Who's in Charge? The Hard Work of Raising Children Into Adults

Who's in Charge? The Hard Work of Raising Children Into Adults

March Reading

My reading time really slowed down in March due to many family and church commitments. We had a baptism service with pot luck following, a family birthday, our yearly communion service in which we did a Seder meal, and then Easter. I felt like I never sat down for two weeks!

I finished Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I was hoping to have time to write posts on things that stood out to me, but as I said before, that just didn't happen. I still might try to write a post or two. It is a great book for Christians and non-Christians to read. In fact, I think I will be adding it to my girls' reading lists for school. I just have to decide which year I would like them to read it.

I am still working on Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. I'm taking my time and making notes. I would love to have my husband read it along with me, but time just hasn't allowed it yet. I read him portions and we discuss things, but I am hoping to read it a second time along with him soon.

Planting Potatoes

The following story was in one of our church bulletins and it was so good that I wanted to share it.

When I was a boy growing up we had several gardens around our old house. The largest one of all was used just for growing otatoes. I can still remember those potato planting days. The whole family helped. After my Dad had tilled the soil, my Mom, brothers, and I went to work. It was my job to drop the little seed potatoes in the rows while my Mom dropped handfuls of fertilizer beside them. My brothers then covered them all with the freshly turned earth.

For months afterward I would glance over at the garden while I played outside and wonder what was going on underneath the ground. When the harvest time came I was amazed at the huge size of the potatoes my Dad pulled out of the soil. Those little seedlings had grown into bushels and bushels of sweet sustenance. They would be turned into meal after meal of baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, and my personal favorite: potatoes slow cooked in spaghetti sauce. They would keep the entire family well fed throughout the whole year. It truly was a miracle to behold.

Thinking back on those special times makes me wonder how many other seeds I have planted in this life that have grown unseen in the hearts and minds ofothers. How many times has God used some little thing that I said or did to  grow something beautiful? How many times has Heaven used these little seedlings to provide another's souls with sweet sustenance.

Every single day of our lives we step out into the garden of this world. Every single day we plant seeds that can grow into something wonderful. We may never see the growth that comes from the kinds words or loving acts we share but God does. I hope then that you always tend the garden around you with care. I hope that you plant only goodness, peace, and compassion in the lives of everyone you meet. I hope that everyday you hell miracles to grow.

Delicious Gluten Free Pizza!

Crust:

Pizza with venison sausage

2 cups Organic Tapioca Starch
2/3 cup real Romano cheese (real Romano cheese is made with sheep milk so it works for those of us who have dairy issues)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp water
2 organic pastured egg

-Preheat oven to 390 degrees with stone bar pan in oven.
-Combine all crust ingredients into mixing bowl and stir/knead with spoon

 -Cut two pieces of parchment paper to fit your bar pan
-Place one piece on the counter, apply some oil to the paper, and place the dough in the center.
-Push the dough out as flat and apply some more oil to surface of dough.
-Place 2nd piece of parchment paper on top of dough and roll out with pin until the crust touches the edge of the paper on all four sides (or close to it)
-Remove top parchment paper (save it for next time)
-Use finger to push a crust up around the dough

I cut these into 8 large pieces

 -Apply sauce and toppings
-Transfer pizza (parchment paper and all) onto stone.
-Cook for about 20 minutes.
-Remove pizza (and parchment paper) onto cooling rack
-Allow it to cool, cut and serve!

Sauce:

Open jars of homemade tomato sauce or store bought sauce. Add Italian seasoning blend, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, olive oil and a little sugar to taste. Simmer on stove until thickened.

Toppings:

Whatever you desire--ground meat, sausage, veggies, etc. and shredded mozzarella (homemade mozzarella made with goat milk is great!) or provolone cheese (or combination).

I make four of these to feed my family of 11.  The first time I made these the girls asked me how I got gluten free store bought pizza--it's that good!

Lemon Bars

2 c gluten free flour

1 c butter or coconut oil, softened

1/2 c powdered sugar

Mix the above ingredients press into a 9x13 inch pan.  

Bake for 20 min at 350.

2 c evaporated cane juice crystals

4 tsp grated lemon peel

4 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 4 large eggs

Beat the above ingredients for about 

3 min or until light and fluffy.  Pour over

 hot crust. Bake 25-30 min at 350.  Cool completely on a wire rack, about

1 hour.  Dust with powdered sugar.

Homemade Yogurt

I had a few people ask about how I make my yogurt, so I thought I would do a post on my method.

Yogurt

1 gallon milk (I use goat milk most of the time)

2 ½ tbsp plain gelatin

½ cup cold water

1 cup plain yogurt (I started with store bought, but now keep some from a previous batch)

1 ½ cup evaporated cane juice crystals (optional)

Heat milk in large double boiler to 180 degrees. Remove from heat, let cool to 110 degrees. I put the pot in a sink full of ice water to speed up the process. Meanwhile, soak gelatin in cold water. When milk reaches 110 degrees, stir in gelatin, yogurt, and sugar. Beat until smooth. Set back into double-boiler and cover with a towel and set aside

for 4-6 hours. When yogurt has set for 4-6 hours, beat again and chill for 4 hours.

Eat plain or add fresh or frozen fruit. Thicken any thawed frozen fruit you add by combining 1 cup cold water and ¼ cup arrowroot powder and whatever fruit and cook until thick. Cool before mixing in with yogurt. Make sure you reserve 1 cup of plain yogurt first for your next batch.

Fixed?!

I think I have it fixed! I hope to get some posts done this coming week so stay tuned!

Sorry

I just want to let my readers know that I am having difficulties logging into blogspot on my home computer. I'll try to have posts ready for when I am somewhere where I can post while I look into why I can't do it at home.

Thank you for understanding!

Morality and C.S. Lewis

I just started “book” three of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I was intrigued with his discussion of morality.

“Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for . . .You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.”

His definition of morality intrigued me. He mentions how most people only concern themselves with the first point, which makes sense, and seem to forget the other two points. I decided to look up morality in the dictionary to see what the “standard” definition is.

morality, n, 1 a moral discourse, statement, or lesson 2 a doctrine or system of moral conduct 3 conformity to ideals of right human conduct 4 moral conduct

I quickly realized that I also needed to look up moral

moral, adj., 1 of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior 2 probable though not proved 3 having the effects of such on the mind, confidence, or will

First, I wonder where evolutionists say that our sense of right and wrong come from. I, of course, believe that our sense of right and wrong come from God who placed it in our hearts. With that understanding, Lewis’ description of morality makes sense. We would then want to have harmony within ourselves as well as harmony in what we were created for.

Second, I wonder if the reason why most people only concern themselves with the first aspect of morality is because it is easier to find faults in other people instead of ourselves. We see much clearer how someone else is not harmonizing with others than we can see how we are failing not only others but ourselves.

In our society, people are taught to find someone else to blame for any of their problems and that includes problems with their morality. They will blame it on their upbringing, on their lack of having everything, on their lack of love, etc. No one wants to take responsibility for their own actions and their own lack of morals. They don’t want to admit that they are struggling within themselves. They truly know what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior, but when they aren’t worried about harmony within themselves, they will convince themselves of the opposite because they think it will be more beneficial. If they were concerned with harmonizing with the general purpose of what man was created for, they wouldn’t be concerned with what was more beneficial for only them, but for others as well.

Our society has tried to create moral men by writing more and more laws. As Lewis states, that just isn’t going to work!  You can’t teach men morals by giving them laws to abide. If they don’t have morals in the first place, they aren’t going to care if they break any laws. In reality, they are already breaking the most important laws there are—God’s laws.

The current gun ban proposal is just the most recent example of trying to create moral men. Some people in government believe that if they just make it illegal to own guns, or even certain kinds of guns, that the US will be a safer place for all men. Don’t they realize that the same people who are already hurting people with guns are the same people who don’t care whether they break a law or not. Making another law for them to break (because they are already breaking laws), isn’t going to make them one day just change their minds into obeying the law! People have to have morals in the first place before they even agree to be law abiding citizens.

This discussion on morality will hopefully continue as I continue to read this book. I know that if it is something the Lord wants me to share, He’ll provide the words for me to write as well as the time to write them.

Wisdom from C.S. Lewis

I started reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis at the end of last month. I have found it to be a very through explanation of Christianity so far. My idea of the book from reading just the title was that he was saying that Christianity isn’t much of anything, but he is really describing what Christianity truly is.

I just wanted to share with you some of the nuggets I have pulled from the first two sections of the book (it’s divided into four “books”). You also need to keep in mind that the books within this book are radio transcripts (with minor adjustments for easier reading) that Lewis did in the early forties.

“There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.”

“[T]here is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.”

“A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goest wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble—because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ himself carried out.”

“He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.”