Facials & Pumpkin Muffins

I had a Girls Night for our Teens last weekend. We spent the evening experimenting with DIY facials and, like every girl loves to do {but would never admit to, being the self-disciplined, genteel Ladies that we are}, we STUFFED OUR FACES!

I made these Pumpkin Muffins. So yummy! And only 2 ingredients! No, I'm not kidding. Just two!

COMBINE-

- 1 box spice cake mix

- 1 can pumpkin

1. Pour into greased or paper-lined muffin tins.
2. Bake at 350 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
3. In theory, you could add chocolate chips or peeled, cubed apples for something extra. 

I will be making these again in the near future! They were ohh so good!!


I also made these Chocolate Turtles. These are so addictive it's not even funny...

INGREDIENTS

- 1 bag Rolo chocolates
- 1 bag mini pretzels
- 1 bag pecan halves

1. Spread desired amount of pretzels on cookie sheet. Place one Rolo chocolate on top of each pretzel. 
2. Bake at 350 4 minutes or until Rolo is softened. 
3. Place pecan halves on top and press into each Rolo.

            Voila! 

We had so much fun with these natural facials:

Banana facial - Mashed banana mixed with approx. 1 tbsp. of honey

Oatmeal facial - 1/2 c. Ground oatmeal, 2 tbsp. honey, and 1/8 c. water.
Grind oatmeal in a blender. Add honey. Stir well. Add water slowly and stir. Add more water/honey according to desired consistency.

My Devotional for the Girls:

Unveiling Your True Beauty

It's very important to take care of ourselves; we do our hair, take care of our skin, our nails, all that fun stuff. But what's even more important is making sure we're taking care of our inner beauty; our heart, our purity, our spirituality...

This is something that is so rare in our world today. Women of this generation are consumed with outer beauty, with what's sexy, and what the guys want.

Rather than allowing the world to define our understanding of true beauty and femininity, we need to learn what God values and what He considers truly beautiful.

Prov. 31:30 "Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." 

1 Peter 3:3-5 "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting of the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves..." 

What God values most is a meek and quiet spirit, and a heart that trusts and seeks after Him.

When we allow God to rebuild our understanding of feminine beauty, our entire outlook and value system has to change. Too often, we allow pop culture to define our understanding of feminine beauty. We've inundated our minds with modern magazines, TV, movies, and the fashion industry -- a world that values the "Victoria Secret model" look and attitude. We're surrounded by peers who applaud self-obsessed, arrogant, sexually-aggressive young women. Enticed and deceived by the Father of Lies, we try to venture as close to those standards as possible, while still somehow maintaining our Christianity.

We can't.

Sometimes people get a bit nervous when the topic of modesty is addressed. Maybe you think, "Would allowing God to reform my beauty cause me to become ugly and boring?" I think when we think of modesty we picture ourselves walking around in gray, tent-like dresses with morose expressions on our makeup-less faces. Our hair maybe pinned back in a tight, unattractive bun. We wonder if God is so consumed with inward beauty that He deems any physical beauty as unhealthy or unspiritual...

{This fear is a repercussion of our failure to teach and clarify... This is never emphasized enough} God does care about our appearance!

Prov. 31:22 "She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple." 

In Bible times, silk and purple were highly valued and considered very beautiful! Obviously, God places a high price on the "Prov.31 Woman" and this verse tells us that one of her characteristics was she took care of her appearance! So no, modesty is not wearing ankle length dresses and covering your body from head to toe.

God has a completely different design for your feminine beauty; one that reflects His glory, not the empty charm of this world.

Modesty is about making sure your clothing is covering all the parts of your body that should be saved for your husband's eyes only. However, it goes farther than just your clothing. It's also your attitude and how you carry yourself. Being flirty, overly-flamboyant, always trying to get attention, etc. is not being modest.

It's important to make sure your clothes are not too tight or too revealing, and that your attitude and countenance are becoming of a young lady seeking after God.

In college, I read a lot about missionaries and women of God... Women like Amy Carmichael, Catherine Booth and Narcissa Whitman. If you're unfamiliar with these inspiring, God-honoring women, I highly encourage you to read about them. These women rejected the empty feminine charm of the world and embraced an altogether different kind of beauty - the beauty of Jesus Christ. They showcased femininity as God intended it to be - in all its elegance, grace, nobility and lasting loveliness.

Can you imagine glowing with such a divine inner sparkle that caused everyone around you to be inspired and captivated? This is what it means to reflect the glory of God through our femininity. It's feminine beauty as God intended it to be.

Rather than following the empty, fruitless pattern of our culture, it's time we turn our eyes to the Author of all true beauty.

Develop a closer relationship with God. Walk closer to Him. In doing so, you will unveil your true beauty and shine for Him like never before!

*****

Meet my girls...

Bethany, Maddie, Destiny, Gracie, Jacie, & Gabby

{some girls couldn't make it... we sure missed ya!}

Love you guys!!!

Thank you Cindy Scarcelli for taking awesome pictures for us!