And now, it's 12:45 in the morning, 8 days before Christmas, and I have a lot of good intentions with only one partially defunked product in my basement/craft area--that now looks like a field of broken dreams. Excuse me while I rub this large knot in my neck so that I can type again.......
Can I please just show you a few happy pictures and maybe a few crafts that have turned out right? And you can pat yourselves on the back as you look at my measly cookies and know that all your presents are wrapped snugly and awaiting nothing but your loved-ones eager hands on Christmas morning. I know you're all ready. Don't you lie in those comments to make me feel better.
I was in charge of the favor for Pace's class' Christmas party (I wish you could follow that 'lil arrow at the bottom of the page and see the back is even more CRAMMED full with writing than the front. It's my own fault. I mean, I do it to myself. USE YOUR PRINTER DO-DO BRAIN!)
My Lucy also got baptized this weekend...Isn't she beautiful?!!!!
And isn't she really theirs and not mine :) Not this week she isn't! Ha, HA! (I sound crazed don't I? This is why I shouldn't blog in the middle of the night)
We have also had a lot of really fun Christmas parties. And, at some of them I had the opportunity to be "that inappropriate woman with children."
And at some of them, I got to be a grown-up, without my little chicken wings!
Like here, at my book-club Christmas party in Bryan's loft. (This picture, and the group shot below, were taken by Stephen Fitts. Hey Stephen, if the lawyering doesn't work out...you're a pretty awesome photographer :))
Does it make anyone else's heart leap for joy that Stephanie took the time, not only to make mini-cake bites, but to place a flag for every book we've read over the past year in each one??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love these women. I seriously do not know how I am going to move to Seattle and leave them behind...
And I'll end with one last shot of a project I did complete. "cold noses..."
"warm hearts."
The kind where Jeremiah cannot POSSIBLY get to the hospital and "has" to stay home with us all day, building roaring fires, holding big bowls of hot soup in our hands, as we gaze out at the crisp white landscape.
The kind where children make huge snowballs...
...and throw them at each other.
Mix the warm milk, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and let stand for five minutes (possibly my favorite step, because it smells like a bakery and makes me think I've arrived at bread-maker status). Stir in 3 Tbl of the olive oil. Add 2 1/4 cups of flour and 1 1/4 tsp salt and stir until soft dough forms. (Already, does that look like soft dough to you?)
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Add enough of the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 Tbl at a time, to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. The dough will feel tacky. (Ok, maybe I'm still alright. This looks like a ball of dough from TV, right?)
Coat a large bowl with 1 Tbl of the remaining olive oil. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, turning to coat the surface. Let rise, covered, in a warm place (85 degrees) free from drafts for 1 hr or until doubled in bulk. (I turned my oven on 350 and left my bread sitting on top like so. I also tried it just sitting over there with no oven on. Both times, it didn't rise even one lil' bit!)
Gently press 2 fingers into the dough. If the indentation remains, the dough has risen enough. Punch the dough down (as though it's rising uncontrollably and I have to get violent with it to make it stop) and let rest, covered, for five minutes.
If you use wax paper like me, try to transfer the finished loaf off of it before you bake it. It will come out unscathed if you forget, but your home will smell like melting plastic instead of baking bread. And let's face it, you don't need anything else to discourage you at this point.
Choose your cheese:
And sprinkle evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2 in border on all sides.
Starting with the long side, roll jelly-roll fashion (as though I know what that is), pressing the edge to seal and tucking the ends under. Place the baking parchment (but not wax paper!) and bread loaf, seam side down on a baking sheet.
Let rise, covered, for 1 hr or until doubled in bulk...Don't hold your breath. It didn't rise this time either.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
OR slice into it immediately because your mouth is watering and you can't wait to taste your homemade bread with the yummy gooey cheese running out. Call your husband to the table and place it before him with a dramatic flair...and watch him gobble it up without even realizing that you failed miserably, because is still tastes DELICIOUS!
Souls buckle in reverence at His beauty splayed all around.
Each touch unique in its wonder.
Each 
Warm coffee and ham biscuits soak through cold, wet bodies.
Gliding under light filtered through autumn leaves.
Roots that run deeper than time. Love that's greater than all our sin.
The hidden mysteries.
Joy that comes from water and wind and motion.
God gives man the capacity to create beauty.
The journey may end but the adventure, never.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the 
