Make this Bread Pudding; Four Years without You; Advent Charades

3 Things this week and something about Mary

Thanks for spending some time this weekend with Things I Wrote Down.

Here are three things that stood out this week and an Advent outtake.

Make this Bread Pudding!

Warm spices, treasured memories, and a taste of generosity. It was so fun to be part of creating Made To Share a new food series with Food Network star Aarti Sequeira and Compassion International. The first episode released this week in time for American Thanksgiving.

In the heartwarming video, Aarti welcomes her friend, pastor and NBA chaplain Kenneth Lock, to share how his journey of compassion and service inspired a Sri Lankan-style bread pudding. Layered with coconut, dates, cardamom, and even a dash of black pepper, it’s a dish shaped by global flavours, family traditions, and God’s call to hospitality.

This episode isn’t just about cooking. Aarti and Kenneth dig into how hospitality is an everyday act—welcoming, blessing, and loving others as Jesus did, even with just a pan of bread pudding and a warm heart.

Hanging out in Aarti’s kitchen on the set of Made to Share.

I enjoy food shows, and this is extra cool, because I got to actually eat the food that the host made. It was so good. I’m looking forward to making this dish this weekend with the kids!

Four years without you

It’s been four years, this week, since my dad passed away. I miss him. All his friends and family do. I want to keep his memory alive, so I continue to post about him, especially on milestones like this. His memory is a blessing!

I reflected on his life earlier this week, of all places, on LinkedIn. Dad had such a unique career path, with so many surprises. And that really stood out to me. I was blessed by the engagement the post produced and to hear from colleagues and people connected to some of the places he worked.

Here’s an outtake:

My dad had a career no one could make sense of, but the most sound advice. He trained as a chemical engineer then landed in human resources, and he did lots in-between.

There have been numerous times in the last four years that I wanted to pick up the phone to dial his number to run scenarios, ask questions, share offers, and to get his perspective and insight.

If you are trying to understand your career, are on a winding road, don’t know what’s next (or can’t explain your urge to start a coffee shop rather than climb the corporate ladder where you have great success), maybe Nick’s life and resume will encourage you. Let it remind you that what you do matters far, far less then who you are. And, that your career and accomplishments, however shiny and impressive, are but a blip and spark compared to the glory that is to come.

Advent charades

This week, Advent officially starts. It’s okay if you need to sit down and contemplate how we got here, how it’s so close to December, and to start to question if you’re really prepared to encounter the miracle of incarnation, all over again.

I’ve been having fun making videos for social media to make fun of life as an indie author, all while highlighting my new book Gather for Advent. Here’s a sample. If you want to see more, check out my Instagram.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be reshare an excerpt from my new book right here in my link round up, so that you have easy access to the reading. If you’re in need of a candle-lighting resource for this Sunday of Advent, this will help.

Here’s this week’s post:

There’s still time to grab a copy as a resource to help your family experience afresh the wonder of the season (candles not included).

Visual Outtake from Gather