WWPD

i came home last night to a quiet house after a weekend up in DC for a wedding. traditionally, this is a time when roaches are at their peak at winyah manor. but i had a new experience last night: roach in kitchen sink (RKS). a kitchen sink (for once) not lined/stacked with dirty dishes. i calmly steered it toward the garbage disposal & rinsed/grinded it down, not wanting to take the time to run & get roach spray, & thinking a shoe wouldn't be so practical for the space i was working with. and i don't know if it was b/c i'd just driven back from DC & it was fresh on my mind, or if it was b/c of recent discussion on the point, but pedro came to mind. pedro is your friendly South of the Border (SOB) employee. multiple south of the border billboards ("caliente!") greeted us on our travels up & back this weekend. and the SOB complex tried to lure us with its kitschy sombrero decor & various restaurants & shops. but we didn't stop. even though it's america's self-proclaimed "favorite highway oasis"...

i'd recently heard talk of the bathrooms there, as in, they are deplorably messy (& the opposite of oasis-like). so when i encountered RKS, i thought about pedro & wondered what he would do (WWPD). i tend to think he's pretty laidback. and with the amount of roaches he's likely seen & inevitably been charged with killing, i feel like he'd be pretty unphased. i hope he'd be proud of my handling of RKS, & should there be an RBS, RSC, or RMBW (roach in bathroom sink, roach in shower curtain, roach in master-bedroom wardrobe), i hope i'll have the wherewithal to react as pedro would. SOB is, actually, up to standards apparently. their eateries' DHEC grades are solid A's, though i don't think it was in round 1 that said grades were acquired. i'll also add, as some of you may already know, they have a sweet wedding-weekend package. waterbed in honeymoon suite, breakfast included. a mere 99 dollars. nuptials at SOB! can't fully tell you how excited i was to learn this.

and lest you think that either 1) i'm making assumptions by referring to an SOB employee as pedro, or 2) that i'm fabricating the 99-dollar wedding deal, check it out here:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2211

kneading & more kneading, & some learning

a friend who has a bread-making hobby (skill!! gift!?) recently shared tips she learned while living w/ a retired couple in the country last year. quote of the day while baking: "it makes me feel like a pilgrim." below is her rough how-to for making white bread, rough only b/c she's become so familiar w/ it that she eyeballs most of it. the process takes a few hours due to the kneading, letting it rise, kneading again, etc.*

Jeannie's Home-made Bread
- a mug of lukewarm water w/ 2 yeast packets
- 1/3 c. oil
- another mug filled w/ lukewarm water
- 1/4 c. sugar
keep adding flour to the above till it's dough. knead dough, place back in bowl to rise (pour a little oil in bowl to keep bread from drying out as it rises); after an hour or so, knead again & let it rise. after another hr., knead & fold dough into 2 loaves. cooking spray in 2 bread pans, bake at 375 for 15 (ish) minutes


also- recent encouragement from psalm 25:14 & john 15:15- "He confides in those who fear Him..." (The Message says "God-friendship is for God-worshippers"), & "i have called you friends"...

help! the vast chasm that is the human heart will only rest & be contented in this kind of companionship. so i'm encouraged to draw from Him & know Him myself as deeply as possible this side of eternity, & to direct others there. thankful for reminders from godly women in my life to ASK Him for this & to keep in mind that it's a PROCESS. and growing in this Love, we increasingly want to dispense it & say "come & see"/"BEHOLD! what love He's lavished." oswald explains it well:

"The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost, to the end of all my sin and meanness and selfishness and wrong, will send me forth into the world to love in the same way. God's love to me is inexhaustible, and I must love others from the bedrock of God's love to me."
- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, May 11th


*a secret re: the bread- you can't knead too much b/c the bread becomes increasingly fluffy the more kneading you do. think PROCESS.