"These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things......"

Hobby: n.,
1. an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure
2. a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation

Hmmm...What do I do for a hobby? Well, I'm one of those that has several :] Kind of a "Jack of all trades but master of none." I love athletic hobbies that include: hiking/walking, canoeing/kayaking, skiing, skating, snowmobiling, horseback riding, traveling and shooting.  Yet I also enjoy hobbies that can be done inside the house as well, like: scrapbooking, card designing, knitting, weaving, making jewelry, sewing, pinning on pinterest :), reading, watching movies, listening to music, drawing and blogging. 

Could I choose a favorite? Probably not. Each one brings excitement to my heart at different times of the year and seasons of my life.  The exhilerating feeling that you get when you are swishing your way over a freshly groomed ski trail is like nothing I have ever done!  The feeling I get when I am ice skating is one that evades me most of the time; graceful.  Riding a horse in an arena and finally learning how to collect them (tuck there head and pay attention to me) and going from a walk to a canter in one step is something special every time. Hiking in the White Mountains during the autumn when the air is cool and crisp and seeing the glorious, brilliant fall colors of New England makes you feel glad to be alive.

What about feeling that soft fiber in your hand and watching a new pattern become visible as you knit a scarf.  Seeing a scrapbook page filled with pictures that all coordinate and bring back wonderful memories. Reading that thick book you have been saving for a day that implores you to sit by a woodstove with a cup of hot tea. Pinning those pictures on Pinterest that stimulate my creative juices or help me to dream or encourage my heart with special words. - It's amazing what a simple picture can do to stir the heart and its emotions. Picking up a set of knitting needles and remembering my Nana.  Sitting at a sewing table and thinking back to the first quilt I made with my Gramy. 

I think for me, a hobby is something that often times helps me to count my blessings and realize how much I have and how God has blessed me.  Hobbies are often times the way we express the extra special gifts God gives each of us.  Some people have been given opportunites to train under masters in music, art, a sport or something else and God is able to use the love for that interest in an incredible way. Some have just picked it up because they were interested.  Either way, God placed the interest and directed the love. 

What do you like to do?  What do your hobbies mean to you?  Did someone special teach you or is it something you just picked up?

Niagara Falls! A place filled with examples of our Creator's Creativity!

Hello Friends!  It is good to be back with all of you!  I know all of us Bloggirls had wonderful vacations and are looking forward to sharing what the Lord, taught, shared and showed us on our trips.

I've been trying to figure out how to fit our vacation into a short blog post and it just isn't possible :] Therefore, I'm going to focus on just one of the many highlights of our families trip......Niagara Falls!

Have you ever been somewhere where the power of something just overwhelms you?  Where something so enormous is hard to comprehend?  Well Niagara had that affect on me :o)

As I wrote this post the following verse came to mind.  "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you."  ~ Isaiah 43:2

When I put the context of this verse next to Niagara Falls and realize that no trial, no matter how hard, even if it is as powerful and overwhelming as a raging, forceful river in early spring, it "shall not overwhelm you" because God is with us and is bigger than the trial! Praise God.

The first falls we visited were American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.  Both of them fall inside the United States and were beautiful to see.  Here are some pictures:

Standing next to the observation tower looking at
American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

Standing on Goat Island looking at Amereican Falls.
At the bottom left hand corner you can just a small portion of
Bridal Veil Falls.

We then walked to the other side of Goat Island to view Canadian "Horseshoe" Falls.  1/3 of Horseshoe Falls falls inside the U.S. border and therefore the fall is considered Canadian. The falls make a "U" shape hence its name, but because of that feature it is hard to get a good picture unless you are on the Canadian side....however I thought you might enjoy a couple pictures anyway!



Looking over at the Canadian side with the mist from the falls
rising up.

I though you all might enjoy these quick facts about the falls:

150,000 gallons of water flow over the American Falls every second!! - (Give or take what time of year it is)
600,000 gallons of water flow over Horseshoe Falls every second!! - (Again the amount may change depending on the time of year it is.)

As our family discovered different parts of Niagara State Park, we were overwhelmed by the amazing creativity of our Creator and the power that He has and uses on our small planet, in our country, in the state of New York, in the park of Niagara!


I would definitely recommend visiting Niagara and our family hopes to return someday!  We thank God for the opportunity He gave us!

A Sweet Wrap!

The Bloggirls of Altogether Seperate have decided that for the next two weeks we will be sharing our favorite recipes!!  This should be fun! We would all love to know if you end up trying any of the recipes, so please leave a comment and let us know what you think =]

As soon as the topic was decided on I knew exactly what I wanted to share....however, why is it, that sometimes the best recipes are the ones that you've experimented with and you don't have exact measurements????  Guess what?  That's mine...  So you'll have to bear with me as the measurements will not be exact, but if you play with it and tweek it so you like it, you'll want to have it every week!

So....what is the recipe???  Sweet Potato Wraps (No I couldn't think of a more exciting name =])

I first had a sweet potato wrap at our local Co-op and the first bite I had made me thank God for another one of His vitamin rich, healthy vegetables!

As soon as we finished the wrap we new we would have to experiement and see if we could make something similar.  So, the next chance we had we ran to the Grocery store and picked up a bag of sweet potatoes.





What You Will Need:

2lb.  Sweet Potatoes
8oz.  Red Kidney Beans
1-2 tsp. Cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 - 3/4 cup Veganaise - This is the vegan version of Mayonnaise.  I haven't tried it with mayo, but I'm sure it would be fine to use, however, the veganaise is fantastic with this.


Any type of wrap you want - Our family loves the spelt or spinach wraps!
Vegetables you would want in your wrap:  lettuce, spinach, salad mixture, shredded carrot,
celery, tomato, mushrooms, scallions, peppers, olives or whatever else you feel like :]

Optional: 
The Co-op used Vegan bacon bits that gave it some more added flavor.  We have yet to get some of that, but if you want you could add that as well!


1. We always put our vegetables in the sink filled with water and some hydrogen peroxide to clean them from any chemicals that have been sprayed on them, germs that have touched them or anything else that we would really rather not put into our body :] So the first thing I did was wash them and while they were soaking I turned the oven on.

2. We have a propane oven so the tempatures and time will vary as to how hot the oven should be and how long the sweet potatoes should be in there.  I set the oven at 400 degrees and cook them for an hour and they are usually perfect. (Keep checking them until they are done as 400 degrees for an hour may be too long for your oven) ~ For those of you who have never cooked sweet potato, we take a fork and poke holes in them just like regular potatoes so that they don't burst and then we place them in our bread pans.  We put them in the bread pans because they will leek out juices and make a mess in the stove otherwise. ~

You'll know they are done when you can sink a fork into it with no trouble at all. 

3. When they are done take them out and let them cool to room tempature. Once cool, I peel the skins off and break them up and put them in the cuisinart.(or whatever you want to use to puree it, you could even mash them with a fork if you wanted to.  However, you are trying to get almost a hummus consistency, so get it as smooth as possible.)

4.  As you blend the sweet potatoes, start adding the veganaise, cumin, salt and pepper.  When you start to add the veganaise or mayonnaise add it slowly.  Taste to see how much you want.  This helps make the mixture smoother and gives you some added taste, but you DON'T want to over do it. Tasting it as you go along will help :]  Same goes for the cumin and whatever other spice you may want to add =]

5. The very last ingredient to add to the mixture are the beans.  Drain the can and then add the beans.  You don't want to pulverize the beans and make them smooth like the rest of the mixture.  Just mashed slightly or cut in half.  You still want to know that they are beans and when you are eating the wrap it will give you another consistency. (If using bacon bits, this is when you would add them)

6.  And now you're ready to make your wrap.  Just spread the sweet potato mixture over your wrap as thick as you want and add the veggies! 

I know there were a lot of directions, but this recipe is really very simple once you know how to make it.
If you bake the potatoes the day before, it shouldn't take you long to whip this up for lunch and bring for that picnic lunch you've been planning for this spring season!  It's really healthy and makes you feel good about eating it :]

Enjoy!