A few days ago, Jeremy brought home a gallon bag full of fresh blueberries. What else was I to do, but to make a blueberry tart and blueberry muffins. I still have many more recipes I’d like to make with these wonder-berries. Here are a couple of the recipes that I made and a picture of the finished product. I don’t claim to be a food blogger, but maybe that will soon change!

Now this here y’all is a blueberry tart, from Paula Dean’s collection of delicious recipes. The recipe itself calls for blueberry pie filling, but I wanted to use fresh berries, so I did a little somethin’ somethin’ to ‘em, which means, I put them in a pan, with some lemon juice, cinammon and powdered sugar, turned up the heat and let ‘em simmer. I didn’t let them break down too much, just enough to let them soak up the flava flav of the sugar. Oh my goodness, it was so delicious. I took it to small group on Monday, so it could be enjoyed fully without adding damage to my hips.

Another delicious recipe was these blueberry muffins, the name says it all, browned butter blueberry muffins, oh good gracious, they were so delicious. I enjoyed one with a glass of cold milk. The topping really makes them over-the-top delish.

Anyone up for brunch?

I know we don’t align on all beliefs, but my, your writing is incredible. Deep, loving, heartfelt. I’ve missed this. I was so exhausted last night and yet I couldn’t allow myself to put down The Irrational Season. In one paragraph, you managed to explain more than I hoped to explain in any paragraph I’ve ever written.

The morning star is low on the horizon. There are three more stars pulsing faintly in the city sky. But even if I can’t see a skyful of stars they are there above me nevertheless; the Milky Way, our own galaxy swings somewhere in the vast dark about the city lights.

All those stars. Suns. More suns than can be imagined. Great flaming brilliant atomic furnaces, the bursting of their atoms providing life instead of death. Providing life for their planets….

O sing unto God
and sing praises unto his Name
magnify him that rideth upon the heavens
praise Him in his name.

JAH!

Thank you Madeline, for being so bold, for being unafraid to embrace, to admit, to sing, to write. Thanks for expressing yourself so well, even after teachers thought you were a failure. May we all learn to live and know that who we are now is not who we will become, we are in process, even if that process has mistakes, blatant ones.

I’m inspired by you. I will finish your book, it’s the best piece of literature I have picked up in a long time. I will reread others that I long took for granted of yours.

Oh, to have a conversation with someone so unpreoccupied with their neighbor that they can’t be fully themselves. I think I know no one like this.

Thank you for writing so I could read, be inspired, and hope for something More.

in a galaxy, far too familiar and far to foreign,

Kelly

(this impromptu letter was written to Madeline L’Engle, after discovering her writing (again) just yesterday, in The Irrational Season)

I’ve always had trouble putting a name on my personal decorating style. Recently I took a Real Simple test to discover your style, the results were inconclusive. But then, I think I’ve found this perfect marriage of funky, comfy, artsy, eclectic, vintage and modern.

In a way, it’s just good to know it’s out there, and that I’m not completely crazy for liking straight lines and curly messy ones too.

I just found some of these while image searching something completely unrelated. Bubble Chandeliers, by Lindsey Aldeman. They are completely delicious and I will have one of these one day in my home.

Good grief, I can just imagine one of these hanging over my dining room table… ah…. I think they would make food taste better.

I love this room, I want this room, I need, okay I don’t… but dang. via d*s.

This video was shown at the Drive Conference while we were there this week, it had us all rolling. It’s only so funny, because it’s so very true.

“Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

When something is taken from you, it’s hard to fully swallow. The reasoning, the lack of respect, oh, many thoughts have gone through my mind. In the end, it’s amazing to see how things work out. I could write a book, and really I might. I don’t want to bore you with the details and all the inbetweens, but man, there is much to tell. I’m reminded of  Romans 8:28,

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our  condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

The saga continues into next week, it’s almost over, the working things together for good, that’s never ending. Oh how clear.

That’s amazing, that tiny phrase amongst other nuggets of wisdom. Here is how it is said in the Message:

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Phil 4:7)

But what’s most amazing about it, is when it’s lived. When you see that there is a peace that can surpass understanding altogether. Meaning, don’t try to get it, cause you won’t be able to. Just trust.

Jeremy and I started in Financial Peace about 5 weeks ago, and now, not only do we feel like we now have a better handle on our budget and where our dollars are going, we also feel like there is a Peace that now exists in our household. If you’ve followed our story, you know that we’ve been married close to 8 months (we know it’s not long, we’re not bragging) and we’ve had our share of trying to figure out finances on our own,  something just didn’t click.

We needed another authority, we needed community, we needed the Church (big C).

If you’ve followed my blog or twitter for any amount of time, you know that I love coffee, especially the kind that is prepared in little cafe’s that I can sit and read, journal, and work in. There’s something about it. Well, one of the things that had to be trimmed down, was inevitably my coffee budget, I knew it was coming, I fought it hard those first 5 months of our marriage. I was used to buying what I wanted when I wanted and I knew that was all about to change. Then it did.

I have a meager coffee budget of $20 a month (if you’re not a coffee drinker, you cannot understand the significance of this number). An iced caramel macchiato at Starbucks (my fave) is close to $5. A latte of any kind is atleast $4, and the list goes on. How would I make it a whole month on 4 coffee drinks? I prayed, (maybe I shouldn’t have) for coffee gift cards at Christmas time, and got several (it almost doubled my coffee budget for January!) but then February hit, what was I to do? Lucky for me, I had spent only $2 out of my coffee budget and my gift cards… then it hit me.

I’m doing it, just by having a budget, and knowing it, I’m sticking to it.

Now granted, I was still going over a little bit, I mean, a teensy, tiny bit, less than a dollar. Jeremy gently warned that I had still gone over. So that amount was subtracted from the next month. This month, I am in the envelope method, and I am only HALF WAY trough the month and my coffee money has depleted significantly. I have ,$2.37 left in my coffee budget for the next 15 days. I guess I need to figure out a way to ration better next month.

But then, God reminds me ever so gently how he’s providing for me.

• Starbucks has free coffee today if you bring in a travel mug.
• Port City Java has continually hooked me up with free coffee recently from facebook and from the Twestival. (Did I mention PCJ is amazing? They make such a difference in the community, too!)

I need to remember these things, because there will be more. He is providing and He will, even in the small things, even in the trivial coffee budget things, He cares about us and gives us peace that surpasses understanding.

Those interested in learning more about financial peace, here is the introductory video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLX3wUY1xGg&feature=related[/youtube]

it’s being offered at Port City Community Church:

• 06/13 – 07/04/10 | Financial Peace Registration Begins – Sundays in the Lobby
• 07/14/10 | Financial Peace small groups begin meeting @ 6:30pm in The Living Rooms

Hop on this, it will change your life.

Although, coupons have been a struggle for me for quite some time, I’ve been researching it, and finally put the effort in this past week for Harris Teeter triples!

Here were the results. In 3 shopping trips, using around 50 coupons, including items that we did not have coupons for…

Total saved: $155.56

Total spent: $62.56

I’m sure you might want to know if this is items that we would normally buy. Admittedly, some of the items are NOT, but most are, we racked up on items like turkey bacon, reynolds wrap, household cleaners, croutons, hot sauce, frozen fruit, french fries, canned fruit, jello snacks, mustard and more. Some of these items I will donate to the food bank. And others I will find creative uses for!

You are beautiful.

From wherever Spring arrives, to heal the ground.