October 29, 2009
My women’s Bible study at church has been doing a study by John Piper called “The Blazing Center: The Soul-Satisfying Supremacy of God in All Things.” His main theme is that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” This week he added onto that “…especially when we maintain joy in him in suffering.” He brought up four chapters in Hebrews that support this.
Hebrews 10:32-34 talks about Christians who were willing to go to prison and suffer for the sake of knowing Christ. And also Christians who were willing to be connected with those suffering and “joyfully accepted the plundering if their property” for it. Why? Because they knew they had a better possession in knowing Christ.
Hebrews 11:24-26 talks about how Moses refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter when he grew up. He chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the “fleeting pleasures of sin.” Why? “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”
The ultimate example of joy in suffering is of course Christ. The author of Hebrews (12:1-2) tells us to look to Christ as our example. Christ endured the cross…”for the joy set before him.”
Lastly, Hebrews 13:12-14 calls us to be willing to bear the reproach (disgrace, shame – I had to look it up in the dictionary) that Christ endured “for here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”
“Through Christ then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Heb. 13:15-16) Piper refers to all these believers as “strange people” doing strange things but that we should daily be praying that God would make us into strange people too. What strange things are you doing for the kingdom of God?
October 26, 2009
We decided to start giving Joanna (age 3 1/2) an allowance. She’ll get $1 every week. However, she also has to do a few age-appropriate chores in order to get her money. Kirk and I, being structured organizers, made up a system and a chart. The chart contains columns for each day of the week (except Sunday) and rows for each of her chores: making her bed, cleaning up her room, and clearing her dirty dishes off the table. Stickers go in the boxes of chores completed. Today it all fell apart. I was struggling to get her to do a small part of picking up her toys. I was getting angry, she was feeling overwhelmed. I reminded her that if she didn’t clean up she wouldn’t get part of her allowance for that job. She said, “I’d rather just get money off the ground,” referring to when we find change on the ground.
Wow, pretty insightful for a little kid. Wouldn’t we all rather just pick up money from the ground instead of having to work for it? And yet, there is value and honor and a sense of self-worth that we get from working.
You’ll be happy to know that we have taken a more “grace-filled” approach to the allowance, focusing more on her heart attitude toward helping out around the house now that she is a big girl.
October 23, 2009
Today I read Proverbs 14:4:
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
I have translated it into my own version: “Where there are no fresh baked goods, the kitchen is clean. But abundant yumminess comes by the strength of the cook.”
Today I didn’t have to leave the house at all. YAY! The kids and I made Grapenut Muffins.
1. Pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 cup grapenuts. Mix well, cool, stir 1 cup oil in well in grapenuts.
2. Mix 1 1/4 white flour, 1 1/4 wheat flour, 2 1/2 t. baking soda, and 1 t. salt.
3. Beat 2 eggs and 1 cup sugar. Add dry ingredients. Stir in 2 cups buttermilk and add 2 cups dry grapenuts (not the ones from step 1). Mix well.
4. Add grapenut mixture from step 1.
5. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 in greased muffin pans.
*Batter may be refrigerated for several weeks.
October 22, 2009
Today is Thursday, traditionally my “grocery shopping day.” Last night I made up my menu for the week and this morning I made up my shopping list. I typically go to three places to buy my groceries (not including what I get at Sam’s Club or the coffee I get Kirk at World Market). Today dawned as a wet and dreary day. We’re trying to be really good about staying within our budget lately so I had $50 to spend today. I figure I can spend $30 on regular stuff and $20 on produce. First we hit Aldi with is basically caticorner to our house. I came out of Aldi spending $16 which included two splurge items (yogurt and string cheese). Next we went to Schnucks where I get my WIC items ($8 worth of milk, eggs, juice, and peanut butter). I also spent $15 on other items for meals this week but also buying popcorn (on their 10/$10 sale-I got three), wheat germ for granola, and buttermilk for muffins. I used the rest of my money to buy ICE CREAM!!! Breyers was having a buy one get one free deal. Woohoo! With $20 left and the rain picking up we decided to go ahead to the semi-outdoor Loop Market to get our produce. I LOVE this market and the people who work there. They remember me each week, when I hadn’t come for over a year they still remembered me, and one time when I realized I didn’t have any checks with me they let me pay for my produce the following week. I LOVE THE LOOP MARKET! We had enough money to buy the necessities and even grapes and a pumpkin to carve next weekend with Aunti Anna. The kids love going to the market because they get to help pick out produce and even get some for free sometimes. They get to run around and play. Today was a blast because they got to play in the pumpkins, the puddles, and the water streaming off the roof. They came home soaked and super happy.
I was a little nervous about finding new places to shop when we moved to our new house. I used to do all of my shopping at Shop-N-Save but now it’s not worth the drive. But I’ve come to really like my Aldi. I felt a bit intimidated usually being the only white person there but when you go to the same place every week you start to recognize people. I shopped last week by myself and my cashier asked me where my babies were. I’ve also really like the Schnucks I go to (on Union), recognizing people who work there. And everyone seems so friendly. So as much as I don’t like menu planning or grocery shopping, it’s become a pleasant experience.
October 16, 2009
Joanna will only wear skirts...
As some of you may know…I crochet. Some of you may not know that I sell my stuff. Check out my website…LittleKnots.com. I made Joanna this skirt last year and she wears it all the time. I can’t believe how many complements we get when we’re out. So I thought I ought to make some more and see if I could sell them. They’re going for $30 each, you can even pick your own colors. I’ve got one finished and another one on the way.
October 16, 2009
To save money we (by “we” I mean “me”) started making home-made bread. Now I can get bread on WIC but I’m hooked on my More-With-Less Oatmeal Bread recipe. Here it is but make it with caution…you may not be able to turn back.
Combine in large bowl:
1 c. quick oats
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. salt
2 T. margarine
Pour over:
2 c. boiling water
Stir in to combine.
Dissolve:
1 T. dry yeast in
1/2 c. warm water
When batter is cooled to lukewarm, add yeast.
Stir in:
5 c. white flour
When dough is stiff enough to handle, turn onto floured board and knead 5-10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. Punck down and let rise again. Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased 9×5x3 pans. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Cool on rack, brushing loaves with margarine for a soft crust.
October 6, 2009
making mosaics
This was week two of our club and it went off even smoother than last week. We made beautiful mosaic pictures with torn pieces of construction paper and clipart pictures (I couldn’t draw to save my life). Then the girls played dress-up. I realize the benefit of having all girls is that they like to do these same sorts of activities…dress-up and pretending to be different people in a family. I also realized that it was too much for them to do one structured activity after another, they really just wanted to play. So after a bit we made Navajo Fry Bread. I’ve been making it for awhile out of the More with Less cookbook and LOVE it! It’s fast, easy, yummy, and the kids get to practice kneading dough. Note to all: knead the dough yourself before you give it out or everyone gets sticky dough all over the place.
But in other news: I’m so thankful for racial diversity! I grew up as a missionary kid in Kenya. I was so shocked by the conversations about racism that hit me when I moved back to the US. Sure, Kenya has racism but it just seemed so out of the blue to me when I moved here for college. I am so thankful that my kids are growing up in a racially diverse neighborhood. Well…at least our moving here has made it racially diverse. Joanna’s “neighbor friends,” as she calls them, are all black. Our craft club I realized today has Joanna (white), Aissa (bi-racial), and Maya (African American) in it. I realized today that we make up the New City emblem. I’m so glad that Joanna is learning to recognize that God has made people of all different colors and that that is a wonderful gift that we get to enjoy.
October 1, 2009
My life seems to be adjusting…a new season of life…a new blog. Welcome and enjoy.
September 22, 2009
As you may have noticed I never blog anymore…and I never feel guilty about it. I can’t belive that in my last entry we had just moved into our house. I’ll try to blog more because I really feel like God is taking us in wonderful directions. But today’s blog isn’t so much about that as it is about $$$. Just kidding…kind of.
As a way to make a little extra money in the hopes of one day being able to save us and go visit Meg in TZed I’ve been trying to figure out how to make some extra cash without having to find someone to watch the kids. So I’ve started a Cooking/Craft Club (no official name yet). Today was the first day. I have two girls signed up so far, Maya and Aissa (plus Joanna and Sam). Today we made suncatchers and stained-glass cookies. The suncatchers went off very smoothly. The cookies not so much. I would advise following the directions more carefully than I did. I remember making these cookies as a kid and we’ll definitely do it again…making sure to roll the dough to 1/4 inch (not thicker) and remembering to put paper onto the cookie sheets (all the candy stuck to the cookie sheets). So here’s to $20 to stick in my piggy bank.
