Zinnia’s school had an egg hunt yesterday at which the “Easter Bunny” made an appearance. The Producer fled with her bucket, a similar reaction to the one she had at their Christmas party with Santa. I realized that she has an innate sense of facade, a trait kids seem to share. But adults tell them to stifle it, “come on it’s just fun,” and then when we get older we simply turn that into, “what are you, a conspiracy theorist?!” I have also noticed that The Producer has an innate desire to participate and help around the farm. I can see how parents would say, “I’ll just do it myself because kids are messy, awkward, take forever, etc” but once again we have discouraged what could turn into the curiosity of an adult who is engaged in his or her community. Just some thoughts on this Easter weekend. Being a parent continues to teach me so much about why Jesus said, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” For those of you celebrating the empty tomb today, hosanna! One of my favorite verses in John is the very last line, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.“
The cold weather here in Florida annihilated our tomato plants before the tomatoes could ripen. We were overrun with green tomatoes, so we tried making fried green tomatoes for the first time. Honestly I had never fried anything before this! We did not really follow a recipe other than making sure we had the three staple items. You have one bowl of flour and corn meal mixed, a bowl of eggs and milk mixed together, and a bowl of breadcrumbs. When we try it again, I will add some kind of seasoning to the flour and cornmeal mix, maybe garlic and salt. First dip the tomato slice into the cornmeal/flour, then the egg/milk, then breadcrumbs. Then you just put oil in your pan, we used olive oil, and fry them up! Only takes a couple minutes. It was super easy and the kids loved it. I have heard that there are some good dipping sauces out there. We are simple people so we just used ketchup and mustard. I highly recommend trying this - it’s impossible to fail!
The decade I spent out in Washington state changed my life in such incredible ways. I remember moving from Tampa to Seattle as a TV reporter in November 2013, leaving behind warm sun and arriving to seemingly relentless cold rain. Other than finding the mountains, a highlight during that winter was watching the Seahawks rise to Super Bowl champions. I was not a football fan, but the story of that year‘s team was captivating. I soon found myself watching games and cheering on a football team for the first time in my life. Both kids were born out in the Pacific Northwest, so they’ve mastered the cheers of the 12th Man and we will be rooting our Hawks from afar in Florida tonight. Oh - and about the angel wings in the video - my mom got them for Lily and Jack over Christmas. They wanted to wear the wings to church today and we stopped at the store after. Obviously it’s a sign God is a 12. 😜 Go Hawks!
I see women all the time with fancy nails and have recently asked a couple what they pay. It’s usually $75 to $100 every other week! A man once told me I have hands like his - a former hockey player. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment but I worked hard for these hands! Years of horseback riding and now farming, often lugging my own camera gear when working as a reporter in TV news, my dirty nails and knobby knuckles tell the tale of a journey I wouldn’t trade for a lifetime of free acrylics.
