Lenten Sweet Sabbath

We've known Hannah Paris since she was single and attending lingustics school with us in Dallas. She recently authored "The Sacred Sacrifice: Cultivating Lenten Traditions with Bach's Great Passion", and her research and words coupled with Bach's music are shaping my Lent this year.

 

Chinese New Year

Any excuse to bake and celebrate with friends gets my vote! For the Chinese (Lunar) New Year, my buddy Marin and her little brother helped bake a delicious rice cake: Nian-Gao.

We used the recipe found in the back of "The Runaway Rice Cake", and the sweet cake was a big hit! Our library had several books that filled our basket to help us celebrate the holiday:

A Gift by Yong Chen

The Runaway Rice Cake by Ying Chang Compestine

A New Year's Reunion by Yu Li-Qiong

Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin

This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong

Rest

"Rest is a vital activity in all of creation, including us. When we forgo rest, we are not only running ourselves to exhaustion but forfeiting one of God's primary provisions for us. As part of God's original, perfect creation, rest was meant to meet us with peace and clarity. It keeps us from dialing up our lives to an unsustainable pace. It transfers us out of a domain of chaos and frenzy and centers us in God's presence, where we remember what matters most and where God would have us invest our time and energy." 

~Eryn Lynum, "The Nature of Rest"

The recent snow and ice forced us to slow down and gave us space to spend time with people we love doing things we don't normally have time and energy to do. 

Like a spontaneous afternoon of drinking coffee and playing Azul with my cousin, Luke. The slower pace and the laughter created a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Sweet Sabbath

"To work in accordance with the Sabbath way is to protest by resisting the identity lies and cultural forces that fuel our anxiety, busyness, and distraction. The Sabbath way also invites us to play with life, to experiment and try things out so we can embrace slowness, gratitude, and delight." ~Travis West, 

"The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

My seed order arrived! And the free seed packet Baker Creek sent me is "Alice's Dream". There is no way they could have known our first grandbaby will be named Alice! I'm looking forward to playing and experimenting in the garden this spring and summer so I can "embrace slowness, gratitude, and delight".

 

Rhythm and Routine

As January progressed, we settled into rhythm and routine:

Practicing for Katherine's upcoming senior recital during her daily cello time.

Watching homeschool basketball games (when we couldn't attend in person) and cheering until we were hoarse.

Relishing one of my new favorite homeschool resources, "Tea Time Together". Katherine read The Epic of Gilgamesh for school and made these delicious and beautiful Ma'amoul.

Sweet Sabbath

"One of the reasons I'm so compelled by the life of habit is that I see habits as a way for light to shine in an age of darkness. Cultivating a life of habits means our ordinary ways of living stand out in a culture, dancing like candles in the night."

~Justin Whitmel Early, "The Common Rule: Youth Edition"

 This quote made me think of some of my favorite Bible verses, Phillipians 2:12b-16:

...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation". Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

Everything I've read by this author points me to orderly habits that build a trellis to support the fruit the Lord grows in our lives. Early's newest book is no exception, and I'm soaking up every word during the dark, cold winter mornings.

Advent Sweet Sabbath and Baking

"We are tempted to view seasons of dormancy as failure, but the Sabbath invites us to resist that temptation and see fallow seasons as an opportunity to trust and grow in one's capacity to wait." 

~Eryn Lynum, "The Nature of Rest"

Growing in one's capacity to wait. Isn't that one of the goals of Advent? Cancer certainly thrust a season of dormancy upon me. As I regain my strength, I don't want to lose that opportunity to trust in the Lord and in His perfect timing.

Yeast bread is another reminder of waiting and trusting, as the yeast works its magic bubbles in the dough. This cheery sweet bread from our favorite baker, Beatrice Ojakangas encourages me to be patient and watch for the delicious things God is doing in our lives.

Cherry-Nut Christmas Wreath

from The Great Holiday Baking Book

2 packages (5 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom

1/2 cup hot water

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Cherry-Nut Filling

3/4 chopped walnuts, pecans, filberts, or almonds

1/2 cup chopped candied cherries

1/4 (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract

Combine the yeast, flour, sugar, salt, and cardamom in the work bowl of a food processor; mix until blended. Or combine in a mixing bowl and make a well in the center. In a small bowl, mix together the water and butter. Pour the water-butter mixture and the eggs into the flour. Process or mix until the dough is smooth and satiny. If using the food processor, process until the dough turns around the bowl about 25 times. If necessary, add additional water a tablespoon at a time until the dough has a soft, satiny, springy texture. If the dough seems to be too soft, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time, processing between each addition until the dough is no longer sticky. If mixing by hand, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and satiny, then return to the bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. If you have used the food processor, cover the bowl of the food processor and let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

In a mixing bowl, combine the filling ingredients. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface. Roll the dough into a 24x9 inch rectangle with a lightly floured rolling pin. Soread with the filling. Roll up starting from a long side in a 24-inch roll and pinch the seam to seal. Carefully cut the roll in half lengthwise using a sharp knife. Turn each half cut side up. Pick up each half of the dough and carefully lift one side over the other, twisting them into a rope, keeping the smooth side down and the exposed filling side up. Place on a lightly grease or parchment-covered cookie sheet and shape into a wreath or circle, pinching the ends together. Let the wreath stand in a wrm place, covered, until puffy, 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until brown. Serve warm.

Sweet Sabbath

"Sabbath is a way to say yes to YHWH. To silence Pharaoh's voice and break free from Egypt's pull and to tune our life to YHWH, the rest-God. It's a way to remember and never forget that what we're craving, and even coveting, isn't found in the world of space, but in the world of time - in God himself....The world and all the stuff in it are gifts to enjoy, not gods to worship."

~John Mark Comer, "Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human"

 This recipe for Sausage and Egg Cottage Cheese Breakfast Casserole is certainly a gift to be enjoyed. The combination of sitting on the porch with a cup of tea and eating off these autumn dishes that belonged to my great-grandmother? That adds up to slowing down and saying "yes to YHWH".

Thanksgiving Day

Katherine got my fingernails ready for Thanksgiving with her incredibly detailed art.

We had only a small crowd this year, just eight of us.

But that didn't stop us from enjoying each other's company,

reading lots of books,

and eating delicious and beautiful food.

At one point, I did think, "Who is going to make all of the beautiful pies next year when Sarah is in the Solomon Islands?"

But I forced myself to soak up every joyful minute with her.

Grandma made our day extra special with her sweet presence.

And when all of the hubbub died down, Sarah, Aaron, and I took a walk at Cadron Settlement Park to enjoy golden hour together.

We finished the day by passing around a family favorite: Louisa May Alcott's "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving". Reading aloud the familiar and beloved story, we felt cozy and snug together.

 

Sweet Sabbath

Sabbath isn't just a day to not work, it's a day to delight in what one Hebrew poet called "the work of our hands" To delight in the life you've carved out in partnership with God, to delight in the world around you, and to delight in God himself. Sabbath is a day to pull up a chair, sink into it, look back over the last six days, and just enjoy. 

~John Mark Comer, "Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human"

I tell my cello students often that if they want to be, they are stuck with me for the rest of their lives. I'm so grateful for the people the Lord has brought across my path through music. Aaron and I helped a former student move recently. A forty-something-year-old mom. Because moving is hard, and we all need community. She was getting rid of her solid oak, childhood table. So, now it sits in my bedroom in a cozy corner. Which is a perfect place to nestle into my great-grandmother's rocking chair and enjoy some Sabbath rest.

 

Presence and Beauty

I've been reading "Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human". I love how Comer frames how we spend our time as a way to make God's presence and beauty visible. For me, that looks like strengthening my body as Katherine and I go to the gym together. It looks like savoring the one Arkansas Black apple that survived this year (unlike the bumper crop we had recently). It also looks like one of my cello student's parents getting out of her car week after week to delight in the beautiful monarchs that continue to flock to our lantana and zinnias. 

"The Anglican writer John Stott said the kind of work we're called to is 'The expenditure of energy (manual or mental or both) in the service of others, which brings fulfillment to the worker, benefit to the community, and glory to God.'

Most of us get the first part of that definition: 'Fulfilment to the worker' -- ideally, your work should be a vocation, a calling, work that you feel God made you to do and that you love. And a lot of us get the second part: 'Benefit to the community' -- it should make the world into a more Garden-like place. But what about 'glory to God'? How do we do that?

Well, if God's glory is his presence and beauty, then, as I see it, we glorify God by reshaping the raw materials of the world in such a way that, for those with eyes to see, God's presence and beauty are made visible." ~John Mark Comer

Middle-Aged Romance

"In both marriage and life with God, it's the constraint of commitment that will create space for love to mature and real transformation to occur. We often chafe against it, but in the end, like a caterpillars in the constraints of pupae, it is where are transformed into butterflies -- entirely new creatures of beauty." 

~John Mark Comer, "Practicing the Way"

The day after we helped our favorite farmer, breakfast frittata was the obvious choice because our dining room table was absolutely covered in bell peppers. My kind husband served me breakfast on the porch, and we enjoyed a slow start to the day.

Romance looks a little bit different than it used to. On this day, it looked like using a coffee coupon for "BOGO" as we hit the road to drive to a Drewry Farms for our last opportunity to grab several varieties of apples. We came home with Arkansas Black, Fuji, and Pink Lady to dehydrate, cook into apple butter, and eat plain.

When we returned, the afternoon was cool and rainy, perfect for beginning to chop and freeze all those beautiful peppers. Even though we gave away many of them, we still had a table full! So we utilized our library's free video website, and watched one of the BBC originals of Miss Marple, starring Joan Hickson. The Saturday was well spent, reconnecting, accomplishing much, and very much kindling the middle-aged romance.

The Quiet Soundtrack of Joy

"You could argue that joy is the defining feature of a life organized around God. But it's rarely the explosive happiness of an emotional high, dramatic yet fickle and fleeting. It's more like a quiet undercurrent that slowly accumulates at the base of your soul, increasingly welling up like a soft melody that over the years becomes the soundtrack of your life." 

~John Mark Comer, "Practicing the Way"

This industrious orb weaver made a home in the azaleas by our front porch. Every morning when I go out to sit on the swing with my coffee, I see this beauty.

Our spaghetti squash are blooming and thriving, but so far the only flowers are male. I realize that is the normal way that squash blooms work, but I planted the seeds late this year. We may not get any fruit before the first freeze!

We turned an eye appointment into a little date recently. I love living close to downtown, so many places and events are within walking distance.

Walking the mile to and from the eye doctor allowed us to chat and share our hearts in the middle of the day, a time when we usually are busy with our own endeavors. What a sweet way to reconnect in normal, everyday life. This "quiet undercurrent" of joy is a rich treasure.

"Everything you see me doing well is either the result of a natural personality bent or years of the Lord's molding my weaknesses into something that more closely resembles the way I was uniquely designed to reflect his image."

~Abbie Halberstadt, "M is for Mama"

I recently discovered Abbie Halberstadt's books, and oh, how I'm enjoying them. She has a way of putting many of my thought into words. Lately, I've been extra grateful for the way the Lord uniquely designed me. I love to cook, and the opportunities to share food have been coming my way often.

I'm am early bird, and I find a dark morning walk with a friend is a great way to begin my day!

Our hometown's baseball field is within walking distance of our house, so when a cello student let me know he had a game after our lesson, our family walked down the street to cheer him on and to visit with his family during the game.

More and more, I'm grateful for the hard, untiring work our local farmers do. We purchased half a heifer from Richardson Farms, where we buy our raw milk, and now our deep freezer is full! I love that we had the option to use the organs and the tongue in an "ancestral blend" for some of the ground beef. Having only cooked ground beef and roasts, now I have to figure out what to do with those other cuts of meat, like T-bone steaks :)

Reminders of God's Presence and Glory

"We must never quit reminding ourselves of God's presence and glory lest we quit doing what we're doing out of allegiance to him and love for others and do it for ourselves." 

~PD Tripp, "Lead"

October held so many beautiful things to remind us of God's presence and glory. Spider lilies that always seem to shoot up overnight.

Wheel bugs. New to me, but according to Wikipedia:

North American wheel bugs are highly regarded by organic gardeners because they consume a variety of insects and their presence indicates a healthy, pesticide-free ecosystem. "They're the lion or the eagle of your food web," Dr. Michael J. Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, notes. "They sit on top. When you have these big, ferocious predators in your landscape, that tells me that this is a very healthy landscape, because all these other levels in your food web are intact."

As silly as it sounds, when we are overseas, I miss acorns. This year is a mast year, and I keep collecting acorns of all sizes and colors. I just can't get enough.

Presence, Patience, and Play

"Three aspects of love stand out as especially helpful for walking the path of love in everyday life: presence, patience, and play."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

We recently had abundant opportunites to "walk the path of love in everyday life" with presence, patience, and play. Katherine shares a birthday with one of Mr. Buck's daughters, and we were invited to help her celebrate at a nearby park. Aaron and I rode our bikes to and from the party, what a fun afternoon hanging out with a bunch of nine-year-olds and their families!

 

Another day, the sweet Davis family took a neighborhood walk and swung by our house to visit for a while. The kiddos played with Katherine's guinea pigs and read books with me.

They also enjoyed Aaron's vintage blocks. And the container from the 1970's. Playing with this young family brought us much joy!

Garden Update

"When we place ourselves in nature, our thoughts are naturally drawn to God's character and creativity. God designed nature to aid in this process of turning our thought to himself." 

~Erin Lynum, "The Nature of Rest"

My little garden brings me such joy. The tiger blush tomatoes are beginning to slow down, but I'm still getting a handful each day. The long beans are flourishing in our heat and humidity. They love the mid to upper 90's we're visiting every day.

But as my favorite farmer recently reminded me, it's past time to plant those fall crops. We saved quite a bit of seed from last year, so I had spaghetti squash and butternut squash seeds to poke into the ground.

I also had one package of beans that never got planted in the spring. 
Somehow my eyes are always bigger than my little raised beds, and I don't have enough room to plant everything I want to put into the ground! So, the rattlesnake beans went into the bean beds where I pulled out the bush beans a few weeks ago. Hopefully, we'll get some delicious things to eat before the first frost nips everything in mid-November.