burnham berry blast

Not long ago I accidentally picked a whole lot of berries. My friend and I were chitter chattering and--boom, 4 hours later--22 pounds of strawberries, 17 pounds of marionberries and 76 pounds of blueberries. Needless to say, it was quite a shock to our postage-stamp sized kitchen. After much fretting and washing and sharing and eating and cobbling, the berries are safely tucked away in the bellies and the freezer. Fortunately, they were only a buck a pound. David and I decided on a 25 pound max limit from now on.

And just thought I'd tack it on: we have a very favorite crisp recipe. We have it for dessert and then the leftovers are wonderful with coffee for breakfast.

Berry Crisp (serves 9)

4-ish c berries
1/2 c sugar (use more for raspberries, less for very sweet berries)
2 T cornstarch
1 3/4 c quick oats
1 c flour
1 c brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 c butter

Crush 1 c berries; add enough water to measure 1cup. In saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and berry mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in remaining berries. In bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar and soda. Cut in butter to make crumbs. Press half into a greased 9x9 baking dish. Spread with berries. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes or until it's golden and bubbly. Eat warm or cold. YUM!

8/2011 Now I do 4-6 cups of berries. We like it even better with more! And less sugar if the berries are particularly sweet.

so, we were driving through austria...

Christina recently unearthed this for me. I scowl--and then laugh--every single time. I miss you guys.
May 2005

happy summer

a confession

A few weeks ago David and I were passing Nurture Shock by Po Bronson back and forth. In it, Bronson gives some staggering statistics on kids and lying. I read it and I was just depressed wondering how much of what I hear from kids at school is lie. (Did I mention I've been teaching middle school math?) According to the research kids lie a lot and usually (rather than to avoid punishment) it is in order to please the adults in their life. It sparked great conversation between the two of us about lying, truth and honesty. I didn't really feel like lying is a thing for me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually flat out lied.

And then... today, I was walking out to the car. David and I had roped off an area of the lawn for our garden awhile back, but then he got a job and we'll be moving and so we've been uncertain and haven't moved forward with the digging and the lawn has grown a bit out of control and it's ugly and seedlingless and ahhhrgh... Behind the house we have a few beautiful, little seedlings. David is super diligent about tucking them into the garage at night and bringing them out into sunlight during the day. When it was raining really hard he even figured out how they could get light in the garage. At any rate, he has been the major work force behind all garden endeavors this year.

Walking to the car, I ran into some neighbors. They asked if we'd planted yet. Basically, over the course of our three minute conversation, I lied about the garden because I didn't want to tell them we were moving and because I didn't want to appear lazy. I made it sound like I've been twiddling my thumbs waiting for David and we just got busy and we're not sure how we're going to do it and ... whatever--I LIED to them! I think I feel most awful about insinuating that it is David's fault.


You know, it was one of those situations where there was very little actual factual untruth, but I was certainly and purposefully and self-protectively misleading. As I drove off, the Holy Spirit poked me somewhere out on the far edges of my heart, but thankfully I took note <<That's lie.>>

Uff.

Yuck. I apologized and turned back to Jesus--the light of the world. I'll talk with David as soon as I can. It's a painfully good reminder that I must be active in my pursuit of truth and light. Always. I need Jesus. I need truth deeply. Deep truth deeply. Jesus is that.

It also makes me wonder: I thought lying wasn't a thing for me, but by the faintness and real-ness of the Spirit's poke--how often have I done this exact same thing? And how much do I have to learn about truth?

I want truth and light in my deepest parts.

more on water

So, we're reading from 2 Kings in the Burnham household these days. There's a crazy story that I don't remember from Sunday school about some thirsty people:

After a roundabout march of seven days (hmm, sounds familiar), the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them (also sounds familiar). The Israelites were parched. Their animals were parched. They decided to ask the prophet, Elisha, for help. Elisha ends up telling the guys, "This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water... 
This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord."
And then, amazingly, the next morning, the water just started flowing. It filled the land, and subsequently even reflected red so that the army that opposed the thirsty Israelites thought it was blood. Weird. And you'll just have to read the rest of the story yourself (2 Kings 3). It's a crazy adventure! Water to drink and a war won. More than those Israelites would've asked or imagined!


It's been ringing in my head. As we look for jobs, as we wonder what to do next, as we wish we lived in a foreign country--in any and every uncertainty, I can know for certain--
This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.

water and thoughts

We are going to spend an hour today in following a drop of water on its travels. If I dip my finger into this basin of water and lift it up again, I bring with it a small glistening drop out of the water below and hold it before you. Tell me, have you any idea where this drop has been? What changes it has undergone, and what work it has been doing during all the long ages water has lain on the face of the earth?   (Arabella B. Buckley, 1878)

Yesterday, I spent five hours watching 125 fourteen-year-olds take a test on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. I had a lot of time to think. We were in the library and I picked up a book about water. Did you know that in the teeniest drop of water there are over 300 million water molecules?

I think about how our bathroom faucet drips incessantly. I think about the last National Geographic cover--Water: Our Thirsty World. I think about how Jesus said he was living water, we will never thirst again after we drink him. I think about Arabella's wondering words.