cobbler & c.s.

blueberry cobbler's the most recent baking project with christy. we bought a 2-cup bag of frozen blueberries- strain your eyes & you'll see a decent amount of the juice in the pic... initially wondered if it would be too much. but we decided that was actually its strong point- kept it from being sickly sweet & made it just the right level of moist! so, if you try it, & you go with frozen blueberries, once thawed, let any juice from the bag go where it will. another thing i love about this recipe is the touch of cinnamon on top! (and take note of christy's sweet engagement ring :)

here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/very-best-blueberry-cobbler/detail.aspx

and some food for thought from c.s. lewis. currently reading his letters to an american lady. despite never having met in person, their conversation appears to have run the gamut. a lot of chit-chat, but certainly also the depth that the man can't help but go to. check it out on amazon / enjoy the quote below.

http://www.amazon.com/Letters-American-Lady-C-Lewis/dp/080281428X

"we should mind humiliation less if we were humbler. it is, at any rate, a form of suffering which we can try to offer, in our small way, along with the supreme humiliation of Christ Himself. it is the humble and meek who have all the blessings in the magnificat."

this may've been written in response to some humiliating experience the "american lady" had informed him of, but the book only includes lewis's side of the correspondence. in any case, i was challenged. and have a renewed hope that pride & selfishness, by degrees, may die!

"thanks be to God- through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -romans 7:25

Christ the end of the law

Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
-romans 10:4

crazy/amazing that the one who became our righteousness, & therefore saves us, is also Friend. when i think of the holiness needed to atone for sin, the power & strength needed to save a soul, and His utter magnificence & beauty, i’m floored. that He loves. knows. comes near. and i pray for this (Him!) to be all my hope & peace. when i’m not receiving what He offers & trying to forge my own way, when i see His authority & power as divorced from or devoid of tenderness, it seems i’m saying “You might leave me in the lurch...”- indicting words from oswald chambers, who friend liz describes as mad wise.

“let the truth prevail over unbelief”
-keith getty


the photo here is of grandfather (poppa), a few weeks before he passed, & cherith (younger brother's gf). wanted to make a few comments about his funeral last weekend. it was honoring to him, i thought, particularly my uncle tom’s eulogy- eloquent and heartfelt. which didn’t surprise me because tom's a seasoned writer & my wordsmith-hero. afterward, i was telling him how much it blessed the family to hear it. his response was that he felt it was inadequate / didn’t do justice to poppa. as someone who lives by words, he said, “i find more and more that words often fall short.” another highlight of the service was my sister-in-law’s performance of “i will arise & go to Jesus.” she noted poppa’s present/complete Joy in the last lines of the song: “…and in the arms of his dear Savior, oh there are ten thousand charms”

enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKxZAJ3jlxA


on the baking front, i’m coming up dry at the moment. BUT- plans for some sort of cobbler soon with christy. stay tuned :)

for grandfather

i used to stay at your house:
cousin filled slumber parties
soft glow of christmas tree & glitter of gifts beneath
we rolled up with sleeping bags & make-up collections-
not exhausted despite full days of chasing stray cats,
chinese freeze tag, endless photo shoots,
& embarrassing musical performances.

you seemed entertained by all of it;
eyes lit up when your home was holiday-style full,
smile ear to ear at multiple embraces.
you made your trademark dessert- charlotte rousse-
& could've eaten it all by yourself

sweets were your vice; humor- the default;
& world war 2 stories- your expertise.
now your mind and body decline.
the hearty laugh- & coherent narrative flow of glory-day anecdotes-
echo back into a past that can't be retrieved.
you don't recognize ones you once doted on,
you wouldn't recognize yourself

i don't say this to deflate the ones that love you,
who, in a way, you've already left behind,
but somehow with a somber nostalgic recounting
of days before this (the desolate now)
to pay you tribute & say goodbye

-march 2010

we went through fire & water,

& you brought us to a place of abundance- psalm 66:12

looking forward to a song along these lines from friend corrie. this week, we started studying psalm 66 together, & her feeling is that it's best learned by putting it to music. which i'm more than ok with! (other passages she's written songs for are psalms 34 & 46- & she has a voice like jewel, oh man)

the above verse has been sitting on me for a few days. i keep hearing reports of good gospel work in a pain-ravaged haiti; i think about the people i love whose lives are in emotional upheaval- yet they worship Him; i reflect on joseph's "fruitfulness in the land of (his) suffering." it is a marvel. not only am i stunned by His ability to bring joy from sorrow, i'm awestruck at His example of suffering with candor & acceptance ("take this from Me...yet not My will"). sometimes i look around at the ways He's working, & i think, does it have to be this way... couldn't there be "abundance" without the "fire & water"..? but it's a way He has walked & He helps us along. this is such amazing love, my mind can't even start to take it in. it's what author pamela rosewell moore refers to as "safer than a known way."

on another note, it is now spring! & therefore time for play & pimento cheese. hannah's oldest son turns 4 tomorrow...& she's making sandwiches for the park. the pimento sandwiches sound delish yet simple- grated cheddar, cream cheese, mayo, salt/pepper, pimentos, bread- voila!

for all things, awesome Father, make us grateful!