Lemon Pound Cake Muffins

My dad loved lemon; it was his favorite flavor, and we were always on a quest to find yummy lemon treats.

We never had a chance to share these muffins with him, but making them brings him to mind.

DD#1 whipped them up on a cold Sunday.  We tell her that if nursing-her dream job-doesn't work out, culinary school is the definite Plan B.

She made these with GF baking mix from King Arthur; substitute it for the flour and leavening if you're going gluten-free.

Delicate and delicious, these are perfect with a mug of steaming tea or coffee.

Enjoy,

Ginger

Lemon Pound Cake Muffins

(from Taste of Home)

Ingredients 
1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
or replace flour, salt, and soda with 1 3/4 cups King Arthur gluten-free baking mix
GLAZE:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in
the sour cream and extracts. Combine the flour, salt and baking
soda; add to creamed mixture just until moistened.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at
400° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the
center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan
to a wire rack.

Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over muffins. Serve warm.
Yield: 1 dozen.

Gifts

One of the things I love about photography is that it taught me to see.

Angles, light, shadow--pictures form in my head even when my camera isn't in hand.

Counting gifts teaches seeing. 

John 1 says "we have seen His glory"--

and I wonder, what if that is not just for disciples who saw Him in the flesh;

what if it is also for us, that with vision, we also could see His glory.

Lord, teach me to see.

It's Monday, 

and a day off from school (yay),

 and I am relishing this day at home and counting gifts.

#101-#111

101. Mama doing so much better!

102. frost so heavy it looks like snow

103. fire in the fireplace

104. Lemon Pound Cake muffins

105. a rainbow of fruit in a wooden bowl

106. my bifocals ;0

107. someone speaking His Word to my child--and she listened

108. The Word will win because the Light wins

109.Tiny blossoms on baby's breath

110. sleeping in

111. Jan Karon's books--like comfort food for my mind

112. the earache and snow that kept me from visiting Mama this weekend wasn't around when she had her surgery

113. Jesus made His tabernacle with me
Following,
Ginger

The Light

It was light that compelled me.

One glance at the thermometer warned me that there was no warmth in it, but I waited as long as I could into the afternoon before I venture outdoors.

And, oh, the light!

It bleaches grey branches to white, sharpens blue sky into sapphire.

By the second lap, there are needles in my chest.

My jagged breathing echoes my jagged prayers, sound put to silent fear that light would retreat, that darkness would overcome again.  

At the crest of the hill, the light shines on my face, too bright, too intense to look upon.

I bow my head; 

diamonds sparkle on my eyelashes, and I breathe in sun and cold and blue 

and believe that Light will win.

I am Just

I am just

a woman on a walk,

breathing in cold air,

concentrating on the mud slipping under my feet,

but longing to watch the moon rise over the pond, suspended in graying sky.

It and the cold snatch my breath away.

It's there again,

out the winter-dirty window,

pale white orb on a black sky

where otherwise there is nothing visible in the darkness.

I am just ordinary,

but I have seen the moon rise.

This week 

I am just

a woman breathing in Grace,

longing to see the hand of the Jehovah Rapha, 

the LORD my Healer,

where there was otherwise nothing but the darkness.

I am just ordinary,

but I have seen Hope rise.

Following,

Ginger

Hard Eucharisteo

So we begin our year in the hospital.  My mother had brain surgery yesterday because of injuries sustained in a fall.  It will be a long journey back.
Things may be quiet here for a while as we wait and pray for the Lord's best.
Following,
Ginger

A Formula for Gratitude

In studying 1 Thessalonians, I get hung up over in chapter 5:16-18 on three of the simplest verses in the whole book.

Rejoice always,

pray without ceasing,

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Easier said than done--or is it just me?

Yet, these things are God's will in Christ Jesus for me, 

so He will make it possible for me to do those things.  

In me, impossible.

In Him, all these things possible.

This morning I read a quote from Charles Spurgeon that brought these verse together for me.

"When joy and prayer are married, their first born child is gratitude."

Joy + prayer = gratitude.

When I seek joy with a heart that's in continuous communication with my Father, gratitude for Him will flow.

Eucharisteo precedes the miracle,

but chairo (rejoicing) and proseuchomai (praying) precede eucharisteo. 

I love that.

I did some gift-counting in 2013, but I'm starting my list over and working toward 1000 in 2014.

  (I gave myself a head start.)

1. warm house

2. cold winter sunshine

3. blue skies

4 hot coffee with cream

5. gluten free banana bread with coconut

6. the hands that made the bread

7. raspberries from our summer garden

8. Big Red

9. a new, gentle alarm that makes me smile (a little) when it goes off

10. DD#2 and her sense of humor

11. under warm covers

12. a plan for the paper clutter that tries to eat my house

13. Hillsong's Aftermath album

14. a plan for Sunday morning

15. hot soup

16. electricity

17. a paycheck

18. giving

19. & 20 two of my favorite sisters in Christ

21. a job

22. blue mason jars with white daisies

23. 1 Thessalonians

24. God gives God.

25. All I really need I already have in Christ

26. I am His and He is mine

27. What He starts, He'll finish

28. bacon

29.& 30 appliances to make life easier

31. a new journal

32. years of old journals

33. onions cooking in olive oil

34. morning dark

35. first light

36. a clean floor

37. the testimony of the year

38. snow day!

39. Jesus Project verses

40.  Jesus was in the Beginning

41. The Word is God.

42. Sunday morning worship with our little group

43. morning quiet in my house

It's a long list!  Keep me accountable for counting!

Following,

Ginger

Belong to the Day

Since the day after Christmas, I've been in 1 Thessalonians.

A manuel for ministry, if there ever was one.

This morning, 1 Thessalonians 5 called out one word: light.

We're to be sons and daughter of light, characterized by light,

full of hope, full of self-control.

We belong to the day.

As I look out my windows at the first snowfall of the winter and secretly wish, on this last Friday of Christmas break, that it had fallen next week when we go back to school, I realize that I need to be light.

Though I'd love to stay cocooned in my house, there is darkness where, for this season, I am called to be light,

to belong to the day.

In 1 Thessalonians, it's striking how often Paul says, "Follow our example.  Do as we did to you," and I wonder, really, if I can ever in good conscience tell someone to do as I do, to be as I am.

I want to be characterized by light, living the hope I believe.

Belong to the day.

Following,

Ginger