MEMORIAL DAY
Elgin, IL
May 31, 2010
Bluff City Cemetery

Grilled Salmon, Island Rice and Roasted Corn
Food for a warm pre-summer evening

Hubby dreamed up this menu for this evening and cooked most of it. I just "Island-uped" the rice!!! Somewhere we ate "Island rice" in a restaurant and decided we could duplicate it at home. Voila'! Dinner!

Island Rice
1 - 14 oz can chicken broth (no msg)
1 - 11 oz can mandarin orange segments
1 - 8 oz can pineapple chunks
3 tbsp olive oil

Drain liquid from orange segments and pineapple chunks.
Mix with chicken broth in a 2 quart pan
Add 1-1/2 cup dry rice

Cover pan. Bring to boil. Then reduce heat and simmer until rice is dry. Stir in orange segments and pineapple chunks. Return to heat and drizzle oil over top of rice. Cover and cook 5-6 minutes, until rice is soft and fruit is hot.

Pre-Summer Days

Ten things I like about pre-summer:

1. Awakening to bright sunshine
2. Enjoying colorful flowers
3. Inhaling the coconut smell of sunscreen
4. Knowing the pool will open soon
5. Leaving the house without a jacket and boots
6. Sizzling my sinuses while the car cools down
7. Pretending I'm a fish as I breath pure steam outdoors (100% humidity!)
8 Pretending I'm in a sauna when I step outdoors and breath pure water
9. The feel of a cool damp cloth on sunburned skin
10. Applying anti-wrinkle cream to the newly acquired creases around my eyes

REMEMBERING THE GOODNESS OF GOD

Reviewing my posts from chemotherapy days, I found this scripture posted. It was one of the scriptures that sustained my hope and courage during those dark days when illness reigned supreme and fatigue loomed eternal.

THE MEN IN MY LIFE: The Huerta Hombres!!

Psalm 61

(The Bible in Basic English)

1 Let my cry come to you, O God; let your ears be open to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth will I send up my cry to you, when my heart is overcome: take me to the rock which is over-high for me. 3 For you have been my secret place, and my high tower from those who made war on me. 4 I will make your tent my resting-place for ever: I will keep myself under the cover of your wings.

My family lightened my days with humor! They joined me in crazy headdresses.

When I looked like a cartoon dog with big loopy ears. The hat was to cover my bald pate. The "Ears" belonged to the ice pack tucked up under the hat to cool me down during those episodes of intense hot flashes due to the allergic reactions.Never mind that it was 10 below zero outside and about 65 in the house.

My hands and feet were also swollen and red. I couldn't open presents by myself so Bob helped me.

Brad's laughter bubbled out looking at the card I gave them -- and forgot to write anything!!! Not even my name or his!

Same Kind of Different As Me

by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

It must be my month for book reviews. This one is a "must read" for anyone who attempts ministry in a multicultural setting. It's written from the alternating point of view of two men. One of them is an white upper middle class Art Dealer whose customers are the movers and shakers of this world. The other is a black, homeless man who says that living in alleys and under bridges in Houston was a step up in life for him. They become friends due to the insistence of Ron's wife and by overcoming the objections that Denver has about relationships and people in general.

The resultant story is gripping, not sweet and syrupy, but real and hard-hitting. While Ron shows Denver what life is like in Middle Class America, Ron learns about that world, his point of view and his God from Denver. He is able to see the world through different eyes.

“God gives each person on the earth a set of keys, keys to live this life down here on the earth. Now in this set, there is one key you can use to unlock prison doors and set captives free.”

Denver turned his head just slightly so that the right side of his face was closer to me than the left. He leaned in with his right shoulder and narrowed his eyes even farther. “Mr. Ron, I was captive in the devil’s prison. That was easy for Miss Debbie to see. But I got to tell you: Many folks had seen me behind the bars in that prison for more than thirty years, and they just walked on by. Kept their keys in their pocket and left me locked up. Now I ain’t tryin to run them other folks down, ’cause I was not a nice fella – dangerous – and prob’ly just as happy to stay in prison. But Miss Debbie was different – she seen me behind them bars and reached way down in her pocket and pulled out the keys God gave her and used one to unlock the prison door and set me free."

I highly recommend the book. In fact, I'm just starting the sequel (recently published) What difference do it make? by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent.

I'm headed to the easy chair now....just wish my tummy would quit rumbling. Doesn't it know, it isn't time to eat just yet?

My Bangs Look Good
and other Lies I tell Myself

Confessions of a Tired Supergirl
by Susanna Foth Aughtmon

I laughed and cried my way through this entire book today...and that was while attending my granddaughters' soccer games (in 40 degree weather, I might add), making preparations for Mother's Day at church tomorrow and interview candidates for nursery teacher. I haven't been that engrossed in a book in a long time.

I don't think I can explain the premise except from the back of the book: "Discover the real truth about yourself--and God". It's all about the lies we tell ourselves about God. Things like "God is disappointed in me" (He isn't...or at least not for those reasons), "God can't Change me" (He will; it's me who's resistant to change" or "I need to protect myself from getting hurt" and many more.

This is one of those books that has to soak in. In fact, I'm going back through it and doing the study questions in the back of the book. Since this is the book ladies are receiving for Mother's Day tomorrow, maybe we'll do a group study. We'll see. But I have to get some of this just a little deeper in my heart!

Do rush out and get the book. (I'm not paid to say this!!! I won't even get a free copy of the book -- the church purchased the one I borrowed today -- just 24 hours before it will be given to me!!! (Click here for the website)

God loves you!!! You don't have to be good so that He will love you!!! And You ARE NOT stuck in your present circumstances!!

Believe it!!!