More "Mastering the Art..."

Matt got me the 2-volume Julia Child set, and I am pleased to say he is now THE poached egg expert! His eggs are amazing. Even better, we made hollandaise sauce together last week and whoa butter! We can't have that too often! I wanted to eat it by the spoonful. Last night I tried another recipe from the book, Garlic Soup with Potatoes. You boil a whole head of garlic. Very enjoyable with swiss cheese and crusty bread. But, back to eggs, Jane is our real "gourmand" in this department. She makes scrambled eggs by herself nearly every morning. If Ann and I are eating them, too, I have her scramble three. She prefers to use butter rather than oil, and smears it delicately in the pan with a brush. We had eggs at a Bob Evans on our road trip home from Florida, and Jane's eggs are WAY better! This morning, she opened the new carton of eggs and exclaimed, "That's a lot of eggs, Mom!" She counted them. "There are 12!...That chicken laid a lot of eggs!"

Where all our dreams came true

It was cold enough for hats and mittens at Disney World, but the cold weather meant shorter lines! Thank you, Mom and

Dad for a delightful 2 days making memories!

Only a mother can offer up...

Dear Missionaries at UK,

Matt, Tom, Laura and Becca...I try to pause and offer up some of the little mundane trials of my life for you and your work on campus. When I am tired, or exasperated, IF I THINK OF IT (and it is my New Year's Resolution to think of it more often) I think, "Jesus, I give this to you for the students at UK!" I know these little hidden offerings can have eternal significance if I unite them to the Cross of Christ! Now, they are supposed to remain hidden, but I can't help wanting to share with you all (and the world, via blog) the unique mortifications of today.

We just got back from two weeks "on the road" - Christmas in Ohio, then Orlando for the FOCUS National Conference and Disney World. My house looks like suitcases exploded in each room. I am on my fourth of nine loads of laundry. I have Christmas gifts and goodies mixed with New Year's noisemakers and Disney souvenirs, strewn all over the place. I decided one tangible place I could start today was to clean the girls' car seats. It does not really help put the house in order...it makes more of a mess. But, my 3-year-old wet her car seat as she slept during the last hour of our 13-hour drive yesterday, so we had an emergency clean-up on our hands. These car seats have not been thoroughly cleaned in YEARS. They have endured our cross-country trip to Illinois and then our cross-country move, not to mention hundreds of trips to the grocery store, dance class, etc, often with snacks.

First, I shook the seats. M&Ms, peanut and plain, Cheerios, Pringles, Cheetos, Life cereal, raisins and assorted Disney princess accessories fell out. I broke most of my nails trying to get the plastic pieces out of the holes in order to get the covers off, then pulled the straps out and tossed the covers and straps into the wash. While they washed, I took the plastic seats to the bathroom. There are little deep holes in the seat part of each seat, and in these were stuck gum, and sticky sludge made of Chocolate milk, various juices, and, yes, you heard me say the 3-year-old wet her seat....well, that was not the first time. I put each seat into the bathtub, and ran water in the little crevices, and worked off the sludge with my fingers. While I was washing, Ann jumped on my back, saying "me...me...bath!" She wanted to get in the tub, and she pulled on me and whined the whole time I washed the seats. This is when I was first inspired to lift my thoughts and think, "Jesus - I offer this for UK and for Matt, Tom, Becca and Laura! And I am going to tell them about it!"

So, I got the seats washed, and after the crumbs, etc washed down the drain, I filled the tub and plopped a delighted Ann into it. I turned my back for 2 minutes, and then looked back, and Ann had done her business and was now bathing in a tub surrounded by floating you-know-what. I threw up my hands and thought, "More to offer up...with joy!" For you, for your work with the UK students - praise God!