SEASONS OF THE HEART

Today has been a fairly quiet day. The weather turned cool and wet so I have had a break from watering and weeding the garden. I am sure the next dry day I can get in the garden I am going to find that the weeds have grown twice as fast as the veggies! LOL.. I also need to get the unplanted area rototilled this next week.

I was able to check several things off my to-do list today. I packed orders, paid a bill online, started a batch of beef stock, caught up on my Quicken, made dinner and packed hubby’s lunch and got him out the door to work, did some laundry, and did a little writing. Emily and Leanne were working today so it was just me and the younger kids. I had them clean their rooms; they were a bit of a mess to say the least. Now I am getting a little computer time and listening to Tim McGraw.

Emily had mid-terms this week from her online college courses. She had the tests proctored by the library so it was very convenient. But it was a bit of a stressful week for her and for mom too.. it always seems when my kids stress so do I!

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and we are making chocolate ice cream and some oatmeal cookies for dad.. he will like that

. Dinner will be chicken alfredo and a salad and maybe some dinner rolls.

Now it is time to look to my week ahead and see what needs to be done. The kids have their year end homeschool testing (CAT testing, officially). Sierra is the only one left with school work to finish up but she should be done soon. Jacob is glad to be done with his school work because he has several summer jobs lined up with the neighbors. They appreciate a young man who knows how to work to help them with chores around their homesteads and he appreciates being able to make some money

Tobin will be finishing up with Emily’s car maintenance this week; he is going to be replacing something that has to do with the steering. He has replaced shocks, struts, brakes, and more (not being a mechanic myself I can’t remember all he has done.. but it has been a lot!). The car should be set for another several thousand miles. Then he needs to work on his Jetta. We still have wood to get in and house projects that need to be done so he is feeling a bit stressed by all that needs to be done before the summer is over.. and it just officially is starting!

Well that is all from my homestead. Hope you having a great weekend on your homesteads..

The County Fair

I think that the County Fair is such a neat experience and seems to be a dying art. I have had the pleasure of getting more involved with the fair this year and the whole process behind the scenes. There are a few dedicated people who work so hard to take in entries, handle them with care, work with judges and put on ribbons and then display. It is a lot of work.

The next amazing thing is to view all the different talents nad treasures of the people in your area. There were everything from childrens works of art, poems and one little three year old who sewed on a whole bunch of buttons for her button collection.

June 19th's Inbox!

From my inbox today - this is a good reminder :)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T That is What He Needs from Me

19 Jun 2009

Renee Swope

"However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." Ephesians 5:33 (NIV)

I have a confession to make: when my husband JJ and I got married over 15 years ago, I took out the words "honor and obey" from my wedding vows. I didn't say I would submit to my husband either. I vowed to "submit my ideas and dreams" to my husband and trust God's leadership in our marriage.

I had some serious issues going into marriage. I was a young Christian, who was afraid of the "S" word, and I wanted to make sure God and my witnesses didn't catch me in a lie. Like many women, I was terrified that if I submitted to my husband I'd become a doormat and lose myself somewhere in the middle of letting my husband lead. I regretfully remember one time JJ told me it was easier to let me lead because it wasn't worth the argument to him.

You'd think that's what I wanted - to get my way - but it wasn't because my husband became apathetic. Soon I realized I was losing respect for my husband and it was mostly my fault. I wanted him to lead, but when he tried I'd often criticize how he led. It was a mess.

One day I was praying God would change JJ and make him more decisive, more confident, more protective and, well, just more what I wanted him to be. God strongly impressed on my heart that my criticism wasn't getting me any closer to my desired result. In fact, my frustration with JJ only contributed to his own doubt as a man trying to follow God and lead His family.

God's also reminded me that I was fueling Satan's flaming darts of condemnation aimed at my husband's heart. I was joining efforts with the one who wanted to take out my husband as the leader of our home. Through pra yer, God showed me that my husband needed me to be his greatest cheerleader and his biggest supporter verbally, emotionally and spiritually.

God challenged me to keep my mouth closed when JJ did something I didn't like or led in a way I didn't want to follow. He encouraged me to tell my husband all the wonderful things I appreciated about him and use the power of my words to build up and not tear down my man.

I started doing what God showed me. I looked for and found things in my husband that I valued, things I had started to overlook. I got intentional about finding things I respected and letting God take care of the rest. I made choices to honor him in big and small ways. And you know what? I discovered so many things about my husband that were worthy of honor and respect.

We've been through a lot together and our marriage is stronger because of it. I have followed God as I trusted many of my husband's decisions that scared me: job changes I didn't want him to m ake; financial investments that seemed too risky; parenting issues that were hard. It hasn't been easy, but it's been amazing to watch God make and mold my husband into the leader of our family, a leader I truly respect. And because of prayer and trusting God, I am more comfortable following my husband's lead than I ever thought I'd be!

Dear Lord, I want to respect my husband and build Him up with my words. Help me to measure my thoughts carefully and come to You with my complaints. I want to become my husband's biggest cheerleader and watch You do Your thing in His life. I know this is possible as I depend on You to live Your life through me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Related Resources:
Visit Renee's Blog for powerful scriptures to pray for your husband.

What a Husband Needs from His Wife by Melanie Chitwood

Capture His Heart by Lysa TerKeurst

Application Steps:
• Tell your husband that you believe in him!
• Don't point out his mistakes, just fill in the gap.
• Ask God to show you ways to serve your husband.
• Don't ever say "I told you so." • Say "I'm sorry" and mean it when you dishonor him.
• Say "I forgive you" and mean it when he dishonors or hurts you.
• Tell your husband that you thank God for giving him to you (and be sure you do).
• Let him overhear you telling someone something you appreciate about him.
• Support and encourage his decisions.
• Praise him when his decisions turn out well and encourage him when they don't.
• Tell you husband each day about one thing you are thankful for - about his character, his work ethic, his provision, his humor or something he adds to your family.

* Several of these ideas are from What A Husband Needs from His Wife © 2006 by Melanie Chitwood.

Reflections:
What do I value and respect about my husband?

How often do I criticize or encourage him?

Power Verses:
1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." (NIV)

1 Peter 4:8, "Above a ll, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (NIV)

Proverbs 17:9,"He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends." (NIV)

© 2009 by Renee Swope. All rights reserved

The Cost of Making Ice Cream

I had a comment on my last blog post on making ice cream and how expensive it is. Perhaps some of it has to do with the ingredients you choose to use and the type of ice cream you make. I think it is also important to note that the recipe makes a whole gallon of ice cream and that would be like buying 2 typical containers from the grocery store. Ice cream is one of those foods that are so full of garbage ingredients and chemicals it is not funny. It is hard to find really good quality ice cream. I was even looking the other day at the ice cream my food co-op sells and was disappointed to see that it contained natural flavors (another name for MSG) and gums to help make it smooth. And the cost was ridiculous. So this morning I roughly calculated the cost in making a gallon of homemade strawberry ice cream with better quality ingredients. I personally think that even if you used less than excellent ingredients (like sugar instead of cane juice crystals) you could cut the cost that I came to AND still have a much better quality product than what is typically in the grocery store. In any case.. here is my breakdown of costs ..

Eggs: $1.37 – right now I don’t have my own chicken eggs. I buy free range, organic eggs from my food co-op for $2.75 a dozen.

Milk: .50 cents - I buy whole milk (rbst free) from Costco (about $4 for 2 gallons) normally (when I don’t have enough goat milk or it is not milk season.) Since you pour the milk into the ice cream maker when you have added everything else I don’t have an exact measurement.. I am guessing maybe 2 to 4 cups of milk. So I rounded the price up for 4 cups.

Cream: $1.25 (I buy cream in 2qt containers from Costco – it is rbst free and not organic, organic would bring the price up)

Strawberries: $2.50 (I bought 4lbs for $4.99 from Costco and used about half of them. I rounded up for this cost analysis)

My estimated cost using the above ingredients for one gallon of ice cream is:

I think this is not a bad price to pay for the quality of ingredients put into it. The best ice cream (ingredient wise) I can find in the grocery store is Haagen Daz. They are over $4.00 per pint making the cost of a gallon $32.00.. haa.. haaa..

Breyers is another ice cream with pretty good ingredients and they don’t even sell half gallon containers any more.. they have been downsized. I think I paid about $2.80 awhile back for 1 1/2 quarts (but I have seen the price over $3 per 1 1/2 quarts). At the price I paid that would make it about $7.50 for a gallon (if my math is off it is because I have only had one cup of coffee this morning and my brain is still foggy! LOL)..

The cost for a 1/2 gallon of organic ice cream from my food co-op comes to a whopping $11.63!! making it over $23 for a gallon.

Another thought I had on the price is that this price includes strawberries. If you were to make vanilla or chocolate ice cream the cost of vanilla extract and/or cocoa powder would be less than the cost for strawberries. So the type of ice cream you choose to make can also influence the price.

In the big scheme of it all I had not really considered that homemade ice cream was a huge expense, especially for the quality of food my family gets for the money. I do know that it is also not the most frugal of all desserts either, but still sits somewhere around reasonable in my thoughts and sure makes for a great family treat once in awhile.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry season is in full swing here in the PNW. I have been buying them every week now and the kids eat them as fast as I buy them!

I have been making a lot of strawberry shortcake. But the other day a friend of mine was making ice cream and that gave me some inspiration to make some for my family. I remembered that one of the treats we love is strawberry ice cream and that was something I had not made yet during this wonderful strawberry season. I made some on Tuesday. It was delicious! I pureed the strawberries and found that it was more enjoyable to eat than when I have just chopped them up.

I have a pretty basic 4qt ice cream maker made by Rival. I have had it now for several years and made a whole lot of ice cream with it. This basically is the ice cream maker I have (my bucket is round, an older model I guess!

They are not very expensive and will give a family a lot of gallons of delicious ice cream and a lot of fun making it as well!!

Now onto chocolate ice cream this weekend.. I will keep you posted on that one too…

What you believes influences what you do!!!

Decide where you stand, Mr President

Posted on Sunday 14 June 2009

Dear President Obama
You will just have heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver his speech, which as you know you are partially responsible for having pressed him into making.

Hopefully you will have heard his heartfelt appeal to the Arab world to grasp the hand that Israel has long held out for peace.
You will have heard his appeal to world leaders like you to help make this happen.

You know that Netanyahu did not use the words “two state solution” that you pressed him so hard to utter.

You heard that he is not prepared to acquiesce to your demand for a total freeze on “settlement” activity.

The cries of “betrayal” and “sabotage” coming from the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah will also have reached your ears.
You will likely already have gone into intense discussion with your advisors as to how best to respond to what your Israeli counterpart has said and laid out.

As you ponder what your comeback will be, I respectfully suggest, should you wish to regain even a small portion of the credibility you jettisoned so effectively in Cairo earlier this month (when you spoke to the Muslim world as a brother after describing yourself as a Christian), that it’s past time you made some quick and hard decisions.

Unlike your predecessor - who was sucked reluctantly into the Middle East quagmire by the 9-11 attacks - you have voluntarily chosen to engage THE issue of the ages right at the start of your presidency.

It would surely behoove you, then, to decide where you stand and position yourself accordingly. First and foremost I would say - given that the Arab-Israeli conflict is in reality a conflict between religions - it is imperative that you resolve which faith it is you adhere to - if you subscribe to any religion at all. And it wouldn’t hurt if you could settle on which scriptures you believe in and are going to quote from in your future speeches; which you should surely only do if you truly hold them to be sacred.
Since the days of the election campaign, you have insisted that - although you have Muslim roots, you are in fact a Christian. You had a conversion experience some years ago, and have been attending church more or less since then. After moving to the White House, one of the biggest human interest stories for awhile related to which new church home you and the First Lady would find. I believe you have yet to settle on a denomination and locale, and that you have only attended two services in the capital since your relocation.

Well, you say you believe in God. Which one? Who is he?

Were you a Muslim, you could answer: Allah - the ancient Moon God of the Middle East that was elevated to a position of pre-eminence by Muhammad and so became the one god of monotheistic Islam.

Were you a Jew, you could answer: Yahoveh (or Jehovah), Creator of Heaven and Earth, the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel (2 Chronicles 30:5), the God of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:19; Ezra 7:19).

As a Christian, you must surely answer similarly to the Jew, adding that you believe Jesus to be the Son of that God, the King of the Jews, whose past and future home is Jerusalem, to which He will return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and from where He will rule over the nations of the world - including the United States - with a rod of iron.

This is not a fudgeable issue. The god of Islam and the God of Jews and Christians are not the same being - neither by character nor by history, nor by the very descriptions of these beings in the books their followers call holy.

Which brings us to the Koran, the Tanach (Hebrew Scriptures) and the combined Tanach and New Testament (the “Christian Bible”).

The Koran - Islam’s ‘bible’ - in very specific language, describes Jews as enemies and instructs pious and faithful Muslims to use violence to destroy them. Islam also teaches that the Jews corrupted the Tanach and Christians corrupted the New Testament. The Holy Scriptures of Jews and Christians are therefore illegitimate and what they say - including regarding the ownership of the Land of Israel, the ownership of Jerusalem, and the calling to the Jews to be God’s Chosen People - cannot and does not stand.
This is what good Muslims are taught to believe, and if you wish to return to the faith of your fathers then you will be happily able to embrace these convictions and with full confidence pursue your effort to wrest the Land of Israel - specifically Samaria and Judea (which you call the occupied territories or West Bank) from Jewish rule.

Where you have a serious credibility problem, however, is when you make your foreign policy line up with this Islamic point of view even as you loudly profess to be a follower of the Christ - who according to the New Testament was born a Jew in the line of the great Israeli King David, and whose place of birth was in the Land of Israel (according to the Gospels), specifically Bethlehem - which is in the aforementioned “West Bank” and which has already, due to American pressure, been surrendered to Arab control.
Of course, the New Testament springs out of the “Old” Testament. Jesus’ Father, as we Christians believe, is the God of that Old Testament who called out Abraham, designated his children (through Isaac and Jacob; not Ishmael and Esau), to be His “Special Treasure” and gave them, exclusively and in perpetuity, the Land of Israel, first and foremost that very same “West Bank.”
Now you cannot expect us to accept your claim to be a Christian and a Bible-believer (I don’t know; have you ever claimed the latter?) when you pursue policies that fly in the face of what the One you call Your God has so emphatically and unequivocally laid down.

I mean, He is either the God you serve, or He is your useful servant. And the Bible is either your Bible, or it’s your stage prop. You can’t have it both ways.

Please stop just a second and consider.

If Allah is god, then you need to profess this and set your course to completely serve him. As you must know, he is notoriously unforgiving towards those who convert AWAY from Islam. And it is his best and most FAITHFUL followers — not the “extremists” or “fundamentalists” or “jihadists,” and not the nominal or lazy Muslims — that want to see and perpetrate his will on the Jews and the Christians in order to win their place in the hereafter.

If you believe that the LORD is God; that He is the One who created you, who holds your heart and your life in His hands; that He is responsible for raising you up and bringing you to the White House, to the leadership of the most powerful nation in the world — then it follows very logically that you would seek to serve Him and walk accountably before Him, conforming your will and your policies to His expressed wish and purpose; for you are destined to stand before Him one day and give account of your presidency.

I am a Bible believing Christian. A gentile, not a Jew. My God says that this land, at least from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and including the Golan Heights, Samaria, Judea and the Gaza Strip, is Israel’s land.
My God says that the city of Jerusalem is the capital of the Land of Israel. He designates the Temple Mount as the place of His throne, upon which He will soon install His King, the Son of David.

No-one, not even you, Mr President, has the right to try and take this land and give it to another people. You have no right, before God, to pressure Israel into relinquishing its claim to any part of Jerusalem.

Israel did nothing wrong, nothing illegal, to extend its rule over these lands and over this city. Only under Jewish administration have adherents of all faiths been welcome to visit their holy sites and worship their gods protected by the Israeli government and security forces.

I doubt very much that I am the first non-Israeli and non-Jew to tell you, Mr. Obama, that this land belongs to the Jews, and only to the Jews.

Untold millions of Christians believe this, and want you, as a fellow Christian, to endorse and defend this view too.
Should you go with the Islamic flow, however (which is complemented by the secular-humanist - i.e. God-denying and rejecting - world) - then at least have the integrity and the courage to say as much.

Thereafter it will be expected of you that you turn ever harder against Israel and become more and more openly pro-Arab - as you revealed in Cairo is already your position.

As a president who publicly admits to having more of an affinity with the Muslim world than with the Christian one, you will be able to move a whole lot more quickly and successfully towards securing the kind of settlement you apparently hope (like so many before you have hoped) will become your most lasting and glorious legacy.

But until you make up your mind on this most fundamental of issues underlying the whole situation, you will never bring a real peace to us in the Middle East.

Please pass this on - it is well written and very true

We do not need.......

We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.

Father bring us into your realm.......of knowing your desires within us are to bring us all we need to be prosperous in and through you. As we trust you with all our hearts we do live in prosperity. I receive, I receive ALL you have for me. My name is on it and I know no one can claim it before I pass over exect me, so I cheerful and lovingly receive.

Praying the Word of God - from my inbox

Updates from the Homestead

This last week the weather has been cooler and cloudy.. with a little sun. But despite that the garden seems to be thriving quite well. There were enough sunny afternoons that allowed for us to get some weeding, watering and mulching done. I have found that the stirrup hoe is my best friend!

My mother in law was the one to show me her stirrup hoe several years ago and I went out and bought one (I think I bought it at Home Depot). It makes quick and efficient work of hoeing between the garden rows. If you are not familiar with them you can see a pic of one here: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1334167&CAWELAID=109366885 and read a little more about them here: http://aces.nmsu.edu/CES/yard/2005/010105.html Here you can see Isaac using it..

And in the above picture you can my little plants have all come up. The corn and green beans are doing great. Speaking of hoes.. I accidentally hoed up half of a little section of flowers..

I was so frustrated with myself. I had been hoeing up the weeds between the tomato plants and there was one section between the tomatoes I had planted flowers and I guess I was not thinking.. I started hoeing it!! I will try and replant some flowers there but it might be too late.. but I will try.

Last week I also spent one whole day in town. I took the kids (Leanne, Sierra and Isaac) and we were gone for 7 hours, which is not unusual. I try to limit my trips into town and when I do go I typically have a lot to take care. Sierra had her bangs cut (I think the lady could have taken off a bit more), the dentist, grocery shopping at two different stores, Walmart, Game Stop, and of course a trip to Starbucks was squeezed in there. The kids thought it would be fun to take pics of our day along the way. They took several but got tired of picture taking about half way through the trip.. but here are a few of us that were captured …

And the day continued… but without the pics..

Next time they say they want to do this again.. and make a movie.. LOL.. Kids.. they are so funny!!

We came home and I made chicken enchiladas for dinner and while they cooked we watered the garden. I was definitely ready to put my feet up and relax by evening time.

Hubby is back to work now (he had an extra day off this last week which was so nice) and it is back to the regular routine for us.. Today the plan is to do a quick run through the daily chores, clean out the fridge and wipe down the shelves, do a little laundry, and water the garden if it does not rain (and right now looking outside at the dark cloudy skies it looks like we may not have to water today). I am making navy bean soup with the leftover ham bone I saved from last week, a salad and maybe some dinner rolls or bread sticks.

An Afternoon in the Kitchen

Yesterday I had a wonderfully unscheduled afternoon and decided to spend that time in the kitchen. It was productive and enjoyable as well!

I started off by making 6 loaves of bread. We were completely out of bread and were in crisis mode! LOL..

Then while the bread was rising and baking I started working on making a gallon jar of sauerkraut. I used one green cabbage and half of a red cabbage and 2 onions. I thought the addition of red cabbage sure made the kraut look pretty.

Then while the kraut sat in the bowl with the salt and whey I began making a gallon of salsa. I love utilizing all these fresh veggies and knowing that fermenting means they will last longer and have more vitamin content than if I did not ferment them. The salsa looked great too. Here is a pic of both….

For dinner we were going to grill hamburgers and hot dogs. So after the bread, salsa, and kraut were done I made up a batch of my oat dinner rolls and turned them into 10 hamburger buns and 12 hot dog buns.

Finally Leanne made shortcake, Sierra sliced up the berries and we had strawberry shortcake for our dessert…

Working in the kitchen and making good quality food for my family is very rewarding.. now today.. it is on to laundry and chores!!

SEASONS OF THE HEART

Saturday on the Homestead

The County Fair

June 19th's Inbox!

From my inbox today - this is a good reminder :)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T That is What He Needs from Me

19 Jun 2009

The Cost of Making Ice Cream

Strawberry Ice Cream

What you believes influences what you do!!!

Posted on Sunday 14 June 2009

We do not need.......

Praying the Word of God - from my inbox

Praying the Word of God

15 Jun 2009

Updates from the Homestead

An Afternoon in the Kitchen

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