Heigh-de-ho, neighborinos!

We have a new family moving in next door and and I don't know their names yet.  I decided to bake a loaf of sandwich bread to take over.  I hope they are not on a gluten-free diet!  In any case, it certainly can't make things worse.  It will finish baking in four minutes from the present moment in which I am typing, and I am hoping it will be sufficiently cooled that I can slice it and take it over while the kids are still asleep.

Within grace denied

I have been studying a portion of scripture that is reminding me that sometimes the things I don't have are worth more than having them.  I remember reading John Piper on the subject of grace within a circle of grace denied.  Here is an example from yesterday.  My son has been struggling with ear infections for most of his life.  Yesterday he took a nap in the morning instead of the afternoon, which I knew would take away my afternoon free time, and yet allowed me to get caught up on some housework left over from a busy weekend.  I felt the Spirit whisper, "This is my grace to you." When he woke up, it was lunchtime, and he was still a wreck, so I called and got him in that afternoon.  We were called back to the patient room in record time.  It turns out the office's phones were down all morning anyway, so even if I'd tried to call, I couldn't have gotten through until the morning; meanwhile, my son rested, I did not fret, and my daughter got some quiet play time.  I would wish my son did not have ear infections so frequently, but within that circumstance, I still felt God's grace at work.

Alright; so I let the dough "soak" about 22 hours, and it looks pretty much the same.  I am going to try to cook with it tonight, and will let you know what transpires.

Just a happy parting thought; yesterday after the chaos of a screamy child and a messy house, I looked up at this set of decorative shelves, and realized that every single object upon them, other than the "home"decoration, and including the weather radio, was a gift from a friend or relative.  I hadn't meant to make a shelf to display gifts, but I guess because they were special to me, I wanted to keep them in sight.

Here's looking at Lorelai

Alrighty, my recently relocated friend recently posted this yogurt dough recipe on her blog.  I've been aiming to put it together for weeks and finally got to it this morning.

You melt and cool 1 cup of butter.

Then you add a cup of yogurt, and cream the mixture.  In my case, it was just mixing - no cream was produced.  But I did make the yogurt myself, which I think would make Lorelai proud.

Then you add 3 1/2 C flour and 1 t salt, and mix until a nice dough forms.  This is what mine ended up looking like. 

Then you cover it, and allow it to rest in a warm place for 12-24 hours.  I decided to cloak it to keep in the warmth produced by the heating pad.  This is similar to the method I use to make yogurt (see earlier post).

It smells and tastes really good.  My friend says you can use it for a lot of different things.  I am very interested to see how this turns out tomorrow.