That's Just Like God

I told you back on the 15th, when I introduced my new SSMT verse, that I had a story about this one. It was too long to put with the verse, so I saved it for today...and you'll soon see why.

A week ago Monday, right at the end of the work day, I spent a couple of minutes talking to my friend and fellow writer, Llita. (She is also a contributing blogger at The Intentional Journey.) We caught up on our current writing agendas, and as we ended our conversation, she wished me a good evening and said "I hope God knocks your socks off tonight."

It made me smile. I always hope for that too.

I spent the evening doing chores around the house, and I also took a pretty good chunk of time to work on my current writing project. It's a Bible study and that particular night, I needed to spend some time researching in the book of Hosea.

So I hunkered down in the office and pulled out all my study Bibles to read the notes on the chapters of focus. One of the Bibles I pulled out also had some notes I'd written in there a few years ago, and I thought I might want to revisit what I'd learned back then, so I set that Bible aside to look at later in the evening.

I finished all my chores and worked out (that's code for I was sweating like a pig) and then I crawled in bed with my journal and that old study Bible, so I could copy over the notes.

The verses were Hosea 2:14-15, which are the verses I'm memorizing this half of the month. And over in the margin, I'd written "4/22/07 - vv. 14-20 - prior to my first spiritual retreat."

And it hit me.

4.22

Last year, on 4.22, Isaac called to tell me God had called him into a wilderness. That was the beginning of the end of our relationship, and a story you so patiently read months ago. I had no recollection that three years before that very day, God led me to those verses. And here's what I'd written in my Bible next to the verses I'm now memorizing:

Therefore I am now going to allure her; God cares enough to do this!
I will lead her into the desert Follow Him!
and speak tenderly to her. Listen to Him!
There I will give her back her vineyards, Be prepared to receive.
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. Be prepared for change.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth, Be prepared for joy.
as in the days she came up out of Egypt. Be prepared for deliverance.

And sitting there, sweating from the workout, I shook my head in pure amazement.

Just short of one year after the 4.22 in which God allured me into a desert to speak tenderly to me, I could see how He had done all the very things He spoke over my heart back in 2007.

He has cared for me so very very sweetly. I followed Him (kicking and screaming at times, but I followed!) and listened. Learned to hear, actually. I received so many beautiful lessons in that time. I am certainly a very different person today than I was that day. Stronger, a little more mellow (I promise!), and probably other things I can't see. I learned joy - even when I was far from happy. And I believe deliverance is happening even now, though I can't quite see how it's unfolding.

But the best part of all is this. As I sat in bed and marveled at this Bekahland epiphany, something caught my eye:

It's my socks. On the floor.

You should know that I am NOT the kind of girl who throws her socks on the floor. I put them in the laundry bag where they should go. But I had them on when I got into bed, and my feet were hot from working out, and I was too lazy to get back up, so I just tossed them.

And that's when I remembered Llita's words.

That's just like God.

He indeed knocked my socks off.

Cheesy Tortellini

I like to swap recipes with my friend Laurie. Today's recipe is one she sent me, and it is so good. I have made this several times now and love it because it's not only easy to make, but it makes great leftovers. It even freezes well.
This is a great option for company, because you can serve it with salad and garlic bread and have a great meal! It's also great if you have a week when you need meals for yourself, but you don't have time to cook every night. (That would normally be the case for me.)
Hope you love it!<

/em> The Recipe
1 pound ground beef
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 can of sliced mushrooms (4 ounces)
1 can of diced tomatoes undrained (14 ounces)
1 package of refrigerated or fresh tortellini (9 ounces)
2 cups shredded cheese

Brown ground beef and drain. Combine cooked beef, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and tomatoes in a slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Stir in tortellini and cheese, cook for 15 minutes more on low or until tortellini is tender.
I had never cooked with tortellini before this, so I had no idea where to find it. I finally tracked it down in the cheese area. You can use any kind of cheese you have on hand - mozzarella, cheddar, a blend of cheese. The same is true of the spaghetti sauce and the tomatoes - add in some extra flavor with one of those two things if you like! You could use sausage if you prefer, but I typically have beef on hand and use that.

As always, I put a slow cooker liner in before dumping in all this stuff - makes it MUCH easier to clean later. I put in the sauce, the tomatoes, and the mushrooms first.

Then I add the beef on top of that.

Mix it all up! I usually make this on my lunch hour and then it's ready after work...so I do the four hours on high cooking option.

And here's what it will look like after cooking.

Add the tortellini. Sometimes I get whole wheat just to make myself feel better. :)

And some cheese on top, of course.

Let that cook for a little while....

Put some in a bowl, add a little more cheese on top - and eat!!

Pancakes with the Princess: April

Last night was a "mini" Pancakes with the Princess night.

I went to see the modified presentation of the Marion Easter Pageant (more on that later) with my friend Ronda, and to round out the night, I invited her over for the mini-meal.

It was "mini" in that there were just two of us...and it was "mini" in that we only had two things. But ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh people.....
We started out with the orange julius. Love the orange julius. It was extra sweet this time. No idea why, but not going to argue!

And then...the pancakes.

Oh the pancakes.

It was a new recipe. Cinnamon swirl...and I let Ronda do her own swirling of the cream cheese icing....



I make a good pancake. Not to be confused with a pretty pancake....

Don't you wish you'd been here?

They really did taste like a cinnamon bun. WOW. A keeper and a half of a recipe. And it was a great end to my fun night with Ronda. Thanks, Ronda, for being the April guest for Pancakes with the Princess!!!

A Day in the Life of A Bridesmaid

The wedding shower you saw yesterday was just a fraction of our activities on Saturday. All of Olivia's bridesmaids were in town to spend time with her, and we had much fun. We began the day at the fabric store to choose the fabric for the bridesmaid dresses - and the patterns. She's letting each of us choose what we feel most comfortable in. (Jammie pants are out. I asked.) I've never been a bridesmaid in a wedding where the dresses were custom made, so this was all very new for me. My proposed dress is actually a combination of two dress patterns. I'm excited to see how it turns out! I knew all but one of the bridesmaids before Saturday. This is one fun party! (And this is only half the group.)

The lovely Lisa pilfering for a dress she liked. I suggested a few. (Okay so I picked out the worst possible ideas. But it made her giggle!!)

We also got measured right there in the store. I didn't look. I didn't want to know. We had the bridal shower next, and then we dove headfirst into flower central. She'd purchased dozens of flowers, so we brainstormed some bouquet ideas. That Olivia is a brave little bride to turn six girls loose with a pile of flowers and ask for ideas!

My thoughts. Okay just kidding. It was a work in progress. (Do let the record show I am not a florist.)

To end the evening, we went to David's Bridal to go veil shopping. I can't show you any of the good pictures because that would reveal too many secrets...namely the dress.

But to entertain you, I'll show you what (Jill and) I did to get in trouble while we were supposed to be helping.

I'm sure this is risky, because I no doubt have a plethora of wedding dress designers voraciously reading my blog and now I'll offend one of them, but I'm going to go for it anyway. I kept going back to stare at this dress. Seriously??

This picture doesn't quite show it like you'd see it in the store, but it was just...a lot of tulle. Haphazard tulle. Tulle that made me think I really could be a dress designer.

And if I had even more time...I could have made this one. (I named it the craft project dress. The one on the left.)

Jill and I found the tummy tucker aids. We are not right.

I told her I might need this. (KIDDING!!!)

Veil shopping is a long process.

But the rewards are sweet. We got to have a pizza party at her aunt and uncle's house after it was over. And my first round of proper British tea. Cream, sugar, and everything.

It was a long, long day - but it was so much fun. Seriously! We laughed and cried and told stories and had the best time. I can't wait for the next round!!

Olivia's Wedding Shower (#1)

Saturday was Miss Olivia's first wedding shower.

The theme of this shower was non-perishable food and cleaning supplies. I decided to go the food route, but in typical Bekah-fashion, I could not just hand the girl a bag of food. That would be far too simple.

So.

I turned it into a game.

Olivia and I share a love of cooking and talk often about fun recipes we've found. So I picked 15 of my favorite recipes, and purchased one ingredient from each recipe. I tagged each ingredient with a number and then rolled up each recipe and tagged it with the matching number. When she's ready to cook, she'll pick out an ingredient, look at the number, find the corresponding roll, open it, and find out what she's making. She loved it. (Another reason I love her...she appreciates my randomness.)

The shower was held at the church I used to attend, Chapel Pike. It was a great chance to see people I'd not seen for a while! And the food was scrumptious. Cakes and cheesecakes galore...

We started out playing a game I thought I'd excel in...coming up with the first names of some famous TV couples based on the provided last names. Apparently, I've been watching the wrong shows all these years. :( So I took pictures during that time instead.

Olivia wanted to talk to everyone who came, so while they ate, she made her rounds:

And then it was time to open the gifts. Another thing I love about this girl is the way she appreciates everything. She was completely crazy about every gift she opened, and it was so fun to watch.

See? I wasn't kidding!

Her reaction to the instructions of my gift: Her matron of honor, Lisa, took a time-out to make a bouquet out of tissue paper. Wonder which one of us gets to carry that down the aisle!?!? I found one of my buddies at the shower. Miss Savannah was in attendance and came over to cuddle with me for a while.Jill is one of the other bridesmaids. I learned during Saturday's 12 hour bridal-palooza that Jill and I perhaps should NOT be permitted to be in a wedding together. We are nothin' but trouble when paired up.

Case in point.

I don't know whether or not you're familiar with this game, but I've been to several showers where it was used, and it always cracks me up. Someone writes down the first thing the bride says when she opens every gift, and those lines are supposed to be what she would say on her wedding night. They can be pretty funny.

I actually forgot all about that game until Olivia opened her first gift and said something that sent me giggling. So I grabbed a leftover paper from the earlier game and started writing. Jill spotted me from across the room, knew what I was doing, and held up this sign:

In case you can't see it, it says "Keep it G-rated!" LOL!!! Once I knew she knew what I was doing, I had a very hard time keeping the giggling under control. (As did Jill.)

Oh yes. This is going to be a very fun bridal party.

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday morning after church, I was talking to my pastor's daughter (I think she's 12) and we discussed what we did and did not accomplish the previous week. At the end of our conversation, she said, Well today you've accomplished looking cute. Now how much did I love that? I took a picture just to commemorate it. Might be a while before it happens again. And Sunday afternoon was nearly perfect. It was warm and sunny, so I took my nap outside (so I could work on the old tan...). I read, I baked a cake, I watched TV...lovely. And Sunday evening I whipped up a little taco bar and welcomed my friend Jamie Bennett in for dinner. We had the best time laughing and talking and catching up. I learn so much from her! * Monday I came home from work to find a present awaiting me...wrapped and everything! That'll perk up a rainy day pretty quickly! Easter treat from my Mama:

* Tuesday evening I got a haircut. It had started to do that brillo pad thing again like it did on vacation. Can't have that. I'm trying to grow it out just a tiny bit so I can do something with it when I'm in Olivia's wedding, so cuts are kind of boring right now, but yet I feel so much better after I get them.

* Wednesday was such a beautiful day that I decided to drive out to one of my favorite prayer spots on campus and sit in my car to pray during lunch. There weren't any other cars around, so I parked, rolled both front windows down just a bit, leaned the seat back and began to pray. I was in the zone, talking and listening, when I heard this "yippity yippity yippity yippity" nearby. I leaned up in my seat and glanced over to see that Ms. Yappy McYapperson had pulled in right next to me, windows down, blue tooth in place, talking 100 miles an hour, hands waving. Alllllll those parking spots and she chose the one right next to me? I rolled up the window closest to her, but I could still hear her. So I rolled up the other window. I could still her her, I could NOT hear Jesus, and I was also beginning to sweat. So I started the car, drove way down the row, reparked, and tried to reclaim the moment.

* Thursday afternoon we had a skeleton crew at work. SKELETON. Whenever the supervisors are gone, the rest declare that I'm in charge. (Scary thought, huh?) With no one to oppose me, I declared it the perfect day for a Culvers Happy Hour run. When I picked up our order, the lady said, "Is this to go?" I said, "I sure hope so. I'm not that hungry!" *Friday was a visit day at work. I've talked about those before, so I thought I'd show you what that actually means (for me). They have what's called an academic and athletic fair in the afternoon, and representatives from different departments come to a central location to be available to answer questions for students and parents. This is the Financial Aid table. Don't overlook the coffee: *And finally, Saturday was packed from start to finish with Olivia's wedding-palooza, round one! More to come on this, but yesterday in the span of twelve hours, I participated in the following: selecting fabric for bridesmaid dresses, selecting patterns for said dresses, being measured for the dress (goodness gracious), attending the first wedding shower, bouquet assembly, seeing the wedding dress for the first time, veil shopping, and eating some REALLY good treats. And can I just say...love the other girls in the wedding party! LOVE them! Here are just a few of them. (Olivia is the one a bit taller than I am....)
Books I'm Reading: Maybe I should change the title of this section to "Books that are Disciplining Me." LOL! Because that's exactly what Sparkling Gems from the Greek did this week. Such good stuff. I continued reading The Hole in Our Gospel and also picked up the first piece of fiction I've read in a LONG time: my friend Jody Hedlund's book The Preacher's Bride. It's been out since last October but our bookstore just got it in, so I just purchased it. I remember now why I can't read fiction...I came perilously close to ignoring the end of my lunch hour on Friday...to just keep reading.

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: I'm actually not going to recap this one here, because I am going to tell you all about it, in great detail, on Friday. When I told my friend Kari about it, though, she said it gave her goose bumps. So don't forget to come back and read it!

Update on Last Week's Goals: Since yesterday was Olivia's shower, obviously I got the gift completed. I loved the way it turned out. I'm going to tell you about the shower tomorrow, so you can see it then. I also FINISHED the spring cleaning in the kitchen, praise the LORD. The cabinets are nice and shiny after the wood treatment, the vileness that was the microwave has been removed (thanks to a steam bath of boiling water and white vinegar), the fridge has been cleaned out, the cobwebs removed, the light bulb replaced, the sink scrubbed, and the canister labels ordered. (My first ever purchase from Etsy!)

Goals for the Coming Week: This promises to be a busy week, despite the day off from work I'll have Friday. My hope is to spring clean the living room this week, which means painting. (I say "hope" because there's a tiny part of me that wonders if this is really not the right time to tackle the painting.) So if that doesn't pan out, the backup will be to knock out some serious cleaning in at least three other rooms of the house this week.

Almost Caramel Surprise Brownies

I've told you before that my Mom is a fantastic cook. It's a genetic thing. Her mom and her sister - also fantastic cooks. My aunt (Aunt B, we call her) has three particular dishes that I adore. I've never asked her for the recipe to any of them because I'm afraid she'll say no and I don't want to experience culinary rejection.
One of her specialties is her lasagna. It is the best lasagna I've ever had in the whole world. Not kidding. Another is her cream puffs. YUM. And last, but in no way least, her caramel surprise brownies.

She often made me a plate of them for my birthday. Oh. My. Goodness. Soft, chewy, warm deliciousness with gooey caramel...my mouth is watering just thinking about them.

Last month I found this brownie suggestion on a blog and after making a batch of them, I decided they were kind of close to Aunt B's Caramel Surprise Brownies. Not quite as amazing, but awfully close (and much easier to make, I'm quite sure.) I've done some tweaking of my own, and I present to you....Almost Caramel Surprise Brownies.
The Recipe:
1 box brownie mix
Ingredients listed on box to make brownies (usually eggs, water, oil)
Caramel ice cream sundae syrup
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Prepare brownie mix according to instructions on the box. Add chocolate chips to batter and stir in well. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Heavily drizzle the caramel sundae syrup in lines over batter in both directions. Cut caramel into batter with a knife. (Add more on top of that if you like.) Bake according to directions on box. Cut and serve.

To be honest, my favorite brownie mix in the whole world is the Baker's Corner kind from Aldi. If I don't have that on hand (as I did not when I took these pictures) I buy another store brand. I prefer them to the name brand. I bought the syrup in the squeeze bottle so I didn't have to mess with drizzling it from a spoon out of a jar. Mix the brownie mix according to the package directions - add the oil, eggs, and water.

Stir it well. I just use a spoon - don't mess with the beaters.

Add 1/2 bag of chocolate chips. I did this becuase Aunt B's brownies always had chocolate chunks in them. Someone at work suggested also adding nuts to make it a turtle brownie. If you like nuts in your brownies - go for it.

Spread the batter in the dish.

Drizzle the caramel over the batter. It goes on much faster when it's room temperature. After my bottle was refrigerated, it was harder to squeeze out.

Take a knife and drag it through the batter to "cut" the caramel down into the batter.

Bake! Cut! Serve! Eat! Enjoy!