Today, the darling and wise, Laura Padgett, an award-winning author, dancer, and fairly new podcaster—she began her podcast, Livin' What You're Givin' on her 70th birthday—speaks of the gifts of age, the necessity of inclusion, and enduring-through-dance her life with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Laura looks out for those who may be new to the church, inviting those to the choir who may not know they were "allowed to sing." Her mission is to show and tell the world that aging isn't a disease; rather, we look for more and maybe different ways to serve our Saviour with the varying gifts each season and stage we meet along the way.
Some Laura gems:
Jesus plus nothing; there is no Jesus, plus.
I start each day with, "Wow! Thank You!"
Start looking at what you have instead of what's been taken.
I'm not going to put other people's stuff on my credit card.
Art lives in the heart, not the hands and feet. (That's why anyone can dance!)
Laura wrote a book about her mentor entitles, Delores, Like a River and she's giving a copy away this week. Leave a comment below or on instagram to be entered.
About her book:
The story of an extraordinary relationship between two women who would have been unlikely companions if not for the plans of the Almighty in bringing them together. As you follow the narrative of their thirty-five-year relationship, it may change the way you see beauty and purpose in aging. And it may convince you of or reinforce your belief in the God who spares no effort when reaching out to the broken and lost.
Laura is Italian and I love it that she shares a part of her kitchen heritage with Papa Cavalla's Recipe for Spaghetti Sauce:
This is a recipe my father, Albert Carvallo, (Papa) learned from his Sicilian mother. He was first generation Italian and the only one of ten children born on American soil. This like many other recipes brought from Italy, was handed down to his daughters in his distinctive way of teaching the culinary secrets of our homeland. Please know the exact measurements are not known but for the purposes of this offering, I have tried to be as accurate as possible. Mostly we just always knew that the recipe was right by the taste.
Ingredients
2 large cans (28 oz) whole tomatoes in juice
2 large cans (15 oz) of tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
4 large pork spare ribs, lean
½ pound ground mild Italian sausage
2 teaspoons each dried oregano and dried basil
5 cloves garlic
In large sauce pan, in 1 inch of water and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped but not diced into small pieces, braise the pork ribs until done over low heat. Remove to cutting board and let cool. You may need to keep adding water so the ribs do not stick and the garlic does not burn. While pork is cooking place the tomatoes with juice, sauce and paste into a large bowl and mash together with a potato masher and 1 teaspoon each basil and oregano. You can used canned crushed tomatoes but they usually do not have as much juice.
Once pork is cool, cut it off the bone into bite size pieces and return to pan having removed any excess water from the pan. Add the tomato mixture and bring to a simmer. Allow mixture to simmer on medium to low heat covered for three hours. Turn off heat but keep covered and leave on stove top for one hour.
Braise Italian sausage in same manner as ribs, drain and cool. Put into the tomato mixture and cook for another three hours. Add remaining chopped garlic and spices. Return mixture to slow simmer for another three hours. Turn off heat, let cool on stove and either serve over pasta of choice or refrigerate for use the next day over pasta of choice.
*Note: You may want to had a bit more seasoning prior to refrigeration or ½ hour prior to serving, while sauce is still simmering. Also, this recipe can be used with chicken if pork is not a meat that is desired. Follow all other directions as listed above.
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When asked, "What's the greatest commandment?" Jesus replied simply: "Love God, love your neighbor." I imagine He was thinking,"It's not rocket science" or "What's not to like?" or "It's not complicated."
He was right, it's not complicated.
I make it complicated. I need to pray daily to uncomplicate what He says is best for me and best for others. So I wrote 31 Days of Uncomplicated Prayers, and once I pray them through, I start over again.
You can too.
Sign up HERE to receive 31 Days of Uncomplicated Prayers to take the "complicated" out of the simple commands of Jesus. Love God. Love your neighbor. It's not complicated.
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