7 days till Thanksgiving! [pumpkin brownies]

Luke loves pumpkin pie-- so much so that he figured out a way to bake a huge pumpkin pie... in a garbage lid. He claims that he sterilized it and everything, but thankfully, he now uses an 18" pizza pan. I thought that his love for pumpkin pie meant that he loves all things pumpkin. I discovered this year that this wasn't really the case. Oh well... In my quest to please Luke by testing out various pumpkin recipes, I discovered a number of recipes that we both enjoy and a few that we love. So in celebration of Thanksgiving, I'd like to countdown by sharing some of those recipes with you...

Pumpkin Brownies [allrecipes.com]

This recipe is hands-down our favorite new pumpkin recipe this year. I made it for the couples retreat in October and fell in love. I omitted the nuts but left them in the recipe for those who love them. If you want moist brownies, I use freshly canned pumpkin that has a bit more water than store-canned pumpkin. You also want to be careful not to overbake them...

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan. Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla extract; beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it's evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half in two separate bowls.
3. Into one bowl of batter, blend the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. In the second bowl of batter, stir in the pumpkin puree, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
4. Spread 1/2 of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with 1/2 of the pumpkin batter. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer, and drag a kitchen knife or small spatula gently through the layers in a swirling motion, to create a marbled appearance.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

And something I'm thankful for-- a baby who wakes up talking to herself, which is what she's doing now... time to start the day! Happy Thanksgiving Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!

{snapshot} another goodbye

The other day, I took a picture in my mind.

I was in the garage holding Arianna. We were watching Luke back out on his way to class. He had only just gotten home from work an hour or so ago. I watched her take it all in, trying to process the information with her little brain. I half expected her to burst into tears, because that was how I felt.

That is a snapshot of our life right now. We spent our summer rushing from one event to the next. Amazingly, much of the wrap-up work that usually takes me months is already done. I've unpacked our suitcases from the camping trip and settled back into normal life.

Only-- this normal doesn't feel all that familiar. We were thrilled when OU accepted Luke into their graduate program for philosophy. But since then, the excitement has worn off. Now we are just counting the cost-- not just tuition, but time.

Luke ended up signing up for three evening classes this semester. We both agreed that while it would be tough, we would give it a shot. But then he found out that there are certain extracurricular activities that are somewhat required of students-- special lectures and guest speakers and receptions and discussions... Throw in the overtime that he's having to put in at work, and I hardly see my husband anymore.

Part of me wants to rewind our lives back to the time when he would come home from work and leave work at work, when he could help me clean up after dinner, and we had the luxury of reading together on the couch or watching a movie.

But I know that was a season that God gave to us. And this is the season He has for us now. He is teaching me to trust-- trust that He is still in control, that He has Luke where He wants him, and that He will take care of Arianna while her father is away.

And trusting is a very good place to be.

in case anyone missed the memo...

...our daughter Arianna was born on Friday, February 4, 2011. She's six weeks old today!

Yes, we are in love...

Christmas Meditations from a First-Time Mother...

"How can this be...?" (Luke 1:34)

Some things are hard to understand unless you experience it-- like the first time we heard our baby's heartbeat, the first time we felt the baby kick, and the first time we saw our baby's face via ultrasound. In each of those moments, the theoretical existence of our child became more of a reality.

How can it be that someone else's life is bound up in mine?
How can it be that this child is the very first representation of me and Luke?
How can it be that this child has both a sin nature but is also created in the image of God?

Now that we're about a month and a half away from the baby's arrival, I can only imagine what it will be like to find out if God has given us a boy or girl and hold that child in my arms for the very first time.

Reading the Christmas story from a mother's perspective makes me wonder what Mary felt those nine months when she carried the Son of God in her womb-- she didn't have the luxury of hearing His heartbeat or seeing Him via ultrasound. But she was one of the few mothers in history who not only found out the sex of her baby ahead of time, but also caught a glimpse of the destiny of her Child before He was born. I wonder what she thought when she felt the Baby kick for the first time and realized that the infinite Almighty God had not only chosen to limit Himself in the form of a Child, but to reside within the body of a sinner that He had come to save.

I don't have any conclusions, just more questions: "How can this be...?"

two years

Back when I was still coordinating Children's Institutes in Taiwan, I used to ask random people random questions, such as "If you could marry any movie character, who would it be and why?"

I asked Luke this question, completely oblivious to the fact that he was interested in me at the time. He responded, "Sally the Porsche from Cars."

That is one reason why, for our second anniversary, we stopped by The Rock Cafe on Route 66, the owner of which was the basis for the character "Sally." We didn't get to meet her, but we enjoyed a couple of cheap burgers at the modest diner to kick off our two-year anniversary celebration.

We like exploring bed and breakfasts, so we chose the Cedar Rock Inn in Tulsa for its beautiful lodge-like accomodations.

We went on a little hike with our buy one get one free holiday drinks (decaf, of course, for Baby Berg)...

...before settling down in their library to peruse their books and (limited) DVD selection.

In the morning, we feasted on a scrumptious breakfast...

...before meeting up with Damon and Christina for church and lunch...

So here we are... two years of marriage and a baby on the way. Year #2 held a number of challenges for us, but God has been good.

Year #3, here we come!

a year ago...

...these good people helped us move...

...into our new home...

...which needed a little work...

...some of which didn't feel as necessary when we began (thankfully, it didn't rain when we were working on the skylights, which I now adore)...

...and of course, when you do a lot of work, you also need to start showing it off...

...because a home isn't much fun without people in it...

...and now, a year later, we have finally finished unpacking and organizing, only to start preparing to do more work for a very important addition to our little family. :-)

We still have a lot to learn about being home owners and even more to learn about being parents, but we are grateful for this first year in our home.

why it was a happy father's day...

...because we wished our parents a happy grandfather's day!