Sabbath

I have always been inspired by people, especially really busy people, who manage to consistently set some time aside for rest and rejuvenation. Last night, I met two very busy people, who managed to set aside a whole day just to do things that they truly enjoyed. I loved the way they described their decision as "a way to recognize that our worth is not determined by our work." I hope that when I enter my graduate program I can carry a similar attitude with me.

Since I am blessed with more free time this year, I have been able to consistently rest on Sundays, but today I felt especially eager to really enjoy the day. So I baked some bread, made two delicious meals, cooked a pumpkin and roasted its seeds, took a walk, and had dinner with my grandmother.

Teach me, O Lord, your way that I may walk in your truth;

direct my heart that it may fear your name.

Psalm 86:11

Winter Salad

I love salad, all types, from tuna to arugula nothing makes me happier then a tasty, nutritious, filling and easy-to-make salad. As much as I love greens, it is sometimes not feasible to center a salad around them. Therefor, I am ever on the quest for new salads that offer vitamins, protein, and fiber to fill you up! Here is one of my favorite non-lettuce salads that evolved from things that happened to be in the fridge.

Balsamic Broccoli Salad

1 Head of Broccoli washed, chopped into smaller bits

seeds from 1/4 Pomegranate

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts *

2/3 cup diced red onion

4 small to medium radishes sliced (optional)

Dressing

2 T Honey Mustard

1-1.5 T. Balsamic Vinegar (depending on your tastes)

1 t. canola oil (or other neutral flavored oil)

Mix all ingredients for salad. Mix dressing ingredients in a separate container, you can control the thickness and the tartness by the amount of vinegar you add. Pour dressing over your salad, toss and enjoy!

*Walnuts can be toasted by putting them in a dry pan over medium heat on the stove for a couple minutes (until they have a nice fragrance).

A small victory is still a victory

When caring for people with dementia it is easy to become depressed. To feel as though nothing will get better and it only will get worse. It is tempting to let yourself slip into a sort of apathy, thinking "what does it matter if I engage him in conversation, he doesn't even know it's me?"

But you can't! Because there are victories to be had, lessons to be learned, and joy to be given, even amidst the pain. That point was driven home today as I talked to my grandfather as he ate his dinner. Every day for the last two weeks I have, in addition to our normal conversation, asked him the same three questions. One he always gets right, one he sometimes gets right, and one he never gets right. But tonight, when I asked him the question that usually stumps and confuses him, he sat up, thought about it and then proudly proclaimed that his dog's name was indeed Seamus. A victory!

On the topic of victories, the flowers in the pictures began blooming a couple of weeks ago (evidently unaware that it is the dead of winter) on a beautiful green ivy arrangement we have in our home. What a wonderful present!

National Soup Month

As I read the paper this morning I was delighted to learn that January is National Soup Month.
How perfect for my winter of soup making (which I really have to credit my boyfriend with since it was his idea). Tonight was Spicy Black Bean soup, accompanied with some home made whole wheat tortillas.

Soup is pretty no nonsense, you get what you see. It is not really the most attractive dish (although some squash soups do dazzle with their brilliant colors) and it definitely is not as flashy as a souffle or a rich quiche. But it seems like a very practical, content, and economical food. So, it seemed perfect that today in my book "A Shepard Looks at Psalm 23" by Phillip Keller he was talking about humbleness and contentment. The best few lines had to be:
"It is the humble heart walking quietly and contentedly in the close and intimate companionship of Christ that is at rest, that can relax..."
What a beautiful thought to remember, that amidst this crazy world we have an everlasting source of true peace.

My adult voice

It seems like a short time ago that I was sitting at my desk, with my pencil, listening to my teacher who seemed so knowledgeable, together, and so much older.

Today I found myself as the teacher....of 11 squirming second graders. For a whole hour and a half, these 8 and 9 year olds must sit still (or relatively so) and learn about Jesus. Not an easy feat after a full day of school, and especially difficult due to some sugar laden cupcakes and juice boxes brought in for snack....

Due to these circumstances I found that I had to use my "adult voice" much more than usual. This voice seems to appear when needed most (i.e. some boys take it upon themselves to, take your pick: stand on chairs, frantically close and open the lockers at the back of the room, try and eat one of their classmates' cupcake) When the effects of my "adult voice" began wearing off attention was garnered using a short game of Simon Says (involving religious trivia), and 30 seconds of wiggle time.

*Next time the cupcakes are going to wait until the last 15 minutes of class

Beauty

"For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen." WIS 13:5

The pictures are thanks to a wonderful trip to the Conservatory. A warm respite from gray winter skies and piercing cold winds. A step into a magical land filled with exotic ferns, bright orchids, and the almost too perfect shrimp plant. What could be better?

Lloyd

Once again I was taught a new thing by a 7 year old.
Lloyd, the friendly golden lab decided that he was going to sneak a piece of Twin 2's pizza. Luckily I caught him and shoed him away while saying "Stop eating the pizza Lloyd."
Twin 2 looked up from his project and in a very matter of fact voice said:
"Kate, Lloyd is an animal. Actually he is a dog and dog's don't understand our language." He then resumed going about his project.
Who knew that after 4 years of college we still could learn something from first graders? :)

Presents

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout; in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk. At your name they rejoice all the day, and through your justice they are exalted. For you are the splendor of their strength, and by your favor our horn is exalted. For to the LORD belongs our shield, and to the Holy One of Israel, our King.
Psalm 89:16-19

Just when you need it most, God provides words of encouragement, signs of beauty and moments to renew your soul. Sometimes I like to think of these moments as little presents from God; my present today was the above psalm read at mass, just when I needed it.

Granola

This is one of my family's favorite recipes and makes a great breakfast or snack. It is wonderful on plain yogurt!

The recipe is adapted from Mollie Katzen's "Very Crunchy Granola" and it lives up to its name!

3 c. rolled oats
1 1/4 c. bran/whole grain flakes cereal (look for a kind with less then 4 g. sugar per serving)
1 c. oat bran
1 c. sunflower seeds *
1 c. whole almonds *
1 c. pumpkin seeds *
3/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. REAL maple syrup
1 heaping T of vanilla extract
*seeds and nuts should be raw and unsalted (buy in bulk when possible, can be pricey!)

1. Preheat oven to 325 F and grease two cookie sheets (I use a little canola oil)
2. In a large bowl mix: oats, cereal, oat bran, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and almonds.
3. In a small bowl mix: oil, honey, maple syrup, and vanilla extract
4. Pour liquid mixture over dry mixture and mix well or until the oil mixture is evenly distributed.
5. Spread out the granola on the two cookie sheets and place in oven.
6. Stir granola and flip trays every 15 minutes. Granola will take between 30-45 minutes depending on how dark you like it.
7. When granola looks to be at the right color pull it out of the oven and let it cool. Enjoy!

*Note: The granola gets crunchy AFTER you pull it out of the oven. So your granola will still look kind of "soggy" when you take it out. Let the granola sit for 10-15 minutes before you stir it and it will get nice and crunchy.

New skills

Last night I had the pleasure of sitting for two seven year old twin boys.

The highlight of the night had to be:

Twin 1: "Hey Kate, want to know how to get up off the floor with no arms?"

Me: Of course!

Twin 1 stuffs his arms into his pajama shirt and flops onto the floor

Twin 1: First you put your leg like this (demonstrates), then you move your other leg like this, and then you just get up like this (successfully pulls himself off the floor with...you guessed it no arms).

Me: Wow, who taught you that?

Twin 1 beaming with pride: I taught it to myself!

Other highlights included:

A rousing game of Twister

Hot Lava (jumping from blue foam square to blue foam square)

And a secret mission which ended with them getting (happily!) into their beds and going to sleep.

Success!

Wisdom

"Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth. Think of the Lord in goodness and seek him in simplicity of heart." Wisdom 1:1


As I read this verse I couldn't help but think of my time spent in South India last year. I went to India hoping to bring my talents and gifts to help out those in need. A week into my four month journey I realized that I was the one in need of help. One of the reasons that I really liked this verse is because it links justice with simplicity of heart. I think that those two virtues often are seen as opposites. We have come to view simplicity as a dull, static, state of being. But it is just the opposite! Jesus calls us to come to Him with a simple heart, aware of our limits, our faults, our sins and through that awareness share in His work to bring the kingdom of God to earth. My time in India humbled me to the core of my being and brought me closer to Christ in ways I could not have imagined. The Bible shows us that it is through our simplicity, our humble nature, that we may begin to truly understand and seek Christ which will allow us to bring about justice.

Simple Food

I have had soup on the mind lately. I can't think of a better food that provides such a large variety of flavors, textures and ingredients while filling you up healthily and inexpensively.

Home made soup seems to be a lost art. Just looking around the grocery store you can see rows and rows of canned soup...which is great for a convenient meal, but have you ever read the back of those cans? Do you really need MSG in your meal? My grandparent's grew up in Ireland and as my Nana says have "never bought that canned stuff". Maybe some of that desire to make my own food (and know what I am consuming) got passed down from them. In any case, I am enjoying my winter of soup making. There is something very satisfying about putting some ingredients, some water and a few spices in a pot, going for a walk and coming back to a house filled with the delicious smell of your meal.

In the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of indulging in:
Onion soup with home-made croutons from Jim Lahey's "No Knead Bread"
Sweet split pea soup (secret ingredient...sweet potatoes!)
Tortilla soup (with homemade salsa and some fresh cilantro)

and last night my personal favorite
Roasted sweet potato soup with curried apples accompanied with fresh out of the oven Ballymaloe Bread (a whole wheat soda bread from my Celtic cookbook) and a pomegranate, roasted walnut, Parmesan cheese and mixed green salad. A perfect winter meal!

Next on the agenda: Spicy English Parsnip soup

"I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they did not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes. But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world. No one's eyes can see very far beyond that: lots of people's eyes can see further than mine." -C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity