A Daddy-Daughter Leap Year Memory

Riiinnnnnggg. The sound broke my concentration, and I reached for the black receiver. On this late February 29th afternoon in 1972, I was alone in my university dorm room working on assignments. Graduation drew closer with every passing day.

The voice on the other end of the line brought a smile to my face. My Daddy. “Hey Deb! I’ve been on a trip, and I’m driving back through campus on my way home. Let me take you out for a steak dinner. And see if you can find that boyfriend of yours. I would like to treat him as well.”

Since I could not locate that boyfriend (I think he was on football assignment in the weight room) my father and I shared a wonderful dinner alone during which he emphasized my unique opportunity. According to tradition, on February 29th, women were sanctioned to propose to men. Was I aware of this? Now I understood—no wonder he wanted me to bring Larry to dinner!

Well, I did not propose to Larry, and it would be nearly a year before he proposed to me. However, the memory of that evening with my dad brings a smile each time Leap Year rolls around: a timely phone call, a daddy-daughter dinner, and a heartwarming memory.

Now in 2024, Leap Year and February 29th await us. Perhaps one of the 29 ideas below will motivate you to make a Leap Year memory, alone or with someone else.

29 Ideas for Creating a Leap Year Memory

1. Read Proverbs 29

2. Ask yourself, “If I could just leap over any problem in my life, which problem would I choose?”

3. Brainstorm 29 ideas (places to visit, books to read) to pursue in the next 4 years

4. Read 29 pages in your favorite book

5. Take 29 cookies to a homeless shelter

6. Phone 29 friends you haven’t seen since the last Leap Year and surprise them with a cheerful greeting

7. Listen to 29 minutes of classical music

8. Take a 29 minute nap

9. Put 29 cents into a new piggy bank, and add to it for the next 4 years. Make plans to treat yourself in 2028.

10. Call someone born on Leap Year and wish him or her Happy Birthday

11. Take 29 one-dollar bills and give them out one at a time, letting the Holy Spirit guide you with wisdom and discernment

12. Sleep-in an extra 29 minutes on Leap Year morning

13. Take 29 items from you pantry to a local food bank

14. Share with your family a Leap Year memory from your childhood

15. Clean out your closet and give away 29 items

16. Write a note to your spouse which includes 29 reasons of your love and appreciation

17. Do 29 sit-ups

18. Brainstorm 29 blessings that spontaneously come to mind

19. Pray 29 minutes for your pastor

20. Climb 29 stairs instead of taking the elevator to your office

21. Pay a compliment to 29 people you interface with through the course of your day

22. Make a list of “29 Reasons I Am Grateful for My Inlaws”

23. Go to the florist section of your grocery and select 29 inexpensive flowers to individually give away today (teacher, postal lady, receptionist, fast food drive through window)

24. Get up 29 minutes earlier on Leap Year morning

25. Ask yourself: “What is the most significant event in my life since the last Leap Year in 2020?”

26. Pass around a paper at the dinner table for all members to contribute: “29 Reasons Why We Like Our Family”

27. Do a Google search on Leap Year traditions in countries other than your own

28. Reflect on 29 pieces of advice that have changed your life

29. Like my Daddy, surprise your student who is away at university, and show up to take her out to dinner. With loving tenderness, she will treasure the memory 52 years later, long after you are gone.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ

whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

“Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings” (Daniel 2: 20-23).

What is most striking to you about Leap Year?

What can we learn about God as we have one more day added to our calendars?

Would you please share a Leap Year memory?

International Muffin Day

I just could not resist! In honor of this week’s International Muffin Day (February 20th, to be exact) will you please join me as I revisit my appreciation for the power of a muffin?

As a family of three, we waited in Vienna for the Polish Communist government to issue our visas, which would grant us permission to move into their country. Though inconvenient, this indefinite holding pattern created the perfect environment for forging lasting friendships.

On a bright May morning in 1977, my inquisitive 19-month-old daughter sat unanchored in the backseat of a Volkswagen bug. Wide-eyed, she could only wonder about her mother’s antics. Together—I behind the wheel and she in the rear—we rocked back and forth in my doggedness to transport us to the outskirts of the city. 

My current realities drove me (literally) to attempt wrestling this red bucking bronco: my little girl needed children with whom to play, and I needed the company of another mom. In short, I needed a morning away with a friend.

A set of borrowed keys held my ticket for this desired outing, but there was a glitch. The vehicle was manual stick shift transmission, not automatic. Never mind. Larry gave me a tutorial in stick shift driving on the day before. I was determined that my daughter and I would not be held hostage to first gear, second gear, and much less reverse. Consequently, on the cobblestone streets of a foreign country—Vienna, Austria—I mastered (?) the rudimentary motions enough to set out on my own. 

Thank goodness, it was not raining on the morning of our maiden voyage. Apprehensively, Larry watched as I maneuvered the vehicle out of its parking spot, and tentatively into the stream of traffic on Hohe Warte Strasse in the Grinzing district of the city. He calculated this as the first of our many turns ahead. Would see his wife and his child again? Unyielding traffic lights, pedestrians with shopping baskets, mothers with prams, and unforgiving trams stood between this man and his family’s return. The wave of his hand was weak.

One way or another, this mother-daughter combo proceeded through the European traffic lights, dodged the Viennese pedestrians, negotiated around the Austrian mothers and prams, and navigated shared space with the clanking trams. Motoring alongside the Danube River, we eventually arrived safely in Sankt Andrä-Wördern, Austria. Without automatic transmission, without seatbelts, without GPS, we made it! Whew. I crawled out from behind the wheel, and reached into the back seat to collect my little sweetheart and her toddler belongings.

Vivian, with her children in tow, met us at the door of her home. A bright smile and a friendly hug assured me that the precarious drive from the city was worth every challenging kilometer.

After viewing her lovely home and garden, Vivian and I meandered back inside. We sat across from each other at their newly acquired Polish crafted table while drinking dark, rich, strong coffee, and devouring a batch of freshly made Banana Oatmeal Muffins. My soul experienced a unique solace as conversation flowed easily between the two of us.

Much too quickly, the morning evaporated, and the return trip loomed ahead. Glibly, I assumed if we made it out, we would make it back to the city. Before saying our goodbyes, Vivian wrote out the recipe for the Banana Oatmeal Muffins we enjoyed. Roaring off in a cloud of dust, I left with far more than a recipe; I left knowing I had a new friend.

Vivian and I would go on to share much more than Banana Oatmeal Muffins. Our journey was destined to travel through birthdays and holidays, heartaches and hard lessons, conferences and cancer. The road ahead held clandestine ministry behind The Wall, and our witnessing the Fall of that same Wall. This friendship would endure moves across borders, moves across oceans. Vivian and I thanked God when we landed on our feet, and reached down to pull the other up when one of us stumbled and fell. No wonder the Bible says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (18:24b). I think the Bible speaks of one like Vivian.

And to think, it all began with a Banana Oatmeal Muffin. 

From the original faded copy in Vivian’s handwriting that May morning in 1977, I transcribed the recipe to share with you.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
3 T. sugar (raw, if you have it)
2 ½ t. bäckpulver (baking powder)
½ t. salt
1 cup oats
1 beaten egg
1 cup mashed ripe banana
¼ cup milk
2 T. oil

Instructions:

Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder, salt

Stir in oats

Separately, mix remaining ingredients, add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just enough to moisten

Fill 12 well-greased muffin pans 2/3 full

Bake at 400° (200° C.) for 20-25 minutes

Now decades later, I suggest you take pause, make these muffins, and invite a friend to enjoy them with you. Keep in mind, they are definitely better served warm with butter and honey.

And remember, never underestimate the power of a muffin.

-Taken from Pulling Back The Iron Curtain, Stories From a Cold War Missionary, page 17.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ

whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

When you read Proverbs 18:24b, who comes to your mind?

What muffin is your favorite?

In honor of International Muffin Day, perhaps you can find a time this week to share a muffin with a friend. And be sure to write down a copy of the recipe. Who knows, it might become a lifetime treasure.

A Valentine for God

O My God,

Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects, my heart admires, adores, loves thee, for my little vessel is as full as it can be, and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up, ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed, ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart, crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created, for adorning it, sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil; for the body thou hast given me, for preserving its strength and vigour, for providing senses to enjoy delights, for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding; for thy royal bounty providing my daily support, for a full table and overflowing cup, for appetite, taste, sweetness, for social joys of relatives and friends, for ability to serve others, for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities, for a mind to care for my fellow-men, for opportunities of spreading happiness around, for loved ones in the joys of heaven, for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.

I love thee above the powers of language to express, for what thou are to thy creatures.

Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ

whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

- From The Valley of Vision, Praise and Thanksgiving, page 26