How many of you are feeling like you need a nap after all the busyness of December? Maybe you agree with the quote I read recently that said “January is like the Monday of months.”
Regardless of how you’re feeling, I’m so grateful you are showing up here! I pray you will find encouragement and joy in this community!
You may be reading this in flip-flops from an area of the world that is balmy right now and I’m sooooo happy for you (eye roll), but for most of us (especially those of us in MN who have seventy billion more months of winter before we see color again) I thought we could bond around some winter warm-up prompts. Wherever you are, join in!
Last Sunday was All Saints Day, when we as a church remember the “great cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us. At our church we have a time of reflection and prayer as we scroll through pictures of those who have died this past year on the screens. This is a song that our worship leader, Heather Moen sang. It was beautiful and comforting.
Recipe
Ironically, I was set to post a soup recipe, when I re-read this delightful quote in Shauna’s Bread and Wine that is just perfect:
“Soup is cold-weather-dark-sky food. Soup is peasant food – odds and ends, bits and pieces, a way to stretch a piece of meat or a handful of rice… Soup is the wool sweater, not the little black dress. It’s the cardigan with elbow patches, not the pressed shirt and tie.”
This soup recipe isn’t from her, but is a favorite from Martha Stewart.
Pumpkin Mushroom Soup (I know mushrooms aren’t everyone’s jam, but my husband loves them!)
4 TB butter
1 TB (or less) curry powder
1 lb mushrooms sliced
1 lg onion chopped
1/3 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 #1 cans pumpkin
5 TB honey
salt and pepper to taste
Heat butter in lg. pot. Add curry powder and cook 1 min. Add mushrooms & option and sauté.
Stir in flour and cook 3 min.
Sitr in chicken broth and pumpkin
Brind to boil and simmer 20 minutes.
Sitr in honey and simmer 10 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Can garnish with sour cream.
If you have 3 minutes for a laugh, enjoy! If not, read on! (It ties in. Really).
Yesterday my husband had a hard conversation that left him feeling blind-sided. Kind of like Peyton Manning getting sacked in the Super Bowl yesterday. It was an unexpected blow and hard to absorb. It left John, who is always steady, knocked off his feet like one of the guys slipping on that video. For a moment he was sprawled on the ground wondering “What just happened?”
It doesn’t matter the particulars of John’s surprise. It could be like anything in your life:
a pink slip from your boss
a conversation that blind-sides you
a hard diagnosis
a break up
a bad grade after you studied hard
What do you do when it feels like you’ve been jogging along and all of a sudden you hit an icy patch and go toes over teakettle? Continue reading
