For Life with Friends, Talks with Dad, & Chicken Pot Pie - Seven Gratitudes, vol. 12
Seven Gratitudes is a weekly gratitude practice. Several of my friends and I linkup every Friday to share the ways we notice the bubbling and swirling growth of grace in our lives. Thanks for joining the fun!
This week I am grateful for…
1
The amplified joy of life with friends.
St. Patrick was well remembered Friday night ‘round the Coyle-Carr table. We were blessed with the presence of our friends and the gift of our friends becoming friends with one another.
Aaron and I made a cottage pie, roasted broccoli, and a green apple tart. Stephanie made a Rainbow Salad, which I thought was clever and very luck-o-the-Irish of her!, and Laurie and Adam supplied Irish beers for all.
Wes and Meg stayed the night in our guest room and shared pancakes with us Saturday morning. Weekend mornings are just wonderful anyway, but then to share that blissful grogginess with some our best friends—that’s a little bit of heaven!
I am thankful for the way friends make time slow down. Or, rather, they help me experience every moment as it happens. With every breath, laugh, and story I am drawn directly into the perfect grace of the present moment.
Talk about life-giving. <3
2
The opportunity to hear my friend preach.
I was proud to witness my colleague and dear friend, Laurie Kenyon, preach this past Sunday morning morning at Green Street UMC. She asked WWJD?--Who would Jesus deport?--and talked about her pilgrimage to the desert Borderlands, St. Patrick's immigrant status, and the Reality that there's Living Water enough for us all. God doesn't build barriers to community--that's a human-made problem.
Yup. PREACH.
And...she did not know that I was coming. :) If you know me you might know that I LOVE to be sneaky, though I can hardly ever pull it off--I get too excited and blab away the surprise!
Well, this time it worked. I did not tell Laurie I was coming Sunday morning and sat way in the back. She didn’t see me til she started reading the scripture! I loved the opportunity to support and surprise my friend and Kingdom co-conspirator.
3
A good talk with my daddy on St. Joseph’s day.
Whatever emotion that is on that little toddler face of mine was close to what I was feeling when I called my daddy Monday morning. By the end of the conversation though, I was refreshed and strengthened for the week ahead. The conversation felt as warm and sheltering as my daddy's arms were when I was a girl.
Growing is hard to do. I am thankful for the way my dad learns alongside me, adding his wisdom and perspective in conversation with mine.
I experienced something of St. Joseph and his God in Lee Coyle Monday morning.
4
Homecomings.
Aaron was away Saturday 'til Monday evening. I hate when he's away. I LOVE when he gets home.
5
Free tickets to the Five Irish Tenors.
The divinity school came into some free tickets to the Five Irish Tenors' final show of their American tour. Irish? Music? Free??? You know I jumped on that. :) I'm working on a little essay about my experience that I'll share with you next week.
For now, here's Ed Sheeran singing my favorite song of the night:
6
Delicious success with my very first scratch-made chicken pot pie!
I totally had a Snow White moment when I trimmed the edges of the pie, y'all. It was glorious.
Chicken Pot Pie is just a fancy "leftover makeover."
- The filling I made from leftover chicken I saved from a community meal at school last week. After I deboned, chopped, and froze the chicken meat (in order to save the chicken for use this week), I roasted the bones for a broth.
- In that broth I also used up the random veggie scraps and peels I had been saving in the freezer for such an occasion. I used the broth to make the gravy in the pie!
- Presenting the meat in pie form stretched it delightfully over 8 generous portions! :)
7
My cookbooks.
My Peacehaven friends got me back into cookbooks this past summer. It is a special sort of pleasure to have the recipe written out there in a codex along with any notes I have left in the margins. Also, I cuss less when I don't have to reanimate my iPhone with flour on my hands. #truth
Each of my cookbooks were given me by loved ones. That's a blessing in itself, to remember each of them in turn.
What's your favorite cookbook?
Seven Gratitudes Link-Up
If you would like to join in on this weekly practice of gratitude and chicanery, grab yourself a button and link up with us here every Friday morning of 2017.
HOW TO:
- Write a listicle about your seven gratitudes each week.
- Publish your piece with a link back to my blogpost on Friday mornings.
- And then link up with the form at the bottom of the page.