Praying the Psalms

Join with us as we Pray Through The Psalms.

Psalm 7

God, I thank you for the Psalms. It helps my heart to know that I am not the only who has ever felt they were going to be torn apart by life events--by other people. Thank you for the reminder to continually check my heart--to repent and keep it blameless before You. I love the word picture of You being indignant for Your people. You are my Shield, my Refuge, and my Righteous Judge. I will remind my heart to count trials as a sheer gift and to give You thanks--both in the trial and in the deliverance. Thank You, Jesus, for all You are accomplishing in our lives.

Homemad Bagels

A couple weeks ago I made homemade bagels and yogurt cheese. It doesn't really go with the traditional cooking I've been learning about but they sure were yummy!! Mine didn't rise quite right but I think that's because I didn't get the water hot enough. The directions used the word "tepid" which made me think I should use cooler water than I normally do when baking with yeast. Instead of hot, I used more lukewarm. I think that was my problem. I will have to make these again. We really enjoyed them! They were funny looking, but yummy tasting!! The yogurt cheese was phenomenal too! I made it from my homemade yogurt and liked it better than cream cheese. I just found a new recipe for yogurt cheese that I'm going to try and compare to this one. I just may need some fresh bagels to do that with. *grin* Sounds like fresh bagels and yogurt cheese are on the menu for the weekend. Yay! Have you found any fun recipes lately?

A Glimpse Into Our World

I took this yesterday. Just love her hair like that!!!

We spent some time at Grandpa and Grandma's this weekend. Nugget got in a lot of quality "Grandpa time." Everything from cuddling, to playing a new game with the laundry basket, and "learning" the piano! We even had time to do her hair cute! She is growing so fast--looking and acting more like a toddler every day!

28 Day Food Challenge

I have to apologize for being a day late with this! We had a crazy weekend and I never did get this post written! This past week (week #3) was more about learning than doing for me. We talked about probiotics, how to make them at home and what they are besides just yogurt. I would really like to make water kefir when I can get a hold of a starter. I finally learned what kombucha is--it's a sort of fermented tea. That was exciting for me. We also talked about cultured dairy foods like yogurt but I have plenty on hand and did not need to make that last week. I was amazed to learn about the variety of cultured milk products. They are on my list of things to try soon.

We also talked about culturing vegetables to make them go farther and how the lactic acid fermentation increases their nutritional content. I'm very curious to try this process. Jenny at The Nourished Kitchen has an e-book on culturing food. Check it out.

Get Cultured: Probiotic Foods from a Nourished Kitchen.

Cheese making was also discussed last week. If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE my cheese! I had made a yogurt cheese a week or so ago but Jenny's recipe was slightly different. I think I'd like to try her's as well and see which way I like better. The ricotta cheese looks so easy I will have to try it soon. I was also excited to see the Dayton Metro Parks is having some classes on cheese making. I would love to participate in both of these! I think cheese making could be a fun new hobby! I love learning not only how to make healthier food for my family but how can you top yummy healthy food?! This is awesome!

The tail end of the week discussed nuts and seeds, beans and vegetables. I think I found out that I haven't been happy with my soaked beans because I wasn't soaking them long enough. This method recommends soaking for at least 12 hours and up to 48. I think I will try a longer soaking time and see how it goes. I also liked the encouragement on not eating your vegetables naked but instead with a healthy fat. It makes sense that some of their nutrients are fat soluble and therefore need to be eaten with a healthy fat. I think most of us crave them that way--they seem to be missing something without it. She also encouraged us to make our own salad dressing which I have been doing as I like the taste better and being in control of the ingredients.

I love this time of sharing with you what I'm learning. It helps solidify it in my brain as I haven't been able to be as active with it as I would have liked to be.

Praying the Psalms

Join us as we "Pray Through the Psalms."

Psalm 6

Oh, God, how I love Your Word! This Psalm so echoes my heart today. Grace, I need your grace. Heal my soul--put me back together again. I am drowning! How long can this go on? How long will this last? 

I know You are the reason we have come this far. Shed your light on our lives. I know you love us. Rescue us. 

I am so weary. I am so tired of crying.

I know You hear me. I know You listen. I know You will rescue us.

Winter Beauty

Finding beauty in all seasons . . .

Snow Fun

Well, I haven't really been out enjoying the snow because I feel too awkward but the dogs have been enjoying it. Here's our crazy beasts doing their thing. Can you tell Kenya is a winter dog? *grin* Buddy's not as thrilled but he humors Kenya. The table thing is new, not sure when it became a dog bed! Oh, well! Hope you're making the best of all this winter weather!

Crafting Update

I finished the baby afghan I was working on! I was unable to attend the shower for my dear friend, Sarah, who is due 2 weeks before me. I did, however, finish this afghan I was making for her. She hosted my shower for Nugget so I wanted to do something extra special for her! This was so fun to make and gave me plenty of time to pray over this new little one joining their family. I am definitely going to have to make more of them!

Here is Nugget's rag baby! I got the face done as well as the little "I love you" message on her chest. Next up, learn how to use my sewing machine and put her together! Yay! She's coming along. I can't wait to see her all done! Nugget found my Raggedy Ann the other day as I had her out for inspiration. She LOVED her! She would hug her, rock her, lay on top of her, and kept asking for her. It was just precious and makes me so excited to have her baby finished. I'll post more as I get it done.

I will be sharing this on

Valentine's Day

How was your Valentine's Day? We had a wonderful one! Every year we take turns planning Valentine's Day. You can check out what I did last year. It was so much fun! This year was Ralph's turn. It was a bit of a challenge as we had no money to spend on it. He had to be creative pretty much with what we had. His parents graciously took Arwen for a night for us. I, so far, have not been one of those mom's who looks forward to time away from my child. Maybe it's because I have to leave her two days a week to work? But I have to admit, it was nice to have a night to just focus on us. We haven't done that in quite awhile. Of course, I only called Grandpa and Grandma half a dozen times to tell them things I forgot when we dropped her off. Oh, well. She came home with a super cute Valentine frog and didn't seem to miss us at all!

My little table of Valentine's decorations has grown. I won a really fun giveaway on Can't Stop Crafting. It's the "Love" book on the right. Pretty cute, huh? Mom sent a cute little valentine cards for us and Nugget as well as a cute book and candy for Nugget. Then I snuck in Ralph's Valentine card/gift that I made from things I had on hand. Can you see it in there?

Here it is! I found this "message in a bottle" idea on Crafts By Amanda. I tweaked it make use of what I had on hand: construction paper, coffee syrup bottle, scrap booking supplies, etc. My "message" was a crossword puzzle I created on-line after seeing the idea on the Love Actually blog. My man loves his crosswords! I even stumped him on a few. Kind of funny since it was all about us--course I was wrong on one of them too which didn't help. Oops!

I took care of the table scape because it's what I like to do.

Ralph is busy plating up our grilled Mahi Mahi on a bed of roasted red pepper sauce and topping it with a cilantro pesto. So yummy! We just happened to have some Mahi Mahi in our freezer from when it went on sale some time last fall or summer? It was very tasty.

The whole yummy meal. He also sauteed snap peas in some garlic oil and made fussili pasta with mushrooms. It was all delicious! He does such a wonderful job cooking sometimes I wonder why I do any! (Just kidding! I love to cook too much!)

So it didn't occur to me to tape my message in a bottle into a tight roll so he could actually get it out! We ended up having to break the bottle. Sad! He got very creative trying to get it out but nothing worked! Oh, well. It was still fun!

See this? He even did all the clean up after dinner! Not that he isn't always willing, but I very rarely let him. It's better for our marriage, really. Most of the time I don't like how he cleans up no matter how hard he tries. I decided several years ago I would take care of all clean up so as not to hurt his feelings or make myself unnecessarily frustrated. It was sweet for him to take over on our Valentine date night, so I just closely supervised. *hee, hee*

We, of course, had coffee for dessert along with my favorite cake--Nigella's Chocolate Espresso Cake with Cafe Latte Cream. So yummy! I've been craving it for months. It was the first time for Ralph to make it and it turned out perfect!

Hope you all had fun with your sweeties on Valentine's day!

Week #2 Recap

 

Wow. Another week full of information! This week we learned about wholesome fats for high heat cooking, the deregulation of genetically engineered alfalfa, fats you shouldn't cook with, baking with our sourdough starter, finding real milk, and beneficial bacteria. 

I probably spent the most of my time learning how to bake with my sourdough starter. We made bread using this recipe. It takes awhile to rise anyway but mine never raised quite as much as it seemed it should. I'm sure that was my starter. It was moist but more sour than I care for--maybe the combination of sourdough and whole wheat? We also made some sourdough pancakes with blueberries a friend shared with us. We LOVED the pancakes! They were super yummy! We also made a sourdough pizza crust. I used white flour instead of whole wheat because an entirely whole wheat pizza crust really didn't appeal to me. I did use whole wheat for the sponge, though. We shared with Amanda and we all enjoyed it. It's been a fun process. I hope to make some rustic sourdough noodles this week. They look so yummy!

I also made yogurt cheese last week and another batch of crockpot yogurt. The yogurt cheese is AWESOME!! I like it even better than cream cheese. The best part? I MADE IT. That is such a fun feeling!

I am really looking forward to next week and learning about lactic acid fermentation, preparing probiotic vegetables and condiments, and about naturally effervescent beverages. I love experimenting in the kitchen--especially when I am helping my family to be more healthy.

I have found a couple options on where and how to obtain raw milk. I haven't spent enough time investigating how to obtain more appropriate fats for cooking. I would like to dig a little more into that. I really am enjoying this challenge.

Praying the Psalms

Join us each weekend as we pray through the Psalms.

Psalm 5

Thank You for this Psalm and its repetition. I would feel uncomfortable to keep asking you to hear me if I didn't see David doing the same thing over and over. I need to "feel" you listening to me. You are the One I look to for salvation. Thank you for hearing me.

It is refreshing to my heart to know that You do not delight in evil people or their ways or listen to their lies. I know we are not perfect and so I am grateful for Your mercy. It is Your mercy that allows me into Your presence. Show me the way to go. I feel as if our way has been lost, make our path straight again. 

It seems that we are surrounded by lies. Expose them for what they are.

Thank you that we can find joy in You. Thank you for Your shield of protection. Surround us with Your Presence.

Family Fun

This is a post that probably that only grandparents (or other close friends/family) who live far away will love. These two videos are just us having fun around the house. Be forewarned, they are a tad bit long as internet videos go.

Nugget and Daddy love to play "catch." It's pretty cute. 

 



This second video is Nugget "dancing" to music and learning to turn it on and off--and pretty proud of herself too!

New Recipes

Last week I made this pork recipe. It left me with A LOT of pork left over. Since I am trying to cook with what I have in the house and not run out and buy things, I spent quite a bit of time looking for recipes to use it in. I just couldn't find what I was looking for. I decided to do that which my husband excels at and I have no confidence in: make a recipe up. I learned quite well from my mom to take a recipe and "tweak" it to the point if someone asked for it I could say, "This is what I started with but not exactly what I made." However, not having a starting point is extremely intimidating for me. This time was different in that I had a clear sense of where I wanted my recipes to go.

The first one I made was Pork Enchiladas. I used black beans from this recipe. We were really pleased with these. I've been starting with dried beans rather than canned for the last year due to cost. Lately, I just hadn't been enjoying them until this recipe! I also make my own enchilada sauce. I absolutely love it!!! I really prefer homemade tortillas too but they have felt like more work than my 3rd trimester-night shift self is up to so I used store bought ones. I spooned some enchilada sauce onto the tortilla, added some shredded pork and black beans then rolled the tortilla up. I repeated this until I filled a 9x13 pan. I poured the rest of the enchilada sauce over the whole dish and topped with cheese. We LOVED it!! I was so relieved! In hindsight, I would split it into 2 8x8's and freeze one. It got to be a bit much for 2 adults and one toddler (who loved it as well, I might add).

The second recipe was Shredded Pork Tortilla Soup. I couldn't find ANYTHING close to what was stirring in my head (this should not surprise me, I know). For this one, I just started pulling things out of the refrigerator and took pictures along the way. I started with 5 carrots chopped in to large (1-2 inch) pieces, mainly because I hate chopping carrots. I had a quarter of an onion in the fridge so I chopped that up (not a huge onion fan, so they go a long way here). I finished off a garlic head (3 decent cloves, one hardly worth mentioning) and minced up some jarred jalapeno slices I had in the fridge. I would have used something like Rotel tomatoes but I didn't have any cans of that on hand.

I sauteed those up with some butter and olive oil, which I'm now learning from my Food Challenge maybe weren't the best fats to cook with. Ahhh, but I am in learning mode. I then threw in some corn I had in the freezer and a sad mostly finished bag of green beans (what else was I going to do with them?).

Next came the pork and black beans. I used about 2 cups of the shredded pork and half of what I had left of the beans (maybe a can's worth?).

Last but not least, I added a 14.5 oz can of tomatoes, 32 oz of beef broth (sounded better than chicken and I had some on hand), roughly a teaspoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of cumin and a hearty dash of red pepper. I debated about possibly using lemon pepper but the red sounded better. I also didn't use salt because the broth was not sodium free. That turned out to be a good choice.

The result? We LOVED it too!! Yay! We served it with some tortillas chips and cheese on top. Sour cream would have been good too but we did not have any of that. I'm feeling pretty good about this making up recipes thing! Maybe it's not just Ralph's territory after all.

So I've Been Thinking . . .

. . . this is how I start many a conversation with my husband. He's never sure where this conversation is headed--some place deep and heady involving things I have been studying or learning, my newest "project," something about the kids, etc. All he knows is that I've been thinking and now I'm ready to share so he better put aside whatever he's doing because I'm ready to talk. *grin* Well, now it's your turn. I'll even set it up for you like I do for him--I'll share with you those things that have gotten me thinking.

I was spending some time going about my day praying over things going on in our life right now. Then my uncle wrote this. It very much mirrored what I was thinking that day--minus the Israelite analogy, but the principles were there.

I know I have a habit of rushing in to things due to excitement, vision, etc. I had just been thinking that lately I was slowing down in that area and starting to see the wisdom in it. When I was in college, I swore I would never become one of those adults who lost my passion and therefore moved slowly on things--needing time to ponder, meditate and pray. Craziness, I know. In my youth, I could not fathom that one could still be passionate AND wait on God. That was beyond me. It's starting to become clear--I'm pretty sure I have a long way to go. Being a parent now is helping with that. Nugget gets SO EXCITED she doesn't know what to do with herself so she runs in circles. How many times have I done that and God is just there waiting for me to pay attention? My baby girl has a way of pointing out to me what God needs me to do or be or not be.

Uncle Rick's second and third points closely mirrors this article by Kate. Sometimes we need these hard times to remind us we NEED God--desperately, with every breath we take. This is the second time for me that a hard time has hit us in the midst of a pregnancy--even worse at the end of our pregnancy. You know what that does to me? Makes me depend on God. I am a very self-sufficient person (I know for those of you who know me well, you're rolling your eyes at the understatement). I can do it. I say that all the time. Right now? I can't do it. I can't fix it. I can't work hard and make it go away. I am slowing down. My time is coming. My solution--God HAS to do it. These will be beautiful lessons to pass on to my babies. Maybe their desert times will be eased by seeing God work through mine. I am also grateful to Kate for reminding me of a wonderful book/allegory that has helped me in desert times in the past, Hinds Feet on High Places. I think I may be due to read it again.

I truly have no idea where God is taking us but I do know that this hard time has a purpose. I will trust in that. Today I did some reading on thankfulness.

• Colossians 2:7: This helped me meditate on the fact that my overflowing thankfulness is not to come because my life is ok but because of being grounded in Him.
• Colossians 3:15: Letting His peace rule in my heart leads to thankfulness, not my circumstances.
• Colossians 4:2: The more I pray, the more thankful I will be. I should be prayerful and thankful not prayerful and "get-me-ful." 

Not sure if this makes sense to anyone but me but it has led to an increase of peace, thankfulness and  trust in my heart. What have you been thinking?

New Baby

This is Baby J, our friend's Dan and Cat's new little boy. He is making me excited to meet our new little one! I just love that newborn phase!

There is nothing I love more than to see Ralph interacting with Arwen--he is such a great dad! I know he will make an awesome dad to 2. He looks good holding Baby J!

I had so much fun making his little gift--it gave me so much time to pray for him while I was making it. I think that gives me the most joy out of the gift--by making it I am committing myself to praying for him as well. I think he may have to grow into this gift. *wink*

28 Day Food Challenge

 

Wow. I am learning so much! I knew after I got the first e-mail I wouldn't be able to "complete" the challenge. Jenny challenged us to clean out our pantry of all processed foods including all white sugar, brown sugar, shortening, margarine, pastas, crackers, etc. Right now my grocery budget is dependent on me not buying food as much as possible--making whatever I have stretch as far as possible. I decided to take this time then to investigate this "real food" way of eating so that when I can buy food again maybe we can make this change. Day#1 not accomplished.

Day#2 was better. We already use extra virgin olive oil in most of our cooking. Also, we use full fat milk and yogurt because we know that is best for Nugget at this age and for health in general. I really enjoyed the article Good, Better, Best: Traditional Foods for Every Budget. This will really help me prioritize as I am able to restock my pantry.

Day #3 was about using whole grains and soaking grains. I was really excited about this as this is something I've been wanting to move towards for a while. I did not complete the challenge of preparing a soaked grain recipe. I would like to try the Soaked Oatmeal or Baked Oatmeal next week. With preparing to work nights this weekend, I didn't quite have time to get to this. 

Day #4 I did! I started my sourdough using whole wheat flour I had on hand. I am very excited about this! Ralph was really great about this because it was on him to "feed" the starter every 12 hours all weekend. I have a great husband. 

I also spent some time researching the benefits of raw milk and where to obtain it in this area. I still have a little more leg work to do but I would like to make this switch at some point. It is more reasonable than I thought (being as in OH you have to own part of the cow to be legally allowed to drink it) but still over double what we pay now. 

I also made Crockpot Yogurt which turned out great! I found out yogurt can freeze with no harmful effects and that it will last 2 weeks in my fridge on its own. I'm pretty excited about this as we figured we saved about 50% on what we would normally pay for yogurt. 

All-in-all I am really enjoying this challenge and participating where I can and educating myself for future changes as finances allow.

Praying the Psalms

Psalm 4

Wow, God! This psalm so echoes my heart right now! I need to hear your answer to my prayers. I need to see Your deliverance and mercy and know that You are hearing our prayers. How long will we have to live with men believing lies over the truth? Thank you for setting us apart--for hearing our prayers, for calling us Your own. Help me not to sin in my anger and worry. Search my heart and cleanse it. Show me what I need to sacrifice. Help me to trust You more. I am choosing not to despair. You have given me joy that is not dependent on good things happening but on You instead. You are the reason I can sleep at night (or during the day as the case may be). You are my security and my safety. 

Valentine Decorating

 

I wasn't sure if I was going to get around to doing any decorating for Valentine's Day but I finally whipped together this little table. I'm quite happy with it and I have a week to enjoy it! Yay! Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Valentine's Fun

God had given Ralph and I these two amazing single friends who both happen to despise Valentine's Day. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that one is in their 30's and single and the other mid-20's without anyone even on the horizon at this time. They have been an amazing support system to Ralph and I for a long time and especially here recently.They, unfortunately, have to put up with my love of Valentine's Day and telling those I care about how much I do with a Valentine's card. *grin*

The other night they both got their cards and a special treat to ease the "hated" card. Ralph had thought of a wonderful "thanks for thinking of us" gift using what we had in the house. Personal ham and pineapple pizzas! They both love our pizza and ham and pineapple--which I never make b/c I think it's gross. I NEVER make what I won't eat. *grin* So, for the 2 people in my life who won't celebrate Valentine's day, I made something I'd normally never make: I made up 2 little ham and pineapple pizzas and froze them. I can't wait to see how they turn out when they cook them.

I also crocheted up 2 of  these bookmarks for my girlfriend in white because they were so cute they needed to be made! I love that she tolerates me and loves me anyway!

Pigtails!

I think this face was made for pigtails! Loved them while they lasted--she already pulled them out!

Belly Pic

Well, here I am at 31 weeks 4 days and I have yet to post one belly pic! I am so sorry for the family that is far away. I had a very uneventful visit with one of the midwives yesterday--everything looks good. The heartbeat was in the "girl" range yesterday and the last couple visits but all the prior ones were in the "boy" range. Just a few more weeks and we'll know for sure! Can't wait to meet this precious child!

Babies Are Coming!

I've been busy preparing. I'm not the only one expecting--there are babies popping out everywhere! This is a fun project for a friend whose due close to my due date! I'll post more when it's done! 

Also, I am joining this challenge for the month of February! Looking forward to learning a lot--don't worry I'll share.