Happy Easter

We wish you a happy and blessed Easter!  We are so very thankful for all the Lord has done for us and for all that we have.  We thank Him for our home and our good health and for each other but most importantly that we know Jesus as our Savior and He is risen from the grave and His Spirit dwells in our hearts. 

Bitter Sorrow

Today is Good Friday. It is called Good Friday by those who are looking back in history to the events that lead up to Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection. In the light of His resurrection, the day of his death is seen as good because it is the event that set us free from the bondage of sin and lead to his victory over death that we now can have. But to his disciples and followers that were going through that day, it was not thought of as good. It was a terrible and frightening day. They experienced bitter sorrow. The very thing that they held so precious slipped from their hands and was taken away. The Apostle Peter denied knowing the Lord because of fear and after his denial he went out and wept bitterly (Matt 26:75). Judas, who had betrayed Christ to the Jewish leaders was remorseful and he lost hope and went out and hanged himself. It was a very dark time. I began to think about bitter sorrow and how it affects us and what God feels about it. I did a word study on the Greek word for bitter that is used to describe Peter’s weeping. It is a violent and piercing feeling causing great pain.I have known myself the feeling and seen people who are grieving experience physical pain from their sorrow. It is the sorrow of feeling helpless and unable to change the events that are unfolding in our lives that is bringing us so much pain. I then began to think about how God feels about bitter sorrow and my mind drifted to the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. The shortest verse in the Bible describes Jesus’ response to Mary and Martha’s pain over Lazarus’ death. It says, He wept! Jesus had great compassion for these people who were grieving over the loss of their brother. Lazarus was a believer and both Martha and Mary knew his spirit was with the Lord and his physical body would be raised in the second coming but they were so sad to be separated from him in this life. Jesus knew he was going to raise him from the dead, but he still felt compassion for their emotion of sorrow and loss. Mary and Martha went through bitter sorrow for a greater purpose. Lazerus’ death brought his resurrection by Jesus, causing many to believe he was the Messiah and also it set into motion the plan and resolve by the Jewish leaders to do away with Jesus and kill him. The very event that would set us free from the grip of sin and bring his resurrection that gives us eternal life in heaven where there is no more bitter sorrow. In this life sorrow has it’s role to play. It shapes us, changes us. We are no longer the same after we have gone through it. The thing that has really impacted me in my meditation of sorrow is how it will change us. I have known some who have allowed the bitterness to stay in their hearts and it is a hardening agent that can only be escaped through drinking or drugs or other life dominating sins. It stays and brings anger against God or other people. I have also known people that have been gripped by fear and the rest of their lives they fear of bad things happening to them. To some it brings so much hopelessness that they lose their minds or commit suicide. This thing or things that have happened to them seem like too much to bear and they cannot overcome it. I realized the key is we as humans cannot over come bitter sorrow. Only the Lord and his great love and response to his love by loving him back can bring healing. I have experienced bitter sorrow a couple of times in my life. The death of my mother was one. She was a dear friend, but she also was a good mother who always believed in me and cared for me. She understood me and we thought a lot a like. Her death left a huge gaping whole in my life. I knew she was with the Lord and that I would see her in heaven but I missed her now in this life and there was no replacing that. Because of her death I moved to Southern California and eventually brought me to meet my wonderful and loving husband. He is the closest person to me on this earth and my heart is comforted but I went through years of trusting the Lord, loving the Lord and not letting bitterness take root in my heart. The second time bitter sorrow came into my heart was when I miscarried our first child at the age of 44. It hit me so hard because of my age and because I waited for the Lord and trusted in him and this precious gift was taken from me, the thing I had longed for for many years was gone, seemingly so senselessly. The words rung out in my mind, “Why, Why, Why?” I took this pain and used it as a catalyst to draw closer to the Lord. I asked him to help me not to be hopeless and be open to what He had for me. I did have another child and as those that know me know that she is very precious to me and has taught me many lessons of faith. I know she belongs to the Lord first and that God loves her and the baby we lost more than we ever could. The thing is that faith grows in bitter sorrow, if we will let it. Faith that God loves us, that he cares about us, even when we can’t see it. I will close with this scripture where Jesus is talking to Thomas after his resurrection: “Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29

Playing and singing

Mary has been enjoying some new music she got from her piano teacher.  This morning she sat down at the piano all by herself and began to play and sing a couple of songs that I had gone over with her for the first time, the day before.   She is learning in leaps and bounds.

 

 

 

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Our Daily Bread

As you probably know we make sourdough with a starter that we started over a year ago.  I'm making this post so that Mary can look back and see what we made and ate during her growing up years.  Recently we went to a local gris mill and purchased some wonderful stone ground flour.  So I have been trying some bread loaf recipes.  Until now I have just been making cinnamon rolls and buns.  Now I am making a cinnamon roll loaf that we use for toast and French toast.  Here is a cinnamon roll with honey.

 

Here is my first cinnamon rolls loaf.  I used butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  It was really good but a little heavy.

 

Here is a plain loaf.  I really like the flour pattern on the top.

 

 

Here is some French toast I made using the cinnamon roll bread I made the day before.

We can get the most delicious fruit spread at Costco that I love to have instead of syrup.  This one is cherry, raspberry and rhubard.  It has half the sugar and no corn sweetners.  It is mostly the fruit.

This is the next loaf of cinnamon roll bread I made and I didn't use the butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon.  It came out not as heavy and still very delicious!  I think I will keep on with this recipe.

 

Here it is with a Marion Blackberry fruit spread from Costco.

 

 

We love our bread and because it is made with a starter it breaks down the gluten and is full of wonderful bacteria that aids your digestion.  It is the way bread has been made for eons before commercial bakeries began using hybrid yeasts to speed up the rise time but it doesn't break down the gluten and that is what causes a lot of people to have trouble with it and then need to go gluten free.

Music in My Mother's House

Mary has been enjoying her piano lessons.  She started in mid-February and is doing so well!  Her beginner book has music to play some of the pieces as a duet.  So we tried one the other day and loved it.  A little later Rich got it on video.  I sent the video to her teacher and she loved it and asked if we would like to play it together at her recital in May.  Mary was thrilled.  She is so excited to perform with me.  So, needless to say we are all excited and having a blast with playing the piano.  I have 2 videos.  The first one is of Mary when she was 2 and her love for the piano then and the second one it the one Rich filmed just a few days ago.  I know she will go much further than I did on the piano.  She has wonderful rhythm and loves the piano so much!

 

 

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Millennials, who are they?

In the light of the News of World Vision Internation hiring and allowing same sex marraige people in their organization as a move to unify the Christian community, I write this.  I write it with tears and brokeness of heart for people who are being deceived by what World Vision is saying and other Christian organizations are saying.  If you want to read about World Vision's decision you can go to this article http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/major-evangelical-charity-hire-married-gay-christians-n61021

Millennials, who are they?  Well Millennials is a term used for the generation of kids in America born around 1980 up to the mid 90's and have come to adulthood near the turn of the century.  They got their name from an noticeable event that happened in their lives in history.  My generation, the Baby Boomers, were those people born after WW2 when the troops came home, the economy boomed and everybody started having kids. What impact do the Millennials have in my life? They are a generation of kids that my heart breaks for.  The first time they came to my attention, several years ago, when I saw a slide show in the church we used to attend, that they were growing up and leaving the churches in America in large numbers.  They were saying that only 4% of them were professing Christianity.  This statistic saddened my heart and I began to read about the Millienial generation in nation polls and observing them through facebook and all around me.  Millennials are the children of divorce.  In 1970 the no fault divorce laws came to all the states in the US and the divorce rate zoomed to 50%.  If they themselves were not troubled with divorce in their family, they were friends with or in relationships with people who were.  This huge influx of kids from divorce made a big impact on our society and our country.  Much darker than what  a lot of people realized when these kids were little.  Now that they are adults they are resonating the things that happened to them when they were young.  They are like the full bloom of a crop that's roots began 40 years prior to their birth.  I hear older people say, "What happened? What are these kids thinking? Why are they doing what they are doing?"  Many say, "What has our society come to?"  Like these kids came out of nowhere and somehow morphed into the general practices of today.  Well I guess I should list some things that are the general practices of today in the young people,  41.7% of babies are now born to unwed mothers, 65% of the them are sympathetic to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender lifestyles. They are big consumers of alcohol.  Alcoholism is worse than drug abuse in their generation.  They are tattooed, body pierced and vacating the evangelical churches.  The majority of them are gun shy of marriage and feel it necessary to live with their partner for a length of time to make sure that the relationship will last.  Of all the kids polled across the US in this age group the 2 things that came up on top for importance in their lives is, first be a good parent and second to have a marriage relationship that lasts.  Being a good parent and having marriage that lasts comes from the deep hurt and pain and betrayal they felt as children when their parents divorced or being raised from before they could remember without a dad or being tossed back and forth between homes.  These broken homes were hot beds for growing the feelings of homosexuality and promiscuity.  When a young boy feels abandoned by his dad at a very young age, he becomes confused and thinks that longing for affirmation from his dad is a sexual desire towards men.  Also when girls are abandoned by their dad or are abused by a step father fall into lesbianism as the pain that a man caused her makes her draw away and want to be loved by a woman.  These feelings come so young sometimes that they think they are born that way.  Not all turn to homosexuality, some become permiscious  and very sensual trying to fill the gaping emotional need in their lives.  They are looking for love but in all the wrong places.  Some people may say,  "These kids need the Lord" or "They need to go to church and get saved."  But a lot of this kids came from homes where their folks went to church or their grandparents went to church and many generations of family members went to church before them.  Sadly to say the divorce rates remained the same whether in church or not.  One of the biggest beefs the kids have, is against the Evangelicals.  They are more drawn to high church with simple church attendance, structure and liturgy but you leave and go on with your life as usual with a promise of heaven. A lot of them make up their own way, by being nice, doing a "Pay it Forward" thing, thinking God isn't upset with immoral practices as long as you are not hurting anyone, participating in benevolent things like giving out free food and giving the bum on the street some money.  They feel this is a more simple and honest approach to spirituality.  They echo the generation before them, their parents, the Baby Boomers, the Hippies.  I want to talk a little bit about the Hippies.  I skinned in as a Baby Boomer as I was born in 1960.  The Hippy Era happened when I was really young and didn't have much impact on me socially but I do remember some stuff.  I remember watching a TV show that showed a protest where a gal stood up and said, "Gals we need to burn our bras ... but take them off first!"  I can remember as a little child just cracking up over that.  I remember the peace signs and the Coca Cola song, "I'd love to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." I remember seeing a young hippie mother walking down the street with her bare pregnant belly showing that had a really good tan, so I knew she must of gone around like that for a while.  The Hippie movement was like a flash in the pan but it left embers that never went out.  They were a disillusioned group of kids that were coming against the status quo.  They were angered by the senselessness of the Vietnam War.  They were disillusioned with the church, with materialism and the establishment.  They expressed it by not working, growing their hair long, loose morals called "free love".  They delved into drug use and eastern religions trying to find the truth.  Within a few years most of them went back to a "normal" life.  But, like I said the embers remained.  Some of it good and some of it bad.  People began to see the world in a different light.  They became less prejudice of other cultures, being more sympathetic to the poor, more acceptance of the blacks in our country, intermarrying with people of other races, more consciencous of hazards to the environment, ect.  The down side was the loss of sexual morality, permanence of marriage, they were more permissive with their children as far as discipline and not wanting too much accountability for themselves.  Persuing their own happiness, careers and lifestyles.  The Millennial generation grew up in this.  The breakdown in sexual morality meant more babies conceived apart from marriage and then the folks "having to get married", then being unsatisfied and busting up the relationship.  People married fast to please their folks and themselves, because of lack of self control.  Again these marriages not lasting or were dysfunctional and leaving kids in the wake of all of this.  These kids were not having to go off to a war, they were living in one.  One of things I have heard young Millennials say to the people in Evangelical churches is,  "You are pointing at the homosexuals as being bad but you sit in heterosexual sin, the church is full of it and you are not repenting of that. You know I didn't hear about anybody marching on Washington DC or signing petitions for their government leaders when the divorce laws changed! So just leave the Gays alone."  I have read that they are saying the church is full of hypocrocsy.  They have heard all their lives about the grace of God that covers our sin and all God sees is Jesus and why can't he do that for Gays too?  Many of the young kids think that Jesus would not of taken acception to homosexual behavior because that would not be loving and the church has been giving these huge love messages for as long as they can remember.  They are sending a message that things should be loosened up and give people a break.  They are disillutioned with the organized church, especially the Evangelical churches so they are leaving in great numbers when they reach adulthood.  The Baby Boomers in the Evangelical churches have unraveled the moral fiber by being accommodating to divorce and encouraging adulterous marriages and winking at living together but they are holding the tide at homosexuality.  The Millinnials are saying you need to unravel your moral fiber more.  Do we?  My husband and I feel that the moral fiber in the church needs to be reknit and not loosened up.  Not until you get at the root of this thing will you be able to reach this generation of disillusioned  kids with the power of the Holy Spirit.  A generation sympathetic and unrepentant to divorce, adultery and fornication raises a generation sympathetic and unrepentant to homosexuality.  The world makes this digression look like a progression of liberty but in reality it is a progression of bondage.  This bondage is the loss of the power of the Spirit of God and the work of the Holy Spirit which is conviction and repentance of sin, breaking down strongholds in peoples lives of physical illness, death, addictions and selfishness.  The church system in America has very little power from the Holy Spirit because of the compromise it supports.  There are salvations and some release from addictions and you hear every once in a while of healing of cancer or mental illness.  I really haven't ever seen a blind man receive his sight or a withered hand grown out or for that matter the dead raised.  Most of the people go to the doctors first for surgery, chemo therapy or medication.  Some think you are a pipe dreamer or weird if you don't run to the doctor first.  Some think that God heals through the doctors now.   It certainly is not like the story told in the Gospels or in the Book of Acts.

² Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” ⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”  Matthew 11: 2-6

^"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.  Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you
ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."  John 14:11-15  

Hungarian Rice Pudding, Family and St. Patty's Day

My Husband made this wonderful dessert on Saturday.  I thought I would share the recipe.

Hungarian Rice Pudding Cake with Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients

Cake:

Butter, for the pan

Rice flour for dusting

2 1/2 cups cooked medium or long grain white rice at room temperature

2 1/2 cups milk

7 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 heaping teaspoon fresh lemon zest or juice

Blue Berry Sauce:

1 lb blue berries or 12 ounces frozen blue berries

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 grape juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter a 9 inch cake pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper and butter again.  Dust the pan lightly with rice flour.  Spread the cooked rice a long the bottom of the pan.

2. Warm the milk in a small sauce pan over low heat.

3. Beat the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and salt in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium until pale yellow and the eggs start to thicken , about 1/1/2 minutes, being careful not to over whip which will cause the cake to rise and deflate when baked.  Slowly stir in about half the warm milk into the eggs to temper, then add all the eggs to the saucepan and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens slightly and almost coats the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes.

4. Gently pour the custard over the rice and bake until the cake is just cooked through and wiggles only slightly in the very center, 40 to 50 minutes.

5. While the cake cooks, make the blue berry sauce.  Combine the blue berries, sugar and grape juice in a a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring until the fruit softens and the liquid is reduced and syrupy, about 10 minutes.  Cool and set aside.

6. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.  Invert onto a platter and lift the pan.  Remove the parchment paper.  Cut into wedges and serve with the blue berry sauce. 

Mary enjoying her Daddy's dessert 



Sunday we went to over to my sister's house for Mary to meet her Uncle and Aunt for the first time.  They live in Chicago and came for a short visit.  My sister's garden was in bloom with lovely bulbs.  It was such a gorgeous day!

Mary petting, Cookie.

We snapped a family shot.

 And a shot with her Aunt and Uncle.

She really enjoyed hearing Uncle Ben tell a few stories.  He is a great story teller and gets all the dialog and action that is so entertaining to kids (and big kids too)!

Finally I wanted to share an excellent link about who St. Patrick really was.  This is one of the best articles I have read about him and it was really encouraging to my faith.  I plan on saving the link in Mary's homeschool things.  So we can refer to it later.

http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/patrick.html

Birthday Joy!

I had a wonderful birthday!  On Sunday I had a birthday dinner with Rich's family.  His dad had just gotten out of the hospital and his sister was up visiting so we did a take in dinner from Olive Garden.  Rich bought me an ice cream cake.  It was all yummy!  On Monday Rich took me shopping with the birthday money I received.  I found a pair of pants and 3 family movies on sale.  When we got back to the van Rich surprised me with roses, a card and balloon.  Then I met my dear friend, Bonnie, for lunch.  We share the same birthday.  She gave me a lovely bouquet of daffodils from her yard and a beautiful set of plastic rainbow colored glasses.  I am so thrilled they are plastic because Mary can use them too!  I received many lovely cards, phone calls and facebook greetings from friends and family.  I am feeling so blessed.

 

 

 

Valentine's Day Slide Show

I am a bit late getting this up but I did a slide show of our Valentine's day pics.  As usual we had a lot of heart shaped foods and Mary had fun making her daddy goodies.  It was great that Rich could take them to work and share there as we could not get away with all those cupcakes and brownies.  lol

 

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Butte Creek Mill

We went to Butte Creek Mill last week and had so much fun.  We made it like a school field trip for Mary.  She got to see how the mill works with turbines that are run by the power of the stream and how the grain is made into flour with the grinding stone (that is run by the turbines).  Along with all that there was lots of interesting old farm tools.  Mary was fascinated by an old wringer wash machine and a wooden oxen yolk.  She had been hearing about one that was in Little Framer Boy that we have been reading.  Then we went into the country store that sells all the wonderful flour that they make there.  We bought a sack of whole wheat white flour.  It is a whole wheat that is made from a white wheat kernel.  We also got some amazing fig bars and a San Francisco bread yeast to make the starter that they use down there that has been around since the 1800's.  They make many wonderful things and put together gift boxes that a baker would love.  We definitely will be going back to get their flour.  It is fresh with no preservatives added.  I have made several loaves with it so far and it tastes delicious!  Here is a slide show I put together.

 

 

 

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