an edible disaster

It's been an interesting Sabbath, to say the least.

I felt too crummy to go to Church this morning, but as of this evening, I'm feeling better. And, the benefit of having my husband compile and print the bulletins every week is that today, I had the liturgy at my disposal. I read the Scriptures aloud to Harley and Milo, sang the hymns, burned incense, etc.. Not a bad time in my living room.

During this phase in my life, I cannot read about Jesus healing someone without crying a little, mostly because those stories seem more real than ever. Today I read Mark 7:31-37. Jesus healed a deaf man with a speech impediment. I asked Johnny, "Why did Jesus take the man 'aside from the crowd, by himself?'" I mean, Jesus healed many people in the midst of a big crowd. Johnny's opinion was fascinating: when the man's ears were opened, a noisy mob of people wasn't the first thing he heard. Instead, he heard Jesus' voice, saw Him smile. I love that.

I also love what our pastor pointed out in a previous sermon. Jesus healed the man in a precise way so that he could understand what was happening. He couldn't hear Jesus at first, so Jesus acted it out. He stuck His fingers in the man's ears and placed the very earthy element of His spit on the man's tongue. Jesus looked up to Heaven, sighed deeply, and said, "Be opened!" The man's ears obeyed and he started speaking plain as day. You have to wonder what the man said. I like to imagine the thrilled, humble look on his face. He might've exclaimed the beauty of a bird's song, how soft the wind sounded, how funny it was to hear Jesus laugh, or, "Good grief, that is a noisy crowd over there." Of course, I'm sure he gushed with thanksgiving. I'm beginning to ponder what I'll say when I am healed. It's important.

Johnny kindly retrieved The New York Times from the front yard this morning, but it was soaking wet due to a small hole in the plastic bag and our sprinkler system. The paper is now drying, draped over the breakfast nook table and chairs as you can see in the top photo. I should be able to read it tonight.

The photos also reveal that we attempted to make Elana's vanilla cupcakes w/chocolate frosting. And well, it was pretty much a disaster (totally not her fault). We tried to be spontaneous and use what we had in the pantry which was Ghirardelli unsweetened baking bars and erythritol, instead of Dagoba Chocodrops (they contain sugar) and agave nectar (I can't have this good stuff yet). We also subbed coconut oil for grapeseed oil.

The cupcake part turned out great - I'm quite impressed with coconut flour. Licking the bowl was amazing, and the aroma of baking cupcakes made me very happy. The icing = disaster. For one thing, you shouldn't put coconut oil in the freezer. Not a good idea. I guess grapeseed oil doesn't harden that quickly. So the icing turned out to be a big clump of a chocolate mess. Even so, the scent of warm chocolate on the stove was similar to an out-of-body experience. Whoever discovered chocolate - THANK YOU. The erythritol didn't work in the icing, either - too granular - but the concoction did taste like some of my favorite dark chocolate bars. Plus, my fingers still smell like coconut and chocolate, and this is not a bad thing.

However, I felt depressed until Johnny pointed out that our baking adventure was an edible disaster. The cupcake part is truly good enough to eat by itself (I ate two). We were already planning to drop by Houston's biggest Whole Foods after Church on Wednesday, so we'll pick up grapeseed oil and see how that goes. As for the sweetener, I think liquid stevia is a better choice. And, Dr. Hotze's cookbook contains two very promising recipes ~ coconut macaroons and meringue cookies, both of which I adore.

And now? Harley is curled up in my lap,
my Mom and I will soon chat on the phone as we do every weekend,
I'll read the paper and Walking on Water,
light a candle,
sneak another unfrosted cupcake,
brew a cup of tea,
Johnny will arrive home from his Sunday night gig,
and all will be well.

That reminds me of a beautiful quote from Walking on Water:

"....all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well."
[-Lady Julian of Norwich]

I've decided it's been a good Sabbath after all.