Random hello

Hi!


This picture is to prove that, yes, I am alive and well. Mostly. ha.

I still have a smile on my face.

Writing has taken a back burner to child care (of my own and extras) planning, gardening, paperwork. CPR training. And more paperwork.

With an occasional trip to the local pool thrown in.

Summer is half over. Sob. But it's supposed to reach nearly !00* this week again, and we plan to cram as much summer into summer as we can!

Last night, as I crawled into bed and Robb reached for me, I asked him why he loves me. He sleepily mumbled, "Because you didn't run me over with the boat."

Bahahaha! My laughter burst out into the sleepy quiet of our house. Funny guy. I love him.

There was a day when the boat accident was no laughing matter. It's curious how with enough years, times of pain can become the brunt of jokes, and how one light heart can ease the burdens of another.

Laughter is great stress relief, have you learned it's power?

Psalm 126:2 

Our mouths were filled with laughter, 

our tongues with songs of joy. 

Then it was said among the nations, 

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

Stones, an Altar, an Anniversary

"We've been through a lot together."

My husband lay on his back, the day and sermon running through his head as he waited for slumber to claim him.

Yes. We have.

The sermon had been on Joshua 22.  The eastern tribes returned home, across the boundary of the Jordan that separated them from the Israelites. They built an altar, fearing that the decedents of Israel would one day say,

"What do you have to do with the Lord? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you! You have no share in the Lord!"


We've been through a lot and some days we fear the same words. We have our own Jordan and we've crossed the boundary between then and now. A marker exists.

Except for Grace, what have we to do with the Lord?

The eastern tribes said, "That is why we said, 'Let us get ready and build an altar...it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, You have no share in the Lord."

Not many build altars now. We remember in different ways. We pile no stones. And yet.

I catch Robb's eye and hold out my left hand, fingering my wedding ring and the glinting circle I received for our tenth anniversary after our Jordan.

I smile gratefulness at his face. "These are my stones."

My altar has the same name: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.

These rings are a witness between us in our marriage that when we believe God, not just believe in Him, but believe that He is who He says He is, He is enough, He is big enough, and He can do what he says He can do, nothing is impossible.

Happy Anniversary, Love. 

I love you,

more deeply because of sorrow.

I cherish you,

because you faithfully nurture.

I trust you,

for you trust your heart to me.

I respect you,

for you humbly offer grace.

I want to remember it all

and count it all as joy, 

for He is our God. 

And He has been good 

to give me 

you.

I sit at my computer,
desperately adding hours to my log,
busy, concentrating,

and then
I hear soft whispers,
clinking,
and I wonder.

is there trouble?
are they naughty?

minutes pass
I log time

then two girls enter
dressed for party
or something

and instead of naughty
I find nice

they lead me

through one door
and short hall
eyes closed
we bump ankles
but I open to find

this:

a table decorated by two

like me.

Tonight is pizza night, but I think we'll be eating on better than paper plates.

Tasty Tuesday - Herbed Butter Crackers

"Crackers? Who makes homemade crackers?"

That's what a friend said, when I brought these (minus the herbs) to a potluck on a platter beside venison sausage and cheese.

( I love the herbed ones by themselves, but was unsure how the flavors would mingle with sausage.)

One note on the recipe: I put the powdered milk in with the warm water so it dissolves properly.  

Or if you want, this is my new version, kinda like wheat thins:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 cup white flour
1cup wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
 3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
sea salt for sprinkling

Mix well, knead a bit, and let sit, covered, for 1 hour.

I split the dough in two balls, roll each out on a jelly roll pan with my Baker's Roller, cut with a pizza cutter and poke with a fork.

Bake 400* for 11-13 minutes. They need to be lightly browned to be crisp.

They are nice and thin, crispy, melt in your mouth yummy.

Now you can join the likes of those who make their own crackers!

Tasty Thursday (beacuse I'm delinquent and forgot on Tues: Ginger Cran- Apple Granola

The Flat Belly Diet comes through once again, with a superb recipe. I've experimented with granola recipes in the past and this has great flavor, good crunchy chunks and best of all, makes use of the dried apples from our trees!

Here's what you'll need:

2 c oatmeal

1 and 1/4 c walnuts, chopped 

1/2 c unprocessed bran

1/3 c ground flaxseed

1/3 c apple juice or applesauce

1/2 c maple syrup (I use the real thing.)

1 tsp minced crystallized ginger

1 c dried apples, chopped

1/3 c dried sweetened cranberries

For my daughter I leave out the ginger and cranberries and add a teaspoon of cinnamon. That was a big hit!
For cooking and baking directions, and a parfait recipe, follow this link.

Garden Planning, also, I'm not really a girly girl

This is the pretty part of gardening.
The lists and pretty packages and lovely doodles and neat handwriting.
The flowers plucked from a bed of disarray, brought in, tamed, displayed in glass on doily.

The is the truth of gardening and me:

I'm really not such a girly girl.
I have garden gloves, but rarely wear them.
I wear open toed sandals in the dirt and let my feet feel the earth squish up and around my soles.

It's hard work, of course.

But oh, it feels good.

My list of good things:

 Her and her.

safety in storms
breezy picnics
garage sale with friends
free stuff
deals
finding just what I needed
and a few things I didn't
bikes all the right size
motors that start after sitting idle for a season
asparagus that planted itself, put proper in its row
things reorganized
study guide I don't have to write

Other thoughts of mine on gardening:
Meeting in the Garden
A Warm Healing

sharing this list with others who count....

Rhubarb (Nut) Muffins

I cut the oil in half in this traditional church cookbook recipe and substituted vanilla yogurt. Also, I swapped one cup of whole wheat flour for white to add a bit of fiber.

I left the sugar as it was. There is such a thing as too great a sacrifice. :) The result is fluffy and moist without being too chewy.

I left the nuts out in mine, but shouldn't have, as Megan loudly protested that she would prefer zucchini muffins and I will probably end up eating the majority of these myself. I'm not complaining. Not at all.

Rhubarb (Nut) Muffins

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup milk soured with 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped rhubarb
1/2 cups nuts (optional)

Mix wet ingredients together. Add flours, soda, salt and mix. Stir in rhubarb and nuts.

Spoon into greased muffin pan.

Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 325* F.

Good and Perfect

 Just popping in to say, yes, I am counting. 

Amidst last week's raindrops 

and this week's sunny glimmers, 

my list grows, 

seven a day, 

sometimes more.

boy - belting it out

red hair

budget costumes

remade hats

all things vintage

boys in suits

slicked back hair

quiet ticking clock

warm sun spots

guacamole

cotton balls and Vaseline (Minute to Win It church game I played)

a tile, rub-ons and a dry erase marker

weeds that pull easy

first dandelions

freshly tilled garden

new leaves

late sun glimmer on the underside

first sunburn of spring

the good tired and sore of hard work

clip art

neices chubby arms

shunshine

warm toes

lunch at Mom's 

donuts and coffee with Robb

baby kisses

four signed up and at least four more, to read One Thousand Gifts with me. 

things waiting to be counted, unopened gifts for tomorrow

Every Good and perfect gift 

is from above 

coming down from the Father 

of heavenly lights 

who does not change 

like shifting shadows.

 James 1:17

Sharing my list with the Counters of Gifts at Ann's.

Dandelions While We Wait

The sun came out from hiding yesterday, and so did I.

Rows of dead, crisp things lingered in my garden from the early arrival of winter so many months ago, still stubbornly clinging to the soil. I slipped into sandals, stripped off my top layers down to cami, entered my patch of scratched dirt and let the sun kiss my shoulders.

Then, for Mother's Day, I asked Robb to help till my garden.

Some manure may also be in my future.

It strikes me ironic that even poop can be re-purposed. What one could not gain any nutrients from, another can use.

Lord, work the hard places in my heart, 

the settled-down-in-my-own-ways places. 

Use the excrement of my life,

the thing I thought I couldn't use, 

didn't understand. 

Furrow it in, 

till it deep. 

Make me fertile ground 

for your Word to take root, 

grow fruit.

Soon we'll work the hard settled ground, dreaming of days long and baskets full.

But for now, while we wait, we'll rummage around for an appropriate sized vase and notice the beauty of first dandelions on the kitchen table.

Today, I'm sharing When God Seems Late for Elizabeth Ester's Saturday Evening Blog Post. Thank you for your comments, encouragement. God is faithful. And you are faithful friends.

Tasty Tuesday - Hot Fudge Sauce

This recipe has been added to my list of homemade things to keep on hand, because you never know when you're really really really gonna need some good ole hot fudge sauce. I make a double batch and there's always a jar of it in my fridge. YUM!

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sifted cocoa
1/3 cup cream

Put all above ingredients in pan.
Over low heat, melt butter.
Stir continuously.
Turn up heat to medium until boil.
Boil 1 minute.

Add:
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup white corn syrup

Drizzle over mint chocolate chip, orange sherbet....or whatever your craving demands.

Quirky fact: When my twin sister requests this recipe from my grandma....she asks for it grainy! If you  like your hot fudge grainy too, (why you would, I don't have know..) don't sift the cocoa. Happy drizzling!