a faith observed: Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner in 100 degree heat with an oven the size of a microwave takes a lot of good planning and a bit of madness, especially as we can't use our oven and the hot plate on top at the same time!

So Erin and I made cornbread for our stuffing last night and cooked the pumpkin to use in the pies (no canned Libby's over here, ya'll!).

Then this morning Simon and I made the pumpkin pies (regular and vegan/gluten free for me!) and the sweet potato casserole. The stuffing is now in the oven and I feel like an oven myself! Sweltering.

On the menu for tonight:

Chicken (We are going to buy a roasted chicken! There's no way I'm cooking meat in the oven for a couple of hours in this heat!)
Cornbread Stuffing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans with lemon, thyme and pine nuts
Corn on the Cob
Jello
Pumpkin Pies with cream

Not bad, considering the circumstances! The stuffing is almost finished baking and I can't wait to turn off the oven! I'm afraid our evening meal won't be steaming hot, but hot enough, considering this weather!

Bon Appetite to all of you celebrating all over the world. And let me add, I'm thankful for all of you and the gift you are in my life! Happy Thanksgiving!

1 comment:

Marge said...: Sounds like a terrific feast!! Wish I could join you. You are amazing...I think with the heat, I would have opted for a barbie on the beach!!
Happy Thanksgiving!; November 26, 2009 at 3:49 PM

Post a Comment

This is me, a faith observed.

C.S. Lewis writes about the pain of losing his beloved wife, Joy, in his book, "A Grief Observed". In some ways this is my attempt to share my journey through grief and back into life, as the past nine months have been characterized by an immeasurable longing for my beloved father, who died suddenly this past January.

After months of hibernation from the internet, I unexpectedly find myself able to re-begin this blog and connect with my larger community of family and friends. This blog will likely reflect less of the intensity and depth of my pain and more of the simplicity and ordinary joy that keeps my life full - namely days running after our little boy, Simon Pierre. But it is because of the incredible love and presence that defined my relationship with my father, that I feel I can will myself to not just survive each day but to pour that same kind of love and attention onto Simon.

My father was an endless source of strength to me, a pillar of faith. His last words, spoken to my mother as he passed into that which is unseen, "God is good - good all the time", have remained with me through this dark cloud of grief. And when God seems hidden, when justice seems to be losing out, when life is unfair, and when death swallows up the one I most love, I remember my father's words and breathe in this promise, that the God of love is in the process of restoring that which has been destroyed.

And as my father told me in dream I've had since his death, "Look to Jesus. As a father, to point you towards Him is the best gift I can give to you." So here I am, this is me, a faith to be observed.

I hold onto that which is not always seen- the promise of God's goodness, the hope that one day in the promised new heavens and earth- on a grassy hill or a sand covered beach- the lion and the lamb will lie down side by side and I, too, will lie down side by side, next to my father, and we will laugh and laugh until there are no more tears left to cry.