Me and My Shadow

Me and my shadow
My shadow and me
We're always together
As close as can be.

As I walk our country roads on a sunshiny day, I often think about the song, "Me and My Shadow" from the musical, Peter Pan.

I heard that song dozens of times when Brent was little guy. We had a VHS tape of Mary Martin starring as Peter Pan on Broadway. It was Brent's absolute favorite movie. He watched it so much that the tape actually wore out in one spot. His Grandma Marie made him a Peter Pan outfit for Christmas.

As I walk, a shadow is my constant companion. Most days, it's my only companion, unless you count my four-legged friends who sometimes make the four-mile trek, too.

As I move, the shadow moves. It's connected to me. It's impossible to separate myself from it.

It got me to thinking about God.

The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand. Psalm 121:5
How would my day change if I remembered that God is as close to me as my shadow? Would it change how I act? Would it change what I say? Would it change what I do?

God sent us His Holy Spirit so that we would have a constant companion. You don't have to "friend" Him on Facebook. You don't have to dial a telephone number to reach Him. We don't need to send Him a Hallmark card to commemorate National Friendship Day this August.

He's as close and as constant as a shadow on a sunshiny day.

Proverbs 18:24 - New Living Translation (NLT)
²⁴ There are “friends” who destroy each other,
but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

The Holy Spirit can be a holy model for our earthly friendships. It is a gift to have a friend to call when we're happy or grieving, mad or glad.

Thanks be to God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And thanks be to God for the gift of human friendship!

If you want to celebrate Friendship Day with a special friend or group of friends, try this recipe for a Friendship Torte. Dark chocolate, nuts, white chocolate drizzle ... They'll be your friends for life!

The recipe is from Artfully Done Across the Generations: Recipes of Carlene Banks and Friends with Art from the Wichita Art Museum. Besides tasty recipes, there are lots of photos of the artwork on display at the museum. One of my friends surprised me with this beautiful book several years ago, and I've enjoyed using it ever since.

Decadent Glazed Chocolate Torte

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (you may substitute pecans, if you prefer)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Glaze:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
White chocolate or almond bark (opt.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and corn syrup in the microwave. Stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth (If you need to, you can heat in the microwave again at 70 percent power, taking care not to burn the chocolate.)

Add sugar and eggs to chocolate mixture, and stir until well blended. Stir in flour, nuts and vanilla, mixing well.

Bake in a 9-inch buttered, floured, wax paper-lined cake pan for 35 to 40 minutes or until center springs back to touch. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen and turn out onto wire rack.

Glaze: Prepare glaze by melting all ingredients in the microwave, heating at 70 percent power at 1-minute intervals until it's melted. Take care not to burn the chocolate.

Place a piece of waxed paper under the wire rack. Pour the warm glaze over the cake and spread with a spatula. Chill about 1 hour before transferring to serving dish. Torte freezes well glazed.

If desired, melt white chocolate or almond bark and drizzle over glazed torte with a decorator's tube.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

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Some recipe notes, complete with photos:

When I'm making a layer-type cake like this one, I always line the bottom of the cake pan with waxed paper cut to fit. This is a step I added to the original recipe.

I often use a heart-shaped pan to make it unique.

I tore off a piece of waxed paper and then used a pen to trace around the cake pan. Then I used scissors to cut it out.

I put the heart-shaped waxed paper on the bottom of the cake pan before pouring the batter in. I had sprayed the pan with cooking spray before putting the waxed paper in.


This is how it looked in the pan after baking. It is supposed to cool 10 minutes before attempting to remove it.
Even with the waxed paper and going around the outside of the cake pan with a knife, I had a little trouble getting the cake to release. I ended up sticking a small spatula underneath the corner of the cake. That finally did the trick.

But I probably should have dusted the pan with cocoa powder as well (I prefer that over flour if I'm making a chocolate cake.)

After you get the cake out of the pan, simply peel the waxed paper off the bottom.

I put the torte over a waxed paper-covered cookie sheet to catch the drips from the glaze.

After it cooled, I used a decorator tube to make the design. I should have tried harder at the sides so that it would look neater.

But, then again, no one complained about the sides that were less than perfect after they got a taste of the torte.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee and a friend!

Bloom Where You're Planted

Sometime before Christmas, we finally moved the planter at the front of the house to the wash house. The plants that had so cheerfully decorated our entrance during the summer were long dead. After weeks of freezing weather, they were shriveled and brown.

They certainly weren't fit to welcome guests to our house during the holidays. Much better to dust off the Christmas lights and let them provide a little color for the season.

And then, something unexpected happened.

Those plants that had looked dead suddenly came to life.

They surely hadn't received any care. They weren't watered. They weren't fertilized. A little light streamed through the dirty wash house window. But, at most, they got a glance from Randy when he went into the building to dish out the cat food each day.

But then, one day, he noticed the blossoming flowers and couldn't wait to tell me about the surprising revival going on in the wash house.

As we approach the season of Lent, the blooming flower served as reminder.

Ash Wednesday is March 9. It signals a time of prayer and preparation as we make the 40-day Lenten journey toward Easter. It should signal a time of cultivating our relationship with Christ through prayer and study so that we can bloom where we are planted.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Isaiah 55: 10-13

We are approaching that time of year when the world will burst into song and the trees of the field will clap their hands with the arrival of spring.

A couple of weeks ago at Bible study, we were asked whether we believe there are modern-day miracles.

I think we are surrounded by miracles every day:

It's the miracle found in the beauty of a spring bulb piercing the cold surface of the earth and bursting into bloom (or blooming against all odds in a cold wash house during the winter!).

It's in the new baby animals that populate farm country during the spring months.

It's in the miracle of birth and the love of a parent and a child.

And the biggest miracle of all is that God loved us so much that He sent his only Son to the cross to save us from our sins.

But He didn't stop there. Jesus rose from the dead and gives us the promise of new life.

And He sends us illustrations of new life everyday ... if we'll only open our eyes and look. It may be in a budding tree. It could be in a plant left for dead in a cold wash house.

Lord, open our eyes so that we can see and be made new in You. Amen.

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The recipe I chose this month also has its share of surprises. Chocolate Trifle was served at the first Lovely Branches Ministries' Friendship Friday. LBM is serving free luncheons for ladies six times this year, thanks to a grant from the South Central Community Foundation and help from local businesses.

Are you near Stafford? Join the Lovely Branches crew for lunch and fellowship on March 18 and April 29. The meal is served from 11:30 AM to 1 PM in the Stafford Senior Center. Look for other dates in September and October to be announced later.

A delicious dessert is always part of the meal. The Trifle recipe reminds me of a more elegant version of "Dirt" Cups, little individual servings of pudding and whipped cream and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies with a gummy worm hidden inside, one of my kids' favorite treats when they were little.

There were no gummy worms hidden in this dessert. The surprise ingredient? Coffee.

What woman doesn't love coffee and chocolate? (And, what husband wouldn't be delighted to eat the leftovers? Mine was!)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Trifle

1 pkg. chocolate fudge cake mix
1 large pkg. (6 oz.) instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup strong coffee
1 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
6 Heath bars (1.4 oz. each) crushed

Bake cake according to package directions. Cool. Prepare pudding according to package directions. Set aside. Crumble cake; reserve 1/2 cup of cake crumbs.

Place half of the remaining cake crumbs in the bottom of a 4.5- or 5-quart trifle dish or decorative glass bowl. Layer with half the coffee, half the pudding, half the whipped topping and half of the crushed candy bars.

Repeat the layers of cake, coffee, pudding and whipped topping. Combine remaining crushed candy bars with reserved cake crumbs. Sprinkle over top.

Refrigerate for 4-5 hours before serving.

Recipe Notes:

• The recipe said it would serve 8 to 10 people. It served double that number.
  


• I used one, 8-ounce package of chocolate covered Heath English Toffee Bits (found by the chocolate chips at your grocery store) instead of crushing candy bars.

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Need another coffee and chocolate creation? Try this bar cookie recipe from my kitchen.

What Love Really Means

It's February. It's that time of year when the television ads remind us all about hearts and flowers and expensive jewelry and finding the perfect Valentine.

After all, that's what love is all about, right?

But is it really?

I have had a song repeatedly running through my head this morning. I heard JJ Heller sing it on K-LOVE radio as I drove to choir practice last night. It's called "What Love Really Means."

I haven't faced the terrible circumstances of the people she sings about. In it, she sings about a boy who has a life story "no one would believe." I have always had a family who has loved and cared about me.

She sings about a wife whose husband has left her. She wonders if she were just thinner, would her husband have stayed? I have been married almost 30 years to a wonderful man who loves me unconditionally.

She sings about a man in a cell who wants to be forgiven and cries out to God in his final hours before death. I have never been there either.

But the final words of the song still speak to my soul. It is God telling all these people:

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done
Or what you will become.
I will love you for you.
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew.

And I think God's reminding me of that, too. I've heard the song before, but for some reason, it really sunk in this time. Maybe it's because earlier in the day, I had just read a devotional with the same message.

I have been chosen by God, my email devotional from ourprayer.org had reminded me:

The book of Ephesians says so: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

Ephesians 1:3-4

Think of it! Before He designed the universe, our heavenly Father selected you as a special object of His eternal affection. ... God always chooses us for a special purpose. Jesus said, "I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. (John 15:16) What fruit are you to bear? The fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23).

God wants to fill your life with His spirit of love and joy and peace and pure goodness.

That's the kind of LOVE I should be celebrating this Valentine's Day.

But I'm human. And in my humanness, I sometimes get caught in evaluating myself with the world's standards.

"I'm not thin enough to be worthy. I'm not pretty enough to be worthy. I'm not smart enough to be worthy. I don't do enough to be worthy."

I think that's why the message of the song (and the message from Ephesians) is so powerful:

This is GOD speaking to me - not that human voice that doubts my worthiness:

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done
Or what you will become
I will love you for you.
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew.





And that's a message worth hearing this Valentine's month. It's way more valuable than expensive jewelry and flowers.

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If you're looking for a yummy way to share love from your kitchen this Valentine's Day, here's a tried-and-true recipe from my kitchen to yours!

They are called Caramel Chip Bars, but I think they are more like candy. They are a favorite around here at holiday celebrations! Enjoy!

Caramel Chip Bars

1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
32 caramels, unwrapped
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup vanilla or white chips
1/2 cup Heath brickle chips

In large saucepan, combine butter, caramel and condensed milk; cook and stir over medium-low heat until smooth. You may also use the microwave, taking care not to burn the mixture. Cool.

In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; mix well. Stir in chips and brickle. Dough will be stiff. Press 3/4 into a greased 9- by 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Place on wire rack for 10 minutes. Pour caramel mixture over crust. Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls onto caramel layer. Bake for 25 to 30 additional minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes; run a knife around edges of pan. Cool 40 minutes longer; cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

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Need another idea?

Try these Caramel Coconut Squares.

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Or see my December blog, R-E-S-T, for links to several other cookies. There's also one of our family favorite cookie recipes in last February's Food for Thought post, Heart of the Home.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

R-E-S-T

Rest? You've got to be kidding.

There is no such thing as REST this time of year. There are presents to buy. There are candies and cookies to make. There are programs to attend. There are Christmas cards to mail. Those ornaments won't hang themselves on the Christmas tree, and the house must be adorned with twinkling lights so everyone will see we have the holiday spirit at our house.

REST?! You must be joking.

But, maybe that's exactly what we do need. At a Bible study before Thanksgiving, Carrie (one of the Young Hearts blog co-authors) gave us a timely reminder. She had each of us write down this acronym on an index card:

R enew yourself in God's goodness.

E njoy the life God has given you.

S implify your life to magnify God.

T rust God with your everyday life.

Hmmm ... REST, not STRESS!

Is it any wonder that women need a reminder as we enter this Advent season?

With a to-do list that seems to multiply exponentially at this time of year, REST may be the best gift I can give myself and my family - and the best way I can honor the blessed arrival of Baby Jesus.

But there are expectations, right? How can I simplify when everyone has a different favorite food? (Maybe I'm the one who has these high expectations ... not my family members. Probably another idea to ponder ...)

While all of the acronym resonated with me, the "S" really stood out during this Advent season. I really do enjoy holiday baking, but it can also seem overwhelming at times. What's a practical way I could celebrate the Christmas season and still simplify?

A few years ago, one of my friends hosted a holiday cookie exchange. It might be time to brush off that idea. Depending on how many friends or family members you invite, you can end up with a variety of cookies - without spending days upon end in the kitchen.

Here's how:

1. Choose a date and time that is most convenient for people's busy schedules - either weekdays evenings or a Saturday morning usually work well. If you're having the exchange at work, holding it during the lunch hour would probably be most convenient. Plan early. People are more likely to attend if you give as much advance notice as possible early in the season.

2. Invite 8 - 12 friends. You need enough people to have a variety of cookies, but too many people means too much baking for everyone.

3. Instruct each person to make a dozen cookies for every person attending the exchange. (If 8 people are coming to the cookie exchange, each person needs to bake 8 dozen cookies). This is a must so that each person gets to take home the same amount of cookies.

4. When your guests RSVP, be sure to ask them what kind of cookie they are bringing so you can have the best variety possible. You might want to suggest that people make something other than chocolate chip! Also remind them to bring extra containers for the goodies they will be picking up.

5. Have each guest bring enough copies of her recipe so that each guest (and you!) get a copy of the recipe. That way, each guest goes home with new recipes to go along with those cookies!6. Set the mood with holiday music and light a seasonal candle for a little atmosphere.

7. Prepare some simple snacks for your guests to enjoy while they're at the party. If you'd like, you can ask each person to bring an extra half dozen cookies for a communal plate so everyone can sample the cookies at the party. Add a few savory snacks and some beverages - spiced cider, hot chocolate or even milk - and you have a party!

8. Turn your cookie exchange into a cookie gifting party. Set out gift tags, decorative treat bags and pretty ribbon. This will give your guests the chance to assemble gift bags for co-workers, neighbors, teacher and anyone else they'd like to give a delicious, homemade treat.

9. Supply extra plastic bags or containers for guests to transport their cookies home. There are sure to be some who forget to bring their own.

10. Stash the cookies in the freezer until your holiday celebration.

11. Spend the time you saved with your family ... reading the Christmas story, playing board games, playing in the snow ... whatever brings you together as a family!

You can even take a shortcut with the cookies you make for your cookie exchange contribution. No one will be able to tell these tasty cookies started with a cake mix.Jiffy Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 cup chunk-style peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 2-layer yellow cake mix
2 eggs
2 tbsp. water
Reece's mini Peanut Butter Cups

In large mixer bowl, cut peanut butter and shortening into dry cake mix using low speed of electric mixer. Add eggs and water. Mix well to form dough. Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie, shape into balls.

Place each ball into a mini-muffin cup. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until cookie is lightly browned. Remove pan to cooling rack. Press unwrapped mini Peanut Butter Cup into each cookie.

After about 15 minutes of cooling, use a knife to remove each cookie from the muffin tins. Cool completely.

Need other ideas? Try these tried-and-true recipes from my kitchen. Just click on the links (the highlighted words) for each recipe:

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Chocolate Toffee Delights

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Fudgy Mocha Brownies

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Coconut Macaroons

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Dressed Up Basic Cookies

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You can also look back in the Food for Thought February post or even last month's Cranberry Pecan Bars. And I'm sure you have plenty of family favorites you could make for a cookie exchange. Enjoy!

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Wishing you REST this holiday season as we look forward to celebrating, yet again, the best gift of all - our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Saying Grace

For all we eat
For all we wear
For all we have everywhere
Father, we thank Thee.
Amen

This was the prayer I grew up saying before meals as a child. As we move toward Thanksgiving later this month, I thought about table graces and the tradition they represent for families.

I called my Mom and asked if this was the prayer she said as a child. She thought it was used by both her family and my Dad’s family when they were children. (They grew up in the same community).

I’m the oldest of four children in my family. My mom said that we three girls got to saying the prayer so quickly that it lost its meaning. So when my brother – who is 10 years younger - came along and he started saying “Frall wheat, Frall wear, Frall everywhere and so on, we switched to:

God is great.
God is good.
Let us thank Him.
For this food.
Amen.

Many people seem to use this prayer or variations on it. Randy had grown up saying, "God is great," and I ended my childhood with it, so we used that prayer when Jill and Brent were little.

Even though the Thanksgiving holiday makes many of us think of early pilgrims, the idea of thanksgiving is actually rooted in ancient Judaism. The early pilgrims likely looked to the Bible to find means to give thanks to God for their survival. In it, they found the celebrated Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Ingathering. The Israelites, having been delivered from the desert of Sinai, celebrated their harvest with this feast and is still the most joyous of all Jewish feasts today (Leviticus 23).

The idea of giving thanks is also prominent in the New Testament. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, says, “No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

All early celebrations had one common theme -- God. Thanksgiving was directed toward God, their Creator, Protector, and Provider. They believed that all good things ultimately came from Him as they do today.

A 1998 Gallup Poll showed that 64 percent of U.S. residents pray before eating meals, so prayers at dinner time haven’t become obsolete. Saying grace isn’t just for the times the good china comes out of the cupboard. Religious leaders agree that a prayer before dinner is just as appropriate over paper plates, fast food wrappers and those everyday dishes that are beginning to show their age.

People who otherwise aren’t used to saying grace are often more of a mind to count blessings - along with calories - on Thanksgiving Day.

Grace is the name for any of a number of short prayers said or an unvoiced intention held prior to eating a meal. In the English language tradition, reciting a prayer prior to eating is traditionally referred to as "saying grace".

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did a story on table prayers and asked readers to submit prayers. Among the most popular ones submitted was: "God is great ..."

One family who responded to the Post-Gazette’s request added a different tradition after their “God is great” prayer was complete. In a tradition passed down by their grandmother, they squeeze each others' hands three times to signify "I love you.

Another popular response to the newspaper's survey was:

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.

May this food to us be blessed.
Amen.

In "Bless This Food: Ancient and Contemporary Graces from Around the World," author Adrian Butash wrote: "Food blessings provide a common thread - mankind's need to connect to the Almighty." He said that the older prayers have such power because they came from the heart. "Starvation was a real possibility, so people were truly grateful for food.”

This idea is often lost in modern American culture, but many families still use prayer time to teach children.

There are four principal types of thanksgiving grace: the silent grace, the spoken grace, the sung grace and the signed grace.

This photo of a man saying grace was taken in 1918, but it still decorates many dining rooms, churches and restaurants across the U.S.

It was taken by Minnesota photographer Eric Enstrom. The bearded old man was Charles Wilden, a peddler who came to Enstrom's studio to sell foot scrapers. Enstrom placed a family Bible, spectacles, a bowl of gruel, a loaf of bread and a knife on the table and had Wilden pose in an attitude of prayer.

The photographer said:

"I wanted to take a picture that would show people that even though they had to do without many things because of the war, they still had much to be thankful for. This man doesn't have much of earthly goods, but he has more than most people because he has a thankful heart."

Isn't that a message we can all take to heart as we approach this Thanksgiving season! As you say grace around the family table this Thanksgiving, may your heart be filled with thanks for your many blessings.

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I'd love to hear from YOU! What table graces did you say as a child? What table graces have you taught your own children or grandchildren? Send me a comment and share them with me and other readers.

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I'm beginning to see fresh cranberries in the produce aisles of the grocery store these days. Try this yummy bar cookie recipe. It's a great snack to have on hand for Thanksgiving guests and will also make an attractive addition to any holiday cookie tray. Enjoy!

Cranberry-Pecan Bars

1 cup flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 cup finely-chopped pecans
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp. flour
2 beaten eggs
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. finely-shredded orange peel
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped cranberries (I use food processor to chop)
1/2 cup coconut

In medium mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour and 2 tablespoons sugar. With pastry cutter, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans. Press flour mixture into the bottom of a greased 13- by 9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine 1 1/4 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Stir in eggs, milk, orange peel and vanilla. Fold in cranberries, coconut and the remaining chopped pecans. Spread over partially baked crust. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars while warm. Cool completely before removing from pan.

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If you are having guests at your home this Thanksgiving, you might consider using the Prayer Mix I shared in February. You can decorate the bags with Thanksgiving stickers or use a business card template on your computer to make a Thanksgiving-themed card to attach to each bag. You could use them as place cards on your Thanksgiving table.

Happy Thanksgiving!