preciouspeas

We were preparing food for our potluck fellowship dinner tonight at church.  I thought I'd share this favorite recipe of ours with you.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced or thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/3 palm full
2 tablespoons flour, a handful
1 quart chicken broth or stock, canned or paper container,

1 cup frozen green peas

Dumplings:

1 c flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vinegar

shake of salt and pepper

3/4 c milk

Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands.

Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.

Mix biscuit mix in a bowl.  Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls.

We had a wonderful day of school, exploring God's creation today during our nature study.  The Juggler found us an interesting specimen to observe today in the backyard.  We were looking for our friend the toad that hangs out in our garden, but instead she came across this. . . . . .

Green Lynx Spider

God, in His infinite wisdom, created an amazing spider to rid us of those pesky insects that destroy our crops.  The spider's only downfall, that we could discover, was that he also eats honey bees which are beneficial to all of us.  For what would our world be without honey!

I hope your day was wonderful!

Blessings,
Michelle

Awake in the still of the night with Little Bear, restless from an ear infection, she snuggles close to me while she nurses herself back to sleep, while finding peace and comfort in her momma's arms.

Unable to sleep well this last week, within the darkness I find peace and comfort during these times by turning to my Heavenly Father.  I snuggle close in His warmth and security.   He reminds me to let go of my selfish desire to sleep and to turn to Him, giving Him my prayers, thoughts, dreams, hopes and desires.   Here I find a quiet place to rest in His peace, comfort and love.  It is here I realize that He provides me all the strength that I need to make it through the day.

Jeremiah 29:12-14          Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD

God is at work, everywhere I look and in the quiet moments He gives me I find Him.  My heart longs for Him and He finds me.   All around me I find His wonderous creation and blessings; my husband, my children, my home, all of the belongings we've collected over the years which we fondly treasure.  

May I rest in His love and may I always be lead by His gentleness. . . . . . . . .

What ever happened to a man treating a woman with respect?  Has it been lost to belittling and degrading?

We live in an Air Force community, in which until yesterday, I believed we all were one community, there to be there for one another when spouses were deployed, being neighborly and simply taking care of what God has provided for each of us.  Now, I'm not too sure.  It's amazing how one person in a community can spoil the commraderie that was begun years before them.

We walked our dog last night, on which he normally decides to take care of business on one of our neighbor's lawn.  Being neighborly (and I've witnessed those who aren't neighborly), the girls and I picked up the poop into a bag and looked for the closest garbage can to throw it in.  Out runs the man of the home's garbage can, yelling at us in harsh tones, "What did you just put in my trash can?"  I told him I put "trash in there?"  "Well, that is totally unprofessional, come and take it out?"  Mortified, I walked back to his can, turned it to the side and removed the bag of dog feces.  All the while, he continued to berate me in front of the girls, about how unprofessional I was.   All I could say was, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't know I was doing something wrong?"  The mood home for the remainder of the walk was somber for all of us.

Did I do something wrong?  If someone was walking by with their dog and they needed to dispose of feces, I wouldn't mind if they used my trash can.  Since we don't own any of these homes, I view the trash cans as community property, but more so, I view our community as a whole and we are to make sure to do the responsible thing of picking up after our animals.  Moreover, I felt totally mortified and degraded that he asked me to remove the feces from the garbage pail, while in front of my children.  Unfortunately, my husband is TDY at the moment, otherwise he would have come to my rescue - maybe the incident would have turned out completely differently if he had been there?

Now, I ask myself, what would Jesus do in this situation.  My dear little woman  suggested we bring them a pie and once again apologize for insulting them by throwing trash in their garbage can.  I thought to myself, yeah a "poop pie" thrown right on his doorstep! No, I'm sure that is not what Jesus would have me do, so I prayed instead.  What would you do?

We spent our last day with my husband's Aunt Frankie and Uncle Glen.  What a gorgeous home they have.  They just built it about a year ago to be closer to cousin Sean's home.  We got to meet Rascal, their adorable fuzzy dog (according to the Doodler) and he loved following the little girls around.  We had two delicious meals, one of lasagna and salad topped off with gluten free chocolate cake and a second of hamburgers, corn on the cob, and homemade french onion soup (I so hope to get the recipe for that one!).  The cake absolutely surprised me, because I couldn't even tell the difference.

We had a wonderful night of sleep and a picture of the family for memories and scrapbooks

Our drive home over the next two days was filled with several moments of character strengthening by God.  We had a 3 hour traffic delay in New York City, in which we traveled only 5 miles.  Oh, by the way, did I add that all the girls fell asleep during this traffic jam?  When we finally reached the end of the delay, we were met with a semi-truck that had gotten itself stuck in the lower level of the George Washington Bridge.  We also got behind every truck towing tractors.  We named a new holiday "Tractor Towing Day."  We did make it home on time and everyone rejoiced and sighed relief when we pulled into the driveway.  It never felt so good to sleep in my own bed again!

Blessings,
Michelle

Once the girls had Grandma and Poppa all to themselves at the cottage, they spent the majority of the time at the beach.  It also included grocery shopping for another GRAND meal - YIKES - I need to lose weight, not gain it - but then again - What are vacations for if you can't splurge?

Saturday, we spent the day touring the Mayflower and the Plimoth Plantation.

The details of the ship, from the solid oak timbers and tarred hemp rigging, to the wood and horn lanterns and hand-colored maps, have all been carefully recreated to give you a sense of what the original 17th-century vessel was like.  We got to explore the 3 levels of the ship, only getting a slight glimpse of what it might have been like traveling during the 1620 voyage.

After touring the Mayflower, we headed over to the Plimoth Plantation.  We first traveled to an authentic Wampanoag Village where we saw a traditional wetu (house). Surrounded by soft furs, flickering firelight, and artfully woven bulrush mats, we learned about traditional Wampanoag family life as well as the arrival of the English from an Indigenous point of view.   We walked around outside and commented about the scent of sobaheg (stew) as it simmered over an aromatic wood fire.  The men's clothing also threw us girls for a loop - it was a little more revealing than we were used to!

Our next stop was the 1627 English Village which is a re-creation of the small farming town built by English colonists in the midst of the Wampanoag homeland. We found ourselves immersed in the year 1627, just seven years after the voyage of the Mayflower. In the village we were surrounded by modest timber-framed houses, fragrant raised-bed gardens, well-tended livestock and fascinating townspeople of Plymouth Colony, the first permanent English settlement in New England.  One of the townspeople even put the girls to work hauling manure!  About time - can't you tell there was too much relaxing going on!

We were exhausted by the time we returned to the cottage, but we still had room for another GRAND meal!

We spent a perfectly, peaceful day visiting with my husband's grandfather, who lives in Fairhaven, MA.  We have not seen him for 8 years and for almost turning 90 he looks great!  He really enjoyed meeting all of his great-granddaughters and even his first great-great granddaughter.

We took him to lunch and my dear husband got his fresh, fish and chips that he's been craving forever.  He really wanted a Quahog (pronounced Co- hog) but the fish and chips began a trend for the rest of the week for him!

We went back to the cottage and relaxed by the ocean for the rest of the day. . . . . . .

Stay tuned for more. . . . .

We left bright and early at 3 a.m. in the morning on a brilliant idea that we'd drive during the time that everyone was sleeping.  Sometimes plans look better on paper than they are actually implemented.  Not one of the girls fell asleep until about an hour and a half into the drive.  Just as Dad was getting a good grove going, we heard "Brullapt" coming from the back seat where the Doodler was commencing to get car sick.  On the plus side, it all ended up in her blanket that was on her lap.  We pulled over, changed her clothes, wadded up the soiled blanket and clothes and was back on the road.

We stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel (our family's favorite stop while traveling).  After way too much food (how can you not go overboard with pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon - YUM!), we were back on the road headed toward our first stop on the outside of Fredricksburg, VA. 

We had decided to tent camp at a KOA on our first night.  It was a very nice KOA, set off of the interstate 3 miles.  We did however, underestimate how cold the mountains would be..  Only the Doodler awoke and said, " I slept GOOOD!

The second day of driving took us through New Jersey, New York and Connecticut which are severely traffic challenged areas.  Whether it was congested traffic, bad directions from the Magellan "Gracie" as we call her or 45 mph speed limits, it took us a lot longer on the second day.  We pulled into Fourth Cliff, at Humerock, Massachusetts around 11 p.m. that night.Our cottage was a short walk to the beach, so close that the next morning, the Juggler and Dad were up early walking on the beach collecting dead crabs and sea shells.  We awaited for our oldest daughter, Independent Woman,

and granddaughter

to arrive from Groton, CT, and then spent the day at the beach, the park behind the cottage and watching Dad BBQ'ing FRESH swordfish, shrimp and clams on the grill.  Dad lost it when he realized a lone seagull had stolen 2 of his all-beef hotdogs (those are sacred to him) and a bite of the swordfish while he came inside for a brief moment!  The seagull spent the night laughing at thanking us!

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip. . . . . . . .

We are back from a wonderful vacation in Massachusetts, but more on that story later.   Those pictures are coming soon. . . .

Before we left, we closed on our retirement home!  Many of you know from previous readings here and here that my husband is retiring in one year from the Air Force.  We will be moving back to California to be close to my family and my husband is taking over my father's John Deere Dealership.  We have been living the military lifestyle for so long, it's very nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  BUT, on the flip side, it's scary to envision life without it.  Believe it or not, it has been a nice security blanket over the years.  We are excited to start this new adventure that God is taking us on.

My husband's family pointed out that I failed to bring pictures of the new house on vacation.  Hmm, I wonder where my head was forgetting pictures while packing for a 10 day vacation with 5 kids???  So, in honor of their request, I have created a slideshow with the only pictures that I have of my sight unseen home (my father and step-mom toured the home for us and sent us the pictures).

Keep in mind when you are looking at the pictures, the furnishings are from the previous owner - my dad took them during the home tour.  The beautiful part about the house is that it is 100% newly remodeled, so we don't have to do anything but move in when we get there next August.  I'm going to especially enjoy the apple tree, 3 cherry trees, blueberry bushes, plum tree and garden area!

Titus 2: 3- 5

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

   That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

   To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Today I spent the morning teaching one of the teenage girls in our church how to use her sewing machine to sew button holes.  She made a beautiful black/green flower dress for the pastor's daughter who is having her baby shower on Saturday.   

We had a wonderful morning of fellowship with her, her mom and two sisters, while we sewed button holes, and fancy stitches, all the while discussing our daily lives.  It felt wonderful to be able to share a talent that I learned as a girl her age, and then to envision the trend continued when she'd share the same skill with her daughter someday.

Have you blessed someone lately with one of your talents?

Fresh Blueberry Pie was just what we needed to accompany our Corn Chowder tonight for the potluck at church.  Summertime is by far the best time for a slice of pie, iced tea and potlucks!

So I tied on my apron and went to Warm Pie, Happy Home and began making the doubled pie crust.  Split the dough in half and put one side in the fridge for the topping.

Add in the blueberry mixture which includes:

6 cups fresh blueberries

3/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup flour

Mix all those together in a bowl, pour into the pie crust and top with 1/4 TBSP lemon juice and 1 TBSP Butter.

For the top crust, use a star shaped cookie cutter to make the design.  Pinch the bottom and top crusts together and flute the edges. Cover pie edge with foil to prevent too much browning.

Cool for two hours before eating, so the juices have a chance to firm up. When you are ready to slice and serve, you can warm your slice up in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Don't forget a dollop of Vanilla Ice-Cream!

I just finished reading "Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell.  This book had some provoking issues that became instilled within my spirit.  Have you ever had a book take root in your life (of course in addition to the Inspired Word of God!) and convict you of areas in your life that you are falling short in?  When I read the Bible sometimes it isn't as spelled out for me, as when I read it in the context of someone else's walk.

My “vision” has certainly changed over these past 13 years of marriage. I cannot even recall a purposeful set pattern during those early years, especially our beginning years that were extremely rough. As time moved on, God changed our hearts, and children were added to our home and then as the homeschooling movement began to form, so did a new vision, one that God formed from all the things I mentioned above. God is still molding me into His image each day of my life.

The hardest issue that I've struggled with is dying to self and the hard work that being a mother, wife and keeper of the home entails.  Teri describes this as the "no free rides" syndrome.  If we kick back and ignore everything for one or two days, it still will meet us face on when we resume, coupled with even more!  Each day I struggle with wanting time to myself.  Being a mother and wife is a 24/7 days a week job.  Little children require constant quantities of time.  We may not have that time to just "sit back and relax."  Add in homeschooling and I have to ask myself, "Am I willing to give up myself, for a selfless investment in the future of my children?"

Luke 9:23

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

It is inevitable, the closer you get to paying off a car, the closer it gets to breaking down.  Car part manufacturers, today, just do not make things the way they use to.   They have to use less expensive materials now to cut costs, but these materials just do not hold up to the wear and tear that we put on our vehicles.  I can remember my mom having her car for almost 20 years and that thing just kept on keeping on.

In the last week we have gone through all new door locks (make sure your husband asks how many labor hours are involved in changing automatic locks, otherwise you'll get a HUGE surprise when they hand you the bill), factory installed CD player jamming up CD's, and a slightly new DVD player not loading DVD's.

So, in one fell swoop we were transported back in time to when I was a little girl traveling with my family in our car (ok - minus the automatic door locks that we had fixed).  It was like pandemonium in the car after the DVD player broke.  Mom, "You mean we have to look out the window and entertain OURSELVES in the car?"  "No, of course not there are so many fun games that you can play in the car, I said, "You just have to use your imagination!"  I had flash backs at that point to days long ago of my sister and I in the back seat playing with our Barbie dolls and travel Bingo cards. 

So, how do your kids entertain themselves in the car?

If there is one thing that is a sure thing for me as I surround myself with Quiverfull minded ladies, there is a never ending supply of baby gifts needed! 

I was content making beautiful diaper cakes until I stumbled across this blog The Sparrow's Nest.  Mrs. Wilt includes a tutorial for how to make fabric backed burp cloths and changing pads.   The changing pad follows the same directions as the burp cloths, but the size is 18 x 24.  Be sure to sew into the seam on one end a long ribbon folded in half to make the ties to hold it in place. 

I added my own touch to the gift and created "Cushie Tushies," which are homemade baby wipes.  We have been using them for several months now and Little Bear is 10 months.  I've yet to buy wipes.  I'm still using the stash we received when she was born for when we go out and about.  They are just so much easier and they wash nicely with the cloth diapers.

I like to make Cushie Tushies out of soft fabric like flannel or knits.  I basically make a 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inch square, and then follow the same directions for the burp cloths.

I also include several itsy bitsy diapers wrapped and tied with beautiful ribbon, and either powder, baby shampoo, baby lotion or desitin in the basket.  Tonight we delivered one to our neighbors who had her son on Tuesday. 

Here is my finished product: 

My favorite family is once again in the news. This time they have been awarded the Parents of the Year award for the state of Arkansas.  It does my heart good to see a Christian family being recognized nationally for their strong values and family upbringing. I'm glad to see that through this award, God is given the glory!

Little Bear has made herself a new home. . . . . .

Toby, do you want to play with me?  We can share your cage!

Most of you know that we have embarked on new territory in the courting process with our Little Woman.  She is courting our Pastor's son, Nathan.  She is currently spending the summer months in California with some of her family, away from us and from Nathan, which has been giving her a small taste of what is fondly referred to as "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

What you may not know is that The Doodler (our 3 year old) has decided that SHE is going to marry Nathan and is taking advantage of the time her sister is away!   Never you mind the age difference - 15 years is nothing to her.  She loves uses it to her advantage when Little Woman and Nathan will sit with the family during church so that she can sit politely wedge her way onto Nathan's lap.  When he comes over to the house, she respectfully asks giggles and bats her eyes to convince Nathan into carrying her.  At church she monopolizes his attentions and has mysteriously figured out how to get him to hold her hand.

Last evening, we had the family come over to share dinner with us so that we could continue to get to know Nathan and the family - ok - we needed begged Nathan to watch the dog and water the garden while we are on vacation next month.  Doodler, being primed and ready, even changed her dress, because the other one wasn't appropriate for Nathan to see.  She was up for the evening and was not in short supply of giggles and smiles for him.  She talked and talked, and made sure that Nathan noticed her. . . . . . . until right after dinner when she retired to the sofa and inadvertantly fell asleep for the night. . . . . . . . . . . 

One quiet afternoon of cutting, one late night of sewing and Nicki gets a new nightgown and jacket.  Actually, she has to give up her new outfit because it's a birthday present, for a friend doll!

So that means, another quiet afternoon of cutting, and another late evening of sewing. . . . . . .

More great outfits to come from this pattern

Rubber took swim lessons this summer to improve the skills she already had and to gain more confidence in the water.  I wouldn't have thought that 4 lessons could have increased her confidence so much, but it really did. 

We went with semi-private lessons and while they are more expensive, just look at the results.  She wouldn't have gone under water without her googles on before, let alone open her eyes!

She had 3 others in her class and they all were relatively the same skill level.  Her loving, but firm teacher, Ms. Sunshine was a jewel.  She didn't take no gruff and had a brief, but important talk with them my Rubber, about not using the words, "I can't."  They were only allowed to say, "I will try!"  That is an excellent philosophy for much of the world today! 

We took her to practice her new skills on Saturday, and she proudly showed her Daddy how she could now swim across the pool unassisted!  She spent the rest of the time on Juggler's back, diving for the dive toys!  She's on her way now; only two more littles to get trained  comfortable in the pool.

Yesterday, we came home from swim lessons to find a neat little package from my sister, who takes such good care of me!  The only reason I knew it was from my sister, was because it was from QVC.  She is addicted to QVC and if they have a support group for it - she should go.

It was 3 bottles of Philosphy bath gel/bubble bath in these  wonderful fragrances, Orange Chiffon, Vanilla Ice Cream and Berries and Cream.  The girls opened the box for me and inadvertantly left them lying on the floor.  This is a BIG NO NO, when you have an active 9 month old.

The next thing I knew, because I was being the most attentive mother, checking my email, Juggler came in with a loud "Oh, No!"  Little Bear had somehow managed to remove the cap to the Orange Chiffon and we had 1/4 bottle of orange bubbles all over her and the carpet.

Did you know that you can stress out your spot bot with that many bubbles?  Even today, I'm still trying to clean up the suds.  Little Bear thought it was cool though because she got a bath in the sink, complete with a water fall.

Did I get your attention with the title?  Now for the question -  Who taught someone the Dead, Limp, Fish Handshake, and then allowed them to pass it onto millions more?  I only ask, because I received one yesterday when meeting my daughter's swim teacher for the first time.  It was wimpy and limp and didn't leave me with a lasting impression.

I was taught by my father, many years ago, a firm handshake speaks confidence, trustworthiness and honesty.  It affects first impressions for both men and women.  What are some good characteristics of a firm handshake:  strength, vigor, duration, eye contact and completeness of grip.

There is nothing worse than meeting someone for the first time, expecting to receive a firm handshake, only to get that wimpy, dead, floppy half of a shake.  I can understand when woman to woman, the shake is a little weak, but it bothers me when men shake my hand with this handshake.  It tells me that they don't think enough of me, that somehow I'm not worthy of their respect.

If you've forgotten how to shake hands properly, watch this video for a refresher course.  Please, oh please, can we ban these dead, limp fish handshakes!