things I think about

**can the department of transportation actually just start building two-lane round abouts without sending every American back to drivers ed? because no one in this country knows what lane to be in on a two-lane round about. single-lane round abouts are self-explanatory. but have you ever been on the round about in Richfield by Target? you might as well just sign yourself up for a good ol' side swiping.

**how many different kinds of public bathroom toilet paper dispensers are out there? and who in the midst of a building project decides which dispenser to purchase? and why are some public toilet paper dispensers so poor and dispensing toilet paper?

**did Press n Seal glad wrap ever win any awards when it came out? because it should have. every time I use it I stand in awe of this large step forward for mankind.

and that is what I am thinking about today.

leaf print easter eggs

We had my folks over on Saturday for blueberry waffles and easter egg dying. I was looking for a new and clever method to color our eggs and found this idea on the family fun website (anyone else adore that magazine?) So I called my mom and told her to bring her old pantyhose.

We wrapped our hard boiled eggs tightly with the leaves in place with hair ties. My mom was quite skeptical, but I made her try it with me. She did the three little leaves and I wrapped the evergreen.

And when she unwrapped her egg she found a delightful little white print of her leaves! I couldn't stop slugging her in the arm yelling, "it worked! it really worked!"

And as it turns out, all of mom's eggs turned out awesome. She was a natural with the pantyhose.

As for my eggs, my red egg was awesome and my evergreen eggs failed. This is LEAF printing...so find actual leaves. Not evergreen branches. This makes sense now, but at the time it was all one grand experiment, and the evergreen pattern seemed so lovely to me.

Since Saturday I have thought of all sorts of grocery items we could try. This was a very warm year for a Minnesota Easter. Odds are we won't have so much green vegetation next year, but parsley, cilantro, celery leaves and all sorts of other herbs or tiny lettuce leaves all seem like they might print nicely.

happy easter!

I hope you had a joyous Easter. This was a great weekend for me with the whole truth of the gospel sinking in deeper. It's such a good feeling to grow in your faith. You can't force it, but I am always aware of when I am digging in deeper, when I am searching the scriptures, when I am fully participating. This was an especially special day for me and my savior.

Ivar got an Easter basket this morning with seven eggs, each filled with one teddy graham. He loved it and delighted in each one. We did too.

holy week

                                                                                                                                                image source

At Christmastime my dad tells a story about a farmer and some birds. It is Christmas Eve and there is a terrible ice storm outside. The farmer looks into his farmyard and sees some birds tossing around in the wind, sure to die if they don’t find shelter. So the farmer bundles up and goes to open the barn doors for the birds to rest for the night. But the birds don’t go in. So he turns the light on inside, and they still don’t go in. He tries to run them in, flapping his arms behind them, desperate to save their lives. But they will not go into the warm barn.

Defeated, he turns off the light in the barn, closes the big door and begins to walk back in his house saying aloud, “if only I was one of them. If only I could be one of them so I could show them the way.”

And just then the church bells ring for the Christmas Eve service and he understands why Jesus had to come. Why Jesus was born into this mess, God with us, to show us the way to eternal life.

 I love that story. And I completely understand why God sent his son to walk this earth with us.

Good Friday is harder to understand. I feel like yearly I have to wrestle through these questions again. Why did Jesus have to die? Really. If God is God and this story could have played out any way he pleased, why did Jesus have to suffer so. It’s so graphic. It’s so gory. The flogging, the blood in his eyes, the nails (nails!) in his flesh.

This Holy Week I have been thinking about death and resurrection a whole lot more intimately than usual. Aunt Jan continues to suffer. Her dying has been long and her suffering great. It is so hard to watch. It is hard to understand. She will die and this reality is still impossible to swallow. Because she hasn’t lived out all of her years yet. Her grandkids are still young, her husband is ready to travel another few decades with his best friend by his side.

Death stings. It hurts so much and leaves you so, so heavy and sad.

Two thousand and twelve years ago Jesus suffered a terrible death. He was so fully human, that even he did not get to escape the terror of that last earthly breath.

In the midst of attempting to process Aunt Jan’s dying, I feel a certain clarity in understanding the rest of Jesus’ story and why He absolutely did have to die.  Because this whole three day period of waiting, during the time Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb to the glorious morning when Mary Magdalene met him outside on the path, Jesus was conquering death. He was triumphing over the grave. He was going head to head with Satan one final time and won our mortal battle. Because we were meant for eternity.

We were created to live forever. And because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now own that hope.

Aunt Jan will die. We will all die. But because of her belief that Jesus truly is the son of God, her belief that this is not merely a story but is the truest truth to be discovered here on earth, then she too will be resurrected to new life.

And when she is, she will meet Jesus face to face. She will be welcomed into the most perfect and wonderful home. She will be greeted by her mom, embraced by her dad, surrounded and cherished by her great cloud of witnesses.

Jesus had to come to earth. And Jesus had to die. And though it is so cliché, let these words sink in. His whole life, death and resurrection was all so that you might live forever.

crock pot meal #2

Another hugely successful meal.

Biggest lesson learned this meal: A slow cooker is extremely slow when you neglect to plug it in for the first two hours of cooking.

Thankfully Rory found it in the kitchen, realized nothing was smelling yet and put the cord into the socket. Things went better after that.

We loved this meal. Easy as pie (took 8 minutes to assemble in the morning) and very tasty.

Pulled Pork Tacos from this crock pot cookbook

2 pounds boneless pork roast

1 cup salsa

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies (use them all! Don't be afraid of flavor!)

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

flour or corn tortillas

shredded cheddar, sour cream, salsa, sour cream

1. Place roast, salsa, chilies, garlic salt and pepper into crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (I cooked mine for five hours)

2. Remove pork from crock pot and shred with two forks. (After shredding I put it all back into those yummy juices) Serve on tortillas. Top as desired.

This was really good. And I'm not going to say that about every recipe. Because the wild rice casserole I made tonight was terrible. Except that Rory and Ivar had seconds and thirds and loved it. But believe me, it was not delicious. More on that "meal" another time...