Happy Birthday Nay Nay!!

Today my little Nathan turned 2! I can't believe it. His party isn't until later. I wanted to give myself extra time to plan his party after Addie was born. At the last minute I decided to bake him a cake. Well, originally I had planned to do it, and then I changed my mind, and then I changed my mind again. So today I went ahead and baked a homemade birthday cake! It wasn't nearly as involved as the German Chocolate Cake I talked about in my earlier blogs. This cake was level, unlike the GCC. However, it was a little dry. I had to bake it longer than it called for because I put the batter in a 8" pan instead of a 9" pan so it was much thicker. Oops! Anyway, despite the slight dryness, it was pretty tasty. It had the potential to be super delicious... Oh well. The icing is the best part, it's a fudge icing and really delicious. Nathan seemed to really enjoy it. He kept asking for birthday cake all through dinner. He's so big now! He talks so much and everyday is something new. He's such a caring and loving big brother too! Here are some pictures of him enjoying his cake!!

No Condemnation

John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

If you have asked Jesus into your life, confessed with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you are saved and free from condemnation.

John 3:18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

John 5:24
I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned;he has crossed over from death to life.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, a who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Weekly Word: Why Jesus?

Romans 5:6-8
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possible dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned- for before the law was given, sin was in the world.

Question: Because of sin there was a need for reconciliation between us and God.  The question is why did reconciliation have to be through Jesus? Why not another way?

Romans 5:18-19
Consequently, just as the result of ONE trespass was condemnation for ALL men, so also the result of ONE act of righteousness was justification that brings life for ALL men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:16
Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

Judgement of many followed one sin vs. the one gift followed many trespasses.

Answer: Adam brought death and sin
               Jesus brings life and righteousness

One man (Adam) brought sin into the world, in turn, one man (Jesus) needed to bring justification for  all.

Adam= mans condemnation

Christ= believers justification

To be justified one must be a believer...how?
Romans 10:10
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Romans 5:9
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Update

Last week I had set two goals for myself for the weekend. One was to start Addison's transition to her room and crib. The other was to make a GCC for my FIL.

Addison's transition is still a work in progress.  Friday night was ridiculous. The child seemed to hate being in her room even though I was right there with her. She wouldn't stay in her nap nanny like she had previously been doing and she fought sleeping even though I was laying right next to her. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.

Saturday night was not much better. She did stay in her nap nanny for a few hours this time but when she woke in the middle of the night she wouldn't go back in it, so of course she slept next to me.

Sunday night was a nightmare. She was colicky so that made for a bad night. She finally fell asleep close to midnight and sleep for several hours in her nap nanny on the floor next to the air mattress. So I guess there was some progress.

Monday night was great. However, she did receive her immunizations that day so she was sleepy. She did sleep in her crib in the nap nanny all night! Waking only one time for a feed around 3:30 (her usual feed time during the night).

To sum it up, I still have a lot of work ahead of me. But hopefully soon she will be sleeping in her bed with no problem.

Okay now to talk about the German Chocolate Cake! I used a recipe I found on the internet http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/09/german-chocolat-1/ . It doesn't look like the picture I originally posted because it was a different recipe. The process took almost 5 hours! I didn't realize how many steps were involved with a GCC.  There is the cake, the syrup, custard filling, then toasting the coconut and pecans, then the icing! Finally after all that I was able to put it together. It was a little lop-sided because I didn't level off the layers like I should have ( there were 4 layers).  I was happy with the end product, after all it was my first attempt at a home-made cake. Of course I took good angles when taking the picture so you can't tell how VERY lop-sided it actually was! 

Why? Why?....Why? Why?....

Disclaimer: I rambled a lot in this blog.

I can't believe how big my little Nathan is getting! He's not a baby anymore! He's growing so fast. He just turned 23 months and already he has started with the incessant why's. Why this and why that. As probably ever parent knows giving an answer to the why does not put and end to the question but then starts a chain reaction of why. It's so cute but it does get tiresome.
Another topic I wanted to blog about is "Nathan language". He can say so many words. Everyday is a new word and now short sentences. But he has also created he own language. We try not to " baby talk" to Nathan. A cup is a cup a blanket is a blanket, etc. But some how he has managed to make up words out of thin air. Some are similar to the actual word but others are completely different. Here is an example of some of the "funny" words he says:
Blanket=Guk
Cup= bup
Football= flala
Nana= lello
Banana= lello
Pacifier= Dup
Grandma= Gee
Airplane= aero
Water= Bubbles
Balloon=buff

That's all I can think of now......
Random things are called "pow"
Since he was 9 months he would say this or that about everything but he hasn't said "that" in awhile. He does still say "this" all the time. I guess "pow" took the place of "that".

By the time he was 15 months I remember counting about 40-45 words he could say where I could understand him. I wish I would have written down everything he was saying and when but I didn't... Oh well. I did record all of his first such as when he rolled over, smiled, etc. I'm trying to recall everything I can since I wasn't blogging during his first year.
Addison will have a better record of her first words because I plan on blogging about them!

GCC For My FIL

My FIL (Father-in-Law) requested that I make a German chocolate cake (GCC) since I like to bake. Well, that was a few months ago! I've decided to give it a try. I have no idea how to make one, I don't even think I've eaten one before so this should be interesting. I am currently searching for a beginner level GCC recipe. If anyone has a good recipe PLEASE let me know!!!! I plan on making it this weekend. I also want to attempt to bake a "real" cake with buttercream icing and all. I will be researching how to do that as well. I'll post an update with pictures once all is done. My goal is for my cake to look like the one above!!

Weekly Word: Even the demons.......

James 2:19  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder.

     This verse says a lot. It says just because you are aware of God and believe He exists doesn't mean you are saved. The demons surely aren't saved yet they believe. This verse is also saying that demons exist, which in turn must mean hell and the devil exist.  If there is such things as demons, hell and the devil then most humans would agree that they need to be saved from such things. What does it mean to be saved? Well if you look in the dictionary it says the following: to rescue from danger or harm, injury or loss, keep safe or unhurt. Keep from being lost. For a person to be saved from being eternally separated from God in hell the Bible tells us to do the following:  Confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9
So simple yet so many are lost.

What does it mean to believe? To have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:10

Justified: a reason, fact, circumstance, or explanation that defends.
Justification by faith: the act of God whereby humankind is made or accounted just or FREE from guilt or penalty of sin.
Faith is believing without seeing.

The Bible says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Romans 10:13... for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

My favorite part of James 2:19........even the demons believe that- and SHUDDER!  If even the demons fear God shouldn't we fear him too? If we reject His one and only son, Jesus, where does that leave us? With out the saving blood of Jesus our eternity is as grim as the demons who shudder over the thought of Jesus. God loves us, he wants to save us, but he offers free will and will not force salvation on anyone. God gives us an "out" from eternal condemnation....and that "out" is Jesus.

Until next time!!!

Elysha