Amazing Country gurl

I just read a news report where 3,000 Christians are fleeing the Norther Iraq Province of Ninevah. They are being persecuted, and are being threatened . They may lose their very lives.

Please, keep the Christians in the Persecuted Church in Iraq in your prayers tonight.

According to a statistic from www.persecutedchurch.org , there will be an estimated 165,000 Christians who will die this year for their faith in Christ.

May God bless & protect these souls who are in harm's way -- and may they stay strong in their love for the Lord!

back from my break...

Nine school weeks gone by and I

decided it was time for some respite. Last year I barely took off any days and by the end of the year we were so burned out. I really want to avoid that this year so I think that every nine weeks we are going to take a week off.

What did we do? Not much! Mostly we just rested.

Mom slept in late and the boys played lots of video games. I hope they can adjust to going back to school on Monday, but this has never been a problem before so we will just have to see.

This is a short one! I'm off to bed and then to the house of the Lord in the morning.

CHIP Program

I have attended meetings of the CHIP (Coronary Health Improvement Project) for the last two summers. Last summer, however, I wasn't able to attend all of the meetings, but I did really enjoy the meetings I did get to attend.

Dr. Hans Diehl is a fascinating person. Quite warm and patient in person, yet he is quite to the point when it comes to health and can bring a person to recognize when they are giving excuses for their health. I so loved that about him! I suppose one could get upset that he was so to the point, but I loved it. He does it with a smile and he still loves the person whom he is talking to. I think I also liked him because he reminded me of my grandfather... his face was shaped much like my grand-dads and that is likely because they have similar ethnic backgrounds, plus I love his German/Swedish accent. LOL!

Anyways, the first year I attended the meetings, my heart wasn't with the meetings. I found them full of truth, but it was truth I wasn't searching for so it seemed so irrelevant. This year, however, I just ate up every morsel of health information. What was the difference? I noticed that I was tired in the afternoons, more than normal... more like when I was pregnant... and I'm not pregnant! I realized I had put on weight and if I let things continue, I likely would become one of the statistics on the power point presentation. Also, my husband had a couple episodes of not being able to catch his breath very well after moving some heavy farm equipment. He just chalked it up to getting older, but he is only 39 yo and his symptoms were early symptoms of some clogging arteries. That got my attention! We have a 3yo and we both want to be around to watch her grow up! So these meetings met a need for our family. A need to be healthy and to live a strong vibrant life, not one of tiredness and complaints.

The CHIP program is outstanding. I see at the website you can listen to short health presentations online. Do so... they are very good. I was encouraged that taking steps towards better health is possible. I was encouraged that simple changes at home can deter one from having to partake of costly medical treatments. I was encouraged that the simple changes produce results!

The CHIP program focuses on a low-fat, high fiber diet. Because of these talks we are giving up many of our white flour favorites and opting for more whole grain alternatives. Also trying to keep some raw foods in our diet to increase our fiber intake is another way we have made changes. Thirdly, getting that daily exercise. There are other aspects, but the main focus is living a life that is optimal in health. Encouragment is given for baby steps as well as the giant steps that one can make towards improving their health.

This program can reverse heart disease, without pills, without stress (unless you really stress over the diet! LOL), and the results can be seen quickly. To find out more about the program, click on the link at the beginning of the post.

Shayna and Jeffie

Dora and her family from church came by last night for me to worm and give their dogs a set of shots. It is so funny how people see things . Dora was watching Jeffie how he was with Michelle (she stopped by for a bit) and she also watched how Jeffie is with Shayna.

Dora told me with tears in her eyes " Shayna is his mom" I gave a sad smile and said I know. She remembers them from church events and other home schooling events. Dora knows Shayna is his aunt (tea as he calls her) and that Shayna has raised him for a lot of his life.

We are blessed that Shayna at 15 years old took on the roll. They have such a strong bond. He cries every time he has to go.

Here are some of Shayna's senior pictures taken last year at this time. Shayna was 17 and Jeffie was 2.5. We bought the hole cd so we have the funny ones too:

Crockpot Refried Beans

Guess what dropped in to visit?

We have a new kitten on the farm. It wasn't by choice. Dh brought home some rams from another pasture and later that morning we found a tiny kitten in the chicken barn, about 50 feet from where the trailer was parked.

I estimate the kitten to be between 3-5 weeks. The kitten is so small. He also has such gooped up eyes. We called the guy who has the pasture and he says it is likely their kitten, and said we could bring him back or keep him. We were all very willing to take him back to the farm, but my daughter with such a heart for sick animals wanted to keep him... at least until he gets well.

After cleaning his eyes, it is apparent there is an infection of some sort. His inner eyelids are red and swollen. His left eye may be blind...it is really hard to tell at this point, because the inner eyelid on this eye is SOOOO swollen. But Today it appears rather gray and cloudy compared to the other eye.

We are giving him a round of pennicilin. The shots are soo small, it seems rather a waste of the effort, but he is so tiny. We also got a bottle and some milk yesterday as he wasn't eating regular cat food very well. I also picked up a bag of kitten food that was much smaller in size so he could try to eat. Well, last night we gave him his first bottle and the kitten was sooo happy. He purred for the first time (we had had him a day by then). Since then, he continues to eat from the bottle at 3-4 hour intervals. He eats a whopping 2 teaspoons of milk. Once he had about three feedings in his tummy, he finally felt ready to discover the kitten food and ate about a teaspoon of that as well.

We are washing his face about every 2 hours. I know I should have some eye drops of a sort, but have no idea what to put into his eyes. I also will be looking at buying another nipple to get us through another week. He's about chewed this first one to pieces. But he isn't very good at lapping milk just yet... he loses his balance and falls in... which then gave him a runny nose as well. One thing I am happy about is that he is using the litter box. His little wets make up a nickel sized spot. If he stayed this small forever and made these small messes , I might consider an indoor cat! LOL

My daughter with the loving heart went a traveling for a couple days with her older sister to see some friends and to bring a friend home to visit during her home leave from academy. I will be glad when she returns home to do the nursing of this poor little kitten.

A Lovely and Helpful Article on Washing Dishes

On my wonderings around the web, I stumbled upon a site called Shepard's Hill and found a wealth of information on just about every topic on homemaking and homesteading you could imagine. And one in particular that I wanted to share, being that my recent topic was about washing dishes was this one.

Washing Dishes

Yippeee!!! Yahooo!!! It is time to wash the dishes!!!! How exciting!

Okay – yes, I know. Washing dishes is not THAT exciting and certainly does not deserve that much hype, right?! I hope that by the end of this article that you will have changed your mind. I pray that you will have a new found joy and excitement in this mundane task that never seems to be finished.

Let’s first look at how dishes need to be washed. Over the 30 or so years that we have had gatherings in our home, I have been blessed to see many folks helping with dishes.

It is almost a study in human nature to see the progression of sisters in the kitchen when a meal is done. Some will immediately head for the sink and start water running, soap squirting and cloths whisking away. When there are a couple of “dishwashers” in the group I get tickled to see them almost waiting in line for their turn. They will step up the minute something has been washed and rinse, or they grab a towel and start to dry and then there is yet another putting away. It is fun to see if the dishwasher can keep up with the dish rinser and dish “putter away”. One of my favorite aspects is the chatter that goes on in a kitchen full of women cleaning up. There is a steady hum, with giggles and chuckles and sometimes even a song will rise through the activity. I LOVE IT!! I would have get-togethers just to enjoy the clean up time.

Of course, then there are some who are not dishwashers. I get tickled with them too. They so want to be a part of the events but they can’t stand to wash dishes, so they will head to the potty or some other far off place until all the washers, rinsers and putters away are in position. It isn’t that they don’t want to help. They just haven’t realized yet that every pair of hands is needed and more importantly wanted.

I wonder sometimes if these were the children whose parents perhaps shooed them out of the kitchen because they were “under foot”. Now I will say – we shoo children out of the kitchen when we are cleaning up after a big event, but when it is just our family, we put the children to work. Our girls were washing dishes when they were 6 and 7 and they were drying and putting away not long after. We always made sure to let them practice on the plastic items or the forks and spoons first. This is so they can have an accident with no breaking. It is up to every mother to train their children to care for a household. We must teach them proper procedure in each aspect of kitchen work from cooking to sweeping to cleaning out the ‘fridge.

I want to share with you some important things I have learned over the years in washing dishes. First step, and I learned this from my Daddy, you must begin with HOT water - As hot as your hands can stand. There is no way to clean off food particles properly and completely with cold water. I would venture to say that you could even do without soap if you had to as long as you had plenty of hot water. We fill the wash pan with hot water and then add a bit of soap. You don’t have to squirt soap in an endless stream – that is wasteful. Just a small amount is enough to do the job. Then there is an order to the items being washed. We always start with the drinking glasses. Of course, if there is something thick – like V8 or chocolate milk or a milkshake in the glass you will need to rinse that out first before putting it into your water. I fill the sink with several glasses or cups so that the others can soak while I wash each one.

Then comes the rinsing. Again HOT water! My father retired from the Birmingham Fire Department after 25 years and he was a stickler on washing and rinsing with HOT water. The reason was that as the men took turns washing dishes some of them would not be so diligent and then they would end up in the bathroom with diarrhea from soap being left on the dishes. Not a good thing when you are a fireman or anyone else! One of our daughters had a problem with remembering to rinse in hot water and after a month of periodic diarrhea running through the family – I thought it was a virus – I finally realized that it happened whenever she was doing the dishwashing. This was quickly taken care of and we haven’t had any problem with it since.

After we wash the drinking glasses then we do the silverware. I think that anything that touches your mouth should be the first thing to be washed. It is usually the least dirty of the dishes and you want to have the least dirty water to wash in. Be sure to examine the silverware to make sure that all food particles are cleaned – especially the spaces between the tines of the forks. Mononucleosis is one disease that can be caught by eating from dirty silverware. YUCK!! Another area that seems to be missed is knives that have wooden handles. Check the edge of the wooden handle where it attaches to the metal of the knife. This is a really nasty spot. Wood cannot be sterilized so you need to make sure that you have scrubbed this and poured hot water on it to get it clean.

Next we do the dishes. It is important to scrap the plates (give the scraps to the chickens, dogs or hogs) and then rinse them if they are very dirty, before you put them in the dish water. Again, put them all in the water so that they can soak a bit while you are washing each one. It makes for a much easier scrubbing when you get to the next one. Children are really bad to miss washing the back of the dish. They will do a great job on the front and then the rinser finds mashed potatoes stuck to the bottom. Double check.

After the drinking glasses, silverware and plates are done, then you can progress to the serving dishes and then the cookware. If you have had a large meal it is not unusual to have to redo the dish water with fresh. This is one good reason to use a washpan instead of filling the sink. You can get plastic washpans from the dollar store. Use the waste water to water plants. Just don’t allow the food particles in the bottom of the washpan to pour out. When washing serving pieces and cookware, sometimes you will need something more than elbow grease. We use a plastic scrub bud and if that is not enough we will use an SOS pad. You must keep in mind that SOS pads will rust if allowed to sit in water. They just need a minimum amount of water to work and they will scratch china and enamel so only use them on heavy metal items that have a no scratch surface.

Just a note here on cast iron. Once you have seasoned your cast iron you really shouldn’t use soap on it. Generally you can wash them out with a damp cloth or even a paper towel. If you do use water, be sure to dry them thoroughly and re-grease them. Sit cast iron items upside down in the oven and turn it on 250 degrees. Once it reaches that temp cut the oven off and you will keep your cast iron seasoned well.

Okay, I think we have covered it all. Oh, one more thing. If you use a lot of plastic – a tip is to rinse it in vinegar to get greasy residue off. It works really well. Now, what about all that joy and excitement I mentioned. Here it is. Have you really considered what those dirty dishes and messy kitchen mean? So many people in our nation have been incredibly blessed in their lifetime to never know what hunger is. Some have been in a bind and weren’t able to get pizza sometimes or perhaps they couldn’t go out to eat after church on Sunday every week, but they really have never known what it was like to miss a meal because there was no food. Or be a parent and know that the next meal was no where to be seen. I have been there - on both sides of this – child and parent. Hunger is a terrible, lonely thing. It renders a person to a state of helplessness and hopelessness that many in this country cannot even understand. When I see the mound of dirty dishes in my kitchen and the stack of cookware to be scrubbed – it brings a swelling joy to my heart that I cannot find words to explain. Those dishes, those pots, pans and spoons all mean one thing – my family is not hungry. There is food for them and for me. My babies are not in bed crying because their tummies are empty. Praise God forever because today – TODAY – I know that we are taken care of. HALLELUJAH!!!! My God Reigns!

The next time you are facing a sink full of dirtiness, lift up your head and thank God because that work is there as a sign of blessing!

Isn't that the truth, knowing that those dishes are there because you were able to feed your family, and praising the Lord for it! With such uncertain times, it makes me feel blessed that we do have enough money to feed our family, and the common sense to start stocking up, so that when hard times do hit us, we'll be ready.

Have a blessed weekend!

sara

Sunrise

I was up early and on the porch yesterday morning. I was going to post this yesterday but didn't get the chance.

A Day in the Life of Me.

Our busy cleaning day is usually on Friday. Friday's consist of dusting, vacuuming, & mopping. Before I started vacuuming with my piece of junk Bissell sweeper I took it apart and gave it a really good cleaning because it wasn't sucking very well. After cleaning it I started vacuuming. It still wouldn't suck like it should. I mean, I had to go over a little piece of lint 8 times before it would pick it up. THAT WAS IT! I WAS DONE! I told my girls that I would be right back. I was going to Walmart to buy a new sweeper. I was just going to get a Hoover but I seen that they had a Dyson. After thinking about it for awhile in the aisle I decided to buy the Dyson. It was on clearance and didn't cost a whole lot more than one of the other sweepers. I paid $250 for it. The other sweepers were around $180 so I figured I got a good deal. So yes, I am the PROUD owner of a DYSON!! It is a homemakers best friend!!! I love this machine! I actually LIKE sweeping the carpets now!

My youngest, Katie, had her best friend, Courtney, spend the night. They had a scavenger hunt at our library for the middle schoolers from 6-8 pm so I dropped them off there. When I came home I started making supper. I tried a new recipe for pizza from my Bisquick cookbook.

I spent most of the day doing some sewing. I am putting a dress together. A cape dress but it's a little different than the last one I made. After putting my sewing away I did half the dishes the I went to lay down for a bit because my back is giving me some pain. It always hurts when I've been sewing for a long time. I ended up falling asleep for a half hour! When I got up I finished up the dishes, swept the floor (with my new Dyson! ~Smile~), washed my hair, and then made supper. We are having haystacks tonight. DH has been gone most of today. This morning he went out hunting & then he had a golfing tournament for our church to play in so he won't be home until around 9 pm so it's just us girls this evening.

Amazing Country gurl

Persecuted Christians in Iraq

back from my break...

CHIP Program

Shayna and Jeffie

Crockpot Refried Beans

Guess what dropped in to visit?

A Lovely and Helpful Article on Washing Dishes

Sunrise

A Day in the Life of Me.

Sanctified Manipulation

About Me

Links

Categories

Recent Entries

Friends