Happy Mother's Day

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."

-- Lin Yutang

Excuse This House

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there;
Ours boast of it quite openly.
The signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors;
I should apologize, I guess.
For toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other;
I'd like to cook and clean and scrub,
But first I'll be a mother.
~Author Unknown

How I Spent My Sunday

I had another wonderful morning walking the Eugene half-marathon with good friends. We improved our time this year and had a blast doing it. I think we are all fired up to do it again every spring. You can read about it here where my friend Brenda wrote about the experience much more eloquently. But before you head over there, check out this video:

Delicious (*Sugarless*) Morning Glory Muffins

Tweaked from "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook" (I LOVE this cookbook!)

These sweet, moist, sugarless muffins are loaded with fruit (coconut, raisins, and pineapple), protein & fiber as well as nuts. They make an excellent, healthy breakfast. Make sure to remove the excess moisture from the canned pineapple or the muffins will be gummy.

2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (opt. use white flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup + 3Tbs honey
3 large eggs
8 Tbs unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 carrots, peeled & grated (~2 cups)
1 (8-oz) can crushed pineapple, drained & pressed dry with paper towels
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut (opt. use sweetened)
½ cup raisins, soaked in hot water & drained
½ cup walnuts or pecans, toasted & coarsely chopped

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon & salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk honey, eggs, melted butter & vanilla until smooth. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined (do not over mix or muffins will be tough). Fold the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins & nuts into batter.

3. Use a large ice-cream scoop or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until golden & a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 15-20 minutes.

4. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack & let cool for 10 minutes before serving.


Note: Sugar can be used in place of the honey with the following changes. Use 1 ¼ cups sugar, increase oven temp to 375, increase baking time to 20-25 minutes, and decrease flour to 2 ¼ cups.

Mud Puddles

Clinging to His Promises

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous face many troubles, but the Lord rescues them from each and every one. For the Lord protects them from harm- not one of their bones will be broken! Calamity will surely overtake the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished. But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. Everyone who trusts in him will be freely pardoned.

Psalm 34:17-20

Birthday Boy

The Fire

Glorify ye the Lord in the fires.
Isaiah 24:15

Mark the little word "in"! We are to honor Him in the trial--in that which is an affliction indeed and though there have been cases where God did not let His saints feel the fire, yet, ordinarily, fire hurts.

But just here we are to glorify Him by our perfect faith in His goodness and love that has permitted all this to come upon us.

And more than that, we are to believe that out of this is coming something more for His praise than could have come but for this fiery trial.

We can only go through some fires with a large faith; little faith will fail. We must have the victory in the furnace.

A man has as much religion as he can show in times of trouble. The men who were cast into the fiery furnace came out as they went in--except their bonds.

"When each earthly prop gives under,
And life seems a restless sea,
Are you then a God-kept wonder,
Satisfied and calm and free?"

--Margaret Bottome

The Glory of God

Tough times lately.

Many big decisions and (just for kicks) a score of nearly 400 on the Holmes & Rahe "Stress Scale". But God is faithful, he will not give me more than I can stand up under (1 Cor. 10:13).

I'm constantly amazed at how He daily gives me the strength I need for each day's trials: time in the Word that speaks directly to where I'm at, prayer's power that while it may not change my circumstances, changes my heart, sweet words from a dear friend, and yes, even the many disappointments along the way.

I recently shared with a friend how my constant prayer through these times has been that my life would somehow bring glory to Him. Even as I said that, I wondered if it was self-righteous and overconfident to imagine that I would demonstrate anything other than failure and sin in my trials. I was thinking on this late last night as I sat sleepless in the dark and quiet living room, the rest of the house asleep.

And this morning, greeting me in my inbox was this devotional from Elisabeth Elliot:


When God's power is manifested in the world, in his creation, or in his people, God is glorified. When we pray that our lives may glorify Him, we are asking that the self may be put down, for it is not possible to show the power of God and at the same time to glorify what George MacDonald called "the bastard self." We must be prepared to lose ourselves, whatever that may entail, that God may be all in all. Losing an argument for his sake, losing something we held dear, losing "face," reputation, a position of power or superiority, losing a claim on someone or on his affection or respect--can these be a part of the answer to our prayer to glorify God in our lives? Assuredly they can, for assuredly the Son Himself laid aside all such assets when He came to do the will of the Father.

"I have glorified Thee on the earth'' (Jn 17:4 AV), He said--and that glory was manifested through weakness, loss, and suffering. What a privileged position we are called to share.

Lord, lift up our eyes, away from ourselves and our small losses, up to that glory yet to be revealed. Teach us that it is only out of weakness that we are made strong, only as we suffer that we may reign, only as we lose that we may gain.

Favor

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

And he said, My presence shall go [with thee], and I will give thee rest.
Exodus 33:11-14

Observe what it is Moses is thus earnest for: "Show me thy way, that I may know that I find grace in thy sight." Note, Divine direction is one of the best evidences of divine favour. By this we may know that we find grace in God’s sight, if we find grace in our hearts to guide and quicken us in the way of our duty. God’s good work in us is the surest discovery of his good-will towards us.
~Matthew Henry Exodus 33