New Cakes!

A friend from work gave me the great pleasure of doing a few cakes for her baby shower. I decided to try out a few recipes that I had been wanting to try, specifically a recipe for a better tasting fondant. I was pretty happy with how the cakes turned out especially since I made three different flavors including one I had never tried. However, the better tasting fondant was way too hard to work with and still did not taste as good as I would like. Oh, well back to the drawing board on that one. Anyways, here are the pictures:

This one was a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing.
The "M" is for Madeleine, the soon to be baby's name.

This cake is lemon-raspberry, a new flavor suggested by Matt.
Matt is now my flavor connoisseur/taste tester.

This is my almond flavored cake that I do all the time
since it is easy and most people like the taste.

An Inspiring Story

As I was blog stalking the other night, I came across the blog of a girl I went to high school with. She was a couple of years younger than me so I didn't really know her that well. Now, thanks to the world of the blog I feel like I know LOTS about her. Hey name is Amy and she runs a girls' ministry that provides after school programs for girls in elementary, middle, and high school.

I hadn't been on her blog in several months so I was surprised that the first entry was entitled "Fetus Friday:a blog carnival where new moms ask and smart moms answer" Amy often jokes about "Imaginary Boyfriend" and I thought for sure if she were pregnant she would have put some status up on Facebook to announce her impending joy. So I went stalking, er I mean searching, for the story.

Basically, a friend (I don't know the age or any info on the girl) came to Amy and revealed that she was pregnant. Roomie (as Amy calls her on the blog) was in a heartbreaking situation. Amy decided to find a place where the two of them could live and help with the baby. For the full story in Amy's words, click here.

Amy is 23. She is a very mature and together 23 year old, but I find it I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E that she is willing to go so far to help this girl. Most people would just say "let me know if you need anything" and then secretly hope the person never calls. One of the things that impressed me the most:
"I guess it all comes down to this: I spend quite a bit of time talking about how we shouldn't judge others when they make mistakes and how we need to love each other as Christ loves us and so forth. Those had better not just be statements I’m making on a stage while the spotlight is on me; they better ring very loudly in my private life, too."

WOW.

Amy and her Roomie live in Tennessee and I know most of you who read the blog live in Texas, but if you want to help here is an entry by Amy detailing their needs. More than anything, I am sure Amy and Roomie would both appreciate your prayers in the next several months.