Psalm 23:1-3
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul."
Doesn't that sound like a place you would like to be right now, especially during these cold winter days? Just think about it, green pastures and quiet waters. That sounds so refreshing. I know throughout my life I will want things, but God has promised me He will take care of me and give me everything I need. When I am fully aware of God's presence in my life and that He cares about every detail in it, it doesn't matter that I am sitting in my living room typing at a computer, my soul is at rest. How do I get to this point where my soul is at rest? Well, the verse says "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters..." . Jesus wants us to rest! Spend time in His Word and in prayer. Have fellowship with other believers. All these things can be times of green pastures and quiet waters. Desire to be with Him. Remember, He desires to be with you. That is why he came and paid the ultimate price for you. Remember also, he wears the title "Ancient of Days". He has been taking care of His people since the beginning of time. If you are struggling with finding rest, remember this verse was as true when it was written so long ago as it is right now.
We had some tacos last night for dinner and even though no one has requested it, I thought someone might want to make some homemade tortilla shells. They are so much better than store bought (in the opinion of my family). They also make excellent breakfast wraps if you fill them with eggs and cheese. I'm sure your imagination could find many things to put inside of them after you try them. They are a little time consuming, but the effort is so worth it. By the way, this is my first time solo on this endeavor of importing pictures to this blog. XX (me crossing my fingers)
List of ingredients: 3 cups of flour, 1/3 cup of oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 cup warm water
In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour and oil until it crumbles.
Dissolve the salt in the warm water and pour into the flour mixture.
Use a wooden spoon to combine the dough. It should be a little sticky, but clean the sides of the bowl.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about a minute (until it is not too sticky). It helps to flour your hands if it is too hard to handle.
Divide the dough into 16 pieces. A pastry scraper works best.
Roll out each ball into a 6-7 inch circle. Do this on an unfloured surface. It makes it much easier for the dough to spread out thin. I have a tortilla press that helps to flatten the dough, but it is not necessary.
Take the flattened out dough and put into a preheated skillet (I prefer cast iron). The pastry scraper works best to get it off the counter. The skillet should be at medium heat. You can spread a small amount of oil in the skillet, depending on your taste. We like ours a little crispy so I do coat the bottom of the skillet with olive oil.
Using tongs, turn the dough over when it starts to bubble up. During this whole process, start rolling out another piece of dough while you are waiting for your dough in the skillet to be done. The first side takes about 1 minute. The second side, only about 30 seconds.
Top your tortilla with whatever you like and THAT WHAT'S FOR DINNER!
So many people have been asking me how to make laundry soap since I have given lots of it away in recent months. I have promised to get this on here for many days. The road blocks I have encountered have been just short of comical. It is so easy and so affordable. I never see myself buying laundry soap from the store again. Many thanks to my sister Alison for sharing this recipe with me this past summer. The cost is about .01 cent a load! Not only that, but it cleans your clothes just as good as name brand detergents. So here is how it is done.
Let the mixture sit for 24 hours. It will turn into a gelatin like consistency. I stir it up at this point and use a funnel to pour into cleaned out milk jugs. Any gallon container works fine as long as it is cleaned out well. You only need 1/2 cup per load. This will give you 64 loads! I like to keep a liquid measuring cup by the washing machine to insure I get all 64 loads.
I want to thank Makayla, my daughter, for taking the pictures for this really crabby mom who couldn't get anything to work out right this morning. Sorry for putting my bad day on you. Also, once again I need to thank Katelyn for walking me through this over the phone. I am so happy we finally connected. Thanks for your huge doses of patience with me. I laugh when I think about being the "techie" one in my family growing up because I knew how to get the clock to stop blinking on the VCR! I love you my dear sweet daughters, you're the greatest!
In the wee hours of the morning at about 2:00 Ron finally gave in to go to the hospital. After fighting with a fever and headache for a week, he was at last talked into the fact that he was in fact loosing the battle and needed professional help. This is no easy task when you do not have health coverage and financial struggles have become a regular part of the family- not a guest, but a 20 year part of the family that we somehow adopted and do not know how to tell it is time to move on! But anyway, after 11 hours and many tests ranging from blood work to a CAT Scan the doctor is going with the diagnosis of sinus infection and pronounced for all to hear in the observation ward "The fever guy is going home!" We left with Ron having no fever and no headache. Although a slight fever has returned, I am so relieved he is doing much better.
Psalm 90:12 comes to mind, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." I am reminded in these words how life is a gift and none of our days are guaranteed. They are truly a gift. Even the days (and there have been plenty) that struggles have come, those days are gifts too. A little further down in Psalm 90 it says in verse 15, "Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble." I pray that we get relief for as many years as we have seen trouble. But even so, my heart is glad right now and I choose to rejoice in this life God has given me- full of people I love, especially Ron!
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for your blessings. Thank you for the hospital being right across the street and for the modern medicine we have in this country. Thank you that Ron is doing so much better. Thank you for protecting Makayla and RJ while we were gone. Thank you for the blessing of great family and friends. I do not deserve any of this. Please have mercy on us and provide a way for all of the hospital bills to be taken care of. I pray Psalm 90:15 for my own. "Make me glad for as many years as I have seen trouble." In Your Name Jesus, Amen
I do not know if anyone even reads this, but I want to thank some people for their kindness shown to us yesterday. First, to my awesome mom who brought over a huge dinner for my family while we were taking a nap. How great that was stumbling out of my room to the aroma that only a mom prepared meal can bring, complete with chocolate cake for dessert! I also want to thank my sister Alison for brainstorming and offering to help anyway she could with how to help me juggle RJ being watched while Brooke and Makayla had to be at basketball practice. I was also kept company by Katelyn at 2:30 in the morning via texting. It was nice to be able to spend some time with you, Katelyn, even if the circumstances aren't the greatest! I also want to thank my circle of friends who found out about this whole ordeal and offered to help in anyway they could. I know you all mean it, and that makes us so happy and thankful!
My oldest daughter will be coming home from school tomorrow, so I hope by Monday to be able to post some more how-to pictures or videos. I really need to take some good notes this time. I feel like my 3 year old would be able to figure it out faster than me! Without a doubt what I need most right now is encouragement, and I bet you could too. With everything going on in this world, it can start to bring me down. I was so thankful to fall upon these words today from Psalm 115: 11 "You who respect the Lord should trust him; he is your helper ;and your protection." What comfort these verses bring when everything seems to be turned upside down in this world. I respect God, he is my helper and my protection. This is like me telling my children not to be afraid of something I know as a parent I can help them out with. Only this is so far greater because it is God and everything is in His power. Yes, certain things will happen that I do not understand and I wish would change, but ultimately God is in control and I know He loves me, wants a relationship with me, and even sent Jesus so that we would never have to be separated by sin again. Psalm 115 continues with more encouragement in verses 13 and 14. "The Lord will bless those who respect him, from the smallest to the greatest. May the Lord give you success, and may he give your children success." Thank you Jesus! May it be so.
It can be hard to take time and open the Bible to contemplate on Scripture. I strongly encourage you to do this on your own, but I would like to take this blogging opportunity to put down some scripture that hopefully encourages and motivates you throughout your day. So here it is, from Luke 12:16-21: Jesus told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
God has richly blessed me in so many ways: the family I was born into, the country I live in, the husband I married, the children I have, the church I attend, the house I live in, the talents He has given me, the list only grows everyday. I am certain you have your own blessings that could fill many "barns" as talked about in the parable. In all these areas where we are so richly blessed I am certain we can find ways to richly bless others. It doesn't necessarily take money to be rich toward someone. Being generous when you have little worldly wealth is very doable and it brings so much joy to both the giver and receiver ( and the Father !) How about baking someone a loaf of bread just to put a smile on the face of someone on a cold winter day (check out the Artisan Bread recipe in this blog). Writing someone an encouraging note and sending it the old fashioned way is another idea. It's never quite as good opening an email as it is opening an envelope when it comes to personal letters. Do you know someone not feeling very good right now, you could bring over some dinner (don't forget the dessert, especially if there are kids!). These are just a couple of ideas, I'm sure you have more. Please share them with me, but more importantly, literally share them with someone else!
If your like me, your days are filled with things to be checked off a list. Whether that list is in your mind, or on paper, you constantly are thinking about stuff that needs to get done. And you know the family is never quite going to understand this. In fact, as I have talked about before, all they really want to know is "What's for dinner Mom?" Today I hope to encourage you with Matthew 11:28-29. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." There is no way to get away from "doing" if we are responsible people. There will always be meals to be made, laundry to be done, errands to run, and the list goes on and on and on. But what I think we can work on as these responsible people is being. Being with our creator who desires to hold our hand through the doing. How does this happen? So many times when I am going through struggles and I'm "weary and burdened" I have done what Jesus said, I come to Him. The comfort that comes from ceasing "to do" is so refreshing. When I come to Him I am acknowledging He is God. He holds the power to work everything out to His glory. Most times I am closer to God when I am in a dilemma, than when everything is smooth sailing. What I need to remember during these times is that Jesus still wants me to come and "be still". Time spent with God just being thankful for all my blessings is refreshing also! So how do I practically do this? The "doing" part is getting up early before anyone can distract me, light a candle, open my bible, read some scripture, and pray. All this is very important. However, the most important part is the "being", without it you will miss out on a great gift. This is where you just rest and do nothing. That's right NOTHING. This includes not sleeping! Just allow Jesus to work in your heart and speak to you. I know we never give ourselves permission to do nothing, but I promise you if you start doing this you will be able to cope with the pressures that come from juggling the chores that fill your day, and the "What's for dinner Mom?" question won't be as stressful.
It has been quite an adventure trying to figure out this blogging thing. I'm getting nervous now that my oldest daughter is going back to school today and I still do not have the foggiest idea how to do many things that make a blog interesting and fun. It doesn't help that time was running away while our internet was down for a couple of days! Oh well, I will find joy in the journey! I wanted to share a Bible verse I put in my journal today. It is from Romans 12:11-13. "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
These are certainly words to live by. If I could keep them in the forefront of my mind I am certain I would be more joyful. The truth is however, that I forget about hope, I am not always patient in affliction, and my prayer time is long from being "faithful". It is at these times that I get worn out in every way. Thank God he shows me mercy and gives me encouragement despite of my failures.
Now I am going to make chewy granola bars with Katelyn before she leaves. She deserves to bring back treats for herself and roommates. The added benefit is that she is going to take step my step pictures and you can learn how too! If I have time we are going to do the laundry soap. Keep looking for these posts, I have no idea when they will be released, but it shouldn't be long.
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I cannot believe how long I have been working on this! A whole evening has flown by. My oldest daughter has been guiding me through this whole endeavor, without her this would totally not be happening. Thank goodness for Christmas break lasting longer for college students! Well, my mind is a whirlwind of thinking about what I am going to be writing about first. I think a call to my youngest sister is in order, seeing as we tend to share all this kind stuff with each other. I am going to try and talk her into coming over so we can make some "how-to videos" together. I would love to hear from anyone with any questions or suggestions. Bread making is the most common thing people want to know from me, so I plan that being one of the first things I work on.
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