When Girl Scout Cookies are not in season, and you don’t have the budget to buy 30 boxes to last for the year, try these recipes from Baking Bites. Her creativity and enthusiasm for food inspires me to get in the kitchen to bake. She offers recipes for Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Samoas, and Tagalongs.

I tried the thin mint recipe and it is soooo tastey. As one friend put it, “I can’t wait for Mike to get home so that YOU can make him some thin mints.” I kept one of the cookie dough logs frozen, so that I can pull it out and bake a few cookies at a time. The dark chocolate coating keeps for a long time. I use the leftover chocolate to drizzle over graham crackers during our 9 p.m. tea times.

If you make them, let me know which one is your favorite. Samoas are on my             To Bake Next list.

Our current church observes communion by passing it out to everyone. It is done freely and generously. Almost to the point of being chased after (not in the sense of being forced, but making sure everyone is included). My husband accidentally missed seeing the person handing out portable communion cups and she almost started running to be sure that he had the opportunity to receive communion.

In churches growing up, the observance of communion was open to those who believed and were baptized, only. Other churches make communion available to those who have openly declared their allegiance to the local church body. Is it possible, that by making conditions and prerequisites for communion, that we exclude, seclude and elevate ourselves over others?

What if the story about feeding those in need and treating everyone with respect and care, also included communion? What would our theology look like if we welcomed everyone, without qualification, into the sacred? At what point do our thoughts on God hinder the works of God?

What if the Lord’s Supper is to be shared by all, freely? At the Last Supper, Jesus ate with people who did not agree with Him, who did not even believe in Him, who had murder in their hearts, who were dipping in the treasury box, who would quickly deny Him when questioned.

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” -Henri Nouwen

“When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope” -Henri Nouwen

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares.” -Henri Nouwen

“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.” -Tori Amos

“From time to time, I will come to a stretch of days when I find myself avoiding my journal like the plague. I generally write in it at about the same time every day, and I have become pretty good at being able to fill up the time with other things when I need to. It is as though I think that if I avoid these pages, I can avoid who I am being just now, I can avoid being held up to the light.” -Robert Benson, Living Prayer p.178

Not that all of this applies to blogging, but I haven’t had much to say or post. I cannot pin point it fully. Perhaps it is because of the move or still trying to find a job that does not move you towards poverty. I have my super good days, my slow days, and my two naps a day- days (which do not come often, but it is freeing to have the ability and option to rest).

It has been refreshing and fun to have access to the beach at all times. We try to go on 30 minute walks (maximum capacity before burning to a crisp, which has only happened once- never again thanks to spf 70!) and run out to watch the sun set. A wise friend recommended to get out and watch as many sunsets as possible while we have the chance. And so we’ve been taking advantage of our location.