pep talk

Here I lay in the cozy corner of a weekend well savored.  The quiet hum of a much appreciated heater runs in perfect time as little rainbow hearts dance before me to the rhythm of music floating out from the recesses of Bubba’s room (affectionately known as the “servant’s quarters”-he doesn’t, strictly speaking, have a door).  It is Resurrection night, and I am replete with the outpouring of grace and blessings from Heaven that hugged me all weekend.  

No plans for Friday night was my game, but God is the best planner anyway, and boy did He come up with a doozy.  My favorite/the best brother in the world took me to a bar and we enjoyed fries, beer, a card game, and beautiful conversation.

It was one of those rare occasions when I did not have to consciously will myself to live in the present.  I did not desire to be anywhere else but in those moments with my brother talking of He Who is Love.  I left full of beer, but even more full of love and gratitude. That’s what happens when God takes the wheel.  

Saturday came and brought with it the cold.  But, it also brought heart-shaped cookies and little girls making Valentines and scraping a nutella jar with any utensil possessing the reputation of yielding as much of the last traces of any desirable jar-contained substance. 

Girls after my own nutella lovin' heart

It reminded me of the magic of Saturday when you are a kid.  You are sandwiched very comfortably between Friday and Sunday, and you are savoring the weekends proverbial cream of the oreo (or in this case, the nutella between the pie crust) as you revel in little things like afternoon movies, Valentine colored M&M’s, and friendship.  

And btw, this recipe rocks.  These pastries (they were so much more than cookies) were ridiculously good.  Valentine worthy fo sho.  

I drove home in a blizzard that came out of no where, but was a nice change of pace since it wasn’t one of those white out blizzards.  But the snow and the clouds sure as heck made way for the sun’s curtain call. 

I was in the car with a crock pot full of chicken and a bowl of flour/baking powder/salt in my lap

but I had to capture a little of the beauty as this was the only time that these colors would come together in this exact way at this exact time ever again.  This was the one and only time in the history of creation that this sunset would ever be.  That calls for some unrestrained squeals of delight, and crock pot teetering on the lap photo taking.  

China and I rode that sunset all the way to Reston to spend an evening of sibling bliss finally celebrating Lianna’s 25th birthday together with a special dinner.

And by special, I mean it was almost 100% slow cooker generated.  Besides the vegetables, the main course and the cake were prepared in crock pots.  Pretty wild. I found this cake on pinterest and, in true Elisa form, I pinned it and planned to serve it for Lianna’s birthday without reading the fine print.  I decided to read the fine print, let’s see...20 minutes prior to leaving for the dinner last night. Whoops. When I read that there were a few maneuvers I have never pulled in my baking reportoire (i.e. making a cake in a crock pot), I froze and was ready to back out and find an easier solution.  Then I realized I am trying to live more boldly, dream bigger, expect the unexpected. And this should be applied in every moment--even the baking emergency kind.  Like maybe, maybe I can rock this crock pot cake. I gave myself a pep talk.  “I am going to rock this”, is what I said to mysdlf, perhaps none to confidently, but I said it.  And I went for it.  No holds barred.  

Guess what?  I rocked it.  It was soft, warm, gooey, chocolatey, melty, birthday-y goodness. Total gift from God. The crock-pot and I embarked on a new relationship of baked goods slow cooked last night.  Baking in the slow cooker is the new hip cool thing.  Spread it around like wild fire.


And the evening’s entertainment? Priceless.  

Sophia Rose gave us a little flash back to her dance moves when she was 8 months old.  She has watched a home video of herself dancing to the song “love like woe”, and she only wants to dance to that song.  And she only wants to dance like she did in the video.  Wearing Lianna’s UGGs of course.  The cutest/best thing I have ever seen.

I LOVE living near all of my siblings.

I love living with 2 of them and being able to drive down route 7 to be with my other one and her little dumpling.  I fixed those moments of pure Heaven-sent delight in my heart’s store of happy memories. 

Laughing at the cuteness of Sophia, dancing in the living room with my siblings and the Pixy

3rd trimester holler

Singing happy birthday to my glowing-with-new-life 25 year old baby sister as Bubba holds 3 candles for her to blow away (I stuck about 7 candles into the first serving of hot-from-the-pot cake only to notice a few seconds later that there were little colorful wax pools forming amidst the chocolate--let that be your warning for putting candles in hot cake if you are like me and forget things like wax melts in heat).

These are a tad blurry but the love is crystal clear 

I made the drive down route 7 this sunshiny Resurrection day morning that tricked me into thinking that the wind chill was not going to be nose numbing.  The evenings snow drifts frosted the sidewalks and grass and my shoes reflected the sky.  

Pretty darn grand.  
Mass with the McCabe girls was wonderful, as was the Gospel:


A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched him, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Mark 1:40-42

One of my all time favorites.  The faith and the humility of the leper have me hoping and praying that I will one day be able to say with as much trust that even if His answer is “not in this life, but the next, will I heal you of this particular sorrow”, that I will be completely content, because I still have Jesus, and He will take care of me no matter what happens.  No matter what.

I danced in the kitchen for a high chair imprisoned Sophia as she ate her lunch and gathered with joy the giggles that my twirls beckoned from her little heart.  

And this girl, she’s a little momma.  She l-o-v-e-s her baby doll, and will unwrap and have her re-swaddled as many times as you are willing.   Not to mention that when I arrived at their house she climbed up on her table and looked over the bar where I was in the kitchen, smiling her impish smile she said, and I quote: “auntie, how are you?”.  No joke.  The cute points that this girl is racking up is unheard of.  

After my morning of celebrating the Resurrection in Mass and receiving the Body of Christ with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and continuing the celebration in the thousands of little joys Sophia gives by her mere existence and the comfort of eating oreos and talking with Lianna in a warm living room, I returned to the homestead to be immersed in another kind of celebration.  

I enjoyed the quiet presence of two siblings lost in their books while I edited photos, and gazed at a candle through the magical lens of a jar of water.  

Bubba went with me to the weekly Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament our parish has every Sunday, and we basked in the warmth of Christ’s presence together. My favorite way to kiss Resurrection day goodbye.  

By the by, Bubba is the best.  I hope for a brother like him for everyone.  The other night I came back from work to find little jars of the most perfect purple kissed flowers gracing almost every surface in our little abode. 

These flowers gave me so much joy at first sight, and have continued to brighten my heart when I enjoy their beauty as well as the thought of what care Sean put into each arrangement.  

They weren’t just plopped in a vase. Nosiree. They were handled with care and thought, as all of God’s creation is handled by our Creator, and they make me happy. 

If any guys are reading this, flowers make us happy.  They really do.  We feel special and loved when we receive those soft, fragrant, colorful drops of sunshine.

It was a breathing in God’s Love at every turn kind of weekend.  I hope that kind of week for all of us.  And in those moments when we aren’t exactly smelling the sweet flowers of life in the form of baby giggles and slow cooker cakes, the Beloved is still always inviting you to be Loved by Him and to love in return.  Circumstances do not determine our happiness.  Knowing that we are infinitely Loved and desired from eternity by Love Himself at every moment is. And knowing that it isn’t a perfect version of you that Jesus is asking for, but just exactly you as you are in this moment.  That is where our happiness is. Responding to this Love by loving Him and those around us as best we can is where our happiness is.  No matter what.  He will take care of everything if we let Him.  So let Him and see what amazing things happen!