"Flee As A Bird"

by Mary Shindler, 1842

Flee as a bird to your mountain, thou who art weary of sin;
Go to the clear flowing fountain where you may wash and be clean.
Haste, then, th’Avenger is near thee; call, and the Savior will hear thee;
He on His bosom will bear thee; O thou who art weary of sin,
O thou who art weary of sin.

He will protect thee forever, wipe every falling tear;
He will forsake thee, O never, sheltered so tenderly there.
Haste, then, the hours are flying, spend not the moments in sighing,
Cease from your sorrow and crying: The Savior will wipe every tear,
The Savior will wipe every tear.

Psalm 11

In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul,
"Flee like a bird to your mountain,
for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?"

The LORD is in His holy temple;
the LORD’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man.
The LORD tests the righteous,
but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Let Him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
For the LORD is righteous; He loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold His face.

Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Spring Cleaning!

Yesterday, we had a gorgeous, sunny day in the 50's with no wind. When I heard the forecast that morning, I made the spontaneous decision to start spring cleaning. All of the downstairs curtains went straight into the wash and were hung out on the line an hour later. (I choose to have white cotton washable curtains in all of our windows, except the bedrooms which have blackout lined curtains.) I spent the rest of the day washing the windows inside and out and all around. (Whoever invented double hung windows was a genius!) Just for good measure, I washed the ceiling fans and light fixtures. Today I'll touch up the curtains with an iron and rehang them and the house is going to smell AMAZING! I just love that fresh smell!

I need to do the same process with the bedrooms, but that is a bit trickier since the Littles need naps and those blackout curtains are there for a reason!

Here are the rest of the projects I hope to do for "Spring Cleaning":

• Shampoo the rugs and furniture
• Wash the trash cans and boot trays
• Clothing swap
  
• Clean oven (need to choose a cold day for this!)
• Clean shower head
• Vacuum fridge coils
• Wipe out kitchen drawers
• Give the counters/backsplashes a good scrub
  
• Dusting picture frames/books/display dishes
• Wash duvets and air pillows
• Swap humidifiers for fans/window ACs
  
• Prepare for a garage sale in May
  

B.C. = Before Children, I took a week and devoted it to spring cleaning. I think when we have older kids to pitch in this may be possible again, but for now I just plan to chip away at these jobs over the next three months. Slow and steady wins the race, right? :)

How do you do spring cleaning, and what is on your list?

"Using It Up"

"Use it up, wear it out,
make do, and do without."

- a little saying from the days of The Great Depression

In yesterday's post, I talked about minimizing our food waste. Just thought I would share some resources that have been helpful for me in that regard.

All Recipes: Do an ingredient search for the little bits of food you need to use up. Very handy!

Love Food Hate Waste: A site from the UK that has some really good tips! In the Recipe section, there are little icons of a wide range of foods. Click on the food you need to use up for some ideas. Check out the food storage tips to make your foods last longer.

Remember that unless you are baking something special, recipes are merely suggestions. Feel free to be creative in the kitchen and make substitutions and additions.

Certain dishes are naturally accommodating. These would be: muffins, stir fries, omelets, quiches, soups, and smoothies.

Don't let your bread go stale! Make bread crumbs before it gets moldy. Store breadcrumbs in a ziploc in your freezer and use as needed. Cornbread also makes great breadcrumbs, but you should store it separately as you may want cornbread in some recipes, but not in others. Can you believe I used to buy breadcrumbs? See, I didn't just know all of this stuff. I've been learning as I go too!

Cabbage

It's that time of year again...

Cabbage is $.17/lb. In past years I have seen it as low as $.05/lb. as a "loss leader" item. Grocery stores are practically giving away this vegetable in honor of St. Patrick's day. Cabbage is a very economical vegetable to use throughout the year though. The regular price runs around $.40/lb. and that is CHEAP folks!

Now... how to use all that cabbage...

I didn't grow up eating a lot of cabbage. I learned how to make a pretty good cole slaw as a summertime potluck favorite, but other than that, my experience is minimal. Here are a couple of recipes I'm interested in trying out:

• Bean and Cabbage Soup from The Common Kitchen
• Corned Beef and Cabbage - I think I'm going to adapt this for the crock pot and make it for St. Paddy's Day
• Fried Cabbage (which isn't actually fried... not sure why it has that name)
• Colcannon - I am particularly excited about this one!
  

I have some friends who make lacto-fermented sauerkraut, but I've not tried it. There are wonderful step-by-step instructions with photos here on The Family Homestead. I hear it is simple to do, but takes a bit of practice to get it packed in the jars well.

Do you have a favorite way to fix cabbage? Please share!

The Precious Possession of Diligence

Proverbs 12:27 - A lazy man does not roast his prey,
But the precious possession of a man is diligence.

I am always astonished when I read through the Proverbs. I read one nugget of wisdom after the next and never fail to find something very practical to apply to my life. The above verse is one that I used to keep posted on an index card on my refrigerator. Does that sound a little strange? This verse was a continual reminder to me to curb my wastefulness.

Most of us acquire our meat and other groceries from the local supermarket. Some hunt, grow vegetables, milk cows, etc... but mostly by choice. Food is readily available and most everyone has access to a 24 hour store or restaurant. Perhaps if we really had to work hard to grow and preserve our food we would be more careful not to waste it.

In doing a quick google search, I found that Americans throw away an average of 14% of the food they purchase. No doubt, some are more guilty than others, but if you are like the average family, and you have a grocery budget of $100 per week (a little high in my opinion, but it's nice and round), you are throwing away $728 dollars every year.

Feeling a little twinge of guilt? Years ago when I read this verse in Proverbs, I felt it. I would buy food and bring it home, but because of my lack of diligence, I would not "roast it" and it would spoil. I'm not telling you to start eating spoiled food just so you don't waste it, I'm suggesting you are careful to only purchase what your family will eat, and then eat it! Make use of leftovers. Re-make leftovers into new dishes. Freeze portions for later consumption. Use creative substitution to avoid waste. Share food with those who will eat it.

This is one of those areas where habits will not change overnight, but you can start by opening your eyes to what is happening in your household and start making little steps to do better. Talk to your children as you work on these new habits. Talk about where food comes from and who has worked to bring it to our table. Talk about being diligent and not slothful. Most importantly, talk about the importance of being good stewards with our blessings and that food is a blessing from the Lord. We are blessed with abundance and we need to be deeply thankful.

Proverbs 31:10-11 - An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.

vs. 15 - She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.

vs. 27 - She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

vs. 30-31 - Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.

"Be Present At Our Table, Lord"

Be Present At Our Table, Lord

Words by: John Cennick

Be present at our table, Lord;
Be here and everywhere adored;
Thy creatures bless, and grant that we
May feast in paradise with Thee.

We thank Thee, Lord, for this our food,
For life and health and every good;
By Thine own hand may we be fed;
Give us each day our daily bread.

We thank Thee, Lord, for this our good,
But more because of Jesus’ blood;
Let manna to our souls be giv’n,
The Bread of Life sent down from Heav’n.

I think this one would be particularly fitting to have posted wherever the family comes together to partake of their meals.

Matthew 6:11 - Give us this day our daily bread.

"The Children's Hour"

Perhaps you are familiar with Longfellow's poem...

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupation,
That is known as the children's hour.

You can read the entire poem here. This poem has such sweet sentiments. After illness and travels, we are finally settling down into more of a routine. We have one child that particularly craves routine and thrives on predictability. In our anything-but-predictable life, I am trying to do what I can to create stronger routines when and where we can.

Enter Large Family Logistics! My amazingly sweet friend, Erin, surprised me by sending me the book, and I have been using many of the ideas from the book to create routines in our home.

In the past, I've tried a very linear approach to daily routines - sort of like a time line. Strict times were a bit too strict for me, but even just having one thing after another has not worked well at all. Seems like once the train got derailed, I could never get back on track. The author of Large Family Logistics takes more of a block approach with mini-routines within certain blocks of time - Morning and Evening Routines, Mealtime Routines, Chore Time, "The Children's Hour", Bedtime Routine, etc... and I'm working on implementing these into our life.

So far, "The Children's Hour" has been my favorite and the easiest to implement. It sets the tone for cheerful evenings and is a joyful way to end the day when I'd otherwise be mopey and tired. Each family must find what works for them, and in our particular situation, evenings are when Daddy leaves to do Bible studies with other families. Most of the time he leaves right after dinner. In the past, we would all be a little sad that Daddy was gone and it was reflected in our evenings. Now, we eat our dinner together and I wash up the dishes and clean up the dining room as quickly as I can. I purposefully spend the rest of the evening just playing and relaxing with the Littles until it is time for bed. No chores. No computer. No TV. Instead, we play, read books, take a walk, take baths two or three nights of the week, play games, and just enjoy one another. This "pause in the day's occupation" is restful to my spirit.

Still working on the other routines... that Morning Routine is a bear! There is just so much that has to happen first thing and I'm usually stumbling around for my coffee cup for the first hour I'm awake! (I still have a little one waking too many times a night to count!) But I'm happy for the sacredness of The Children's Hour.

Luke 18:16 - Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

What do you do during the "pause in the day's occupation"?