Starbucks!

by Jessica

Well, my mom and I made one of our semi-frequent trips to Starbucks today! She got her traditional Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino and I got my Java Chip Frappuccino. Delicious!!! There is absolutely nothing better on a hot day than a cold, chocolaty, coffee beverage! Or any day for that matter. My mom likes her frappuccinos on the thick side, but I like mine perfectly smooth - that way nothing gets stuck in the straw! ;)

But anyway, I just wanted to leave this blog post to see what your favorite Starbucks beverage is! Mine is a Marble Mocha Frappuccinno - but you have to find the right employee that still knows how to make them (they're not on the menu anymore). So go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom of this post and let me know what you like best from Starbucks!

(P.S. If you click on the little link at the bottom of this post that says "comments" a little window will pop up that lets you leave me a comment. Thanks!)

Fun Cards

by Jessica

One thing that I really enjoy doing is card-making. I hadn't done any for a while, but just recently I've gotten back into it - and it's lots of fun. I thought I would just post a couple of the cards I've been working on. The picture above is a card that I gave to Jason on the evening we surprised him at his group's last service. I'm also a big lover of coffee and anything "cafe" so I wanted to try something in that theme. I cut out every individual brick and glued it on - it took a while, but the end result was worth it! In case the picture is too blurry, the window says "Words cannot 'espress'o..."


And here is the inside! I also, made a little plant that sits on the display case on the right, but I gave the card to Jason before I got a chance to take another picture of it. This card was really fun to make! I also made another card (below) for a girl in our church, Victoria, who just turned seven! She really likes penguins (and even got a cute Webkins penguin for her birthday) so I chose that as my theme. The lighting in the picture is really bad. The colors are hot pink and a bright blue. The front says "It's your birthday... ...have two scoops!"

Surprise!

by Jessica

Last night was officially Jason's last night of this years summer tour for Hyles- Anderson College! This "grand finale" service was held at Calvary Baptist Church in Platteville, Wisconsin. And what a grand finale it was! My family had the opportunity to go up to hear it - the best part was that Jason didn't know we were coming! It was a complete surprise. Since it only took us about an hour and a half to get there, we were able to make the drive. It was so worth it!

The group of guys had gone out to eat at Culvers with Pastor Barna and his family, and we just "happened" to swing on by. We walked into the restaurant and went up to the counter to order. Bro. Collins came over to the counter to tell us that Jason still had no idea we were there and that we should sit at the table behind him to see how long it would take him to notice. We ordered some pops and sat down at the table right behind Jason's chair! He had no idea! ...And would have continued to have no idea if Josh hadn't said "Hey, we know those people!" Hehe! He spoiled our surprise - but, to his credit, he didn't know. Even though Joel (in pic on left) was going "Shhh..." the whole time we were walking over.

Needless to say, Jason was so surprised! It was great. And the service was amazing. The guys sang almost their entire repertoire, and every song was perfect - at least the audience thought so. The guys also learned a new song this past week called 'I Have Been Blessed.' It was the finale of Bro. Collins' sermon, and it is probably one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. It was written by a teenage girl and is just gorgeous. But anyway, it was a great service and we had a lot of fun! Jason loved the surprise!

Youth Conference Review

by Jason

I can't believe that its all over already. Unbelievable. The event we all look forward to all year long, and especially all summer long, is all over already. And now we have to wait another whole year till the next one! It seemed like it would never come and when it did it was better than expected. But it was just over way to fast! But like Jessica said, it was pretty amazing. Youth Conference is the highlight of the summer, for a tour member, and for me it was no different. All the guys in my group were looking forward to getting back and seeing family and friends and, of course, our girlfriends! It was not a relaxing time however, as we were always on the go to be somewhere to sing or try to get apps. So we were quite busy all the time. But the times when we weren't doing anything, I got to spend time with Jessica. And that was great! But Youth Conference really was great. Every sermon, skit, song, and everything else in between was incredible. Being able to sing and be a part of the services was a privilege that I have always looked forward to. Bro Schaap's message on Friday was the climax and best part of the whole conference. The invitation was absolutely amazing as so many young men came to surrender to full time service, as many others who already had surrendered came to the altar to pray. What an amazing week as God worked in a great way! Now tour is almost over and the rest of the summer is in sight! YAY!

X-Treme Makeover... Sorta

by Jessica

As you can see, I've kinda been in the designing mood lately. I put up a new header and re-did some of the buttons on the side. I downloaded some new brushes online for my Photoshop CS3, and I've been having lots of fun with them! I'm really into the whole Vintage/Paris look, but I didn't want to give to sight too much of a "girlish" look. Didn't figure Jason would appreciate that too much. ;) So when I first set up the blog I tried to use lots of blues and browns, adding a little bit of girliness with the swirls and hearts.

But anyway, I thought I would take a whack at redesigning the header, so I gave it a go. I think I like what I came up with! Feel free to let me know what you think!

By the way... it's only a little over a week until I get to see Jason again!!! Yay!!!!! We leave with his family on our adventure to New York next Sunday, August 3rd. I am so excited! I'll be getting to spend a whole 10 days with Jason and his family visiting his hometown of Elmira. I just hope they don't get tired of me... hehe. We're planning on keeping up our posts whenever we can while we're on our trip so that you can all see photos and everything we're up to!

All Over

by Jessica

Well, sadly enough, Youth Conference is already over! I can't believe it went by so quickly! It seemed like we had just gotten there when it came to an end. But we did have a lot of fun, and best of all I got to spend time with Jason!! It was a blast. I got to hear his group sing a few times and each time they were excellent. They are definitely my favorite group! Jason, of course, played every song perfectly, and although we couldn't really see him behind the piano, I took a few pictures of the piano and the very top of his head! Hehe!

All of the preaching was amazing! Dr. Jack Schaap is such a wise man, and so are all of the other great men that he chose to come speak! Jason and I, along with my family, had a lot of fun. The food at Cracker Barrel was delicious. I don't think we'll ever get tired of it! All in all, it was a really great week!

Thrill Seekers

by Jason

After a great summer on tour in the Midwest with the Hylander Singing Men, we ended the summer in the Cincinnati, Ohio area for our last weekend. And being the thrill seekers we are, we decided to head off to King's Island, an amusement park in the area. We arrived there as soon as the gates opened and immediately headed to the first roller coaster we could find and got on it. Being as it was still early in the day, we didn't have to wait very long. As the day wore on, the
waits became longer.

This is us and our hero: Tommy Pickles!

We even waited up to 1 1/2 hours for a roller coaster! But we had alot of fun! We rode almost all of the roller coasters and fortunately none of us got sick! There were several wooden roller coasters, including the world's longest roller coaster, The Beast, and The Son of the Beast. Also, we rode the Vortex, a metal roller coaster with the world's record for inversions with 6. We spent almost 10 hours in the park and by the time the day was over, we were ready to go and go to bed! But all in all it was an amazingly fun day!

This is the Vertico and Matt after riding it!

Sack Lunch Surprise!

by Jessica

Alright, seeing as how Youth Conference is coming up in two days (Yay!!!) I thought I might do a blog post about sack lunches for the journey over to Indiana. I know that whenever my church goes to First Baptist Church of Hammond's Youth Conference, everyone is told to bring a sack lunch for the afternoon. This tends to be chaotic. There are usually two or three coolers all jam-packed with grocery sacks and paper bags so that everyone's food gets mushed and crammed together unless it's packed smartly. Then comes the unloading and the scrambling back and forth between coolers trying to find the brown paper bag that has your name on it in permanent marker! Below are a few tips and ideas for creating a neat, yet delicious sack lunch that's easy to find.

1. Do not use regular bread for sandwiches, instead spice it up with using something like bagels, English muffins, croissants, and hamburger buns!
• If you use a tougher bread like a bagel for your sandwich, it won't get smashed or mushed by something heaver in the cooler like regular bread.
2. Use tin foil instead of plastic wrap to wrap your foods - it's a little tougher than plastic wrap and won't stretch or rip as easily.
3. Try putting main dishes like soups, pasta or casseroles in a thermos. If you want to have a salad or something else delicate, small Tupperware makes for great containers. Buy in assorted sizes for salads and such, a medium sized one for vegetables, granola, or cut up fruit, and small ones for dressing, croûtons, nuts or any thing else you can think of.
• Don't use too many or too big (Tupperware) - they won't fit in the cooler!
• Make sure any containers with liquid inside them are tightly sealed, otherwise you could have an unpleasant mess waiting for you at lunch!
4. Put bright stickers or labels on paper bags to draw your attention when you're looking for your bag. Even use a small lunch bag that you'd purchase from a store - these are unique and easy to spot in the cooler. (Make sure you keep it SMALL though! Find a simple bag without a lot of outside pockets or sleeves or people will hate you for taking up so much space ;) !)
5. Here are a couple of food ideas to pack:
• Lunchables - though not really healthy, these are a favorite and are easy to pack in the cooler and find later.
• Fresh fruit
• Mini applesauce cups
• Mini fruit cups
• Squeeze Yogurt - these are yummy and don't take up a lot of space
• Pretzels or Popcorn
• String cheese
• Granola Bars
• Vegetables with dip
• Trail mix
6. Pack a "to go" cereal and a thermos of milk with berries for something different.
7. Pack small drinks, like juice boxes or Capri sun juice packets, that won't take up a lot of room in the cooler and will fit into your lunch bag so they don't get lost.
8. Pack food that you can finish eating before it's time to get back on the bus, because there is no food allowed on the motor coach. (In other words, you can't take it with you!)
   
9. Pack something that you like to eat and WILL eat so that you won't be going hungry on the rest of the trip. Enjoy!

Anyway, those are just a few tips that I hope are a little helpful! Here is a website with some lunch recipes and ideas. I know it says they're for kids, but they look pretty yummy to me! So lets all have an amazing time at Youth Conference starting Wednesday and try to keep a hassle free lunch time! Enjoy!

Youth Conference Reminiscence

by Jason & Jessica

Since Youth Conference is only a week away, we thought we'd take some time to share some of our favorite memories, themes, sermons, and any other thing we can think of about the Youth Conferences we've been to in the past. My favorite theme for a Youth Conference was definitely the last year I went as a teen in high school. It was '06 and the theme was RESOLVED:I WILL STAND. Dr. Schaap had set a goal the year before to have 10,000 teens at that Youth Conference, and that year I was part of 10,119 teens to attend the 3 days in Hammond. The theme of RESOLVED:I WILL STAND also hit very close to home with me as this was the first year that our youth group was there with one mind and one purpose and one goal: to stand for Christ. For too long, I'd felt like I was the only one who would stand, or who wanted to stand. But that Youth Conference confirmed to me that I wasn't the only one. What a joy to me as God showed me the multitudes of young people still standing for Him. That year I also had the privilege of singing in a combined choir on Friday afternoon on the platform which was incredible. What an honor and a privilege. Now that I've given you my memories, here is Jessica with hers...

Jessica here to add my little blurb, and I have to add that I sang in that very same combined choir and had no idea who Jason was at the time! Crazy, huh? Actually, if you look in some of the pictures from that year of Youth Conference, you can see Jason in the choir one side of the platform, and me on the other. Who would have thought that we were both on that same platform and had no idea who the other was! Also, this is even crazier, Dr. Young had his prayer challenge throughout the year before that, so when everyone came to Youth Conference, everyone who'd completed the challenge got to go to a special banquet/meal. Joel and I both went and when we sat down at our table, guess who was sitting across from us! Yep, Jason and his sister! They sat right across from us the whole meal and we chatted and joked, but when we got up and left, no one gave a second thought about it. God is so amazing to have me sitting right across from Jason like that, and I didn't even know who he was. What funny memories!

"Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens..."

by Jason & Jessica

"...bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
Silver white winters that melt into spring,
These are a few of my favorite things."

Tonight we've decided to compile a list of our favorite things, just for the fun of it!

Jason
stewarts orange cream soda :pop
sweet tea :beverage
anything :food
ranch doritos :chips
southern :food style
arbys :fast food restaurant
abuelos (mexican) :sit down restaurant
navy blue :color
fall :season
baseball :sport
pittsburg steelers :football team
yankees :baseball team
dr. jack schaap :preacher
gettysburg :movie
a fresh anointing :book
peanut butter twix :candy bar
dog :animal
1 timothy :book of the Bible
cookie dough :ice cream
they're all good! :cookie
give me black! :coffee
cookies 'n' cream :cappuccino
multi-grain bread with mayonnaise, chicken, ranch, salt, pepper, cheese :sandwich

Jessica
pop: pepsi/coke
beverage: anything coffee
food: grande soft taco
chips: sour cream & cheddar ruffles
food style: mexican
fast food restaurant: taco bell
sit down restaurant: cracker barrel
color: blue & brown combo
season: spring
sport: baseball
football team: patriots
baseball team: yankees (yeah, I've been swayed)
preacher: dr. ron morrow (my preacher!)
movie: pride and prejudice
book: dating with a purpose
candy bar: reeses
animal: penguin
book of the Bible: psalms or acts
ice cream: oreo
cookie: chocolate chip
coffee: with cream and sugar
cappuccino: white chocolate raspberry
sandwich: turkey, mayo, lettuce, and cheese (...on bread)

These are a few of our favorite things! :)

Way Up Top

by Jason

This Saturday and Sunday morning we were in Minster, Ohio, at Calvary Chapel Baptist Church pastored by Greg Ewing. We were able to spend time with Pastor Ewing and his family Saturday evening for dinner, but the story of the weekend was the place where we stayed the night. We spent the night on a dairy farm owned by the Hitchen family. It was still fully functional, with about 70 to 100 milk cows. The Hitchens are both retired so their son and daughter-in-law, who live next door, work the farm for them. They milk almost all the cows twice a day, eight at a time using an electric milker. The farm was quite an amazing place. But the most extreme part of our stay their was when we all decided to climb to the top of a 90 foot concrete silo on the property. You know, the kind with the metal rungs all the way up the outside and the metal cage most of the way up. Its pretty freaky going up. You have to keep telling yourself not to look down or to the side, go slowly, and one foot and hand at a time! We all made it to the top and survived the climb and the climb down too. We're pretty stupid though. The tour handbook will get so many new rules of what tour members cannot do after our summer!

Celebrating the 4th

by Jason

We purposely scheduled the 4th of July as an off day so that we could take some time to relax and recover after a week of tour and celebrate our great nation's independence. The Hylander Singing Men are unique from all other tour groups in that we travel with a special Patriotic program of video, narration, and song. This is the third year that we have been doing the program. We have taken upon ourselves to stir up the fires of patriotism across our land. But today, our minds were far away from any service or church. After going out on the lake in Hot Springs, we decided to do it again. Since we were going to be in Ohio and we had an off day, we called ahead and reserved a boat on Pleasant Lake in Perrysville, Ohio.

Josh is trying water skis. TRYING mind you!!!!!!! Pleasant Hill Lake as the sun tries to peak through.

We spent about 4 hours on the lake and enjoyed our time. It was overcast when we arrived but it eventually cleared up and the sun came out for a very awesome afternoon. We tried out another tube and then we even tried out a knee board and water skis! Bro. Collins even rode the waves! But being from Florida he's already pretty good at it. Those were really hard though! But we had another great time on the lake! Now its on for one more week and then Youth Conference! And I get to see my girlfriend! Although this has nothing to do with the blog, I want everyone to know that I miss her very much and I love her even more!

4th of July!

by Jessica

Tonight we had a 4th of July picnic at my church, Gospel Light Baptist Church. This is something we do every year and it's always lots of fun! Every family brings their own meat and dessert, while the church provides grills and side dishes for everyone. They set up lots of tables and chairs and have a picnic on the grounds. There are also free golf cart rides (but no golf). This is something that the kids really enjoy! There are wagon rides, games of horseshoe, baseball, and volleyball. It's a lot of fun every year!



This year my dad brought two vehicles to give rides on called Pugs. The kids really enjoy these because there are more seats than there are on a regular golf cart. One also has a bucket in the back so you can pile 'em in.



My brother, Joel, was excited because this year he got to drive one of the Pugs around all evening!



By the end of the evening when everything was winding down, a man in our church launched rockets in the back. Everyone sat on the hill along the back of the building and watched the rockets shoot up into the air, then deploy a little parachute and float back down while all the kids chased it. They all wanted to be the one to catch it when it came down.



All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening! The weather was picture perfect - there was even a breeze to keep the sun from getting to hot! We can thank our Pastor and his wife along with a group of ladies called the Social Committee for putting on such a fun time! The food was delicious, too! Thanks everyone!

Patriotic Dining

by Jessica

Seeing as how tomorrow is the 4th of July, I thought I would post a few patriotic looking desserts! Enjoy!

Stars and Stripes Cake

Prep Time:10 min

Start to Finish:2 hr

Makes:12 servings

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
(Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box)
1 container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy or Whipped vanilla frosting
1/3 cup fresh blueberries
1 pint fresh strawberries

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make and cool cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan.
2. Frost with frosting. Arrange berries on frosted cake to make flag design. Serve immediately.
__________________________________________________

Brownie 'n' Berries Dessert Pizza

Prep Time:20 min

Start to Finish:2 hr 50 min

Makes:16 servings

1 box (1 lb 6.5 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix
(Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on brownie mix box)
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup apple jelly

1. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray or shortening.
2. In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, pouch of chocolate syrup, water, oil and eggs until well blended. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 28 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean or almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over brownie base. Arrange berries over cream cheese mixture. Stir jelly until smooth; brush over berries. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until chilled. Cut into wedges. Store covered in refrigerator.

Pickin' Berries

by Jessica

This picture, along with the one over on the side, was provided by Joel,
who so graciously climbed back in the berry patch to get it!

Recently while Joel (my brother) was outside, he found an old berry patch that has grown enormously since we first found it. It runs all along the fence line behind our house and is just full of ripening berries! Joel's been out a lot lately in the afternoons picking the berries that are already ripe. I went out with him yesterday and snapped a few pictures.

Belle just wanted to play football.

Once Joel collects enough berries, mom's going to make a raspberry pie. My aunt, Barb, makes an amazing berry pie every year for Christmas. It's so delicious that my mom emailed her for the recipe so that she can make it. I put the recipe on here if you want to try it for yourself - it really is delicious!!! Enjoy!

Put 1 quart of berries in a bowl and stir 1/2 cup of sugar in them. Set aside while making the pie crust.

Barb's 2-Crust Pie Crust Recipe:
3/4 Cup Crisco
2 1/4 Cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup + 3 teaspoons water

Sift flour and salt into bowl - take out 1/3 cup flour. Cut crisco into remaining flour and salt.
Mix 1/4 cup + 3 teaspoons water with the 1/3 cup flour to form a paste. Add flour paste to crisco mixture.
Devide in half and roll out crusts.

Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 2 heaping tablespoons of flour. Stir into berries and then pour into crust.
Dab the top crust with milk and sprinke sugar on it before baking.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees then poke holes in the top crust and bake an additional 15 minutes.