Happy Due Date to me!!

This morning, as a small mini celebration I took myself on a nice relaxing coffee date to Petite Marie Bette. I enjoyed some journaling, reading my Bible, and listening to The Pastcast Podcast.

I’ve been finding lots of joy in designing superfluous graphics in Canva recently.

Yesterday I shared my new cookbook, today I want to share a phone wallpaper and a Devotional Zine!

First up is the wallpaper. Yesterday I read this verse in Colossians and it really stood out to me. I’ve found myself praying for strength and patience lots in the last days and weeks. I also love the imagery of “Saints in the Light.”

I’m also thrilled to share a new zine I’ve been working on. I’ve made a couple of these before, mostly to use in my college Bible Studies, but this one is for my own use!

I took the liturgy from the Devotionals for Individuals and Families out of the Book of Common Prayer and made it to fit inside an 8-page zine.

If you’ve never used a zine before here’s a guide to how to cut and fold it, it’s super simple once you’ve done it once or twice. –> Lunch Lady Magazine | How to Fold a Zine (On a side note, I LOVE Lunch Lady Magazine!)

I’m hoping to use this Devo Zine in a myriad of ways. If I’m in a rush I can quickly read the provided readings for the hours (morning, noon, evening, night), or I can use the handy QR code on the back to find the Daily Office Readings for that day if I have more time on my hands.

Mostly I like that it’s a small little thing that I can slip into my journal or Bible, and if it gets old and worn out (or coffee gets spilled on it, let’s be real!) I can easily print a new one!

Enjoy these little goodies, and say a prayer for us today! I would really love a punctual little human!

Love,

Jen

Writer Marlee Grace included this IG post in her most recent newsletter Monday Monday and it instantly sent me into a country music spiral. Especially women of country!

Maybe it’s all the extra hormones coursing through my veins but these powerful songs from some of the greatest women in country music have just been hitting the spot!

I’m still feeling on cloud 9 from our trip out west! It’s given me a taste of summer and now I am very very excited about the promise of swimming in my future. I love to swim year around inside, but nothing is better than an outdoor pool on a blisteringly hot day.

Warm days also make me think of cold & chilled desserts, and in particular, banana pudding! My grandma always used the same recipe, and so of course I have a special place in my heart for that recipe; however, this year for Easter I am going to make a banana pudding using Alison Roman’s Coconut Banana Cream Pudding.

On the horizon I’m working on a couple special zine projects to fill my time and distract from how much I feel like a stuffed crust pizza! I hope to share both of those next week! Hint: one’s baby related and the other food related!

I hope your weekend is sweet as pie! Happy Easter!

Jen

A common complaint I hear from Robbie these days is that I’ve made our bedroom “too cozy.” Making it very difficult for him to get out of bed for his very early a.m. workouts

Until about 6 weeks ago our bedroom was very utilitarian. We have a lovely furniture set, plus nice bedding and two big European pillows, but the rest of the room was tough to love. To upgrade the room I added curtain sheers, plus brass curtain pullbacks. I gave us additional (and functional) storage around the room by way of hooks; I love the brass accordion hooks I added above our bedside tables. (from Target & currently on sale!)

We also recently acquired a robin’s egg blue La-Z-boy recliner for the room and have better organized our closets. All together this means our room feels much more grown up and a space that “sparks joy.”

Next, if time allows, before or after arrival of baby, I’d love to give our bathrooms some much needed TLC. And then the laundry area of the basement!

Other than home decor nesting, I am in full stock the freezer mind-set. We bought a chest freezer and I have begun the process of stocking it up.

The freezer doesn’t look wonderful in our pantry (aka weird room off the galley kitchen,) but it’s functional and I think we’ll appreciate having lots of easy to prepare meals within reach in the postpartum days.

So far I have a baked ziti and 14 burritos inside.

The ziti is Alison Roman’s recipe and the burritos are a dupe of our favorite burritos from Greenberry’s Coffee in Charlottesville, the Daybreak.

My goal for the next few weeks is to basically double every recipe I make; one to eat, one to freeze.

Some I’m really looking forward to are:

• Chicken Enchiladas from NYTimes (I plan to add spinach)
• Our favorite beef chili recipe from Bon Appetit
• Bourdain’s Mac and Cheese
• Molly Baz Banana Bread Cake
• Falafel from Budget Bytes
• Baked Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe from Bon Appetit

Happy Sunday everyone, I hope it’s lovely wherever you are!

xoxo

Jen

Just yesterday the Biblical story of Jesus feeding the five thousand was twice brought to my mind. First, in the Lenten Devotional I am reading – Bitter & Sweet by Tsh Oxenreider – the author asked the reader to reflect on the painting The Five Thousand by Eularia Clark.

From Methodist.co.uk

Eularia Clarke sets the feeding of the five thousand in modern dress and follows Matthew’s account in which women and children are present. The multitude has sat down in the grass, as Jesus requested, and is eating, not the fish and bread referred to in the Bible but, as in so much of Clarke’s work, a twentieth Century equivalent, fish and chips. The scene is more reminiscent of a church picnic than the biblical miracle. Tea is brewing in the lower right corner, bicycles and footballs are discarded, children and babies are remarkably well behaved, some people doze, others pay attention to the priest – or Jesus (whose head and shoulders are uncomfortably cut off by the edge of the painting). The artist said: ‘I daren’t paint Christ, I put in a pulpit, the priest is reading the notices before the sermon.’

I haven’t been able to stop pondering this gorgeous painting since seeing it for the first time yesterday morning. The rich patterns of the women’s head-coverings, the varied ages of the multitude, the casual nature of an outdoor picnic. Just a lovely image to ponder.

Later, yesterday afternoon, after our church’s well attended 5pm service our hospitality minister was certain we would run out of food for our post-service meal, only we didn’t! I later bumped into her in the kitchen, “that was a miracle, I did not cook enough food for all those people!”

I’m dubious that it was an actual miracle, and perhaps more of a rationing situation with good PR, but regardless, it was a reminder of this wonderful story we find in the Bible.

To be quite honest I’ve never loved the story of the Feeding of the Multitude. I find it too hard to believe; but then again, so is the gospel sometimes.

And how much more of a miracle is boundless, endless heavenly grace than some earthly fish and bread? Forgiveness for everyone and generous love for all is a miraculous gift! The miracle of the Gospel can often feel like a fish-tale, too good to be true. And yet, something inside me continues to believe. The gift of faith keeps me ever clinging to the mercy of God. A feast for many more than five thousand, the promised Feast of the Lamb is for everyone!

Cheers,

Jen

As I mentioned yesterday, today we’ve been hit with a wintery storm. Snow, sleet, rain, and wind all included. One upside is that we’re enjoying our fireplace once more today!

The wintery weather made us stay home today, which meant I had ample time to bake!

I’ve been on an almond kick lately and finally switched it up with a childhood classic – Texas Sheet Cake!

There are many great things that come from Texas (this list somehow leaves out Blue Bell Ice Cream?), and this cake is right up there with them. A school cafeteria classic, it was a mainstay in my upbringing. Church potlucks, birthday parties, cake-walks, FFA stock show competitions, and a game I once played at a local Tractor Pull that I’ll attempt to explain.

Basically a grid was laid out in a pen with a heifer in it, you could buy a square and if/when the cow pooped in your square you won a cake. I’m not kidding, this is a real game I once took part in!

Today I made a NYTimes recipe, primarily because it features one of my favorite fellow Texans, Priya Krishna. My one tweak, I used the standard buttermilk, not sour cream.

I was salivating as I baked this cake, and you better believe I licked the bowl clean; totally worth the risk of eating raw eggs!

Part of what makes this cake so unique is the addition of buttermilk, an item I usually don’t have on hand. Since you usually have to buy it in 1/2 gallons it’s fun to find other ways to use it up. Today I made homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, and later this week I’ll use it to make another great Texan dessert.: Buttermilk Pie!

Have a sweet Saturday,

Jen