More Summer Fun & More Zucchini

It seems like our Tuesdays are always consumed with doctor appointments.  What a fun (note the sarcasm!) way to spend our day off.  This last week was no exception although this time it wasn't for Andy, but for me.  My issue is that I have osteoporosis.  The doctor has had me on medication for 5 years or so to build up my bones.  Every 2 years I have a dexascan to measure my bone density.  This year's test was on Tuesday.  Fortunately, it is a simple, easy test and doesn't require a lot of time and energy, so we still had a good part of the day to plan something fun.

Andy was feeling up to it, so Dawn dropped Kira off and we spent several hours playing with her at our house and at the neighbors' trampoline with their 2 little girls.

Andy romped and played with the girls like he was 20 years younger!  But eventually, even the girls got tired, so Kira and I played inside while Andy rested.

killing dragons with our magic wands

When we took Kira home, Andy and she played for a while in their pool.  And again, Andy couldn't resist horsing around while I got to hold Kasey.

While our neighbors were on vacation, I asked Andy to check their garden to see if they had any zucchini coming ripe.  He brought back 3 of them.  The one was so huge.  I don't know if I've ever seen one so big.  It was 17 inches long and weighed 6 pounds (as big as a newborn baby).



I was able to get 2 meals out of it.  It was so big that I cut it in half and saved the one half to have a couple days later.  It was delicious both times.

It's really simple to make.  Just scoop out as much of the zucchini as you can and shred it.  Then mix that with an egg, Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Put that mixture in the zucchini boats, top with chopped Roma tomatoes, then add mozzarella cheese on top.  Bake for 40 minutes and enjoy!

The other evening when I went out to water our potted flowers, I looked up in the sky and saw this lovely scene.

The moon is inside the far left jet cloud, and doesn't that cloud formation near the bottom almost look like an angel?

Recently the Lord has been convicting me of how stressed I am.  Granted, there is a lot I'm dealing with but that is no excuse if I really believe in God and his sovereignty.  Psalm 131 spoke volumes to me as I read:  

"O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother's breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore."

I want that quiet spirit, resting and secure in my Father, just enjoying His presence with me.  The "stress" He is allowing in my life is for my growth and maturity.  Can I remember that?  No, I need constant reminding.  That's why saturating myself with God's Word is so vital.

Eugene Peterson comments on this psalm:  ..."Just as the child gradually breaks off the habit of regarding his mother only as a means of satisfying his own desires and learns to love her for her own sake, so the worshiper after a struggle has reached an attitude of mind in which he desires God for himself and not as a means of fulfillment of his own wishes.  His life's center of gravity has shifted.  He now rests no longer in himself but in God."

Is God enough?  Or am I only content and happy when things are going smoothly?  When I stop and consider, I have to note that God is especially near and dear to me when things are not going well.  Yes, he definitely is enough...he is more than enough.  He provides me with all I need for life and godliness (2 Peter1:3), and I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation (Philippians 4:12).   

I don't know that I'm really very good at being content in any and every situation.  It seems like I have a long way to go to be able to claim this for myself.  The kids had a song on one of their kids' cd's that said:  "He's still working on me...to make me what I ought to be."  Yup, that about sums it up.

Later in the week, I heard from the doctor who called with the results of my dexascan:  there is no further deterioration in my hip and spine so I can take a 2 year break from the medication!  Wa-hoo!

The deep deep love of Jesus

I think I'm coming out of it, but all week I've felt sad.  I was on the verge of tears numerous times throughout the day.  I couldn't seem to get over it. 

I felt sad about Andy's condition and our circumstance even though I have much to be thankful for.  But the reality of it is that his forgetfulness and confusion are sometimes very painful to deal with.  Several months ago, we were able to laugh and have fun over it, but it isn't funny to me any more.  At least it hasn't been lately.  Maybe I'm too tired.  I feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of taking care of him and totally inadequate for the job.  Of course, the reality is that I can't do this, but only in the strength God supplies.

Many years ago, I was intrigued with the idea I heard in The Hiding Place when Betsy ten Boom told her sister, Corrie, that "there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still."   This week, even in my low time, I experienced God's deepness.

A friend encouraged me with the following note:

I'm praying Psalm 42 for you, esp v.5,6,8... I love v 8 - You know this, but sometimes it's hard to feel it- hard to remember, so that's where v 6 comes in.  I'm praying that He'll remind you again and again of His love - through specific verses, events, and songs.  I especially think it's cool that v 8 mentions the songs, since you and Andy have led us in worship-

When I read Psalm 42 for myself, as she suggested, I was so ministered to.  How many times have I read this psalm, but it was so poignantly fitting for my current need.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God?
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 
"Where is your God?"
These things I remember as I pour out my soul:  how I used to go with the multitude, 
leading the procession to the house of God, 
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.
Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, 
the heights of Hermon - from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls, 
all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.

Yes, verse 3 describes my emotional state:  my tears have been my food day and night..." but the reassurance that verse 8 gives that the Lord directs his love to me by day and he sings over me at night!  How can I continue to be downcast or disturbed?  My hope is in God, my Savior, not in my circumstances.

But that wasn't the end of God's encouragement to me.  On Wednesday, another friend stopped by the office.  She wasn't sure why she was there, she "just felt like she needed to be."  So the two of us "disappeared" to the prayer garden behind the church.  We talked and prayed and cried together.  Both of us are going through deep waters but what a blessing it was to remind each other of the goodness of our God.  We talked about how easy it was for us to cry.  And how it seemed like we were always on the verge of tears.  It was a high point of my day.  Then that night when I was home, I picked up a book I am currently reading, Who Will Deliver Us? by Paul F.M. Zahl.  The first sentence I read was:  "Tears are a precious measure of the things that really matter to us."  And tears matter to God, too.  In Psalm 56:8, David asks God to "list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record?"  And in Revelation 21:4, we are told that God will wipe every tear from our eyes.

 On Friday I got a call inviting us to spend the evening with a couple.  Right down the road from us, at Johnson's Corner Farm, they were holding a Classic Car Show.  The couple who invited us to join them have an Austin Healey that he built and refurbished.  So he drove it down to the car show with Andy, and his wife and I drove down in my Prius.


We had a good time looking at all the shiny, souped up classic cars and getting some free ice cream and being with our friends.

When we got home and were getting ready for bed, Andy mentioned that he wasn't feeling well.  He said he had pains in his lower abdomen and he thought he might have a urinary tract infection.  Then he said I shouldn't worry about it but try to get some sleep.  Isn't that just like kind, considerate Andy?!  He's in pain but worried about my sleep.  Of course, after he said I should just forget about him and get some sleep, I started to get more and more awake, wondering if I should take him to the emergency room or if he would get better without help.  Well, since at that point, I knew I wouldn't get to sleep, we decided to get up and go to the hospital.  As it turned out, that was a good decision because he had blood in his urine indicating a UTI, plus he was severely constipated.  This seems to be a problem and wasn't the first time this happened.  I think his medications are a contributing factor and he needs to be more careful in how much bread he eats, as well as to be more faithful in drinking his fiber drinks.  Our experience at the ER was actually a good one.  We did not wait for hours in the waiting room (a fitting name!), but were admitted promptly to a private room and the nurse came in almost immediately to take care of us.  Andy had constant attention and the only waiting we did was for the test results.  We got home at 1:00 am.

So as can be imagined, Saturday was a "do nothing" day...just rest up from all the stress of the day before.  It seems strange that it should be so, but the experience of the UTI, constipation and ER seemed to lift my sadness.  I don't think it was actually the experience itself that lifted my weight, but God using it somehow to minister to me.

I was reading this morning in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson.  He quotes P.T. Forsyth who wrote:  "God is deeper than the deepest depth in man.  He is holier than our deepest sin is deep.  There is no depth so deep to us as when God reveals his holiness in dealing with our sin...[And so] think more of the depth of God than the depth of your cry.  The worst thing that can happen to a man is to have no God to cry out to out of the depth."

And speaking of the depth of God reminds me of one of my all time favorite hymns, Oh, The Deep Deep Love of Jesus.

VERSE 1
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above

CHORUS
Oh the deep, deep love
All I need and trust
Is the deep, deep love of Jesus

VERSE 2
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He came to pay our ransom
Through the saving cross He bore
How He watches o’er His loved ones
Those He died to make His own
How for them He’s interceding
Pleading now before the throne

VERSE 3
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Far surpassing all the rest
It’s an ocean full of blessing
In the midst of every test
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Mighty Savior, precious Friend
You will bring us home to glory
Where Your love will never end

© 2008 Integrity's Praise! Music/Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

The ocean is a wonderful picture of the endlessness of God's love.  As impossible as it is to measure the sea - so is God's love unable to be measured.  

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of god that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  
Romans 8:38-39

Chase

Chase had his 8th birthday in June and it finally worked out for us to have him over for an overnight with us.  I left work early on Monday afternoon and drove up to get him. 

His fun activities included:

shooting bb guns with Poppop,

 watching a movie:  The Cat from Outer Space, 

playing Parcheesi with Grammy.

Chase has a wonderful imagination and it was fun to watch him occupy himself with his "armies."

We also went out to Amico Island Park and hiked along the Delaware River.  That was fun, for we saw a great blue heron, a white heron and a deer with young antlers. 

Unfortunately, the deer was not willing to pose for me to get a picture.

All too soon, our time with Chase had to end and he had to go back home.  This tradition of having one grandkid over at a time is a wonderful way to get to know each one individually.  Each one is unique and special, and it's a pleasurable experience to entertain them, building happy memories.

The rest of the week was the usual at work...until Friday evening.  Then our friends, Chip & Nancy invited us to join them for dinner at the Silk City Diner in Philadelphia.  This diner is part of the food network's Diners, Drive-in's & Dives.  The food was outstanding and a pleasurable experience sharing it with good friends.  After dinner, we drove over to Fairmount Park near the art museum to walk along the many paths there.  I didn't realize there were so many paths along the river or around the art museum.  The weather was a perfect summer evening, and we walked and walked. 

We got to this gazebo just at sunset.

 

 Chip is very energetic and would have kept going if we had had the energy to keep up!  We had to tell him we had enough, but even then he insisted that we just had to stay and watch the lights of the city come on.

 

We are thankful for good times with family and friends.

Suffering, Recipes, Kira and Morning Glories

The suffering saint has always interested me.  Even as a teen, I was drawn to reading biographies of pastors and Christians thrown in Siberian prisons or Nazi death camps.  What is it about suffering that is so fascinating?  Isn't it because of the human capacity to survive and even thrive in the most horrendous circumstances?  The Hiding Place made a deep impression on me as I read how Corrie and Betsy ten Boom trusted God and were able to thank God for major annoyances, like fleas.  The fleas were a blessing to the women because it kept the lecherous guards out of the female bunks.

God continues to stretch and encourage me in this sphere of thinking.  I have been classifying my own suffering as less significant than being thrown in prison for my faith.  Many passages in the Bible, the gospels, James and 1 Peter specifically give encouragement to Christians suffering persecution.  My suffering is not because of my faith, but physical.  However, I was encouraged recently as I was reading Timothy Keller's book, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering.  He used Job as an example, and what an example!  Job was not suffering for his faith.  God called him a righteous man and boasted of his goodness to Satan.  All suffering is suffering, there are no degrees with God.  He is equally compassionate and gracious, no matter what kind of suffering we are experiencing.  So my suffering is legitimate suffering.  I do not need to minimize, negate or explain it away.

Keller quotes Elisabeth Elliot, who is herself a victim of dementia now, in her book, Through Gates of Splendor:  "God is God.  If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service.  I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."  I am finite, His ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than mine. 

I decided to read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp again.  She writes on the importance of thankfulness and how it changes our perspective.  There is every reason to be thankful.  Life is a gift.  We enjoy so many blessings from God's hand.  Even things that seem hard can be a blessing.  So how can I thank God for our current situation? 

1.  I am thankful that I have this time with Andy.  He did not die suddenly so we still have time to enjoy our relationship and have fun together.
2.  I am thankful for Andy's acceptance of his illness.  He is not bitter, resentful and angry but desirous of bringing glory to God even through this.
3.  I am thankful that Andy seems better physically than he was a year ago.  Perhaps the medication is helping, perhaps people's prayers are being answered, perhaps...
4.  I am thankful that social security benefits were granted.
5.  I am thankful that the stress of Andy's job has been relieved.
6.  I am thankful for God's provision of grace, strength to endure, encouragement from His word.
7.  I am thankful for our many friends and family members who support and love and care for us.

And I could go on.

I have been getting back to my interest in cooking and baking again.  My neighbor's garden is producing tons of zucchini so I have been experimenting with different recipes.  This is a super delicious one:

Tomato Zucchini Casserole

1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 2 cloves garlic, minced salt and pepper to taste

2 medium zucchinis, thinly sliced 5 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced 1/4 cup butter 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter a 9x9-inch pan.
2.	In a large bowl, combine Cheddar, Parmesan, oregano, basil, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
3.	Arrange half of the zucchini slices in the pan. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese and herb mixture on top. Arrange half of the tomatoes, and top with another 1/4 of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers.
4.	Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, and cook until soft and translucent. Stir in breadcrumbs; cook until they have absorbed the butter. Sprinkle on top of casserole.
5.	Cover loosely with foil, and bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake until the top is crusty and the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. This was sooooo good.

I tried a cookie recipe that used zucchini.  They were ok - they had chocolate chips, zucchini, oatmeal and dried cranberries in them.  I wouldn't call them a favorite and not even sure I would try this recipe again, but you can't go too far wrong with chocolate!  And they're colorful - surely that counts for something.

Zucchini Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Dried Cranberries

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars, mix until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract. Next, add the shredded zucchini. Mix until combined.
4. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries.
5. Drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or Silcone baking mats. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

And of course, in the summer, I like to experiment with different kinds of salads.

This is a favorite, combining chicken and potatoes in the one dish (served with a side of zucchini bread - what else):

GRILLED CHICKEN SUMMER SALAD

  2-3 chicken breasts (or 1 can from Trader Joe's)

¼ cup chopped fresh dill

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 large shallot, finely chopped

3 teaspoons grated lemon peel

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

3 tablespoons sour cream

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 pound red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, cut into ½ inch cubes

Steam potatoes until just tender, about 12 minutes.  Transfer to large bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Grill chicken.

Combine dill, olive oil, lemon juice, shallot and lemon peel, mayonnaise, & sour cream in large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add chopped celery, chicken & potatoes.  Mix all ingredients together.

It seems like our day off is always consumed with doctor's appointments and catching up on housework and errands.  So I was really disappointed this week when Dawn called to ask if we wanted to take Kira to see a movie.  I had to tell her we couldn't because our day was already planned for us.  But later in the week, Thursday afternoon, we stopped in and asked if Kira wanted to go with us to the park for a hike and to play on the swings.  So we did get to spend some time with her there as well as take her to Chick-Fil-A for dinner.

I am enjoying the beauty of our garden.  The morning glories I planted are stunningly gorgeous.   God has given us all things richly to enjoy. And as icing on the cake of our life, today's worship service included the song, Jesus, Thank You:  VERSE 1 The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend The agonies of Calvary You the perfect Holy One, crushed Your Son Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me CHORUS Your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank You The Father’s wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank You Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table Jesus, thank You VERSE 2 By Your perfect sacrifice I’ve been brought near Your enemy You’ve made Your friend Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace Your mercy and Your kindness know no end BRIDGE Lover of my soul I want to live for You © 2003 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP)/Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP). He is constantly pouring out the riches of His glorious grace and we do, indeed, know His unending mercy and kindness. How good is the God we adore!