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Hunkered Down

January 31, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 34 Comments

I love any reason to hunker down. If for nothing else than just to relish in saying the words ‘hunker down’.

And this is what I see just outside my breakfast room this morning.

It’s not the 6-12 inches of snow they predicted,

but 2 inches of slush is enough reason for hunkerin’ in my book.

And I have no trouble filling the weekend to the brim.

Let me break it down for you in a small numbered list.

1. I’ve been looking for a dress to wear to the Blissdom Cocktail Party.

I’m picky and don’t have much time to shop.

Which left me in my craft room hacking up a vintage dress—

and a shirt that fits well—-sorta like

Project runway. Except it’s Project Blissdom.

And it needs work or I’ll be stopping to shop in Knoxville

on my way to the meeting.

2. This particular weekend of hunkering down also involves a little eating of crow.

Remember this post? where I rejoiced in the

lack of electronics at my house?

Well, the little girls have been saving their own money for almost

two years. They finally talked their daddy into

letting them get iPods.

So as I sit by the fire reading a brand new book,

I look across the room and feast my eyes on

this bit of irony.

{complete with TAylor , home from college for the weekend}

3. A good blog friend introduced me to a new blog where this book happens to

be the topic for a book review over the next 3 weeks.

Several of you have asked me if I’ve read it.

So, I ordered and read it in a few hours. And loved it.

I don’t think I’ve read a modern writer who reminds me more

of C.S. Lewis than Thomas Howard. AFter I re-read

parts of it several times and ponder it, I’ll be back for a review.

He’s catholic and I’m Lutheran.

This book is for everyone.

4. Lent swiftly approaches {it begins on February 17, Ash Wednesday}

and the above book only makes me

more anxious to settle into the penitent season with

some of my worldly affections stripped away.

Last year, I ‘fasted’ from comments on my blog.

It was a harder than I thought it would be.

It opened my eyes to how pitifully attached we become to certain things

in our lives. Dare I even mention fasting from

blogging/media altogether? I don’t think

I could do it. But I’m pondering it.

Have you ever tried any version of the

modern media fast? What are your thoughts?

I’m not trying to sound overdramatic but the thought of

forsaking my blog for 40 days

sounds about like leaving my favorite pet out in the snow with

no food and water for 40 days. Drama queen, I know.

5. Last but not least, there’s been playing in the snow,

sewing, cooking, cleaning, movie watching

laughing, snuggling, husband-kissing, dog-feet drying and various other hunkering down activities.

I could do this every weekend.

Hope you were lucky enough to be snowed in!

Mocha Cake=Pure Bliss

January 28, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 34 Comments

I thought it was high-time mocha cake gots its’ own post. Mocha cake deserves more than to be thrust in the corner while beef-potato-cabbage soup struts its’ stuff. Mocha cake is not an afterthought; nor a recipe to be thrust to the bottom of another post. Mocha cake stands alone as the single best weapon in my recipe arsenal. {As I overdramatize mocha cake, I begin to wonder if I have at some point, given mocha cake it’s own post—but the overdramatization is so much fun, I decide I don’t care.}

Mocha cake has become my magnum opus.

I only bring mocha cake to VERY special occasions. If I bring you mocha cake, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and declared my love. ANd I’m pondering bringing mocha cupcakes to Blissdom.

Pondering, I said. I’ve also pondered making cute little bookmarks. Or my standard chocolate shortbread cookies.

But I mean, if I bring mocha cupcakes to Blissdom then I won’t know if you love me for me or for my cupcakes. Right? So just in case I chicken out and can’t commit, I’m finally giving you a gorgeous pdf file of mocha cake.

And pdf-file making may seem of little consequence to some, but I’m old. Like 40 remember? So, if I make a pdf file of mocha cake for you that’s a pretty strong statement of how committed I am to this relationship. You know what they say about commitment though, why read the blog when you can get the pdf for free? So don’t take this recipe and run. I’m laying it all on the line HERE people. I’m giving from my heart with reckless abandon. See ya tomorrow, right?

*very important note: this is not my original recipe. It was given to me by a friend a few years ago. It has become ‘mine’ by common law. I’ve made it so many times that there can’t possibly be someone out there who ‘owns’ this recipe more than me. But if you happen to know who the author is, please share! I think it came from a magazine more than ten years ago. Here’s the nuts and bolts but surely you want the cute copy here.

Cake: Icing:

2 cups all purpose flour 2 sticks softened butter

1 ½ cups sugar 1 T. vanilla

¾ c cocoa 1/8 t. salt

1 t. baking powder 2 pounds powdered sugar

¼ t. salt ½ c strong brewed coffee

1 ½ sticks butter, softened

3 large eggs to chocolate icing only add:

1 c. water ½ c cocoa powder

1 ½ t. vanilla Garnish with shaved chocolate

Directions:

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 eight inch round cake pans. For the cake, beat butter, eggs and vanilla. When smooth , alternate adding dry ingredients and water and beat for 3 minutes. Divide evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

For the frosting: Mix butter, vanilla and salt and then slowly add sugar and coffee, alternating. Beat until smooth. Remove about 2 cups of the frosting and place into a freezer Ziploc or cake decorating bag. Add ½ c cocoa to the remaining frosting. Use this chocolate frosting to ice the actual cakes and then save a little to make a few chocolate ‘points’ on the cake. Using the buttercream icing that you put in the bag, pipe points onto the cake. Use up all the frosting and then do the same with the remaining chocolate icing.

Ta-Da!

**Post-edit: While we’re on my favorite topic of food, I made this for dinner on Monday—todiefor! It doesn’t sound that great but it is. Trust me.

And I’m making this for dinner tonight. It gets great reviews and looks interesting! Happy cooking. Happier eating.

On David, Brandi Carlile and ‘Hallelujah’

January 27, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 44 Comments

{photo of my favorite accessory and flea market find : the bust of David}

This year, in lieu of my traditional list of New Year’s resolutions, I decided to do a ’40 in 40′; forty things I wanted to do in my fortieth year of life. But because I couldn’t quite figure out photoshop and because 40 is the new 30, the list only has 30 things on it.

And really, does anyone need the undue pressure of 40 resolutions? I have enough guilt as it is.

On my list was the somewhat daunting task of reading the Bible through in 3 months. I first heard chatter of it on Twitter and then downloaded the reading schedule here. I purposely haven’t written about it yet because honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was feasible for me. I have seldom been able to keep my ‘read the bible through in a year’ promises—much less three months.

But I’m pleasantly surprised to tell you that I think it’s been one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever done. I’m on day 27 {I started January 1} and I just finished ‘the Samuels’ a few days ago! It takes about an hour a day and I usually try to do it in the wee morning hours before the troops wake up. I’ve had to play catch up a little on the weekends but I’ve pretty much stuck to the schedule. It is a completely different and fascinating way to read the Old Testament and I highly recommend it. You’re able to get a broad sweeping overview of the history of the Jewish people that is just not possible if you read it on a slower pace. I don’t think this is the last time I’ll do it this way and I pray I have the discipline to finish on schedule. You definitely should add it to your bucket list.

Having just finished II Samuel, I can’t get King David off my mind. Many of you know that he is my favorite bible character aside from Christ of course. I love his story; I find hope in the fact that God uses such deeply flawed people through which to bring us our very redemption. David’s sin with Bathsheeba, clearly an act of outright rebellion against God, brought forth the wise King Solomon and would eventually lead to the birth of Christ.

I’m also re-reading Francine Rivers fiction book Unspoken on the life of Bathsheeba and all this led me to play and replay one of my all-time favorite songs Hallelujah, written by Leonard Cohen and performed by a host of amazing artists including Jeff Buckley and my very own favorite artist Brandi Carlile. The song is about the life of David but more deeply is a song about suffering, love, repentance, doubt and longing.

Our true hallelujah cry to God is often ‘cold and broken’

and the transformation that He is seeking to forge in us is painful.

So I’m a teeny bit bossy today, but I think you should 1) ponder the three month reading schedule 2) read Unspoken and 3) download Hallelujah from iTunes. This video is Brandi’s Carlile’s interpretation of the song—which she says was one of the songs that ‘found her’ and transformed her. {Caiti and I have secured our tickets to see her in concert in February, thus checking off another thing from the list.} I also included the lyrics below the video.

Well I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do ya?
Well it goes like this :
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah…

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
And she tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah…

(Yeah but) Baby I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor, (You know)
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah…

Well there was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

Hallelujah…

[Instrumental]

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu…
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu…
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

Post-Edit: I use the new Lutheran Study Bible which was just released last October. I can’t say enough wonderful things about it. It is by far the best study Bible I’ve ever owned. It’s chocked full of great stuff; prayers, maps, devotional material, greek and hebrew words and references, and much more. It’s an English Standard Version and can be perused or purchased at Concordia Publishing House. {And it’s not just for Lutherans!} There is an official 90 day study bible but this one is so full of good stuff that I doubt I’ll ever use another one for study/bible reading purposes.

Our Good Samaritan

January 25, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 14 Comments

I woke up Saturday morning with a raging head cold. I’ve used {roughly} 11,234 ‘puffs with lotion’ tissues, a full tube of chapstick and bottle of kids’ cold medicine. Too bad I don’t know a good doctor. Adding insult to injury, the Vikings got beat, my dirty wet dogs are ruining my school room and my new fangled bangs look like ‘Farrah Fawcett meets Joe Dirt’. I had forty seven posts in my head on Friday and today—I’ve got nothing. So I’m reposting from last January on a timely subject of the good samaritan. The devastation in Haiti has left us all feeling desperately hamstrung with what to do and how to help. We sometimes pat ourselves on the back for our ‘good samaritan-ly’ works. I hope this post will rescue us all from ourselves and free us to see who the Good Samaritan really is.

What were you taught about parables? Earthly stories with heavenly meanings? True enough I guess. But why would Jesus speak in parables? Why didn’t he just give us a clear cut list of what He wanted us to do? Jesus himself answers that question when he say, “….so that you can know the mysteries of the kingdom”.

According to one of my favorite teachers Bill Cwirla,

‘He will hide the kingdom of God in earthly stories…and you won’t ‘get it’ until you get Jesus…..these parables are a crisis of faith and unbelief and you will not ‘get them’ until you get Jesus and who He is and why He came. “

This is what I love about the Lutheran theologians, they cut right to the chase when interpreting the scriptures. Where is Jesus in this parable? Jesus said ‘these are the scriptures that testify about me,’ so they look for Him—-relentlessly. I was always taught to look for myself in the parable. I was taught that they are little proverbs or stories of advice on how I should live. So the parable of the Good Samaritan would be translated something like,

“You should be a Good Samaritan too and help your neighbor. So what kind of a neighbor are you?”

Is this how you were taught to interpret parables? Inserting yourself into them at every turn?

The story of the good samaritan can be paraphrased as follows.

A lawyer (expert in the Torah) asks Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life. (Although we’re already in trouble because isn’t an inheritance a gift). Then Jesus asks him what he thinks he must do.

He says, “Love God and love my neighbor”.

Jesus says “Yes, do this and you will live”.

Jesus knows the lawyer can’t DO that but Jesus is a gentleman and will let us live by ‘the law’ if we choose.

The lawyer ‘wanting to justify himself’ says “Well who is my neighbor?”.

And then Jesus tells the parable: A priest and a Levite,on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, pass a nearly dead man who has been robbed and beaten and left to die. They pass him by for various reasons (per Jewish law they would have been rendered unclean for priestly duties) and he’s helped by a Samaritan (not bound by Jewish law) who puts him on his own donkey, bandages his wounds, takes him to an inn and pays his bill. (paraphrased from Luke 10:25)

Imagine my surprise when I hear a wonderful gospel interpretation of the parable that goes like this:

Christ is our good Samaritan. He has found us along the road of life, beaten and robbed and desperate. He rescues us, bandages us, saves us and takes us to the inn (the church) and pays our debt. Pastor Cwirla even takes the terms of the parable in an allegorical way to say: Think of Jesus as our good Samaritan. He literally becomes our neighbor in the incarnation. He takes on our flesh and is bloodied by our sin. The punch line of the parable is that he frees us from the law. The hero of the parable is Jesus. And because the Samaritan is not bound by the law, {as are the lawyer and the priest and the Levite} he is free to serve others willingly. In other words, Christ became my good Samaritan and died to save and ransom me—-to free me from the law—-so that I am now free to serve others.

Wow, why have I never heard this before? Where have you been all my life Pastor Cwirla? I’ve been wondering around in the wilderness of legalism far too long: trying to measure up, secretly trusting in my own faith and sincerity, trying to earn my salvation and hoping that my striving would be sufficient. Strive no more. Our Good Samaritan is not shackled by the law. He fulfilled it, conquered it and delivers to us grace upon grace. Our Good Samaritan has come to our rescue.

You can listen to this Christ-centered teaching here.

Is this a new interpretation for you? Does your heart sing for joy at the thought of Christ being your good Samaritan? I’m wowed. Again. Thank you Pastor Cwirla and thank you to Issues.

**I also encourage you to occasionally post from your archives. It gives you a chance to edit and correct previous work (this one was atrocious the first go-around) and gives your new readers a look at your archived material. And while we’re on the subject of blogging, tell me whether you like the little side bar I added this weekend? Or would you prefer one column and thus, larger pictures? Your input is helpful as I work to make the new site helpful and easy to navigate! Thanks.

Recipes

January 24, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 28 Comments

My Big Fat Greek Goulash

Best Beef Stew Ever

Mocha Cake

The Lightest Fluffiest Angel Wing Biscuits

Beef Enchiladas

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Old Fashioned Griddle Cakes

Blucberry Coffee Cake

Strawberry Dream Cake

Late Summer Vegetable Soup

Chicken and Dumplings

Cheese Tortellini Soup

Grannie’s Fudge

Chipotle Pumpkin Barley Soup

Rocky Top Chili

Italian Sub Soup

Cheeseburger {in paradise} Soup

Taco Casserole

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

Potato Corn Chowder

Roasted Zucchini Lasagna

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Perfect Homemade Pizza

Creamy Mushroom Soup

a little spring sewing

January 22, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 100 Comments

Thank you for all your encouragement and advice yesterday.

I don’t think I’ve ever attempted any harder task: teaching my girls, facing my

own demons, and praying that

at end of the day, God fills in the gaps.

We’ve spent the better part of two afternoons in the craft room—-which always seems to cure our restless spirits.

We entered at 1:30, armed with patterns, fabrics and pins…….

and emerged at 3:30 with this dainty little spring number.

and we couldn’t resist the urge to brave the wet, chilly day

to dance around, and kirtsy

and wish for spring.

I used McCall’s pattern # 5797 and found the fabric at Hobby Lobby. We also made sock monkeys which, I have to say, are about the cutest things EVER! This could be a wonderful lazy, crafting, reading kind-of-a-weekend. Take that, January!

Thank you for your patience as Darcy and I fiddle with fonts and headers and such to make this new home for lifeingrace cozy.