Wordless Wednesday
Topic: Photo entries


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The Pole
Topic: God things

Have you ever driven by a school around 7:30am on a Wednesday morning in September and seen a group of kids crowded around the flag pole? Did you know they were praying…..exercising their religious rights and praying for their school and classmates around the mainstay American symbol of freedom…their flagpole. Tomorrow is See You At the Pole 2006.

Christian school kids in every city in the US are encouraged to get together to pray around their school's flagpole. It is an awesome thing to see, if you take the time to drive by your local school tomorrow around 7:30am. Last year, as a leader in our youth ministry, I decided to take pictures of the kids as they gathered around the poles at our high school and our middle/elementary school. I knew the kids from our youth group were planning to be there…but when I drove up to each of the schools, I saw a large crowd on each campus. Word had spread and there were a lot more people there than I thought there would be. Teens are eager for ways to show their faith. Unfortunately, there are always people who come out to heckle and protest each year at different schools.

See You At The Pole is not a new idea…it’s been around for 16 years, since 1990. On September 15, 1999 our youth met for See You at the Pole…..then that night on the news we heard about a church in Texas, where teenagers from all over Fort Worth, TX were having a rally to celebrate their See You at the Pole day. A mentally disturbed man came into that rally and shot 14 people, killing 7 of them, then killed himself…..all of this in front of a huge crowd of teenagers. A friend I grew up with was the first one killed that night. Read about how that church responded here. What Satan means for evil, God turns into a testimony for Himself.

See You at the Pole is not a meaningless gesture to say, “We’re here.” It is a powerful event….these kids are under attack every day, they are not ‘allowed’ to share their faith or pray publicly at school. This event of gathering publicly to pray for their school and declare their religious freedom is not a popular thing from the enemy’s viewpoint. We need to pray for these kids as they make a bold stand this tomorrow…for their protection and that they will hold strong to their faith when adversity comes….because it will. And God will use it for good.

Catching up...yadda yadda
Topic: People/Family stories
We had a wonderful, relaxing time up in the mountains. Thank you for praying for us to those who did. It may have been the altitude (7,000ft?), but we were so relaxed that we felt sleepy the whole time we were up there! We lazed around, watched a couple of movies, read books and slept! One day we did go for a long 4-5 hour drive up into the really high mountains and checked out a few campgrounds for future reference. We usually like to go to Colorado when we go camping in the mountains, but since Arizona has some nice places, we wanted to see them before planning a trip. They are nice!

We came home and hit the ground running. Emma's band played at her high school's homecoming game, so we went there that night and Maggie and I went to the homecoming parade earlier in the day with her. It's interesting living in a big city now. Moving from a very small town, there was no comparison in the homecoming events. In the small town we lived in, everyone in town came to the homecoming because.......well, most of the people in the town went to that high school! The homecoming royalty is a big deal in a small town and the homecoming parade went from one end of the town to the other, shutting down route 66 for about an hour. And when you went to the games there, you could choose from at least a dozen people you knew to sit with. Here, we knew no one, and if you want a seat in the bleachers for homecoming here, you had to come early...obviously. We stood for a long time, then found some room when a family left in the front row. So we watched the band perform while bobbing our heads around, trying to see around the people walking by. Emma was so cute in her band uniform and was fun to watch playing the xylophone in the 'pit' while the band marched.

Saturday we made our first attempts at downsizing here at the nest. We currently had 4 cars to pay for on insurance every month. They were all paid for except a small monthly payment on Charles' truck. But the insurance was killing us! So we had decided to trade our minivan in *YES* and sell one of the other cars, downsizing us here at home to 2 vehicles. The other one we insure is Hannah's car up in Flagstaff. So after researching used cars and knowing the only way we could get much out of our van (it had 139,000 miles on it) was to trade it in, we looked up some used cars online at a local dealership and went down to see about trading in our van on a used car with a lot less miles. And we did! We traded in a 2000 Dodge caravan for a 2002 four wheel drive, black Isuzu Rodeo...the cutest looking vehicle I think we've ever owned, by the way. I am so glad that is over with. It's incredibly stressful to car shop...my head felt like it was splitting by the time we were done. Now we'll sell Bethany's car...a friend is going to help us to do that right.

It was strange....at church yesterday, my sister asked me, "Oh, was it hard giving up having a minivan?" and I thought for a minute, then actually got tears in my eyes and realized our family is downsizing too. Hannah is in college and so independent and Bethany has less than 2 years until she is out of high school. So, yeah, it was hard when I thought about it....but I'll get over it driving such a cute car. =) (sorry Hannah)

We're also downsizing in the tv viewing area, switching from a regular satellite company with 60some channels for $$ per month, to Sky Angel satellite, which we already have the equipment for.....we just had never set it up since moving. It is just $14 per month. There are some other areas to downsize in, but we're not sure how it will work out. I'll let you know if we find anything significant to cut out.

Yesterday we had a wonderful Sunday morning worship time and Bible study class. Then we had lunch and spent some of the afternoon with a family from church. They talked to us about how they had downsized in a BIG way and had paid off all debt in 4 years of scrimping and actually living with parents. We don't have that much debt, but our monthly expenses were squeezing us too tightly, so it seemed to be a theme for the weekend! We had no idea they had done that and had not planned to discuss that with them, but it worked out that way *providentially?* and was very encouraging to hear their story!

Sunday eveing was choir practice and I got to watch my 2 teenagers playing hockey. =) Our youth room IS a hockey rink...no ice, just concrete floor. But they do tournaments every few months and divide up onto teams, get a t-shirt for their team and they bring in lots of new kids every time they do it. It's hard to watch them cream each other, but they have a great time. They come home all bruised and exhausted.....but smiling and telling us who they crunched or who crunched them, and what good plays their team made. I will try to get some pictures on here soon of that.

Today it's back to schedule....well...except for 2 doctor appointments I have (for my upcoming surgery next week) and taking the car in to the service department. The tires need balancing and the transmission was needing to be looked at...but it's all going to be repaired for free with their used car contract.

You can see why we needed that break last week! I wonder if it's possible to downsize on busyness with a pastor husband, 2 teens and homeschooling. I will think on it.....

Repost: Seeing my reflection
Topic: God things
I wrote this piece while on vacation 2 summers ago in Colorado. My husband and I are up in the mountains again this week (back tomorrow) and are enjoying the refreshment of the high country once again!

As I’ve said, amidst all the whining about camping, we love to come to Colorado. Charles grew up spending weeks of summer here and we came here on our honeymoon, although we only camped one night of that trip. There is something about the high mountains that is restful and restores you, relaxes you and makes you reflective. Funny after writing that I realized all those adjectives beginning with re….cool.

To ‘re’ do something is to do it again. You had it once and need to get it again. Re-lax means you lost your ‘lax’ and need it back. (No obvious puns here, I’m being serious.) To re-store means you’ve lost your store of something vital…your store of peace, rest, freshness, spiritual strength. Re-juvenate means to get back that youthful feeling. Renew…to feel new again, reflect (I do not know what flect is a root word for…I will try to remember to ask Hannah, my Latin-taker.)

I certainly have been doing a lot of reflecting this week. I think that’s what rest if for. Your body stops and your mind goes, “Ok, now I’ve been meaning to go over some things with you…..”

I’ve been reading Psalms because I thought it would help me to express my feelings about God’s creation since we’re out in it 24/7 this week. But the Psalms I’ve happened upon, by God’s hand I’m sure, are helping me to deal more with my inadequacy, my acceptance of some things in my life that I should not be accepting, and also dealing with enemies and the unjust. I can’t share anymore about that, but I wanted to share how God’s used this time and how He works.

He is so surprising…sneaky really…always so timely and good…so understanding and patient with us (me).

Repost: Dog blog
Topic: Humor/memes
Our little dog, Millie, passed away a few weeks before we moved to Phoenix. This is a post I wrote about her...she was so much fun! If you don't read the whole post, at least look at the picture sequence of her attacking her 'baby'. This was originally posted on Jan 13, 2005.

Well I said I would tell you about my dogs and nothing else very interesting happened today so I’ll tell you about Millie. While living in New Jersey, we were browsing the puppy stalls *they really keep them in kind of large wooden stalls with saw dust or straw on the floors* at the Puppy Barn one day and saw these funny little pure white puppies, all perky and cute. I’ll wager that 95% of the people who go into the Puppy Barn do not leave empty handed and neither did we. They specialized in selling breeds mixed with poodle for cute, non-shedding dogs. So we chose an Eskimo-poo from the many poo mixes and brought home a trembling little ball of fur.

Her timid disposition didn’t last long though and she turned into what we called the Tazmanian devil dog! She picked on Emma, my daughter who was then 2, by stealing her toys just within Emma’s side vision and take off running, glancing behind her to make sure Emma was in chase. It infuriated poor Emma, but it was a hoot to watch. She stole shoes, socks, little toys, toys bigger than her, and when Emma would catch her and retrieve the toy, She would then turn and chase Emma, adding a little nip nip in the rear end while Emma was running and screaming. *it was really just as funny as it sounds, she was a feisty thing!* She also loved to get out in the yard and run as fast as she could. This scared us to death because we didn’t have a fence and were afraid she would run into the street and get run over. She never did run into the street, but the squirt would love for us to try to catch her and ran fast in huge circles. We started having to carry dog biscuits in our pockets and hands to get her to come willingly back into the house before installing a doggie run. This was 10 years ago and she still loves to be chased and will occasionally steal a shoe or sock and run off.

She loves to have a toy that is her own to play with and beat up. (now that Emma is 12) Her latest toy is a little doll, the kind you find at toy store check out stands. We called it her Baby and she loves to take care of the baby….you just have to mention the word baby and she get this wild, ‘ok, wherrrrrrrrre is she?!’ look in her eyes. She loves to lay on her back and hold the baby between her front paws, otter fashion, and alternate biting and flipping the doll around and licking it, like she is loving on it. She will actually attack any toy that has eyes if you make them ‘look’ at her. *hehehe* Disclaimer: I have to point out here that she does know the difference between her toy and real babies. She is very gentle but aloof around babies and toddlers, staying clear of them, but if forced into contact, she is always sweet to them.

I do have graphics to go with this story which show her calm demeanor before and then her attack, Tazmanian devil dog mode.


I love my baby....she's a good baby.

Did you give me a look? Was that a LOOK?

I'll teach you to look at me, you bad baby!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!

Poor baby....she has an empty place inside.

Repost: Do you wanna dance?
Topic: God things
Here is one of my favorite posts to share with you (from Feb 26, 2005) while we're out of town:

I just got back from our annual church women’s retreat. Forty-five women laughing, crying, talking, singing, praying, eating, dancing. Our theme was Can I Have This Dance? We talked about joy…real joy…not fleeting happy feelings, but a deep rooted joy. Joy is more of a deep contentment that comes from trusting God through this existence that we call life.

As I was pondering the meaning of joy, I realized it was being played out right in front of my eyes. I looked at each woman there, those smiling, laughing, dancing women, and thought about the hard times they had each been through….past abuse, death of a child or husband, suicide in their immediate families, divorce, poverty, eating disorders, chronic illness, women who had survived cancer, strokes, heart surgeries and ill children, single moms, moms who were taking care of elderly moms, and some who made their own trouble through foolish decisions, which we all do, but some suffer the consequences far more greatly. I realized as I saw these women laughing, singing and dancing that they chose to trust God…they chose joy. It’s offered to each of us, but for some reason, some people do not choose to trust…they choose to be angry, to question ‘why me’, and usually they become very bitter, hard people. I have seen this too in some of the women I have known through our women’s ministry and I thought about them…why did they choose to go that way? Our retreat leader, Mary, illustrated this so well (and I'm all into word pictures, so I was all over this)….it's as if we have these beautiful dancing shoes in a lovely box up on our closet shelf but we never choose to join in the dance. We choose to remain clothed in our comfortable clod-hoppers. But once we give in and put those shoes on, believing there will be a beautiful dance, we are set free from the bitterness and regret. “You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.” Psalm 30:11

I know some of my women friends here have struggled with putting those shoes on. They were in mourning or depression or self hatred or wrapped up in guilt or pain. To read that list of hard times they’ve been through one would think we are a very dysfunctional bunch, but when you open up your eyes, you start to realize that we all go through hard times….there is no shame in it, no reason to hide it. It helps to release it and share it…it encourages others to do the same and when we do, we help free each other. One of the things that helped me the most through my own hard times, is that I saw other people who had been through my particular situations and they made it through….and they still had joy and hope. And I remember even thanking some of those people who were vulnerable with me and shared that they too had traveled through where I was dwelling. It helped set me free.

So get that lovely box down off the closet shelf, put those shoes on, put your trust in Christ and accept his invitation to dance.

As a parting thought….did you know that God sings? I never read this verse before, but when I read it at the retreat, it made my joy swell to know what he sings about…..

“The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

Now…..shall we dance?

Wordless Wednesday: The big picture
Topic: Photo entries


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Repost: The balancing act
Topic: People/Family stories
While out of town with my husband, I'm reposting some of my favorite posts.

Something happened to my house while I wasn't paying attention. ......well, ok, I knew it was happening but it was so gradual that I am amazed at how invaded we now are. The invasion? Technology.....yeah, we are all wired up....so wired in fact, that we are now 'wireless' which means such much technology that you don't even need to be wired to a telephone line to be hooked up. Don't get me wrong...I like the technology, but I feel embarrassed to have so much of it. We now can watch the World Hunger commercials on a 47 inch LCD projection TV....whatever that means....I just know it's huge and I feel the need to explain it when people come in and see it. (My husband used his Christmas bonus to buy it, we aren't in debt because of it, I promise!)

My husband became mister gadget beginning in about 1995. When Apple computers were born into American homes, we got one. Now we have 5 Apples.....all different models and years...all used, but still up with current technology. iTunes, iMovie, iShufflethingie, iBook.....i i i...me me me....hmmm This may be too revealing to post now that I am thinking about it! lol

We have so many cords and converters and external thingies lying around...we have boxes of these things....boxes of disks and CD Roms and Mac Manuals. My husband can fix any Mac you give him....that amazes me too! MY husband, who has never been real handy with fixing things around the house, can take whole computers apart, fix them and put them back together. I am truely surprised by this new talent. And it's rubbing off in other areas. He actually 'fixed' my clothes dryer the other day. It was not heating up and now it is....hmmmm.

Technology.....who knew? This is the same husband who, when we were first married, used to like to buy things that didn't need electricity, 'just in case'. *sheepish smile* I can't remember exactly why we did that. I actually have a friend whose family moved off into the interior of Alaska, built a home that runs without electricity (they have a generator now and a satellite dish for internet), you have to get there by boat (or maybe that's changed?) and they grow and hunt their own food. I didn't hear from her again until this year! (it's been several years)

So I'll take the wires (and the wirelessness)...and the satellite tv.....as long as I can still get my husband to come out and sit on the front porch with me in our wooden rockers as often as possible to watch the birds that come to splash in the creek there. As long as we support missions around the world and pray for missionaries and go on mission trips as often as we can with our kids....and not turn the channel when the World Hunger commercials come on. As long as we turn off the embarrassingly large tv and play board games with our kids and read books and take walks. As long as we get back to nature and get truely 'wireless' and go camping each summer away from the bustle of the busyness of life. As long as my husband keeps going into the woods every summer to hunt down dead trees, chop them up, haul them home in the truck and stack it to make our own heat for winter.

OK, I feel better now....just gotta find the balance sometimes.....

Retreating
Topic: Other
My husband and I will be going to the mountains for the rest of the week, beginning tomorrow, for a much needed retreat. Some very kind ladies in our church are sending us up to their cabin and the kids are staying with my friend, Cheryl.

Now I just have to get done with my pre-op biopsy tomorrow morning before we go. It's just standard procedure before a hysterectomy these days, but I've heard it can be painful. So I'd appreciate anyone who would pray for us to have a nice, relaxing time without the downer of being in pain! And pray for Cheryl as she homeschools Maggie this week for me!

Check back each day though! I have set up a few older blog entries to post while we're gone and a Wordless Wednesday Photo for Wednesday.

TTFN

Sunday briefs
Topic: God things
Church briefs:

*One of the ladies in our new Bible study class just gave her life to Christ 2 weeks ago during a church service. She was out of town last weekend, so this was her first Sunday at our church as a believer. She is someone, like a lot of people these days, who is not familiar with church language or how things are done. It is so refreshing to here her talk, using the language that WE need to learn and understand as 'church people'. She is excited about studying the Bible and is full of the newness of it all. It gives me hope that we can still be effective tools for God to use to reach people who are unchurched, even in this very unique time in history.

*I'm very squozen! The hugs and friendly, encouraging words were flowing freely today.

*My mom, who is a new widow (of less than a month), has been coming to a Sunday morning Bible study class...this was her second week. She is also interested in coming to a new Beth Moore Bible study we're beginning in a couple of weeks. I'm so relieved to see her getting involved...it shows hope and that she is looking forward.

*I watched 2 of our youth give prayer requests for their generation. First was Jessica, who asked us to pray that the bondage of drugs in this generation would be broken and that teens would grow to despise drug use. Secondly, Tim asked us to pray that the Christian teens in high schools these days would not be distracted (with things of life....clubs, activities, busyness) from their duty to be an example and witness for Christ. We had a special call to prayer for this generation and are doing so each Sunday this month. (maybe longer, I'm not sure) It was tear jerking and sweet to see youth crumple to the floor near the front of the church in prayer for their generation.

*I took a 2 hour Sunday afternoon nap! (which explains my blog writing at 10:30pm) It was nice to be able to relax so completely in the middle of the day and not have to set an alarm! I awoke to the smell of brownies baking, so I didn't even mind getting up!

*The weather here lately has been especially wonderful in the mornings, which adds a little bounce to your step and sparkle to your attitude.

Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Each Sunday is a reminder to me of the great crowd of fellow participants I am a part of in this race....and of how great the prize will be as we press on together. The encouragement along the way with wonderful days like this is just a little incentive compared to the greatness of the final prize.

Storms in the sky and in my head
Topic: People/Family stories
Today was one of those days that make you feel happy to be home with your laptop in your jammies. Let's call this post...just the facts please. You can fill in the 'blah blah blah' and 'yadda yadda yadda' that usually happens amidst the facts.

I got up at 7:30am
showered
dunked some gingersnaps in my coffee for breakfast
Picked up my mom at 8:30am
ran her to the beauty parlor
ran home to make lesson plan list
(one that would be deciferable for my mom)
she ran Maggie-school today!
picked up mom at 10am
brought her to my house to watch Maggie while I ran around
*like a crazy person*
Left to have my car's oil changed
asked them to check on what was leaking under the car
*tried to block out the Jerry Springer show blaring on the tv*
turned off the tv when the waiting room cleared out
Looked out the window a dozen times at the car progress
tapped my pen on calendar that was way too full
oil changing guy told me the oil pan gasket needed replacing
there are several other leaks in the undercarriage....
"major repairs" he said
*felt stomach clench*
Drove into downtown to the hospital to have 2 pre-op tests done
hysterectomy in less than 3 weeks
*eeeeeek*
waited one hour for first test...2 minute chest Xray
Those gingersnaps were not lasting
waited one hour for second test....5 minute EKG....*need food*
Got my car out of the parking garage
*9 minutes before the fee went from free to $3*
Noticed lack of edible materials in my car
Looked for fast food
found Sonic
got popcorn chicken and a strawberry limeade
*aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh*
saw 2 homeless people come by for cups of ice at Sonic
they were granted free cups of ice....
it was so nice
ate with the window down, no a/c
noticed it was a very nice day outside
watched pigeons walk on tables outside Sonic
vowed never to eat at an outside table at a fast food place
drove home in record time
visited with mom while I made dinner
monitored homework, chores and attitudes as older kids got home
served a yummy pork chop dinner
left in a flurry for husband's church league softball game
sat on bleachers yelling *woooo* and became skito-chow
watched thunderstorm moving in,
lightening is amazing
got drenched while huddling under overhang of snack bar
*with 27 other people*
game was called off
Our team won!
this was a first for our team
=)
no sooner did the ref leave than the rain stopped
went back to our cars in the stillness after the storm
looked at used cars online with husband
(remember leaky van?)
*stressssssssss*
....we can't do another car payment....arg
decided to think/pray on this a few days
and now I'm sitting on my couch, no shoes, laptop upon my lap
I need a little Word to calm my stress-out heart
and refocus my whirling mind


Psalm 119: 165
Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.

the storm is calming down inside
peace is on the horizon
but my head is still hurting
even after the storm is spent

Wordless Wednesday: Gray
Topic: Photo entries


For more Wordless Wednesday participants' posts, see the blog roll on my lower left sidebar.

Strength for today....bright hope for tomorrow
Topic: People/Family stories
I was struggling to write a post in remembrance of 9/11/01. Everyone had written beautiful pieces and I felt like I had nothing more to add. I would just let this day pass with no post on this page. Then this morning, as I did devotions with Maggie before school, we came to our prayer time. We always stop to think about things we should pray for.

I asked her if she knew what 9/11 was about. No....she had only been 4 years old when it happened. So I tried to explain it to her. I didn't know that by the end of my explanation, I would be sobbing, especially while telling her of the flight over Pennsylvania. The people on that plane knowingly sacrificed their lives to divert another attack.

How do you tell a 9 year old child about the events of that day in 2001 when America became vulnerable and weak. A handful of people murdered so many people in 3 different states with such malice....and it was personal to each one of us. We didn't know what to do or what would happen. We just stayed glued to our televisions, trying to stay informed, trying to gain some reassurance that we were safe.

And we prayed.....everyone prayed. On television they prayed, in schools they prayed, people wandered into churches wanting to pray.

It was eye opening to me that I still had such strong emotions deep down inside. My general outlook on life is to move on. I want to learn, grow and then think about the positive after something bad happens. I think a lot of my processing of 9/11 was stunted because we had a tragedy in our lives and church 2 days after 9/11, when our friends' son killed himself. The fragile, vulnerable feelings had consumed him and when one last straw was put on his back, he cracked and very impulsively ended his life. He didn't know that life would go on and be good again. He didn't see hope.

It's what makes us carry on in times like these.....we hope...we can see past our present suffering to a brighter future. When we despair, if we just wait it out, we gain our hope once again.

"This too shall pass."

In Isaiah 32, we read:

14 The fortress will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;
citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever,
the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,

15 till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.

16 Justice will dwell in the desert
and righteousness live in the fertile field.

17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.


There IS a hope. God promises us hope throughout the Bible. One day we will be without sin and madness.

quietness and confidence
peaceful dwelling place
secure homes
undisturbed places of rest

These words were meant for such a time as we now live.....
to bring us hope.

Concentrate on these things today if you are feeling the remembrance of evil too strongly. And remind your children that there is hope. Help them to have hope....

Related pages:
Children respond to 9/11 through art
Resources for helping children deal with disaster

Glance over summer's shoulder
Topic: Photo entries

Oatmeal Muffins
Topic: Crickl's Recipes
Someone shared this recipe for oatmeal muffins on a forum I go to. All the ladies there were raving about it and telling what changes they made to it to make it more healthy. So I had to try it and it's good!

Using old fashioned oats adds the best health benefit. Soaking them in buttermilk cuts down on digestive problems and adds good enzymes to your tummy! Next time I'll try making it with canola oil instead of butter (or maybe use half applesauce and half the oil) and use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white. I also added a smidge of vanilla and some cinnamon to mine because I didn't have any fruit that sounded good to put in.


OATMEAL MUFFINS

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup dried currants (or use shredded apple, peach, dried cranberries or mashed bananas)


In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk and let stand 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400?F. and butter twelve 1/2-cup muffin tins.
Add egg, sugar and butter to oat mixture, stirring until just combined.

Into another large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and add to oat mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in currants.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Bake muffins in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins