Wanting....

...to get engrossed this weekend in a slow, melancholy book set on the sea. On a chilly coast. A Weight of Water or Memory of Water type novel, only better. Any suggestions?

Expect hope to be rekindled.

Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways.

The dry seasons in life do not last.

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Pay Day

Today's pay day. What are the odds I can grab my check, hit the door, rush "home", bake cookies and watch movies all rainy afternoon?

Yeah. Didn't think so.

Oh my gosh. Did you see these today? Quick, step aside as I fake illness and limp to the door.  *cough*

September

By all these lovely tokens September days are here,

With summer's best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer.

-Helen Hunt Jackson

I'm knitting this week. And making spiced honey. I might even try to take off one day to gather firewood and pick apples.

Ah, autumn. Welcome! Long have I awaited your return...

Best Wishes (and Cake) Ever

My brother is getting married this weekend. They're having pie at the reception instead of cake. My family has this love affair with chocolate pie that knows no bounds, so it's only reasonable that we'll pie with our nuptials. (grin)

Just in case anyone misses cake after the happy couple jets, I think I'll sneak in this: the Best Cake Ever. EVER. I mean... ever. I've been making it off and on for the past couple of years and nothing beats it.

Best, incandescently happy, chocolate-pie-and-cake wishes to the lovely couple. -B

Little Thought #3: Unrelenting

A thing to know about God is that He's unrelenting. His love doesn't let up. His mercy doesn't give out. His pursuit never ends.

I was walking through the airport a few days ago and passed a girl sipping a Bud Light, deeply absorbed in The Shack. I kept walking. I wasn't a fan of that book, God. What do You think of us down here trying to know You... picture You... describe You and define You? What do You think of our searching?

It thrills My heart. I felt those words pulse through me, along with an overwhelming feeling of love. As if my blood had turned to liquid love and gushed up and down my veins. Now go back and tell the girl with the book. Tell her I love her.

I argued for a minute, then wheeled my suitcase back down the terminal toward the girl. She was still reading.

How do you approach a stranger in the airport and tell her of God's love? The way the conversation unfolded was surreal. I knew, before opening my mouth to talk to her, that she was 23. A student in the medical field. The youngest of her family. I knew - without any way of knowing - that something awful had happened in her short life. Tell her she's not to blame. Tell her it wasn't her fault. Tell she's loved with an everlasting love.

I looked at this girl and wondered what it was like to be reading in an airport, unknowingly pursued by a loving, purposeful, unrelenting God.

Irena is 23. The baby of her family. She's in dental school. And almost three years ago, she was sexually assaulted. Luke is still in diapers.

We talked quietly. She cried. I had to assure her twice that I'm not psychic; that God knows her... knows everything she is and everything she's been through. He'll use anyone around to make sure we know.

Does God love everyone? she asked, quietly. I mean, everyone?

I nodded. Yes, everyone. He loves me. He loves you. He loves that lady over there selling newspapers. A well-dressed man rushed by, berating someone at the other end of his cell phone. Irena raised her eyebrows and tilted her head toward him. Yes, especially him.

You're the second person to talk to me about God, she confided. A co-worker talks about Jesus. She told me to read this book.

Hmm. What's it like, I asked her, to be sitting in an airport, knowingly pursued by a loving, purposeful unrelenting God?

What's it like, she countered, to know Him the way you do?

You won't relent until You have it all. My heart is Yours. -Brin

Little Thought #2: Hanging in for Harvest

And let us not grow weary of doing good,

for in due season we will reap,

if we do not give up.

-Galatians 6:9

Don't give up. Keep going. Don't give up.

Especially when it's hard. Especially during dry spells. Especially in times of mourning. Especially during times of testing... times of learning... times of questioning.

Find your faith. Put it in your pocket. Remind yourself you have it. Remind yourself it's real. Pull it out when you need to; examine it. Patch it up when it's battered. Ask for more when it's not enough. Then take it and keep going.

What we're doing today matters. Because in due season - tomorrow, next year, eternity- there will be a harvest. Good or bad, there will be a harvest. There will be bounty. Where there were hard times, there will be triumph. Where there was lack, there will be plenty. Where there was sorrow, there will be joy. Where there was weariness, there will be rest.

The harvest is coming. Can't you feel Him stirring even now? Don't you see Him getting His sickle ready?

Don't give up. I'll hang in here with you until then. -Brin

(Update: There's more from me on this - click Comments below to read. :)

Little Thought #1: Learning Hebrew

I am learning Hebrew. Did I mention it? I think so, but it's been awhile.

In order to speak Hebrew like a native, I'm learning that you have to be okay with spit. And choking. I'll admit - my practice sessions sound more like an MP3 of an angry, choking mule than an American girl trying to learn a new tongue. I'm okay with that. For now. But by Christmas, I want to sound like Moses.

(The one in the Bible. Not Gwyneth Paltrow's son.)

Special toda to Rosetta Stone and my new pal Michael, the most awkward and endearing Hebrew teacher ever. You're right, Michael. If God wrote more than half the Bible in this language, it must be special to Him.

Shalom, dear ones.

Freeman House, Winter 2008

Today I'm dreaming of snowfalls. Of scarves and blankets and roaring fires and bubbling stews. And when I saw this beautiful craft idea, I started crying.

I think it reminded me of Freeman House.

I think it spoke to the comfort I'm yearning for today.

I think I'm going to stock up on candles and jars and make a few of these this week. ...

I watched the sun set from above the clouds this week. Have you ever watched from 32,000 feet as the sun sank to other kingdoms? It stays with you, always.

There's so much on my mind and heart to share with you. So much I've seen the past few months. I try to put words to it all but end up sitting, overwhelmed, in front of the computer. Tomorrow, I tell myself, logging off the internet. Or maybe this weekend.

Or maybe the next.

Happy weekend.  -Brin

Dreaming About Heaven...

When all this is done - the striving, the longing, the hoping, the waiting- I'd like a corner in heaven that looks like this.

Or maybe that. I'll wake each morning to the sound of fluttering angel wings, my Grandfather's laugh, and snatches of melodies from the Throne.

I'll make my bed and walk across the moss, past loved ones and new friends, until I find Jesus... my Savior and my One. Will you take a walk with me? I'll ask, blushing.

And He'll wink. And wrapping His nail-scarred hand around mine, together we'll set off....

(Funny how we don't spend much time thinking about eternity, isn't it, considering it's infinite while our lives here are but a vapor? Photo credit/dream photography by the talented Ditte Isager.)

Photo: Preemptive Love Coalition

(Sob. Laugh. Grin. Wipe eyes. Laugh again. Sob.) Leah is home. Read it and weep.

Again, thank you. -Brin

We live, in fact, in a world starved for

solitude, silence, and privacy;

and therefore starved for meditiation

and true friendship.

-C.S. Lewis

Solitude, silence and privacy - today those words sink into my depths like sparkling rain drops into a puddle. How refreshing that would be today- solitude, silence and privacy. I must be burned out.

God, in this dry and weary land, my heart seeks after You. On days I feel numb... on days I'm listless and I'm tired... remind me You're here. Tell me again You never leave. Give me moments, God, to be in that still, simple, quiet place with You. Touch all of these longings that crave meditation... that yearn for true friendship. Reach for us, God, and meet us where we are today. ...

Leah's Out!

Check on her here.

Another No (Way I'll) Bake Dessert

Stop what you're doing and make this. If you have to leave work, all the better. The sooner you get this in the fridge, the better your day will be. This is that good.

The recipe, tagged "Family Favorite" in August's Martha Stewart Living, is one I can see myself making when I'm 70. It's a keeper. Heat cream, melt chocolate, layer it all in plastic wrap, and forget it in the fridge. When three o'clock hits... when the doorbell rings... when supper plates are cleared, pull it out. Then prepare to cry. This is that good.

I changed up the recipe a little. Instead of using all milk chocolate, I used 11 ounces of milk chocolate chips and 3 ounces of semi-sweet. Not being big on banana, I thinly sliced a small one lengthwise and was skimpy with layering it in. Substituting cinnamon graham crackers for plain seemed a no-brainer. And Cool Whip and chocolate shavings had to top it off. The result? Tears. This is that good.

Yup. No way I'll bake anytime soon...

No (Way I'll) Bake Desserts

I don't do much baking in July. I mean, have you ever been to Texas in high summer? It's a huge oven. With grass.

No bake desserts are the only way to go. The colder the better. The jucier the better. The lighter the better. The less time you have to spend away from the air-conditioning vent, the better.

Hello, Watermelon Cake! Have you picked up the August Martha Stewart Living? Buy or borrow it. I'm keeping my copy forever, it's that good. For this "cake", all you need is a seedless watermelon. And a knife. And a spoon (or a melon baller). Hack out a slab of watermelon, cut it into slices like cake, and top with scooped out balls of more watermelon. Refrigerate until ice cold.

I'm taking this to everything that requires food for the rest of the summer.

I also made the no-bake chocolate pudding/banana/graham cracker thingy. Only I slathered peanut butter between the layers, too. (I'm incorrigible.) It hits the table today. Will definitely report back on that.

Ah, summer. We'll conquer you yet.

Leah Goes to Surgery

Remember this sweetie? She's in Istanbul now, gearing up for heart surgery. Together, we at this humble little blog scraped up $1,200 towards making sure Leah got her potentially life-saving surgery. That's amazing when you think of it. You are amazing when I think of it.

(I say "potentially" because not all the children Preemptive Love Coalition has seen into surgery have made it out. Just saying that makes me gulp and take a deep breath.)

God, we pull on the strings of Your heart. We know You. You're full of compassion, justice, and love. Be with Leah and her family now...

The apples are nearly ready. Coincidentally, I'm hungry for cold, cold cinnamon applesauce this afternoon.

If I could be anywhere right now, I'd be in an apple orchard with my head down, working on this beautiful blanket. I definitely would not be stuck at this tediously boring job with no applesauce or yarn.

Here's to us working girls today. May there be many apple orchards and handmade blankets in our happy futures. -Brin

Naughty Jelly

I made pepper jelly. I made pepper jelly because I love pepper jelly. There's something funny to me about the whole concept of making jelly out of peppers: it comes out acting like green jell-o gone naughty.

One of my favorite meals is this: red potatoes, cornbread and peas. Zipper Cream Peas. I top my peas with a dollop of pepper jelly and am in heaven.

I realize friends to the north feed these peas to their cattle. Cowpeas, they call them. Please don't remind me of this. Down here, these peas sell for $28 a bushel. I would know. I just gave someone $28 for a bushel of them.

For the pea haters among us, pepper jelly also goes great with cream cheese and crackers. But it's very Texas. It should be eaten on a porch while wearing scuffed leather boots.  Just sayin'.

Recipe forthcoming. I still have some naughty jelly tweaking to do, I'm afraid....