"HAPPYs"

2-13-11

Daughter Molly is always calling to say she’s bought me a “happy”----probably partly due to the fact that she’s already way ahead on “official” designated gift days. I received my Valentine’s gift weeks ago. I have to admit, she is a thoughtful shopper so her gifts are always “right on,” though this frugal mom wishes she would spend the money on her self. This past week, she again revealed ahead of time (via Ma Bell) her most recent gift. She labeled it a “little happy” and it was “perfect” right down to the packaging. The set of bookplates included one with a teapot----so apropos! The packaging alone brought a smile to my face. A teacup with a C.S. Lewis quote that speaks my own heart, “You can’t get a cup of tea BIG enough or a book L O N G enough to suit me.” (I told you it was perfect!)

Her gifts bless my heart. They make me smile. She gives out of her own lack and she gives thoughtfully and not under compulsion; I could learn so much from her.

A happy heart makes the face cheerful,….the cheerful heart has a continual feast. (Proverbs 15:13a &15b)

LITEA

2/12/11 Litea is a bookstore in Budapest and I love the Hungarian spelling because it reflects the two things I so-o-o enjoy in combination---a good book and a cup of tea---a good brisk Assam. I also loved this shop when I visited there on a mission trip in '97. There's just something universal about the smell of a good book store---it's right up there with the glorious smell of leather in an old library. Plus, this one had this small watercolor for sale that enabled me to bring this memory home with me.
I know that as Ecclesiastes 12:12 reminds me, "of making many books there is no end and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body." So, I try to do as The Preacher says, "find delightful words, and to write (and read, DAL) words of truth correctly."
A memory of the smell of good books (worthy of reading), a brisk cuppa and a small painting---a Litea experience right up my alley.

“POT PARTY”

2/11/11 Snow Day # 4 was reminiscent of “pot party” days of years gone by. Not the kind attended by hippies in the 60s, but ones where the Gurners, Higgs and Templetons with kids in tow, would come to our house with a “pot” of soup or spaghetti or chicken & dumplings or “whatever” was available from the pantry. Following sledding at the street hill on Lancaster, we’d come back to warm up and chow down. What fun that was!

So yesterday when I cooked, as I pridefully reported in a previous blog, I pulled out the big pots. Actually it was a lot like those former pantry raids. A recent Kroger sale had netted lots of stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce, so spaghetti was concocted. The potatoes were sprouting so I boiled ‘em in a pot and made potato salad. I had chicken left over and Velveeta in the fridge so HHS teacher, Debbie Gann’s, Tex Mex Cheesy Chicken Chowder was thrown into the mix. (*recipe below by request of the lunch bunch) A pecan pie was added “just because” (translated craving) and though I didn’t have those Pillsbury “unroll, fill and bake” refrigerated pie crusts, that I could borrow from neighbor Gayle in those days, I had the necessary ingredients in the pantry to make a crust using oil. (Certainly didn’t taste as good as when Elnora makes it----but eating around most of the crust and adding ice cream produced a tasty dessert.

But……the “fun” was missing. There was no one around to share it with---especially family and good friends. I’d gone through all the steps as in years past, but our home is an empty nest now---no little ones to share the joy. Isn’t that the way it is when you have something really good, you just want to share it, especially with kids. I want to be alongside my "grands" encouraging them in life----to create a meal from a pantry surplus or leftovers or to be with them at their first sports banquet. I want to watch them as they begin to “taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) I want them to know I Corinthians 10:31….”whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”----even if it's just eating ordinary food out a big old dented pot at their Shug's house.

*Tex Mex Cheesy Chicken Chowder

(a big pot full that serves 16)

1 lg. onion chopped (I used ½ bag of frozen ones b/c that’s all I had.)

1 c. thinly sliced celery

2 cloves garlic, minced (NA so I just sprinkled in the garlic powder from pantry.)

1 T. cooking oil

1 ½lb. cooked boneless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces (I had bone–in and flavor was great.)

2 14ox. Cans chicken broth (I added a little extra broth from my chicken pot.)

1 32 oz. frozen hash browns, loose pack in frozen foods. (I only had 30 oz. & that was plenty.)

1 2.64 oz. Country Gravy mix (Only Pioneer brand pepper gravy in my pantry but it tasted like country.)

2. c. milk (I only had ½c. of skim so I used 1½ c. of half & half for the rest.)

1 8 oz. process cheese cut in chunks (My left over Velveeta was perfect.)

1 16 oz. chunky salsa (Available brand on my shelf was Kroger.)

1 4 ½ can diced green chili pepper. (NA I used 4 left over pepperoncini from the Papa John’s pizza box.)

1. Sauté onions, celery & garlic in oil until veggies are tender.

2. Add broth and potatoes Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer 5-7 min., stirring occasionally.

3. In medium bowl, dissolve gravy mix into milk. Stir in cheese, salsa and chilies. Add to “pot” along with the chicken. Reduce heat to low. Cook until cheese melts.

Fantasy Blog

2/10/11 You know you can’t ever truly believe what you read on a blog because bloggers want to put their best foot forward----I just recently read that. I should have read it sooner so I could “spruce” up my blog life for public viewing. It is true that I don’t tell all---maybe I’m sitting on the couch with laptop in (well, in my lap, where else) surrounded by laundry that needs folding. A few weeks ago I “lost” a roast and I chose not to tell that because how does one lose a roast between taking it out to thaw and coming home to an empty counter. The search that ensued was dramatic, with hubby, the bloodhound of most lost things at our house (most usually lost by me), checking everything from garbage cans and car trunks to my closet. We assumed eventually our nose would lead us to it---similar to those years of “lost” Easter eggs. I figured it was just in the lost items black hole with my swimsuit, numerous gloves, (my newest replacement pair lost yesterday on the coldest day of the year) car keys, MEMORY etc. Said roast was eventually found 10 days later in the freezer as friend Hal had suggested---though both eagle-eyed Larry and I had checked all 3 freezers numerous times.

Why is it so important to appear as something we are not? Why do we want to appear organized, thoughtful and smart, not to mention spiritual, as if we never miss a quiet time? Do we have it all together? Not at my house.

That desire is a cover-up for all our perceived inadequacies because we know “man looks on the outside.” We are people pleasers! "The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)

How many times do we need to be reminded to “never compare our insides with someone else’s outsides?”

Galatians 1:10 offers some great questions for pondering. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Am I trying to please men? I thought about that as I was cooking today. (I was cooking---are you impressed---even making a homemade pie crust, though it wasn’t as light and tasty as when Elnora makes it) I rationalized that if I told too many of my foibles, folks wouldn’t want to read the blog because they would know how really pitiful I was, then how would I encourage or inspire? But God…..He let me keep the same title but made me include a few of the latest life snafus---because just sharing the good stuff would be a fantasy…..though I did sneak in the cooking part.

*Vanity of vanities, I didn’t even want to use my own "reminder finger" in the picture because it’s wrinkled, a touch arthritic and I don’t “do” manicures.

Solitude Sought

2/9/11 Duties. Details. Distractions. So many of those “D” words have been crowding my “quiet side” lately. I know many folks probably think I don’t even have a quiet side…..but God has shown me I need such. Just today as I sat curled up on the couch watching the snow falling quietly and gracefully, I was grateful for the time just to sit.

Do you ever ache for some quiet, yearn for some solitude? Job 3:26 says, “I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” That verse shows the root of turmoil---lack of peace, lack of quietness, lack of rest.

Need to relieve your life of turmoil? Try a little solitude.

Maybe I, (and you?) in solitude, need to quietly reconnect with the One who reenergizes….. “in quietness and trust is your (my) strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

Meet Ian

2/7/11 This delightful (even when he is on heavy pain meds) young 15 year old from Texas, will undergo surgery here in Memphis tomorrow morning at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital. The surgical team will remove some tumors from his brain. Ian has TS (tuberous sclerosis), a very rare disease that causes non-malignant tumors to grow in the brain and on other organs such as the kidneys, heart eyes, lungs and skin. A side effect of the TS is epilepsy and Ian has a very rare form of this seizure disorder. He had his first seizure five years ago. However, the more serious disease of TS was not diagnosed until approximately 2 ½ yrs later.

He had his first surgery this past Tuesday (2/1) and is doing remarkably well---with much of the swelling subsiding. He can now open his left eye again. Even in the midst of all of that, he had a way of capturing my heart. He let me know right away that he was going to be rooting for the Packers in the Super Bowl---guess who became my team of choice!! His southern Louisiana roots were clearly showing when, in somewhat of a slurred voice, he declared Memphis wings to be rather on the “wimpy” side. Naturally I had to introduce him to some serious “hot” wings from D’Bo’s---even promising to bring him some of D’bo’s “suicide” variety once he’d fully recouped. I wouldn’t want to send that new head of his into a tail spin trying to “digest” those things----though he assures me he will be up to the challenge.

The way that I was introduced to Ian was such a God thing---something I don’t take lightly. So, I will be praying for him as he begins his “BIGGIE” operation in the morning around 7:30 a.m. Prayers for---wisdom and skill for the doctors, exact location of the 2 large and possibly the third tumor that need to be removed, diminished pain following the surgery and extra measures of mercy and grace for Ian and his mom and dad, Jody and Wally, his brother Wes, his grandma (affectionately called fam-maw by him as a youngster) and his aunt Dawn plus a host of others whom I have yet to meet.

May all the Wrights "be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." (Romans 12:12)

Now you’ve met Ian---allow God to move in your heart on his behalf.

SCRIPTURE MEMORY

2/6/11 ….was probably not written at the top of my 4^th grade homework sheet but that, in fact, was our assignment. Mrs. Munday (Alice M. Piper) would just tell us to learn Psalm 8 by heart so that we could recite it with the class----or Psalm 23, Psalm 24, or Psalm 121.

I assume today that learning by heart would be considered an idiom for memorizing. Yet, I think she had the right idea for if we learned something well enough that it became a part of our thought patterns, we then could be recite it quite easily without “contrived thinking.”

I really like that idea of learning by heart. Of course, I like everything that Mrs. Munday did. You might remember that she’s the one who held me in her lap when I cried over division. She took the “complex” elements of that arithmetic operation and separated them for me so that I could understand the inverse of multiplication.

Lately, I’ve wished she were close by so that I could ask her to help me move from the complex to the simple in scripture memory operations because I continue to struggle. For example, I still stumble over, Isaiah 41:10, which I received many times & in a variety of forms during my cancer journey. It’s a verse of trusting God and keeping fear at bay while being assured that He will continually give me all the strength I need and help me in any and every situation while holding me up in His righteousness

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I have certainly learned the meaning of this simple verse in my heart ---maybe that is more important than the recitation. If not, the simplified version, “Do NOT be dismayed, for I am your God…will continue to remind me daily of the “heart” of this verse---as it is reflected in the antique mirror that sits on my chest. This gift is from Michèle, my fellow MAC (cancer) sojourner, who understands that in the “new normal” things don’t always work as well as they once did, even scripture memory.

Are you thirsty?

2/5/11 This month hubby and I have decided not to “drink” any calories. That’s a “toughy” for me, so I’m grateful it’s a short month. I, unlike hubby, am not an artificial sweetener person. I like my cuppa with real sugar, and more than one lump is needed. I’m a sweet tea kinda gal. That other stuff just doesn’t cut it for me. It doesn’t satisfy. I have a taste for the real thing though I admit that cutting back on my sugar intake has probably been healthier for me. I have even tried the natural sweetener, Truvia,™ a few times but basically I’ve quit drinking much. That’s really not a good thing. Dehydration can appear pretty quickly, so I’ve been carrying around a big glass of water to ward off these symptoms. I don’t like that parched sensation. I long for that sip of “sweet tea” but drink good ole pure Memphis tap water instead.

Just last week, Dr. Crawford Loritts spoke of thirst in the Bible as being a picture of deep longing. He reminded us that though there are sometimes droughts in our soul, those droughts can be beneficial because they increase our longing for Him.

Water for our physical life is a matter of life and death. Spiritually it’s much the same. Psalm 42:1-2 gives us a picture of that truth. The deer in the verse pants longingly at the moving stream---he’s drinking from a living stream, not some dead stagnant pond. It’s where he gets his refreshment and satisfaction. We thirst with a longing and yearning from our inmost being. The cry of our soul thirsts for the living God. Nothing else will do.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Are you thirsty?

French Toast "Run"

2/4/11 Snow’s a-comin’ !!! Everytime snow is in the forecast, I, like many of you, have made a French toast “run.” (bread, milk and eggs) I have literally “run into” lots of folks doing the same thing. It’s like a battleground at Kroger for that last gallon of lactose free milk or a race as people jockey in line at the self-check out. It reminds me of the stories Larry would tell of his mom dragging him to the Clover Day sales at the old Goldsmith’s downtown at Main & Gayso. (Anyone have any idea why they were called “cloverday” sales?) He said that inevitably she would drag him to this big bin of lingerie where women would push, shove and grab for the seemingly last bra available.

Why are we like that? Pushing, shoving, grabbing, & running---unaware or worse, uncaring, of others around us. Why the panic? It’s not like we don’t have a grocery store or Walgreen’s on every corner or new sales and coupons at Macey’s every week. Is it indicative of our greed or is it a trust issue. Are we really going to starve if we miss a meal?

It’s not about us as Rick Warren reminds us in Purpose Driven Life. So why do we continue to act like it is---not just obnoxiously but even subtly? It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about the Lord and His purposes. His purposes for us. His purposes for others, through us, as we share and supply His love. (Philippians 4:10-14)

It’s about Him who daily supplies all our needs ---the One who provides a lot more than “French toast.” “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost……” (Isaiah 55:1-3)

2/5/11 No snow came, but this morning I used those "supplies" for making some good French toast!

Little Altars Everywhere……………

2/2/11 ………………is more than just a title of a novel I read in 1993. The sequel, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, came out 5 years later. I know these things not from memory, but because all of this info is noted in one of my book journals. At best, these notations are a hodgepodge sketch of what I’ve read. BTW, these books are not a spiritual read---but more like dysfunctional reality books that are set in Louisiana in the 60s.

It’s the word altar from that title that has captured me lately. It had me wondering if I had altars scattered throughout my life. “Mizbe'ah,” Hebrew for “altar,” means “to slay” though altars evoke thoughts of sacred places. A sacred place where I knelt (on the maroon cushioned pads at the altar of FUMC in Hoptown) as I took communion alongside Daddy. A religious rite of bowing down and worshipping the One who was slain for me. One worthy of my worship at that altar.

What are the altars in my life? From a previous entry, folks know that I have built altars of ease and convenience. What am I so-o-o worshipping that I’m giving up, or sacrificing, or in effect slaying other things for, in order to keep these altars in my life? Ask yourself that hard question. Some of these sacrifices are very costly. How many altars are you erecting in your life? . “Not so little” altars of affluence or materialism seem to be erected in the homes of many Americans.

Recently, during a conversation with a young man, I became aware of his lifestyle being one of sacrificing the eternal on the altar of the immediate. (pleasure & instant gratification) That, my friends, is a very dangerous altar. But before we begin to look down our noses at those damaging choices, we need to consider the number of times we, too, have sacrificed opportunities with eternal implications because we were kneeling at the altar of busyness. Have you ever sacrificed relationships on the altar of work?

In the past I have certainly sacrificed time with family on the “altar of books.” But God …..showed me how I, at times, had wisely balanced & combined the two by sharing that book loving part of me with my own children. There it was in writing at the bottom of the page containing “Little Altars…” a list of books I had read aloud in 1993 to Josh and Molly. Josh was a senior in high school and he still shared that time with me. To this day he and Molly both talk about The Education of Little Tree as one of their favorite books from our read-aloud times. Even when they were in elementary and junior high, they listened as I read aloud Good-by Mr. Chips (9) and The Yearling (12) each morning to their older brother, Buddy. Shared adventures, through books with one’s kids, bring balance and topple self-serving altars. It’s those “self-serving little altars” we need to topple.