Matthew Robinson

Empty the dishwasher.

Fold the whites.

Bring the garbage cans in.

Spell check.

And proof read.

Make the bed.

Edge.

Balance the check book.

Take down the Christmas Tree.

There are 52 weeks in a year.

And I’ve attended church this year, 2008, forty-nine times.

And that’s crazy to me.  It’s never happened before in any of these 26 years I spent on Earth.

And it’s been a wild, fun, and crazy ride.

Most Sundays, most of my work is done before the service (all week long leading up), with a mad dash from 2:00 p.m. – right before we kickoff.  Throw in a welcome and a couch here and there, and a closing goodbye sometimes, and most of my actual Sunday night time is spent behind the scenes.

Tonight was different.  With Dean and Krissie gone, I was trusted with “the Well.”

One of my top priorities was to simply connect.  The distance between the stage and first person in a pew is gi-normous, and transcending that artificial barrier is a huge task.

I don’t know how Dean does it so well, so effortlessly, each Sunday.

I say this often and will keep doing so: our team is top notch.  From sound to band to tech to ushers to kids to greeters, we’ve got an amazing group of volunteers who are so committed.  We always need more, and I’m just incredibly thankful for and humbled by those I get to lead and work with.

We’ve been on the road for much of December, and I’m ready to be back home at Godby.  We all are.  There’s so many new ideas…an invigorated spirit that we have to start 2009 with, that Jan 4, and Jan 11, and every Sunday following has renewed excitement.

It’s all Resolved.

And the greatest of these, it’s Love.

The build up was wonderful and Santa was in a good mood.

I stole a shot of the midnight candlelight service at church last night:

It’s always one of my most favorite services at Van Dye United Method Church in Tampa (that’s where I went and was involved during high school).  I’ve always wanted to see what this looks like looking out from the stage…from the band or the pastor’s point of view.  Just sitting in the congregation with a thousand other people, it’s pretty incredible.  I got to hang out with my good friend Valerie Frank (trying to convince her to come back to Tallahassee!) and catching up with a close buddy late into the night ended a great Navidad Eve.

With no Heather and Chris here today, the morning was a little different.  We slept a little later and did breakfast before presents.  We finally managed to get iChat video to connect, and the snow in Utah was pouring down.  Some fun pictures from the festivities follow.

Merry Christmas!

Debut: still perfecting with each time I make it!

This is a an impressive go-to for me.  I’ve made it in square, round, and a Valentine’s Day heart pans.  It’s the compilation of about 10 different recipes, notes jotted in the margins, and my experience trying to perfect the perfect cheesecake.  Other than chocolate, I’m not a “toppings” person on a cheesecake.  I use the filling as a base for graham cracker (and ginger snap) crusts as well.  I’ve never had this recipe crack, and while it looks in-depth, it’s the easiest I’ve found to make.  (A yes, for the record, sometimes when I’m rushed, I’ll just make a pan of brownies (cutting off the edges–I don’t like brownie crusts) as the fudge layer.)

Filling:
5 x 8-ounce bars cream cheese, room temperature
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
Grated rind of 1 small lemon
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks, room temperature
5 eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place first five ingredients in large mixing bowl and beat on high until they are completely blended.  Add vanilla and 2 yolks, and beat again.  Add eggs one at a time, beating until just blended (do not over beat).

Grease a 10-inch round spring form form that has been lined with buttered parchment paper (butter sides as well).  Pour filling in to prepared pan.  Batter will fill pan.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Lower oven temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 2 hours.  Turn off oven and open oven door and let cheesecake rest until completely cooled.  Refrigerate overnight.

Fudge Layer Crust:
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 stick margarine, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature

Beat eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and add melted chocolate chips, butter and margarine.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in a 10-inch parchment paper lined pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Set aside to cool and then refrigerate overnight.

Chocolate Ganache Covering:
16 ounces (2 2/3 cups) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp. unsalted butter

Place the chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl.  Set aside.  Heat cream and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Bring just to a boil.  Immediately pour the boiling ream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.  Stir with a whisk until smooth.

Assembly:
Palace fudge layer onto top of cheesecake.  Upside down, place cake plate over fudge layer.  Invert the stack so that cake plate sits on counter (fudge layer on bottom, cheesecake layer on top).

Place strips of wax paper just under fudge layer (easy clean up).  Pour chocoalte ganache over cake and smooth top and sides.  Remove was paper strips for clean edge along the cake plate.

(For the curls, I unwrap a giant Hershey Bar, put it in the microwave for 15 second, and use a vegetable peeler along the short edge pushing away from me.  The less I think about this and try, the better the curls seem to come out.)

My shopping is finished.

My wrapping is finished.

And the cheesecake is in the oven.

It’s Christmas Eve!

Every year we have a party and people over on Christmas Eve at the Robinson house.  It’s part of our Christmas ritual.  My grandmother (mom’s mom) cooked lasagna every year as mother growing up, and now, every December 24th, our family and friends know what to expect.  It’s one of my most favorite meals of the entire year, and my Italian madre knows how to make a phenomenal lasagna.  Tonight will be fun.

Yesterday was a whirlwind travel and visit and catch up day.  A trip to Orlando for shopping and a visit to the Myersons ended with cookie decorating and ginger bread house construction.  Connie’s of of my best friends, and the annual trek across to I-4 to see her and the family is one I long for.  Tracy (Con’s sister, now in NYC) and I teamed up for the gingerbread house, and we so totally won.  Pretzel-ized log cabin and a cobble stone roof, we knocked it out the park.  We weren’t there to compete.  We were there to embarrass.  So much fun with one of my favorite families.

Last night I also drove out to Wesley Chapel to visit Sarah and Alex (now at Princeton) and Ms. Johnson and their family.  Pile on more cookie decorating (we never do this at my house and my fix, since early high school, came from taking part in the Christmas rituals of the families of my friends) and another annual visit, and getting caught up with people I can pick back up with lent itself to feeling more and more like I was home.

My friend Jovanna (she’s got her own blog now!) wrote a pretty incredible piece about what Christmas means to her this year for the Well’s weekly eWell (eNewsletter).  It’s incredibly touching, and helped me get in check for this special day.

Happy Christmas Eve!

This is who was looking at me the whole time:

Off for a week, and now down in the 813 (well technically the 727, but I’m not claiming it) through Christmas.

I hate I-10.  Trees, trees, trees, Dairy Queen, trees, trees, trees, Dairy Queen, trees, trees, tees, 75.  What a miserable drive.

Couldn’t quite wait to get home to see the fam.  The visit and the holiday are going to be wonderful…while Tallahassee has certainly become home in most every respect, I miss the ingrained familiarity with the Tampa Bay area.  This land just comes right back to me.  And there are people here I consistently look forward to see.  It will be a fun week.

Last night I experienced small town, Florida, U.S.A.

On of those favorites I’m not supposed to have, from my very first year of teaching, got married.  She knew she was a favorite then, and my friend Katie made sure to keep in touch.  She’d grown up in Blounstown, Florida, had spent her freshmen and sophomore years there, and transferred over to Florida High to open up more athletic and academic opportunities.  She made the most of them.  And being a semester away from her undergraduate college graduation, I was so touched to watch this young women marry the man she’d fallen for.  I’d come to know her family too, and to see them all was a treat.

Katie promised me about a week ago that she was certain I had not experienced anything like a small town wedding before.  “I’m telling you Matthew, you need to get there 45 minutes to an hour before hand if you want a seat” (read that with long drawls on every vowel, and you’ll have an idea of how Katie sounds).

She was right.  This small town church was packed out 45 minutes before any seating of the grandmothers began.  A mix of old lady perfume, stuffy suits, and Old Spice, we were tight in there.  I’m talking not a seat anywhere to be found, standing room only, people filing out the front door because fire code was about to be broken.

And it was all worth the trip.  Happily ever after to the new Hayes!

I didn’t experience the Well tonight.  And by didn’t experience, I mean I wasn’t there in person.  My hands were all over and in it getting usual Saturday and Sunday morning work finished before I passed off the computer, and much like sub plans for when I’m gone from the classroom, it’s awkward not actually getting to “be” there while it all plays out.  The team that pulls it off every week is amazing, and they stepped up this week.  And no one poked fun (this time) at my list of details to keep in mind.  I’m telling you, we’ve got quality people.  And it couldn’t be done with out them.  I’m looking forward to watching Jovanna welcome, Matt sing, Keith rum-pum-pum-pum, Dean preach and taking part in the service from 300 miles away.  God bless technology.  And God bless Carianne Bradley for getting all of it together.

A story to come…dad has grass-orexia.

I’ll be home for Christmas!

I think this is probably may favorite thing so far the Christmas season.

(Many thanks to one of my former FSU students for sending me this–I’ve ragged on acapella singers before, but I really do envy them!)

The question I’m often asked that elicits the most pronounced eye roll from me is:

“So what did you do today?”

How do you answer that question? Is the person wanting every mapped out second? A general synopsis? Does my response need to include my actions, and my thoughts? Can I even remember all of these things?

Often, I just say “I lived.” That pretty well sums most of it up.

I’m on “winter break” as it’s been branded (you’ll find me referring to it as “Christmas Break” whether or not that’s okay with you), and for three and a half weeks, I’m “off.”

Looking forward to a week in Tampa with my family (minus Heather…her first post-wedding holiday away from the Robinson’s, and I promise you it will be totally weird not having my little sister around. I’m a little sad.)

And this is probably the first year I desired to stay, and just enjoy some down time, in Tallahassee. Today’s high is actually supposed to be in the 80’s. This isn’t Christmas time, it’s summer.

I stayed up until 2:17 a.m. last night. I was just on a roll. I was getting things done, researching and reading, and didn’t realize it was so late. Thankfully Sadie slept though the night and didn’t want out, and 8 hours of hard, uninterrupted sleep were miraculous.

Some thoughts on my mind:

• I’ll publically announce in this forum that my Carola (aka the Chick Magnet) was hit again last week.  This time, it won’t cost $11,000 to fix, “only” $1,600.  This ‘09 model hasn’t even made it to it’s birth year.  A good friend backed in to it, and she felt so bad, but, in the words of Krissie Inserra, “it’s just a car.”  I was actually quite surprised I didn’t really have a reaction.  What can you do, you know?
• As a teacher educator, I’ve been asked several times who I think should be Obama’s Secretary of Education.  My honest to goodness vote was for Bill Gates.  The system needs to be totally overhauled.  He picked Arne Duncan.  I’ve actually studied some of his actions in Chicago, and they’re encouraging.  I think the single biggest issue in education we face is lack of equity among socio-economic status.  Teacher accountability is number two.  And nothing’s going to change without these being tackled.
• Two of my friends have or will start blogging.  And it’s been an outlet for an ounce of pent of creative juices I’ve had.  More blog roll action is coming soon!
• My favorite Christmas carol is ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ and this version is amazing.
• This is what Christmas is all about.
• And I would totally have one my future kids to sit on his lap.  Seriously.

Off to live some more…

On the way back from Ridgecrest I did a little Q&A with Dean…some behind the scenes, some breaking news, some insights from the front line.

This just might turn in to a weekly feature.

And yes, that is James W. Parsons doing the shimmy at the end.

Post exams and pre Christmas, we made it back from a three day, two night destination get away to Ridgecrest, North Carolina.  Dean mentioned a month or two ago that we needed a staff retreat.  We needed an opportunity to escape Tallahassee’s confines to think big, dream huge, and pray our brains out.

Packed in our Dodge Minivan, Dean, Matt Long, Sarah and Lawton and two of our college students, James Parsons and Kendra, headed north with stops in Atlanta and Anderson, South Carolina.

The thing about getting away is that you get away.  We’ve had the opportunity to spend 18 hours a day together, to get to know things we would have never found out about each other, and have uninterrupted time to figure out and plan for the impossible.

Prior to leaving, we were charged with exploring the notion of thinking along the lines of “to reach the people no one else is reaching, you have to do the things that no one else is doing.”

We’ve explored our hearts.  We’ve explored our church.  We’ve explored our city.  And we’ve explored our culture. 

We’ve recognized what systems are broke.  And what systems need chucking out the window.  And what systems don’t even exist.

And most importantly, we’ve got a plan.

We’ve got a plan that’s based upon the Truth.  We’ve got a plan that seems impossible.  We’ve got a plan that we know that with a certain Hand upon it will create some serious change.

It all starts with people.  It all starts with reaching out.  It all starts with investment and invitation.  It all starts with having the right people in the right place to do the right thing.

It starts with leadership.  It starts with watching our life and our doctrine closely.

We have a year mapped out.

We have dreams so big that there’s no way it can be do.  Unless there is the Way it can be done.

Kids is going to rock.

The guest experience is going to be like none other.

And the system in place to navigate through Contacting, Connecting, and Contributing is finally here. 

We blew up faster than we were ever prepared to grow.

We’re now growing for what we need to prepare for.

The Ark.

1105.

wellevents.com

Cereals.

Greater things are yet to come.

Greater things are still to be done….