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Blue Cotton Memory

Letting Go and Letting God

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Eggplant Parmesan for the Soul

Blue Cotton Memory

This is a something old made new blog post – updated, much yummier recipe and a message given heart-tweaks because not only have I grown since I first wrote this, but those who sit at the table have grown – and so have their tastes, and there are new people, new babies. . . and because cooking isn’t ever just … Continue reading →

When Actions Match the Words: Tomato Soup From the Heart

Blue Cotton Memory

One of my sons and his sweet wife were talking about soup for dinner – tomato soup to be exact. It was cool outside, cloudy with a chance of rain. Tomato soup sounded good to me, too, so I volunteered to make a pot for after work. I’d never made tomato soup before, but tomato is a language I understand. … Continue reading →

Living Life After the Miracle and Muddy’s Kitchen Sink Cookies

Blue Cotton Memory

“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” ~ Psalm 34:7-8 (Note: Cooking isn’t just cooking at the Blue Cotton House. There’s always a story, a Mom Lecture Nugget, a little nourishment for the soul with words or without. As my first … Continue reading →

Muddy’s Hot Brown Casserole: Tweaking Preconceived Notions

Blue Cotton Memory

“All change comes from deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out the changes that understanding creates in your heart.” ~ Tim Keller . . . Because Cooking can be so much more than just cooking. . . . I adore the Louisville Hot Brown Sandwich. For a long time, I rarely ever made it. Not because … Continue reading →

The Blessing of the Everyday Ordinary: Chicken, Pancetta, Lemon and Garlic Pasta

Blue Cotton Memory

“‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’And she answered, ‘All is well’” ~ 2 Kings 4:26. 72 days into 2019 – 7 days of doctor visits, pre-surgery testing, 2 surgeries, 3 hospital stays totalling 14 days. There has not been much Everyday Ordinary. . . . , but there have … Continue reading →

The Everyday Ordinary, Grace, and Green Beans

Blue Cotton Memory

“I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees” ~ 2 Corinthians 12: 9 The Message After walking through A Great Challenge, in the middle of an everyday ordinary moment, when rinsing … Continue reading →

Cultural Evolution of Recipe Sharing and Chili Recipe

Blue Cotton Memory

Let me set the table here – the historic table – about recipes and reputation. Growing up in my grandmother’s house, I had the luxury of learning all sorts of recipes – daily recipes, bridge day recipes, celebration recipes and feast recipes. It was long after I married that I came to recognize that a recipe wasn’t just a recipe … Continue reading →

. . . and a time to bake

Blue Cotton Memory

I’m feeling keenly the contrasts lately. Maybe it has something to do with being a “tween” – living life in between aging family with health challenges and raising children still in the nest or encouraging those outside the nest. One day I’m hugging grandlittles who give whole-hearted hugs or big slurpy smiles – and another day, I’m sitting beside a … Continue reading →

When Kitchen Living Becomes God-Radical

Blue Cotton Memory

Last week, I pulled out an old recipe. It my great-grandmother Muddy’s recipe – her corn fritters. I don’t know why I hadn’t made them in such a long time. For a season, Muddy’s Corn Fritters were a dinner-time staple. . . until they weren’t. The old recipes, like Muddy’s corn fritters, handed down for generations mother to daughter, from … Continue reading →

Life-Gets-Sweeter-Daily Gazpacho

Blue Cotton Memory

Saturday, I jumped in my canoe and paddled to my garden for dill. The day before, during a lull in the rain, I’d spotted my youngest one, sitting on the raised garden edges, slipping his hand into the tomatoes, chard and peppers to pinch off a few leaves of chocolate-mint and stuff it between his cheek and gum. On Saturday’s … Continue reading →

Holiday Living with Mason Jar Summertime Pies

Blue Cotton Memory

“Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle” (Psalm 103:5). “Don’t worry about cooking. Just rest and enjoy,” my husband encouraged, as I stuffed mason jars and lemon curd into a cooler on wheels, to be packed in the back of my van. All that was missing was my kitchen sink! He … Continue reading →

Meringue Shells for Everyday Sparkle

Blue Cotton Memory

Reasoning that if you make creme brulee (egg yolks), you might as well whip up a batch of meringue shells – and if you’ve already made creme brulee – it’s time for something chocolate – and if you want to provide a gloss of credibility and nutrition to what your doing – throw in a couple of blueberries, blackberries or … Continue reading →

Nacho Mama’s Mexican Dinner

Blue Cotton Memory

I might call myself Nacho Mama when I cook Mexican, and I might really be Not(ch) Yo’ Mama – but that does not stop me from trying to find recipes that allow my dinner to be all things to all people. I refuse to be a short order cook, but if the cookin’ can wear different plates, well then, why not! … Continue reading →

Hot Wings Spill Good Words

Blue Cotton Memory

My Joyful son, whose joyfulness has been challenged by teen-itis – and probably by his mother’s response to his teen-itis, turns 16 this month. I miss the days he would say wonderful words like, “Great cookin’, mom” or sneak up behind and hug me. You’ve heard about his humor: “Joyful has grown beyond snuggle-buggles and telling me he loves me, but he … Continue reading →

Blue Cotton Hot Cocoa – A Good Thing!

Blue Cotton Memory

Quite a few years ago, a tradition started in our house. First, it started when my boys trooped in on a chill afternoon with the neighborhood kids following behind. They’d line up on stools on the other side of the island, for steaming cups of hot cocoa. Then, one day, I found some hot chocolate cups at my favorite pottery … Continue reading →

Wrap Me a Chocolate Dream: Pain au Chocolat

Blue Cotton Memory

My very favorite coffee shop has a delicious pastry, Pain au Chocolat, an out-of-reach recipe because ordering a special chocolate from Italy for baking seems exhausting. Then my very favorite Italian cooking show presented an awkward-for-me cookie recipe with a very simple ganache recipe filling.  Both left me feeling like a frustrated failure. Until inspiration finally dawned in my blue cotton mind. Sometimes inspiration is the collision of … Continue reading →

Blue Cotton Mom’s Scrumptious Scones

Blue Cotton Memory

“Don’t get in my bubble,” they say to each other – and to me sometimes. And the way they say it, playful yet serious, is one of my very favorite things. The way boys banter and set boundaries through humor is one of the true delights of being a mom of sons. “I’m not tellin’ that,” when I try to … Continue reading →

Blue Cotton Granola Bars

Blue Cotton Memory

Recipe Updated with journaling of their story in the family: March 4, 2019: One of the first things I’d cooked in over a week, my blue cotton granola bars, – and the littlest who’s not little any more said, “It’s the best ever.” Maybe it was the sprinkling of pecan dust. Maybe it was just because mama cooked – and … Continue reading →

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muddy_bucher

muddy_bucher
“Yes. Go, go, I would not have you back again” “Yes. Go, go, I would not have you back again”
(Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice, 1995 film)
These were my favorite photos - the photo of Rossy These were my favorite photos - the photo of Rossy is probably one of the most beautiful I’ve taken - she’s the best mom and the kindest friend. And then the photos of these young men - the groomsmen and then all the friends. These young men are answered prayers - you know - those prayers where you ask God to give your kids friends who lift them up, encourage them, iron-sharpening-iron, accountability friends, laugh together, allowing each other to be who they are, lifting each other up when they’re down- they’re young men like that! I couldn’t let the year end without posting these!
The grooms sister made the most amazing chocolate The grooms sister made the most amazing chocolate cake!  That icing!!!!! Magnificent!
A few weeks ago, one of Cam’s best friends got m A few weeks ago, one of Cam’s best friends got married. Simple, beautiful, elegant, friends like family - exactly what a wedding should be!
End of the year sweetness I want to remember! End of the year sweetness I want to remember!
It’s The Best of Times when Otter, Jeremy Fisher It’s The Best of Times when Otter, Jeremy Fisher, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, and Jemima Puddleduck build blanket burrows, come to market in my kitchen with baskets and pennies, collect laundry for washing and ironing,and come to tea! Conversations all in character. We decided I was Mrs. Josephine Rabbit!
Many have felt isolated, alone, shaken, unanchored Many have felt isolated, alone, shaken, unanchored, fearful, anxious. . . alone. Yet, we aren’t alone. Our Savior is always with us, ready to listen, ready to comfort. He has not abandoned or forsaken His children. He pulls beauty out of the ashes!

“These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.” 
~ Isaiah 42:6, ESV

2021 – January is looking better than the last two. No heart valves needing to be replaced. No lung cancer. No spinal surgery. But I’ve learned not to look at any day, week or month with my expectations. I look trusting that He is there. That He has a plan. All I have to do is trust – trust and remember what He has done for me! Maybe the anthem for 2021 should be “Remember and Give Thanks – No Matter What the World Throws at You, God is There for You!”

Let’s Shout our Praises into 2021 that God would send the enemy that comes to steal, kill and destroy packing!

“The moment they began their shouts and praises, 
the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, 
and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.”
~ 2 chronicles 20:22

#bluecottonmemory #cardinals #muddyphotographytn #godsgot2021
There are days when all I want is to be wrapped in There are days when all I want is to be wrapped in a cozy blanket, curled up in chair with a good book and just rest. I cannot remember a day not wanting that, not being tired the moment I wake up until I go to bed. So many parts of me want a rest from the chaos, the busy, the failures (because, you know, on a cushion failure isn’t an option because nothing is attempted), the frustrations. . . the expectations of the Big and Little things not turning out as anticipated.

My expectations are woefully inadequate in comparison to what He can do. In comparison to the one who designed and created me, who planned my life before I was born, who filled it with all the seemingly jumbled up parts of myself that aren’t jumbled to Him – my imagination, my dreams, the space between my imagination and dreams fulfilled – I am too short-sighted. I do not possess the creative genius of my Father. I am just a soul blind daughter of the King dreaming myopic dreams when I rely on my vision.

My expectations of life in the chaos are faint shadows when compared to God’s plans. I’m a slow learner, but I am learning to let go of my expectations of how my life should be, how challenges should be resolved (and when), how heart’s desires are to be filled, how heart-breaks are to be healed. Instead, I am learning to wait in expectation of God’s answer, God’s saving, God’s fulfilling, God’s healing – and Him doing it His way with His plan. 

“And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.” 
~ Isaiah 42:6, ESV

#bluecottonmemory #nuthatch #muddyphotographytn #godsgot2021
Who wants 2021 to be a sit-on-a-cushion year? I a Who wants 2021 to be a sit-on-a-cushion year?

I am on a journey - and it's a journey with little rest. . . until the journey is over.

Sometimes on this journey, I am tempted to stop, pull out a cushion of their tasks completed, sit on it and sigh, "I have arrived. I have earned my rest free of the chaos, of doing-doING-DOING. It is time for me now!"

. . . and that, perhaps is one of the greatest deceptions of them all. . .

The only time we "arrive" to lay our burdens down, to rest deeply, is only when we are called home - and arrive at the door of our Father's house. In our time here, there is no cushion. No escape from the chaos, though sometimes there is rest from it. There is no "Me" time. - it's His time. 

Like all things He gives us - our giftings, our hearts-desires, our families, friends and children, our possessions. . . our time, our health (whether ill or robust) - they are indeed precious, but how much more precious, how much more valuable, how much MORE their worth, when we give them back to Him, a sacrifice offered of our adoration, our hope, our trust! He is a better keeper of our heart-valuables than I can ever be.
. . To read more, head over to the blog in the link: https://bluecottonmemory.com/a-soul-blind-daughter-of-the-king-expectations-for-2021/. 

#bluecottonmemory  #muddyphotography #housefinch #2021
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