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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Brown Sugar Lattes and Finding Home

November 18, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 11 Comments

Sometimes we must open our hands fully to let go of what we hold so tightly.

If you read Simmer, then you know how it stung to leave North Carolina. For almost two years, we didn’t go back to visit. The decision was one part necessity; one part self-preservation. Much of my heart still resided comfortably in the 919; I needed to invest fully in where we were– in sincere hope that it would become home as well.

After some time passed, we found ourself back among the oaks for, wait for it– a job interview. By then we were happy to call Augusta home but the job that had taken us there eventually placed us back in limbo.

We rambled to Raleigh in the frigid mid-January wind and pursued caffeine and warmth. One particular coffee shop opened shortly after we moved away and their instagram feed had taunted me for months. We sat with lattes & a liege waffle between us, this new place in our old comfortable town.

We sipped long and looked around for familiar faces. But of course, it had been a couple of years and the only familiar face I saw was the one across from me. We brought home with us when we sat at that tiny table.

The coffee was amazing, the day was gorgeous and the best part? It was all brand new– and it wasn’t ours. 
Something happened in that short trip, a warmth in my heart beyond what coffee could produce. When I thought I wanted familiar, I found something better.

The knowledge that I was a visitor was stronger than my slight homesickness that I always carried with me. What I missed for ages, I came back to and realized– it wasn’t mine anymore.

Mine was a blue house in Georgia with two little girls and the man smiling at my deep-in-thought-ness. Mine was the sunny kitchen with the cabinets which we painted ourselves. Mine was the moonlighting barista I brought with me who was already figuring out how to recreate my drink. It was all mine. This town, this place, this seedbed of sweet memories– was no longer mine.

I do believe cities keep a slice of us when we go. I know that they wind deep around our hearts like our roots that go way back then. Perhaps it depends on the life that we lived while there, but I know that it etches just the same.

We hope we leave marks on these towns and coffee shops and churches, but the truth is– they leave their marks on us as well.

I may still grin when I sit behind a car with a North Carolina license plate. I swallow my wistfulness when friends send me photos of the neighborhood we lived in. I loved it then and I love it still. But as much as I adore the place of our beginning, I cherish where we are today.

I’m grateful we let go of one so that we could grab onto the next. With both hands and whole hearts.

For I know that holding on to one thing too tightly prevents us from wholly holding the next. That next thing which God has given us for His glory and our growth. And I want that, I want to hold on firmly, unabashedly planted in today– where I’ve been thoughtfully, lovingly, placed.

My dear husband (who, if you’re wondering, never did take that job but instead waited patiently for the right one in the right place,) makes coffee that would make you call your Mother. (I can’t say that other Southern phrase about slapping mothers, my Mother happens to be a faithful reader and I know better.) He made this lovely Brown Sugar Simple Syrup and creates beautiful lattes with it. Swoon.

Brown Sugar Latte

This simple syrup is called that for a reason, it’s as easy as pie!  Add it to your latte, Iced Coffee, or morning cup right out of the pot. I use about a 1/2 an ounce because I like just a hint of sweet, but you do you.

Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

12 oz filtered water

16 oz. brown sugar

a tiny pinch of kosher salt

Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the brown sugar. Whisk in and return to a boil for three minutes. Cool for 10-15 minutes before pouring into a bottle or jar.

For a brown sugar latte or brown sugar cafe au lait– we add between a half an ounce and an ounce to the mug before the espresso/ coffee. We froth heated milk using a frother similar to this one, and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Enjoy!

Friday Round Up: Only the Good Stuff!
What I’ve Learned & Loved Lately (Fall Edition.)

Comments

  1. Susan Arico says

    November 19, 2016 at 7:11 am

    Love this. Having just moved to Crete and still in the “settling in” phase, I can totally relate.
    This is my favourite part:
    “But as much as I adore the place of our beginning, I cherish where we are today. I’m grateful we let go of one so that we could grab onto the next. With both hands and whole hearts. For holding on to one thing too tightly truly does prevent us from wholly holding the next, the next thing which God has given us for His glory and our growth.”

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      November 20, 2016 at 7:52 am

      I can imagine you are, Susan. That’s quite a move– isn’t it?
      It has certainly been a lengthy process in my own heart, and many days I still need to be reminded to “Be all here.”
      Thank you for saying hello and I do pray the next few months will be ones of settling in in heart as well as body for you. <3

      Reply
  2. Laura Baareman says

    November 19, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    Great post on a topic that I can really relate to. I think I’ll always carry a piece of homesickness along with me. I have to depend on Jesus to give me joy in the present! Thanks!

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      November 20, 2016 at 7:54 am

      Hi Laura. I’m glad you can relate.

      And yes, the Peace that we are right where He has placed us makes up for so many areas of uncertainty, can’t it? He is sovereign over even this.

      Reply
  3. Angela says

    November 19, 2016 at 10:19 pm

    Thank you for putting into words what I’ve been experiencing over the past year! I can finally go back to our old roots and not be an emotional wreck! Letting go is difficult but once we do it’s amazing!

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      November 20, 2016 at 7:56 am

      Hey Angela! If you did it in one year, you are much stronger than I was! I pray you continue to feel even more nestled in home as the months roll by. Thank you for stopping by. <3

      Reply
  4. Robin says

    November 20, 2016 at 4:37 pm

    I feel the wistfulness with you.

    And I’m gonna go make some brown sugar simple syrup. 🙂

    (Stopping by from h*w and this was beautiful.)

    Reply
  5. Connie Sizemore says

    November 21, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    Oh, Cynthia!
    I’m just now getting to sit with these thoughts of yours. As God always does, He allowed me the time to enjoy at just the right moment. We haven’t moved to a new place – still here in the same stretch of the woods – but are in a totally new and strange stage of our lives. I don’t like it a bit, today. We’re in the waiting. God told us to leave the familiar and safe business we’ve been in for years and just wait. I just thought I trusted Him before. I confess I don’t like stepping out into the unknown. I imagine I’ll be coming back to read this post again over the next days. Thank you for faithfully and transparently sharing where you’ve been.
    In a Bit of a Heap,
    Connie

    Reply
  6. Stacey Weinberger says

    September 16, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    Sweet Cynthia- I read this when you first posted it, and today I am reading it again… both times with tears… you are such a beautiful writer, and as I read your words they truly transport me to wherever it is that you are describing. I am two years into this move now, and still struggling to make this place home… God has a plan, and I trust Him, I have just been impatient with myself… thank you for reminding me that I am not alone. I miss you dear friend!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. What I’ve Learned & Loved Lately (Fall Edition.) says:
    December 1, 2016 at 11:23 am

    […] I know that making a home, building it from the inside out, is a gentle process and not one that can be rushed. I also know it doesn’t come easily for all of us. I wrote more about that here: Brown Sugar Lattes & Finding Home. […]

    Reply
  2. Loving Lately in November says:
    November 22, 2019 at 9:53 am

    […] Brown Sugar Syrup for coffee-shop quality lattes at home. Mmmm. We had the first real drop in temperature this month and I immediately made a batch of this syrup to have on hand. […]

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Throwing it back but not way back: remember last y Throwing it back but not way back: remember last year when we *discovered* the whipped, frothy, goodness of Dalgona Coffee?

I made it again today for the express purpose of seeing if it would still work with less sugar and I rather like my lightened up version!

(Tip: in my opinion, it makes enough for two— especially because I use instant espresso— so it’s pretty strong! Not warm where you are yet?  Tap the little flag to save this post for later.)

✨Whipped Coffee✨ 
2 TBS. instant espresso
2 TBS. cold water
1 TBS. maple syrup or simple syrup
1-2 glasses of ice and milk

Whip/ Beat the espresso, syrup, and water with an electric beater, immersion blender, or hand-held milk frother until frothy and light in color. Scoop over the milk and ice and enjoy!
🪡Do I seamstressed to you?🪡 Really though, 🪡Do I seamstressed to you?🪡 

Really though, after completing my first embroidery project, I feel like it might just be the cheapest, prettiest, stress relief out there. I am officially a believer in relaxing this way. And PS, if I can do it, you can.

Thank you, @thebarmyfox for bringing this lovely art into my life!
Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
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