Update

Wow. We are at the end of another busy week and I find my head swirling as I sit down to write. I feel busy and tired, but yet I feel unproductive... Like I'm running around with my head cut off.... But we'll get organized one of these days.

What have I been doing all week? Well, on Monday I received an unexpected call asking if Peter and I would like to clean a house on Tuesday! Brand new, gorgeous place, full of dust from carpentry work etc. So after some thinking (and planning for our Pumpkin) we decided to take it on. We worked 7 full hours and were able to make 240 dollars extra this week! That was much needed! The Lord is teaching me to always trust Him for our finances!

Thursday, we received a bedroom set from Peter's parents! Bed, 2 bedside tables, and 2 dressers (one with a huge mirror). We just had mixed dressers and tables before, but now it all matches!! That is nice! And our old bed and dressers have been moved into our spare room. So we are now equipped with a guest room :-) I can't wait to share our home with others!!

Oh, on a side note...just last week (I think...or maybe 2 weeks ago!), friends from our Church decided to give us their dining room table and chairs!! Sturdy, solid wood! It is beautiful and I love it! I will post pictures one of these days!

hmmm what else...

• Meal planning has gone down the tube...Again! 
• We used twice as much water this past 3 months than the 3 months before that. 
• Rebekah has had another week of diaper rash...it is going away now though!
• My mom gave me 2 cast iron pans, which I really like using!

OH! And I just read a really great blog post on Singleness.  

So to all my single lady friends: Check this out!

The Market Day of the Soul

Tomorrow is Sunday.

I love Sundays!

If you are a Christian, Sunday is a day to forget about all of the worldly toils.

It is a day to refresh your spirit.

It is a day to celebrate and look forward to 

The eternal rest offered to you by Christ.

It is a day to focus your energy on Worshiping God.

It is a day to fellowship with other Believers. 

It is a day of Rest for your weary and heavy laden heart.

 It is the Market Day of your Soul.

I often try to have one main day per week when I go to the store to buy my groceries or other things that we need for the week. According to Joseph A. Pipa in his book "The Lord's Day", the Puritans did the same thing(p. 42)! They would have a market where farmers and merchants would come into the town to buy and sell. I always find it neat to learn about how people lived in the past (even the simple things). 

What does this have to do with Sunday? Well, Some of the Puritans often referred to the Lord's Day (Sunday) as the "Market day of the Soul". Just like we may take one day out of seven to run errands and gather food for our family, we must also take one day out of seven to replenish and nourish our Souls (p. 43). 

We must not forget this day! It is Special to God! The 4th commandment states: "Six days shall you labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God...". It is His day. It belongs to Him! Not only that though...He gives it to us for our benefit too.  I like how Pipa puts it, "The purpose of the Fourth Commandment is to free us from our daily business so that we may do business with Him (God)" (p. 43). Notice that the purpose is not to inhibit us from doing our normal weekly things, but rather to free us from them! I often need to be reminded of this! 

The Lord's day is a blessing! God is so Gracious to give us one whole day out of seven to especially focus on Worshiping Him and bringing Glory to Him. 

May you all enjoy The Lord's Day Tomorrow!!

Love One Another

This afternoon, I was delighted to have two beautiful ladies in my home for lunch. It made me realize how much I love and enjoy spending time with other ladies and how encouraging and edifying it can be!

God created us to be social beings. Even Adam, who was in a sinless state before the Fall, desired the company of another. Not to mention that Jesus collected 12 men around him to be His companions -- to walk with, to pray with, and to offer support and encouragement to one another.

I suppose it should be no surprise then, to discover that doing - anything - is always so much more fun when you are doing it with someone else! I've had more than one opportunity to bare witness to this fact in the past week or so.

Last Friday, a mom's group that I have just recently started going to with a friend, did a "Thanksgiving Craft" together. It was a pumpkin centerpiece. I really enjoyed doing this and even though Thanksgiving is over, you may still like to carve out a pumpkin and make your own Autumn Arrangement.

All you have to do is carve out the pumpkin and find a jar that will fit snugly inside. Then cut a piece of floral foam to fit inside the jar and get those creative juices flowing! If you want to use fresh flowers/foliage, I think it would be best to use floral foam that is specifically designed for fresh arrangements. If you only have dry floral foam, then you can create your masterpiece using dried flowers, wheat, or cat tails.

If you don't think you are gifted in the art of arranging, guess what?...I didn't either!! But yet, I still feel happy with how mine turned out. Remember that it doesn't need to look perfect! Your family will enjoy the effort that you have put into it to make your home feel festive and colourful!


I draw my next example from the visit of my Parents which took place just after Thanksgiving. Together we were able to pickle 10 lbs of beets, a triple batch of Salsa, and cut up over 30 cups of green/orange peppers for the freezer! I was so blessed by their help and it made the job that I was (ashamedly) dreading, an enjoyable experience. (I think this is the first time I have ever done preserving with my folks!) Maybe this is the beginning of a new tradition?? ;-)

Me with all of the Salsa Ingredients!

The finished product! :-)

I'm Back!!

With Thanksgiving, it has been busy around our home! We were delighted to visit Peter's Parents last weekend, and when we returned, my Mom and Dad were at our home visiting! Add an anniversary in there (2 whole years!) and you have a week full of lots o' love, hugs, and good food! 

I have so many things that I would like to write about that I don't know where to begin!

Since I have been neglecting my blog, I will combine a recipe with a thrift tip!

Make your own Flour Tortillas!!

 (I got this recipe from http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/flourtortillas.htm)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups white or whole wheat flour or half each
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder (optional)
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 to 1-1/4 cups water
• oil

Method:
1. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Next cut in the shortening with a fork.
3. When the flour is crumbly, add the water. Stir the dough with your fork until it makes a cohesive ball of dough. You may need to add an extra small spoonful of water if the dough is too dry. Be careful not to add too much though.
4. When the dough forms a ball, knead it about 20 times. Then let it rest in the bowl for about 10 minutes. After it has rested, form it into 10 or 12 equal balls.
5. Roll each ball in a little flour, to coat the outside of it evenly.
6. Place a ball of dough on a clean, well floured surface. Roll the dough out into a a 6 or 7-inch circle. Try to get it as thin as you can. Loosen the tortilla from the rolling surface.
7. Flop it onto a lightly oiled, hot skillet. Cook about 30 seconds, until the under side is dry, with a few brown spots. Flip it and cook the other side the same way. Transfer the cooked tortilla to a plate, and cook the next one.

This recipe makes about a dozen tortillas.

You will likely need half an hour or more to complete this recipe as the rolling takes some practice! However, the savings are worth it. I haven't worked out the cost of home-made tortillas, however just the fact that you don't need to spend an extra 3-4 dollars every time you want tortillas seems to make it appealing!

The taste is better, but the texture isn't exactly like store bought, but I still think they are pretty good. :-)

Let me know what Food things you make to save money! 

If you have written about it on your own blog, 

feel free to share the link to your post in the comment box!

Tasty Tuesday - Vegetable Quinoa

Today I would like to share a recipe that I came across recently from the Company's Coming "Whole Grains" cook book.

We really like to incorporate whole grains into our diet as much as possible, so when I spotted this recipe, I figured I'd give it a try... We *loved* it! And sometimes, good whole grain recipes are hard to come by. The only downside is that quinoa can sometimes be expensive. I might try another grain at some point and see how it turns out! Either way, it makes a really great side dish to round out a meal (gotta have your fibre!) And it is also great if you are hosting a vegetarian guest!

Vegetable Quinoa

Ingredients:
1 tsp Canola Oil
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped carrot

1 1/4 cups Vegetable cocktail juice (V8 for example)
3/4 cups Water
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Quinoa, rinsed and drained
(Note: Quinoa is a South American Grain that can usually be found in your local bulk foods store or sometimes in the grains department of your grocery store. To rinse it, I usually just place the grains in a fine sieve and rinse thoroughly.)

Method:
Heat canola oil in medium saucepan on medium heat. Add next 4 ingredients.
Cook, uncovered, for about 5 min., stirring often, until onion is softened.

Add next 3 ingredients. Stir. Bring to a boil. Add quinoa. Stir. Reduce heat to medium-low.
Simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes, without stirring, until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Fluff with fork and serve!

Makes about 4 cups.
Nutritional Info (1cup): 202 Calories; 3.8 g fat (1.2g mono, 1.4g poly, 0.4g sat.); 0 mg cholesterol; 37 g carb; 4 g fibre; 7 g protein; 378 g sodium

Variations: If you don't have time to do the chopping of the vegetables, I have substituted with about 2 cups of a frozen vegetable mix (beans, carrots, peas, corn). It was still good! Although I do like the original suggestion for vegetables.

Just take 15 min!!

We love squash!

 

 The only problem is that it seems to take sooo much effort to get it ready to eat on the plate. Well, mostly it's the chopping that gets to me. (Either my knives are too dull or my arms just aren't strong enough to cut through the things!) So what do I do? I get my wonderful husband to cut it! :-) 

So today, he chops up the squash for me. Meanwhile, I stand at his side (as his encourager and helpmeet, of course!) and make plenty of ooos and ahhhs over his muscles! ;-)

I was very thankful for his hard work and was sure to reward him with a kiss! *Muah!* He kissed back and smiled...then he left and there it was...

The enormous pile of cut but unpeeled squash.

This is where I look at it, look at the clock and say... "ughhhh...this is going to take sooo muchhhh of my timmeeeeeee........ Maybe I'll work on my puzzle instead!" 

And I did. ha ha! I sat down and looked at all the pieces and thought about how lovely it will look when it is all finished...but the squash was eating away at my mind, the whole time. So I gathered up my courage and said, "Ok, I'm just going to work on peeling the squash for 15 minutes. Then I will go do something else and come back to it."

10 minutes later......

It's in the pot covered in water ready to cook!!!

I can't begin to tell you how many times I go through this same thing every day. Sinks full of dishes, toys all over the floor, laundry piled to the ceiling, etc. You can probably think of your own enormous pile of something that looks like it will take an eternity to do!

I'm going to suggest something very simple, but profound:

15 minutes.

That might be all it takes to clear off that table that you haven't seen in months.

15 minutes.

That might be all it takes to give you hope for the completion of a particular job.

15 minutes.

Just might even be what it takes to pull you out of that downward spiral of depression.

Never underestimate the power of the time the Lord has given you. 

It is precious.

It belongs to Him.

Will you use it for His glory today?