27.Jan.12

Recipe Roundup 6

I have not been all that adventurous lately, but here are some recipes we’ve tried. You can find them all on my keepers board.

15-Minute Avgolemeno from Dinner, A Love Story started out a complete success. Until someone asked what was in it and the lemon flavor was then identified and determined to be inappropriate for soup. It is so quick and easy, we’ll try it again and see if taste buds can be worn down.

Beecher’s Mac & Cheese courtesy of Martha was, as it was billed, the world’s best (or at least the best one I have made.) I don’t make it very often but it feels good to have a go-to recipe when the need arises. It doubled well in a 13×9 for a potluck.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes from Martha are not the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever made, but they are pretty good, and they only dirty one bowl. So I’ve made them twice already.

Peanut Butter Icing from the Barefoot Contessa is just delicious on the cupcakes.

S’mores Bars from Bakers Royale were very good. Last year I threw some s’mores bars together rice krispie treat-style with golden grahams that I liked quite a bit, but these were tasty in a different way and very easy. I did use a lot more butter than called for, and the crust was still a little crumbly, so be sure to do that by feel rather than amount. I would make them again.

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26.Jan.12

Did This Blog Peak in 2006? (and Other Insecure Questions)

I’ve been writing. Not everyday, but most days I spend an hour or more watching the cursor blink and choosing words.

The trouble is, I am not quite sure what to write. I finished a project that had me busy for weeks. With no deadlines on the horizon, I write for myself alone.

I keep thinking through different ideas in my head, hoping I am so compelled by one I can’t stop myself from writing it. Believing this drive will come, I wait.

As I do, I consider writing longer, better blog posts. In an effort to inspire myself, I decided to find some of my most popular blog posts to feature in my sidebar, perhaps shedding some light on my audience here (which has always surprised me.)

I knew that the advent of facebook and twitter had decreased my comment count significantly, but pulling up my posts ordered by comment count was overwhelmingly depressing. Pages and pages of posts with 20 or more comments five and six years ago, scrolling and clicking back in vain to find something current enough to feature.

The questions descend, like a flood. Why do I keep this blog anymore? Why do I write at all? Why can’t I come up with a marketable idea of what to be when I grow up? I’m a grown-up now, right?

Maybe this neurosis is the best sign that I need to keep on writing. Perhaps in writing I will find the answers that I long for, or more comfort in my questions.

Even in my insecurity, I know that people read this blog, even if they don’t comment, but I’ve never kept it for them, I keep it for me. It is a gift to have eleven years of life captured in blog posts. When I read them, I remember. Not just what I wrote about, but what I felt and what life was like, who I was. I am grateful for the time I have spent blogging and I carry on another day.

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25.Jan.12

Wordless Wednesday

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24.Jan.12

Give Them Grace

Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of JesusGive Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Give Them Grace asks readers a very important question: how does believing the gospel change the way that you parent? If the way that we parent is the same as a devout Muslim or Jew, there must be something wrong. I think this is a paradigm shift that is very important for Christian parents, and one that I have been excited to see more and more of in books written in the last five to ten years.

The overall message of the book will be a balm to many readers. Resting in grace, parenting with humility, dependence on God, these are all messages that parents need to be reminded of. There are no guarantees and no quick fixes. Parenting is hard. I think many parents will find this an encouragement on many levels.

Because I have seen her books recommended in presbyterian circles so often, I was genuinely surprised by how un-covenantal this book was. (Fitzpatrick has a Sovereign Grace / Reformed Baptist background.) In the first several chapters alone, it talks many times about not presuming your children are regenerate, that they might pray a prayer just to please you and if they aren’t saved, they don’t have the Holy Spirit and therefore can’t obey God’s law from the heart. In examples of how to speak to a child, parents say things like “someday you’ll know how wonderful God is and how much he loves you.” Worse yet, speaking to an older child, “Because you don’t believe in Jesus’s love for you, your whole life will be spent trying to win and never being satisfied. And then you’ll have to stand before God, and all you’ll have is your record of failure. Striking out isn’t the worst thing that will ever happen to you. Living your life to win something other than Jesus is.” In example “scripts” there are different things to say to unbelieving versus believing children.

This is hard for me to read, even though I know that my children might turn away from God and need to be spoken to as an unbeliever, I think that it can be very confusing to children to speak to them as if they do not have faith. Let’s not encourage doubt or for them to question whether they “really” believe, let’s teach them to rest in God, as he is the author of their faith, anyway.

Though Fitzpatrick explains a fully orbed portrait of discipline that looks like discipleship, she uses the word “discipline” as a synonym for “spanking” which irks me. Parents say “I must discipline you” which is true generally, but what they mean is “I am choosing to spank you for this infraction.” It’s a pet peeve. Reading her model for talking to a child who defied his parent by not stopping playing when told it was time for dinner, shocked me. “If you believe that he has loved you and received punishment for you, then this kind of punishment will help remind you to live wisely, and the pain of it will soon be gone. But if you don’t believe in his great goodness, then the punishment you receive today will be just the beginning of a lifetime of pain. Today, you can ask for forgiveness, and I will forgive you, and if you ask him, so will the Lord. But if you wait, if you harden your heart and refuse to change, then a day will come when it will be too late to ask for forgiveness.” This sort of talk feels manipulative to me.

However, I appreciate the stand the authors have taken against forcing children to show repentance after being spanked. Many evangelical authors espouse this idea, and I know many adults who remember faking repentance and lying to avoid further punishment.

Many readers will appreciate the attempt at coupling of theology and a philosophy of parenting with more practical advice. I feel like I talk to my kids fairly theologically but the models were a stretch, and I couldn’t imagine talking to my children like that. However, it did incite me to think about how I would phrase a similar discussion, and that sort of premeditation is always helpful in parenting.

This is a good addition to the already crowded Christian Parenting shelves at bookstores, but I am still waiting for a book that I feel more comfortable recommending.

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23.Jan.12

WFD Adoption Week

I’m doing an adoption fundraiser this week in the winged feet design etsy store. 50% off all sales — no codes necessary — will go to my friend Elizabeth‘s adoption fund.

I have known Elizabeth since before Lexi was born, we instantly bonded over being Carolina girls. She brought honestly and transparency to our Bible study as she shared about her struggles to get pregnant. And I loved her for it. Six and a half years later, she has two beautiful children and is in the process of adopting a third. A special needs boy they have named Charlie will be joining their family from China.

She is also making some great stuff to fund her adoption, check out her plum panda store for necklaces, wreaths, hair clippies, custom frames and more.

There are some new designs in my store (as you can see) and I’d love for you to order something this week!

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22.Jan.12

The Gospel is Good News Indeed

The gospel is good news indeed,
To sinners deep in debt;
The man who has no works to plead,
Will thankful be for it.

To know that when he’s nought to pay,
His debts are all discharged,
Will make him blooming look as May,
And set his soul at large.

No news can be compared with this,
To men oppressed with sin;
Who know what legal bondage is,
And labor but in vain.

Freedom from sin and Satan’s chains,
And legal toil as well,
The gospel sweetly now proclaims;
Which tidings suit them well.

How gladly does the prisoner hear,
What gospel has to tell!
‘Tis perfect love that casts out fear,
And brings him from his cell.

The man that feels his guilt abound,
And knows himself unclean,
Will find the gospel’s joyful sound,
Is welcome news to him.
[WILLIAM GADSBY, 1773-1844]

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19.Jan.12

Red Tails

It may seem a little strange for George Lucas to self-finance an action movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. But it’s a true story with all the hallmarks of an epic tale: downtrodden heroes, lots of adversity, an enemy we love to hate. Red Tails makes for compelling film material.

For an epic tale, it is in many ways narrow in scope. There is little backstory. We begin in Italy, where black airmen are already flying missions. There is little to no information about their backgrounds and training, though it is obvious they are well-educated. There is some story on the ground, enough to keep the film moving and interesting. But it’s also cliched and a little cheesy in moments, in the ways you’d probably expect. And that’s okay.

Take one part Star Wars and one part Top Gun and you’ve got the feel for the battles in-flight. I am not a big action fan, but I enjoyed them.

Red Tails is not going to win many awards. But it’s the kind of movie that needs to keep being made. In a nation full of reality television vapidity, Red Tails is a movie that exposes people to true American heroes who embodied excellence and were willing to sacrifice everything for a country all too ready to count them out. The Tuskegee Airmen were men of courage and of faith. This film honors their memory and is the sort of story that inspires and will continue to do so for many years as children watch it for the first time and are inspired to learn more about their history.

Lucas has mentioned that as he contemplated the project for over two decades, he eventually envisioned the story as a trilogy (surprise, surprise!) However strange it sounds, I would love to see a prequel made that explains the background and training of the men before they reach Europe. A sequel that shows what happens when they return home would also make a worthwhile film. Though Red Tails does stand alone, it feels incomplete, there is just so much story left to be told.

I’d commend Red Tails to you and I think it is more family friendly than the rating (PG-13) implies. The language is pretty clean and the romance is not nearly as racy as 90% of PG-13 movies. (I am happy to describe it for you if you are curious / worried.) The rating is for the violence of war, which is less gruesome in the air than other combat movies. Red Tails opens tomorrow in theaters nationwide.

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18.Jan.12

Wordless Wednesday

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16.Jan.12

There is a Balm in Gilead

I’ve made a little tradition of posting a lengthy quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the day we remember him and the great injustice that he fought. Here’s an excerpt from a sermon he gave in Chicago in August 1967.

And I’ll tell you, I’ve seen the lightning flash. I’ve heard the thunder roll. I felt sin- breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No, never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.

And I’m going on in believing in him. You’d better know him, and know his name, and know how to call his name. You may not know philosophy. You may not be able to say with Alfred North Whitehead that he’s the Principle of Concretion. You may not be able to say with Hegel and Spinoza that he is the Absolute Whole. You may not be able to say with Plato that he’s the Architectonic Good. You may not be able to say with Aristotle that he’s the Unmoved Mover.

But sometimes you can get poetic about it if you know him. You begin to know that our brothers and sisters in distant days were right. Because they did know him as a rock in a weary land, as a shelter in the time of starving, as my water when I’m thirsty, and then my bread in a starving land. And then if you can’t even say that, sometimes you may have to say, “he’s my everything. He’s my sister and my brother. He’s my mother and my father.” If you believe it and know it, you never need walk in darkness.

Don’t be a fool. Recognize your dependence on God. As the days become dark and the nights become dreary, realize that there is a God who rules above.

And so I’m not worried about tomorrow. I get weary every now and then. The future looks difficult and dim, but I’m not worried about it ultimately because I have faith in God. Centuries ago Jeremiah raised a question, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” He raised it because he saw the good people suffering so often and the evil people prospering. Centuries later our slave foreparents came along. And they too saw the injustices of life, and had nothing to look forward to morning after morning but the rawhide whip of the overseer, long rows of cotton in the sizzling heat. But they did an amazing thing. They looked back across the centuries and they took Jeremiah’s question mark and straightened it into an exclamation point. And they could sing, “There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.” And there is another stanza that I like so well: “Sometimes I feel discouraged.”

And I don’t mind telling you this morning that sometimes I feel discouraged. I felt discouraged in Chicago. As I move through Mississippi and Georgia and Alabama, I feel discouraged. Living every day under the threat of death, I feel discouraged sometimes. Living every day under extensive criticisms, even from Negroes, I feel discouraged sometimes. Yes, sometimes I feel discouraged and feel my work’s in vain. But then the holy spirit revives my soul again. “There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.”

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14.Jan.12

“Maybe next Christmas we’ll both be ok”

I’ve had a hard time putting away Christmas this year, which I usually do either Epiphany or the following day, with very little sadness.

Things feel okay at the moment, but tenuously so. As if one or more of us might fall off the wagon and hit another moving-related patch of big feelings. Leaving everything the way it has been was a feeble attempt to control the situation and avoid the chaos.

I took everything off the tree today (with a little help from the girls.) And by end of the weekend, it will all be put away. I do not fear the winter winds. I know that spring will come.

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12.Jan.12

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Peanut Butter Cream Pie is one of my tried-and-true simple desserts. It’s not very difficult or time consuming, but it is very tasty. Because chocolate + peanut butter is a classic combo that is always worth coming back to.

CRUST
8 oz chocolate graham crackers
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/3 sticks of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Pulse together crust ingredients. Press into pie plate. Bake to set (~10m) and cool.

FILLING
1 1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
8 oz block of cream cheese, softened
1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Whip together the whipping cream and sugar, set aside (I use a plate.) In the same bowl, whip together the cream cheese, peanut butter and confectioner’s sugar, then fold in the whipped cream. Fill the pie crust and refrigerate until set.

GANACHE
1 c. heavy whipping cream
8 oz. semisweet chocolate

Warm the cream (don’t boil, but get it hot.) Pour over the chocolate (I use ghiradelli chips.) Whisk together until smooth. Pour melted chocolate mixture over pie. refrigerate for 3 or more hours (the freezer works well if you are in a time crunch.)

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11.Jan.12

Wordless Wednesday

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