Fall Feels

It is supposedly fall but Louisiana did not get the memo. The weather app says it is 82 and feels like 85 but I think that's a lie. It feels way hotter outside. The cats are mad at me because I refuse to open the window--they LOVE sitting in the windowsill--but it's just too hot. 

I thought it would be cute and fun to do a post where I share my photos that feel like fall. But... I only have like 5. Because it does not feel like fall. 

Still, I've had a soup on the menu every week for the past month. Tonight I'm making homemade chicken noodle soup. Next week is chili. Casey says that it's supposed to get down to 40 next week. We shall see.

Anyways, here's my fall photos. Maybe it will finally feel like fall in December. Except we'll be in Singapore in December and its summer year-round there. Guess I won't pack away my sandals.

We love to make a seasonal bucket list! We had a date night at a local coffee shop and made our fall list.

First day of fall tradition: build a scarecrow! We were sweating.

These things can be found at Walmart and I'm obsessed.

The reality of the scarecrow. The cats decapitate Christian Bale daily. 

Just finished some Pumpkin Spice Cookies today!

I started making this pinafore two years ago and was soooo excited about it. But I wasn't feeling it as I worked on it. Pulled it back out again this year, decided I like it, and hemmed it. 

Valentine's Day Cookies

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday! I love how the world is filled with pink and hearts and flowers and chocolate and chocolate covered strawberries. I love love! 

Last year around Valentine's Day, I was trying to figure out how to raise money for a missions trip. Casey convinced me to sell cookies. So I did, and I was amazed at the response! It ended up turning into a side business for me so I get to make lots of cookies!

This year I decided to share the love on Valentine's Day. A few months back, I felt God leading me to donate the money I received to an orphanage. I'd connected with a friend, Katie, who is currently in Brazil doing missions work and I thought it would be really cool to give the money to an orphanage there. What I didn't know was that the host missionaries she's staying with have spent the last few years raising funding to open an orphanage! So that was that and I partnered with Jubilee Orphanage. 

The Jubilee Foundation is truly amazing. They've been helping families in the community with things like food, clothing, and school supplies. Katie sends me their stories often as she meets the people the foundation has helped. The foundation currently owns land for the orphanage and needs to raise enough funds to start their building plans. I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of this and not only raise money for the orphanage but also awareness. I hope it put a spark in someone's heart to pray for and support Jubilee Orphanage.

Enjoy some photos of the cookies I made! I don't know how many cookies we made total. Hundreds, definitely. Maybe over a thousand. It was a ton of baking and hard work, and I was grateful for the help and support from my mom, her husband, my sweet guy, and my cousin. I couldn't have done it without them!

Cookie Crazies

A few months ago, I was on the phone with Casey talking about how I needed to figure out how to raise some money for our upcoming missions trip. He told me I should sell my baked goods, specifically my cookies. Now granted, I hadn't been making cookies long, but people kept telling me me they were too pretty to eat. But I couldn't imagine people actually paying me for cookies. 

Thing is, Casey is really good at making his point, and his points are generally really good. "God gives you your passions and gifts, so you might as well use them for Him," he told me. "Besides, the worst thing that can happen is no one buys them and you have a lot of cookies to eat." That's hardly a bad thing! By the end of the week, I had created some Valentine cookie packages and took to Facebook to sell them.

My mind was blown. Absolutely blown by the response. I can still hardly believe it. Not only did that fundraiser go incredibly well, but I did another one for Easter, expecting way less interest. Instead, I got MORE interest. AND not only that, but people keep asking me to make cookies for events and parties. 

The Lord truly provides. 

Now I have a kind of sorta side business making cookies and the proceeds go towards my missions trips. (Yes, plural. I'm so excited!)

Anyways, here are a few of the cookies I've made in the last few months!