Meditations: "Brighten the Corner"

Know this song?

Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.

You can see all of the lyrics here.

Do you know someone who radiates light and joy every time you see them? I can think of a few. Don't you just love to be around a person like that? I'm afraid I have some slight Eeyore tendencies... at the very least, I tend to be very serious. Serious is ok, but grumpy is not. In these cold winter days dealing with illness, hardships, and at the very least, lack of sunshine, it is a challenge, but God would have us be that ray of light.

No matter what our circumstances, God wants us to be filled with His joy, and to radiate His light. My admonition to myself is: Be true to your duties, and "brighten the corner where you are."

Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 - He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. (ESV)

Really? Take pleasure in our toil? Take pleasure in changing dirty diapers, scrubbing floors, washing dishes, and folding laundry?

Yes. Really.

It is God's gift. "He has made everything beautiful in its time." He has put the joy and the beauty there, and it is our job to find it and fill our lives with the light of His joy. When we do, we will see that there is nothing better.

Nehemiah 8:10 - For the joy of the LORD is your strength. (ESV)

"O Worship the King"

        O worship the King, all glorious above,
 And gratefully sing His wonderful love;
 Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
 Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

 O tell of God's might, O sing of God's grace,
 Whose robe is the light, Whose canopy space,
 Whose chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
 And dark is God's path on the wings of the storm.

 The earth with its store of wonders untold,
 Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old;
 Hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
 And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.

 Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
 It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
 It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
 And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
 In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
 Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
 Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

Interrupting the regularly scheduled program...

January has been a very, very, very tough month for the Church Mice. Blogging has been put on the back burner, as my time has been severely constrained by:

• Little Littles got 5 teeth this month. A normally pleasant baby, he has been almost non-stop cranky both night and day!
• We have had two added projects/commitments this month, one of which ends tomorrow, one of which will stretch into summer. Both required significant chunks of time.
  
• We've had several bouts of illness, each in our turn. I am the only person in the family that likes to be left completely alone when I am sick. The other three get VERY needy, clingy, weepy, need lots and lots of care and attention most of which has to come from ME. It's rather exhausting. Big Littles is the current sick-y. Poor thing.
  

So, I'm hoping to just chalk up the entire month to difficult circumstances, and am trying to move forward and get our lives back into some sort of routine, which I hope will include blogging during nap time again.

Only thing is...

We are getting ready to do a preaching-related trip soon, so I may still be spotty in my posting for the next two weeks as we prepare/travel/recover.

And this sort of reminds me. It's a bit of a pet peeve when traveling for a gospel meeting, especially when Preacher Man is doing all of the preaching, when folks treat it like a vacation. Gospel Meetings = Work! Sometimes a lot more work than what is usual. Yes, there is pleasure in it also, but it is *definitely* not a vacation.

/soapbox.

Oh and just because I haven't been writing a lot doesn't mean my mind has gone blank. I re-organized my list for blog topics today and am even a little overwhelmed by how many I have in the back of my mind. This list will keep me busy for a while, and some of these are some super yummy recipes I've tried lately! So, stay posted... Church Mouse is working on getting things back on track!

"How Firm A Foundation"

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

By John Rippon

Desperation Dinners Save the Day!

The scenario... You look at the clock and it is 5:15 already and you haven't even thought about what to make for dinner. You could order pizza or Chinese take-out, but you don't have to do that, because, *insert trumpet fanfare* - You've got Church Mouse's Desperation Dinner Plan!

What? You thought Church Mouse was too organized and on top of things to do such a thing? HA! Preacher Man is laughing very hard right now. Church Mouse is jabbing him with her elbow. ;)

Disclaimer: These are not the most spartan of my frugal recipes. They do, in fact, use convenience ingredients, and that is ok. These are the meals I keep in my back pocket for moments of true desperation - where I need a meal, and I need it quick, and I need to be able to make it with whatever we've got. They save us from spending unnecessary money on take-out, so the convenience is worth it!

Egg Drop or Chicken Soup - I got this idea from a friend of mine. She would reconstitute chicken bouillon in a pot - about 2 qts. (I recommend Better Than Bouillon, as it has ingredients I can pronounce.) She would grate a carrot into the pot and onion if she had time. (Grated vegetables will cook much faster.) If you have any random veggies in the fridge, dump them in. Once boiling, she would either add some pasta and boil until the pasta was cooked or drop in an egg or two. If you kept a can or two of chicken around, you could add it, particularly if your family needs the protein.

Keep on hand: Bouillon, pasta, eggs, canned chicken (opt.)

Tostadas - Our family's favorite! Wal-mart sells their Great Value canned refried beans for cheap. Look for the low-fat variety, as it has ingredients I can pronounce, and none of the bad hydrogenated oils. I dump a can or two of these in a microwave safe bowl, mix in a few Tbs. water and heat them up. Meanwhile, I brush corn tortillas on each side with olive oil, lay them on a cookie sheet, and pop them in a 450* oven for 10-12 minutes. We like ours nice and crispy. Spread each tortilla with refried beans, sprinkle with cheese, add hot sauce if you like it and enjoy!

Keep on hand: canned refried beans, corn tortillas, cheese

Grilled Cheese/Tomato Soup - I actually use Campbell's Tomato Soup. I love it. I know it has unpronounceable ingredients and corn syrup, but I still love it.

Keep on hand: canned tomato soup, bread, cheese (we are partial to cheddar and Monterey Jack)

Pancakes/Bacon/Applesauce - You could use some kind of pancake mix, but honestly, it is so fast to mix up a double batch from scratch. While I'm mixing up the pancakes, I have the bacon thawing in the sink in some warm water. I dump the entire pound of bacon into an iron skillet and cook it all at once in a big scramble. It works and is much less tedious than my old method of not overlapping any pieces. Just make sure you stir it frequently. Cooking pancakes on the griddle is FUN! Admittedly, this is the longest option I'm listing, but it is still relatively fast and easy, and who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?

Keep on hand: Bacon in the freezer, basic baking supplies, applesauce

Stir Fry/Rice - I like to buy the steam in the bag vegetables when they go on sale for around $1 per pound and save them for desperation dinners. There are some nice stir fry mixes, some even have sauce in them! You can make some white rice in about 20 minutes, or even microwave some frozen brown rice - they sell it right by the frozen vegetables now. We also like to sprinkle in some peanuts or cashews.

Keep on hand: Steam in the bag stir fry vegetables, rice

Huevos Rancheros

Keep on hand: canned black beans, eggs, cheese

And in the end... some days just require pizza or Chinese take-out. I DO understand! I just try to make those days once in a blue moon rather than a habit.

A Well-Stocked Pantry

It seems like most of the nation is in a deep freeze right now. As I type this I am sitting wrapped in a king size quilt with a homemade rice pack helping to keep my neck warm. Unexpected snow storms are known to dash my plans to go grocery shopping, because it is rarely worth it to me to trudge through an unploughed parking lot pushing a cart loaded with groceries and two littles. I'd rather stay home and sip my cup of tea thank you very much! A well-stocked pantry is essential though. I keep a list on the fridge of basic grocery items to keep on hand. Before I go to the store, I run through the list to make sure I am not running low on something without realizing it.

Most people keep basic things on hand:

• Flour, sugar, rice, beans, cooking oil, corn meal, pasta, canned tomatoes, peanut butter, and oats in the pantry
• Meats and frozen vegetables in the freezer.
• Cheese and butter keep for months in the fridge. (I have been known to buy 16 pounds of cheese at once when it is at its rock bottom price!)
• Produce like apples, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, oranges, lemons, and sweet potatoes keep for several weeks. (TIP - Store onions and potatoes separately and they will keep longer!)

You can make quite a few meals with these things on hand!

It seems like the items needed weekly, or at least bi-weekly are milk and fresh produce. To expand my repertoire of pantry meals, I've started keeping a few extras on hand. Maybe some of these ideas will be useful for you:

• Powdered milk in the freezer. (We don't drink milk, but if I ever need it for cooking, powdered milk is quick to mix up in the quantity I need.)
• I also like to keep powdered buttermilk or goat milk on hand. They keep quite a while in the fridge and are good for baking.
  
• Frozen and dehydrated diced green pepper (Several recipes I make require all pantry ingredients except for this one item, and I really do like the pepper! Bell peppers are also quite expensive out of season, so these options have been helpful when the peppers are not on sale.)
• Dehydrated onions and garlic. I begin nearly every meal sauteing onions and garlic. This way, if I run out, I have a backup! We are not big mushroom eaters, but I have heard dried mushrooms are nice also.
  
• I already wrote about my mung beans for sprouting. They are nice when fresh greens are hard to come by.
• Canned tropical fruit is quite good and refreshing. Read the label and make sure it does not include bananas. Canned bananas are nasty, trust me on that one! But the tropical fruit mix is really very nice and usually has pineapple, mango, and papaya. I often mix in mandarin oranges and extra pineapple. I always look for the kinds packed in fruit juice instead of syrup. If you have unexpected company, this makes a good quick dessert.
  

I still haven't found a great solution for eggs. We go through eggs at a shocking rate. Thankfully, if I run out, we have a convenience store only a few blocks away and we have utilized it in moments of desperation. I've tried egg substitutes in baking, but was disappointed in the results. Any recommendations for eggs?

I'm planning to do an upcoming post on "Desperation Dinners"... You know, when you look at the clock and it is 5:15 already and you haven't even thought about what to make for dinner. You could order pizza or Chinese take-out, but you don't have to do that, because, *insert trumpet fanfare* - You've got Church Mouse's Desperation Dinner Plan!

:) Enjoy your weekend and try to stay warm!

Large Family Logistics

Motherhood is a life of sacrifice; it is a life poured out for our children. So what are we to do to get some space from it all? When we are honest with ourselves, we know that it is not “Me Time” we need or a “Girls’ Night Out”. Children are not a burden to escape or endure; they are a blessing that drives us to Christ because we are incapable of parenting well without Him. God is who we need. While there are helpful strategies we can employ in order to have a more peaceful day with our children, the number one thing we must do is to deny Self and cling to the cross.

~Kim Brenneman, Large Family Logistics

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!

Mrs. Brenneman, mother of nine, is one wise lady. She put into words what I have struggled to come to terms with in my own life and have been unable to express myself. I have not yet read this book, but I sure want to! I've had it on my Paperback Swap wish list for a while now. I'm number 4, but the book is so new, it might still take a while for my turn, so that is why I'm blogging about this book... I can get three entries in the giveaway Raising Olives is offering here! :)

I wouldn't consider us a large family yet, but with God's blessings, I hope one day we will be. Even still, we can all learn a lot from a large family about frugality, efficiency, and how to draw closer to one another while we draw closer to Christ.

You can find the book on Amazon here. If you enter and win, or decide to buy it, let me know what you think!