Go to the ant . . .

The dreaded springtime battle has begun.

"Mommy LOOOK! Theys a lot'a bugs. I gone get dose ants."

It seems that we are neighbors with a few of the little insects with six legs. Every time it rains in the spring, "The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah." I am hardly cheering. Though these little black creations are an Biblical example of diligence, I wish they would be diligent somewhere else.

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. Proverbs 6: 6-8

I'd welcome any insight from you about how to convince my little neighbors that the Lankford home is not nearly as comfy as their hill outside.

He's all mine . . .

Who is this man, you may ask? He's my hubby. My fun loving, smart, super-talented rock star hubby. This picture captures so much of who he is. I love it.

We have a family of friends that we love dearly. Heather is the daughter of our friends Lori and Tim and an amazing photographer. She took this picture for a magazine shoot for a double page spread on Orphan Project in a UK rock magazine called Fireworks. She is amazing. Check out her other work at http://heathergracephotography.blogspot.com

Bless this nest

I found the cutest and easiest craft for spring: birds' nests. All you need are 2 ingredients and you have an adorable and edible craft. Buy a bag of chow mein noodles (mine was $1.65) and a bag of morsels. I used milk chocolate.

1. Melt the morsels in a double boiler or a metal bowl on top of a saucepan filled with boiling water.

2. Mix the chocolate with the chow mein noodles.

3. Let cool a bit and then get messy! Put a blob on a sheet of wax paper or a plate. Let the little one push down the center to make a place for the eggs.

4. Let cool and harden. Add some jellybean "eggs" or other treat. Add a marshmallow peep (if you have one).

Super cute, fast, cheap, and easy! The best part is licking their fingers when they are done!

Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry

Today is one of those days. I had a plan today. I had errands to run. I had a tight but workable time frame. I was reminded again that God gave me a toddler to teach me patience in it all. Between the jammed and complicated copy machine, the malfunctioning panic button on my truck, and Grae's strange encounter with his nose and forehead and the church office chair we have had an adventurous early afternoon. And that was just one hour. I was feeling the frustration boil up like an angry teakettle. This afternoon was no mistake. I am learning hard lessons slowly. Thankfully God promises that I will bear fruit in the end.

Ecclesiastes 7:8

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Let your light so shine . . .

There are no coincidences.  We have been working through My ABC Bible Verses with Grae and it never fails to amaze me that the verse we have each week seems to directly correspond to something we are working on or wrestling with.  This week's verse is:

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

Last night at the end of our annual missions conference, we had 3 awesome speakers come from New Song Community Church in Sandtown.  I must confess that just the words Sandtown gave me pause.  I remembered a youth group missions project when we worked for Habitat in the 90's and where I, a naive and very suburban girl, worked in a neighborhood where I felt very white and very uncomfortable.  This is an area that I would not purposely drive through and where I would feel compelled to wind up my windows and lock the doors.  Sandtown is a hopeless place, right?

As usual, God uncovered my hidden sin and confronted me with my own misconceptions.  Sandtown is a growing thriving community.  Why did I assume that God couldn't do a work there?  God surely loves people, and there are lots of them in that community.  Pastor Thurman Williams confronted us by saying, "Sandtown ain't no Ninevah"  Shame on me for my arrogant ideas.  The speakers didn't deny that there was crime in Sandtown, but they reminded us that there are people there that are made in the image of God and that He loves very much.  Why am I more open to foreign missions than that of a vibrant outreach, not 20 miles from my home?

This experience reminded me that I need to pray.  These awesome men and women are living and reaching out with the love of Christ to their neighbors.  I need to pray for that work in Baltimore.  I also need to pray about how I can reach out in my neighborhood with the love of Christ.  God can save even the drug dealer on my court and the young urban professionals with their fancy cars.  I am reminded of the great grace that He extended to me, a great sinner.

Check out this awesome work:  http://www.nsc-church.org/

Creamy Tomato Soup

I was browsing one of my favorite new sites, A Virtuous Woman, when I came across this delicious recipe.  I had a can of crushed tomatoes that I needed to use.  I made a few adaptations, but I didn't alter much.  Here it is:




5 TBS butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

4 TBS flour

4 cups milk

1/2 bay leaf

1 1/2 tsp sugar (I omitted)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda (adding baking soda keeps the milk from curdling)


3 cups tomatoes, chopped (I used a large can of crushed tomatoes, but next time I will also add diced tomatoes)

1 tsp of Garlic salt

1/4 cup parmesan cheese




Melt butter in a soup pot.  Add the onion and cook over med. heat until onion is soft, not brown.  Sprinkle flour over butter mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Slowly add the milk, bay leaf, sugar, and salt and continue to cook until slightly thickened.  Stir the baking soda into the tomatoes.  Add the tomatoes to the milk and bring to a simmer.  Taste and correct seasonings.

Slurp down on a nice rainy cold spring day! This soup is delicious with open faced grilled cheese!

The Laundry War

How is it possible?  It shouts again from the foot of my bed, threatening my sanity and slowly consuming my room, one fabric softened t-shirt, one hangerless pair of pants at a time.  The . . .  (insert terrifying B horror movie theme here) Laundry Monster.

It seems that time for a few things eludes me:  bathroom floors, exercise, and folding laundry.  I'm really spoiled.  I have a wonderful husband who lends two strong and tattooed arms to drag the piles of laundry to the basement.  Not only does he carry it down, but he has become an expert in the science of laundry.  Even in my best Donna Reed moments, laundry just doesn't appeal.  Don't get me wrong, the sorting of mismatched socks does reach down to some primal place for me, but that task is always the last in the process of sorting and folding laundry. BTW - we call our mismatched sock basket Sock Heaven -probably better named sock purgatory.  Every month I try to reconcile sock heaven and the endorphins released by finding a pair in the pile of lonely socks is sublime. But I digress . . .

Why do I avoid this task? 

Am I lazy?      Probably

Am I too busy?  Probably not

Upon dissecting my aversion, I realized that I don't value the job enough.  The world has told me for years that laundry is for the poor trapped housewife.  That is garbage.   A dear friend encouraged me today to see those small jobs as high callings.   I know that some of you are rolling your eyes.  Well, roll away.  God has blessed me with the opportunity to bless and enjoy my family by being a homemaker.  I have such valuable time to love on my men and invest in the littlest one.  Can't folding laundry be a holy occupation?  One that gives God as much glory as when I was teaching 6th graders to write essays?  I think so. 

I plan on winning the battle of the bulging baskets today . . .

I Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.