Sometimes things go wrong….and somehow turn out 1,000 times better than you thought they would. This post is a mess.

The process photo stole the show. I ended up falling in love with honey in this mojito instead of sugar. This shot had so much personality that it looked all sorts of wrong when we lightened it to the acceptable food blogging “level”. And yet this post. Ahh. It’s all kinds of right.
I should have reshot this whole thing with honey in the photos, but instead I’m just gonna tell you….I made it again with honey simple syrup and its amazing.
I should be shooting in one of two styles for a food blog….bright clean light photos, or dark moody almost hard to see photos. And yet this….this throws every one of those out the window. It’s got too much of one and not enough of the other and yet…I love it.
I’ve been falling in love with light again friends. Not just the bright white clean food photos with everything just so.

But the shadows. The emotion, that only light like this can bring. Warm and wrapping like a hug. In my early photography classes where we shot black and white on old manual film cameras and lovingly developed our own film….that is when I knew and loved the shadows.
But our food world has fought with the shadow. No darkness…just light! Use a reflector to shine light into all those dark….messy spots.

But life is full of dark spots. And they are beautiful if you see them that way.
I promised to share real life with you here not just the pretty perfect stuff. So here it is…we are home. It’s awesome. And it’s hard.
Trying to balance life in another persons home while having no idea where work will come from or if work will come. Trusting that there is a plan even if we only see the first steps of it, the one we can take right this second.

And another step has come and another faithfully as we have walked. The job offer came for Kevin and he is working with his foot in the door at the brewery. School started, days passed, toys are strewn about our loving parents home, toddlers are chased and babies are rocked to sleep.
And yet still so much unknown hangs in the air as it always does.
And in it all I have come back to Psalm 77, where the little quote at the top of my version reads:
“When Overwhelmed, Remember God’s Greatness”

It is so easy in the midst of it all to lose sight of the bigger picture, to fret and worry how it will come together. And yet it always does, somehow the right doors are knocked on and the right situation comes to pass.
And usually, it’s after I have stopped striving. Stopped pushing so so hard for the answer I want. When I rest and relax….that the darkness suddenly has a beauty in it that I never saw before.
Spiced Honey Mojito
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz rum
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1 1/2 oz honey simple syrup, recipe below or sugar to taste (2 tablespoons)
- 4 mint leaves
- Club soda
- Ice cubes
- Limes
Instructions
- Add ice to shaker and add 4 broken up mint sprigs, rum, lime juice and simple syrup or sugar.
- Muddle the mint leaves with the ice to release fragrance and oil.
- Cap and shake well. Serve over ice in a high ball glass. Top off glass with a splash of club soda.
- Garnish with a slice of lime and a sprig of mint.
Amazing! I thought I was opening this email for a recipe– and I find God’s hand reaching down into my troubled heart and bringing me much needed encouragement.
Thank you for sharing….I’m heading over to Psalm 77 right now!