Kathryn

As I write, Kathryn is heading East on some long stretch of highway journeying towards home. She has just finished college, earned a degree in Journalism and seeks new adventures on the East coast.

I miss her already.

She swept into our life when we needed a "pick me up" and she did it so well. She was really just being herself, Kathryn.  But she brought something unique to us at the perfect time.

My husband and I were in a conversation a couple months ago with someone. She asked us, "What keeps you guys in People of Praise?"  We both gave it some thought and shared our answers.  One thing I said was that I really appreciate the many ways that People of Praise cares for the whole person. From the tiniest, smallest beings to the oldest and most frail adults, we are there - caring for each person. We offer dignity, hope, prayer, practical care, wisdom, financial support, car rides, living spaces, help with education, etc.

I mean, you name it, we try to do it...to care for each life from the earliest stages to the last. We even care for couples as they are trying to conceive and we care for widows and families grieving a lost spouse and father.

When I think about that quality, I look at certain people who actually do it. Kathryn immediately comes to mind.  Next to her engaging conversation ability and work ethic, I will miss her effort to be in relationships with the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly. She has a heart for each person no matter their age. She makes a point of making friends with anyone around. And she goes out of her way bridge the gap of age and bless each person she thinks of and desires to get to know better.  She has blessed my children with gifts, her time, her hugs, her stories, her laughter. She called me one night to ask about her bringing Mary, an elderly woman in community, to our place for dinner. She became a roommate and friend to our neighbor Shellee.  She jumped right into our hub life taking ownership of it and doing her darndest to be there when we were sharing our lives together. And if she couldn't make it, she called ahead with a heads up, always expressing her wish that she could join us.

Did I mention she is 21 years old?

I mean, she kind of defies the usual image of someone that age. She lives as a sister in Christ to anyone.  She has strengthened our branch of the People of Praise with an example of caring for the whole person, a whole life.  And all of this in the midst of holding three jobs as a reporter, managing a normal class load, and being faithful to the regular commitments of our life in People of Praise.

Some day, we'll see her name in a prominent newspaper or magazine and she will have written about something amazing going on in the world.

But, I'll always treasure the little ways she chose to love.

Each of us.  Right where we are at.

Here she is surrounded by friends who love her.

Lentil-icious

This is the only item I requested on my Christmas list from my husband.

I really want one.  I think it will make everything I cook taste absolutely fabulous. Here's hoping. I am even willing to give up precious real estate in my cupboard to give it a home.

If I don't happen to get it this year, which really is okay, I can continue to borrow my next door neighbor's when I need it. Another perk of hub life.

Anyway, last night I made the following recipe in this awesome, yet heavy, cast iron pot.  My arms got an additional workout to the one they got during my morning Pilates routine.  Yes, I am now exercising in the morning. More on that later.

I got this recipe from my friend Jen and I wish I could credit the original source. Maybe its her, I am just not sure. Sorry, Jen!

I fully anticipated much groaning and lots left in the bowls from my three kids. Lentils just usually aren't our thing. I have rarely cooked them even though I really like them.  Well, I continue to be surprised by my kids. They ate to the bottom of their bowls without one complaint. I actually think it was a "hit".  Don't tell them, but tonight we get to eat the left overs.

Very unlike it was when my mom served lentil hot dish for dinner when I was about 6 years old. Those of us kids who were old enough to eat it literally had to count down with my dad to put each bite in our little resistant mouths. I am sure now the recipe was just fine. We just hadn't acquired the taste for lentils. I mean literally the whole meal was counting down to eat every single bite.  My poor mother. Nothing like slaving over a hot stove and having your dear little children around you gagging on your food.  She's a saint.

Anyway, here's the recipe and it is good.  I doubled it, but kept the garlic and onion to its original amount and it still tasted too garlicy for me.  I also skipped the cheese garnish and served whole grain and white Ciabatta rolls with it. Another big hit.

Lentil Soup

3 strips of bacon (3 oz.) cut into ½ inch pieces

1 large onion, chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into ¼ inch half-moons

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbs. tomato paste

1 ½ cup lentils, picked over and rinsed

½ tsp. dried thyme

2 cans (14.5oz. each) reduced sodium chicken broth

1 Tbs. red wine vinegar

coarse salt and ground pepper

1.  In a Dutch oven (or other 5-quart pot with a tight fitting lid), cook bacon over medium-low heat until browned and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes.  Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat.

2.  Add onion and carrots; cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in tomato paste, and cook 1 minute.

3.  Add lentils, thyme, broth, and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer.  Cover; cook until lentils are tender, 30 to 45 minutes.

4.  Stir in vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper.  Serve immediately.  Garnish with parmesan cheese.

Everyday Glory

A few weeks ago I attended a retreat for women in the Servant Branch of the People of Praise. We were a couple hundred women spending a weekend together sharing our lives; having fun; eating together; exercising; praying with one another; competing in games of 500; attempting to solve local, regional and national problems - economic, political, social, educational, etc; oh, yes, and listening to a wonderful woman named Laurie share her thoughts on the Glory of God In Our Everyday Lives.

Laurie's talks helped me both reflect and apply some methods to hearing the sometimes very quiet voice of the Lord in my often cluttered mind, life, and home. She helped us see the many instances of God's glory shining brightly in our life together. And, she gave us hope for seeing more, doing more and being more God's glory in the world.

Re-entry into my life after a retreat can be a hard transition at times. Not that I have to jump back into mothering and wifing (I am going to use the word just because) in such a way that I can't think straight or regret ever leaving. Ben has a way about him that allows for me to leave and come back in a peaceful state of mind and body. His attention to the kids and the home throughout a weekend like this is very helpful when I anticipate coming back.

Re-entry is more often hard because it mentally takes time for me to sort out the message or topic of a retreat and work to incorporate it into my life.

How can I use all this good material in my life? What nuggets of wisdom should I hold fast to? Which parts should I directly work to bring about and what can be left for a later time? What are the personal ways I felt the love of God through Laurie's words?

More specific to this retreat, where do I see the glory of God in my everyday life?

Let's face it. Most of life is ordinary. Very very very ordinary.

Not necessarily dull, boring, mundane, or meaningless.

But not the stuff of huge miracles or earth shattering moments of dramatic change, recognition, or adventure.

It just is.

However, in the ordinary moments, hours, days, weeks and months, we can still pick out the glory times.

Here's one from a couple weeks ago.

My dear daughter has poor eyesight. Very poor we found out just recently. The poor girl has been working hard to correct what she can't see on her own. Never complaining (hence, the wait for a visit to the optometrist), never straining, just dealing with it.

Anyway, Ben, myself and Izzy were in the doctor's office, and he went through his spiel about her eyes and what kind of correction they need.

We were wrapping up the appointment and Ben said to the Doctor, "So, we are a fairly faith filled family. What specifically should we pray for so that her eye sight may be completely healed?"

The optometrist answered his question.

We thanked him and left.

We let her pick her glasses.

She looks adorable.

That night, Ben prayed over her for that specific thing he asked about.

We've been praying since.

Who knows if she will be healed?

For now, I am grateful for the everyday glory I witnessed - A father's deep care and love for his daughter's sight. And his follow through in applying the advice.

Triumphant Timpano

Have you ever waited to try something for let's say 12 or 13 years? Then, you finally do it with the right people, the right equipment, and in this case, the right ingredients and it turns out splendidly?

Well, this past Sunday was not only the triumph of life over death (thanks, Jesus) but it was also the end of a long wait. And a successful end at that.

Years ago, Steve, Ben and I had brought up the idea of making timpano, an all in one Italian pasta dish made famous by appearing in one of my favorite movies Big Night.

When we were first married, Ben and I together with a few friends orchestrated a progressive dinner Big Night style. We feasted on Italian food and wine at each other's homes and ended the evening by watching the movie.

On our to-do list someday was to try out this new dish.

It requires a recipe, which we didn't have, and a 14 inch diameter enamel bowl, which we didn't have.

Now, thanks to Steve's generosity at our most recent anniversary, we own both. This book is a collection of recipes and stories of the Tucci family. Stanley Tucci, actor and director, made the film Big Night. He collaborated with his parents and another Italian chef to publish the recipes used in the movie including the one for Timpano.
So, here we were with the book, the bowl and an Easter just around the corner...a perfect storm, as Ben might say, to try this out.

We prepared both the sauce and the meatballs the day before Easter and our planned dinner.

We cut, assembled and sort of measured the rest of the filling ingredients the day of.

We followed the recipe for the dough that lines the bowl and encases the filling. We rolled it out using the formula given in the book. As you can see, our kitchen island is too small to hold the required 28 inch diameter circle of dough.
Well, I've never been one to let a simple furniture problem get in my way...so we continued.

We greased up the bowl with 2 tablespoons of real butter and then one tablespoon of olive oil.

We pressed the dough ever so carefully into the bowl. First we needed to fold the circle in half, then in a triangle shape to make it easier to lift into the bowl.
The dough is paper thin and we were careful not to tear it.

Here I am pointing to the middle of the bowl attempting to be an important guide for this dough.
We draped it over the sides and then went to work layering the filling ingredients according to the book's instructions.
Triumphant Moment #1: The dough turned out perfectly...and rested in its place virtually intact.

The recipe calls for ziti pasta, but even the local Italian deli Buon Giorno did not have it, so we used 3 lbs of this instead. Close enough.
We also cut up a dozen hard boiled eggs; you can imagine how many we had given the season.

We made meatballs, as I mentioned before, although we probably made them too large. The recipe calls for 1/2 inch meatballs. But hey, they were made from scratch, with beef from our own bought cow. So there.

We grated Pecorrino Romano cheese and cut up sharp Provolone, both from the aforementioned deli.

We also cut up Genoa Salami which I purchased from Lund's.

We then tossed the pasta (cooked 1/2 the time called for on the package) with 2 cups of the homemade sauce.

With the ingredients prepared, we let the assembly begin.
Oh, our work was not completed without a little, ahem, "help".
Have you ever tried Dry Fly vodka martinis? They are to die for.

Back to the timpano...

We were completing the last layer and I read that the filling should be one inch below the rim of the bowl.
Well, we had a problem.

Luckily I had read from a blog the evening before (and we would have figured it out anyway) that you may need to compact the filling by pressing it down.

Steve used his hands.
In my kitchen, that's perfectly acceptable. I was dying to get in on the action too.

Triumphant Moment #2: All the ingredients fit.

We then wrapped the dough over the top, closing up this amazing creation.
We trimmed away the excess dough and placed our first ever timpano in the oven at 350 degrees uncovered for one hour.
We had a little help while we waited.
Our friends the Willsons came over and we talked and talked and watch the timpano and talked and watched the timpano.

The dog waited too...neither talking, nor watching.
Then, we covered the timpano with tin foil, and let it cook for another 30 minutes.

We removed it from the oven and let it just sit in our presence for 30 minutes more.

It was a thing of beauty.
With bated breath, a few prayers, and more anticipation than I can usually stand, we flipped the bowl and released the timpano.
Triumphant Moment #3: The timpano remained intact, gorgeous and may I say, looking just like the picture on the cover of the book, and from what I can remember, the movie as well.

I have never cooked something that turned out just like the picture.

This was truly a new day in the making.

"It looks like a brain," Dr. Willson said.
I guess I can forgive him. He reads brain scans for a living.

Now, it was waiting time again.

The recipe calls for 20 minutes of anticipation before cutting into this creation.

I think we allowed for another 45 minutes...more time for all the flavors to mix and mingle and do their wonderful Italian thing.

Meanwhile, we inspected and listened carefully...for what I have no idea, it just felt good to get close to this thing. Okay, that may be the Dry Fly talking at this point.
And then it was the moment of truth.

Carefully and with a freshly sharpened knife, Steve cut a circle in the top of the timpano. This is supposed to allow for each piece to come out more intact, not falling all over the place.

Our cut was maybe slightly too small, less than the recommended 3 inch diameters.
We didn't care. We were hungry, excited, hungry, nervous, and hungry.

Triumphant Moment #4: Timpano piece looks, smells, and tastes fabulous.

I mean, how could you not want to savor this?

My plate as it looked before I savored. Or maybe after I had a bite or two. My salad plate had been adiosed by Ben and I was ready for the main course. It was really all that was needed on my plate, a meal in and of itself.
Triumphant Moment #5: Realizing we had over half the timpano left for the next night's dinner.

And more friends to share it with.

Alleluia.

Next year, I'll provide the ingredients, you provide the "help" and we'll do this together.

Again, Alleluia.

Holy Week for Children

What a powerful and blessed week we have upon us!

I remember with great fondness the special traditions and liturgies of my childhood that made this week cemented in my mind as one of the most important of the year.

My mother simplified the household decorations during Lent. She used purple cloths to signify the Lenten season. She brought in a lilac branch part way through Lent so we could watch it sprout leaves and then decorate as an Easter Tree. We celebrated an elaborate Seder meal - complete with my dad and brothers wearing a yamaka; making matzo from scratch; and eating Lamb only this one night of the year. We remained fairly quiet and didn't shop or work much during the early afternoon hours of Good Friday. We attended church services throughout the Triduum leading up to the glorious Easter morning mass. In the good old days of cluster life, the neighborhood children paraded in our Easter finest up and down the block...think "Easter Parade" from the movie Holiday Inn. We really did that! The fine china and silver came out for Easter brunch, the whole works. What a truly rich and holy time for our family and our life!

Carrying out some of these and other traditions has been natural to do.

One thing we add is a Lenten collection of money to donate to a cause or charity at the end of the season. This year, our hub is collecting money to go towards Servant Camp, the week long summer camp of our branch of the People of Praise.

We are also memorizing a Scripture verse together, Psalm 23. Shellee found a wonderful book to accompany our learning of the Psalm. It is written by a modern day shepherd and he describes each verse as it actually relates to the life of a shepherd and his care for his flock. What a great way to make Scripture come alive and mean something.

I discovered a new item I think I will purchase for next year - an Easter ornament tree with an accompanying booklet of devotions. Find it here at Etsy.com. We know the women who make this tree - moms from St. Paul with children who attend my children's school!

Also of great importance during this time of year is the examination of one's conscience and a personal reflection of sin, behavior, thoughts and habits. I think for kids this can be a tricky thing to accomplish and explain. One idea I heard way back in my first women's group in the People of Praise is for one to recite 1 Corinthians 13, but inserting your name in place of the word Love.

Lucy is patient.
Lucy is kind.
Lucy is not boastful...

If I can't put my name in the place of Love, I may need to do some repenting.

So, aside from the candy and pretty clothing, which certainly has its place at this time of year, I think the richness of the feast itself and the events leading up to it can and should be incorporated into family life.

Don't you enjoy the company of a guest more when you prepare for his/her coming? When you understand and know better who that person is? When you can call that person your friend? When you can recognize the sacrifice that person may have made for your benefit at some point in your life?

How much more can we remember the return of our Lord to the earth and rejoice with the disciples and friends of Jesus, who saw him flogged, bleeding, gasping, and dying, but then also were able to witness his amazing and miraculous return to them.

What did that return to his friends mean? What does it mean for us? It means everything. It means we can say, "I chose not to love today, but I know I am forgiven and still loved by the Lord." We don't have to live in the crucifixion, in the hard and suffering and awful parts of our life and our humanity.

Instead, we get to live in the resurrection. In the knowledge and experience of the love of a dear and close Father and friend.

Children can come to know this with the practices and traditions of a holy week.

Give it a try!

Service with Style

Ben and I were treated to a date night yesterday by, get this, our daughter. Her Girls of Praise group came up with the idea to bless their parents with a dinner and entertainment following our community meeting at River Ridge. They made invitations, prepared lasagne and brownies ahead of time, and set the tables in the family room at River Ridge so we could dine in style.

Our evening began with our daughter (donned in her apron) escorting us to our table where we had handmade place cards indicating our seats. Once the parents were all assembled, we were treated to music and encouraged to dance with our spouse. With giggling in the background, Ben and I enjoyed a couple dances, one to Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You....that one never gets old. Then we took our seats again to be entertained by the girls. Some had prepared a song, some a piano piece and two girls shared their favorite joke.

Next we were served bread and salad.

Then heaping portions of lsagne, which was delicious. Next, fruit served from a carved watermelon basket. And finally, brownies and ice cream topped with chocolate.

This was a feast indeed.

I think the best parts were watching the girls do ALL the work and enjoy it at the same time. They truly honored us with their service and smiles. They treated us with respect and care. I was blessed to see that at a young age, they now have the experience of seeing what makes a good date. One hope we have is for the girls to be attracted to a gentleman who knows how to date well. If it is their calling to be open to being married, I pray for them to have this kind of picture in their minds. Here they saw their parents laughing, talking, dancing, eating, appreciating, and loving each other.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the parents we sat next to. The couple we talked with most of the evening is originally from Columbia. They have quite a story and were able to share about the hardships there. Another parent shared his amazing and often humorous stories of visiting Venezuela on a mission trip for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He is the main photographer and a writer for the Catholic Spirit newspaper. His stories of meeting the church members of the parish he visited, seeing the barrios, praying he would survive the harrowing trips in the car, conversations with the locals about Chavez, etc....We had a marvelous time just hearing more about the two countries, their differences, their similarities and how things have changed over the last several decades. It was a blessing indeed to share a meal with brothers and sisters in our body and appreciate even more the One Lord who unites us.

From the flowers and Hersey kisses on the table, to watching the girls clear our spots and clean, to sharing our life and stories with new friends, Ben and I were grateful.

Nine year olds are amazing!

Thanks for a great date, Kate.

Rescued

I was thankful yesterday to have something so current to share with my family and our guests as we passed around the wine and bread to open our Lord's Day meal. 

A few hours earlier, I had been anticipating Kate's Girls of Praise group coming over to sew headbands.  It was 12:53pm and I realized we were probably supposed to provide a snack for the group. The girls were expected to arrive at 1:00.

Well, we had nothing readily available. Not even some fruit to cut up. I usually keep our shallow pasta bowl filled with fruit so anyone can grab a piece for lunch or a snack.  Well, no fruit today. No munchies. Not even a few carrots to slice and divide. What would we serve? Cereal?  A can of black beans? I mean really, the cupboards were not screaming decent snack material. 

Luckily, I remembered that the day prior when I visited my friend Jill, I asked her for a recipe I had always wanted to make - No Bake Cookies. I had copied down the recipe on a post it and whipped it out praying I had the ingredients and enough time to make a batch.

Sure enough, I had just enough of both.

In just eight minutes I had prepared the "cookies", placed them in the fridge to cool and set and was ready to welcome our guests at about 1:02pm.

Rescue #1 was a blessing.

Rescue #2 happened minutes later and we began to cut, pin and iron pieces of fabric to sew into headbands.

While my iron light shone red, it had failed to heat. A cool iron is nobody's friend. Especially when it had been working properly the day before and had shone no signs of quitting.

Well, we needed a working iron. And fast. These six girls were on a mission to complete their project.

I called our neighbor and fellow hub member Shellee. I knew she was home and had an iron.  She was willing to lend it and even brought it over.

Rescue #2 kept us on task and provided a crucial step in completing the project.

I am blessed by the little blessings of the day and thankful I had two so close together to see the goodness of friends and neighbors.

Here is the easy and quick recipe for No Bake Cookies. Watch out though, they are addictive and really hard to have extra around!

No Bake Cookies
2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter

Place the above ingredients in a saucepan, stir and bring to a boil. Stir and remove from heat.

To the pan add the following
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 c. oatmeal

Stir together.

You can either plop spoonfuls of the batter onto a cookie sheet or do as I did and place all the batter into an 8 x 8 pan. I then put it into the fridge to cool and set. Then, I cut it into bars and served.

 Delicious and rich!

Like Our Extended Family

While in Hawaii, we wanted to make sure we took the opportunity to visit the Oahu branch of the People of Praise - our brothers and sisters in the Lord. The Oahu branch is located primarily on the windward side of the island in Kailua. One member of the branch in Oahu, Whit AU, was featured in our Vine and Branches magazine in 2008. How cool is this job?!

Ben and I were blessed to be able to spend an "open" Lord's Day with the branch members on a Saturday evening.  Most people we would see would be strangers. We went only knowing three people and we weren't sure they would be at this dinner. Nonetheless, we drove up to the house, walked into the back yard and were immediately greeted with warm smiles, hugs, and questions about who we were, did we know so and so in the Servant branch and how lucky we were to escape the cold for a couple weeks.  It was hospitality at its best. Where else can you drop in on a back yard potluck and feel like you are at a family reunion?  We don't have the personal history or relationships with most of the branch, but we share a common history in the Lord and understand each others customs, rituals, prayer, and ways of relating because we share our life in People of Praise.  Each of the 21 branches of the People of Praise certainly has its own "flavor" and uniqueness, but we also have a unique bond and way of life that transcends our local geographic locations and customs.

Sharing the opening of the Lord's day is a good example of part of our culture that you can expect to see in any branch. We thank God for his blessings from the past week, pray for our personal needs, break bread and pass a cup of wine around to share together. We then share a meal and conversation together. This evening Lord's day opened with some prayer and reading (by a father and son), a lighting of a candle (the Lord's day light, by the mother) and passing around bread, cheese and wine. It was fun to see all the kids who could participate in this part of the Lord's day. They walked around to share the food and wine. Some needed some coaxing to come down from the tree they had perched themselves in to get a good view of everything, but they willingly served us anyway. We also heard stories from a few people of how they had been blessed, healed, strengthened in faith and seen the Lord work in the past week.

I was able to catch up with one lady, Joan, who grew up in Minnesota and whom I have known for a long time, but haven't seen or talked with her in decades. You wouldn't know it by how easily we fell into conversation and by the end of the evening, she had me convinced to come back to the islands with our kids and she even opened her home as a place to stay.

We also met a couple from the Saskatoon branch who are staying on Oahu for three months and have plugged into the life of the branch there to stay connected to community and form friendships. We know a few people in common so it was fun to find all the connections of relationships that we share across the country.

Our evening also included all of us taking a walk around the neighborhood in an attempt to make ourselves more visible in the neighborhood. Indeed, the neighbors witnessed something unique. Old folks, young kids, teenagers, young adults, married couples, older singles taking a walk together. And yes, while some of the folks are related to each other by blood, most are not.

Another element to our common life is prayer for and over one another. A family of four who had been part of the community in Oahu for about a year was soon to move to Washington state, a big transition for any family. One way we chose to send them off was to gather around them and pray for the blessings and power of the Holy Spirit to guide their journey and all the details of settling into a new life. I think this is a powerful tool that unites and strengthens a people, when we can pray together and support each other in life's changes.

Anytime you are on Oahu and looking for Christian fellowship, I would not hesitate to contact the branch and meet these wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ!  They will open their hearts and homes to you.

If You Want to Know What the People of Praise Is

 Check out the new video on our website. It is a great overview of the history, characteristics, and vision of our life in community. You'll find one picture of myself, Mary Lee and Shellee on our back porch from a few years back and a glimpse of my dad hammering nails on a house in Allendale when he was on a mission trip. The People of Praise has opened doors for all people of any age or stage in life to serve, love, teach, pray, and bless those around us.  There is joy in loving the people we are led to serve; you will see that on the faces of the kids and adults alike. It is contagious.

Annual Hayride - Feels like Fall

What is Maddie looking for?  Kittens it turns out.  The kids were on the hunt a couple weekends ago as we gathered in Prescott, WI on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

I have a thing for barns. I just love them.

Anyway, we attended our combined Campus Area/East Area annual hayride at the Beskar farm recently and here are some of my favorite shots. It is always a blessing to share this time with those in our branch that I don't get to see very often. The girls are making fast friends too especially now that they are building relationships in Girls of Praise.