Fall Thoughts

Fall is officially upon us.  Our part of the country is already experiencing the vibrant change of colors followed by the slow flutter of leaves. The air is brisk as we wake up each morning.  I've already made myself a few mugs of hot chocolate and gotten out my fluffy slippers.  The kids are already thinking about the upcoming holidays, and I start thinking of decorating the house.  Something about this season always makes me want to do something creative... the find seasonal crafts and special projects for myself and the kids.  From pumpkin carving to handprint turkeys, there are so many ways to celebrate the season.  

Strangely enough, we seem to spend more time outdoors than we do in the summer.  The bicycles come out of the garage and we take family walks around the neighborhood.  The boys are make piles of rocks outside, imagining they are the humble beginnings of a mighty fortress. Piles of leaves add to the allure of the outdoors.

I love how our even our palettes seem to change with the seasons.  Gone is our hankering for the taste of mint and citrus. This is the time of year when we crave soups and stews, warm bread from the oven, sweet potatoes and squash.  Maybe there is something about fall food that reminds us of home, of meals around the kitchen table, of thanksgivings and homecomings.  

As I think about what I love most about fall, it is that it is centered around home.  Summer is made for roaming, and we take off like birds in flight, eager to explore something new and unchartered.  But fall brings us back home.  We are grounded again, brought back to stay for awhile, kept by books and school and schedules to maintain.   My soul welcomes the routine of home.  We will hunker down as a family and enjoy our time together with our mugs of cocoa and our warm slippers...until Spring comes again and awakens in us our sense of adventure.      

Image Credit: Karen Lidbeck-Brent.

Couture Cupcakes

Have you noticed how couture cupcakes bakeries are popping up all over the place?  I guess there is just something irresistable about a miniature cake that can be dressed to the nines and packed with all notions of sugary goodness! 

We have a delightful little cupcake shop in our neighborhood and the other day I stopped by to see what all the fuss was about.  After shelling out a cool $26, I walked out the door carrying a lovely pink box with exactly six cupcakes inside.  They were gorgeous, no doubt, but after my family quickly polished them off, it left me wishing that I could make my own.  Of course, such delighful confections take time and skill, but I'd like to give it a try. 

There are a host of books with beautiful cupcake designs  and detailed instructions for recipes and decoration.  The Bake Me I'm Yours cupcake books are a great place to start.  They are a series of small books with full cover pictures and step-by-step instructions, though I have to say, they are not easy for a novice baker like myself.  Zoe Clark's Bake Me I'm Yours... Cupcake Love is my favorite of the series.  Her cupcakes are exquisite and truly a work of art!

Image Credit: Zoe Clark's Bake Me I'm Yours... Cupcake Love.

A String of Pearls and a Touch of Blush

Genevieve Antoine Dariaux wrote in her seminal book A Guide to Elegance, "There is one piece of jewellery that is equally becoming to everybody, lovely with almost every ensemble, appropriate for almost every occasion, and indispensible in every woman's wardrobe... long live the pearl necklace, true or false, from our first date until our last breath!" 

I came across this lovely necklace from the Pemberley Collection (apparently named after Mr. Darcy's estate in  Pride and Prejudice.)  It is a fresh update on the enduring classic of a simple string of pearls.  I love the fabric roses in a perfect hue of blush.   It's modern but very elegant at the same time.    

The Rhythm of Family Life

After a summer of late mornings and delayed bedtimes, we headed back to school this week... and by school, I mean homeschool in our bonus room.  Although the boys were reluctant to start, after the first morning my oldest son said, "I'm actually glad to have school again."


"What do you mean?" I asked him. 


"Well, I like having something regular to do in the mornings."  I raised my eyebrows and looked at him for more than a moment. 


I have to admit that as much as I love summer, each year as the summer comes to an end, I start to crave the regularity of the school year again.  I enjoy the rhythm of a normal day at home.  I like knowing what we will do each day.  Although he didn't put it into those exact words, I think that's what my son was saying too.  There is peace and security in regular routines and expected schedules.   One of the things we as mothers can provide our children is the safe structure of home.       


There is a verse in the Bible that instructs us to "aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, to work with your own hands... " (I Thessalonians 4:11).  That is a pretty stark contrast with how the world encourages us to live.  A quiet, stable life?  That sounds pretty boring!  Shouldn't we be seeking to become exceptional people and likewise produce exceptional offspring? 


Now, certainly, God does give people extraordinary gifts and special talents.  And we should be giving our best to use those talents to bring Him glory.  But I don't think we are to diminish the importance of the ordinary in a quest for the extraordinary. 

There is a rhythm to family life and somewhere in the ordinary, unspectacular happenings of the day, our children are making their most important memories.  I think we often think it is the large, extraordinary things that we must provide our children to make their childhood special.  Sometimes those spectacular events do occur, and sometimes, though we try to manufacture them, they don't turn out as we imagine.  Besides, I think perhaps it is the mundane, day-to-day things we do that matter more in the long run anyway.

The writer Thomas Moore said, "The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul that their simplicity might suggest."   So, sit on the floor with your children and watch them draw.  Make them breakfast and talk about the day to come.  It might be those moments they remember the most.  


Image Credit: Pottery Barn Kids.

Afternoon Tea Sandwiches

Afternoon tea sandwiches are usually dainty and easily consumed in less than three bites.   Here are a few ideas for traditional and not-sotraditional sandwiches.

TRADITIONAL CUCUMBER SANDWICHES
1.  Butter slices of white bread. 
2.  Cut cucumber slices very thin and sprinkle lighting with salt.  Place between slices of bread. 
3.  Garnish with a dash of paprika.
4.  Serve immediately to prevent dampening.

For a modern twist on the traditional cucumber sandwich, visit The Hot Plate for their beautiful gluten-free cucumber tea sandwiches pictured here.  

EGG SALAD SANDWICHES
1.  Hard boil eggs.
2.  Once eggs are cool, cut up eggs into small pieces.
3.  Stir mayonaise into eggs.
4.  Add cut celery or green onion, and a dash of curry powder if desired.
5.  Spread on white bread.
6.  Cut off crusts and cut into quarters.

WATERCRESS SANDWICHES
1.  Clean and dry watercress leaves.
2.  Spread salted butter on each side of white bread. 
3.  Place watercress in the middle between slices of buttered bread.
4.  Cut off crusts and cut into quarters or use cookie cutters to cut into shapes.


SMOKED SALMON AND CREAM CHEESE SANDWICHES
1.  Spread cream cheese on each slice of bread.
2.  Cut up smoked salmon into thin slices and place between slices of bread. 
3. For added visual appeal, roll the edges of your sandwich into plain yogurt and then into parsley.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"  I love this saying so much that I recently had a little lemonade party to celebrate it.  (Notice the cute little lemon jello slices taken from a previous post on Jello Slices.)   

But most of all, I have been thinking about that catchy little phrase.  I recently read an article about optimism and the author made the point that optimists are not just "positive-thinkers" but proactive doers.  What sets apart optimists from pessimists are their can-do attitude.  It isn't so much that optimists always believe the future to be rosy.  But when faced with adversity, they have faith that they can conquer the challenge and they go ahead and take action.  Pessimists will look at a problem and often not do anything about it because they don't believe anything they can do will help to solve it.            

Hebrews 11 is like a hall of fame for those people in the Bible who had great faith. The interesting thing is that it describes each person as doing something by faith.  They didn't just believe and wait for things to happen.  By faith, they acted.  By faith, Abel offered a sacrifice to God.  By faith, Noah built an ark.  By faith, Abraham left his home and went into another country.  They all acted in faith. 

Sometimes life challenges us in such a way that we have to act even if we don't feel like it.  Most of the time, if we can proactively work towards a solution, we will begin to feel better.  Passivity, on the other hand, neither produces results nor positive feelings.  Sometimes passivity can even be a sign that we don't trust that God will take care of us.  So the next time life gives you lemons, decide to put your faith in God and face your fears head on.  Then make some lemonade and throw yourself a party! 

Represent God's Grace

If you took a survey among non-Christians and asked them what they did not like about Christians, I'd venture to say that among the top answers would be, "Christians are ungracious."  Words like "judgmental" or "hypocritical" might also come to mind, but the idea remains the same.  A good number of non-Christians are turned off to Christianity mainly because of their experience with Christians.  Let's admit it.  We haven't always done a very good job representing God to people who don't know Him.   

The primary word to describe how God treats us is "grace."  God has lavished his grace upon us in such a way that we should be reflections of grace and gratitude.  And as Christians, we should be giving away grace in bucketl oads at a time.  But I've found that grace, while easy to receive, can be very hard to give away. 

Customer service jobs are one in which grace is part of the actual nature of the position.  The motto, "The customer is always right" doesn't mean that the customer truly is always right, but that the customer is treated in a way which dignifies his concerns and fully addressed them in a way that he walks away from his experience a more loyal customer than he had been before.   

In my experience working in a customer service department of a company, I have learned that showing grace sometimes goes against every fiber of my natural makeup.  For one thing, the only time a customer contacts a company is to express a complaint.   Rarely will a customer ever email or call just to thank a company or tell them what a great job they did.  They are usually calling with a problem and let's face it, they are usually angry. 

I once had a customer who was absolutely livid at what ended up amounting to $0.36 (which he had been charged by a third party company, no less.)  Thirty-six cents!  You can't even buy a postage stamp for $0.36!  Of course, we ended up reimbursing him and then some, but he still was not satisfied.  You can't please everyone all of the time, and then there are just some people who you can't please at all (but that is another topic for another time).    But the point of my interaction with the customer was that although I wanted to tell him he was completely overblowing the situation over a mere $0.36, I had to remain gracious and even apologetic.  I had to do so because I wasn't representing myself, but the company I worked for.  I was the only human interaction he had with the company and as such, I was responsible for how he ultimately viewed his experience with the company. 

II Corinthians 5:30 says, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."  We are the primary means by which God makes his appeal to other human beings.  We represent God's grace and mercy to the world.  So let's live in such a way that the world will recognize Jesus in us.