this one's for the girls

public speaking is not my favorite. not at all. my heart beats fast, and i turn bright red. it's not pretty. while i enjoy leading informal small groups, standing up in front of a crowd with all eyes on me is one of the last things i'd pick to do.

but, i definitely notice and am sensitive to a lack of visible, up-front female leadership, especially in the church and christian ministries. when i was a youth pastor in pittsburgh, i attended a monthly networking meeting, and i was one of only two women in the whole city who wasn't a spouse or a volunteer in a ministry led by a man. not only were most of the youth pastors men, they were also mostly middled-aged, and as a twenty-something youth leader fresh out of college, i would have loved to have had female mentors to show me the ropes. but there just weren't any.

my heart longs to see women using their gifts in the church--not only teaching children's sunday school or providing hospitality at coffee hour. i believe that Scripture reveals that women, like men, can also be gifted as pastors, teachers, or evangelists, and i desire for the church to encourage young women to discover and use their gifts to serve the Kingdom of God in a variety of creative way. girls should grow up seeing women in leadership as a natural thing.

so, when i was asked to speak at camp's worship in an intentional effort to diversify our speaking roster, i didn't want to turn it down. (even though, of course, i did!) and that is how i ended up giving the sermon this morning at camp's worship service in the chapel of the pines.

because of fourth of july, our one-week camp went an extra day, meaning that kids who would ordinarily have gone home were there for worship. 300 kids and 100 staff. yikes!

my text was Luke 5:1-11, where Jesus calls Simon Peter to follow him, and he leaves everything to do so. i got to talk about how God chooses us, even though we are ordinary and sinful, and equips us for ministry.

i know for a fact that he does:)

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

first fruits

tonight jim made a chimichurri sauce with the first parsley and cilantro from our garden. chimichurri is a zesty herb sauce that is delicious on grilled chicken or steak, as well as with bread and cheese. we also ate it over grilled asparagus. it is sooo good.

here is the recipe jim uses, approximately:

Chimichurri Sauce
1 c packed parsley
1/2 c packed cilantro
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c white wine vinegar
4 chopped garlic cloves
juice of 1/2 lemon, squeezed
3/4 tsp crushed dried red pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

combine everything in the blender--easy, fresh, and tastes like summer:)

poolside

we enjoyed a nice couple of days with jim's mom, sister, and our nephew, ristow. dylan loved spending time with her cousin, and it was great being together, even though jim was busy a lot with camp.

we hit the pool for the first time this season, and last summer's little mermaid was water-shy. she was happy to sit and splash on the edge but not so sure about pool itself. it was a little cool; maybe its appeal will rise with the temperature.

and from the too-much-information department, dylan used the toilet tonight! potty training may still be a long way off, but she's actually done it once:)

stuffs

dylan and i decided on a whim to go home and surprise my family for fathers' day and my mom's birthday, so we got in the car, drove to philly, and got to spend a lovely afternoon with my whole family. it was so great! we hadn't all been together since a brief afternoon over christmas, and a visit was long overdue.

dylan LOVED seeing everyone, and they loved playing with her. she barely stopped moving the whole time she was there, rearranging knicknacks, identifying people, things and activities, and demanding to go outside pretty much every other minute.

we only stayed overnight, but it was still a great trip. we came home for jim's birthday the next day, only unfortunately, he was completely sick. milkshakes, lunch outside, a pair of new Tom's shoes, and a sweet "my daddy birfday!" notwithstanding, it was a pretty lame 30th, and the plan is to go out and celebrate later when jim is not rocking a fever and a wicked flu.

he's not all the way to wonderful, but jim is feeling a little better, and his mom, sister, and our nephew are coming up for a few days from nashville, so we'll get to finish out the week with more fun family time. we're looking forward to it:)

for the love!

professional workplaces, it turns out, are not too thrilled about long work absences so that employees can pursue love, fame, or thrills on tv reality shows.

i know, it was a shocking revelation when real life actually crept in amidst the fantasy dates on last night's episode of The Bachelorette, and one contestant was told by his boss that if he stayed to vie for roses, he was guaranteed at least two things: a pink slip and a trip to the unemployement office.

so the intelligent man that he is, Ed left. even thought he felt a "connection" with Jillian, he was one of ten suitors, and really, he was probably going home sometime.

Jillian did not handle his leaving graciously. tears were cried, and she criticized him for putting work before love and not being willing to take a chance.

Ed was one of TEN love interests. they had been on ONE date together.

i think Jillian had a bad case of "you don't know what you got 'til it's gone," and she wanted Ed and every other man there to leave at her dismissal, not of their own choice.

it was a little ugly, especially when she confessed to the camera, "am i not good enough to make sacrifices for?"

ugh. why do women do THAT--tying their self-worth directly to some man's approval? and in this case, a near stranger?

yes Jillian, you are worth someone's sacrifice, but you're asking WAY too much too soon. it's appropriate to make career sacrifices for spouses, life partners, and perhaps a serious girlfriend or boyfriend, but it's desperate and foolish to give up one's career to compete for the attention of a woman whose heart is split ten ways.

i mean, c'mon!

besides, these reality show romances rarely last through editing, let alone make it to the altar. if (when?) things don't work out with whomever Jillian picks, she can always look up Ed and see what kind of "connection" they have when the cameras aren't rolling and ABC isn't planning dates and creating drama.

is anyone else watching this soap opera? what did you think?

the white elephant in the room

dylan's been learning the names of some of our camp staffers, and one of her favorites is darius.

this morning on tv, a commercial came on, and dylan lit up.

"darius!"

except it wasn't darius. it was shaquille o'neal.

now, dylan has been known to confuse the names of white people, too, but there's no getting around the fact that there are not a lot of people of color living in our little town--asian, hispanic, black or otherwise.

i desire for dylan to grow up knowing people who look like her and those who don't.

which is not to say ligonier doesn't have it's own diversity. tonight at the gas station, we saw a man in a raggedy pick-up outfitted with two gun racks alongside a booted, suited polo player filling up her lexus suv.

sometimes small town life can feel a bit too small.

we've elected a black president, and that is a tremendous step forward for our country. but how do you raise children not to see people as Other when you don't live and work and worship alongside people of different ethnicities, and so many neighborhoods and communities in america are still racially monolithic?

summer lovin'

1. Summer feeling, 2. SUMMER!, 3. R is for "Renaissance", 4. Catching the breeze, 5. Untitled, 6. Lemonade, 7. Strawberry, 8. after the storm, 9. fruit salad, 10. Grilled & Loaded, 11. Girly $5 Flip Flops, 12. tomatoes

i love summer, and i love playing with mosaic maker. so fun:)

tending the garden

helping Daddy
garden girl

That's lettuce coming up behind Dylan:)

fun blessings

dylan got a box of goodies today in the mail, courtesy of all children's furniture. just the thing to brighten a damp and cloudy day! they sent her the Melissa and Doug Play Food Cutting Fruit Crate (15.99) and their Play Food Kitchen Pots and Pans Set (21.99).

the toys are all wooden, with a nice, sturdy construction. the seven fruits are cute and colorful, and the pieces attach with velcro. the pot and pan set is beautiful. dylan is at a stage where one of her favorite things to do is to collect little things, taking them in and out of boxes, buckets, and baskets, so the fact that the fruit pieces can fit into the pots and pans delights her. dylan likes to stir them up with the spoon and carry the lidded pots from place to place.

she knows some of the fruits already and can identify the lemon, strawberry, and pear. i like that even in pretend play she can play with whole foods, instead of brand snacks or junk food.

at 18 months, dylan is still little for playing kitchen, and the toys are actually recommended for ages 3 and up, but the sets are already a huge hit. she has been entertaining herself with them for about an hour and her interest isn't waning. they're built to last, and i know she'll play with them for years to come.

all children's furniture stocks furniture, bedding, and mattresses along with a huge variety of toys, including really imaginative, unusual ones and a variety of eco-friendly items. the prices for the items we received were comparable to or even less than amazon. i'll definitely check them out again in the future and am thankful for the chance to review their stuff!

i forgot to mention this before, but a little while ago, we won a sippy cup giveaway from my friend amy over at occupation: mommy review. they came at a great time, especially now that we take sippies up to camp three times a day for meals. thanks, amy!

on hoarking, horses, and whole wheat pita

since this pregnancy, i seem to have lost my blogging rhythm. i've been getting sick, too--not as bad as with dylan, but it seems like i should be feeling better here in my 19th week.

it's been rainy and a little chilly, so dylan and i have been dividing out time mostly between the house, the barn, and having meals up at camp. the barn is definitely where dylan prefers to spend all her time. she can call most of the horses by name, loves to pet them, and isn't afraid in the least. she even got to sit up on one last week. dylan is an animal lover, to be sure. as soon as she wakes up in the morning or from a nap, dylan starts talking about the horses and the barn and asking to go visit.

(lionel richie is singing "dancing on the ceiling" on the view as a type, bringing back all sorts of memories of exuberant dancing around my living room to this tape, circa about 1987. oh yeah.)

i wanted to post the link to the recipe for the whole wheat pitas i tried out not too long ago. when the grocery store wanted something like 5 dollars for a tiny package of maybe four rounds, i decided to go the homemade route, considering i don't usually by a loaf of bread unless it's on sale for $2 or less.

the pitas were delicious and fairly easy, although a little time consuming, since you must let the dough rise a bit and you bake just two rounds at a time. still, it's easy, super-cheap, and totally worthwhile. (i think i used about half white flour and half whole wheat.)

i made them to go alongside middle eastern meatballs. those were just ok, so i won't post that recipe, but i did make a dipping sauce that was delicious--simply whole milk yogurt, fresh garlic, cumin, salt, and chopped parsley. mmmmmm:)

i'll definitely be making pita and yogurt sauce again.