Good Morning! How's your Saturday? I'm just happy to be here - it's been a long week. Sigh.
1. There's a winter storm moving through and I can hear the sleet coming down outside as I type. I'm hoping we don't lose power. If we don't, what a perfect weekend it will be! A couple of days spent at home sipping hot coffee, reading, writing, drawing, painting cabinets, catching up on emails, working on some computer/church/friend projects.... and, yes - doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, and straightening out some messes we've let accumulate around here!
2. I drew another doodle frame yesterday. See the photo above. :-) It's the view from my front door this morning. Brrr...
3. On Reading: I'm still reading
Madonnas of Leningrad and have started listening to
Skeletons at the Feast. Both are World War II novels. In my Bible reading plan I've moved from Genesis to Exodus and from Luke to Acts. Also - while having a pedicure last Saturday, I flipped through an 'O' magazine (Horrors! I know, but it was either that or Entertainment Weekly. I forgot to bring something of my own to read.) and came across a description of
this book. Might have to get it. I am intrigued by anything to do with walking the Camino (I so want to do it myself!) and the tie-in with cancer is timely for me right now as I stand on the sidelines and watch a friend fight the good fight. Also, what do you think of
this book?
4. I was so, so proud of Matt Thursday night. He was asked to speak at the open house for Mary's school. They wanted him to give a parent's point of view on why we've chosen Christian education for our girls in general and Christian
Classical education in particular. (We've been with this little school for a long time - eight years, I suppose. I've been a school board member, teacher, and administrator. Matt's served as a board member, too. Now, we're "just" parents and it's fun to see the school thriving! God used us for a season and now we're watching as He takes the ball and passes it on to others.)
But - back to Matt and Thursday night. He followed three other speakers and a video. He had told me a little of what he planned to say and by the time all the others were done I was thinking, "Oh, no. They've said everything he was going to say." Also, the program had been going on for an hour and he was the final speaker. Adults don't usually do well sitting still and listening for an hour, so I really thought he was going to bomb. I could feel the tension in the air: people were ready to get out of there, see the classrooms, and talk to the teachers. Plus, there's something else you don't know about Matt that I'll probably have to write a post about one of these days: he's a recovering
glossophobe. Seriously.
He nailed it. He was funny (appropriately so - way to go, George!), he was passionate, he was sincere, and he was clear and concise. It's the best I've ever heard him speak in public. It's been on a long and sometimes bumpy road over the past 18 years from the Speech 101 class Matt was forced to take his last semester in order to graduate from LSU. (He threw up when he just had to give a three sentence introduction of himself.) But he persevered. God kept putting him in positions that required him to speak in front of large groups. (Funny how He does things like that to us, huh?) And Matt was faithful, trusting God and just doing the best he could at the time. Love you, George!
5. So, I told you in an
earlier post I was going to try a new recipe this week for White Pizza. It was very well received by the family. Here's the twist I put on it:
2 packages of
Indian tandoori bread (garlic flavor) (four pieces)
2 7oz. cartons of
low-fat basil pesto2 cups of mozzarella cheese, grated
1 rotisserie chicken, deboned and cut in bite size pieces.
2 smallish tomatoes, sliced
4 teaspoons pine nuts
Spread half of a pesto carton on each piece of bread. Layer with pieces of chicken. (You probably won't use the whole chicken.) Cover with sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle on pine nuts and then cheese. Put on a baking sheet and cook in a 350 degree oven for about ten minutes until the edges of the bread is turning brown. Slice and serve with salad. Super, super yummy. Changes I'm considering: adding onions, toasting the pine nuts to get more crunch, and making my own pesto.
6. I got this email from my 75 year old Dad yesterday:
Hello sweetheart
Your daddy set fire to the neighborhood yesterday. It burned up my bait house, my shinner tank and all of the shinners, my gold fish tank with my goldfish, my worm box( I think the worms are alright, I will have to get a new box.) It burned the roof on the green house. We called the fire department and they came out real fast and got the fire under control. It will take me awhile to clean all of it up and then rebuild what was burned. I will contact the insurance company today and see what they will do. I have a 500 dollar deductable. Other than that we are doing fine.
I love you
Daddy
I think I'm going to get in my truck and head down there next weekend to help him clean it up. Probably will take Mary with me. We'll have a great, great time! :-)
7. I've been pondering this phrase from
Home (which has a lot to do with growing old):
"Jesus never had to be old." Well, yes, that's true. He also never had to be a parent, a woman, or sick. But, He showed great compassion to each of those. He
raised children from the dead and
welcomed them into his arms. He not only
healed women of their illnesses but took
the time to talk to them and treat them as equals to men in a culture that saw women as property. And of course He cared about
the sick and
physically impaired. Jesus, as God with flesh, came to Earth as a very specific man and lived a very specific life. He couldn't live every possible life that could exist. But I believe if you read the Gospels closely, you can find His heart for every possible
human condition and take comfort there. He loves us all - young and old, sick and healthy, wives and husbands, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, wealthy and poor, educated and not - and we can all find truth and comfort in His life and in His arms.
Stay warm, bloggy friends!
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