Mountain Of Spices

Oh wow!  I can’t believe it’s been more than a month since I’ve visited with you all on here!  I’ve missed blogging so much, but we have been crazy busy with a move (Out to the country!  Yippee!), a vacation (I got to see friends and family!  The best!), social activism (It’s amazing to see someone’s mind change for the better, and to be a part of that change is fascinating!), a garden (I’m working from sun-up to sun-down!), and learning to grow my new Kombucha mushroom (Thank you, Amanda!!)

Unfortunately, the bad news is that in the midst of all this fun, my computer would have the nerve to up and crash, the new phone company would have to make internet service crazy expensive, and of course the library can’t allow Facebook.  If it weren’t for the busy-ness of life, I think I would cry!  But we’re working on getting back to a regular schedule of real blogging.  I’m not sure how long it will take, but hopefully I can get back to it in the next few weeks.    Of course I’ll let you know when that happens!

“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” ~Proverbs 16:9

I’m just popping in for a second to let you all know that I’m taking this week off of blogging.  We have some really busy things going on right now, and it’ll be better for all of us if I don’t have to come on here and moan to you that my To-Do List is increasing faster than I can accomplish it!

Enjoy your week, rest in the LORD, and I’ll see you again next Monday!

” The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. “  ~Psalm 29:11

Am I the only one who has struggled time and again to make 100% whole wheat bread, only to have it fall flatter than a pancake and harder than a rock?  I worked at making a good whole wheat loaf of bread for years, and then I finally gave up on it and opted instead for 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white.  Until recently.

I now have a whole wheat recipe that works perfectly!  It’s easy, fast, and makes 2 large loaves of gorgeous, fluffy bread!  Today I’m going to share that recipe with you.

One tip is that it’s extremely helpful to have a kneading attachment on your mixer.  I use my Kitchenaid, which works wonderfully!  I’ve also heard that you can double the recipe and put it into a Bosch mixer.

Heat 2 1/4 cups water to lukewarm.  Add 1/3 cup butter (or any oil)

Place 1/4 cup sugar or honey in mixing bowl, then add your water and oil.  Mix well.

Add:

1 1/5 T yeast

1 T lecithin granules

1 heaping T gluten

1/2 T salt

(Tip, you can skip the lecithin and gluten and just put in 2 eggs)

Mix well.

Add 3 cups whole wheat flour.  Mix.

Then add 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.  Mix again.

Keep adding whole wheat flour in 1/2 cup increments until the dough is coming off the sides of the bowl.

Butter your bread pans

Shape your dough into loaves, and place in bread pans in a warm place to rise until double in size (about 30-45 minutes).  I like to place them in my food dehydrator, but any warm place will work.

After doubled, bake in an oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Admire your beautiful, healthful whole wheat bread

Ahh… fresh bread out of the oven.  Is anything better?  Well, possibly fresh bread with a scoop of raw, homemade butter on top!

“Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart…”  ~Ecclesiastes 9:7a

This last week I decided in a spur-of-the-moment decision that my children needed to learn some history.  I immediately made a timeline stretching from 1700 to 2020.

We worked together putting up the timeline on the wall.  Okay, it might be more accurate to say that I put up the timeline while the children jumped all around begging me, “What is a timeline?  What is it?  What are we going to do with it?”  Anyway, when it finally was up, I was surprised at how far it stretched – 15 feet!

I showed the kids where we are right now, then beginning with the youngest child, I started putting up photos of when each child was born, when Caleb and I were married, and when Caleb and I were born.

Later, during nap time, I stood in the kitchen and looked over our new timeline.  It was then that it dawned on me.  This timeline stretches 15 feet, yet I couldn’t fit all the little photos on it without overlapping them!  I decided to measure our family’s lifetime, starting at Caleb’s birth and ending at the present year.  18 inches.  Only 18 inches.  Only a 10th of the wall was taken up by our life.  90% of this timeline did not have ME in it!  Then, to realize that this timeline is only 300 years out of many thousands.

Here I am, every day, going through life as if the little problems I encounter are the major events in all eternity.  “The kids have been SO grumpy today!” I complain.  Or, “That person is just horrible to me!”  Or, “I can’t stand this heat! (Or cold, or rain, or wind, or…)”

Then, with these thoughts flowing through my mind, I look at my timeline.  The kids being grumpy usually lasts a day, maybe two at the most.  That amount of time is invisible on this timeline.  Soon, it will be over.  Can’t I be joyful for that teeny amount of time?  Certainly, it is a trial, but it doesn’t last for long when we are thinking of eternity.

Is someone angry with us?  Instead of complaining and being angry back, why don’t we try to make amends?  Okay, so maybe its takes eating a bit of humble pie.  But think about it in the scope of eternity.  If we humble ourselves in order to amend relationships, going through a day, or two, or maybe a couple weeks of difficulty, then we can experience years of a joyful relationship.  In the end, a few days don’t even show up, while it’s the years that will be remembered.

Are the circumstances of our life aggravating us?  You know – the things we can’t change.  There’s always something of this sort in my life.  Whether it be the home we live in, the weather, a particular job, the vehicle we drive, or any other circumstance.  I’m sure we all can think of something we don’t like about our life!  But aren’t these situations so temporary in the scope of eternity?  Will our grandchildren’s lives be affected by the fact that we had to drive around in a vehicle we didn’t like?  Let me tell you one thing.  Remember this if nothing else.  What I have learned in the last few days, is that YES, my grandchildren will be affected.  Not by the aggravating circumstance, but rather by the attitude that I practiced while I went through the circumstance.  Did I practice joyfulness?  Then someday I will be a joyful Grandma who loves life and everyone else wants to be around.  Did I practice complaining and pity for myself?  Then someday I will be left alone as my grandchildren go off to visit with a happier person.

This week, join me as I focus on eternity – the things that are really important.  I’ll be laughing this week, enjoying my children and my man.  I’m going to make the goal of each day spending just a bit of time laughing with each of my children and my husband, individually.  I’ll also focus on sharing more smiles than frowns.

I’d love to hear what you will be doing this week to focus on eternity!

“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”  ~1 John 2:17

Wow – I’ve actually been at this running thing for five whole weeks!  That’s amazing in itself.  I’ve been finding that every other week tends to be the good week while the ones in between are torture less than good.  Amazingly, the good weeks are the ones where I’m just trying to meet my goal while the harder weeks are the ones where I’m increasing my goal.  Strange how that works. 

If you don’t know by now, this was one of the good weeks.  My goal was to run a mile by today (Friday).  Although I wasn’t able to meet that goal, I feel like I did a lot better today than in the past.  I ran very close to 3/4 of a mile!  That’s a first for me.  Afterward I was fairly worn out, but not deathly so.

Today I really enjoyed the running for a few moments every now and then when I chose to ignore my lungs and aching legs.  It was a beautiful day that had started with a light dusting of snow, but ended with temps around 45 – perfect for running.

I suppose that means next week gets to be a time for torture training.   Next week’s goal:

Run 12.5 laps (1.25 miles) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Bring it on!

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might”  Ecclesiastes 9:10

Update:  Although my day was very busy, I made the point to open as many doors as possible for my munchkins!  We made breakfast together, then later my daughter and I made bread together.  I had a reading the new birthday book time with my oldest, and a tickle session with my youngest.  What a joy to be free of that constricting word – “No”.  Free enough to laugh and just say “Yes!”

Over the last couple weeks our family has been facing some major (and some not-so-major) decisions regarding everything from lifestyle changes to schedule changes.  Change is good, and can be fun, but we all know that it comes with it’s own set of stress and that long honey-do list which never seems to end!  So now you know why I’ve slacked off on writing many posts lately.

However, I wanted to share something with you that has greatly encouraged me.  Yesterday I read an article published by No Greater Joy Ministries titled, “Be a Door Opener, Not a Door Shutter“.  Whether you are in a boat-load of work right now (like me) or you are just going with the normal flow of life, this article hits right on the head of how we need to nurture our children’s emotional health.

I’ll update this post tonight in order to share some of the open-door experiences we had today.  I only ask one thing:  Read this article, go open a few doors for your children today, then share your experiences below in the comments!

Click Here for the Article

That being said, I’m gone to open a few doors for my children.

Photo Credit

The theme for me last week was, “Slow and steady will win the race”.  It was tough trying to run a full mile every day, and I never was able to do it, but at least I was out there every day!  Some days I really did not want to go out running, but I did anyway.  (Those are the times when I can really be proud of myself!)

Something I learned:  To give myself slack if I need it.  If I can’t run the full mile, fine.  I’ll just run when I can, and walk when I need to.  But make that a fast walk, and be happy that I am doing something that is good for me!

So now for this next week’s goal:

~ Run 1 mile each day (M,W,F)  I’ve decided not to increase the amount this week just because I’m still running less than 3/4 mile each day.  But it is getting better, so I hope to be able to run 90% of the mile by Friday!

I’m encouraged by:

~ Physically, I feel a lot better.  I’m not sure if it’s due to my drinking water before going out to run or if my body is just getting used to running, but I’ll be happy for it, no matter what!

~ I’m able to run farther distances without getting worn out!  Just last night I had to run a decent ways, on a different path.  I’m not sure how far I ran, but it was farther than I used to be able to, and I didn’t get worn out!  I’m thankful that my body is being conditioned to handle more stress.

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. “  ~Revelation 3:10

Before I gave birth to my first baby six years ago, I’d decided that I would use cloth diapers.  I had a lot of reasons.  Being Green and saving the planet wasn’t really one of them.  Nor was the idea of chemicals on my new baby’s bottom.  I had greater ambitions of being different and going against the flow.  Only to find out a few years into cloth diapering that I really wasn’t all that much ‘against the flow.’  Yet, I still enjoy cloth diapering.  I only had one problem:  Those plastic pants!

They leaked, and smelled.  If you accidentally put them in the dryer they would crack.  Although I couldn’t stand them, they continued on my changing table until my fourth baby was born.  It was then that I saw the end of the horrid tunnel I’d been in.

At that time, a friend told me about wool diaper covers.  Wool is naturally self-cleansing.  Here’s a bit of a homeschooling lesson:  In order to make the most basic form of soap, you simply combine an acid with a fat.  Wool has lanolin in it, which is a natural fat from the sheep.  When the child relieves himself, and the pee gets onto the wool diaper cover, the acid from the pee mixes with the lanolin, changing the structure into soap!  Thus, it cleans the diaper cover without you doing a bit of work.  Woolen covers do not stink, and they are able to hold up to 30% of their weight in liquid without ever feeling wet!  Finally, the thing I love the most about these wool covers is that they are breathable!  It’s perfect for cold temperatures, but it even works well in warm temperatures.  My babies wear wool covers all the time.

But, to tell you the truth, I really detest spending money on these covers.  Because making little pants or shorts for my baby is just so easy.  Here’s my simple steps (with photos!) so you can make a pair for your own child.

DISCLAIMER:  I love sewing.  But I’m also one of those, just-make-it-stick-together type of people.  I know I didn’t sew this perfectly, and it would look a lot nicer if I just pinned and used a tape measure.  What? Those are standard items for sewing?  huh.  I’m not sure I know where either of them are.  So give a bit of grace at the photos, and go make your wool covers look gorgeous!  (Unless of course, you can’t find your tape measure either.  Then just snip a couple pieces of yarn to the necessary lengths, and use that instead!)

Find an old 100% wool sweater.  Wash and dry the sweater.  While waiting, take two measurements:  1) measure the inside of your baby’s leg from the bottom of the diaper to the desired length.  2) measure the baby’s crotch.  Start at the top of the diaper on one side, go under the baby and end at the top of the diaper on the other side.  Divide this number in half, then add it to measurement #1.

Fold your sweater in half, then measure up the bottom of the arm seam until you get the measurement that you found just a few moments ago (1/2 the crotch length added to the leg length)

Don’t be concerned if the sweater isn’t large enough to fit your measurement.  As you can see, I still have a couple inches of yarn (don’t you love my improvised tape measure?) remaining, but no more sweater to cut it out of.  That’s why I’ll do the next step…

Cut the extra amount you need off the bottom of the sweater.  Set it aside to use later.

You can see how the pants are going to work now. The portion that I’ve folded over on the legs is going to be the crotch seam.

Lay the legs together, with the crotch seams on each side, stick your arm through one of the legs, and pull the other leg through so that they are both inside out.  They will look like this:

Now sew one seam along the crotch line.  I started sewing where the machine needle is in this photo, and ended where my fingers are located.  After sewing this seam, it looked like this:

Untuck the legs, and you have pants!  But, this pair is a bit short still and definitely will not fit over a diaper.  So I did the following:

Take the reserved piece of wool that came from the bottom of the sweater, cut it and sew it together so that it will fit snugly around the baby’s waist.

Now sew this piece onto the top of the pants.  As you can see, I folded over the pants occasionally to make ‘pleats’

Once it was finished, Presto!  I had a pair of wool long-legged covers for my baby!

“She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.”  ~Proverbs 31:13

I might have missed writing a post about running, but I haven’t given up on doing the work of running yet!  In fact, things are getting much better, so I’m kind of getting excited about my progress.

Week 2 Goals:
~Run 7.5 laps each day, being able to run the entire 3/4 mile by the end of the week
~Have more encouraging things to say about running

I’ll admit that this week went poorly.  I never was able to run even 1/2 a mile, much less 3/4 mile!  It was cold all week long (like temps in the teens), and I always had horrible freezing wind blowing in my face.  I think there was one moment that I looked up in the midst of running, and saw the gorgeous day and forgot for a couple seconds about the freezing air in my lungs.  But that moment was fleeting.

Week 3 Goals:
~I decided not to increase the number of laps I ran simply because it was so difficult the prior week.

Okay, so I did skip Monday’s run.  It was cold again outside, and we had nearly 5 inches of snow!!   Instead, we made snow cones and played in the snow.  I considered doing jumping jacks or a jump rope in my warm house, but that thought must’ve vanished quickly, because I never acted on it.

However, the rest of the week went very well!  It was much warmer outside, and by Friday I ran 7 of the 7.5 laps!  It was encouraging for me to be able to look around and actually enjoy the beautiful day.  I can’t really say yet that I enjoy the running, but this is definitely progress!

Physically, I’m feeling much better.  I still get a little dizzy, but I’ve been drinking 1-2 glasses of water just before going out to run.  I think that is making a huge difference in how I feel.

Goal for next week:
~Run 10 laps (1 mile), hopefully being able to complete the full mile by Friday.

I’m looking forward to it!  Let me know what exercise you’re doing this week!

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” ~Isaiah 40:31

Okay, now that the snow is gone and it is 60 degrees with a light spring breeze, I suppose I can update my blog.  Although, right now might just be the perfect time to go outside…

Now you know what my dilemma has been all week long!  It’s either been lovely sunshine with snow on the ground while the snowbirds gobble up the seeds I’ve left out or it’s been beautiful, sunny days that make me want to take a long walk.  Even the rain yesterday was a lot of fun!  We haven’t had rain in quite a while, so the kids and I bundled up, then took a walk to the post office.  Splashing in puddles and catching rain on our tongues was just too much fun!  Top it all off with warm showers upon our return, and it made for a perfect day.

But, we will probably miss the snow the most.  It was a perfect snowfall.  Made even better by the snow cones!  Ah, there we go. The point of why I even started writing this post before I began rambling… Snow cones.

We had so much fun creating snow cones, and eating them for afternoon snacks, after dinner desert, and even a before-breakfast treat!

Of course, I refuse to load up my children with large amounts of sugar, so this is how we made our snow cones:

A bunch of snow (Please don’t ask how much a bunch is)

A bit of grape(or whatever we have in the freezer) concentrated juice drizzled on top

Some milk (raw, with the cream) mixed throughout

And… that’s it!  Of course, if you keep playing, it does lead to the less-healthy alternatives.  You know, cocoa powder with raw cane sugar, add a bit of peanut butter, and might as well throw in a few chocolate chips!

Now, the only problem I’m having is that the snow is gone.

“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?”  ~Job 38:22