About Love, Scratch

Hi! My name is Rachel, but Joey calls me Scratch.



After seven years of marriage, that husband of mine hasn't come up with anything more romantic than that to call me. I guess it should come as no surprise we call our three kids the Goobies. (Silly nicknames are a thing with us.) Their real names are Adeline (Addie), Amelia (Mia) and Emery. Taking care of them is my full time job, and I spend a lot of my day trying to figure out how to feed them well.


It's a pretty tall order these days. Not only does parenting get tougher (who knew these Goobies could ask such deep questions?), but food allergies complicate our food life. Mia and Emery have pretty severe allergies (peanuts, pine nuts, dairy, and sunflower seeds among them), and I have issues with gluten (Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, so I'm told).  I spend more time reading food labels than I do making my way through the beloved pile of books on my nightstand. Time well spent, yes--but not exactly fun. Sometimes I get pretty upset about it; other times I take it in stride and keep a positive attitude about the challenges we face. I don't want our kids to remember our kitchen as a stressful place where they were a burden or inconvenience.


When I was growing up, the kitchen was where things happened. Singing and celebration; fighting and crying; working and playing--it was all there.  The kitchen was alive to me, and I would wander there whenever I was lonely or bored. It is where I first felt creative, the place where failure did not scare me or deter me from trying again.

I remember perching myself on top of a stool to watch my parents in action, throwing together a meal at the end of a long day. Often simple, always good. They taught me how to transform ingredients into something much more than just dinner. They fed our hearts just as much as they fed our mouths, and what I remember most about life around our table isn't so much the food itself, but about what happened in the lives of people that sat there together. I want the same for my own kids.

On the surface, Love, Scratch is a letter to Joey, yes. But deeper than that, it is a celebration of the way faith, family and food mingle to minister to our souls. So much of this interaction happens in our kitchen, and I'm sure the same is true for your family.


We are glad you stopped by to visit, so please--poke around and get to know us a little bit.

Love,
Rachel

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