My God, My God; Why Have You Forsaken Me?

The refrain from the psalm hit me hard this Sunday. When our cantor, Johnny, began this pleading, aching refrain, I was caught off guard.

Not ready. That's what I thought. I am NOT ready. Holy Week is here. The passion, the agony, the crowds yelling at Jesus "Crucify Him." And I am not ready.

All of Lent, is about prayer and sacrifice, trying a little harder to be all that God wants for us. Sunday, when I heard that plea, I realized Lent is also about being prepared for Easter. This is a hard week to live in Jesus' footsteps. To hear the readings from the Gospel beginning on Sunday and retold every day up till Easter. How much Jesus suffered for us. The agony. The loneliness.

You really have to be ready, prepared. Maybe fortified is the word I am searching for. Fortified through the sacrifice and prayers of the past 40 days. My attempt at not complaining hasn't been for naught, but was it enough? Did this "fast from complaining" fortify me for the agony of Holy Week? Well, I'm not sure. But here we are, ready or not.

I want to hide, put my fingers in my ears, Lalalalala, not see or hear what He suffered for me. How could he love me that much? Still, I know He does. I will be there with Him this week. I want to be there. Ready or not.

There is a reward. The Empty Tomb. The Upper Room. Jesus Ascending to Heaven! I want to be there too. Are you ready?

Holly Update

Holly is doing really well. Growing, talking, bossing us all around (and we love it!). She loves Super Nanny, Elmo and Caillou. She can do almost everything "by myself". Maybe with just a little help.

My current decision is dental work. She has two huge cavities that will need crowns. Just the thought of having Holly under anesthesia one more time is causing me some anxiety. We are headed for a second opinion next week. First dentist was super nice. But the plan she has laid out is super expensive. The work needs to be done, don't want Holly to have an abscess.

Say a prayer for us, please. Feel certain that either way we go Holly will be fine, just don't want anesthesia and a loan to get it done.

Favorite Recipe of the Week

Chili! Of any kind. I love chili, but don't make it often enough. This past winter though, I have gotten to make some of my favs and share it with friends too.

Years ago, Aunt Patricia shared a great Taco Chili recipe that we all love. I think you can click on this to see it larger.

And then I had to make the White Christmas chili from Southern Living cookobooks I received at Christmas. When I saw that chili was on the e-mealz menu this week, I knew I would try it first! The first several ingredients are in the crock pot. Looking forward to dinner tonight.

Third Time's a Charm

It started with my sister's 50th bday cake. That big paisley pink bow. It was so cute. Yet, I thought I could improve upon it. Just happens, that my brother-in-law had a birthday the very next week. Seizing the moment, I tried again. The bow had more loops, was skinnier and longer. But still not quite what I saw in all those fondant bow pics online.

Third time did prove to be the charm! My nephew, Peter, is 18! To contribute to the celebration, Anna and I created this "paint ball splat cake".

The bow is made from plastic chocolate marbled with white fondant. And the chocolate buttercream icing I smoothed out by following the "Viva paper towel" method. (No I didn't do the soda bottle edge step, just the paper towel step 8 and up).

As an aside, I have over the past few weeks tried this method of icing a cake, upside down. And failed miserably every time. Is it my frosting recipe? My total lack of patience? Who knows, but what ever the case, every time I peeled off the paper the icing came with it! Good thing the paper towel trick is so handy!

Anna made the paint ball splats. I knew she would have that art-with-abandon ability to create paint splats.

Peter, Happy Birthday! Hope you won the tournament and thanks for letting me make the cake!

What Season is It?

Can it really be Lent? And I have not posted not one single reflection? Have I had one single reflection this season? It has been tough. The long winter has not helped. Somehow, this past several months, with Holly growing, sleeping, speaking and generally doing well, I have been more depressed than before. Maybe it was all the adrenaline of being on top of everything (surgeries, bottles, medicine, sleeping etc.) for over a year, or the great amount of prayer we received to carry through all those anxieties that kept the baby blues away.

Whatever the case, now, I have found myself "tired" all the time. To overcome what I think is developing into a bad habit, I have given up complaining for Lent. As best I can. I am trying not to talk about being tired and focus on positives! All the many, many blessing we have.

Thank God for Spring and Family and Church and everything!

(There I said it. If you catch me bemoaning how tired I am, be kind anyway and know that I'm trying to get back in to the wonderful swing of a joyful LIFE!)

With a little initiative

and a teeny tiny bit of snow...

You can create a snowman!
Even in the south, in March. Amazing.

This weekend though, no snow. Lots of sunshine. We all enjoyed that! Even if most of today was spent raking up the remaining of leaves from fall. My oldest did protest a little, "hey, isn't Sunday a day of rest?" My reply?

Sunday is a day to rest from our daily activities, our normal work. Raking leaves in March could hardly be considered "normal". The exercise and fresh air is a great way to reflect on the Holy Day.

In the end, the kids enjoy running through the yard playing hide and seek for a little bit, inspired by the freshly (finally) uncovered ground and near 60 temperatures. And Lee Sr. and I enjoyed watching them.

We beat back a little nature, reclaimed some ground that we can call "yard". Fall chores are over just in time for Spring. Good thing we made the most of the snow days in between!

Favorite Recipe of the Week

We all love Chicken Pie! A local chef makes one out of chicken, sauce and crust. Unbelievably delicious. My mom makes one out of chicken, soup and peas. We love that too.

E-Mealz had chicken pie on the menu for the week and I knew it would be a hit. This recipe included two cans of soup, cheese, mixed veggies, onion, mushrooms, chicken and (my all time favorite spice) poultry seasoning.

No pics. It was gone before it cooled. Complete success.

Prayer for Young People

O God, we pray and beseech you
to guide and protect young people
from the dangers that are ever
present in our world today.
Be with them, as they experience
both sickness and health, sorrow and joy,
loneliness and friendship,
success and failure.
Gracious God, give to them the
courage and strength to make the
right decisions as they journey through life.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
may they come to know and experience
your loving care.

We make this prayer
through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
St. Mary's Catholic Parish; Papakura, New Zealand

Special Occasion = Special Cake!

My sister Michele celebrated her 50th birthday this weekend!
(Here's Michele with proud parents, Mom and Dad)

Teresa and Mary Scott managed to plan a terrific surprise party. The "decoy" plan was for the girls to get our toe nails painted. The real plan was to surprise Michele back at her house when we were through! And it worked. She was surprised!

Certainly, such a momentous occasion deserves a special cake. Inspired by Bakerella's recent Valentine's Day post, I decided to make something really over the top. Well, over the top for me anyway.

I printed some scrapbook papers on card stock from Scrapbook Flair and Shabby Princess.
Took these to Harris Teeter to be reprinted on Frosting Sheets with food color. (Ok, this is the one time I prefer Wal-mart but their printer was broken. Somehow Harris Teeter always resizes my pages to be slightly smaller. You will see why this matters in a minute.)
Above is the paisley frosting paper, now cut into strips and adhered to fondant with a little Crisco. A little. Who wants to taste Crisco? Just a little.

Once the paper was cut and added to the fondant, I shaped the strips in to this lovely bows. The online directions say to hang these pieces over a dowel stick. But they stood just fine like this. These dried overnight.

The next day, party day, cut the ends of the ribbons because they were too long and bulky to make a nice bow.

I don't have pictures of the next step because got nervous. Once you bake, cool and ice the cake, you have to attach the rest of the frosting sheets, using frosting this time. Cut the remaining sheets into strips to cover the entire rest of the cake. I wanted to make a "Vera Bradley" like present cake. (You can just see how the paper was a tiny bit small to cover the top of the cake. I thought that might happen, so got an extra sheet of that print.)

And tah-dah! A very special cake for a very special occasion!

Happy 50th Birthday Michele!

The Nicest Thing

Is it the weather, the lack of sunlight, the rain? Or still seeing the leaves in my yard, a new record. Leaves still needing to be raked in February! What ever the reason, I have been feeling low lately. Behind in everything, laundry, dishes, leaves.

So super nice today when out of the blue a friend brought me coffee and homemade chocolate cheesecake to the YMCA. I didn't even have to share (but I did because I could)! You know how good that feels? To get to offer, instead of the kids taking first? Not that I mind sharing with the children. Just really nice to be able to get to "offer" first!

This SuperMom has a new blog, if you'd like to stop by for a little visit. I have particularly taken time to reflect on this post, since it I've been feeling out of sorts. You might appreciate it too.

And to make a good morning better, another friend picked up an outfit for Holly, just because. Lent begins tomorrow, and I will start the 40 days with a full heart, knowing good friends surround me and that I have many blessings. Looking forward to Easter.