Simply Bloom {the blog}

Happy Valentine’s Day

2012-02-14T16:46:00.001-05:00

This is my first Valentine’s day as a mom who cares about Valentine’s day.

Did you get that?

I didn’t either.

What I was trying to say was this…I’ve never strung a heart…dyed anything pink…or sprinkled heart-shaped anything onto another something tinted a horrific shade of pepto-bismol…in the name of Valentine’s day…until now.

Apparently I’ve crossed over.

And I like it!

I think the addition of preschool into our lives may have caused this shift.

And Pinterest.

Did I mention Pinterest?

Watch out, folks, the next symptom is wreaths.

A St. Patrick's Day wreath. An Easter wreath. A Spring wreath. A July 4th wreath. A Fall wreath. A marshmallow studded Winter wreath. A peppermint candy encrusted Christmas wreath.

Lord have mercy.

Yes friends, I am completely and utterly addicted to that online pinning site of interest.

It’s a scandalous affair I’m having, really.

If only I could get people to pay me to pin things and drink tea all day.

Note to self: chat to clients about this new initiative.

In other news, I would love to be able to tell you that my brilliant plan to celebrate my hubby’s 31st birthday by typing out 31 things I adore about him, cutting them into little slips and enclosing them in homemade fortune cookies for a dose of daily lovin’ over 31 days turned out stunningly {see above}…

but alas, it did not {see below}.

It would appear I followed the recipe for misfortune cookies.

In utter exasperation, after attempting to pry the crusty buggers off the parchment paper, I poured the rest of the batter into one massive cookie, tossed it into the often with a grunt, and when it too proceeded to crack when I folded it, I threw all the slips of paper into the bag, threw in some heart confetti and the beastie cookie and tied the stinker up.

Happy Birthday, love!

It is the thought that counts, right?

All was not lost. We had a fabulous birthday celebration for my hubby on Saturday despite the floppage of the {mis}fortune cookies, and my kids ingested entirely too much red dye today in honor of their mother’s decision to throw caution to the wind and be a cool mom for Hallmark holidays.

I’m feeling some green eggs and ham coming on! A peep wreath? Jelly bean cupcakes?

I’m exhausted already. Tea anyone?

Happy Valentine’s Day, ya’ll!

Paisley & Sugar

2012-02-09T10:58:00.001-05:00

Oh yes…there’s more!

While I realize I don’t write an actual foodie blog, there is just no denying that I’ve been bitten by the baking bug lately.

I just can’t seem to get enough of making sugar pretty and colorful.

So I’m dragging you along with me for the ride {good thing photos are calorie free, eh?"}

Next sugar cookie fancy…paisley!

It all started with a baby shower invitation I designed a few weeks ago…green and pink paisley…for a momma with a baby girl named…wait for it, “Paisley”…in her belly.

Yes, I contributed a fair amount of delighted maternal cooing when I made the connection too. What a lovely name!

I was secretly hoping to break out my recently purchased squeeze bottles and the remainder of the royal icing chilling in the fridge and spread this theme on a fresh batch of cookies when the request came… “I saw the "henna tattoo" ones you did for your sister and they were incredible…and I was thinking how cute it would be to have a couple of the paisley prints reproduced on cookies”.

{insert heavenly beams of light and angelic Hallelujah Chorus melodies here}

Oh, baby! Pick me, pick me!

So I whipped those bad boys out of my baking cupboard {you’ll find the fabulous little squeeze bottles with coupler tips right here}, a myriad of Wilton tips {1,2, 3 & 4 – the larger ones for flooding, and the smaller ones for outlining and detail work}, and the new Americolor gel coloring I acquired during the feeding of this new frenzy {I scored mine at Hobby Lobby for half off, thank you very much!}.

I must confess…I thoroughly enjoyed the hours {ahem} it took to pull this off! There’s a very good chance little Bug watched more Wild Kratts than the average day at our household provides during the making of these cookies. Bean avoided the mass brain numbing session by positioning herself nicely at preschool that day. Lucky duck.

Just in case you catch the vicious cookie decorating bug. you’ll find some fabulous royal icing tips here:

Basic Sugar Cookie Decorating Supplies {with Printable Shopping List}

Outlining & Flooding with Royal Icing

What’s next, you wonder? I may have something fun and mildly adventurous up my sleeve for my hubby’s birthday this weekend. Just maybe.

Or maybe I’ll take on these little suckers one day. Scroll to the bottom. Ahem.

Oh, Holy Mother of Pearl…it’s SWEET!

2012-02-02T00:26:00.001-05:00

You’d never know I gave up sugar for New Year’s…for here, my friends, is a whole heck of a lot of sugar-infused goodness.

I teased this baby on facebook a while back {you know, way back in 2011} and totally forgot to share the recipe as promised. Forgive me.

Sugar coma, what?

Here’s the basic cheesecake recipe I follow – so much easier than I ever imagined making cheesecake to be, although I haven’t quite figured out how not to have massive ravines running through it like deep cracks in a des{s}ert floor…any suggestions?

Then I simply top it with chocolate ganache {I have yet to try adding the rum} - this stuff is easy peasy, and wildly delicious - and then I throw whatever fresh berries I can find in my fridge on top of that.

Voila! Cheesecake from heaven.

The sweetness continues…

These lovely little lasses emerged after I stumbled upon this stunning image {while feeding my new love for decorating cookies, not to mention eating them}, and couldn’t continue to function properly without giving them a whirl.

They made the perfect housewarming gift for my younger sister who loves sugar cookies, the color green, and henna.

They also happened to officially worsen my decorating addiction.

I get to spritz up some cookies with pink and green paisley tomorrow for a friend’s baby shower. If you don’t hear from me in a week, there’s a good chance you’ll find me with pupils dilated, blood sugar soaring, and face set in a vat of royal icing.

Must. decorate. cookies.

On another note, did you know my husband ~~is the coolest, sexiest man currently alive on this planet~~ bakes bread? Yes, indeed. As if he wasn’t dreamy enough. He makes me bread {swoon}.

Last week, while he was whipping out 4 loaves, I swiped one from him and rolled it up with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and walnuts inside. Oh, goodness gracious me, it was glorious.

We made it even more deadly by serving it as French toast the next morning. Hmm mm mmm mm. {burp}

I blame my hips on my kids. Clearly, it’s all a lie.

Speaking of loin-fruit…we painted Bean’s feet a few days ago. Because we can. Because it was fun. And because they make astonishingly fabulous butterfly wings.

The fact that she almost wet herself screeching with laughter because, apparently, wet paintbrushes on little feet are wickedly ticklish, made it all the more worth it.

What we shall do with this, I haven’t the foggiest. But I slapped paint on my kid’s foot and it made me feel like a cool, non-type-A mom. And it was refreshing. So there.

Sweet feet.

Random note: I fell in love with mustard and grey, thanks to Pinterest – which I love so wildly in so many ways it’s quite scary – that I felt a little blog face-lift was necessary.

Did ya notice?

Nah? That’s okay.

Moving right along…

Quite possibly the sweetest little things we’ve whipped out in the past week are these little puppies…

They take a little time to assemble, but are really very easy to pull off!

Start with whatever cutout sugar cookie recipe you usually use {my new favorite is here} and divide the dough in half. Roll one half in cocoa powder until you get the depth of brown you want (I used about a tablespoon).

Then simply cut heart shapes out of each. You can use a slightly smaller heart-shaped cutter for the chocolate {ears} if you wish, but that’s totally up to you. Cut those chocolate bad boys in half and lay them next to your upside-down vanilla hearts, pressing lightly to ‘connect’ the cookie pieces {they’ll bake together nicely if you have them nestled closely and sealed with a light press of a finger}.

I chose to put our puppies on sticks. Again, that’s totally optional. “Puppy pops” just sounded cuter, and seeing I was making these for Bean’s class – in honor of her “half” birthday {she’s a summer birthday girl} – cute was definitely the intention here.

Bake them for the suggested time, depending on your recipe {mine are 7-8 minutes}, and as soon as they come out, press a few little chocolate chips into the ‘cheeks’. Allow to cool completely.

Adhere your noses {red M&Ms, ‘M’ side down} with a dab of melted chocolate or frosting {I melted some of the little chocolate chips I used on the cheeks and piped it through a snipped ziplock baggie corner}…

Plopping the noses on is a great job for little ones to do. Frequent reminders to ‘not lick the noses first’ may be in order. Then again, maybe we’re just weird.

‘Glue’ the eyes {chocolate M&Ms, ‘M’ side down} on in the same fashion, and then use any remaining melted chocolate to doodle on your pups. We tried patches on the ears, little bows, and now that I think of it, a mustache would have been pretty darn fabulous. Next time.

Badda-bing, badda-boom…puppy pops!

Now that, is sah-weet!

{over and out}

Dear Unpleasant Children

2012-01-26T17:00:00.001-05:00

This is your mother. I wanted to clarify in case you mistook me for a crazy, grocery-cart-pushin’ gypsy– which, admittedly, is wildly tempting right now – but it’s not. It’s just me.

The little shreds of me that are still clinging desperately to what sanity is left, that is.

I considered myself a roaring success when the thought of listing you on craigslist last night left as quickly as it came.

So tell me, where on God’s green earth did you learn to stand with your hip cocked out like that with an eyebrow buried in your hairline? And since when do you “hrrumph” like that? And really, did you think you’d get away with that one? Again?

Go ahead…slam your door. And then raise your eyebrow at me one more time, missy. I dare you.

And you…little doe-eyed boy. Stop replicating every unpleasant thing your sister throws my way with maddening precision, and no, you may not ram your rusty truck into my baby toe. For the 29th time today.

Have you forgotten just how much bigger than you I am? I could squash you in a nanosecond, kid.

{Step away from the maternal figure}

Ugh.

Sigh.

Sniff. Sniff.

Yesterday was a tough day. One of those super-poopy-mom days. Only it was a super-poopy-mom-to-two-super-poopy-kids ~~day~~ week.

So, let’s just get a couple of things straight, shall we?

You’re fantastically awesome, without a doubt. But your attitudes? They stink.

Your foot stomping, whining, bickering, and the many other horrible noises, smells, touches and vibes you’ve dealt me over the past few days have made slamming my head into the wall sound like a viable alternative. Refreshing, actually.

Why so unpleasant, lovely loin-fruit?

Has the moon been full?

Because my crap-tank sure is.

{pause for sympathetic head nodding}

If I may get all emo and introspective on you for a moment {or five}, what I’d love to know is how it is that you two manage, with such unwavering ease, to bring out such unpleasantness in me?

Is “unpleasantness” even a word? Please ask your teacher on Monday.

What is it about parenting that draws the “ugly” to the surface.

The “daily-ness” of it all? The never-ending need for consistency in training and correction? The persistent challenging and questioning? The relentless tendency towards defiance, and the human-nature inspired struggle for ultimate power?

Or is it simply life with little people who are still learning how to be respectful, considerate, kind, generous, gentle, secure, self-controlled human beings.

Sometimes I forget that I’m the one, alongside your daddy, who needs to mold you and sculpt you into that person.

I don’t have to.

I get to.

I forget the honor and privilege that it is to help shape a life. Or two. Yours, to be exact.

And I too often get frustrated that these little lives didn’t come with all their pretty little parts already assembled.

Assembly is required.

And batteries are not included, dang it.

So thankful for the manual your maker sent us.

How tightly I cling to His grace – for me, and for you – on these trying days of push and pull, give and take, train and retrain.

My words aren’t the killer. My verbal filter actually works, surprisingly enough. It’s the tone. The body language. The clear disappointment communicated through a furrowed brow and a slow shake of the head.

And it’s the heart distance that develops when I mull over your inability to just be…sinless.

How is it that I expect such a high standard of behavior and performance from you, and yet fail to deliver it myself. Do I really have to wonder where your childish retorts and early morning growls of inconvenience come from?

Children are simply a mirror. One that’s awfully hard to gaze into at times.

When I point my finger at your error, it - too often - points right back at the accuser.

I know by now that your best is not brought out when I communicate my disappointment in you. You don’t blossom into greatness when you can sense you’re not delighted in. I get it. I get that you aren’t able to separate my disapproval of your actions from my disapproval of your precious little lives – unless I clearly communicate it and show grace and mercy throughout.

I so often drop the ball, my loves.

I cry to your daddy about your persistent pushing of the boundaries, and what emerges in snot and tears is pure disappointment in my inability to parent you with lavish grace and unconditional love.

Thank you for grace-filled arms thrown around a weary neck, and little lips to kiss away big tears.

Please don’t ever stop.

Because being a mom is tough. It’s not being your mom that’s tough, per se, it’s the navigating of unchartered waters with another living creature that boasts a strong will, emotions and preferences, who knows with incredible accuracy how to push your buttons, that makes for a weary warrior.

All this at only 73 pounds combined, you guys have skillz!

Motherhood: it’s dangerously, exhaustingly, nerve-wreckingly hard. Occasionally, it’s downright poopy. And honestly, part of what makes it so hard is feeling like you’ll be labeled a “bad mom” if you admit just how hard it is. After all, other moms out there are blissfully in love with parenting their little angels, 24 hours a day, 7 days week.

Blech.

Don’t get me wrong: I adore you with every thing in me, I thank God every day for the gift of your lives in mine, and, quite frankly, think you’re the coolest kids alive…but parenting – the right way - isn’t for sissies.

Motherhood can be an incredibly lonely road if not walked alongside other real, heart-naked, vulnerable mommas who can laugh with you about poop-smears on white shirts and cry with you over crappy days of toddler defiance in grocery store aisles.

But if there’s one thing I know amidst the difficulty, it’s this: I desperately want the end result, and the journey is well worth the temporary discomfort.

It is slowly {but quite surely} stripping me of the selfishness that runs rampant in me, the persistent hidden agenda that rears it’s ugly head on a daily basis, and the perfectionist streak that threatens to judge and criticize rather than accept and celebrate. It is refining me in ways I never knew I needed to be refined.

Seriously. Who knew my eyes could bug out of my head so far, or that my face could contort - all while emitting such vicious snarling noises - to such an extent. Your daddy sure didn’t. It’s sort of scary, actually. Because I was pretty nice back then.

The ugliness that emerges from me at times is so heart-wrenchingly ugly that I’m embarrassed to make eye contact with your little peepers again. And yet, sassy and smart-mouthed as you can be, you’re so incredibly resilient and forgiving. It’s almost like your capacity to bounce back and love again, with such reckless abandon, is limitless.

Like the One in whose image you were created.

Fancy that.

So sweet, misbehavin’ chil’ens…know your momma loves you.

Enough to not let you get away with your shenanigans.

Enough to never stop growing and learning how to lead you toward Life and Love.

Enough to say I’m sorry when I screw up – which, as you know, I’m relatively accomplished at.

And enough to press on and press in, even when it hurts. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when it stinks.

Because everyone knows…it’s the time spent in the poop, that brings about the biggest blooms.

Love always,

Your {recovering-unpleasant} mum

Lasagna {rockin’ the Cupcake tin}

2012-01-19T11:38:00.001-05:00

I got adventurous at the grocery store last week and grabbed some wonton wrappers as I walked by the Asian section. I know, I’m a wild woman.

I didn’t have a clue what I was going to make with them, but didn’t care. I have Pinterest for that.

Low and behold…these little suckers showed up. And I pinned them faster than you can say “totally-making-that-for-dinner-sometime!”

If you like lasagna…you’re gonna love these little cups of deliciousness. My kids sure did.

As complicated as mini lasagna cups may look…don’t believe it. It’s a fib. That’s just the old-fashioned grandma in your mind speaking. Silence her with these babies…she’ll spice up her tune.

They may be a little more time-consuming than your average brown-the-meat-and-toss-it-on-penne meal, but the flavor and cuteness factor of this dish is totally worth the extra time. And it really is foolproof!

Not to mention the simple ingredients:

Cupcake Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 cup marinara sauce
1 pound ground beef or venison
12 wonton wrappers
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
3 ounces Parmesan cheese {optional}
5 ounces Ricotta cheese
Basil for garnish {optional}

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
Brown beef and season with salt and pepper. Drain.
Cut wonton wrappers into circle shapes using a biscuit cutter or using the top of a drinking glass. You can cut several at a time.
Reserve 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and 6 tablespoon mozzarella for the top of you cupcakes. Start layering your lasagna cupcakes. Begin with a wonton wrapper and press it into the bottom of each muffin tin. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese, Ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Top with a little meat and marinara sauce. Use around 1-2 teaspoons of all the ingredients depending on your personal preference.
Repeat layers ending with marinara sauce. Top with reserved Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. To remove use a knife to loosen the edges then pop each lasagna out.
Garnish with basil and serve.

Recipe tweaked ever-so-slightly from this one over here

I doubled the recipe and threw some extra seasoning into the meat: 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds, a teaspoon of dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon of coriander, and some salt and pepper. I would do this again in a heartbeat – the meat was delectable!

I also used a jar of pasta sauce with Italian sausage bits in it…very yummy indeed!

My hubby’s first response when he saw me tenderly scooping these little babies out of the muffin pan was…”Wow, babe! I bet you won’t make these again anytime soon”. Oh, he of little faith! They only LOOK complicated.

Their meaty, creamy, cheesy goodness in cupcake-form left him thankful I hadn’t agreed with him.

They’re most definitely making it onto our monthly meal planning menu {which I’ll be sharing more about with you soon!}.

Go ahead…break out your muffin tin. You {and your meat eating men} can thank me later.

Kids on Counters

2012-01-17T16:55:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I stick my kids on kitchen counters and force them to rehearse nursery rhymes.

And I record them.

Because I’m ~~thinking ahead and know they’ll treasure these when they’re older~~ cruel.

Considering no adhesive was involved, and no tears were shed, a moderately fun time was had by all.

{please feel free to notice the dirty dishes and cluttered counters in the background. You’re welcome}

Simply Soup {Pumpkin, Split Pea & Lentil}

2012-01-12T16:52:00.001-05:00

While we haven’t experienced anything like our usual winter here in Michigan {and I am not complaining…the sunshine makes this gal one happy mama!}, if it’s not flip-flop weather…it’s soup season! Regardless of what the temperature gauge says.

Soup is cheap, easy and oh so tasty!

So I have three of our favorites thick, creamy soup recipes right here for you…Pumpkin, Split Pea and Lentil

Not together. In the same soup. Blech!

But a feature all on their own. And those are just their boring pantry names…wait until you get a load of their stage names, Va va voom, baby!

Okay, so maybe I’m feeling a little dramatic. I did part my hair on the other side of my head today. Living on the wild side.

I digress.

This first soup is knock-your-socks off delicious! And if you know anything about me, you know I love cooking with Indian spices…cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric {sigh}…and this soup is loaded with a lot of them: Indian Roasted Pumpkin Soup. I’ve featured it here before – using Butternut Squash instead of pumpkin (the way I prefer it) – but it’s worth repeating.

Behind it, in the photo, is the Hearty Split Pea Soup with Sage. Not something I personally enjoy with a passion, but my hubby loves this stuff, so being the sacrificial domestic goddess that I am {ahem}, I bit the bullet and whipped some up.

And then last, but not least, is my new favorite – inspired by the little baggie of organic red lentils a sweet friend stuck in my hand at church on Sunday - Coconut Curried Red Lentil Soup.

It looks more like a stew in the photo below {which is not, by any means, a bad thing} because it had been “stewing” in my fridge for 2 days, and was cold when I photographed it midday {got to work with the light when it’s available, eh?}.

And let me just tell you, the swollen golden raisins in this soup are like little bursts of heaven in your mouth! Enough said.

Despite the required dessert of Beano {be kind to your loved ones}, this stuff is palate-smashingly good! Especially when served in homemade sourdough bread bowls crafted by the strong hands of a hot cop. Woah mama. He’s available for a bowl crafting and bun pinching tutorial for three easy payments of $29.99.

I’ll ask him to hack my blog again soon and share some homemade bread tips with ya’ll, how’s that sound?

Okay…ready for recipe madness? Here we go!

Indian Roasted Pumpkin Soup:

Ingredients:

2 cups of chopped Pumpkin
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 large granny smith apple {or 2 small}, chopped
4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 tsp. of ground coriander
1/2 tsp. of ground cumin
1/2 tsp. of turmeric
2 cups of chicken {or vegetable} broth
1/2 cup of coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste

* Preheat oven to 425*. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, onions, carrots, apple, garlic, olive oil, coriander, cumin and turmeric, tossing to coat.

* Spread out in single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Roast 30 minutes or until tender.

* Transfer mixture to blender {in batches if necessary} or use an immersion blender, and blend until smooth. Transfer to a heavy pot and add broth and coconut milk. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, or to taste.

* I almost always double this recipe and freeze a portion for a quick meal!

Recipe from the fabulous Dr. Oz

Hearty Split Pea Soup with Sage {in the Crockpot}:

Ingredients:

16 ounces dried split peas
2 cups cooked lean ham, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
4-5 slices of bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups of chicken broth
3 cups of boiling water
1/2 cup of warm milk
6-8 fresh sage leaves, chopped

* Cook the bacon and put aside to drain on paper towel, then brown the onions in the bacon fat.

* In a slow cooker, layer the first 11 ingredients in order listed (everything but the milk, do not stir). Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until vegetables are tender. Stir in milk. Discard bay leaves before serving. Sprinkle with sage and serve.

Recipe adapted from this one

Coconut Curried Red Lentil Soup:

2 cups of red split lentils
7 cups water
2 medium carrots, diced
2 tablespoons of fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons of curry powder
2 tablespoons of butter
8 green onions, thinly sliced {I used yellow onions because that’s all I had}
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1/3 cup of tomato paste
1 14-ounce can of coconut milk
2 teaspoons of salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped {optional}

* Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse - until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

* Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add the onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Sauté for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and sauté for another minute or two more.

* Add the curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency.

* This, as with most soups, freezes well…so make a double batch. You’re welcome!

Recipe adapted from this one

Break out your soup pot, baby…’tis the season!

Ps. because us gals are a thrifty bunch, we can’t possibly let those pumpkin/squash seeds go to waste, can we now? Toss them with some olive oil and maple syrup and roast those suckers…voila!…crunchy, sweet magic! You’ll find the recipe for maple roasted pumpkin seeds right here.

{over and out}

Bugging Out!

2012-01-09T19:06:00.001-05:00

We’re celebrating a little lad who’s been {heart} medicine free for over a year!

{smile!}

And the fact that he’s so stinkin’ cute it makes my cheeks hurt.

Pinterest: The New Crack

2012-01-02T20:15:00.001-05:00

There once was a young mum of two

Who knew she had too much to do

No time to show interest

In the drug known as Pinterest

{that gloriously sweet visual stew}

But when it started to woo

She got sucked right into the glue

Now there’s passionate interest

in that blissful crack: Pinterest

{I’m ridiculously in love. How ‘bout you?}

{swoon}

Here’s to 2011

2011-12-30T15:11:00.001-05:00

We cannot believe we have come to the end of yet another year...
and what a fun, full year it has been!

We’ve enjoyed our first full year in our new home, along with all the fun ‘firsts’ that come with it...
like taking in the beauty of the ice-covered lake from our kitchen window {a far cry from the partially naked, hot-tub soaking neighbor we used to endure} while soaking up heat from the woodstove {which we installed in January}, or watching our 11 gorgeous peonie bushes burst into full bloom while the kids run and play on our {considerably larger} lawn, or taking advantage of our proximity to the campground and hopping over to their lake for a refreshing dip during the blazing summer months, or harvesting our first baskets of peaches and apples from our little fruit trees.

We just love this place and feel exquisitely at home!

Both my hubby and I turned 30 this year...and we are, quite frankly, thrilled to bits about it. Bring on the wisdom and smile lines…we’re tough, we can handle it!

Bean turned 4 in July and started preschool this Fall. She attends school on Tuesdays and
Thursdays and, despite her initial hesitancy, has grown to love her teachers and classmates.
We are so enjoying being a part of ‘school life’, and all the social, developmental and community-developing activities this has provided. It has been such a delight to watch her blossom into the intelligent, compassionate, creative little lass she is. And she’s a tremendous big sister!

Bug, who turned 2 in August {and has been off all his heart medication since the 1st of the
year - thank you, Jesus!}, is thoroughly enjoying the attention of being an ‘only child’ on Bean‘s
school days. His vocabulary is expanding every day, and his sense of humor right along with it!
He has us in fits of laughter on regular occasion, and just basks in the limelight.
He is a delicious mix of tractor-loving, tool-smashing, mud-encrusted tyke, and tender-hearted, sister-kissing, dancing-and-singing little gentleman.

We are so loving being a family of 4, and all the different ages and stages each new season brings.

We were gifted the most wonderful yellow lab, Marley Mae, over the summer and fast fell
in love with her {along with the amazing family who gave her to us}.
The kids adore her and she has added quite the furry spark to our family!

We went camping as a family for the first time this past summer and were pleasantly surprised by how much we loved it! We look forward to many more camp-side memories with our fast-growing babes over the next decade {and then some}.

My parents moved into the renovated ‘man cave’ in early Fall, promptly renaming it
the ‘love shack’, and community living has been enjoyed, once again, by all.

My hubby was transferred in October from his post near Saginaw {ugh} to a more central Michigan post {insert
sigh of relief here}. We are so excited about the effect this change of scenery, and “clientele”,
will have on our family, not to mention Joe’s enjoyment of his job. And we just love the families we have met there already!

Along with becoming a U.S citizen in March {which officially makes me the whitest African American you ever did see}, I’ve been writing, speaking and designing most every chance I’ve been given {which includes the opportunity to speak at a women’s conference in Texas in 2013}. With that being said, I’m really learning the fine art of paring back to focus on my primary roles as a wife and mom. I’m really enjoying the “simplicity” of laying down some of the good stuff, in favor of truly investing in the best stuff.

We’ve spent a lot of time helping my parents with their little church plant;
everything from facilitating marriage and parenting classes, to leading worship and teaching on occasion.
It’s been a full year indeed, and we are eager to see where God leads us as we venture into new territory in 2012 {ambiguity intended}.

What a fabulous year it’s been…what a glorious year it will be!

We are tickled turquoise as we hop onto this fresh pallet and are more aware than ever of God’s incredible
sweetness, provision & plan for our lives. He is faithful!

Here’s to an incredibly blessed new year for you and yours, precious friends & family!

Crumbling the Silence {with Cookies}

2011-12-17T00:51:00.001-05:00

We’re having a grand ol’ time here in the McMilli-vanilli home.

I have no idea where that came from. You’ll have to pardon me, I’m heavily sleep deprived {sick kids, design deadlines, cookies to decorate, you know…the usual} and mildly medicated {it’s that time…and my uterus hates me}. And apparently my TMI filter is broken.

{sigh}

I wanted to take a quick break from my, well…break…to pop in and share these frosted babies with you!

Aren’t they darling?

I’ve never been much of a cookie girl {I just go straight for the chocolate}, and didn’t think I liked sugar cookies at all, really. As it turns out…I was simply over-baking them and just hadn’t discovered the best-darn-sugar-cookie-recipe-ever yet!

Might as well get my fat pants back out.

Because, holy mother of pearl, they’re good!

I found the recipe here, at the fabulous {read: incredibly helpful & inspirational) blog of Sweet Sugarbelle {I mean, seriously…just look at these cookies!}.

This sugar cookie recipe is quick, it’s easy, it doesn’t need to be chilled before it’s rolled…and it’s just so stinkin’ tasty!

I may or may not have eaten a hefty portion of it before they were rolled. Don’t judge.

This creative cookie queen also has some great tips for making the process even easier {just beneath the recipe on her site}.

This sweet adventure of mine began a few days ago when I stumbled upon an image of intricately decorated cookies {on Glorious Treats}…and was wildly inspired. I promptly decided I wanted to be a cookie decorator when I grow up. If and when that happens.

I rounded up my Christmas money (my hubby’s grandparents gifted early…yippeee!) and, armed with a 40% off coupon, headed to Hobby Lobby for some meringue powder.

What on earth is meringue powder? Great question. I haven’t a clue. But it’s marvelous stuff!

I’ve never made royal icing before, and had only ever heard of this magical powder…so didn’t realize what a treat I was in for. It totally changes the cookie piping experience.

Do I sound like a cookie freak of nature? Don’t answer that.

I have never enjoyed decorating cookies as much as I did last night. I’m hooked. And slightly scared. I really haven’t missed my muffin-top all that much.

Here’s the great royal icing recipe I used. But be warned…creating little, edible works of art might be as addictive for you as I fear it will be for me.

We could help each other. Create a ‘cookie addicts support group’?

Repeat after me…I will not sample another cookie, I will not sample another cookie…

On the home front, Bug and Bean are as wild and crazy, and delicious and fabulous as ever.

I am so enjoying this much needed down time with my lovely ones, and will resurface after the ~~chaos~~ magic of the holidays dissipates slightly.

Have a lovely one, friends!

Letting Myself Off the Hook

2011-12-04T09:50:00.001-05:00

I am so enjoying life right now.

Soaking in my little ones. Chillin’ with my man. Connecting with family and friends. Digging into some really interesting books {3 paragraphs at a time}. Purging my cupboards and the forgotten corners of my house and shipping boxes off to Goodwill. Occasionally trying new recipes – just because I want to, or sitting down to watch Tangled with the little ones for the 257th time.

I’m intentionally laying down “good” things, in favor of the “best” things…like spontaneous snow balls fights and whipping up entirely too many sugar cookies, rather than just writing about snowflakes and baking.

I’ve been sitting by the fire with my husband as we’ve dusted off our favorite devotional {Devotions for a Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, in case you’re curious}.

I’ve been leaving the camera in the camera bag so I can fully engage in the delight of a face covered in frosting without a lens between us.

I go through seasons like this – of reevaluating why I do what I do - and am finding that they are vital to the process of stripping away the excess to uncover the truly important.

Rather than feeling the need to consistently blog about our life…I’ve just been living it a little more. And loving it. That is, after all, why I blog, right? To add something precious to our lives – in memoir form – rather than burden it with pressure to write.

I’m practicing the purposeful neglect of lesser things, as someone once said, and am loving the freedom that accompanies it.

There is so much joy and peace in letting ourselves off the hook, refocusing our priorities, and just allowing ourselves to live in the moment with our loved ones…without feeling the need to document it.

So I’m here, friends – I’m alive and so very well – and am thankful to know that if you’re here too…you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Life is fleeting. Soak it up!

You’ll find this week’s guest post here, At The Well.

Letting Go of Super-Mom

2011-11-29T23:35:00.001-05:00

It occurred to me last summer, while slathering my child from head to toe with diaper rash cream, summoning every ounce of determination I could muster to rub the white paste into her sweetly resistant skin, that motherhood didn’t look much like I envisioned it would.

Come to think of it, it doesn’t smell much like I had planned, either.

Operative word here being, “planned”.

Please try to stifle your laughter. Thankyouverymuch.

{In my defense…the diaper rash cream bottle looked identical to the sunscreen bottle, except for the ridiculously small script that whispered their difference}.

Planning has always been my specialty. I’ve been an avid magazine reader for as long as I can recall; mentally inserting myself into the perfectly coiffed images…smiley, skinny and freshly showered to boot. Over the past few years, it is parenting magazines that have crowded my mailbox and littered my coffee table. As I poured over the images of immaculately {not to mention, stylishly} dressed kids with their gorgeous, perfectly manicured moms, I started to realize how, well…unrealistic my image of motherhood had become.

If this is what motherhood looked like {or smelled like… scratch & sniff perfume inserts, anyone?}, I was falling desperately – and consistently – short of the mark.

I had grandiose plans to claim my position as the most fun-loving, patient, creative, organically inclined, stylishly clad super-mom on the block.

You know her…the one all the other moms secretly strive to be like, and yet without fail struggle to relate to.

My drive to ascertain mommy perfection was not lost on those around me. I put on a good show at first, but was eventually stepping on toes, alienating the less-driven, and wreaking relational havoc as I judged and compared my way along in my exhausting mission to become Super-mom {insert super-hero theme music here}.

And still, “she” eluded me.

It has only been recently…as I’ve found myself singing frantic love-songs to the coffee pot in the hopes it will inspire a faster, stronger brew, and as I find myself emitting ugly, guttural sobs as I drag my mucous-streaked, sweatpant-enclad rear-end to the room of a snot-encrusted babe for the 537^th time in one night…that I have realized “she” doesn’t exist.

She’s a mirage; elusive to those who strive to be her, discouraging to those who endure the performance.

Motherhood has been a crash course in humility and self-sacrifice, an adventure in processing unmet expectations and hunting down misplaced libido, the perfect pot for brewing a hearty sense-of-humor amidst chaos, while making peace with my fried-eggs-on-hinges, less supple silhouette.

And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I have found that it is in between the growing mountain of dirty laundry and the beautifully intimate moments of heart-nakedness and unexpected kisses…where the brain-numbing intensity of parenthood collides with the breath-taking melody of motherhood…that I find myself face-to-face with one of the most exquisite dimensions of my world: the symphony of the mom-life.

Of course there are low notes. And while there are times I’m quite certain this is all being performed in the wrong key {or at least the wrong household}, I’m learning to not just survive, but to thrive, amidst the tension of high and low, choosing rather to look for the gold within the {plentiful} dirt, and attempting to be still long enough to truly listen.

Listen to the exquisite harmony that is produced, not when everyone plays the same note, but when we allow ourselves to play the perfectly imperfect music our lives create when surrendered to the season we’re in.

So fare thee well, super-mom mafia.

Hello, beautifully messy momma-life, I’m delighted to have met you.

Butternut Squash Cake {with Cream Cheese Frosting}

2011-11-22T18:48:00.001-05:00

As if we needed more reasons to love squash…I present you with…CAKE!

Butternut Squash Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened {not melted}
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of all spice
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour {sifted}
3/4 cup of buttermilk {or 3/4 cups of regular milk w/ 1 tablespoon of white vinegar}
2 cups of shredded peeled butternut squash (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons maple flavor {I used vanilla extract}
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350°. Spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs until fluffy. Beat in baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, all spice and nutmeg. Add flour alternately with buttermilk, scraping side of bowl. Beat 1 minute. Stir in squash and 1/2 cup walnuts. Spread in dish.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.
Frosting: beat the butter and cream cheese with on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and the maple flavor or vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and creamy, adding additional milk if needed. Frost cake generously! Sprinkle with all spice, the chopped walnuts and some orange zest {if desired}.

Recipe from Betty Crocker

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, friends!

At The Well, Guest Post {Filled With His Glory}

2011-11-20T09:04:00.001-05:00

Happy Sunday, friends! And what a gorgeous day it is up in our neck of the woods.

You’ll find this week’s guest post right here, At The Well

Ramblings & Us {Through the Ledford Lens}

2011-11-15T16:12:00.001-05:00

I’ve had a deliciously full week; opportunities to connect with girlfriends I don’t get to see even remotely often enough, dinner with a wonderful friend I haven’t seen in over 7 years, an out-of-town conference with my hubby {which boasted paradigm-shift-inducing teaching by Carl Medearis…he rocked our world}, and was sprinkled with precious family time {my favorite type of “busy”}.

In the mean time, I have an old friend from high school {that I haven’t seen in over 15 years} who was so inspired by my juicy RRHM post that they decided it needed to be in book form. How cool is that?!? I’m so excited to get my hands on it and still can’t believe someone else is doing all the tough stuff for me. So blessed, friend!

Speaking of anticipation and paper…I’m itching to get my 2012 Woman’s {life} Planner! I got to design the cover and assist with other little details inside, and am just giddy to see it in print and start planning the new year. I’ve looked and looked for the ‘perfect planner’ to organize my days and my month at a glance – along with all the other wild and hairy details of life – and this planner is a dream come true!

On the news front…we got a new van! It’s what we’ve had a crush on for many years now, and were finally able to get our hands on (only because the incredible store owner sold it to us for half of what it’s worth)! It’s a Honda Odyssey. And I am so ridiculously in love with it {swoon}. Who knew vans could be so sexy?

I have been bitten by the new year’s resolution bug, disguised as the spring cleaning fairy. I’m in mega purge mode right now and want to declutter every square inch of my home. At least today, I do. My kids are a little afraid. And my husband should be {I’ve been giving some old sweaters of his the eyeball of doom lately}. I feel like we’re in bondage to too much frivolous, unnecessary stuff, and I want to reclaim open, uncluttered space. Arrgh!! {I am woman on mission…here me roar!}

My hubby is currently sitting in a tree with a gun in woods far, far away. When we first got married, I really struggled with his “hunter” status. After years of enjoying the benefits of a freezer overflowing with cheap, healthy meat, I have embraced his ability to put fresh meat on the table while satisfying a deep, manly need to dress like a tree and hide in the woods for a few days with a deadly weapon.

I have discovered a new obsession with homemade kettle-corn. Coconut oil + popcorn kernels + a sprinkle of sugar and salt = the most amazing, home popped goodness imaginable!

And while I’m rambling about things I love…I love the concept of bartering. It just makes sense to this budget-minded girl.

So when the lovely Liz approached me about trading family photos for design work, the answer was a resounding “yes and amen!”. And considering it had been almost 2 years since we last had family photos taken…it was most certainly about time, eh?

So here we be…in all our unrefined, apple-chewing madness….

“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!” Albert Einstein

Mom…I’m Hungry! {Healthy, Kid-friendly Snacks}

2011-11-09T22:20:00.001-05:00

I hear these words often.

Occasionally it’s a less civilized grunt from Bug, or simply the sound of the seal on the refrigerator door breaking, compliments of miss Bean, but without a doubt, it would seem I am raising two little loin fruit who have the uncanny ability to nibble enthusiastically throughout the day.

Which, admittedly, can ruin their appetites…but hey, some healthy snackage here and there is good, right?

They’re not meal-hungry…just in the mood for munchies. What we’ve always referred to as “peckish” {as in, peck, like a bird}.

And because I refuse to load them with the readily accessible slew of packaged, processed, sugary junk…it demands a little creativity on my end, and I love the challenge. So assuming you face the same dilemma, I thought I’d share some of the munchies our kiddos chow on when they’re… well, peckish.

While they love the little granola bars we make, zucchini coins, or the hummus we whip up (they love it with mini sweet bell peppers or pita chips), fruit smoothies, or cheese sticks (which we cut from a 5 pound block of mozzarella from SAMS – so much cheaper and yummier!), we’ve discovered a new favorite…

Kale chips, dried papaya and walnuts (almonds are a favorite too!)

I must confess…this was the first bunch of kale I have ever purchased. I just wasn’t a fan. But after hearing a few times about these “kale chips”, and the promise that this method would turn this leafy green into something considerably more palatable, I decided there was always room for a change of heart.

My heart is changed.

We first tried baking them, and while those were pretty stinkin’ delicious…the fragile ends did burn easily. So a friend suggested microwaving them, and those were great too, and much quicker {albeit a little less flavorful}.

So whichever route you decide to go {simply click on the options above for the recipes to each, baking or microwaving}…you’ll need to wash the kale well, dry it even better, pull the leaves off of the stem and into little bite sized pieces, spray lightly with olive oil (or cooking spray) and sprinkle with seasoning salt…then crisp those babies up! Yum!

I sadly did not snap a picture of this next one before it was devoured, but we decided to use up a bunch of apples we’d been given (and a few that we’d snagged from our tree) to make homemade applesauce. We simply peeled, chopped and simmered the chunks in a little water (I never measured, sorry) overnight on our woodstove, then tossed in a pinch of cinnamon and gobbled the smooshiness up the next morning! No sugar, no pureeing, no left-overs! Just delish!

The next new thing we’ve tried recently – while our little peach tree was dropping all sorts of goodness this summer – was homemade peach roll-ups {otherwise known as: fruit leathers}. These are fabulous for slipping into school lunches.

To say life at our house was peachy right about that time, would be an understatement of apocalyptic proportion. It literally rained peaches for a couple of weeks. And I loved every minute of it!

So while I’m sharing the roll-up recipe with you (as seasonally inappropriate as this may be)…I might as well throw the other peach-inspired madness at you. Which means 6 tasty peach creations coming your way!

1. Peach Roll-Ups: so cool, and can be created with other fruits too! (recipe here)

2. Peach & Company Parfait: as simple as it sounds…layer fruit, yogurt & homemade granola, and drizzle with honey

3. Peach Muffins: because muffins happen to rock my face off (recipe here)

4. Peach Butter: peaches + sugar + spices = holy yum! (recipe here)

5. Canned Peaches: this was my first ever canning experience, and being as ~~lazy~~ adventurous as I am, I decided to try the easy method: steam your bottles in the oven, face down in a little water in a jelly roll pan, and the heat of the jars and the heat of the peaches creates sufficient vacuum to call these suckers good! Follow the initial steps here, and then simply heat/sterilize your jars and you’re set!

6. Ginger-Peach Clafouti: I simply used peaches instead of blackberries in this recipe here (I love Aarti!)

Keeping with the orange theme, I keep looking out my front window and eyeballing the pumpkin on the step. One of these days I’m going to run out and grab it, cut her up and make all sorts of yummy pumpkin-infused goodness out of her. I dream of cream soups, pies, muffins. And toasted seeds {cue salivation}.

So the next snack I’m going to try – and I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes – will be these gorgeous maple roasted pumpkin seeds. Oh my!

At The Well, Guest Post {Teach Them}

2011-11-06T10:18:00.001-05:00

When we pick up gorgeous, deep red leaves from the ground during fall, or catch the intricacies of the perfect snowflake on a black-sweatered arm in the chill of winter, it is here that we cultivate an awe for our Creator in their tender hearts. In chalk Bible stories sketched out on the driveway, alongside scribbled hop scotch squares. Or when we cut open an apple and explain the potential for life that lies deep within the starry, seeded center, or attempt to express the adoration we have for their sweet freckles…dreamy curls…ridiculously long eyelashes.

In laughter. And tears.

It’s here. In the simple, everyday moments of life, we birth that love for a God who draws them to Himself with loving kindness, inspiring obedience from an enraptured child…

{Read the rest of this post here, At The Well}

Let’s Talk about Sex, Baby

2011-11-03T13:56:00.001-04:00

Alternately entitled: “The Biggest Honkin’ Blog Post About Hanky Panky You Ever Did See”

This post has been a year in the making. And it has finally come together.

As the Replenish Your Soul Marriage Conference wraps up today, I’m passionately mounting my soap box on this massively under-talked about topic, and making all my conference notes & resources available to you right here.

Here we go!

Picture this…

The kids are finally down and my sweet man walks through the door. It’s been a long day for him, but he’s finally home in his haven, so his guard drops, and he’s recharged…and there stands his woman. Halle-lujah!

I, on the other hand, have been home in this ‘haven’ with the kids all day. I smell like a science experiment, my hair resembles that of Joe Dirt’s on a bad day and is now only slightly longer than my leg hair, and my well-loved yoga pants could probably stand up on their own and will need to be beaten down with a stick to conform to the laundry drum. Which reminds me, the laundry is still piled high on our bed. And those dinner dishes are still taunting me. Ugh.

I have, by this point in the motherhood adventure, come to understand that there is a massive chasm between feeling like a ‘mom’, and feeling like a ‘woman’. I do not remotely resemble the latter.

He cares not. He gives me one of ‘those’ smiles, followed by the ‘hey, sexy!’ embrace.

I adore his presence and while I love the attention, I’m very aware of my wall going up. After all, the extent of intelligible conversation I’ve had today was about fishy crackers, poop, and the hibernation pattern of brown bears. Needless to say, it was wildly exhilarating, and I’m mentally fried. And by this point in the day, my physical affection tank is beyond maxed out.

I crave intimacy, really I do. Somewhere deep down in there. It just needs to be beckoned. Wooed. I long to be connected with emotionally first. Power washed, maybe.

He can sense this distance developing and shuts down a little. Seeing his spirit deflate, I try reconnecting emotionally and by the time the kettle has boiled, he’s fast asleep on the couch, and I’m left lamenting the distance between us.

No, it’s not romantic. It’s pathetic, really. But it’s not uncommon in many marriages today.

It is estimated that one in three married couples struggle with mismatched sexual desire. One study even found that 20 percent of couples have sex fewer than 10 times a year.

This is tragic. This is not the red hot monogamy God intends for marriages.

SEX. It’s everywhere, except where it matters most.

We live in a sexually saturated culture, with the only voice we ever hear being the corrupted, addicted, perverted one of the world, exploited by the media. Why on earth is the church mum on this topic?

Why are we allowing our sex lives to slip down the tube, unnoticed, undiscussed, as though it were not the magnificent gift – and powerful weapon – it is?

Speak up!

We’ve bought into the lie that it’s the ‘heathens’ that get to have the fun, wild, creative sex…and we, the prim and proper church folks, get relegated to the ‘missionary position’ {pun intended}; the boring, predictable, two dimensional left-overs.

Seriously. Enough with that nonsense!

We should be talking as loudly, if not louder, about this mysterious gift God gave his most beloved creation, mankind. Sex is mind-blowingly incredible…and it’s because God made it that way. On purpose!

God intended for the marriage bed to be a place of toe-curling, kick-the-nightstand-over sex; madly passionate, deliciously intimate connectedness.

Why do we settle for so much less?

And why aren’t we prioritizing it more? It gets bumped to the bottom of the to-do list, along with grooming the dog and cleaning the gutters.

Not really, but you get the idea.

We’re doing our marriages, and our children’s future marriages, a disservice by not talking about this subject.

It’s time to saddle up {ahem} and speak bold, unashamed truth about the power and purpose and profound impact sexual intimacy – or the lack thereof – has on our marriages.

The marriage relationship was designed to be a tangible expression of God’s heart toward His church; a great love-affair marked by unconditional love, passion, faithfulness, selfless service, and vibrant communication.

Sex is dear to God’s heart, and anything dear to His heart, Satan tries to steal, distort and misuse as a weapon against the heart of man.

Only something as powerful as this rouses the enemy to corrupt to such an extreme. Just read the news. On second thoughts, don’t.

What a devastatingly destructive weapon sex has become in this world. At the core, it is lust, unabashedly tainted by greed and selfishness, with a voracious hunger for power and control, and it often results in addiction.

Let me be clear when I say, this is not the sex I’m talking about.

I want to look at the stunningly intimate, life-giving, spirit mingling gift of sex between a husband and wife.

* I realize what I’m sharing may not apply to some of the women reading this {you know, the ones enjoying fabulous sex 4.25 times a week…why you, you can just pray for the rest of us!}, but I believe a great deal of hurting, dissatisfied women who have no one to talk to about this uncomfortable topic can relate to them.
Please know, too, that none of this is intended to offend or discourage you. My heart in researching and speaking boldly about sex in marriage is to expose lies we believe, enlighten you to truths we miss, and encourage you to press in to what God desires for your marriage.

While the church is decidedly silent on this topic, God most certainly isn’t.

Genesis 1:28 says “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth”…this charge was made before sin entered the world, while they were naked and unashamed, and rockin’ it. And God declared it all good!

But it isn’t – contrary to many opinions in the church - just about being fruitful and multiplying. It’s also, very very much, about enjoying each other.

In fact, research shows that there is no reproductive purpose behind the presence of the clitoris on a woman. And if God was intentional about creating every intricate little part of our bodies, and I believe He was {Psalm 139:13-16}, then He put it there purely for our pleasure! Woah mama.

Well, there you have it, folks! Sex is a deliciously precious gift from our heavenly Father.

{are you blushing yet?}

Shannon Ethridge, in her book The Sexually Confident Wife, paints the picture perfectly by describing a scenario in which she painstakingly crafts an entire tray of delectable California rolls for her sushi-loving daughter. Leaving them on the top shelf of the fridge with a note that says, “Enjoy! I love you!”, she’s hurt to discover – after days of them sitting there – that her daughter hasn’t even touched them. Upon enquiring, she’s told, “I was afraid you’d judge me if I enjoyed them too much”.

She draws a powerful parallel by saying, “perhaps rather than fear offending God with our sexual expression, we should fear offending God by our lack of it”.

Enjoying, honoring and getting to intimately know each other is foundational in a God-centered marriage. Which is exactly why, in Deuteronomy 24:5, it was instructed that “a newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married”.

Taking it to the next level, we’re also plainly told to not withhold offering our bodies to our spouses – in other words, do not use sex as a tool of manipulation or a weapon of punishment – seeing it is, after all, not all about us. It’s about serving one another…

“But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control” 1 Corinthians 7:2-5 {NIV}

An incomplete message:

The Bible speaks out so plainly against adultery and the misuse of sex, that it’s easy for a young Christian to misinterpret that to mean that sex as a whole is sinful.

In Christian circles we tend to spurt out the “sex is bad before marriage” anthem, without following it up with the “but sex after marriage will rock your socks off!” part.

So on their wedding day, a couple is expected to flip that switch to ‘sex is allowed…we now have a license’, and they spend the first few years of marriage floundering and silently struggling with what they’ve always been lead to believe: “God doesn’t want you to have sex…and He especially doesn’t want you to enjoy it!”. Resentment grows as they try and reconcile what they deeply desire in each other, and what they believe God expects of them.

“The marriage ceremony is simply insufficient to reorient one’s attitude from 'Thou shalt not' to 'Thou shalt—regularly and with great passion!'" - Dr. James Dobson

We need to clearly communicate that sex is like manure. Stick with me on this analogy, okay? It’s all about timing and placement. Manure is messy and inappropriate on the living room carpet…but deeply enriching and incredibly beneficial in the vegetable garden. Before marriage, sex is complicated and messy and dangerous…and after marriage it’s {complicated and messy, yes, but} purposeful and beautiful.

Okay, so that analogy only works to a degree. Seeing sex is quite fabulous on the living room carpet.

I digress.

Young, unmarried's need to hear the whole message!

Christians should be having the best, most invigorating, creative sex ever!

We’ve got to stop feeding the lie that “good girls” don’t have fabulous sex with their husbands.

I strongly believe it’s the overflow of this faulty understanding about God’s heart toward sexuality that has many marriages in the church today suffering from a case of watered-down, resentment-laden sex. A far cry from the ever-growing, relational oasis it was designed to be.

And because no one talks about this, except maybe the Cosmopolitan-reading ‘bad girls’, we suffer in silence.

It’s a dangerous dynamic that has the potential to destroy a marriage if not addressed.

“Sex is the spice that rescues our relationships from becoming mundane pursuits of chores” – Bill & Pam Farrell.

If you even wondered how important sex was to God’s heart, notice that He dedicated an entire book to a detailed, juicy exploration of the topic.

Find some time to slip away and read Song of Solomon 2:3-17 and Song of Solomon 4:1-7. It’s steamy stuff!

You see, sex is like glue in marriage. The mortar of the marriage structure. It requires the ultimate sacrifice of vulnerability, humility, and selflessness. And it immediately creates a shift in the ‘climate’ of your relationship, and ultimately, in your home.

A sexless marriage will cause ripples in every area of your life. Nothing is unaffected. I realize this is a tough reality to accept, but know that there is always hope.

Hop{e} in the Sack:

God is a faithful provider of 2nd and 3rd and 79th chances, of grace, and redemption and transformation in your marriage There is always hope. Always.

But we need to be willing to press in and apprehend it.

I want this for my marriage. I always have.

…And it has meant dealing with the stupidity and shame of a past blemished with injustice and promiscuity. It has taken time. And tears. But it has been so very worth it.

…It takes a desire to be the wife God intended me to be. To be ever growing, and maturing, and stepping out of my comfort zone. To bless my husband’s socks off. Preferably, his pants.

…It means making an effort to get healthy, to choose the ‘best’ over the ‘good’, and to get comfortable in my skin, realizing that I am fearfully and wonderfully created. And that, despite the fact that my post-nursing boobs resemble fried eggs on hinges, my husband finds me ravishing.

…It takes keeping my priorities in check. And keeping the main thing, the main thing. And keeping in mind that one of the greatest gifts I can give my children, is to love their daddy extravagantly.

…it means guarding my heart against the temptation to dwell on my husbands short-comings and inadequacies, rather than focusing on all his incredible qualities and strengths. Our husbands will live up to what we believe about them…what are you believing about yours?

…it means me doing my part to guard his heart and protect his mind from temptation. A satisfied man has little urge to look elsewhere {notice I said ‘little’…not ‘no’ urge}.

…it means going out of my way to rekindle the spark; to smile at, to laugh and flirt with, the one my soul loves.

…And it’s about constantly dying to my nagging selfishness to have my needs met first.

When we step out and make an effort to invest in our marriages, God will always exceed our expectations.

Need a little extra motivation to seduce your hubby tonight? Check out these benefits to regular sexual intimacy, as documented by Dr. Daniel Amen in his book, Sex on the Brain…(it’s true what ‘they’ say…the biggest sex organ is indeed the brain)

Seminal fluid contains dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, vasopressin, testosterone and estrogen…all incredible hormones or neurotransmitters known to either enhance brain function, heart health, mood, fitness level, immunity, restfulness of sleep, it helps ease pain, improves bladder control, creates more regular menstrual cycles, has an antidepressant effect, and boosts overall health and longevity.

Isn’t that brilliant? How sweet of God to actually load semen with goodies beneficial to our health as women!

The Truth about Men and Sex:

Ever notice the connection between your husband’s ability to be fully engaged and enjoy friendly conversation with you, and the length of time it’s been since you were last intimate?

It’s wild, isn’t it? I don’t know what took me so long to figure this out…but it’s mind-blowing.

Men have an overwhelming physical need for sex, we all know this fact well. But did you know that a man’s sex drive is intricately connected to his ability to feel like a ‘real man’.

And surprisingly enough, they also have an overwhelming emotional need for sex. While they may not express it the way we do – that level of heart-naked-communication does not come naturally to men - our hubbies struggle with deep feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. Making love makes them feel desired, it improves their confidence and self-esteem, and boosts their well-being and performance in every area.

Straight shooter, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, puts it this way…

“Men need validation. When they come into the world they are born of women and getting their validation from mommy is the beginning of needing it from a woman. And when the wife does not focus in on the needs and the feelings, sexually, personally to make him feel like a man, to make him feel like a success, to make him feel like a hero, he’s very susceptible to the charms of some other woman making him feel what he needs. And these days women don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how they can give a man what they need... I hold women responsible for tossing out perfectly good men by not treating them with the love and kindness and respect and attention they need.”

Do we fully grasp, as wives, that when we said ‘I do’, we were committing to be our husband’s sole source of sexual satisfaction for the extend of our lives together. Sure, other {unhealthy} counterfeits threaten to creep in from time to time, but the responsibility to meet those God-given needs lies in our capable hands.

Because sex has the power to unlock your man’s emotions…and you’re the one holding the key…it is inconsiderate – and frankly, unChristlike – to withhold that gift from him.

Strong words, I know. But if we refuse to do our part, there will always be another eager to fill our shoes.

Our men no longer need to go looking for opportunities to sin sexually – it literally knocks at their door several times a day. We have the incredible ability {the power and honor} to help guard their hearts and minds in the fight.

Fight for your husband, beloved!

I chuckle when I think back to how I thought I was ‘all that and a bar of soap’ as a wife when we first got married, because I had made a commitment to not turn my husband down {and I can count on 1 hand the times I have in 8 years}, only to discover after a heart-wrenching conversation that this just wasn’t enough.

He didn’t just want a willing and compliant body…he longed for an involved, engaged partner in passion.

What a thought!

Our husbands don’t just want to be satisfied sexually…they need to feel desired, needed and wanted.

A survey done for ‘For Women Only’ showed that even if men were getting all the sex they wanted, three out of four men would still feel empty if their wife wasn’t both engaged and satisfied.

This takes intentionality and creativity on our part!

I am still working on initiating intimacy more and tangibly expressing my love for him in a language he is ridiculously fluent in. And what an incredible change I see in our friendship when I’m succeeding in this area!

So, step away from the computer for a moment {or twenty} and go jump your husband. I’ll wait…

*cue Barry White*

Welcome back! Now wasn’t that invigorating?!

Let’s get Technical

Just kidding. I wanted to see if you’re still with me. I’ll leave the technical mumbo-jumbo to the experts.

But there are a couple of things worth noting while I have your attention.

Our bodies are so very, very different, and while we do comprehend that on many levels, we often don’t realize the implication that has in the intimacy department.

Men are indeed like microwaves…hot and ready in a matter of nano-seconds, and satisfying them is relatively uncomplicated, comparable to a blindfolded attempt at ‘pin the tail on the donkey’. Women, on the other hand, are the {sadly infamous} crockpot. The one with a whole lot of buttons and knobs. You know the one. You’ve got to twist this 37 times, press that, move this lever 52 degrees clockwise, tweak this little button for 12 minutes and then pray it’s plugged in properly, because if it’s not…dude, you’ve got to start all over again!

Not really, but you get the point.

God made us this different on purpose! It takes time and effort and communication and a whopping dose of sense of humor to pull this stuff off! All valuable qualities to cultivate in a marriage.

Don’t give up…practice makes perfect!

I cannot stress enough how helpful it would be to read and learn about your bodies (check out the books and websites below)

Shaunti Feldhahn draws a parallel between the emotional trauma that would occur in your heart if your hubby were to suddenly stop communicating with you, and if you were to withdraw sexually from your husband. It creates the same type of chasm, relationally, and is very harmful to the trust and intimacy level in your marriage.

When we realize that our husband’s desire for connecting with us intimately goes deeper than a superficial, physical need for release, we may be more inclined to bless his heart by pursuing his body (and jumping his bones).

As a side note, and in talking about the importance of meeting his need for physical intimacy - which motivates a desire in him to meet our need for emotional intimacy, it would be remiss not to mention the wisdom {oh, husbands…are you listening?!} and importance of a man intentionally touching his wife’s heart first {it’s all about both partners selflessly giving 100%…not just a half-baked effort in the hopes you’ll meet in the middle).

*feel free to print this part out, highlight it, and stick the image below on your bathroom mirror*

Allow me to explain…

Mark Gungor talks in his series, Laugh Your Way To A Better Marriage, about the access points to men’s and women’s hearts. Aptly named the “happy” place.

Okay…now put away any persnicketiness, dust off your sense of humor and work with me on this one, okay?

For a man to touch his wife’s {ahem}, he needs to access her heart first. Or as Mark succinctly puts it…”be nice to the girl!”. And as we’ve discovered, for us to really access our hubby’s hearts…we often need to touch his “happy place” first. Or at least make sure it’s getting enough, um…happiness.

Cue the oxytocin, and voila! It’s magical.

Or something.

Sex is a balm for their weary souls. Our husbands are out there everyday – them against the world – they desperately long for a safe place to come home to, to be completely real and vulnerable, and to be fully accepted and loved. Our desire for them fuels them in a way we will never fully understand {Shaunti Feldhahn, For Women Only}

Show Me Mine, And I’ll Show You Yours:

It’s amazing how easily – because they don’t always touch our hearts first - we put off meeting our men’s needs until we feel ‘primed’. And while it seems natural – after all, it’s really hard to be sexually vulnerable with someone you don’t feel you’re emotionally connected to – we’re basically declaring, “fill my emotional intimacy tank (while you’re running on the fumes of an oil rag)…and only then will I consider filling your physical intimacy tank. Me first. You second”.

I often struggle with this type of selfishness.

It’s times like this that I have to ask myself: “what am I doing to motivate his emotional love?”

It takes remembering the depth of love {1 Corinthians 13:4-7} I’m called to offer my precious man – that was first offered to me in the midst of my sin and rebellion - to correct my heart.

When I lay down self and meet his needs first – even when my tank is feeling empty – he is passionate about meeting my needs. It initiates an energizing cycle in my marriage.

And because God is brilliant and likes to show off…

“At any given time, the female brain contains up to ten times more oxytocin than the male brain. Oxytocin is the bonding chemical that creates feelings of affection and empathy. You want to know why women tend to be more invested in close relationships than men? Oxytocin is one of the reasons.

There’s only one time in human experience when the husband’s level of oxytocin begins to approach that of his wife’s: immediately following an act of sexual intimacy. A man’s brain literally re-bonds with his spouse, making him, at that moment, more committed to his family, more satisfied with his wife, more invested in his home. Wives, why do your husbands want sex with you so often (whether they know this is the reason or not)? It’s because they never feel closer to you than immediately following that encounter.” Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

Another fascinating little fact about oxytocin…because of the increase in this hormone during physical and emotional intimacy, and the cascade effect it has on us, the more sex women have…the more sex we want. And the same is true on the other end of the spectrum, the less we have, the less we want. So hop to it!

Again…God’s sweetness showing up between the sheets.

Just a few months ago, during a heart-to-heart, my hubby cautiously shared with me… “please touch me, honey…you don’t touch me any more”. My heart utterly broke at hearing this. I guess I had felt as though I was constantly touching others affectionately, and assumed he was in the mix…but it turns out my poor hubby wasn’t one of the lucky ones. I wasn’t even aware of how this was weighing on his heart.

It is of utmost importance that we learn our husband’s love language{s}…and become fluent in them!

I don’t want my husband to constantly be getting my left-overs. He needs to be prioritized – this is an incredibly important lesson I’m teaching my children…God first, marriage second, family third…that will affect how they prioritize their own adult lives.

Yes, I know, it is tough {impossible, actually} to meet everyone’s needs during the season of having little ones at home and underfoot. It isn’t easy to go from spit-up covered, yoga-pant clad mama…to sex kitten, at least not without a whole lot of time, energy, under-eye concealer and spanx assistance. We’re exhausted, over-stimulated, overwhelmed, semi-smothered and struggling with our self-image, but like with any fire…if we don’t tend to the coals and pay attention to the wood {ahem}, we’ll be left with smoldering embers. Or worse, a heap of ash.

And we’re aiming for red hot monogamy, remember?!

The Power of the Packaging:

I realize this has the potential to ruffle feathers, but it’s an essential piece to this puzzle, so hang tight.

Remember the early days? We dressed up, made the effort and put time and thought into our appearance while we were dating, and then over time, as our bellies expanded and baby puke became the new scent we wore, we let ourselves go a little.

And sloppy becomes the new normal. I can say this only because I gravitate towards it myself!

I have to be super intentional and prepared to be properly dressed on the ‘average’ day. And by properly, I mean ‘how I would want to be remembered if I ran into someone important at the store’. And isn’t our husband the most important person in our lives, any way? He should be.

It never ceases to amaze me what a difference it makes when I actually get dressed in the morning – do my hair, apply a little make-up, put on earrings, a spritz of perfume, etc. I feel better about myself…and so I carry myself differently. it makes a world of difference in my day.

It blesses our husbands when we make an effort to look good. It says, ‘I care about you, I love you, and I want to delight you in the way I look!”. Let’s once again do what we did before we said ‘I do’. Our effort means a lot to them.

As I mentioned above, we are still in a battle for our husband’s hearts. The phrase ‘it’s okay to look at the menu as long as you eat at home’ is absolute bollocks. And our husbands know it.

The Bible says that an affair of the heart is very much an affair {Matthew 5:27-28}.

It takes incredible effort and restraint to not look at other women, and while I’m ridiculously blessed to be married to a man who has made a covenant with his eyes (to not lust after another woman, and to guard his heart, and communicate honestly with me when he’s struggling), it’s still up to me to make sure that what’s being served up at home is appetizing.

Our husbands want to be proud of us, to feel that when other men see us together as a couple, there’s a sense of ‘oooh, he did well!’.

God created men to be visual creatures – don’t bemoan it and whine about it, work with it, sister! Take it up with their creator if you have an issue with it. And in case it needs to be said…”don’t be modest behind closed doors!”. Our husbands love being entrusted with the most intimate, brave, wild side of their wives.

Embrace your inner ‘goddess’…and for Pete’s sake, let her out a little more often.

Don’t forget that even sexier than our girly figure in the bedroom, is our Godly confidence in the bedroom! So let’s do what it takes to get comfortable in our skin. When we feel sexy…we are sexier to our men.

Uncovering the Heart of the Matter:

Ever notice that we can be kinder, more courteous, more polite and respectful to friends – or even complete strangers – than to the very one we committed to love and cherish. How sad is that?

As essential as our outer presentation is, our inner presentation is far more crucial.

The Bible says the power of life and death is in the tongue {Proverbs 18:21}.

We need to ask ourselves whether we are speaking life or death to our husbands, and over our marriages?

Along with our outer presentation, after a few years of marriage, our heart presentation, or attitude, can slip if we’re not careful. The once easy laughter and encouragement can become cold retorts and nagging.

Ever wonder what happened to the laughter and flirting and resilience you once enjoyed as friends?

Beloved, we need to fight for our friendship with our husbands…it’s a crucial color in this brilliant work of art.

Be intentional about smiling at him again whenever he walks into a room. Laugh easily. And stop being so easily offended. Learn to flirt again. Go ahead…pinch those cheeks!

Emerson Eggerichs talks extensively about this dynamic in his Love & Respect material. In short, as love is like oxygen to us – the life-currency we deal in, respect is like oxygen – or the currency of choice - to our husbands. They would rather feel alone and unloved, than inadequate and disrespected.

Don’t try to rationalize and understand this concept…it doesn’t make any sense to us because we’re wired so very differently than our men.

But do know that when our husbands feel disrespected, they often respond in a way that makes us feel unloved, which prompts further disrespect, and on and on it goes. Emerson refers to this theory as ‘the crazy cycle’ {as apposed to the ‘energizing cycle’ I mentioned before}.

Choose to speak life to your precious man {even if you’re not seeing the fruit of it with your earthly eyes} – and make it your mission in life to bring out the greatness God deposited in him! We have the ability to make or break our men.

It’s a {Spiritual} War out there, Baby!

I’m sure you know already that you have an enemy. But did you realize, it’s not your spouse?

It’s an enemy that scripture paints as a lion on the prowl, seeking whom he can devour.

We’re not talking “nibble” here, folks. But devour {read: destroy}

And you should know, he hates marriage. He is intent on distorting it, disenchanting it, and ultimately, destroying it.

Yours. And mine, to be exact.

He hates love. He is the very antithesis of love.

And marriage is one of the most tangible expressions of God’s extravagant love.

This might help us understand why “the fury of hell has been unleashed against it. God is telling a love story and the setting is war” {Love & War, John & Stasi Eldredge}

We daily fight the battle that is waged against our marriages. Well…actually, we can choose to take a stand and to fight, or we can continue on, blindly, and just get whacked repeatedly in the back of the head.

A way we can actively fight for our spouse – rather than with them – is to ask God to put a guard on our tongues and a filter on our hearts and minds.

Choose not to make ‘agreements’ with the enemy of our souls regarding your spouse.

You know the ones…those little internal rants, most of them drenched in negativity, sarcasm and criticism…”my husband is such a pig!”…”why do I even try, he just wants one thing!”…”he’ll never change, this marriage is never going to work!”

Identify the true author of these thoughts, recognize the destructive plot going on behind the scenes, and refuse to allow them to take root in your heart.

John & Stasi Eldredge explain that when these little agreements linger, like “tiny cracks in a structure”, they have the potential to become something incredibly destructive. “They might go away over time, but more often than not they become the beginnings of deeper fissures. Little cracks don’t matter much in your sidewalk, but in other places they matter a great deal – like airplane wings, for instance, or the Hoover Dam. Places that will come under immense pressure. Like marriage”

Travel Light {Looking Back}

If you know much about my testimony, you’ll know I had some mega sexual junk in my proverbial trunk.

My hubby and I had a lot to process through in the first few years of marriage. It was hard and uncomfortable, and down-right ugly at times, but we refused to be robbed of the gift God had given us in the multi-layered dessert of intimacy {emotional, spiritual and sexual}.

It is important that we not confuse punishment with consequences. When I dealt with my ‘stuff’ and accepted Christ’s forgiveness…I was no longer dragging that baggage along with me, and the freedom I felt was indescribable!

God does not punish us for our sin. He is not obsessed with sin {like some church groups}, he is obsessed with LIFE! When Jesus went to the cross, He took all our punishment upon himself, rendering us ‘unpunishable’.

But, as we mommies of little ones well know, there are always natural consequences for every action.

Do not confuse the two.

While my husband and I no longer carry the shame and heart-ache from the choices we made years ago, there are still consequences we have to work through as a couple because of those choices. God’s grace and mercy has lightened the load and enables us to learn and grow in the midst of pain, but rarely does He remove the consequences of the choices we make.

I would urge you to prayerfully look back and examine the guilt and shame you might be dragging along behind you. Sexual baggage doesn’t unpack itself, it simply slips into the bed beside you and makes connecting with your husband in spirit and truth that much harder to do.

There are some great inner-healing ministries that help bring freedom in these areas. Search them out and learn to travel light. It will be so worth it.

Quick! Tell the Children {that Married Sex Rocks!}

Our children need to hear it from us that sex is beautiful and powerful and a profound blessing from God.

When we awkwardly avoid the topic of sex, or keep changing the subject when their curiosity arises – we allow their peers and the media to plant the first seeds – we are no longer a credible source of information on this topic.

We have to be the authority on this subject in their young lives.

Laura M. Brotherson, in her book ‘And They Were Not Ashamed’ writes, "If you are too embarrassed or too unsure of yourself to teach your children, Satan gains free rein of their hearts and minds. . . . Embarrassment is a particularly effective tool he has found to keep parents from teaching their children eternal truths regarding the sanctity of sexuality."

I love how my parents set the stage for us four girls. I’ll never forget the day my baby sister, who is about a decade younger than my older sister and I, grasped the full concept of ‘baby making’. She, with utter disgust on her face, counted her siblings on her hand and then reported back with horror…”you mean you and dad did that 4 times?!?”.

Without skipping a beat, with her signature ’naughty grin’, my mom replied…”oh honey, we do it all the time!”

I want that for my kids. To model a delight in our marriage. In our friendship. In our bedroom. Because when they know that mom and dad have a great sex life…rather than allowing them to believe that sex within marriage is non-existent…it speaks of a passion that’s worth waiting for.

"When parents focus only on premarital chastity and forget about preparing their children for the joys of sexual fulfillment in marriage, their message is skewed to the negative with mostly warnings and consequences rather than filled with the blessings and godly purposes of sex" - Dr. James Dobson

** I recently discovered an incredible teaching on this topic of building sexual character in our kids. It’s called Simple Truths and is done by Mary Flo Ridley. I wrote an overview of her teaching here: The Birds and The Bees…and some Tiny Apple Seeds.

Practical Ideas to Turn Up The Heat:

* Check your price-tag and get your identity and value straight! Ask your doting Heavenly Father to remind you of your value. When you really grasp how much He loves you, and the price He paid to spend eternity with you, it’s hard to stop that radiance and confidence from overflowing into every area of your life.

* Take some time to invest in yourself, and set some goals {put more thought into your daily wardrobe, get out and walk more, eat more healthily, spend more time in the word allowing God to transform your heart}. The better you feel about yourself, the more apt you are to confidently offer yourself as a gift to your husband.

* Flirt! If the brain is the largest sex organ, and we’re slow cookers, it helps to start thinking about gettin’ cozy with your hubby early on during the day. Plan a little. Get creative. And prepare your heart to bless your man when the opportunity arises.

* Swap date night with close friends every (or every other) week so you can get out with your beloved at least once a month. I love that my kids are watching me date their daddy…it models our priorities and expresses the delight we find in our relationship. If finances are tight, have date night at home – but beware, if you’re not intentional about putting it on the calendar, it won’t happen.

* Invest in your friendship. Make a point of smiling at your husband. And laugh! It’s astounding to me how quickly we stop smiling and laughing with our ‘forever boyfriends’ once the routine of everyday life sets in. Laughter truly is a powerful medicine and it has a mysterious way of knitting your hearts together.

* Guard your sanctuary. Turn off the TV in your bedroom {or if you’re brave…remove it all together}, remove the clutter, dust off the candles and turn your boudoir into a romantic haven for you and your lover {maybe invest in a good lock for the door}.

* Just go with it! Don’t let your level of interest keep you from engaging. When it comes to women, desire often occurs after arousal. And remember, the more you do it…the more you’ll want to. I dare you to test that theory!

* Be prepared…if sex isn’t messy, you aren’t doing it right (stock up: mints, towels, wet wipes, astroglide, etc.)

* Don't be afraid to get creative! Predictability can extinguish sensuality. God has given us such freedom in this arena, it is we who tends to box it in and label things as “good” or “bad”. There are some excellent books on inspiring creativity in your bedroom, take a peek at the list below.

Print off some ‘Oooh la la! Love coupons’ by clicking here, saving to your desktop, printing and snipping.

* Do ‘it’ first on date night – it’s amazing how the dynamic shifts when we slip in a little intimacy before date night (when possible). Our emotional connection is so much sweeter, it takes the pressure off being too tired when you get home…and who knows, maybe you’ll get to blow his mind with round# 2.

* Put it on the schedule – as odd as that may sound, it works. We find time for things that are important to us…but when we fail to plan, we plan to fail. Make it a priority (with a smiley face on the calendar) and that way you always know you’ll connect at least once a week when life gets hectic.

* Choose to focus on your husband’s strengths and positive qualities. Nothing will squelch your desire to get cozy faster than a foul, negative attitude toward your husband. Be intentional about bringing out the gold in him…remember, you have the power to make your man great, or break him down completely!

* Learn the fine art of the quickie – my mom offered this wise advice to me before I got married. She’s a smart woman. Enough said.

* Try praying with your husband before intimacy. While it seems odd, it’s incredibly powerful. We tend to separate God from sex, which hopefully after reading all this, you’ll be less inclined to do. Rather, invite God into the midst of your passion – it was His idea, after all.

* Don’t be afraid to get educated on this topic…there are so many excellent books that both educate and encourage fabulous sex in marriage. See below.

* Enlist some help! I have a few precious girlfriends who are wonderful at checking in with me from time to time and making sure I’ve seduced my husband lately. We have great conversations – both inspiring and convicting, but always honoring – about intimacy. We challenge each other onto greater passion! Vulnerable accountability is a real gift in this area.

* Ask God to increase your desire for your husband and reveal His heart on this topic to you. Prayer is powerful. And believe it or not, God wants to increase the passion in your marriage even more than you do…and He’s endlessly resourceful!

Max Lucado tells the story of a newlywed couple who, in the wee hours of the morning after their wedding, arrived at their ‘bridal suite’ with great expectations. What they were met with was beyond disappointing. Where were the flowers and fruit and chocolate…and more importantly, the 4 poster bed, they had seen in the brochure? What a horrible mistake this must be. Too exhausted – and preoccupied with the promise of the greatly anticipated horizontal tango {I’m paraphrasing here} - they decide to take it up with management in the morning.

After an uncomfortable night on a lumpy pull-out sofa in the small, stuffy room, the new husband heads down to the manager’s desk to give him a piece of his mind.

After listening patiently for a few minutes, the desk clerk asks…”did you open the door, sir?”.

Aaah, yes. The door.

After sheepishly returning to his room in search of ‘the door’, they open what they had assumed was a closet door, and are left speechless by the extravagance that lays before them. A stunningly decorated, spacious room, boasting fresh flowers and fruit, chocolates…and the sprawling 4 poster bed.

So precious ones, I ask you…have you opened the door?

Or are you unknowingly camping out in the stuffy, awkward entrance-way to the true blessing God designed for you to enjoy? Refuse to be robbed of the richness of this gift.

We need to fight to reclaim what God intended as a powerful, life-giving gift to husbands and wives.

It’s time to rediscover red hot monogamy.

Are you in?

If you made it this far…let me just say, wow, I’m impressed! I apologize for the pounding headache that is, by now, causing your exhausted eyeballs to protrude from your noodle. You’re a real trooper!

Okay, so where do we go from here?

There are some phenomenal resources out there to help increase the sizzle factor in your marriage. I’ve listed just a few below, but please keep in mind that while they are from trust-worthy and reputable authors and sources, you will occasionally stumble upon something that might not sit well with you. Don’t freak out, friend. Remember that you and your husband have to find your own comfort zone within the vast freedom God has offered us in this area. I don’t personally agree with little bits and pieces of information mentioned within some of these materials, but I also realize that it’s based on my preference and my understanding of this topic, and I refuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We are all so different…and God created us that way.

With that being said…check out the good stuff below!

Excellent books on marital intimacy:

For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men by Shaunti Feldhahn
Red Hot Monogamy: Making Your Marriage Sizzle by Bill & Pam Farrel
Sheet Music: Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage by Dr. Kevin Leman
Sex Begins in the Kitchen: Creating Intimacy to Make Your Marriage Sizzle by Dr. Kevin Leman
The Act of Marriage: The Beauty of Sexual Love by Tim & Beverly LaHaye
Intended for Pleasure: Sex Technique and Sexual Fulfillment in Christian Marriage by Ed & Gaye Wheat
Intimacy Ignited: Fire Up Your Sex life with the Song of Solomon by Dr. Joseph & Linda Dillow, Dr. Peter & Lorraine Pintus
And They Were Not Ashamed: Strengthening Marriage Through Sexual Fulfillment by Laura M. Brotherson
The Sex-Starved Marriage: Boosting Your Marriage Libido by Michele Weiner Davis
Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage: Unlocking the Secrets to Life, Love, and Marriage by Mark Gungor

Two of our all-time favorite books on marriage:

Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
Love & War: Find Your Way To Something Beautiful in Your Marriage by John & Stasi Eldredge

Great sites dedicated to making marriages sizzle:

And to that, I say…{chink!}…here’s to some smokin’ red hot monogamy, baby!

Baked Zucchini Coins

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If you have any lingering zucchini that hasn’t been devoured, grilled on pizza, shredded or chopped for freezer confinement…give these babes a whirl!

They’re easy, kid-friendly and quite delicious indeed!

You’ll find the recipe here, at Weelicious

‘Tis the Season…

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…to eat obscene quantities of apples, apple-inspired dishes, to throw left-over apple cider into pancake batter, and get the low-down on gettin’ cozy between the sheets.

Okay. So there is no formal season for doing all this, it just so happens that this is what’s happening in my house right now.

The hot topics on my mind: apples and intimacy.

Not necessarily in that order.

I’m busy wrapping up preparation for my ‘Rediscovering Red Hot Monogamy’ talk for the upcoming Replenish Your Soul Marriage conference. It’s fun. And inspiring. And challenging. And I can’t wait to share this plethora of information with you.

And while I have no formal recipe to leave with you {and seeing the creator of these scrumptious apple cider pancakes lies fast asleep behind closed doors)…I’ll leave you with this fabulous idea: simply substitute some of the water or milk in pancake mix with some cider, and then add a dash of cinnamon and allspice to the batter, for the perfect harvest pancake breakfast.

Yummo, my friends. Yumm-o!

Baby Smooches

2011-10-25T01:25:00.001-04:00

I’m home. The retreat was fabulous {or at least I thought it was…and I didn’t put anyone to sleep}.

Our 1st annual church harvest party was a blast…we broke in our new fire pit, took 17 people on a hayride behind my hubby’s sexy tractor, taste tested 8 different pots of chili, sipped hot cider with entirely too much whipped cream and caramel, and laughed as kids and adults alike ate little donuts from strings on our washing line.

It is sure to be the first of many such events.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, that’s for sure!

And while I have yet to find my head, I did find this little gem…

{A precious friend’s new wee babe I got to shoot a couple of weeks ago}

This is her third baby boy…3 boys, 3 and under.

She saves loads of money with coupons and has an awe-inspiring pantry.

She paints bathroom walls fresh new colors…days after giving birth.

She randomly sends me texts instructing me to jump my husband.

We once spent an entire {wild & free, before children} new year’s day in bed watching ‘Dirty Jobs’ and ‘Myth Busters’ reruns, stuffing our faces with party spoils, while our husbands watched football in the next room.

She encourages me. Challenges me. Makes me laugh out loud. And loves me, in spite of me.

And she wears footy pajamas in the Winter.

Seriously. What’s not to love?!

Baked Acorn Squash with Cinnamon Apples

2011-10-21T12:54:00.001-04:00

You may recall my love affair with squash last Fall.

It was an all-consuming, heaven-touches-earth, extravagant bliss in a bowl type experience…and I’m just aching to relive it.

If it hadn’t been raining and cold for the past 2 days {and if I wasn’t still wearing slippers…and if I wasn’t feeling lazy}, I’d run out and snap a photo of our mound of squash. And when I say mound, I mean m-o-u-n-d.

It is a literal hill of 50+ acorn squash, 10+ buttercup squash, and about 8 butternut squash. All needing to be brought indoors, with the excess stashed in our crawl space for winter use.

I’m salivating as I type. It’s quite ridiculous, really.

So in anticipation of a season rich with squash-inspired meals, while wanting to use the apples from our tree, we cooked up our first few acorn squash last week, in a whole new “harvest time” way.

And it was out-of-this world good!

Baked Acorn Squash with Cinnamon Apples

Ingredients:

2-3 acorn squash
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground all spice
2 large apples - cored and chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees*
In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, butter, flour, salt, cinnamon and all spice.
Wash and halve the squash. Arrange in an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with the chopped apple, then drizzle the sugar mixture on top, lavishly, but of course. Wrap with foil.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until squash is tender.
Goes beautifully as a veggie side with any meal…or simply as a treat on it’s own!

This recipe was inspired by this baby here

{Admit it. You’re seriously considering a squash affair this Fall!?}

I’m off to make myself look presentable so I can appear semi-professional at the women’s event I’m speaking at this weekend, and then I get to come home to a house full of people as we host our church’s first annual Harvest Party.

Yeee-haaaw!

A Daddy’s Lens & Some {Killer} Photography Tips

2011-10-19T15:25:00.001-04:00

When asked what we had hoped for during those first few months of pregnancy, gender wise, of course we delivered the customary, good parent response…”a healthy baby!”.

But if we had been brutally honest, I would have totally whispered…I’d love a girl!

And I scored with our sweet Bean.

My hubby was just thrilled with his healthy baby girl – and he adores her to pieces – but he might have confided if you had pressed… “I’d love a boy! Eventually”.

2 years later he scored in the form of our precious Bug.

My man simply adores his little boy with every ounce of his being, and has grown to treasure the time he spends working on cars, the tractor, riding the lawn-mower and building all sorts of odds and ends alongside his pint-sized side-kick.

If daddy is outside…Bug is right there next to him, hammering away.

So when I left the two of them alone together to run some errands with my mom on Tuesday, I wasn’t at all surprised by his ability to capture his delight in his boy through our camera lens (he’s good, eh?)…

Isn’t this little lad just too edible for words?!?

As a side note, it was during my hubby’s crime scene investigation course last summer that he first brought home a Canon Rebel to practice with…we fell in love, and promptly started shopping around for one.

So I have him to thank for the magic in my photos…it’s so much about the camera, and learning how to get the most out of it. Because really…anyone can take spectacular photos!

I happened to leave the ISO really high on the camera last time I snapped some photies indoors {just wait until you see the scrumptious acorn squash goodness I was photographing}, so the shots above came out rather over-exposed, or washed out (which is why I turned them black and white to capture the essence of the images, without having to tackle the lack of vibrancy and color from the ISO being too high outdoors).

Haven’t a clue what I just said? ISO, what, what?

Hold on to your horses, ladies, you’re about to learn a whole hang of a lot about photography!

I’ve been asked a couple of times to do a photography tutorial, and seeing I’m still finding my feet in this arena too and feel totally inadequate to share my 3 mini pearls of insight, I decided to share the wealth of information I’ve gleaned from some of my favorite blogs.

Everything I know and apply to my photography, I learned right here, folks!

Several friends have recently purchased the beloved Rebel – so I thought it would be a good time to share…enjoy!

A Quick Guide to Using Your DSLR Camera
Using Your ISO Setting
Aperture: How to Get Blurry backgrounds
What the Heck is Aperture Part1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
Composition/Focus Point
Photography cheat sheet
What Settings Should I Use? Part 1 and Part 2
Finding The Right Light
Basic Macro (Close-Up) Tips
And then a motherload of photography tips are right here: 31 Days to a better photo

Oh, you’re so welcome.

Please, try and contain your excitement. You’re too kind.

Have fun, friends!!

At The Well: Guest Post

2011-10-16T14:22:00.001-04:00

Check out this week’s guest post here, At The Well

The Pierced Bean, An Escape & Other Such Nonsense

2011-10-11T17:06:00.001-04:00

Meet Bean.

The Rockstar.

Sporting jeans, a tutu, and cowboy boots, and rocking the glittered hair, tattooed arm and pierced nose, she was quite the sight to see, riding along on her preschool “Little Rockstars” parade float.

She rocked! And I was one proud mama.

Speaking of piercings and pride, miss Bean got her little earlobes pierced on Saturday. She was very brave, and just adores her new sparkly adornments.

My hubby, our son, my dad and a precious friend spent the weekend at a cabin on a lake {boy time….aaargh!} while sweet Bean and I enjoyed some girl time…shopping, nail-painting, her first big-screen movie, pizza, ice-cream, and playtime with friends. It was lovely indeed!

On a not so blessed note, I experienced my first nose bleed of the decade this afternoon when I attempted to take down the double stroller from it’s special home on a large hook on the garage wall…and caught it with my face. My teeth still hurt. Good thing I look good in purple, I might be sporting it on my face tomorrow for our anniversary.

Speaking of our anniversary…I get to escape with my all-time favorite person in all the world tomorrow. We’ll be celebrating our 8th year of wild wedded adventure by heading back to our favorite little Inn on the West side of the state for a couple of days. Glorious! To say we are excited to get away and soak each other up {and, you know…stay up late…and sleep late} would be an understatement of apocalyptic proportion.

Remember this photo?

This was us rocking our anniversary last year. Good thing we get mildly cooler with age.

Speaking of cooler {aren’t these transition just seamless?}…we’re loving this gorgeous Michigan autumn weather. The colors are striking, the breeze is brisk and the sun is warm. Our new play set has had plenty of company over the last few days. Fun!

My parents have been officially living with us {in the ‘love shack’} for a couple of weeks now and we’ve been reminded of how much we adore community life together! Mom and I love cooking together, my dad is enjoying the zero-turn mower, and they’ll be watching the kiddos while we escape, so it’s been a real blessing all around.

On a completely random note…I’ve finally hit my pre-baby and pre-wedding weight {hip hip hooray!} and hope to drop these final 5 that plague my mid-section. The waistline sightings I’ve had the past few weeks are wildly exhilarating. I plan to celebrate with a tattoo. I kid you not. More on that later.

The only down-side to dropping the padding is when my husband randomly whops me on the behind, my fingers tingle.

Note to self: plenty of junk in the trunk – some excess padding = more nerve exposure {consider yourselves warned}

More randomness…I’m excited to see the Chaos…Simplified ‘2012 Women’s Planner’. I was tickled to be able to design the new cover and assist with finishing touches on the inside. It’s in the final stages and I’m beyond delighted to hold the final product in my hands in a few weeks.

Well, friends…I’m off to bake up some acorn squash and apples and pack my little bag. The question of the moment is…will it be warm enough to ride the bike to the inn and live scandalously wild and free for a few beautiful days?

Aaaah…a girl can dream!

Over and out.

Meatball Mania {Lady and the Tramp Style}

2011-10-07T10:55:00.001-04:00

My little Bean adores books.

So naturally I was delighted when, just a few weeks ago, I was able to track down a family favorite. A series my mom’s mom read to her, and that my mom then eagerly shared with my older sister and I: The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton.

Just saying “the faraway tree” conjures up sweet memories of whimsy and wonder and mysterious lands at the tippy top of a magical tree.

My parents, hubby and I have taken turns ploughing our way through the chapters (these are her first chapter books) and have just finished the second of the three books, pausing only upon the discovery of other favorites lost in the book pile; 101 Dalmatians, You Are Special, and The Lady and The Tramp.

It was the latter that inspired a certain spaghetti and meatball encounter, a dinner-creation first for me.

I’m not sure why I’ve dragged my feet in the meat rolling department…with my love for making cake pops, meatballs should be a natural savory option, right?

Right!

So break out some ground beef (or in our case, venison) and get rollin’!

Meatball Mania

Ingredients:

1 pound of lean ground meat (beef, venison, turkey)
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
3/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1 dash of hot pepper sauce (like Frank’s Red Hot)
1 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*
Mix meat, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, seasoning, pepper flakes, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce well together in a large mixing bowl.
Add milk, egg, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and mix until evenly blended.
Form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center.
Make your pasta, heat your sauce, adding the meatballs when ready, and then work your magic on your very own lady and the tramp moment.

Feel free to pull your eyes taut and sing “we are Siamese if you please” in your best, nasally feline voice while enjoying this meal.

We did.

When in Saginaw…

2011-10-05T18:25:00.001-04:00

Why not try your hand at milking a fabric cow?

Or sit on a giant tongue inside a massive set of teeth.

Or simply serve up some plastic ice-cream!

Saginaw may be one of the most dangerous cities in the Unites States, but I do believe we’ve found a sweet spot {in the shape of a Children’s Museum}.

Now that’s refreshing!

ATW Guest Post & Conference

2011-10-02T21:22:00.001-04:00

Check out today’s guest post here: At The Well

And while I’m on the topic of love, join me at the Replenish Your Soul Marriage Conference, hosted by At The Well, on Thursday, November 3rd at 1:00pm. I’ll be speaking about one of my husband’s and my absolute favorite topics to challenge couples on…intimacy! I even get to answer questions during the panel time.

It’s aptly named: ‘Rediscovering Red Hot Monogamy’.

Va va voom.

Ladies, you won’t want to miss it. If you tell your hubbies what I’ll be talking about, they may even offer to rub your feet while you listen ever so attentively {wink wink}.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some…uh, research…to do.

Sunflower Love (Recipe & October Wallpaper)

2011-10-01T17:36:00.001-04:00

Welcome to October! Here’s a delightfully unusual sunflower from my sister’s garden for you.

You’re welcome.

For large {1680 x 1050 pixels}, click here

For small {1280 x 800 pixels}, click here

{just right click and save the image, and then save it as your desktop wallpaper}

I just love the sunny disposition of the sunflower!

I can’t help but smile when I see them. Especially entire fields of them. They literally take my breath away.

I dream of giant azure vases filled with these yellow plumes, haphazardly scattered across my kitchen and dining room with abandon. There’s a good chance Michael Buble is blaring in these dreams. And there’s chocolate. Always chocolate.

But considering only 1 of the 49 giant sunflower seeds sweet Bean and I lovingly sprouted and then planted survived, it shall remain just that. A dream.

Between the deer making a snack of the seedlings and my husband unknowingly rototilling the remaining few…they didn’t have a snowballs chance in Namibia.

It was a tragic day, my friends. Good thing I’m such a gracious, benevolent wife. Ahem.

I console myself over such tragedy with the next best thing. Chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

Yes, that’s right. I’m one smart cookie, folks. Just candy coat your problems in chocolate. not really.

But seeing my kids were the excuse for buying these delectable little gems, I shared.

In the form of little Gooey Granola Bar Bites.

Ooooh aaaah. Aren’t they so pretty?

I just love those colors {and flavors} together!

Simply smoosh these ingredients together (in the order below) and devour.

Gooey Granola Bar Bites

Ingredients:

2 cups of Old Fashioned Oatmeal
5 cups of Rice Krispies
1 cup of honey
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1 cup of peanut butter
3/4 cups of almond butter (or simply use more PB)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of wheat germ
1/4 cup of finely chopped pecans or almonds (optional)
1/4 cup of finely chopped dried apricots or other dried fruit (optional)
3/4 cup of chocolate covered sunflower seeds (or mini chocolate chips)
2 tablespoon of flax seeds

Directions:

Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the honey, syrup, peanut butter, almond butter and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
In a large bowl, toss the oatmeal, rice krispies, wheat germ, nuts, dried fruit and half of the chocolate covered sunflower seeds.
Stir in the peanut butter mixture so everything is evenly distributed and moist. Pack snuggly into the baking dish and sprinkle with flax seeds and remaining chocolate covered sunflower seeds.
Refrigerate until set, then cut into bars.
Find excuses to eat them…for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack.

This recipe can be played with adapted in so many different ways {think white chocolate chips and cranberries}, so just have fun. I was inspired by this recipe and simply played with it from there.

Just remember to take a moment of silence for my sunflowers while you’re chowing.

Thank you and amen.

It’s {almost} Boot Season

2011-09-29T15:31:00.001-04:00

And it would appear that I am not the only one in this house who is excited to don them…

Fun School Printables

2011-09-26T15:12:00.001-04:00

We’re headed into our fourth week of school for our little lass and I must admit, apart from getting to spend precious time alone with my sweet Bug, one of my favorite parts of her being in preschool is getting to pack her lunch.

I love it!

Because I’m easy to please like that.

And because I love punching cheese into little shapes and spreading nutella {drool!} on her sandwiches for a yummy change, and leaving little love notes in the side pocket. And watching her excitement when she discovers she gets to have a juice-box that day makes me feel less like the juice Nazi I am.

It’s as though I get to love on her, indirectly, through her lunch box. And it delights my heart that it delights hers.

So I thought I’d share some little Lunchbox Love Notes with you too!

You’re welcome. Any time, really!

Simply click on the link above or the image below, save it to your computer, print and slice!

I also realize how hugely having a consistent routine can help our little ones have a successful start to their day, so we came up with a Happy morning routine {that you can glue a picture of your little one’s face to}. This helps instill personal responsibility and empowers them to tackle the necessary tasks of the morning that they can do for themselves (or with a little assistance). The heart column on the right simply represents a ‘connecting time’, so it’s flexible! Be it prayer/scripture, reading a book, or just have a heart to heart chat over a mug of warm milk before they head off to school, it’s a vital part of their before-school routine.

Save and print this baby, and then they could use magnets to ‘check off’ what they’ve done, if it’s on your fridge. Or laminate it and use removable stickers or dry-erase markers. Or just get inspired to create your very own.

Enjoy!

I’m off to pack a little lunch and fill it with momma love.

Swinging September Sun

2011-09-22T00:01:00.001-04:00

As the temperature drops and the playful hours of the day get shorter, these little ones simply kick off their shoes and throw off their sweaters at the slightest hint of warmth and soak up every last minute of outdoor play.

And do these babies know how to swing!

{Bean, Bug, and their beloved cousin, ”Pumpkin”}

Notice their African flavored ensemble?

This little rendezvous occurred after their baby cousin’s first birthday…African safari style, but of course!

Because this wee tot’s momma knows how to throw a party!

{Not to mention her fine ability to make beautiful babies}

Happy 1st Birthday, sweet “Parsnip”!

Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie

2011-09-19T22:15:00.001-04:00

I must confess, I was a little intimidated when a friend handed me a bundle of rhubarb and my husband’s face lit up.

He adores rhubarb sour cream pie. His mama made it. His grandma makes it. His wife had never even laid her hands on rhubarb.

And we know how horribly things went last time I tried to make a favorite of his.

(breath in, breath out, breath in)

Needless to say, I was not terribly excited to give this puppy a whirl.

But…I am delighted to report…I did it! I really did it. And he loved it. He really loved it!

And the best part of my rhubarb adventure…grandma asked me for MY recipe.

Who woulda thunk it? {knuckle bumps}

It was the crumble topping that did it, I’m certain of it. Who doesn’t love flour, butter and brown sugar all mixed up, thrown on top, and crisped in the oven. Woah.

And while I know we’re miles beyond rhubarb season…I stumbled upon these photos the other day and just had to share this magic with you. Flag it for next summer, would you? You can thank me later.

Without further ado…I present you with ‘Not Your Granny’s Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie’. Or something.

Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (I didn’t have one, so I happened to make my very first pie crust that day too, ooooh la la!)
4 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
1 egg
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Crumb topping:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450*.
Press the pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan. Spread rhubarb in an even layer over the bottom of the crust.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, white sugar, sour cream and 1/3 cup of flour together until nice and smooth. Pour mixture over the rhubarb.
In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of flour and brown sugar. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. And sprinkle that crumbly goodness over the top of the pie.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 350*. Continue to bake for 40 minutes, or until the edges have puffed, and the topping is golden. The center may still be slightly jiggly. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Go ahead an invite your Grandma over for some pie. She’ll think you’re the bees knees.

Excuses, Updates and an ATW Guest Post

2011-09-18T09:26:00.001-04:00

Contrary to what a lack of posts for almost a week may depict, I’m alive and semi-well. Emphasis on semi.

Our wee babes and I are all fighting colds, a sinus infection and an ear infection {nicely distributed between the three of us}. Life is peachy!

Speaking of peaches…our little tree is dropping gorgeous, juicy peaches daily and I’ve been freezing, drying and baking the heck out of them. ‘Tis glorious, indeed. Who knew tree-ripened, free peaches tasted this much better?! Recipes to come.

I’ve been designing my heine off…hallelujah! Sadly, it remains the same size. Don’t laugh. I’m thrilled to say I adore my clients and am blessed beyond belief to get to do what I love, in my pajamas, with wads of tissue stuck up my nostrils, in the wee hours of the morning, while trying to meet deadlines…and still be considered semi-professional. Emphasis, once again, on the semi.

Our sweet Bean decided this week that preschool is not in face as cool as she had originally thought, and threatened to run all the way home while I was trying to pry her scissor-gripped legs from my body. She cried. And then I balled all the way home. She was, however, all smiles when I picked her up both days she attended. Here’s to hoping next week is better. Oh please!

My precious man heads out on Monday morning for a week away in the boonies with his dad and two brothers. I’m tickled ~~pink~~ navy blue for him. Or army green. Which ever seems more manly. While we’ll miss him ridiculously much here at home, knowing he’s really connecting – for the first time ever – with the men in his family, over ATVs, camping and hiking, delights me no end!

I, after all, got an entire day to myself this week…meeting up with my younger sister, drooling over the gorgeousness that is Hobby Lobby, having lunch with an old friend, bargain shopping and spending time in a book store, and wrapping up my fantabulous day with two of my favorite women in the whole world. It was a delicious day, to say the least!

I got home to discover this delightful post by a sweet blogger friend I met while speaking at a woman’s event recently. She’s delirious, by the way. I’m really not that funny. Or cute. But I was barefoot.

Speaking of speaking {how’s that for a segue?}…this week I was invited to speak at two different women’s events coming up soon! I’m thrilled! One of them…drum roll, please…about sex! I’m serious! Well, marital intimacy, to be exact. But dude, I’m so excited! {and yes, I’m still working on my juicy, va va voom, Song of Solomon post. This conference may squeeze it out of me sooner than expected. So keep your peepers open!}.

On another completely irrelevant note, I finally tracked down a book series my granny read to my mom when she was younger, and that my mom read to my sisters and I as kids. It’s our all time favorite children’s book: The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. It arrived on Thursday, and in spite of my tragic lack-of-pictures discovery, and the 7+ age recommendation on the back, my precious 4 year old and I are well onto chapter 13. Oh, the memories! What a delight to share this with her.

I have so many fabulous recipes to share with you…and no time to play with photos and type up recipes. Peach muffins, zucchini coins, meatballs & spaghetti (inspired by Bean’s rediscovery of our Lady and The Tramp book}, honey oat bread and more. Soon, my hungry friends!

So besides wiping snotty noses, designing in my jammies, cooking up a storm and reading magical stories {okay, and crying all the way home from the preschool}…this week is a blur. A benadryl induced blur. Thank you, God, for benedryl. What would a snot-nosed mother do without benedryl? I mean, seriously.

I digress.

My At The Well guest post this week features a photo I took of 10 month old lion cubs in South Africa, 5 years ago. I can’t help but smile when I look at it. So I had to share it with you!

With that being said…you’ll find the deep stuff right over here…At The Well!

Over and out.

Oh, How He Loves!

2011-09-12T15:06:00.001-04:00

If you know anything about me, you’ll know how easily my inner-child is delighted. It’s rather ridiculous, actually.

I don’t think she gets out much, personally.

Remember the time God scribbled a heart of clouds in the sky for my wee lass. Woah mama.

Well, He did it again…{while this photo does it little justice…this blueberry was heart shaped!}

…and again…{see it? This is what I found out on the deck on a morning that I was having a rather poopy day}

Love. Written in shades of nature.

I just love how lavishly…how extravagantly…how tangibly…He loves us!

Simple expressions of extraordinary passion, hidden in plain sight.

It’s like a divinely romantic treasure hunt…

we just need the {childlike} eyes to notice the clues.

Do you see them?

Zucchini: The Sassy Edition

2011-09-08T00:04:00.001-04:00

Yes, I’m back. With more zucchini talk.

But you’re going to love this dish. It’s absobloominlutely delicious! And healthy. And sexy.

Besides. I’m breaking out the summer squash this time too, so it’ll rock your palate in green and gold.

Penne, Veggies & Sausage in Garlic Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

1 box of whole grain penne pasta
5 chicken sausages (I used this, but you can use any other meat you want to toss in)
salt and pepper to taste
1 vidalia or red onion, diced
1 large zucchini, chopped
1 large summer squash, chopped
1 cup of red, yellow or orange bell pepper, diced
1 cup of tomatoes, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of chicken broth {go ahead…make your own!}
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
4 ounces (half a container) of light cream cheese
1/4 cup of fresh herbs: parsley, basil, oregano (optional)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

grill or sauté your sausage/meat until cooked through
meanwhile, cook your pasta according to package directions; drain and return to covered pot to keep warm.
In a large skillet, sauté onion, zucchini, summer squash, peppers and garlic in warm oil over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, or until veggies are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add vegetables to pasta.
In a small bowl whisk together broth and flour. Add to warm skillet with cream cheese. Whisk until smooth and bubbly. Stir in tomatoes and cook for 1 more minute.
Add cream sauce and tomatoes to pasta and vegetables, add meat, and toss to coat.
Serve with fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.
Ooooh la la, you’re welcome!
Serves: 6 people

See? Zucchini can be versatile and sexy.

Guess What Today Was…?

2011-09-06T18:57:00.001-04:00

And she was as ready as can be. Happy dance ready! And loved every minute of it.

At The Well: Guest Post {2 Ears, 1 Mouth}

2011-09-04T09:41:00.001-04:00

I get that mixed up on occasion.

I tend to live the Picasso life…as though my face boasted two mouths and one little ear. And I mean little.

The book of James is a fabulous {challenging…convicting} reminder to tend to the often malfunctioning filter on my flapping tongue, and to open my ears instead…

{read this guest post here}

What Really Matters

2011-08-30T18:58:00.001-04:00

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.”

“I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.”

Dawna Markova

When you strip it all away…

Here lies my heart.

Poppin’ Up!

2011-08-27T00:06:00.001-04:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled {thoughtful} post… to bring you this {rambling} drivel:

In addition to the massive quantity of squash we have poppin’ up in our veggie garden, there are a few other fabulous thing-a-ma-bobs poppin’ up around here.

Namely…

The first 4 of 125 giant wind turbines nestled nicely into the fields of the farming communities near us.

328-foot-tall turbines, to be exact.

It’s a powerful {green} thing!

And then there’s this glorious thing {that we had been eye-balling at SAMS for the past 6 months, and were finally able to nab on clearance) that took 6 days to “pop up”…

I am not exaggerating in the least bit when I say that not one single item in these 4 giant boxes – apart from the swing chains - was attached to another.

My precious man, my wonderful dad, and a few kind friends who happened to unwittingly come and go during those 6 days, assembled each and every piece of this structure.

They’re my heroes!

You might be wondering why you can’t you see brightly clothed children happily playing on it? Well, the answer to that would be…because the almost-completely-naked children who are playing on it are conveniently concealed behind wooden slats. See ‘em?

I’m not talking about the hairy one.

Dude, didn’t their mother ever teach them to get dressed?

Sheesh.

As an awe-inspiring storm rolled in on this particular evening, we lingered to watch the dark clouds collide with the blue skies…and I was treated to a rare experience. Capturing a bolt of lightning on camera…

It may not be an awfully impressive bolt of lightning…but it’s a bolt none the less! {knuckle bumps}

We also happen to have a delightful cluster of fruit poppin’ up on our trees this year. Apples and peaches, baby! I have BIG plans for these luscious things.

We’ve only lived here for a year and a half, and I was devastated when these trees didn’t give us so much as a blossom last year. Turns out these babies only produce every other year. Who knew?

And one of my personal favorites that has popped up just this past week…

An extra shelf in my laundry room! Who knew extra storage space and room for organization was a love language? Aaah, my hubby loves me well.

It literally makes this room a happy place for me! I’m sure it’ll be even happier when I get this decal up on the wall.

You can see the original lonely shelf here…accidentally way too high on the wall.

Only tall people were apparently allowed to shower at our house and borrow towels. Shorter people are now welcomed.

Now, before my little loin fruit start poppin’ up in the morning, I had better pop into bed.

Zucchini Pizza on the Grill

2011-08-25T00:27:00.001-04:00

My squash plants are going strong yet again this summer, achieving their unstoppable mission of complete garden domination.

And once again, only quadrupled in quantity this time around, are my happy little zucchini plants…surprising us with magic green missiles overnight.

I pluck them. And low and behold the next day, they’re back!

I love it!

And yes, there’s a slight chance I might be easily entertained. And need to get out more.

Hmmm.

Last year I attempted to master the fine {country girl’s} art of stuffing zucchini in everything…from turkey sandwiches and creamy zucchini quiche, to pasta dishes and delicious zucchini apple spice muffins {woah mama!}.

Thanks to my occasionally uninterrupted bathroom breaks with a magazine in hand, this year I’m breaking out of the mold. And I mean w-a-y out.

Behold. Zucchini pizza. On the grill.

Thank you, Good Housekeeping. I’m now living on the edge.

Side note: I doubled the recipe because ~~I like to eat~~ we had family over for dinner, and I tweaked the recipe a little from the original* I had discovered during said potty break. That would be from the magazine. Not the potty break. Never mind. Because I never have had Gruyère cheese in my fridge, nor have I ever quite figured out how to say it correctly, despite my patient mum’s constant correction of my mispronunciation.

Enough rambling, onto this delicious little number!

Pizza with Zucchini

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini, cut into 1/3 inch thick medallions
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 cup of finely chopped fresh herbs: I used oregano, loads of basil, parsley and sage (or 1/2 teaspoon of dried, preferably oregano and basil)
salt & pepper, to taste
1 pound of fresh/defrosted pizza dough (I love SAM’s frozen dough balls)
a 10 oz. tub of Philadelphia cooking cream
1 1/2 cup of grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Fire up your grill to medium high {charcoal rocks my world. Gas will do}
In a large bowl, toss zucchini slices with garlic, oil, herbs, salt and pepper.
Mix your cooking cream with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, leaving 1/2 a cup to sprinkle on top.
Grill medallions for 4-5 minutes or until tender, turning halfway through (I simply placed them back in the dish with any remaining oil and herbs after grilling)
Drop grill heat to medium-low.
Press or pat out your dough on a large cookie sheet until about 1/4 inch thick
Carefully lift dough and lay flat on grill, cook 3-4 minutes or until puffed and dough releases easily from grill. Carefully turn over.
Spread your cheese mixture evenly over the pizza and top off with zucchini. If any oil and herbs were left in the bowl…drizzle over the top. Sprinkle the rest of your mozzarella and cook for 3-5 minutes, until cheese melts and dough is cooked through.
Devour. Share if necessary.

Now the only questions is…what do I do with the rest of my zucchini stash?

{I’m thinking this, or this…or maybe this}

*The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup of shredded gruyère, and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan. I substituted the cooking cream and mozzarella because ~~it’s all I had~~ I’m brilliant and wickedly creative in the kitchen.

Happy Birthday, {Big Boy} Bug!

2011-08-22T00:15:00.001-04:00

I was examining the fine, downy swirls of peach fuzz on your neck and arms the other day when it hit me. One day this stuff is going to be courser. And darker. And most likely, spread across your face in some sort of suave goatee fashion. And I’m not quite sure how I feel about all this.

I now know what all those mamas with baby boys were talking about. You guys have a way of stealing our hearts and wrecking us for good…in the best way possible.

I’m smitten. Hook, line, and sinker, baby!

Your baby blues melt me. Your adorably soft hair tickles me {quite literally, at times}. Your deliciously huge belly ~~concerns~~ makes me chuckle. Your crazy-face pulling cracks me up every time! Your sweet smooches make me swoon. And the way your cheeks and ears jiggle when you run simply delights my heart!

You’re entirely too fantastic for words!

I love the way you apologize to your sister so sweetly when you wack her in the noodle with a toy car. Or bend down and kiss my big toe once you’ve discovered that you’ve ridden over it with your tricycle. It’s quite endearing, actually. Unsanitary as it may be.

The way you shriek “toot!” with such passion every time someone around you ‘pops a bunny’, and the pride with which you sing every word of “Happy Birthday” and almost every word of “Shoo Fly”, reminds me ~~how desperately I need to work on proper children’s songs with you~~ how much fun being little can be. Thanks for keeping me on my toes! I expect to feel this ~~exhausted~~ young well into my forties.

I love the way you respond with a simple “do!” whenever we ask you whether you’d like something. Usually it’s in regard to a cup of tea. Although that is most often followed up with a passionate “teee peeze, mama!”.

You’re very polite, squashy.

Except when you’ve been asked to lay down daddy’s sledge hammer and step away from his headlights. I’m hoping having your own tool bench now will allow for some distance between you and the heavy metal objects in the garage. And daddy’s motorcycle.

We’re also hoping now that there’s a massive play structure in the back yard, that you’ll refrain from climbing on top of daddy’s car every three days.

You’re an animal. In the best sense of the word.

You could quite easily be the wildest little creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. And yet…you’re delightfully tender and surprisingly affectionate at the same time. You’re all {sweet} boy, indeed.

You’re so patient with your big sister. Most of the time, that is. The way you allow her to dress you up in pink tutus and bedazzled tiaras, and get pushed around in a baby doll stroller, responding to the name “Penelope”, shows incredible ~~naiveté~~ character on your part. Atta boy!

By the way, we’re hoping to sign a contract with the NFL in the near future. You’d make a stellar linebacker. I’m not sure whether it’s the way you eat…or the way you emerged {10 pounds, 6 ounces}…that destined you for big boy success…but you’re well on your way! We keep reminding your sister that playing rough with you now might not be as fun for her in a couple of years {when the size tables have turned}. We’ll keep reminding her. You’re growing fast.

It’s hard to believe that 2 years have flown by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday you were making your presence well-known within my abdominal cavity.

We were just watching the home video of Bean turning 2, and there’s my belly…right in front of the camera…ripe and round, and ready to burst…and now look at you.

A fighter. A little warrior on a mission. To live!

I’ll never forget looking at you through the cold, hard glass in the PICU, just 10 little days old, begging God to allow us to keep you. You kicked that SVT in the heinie! Way to go, babe!

Thank you for alleviating my initial fear of raising a boy. Growing up in a home filled with estrogen afforded me little opportunity to discover just how cool little boys could be. God knew just the touch of dirt and spice we needed in this family…and you more than deliver.

You’re so stinking awesome.

And I simply love being your mum.

You rock our world, wild thing.

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet boy!

At The Well: Guest Post {Perfect Peace}

2011-08-21T15:48:00.001-04:00

Yes, you’ve seen this photo before!

I love it! And I couldn’t wait until this guest post was published, so I turned it into August’s desktop wallpaper and shared it 2 weeks ago!

Impatient…who me?

Do you struggle with trusting God?

With every thing?

With the big things? And the small? And the everyday, seemingly-trivial details of life?

Marinade your mind in this scripture over At The Well for a reminder of what you could trade your worry in for!

Trust me…you’ll be getting the considerably better end of the deal!

{Perfect peace, hmmm mmm!}

Fish: From Lake to Plate in 12 Hours Flat

2011-08-18T14:05:00.001-04:00

My hubby and I spent the day at Michigan’s Adventure with fabulous friends yesterday, while our kiddos stayed home with nana and papa.

I got entirely too much sun, ate entirely too much food, and had entirely too much fun on the rides. Going down water slides, over and over and over again - just us adults – was just the change of scenery I needed.

And between the freshly baked cookies and a trip to the local Whippy Dip, I’m not sure our kids missed us too much while we were gone.

Speaking of day trips, remember when we spent a day at a historical village while my hubby fished nearby with his grandpa?

No? Not at all?

That’s okay. I’ve already forgotten what I did this morning.

Well, my hubs brought back these three bad boys that day. Walleye, baby!

And he didn’t waste any time cuttin’ them up.

Who new gutting fish could be so much fun {gag, cough, heave}…

Our wee babes were enamored by the walleye’s sharp teeth, slimy scales, stretchy gills…and by far their personal favorite…the “jello eyeballs”.

I was doing just fine, standing on the side-lines, trying desperately not to be a helicopter mom in the face of stinky fish and entrails…”don’t touch that, baby…those are intestines!” or “ummm, babe…they’re…uuuh, going to slice their fingers open on those razor sharp teeth!”…just dandy, I swear, until Bug started poking his little finger into the fish’s eyeball…and then sticking it in his mouth.

{go ahead…take a minute to absorb that. I’ll wait. Feel free to gag a little)

My reaction of complete and utter disgusted shock only fueled him. So he did it again. And again. With sheer delight!

I, of course, was not disturbed enough to put the camera down {naturally}, but I did vomit a little in my mouth while I snapped away. Not really. But it was tempting.

I then composed myself…slipped into my domestic goddess outfit and whipped up some broiled Walleye and chips. I found the recipe here, and it was simple and delicious!

All in a day’s ~~work~~ fun, baby!

The {Rainbow} Cake

2011-08-15T14:55:00.001-04:00

We celebrated our little loves this weekend. Bean turned 4 a couple of weeks ago, and Bug turns 2 in a couple of weeks. ~~We’re still cheap~~ they’re still young enough to combine birthday parties.

It was delightful!

And the cake. Oh! the cake.

My big sister is a cake-bakin’-makin’-decoratin’ guru.

So being the brilliant mama that I am…naturally I palmed it off on her.

And boy did she deliver!

Isn’t it just too fabulous for words?

{hence the brevity of this post}

Scriptures for {Weary} Mums

2011-08-10T18:26:00.001-04:00

I don’t know about you, but I need clear reminders, throughout the day, of how to behave.

{Oh, be-have!}

Stop laughing. I’m serious.

In the midst of upturned bowls of tomato soup, leaky diapers, sassy ‘tudes and unfinished adult conversations…I need to be reminded how to love well.

With patience, compassion, kindness, grace, hope…and perseverance. Bucket loads of perseverance.

So I tossed some of my favorite bible verses into a page of fun little cards. For you. But mostly for me.

Because I need frequent reminders.

Click here to download the full sheet of scriptures

{ENJOY!}

[to get these scriptures from your screen to your bathroom mirror or kitchen sink window (my personal favorite places to stick up powerful quotes or verses)…simply click on the link, then right click on the image and save it to your computer. You can either open it up in a document (don’t forget to decrease your margins as much as possible) or simply print it as an 8.5 x 11 image. Then cut along the faint gray lines. Please do let me know if you have any problems…I’d love to help you get your hands on these…they’re so very helpful during the course of our day, to my hubby and I!]

At The Well: Guest Post {plus August Desktop Wallpaper}

2011-08-07T09:01:00.001-04:00

Do the words ‘weary’ and ‘burdened’ resonate at all with you?

They sure do with me! And quite possibly every other human being I know.

Here’s a good reminder for you: At The Well: Guest Post

Want another reminder to help keep your heart nestled safely in the hands of God, rather than caught up in the tizzy of every day life?

Plaster it on your desktop {voila!}

For large {1680 x 1050 pixels}, click here

For small {1280 x 800 pixels}, click here

Lettuce Be Real

2011-08-05T09:54:00.001-04:00

It came up in conversation with a precious friend the other day…the difference between how cool and confident we may appear on the outside, and how insecure and fearful we may be on the inside.

And, as it often does when I process ‘life’, my garden came to mind.

I’ve never grown lettuce before, and was quite delighted at the thought of throwing microscopic seeds in little holes in the garden and getting to devour fresh, crispy leaves from lush lettuce plants just 45 days later.

I’m all about lots of bang for a little bit of buck. And a wee little bit of work. I’m lazy like that.

Apparently I have a lot to learn about growing lettuce.

Considering how easily tickled my inner-child is, it’s no surprise that I was delighted when our little lettuce shoots did in fact become frilly, green plants with lush leaves; a full row of salad, ripe for the picking!

With friends coming over for dinner, I skipped out, bowl in hand, ready to harvest our very first “fresh from the garden” salad…but returned with an empty bowl, devastated by what I had discovered.

The lettuce were bitter.

Incredibly bitter. Each and every leaf. I know because, in my frantic search for the crisp, sweet lettuce I had hoped to gather, I grabbed and nibbled from several directions.

Our lettuce was completely deceiving: pretty and vibrant on the outside…limp and bitter on the inside.

And oh, how I can relate to the deception. I fall easily into the performance trap.

For some reason we feel the need to put on a brave, super-woman front for all the world to see, making an effort to display only our most redeeming qualities, while inside we wrestle with the ugliness and insufficiency we fear is ours alone to carry.

We’re painfully aware of it, and we fear that if others were to know the scary depths of who we truly are, we would experience the agony of rejection, the discomfort of outside analysis. The upturned upper lip of bitter discovery.

So we stuff it. Away from what we perceive to be judgmental eyes, pointing fingers, and flapping lips.

How many, many times I’ve seamlessly pulled off this masquerade.

In an effort to protect the tender underbelly of my existence – my brokenness - I simply hide it. The wall that is built to keep the “bad” in, inevitably, keeps the “good” out.

We forget that it is the pretentiousness that isolates and exhausts us. Not the sweet vulnerability of being real.

How desperately I’ve wanted people to see me as put-together…more competent, more generous, more intimately and creatively involved in the lives of my loved ones than I am, more self-controlled, more ambitious, more confident than I really am.

Perfect would be nice.

And while I know it’s unattainable, I still try. And try. And fall short. Every.single.time.

Let’s drop the mask, friends.

How I long to be completely real. With you. With my world. With myself.

To be 100%, completely and utterly genuine, and yet be comfortable and confident in my skin in the midst of it.

I really do want you to see my flaws. I want you to see how messy and unpleasant and awkward my life is at times. How not-pretty my attitude can be, and how high my laundry pile really gets.

Sometimes I wear the exact same black cami for 2 days in a row. And sleep in it both nights.

Okay, maybe you don’t need to know that.

You get the idea.

The reminders of my imperfection, my raging inadequacy, tease me throughout the day, threatening to plunge me into hopelessness if I entertain the temptation to dwell on them.

A simple glance at Bug’s deadly big toenail suddenly reminds me that I am in fact in charge of 40 additional (little) nails and considering I don’t remember when last I snipped them, my the mommy-guilt kicks in. I should read to them more. Get them out more. Shout at them less. Engage with them more. Be kinder. More consistent. No longer model the fine art of procrastination. I should be a better mother than I am.

In my marriage…the struggle to actually finish a conversation. Or start one. Or keep the spark from drowning in strawberry scented baby wash. My hubby reminds me that he actually likes to be touched. Could I maybe be more affectionate? My heart breaks. I’m naturally affectionate…how did my beloved slip through the cracks? While my flesh selfishly wails…seriously? Aren’t I carrying or holding or wiping or kissing someone’s body constantly?

In my house…the never-ending pile of laundry, dishes, mail, shoes, toys, that all beg to be ~~burned~~ put away. The fridge that was apparently just cleaned by my mom. “We emptied 6 containers of old left-overs”. Just flog me now.

In my spiritual life…why is it so hard for me to get up early enough to peel off my pajamas and spend time recharging my battery in the presence of the Author of life itself? It’s a no-brainer. And yet I continue to allow the lesser things in life consume my time. I forget that I cannot give what I do not have.

In my body…be it self-image, or actual physical care. I know what to do. I teach it. But I don’t do it consistently. I choose ‘good’, rather than ‘best’. And on occasion, too much of ‘bad’. I sit, rather than move. Oh, how I wish energy surged through my veins…and rather than trigger it by moving, I watch from the steps. Which feeds into the first thing {parenting guilt}.

In family and friendships…I get so easily consumed in my own little world that I sometimes forget about others. Even those closest to me. I feel I drop the ball frequently, even if just in thoughtful word or tender voice. A meal. A card. A phone call. I so desire to be more to them like they are to me.

You should know I struggle wildly with comparing myself to others. Always those who {appear to} have it all together, parent creatively, love lavishly, write stunningly, sing beautifully, design brilliantly, live well…stretch-mark free!

The plates I spin all need more of me than I know how to give.

Yes. I should read more. Sleep more. And on occasion, less. I should…I must…I could…but I don’t.

And it’s here that we believe the lie that threatens to swallow us whole:

Who we are is not enough.

And it never will be.

So cover it up.

Sometimes it whispers. Other times it screams.

And it is the fear of this discovery that keeps us turned inward. Fearful that if our many areas of insuffiency were made known, we might be looked down upon.

So we put on a brave face, try our darndest to strike the super-woman stance and pull of the illusion of perfection.

The reality that we will never be enough could be a tragic one. But it’s not.

Because it has the potential to drive us to the truth. The truth that we were intricately created to be this way, intentionally woven together with our skills and passions, strengths and weakness, to be a beautiful PART of something bigger. Not the ALL we so desperately desire to be to everyone and everything.

We were designed to need others. To thrive in community with other perfectly imperfect people.

To be driven into the arms of an All-Sufficient, ever-patient God.

It’s time to be real with each other, friends. To drop the act and allow our exterior to actually reflect our interior?

Unlike my {sad} lettuce.

I’m talking good ol’ fashioned authentic transparency here. About finding the freedom to be who we really are, with all the delightful – and less-than-delightful - qualities and quirks we encompass, and to invite {with wisdom} people into our woundedness, into our inadequacy, into our humanity.

To just do life together, transparently. The way it was meant to be done. A shared experience of life and growth and healing.

Beautifully, messily, delightfully, chaotically, unabashedly, vulnerably: together.

Besides, life is way more fun that way.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am thankful my myriad of insecurities don’t show easily at first glance, or gush forth each and every time I open my mouth, but this I know: I cannot imagine my life – and the depth of authenticity I desire it exude – without the wildly satisfying knowledge that I’m loved and accepted – right where I am - by the incredible friends I’ve been so blessed to be surrounded by.

You see, they’re not enduring my imperfection…they’re enhancing His perfection in me.

They’re actually a perfecting tool in the hand of our Creator. They are a part of the refining process, creating a safe place to heal. To grow. To blossom. Without a bitter center.

Bona fide friendships; made rich by the vulnerability and simplicity they imbibe,

and made strong by the honesty and safety that permeate them.

What a gift it is to know that despite my occasional unpleasant after-taste, I no longer have to hide my {conspicuous} baggage and weakness behind a facade of artificial, frilly perfection.

{Lettuce rejoice!}

{Triple}Berry Shortcake

2011-08-02T23:18:00.001-04:00

As berry season forges on, full throttle, I couldn’t help but give this quick {and anti-oxidant packed} dessert a whirl!

As easy as it is to make, eager little hands actually make great helpers on this one, and the catching and devouring of runaway berries is welcomed too!

We’ve become big fans of pulling the last-minute strawberry shortcake card when we’re hosting unexpected company. This is simply an embellishment of that staple.

If we don’t have a box of Bisquick hiding somewhere in the forgotten-about crevices of our cluttered cupboards, my husband has become a Kitchen Aid guru and can slap up homemade biscuits faster than you can find our naked children’s clothes. As if he wasn’t dreamy enough already.

Seeing we almost always have some sort of fresh berry in our fridge, it’s a match made in heaven!

I won’t insult your intelligence and ability to read the side of the biscuit box by giving you a recipe for this little lip-smacker, but I couldn’t not share the gloriousness of it’s simplicity with you!

And just look at that thing…isn’t it just so pretty and bursting with color?!? A crowd pleaser, indeed!

So go bake some biscuits…load them with fresh berries, and squirt entirely too much cream on it for your own good.

You can thank me later.

P.S. We’re going blueberry picking next week and I have some incredible recipes I’ve been dying to try and share! There’s a good chance one of them involves turning fresh berries into dried fruit roll-ups, and the other might possibly involve combining blueberries with lemon to make mouth-watering cupcakes. Or maybe not.

Happy Birthday, sweet Bean!

2011-07-30T00:06:00.001-04:00

Today you turned four.

Even though you told your auntie ‘Poo’, who called all the way from South Africa this afternoon, that you were “something like 15 now”…you’re actually four.

You’re starting preschool this Fall! And using words like ‘condensation’ and ‘moisture’ in everyday sentences.

I haven’t quite figured out how you got here so fast. ‘Tis true what ‘they’ say…the days may creep, but the years fly by.

Weren’t you just in my belly a moment ago?

I just can’t wait to see what this new year holds! You’re so ripe and ready to take on life, whatever it may bring.

You’re such a treat to the senses, oh mighty toad catcher and puddle jumper!

You take after your daddy in your love for all things wild and adventurous. I especially love it when you cuddle up beside him and watch ‘Man vs. Wild’ without being totally grossed out. How wild are you, in fact?

The ‘swoop and swirl’ you’ve choreographed and mastered on your bike is just the coolest thing since sliced bread. The fact that you’re either wearing a frilly long skirt or are as naked as a jay bird when you pull it off is quite possibly my favorite part of your bike show.

Your dancing. And singing. Oh, they melt me! Especially when done at the same time. During a pretend worship service in which you request that I preach. You make fake church look awesome.

While your dad isn’t a huge fan of you dressing your brother up in tutus and tiaras and calling him “Penelope”, I think it’s delightful. He’s also a very obedient puppy when you leash him. And a pony, which you have yet to try riding. Good thing.

And you’re as hooked on tea as I am. But I’m not sure this is a good thing. We need to talk.

You’re such an amazing big sister, sweet girl! Bug doesn’t even know how good he has it.

But we do. And we just love the way you love him.

You’re a lavish lover of people.

We haven’t a clue where you got that from! {smiles}

Your spunky sense of humor, tender heart and zeal for life are so contagious, precious girl!

Have I told you recently how much I love your head of curls? And that I’m actually okay with the fact that you stole them from me, in utero? They look better on you anyway.

Your giggle tickles my toes. I love it!

We’re so thankful God chose to place you – with all the deliciousness that is wrapped up in who you are – into our little family. We couldn’t ask for more in a daughter.

And we simply cannot wait to see all He has in store for you.

Watch out world…she’s a movin’ on up.

After all. You’re like 15 or something now. Or something.

Happy 4th Birthday, sweetheart!

We love you more than ~~a fat man loves cake~~ your mommy loves tea, more than a squirrel loves nuts, more than a cactus loves water. You’re the bee’s knees, baby cakes!

And the Grand Conclusion is: We Like Camping!

2011-07-29T00:53:00.001-04:00

We actually really do!

Are you as surprised as I was? Because I sure was caught off guard by this revelation.

It sort of snuck up on me.

Granted, we cheated a little by enjoying most all of our meals with precious friends at a nearby cabin, which eliminated the tedious task of planning, packing and preparing meals, tent-side. Maybe it’s not quite cheating. Maybe it’s simply wisdom. Please, stifle your snickering, I’m reasoning with myself. This was, after all, our first time camping with little loin fruit in tow, and I am, admittedly, a little unsure of sleeping outdoors in a large, fabric dome without running water directly nearby, with anyone under the age of 5. Okay, 10. Fine, 18. Surrounded by other people doing exactly the same thing.

Am I weird?

Don’t answer that.

I digress.

Camping food…maybe next year we’ll take that on, when we’re ~~crazier~~ braver and the kids are ~~less all consuming~~ older. Or who knows, maybe next month we’ll give it a whirl…seeing my husband decided we should do this crazy camping thing again soon.

And I’m so totally in! I think this camping thing could really grow on me.

I’m sorry it took me so long to declare that nugget of discovery to you {thanks for the concern, sweet Linda…we are alive and well!!}, between the choice to stay an extra day…yay!…and the broken modem and minor case of food poisoning upon our return…booo!…I just haven’t had the chance to unpack my brain. Until now.

And now it’s gushing. Unfiltered. Unspell-checked. Uninspired. Exhausted.

Bear with me {and pretend my photographs actually make up for the complete lack of practical wisdom and intellectual prowess within this post}

We spent a lot of time soaking up the surprisingly delightful weather on the west coast, and have the freshly crisped flesh to prove it {thankfully we own a happy aloe plant that is growing as fast as we use it}.

Our kiddos so enjoyed the ridiculous amount of sand, sun, water, ice pops and ice cream they experienced while on vacation. Five additional adults to cuddle and entertain them were quite a welcomed bonus, too!

We were so blessed to have been able to spend this time with 2 of our favorite couples {the young man has been my hubby’s best friend for over a decade now, and was our best man in our wedding, and his dad has been my hubby’s spiritual father for as long…we adore this precious family!}

We ate like Kings, taking turns to provide a meal {I’m talking baked brie, fresh bean & corn salsa, grilled chicken & steak, freshly tossed salads, baked taters…the works!}. Not the caliber of food you would expect when the word ‘camping’ is scribbled on the calendar, but a lavish spread I could easily get used to!

We went for a ride of a friend’s boat, played on the jet-ski (photos to come), napped in the sunshine…

met a local State Police family for ice-cream, toasted marshmallows, drank coffee while watching the sun set…

…watched our little ones run and swim and shriek with laughter as they chased each other with dead fish.

{please attempt to contain your disgust and astonishment}

We even discovered hanky panky is actually possible on an old, ever-deflating air mattress, flanked with children who roll off their beds every 45 minutes. Now that’s what I call talent! {Ahem}

In short: it was delightful!

And the best part is…it can only get better from here!

As we walked around the campsite that first day, watching families and friends gather around fire pits with their campers decked out with pretty lanterns and ‘Welcome’ signs, we couldn’t help but smile at the thought of bringing our kids back there, year after year…watching them grow and explore and take ownership of a tradition that is sure to cultivate delightful layers of friendship, adventure and connectedness in our little family.

Indeed, it is true…we’re quite sure we love camping!

Camping Prep & the Baby Face

2011-07-23T01:09:00.001-04:00

We’re headed out to the west side of the State to go camping tomorrow. You know, the ‘sleeping in a tent’ type camping. For 3 days and 2 nights. With our children. For the first time ever.

Yes, we’re crazy. And no, we haven’t a clue what we’re in for.

I am both terrified and giddy with excitement, all at the same time.

The sound machine and extension cord are packed. And band aids. Lots of Band-Aids. And bug spray.

Send prayers.

If you don’t hear from me by next Wednesday, send help.

Until then, enjoy this beautiful wee babe I got to snap photies of this evening (after enjoying a yummy dinner of homemade ravioli – photos of ‘the making of’, I have yet to post – with her precious parents and big brother)…

My uterus is feeling lonely. Only sort of.

Considering how much ravioli I ate tonight, I could probably hold up a pair of maternity pants quite nicely.

Enough banter.

My husband is home tonight and our glorious bed beckons.

{Camping, remember. Pray!}

Luscious Lemon Pie {oh my!}

2011-07-20T23:40:00.001-04:00

Knowing my sweet sister is on the mend and no longer stranded on a mountainside in Botswana with a broken ankle (you know, the important stuff), I can share this ~~frivolous~~ fabulous recipe without feeling like a poopy big sister {thanks for all your prayers and kind words, our family has been blown away by the outpouring of love for our sweet “Poo”)

I posted this recipe a while back, in the form of Key Lime Pie, and it remains a staple for last minute company {or sudden sweet tooth cravings that simply cannot be left unsatisfied}.

I confessed to the world, via facebook, last week that I single-handedly consumed half of one of these stinkin’ pies over a period of 2 days. My husband holds to his claims of two-thirds. I’m sticking to half. But then again, I was in a sugar coma.

My hormones held me at ~~tampon~~ knife point and left me no option but to inhale an exorbitant quantity of this decadent lemony goodness. I was without ~~resolve~~ options.

And I only sort of regret it.

Want to eat some too? It’s ridiculously easy. Almost as easy as it is addictive. Forgive me. I hope you have more will-power than I do. Or at least less condensed milk.

I make my own crust by blending graham crackers (about 2 packages, you’ll want about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs, and you can use any kind of cookie you want) with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Press into your pie dish and bake for 6 - 8 minutes on 350*.

Then wash out your handy little blender because you’ll be using it again to whip up your pie filling. Easy, see?

Throw in your blender…

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
As much lemon zest as you feel like zesting {how’s that for accuracy?}
1/2 cup of lemon juice – pour this in slowly as you blend the previous three ingredients {it will thicken as it sits, so get it into your crust as soon as it’s well blended}

Directions:

Work your blender magic!
Pour into your fancy little graham cracker crust and marvel at your mad Betty Crocker skillz
Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until set, cool on a wire rack
Top with some squirts of cream and even more lemon zest…and then, depending on how much you love your family members, leave them a little
Or don’t. And blame it on Pie Munching Syndrome {PMS}

P.S. If you’re feeling overly ambitious, save your egg whites and whip them up with some powdered sugar into a meringue and actually make a lemon meringue pie. Or don’t.

Prayer Request for my {baby} Sister

2011-07-18T23:32:00.001-04:00

I interrupt your regularly scheduled lame blog post – about lemon pie – to bring you this rather important prayer request for my sweet sister who, to put it mildly, has had an eventful day in Botswana…

My delightful {ambitious, intelligent, hard-working, compassionate} baby sister has been teaching, preaching and volunteering in Kigali, Kenya and Gaborone, Botswana for the past 6 weeks. She’s supposed to be flying out to South Africa on Friday to spend time with family before she flies back ‘home’ to Michigan in early August, but we’re not quite sure what the immediate future holds for her. Nor is she. Thankfully, we know who holds it.

*She was out hiking in the mountains of Gaborone earlier today when she must have lost her footing and fell 60 feet, breaking her ankle and dislocating her shoulder. It is a wonder she is alive! Praise God she had her cell phone and was able to call her hosts in Botswana, and my parents, all the way across the world. While she waited for her host family to find her up in the mountains, family and friends across the world – connected by the wonders of facebook – prayed hard! After hours and hours of waiting, they eventually found her and were able to have her airlifted out. We are so thankful that the baboons, scorpions and snakes were not an issue while she waited for help.

It was a heart-wrenching day for my family (oh, my poor momma!) as we waited for intermittent, brief contact with a very weary loved-one, feeling utterly helpless to physically aid her.

Last we heard, she had arrived at the hospital, almost 9 hours after she fell, still dirty from the hike, and was on a drip for dehydration. Her shoulder has been reset and she is scheduled for surgery at 1:00am EST (7:00am, Gaborone time) to have her ankle reset and a metal plate put in. How she will maneuver, with an arm in a sling and a foot in a cast, is yet to be seen.

She – believe it or not – had her bag stolen a couple of weeks ago, along with the treasures it held: green card, credit cards, camera, cash and passport.

While she was had her passport replaced already, she is still waiting on a {ridiculously expensive} letter from the department of US Naturalization that will allow her back into the United States.

Please keep my sweet sister in prayer as this wild week unfolds! I’ll keep you posted!

You can follow her travels here

At The Well: Guest Post {Far More Valuable}

2011-07-17T11:18:00.001-04:00

Read this post here: At The Well

{And yes, I have been mildly obsessed with the bird life in my yard this season. Be thankful…it’s more invigorating than my potato plants, which you’ll be seeing soon!}

My Day with Moppitt

2011-07-15T11:46:00.001-04:00

Meet *Moppit.

She’s the 5 day old {teeny weeny} baby bunny that spent her final 30 hours – or most of it – nestled in my less-than-ample cleavage. I enjoyed every minute we were able to care for this sweet little baby.

We discovered Moppitt and her two siblings when Marley dug up their nest last Saturday. They were probably ‘freshly squeezed’ and appeared to be growing well over the next couple of days, so after researching the daylights out of them {thank you Google}, we left them alone.

On Wednesday, we discovered two of the babies dead outside the nest. We assumed momma bunny was no longer feeding them and that the third would also soon die.

So my maternal instincts did me in and I snatched it up. Declared it a female, named her Moppit, and promptly put it in my bra {I would so appreciate it if you would kindly refrain from any mention of the words: ticks, flees, mites or disease, when referencing her unorthodox accommodation}.

In reading, I discovered baby bunnies rescued under two weeks old will most likely never survive without their mama. There are incredible antibodies in the mother’s rich colostrum that simply cannot be replicated. But still, I tried. I mixed warm egg yolk, cream and karo syrup and fed it to her through a tiny syringe.

Her little eyes and ears had not even opened up yet, she was so little. And precious. And photogenic.

She slept in a little basket laden with dishtowels the first night, and spent most of the next day against my skin. I considered myself a mamma-substituting success for every hour we were able to keep her alive.

She made it almost 30 hours.

And I miss her already. Because I’m a smushy dork.

And that, my friends, was my magical day with Moppit.

{the end}

*Bean, I know you wanted to name her Flopsy, of Peter Rabbit fame, but considering it was in my bra that she spent her final day, I secretly named her Moppit. Because I liked it. And seeing you can’t read yet, we’re all good.

Erma & Martha, the Exchange

2011-07-13T09:34:00.001-04:00

{I heard these letters between Martha Stewart and Erma Bombeck read at the Ladies Day I spoke at in April…and loved them! I haven’t the foggiest notion who to credit, so if you know…drop me a line so I can give credit to this most brilliant lass}

Hi Erma,

This perfectly delightful note is being sent on paper I made myself to tell you what I have been up to. Since it snowed last night, I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a glue gun. I hand painted it in gold leaf, got out my loom and made a blanket in peaches and mauves.

Then, to make the sled complete, I made a white horse to pull it from DNA that I had just sitting around in my craft room. By then, it was time to start making the place mats and napkins for my 20 breakfast guests. I'm serving the old standard Stewart twelve-course breakfast, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I didn't have time to make the tables and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand.

Before I moved the table into the dining room I decided to add just a touch of the holidays. So I repainted the room in pinks and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling.

While the homemade bread was rising, I took antique candle molds and made the dishes (exactly the same shade of pink) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get at almost any Hungarian craft store.

Well, I must run. I need to finish the hand-sewn buttonholes on the dress I'm wearing for breakfast. I'll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelope I'll be making.

Hope my breakfast guests don't stay too long. I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon. It's a good thing.

Love, Martha

P.S. When I made the ribbon for this typewriter, I used 1/8-inch gold gauze. I soaked the gauze in a mixture of white grapes and blackberries which I grew, picked, and crushed last week just for fun.

Dear Martha,

I'm writing this on the back of an old shopping list. Pay no attention to the coffee and jelly stains. I'm 20 minutes late getting my daughter off for school, packing a lunch with one hand-on the phone with the dog pound, seems old Ruff needs bailing out again. Burnt my arm on the curling iron when I was trying to make those cute curly fries, how DO they do that? Still can't find the scissors to cut out some snowflakes, tried using an old disposable razor . . . trashed the tablecloth. Tried that cranberry thing; frozen cranberries mushed up after I defrosted them in the microwave. Oh, and don't use Fruity Pebbles as a substitute in that Rice Krispies snowball recipe unless you like food that resembles puke! Smoke alarm is going off, talk to ya later.

Love, Erma

I was Weeding the Vegetable Garden…

2011-07-09T23:38:00.001-04:00

{and other lame excuses for why I’ve been such a delinquent blogger lately}

I was busy growing sprouts…

I was locking myself, my children and our pup out of our house while my husband slept soundly in our room. Good thing one of our screens doesn’t lock properly into it’s window and Bean was willing to slither in through the living room window. Awesome way to start a morning indeed!
I was listening to a beautiful CD a precious friend of mine recorded and mailed to me. On repeat.
I was busy ~~watching~~ helping my husband make all sorts of fun things with my birthday present…{recipes to come}

I was busy swooning over the few day old baby bunnies Marley found burrowed in our front yard this morning. Yay, my proverbial nest is full again! We can’t wait to watch these babies grow {assuming said pup isn’t able to move my high-tech security system of upside-down crate with cannonball on top from covering their nest}
I was busy shaving both legs. During one shower. A miraculous summer necessity that has only been occurring more frequently since my children have been increasing in age.
I was designing my eyeballs out into the wee hours of the morning…{you know, the ‘professional’ thing I do on the side in my pajamas while my children are sleeping and my husband is out protecting the fine citizens of Michigan}

And a personal favorite design project {due to the deliciously sweet subjects within}…

I got to snap shots of the proud big sisters holding their sweet wee babe…

and even got to hold her the day after she emerged!! {swoon}

So I was holding a baby. Need I say more?
I was painting my fingernails a non-transparent color for the first time in my life. And then removing it two days later.
I was busy doing loads of laundry.
I was out running in the early hours of the morning with Marley. Okay fine, I did that once. And barely made it out alive.
I was busy making garlicky hummus deliciousness and pita chips {out of tortillas, but of course}…

I was drinking entirely too many cups of tea. But that is nothing new, now is it?
I was busy watching my sexy man flex his muscles and get his blue jeans dirty while cutting down a tree at my parent’s house {va va voom, baby!}. And then we went on a date. The rest is history. Amen.

I was busy lying to you about doing loads of laundry. Those are piled high in baskets still waiting to be tended. Like this lonely blog. Forgive me.
I was drooling over my new Jo Totes camera bag I convinced a sweet client to buy for me in exchange for design work ~~because I’m too cheap to pay more than $15 for a bag.~~
I was making scrumptious veggie pizza with way too much bacon for my own good…

I was meeting spiffy new people I could talk for hours with.
I was getting burnt to a crisp at the beach with precious friends while my poor husband wonders where the heck his wife and kids are and whether his wife was sober when she decided to leave the house for 5 hours and not leave a note or answer her phone {gulp, sorry babe!}
I really was weeding and watering the vegetable garden {yay me!}, and actually knew to cut the pretty curly scapes off my garlic plants this year {that I simply admired and left intact last year}. I was even thoughtful enough to put them in an old peanut butter jar and give them to my mom as an unorthodox floral arrangement Because she loves garlic. And because I’m a rockin’ daughter like that.

I have been catching fireflies with my lovely loin fruit {and marveling at Bug’s ability to catch and squish in 2 seconds flat}
I have been making frequent stops at our local Whippy Dip. I have a problem. Especially when the sign outside reads “Toasted Coconut”.
I have been reading A Woman After God’s Own Heart. Because I want to. But mostly because I’m a part of a book club, and now I “have” to. It’s challenging. And so very good.
And the other reason I’ve been a blogging slacker is because I’ve been quite busy watching my sweet girl fall in love with her very first real pet…and melting at the very sight.

But I’ll stop making excuses and get back on the blogging ball.

{until, of course, something else, life-inspired occurs and I have to slip away to intentionally live it to the hilt!}

Independence Was Declared

2011-07-06T13:15:00.001-04:00

…from all semblance of self-control, whatsoever.

I mean, just look at this cake!

Who, in the presence of this scrumptious hunk of fruity, cream-cheesy goodness, would be able to maintain any sense of composure and dietary dignity?

Not I, my friend, not I.

Especially when it has your name written in blueberries on it. It’s like a blue invitation to over-indulge.

Our July 4th was wonderful! We spent an amazing day with precious new friends who we feel we’ve known for a lifetime! The youngest of 5 {ridiculously gorgeous} sisters decorated this cake in honor of my first July 4th as an American citizen.

Isn’t she just all sorts of creative?

We had a marvelous day, peppered with wet, muddy kids, a round of Battle of the Sexes, s’mores over a fire and plenty of good food and laughter!

In the mean time, our sweet Marley Mae was home alone without us ~~having the time of her life~~ as miserable as can be. And would now like to demonstrate the deconstruction of a few household items:

Hope you had as much fun as ~~she~~ we did!

At The Well: Guest Post {The Ultimate Plan Review}

2011-07-03T09:17:00.001-04:00

I’m a born list maker. A passionate, type-A list maker. The need for uncluttered organization in my life is evidenced by the sheer quantity of baskets and totes I own. They neatly hold my household together behind the scenes. Purging, cleaning and organization thrill me to no end. Maybe it’s the sense of peace it provides in the daily whirl of life that appeals to me so.

Click here to read the rest over on At The Well.

P.S. The planner above is my new favorite thing since sliced bread. It’s like a sliced planner; your month AND your week visible at the same time! Check out the brilliance of this baby at Chaos…SImplified, the brain-child of the lovely Corri. I even got to design the new Girl’s Planner cover, and have the cover for the Women’s Planner for 2012 well underway!