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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Knot Just One

August was a busy month for me this year.  We started off with a big carnival production at church that consumed much of my time for the 2 short weeks that we had to put it together and pull it off.  That was followed closely by my 10th wedding anniversary, and then a 9 day family vacation in no-man's-land near Paradise, MI (delightful, but quite the packing extravaganza) and we returned a mere 38 hours before I had to have my oldest daughter at the bus stop, starting public school for the first time (second grade) AND home-schooling my kindergartener while my 2 littlests tear my house to shreds.  There was also soccer registration, reading group sign-up, ballet enrollment and tuition deadlines, doctor's appointments and the usually housework and groceries....  But the most stressful thing BY FAR that I have had to deal with lately has been sending my biggest girl off to school.  

 That week was full of physical, mental and emotional stress for all of us as we adjusted to the new routine, and fear on my part as she ventured out into a peanut contaminated world with her Epi-Pen at her side, but without me there to protect her.  It all got me thinking (look out). 

10 years ago I didn't just "Tie the knot" as they say.  I don't think that, in any successful marriage, you can simply tie THE knot.  It's not just one.  One knot can't hold you together through stuff like this (and the other things that we've come through and the much BIGGER stuff that we will face in the future).  Your wedding ceremony is just the FIRST knot.   That’s a BIG DAY!  It’s the FIRST DAY of your entire future together, and you stand there at the alter stringing two lives together with a tight bond that matches it’s metaphor well.  You tie a knot.  It's undoubtedly the one that starts them all, the one that none of the others can do without, and you could certainly argue that it's the one that is the MOST important.  It says, before God and men, "I love you and I promise to always be with you." But it can't stand alone for long.  Each trial that your marriage comes through ties another.  When you graduate college and tackle the job search, when you move to a new home, when you face failures (that WILL come), when you find out you're going to be a parent for the first time, when you fight like only two people who love one another passionately can... and then apologize and more forward... each one ties a new little knot, a little further down the line, but connected all the same.  Knots that say “I still love you,” and “I’m still here.”  

Then you welcome your first baby, you change careers, you face financial hardships and deaths in the family, and your baby becomes a big sister... and still you keep tying.  It's the little things, those knots.  The dinner on the table after a long day.  The date night that you set up at home after bedtime.  The hug when it's needed the most.  The "thank you."  The "I'm sorry."  Suddenly you find that you have a little net.  It's stronger than the lone knot.  It can hold more.  It can stand up to bigger things.  You buy a house, baby 3 comes along, and you keep tying. Knots of “Hang in there, we’ll get through this.” and “Look what we did!” and “You were right, I was wrong.”  Stringing them together, knot after knot.  Sacrifices for one another, that reinforce your net.  You buy a new car, you get a promotion, you start home-schooling... and keep tying.  “Let’s do this together, I’ll help you.”   Your net is able to handle these bigger changes/stresses that are thrown at it.  Baby 4 comes along, you drop into bed exhausted at the end of every day.  And still you keep tying knots.  “We’re a team.”  And your net grows.  
It grows strong enough to hold back the temptations, the heartaches and pain of a fallen world.  All that life throws at us, our net can stand against.  So that, when we're staring down a week of highly stressful changes like the one we just came through, we know that it will hold.  We will have the little things to deal with, the stuff that slips though the holes; lunches to pack, school clothes to wash, fears to conquer, confidence to build, routines to adjust...  but those are the opportunities for new knots, and we don't have to worry about the big stuff.   Because the big stuff isn’t as big as what we’ve built (with God’s help and direction for sure) for ourselves.  

Just by tying little knots.  Every.  Single.  Day.  

Season-Ending Sweets for my 2 big girls!

Spring Soccer season and a full year of Ballet came to a close on the same weekend for me last May (and I'm just now getting around to pulling the pictures and videos off of the cameras - YIKES!)  Along with counting time to routines, delicately packing leotards and tu-tu's, curling hair, perfecting stage make-up, repeatedly reciting steps to memory, de-mudding cleats, mending shorts, memorizing field maps, NIGHTMARE PARKING, doctoring scrapes, scrubbing jerseys, coordinating practices, pictures, rehearsals and review, don't forget the water bottles, 1-2-spin-plie, home/away, who's bringing snack today? WHERE ARE THE SHIN GUARDS, and driving ALL OVER THE COUNTRYSIDE.... (whew) I just HAD to make these two girls something special for their big days.  After all, I was about BURSTING with pride over my beautiful little athletes.

So.  Even though they're not my finest work (prepared rather frantically at 1:00 a.m.)

Congratulations Abby and the Yellow Bumblebees on a great season!



And your Parakeet Polka was BEAUTIFUL Lily!



You both make mommy so proud!

PIES!

Warning: This is NOT my strong suit!  I'm still learning how to make a good pie.  I tend to make them a little dark.  But here's what I've picked up so far:

For my sister-in-law's annual 4th of July cookout, I volunteered pies.  Perfect opportunity to practice, right?  :)  I decided to make 3 pies.  Two would be flag-patterned with blueberry in the corner and cherry and strawberry-rhubarb for the rest.  The third would be apple.   I wanted to avoid the canned pie filling when possible, I LOVE a good cherry pie and don't really care for the taste of the canned stuff.  So I started hunting for filling recipes.  Here's what I decided to go with:

I found my cherry pie filling recipe on My Baking Addiction.  Great baking blog, check it out if you have a chance!

Homemade Cherry Pie Filling: 
(mybakingaddiction.com)

5-6 cups of fresh pitted cherries
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. almond extract

"In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cherries, water, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes.  Stir in almond extract.  Cool slightly before using as a topping."

I set right to work on the cherry:



Note: Properly pitting cherries is harder than conquering the western world and leaves your hands rust-colored for about 3 weeks (or until your nails grow out and you managed to exfoliate your palms).  I broke about 15 toothpicks, stabbed myself a few times, crushed dozen of the slippery little devils and practiced a great deal of restraint to keep from swearing multiple times.  I finally got the hang of it, using a straightened paper clip.  Good luck.

Next I tackled the blueberry, with a recipe I found on allrecipes.com

Homemade Blueberry Pie Filling

3 pints of fresh blueberries
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. cold butter cut into pieces
1 pint of fresh blueberries

"Cook and stir 3 pints blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a saucepan with water over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is slightly thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and add butter and remaining 1 pint blueberries; stir gently so blueberries stay whole. Allow to cool."




I followed that with a strawberry-rhubarb filling recipe from I-don't-know-where, that spent years tucked into my recipe box, ready and waiting for this day.  :)  

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling:

2 1/2 cups chopped fresh red rhubarb
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. Minute Tapioca
1 Tbsp. All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together all ingredients.  Pour into prepared pie crust.





I finished with my mom's apple pie recipe.

Mom's Apple Pie Filling:

8 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced (about 6 cups)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg

Combine all ingredients.  Pour into prepared pie crust. 





For my crust I used a double batch of my mother-in-law's recipe, from her mother...  ;)

Grandma Colman's Pie Crust:
(makes 5 crusts)

5 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. icing sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups shortening
3/4 cup water
1 egg
1 tsp. vinegar (I use red wine vinegar)

Sift together dry ingredients, cut in shortening.  Mix water, egg and vinegar.  Pour over dry, combine until a soft dough forms.  




Then the fun began.  




Using a star shaped cookie cutter and a paring knife, and constructed myself 2 flag pies and one star-covered one.  :)  




The pies were yummy, but my kids wanted to make some just for us.  Only, they each wanted different flavors, and that was a LOT of work and makes a LOT of pie...  So using the leftover ingredients, I invented (or at least I think I did) Teacup Pies!







They turned out GREAT!!!  It was an idea worth sharing.  :)