12:28 p.m. Today's project is to celebrate the lovely spring vibe that's around us here in Riverside and much of the United States. With Daylight Savings Time starting at midnight this morning, I found myself in a "mood," so I'm making fresh lemonade from the fruit my dad gave us last week. I also am gathering ingredients for the potluck that will grace the last meeting of our ladies' Bible study on Tuesday.
To that end, I decided to make a popular layered breakfast casserole, which calls for eggs, white bread slices, milk, seasoning, cheese and a pound of cooked, crumbled bacon or sausage. (Recipe to follow). At first, we planned on stopping at the grocery for the bacon, eggs and bread, but I thought, "better see if we have some bacon in the garage freezer." So we enjoyed a fundraiser hamburger and burrito for Casa del Pastor, the abandoned women and children's shelter in Mexico that our church sponsors; picked up calligraphy pens for Heidi and me to address wedding invites this week, and came home. Believers need to be wise stewards of both spiritual and physical gifts God has given us (I Chronicles 28:1b, where King David entrusted stewards over all of his and his sons' possessions; I Corinthians 4:2, an exhortation that stewards must be found faithful). Waste in any area is pretty much unthinkable these days!
So I asked Steve to look for bacon in the chest freezer. He came back asking what was it I needed? And then went out again, and I realized that I might be asking him to "prove a negative!" You know how in politics, candidates have accusations flung at them, and all too often fall into the trap of trying to prove they didn't do it, i.e., the "when did you stop beating your wife?" kind of thing. By asking Steve to go get something that may or may not be there, I would be causing him unnecessary doubt about what he'd heard, and he'd feel blame for not finding it. As he battles Alzheimer's, an emotional difficulty arises that would never occur to a person who could confidently report, "We do (or don't) have it." He'd be wondering, if the bacon wasn't there, if he forgot what I wanted, or if it was there and he didn't see it, or whether he had difficulty looking in and among larger packs of frozen goods to find it. All of those occurrences are very common lately.
Steve came back saying that we didn't have any bacon, so I didn't press it. Now that he's out walking the dogs, I'll go myself and check. It wouldn't matter normally, but since I have to squeeze blood out of turnips these days (and I need that ingredient!) it's worth pursuing.
When Steve returned, I let him know that he was right, no bacon. But I did find a whole loaf of the white bread I'll need--a penny saved is a penny earned, right? The bacon can be purchased tomorrow.
Kitchen projects are fleeting and according to whim, but my marriage is permanent, with a stated determination to keep it that way until the Lord calls one of us home. So loving my husband means protecting him from any additional self-doubt caused by my words and attitudes. Steve's emotions are fragile, his thought process is breaking down, and I want to build him up, not contribute to the breakdown!
Hear Ephesians 3:12-14:
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
Puffy Brunch Eggs
4 slices white bread, torn up
1 pound cooked, crumbled bacon or sausage
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt
Dash white pepper
Place bread in greased 13 x 9" casserole dish. Place sausage or bacon over it. Then cover with the cheese. Mix milk, eggs and other ingredients and pour over. Casserole can sit overnight covered in the refrigerator. Then bake 350 degrees 35-40 minutes. Serves 6.
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