two lines

I'm not sure we've ever been so happy! We're due on November 2nd and ecstatic in every way.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a sweet video of us telling our parents and siblings...it's as good as it gets.

PISH. en. ski.

That's how you say Pysanky, the art of Ukrainian Easter Egg Dying. I hosted 28 women here at camp on Friday night for an evening of candles, enya-type music, low lighting and calm conversation. It honestly was one of my favorite events I've led at camp because it was just so relaxed.

My friend Gina and I set up all afternoon so that when the women arrived they each had a place setting with instructions, bee's wax, a candle, two washed eggs and a kiska (the tool you use to apply the wax to your egg).
I had three stations for dying the eggs. And our host Grant (on staff here) made 33 wire egg dippers for me! He's a good guy. The colors of the egg dye are astounding. It's my favorite part of pysanky...the dye is so bright and saturated that the eggs turn brilliantly bright. It's what I always wanted my PAWS to do growing up...but those colors always ended up so muted unless you left your egg in there overnight....

The women all came with a close friend or sister or family member and it was so fun to watch close friends laugh and giggle as they tried something new. I love girlfriends like this.

I began our time together with a flipchart full of instructions. The very first thing listed was: Someones egg will break. It might be yours. It will be sad. And then I warned that these little eggs can become quite precious, but to please remember, it is just an egg.

Thankfully, we only had three eggs break, and they were all the practice eggs. Special thanks to Lisa Groves, my lovely sister-in-law, for sharing Pysanky with me three years ago. Who knew I'd become such an enthusiast?!! If you're interested in learning more, go to: http://www.ukrainiangiftshop.com/

more thoughts on church.

Today is Palm Sunday. On the liturgical calendar, this is a big deal Sunday...the Sunday just before Easter, the beginning of Holy Week. The week begins with this day filled with Hosannas and celebration as Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem, and then Thursday remembers the last supper and his moments of prayer and deep sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane. Friday walks through each agonizing moment of the crucifixion and for three days we wait until Easter Sunday, when we celebrate our Risen Messiah.

Last night on the phone my sister said, "enjoy your Palm Sunday." And I immediately felt disappointed because I knew the church we now attend is so less liturgical than what I am used to, and that the day wouldn't be celebrated. Now, to be fair, we got to the service 18 minutes late, so I might have missed something said or done. But as far as I could tell, we didn't acknowledge this day that is so revered in mainline and especially protestant churches.

But here's the thing. When we arrived (again, 18 minutes late) our pastor was just beginning his sermon and let me tell you, this guy can preach. He is so gifted for sharing God's word on Sunday morning. It always catches me off guard because he seems young (look who's trying to judge!) and the church is new and there is always a part of my self that wants to pick this place apart. But this morning was a holy spirit morning, where I really felt challenged and convicted to set my expectations aside and look at the place God has led me.

And what I saw: a faithful people gathered, listening earnestly to the word of God preached, singing hymns of praise to our Messiah. Hmmm. Sounds a lot like palm sunday.

the story of us

I'm cleaning off my desk today and just came across a card with this link on it. We went to a wedding this summer in Green Bay that blew our minds. It was the wedding of Rory's college roommate, John Link. John and Rory have many a tale to tell...

The wedding was held at an event center, ceremony in the lobby area (lots of windows and glass sculpture) and the reception was held on the stage of the performing arts area. The view was looking out over a huge, stunning auditorium. And the entire reception carried this performance theme. Fitting, as John is a movie maker. I'll post some pictures, but mostly, I just want you to see this video they put together, sharing their stories of dating and engagement. It's some funny stuff.

things I'm thinking about...

***I came home last night after work and found Rory doing Tai Chi in our living room. He had found a dvd at the library and wanted to give it a try. Only thing, was that the video had been shot at a senior home, and was geared towards geriatric tai chi-ers. He told me to just wait until the camera pans out. And when it did, there was the spittin image of my Grandma Harrington. Honestly, could have been her 10 years ago. I would have laughed, but it sort of wierded me out.

***I made enchiladas last night and decided to broil the cheese for a minute just at the end so it would turn nice and bubbly with spots of brown. Unfortunately, when I went to take the casserole out of the oven, my thumb touched the bright red broiler coil directly. Holy hannah, do not try this at home. I had trouble sleeping last night because my thumb was demanding lots of deep breaths and reshifting of the ice pack. Today it doesn't hurt nearly as bad, it hasn't blistered but instead there is a nice brown patch where it was burned. I'd show a picture, but I personally get woozy seeing other people's bodily injuries on their blogs, so I'll try to never do that.

***I have 32 women coming to camp tonight to learn the art of Ukrainian Easter Egg dying. Two years ago my sister-in-law Lisa taught me and I became an enthusiast immediately. Yesterday I spent the day at work mixing up 33 dyes, and hand bathing all 75 eggs, one by one. Pictures and stories to come, I'm sure!

***And finally, I'm excited for the weekend! I'm not flying to North Carolina or California...just staying in Nebraska and that feels lovely and calm. Happy Weekend everybody!

blogging about blondies

Blogging is funny, because so often the pictures paint the scene and leave you wanting to be a part of the moment. I recently saw the lovely sunlit picture above on martawrites.com where she wrote of her butterscotch blondies. And ever since I've been thinking, "my life needs some blondies." So last night, after my sweet husband ran to the store for flour and butterscotch chips, I made my own blondies.

The batter didn't look like enough to fit in my 9x13 pan, so I opted for my smaller size. But at some point in the oven, that 1 Tablespoon of baking soda really took off, and when the timer went off, I found a loaf of butterscotch goodness. Unfortunately, the bottom of the loaf was still raw. So I took the bars out of the smaller pan (thankful for the tinfoil) and placed them in the 9x13 pan for another 20 minutes. And when they came out they were dense as (what's a really dense thing? hmmm...just googled this question and was given the answer plutonium) dense as plutonium.

Rory was gracious and used a lot of milk to get his down. And lets face it, with enough butter and sugar, it doesn't really matter what your end result turns out to be. But just take a moment to compare my picture below to Marta's above. Makes me laugh.

california recap: WITH WORDS!

As you can tell from the pictures, this was a full vacation. And honestly, I've just been regrouping since we got back. I was working on this post, and accidentally hit publish when the post was just pictures and after realizing I had done so, I thought, "I'm just going to go to bed and write my commentary later." And so here I am, two days later, doing just that.

The weekend was splendid. I had in my head that we would just go and hang out at John and Shannon's house, and lay on our bellies reading books and playing with cars with their 1 and 2 year old. But they had a fabulous itinerary for us, and every day was perfectly played out.

We arrived on my birthday around five, and drove to a fantastic neighborhood (San Francisco is basically all fantastic neighborhoods) for my birthday dinner. We went to a Roman restaurant that blew our minds. And puffed out our bellies. I actually had gotten ill on the plane ride, so I was more in to the bread basket and divine olive oil. But Rory had quail and I think John had rabbit and Shannon had something that was so good, her plate was empty before I could really get a good look. :)
After supper, we drove to a park area right under the Golden Gate bridge. Shannon had made individual molten chocolate cakes for us with a hot raspberry sauce (she microwaved it at a gas station in the hot-dog microwave, commenting that was the first time she had ever used one of those microwaves for personal use. ha.)

We went on lots of walks...this is the trail behind their house...it is glorious and feels so secluded. Very Lord-of-the-ringsy.

On Friday we took a tour of a vineyard in Napa Valley. It was a stunning day and I learned so much about wine! Rory and I don't really drink so for us it was just a bit more informative as we practiced our wafting and finding the legs on our wine.
We brought our new SLR camera on this trip and tried all sorts of depth of field pictures. Actually, that was Rory. I was just trying to get used to not focusing with my little index finger and using the actual lens! Crazy how digital my world has become.

They brought out local cheeses to pair with the wine. Rory and I do eat cheese. Let that be known. We love our cheese.

John and Shannon are friends who have made serious intentional decisions about what they eat and have been telling us about a homemade chicken broth that they make a few times a month. So John gave us a demonstration and let me tell you, it was AMAZING. And not all that complicated. It's amazing to think our grandma's all did this all the time because this is how cooking used to operate. Later John made this broth and veggies and chicken into chicken pot pies. Salivating as a type. They were to die for.

On Saturday we were presented five choices for a Rory-Becca day. They all sounded fabulous (including a cheese factory tour!) But we chose Stinson Beach and the Redwood Forest. While on the beach we had fish tacos with a homemade salsa that we still haven't stopped talking about.

This was the meadow leading to the big redwoods. I love that guy walking that path. I'd follow him anywhere.

This is me, casually standing with my knee slightly bent. I'm getting loopy-punchy as I type this. Sorry.

On Sunday we celebrated baby Kate's first birthday! We were actually with John and Shannon one year earlier when Shannon went into labor right in front of our eyes. This is maybe my favorite story of all time to tell, but way better in person. Ask me sometime. We went to the park in Farifax where they live and this guy was making bubbles like this one. I thought many times that my mom should really get into this. It combines bubbles, spell-bound-joy-filled kiddos and the outdoors. She'd be a great Bubble lady.

Kate's party was fabulous...complete with lots of frosting and John Thomas (2 year old big brother) yelling, "look at Kate dive into that cupcake" bazillions of times. Kate's favorite gift? A card that played winnie the pooh when she opened it. Keep that in mind for your next 1 year old birthday. Simple, inexpensive and perfect for a proud kid.

So there you have it! Our vacation was wonderful and now I'm still just trying to get laundry, groceries and life back under control. It's amazing how that just takes a few days after a good vacation.

favorite saint patty's joke...

A man was late to a meeting and couldn't find a parking spot. In his panic he prayed (in your best Irish accent),

"Lord, please, provide for me a parking spot and I promise you I will give up my Irish Whiskey and will go to Mass faithfully. Please Lord, help a lad."

And sure enough, as he rounded the next row, a car was backing out, right by the front door.

"Oh. Never mind, Lord, a spot just opened up."

twenty-nine.

That's me, today. Twenty-nine years old. And I'm excited about it. It seems eerily close to thirty, but I think I'm okay with thirty too, so I'm not going to freak out about its younger year, twenty-nine.

Rory and I are flying to San Francisco today to spend the weekend with our friends John and Shannon. John and Rory are both business owners, and speak their own language when they are together. Shannon and I both are seminary grads, and could talk or not talk for hours. (can anyone name that line? it's an all-time favorite movie quote of mine...) We're so excited to reconnect with these friends.

Mom, thanks for pushing so hard twenty nine years ago today. Mom and Dad, thanks for raising me in such a happy, healthy home and for living your lives and faith so fully and creatively. Mat and Annika, thanks for being my big brother and big sister. I love being the baby in the family. Rory, thanks for being the best thing that happened to me during my twenty-forth year of life.

Life is good, and I am happy. This is a happy, happy birthday.

the surprise tuxedo

My uncle Mark came to my wedding in a tuxedo. It wasn't a black tie event, but Uncle Mark saw a great opportunity to get to wear his tux and I found it pretty funny. He also wore his tuxedo to my sister's masters graduation ceremony.

On Sunday I called Uncle Mark and Aunt Jane and he told me that last Tuesday he got in the car and drove from St. Louis to Dysart, Iowa to celebrate my Great Aunt Stella's 92nd Birthday. (This is the same Great Aunt Stella I wrote about on Valentine's day.)

He arrived as a surprise to his aunt's house, and of course was wearing his tuxedo. After a while Stella's other nephew Jerry showed up with Stella's 93 year old brother-in-law. And then the four of them went to the nearby town for fried chicken at the bowling alley.

I am envisioning these four, Mark in his Tux, along with Jerry helping these two 90-somethings who rarely get out of their own homes, sharing a meal of greasy chicken in a hazy bowling alley. And somehow it completely works. Uncle Mark said the bowling alley attendant asked him if he was the entertainment for the celebration.

I called Aunt Stella after talking to Uncle Mark and she told me, in great detail, all about this most wonderful birthday party. She added that she was so pleased because she had wanted to turn in her income taxes in person, and her accountant was right next to the bowling alley. It was hard to figure out if she was more happy about hand-delivering her taxes or the fried chicken.

At any rate, she felt celebrated and I began to think more events need to be celebrated with a surprise tuxedo.

new favorite

I have been addicted to this banana smoothie lately. Be sure to freeze your yogurt...that's key for a smooth smoothie (no ice...this leads to ice chunks). And then add enough milk so it's not too thick. I think most of my life I have made my smoothies too thick and they're just not that good that way. Lots of milk makes it drinkable and the shake ends up so delish, it's hard to believe there is no ice cream in this thing.

And when you're checking out the shake, be sure to browse the site. It's called Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes and it has some of the simplest, healthiest recipes out there. Enjoy!

pajamas and crowns

I had a blast in North Carolina this weekend at the Wild Women Retreat at LutherRidge Bible Camp. I was called shuga, sweet thang, baby, and served grits for breakfast. The hospitality was above and beyond and I felt at home right away. The small group I was in was fantastic and wonderful conversation was shared all weekend long.

I was sent on this retreat to scout it out...to see what is going on that so many women sign up for this event (600 women registered within the first hour registration opened!). They then spread these women out over four different retreat weekends. What I found is that the retreat is led by the master of all retreat leaders. Pastor Mary is a remarkable storyteller and her attention to detail was astounding. I took notes the entire weekend and knew I was learning from the best.

The greatest part of this retreat was that I went with a professional objective, and immediately, the retreat became very personal. I needed a recharge, needed the time away to reflect and dream and pray, and somehow I ended up at a retreat that did just that. God is so faithful like that.

The retreat focused on dreams and visions, centered on the book of Revelation. We talked a lot about the dreams we have at night, but also the kingdom dreams God places on our hearts. It was powerful and I was grateful to be there.

ephesians

wild women

I'm in Asheville, North Carolina this weekend, hanging out with a bunch of ladies at Luther Ridge Bible camp. This retreat, called the Wild Women Retreat, is super succesful, filling up four different weekends within hours of registration opening up. I am being sent by my camp to go and see what is going on and figure out how we can do something similar at Carol Joy.

There will be 200 other women there, mostly coming with their own church groups, so I am hopeful to find a friend. I just bought new pajama pants for the pajama party/pillow fight scheduled for Saturday night. This thing could get crazy!

sara and troy are back in rwanda

...and this time they brought Toby! This picture was taken last summer when we were all in Estes Park, but if you want to see actual pictures and videos of their travels in Rwanda this week be sure to frequent their twitter page. You do not have to have a twitter account to see their pictures and videos. Simply click on this link: www.twitter.com/grovesroad

Sara and Troy have partnered with Food for the Hungry and have committed to finding sponsors for over 3,000 kids in one village called Gisanga. They have been to this village the past three years and intend to make this an annual trip. I love this concept of long-distance, long-term, frequent-visit missions. My home church is partnered with a village in Tanzania and they have a similar investment, visiting often. These villages know they have a long-term ministry partner.

And, side note: if you are on Twitter, I just joined. Not completely sold on the idea, other than I do like reading the tweets of the people I am following. I, however, am less inclined to post my minute by minute happenings because I just can't take myself that seriously. But I'm going to try it out for a while.

So look for me: beccagroves29. I'm the one trying to think of something clever and pithy to say, and having a horrible time in doing so. And you may be wondering, why not just beccagroves? Because I disabled that account when I dropped out of facebook and now I can't get it back. Neither can any other beccagroves out there. Argh! So, in honor of my 29th year (which begins on March 18th!) and because I typically use 29 as my exaggeration number (as in, "I could easily eat 29 corndogs right now..." I picked a number to follow up my name.

Tweet Tweet.

confession:

I'm having trouble getting through the prophets. I started reading the Bible straight through about a year ago. And if I had stayed on track, I'd be in Revelation within the next two weeks. But instead, I am stuck in Jeremiah. (I know...I'm not even that far into the prophets! And, Sara, I am so sorry this is your favorite prophet and I can't seem to get started... )

Something happened to my enthusiasm when the story stopped. Obviously I know it's all story, but I liked it earlier when their were people's lives we were following with a plot line and suspenseful moments like, "will they make it across that red sea?!!" But now the story parts are less common and the writing is mostly a frustrated plea by a poor guy who is desperate to call God's people to turn from their wicked ways.

Again, I get that this is a HUGE part of the big story, but I am starting to wish that I would have read the Bible in chronological order (found here). This way these poor prophets would be crying out while I already have a vivid picture of the wayward people in my head. Like the pictures I had while reading 1st and 2nd Kings...

I hope this is all being understood. I'm not actually complaining about the prophets, I'm just confessing that I've lost steam. And it bums me out, because I am the only one who is losing when I avoid this good book. I mean that. I once heard that you have to make sure that you have a way for God to speak to you each day. It could be through prayer or scripture or a sermon or devotional book. But for me, the Bible seems to be the best way I "hear" God.

So it frustrates me that I can't seem to kick this dry spell. Then I read this:
I'm humbled after reading this, because a) this quote is saying a whole lot and b) it is obvious that I am basing my Bible reading on my own interest and mood. As if "squeezing it in" is going to do the trick.

The good news is that I know what's coming up in this book, and I know that the messiah these prophets hint at, and the wonders he will do are still to come at the climax of this book, when a baby comes to save the world.

Until then, I'm pressing on. And I'm writing that so I feel accountable to do so.

simple, personal scrapbooks

My mom lives far from her five grandchildren. My brother lives in Seattle, my sister in Kalispell, Montana and Mom and Dad live in Minnesota. But they do lots of traveling to stay in their lives and for every trip she takes to Seattle or Montana and for every time the grandkids come to Minnesota, she makes an individual special book to give to each grandchild.

Mom will go through all of her pictures and make each grandchild a simple scrapbook filled with pictures from their time together. It's a commitment to pick the pictures and to get them all developed. But the whole concept is simple...and because she's been so consistent, every grandchild has dozens and dozens of these personal books on their bookshelves, filled with pictures of themselves having special moments with the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents who they don't get to see super often.

For me, this is memory keeping at its best. The kids adore these special books, and all the while our long distance family is frequently reinforced as they see the pictures of all of us loving each other well.

So the scrapbooking lesson: keep it simple and keep it consistent. Well done, Mom.

And now...be sure to check out Mom's blog today and see her AMAZING flower on Annika's Frenchy Bag. So stinkin cute.

the snow has melted

...which means summer is really on its way. I know it's still a few months off, but when you work in camp ministry, there is a whole lot that needs to get done before summer can start and truth-be-told, I think I was finding a bit of comfort in the blanket of white that told me it's still the dead of winter.

But after a few sunny days and now a lot of rain, the stuff is almost gone and summer is definitely on its way. Deep breath.

Our summer staff applications are due next Friday, but we already have 75 applications in. This is really exciting and I am confident we will have a solid staff. I spent last week and much of this week interviewing each applicant over the phone and I am encouraged.

I ask each applicant to tell me about their family and faith-life growing up. And I ask them whose faith they look up to and how have they challenged how you live out your own faith.

I love these questions, because more often than not, I hear of faithful, loving families that have chosen to raise their child in the church. I hear about Grandma's who are always praying for their grandkids and how much of an impact their faithfulness has had on the faith development of the college student I am talking to. I hear about a parent who brought the kids to church every Sunday and Wednesday for 18 years while the other parent stayed at home.

I hear about faithful Sunday school teachers, pastors and youth directors. But more often than not, the person's faith they look up to is right within their own family.

In Deuteronomy chapter 6 we are commanded, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

I have left these conversations thankful that God sets us up in families and that these families are our primary mission field. I am left filled with hope after hearing these applicants tell their faith stories and so grateful for the generations before them who have remained faithful to the call of Christ in going therefore and passing on the faith to their kids and grandkids.

a few things...

(picture from Ali Edwards)
I had high hopes of posting a tutorial today on how to make the fabric flower pots. But this weekend I got sucked into the type case project. And what a project it is. I found my type case at a garage sale last summer for fifteen bucks. Not too bad. But the squares I have to work with are very tiny, and all of the boxes are different sizes. So I spent a portion of yesterday sawing out the wooden dividers between certain squares to make bigger picture holders.

And then I spent the evening resizing favorite pictures in photoshop to fit all of the new sized squares and rectangles I need to fill.

Clearly, this would be better with pictures. I'll post those later.

At any rate, if you're chomping on the bit to make your fabric flowers (and based on emails I got this weekend, I believe many of you are), the picture tutorial I found on Donna's site is here. And then I just used the thickest wire in Michael's jewelery section and used a pliers to cut the wire and bend it around the fabric. Again, pictures would help. I'll work on that...

Until then, enjoy all of the crafty flower goodness out there!
-I saw this on Blue Cricket Design and have a dream of making a big one to pin on my frenchy bag using all of the leftover fabrics.
-And I think a few of these would be adorable standing in a bucket together.
-And I still want to make the tissue paper pom poms. I really need an event to make all of these festive things for!

Clearly, it must be spring time. I'm dying for flowers to pop up...