Faith, Home, & Family
It’s been a rather slow week this week. Zach still isn’t feeling well from the cold he had. He still managed to get most of his schoolwork done, though. He didn’t even make it to church Sunday or Wednesday. Hopefully, he’s feeling lots better soon.
Abby is doing well with her schoolwork. Monday night, she helped with little kids band practice at church. She had her own band practice on Tuesday night. When I arrived to pick her up, I found her washing windows on the youth building.
I recently received a copy of the book Alone Yet Not Alone to review. The book Alone Yet Not Alone is a novelization of the new movie by the same name.
I recently received a copy of the new book On Distant Shores by Sarah Sundin to review.
Caught between the war raging around them and the battles within, two souls long for peace—and a love that remains true.
Lt. Georgiana Taylor has everything she could want. A boyfriend back home, a loving family, and a challenging job as a flight nurse. But in July 1943, Georgie’s cozy life gets more complicated when she meets pharmacist Sgt. John Hutchinson.
Hutch resents the lack of respect he gets as a noncommissioned serviceman and hates how the war keeps him from his fiancée. While Georgie and Hutch share a love of the starry night skies over Sicily, their lives back home are falling apart. Can they weather the hurt and betrayal? Or will the pressures of war destroy the fragile connection they’ve made?
With her signature attention to detail and her talent for bringing characters together, Sarah Sundin weaves an exciting tale of emotion, action, and romance that will leave you wanting more.
As part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received Beauty in the Heart from Doorposts to review. Doorposts started providing Bible based parenting and character training materials 20 years ago. Their newest offering is Beauty in the Heart.
Beauty in the Heart is a study of Godly beauty for young women. It is written for girls as young as 10-12. I used this Bible study with my 14 year old, 9th grade daughter. Even though it is written primarily for girls, boys can also use Beauty in the Heart. This study will help boys learn the difference between true and false beauty. Something that is very important in the world we live in today. Some of the questions have alternate questions for boys, these are marked, and the alternate questions are in the back of the book.
There was a lot going on in my kitchen this week. We were blessed again by a neighbor giving us corn. I put eight meal sized bags of corn in the freezer.
I had already canned 13 quarts of corn, so I decided to try my hand at canning creamed corn this time. I followed the directions in the (affiliate link) Blue Book Guide to Preserving
Hannah, 17, was busy in the kitchen this week, too. She made homemade Angel Food Cake. Twice. We don’t know what happened to the first one, but it was a fail. The second one came out great. She followed the recipe both times. shrugs. Baking is like that sometimes. She then decided to make Chocolate Pudding in the crockpot. We’ve made it many times on the stove top. I really liked how it came out in the crockpot. And no worries about it burning on the bottom of the pan!
She sliced the cake, topped it with the pudding, and homemade whipped cream that she made. Can you say, YUM?!
Our new homemade yogurt maker came early in the week. Hannah made a batch of yogurt, and really liked the new yogurt maker. In the past, she has used the crockpot to make yogurt, but it’s so hard to regulate the temperature. I also used the yogurt maker to make a batch of homemade sour cream. It worked well.
Here’s the yogurt maker I purchased. (Affiliate Link) Euro Cuisine YM80 Yogurt Maker
Now…. to answer the question that I get asked about a hundred times a day……….What’s For Dinner? See my menu below!
I recently received a copy of the book Discovering God’s Will for Your life: Your Journey with God by Mike Lutz to review.
From the back cover:
At one time or another most Christians ask, “How can I know God’s will for my life?: Discovering God’s Will for your Life helps answer that question. In his book, author Mike Lutz takes a deep biblical approach, although using the simplicity of the teaching style of Jesus, and he mixes character studies with biblical principles to help the reader make personal and practical applications.
Lutz address the questions that plague believers in seeking God’s will for their lives. How can you be sure yo’re hearing God? What do you do when you don’t understand the path God is leading you on? Why is it taking so long, and how do you grow your faith to be a able to see how God is working? What about the detours and obstacles along the way?
Author Bio:
Michael Lutz came face-to-face with the Bible for the first time in 1994 at the age of 24. He began reading the Bible and was overwhelmed with a sense of the deity of Jesus. It was then and there that he knew he had to make a choice:either Jesus was who He said He was or He wasn’t. His ministry began right away at a church in Connecticut. He began helping with the youth and later became their youth pastor. He and his wife moved to California in 2001, where he was asked to be a Pastor’s Assistant at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. He has held a variety of pastoral positions, and in 2008, he became Senior Pastor of Revive Christian Fellowship in Ladera Ranch, CA. Mike is heard on a program called The Reviving Word in the US and Belize. He lives in California with his wife, Collette.
My Book Review:
Many times, it can be hard to determine if we are following God’s will or our own. Using Joseph and Moses as examples, the author guides us through their stories and how they followed God’s will for their lives. From their examples, we can see what it looks like to seek God’s will and follow it.
Knowing your spiritual gifts is very important for a Christian. So I was happy to see a chapter on spiritual gifts, with biblical references, and how to identify yours.
My favorite thing about this book was that the author put the Bible verses he was talking about right on the page. He uses many verses, almost on every page. There are a few places where he just lists references, but the majority are the full verse. A lot of reading takes place on the go, where it is hard to juggle a book and a Bible, having the verse right on the page is really convenient.
If you are seeking God’s will for your life, and a deeper relationship with Him, Discovering God’s Will for Your Life will be a great help to you.
Link to buy the book: (Affiliate Link) – Discovering God’s Will for Your Life: Your Journey with God
Thanks to the author, Michael Lutz, I get to giveaway a signed copy of Discovering God’s Will for Your Life Your Journey with God. Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below!
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This week I thought I’d share some interest plants around the farm and some of the ways they are used. All, with the exception of the Raspberries, are considered weeds. Weeds that have medicinal uses.
Our Red Raspberries are growing again. We always get a harvest in the spring, and a larger harvest in the fall. Red Raspberries have many nutrients in them, including the much talked about antioxidants. You can also use the Red Raspberry leaves to make a tea that is useful for female problems, and helpful during labor. I haven’t tried the tea, but I love to eat the berries while standing at the vine. I practically have to fight my kids for them. lol
Plantain can be used externally or internally for a lot of different conditions. We use it for bug bites when we’re outside. When you get bit, just pull a leaf off, chew it for a few seconds to break it down and release the juices. Then apply it to the bug bite. It stops the itching almost immediately. I know, your thinking, “Chew it?!?!” It just tastes like grass, No I haven’t actually eaten grass, but if you ever used grass between your fingers as a whistle when you were a kid like I did, you probably got the taste of grass in your mouth. I know I did. You can use the leaf like I mentioned already, you can make a tincture, a poultice, an ointment, or juice it. You can wash with the juice, or gargle with it, or drink it.
Jewelweed is a bush that has beautiful little flowers and fun little seed pods after the flower dies. When you touch the seed pods they “explode” and propel a seed a few feet. That’s how Jewelweed gets it’s other name, Touch Me Nots. The kids love to go around the yard exploding the seed pods. Ok, I admit it, I do, too! lol One of the uses for Jewelweed leaves is poison ivy. Make a tincture from the leaves and put directly on the rash. Or use the leaves or tincture to make a soap to wash the rash with.
I’ve had this plant come up in front of my house for a few years now. I didn’t know what it was, just that it was interesting looking, so I left it. I recently learned that it is Poke Berry, Poke Week, Ink Weed, Poke Sallet, or Pokeroot. Many names for the same plant. The young shoots can be eaten in the spring. A lot of people here in Kentucky eat Poke Sallet, as the young shoots are called. I have never eaten it, though.
I found an interesting article with a lot of information on the medicinal uses of Pokeberry. I don’t plan on trying any of them anytime soon, as there can be some intense digestive system side effects if taken incorrectly. I prefer to avoid those side effects. lol
Do you have any interesting or medicinal plants growing in your yard?
NOTE: I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on the internet. This post is for information purposes only. Do your own research, and consult your healthcare provider before using anything mentioned here. Please do so, as I can’t come to y’all’s house and make you chicken soup if you get sick. 🙂
