Old

Today at school I was surprised when I saw an undergrad riding a Razor scooter. I was even more surprised when I turned my head and saw another undergrad less than 15 feet away riding another Razor. I thought it was odd that college kids would be riding these things around campus, I mean weren't they popular way back in like 2000, and even then weren't they for little kids. Then it dawned on me. In 2000 these college freshmen were little kids and these scooters were marketed directly to them. I think I officially just joined the ranks of old people.

Be Still

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:13-14

School has started again, though I'm not sure that I've really started school quite yet. Still don't have the books I ordered on line, though hopefully they will be awaiting me when I go home this evening. Haven't read for this week (for obvious reasons). I have a million meetings scheduled, but haven't attended any yet. The busyness of it all is kind of overwhelming, but still removed, sort of looming in front of me.

Also looming out there is the fact that this is my last year of school EVER. There is a certain amount of excitement that comes with finally reaching my educational goals, but I am definitely nervous about the fact that I don't have a job yet. That I don't know where I'm going to live next year. That I don't know where I should take the bar. That I'm comfortable in Minnesota and I don't want to leave, but might not have a choice. That I have no idea what the next step is.

So, here I am. Feeling like I'm standing on a ledge with a lot of nothing in front of me and for whatever reasons, feeling very pessimistic about the whole thing. Yet, I know God is there. So often in my life His plans tend to unfold in the eleventh hour. A friend actually pointed this out to me and admonished that perhaps (read: most definitely) God is trying to teach me to rely on Him...over and over and over and over. I will plan if given the opportunity. I tend to live my life in such a way that basically says, "Hey God, how about I plan all this out and You make it happen. Sound good?" So when I can't plan, I'm "forced" to rely on whatever God is doing and I'm reminded, that though it is not in my nature, this is probably part of the sanctification God desires for me.

Tuesday morning before school I came across the verse at the beginning of this post. As I read, I just kept coming back to it and was reminded of this verse:

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

I love this verse and try to focus on it when life is getting busy, but I've always associated it with peaceful imagery; waterfalls, warm sun, soft breezes, that sort of thing. I love how the passage in Exodus tells the people to be still as they stared at a huge army ready to take them out. I was also somewhat surprised to read the rest of Psalm 46 and find that the passage preceding this one also uses some battle imagery, because in all honesty, that's where I feel like I'm at right now. What does it mean to be still? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with prioritizing. Recognizing who God is and who I am (or rather, who I am not). Trusting that despite how I feel, God is there and in control. Learning to let go of the "what ifs" and wait. For now, I am praying God will teach me to be still and that He would take care of all those "Egyptians" I'm worried about.

I leave you with this gem from one of my favorites, the Newsboys.

Be Still

be still and know He
know He is holy
be still and know He is God
love Him more dearly
see Him more clearly
be still and know He is God

we've been running without a direction
we're afraid to get there late
what we need is strength just to kneel down
and wait

Humidness

I knew I wasn't making up those childhood memories of crazy hot humid summer days in Minnesota.

Carmel Corn

Lately I've been missing California and all the things I associate with summer in California...the beach; really hot, really dry days; barbequeing with my family; spa nights with friends etc. One summer when I lived in ADX we were obsessed with caramel corn. We seriously made it like once a week if not more. In an effort to cure some of this nostalgia (and newly enabled by my fancy stovetop popcorn popper that I got for my bday from some of my favorite people) I decided to make some caramel corn tonight. After an unsuccessful email attempt at getting the recipe we used on short notice, I did some internet searching and I'm pretty sure I found the right recipe.



It's crazy how fast time goes by, I can't believe it's been 3 summers since the caramel popcorn summer. I'm so blessed by all the people God's put in my life, but as I do more things and meet more people it's hard being away from other people that I care about.

Even if you aren't missing home and feeling nostalgic, here's a great recipe for caramel corn.



Caramel Corn

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

Rain

Molly: Hey roommie, wanna walk 1 and a 1/2 miles to get ice cream cones?

Roommie: Sure.

Random Dad at Dairy Queen Talking to his Kids: Hurry up and eat your ice cream, it's going to rain.

Molly: Think it's going to rain?

Roommie: Nah. Look there's a patch of blue sky coming toward us.

Random Dad: It's going to rain.

* About 1/4 of the way home.*

Roommie: Uh-oh.

Molly: I guess wearing this white shirt was a bad idea.

P.S. Dons this would make a good comic. I promise.

Strawberries!!!

Since moving into my house last August I've been looking forward to this summer. By moving in at the end of the summer I missed an entire season of fresh strawberries grown in our backyard in a small, rather unkempt, patch.


Our little strawberry patch was struck by a tragedy in late May, when just after flowering, the man who lives in the other half of our duplex MOWED OVER THE STRAWBERRY PATCH! Luckily most of the plants along the wall survived, and though I wonder what it could have been like if we had all the plants (sigh), I'm grateful for what I have.


So, as soon as I saw this recipe for strawberries and dumplings on my favorite foodie blog I new I had to make it. After a long weekend of grading petitions, Sunday evening was the perfect time to try it out.



Note the bright green walls, the strawberry picture, and the red accents...this kitchen was made for this dish.

I only wanted to make one serving (probably more like one and a half) so I just kind of guesstimated on the proportions for everything, but basically followed the recipe from the blog. I used half normal white sugar and half brown sugar though (per the bloggers suggestion).


I also didn't have any whole milk or heavy cream, I did however have half & half (mmm coffee!). I just cut it with a little bit of water for the dumpling dough. I totally improvised for the heavy cream though, I mixed half & half with some non-fat vanilla yogurt (from TJ's :) ) and stuck it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Delish!


I don't think words can really explain how good this was. Tart (with an added kick from the yogurt), dumpling-y, warm, gooey, goodness...yep that's it.

Freedom?

Confession: I read mom blogs. Not sad depressing ones about spouses dieing and babies being sick *cough*randi*cough*, but funny and/or thoughtful ones just about raising kids in general.

So one of these mom blogs posted the other day about a somewhat non-mom thing. Apparently there's this program called Freedom that basically keeps you from connecting to your email, facebook, and other generally distracting internet things (it's only for Macs).

I don't think this sort of program sounds like "Freedom" at all. (1) Something that is restricting is not freeing... just doesn't work. (2) I experience freedom from working by checking email, going on facebook, and gchat. (3) During law school exams we use this program called ExamSoft that blocks you from doing anything on your computer, but taking your test. Finals are the furthest thing from freedom, any program that is that similar to Examsoft should not be called Freedom.

I'm not saying the program isn't worthwhile, I just think it's a bad name. Basically I've concluded this program should be called "Get Work Done."