photos will run about $50.

Bonus: if you want some authentic tamales, let Sara know. The woman from whom she has ordered the tamales makes them up in 20-dozen batches, and she prefers to sell them in that quantity. If you want a dozen or two, they are $10/dozen, and Sara can tack them on to her existing order.

Francis Chan videos

Ladies, here is the link to the media player on Cornerstone Simi Valley's website. This morning, we listened to Part 1 of a three-part series titled "Christ-Centered Relationships." These were originally given / recorded in the summer of 2008. If you couldn't join us this morning, perhaps you could check it out on your own. We'll listen to Part 2 next week.

I've listened to these sermons multiple times and enjoy them each time. I find them to be a good way to mentally pass the time when I'm washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. As it was mentioned this morning, Francis has a very conversational style that makes it easy to listen to him (and his wife, Lisa). You almost forget he's preaching the word of God to you - it's more like he's just talking to you. It's so natural. Enjoy!

Preparing Your Heart for Easter

I don't know about you, but I always get caught off guard by holidays - even ones I cherish and love to celebrate. (Thanksgiving is maybe the only exception.) I think my lack of structure, schedules and deadlines has exaggerated this. Easter is especially hard because it floats all over the calendar. Well, Easter is only about three weeks away, and if you had been thinking about doing something purposeful to prepare your heart for our remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection, Ronnie Smith posted a great link on the God, Gospel Mission blog at Stone. He points to Jesus, Keep me Near the Cross, a modern devotional that is available to read free online.

Enjoy and Be Enriched.

Zilker Park Kite Festival - UPDATE

The Zilker Park Kite Festival has been postponed until next Sunday, March 14th.

It will still be at Zilker Park (just across Lady Bird Lake from the Austin High School), and hopefully the weather will allow for a lovely day to enjoy the fresh air and the beauty of the sky filled with kites!

Sara's Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2-2/3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
3 cups and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Bread-IV/Detail.aspx

Sara's Modifications:
Change the servings to "24" instead of "36," and it makes one enormous 9x5 loaf. (The original recipe makes 3 9x5 loaves.)
Use 1/2 whole wheat flour and only 1 3/4c sugar (of which 1/2c is brown sugar).
Add an extra 1/2tsp cinnamon and 1/4c ground flaxseed.