The bomb cookies!!!

Okay, don't let the title total throw you off. This post is about some really good cookies, but it may not be exactly what you expected to read.

So first lets step back in history, say about 3 weeks ago. Melanie was out walking trying to lose weight for the biggest loser competition she is in, which she is doing great at, and she met some LDS missionaries. She didn't want to slow down and lose her heart rate, so the two young men speed walked right alongside her and talked some. By the end of the conversation she gave them our address so they could meet with us. About a week and a half later we hear a knock at the door, and per the missionary trick it was around dinner time, it was one of the missionaries with another companion coming to visit. Unfortunately we don't have the seating, nor did we have enough food to share so we set up an appointment to meet with them.

We decided to meet them at the local church on Valentine’s Day, we didn't realize the date when we set up the meeting. If you ask me it was a very good day to see missionaries though, what could be a better day to learn about God's love for us than on the day of love? Things went great at that meeting and we still continue to see them about twice a week and are going to church as well.

The bomb cookies!!
Baked with love by
Melanie Van Rij

Now is probably wondering what does this have to do with those delicious looking cookies? We had told them about the cookies the first day we met with them, but forgot to bring them. They seemed pretty disappointed that we forgot them. This past Wednesday when they came over to visit we made another batch of them and we could tell it just made their day! One elder has been the same each visit, Elder Parker, but he seems to switch his companion quite often so he wanted to take some cookies to share with the other missionaries serving in this area. So I went into the kitchen and got a zip-lock bag for him. When he put them in there he wrote on the bag "The bomb cookies!!!". This made me feel so good to know how happy we made him, and all the fellow missionaries. It was nothing compared to the happiness they have brought back in my life with joy of the church and all the blessings that come with it. Melanie has a date to be baptized, March 17th, and we are both going to work on getting our temple recommends so we can have our family sealed for time and eternity.

I wish I could think of even better ways to repay them other than bomb cookies, but I know deep down they are happy to see the gospel spread into our lives. Just goes to show that happiness can come from all places, whether it’s some bomb cookies or seeing joy spread into people’s lives.

What brings you joy lately?

P.S. These cookies are easy to make. Place Hershey hugs on square pretzels on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, place in oven heated to 200 degrees for 5 minutes, then remove and place a M&M on top of each hug, then place in the fridge to cool…then enjoy!

Here we go again...

I have tried to blog in the past, but as you know I was never very good at it. Here is another shot at it with a fresh new blog. I do plan to be pretty active with blogging the events that take place in my life. So many times I wish I could go back and reflect on something, what better way than blogging!