HOPE and Wedding Baking Bliss!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy.

ROMANS 15:13 NIV

Today, I have been filled with HOPE. Hope in the Future God has for me! Hope in New Beginnings for two wonderful friends who are getting remarried tomorrow. Hope in the promise of the Joy that is found in the Presence of God. Psalm 16:11 says, "In His presence there is fullness of joy!" Yesterday, I was blessed with the opportunity to share my testimony/Savannah's story at the Feature Luncheon for our Women's Ministry at Church. I was quite overwhelmed beforehand as public speaking is totally not my thing. However, thanks to the prayers of my wonderful friends and God's amazing PEACE, I was able to share my heart with calmness and composure. This was the first time that I had spoken my "story" out loud, and as I was preparing it, many tears were shed. I am so thankful for this opportunity because it truly brought healing to my heart to talk about all the amazing ways that God has shown me His love this past year.

"Hope is more than a word; it's a state of being. It's a firm belief God will come through. Life brings rain. Hope turns every drop into the power to bloom like never before."-Holley Gerth

I pray that the rain in your life today brings forth beautiful blooms tomorrow!

I have included pictures of the wedding cake that I made for our amazing friends-my first attempt at decorating a cake for a wedding. I love the Jewel-toned Fall roses-they make me smile. The bottom three layers of the cake are (from-scratch) yellow butter cake with (from-scratch) caramel icing. The top layer is homemade chocolate cake. The icing is Wilton's recipe chocolate buttercream: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Chocolate-Buttercream-Icing-1. I got the recipes for the cakes out of my new favorite cookbook-SOUTHERN CAKES http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811853705?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwnanciemder-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0811853705