living a story

I finished Donald Miller’s new book shortly after receiving it in the mail this week and what hooked me into reading it so quickly was probably the introduction:

If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers.  You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen.  The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back.  Nobody cries at the end of the movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful.  The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.

Also I laughed out loud at his roommate’s response to the new project he was working on:

You’re writing another book about yourself?

Yes he did.  I kind of wondered the same thing when I saw it at first, but he captured me with his words again.

You can find more words that I loved from this book over at the place where I sometimes save things I can’t hold in my head.

 

cluttering the coffee table

I’m having loads of trouble finishing books this fall with all the new activity, but now that sports are over and the nights are longer, I can feel the evenings of reading opening up to us.  Here are a few of our current loves.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Prisoner’s Dilemma by Little Rock’s own Trenton Lee Stewart.  This is the third and final book in the series.  We are currently reading it aloud and have so far loved the puzzles and riddles within the story, often stopping so everyone can have a guess.  The characters are all lovable enough that we wanted to read more about them, so even Cole is joining in to hear what is going to happen to the four children that make up the Society.  Mary Polly has come out momentarily of her Hogwarts fervor to remember her love for Kate’s red bucket.

One of my favorite ways to discover a book is through Mary Polly’s eyes, which are opened wide to almost any suggestion given to her by an adult OTHER than her mother.  I am so thankful for how her wonderful teacher keeps shoving her backpack full to keep her reading.   And often if she really likes a book, she brings it to me too.  Firegirl is her most recent treasure, and she has not even finished it yet, but I can’t wait.  It is a short little novel with a precious story that reminded me how fragile adolescence can be…but also how one small foot in front of the other in the right direction can lead to a whole new path.

Mary Polly also brought home The Hunger Games which we both ploughed through and are now anxiously waiting on the second one, Catching Fire.  We’re passing these on to the boys next, because they are super addictive, which is sooo what a certain too cool for reading 12 year old needs right now.

And a few books that are not from the children’s shelf…

I am slowly reading and loving the stories from Sin Boldly, a birthday gift from a dear friend.  Trying to finish in time to pass on for my sister’s birthday in a couple of weeks.

I devoured The Help, which was lent to me by a former teacher of Mary Polly’s.  The dear friendships in this book make me see my own friends as the glorious treasures that they are, and not just friends but all people, and particularly people who are different from me.  It’s hard to catch this in the day to day, especially when my interactions with people have been cut so short lately by all the changes in my life, but if I step back and look at relationships over years and years of struggles and babies and love and just life, I see with different eyes.  I would have returned the book in a couple of days, but I absolutely forced my mother to read it first.  I am not unlike Mary Polly in that way.

This book is not on my table yet, but I am anxious to read it.  Even MORE so now that I read a beautiful review by someone who actually drew a parallel to it from an old favorite movie of mine and Taido’s.  Crazy.  Has anyone else read it yet?  Loved it as much as Blue Like Jazz?  Do share.

What are you loving that’s on your table these days?

OR…if you’re finding the reading to be a little on the light side here at the Chino House, head on over to Taido’s blog where you can actually join in and read things you can sink your teeth into!

faith in action with a little apple cake on the side

So a few Sundays ago, I had the amazing privilege of cooking with a delightful group of gals as part of our church’s Faith in Action project.  It was a huge blessing to get to serve by doing something that I enjoy so much.  We put together two dinners for single moms to have in their freezers. Chicken Pot Pie and Chili, plus some cookie dough to have chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven in a flash.

We chopped most of the vegetables for the chicken pot pies, including many bags of onions, which brought everyone to tears.  The process of taking raw, fresh ingredients to something wonderfully yummy and beautiful was a new experience for some involved, which is so fun for me.  As I have processed the day with friends, I have come to realize that this is definitely something I would like to do again.

Some of the gals took and delivered their meals themselves and I have loved hearing the stories of how all the meals were received and put to good use.  The whole day is already a treasured memory in my heart.  Sometime soon I hope to find and type out Ben’s precious memories that he wrote for school about his day of putting his faith into action.

Since we needed something to munch on while we were cooking all day, I had an apple walnut cake ready for snacking.  I am so in love with eating apples right now.  The honey crisps make me swoon!  Granny Smiths in the skillet with a little butter and brown sugar make my oatmeal taste like pie.  Speaking of which, I’ve made apple pie already and it’s not even the holidays yet.

I’ve had several requests for the apple walnut cake recipe so here it is.  It is from an old standby cookbook that my sister and I discovered together when we were first married.  Some women on the North Shore of Chicago put it together as a companion to the Ravinia Festival, which is an outdoor concert series that is meant to be attended with a picnic in tow.  Lots of the recipes from the Noteworthy cookbook are meant to be a part of your summer picnic, but this cake would be great for your autumn outings!

Apple Walnut Cake

1  2/3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1  1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

4 cups chopped apples

1 cups chopped walnuts

In large bowl beat sugar and eggs. Add oil and vanilla.  Mix well. In medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.  Add to sugar mixture.  Blend well. Stir in apples and nuts.  Pour into greased 9 X 13 baking dish.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 55 minutes.

Optional:  Top with cream cheese frosting.  (I skip this when I am serving this as a breakfast dish.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cream cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar until mixture reaches spreading consistency.