Whew!

It's alive!! The happy orange Iris is the glory of my garden when it's in bloom... It's the only truly orange (not peach, etc.) Iris I've ever seen - and the only one of its kind in the random greenhouse sale dump-pile where I found it last year. Last June, I'd planted it just before it went into full bloom, so I was concerned about whether it would return this Spring.

Whereas my new blue/purple bearded Iris has more green on it than anything else in the garden, this treasured orange one had remained brown and dead until last week when a tiny green leaf poked up. The dogs promptly stepped on it and it turned brown and died. But now there's another one! I'm guarding that hope-leaf with my life... :-)

Whole Foods; Whole Life

As a direct result of what I took away from tonight's 'Whole Foods; Whole Life' church event, I'm sitting down with a WHOLE bowl of Starbucks Coffee Almond Fudge Ice Cream and two WHOLE chocolate chip cookies. I don't plan to juice them, however.

P.S. I plan to address recipes this week. THANK YOU for all the great contributions to the future Rankin meal book! Results TBD soon...

B.U.H.D.

Back. Up. Hair. Dryer. Never be home without one. Well, at least not when you plan to be at church at 7:30 AM to lead worship all morning...





Leaving for work with wet hair? It's been done. Friends and family gatherings? No big deal. Even Saturday night church service might not have been a complete disaster. But Sunday morning?? Oh, the sinking feeling in my stomach as I turned on the (20+ yr. old) hair dryer to hear only a lifeless click. Double checked. Triple checked. Tried multiple outlets. Pried off filter to clean and quadruple check. Dead. Dead. Dead.

So the following phone conversation occurred at 6:30 AM, upon my realization that I had no other options:

DIALING: 1 ring... 2 rings... 3 rings... 4 rings... (uh oh) 5 rings...

JASON: Um...ullo?

VONDA: Hi, Jason - it's Vonda. I am SO SO sorry to be calling right now. Can I talk to Michele?

JASON: Oh, um... is this an emergency?!

VONDA: Yes.

MICHELE: Vonda!! Are you boarding a plane for India?!?

VONDA: Um, no... Ah... My hair dryer's dead and I have to leave for church in 1/2 hr.

MICHELE: (Spunky laughter...) You. Coming here. Letting yourself in with the garage code. Coming to my bedroom and getting the dryer out of the bathroom drawer. Bye.

V's RELIEVED COMMITTEE MEMBER: THANK GOD!! :-)


May we all have friends whose bathrooms we can raid for hair emergencies in the middle of the night...

Oh - and B.U.H.D. also stands for a favorite napping stance on an amazing (finally sunny!) afternoon at Perch Lake:

Blankets
Under
Happy
Dreamers

They're Coming For Us

Told you so.

Completely Free

“Because of the gospel’s power, you can be completely free of all condemnation.

Not mostly free; completely free.



Don’t buy the lie that cultivating condemnation and wallowing in your shame is somehow pleasing to God, or that a constant, low-grade guilt will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity.

It’s just the opposite! God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned. It’s only when we receive his free gift of grace and live in the good of total forgiveness that we’re able to turn from old, sinful ways of living and walk in grace-motivated obedience.”

- C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life, 39, 40-
('First Importance' - link to the right)


...Thank you, C.J. Of all the quotes I've read that summarize my journey of Grace begun a year ago (but much longer ago than that), this is the most concise. Love how good quotes can sink a truth in further...

No 'V' in 'Kitchen'

Anyone who knows me even a little knows this about me: I don't cook. There are many half-way coherent excuses for this (tomboy, emotional scarring from Target food-court job, work outside the home most of the week, Ed likes the kitchen, etc.)... but no reasons that have ever helped me to feel justified in utterly scorning/ignoring this area of 'normal' human existence. There is no 'V' in kitchen yet... but reality is quickly nudging me in that direction and I am approaching readiness to take baby steps.

But if I need to start preparing meals, I want to like it... or at least not loathe it. Know what I mean? (I'm well aware that most women don't). So... I'm wondering if you can help. What do I need? FAST, EASY, NON-THREATENING, HIGH-SENSE-OF-REWARD, MOSTLY HEALTHY meals (not just recipes) that will, ultimately, interest me enough to lure me closer to the kitchen. If someone can actually accomplish this, you will earn renown from my relatives and friend-circle, AND surprised delight from moi. Here are the rules:

Submit one meal idea (main course and sides), with prep instructions, via comments or email...

1. Has to take 20 minutes or less to prepare. EASY.
2. Doesn't have ingredients I won't use often or can't pronounce.
3. Will taste really super good to me, my toddler and husband.
4. Doesn't contain obscene amounts of unhealthy junk.
5. Allows the option to freeze left-overs for future use.

Ed and I will soon sit down to organize current recipes. Ones that don't meet this criteria will be filed in the very back of our new family cookbook. If your recipe is the first one to 'lure me in', (in addition to the aforementioned renown) I will, at some point during 2008, have you over to share it with us (with me preparing it - not you). :-) Remember, "EASY" for me means: you could do it blind-folded with one hand tied behind your back the first time you ever tried to cook anything.

Thanks for your help, friends! Who will put the 'V' in 'Kitchen'? Ultimately, 'V' will. But I'll post results soon on the most alluring meal idea... :-)

3 Feet Tall

We got a fun email from the nursery last night with answers to some questions we'd asked about Eva. Here are some (shareable) quotes:




1. "We have formed a list of the words that are used which we will give to you when you get here to get her. She came to us with only a few words and now she speaks in sentences but some of the words are not clear yet."

2. "When she is upset the child care worker will take her and ask her her why she is upset and then, holding her, will divert her attention to other things which she likes: [photo] album or toys."

3. "She is very happy with the gifts she got from her parents. She loves to see the album and knows her 'pappa' and 'mammi'. She likes to carry the bag that is sent and it is her favorite. She likes her teddy bear too." (Mom & Dad - this is the one you gave her at the November shower). "...She gets sad if somebody takes or grabs her toys. She does not like to give her album and toys which she got from her parents. She gets angry if some one takes her album bag and teddy bear."

4. She's 3 ft. tall and 28 lbs.

5. "Favorite food is rice, milk, crackers, biscuits and cookies." (Her mama's sighing a big sigh of relief here). ;-)

6. "Favorite toys are bags and dolls. She likes to play with dolls and likes to dress them."

7. "Her favorite person is 'D', her preschool teacher." (Our baby is in pre-school!!!)

8. "She can run fast and is active and social; she likes music and sings. She is a happy child but sometimes she is very stubborn." (Now we know she takes after her mommy AND daddy, respectively...)! :-)

9. "She has seen an eye specialist and has prescription glasses and she loves to wear glasses. She looks cute with her glasses and likes to show off."

10. "There are no dogs in [the nursery] and so she has no interaction with dogs. But when 'E' brought in her pug to get the older kids familiar with dogs, she was scared and started screaming which made all the others cry too. Maybe the pug's face is not to her liking!!!" :-)

11. "The child care workers show her the album and explain the pictures. She likes her home pictures and dogs pictures. She is happy to show the pictures of her family and home and dogs to others. I hope you got a rough idea about her activities I think she likes the pictures of dogs but when they are in living form, she is scared as she is not used to them I believe."


So... all you moms with 3 yr. olds - what clothing size best fits a 3 ft. 30-pounder? Also - those who are praying, I know it's low on the scale of critical issues, but can you join us in praying for a warming of Eva's heart toward canines? We look forward to the day of gently working with her on that too - and most kids come around. But dogs are a big part of life around here and don't want her to feel traumatized at any point... Thanks for praying with us!