Thursday, February 14, 2013

A Birthday Tribute and a First.

 Today is my dearest husband's birthday. A very special day to be born, I think! His mama planned that well;) And as a side fact, did you know that he also shares his birthday with his grandma? He's a Birthentine Baby! haha.

Here is my beloved:



I am so thankful for this man, who is so willing to humble himself before God and get himself on the right track so he can lead his family. And what an amazing job he is doing! I pray this next year is just filled with God's grace, His blessing and His abundant love on my husband. Happy Birthday, Ben!

And do you want some proof that I love my husband? This is real proof people. A first. Something unheard of. A miracle, if you will.

If you know me well or have spent enough time around me, you will learn one very unfortunate fact about me. Well, unfortunate to others but not to me, I'm sorry....or not sorry to say:)

I do not, in any sense of the word, like lasagna. I never have and I am pretty darn certain I never will.

But......


Even after swearing that I would never, ever make it, I thought to myself, what a better way to show my husband that I love and adore him than by making him one of his favorite (and my least favorite) foods!

There you have it, folks. My very first lasagna. And it was a hit. Zakkai declared it his new favorite food, OVER our homemade pizza, which is pretty amazing! People often ask me, upon hearing the atrocious news, (which I never tell anyone, by the way! Some other people always blurt it out) what it is that I don't like about it. I can now officially tell you. I made myself a little square in my pan that had no ricotta cheese on it (which I already knew I didn't like) and even after nibbling on that, I can tell you that I don't like the cheese or the noodles in lasagna. The sauce was great but that was it. The end.

Let me close with a nice humbling story for you, as well as a public apology. Once, a few, long years ago, we were enjoying the company of our new housegroup (small group) who met in our home. We were chatting about innocent things and somehow, someway the subject of lasagna came up. Well, now, I had to open my big, fat mouth and go on and on (and ON) about how much I loathed lasagna (which I have never done again. I learned my lesson!).

Only, I didn't know something really important. That a very sweet girl, who was sitting across from me, had, only a year before, brought our family a delicious (so raved my husband) pan of lasagna upon the birth of our second son. She didn't know our family but out of the loveliness of her heart, she baked up a wonderful meal and served us. Ben went down to collect it from her so I never got to see her or thank her in person.

Until that fateful night when I stuck my foot in my mouth and choked myself on it. I stuttered through an apology and prayed for the floor of my living room to open up and suck me in. But it didn't, unfortunately.

But this wonderful person was SO kind and forgiving and continued to be my friend even after that awful blooper!

I discovered for myself tonight, what very hard work lasagna is! Hours of work, seriously to make the sauce and cook the noodles and layer and bake, etc. And while I worked for 5 hours straight on our dinner and dessert, I couldn't help but think back to that night, where I hopefully learned my lesson.

And so, I just want to say to my sweet friend who I know will read this (and you are probably laughing right now because you know it's you!) that I am VERY sorry all over again for my ungracious comment and I really had no idea how much work you put into making that meal for us. I can honestly say that Ben and Samuel adored it because it was a rarity in their lives. And I am so thankful that you blessed a family you didn't even know with your delicious food and gentle spirit!

And now, let us have a moment of silence for lasagna and those who don't like it. Amen.

2 comments:

Emily and Frank said...

2 things:
1. Bwah-ha-ha!!
2. And if you ever make one again, they now have no boil lasagna noodles so you can eliminate the step of cooking the noodles before you assemble the casserole.

And one bonus thing:
I miss you! We need to skype soon!

Aunt t said...

Happy Birthday! Ben
We hope all your dreams come true very soon!
I do not like ricotta cheese either but I used cottage cheese and I mix it in the sauce when I layer it so I do not even see it! I make a little extra sauce so it's really saucey!
li like lasagne though!

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