I Want to be President

No, I really don't. That would be a job of stress, beyond all stress. If you want a good picture of what that job would be like, go back to the Old Testament. Read the story of David. His struggles were so far beyond anything I would ever want to imagine. But I can bet, many of them are similar to what the president goes through on a daily basis. In 1 Samuel 30, the Israelites are in the middle of a war. David and his men have just returned to a village that had been pillaged by the Amalekites. The men's wives and children (including David's two wives) had been taken captive. So verse 6 says, "David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God." So I take myself back to that time and put on David's shoes. I have never been to war, so it is very hard to picture. Of course I have seen movies of war, but it's not the same as being in it. I have also never had to live the basic lifestyle they had. If they had a bad day, they couldn't just run and grab dinner at Chick Fil A. They couldn't just throw a frozen pizza in the oven. They had to work hard for every piece of food they ate. Then, to be in a war on top of that. I wonder how much they actually ate when they were out. Add to that, coming home to find all their families had been kidnapped. They are tired, hungry and distressed. I wouldn't want to lead that group. But David did, under threat of stoning. Even with everything that had gone wrong, David found strength in the Lord. Now I think about my "problems". When you put them in perspective, I really don't have any serious problems. My housing situation isn't exactly what I'd like, but I have a place to live. Gas prices are outrageous, but I have a car and gas to get me places. I don't have a lot of extra money to do all the things I would like, but I have food to eat. I have two precious children that I am fortunate enough to be home with and have the opportunity to raise them up in the ways of the Lord. If David, in his circumstances could find strength in the Lord, how much more can I find strength.

Shrimp Ceviche

Yesterday, we went to a 4th of July party. Chris made a Shrimp Ceviche that was very popular. Here is the recipe.

Shrimp Ceviche
1 batch of Tomato/Citrus Marinade (see below)
1 batch of Marinated Onions (see below)
4 cups Water
1 1/2 lbs shrimp (peeled and deveined)
2 Tbsp cilantro
pinch salt/pepper
Hot Sauce to taste
2 Scallions (the white part plus one inch of the green)

Prepare Tomato/Citrus Marinade (can be done the day before). About 4 hours before serving prepare Marinated Onions, use half in the recipe and half for garnish. In a large sauce pan, combine water and scallions, bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium, simmer 2 minutes. Add shrimp. Remove from heat and let stand a few seconds until shrimp turns pink. Drain and discard scallions. Rinse shrimp under cold water. Cut shrimp in half crosswise. Add shrimp and cilantro to Tomato Marinade. Stir to mix. Cover with plastic and refridgerate 2 to 3 hours. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Tomato/Citrus Marinade
1 cup Water
1 lb medium sized tomatoes
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup lime juice
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp worcestershire
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp EVOO
1 tsp black pepper
1 - 2 tsp hot sauce

Bring water and whole tomatoes to boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Remove and cool. Remove tomatoes with slotted spoon and let cool. Slip off skin of tomatoes. Put tomatoes in blender and blend until smooth. Strain out seeds. In medium glass bowl, mix tomato puree, citrus juices, ketchup, worcestershire, mustard, oil, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir. Cover and refridgerate up to one day.


Marinated Onions
hot water
1 medium red onion halved and sliced lengthwise into paper thin half moons
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Pour hot water over onions. Let stand 15 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. In small mixing bowl, combine onion, juice, salt, and pepper. Cover and let stand at room temp until onions turn pink, about 3 hours. It is best to make the day you are going to serve.

Eleven Years

The 4th of July holiday messed me up a little, and I missed Friday Inspiration. But it is fitting that it come on Saturday this week anyway, as I am taking a break from what I said I was going to do. Why, because it is my anniversary today. So the verse for today comes from 1 Corinthians 13. It was read at our wedding, 11 years ago today.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always prseveres. Love never fails.

It has been a crazy, but amazing eleven years. Twelve years ago, I was very single (and possibly contemplating becoming a nun). On this very day, in 1996, I went to the wedding of my very good friend. It is a very crazy story of why I asked Chris to dance, but that's for another day. The point is, we did dance. A very short 36 days later, we were engaged. So, on this day in 1997, we were married. Five months later, we were expecting a son. September 1998, Lucas was born, and then we moved across the country. At that point we really learned the meaning of "Love is patient". We were both working crazy schedules to keep Luke out of daycare. We were sleep deprived, living in a new place, never saw each other, and had the stress of a new baby. What were we thinking? The ooh, aah feelings of new love were not there at that point. But praise God, that love did persevere. That's the thing, no where in that verse does it say that love is a feeling. We could not have gotten through that, or made it eleven years by relying on feelings. However, the other thing is, once we persevered through that our feelings followed the action. Chris is an amazing man. He supports every crazy thing that I do. He loves God, loves me, and loves his children. No, the circumstances of our life are not perfect. We are not living in a dream house, have all sorts of money to go on lovely vacations, the list could go on and on. But would I give him up to have all of that? No way. He is the man not of my dreams, but that I never imagined possible. All that, and he can cook. What more could a girl ask for.

So, today I shout it from the mountain tops "I LOVE MY HUSBAND". I am so looking forward to the next 11 years, and beyond.

Friday Inspiration

Today I am starting a new column on my blog called, "Friday Inspiration". Why Friday? Because there is no time like the present. As I was telling my son last night, "It's called the present because every day is a gift from God." And today is certainly a gift.

Today's verse is from Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
This is a verse that I have claimed for a long time. I loved the power in remembering that it's not my strength that I need to get me through the tough times, it's His. Then, I discovered that there is a similar verse in Matthew, and one in Luke. Then I started to dig further, and found many more verses that emphasize the same fact. So over the next many weeks I am going to look into this further and post one verse every Friday. When God wants to tell us something, He puts it in the Bible. When there is something He really wants to tells us, He puts it in there over and over again. Today, I pray that you will know God's strength and power, and turn to Him for your strength.

My Father's World, Exploring Countries and Cultures

Our astronomy lesson is over, but I am looking forward to ordering our next science books. I will be ordering some studies on physical sciences from Answers in Genesis. In the meantime, we are still hard at work on other subjects. A few weeks ago we started on a journey around the world (without leaving home). I was hoping to be able to include both of my children with the lessons, however I don't think that is going to be the case. Most of the work is just too complicated, and not interesting for my 5 year old. Of course, that's not saying he is not at all involved. Our lessons began with a basic overview of world geography. In order to better illustrate our lesson, we baked a cake. You may notice that becoming a theme. Lucas loves watching the cake challenges and Ace of Cakes on Food Network. He has a desire to learn how to create cakes like they do. So we are learning that together.

Then we started our journey here in the United States. Part of the fun of learning about cultures is food. So we are going to eat our way around the world. You think because we live in the U.S. there wouldn't be anything to learn. However, there are so many different regions of the U.S. that are very different. We made New England Pumpkin Cake, Rocky Mountain Trail Mix, and Grits. I had wanted to have apple pie, but we did not get to that.

We are now moving on to Mexico. Last night we had Tacos and Bolillos (Mexican Hard Rolls). Chris made some Gondules (pigeon peas) also. But we forgot they needed to be made ahead of time, so we did not get to eat them yesterday. We will probably have them tomorrow with some rice. Gondules are not Mexican. I think they are actually Puerto Rican. But that is part of the North American unit as well. I thought about making some Mexican Wedding Cakes for dessert, but they are not actually Mexican either, and I don't really like them. Besides, as you can see from my other post, we were busy making a volcano cake. I never realized how much fun school could be. I just wish my kids would realize how good they have it, and appreciate the fun.

Final Astronomy Lesson

Oh my. We learned so much valuable information today that just proves how great God is and what a miracle is that we are here. The last two units in the book didn't seem very long, so I thought it would be a good idea to combine them into one. However, they were just jam packed with exciting information. But the best part was the lesson the kids got about working together to build a model space station. We pretty much stepped back and let them do it. Which is actually a very hard thing for me to do. And then we had a volcano cake to celebrate the end of the lesson. I am going to just leave it at that and let the pictures do the talking.

Pluto - A Planet, or Not?

Today we learned about our last planet. Or did we learn about the last planet last week? A few years ago, the International Astronomical something or other changed the definition of a planet. According to them, Pluto is no longer considered a planet. But many scientists believe that it is. We discussed both sides of the case, and the general consensus among the children is that Pluto is a planet. I don't know that it really matters one way or the other what you call it. Our project for the day was making ice cream. What does ice cream have to do with astronomy, you ask. Well, not a whole lot. But it is cold just like Pluto, so there. We mixed powdered sugar, cream, and flavoring in a little bag. Then, we placed the little bag in a bigger bag filled with ice and rock salt. Shake forever, it seemed and voila, ice cream. NOT! A couple of the baggies work, a few didn't. Oh well, it was a fun project anyway. I've always wanted an ice cream maker. But I realized in buying the ingredients, that it is much cheaper to just buy a gallon of ice cream. So in the future, I think that is what I'll stick with. Next week we are going to combine the last two units. We will be learning about stars, and explorations into space. And I have a special treat planned, if I can pull it off.