The way to the girl's heart

P.S. A post script at the very top of my post. Now how weird is that. But I'm getting it out of the way right away. For whatever reason, blogger has decided it won't let me into "Edit Html" and it's doing weird things like adding a ton of blockquote thingys at the end of my post. So my pretty post is now not so pretty and I can't fix it. Does anyone know how to break into the html? So please bear with me the crazy looks of my posts until they or I figure it out. Now onto my real post!

The clock is ticking and it is 4 days counting down. On Monday we will be driving Kay, my 17 year old daughter, to a bus depot and putting her by herself, on a 6 1/2 hour bus ride that will take her away from us for 3 weeks. Emotionally, I feel like I'm on one of those big swinging boat rides at the fair, the one's that swing back and forth, back and forth. And with each swing there is that pause, that hover, at the top of the back swing, where I hang with that specific emotion before I go plunging , with hair whipping speed back the other way and my emotions are hovering on the opposite end. Back and forth, great happiness and anticipation of what God will do in her life to dread of what I will ever do without her here to thoughts and prayers for her safety to letting go. Back and forth, back and forth. I'm getting whiplash of the emotions from all this.



This last week I've been busy making some of her favorite meals, at her request. So we've had taco salad one night, soft tacos another. We're yet to have perogies, and then nachos the next night. Hmmmm, I see a definite pattern of cheese and sour cream here. A girl after my own heart.



I've said before how I love to cook, but dislike baking. Well, Monday saw me whipping up a batch of her favorite brownies. A lucscious two layer blend of chocolate on the bottom, and butterscotch on top and this time I iced it for her, which I usually skip, with penuchie icing. That was one of my "I need to show her her how much I love her before she goes" moments. It was worth the effort. I got a hug. A hug. From a 17 year old.



As I was putting the ingrediants in the bowl for the brownies, I was struck with how amazing baking actually is. Here was a bunch of different ingrediants being dumped together into a bowl. Unrelated ingrediants, some of which that on their own, are totally unpalatable, bitter and unenjoyable. Some are sweet or pleasant tasting and linger on the tastebuds. They are all being blended together. And put together they still aren't a great thing. Wet and fairly unpleasant tasting. But when they are put in the oven, when heat is applied for a designated amount of time, ahhhh. Out comes a totally delectable, mouth watering creation.



Life is like that, our Christian walk is like that. Our circumstances, be they sweet, bitter, salty, spicey or basically unnoticeable, they are blended together in our lives. The ingrediants of our experiences. It's a bit of a mish mash. They might seem totally unrelated. But then the Lord puts a little heat to them. Let's us go through a few things. Let's us be uncomfortable for a bit. And if we trust Him, trust that He knows what He is making, and trust that He knows the exact amount of heat, and the exact length of time to let us experience that heat, then our lives to can come out of that heat as something wonderful. Something appealing and to be desired.

"For I know the plans I have for you,

declares the Lord,

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Blonde and Brunette Brownies

Brunette Layer:

2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 1 pinch of salt, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup butter or margarine

Melt the butter and cocoa together over low heat either in the microwave or in saucepan on the stove. Beat eggs until foamy. Add all other ingrediants and blend well. In a greased 9x13 pan, spread the batter. Set aside

Blonde Layer:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In a clean bowl cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Stir in flour, salt and nuts. Batter will be thick. Drop by large spoonfuls on top of the chocolate layer in baking pan. Spread as best as you can without pushing two hard as you don't want the two flavors to mix. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Brownies will start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan.

Ice if desired.

Now I need to go help my baby, I mean, young lady pack.