life savers & cookies

The way Heavenly Father works is amazing.

He loves each of us SO much...but he can't actually be with us all the time.

...even in times of need.

And that's why, I believe, he sends us angels.

Or, in our case, a backyard neighbor.

What our neighbor did for us may have not been a big deal to him, but he's a genuine Life Saver in our books.

Where do i start on our little story?...well, Adam and I both work full-time...so we're home only in the evening time.  We are blessed to own a home :)  While we love our basement, it is pretty empty (as in, when you say something it echoes).  Hence we almost never visit there.

...now then, the previous owners of the house winterized the water pipes outside, but forgot

to close them up (or something like that, Adam told me...but it's a guy thing;) So when the city turned the pipes on, water came gushing out of those babies with no mercy!!

We were at work (this was yesterday) and our neighbor (our yards are connected) heard an odd gurgling sound...he peaked over the fence and noticed that the pipes were pouring water into our window wells...ahhhhhh! Now then, I'm very embarrassed to say that we don't know them by name...we really need to get to know our neighbors better...and he didn't know our names. But he recalled seeing our cars change frequently, and that the name on license plates said AutoSource Motors...so he did some detective work with the help of a phonebook and called up Adam's work to say,

"I have a neighbor that moved in a few months ago...I don't know his name...but I think he works there...and their house/basement is flooding."

He took the time to help a neighbor/stranger...How AWESOME is that??!?!?!?!!

Honestly, I don't even know how much damage would've had to happen before we noticed (remember, we both work full time so we're away from the house a lot...and we never even go down stairs) Adam was able to race home with a co-worker (Eli, thanks for helping!!!) and get the water out of the window well with a handy-dandy water pump from the car lot. And then later that night Adam rented a "Rug Doctor" from Smiths and we got gallons & GaLloNs of water sucked right up & out of that carpet. We'll have to tear up a section of the carpet to let it dry for a week or two...but I'm SO grateful that's all that happened.

THANK YOU KIND NEIGHBOR!!!

So, tonight I will be baking my favorite chocolate chip cookies and delivering them, with my sweetheart, to our hero...so we can express just a SMIDGENof our gratitude :)

***

And for those of you who want a delish, mouth-watering, rich, chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, here you go! (the secret is the vanilla pudding mix...it really makes the difference!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
2 C. butter, softened
1 1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
4 C. milk chocolate chips (I really like using 1/2 white & 1/2 milk)
2 C. chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended.
Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
Blend in the flour mixture.
Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (less time never hurts...the chewier the better!) in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.
Makes six dozen cookies.

ENJOY!!