Thursday, May 20, 2010

first attempt


took a stab at a pioneer woman recipe this week! kinda funny because i met her months ago- at a book signing in atlanta that friends caroline & stacy were going to. was easily convinced to go along for the qt w/the girls but went away... intrigued. fun that lately bff hannah's been perusing her recipes. we commit to trying her chocolate cobbler; we make it whilst her husband jon is on the GM diet (banana day!)...so, more cobbler for us. i do realize pw's pictures are much more glamorous & appealing- & her meticulous step by step is pretty great:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/05/a-tasty-recipe-my-grannys-chocolate-cobbler/

it seemed a little strange to us that after the bottom layer (flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa, sugar, milk, butter & vanilla mixed), & then the crumbly layer, we were told to pour 1.5 c of water on top...but as odd as it looked going in to the oven, it came out a beautiful, delicious mess. we were surprised that it wasn't ridiculously rich, though maybe the last bite of a serving will do you in :)

literary update: still trudging through, in a good way, letters to an american lady (c.s. lewis). it's unlike me to focus on one book at a time. but letters is pretty packed & i've re-read a number of the passages. his letter dated june 7, 1959, hit on paul's declaration in philippians 1 that "to live is Christ, to die is gain." clive would argue that paul's not being morbid but expressing a healthy perspective here. more on this later!

another treat in letters- wife joy takes the pen for a moment, when husband grew weary of his insane correspondence commitments. this was my first exposure to her perspective on life, love, etc. i so wish i could sit & have coffee w/this woman. appreciated her insight into why it can be hard to receive help. she had to be waited on a good bit once she became ill; this dependence attacked her pride; but she learned to recognize that if a person gives/helps another, it's for their joy in the faith & their spiritual growth...& why would i want to get in the way of that!?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

things to consider

faithful encouragers in my life have recently pointed these things out to me... things that i/we need to recall but are so easy to forget...

psalm 107:43- "let him who is wise consider the great love of the Lord"

"only one thing is needed... mary chose it"

"Jesus as the Christ-Prophet is more believable in what He says about you than what you feel about yourself"

"our depths of doubt and sense of the darkness in our hearts lead us to perishable thoughts yet they war with those of hope eternal. in the end, the latter prevaileth!"


...& still enjoying lewis's letters to an american lady. will probably report on take-aways once i'm done, but continuing to benefit from his thoughts on suffering/humility interspersed w/his ramblings about the dailiness. i'm also impressed w/the way he typically signs off- by promising to pray for her if he can't sleep & expressing his hope that "our Lord will support you as only He can."

!!!

also- will do some baking tonight w/christy- maybe zucchini (or banana?) bread. one more round before she moves away forever & enters into marital bliss.