Thoughts on Political Violence

It’s September 11. May we never forget…

Often we say “I’ll never forget where I was that day.” But what if we never forgot what it was like to feel empathy and devastation for others we don’t even know? 

What if we decided to never forget the way our chests felt hollow as we watched political violence at play, 24 years ago? What we if we decided to never forget the way that we felt, nationally, so crushed as we saw destruction hit us so very hard? 

Political violence is never the answer. It wasn’t in 2001, and it’s not today in 2025. 

And political violence does seem to be contagious, as we see continued acts of violence against politicians on various sides of the aisle, and against people groups of all types, escalating in our society. 

Politically motivated assassinations – whether against democrats or republicans, whether against Melissa Hartman or Charlie Kirk, whether against the World Trade Centers or a church or a school – are wrong, always. 

Gun violence against children and teens and teachers – whether you wish it was or not – IS political, too. Our children should feel safe going to school – hard stop. It’s our responsibility to the next generation to make a safe place for them to learn to be citizens and leaders. 

A democracy is supposed to allow for free and fair participation of all people as we seek to live in community together; it’s not supposed to allow for permanent silencing of someone or groups of people by the hands of the mentally unwell or the angry. It’s supposed to be SAFE to participate in a democratic republic like the US. 

And yet, we’re responsible for allowing political violence to become the norm. We’ve chosen who to grieve based on political party, rather than grieving the loss of any and all life. 

As for me, I chose to grieve for all lives cut short and those who personally loved them as they navigate the difficulties of loss. 

Pumpkin Children’s Art

Today, as UT football season starts, all of the greater Knoxville area celebrates the unofficial first day of fall. When it’s football time in Tennessee, it’s also autumn – at least to all of us in the 865. 

So, in honor of this season, I spent some time with my youngest doing a pumpkin craft while the game played in the family room. (It can’t be bad luck to do an orange craft while Big Orange plays, right?) 

My middle son is recovering from an ENT surgery this week, my eldest is on visitation at his biological father’s place, and my youngest woke with extra energy following an afternoon nap. He’s really good at letting us paint his hands at Parents Day Out, so I thought he might enjoy making some artwork together. 

Side note: I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here on the blog, I am now Director of Parents Day Out (PDO) at the church where I am also the Christian Education Director. 

The first thing I did was paint his hand, then make an orange handprint on a piece of paper. As that dried, I wiped his hand clean, and then I painted his thumb pad. On a different piece of paper, I made several thumb prints. 

While I turned the thumbprints and handprint into fall pumpkins, Franklin used a paintbrush with leftover paint on a piece of spare paper to make… “abstract art.” (Hey, he had fun and practiced his hand-eye coordination skills.) 

I used brown, orange, and green Crayola markers to turn the paint prints into pumpkins. 

For the hand print, I turned it sideways, did a rough orange trace around it, added a brown stem, and then added some green vine. Voilà, a pumpkin! I also added Franklin’s name and the year. 

For the thumb prints, I used a brown marker to make stems and a green one to draw vines connecting the pumpkins by the stem to turn it into a 3-row pumpkin patch. I added a title and date. And again: Voilà, a fall pumpkin patch! 

These were really fun and my littlest kiddo looked proud when I showed him his finished projects! 

Just wanted to share in case you’re looking for a fun fall craft for your little ones – to decorate your refrigerator door or send artwork to out of town grandparents. 

Thumbprint Pumpkin Patch
Handprint Pumpkin
Bonus: Franklin’s handiwork with a paintbrush after our print artwork.

Pom-Pom Painting at Home

I had a sweet artsy afternoon with my littles today. These Toy Story loving boys enjoyed painting Rex at the kitchen table together.

Our two-year-old (three in November) is OBSESSED with Toy Story and all things Pixar. He lovingly calls Rex the “Darry-dar” (dinosaur). So this particular selection of painting project was easy as could be!

We just used a free & printable Toy Story coloring page, Crayola washable project paint, a regular kids paintbrush for big bro and pompoms attached to clothespins for little bros.

They had such a fun afternoon! 🎨 (And so did Momma!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies 

It’s another cake mix cookie recipe! I realize that I have shared a lot of these, but never the straight-up classic: chocolate chip cookies! 

This blog post is short and definitely sweet, as is the recipe. So let’s get straight to the point! 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a bowl, mix:

  • 1 box of yellow cake mix (just the contents of the box)
  • 2 large eggs 
  • 1/2 cup cooking oil 
  • Chocolate chips (measure with your heart) 

Ball the cookies up, then press down into flat rounds. Put on lined (or sprayed) cookie sheets. 

Bake these at 350F for about 11-14 minutes or until golden on top, with a darker bottom. 

This recipe should make approximately 18-24 cookies, depending on how large you make them. 

These are perfect for a quick dessert midweek, a little housewarming hello for new neighbors, a dessert dish for a party or gathering, etc. I am taking this batch to our women’s ministry gathering at church today! 

Enjoy with a warm coffee or a cold milk! 

Other cake batter cookie recipes I’ve shared up to today’s date: 

  • Extra chocolate cookies – click here
  • Strawberry & chocolate cookies – click here
  • Chocolate chip & walnut cookies – click here
  • Butterscotch walnut cookies – click here
  • 4-ingredient m&m cookies – click here

Meal Planning Guide Released! 

I have some exciting news… I’ve been working on a little secret, and it’s ready to be shared: I have created, edited, and published a meal planning guide on Amazon! 

The process of creating this was SO fun, and it’s one of the most practical things I’ve done for my own family. This wasn’t just a fun creative endeavor, but one intended to solve a problem. 

Making dinners – and even deciding on what to make each night – can feel a little like playing a kitchen game of Jenga. We’re left asking things daily like: Do I have all the ingredients in the pantry and fridge? Did I remember to lay out the meat to thaw? What about seasonings I might need? 

But feeding yourself – and your partner or family – doesn’t have to be this way. 

When we, in my own home, choose to use the weekly dinner planning calendar and corresponding shopping list, our week is SO much easier – and I want that feeling of ease for your home, too. 

Meal planning has the HUGE benefit of taking daily stress off of your plate. By planning dinners for the week in advance, you can eliminate some of your most stressful evening moments. 

This journal-style guide gives you space to plan all 7 nights’ worth of dinners and gives you space to jot down all necessary ingredients you need to make those dinners happen. Taking one day a week to plan is SO MUCH BETTER than taking time every single day to stare into the pantry, cupboard, fridge, or freezer to try and decipher what you can assemble for an evening meal. 

And best of all? The pages of this meal planning journal are separated into adorable themes for each of the seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall.  This paperback guide contains space for 52 weeks of plans. 

What’re you waiting for? Grab your copy, for under $15, on Amazon today! Link: https://a.co/d/iIH62Gm. 

*Yes, if you purchase this guide/journal, I will receive royalties. 

Lime Poke Cake 

It’s Cinco De Mayo! We’re having dinner with my in-laws tonight, and I volunteered to make dessert. I love love love this easy-peasy poke cake – and lime is the perfect flavor for a fiesta celebration! (It’s also perfect for the coming summer months, as it’s super refreshing.) 

Here’s what you need. 

  • 1 box of white cake mix & all listed ingredients 
  • 1 regular sized tub of cool whip
  • 1 box of lime Jello mix
  • 2 fresh limes, sliced

Start by baking your cake according to the box’s instructions. 

As your cake finishes baking, slice your limes. 

Then prepare your jello mixture. You’re going to use the boiling snd cold water ratios on the package to mix it together, but don’t cool it into jello! 

Instead, once your cake is out of the oven and starting to cool, poke holes in the top (you can use a fork or skewer for this). Then pour the liquid jello mixture all over your cake to “fill” the poked holes you made. 

Add your cool whip to the top with a spatula or spoon, spreading evenly. Then add a decorative element with your fresh, sliced limes. 

Put in the fridge or freezer until your desired serving time. (This is important, as it will solidify the flavor in the jello mixture some and solidify the cool whip into a light and airy frosting.) 

Enjoy! 

PS: see the strawberry version of this cake recipe here, https://katewithatwang.com/2020/06/02/strawberry-poke-cake/.

Cost-Effective Gender Reveal Gift for Baby 

Someone close to me is expecting, and they had a small gender reveal with their closest community. There wasn’t a formal printed invite for the reveal or any expectation for guests to bring something – it was just a small, in-home gathering to share the gender of baby-to-be. 

However, I wanted to show some support in a small, simple way. My husband and I are budgeting carefully this year when it comes to gifts (and we also knew we want to do a larger gift when their baby shower occurs later on in the pregnancy), but we are so close with this growing family that we wanted to show up at their reveal with a little something. 

All that said, I knew this needed to be a truly small and affordable gift – but enough to say “we’re excited for you.” 

This is what I came up with: a handmade card and a mini diaper bag supply bundle. 

My local Dollar Tree has Huggies Simply Clean Unscented Baby Wipes for $1.25. I prefer unscented baby wipes for my own children, and I try to gift them for my expectant friends, too, since we don’t know what their child’s skin sensitivities may be. So I grabbed a pack of these to start us off! It’s a slightly smaller pack – it’s 32 wipes instead of 64 – which makes it a little thinner and perfect for a diaper bag. 

My Dollar Tree also has the Angel of Mine Diaper Disposal Bags. These are so perfect for a diaper bag, when you can’t count on having a Diaper Genie or lidded trash can nearby for on-the-go changes. There are 75 bags per box, and it’s a narrow box that will fit easily into a diaper bag. 

So I grabbed both items, and, using brown twine and yellow ribbon I already had in my gift-wrap supply, I tied them with a bow. I liked the yellow and brown so that it’s gender neutral, since I took this little “thinking of you” gift to a gender reveal event. 

I also almost always have blank card-stock cards at my home. I often let my children make cards for birthdays or holidays, but it’s also perfect for occasions like this. Using a kraft paper card-stock card and paint I had at home already, I set out to make a gender reveal greeting card! 

I used a pen to write “pink or blue…?” on the front, and I wrote “either way we love you” on the inside, along with a more personal note from us to the baby-to-be and parents. 

I then used a q-tip to paint on pink and blue painted polka dots on the front of the card. This is a perfect way to make cohesive polka dots for any project, and it turned out really cute! 

Once the paint dried, I put the card in an envelope and slipped it through the tied twine and ribbon. 

Voila! A small – but thoughtful and useful – gift for a gender reveal! 

I gifted this mini bundle to the mom-to-be when we arrived at her home for the reveal. I hope she now knows her baby has been thought of, prayed for, and already adored! 

What small, cost-effective gifts have you done for an expectant family, especially before it’s baby shower time? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments! 

Garden Produce Markers

I won’t pretend to be a professional gardener, or even a hobbyist, really. But each year we’ve been at this house, we’ve tried our hand at some garden produce to see what grows for us. 

This year, we are limiting mostly to the things we have had previous success with. And, because I was craving a little creative outlet, I decided to do a little springtime garden craft: hand-painted plant markers! 

We went to a local landscaping and nursery and bought about 15 3-5 inch river rocks. We did have to speak with the staff – their insurance doesn’t let folks grab from the truckload piles, so they let us grab from a different spot instead, which worked just fine! 

I used craft paint and sharpies to draw on and paint little renderings of the plants as well as their names. 

Once they were dry enough, I went ahead and placed them. 

They’re not perfect – but they’re adorable, and the process (and being outside while I painted) brought me a great deal of joy.

I’m going to have to do something different for the potted mint and the hanging planter strawberries… so I’ll keep you all posted with a new blog post when I do those next! 

How have you creatively labeled your own garden plants? I’d love to hear in the comments! 

WWJD: Biblical Perspectives on How to Treat Others

This is a different kind of blog post… Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of perspective to offer – just scripture to share.

I have been praying over and reading these passages lately. They have popped up in conversations and situations, and it hasn’t felt coincidental. In the midst of divided communities and difficult situations, I have struggled with how people treat one another, and, seeking answers, I have gone to the Word.

In case anyone else is struggling with similar issues, I wanted to share a couple passages about how we are supposed to, as believers, treat one another. These are taken from the New International Version.

JAMES 2, verses 1 & 8-9
(1) My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
(8-9) If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

MATTHEW 7, verses 1-5 & 12
(1-5) “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
(12) So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

EPHESIANS 4, verses 2-3 & 32
(2-3) Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
(32) Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

What other passages offer meaning to you when you’re struggling with how people treat one another? Or how you’re being treated or how you’re reacting? I’d love to hear your favorite verses on the topic in the comments!

Valentine’s Day Teacher Gift Idea 

It’s ONE night till Valentine’s Day! If you are scrambling for a last minute teacher gift or childcare gift, I have a cutie patootie idea for you. 

At Walmart, grab one of these $1-2 Hershey coated candy tubes with the heart on top. The heart is the tie-in to the cute saying on the tag, so the heart-topped one really is the best for this gift. 

Use a notecard (or any other card-type paper) to write the following note: 

Teaching is a work of HEART. 

You can replace “teaching” with “childcare” if that’s more appropriate. 

Use twine to attach with a cute bow, and gift for a sweet treat to a sweet teacher!