Black Forest Cheesecake...Easy!

This cheesecake is an extremely easy one to make! It's a Taste of Home recipe that doesn't require baking and doesn't have to be refrigerated over night. This is a great dessert for those dinners that you want something yummy and presentable, but don't have the energy to spend a lot of time on.

Ingredients

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 chocolate crumb crust (8 inches)

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Fold in whipped topping. Spread half of the mixture evenly into crust. Fold cocoa and confectioner's sugar into remaining whipped topping mixture; carefully spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Cut into slices; top each slice with cherry pie filling. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

My Alterations...

Because my family members aren't keen on cherries, we substitute strawberry pie filling for the cherry. I've also put miniature chocolate chips inside the chocolate layer; in our household you can't get too much chocolate.

Enjoy!

Satisfied In Christ

Over the last month or so the Lord's been pressing on my heart three different lessons that I'm learning to apply. It has seemed as if every sermon, conversation, devotion, and prayer has drawn my attention back to these three important truths...

1) Continually seek the Lord and His presence (2 Chronicles 16:11),

2) Find your satisfaction in Christ alone (Psalm 17:15,"God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him" -John Piper)

3) Strive to glorify God in your thoughts, motives, actions, and words (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The Lord has brought the above quote by John Piper to my mind many times over the last month. There's so much joy in grasping the wisdom in this truth. My fulfilment and satisfaction isn't found in friendships, physical perfection, marriage, successful endeavors, etc... but my soul is satisfied only when I am looking to Christ and drinking from the fountain of life!

I'd encourage you to listen to this sermon by Voddie Baucham: Gospel Healing for Hurting Marriages. Don't let the title fool you, it's applicable for everyone; whether you're married or not. I've listened to it four times now and still haven't completely grasped the deep truths he covers. It's wonderful!

Praise God for His mercy and love towards His children! May we find our satisfaction in Him and desire to glorify Him in all that we do.

The Busy Month of June...in Pictures

Since the month of June was so busy, I wasn't able to do much blogging. In fact, I don't know that I did any blogging!
So, here are some of the events from the month of June that I've been meaning to post...

Graduation Celebration

The three graduates from our church: Hannah, Bethany, and Kristin. We celebrated their completion of formal schooling with a church picnic...

Kara (Heather's sister-in-law), Hannah (my younger sister), Heather (my older sister), and Christie (my oldest sister)

Heather, Christie, and Myself

It's always a good idea to keep a SWAT on duty

Playing Speed Volleyball

The graduates

Our Weekend at the Lake

For a few weeks my family had enthusiastically planned a weekend camping trip for June. We prepared everything for camping. We were all looking forward to evening campfires, roasting marshmallows, sleeping under the stars (well, if you could consider sleeping in a tent "under the stars"). Needless to say, we were excited. But in all the excitement we forgot one important detail: reserving a campsite. To make a long story short, we resorted to staying in my grandparent's lake house not far from the water. Even though there were a lot of setbacks, it turned out to be a weekend of memories and fun!

Starting the morning with a yummy breakfast

First setback of the day: the pontoon boat wouldn't start.

While dad and Matt were working to get the boat started, Hannah accidentally dropped my lens cap in the water. They worked hard to find it, but in the end dad retrieved it and was rewarded with French toast.

Finally on our way! We only had one more major setback... after driving out pretty far to a secluded waterfall, the boat decided it had had enough and wouldn't crank. The engine was stubborn just long enough to give us all a scare that we would be stranded in our little cove; praise the Lord it started back after a while!

Esther enjoying the water

Hannah

Me

Josiah

David

Matt doing a 360

Matt's big wipeout

The conclusion of our day!

Celebrating Birthdays

While we were all together, we celebrated Mema's, Christie's, Davina's, and William's birthdays.

Hannah's masterpiece

Davina and our dear Mema Hamilton

I'm officially known as "Daht daht", by this little boy. How he got that from Stephanie, I'm not sure; but I love to hear him say it!

Our Garden
After spending countless hours working in the garden, we're very proud of the fruit of our labor!...

My brother, Matt, is extremely talented with woodworking. He and my dad built this arbor for the garden.

Trip to Kentucky

One of the weekends in June, I was able to go on a trip to Kentucky with some of my dear friends for their family reunion. I tagged along as the Photographer, and enjoyed every minute of the fellowship with my childhood friends: Sarah and Leah.

Praise God for a blessed month!

Gilels plays Rachmaninoff Prelude Op. 23 No. 5

WOW! Attempting to learn this piece myself, I can certainly appreciate Gilels amazing ability in having mastered this piece. Truly amazing!

Emil Grigoryevich Gilels ( 1916-1985) began studying piano at the age of 5, and proceeded to be one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. It has often been said that Gilels was universally admired for his superb technical control and burnished tone.

Enjoy!

Mother-Daughter Tea

Last Saturday, the Fondry girls, Looper girls, Hannah and myself organized a Mother-Daughter Tea, in honor of Mother's Day.
We girls had a lot of fun planning for the Tea, and we were happy with how things turned out (despite the rain)! It was a blessing to have the opportunity to demonstrate to our mother's how thankful we are for all that they have sacrificed for us over the years, and for instilling in each of us a love for our Savior.

Christiana kindly serving her sister, Mercy

We were thankful that the rain held off as long as it did; we were able to serve our plates before it started to pour... the rain resulted in some very cozy fellowship

My own dear mother sharing her love story with the ladies

I can't take credit for these two adorable shots. I was busy socializing, so Christie picked up my camera and captured these sweet memories. I definitely learned my lesson about what you can miss by running your mouth

Many thanks to each of you mother's who have chosen to raise up the next generation!