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.

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!

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.

So I have had a little extra time this morning for cooking since I am home with a sick child.  I’ve been making apple pies all morning and I am realizing that cooking makes me generous.  As soon as I start chopping, my heart begins to just pour out of me into whatever I’m making.  This feeling that I get where I wish the whole world could have a bite of a perfect apple pie on this cloudy October day is much of the reason I love to cook.

For the last six months or so, a group of teenage boys have been showing up at our house on Sunday evenings to meet with Taido.  And while my darling husband and his theology speak is enough of a draw all his own, I suspect that the real reason they keep showing up is that we feed them.  Come on.  They’re high school boys.

A few weeks ago in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, I was putting a chicken pot pie together for dinner, so that I could enjoy my lazy Sunday afternoon at my parents’ house.  Sprawling on my parents’ couches while my kids play legos with their cousins is not a tradition I’m willing to give up even for cooking.  While I was rolling out crust and chopping up vegetables, I was praying for each of these boys by name and I got a little teary…as much from the onions as the ache in my heart from watching boys grow into men.  Boys that my own boys now love dearly.  Boys that are goofy and loud and heartbreakingly precious all at the same time.

I realized once again while I was working with my hands and heart together that my love language is food.

Sometimes food connects me to people I don’t even know yet.

Cole is only still speaking to me because he likes to eat.  He’s been asking for extra dessert in his lunch for his friends.  Sending whole loaves of banana nut bread in his lunch is helping him engage in a battle for control I like to call Just Try and Make Me Ride the Bus.  He’s buying rides home with homemade cookies.  I’m hoping that when he looks back on the seventh grade, maybe he’ll remember the food in his lunch instead of the heated discussions over grades.

If there are some people in your life you want to love with some food, here’s my variation of my mama’s delicious homemade chicken pot pie.  Tonight I’m making Arroz Con Pollo from my favorite food blogger.  And apple pie, of course.  Oh, and here’s a link to the latest Castle Bluff Camp video featuring the most excellent photography of my amazing sis-in-law.  It makes me cry every time I watch it.  LOVE THESE KIDS!!

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is “supersized.”  I make it in a cake pan the size of a large cookie sheet, but you could divide it into two 9X13 pans, or half the recipe. Also, I use less chicken and more vegetables, which is why the measurements vary.  You can even use vegetable broth and make it vegetarian.

½ cup butter

½ cup flour

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

2 onions, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 cup chopped carrots

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

3-6 cups cooked, cut up chicken

4-8 cups vegetables (vary the following according to your taste):

6 potatoes, boiled until tender but not falling apart, chopped

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen green beans

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

1 cup small mushrooms, halved

Salt and pepper to taste

1 recipe homemade crust, recipe follows

Melt butter in large skillet.  Cook onions in butter about five minutes.  Add celery and carrots.  Cook 5-10 more minutes.  Stir in flour.  Add salt and pepper.  Slowly add broth and milk.  Cook until thick.

Put all the vegetables and chicken in a large cake pan.  Pour broth mixture on top.  Roll out crust to the size of pan and place on top.  (Can freeze at this point)

Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour or until crust browns.

Pie Crust

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, chopped into cubes and chilled

¾ cup ice water

Mix flour and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender.  Drizzle water while stirring and form into a large disk.  Cover in plastic and refrigerate until ready to roll out.

In honor of the fact that I have gone back to work full time after 12 years of not working for money, I am quickly posting a recipe I am currently very happy to have in my arsenal.  In fact, it is simmering on the stove this minute.  I’m pretty sure this is the easiest meal I make.  It qualifies as a hearty meal in my book, and it can be on the table and into a tummy that is headed out for soccer or football, even if all of a sudden you find yourself to be teaching until 3pm every day.  I discovered this soup mix from Bob’s Red Mill last year and I have ordered it in bulk for my deep freeze.  It is like a bean mix except that it cooks much faster because all the pieces are tiny, but it still tastes like a real homemade soup.   There are even some weensy little whole wheat alphabet pasta pieces in there.  So cute!  You can dress it up any way you like.  There are several variations on the package, but it’s also great just with broth.   Add some whole wheat bread and dinner is served.

Vegetable Barley Soup

1 28 oz package Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix

2 quarts organic chicken broth (I buy this from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.  It’s cheaper than the non-organic stuff from the grocery store that you buy by the can.)

1-2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in the bottom of large heavy bottomed pan or Dutch oven.  Cook onions, garlic and celery for 5-10 minutes.  Add broth and bring to boil.  Add soup mix and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils in the soup mix are soft.

Easy Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cups water

1 scant tablespoon yeast (or one package)

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 cups whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in water.  Add honey, salt and oil.  Stir in flour and knead for about 5 minutes.  Set dough aside in oiled bowl to rise until doubled, for about one hour (less if you set it near your simmering soup pot).  Form dough into one large loaf or two smaller (they cook faster) loaves.  Place on parchment lined half sheet pan and allow to sit about 20 minutes.  Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until browned on top.

So where were we in our trip?  That’s right.  Broken down a little bit past Nashville.

Simon was asleep when we first broke down and the other kids were watching a movie on my computer, so for about an hour we sat while Taido tried to diagnose the van via the iPhone.

At one point, Taido was actually on the ground banging the underside of the van with a large stick, all while on the phone.  After a while it became apparent that we were going to have to get a tow truck and call my uncle and beg him to come and get us and our stranded pop up camper from the side of the highway.  The kids and I actually got to ride in a police car who showed up to help us.  (You can’t buy those kind of memories, honey!)  He took us to a McDonald’s with a playland and I have never in my life been so grateful for a fast food joint.  Where else on earth can they watch you and your children crawl out of a police car, drenched in sweat, loaded down with everything you can carry and they will still let you sit down in their very air conditioned environment and stay for as long as you like when all you order is three drinks and a couple of waters?  Yes, supersize my water please. I might be here a while.

We camped out while Taido waited on the tow truck.  Then soon came my uncle to take us back to his house in Nashville (Thank you so much!), where I was able to come up with my top reason for being grateful that our car broke down on the side of the road.  Shower…several hours earlier than anticipated.  Oh yes hot water.  Remember how I love it.

After we bathed and ate pizza, we talked about how to spend our extra time in Nashville.  My uncle suggested that I hit Trader Joe’s the following morning.  Ben blurted out, Oh she already has like three cartloads in the van from Trader Joe’s!

Things were looking up the next morning.  Or maybe we were just a little more settled with the setback and ready to be excited about Nashville, a spot I have most definitely added to the list of places in which I would like to live one day.  When we talked to the shop, they said they could in fact fix the fuel pump in the van (shout out to John Foster for the telephone diagnosis!) sometime that day, so we could get home that night.  So while the van was being fixed, we headed to Centennial Park at my cousin’s suggestion.  We had already been to Bicentennial Park in Nashville the previous weekend, so we got to experience two great Nashville highlights coming and going.

It’s quite pretty.

The Parthenon in Nashville is an exact 1/3 replica of the one in Greece.

It was a super hot day, but we enjoyed walking all around the park anyway.  Lots to see.

Simon enjoyed the playground.  He is wearing a bathing suit because it is the only item of clothing he had left that was still moderately clean.

My cousin took this picture of us.  Everyone was whiny and soooo hot and sweaty at this point.  So we left the park and went to Maggie Moo’s to have ice cream for lunch!

The van was ready late that afternoon, so after my cousin drove us back to the shop and we parted with a large sum of money to pick it up, we were on the road again.  We made it all the way home this time.  Taido says the van is driving better than it has in years.   Who knows how many more trips that baby has in its future?

We recently returned from a rainy week in the Smoky Mountains with my entire family.  The last time we all camped together was five years ago in Colorado.  Since everyone remembers that week as being very cold, we decided to meet somewhere a little warmer.  And a little closer!  We have been planning this trip for a long time.  We were all excited about all 9 cousins being together in the great outdoors.  We even borrowed a second pop up camper to accommodate everyone. (Shout out to the Waldens!!)

We gathered in Nashville on Sunday, an adventure all unto itself as my sister and her husband endured a breakdown delay in Minnesota.  We piled into our cars and left on Monday afternoon for Elkmont Campground.  Several hours later we pulled into our reserved campsites and proceeded to sit in our cars waiting for the rain to let up so we could set up camp.  This began a bit of a theme for our week of camping in the Smokies.  We would wait for the rain to let up to cook dinner, and sometimes it would.  Many times it did not so we went ahead and cooked in the rain.  I would wait for the rain to let up before I would get out of bed.  Sometimes it wouldn’t so I would just stay in bed.

Often in the afternoon the weather would clear up long enough for us to do a hike or even go swimming.  But we spent a lot of time either huddled under our tarp or driving somewhere to get out of the rain, a solution that met with varying degrees of success.   The kids still had a wonderful time.  They don’t seem to mind being wet nearly as much as adults.  The three middle cousins…Ben, Wilson and Emily did not bother to try to stay out of the rain at all.  Ben was so wet that his skin began to sort of seem soggy all over.

On Friday morning, the sky seemed to completely fall out of the sky.  It was like the rain clouds were laughing at us for calling all that other weather we had experienced rain.  RAIN!  I’LL SHOW YOU RAIN!  It poured relentlessly all morning.  Finally, all the rest of my family decided to break down their camps in the rain, pack it in drenched and go spend their last night together at my aunt and uncle’s house in Nashville.

All of us were laughing hysterically as we ran around in the downpour pulling up stakes and taking down wet clothes, because Robert, my sister’s husband, was wearing his seven year old’s pink raincoat.  He had forgotten to bring a coat and so he had grabbed hers in desperation to get some sort of relief from the rain.  The sleeves came about three fourths of the way down his arms and the end of the jacket hung well above his waste.  At this point we had put all the smaller kids in the vehicles while we tore around gathering everything.

Our family went into town with them and ate lunch.  I’m pretty sure everyone ordered soup.  Our shoes squeaked as we walked in to Atlanta Bread Company in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  The scene was downright comical.  After we said goodbye to them, we returned to our camp where the sun had come out.  We set up our chairs, hung our laundry back up and decided to enjoy being just the six of us.  The days we have been all together this summer have been few and far between.

The contrast between last summer of Chino togetherness and this summer when at least one of us has been gone every week has left me a little befuddled.  Even with the rain, I was glad to have everyone back under our little shelter.  That these moments are fewer and that my older ones no longer long for them make me cling tighter to them.  Even the fighting and splashing during dish duty made me smile in my heart.

The next morning we packed up to move to another campground in the park called Look Rock.  We were ready to see Elkmont and its puddles in our rear view mirror.

We set up camp and hung the wet clothes and towels (again) before heading out to hike to Look Rock.  It was a beautiful afternoon.  You could see for miles on all sides of the tower.

Taido keeps saying that this is the last summer for Simon in the backpack.  I’ll be kind of sad when we finally retire it for good.

I’m not sure our little napper is ready to hike the trail on his own though.

The next day we went to see a very small campground that we all hope to come back and stay in again someday.  It only has about 15 sites and is right on the river, tucked far back into the woods.  It was so beautiful that we spent a little time hiking the area.

My mom braided all the girls’ hair in Nashville on Monday.  Mary Polly did not take her braids out until the following Monday.  Pretty impressive braiding Grandjules!  Here’s a shot of them on Sunday while she is pointing to a sign indicating that one of the campsites in Abrams Creek was closed due to Aggressive Bear Activity.  Taido is reading the backcountry info.  You can almost see the Smoky Mountain Backpacking Adventure coming into shape in his mind.  Not. scared. of. bears.

We hiked all through the lush, quiet campground, which also serves as a trail head for backcountry campers.  It was a muggy, hot day, so we didn’t hike too far up the trail.  We saw two groups of backpackers heading in with their gear.

Here’s a campsite by the river.

It started raining soon after we were back at our van.  I was so glad not to be those poor wet backpackers!  We made our way back to our campsite for our last night in the Smokies.  On Monday morning we packed it in and though I was a little sad about our family time coming to an end, I have to say that I was grateful we weren’t heading to another campground.  Or another country.  Nope.  We were headed home.

Only we didn’t quite make it.

Most of the Chino summer adventures have been happening far away from the Chino House.  In June, Cole went to discipleship camp with Taido and 80 other middle school students.  Mary Polly went to Chicago with my mom to visit my sister and her family.  Then she was home for one day before leaving to go on the College Backpacking Trip with Taido.   Soon after Mary Polly arrived home from her mountain adventure, Cole flew out to spend a week with my sister’s family at Castaway Club, a Young Life camp in Minnesota where my brother-in-law was speaking for the month.  Meanwhile, Ben headed to Kentucky with Taido on the high school mission trip.

We were finally all reunited in the Smoky Mountains for our first extended family camping trip in five years.  Seventeen of us huddled in the rain under my daddy’s “magic tarp.”  Whitney is currently posting pictures of this rainy adventure, so I’ll share the treasures Taido brought home from Mary Polly’s first backpacking adventure.

My daddy has been leading backpacking trips for longer than I’ve been alive.  Of course, Taido is equally passionate about the mountains, which has always made for a strong bond between the two of them.  Cole got to go on this trip several years ago and I was nervous about whether or not he would be up to the task.  Carrying your gear uphill every day for a week can be pretty rigorous.  He had a great week with his dad and Grandpapa though, so I was very excited for Mary Polly to get to have her turn.

Still I was anxious for her, especially for “peak day,” the day the campers wake up before dark to climb to the top of a fourteen thousand foot mountain.  It’s a huge accomplishment in my book, and I will never forget the first time I stood on top of my first “fourteener.”   I was 15.

Mary Polly will be 10 next week, and the first time we got to talk to my dad he said she was climbing like a mountain goat.  I love these pictures where she seems like she is right at home on the trail.

She looks a little tired in the next one.  She is actually on the top of Mount Blanca.  Woohoo!

This next one is a shot of the view from the camp at which they spent most of their time.  Looking at these pictures makes me wish I had gone.

The tent in the background is the little two-man tent Taido bought for he and Mary Polly to sleep in on the trip.  That man never misses an opportunity to acquire a new piece of gear!

Of course there are always a few overachievers who have to grab a second peak.  Mary Polly skipped out on the second peak day, while Taido, Daddy and a few others climbed Little Bear.

This climb is looking a little more technical to me.

From the top of Little Bear, you can see the camp by the lake.  So far away…

My husband and my daddy!  I love these men!

The climbers who wanted more!  All these guys climbed Little Bear.

Above is the view of Blanca from Little Bear.  This picture of Mary Polly and her daddy makes me feel like this is a memory she will treasure forever and ever.  I’m so grateful that she got to be a part of such a significant experience.

There were just a few brave gals on the trip.  I was thankful for each one of them!

Little Bear under a rainbow.

potty training Boba Fett.

It’s a dangerous job, but somebody has to do it.

Hat tip to my mama who got him started by spending his first day in big boy pants with him!

…at the chino house.

Because my babies are growing up.  I know that this should not surprise me.  But still it does.  It catches me off guard that my preteen does not want to hop in the car everytime I mention the library.  I feel a little lost when I realize that my children have stopped gathering around me like ducklings.  I still have one baby duckling of course.  Then there are the middle two that come and go, but are starting to be more independent.  And then there is the oldest, and he is trying to fly the coop.

One evening after VBS, Cole wanted to spend the night with some friends.  Now, since it is summer, this is not unusual, but I had made plans…those four words, I had made plans, that right there is where I get into trouble.  I like to make plans, and then I like for everyone to act like my plans are the greatest ideas they have ever heard of.  Goody goody gumdrops! That’s what your children are SUPPOSED to say when you tell them your plans for the day.  We are so happy that God made you our mother! Ok, that’s taking it a little far, but you get the point.

So, I had been chatting with a dear friend about ways to enlarge our creative minds this summer with some art projects, and she had graciously agreed to come over and help us stretch our own canvases as a fun start to summer art.  It would involve a staple gun.  And a hammer.  And banging and large movement.  This project was designed for a 12 year old boy.

But then, when presented with the oppurtunity to spend the night with friends, all of a sudden the art project had absolutely no allure.  Let’s face it.  Since it was my idea, it never had any allure for Cole.  But I really felt that once we actually did it, he would get into it.

So I had to decide if I was going to make Cole be a part of the family art activity or go with his friends.  It seems simple enough.  The problem is that every decision seems to boil down to a decision between family and friends right now.  And there is no way to make everyone happy.  Since Cole was spending the night with two friends who happen to have mothers who are in my corner, we were able to work out a compromise where he got to spend the night, but then all three boys came and joined in the art project the next morning.  Sound a little complicated?  Throw in a devastated Ben who was not getting to have a sleepover and the possibility that I was going to overwhelm my friend with three middle school boys instead of just one.

It all turned out ok.  Lora is brilliant and wonderful and we all stretched canvases together.  It should, of course, come as no surprise to anyone that Cole’s friends, Alex and Tony, were WAY more into the project than Cole.

I tell you this story because most of our summer days have been like this so far.  Navigating the span that my kids are currently covering is awkward for me, and I have not been doing it with much grace.

In fact, I recently realized that I’m grieving the way we are changing.  I want to do summer as we have always done, where we go swim and read and camp and play, and though there are squabbles, we all enjoy the same activities.  We at least all enjoy being in the same place. I’m not even going to delve into the matter of Cole’s disgust over our belonging to the family swimming pool instead of the other pool, you know, Mom, the one EVERYONE goes to.

Every day seems new and unfamiliar.  I wonder if I will ever get the hang of it.  I pray for wisdom to know which plans to hold onto and which ones to release. When to leave him behind and when to make him come along.