All Things Hold Together

A blog about cooking, crafting, faith, family…you know, the good stuff.

My parents-in-law bought me the cast iron skillet I have always wanted, for Christmas, and last night, I finally made cornbread in it.

Oh, I have used it for other things - like, everything - but this is the first time I made cornbread in it.

It was lovely!

corn bread

I also made a nice chili in the crock pot to go with it.

Corn Bread

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup flour
3/4 cup corn meal
2 or 3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 oil (or melted butter)

Heat the oven to 400-degrees. Put the 1 tablespoon of butter into a 10″ cast iron skillet and place in oven, until butter melts. Swirl pan to coat bottom and sides with butter.

Meanwhile, stir together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, and milk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently to combine.

Pour into prepared skillet. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer, and Bloggy Giveaways, is hosting another big giveaway link-a-thon, called the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival.

The giveaways start on Monday. I will be participating again, but my giveaway this time is not quite as cool as my last one.

Be sure to check back on Monday to get in on the action.

carnival_button.jpg

This morning when I brought in the paper, I looked down and saw the headline, “Flawed Chess Genius Dies.”

The article was, of course, about the death of Bobby Fischer.

What struck me, though, was the word “flawed.” It was as if there is something noteworthy about a person being flawed.

Aren’t we all flawed?

We don’t like to think so, do we?

I don’t doubt that Bobby Fischer was indeed an unusual character. Just the other day, before his death, my husband was talking about chess, and he told us a story about Bobby Fischer. He was a seemingly troubled man.

Bobby Fischer’s idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, we are all flawed.

So why is it that many of us try so hard to imply otherwise?

The other day I stumbled upon a blog that had a list of Christian bloggers, some of which I read, along with a few nasty words about each one.

The one that stuck out and hurt me the most was a comment regarding the fact that one of these Christian women was a divorcee. You know, you can’t take advice from a Christian woman who has been divorced, right? She’s obviously a sinner.

Except that her husband was an abusive, alcoholic adulterer. The three As, as Dr. Laura calls them. The three valid reasons for divorce. And he had the triple-play.

This makes her a bad Christian, according to this person, but not according to the One whose opinion matters.

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.

Those are the words of Jesus himself, in Matthew 19:9, and elsewhere.

But, still, people judge.

I think the reason this was the most hurtful to me is that I know that judgment. I know the sting when someone judges my faithfulness based on my past.

Only, I cannot get away from it. People who do not even know me know that Big E and The D are not my husband’s biological children just by looking at them.

They don’t see a woman who was raised without God, but found Him, and found forgiveness for the life that had left her so empty inside for so many years.

They see a woman who is a sinner.

They don’t see a saint, sanctified by the blood of the Christ they profess to follow.

They see their own desperate attempt to cover up their own flaws, at the expense of their sister in Christ.

This used to bother me a lot. I had found this incredible forgiveness and there were people who wanted to take that away from me, just because of their own insecurity, their own narrow view of our God.

But then I realized that no one can take away the grace I have received, and continue to receive each day.

I am forgiven.

That does not depend upon what someone else thinks about me.

And no one can take it away.

Hello, blog reader.

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while. I just had a couple of days off. The kids are at my mothers and my husband has been home from work.

Need I say more?

I hope to get back to posting later today.

Have a great day!

Remember the Scholastic school book fairs?

Well, Scholastic also has warehouse sales and they are a great way to pick up a few things for your homeschool on the cheap.

I went to one last year and got a few useful resources, including a Mary Engelbreit lesson planner. (Now all I have to do is use it.)

I just received an e-mail that the warehouse sales are coming up. Here is the link to see if there is one near you.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is posted at Consent of the Governed.   Judy put together a Martin Luther King Edition, in honor of his birthday.

I have not read the whole thing, but it looks great.

I can finally appreciate just how much work it must take to host the CoH.  Over at my political blog, She’s Right, I am hosting the Carnival of Principled Government, and that has only a fraction of the submissions.

Here’s a knock-knock joke that Little E made up this morning.

Knock-knock.

Who’s there?

Banana.

Banana, who?

Don’t eat me! I’m just a talking banana.

If you think that was funny, get a load of this classic that he made up a few months ago.

Knock-knock.

Who’s there?

Banana.

Banana, who?

Banana been knocking on the door all day!

Oh, man. For the longest time, any time he heard that joke, he would crack up laughing!

I love age 4.

If you are like me, every year you start a new read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan.  And, if you are like me, every year, you fall short of completing it.

Last year, I made it to sometime in mid-February.

This year, I made it to January 4.

No worries, though.  I just found out that our church’s children’s ministry has posted a New Testament reading plan that starts tomorrow and goes through April 4.

I was thinking the other day that it has been a long time since I updated about The D’s situation. That’s because there is nothing to update, at least in terms of getting him in to see a psychiatrist.

Back in November, I said that the really good psychiatry department at our medical center had a 6-8- month wait list, so we were going with another guy who could get us in much sooner.

Well, we decided that we should wait for the office affiliated with the medical school for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that they will be up-to-date on the latest information.

So since November, I have been dealing with calls back and forth to that office. They require a referral before they send you paperwork. And they require paperwork before they will put a person on the 6-8 month wait list.

This is how it goes.

Intake worker: We will call you when we get the referral.

(Two weeks later…)

Me: I didn’t hear from you. Did you get the referral?

IW: No. Let me call your doctor and I will call you back.

(Two weeks later.)

Me: I am sorry to be a pain, but I have a child here who needs help and I haven’t heard back from you.

IW: I didn’t get the referral.

So, I call the doctor. She sent it in November. And again when the intake worker called. And again now that I am calling.

I call back.

Me: My doctor faxed it…three times. I know you are busy, but I need to get my son on that list.

IW: I will send you the paper work, so you can get that going while I straighten this out.

Here I am two weeks later without the paperwork.

The office is across town. I could have driven to my doctor, picked up the referral, driven to the psychiatrist, filled out the paperwork, and gotten on the darn list how many times since November??

And people wonder why so many kids fall through the cracks. Even with very involved parents, a child cannot even get the help he needs.

Fortunately, The D is doing great. He is really becoming more self-aware and we are becoming more aware of his needs. Bob and I can see his mood and behavior patterns more clearly and be accommodating. The D is getting better at understanding how he feels and seeking out acceptable ways to cope.

There have been no violent out bursts at all in the past couple of months. No throwing things. Temper tantrums and stomping are rare.

This is the longest period of time that things have stayed “good” in a year-and-a-half.

He is still challenging to deal with, but the intensity is dialed down dramatically.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to deal with this referral fiasco, if I was still dealing with the out of control chaos and violence that I was over the summer and early fall.

The most embarrassing story ever.

At least, the most embarrassing story ever that involves Chick-Fil-A and fries.

The post is also an inspirational reminder that none of us are perfect.