by nature I am a very sensitive person, sensitive towards others and sensitive to the spirit. when the Lord is moving and changing lives (my own included) i can't help but weep. people have always teased me for crying, in a very good-natured way. but, honestly, i am so thankful that the Lord has kept me tender-hearted.


recently, well actually (as i am looking through my journal) it was in April, that i went on a trip to California, and with about 6 other individuals, I climbed Mt. San Jacinto in southern California (palm springs area) to pray and to seek the Lord's face. i honestly don't have the words or the capacity to describe what it was like to be on the mountain, with other brother's and sister's in chirst, whose hearts were so humble and open to the Lord. His presence was all-embracing, all-encompassing, Love and Glory combined, the only thing i could do was cry. so i cried and cried. for four hours.better described as wailing. and now i have a better understanding of Romans 8:26, 'likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses. for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings to deep for words' as we prayed for the lost, not only for those in California, but in the nations, my heart was utterly broken for those that do not know him.


even today I am completely broken by the Lord's presence, while I was on the mountain the Lord gave me this verse - Zechariah 7:8-10, 'Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.' and if you continue to read, in verse 11 & 12 it says 'but they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His spirit through former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of Hosts'. so i continue to pray that my heart as well as others would not be like flint, but we would remain soft towards our G-d and to His calling on our lives.

blackberry jam cake

i baked this for a picnic that i had yesterday with some girlfriends. my sweet friend Jacqui was in town from Memphis, and the last time i baked this cake was for her birthday a year ago! so i thought i would surprise her and bake it again, and make our picnic a little special and a little nostalgic.

i don't have any pictures of the 'process' of making this cake, which is unusual because i love taking photographs that include the whole process of things.

but here ya go anyway:

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups wheat flour (or you can use cake flour)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

pinch of salt

3/4 cup sour cream

1 cup blackberry preserves (do not use jelly)

for the sauce:

1/2 cup blackberry preserves

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a 12 cup bundt cake pan with non stick baking spray. In a bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda and set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time and scrape down the bowl after each egg. Add in the vanilla and beat until combined. Add a 1/3 of the flour into the butter mixture alternating with1/2 the sour cream beating after each addition. Fold in the blackberry preserves. Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 300 for 15 minutes then increase the heat to 350 and bake for 40-50. Or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn it out onto rack to cool completely.

Once cooled heat the 1/2 cup of blackberry preserves in a small sauce pan until melted and then remove from the heat and stir in the powdered sugar. Do this to the consistency that you desire so you can use more or less of either ingredient.

i absolutely LOVE this picture of my husband.

to my mother

 Because I feel that in the heavens above
The angels, whispering one to another,
Can find among their burning tears of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore, by that dear name I have long called you,
You who are more than mother unto me.
-Edgar Allan Poe

mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved. -Erich Fromm

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled. -Emily Dickinson

Happy Mothers Day Mama, how I longed to be in Austin on this day to hug you and tell you in person that I love you, and to tell you thank you. Thank you for all the sacrifices that you have have made for me, thank you for the endless love you have shown, so deep and so wide, even at times when I was ungrateful or to stubborn to see all that you were doing for me. Thank you for teaching me how to stand and to be strong and that it's okay not to have all the answers or to have everything figured out, that God is the one with all the answers and in his time will reveal those to us. Thank you for showing me how to sew and allowing me the freedom to be creative in all areas of my life, especially how I dressed as a child. Thank you for working all those years just to make ends meet, and putting yourself through school, and through that showing me that it's not too late to turn around. It's not too late to make positive changes. Thank you for letting me go, and wander off in the world finding my own, and supporting the choices I have made. Thank you for loving my husband. I more than anything, just want to say thank you for loving me. I love you Mom.
Love,
Meg

i really really want one of these bikes when i have little tykes to tote along!