Run For Clean Water

The mission of Water is Basic is to empower the local leadership of Southern Sudan to bring the gift of clean water to their own people. Decades of war, poor land management and the current drought have left the people of Sudan facing a desperate water shortage. Over 70 percent of the population has no access to safe water, and only 18 percent have a toilet.

I'll be there - if your in Dallas or will be in the area on October 10, 2009, plan to participate in some fashion... make a difference in Sudan from Dallas, Texas! If your not able to join the fun on October 10, you can contribute directly to the cause. Every dollar given goes to purchasing the equipment needed for the Sudanese to drill wells that supply clean drinking water.


WHAT: Basic 5k+10k race, plus a 1 mile fun run for kids/families
WHEN: 8:00 am on Saturday, October 10, 2009
WHERE: T.W Richardson Grove Park, along the Campion Trail in Las Colinas

Registration
Registration Closing Date Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:00 PM

Fee Structure
$25.00 Until October 5, 2009
$30.00 During packet pick up at Luke’s Locker
$35.00 on Race day
$10.00 For Children (Under 12)
Dri-Fit shirts for the first 800 participants at packet pickup.


Volunteer to Help
An event of this nature requires the willingness of others to contribute their time as volunteers. If you are willing to help prior to the event or on the day of the event, please contact Steven at 972-443-3311 or email info@waterisbasic.org

Sponsor Information
Want to become a sponsor for the Basic 5k/10k?
All proceeds go to benefit Water is Basic.

Contributing Partner/Sponsor ($500)
Website listing
Goody Bag Availability
Selective Media Exposure
Event Sponsor ($1,000)
All inclusions as Contributing Sponsor, plus:

Event Poster Listing
Outerwear Listing
Selected Booth Location at Event
Prime Media Exposure
Title Sponsor ($15,000)
All inclusions as Event Sponsor, plus:

Exclusive Naming Rights of Event
Premier Media Listing and Exposure
Premier Booth Location at Event
Signage at Post Race Event

"Go Green" Wedding Cake

This is the wedding cake I made for D and M's big day. Enough for 200 guests. Tiers of white wedding cake and spice cake were alternated for this wonderful creation. Wedding cake photograph credits go to J. Todd Photography in the Kansas City area.

While loading the cake for transportation to the reception site to two tiers were bumped... but never fear a wise wedding cake artist always has her tool kit packed. So on the way to the reception site my friend S and I were stopped by a train. On your son's wedding day a mother should always make good use of time...S popped the hatch and the repair was under way!

Wedding Cakes and Gingerbread

Happy New Year! I hope your 2009 is off to a wonderful beginning - Last week I was in KC for D's best friend's wedding. Below is the wedding cake and groom's cake I created for the big day! I must admit I have never been to a wedding where my cake was served and completely devoured... it was an amazing sight. The wedding cake consisted of three tiers of fun-fetti and two tiers of chocolate with rasphberry filling.

My favorite carrot cake recipe (with currants and walnuts) was baked for the groom's cake...

Gingerbread making with the M family has become a tradition in our family. Here is the this year's village. The M kids came up with the idea that our village this year was going to have a house and treehouse for the M family, D and M's house, and Ms. A's bakery - The Marrying Cake... this day of baking and creating was truly the highlight of our holidays!

This is the inside of the bakery... we came up with the wonderful desserts ourselves!

Coming Back

Daily I receive a devotional in my email from Ransomed Heart Ministries. Tonite I was perusing through devotionals past. Though this writing came earlier in the year, I am reminded in this season of the "Great Shopping Conspiracy" to connect with God - it's vital for my life! Ransomed Heart is a great ministry - my dear friend S and I attended two of the Captivating women's retreats in Colorado. Both of the retreats impacted me in very specific ways. The book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge is wonderful. To date - I've given all my copies away! May you be encouraged and reminded...
Do Whatever Brings You Back to Your Heart and the Heart of God
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Against the flesh, the traitor within, a warrior uses discipline. We have a two-dimensional version of this now, which we call a “quiet time.” But most men have a hard time sustaining any sort of devotional life because it has no vital connection to recovering and protecting their strength; it feels about as important as flossing. But if you saw your life as a great battle and you knew you needed time with God for your very survival, you would do it. Maybe not perfectly—nobody ever does and that’s not the point anyway—but you would have a reason to seek him. We give a halfhearted attempt at the spiritual disciplines when the only reason we have is that we “ought” to. But we’ll find a way to make it work when we are convinced we’re history if we don’t.

Time with God each day is not about academic study or getting through a certain amount of Scripture or any of that. It’s about connecting with God. We’ve got to keep those lines of communication open, so use whatever helps. Sometimes I’ll listen to music; other times I’ll read Scripture or a passage from a book; often I will journal; maybe I’ll go for a run; then there are days when all I need is silence and solitude and the rising sun. The point is simply to do whatever brings me back to my heart and the heart of God.

The discipline, by the way, is never the point. The whole point of a “devotional life” is connecting with God. This is our primary antidote to the counterfeits the world holds out to us.
(Wild at Heart , 171–72)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To subscribe to this devotional, create a profile at http://www.ransomedheart.com/
See also the Ransomed Heart Podcast at www.ransomedheart.com/podcast

A's notes: Some of the ways I enjoy connecting with God are through creating, baking, listening to music, running, an outing at the park swinging as high as I can in the air, and enjoying the company of those dearest to my heart. On occassion HE will surprise me by showing up in unexpected places - I love surprises! What are some of the ways you connect with God?

Catching Up!

My apologies - it's been a while since a post to The Marrying Cake blog. For those of you who don't know I'm working on completing my undergraduate degree. This semester I will have finished an additional 16 hours toward my degree in Business while working full-time and doing life.

Thanksgiving was spent in Kansas City with D, D, and M. We had a joyous time! On Thanksgiving morning we ran a 5K in Lawrence, Kansas. It was so much fun to run the race as a family. Maybe it will be a yearly tradition? This was also the first Thanksgiving with D and M married, in the photograph below the newlyweds are folding napkins for T-day dinner!

At dusk we headed down to the Country Club Plaza for the yearly lighting ceremony.

Sharing "GOOP"

Recently I ran across a blog/newsletter entitled GOOP authored by Gwyneth Paltrow. Sharing with you as you may enjoy the recipes offered through GOOP. The recipes are very healthy! I've also enjoyed the fashion writings and agree that fashion can be the fun frivolity that can really cheer a girl up (when used in moderation with her budget)! Previously posted was a Turkey Ragu recipe and it was simply delicious! Some of GOOP's postings contain a spiritual element and I feel it necessary to preface that my spiritual beliefs are Christian. My next creative dish may just be...

CARAMELIZED BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN

I'll post at a later date how the dish turned out!

I (Gwyneth) recently found this recipe in Food & Wine magazine. It’s from Charles Phan, who runs the great Vietnamese restaurant, Slanted Door, in San Francisco. When I make it, I use a little less sugar, a lot more cilantro and organic chicken breasts (I prefer the texture of white meat in this preparation). This literally takes minutes, is so easy and tastes like what you always imagine take-out will taste like (but sadly never does). Serve this with jasmine or brown rice and stir-fried or steamed vegetables.
SERVES: 4 generously TIME: 10 minutes
2/3 cup dark brown sugar (unrefined)
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons finely grated garlic
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper
1 or 2 fresh Thai chilis (to your taste!), halved
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 pounds organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (1/2”)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, vinegar, water, garlic, ginger, pepper and chili and reserve.In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and cook the shallots until softened and a bit brown, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken and stir-fry, browning it all over, about a minute. Add the sugar mixture and simmer over high heat until the chicken is totally cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Sweet Times... Sweet Treats

This past weekend I visited my son and his new bride in Kansas City. I confess Kansas is my FAVORITE place to be in the fall. Crisp air, beautiful colors, nature adorned in her most glorious foilage! Most of all I enjoyed the smiling faces this mother was able to gaze upon. Should you travel to the Kansas City area, I highly recommend SPIN Neaoplitan Pizza the kids favorite!! The only request D had from Mama was popcorn balls. I shared the recipe with my precious sweet daughter in law! Though M has been in our family and lives for a few years, I've been praying for her many years. Papa heard my prayers and answered.
Enjoy the recipe for Popcorn Balls ... to date my last batch was the best I've ever made!
8 cups popped pop corn
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Keep popped popcorn warm in 200F oven while preparing syrup. In 2-quart saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup, water, butter and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking without stirring until temperature reaches 270F on a candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into very cold water separates into threads, which are hard but not brittle. Remove from heat. Add vanilla; stir just enough to mix through hot syrup. Slowly pour over popcorn, stirring to coat every kernel. Cool just enough to handle. Shape into balls, using buttered hands. Cool on foil or buttered wax paper. Wrap in plastic wrap; tie with a ribbon. Yield: 12 medium popcorn balls