Love is the Reason for the Season

M e r r y C h r i s t m a s !

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Mark 1:17

I couldn't let this day go by without my visiting with for a moment. I've missed you. And like you, I have been deeply touched by all the tragedies surrounding us lately.

I believe most of us wish to celebrate today as we struggle with the continued tragedies that just seem to plague our small world lately. Unfortunately, tragic events are nothing new to our beautiful globe. We don't get to escape them. We aren't given a free pass.

But we are given free will.

Even those who don't believe are given the gift of free will. 

Today, we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. God's only son. And through Him, those who mourn these recent tragic events, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4. (NIV)

I don't pretend to understand the injustice of it all. But I do understand this is a fallen and very broken world. And for that reason, I am all the more grateful to lean on Christ, and trust in faith, that He has all the true and correct answers and it is okay if I don't understand.

Free will is a gift God gives because without it, one can't truly love. No one has the power to force another to truly love. Love is only love when given freely. God loves us so much, He wants us to experience real love, receive His real love, and for you to be able to give real love. God waits patiently, wanting so much to receive your love - hence your free will. He has an open door policy. He will never force His way into your heart, nor will He force you into His, but welcomes you always, and waits.  And we all know that love overcomes evil every single time. Each and every time there is a horrible event... love, compassion, tenderness and help immediately shows up, and evil retreats. 

Every single time. 

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV).

To me, Christmas is the day of love. Out of love, God sent His son to show us how to love among many other things. Out of love for us, Jesus died. And out of love, God continues to let us have our free will, even though there is a very small number of us humans (relatively speaking) who choose to use their free will for evil. But look how many of us use our free will to love, encourage, inspire, help, teach, comfort, assist, feed, cloth, care for,....the list is endless. 

I want to thank you for all the lovely messages, visits, and emails you have sent me since my surgery and ER visits - I felt a lot of love from you. And I believe it is your love that will help me heal over these next few months.

And it will be love that will help all those in mourning to heal as well.

Never underestimate the power of love. Where there is love, there is Jesus. 

Love is extremely powerful because it is the one thing that only grows larger and stronger the more you give it away to others.

Merry Christmas, and know that you are very loved.

Love
Elizabeth

I'm Benched

Too much going on and I'm down for the count.

It's been one of those months....

This is not the post I planned on writing at all...and I'm probably not going to sound like my usual self, as I am still all medicated up, and I am sure I will just be blunt, and to the point, and I must beat the blurs, as I will explain in a moment.

I will say that November began abruptly with me in the ER with a very painful kidney stone. And just a week later I had knee surgery (scheduled). All was well with the knee for two days, then back into the ER I went with a very painful blood clot and I was admitted into the hospital for a couple of days to adjust for blood thinners and shots I had to administer myself. Once out of the hospital, I was back in the ER again, this time for stroke symptoms. The whole bit...my left side feeling heavy, shortness of breath, dizzy, weakness, and never mind I have a blood clot in me...but it turned out (thank God) to be an anxiety attack.

So back home I go, feeling very grateful. Nothing changes you so quickly, as it does while you lie on the table getting a CT scan, and feeling very weak, and wondering if your life is about to change drastically, and why did is this happening? It is very scary having three ER techs running all around you sticking things on you, reading lab slips, taking blood, doing EKG, and mumbling a lot of stuff and all I know is that I can't hold my cell phone in my left hand without it shaking. I ended up feeling stupid  when I found out it was "only an anxiety attack." But then I realized, "stupid"? why in the world would I want it to be anything but that? The doctor reassured me that with me having a kidney stone, then knee surgery, then a blood clot, and so on, that anxiety attack wasn't surprising. 

Then the two days later I am back in the ER again, yes again, for the most painful event in my life. I was standing near my sofa, and I barely bent over, and many blood vessels, underneath my kneecap burst open and since I was now on blood thinners due to the blood clot, it was one very, very painful mess in the ER for about six hours before I got any medical relief. I would gladly take 20 kidney stones at one time, before I ever go through that again. 

I need a drink...

So I was admitted into the hospital again, this time for six friggin days, and knocked out with meds for three days to control the horrific pain. I finally got home the week of Thanksgiving, and I am currently bedridden. My living room looks like a hospital ward with my wheelchair, potty, crutches, brace, walker, blood thinner shots, tons of meds, bandages...actually, more like a MASH unit. 

I am currently exhausted, and recovering and will begin PT this coming week. I can walk on crutches, and can do it well, but I am supposed to keep my leg up until I get my PT going. It is very surprising to me how tired I get though. This is frustrating as I am a mover, doer, going, and this is a horrible time of the year to not be able to cook, decorate, or shop. I am ready to blast through PT...we'll see :)

I'm going to have to cut this short, as the meds have a side affect of having me see "the blurs" and then double after only a short time of reading or writing, but I am told this will wear off soon. (I hope so...I love to read...but seeing things twice, isn't much fun actually.)

It's funny how life will throw you a real curve ball at times, you know? Just sorta sucks when you aren't wearing a mitt to catch it because boy does it stings when it gets you. This time last year, my posts were so very different. 

But that's okay.

I think the time to really start worrying is when life quits throwing those curve balls at you. Because when that happens, that means you aren't in the game anymore. And being in the game is what life is all about. 

I am just benched for now. Just for now.  :-)

From my house to your house,

Inside and Out of a Little Fried Pie

Hello!

Hoping you all are doing well. Been super swamped, as I am sure you have too. Last post, I showed you a few sneak peeks of the fried pies I made for an upcoming book, Pieography, by Jo Packham, that I am honored to be a part of (just found out to be due out early March 2013, so I will talk about it again). You can read about the book in my last post.

I promised that I would show how I made these little bites of delights and how, last year for Christmas, I wrapped them and set them on  my table for my dinner guests. But these little fried pies are great year round and so easy to make....but I won't be giving out the exact recipe....that you will find in the book!

Well let's get started with the behind the scenes photos...the messy stuff...where the real work is and you can see for yourself just how easy they really are to make....

I used about a 6' little soup bowl...

I use a little frosting tip as a key to my fillings....

Keeping your fork in ice helps the fork to do its job better!

 

Another frosting tip design....another type of filling inside!

Running out of room....piemania...taking over...

 This is just one of my favorite fillings...this one and the coconut one. You can find these with the better jams in the grocery store. They are delicious!

A little key to the designs on the pies...to put in the box.

Little sleeves please!

The little box can be found at The Container store...

 Now, do you think I would show you all of this just before the holidays and then tell you....too bad...the book isn't out until March and no recipe? Well, to be fair to the publisher, I can't give out the recipe...but I CAN suggest that you just use ready-made pie crust and it is still very delicious! (But the book is filled with great recipes!) The little sweet curds are so very tasty and besides...it is the fact that you made them by hand and with love is what counts. 

Just be sure to make a lot. They go quickly and most likely, many will never make it out the door!

I hope you enjoy your fall and holiday preparation in a slow and happy manner and not rushed this year. Take time to enjoy it and know that every year brings new things to be experienced and once the year is gone...we can't go back and do it again.

Do you ever get a dessert that is "too pretty to eat" and you are afraid to stab a fork at this work of art? And when you finally take a stab and then a bite, it isn't nearly as great as it looks? Not the case with the little fried pie. They don't look perfect, but they almost invite you to take a bite. That is what I like about them. They are better on the inside than on the out, which means they never let you down...like a true friend.

from my house to your house,
Elizabeth