Progressive dinners that provide history

Every year for the past 5 years, our little history group, (2 other dear families and us) get together once a month for dinner, because we love and need each other. Our family doesn't have a lot of contact with our greater family because of distance or awkwardness, so we are blessed to have friends who act as surrogate family. Some of them live far away,  some live near. But really, so many of you have helped our family feel loved and cared for during this challenging year and I thank God for you.

Every Christmas, we have a progressive dinner--first appetizers at one home, then main meal at another home, and finally desert at the third home. We all take turns every year as to what we will have at our house.

All of our the older children of all of the families who live far away, try to come into town so we can all do this before Christmas. Gifts are given to most everyone--most little, but always the way we end the night--gifts, singing carols and having fun. We are all so loud and "talky" and close that it is a cherished time.

Yesterday in the kitchen, our kids said, "We haven't had the opportunity to be real close to real family, but God has really blessed us over the years with friends who make us feel like we have family and then they started naming all of the people who have loved us and adopted us. I am very grateful and thanking God for them--how they have all helped us through this year. I couldn't have made it through some of the obstacles of this year without sweet friends who have been so generous to love us.

Thanks for those who have extended love so generously to us this year. We are so very grateful.

Be blessed in His love today.

Everyone you know needs your grace, every day, today--no perfect people

The longer they are home, the more grateful I am---really. I love who my children are inside--and that somehow they are still all idealists.

Last night, after a dinner of homemade soup and a great movie, most of us were sitting around in our den looking at our computers and phones and checking to see if anyone had loved or noticed us in the last 2 hours. :)

Then we all started commenting on statuses of friends old and new on facebook. Then we started judging a few pics and choices and things that had happened to people......

Then one of my kids said, "Just look at us, we are all sitting around being petty--we need to stop being gossips and get off of facebook and just keep enjoying this great night."

He was right.

I can have a quiet time and walk out the door and be impatient with someone in my family who I love--and get angry.

I can be committed to encouraging women in the Lord and read all sorts of books and pray and have quiet times and still I am shocked at what silliness and selfishness can bubble out of my mouth without any contemplation.

Wretched woman that I am......

And then I read Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

"I came to set the captives free," He said.

I am captive to my own human frailty, my own limitations, my own small-minded self.

But he saw me in my need and decided to have compassion. He gave me grace, He came and love and lived so that I would not have to live in this captivity to my own limitations of my human, sinful self.

Today I am so very grateful that He came, He forgave, He sees me as though I am not little in spirit, but He sees me with the eyes of His love that covers my fragile state of being.

I had cancer of the soul, and He became my anecdote, my healing.

The older I get the more grateful I am,

and the more I see my need and pettiness and selfish heart,

the more I am so very grateful for His grace

and the more I receive this grace in the midst of my own need,

the more willing I am to extend His grace to others, assuming that maybe, just like me, they need it, too.

And so today, I have realized that everyone in my life means well, just as I mean to be good, but has probably fallen short, just like me.

And today, I see that everyone I know needs His Christmas grace.

A Cool Christmas tradition--Raspberry soup

Once on a hot summer's day, I was searching the streets of Budapest, Hungry, for an apartment where a Christian contact was awaiting our arrival. We called the telephone number that we had been given, but no one answered. Our instructions, as young missionaries working in a Communist country behind the iron curtain, we were given instructions to find a local cafe and wait one hour until we called again. (Sometimes if the secret police were near by, and a family was expecting us, the hosts would not answer the phone in order to warn us to stay away.) And so, my friend and I found a tiny, smoky cafe and entered to see if we could find something delicious to eat while we were waiting. We found a tiny, round table in the corner with a lovely woven traditional flowered table cloth, fresh carnations in a red clay vase and soft music wafting in the background. Seems we had found a jewel of a place.

Our waitress immediately knew we were Americans and talked to us in broken English. We asked her if they had a speciality. Her reply was, "Have you had our cold raspberry soup?"

I had never heard of any kind of berry soup, but we couldn't speak a word of Hungarian and as berries were in season, we took  a chance.

Heaven couldn't have produced better fare for us that day! Light, sweet with a touch of sour, whip cream and berries--all cold and smooth.

Every Christmas when I have friends over for lunch, we always have cold raspberry soup as the starter--red for Christmas and special for a unique tradition--a favorite taste of our family and a celebration whenever we eat it. So here is my recipe:

Chilled Raspberry Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 bags frozen raspberries or around 18-20 ounces. I thaw them the day before I make the soup in my fridge.
  • 1-1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup white zinfandel or sweeter wine (if desired--not necessary) Do not use a very sour cooking wine.
  • 1 cup cranberry apple juice or cranberry -raspberry juice
  • 1/2 -1 cup of sugar to taste
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 t. ground cloves
  • 1 -2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 (8 ounce) container  raspberry yogurt (I use the Greek yoghurt)
  • whipped cream or sour cream--depending on preference

Directions

  1. In a blender, puree raspberries, water and wine if desired. (Taste to see if it is the right consistency for you--some like it thick, some like it thinner--juice or water will thin it.) Transfer to a large saucepan; add the cran-raspberry juice, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. (I have had sweet raspberries and some that were sour. If they are sour, they will need a little bit more sugar. Be sure it blends in.)
  2. Bring just to a boil over medium heat.
  3. Remove from the heat; strain if you want it totally smooth,  and allow to cool. (I grind my raspberries so much in the blender that you cannot notice the seeds, but sometimes cooks strain the seeds out to make it totally smooth.) Whisk in lemon juice and yogurt. Refrigerate long enough to cool. To serve, pour into small bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream.
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Every year I go to a craft store and buy up the little packets of inexpensive ornaments (the reindeer) and give them as little favors to my friends. Here was our setting this year. This is a simple treat to enjoy--we put a big dollop of whip cream on top of our soup--yuuummmmmm!! Enjoy.

PS TO ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS:

1. Best served cold so allow at least 2 hours in the fridge to cool off--or over night as it is so lovely when chilled.

2. As to servings, not quite sure! You can see that sometimes I serve it in these little fruit cups so when I do it this way, it goes a long way. Just figure out about how many ounces everything adds up to and divide it by the size of bowl you want it to serve. (In other words, if you do one batch and it is 32 oz of raspberries, 3-4 cups liquid (another 32 ounces) then you have 10 6 ounce servings (which would be large) or more if you do smaller bowls.

Enjoy and use as a tradition--it is a surprise whenever I serve it to people who have never heard of it and it is delicious and nutritious!

 

Ho, Ho, Ho! Today I am an elf.....

Norman Rockwell

Shopping at Sam's as the snow began to fall--food for the week, for 2 parties, for Nathan coming home tonight, for all sorts of fun. I love, love that my home is filled with all of my family.

Then, I shopped for 10 Christmas presents and felt very proud of my finds--I tend to get 10 of the same things for friends if I get what I like and a good deal.

Unpacked everything. I made chile for 30 people, (it will become frito pie with cheese, sour cream, cheese and fritos--a fav of the kids on cold nights!) to come for a Christmas party tonight. Joy and her friends are decorating cookies,  and having a cookie decorating contest, going caroling, and then watching Muppet Christmas Carol. We have been excited all week. So sad for some to not come but the house is filling up!

However, it is snowing outside, 6 degrees and so a few people are starting to cancel.

We have been excited all week. So sad for some to not come but the house is filling up!

Maybe we will have a make-up party for them on Wednesday night--such is the situation in Colorado.

Joel is on the way back from the airport in Denver picking up Nathan--took him 1 hour and 45 minutes for a 50 minute drive--they are still not home yet--will have to have the cookies Nathan wants when he walks in the door. Clay still hasn't made it home and people are stuck on the hill coming up to our house--oh fun---another adventure but we are all a bit used to this and happy to be partying on such a night.

Candles lit, fireplaces burning, and I am one happy mama and figuring out how I can sleep everyone here tonight if the 16 people who have come get snowed in--of course they are all hoping so!

Off to make a welcome sign for Nathan. Stir the chile. Get out the drinks........

So what are you doing today?

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So 20 people showed up and the kids caroled and caroled and were asked into a home where they helped to decorate a tree and drank hot chocolate--now some playing piano, some on the floor with feet up to the fireplace and others eating in the kitchen.

Nate and Joel got home after 4  hours from the start and we have talked and eaten cookies while the carolers were out and now the "boys"--Clay and 2 boys--doing music in basement--Nathan and Clay on guitar and Joel on piano--and Sarah and I looking for a movie to watch upstairs in my bedroom together. Still snowing--guess we will have some stay the night.

Sweet dreams!

 

Who are you listening to? Wise or fools?

Mauryey Gottleeb

He who walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20

Who is informing your decisions?

What peer pressure are you succumbing to?

Are there fools in your life who will indeed eventually cause you harm--to your life decisions? Your personal contentment? Your walk with God? Your family? Are people giving you the freedom to compromise essential ideals that will have long term consequences?

Are you deciding how to live your life by the voices of your peers, the world?

Who is wise that is regularly investing in your life? Is it a person who has long term integrity?

Are you living from a plan or randomly from philosophy to philosophy?

He who walks with the wise will become wise---find wisdom, hold fast to wisdom, look for wise people and ask them to invest in you, read them, follow them, cultivate relationships with wise people--go to conferences where wise, people who have lived life well, are speaking, seek models of excellence, read great writers of the faith---you can walk with the wise and it will rub off on you..

 

Incarnating His Life inside the Walls of Home

Artist unknown

"“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Isaiah 2:3

Over and over God brings me back to my purposes--that through me, others may learn of Him, love Him, know Him,

That when all come into my home, they would sense, immediately, His welcome, undivided Spirit, His gentleness,

That my home would be a repository of Him and His life in many dimensions--

Enjoy and dwell in His love

See His beauty

Know His approval

Be inspired to live valiantly for HIs purposes

Experience His joy

Be inspired to live a holy, excellent life of beautiful moral character and sacrifice

Understand the vast truth and wisdom of His soul from His word

Find healing

Know deep forgiveness,

All these things I want my home to be and more. There is an energy to the Life of God that fills the hearts of those in His presence. I want that when people enter my arena, they feel His presence.

God desires to pour out Himself through us to a people who long for His reality. Yet, we must be filled up with God in order for our lives to be a channel of Him.

Yet it is only when I invest in Him, HIs word, in obedience to His will, that I fill my soul with His truth, that there will be His substance from which others can draw.

I have realized, in my own life, the sin of selfishness, lack of love, peer pressure to conform, guilt, anger, lust, idols, unrighteous call out to me, to us,  through the voice of the world every day. These life-sucking voices and pressures harden our hearts to create indifference and hardness of heart to what His priorities and holiness would give us to be His life in our worlds.

And so, today, as I have invested time, precious time, in Him and His word, I am drawn back to remember what is on His heart, what matters. I cannot give to others of Him, unless He is the primary influence and filler of my heart.

This busy season, I want to do whatever it takes to fill up my soul with Him, that I may give Him to others, especially this season where I want to truly celebrate and worship Him, the God with us.

I Remember,..., A Rose--my side of the story

Christmas Eve found me huffing and puffing over a cabinet overflowing with dough. Cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, herb and onion bread for the Shepherd's meal that very evening, and I was into my own vortex checking off a mental list of all that had to be finished. Stockings, wrap presents, call my family, make the potato soup and fill the cookie trays......on and on the list grew.

Charming 11 year old, golden blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, marched into the kitchen with a purpose to his step.

"Mom, I know you are busy, but there is something real important I need to talk to you about. I need you to come right now!"

A little tightness wrapped itself around my attitude. My thoughts, "Hello! Can't you see that I am up to my elbows in dough? Do you really know how much I am doing to make all of you happy? I am doing this for you. Can't you just see what I am up to and wait for just a little bit?"

My words, "Honey, I am a little busy right now. Can you just wait for a few minutes? Why don't you talk to me right here--I am happy to listen to you."

"Mom, we need to have privacy. It won't take long. If you could just come with me for a few minutes, I really need to talk to you."

Something in my heart said, "You need to take time. He is not usually this insistant in the middle of the day. Give him your focussed attention for just a few minutes."

And so I reluctantly wiped my hands clean, put the dough down and said, "Ok, Nate, let's go to my bedroom. No one is there."

He seemed to be holding something behind his back and wanted me to go in front of him.

I walked ahead of him into my bedroom, sat on our little love seat next to our bed and said, trying to smile amidst the tension I was feeling, "Now, Nathan, what did you want to talk about?"

Then, with a smile from cheek to cheek, he gingerly pulled out one long stem red rose from behind his back and presented it to me.

"Mom, I was thinking about all that you do to make us happy and I wanted to give you a present before I got all of my presents tomorrow to let you know I love you and really appreciate you ahead of time. So here is my present, mom. I made Dad take me to the store and I got a red rose for you because I appreciate all that you do for us. Do you like it?

Of course, you could have pushed me over with a feather. I was shocked, surprised, touched, and the tears began to flow and my heart began to melt.

"Nathan, that might be the sweetest, most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given to me. Thank you with all of my heart."

And so I drew his "little-boyness" body to myself and gave a great big hug and kissed him on his smiling cheek.

"I will never forget this. I adore you, sweet Nathan."

And now I saw my extraverted, bubbling over, boy in a whole new light.

And now you can read his memory of the same story on his wonderful  blog: https://nathanjclarkson.wordpress.com/

Can't wait till he comes home Monday night--so sweet to think of what is still in the heart of this, my own little boy, grown up--getting ready to be married. I can hardly wait till we can go out for coffee or breakfast, just us, and catch up on all the details of each other's lives.

Prince of Peace be near me today

And He shall be called ... Prince of Peace

"Peace I leave with you, peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful, Believe in God. Believe also in me. In this world you have tribulation. Take courage. I have overcome the world."

Peace be with you, the Lord is near.

The fruit of the spirit is peace..........

Today, I am seeking peace, the peace of God who is with me,

in the midst of dishes, college loans coming due,

discussions, money,

cookies, tea and hot chocolate,

relationship tension with others outside our walls,

moving in, moving out,

wrapping presents, washing more dishes,

prayer and morning devotions

deadlines, sweet heart talks and back rubs,

sitting in a dark room with only the lights all around twinkling

giving myself grace and breathing in Him--His presence--His rulership--His peace

Seeking His peace. He is with me, He is here, He is the Prince of Peace today.

Not exactly picture perfect, but still good

This is my family--as Joy says, "We're special." but not picture perfect..........

Not Exactly the Picture Perfect Family

Is anyone tired yet? I am tired but mostly, blissfully so. (Only a few teary, over-whelmed moments--but then isn't that a part of the tension of family life and then trusting the Lord?) Sarah, my 27 year old daughter, is home now for 2 weeks, before she goes to Oxford in England.  She is filled to the brim with newly espoused ideals and thoughts. Joy, 16,  is in Sense and Sensibility for 12 performances this season, which means late nights and an exhausted body and lots of running around. Joel, 25, is home and Nate comes very soon.  Food will be a constant--with one boy at 6’3 and the other 6’5”, it takes a whole lot of groceries and cooking to fill them up--which also means more dishes...........arrggghhhh!

I feel a little bit like I am riding  a wild stallion and holding on for dear life, at times. Joel, my 25 year old,  once jokingly said, "You know our family is like one of those loud Jewish intellectual families  like in Fiddler on the Roof who had an opinion on everything and has to discuss everything from the mundane to the sublime. Or maybe it is a fiery Irish family with abundance of spunk or a rousing, dancing Greek family, or Italians eating feasts chattering and, Oh, well, Mom, you get the picture!"  It wears me out just to contemplate it--but I did know what he meant--there is not much quiet or calm about us when we are all together!

Today, I am writing over at: thebettermom.com Join me for the rest of the article there!

I do wish you peace of heart in the middle of the life called "a family."