Be Gentle With You

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about having a monthly meal with my dear friends – and wondering if I should ask them to cook Whole 30 for me or just having them bring what they want and me eating what I could. They brought the most delicious Whole 30 meal to my house last night!

I threw some steaks on the grill and some chicken in the oven, so the protein part of the meal was covered. They brought baked potatoes, a GORGEOUS strawberry, balsamic, and almond green salad, and asparagus cooked with bacon! For dessert, we had the most gorgeous berries with freshly whipped cream (I skipped the cream). I felt weird about taking pictures of everything, so I didn’t. But, now that I’m writing this blog about their gorgeous fare, I wish I had pictures of them.
I set my table for my girlfriends, and I included this funky candle I picked up at a yard sale. I kind of played around with it, learning how it works, how quickly it burns, etc. last night because these particular girlfriends don’t think me rude if I’m picking at the wax on this new, odd candle as we remain at the table long after the meal has been consumed – loooong afterward, telling stories, asking for prayer, laughing, and crying. These moments are precious, precious, precious.

One of my girlfriends said this cool candle is called a Courting Candle, and I looked it up. Each inch of this candle burns for about 20 minutes, so you pull up 3 inches of the candle to have a one hour visit. When the candle had burned down, the parents said, “Time to go home!” One hour would never be a long enough visit with my dinner party friends from last night.