Tiramisu--my fave Italian Dessert

Tiramisu is one of those dishes that brings with it some sort of memory for me. I think it is funny how sometimes a taste of something can transport one through time and space and suddenly you remember a whole day's worth of memories that surround that simple bite.

Before I became a joyful momma, and before I was ever married, I embarked on the great adventure, post-college, of travelling the world. I only got as far as Europe and parts of North Africa and the Middle East, instead of circumnavigating the globe, but that is because in Prague, Czech Republic, the Lord Jesus Christ found me and filled my heart with such satisfaction in my, my wanderlust was cooled off. I remained in Austria, working as an Au Pair, and later getting a post in a Konditorei (coffee house) where I learned the fine art of being a Barista (someone who operates an Italian Style Espresso Machine), and how to make some coffee house specialties, including Tiramisu.

The first time I had Tiramisu, I was in northern Italy, and had just renewed an impromptu friendship with an Italian Christian named Luka, who I had met earlier in my travels. Anyway, we went to a coffee house, and as usual, the pastry waitress came around with a try full of goodies, and Luka grabbed the plate of Tiramisu, and said, "OH, Kimberly, you MUST try this!" The first bite was not what I was expecting--it was a little bit bitter. But by the third bite I was reminded why I prefer European Desserts--they have far less sugar than what we as Americans are used to, but usually the flavor is far more intense.You aren't just eating sugar flavored like something else--the sugar is not the main flavor.

Tiramisu, when I make it back home, is usually a little bit sweeter only because I have had people stop at the first bite and not eat any more...so I sweeten it slightly more but I still use the cream cheese, the unsweetened whipping cream, and the unsweetened baker's cocoa powder, and of course some strong espresso. I leave out that other flavoring Europeans seem to use in most baked goods (Rum) because this is not baked and therefore it doesn't cook off. It takes fine without it.

I change two more ingredients slightly. Normally Marscapone cheese is used, but that is hard to find here, and when I find it, it's usually expensive. Instead, I blend 1 pint of whipping cream with 8 oz of softened cream cheese to the same effect. Note, I said whippING cream not whippED cream. there's a difference. WhippED is on the left, whippING is on the right. :-)



Secondly, instead of using "Ladyfingers" cookies, I find that vanilla wafers are basically the same thing (different shape) and much less expensive ($1 a box, vs. $3.69 for a small package). Because the cookies will be dipped in Espresso, and will fall apart anyway, the shape, I feel, is irrelevant.

Begin by not only softening your cream cheese, but also brewing about 3-4 cups of espresso or other strong coffee. Don't use instant as the flavor doesn't come out right. Let the coffee cool to the point where you can put your hand in it without burns ;).



Beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy, and add about 1/2c. of powdered sugar (optional). Beat some more, and slowly add whipping cream while beating, until you have soft peaks. A friend of mine said to note that she uses Cheese cake instant pudding instead, and thinks it also works (this is quite a bit sweeter though).

Take a baking pan (glass works well), and carefully dip, one at a time, the vanilla wafers into the Espresso, and then line the baking dish with them. They will stay hard long enough for you to move them around, but work fast anyway.

Next, take your cream-cheese mixture, and spread a layer over the top of the cookies carefully, about 1/2 inch.


Take your powedered baking cocoa, and spread it with a sieve or shaker evenly over the cream cheese mixture.


Repeat the process for a few more layers, until you run out of cream cheese mix (number of layers depends on how big of a pan you are using).


Refrigerate overnight or for several hours. The dessert will firm up by then. Serve with coffee.

Gingerbread Houses

This year, we not only made gingerbread men (and women) as I noted in a previous post, but we also made some gingerbread houses. Normally I don't do quite so much baking but the furnace was broken again (it needed a new circuit board) and the we were waiting on the right part. Actually our repair person ordered the part only to have it shipped wrong a few times now. They finally came on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, I was baking my little heart out to warm up the house, and thanking God for good friends who graciously lent space heaters.

This summer while garage saling, I found this cool little gem: A pampered chef stoneware gingerbread house mold.

I've made gingerbread houses without one too--just cut your dough to the right size, bake on parchment paper, and trim it so the sides are square--but this made it that much easier. Usually I'd wind up with sides that didn't match up the other way. Just following my previously given Gingerbread recipe!


I baked these on Monday (all day monday, to be exact). I made enough to make 5 gingerbread houses. I just let them sit on racks and cool until Tuesday, when I began to make the icing cement.

The icing cement is made by first frothing up 2 egg whites, 1/8tsp of Cream of Tartar (available in the spice section), and 2T of water. There's another recipe I've seen that uses Meringue powder, if you are overly concerned about raw egg whites. I've not had it dry as hard, though.

Next, I added 3C. of powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and blended it on high for five minutes. I actually set a timer to make sure I did it long enough. You want the icing to be stiff.

I filled my pastry bag with frosting, and began to pipe on a Right Angle onto my plate.


I also piped the sides of my pieces where the sides would meet, with a little help from my daughter, Esther.

I gently stood up one front, and one side, and then did the other front and side, while piping on another right angle.


The roof is the trickiest. Be GENEROUS with the icing cement. Pipe it all around the top edges of the sides and front/back of the house. Then I placed one side, then the other onto the house, and piped another generous glob of icing in between the two roof parts.


These I let set overnight, as the icing cement, as the name implies, dries nice and hard, into something that my son observed looks and feels like bathroom caulk. And yet, it's edible!!!

the next day, knowing that Gingerbread is made to be shared :-)), we invited over our neighbors to help us decorate. We had my mother in law's leftover halloween candy, and some candy I got from the store that was on clearance following last month's holiday. Gummy bears, by far, are the easiest to work with as is "gummi-anything".

I made up some more of the Icing Cement, and gave each child group a small bowl of it...and from there we dipped the candy into the icing and onto the gingerbread houses. We went sort of freestyle with it ;).



Someone I know told me they usually thinly slice half-frozen 3 Muskateer bars using a mandoline slicer to make shingles. We didn't get quite so fancy. We had, as you can see, candy corn, gum drops, and gummy bears, and some banana runts, sweet tarts, and someone ate the licorice. LOL

We each took a Gingerbread house, and we are giving the other three to the pastors at our church.

Better than Takeout 2: Homemade Egg Rolls

Continuing on with our "better than takeout" theme, I made some homemake eggrolls. Now ,before I give you the instructions, I need to say that my kids previously hated egg rolls and though they were gross. My husband loved them, and used to complain if I made stir fry with no egg rolls accompaning it, so I learned how to do this. After learning, though, our family decided that egg rolls are actually quite yummy, and and make a great meal unto themselves.

Because they are deep fried, we don't do this too often. My husband wouldn't mind, but for the sake of his heart health and my ever-shrinking waistline, I am insisting. ;)

I've tried baking them but they are so dry they are inedible (in my opinion anyway). If the oil is hot enough, they do not absorb as much oil, but this is definately not a lo fat dish.

Another note on ingredients: it can be whatever you want. I use just regular old cabbage, a carrot or two, and some onions, along with some leftover meat. You can also add some "worms" (my daughter's word for mung bean sprouts), and whatever else. This is great for leftover meat...especially I dare say, leftover Thanksgiving Turkey. Much more creative than turkey sandwiches ;). The egg roll wrappers are usually in the refridgerated produce section, near the tofu, organic veggies, and strange vegetables, and is usually less than $2 for 20-25 wraps (they are packaged by weight). Often I get it for 99 cents.

Start by cooking your meat if you haven't already, and then shredding it up. You need about 1-2 chicken breasts or whatever you have on hand. This is more art than science. Use what you have.

Finely chop or shred 1 small head of cabbage, 1-2 onions, and 1 carrot. Heat a wok with some sesame oil mingled with olive oil (about 2T total). The sesame oil provides flavor.

Mix in some fresh grated ginger (or dry ginger)--about 1t or so, and add 1/4t of Chinese Five Spices. Mix in your vegetables and the shredded meat. Stir fry to "wilt" the vegetables. It should reduce in size by half or more. Pour 1/4c. of rice vinegar over the vegetables, turn it off, and let it cool.


Prepare your workspace:

Plug in/warm up the deep fryer (or set a dutch oven on the stove with a good thermometer, and let it heat to 360F), and have a dry area for rolling your egg rolls. I usually put a little bit of corn starch down to keep them from sticking (and thus tearing).

Lay your wraps down in a diamond shape.

Add about 2-4T of mixture to the middle, towards the bottom corner


fold up the bottom corner over the mix, and start to roll.


Tuck in the side corners as you go past them.


Wet the top corner and sides by dipping your finger (or a brush--but finger is faster) in water, and rubbing it along the edge, as we did with the wontons.

Pull that corner up and over, and press to seal.


Set aside, and repeat. When you reach your target temp, fry them 3-4 at a time. Even if you can fit more in, don't. It will lower the oil temperature and make them cook improperly. Fry for about 3 minutes, then flip over, and fry for 3-5 more minutes. They should be golden brown.

Lightly salt them after you pull them out, and set them on a plate lined with paper towels to drain off the grease.



Serve with Plum Duck Sauce. this is my own homemade sauce, which I can myself. I'll post the recipe another time. I need to make some new sauce soon, so I'll be sure to document it for the blog! :-)

Want to know the will of God for YOU? Read on...

Have you ever heard someone say, "I just want to know the will of God for my life?" Maybe you've said it. I know I have. A few times.

BUT, the will of God is not nearly as mysterious and adventurous as we make it out to be. The will of God is actually quite simple, and is found in the Bible.

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (I Thessalonians 5:18)

I remember reading years ago the autobiographical story of Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom, helping Jews in Nazi-controlled Holland at the time, and getting thrown into the concentration camp. Betsy read this verse, and started to give thanks for everything, even the fleas and lice (having recently had to battle fleas this summer on our Doxie I have a great image in my mind on that one!), and Corrie protested. Finally, Betsy learned, months later, that the reason why they could hold Bible studies and have prayer meetings without being disturbed by the cruel and evil guards is because the guards wouldn't set foot in the dorms because of those fleas. Everything has a purpose, even fleas (though I agree with Corrie; I think I'd also have a hard time thanking God for fleas LOL).

This has been a really hard year for our family. It seems like things are going totally crazy around here, and in all of the craziness--the jury duty, the broken down van, then malfunctioning car, the furnace that broke down for a second time and is waiting for a part--brrrrr, the broken washing machine, and the lack of sales on my website---we are still more blessed than those living in other parts of the world. Hey, I could be one of those Christians in Darfur that the Muslims are brutally murdering, torturing, and raping for their faith. I could live in China, where house church leaders and members are often thrown into prison or beaten for their faith, but God continues to move and add to those churches daily in spite of it. I could live in Germany where the neo-nazi government siezes property, children, and bank accounts of parents who choose to homeschool their kids.

All in all, I'm pretty blessed.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

And so do you....

You will never know the complete, detailed will of God for your specific life, until you are already obeying His general will of God for you, as revealed in the Bible. We all fail of course ;) but there are so many things He shows us to be the will of God in His word that we routinely ignore or disobey while begging to know the will of God...do a study, searching for the words "the will of God" in some Bible software....there is a whole selection of verses.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Jury Duties

Jury duty makes me feel quite conflicted inside.

On the one hand, it really is one of the foundations of our civilized society, and on quite the other hand, how on earth does someone support a family on $15 a day (In Michigan, we have no family friendly jury duty laws and no law requiring employers to pay you while you fulfill your civic duty).

as if things couldn't get any tighter at home, my husband was called to serve on a Jury for the month of January. That means a month earning daily less than he makes hourly. Isn't that nice? Even if he only has to go in a few days, like most people, our budget doesn't work with several days of missed pay.

...And he gets called every single year. I've been called a few times too, and the only time I was ever dismissed was for a rape case (Since I was a victim myself once too and have strong opinions about what I would like to see happen to rapists), and once when I had just given birth. Even my midwife had to serve the week I was due with my last baby. They even threatened her with contempt of court if she showed up with a cell phone or pager. Martin was excused last year because he had just started a new job.

We just have the jury duty anointing over here at our house, I suppose. LOL

We are praying they'll excuse him but that has not happened in the past, and that if we have to serve, that God will provide miraculously some other way for our family for that month.

Homemade Biscotti to Thank some Special People

When my van broke down the other day, my dh's friend V. drove down and helped tow old bessie back home for us. He also has picked up my dh before by the side of the road when he was broke down just 2 months ago, when the trans in the car went....not to mention his wife is always giving used clothes to my girls...so I wanted to do something special for them. I also wanted to bless the folks who have helped my dh trouble shoot the furnace (Which is not working again). And of course, do some baking because that will warm up the house nicely and work well with the space heaters :-))

What shall we make? The kids and I discussed our options....considering the fact that we were missing some ingredients and had no vehicle....

Gingerbread? Na, no icing.

Chocolate Chip? Na, no chips.

Drop cookies? too boring.

Sugar cookies? hmmmmmm. As I was looking for my sugar cookie recipe, I found my biscotti recipe and decided that this is something they would probably like instead.


Biscotti are simple enough and can be made with different flavorings. This one is a modified recipe made with those things which I found in my pantry. You can pretty much use any cookie recipe, form the cookies into an oblong mound on a baking sheet, and bake it, then cut into slices, and toast the slices in the oven again...this is how I made mine:

I started off by creaming together 4 sticks of butter (about 2 cups), and then adding 2 cups of sugar to the butter, and further creaming it. I also added about a 1/2t of vanilla, and 1/2t. of almond extract (at this point, you could add whatever flavorings you have and would like to add--I've even added mint before). Cream in 4 eggs. Next, stir in 6 cups of all purpose flour (or about 5 to 5.5 cups of soft wheat flour, which is what I used--you need less when you use fresh wheat), as well as 3t of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. I also stirred in about 1/2 c. of chopped pecans, which I had in my cupboard.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Divide your dough into 4 parts, and form 4 oblong shaped loaves on baking stones or greased cookie sheets (this works best with some parchment paper, if you have it. Parchment is the key to nearly perfect cookies of all sorts! :-)). This is sticky "cookie dough", not smooth bread dough. Bake for around 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.

Let them cool for about 20 minutes on the cookie sheet before using a serated edge knife to cut them into 1/2 inch slices. Lay the slices, cut side down, on the cookie sheets or baking stones, and toast for an additional 10 minutes, flip the cookies, and bake for 10 more. Cool them.



Now, at this point, I think it looks really cool to have them halfway dipped in chocolate. The problem was, I had no baking chocolate in the house. So, as i rummaged through the pantry, I realized I did have some baking cocoa from the bulk food store.

Thankfully, I worked in a bakery before and seem to remember the recipe for dipping chocolate is cocoa, butter, vanilla, water, and powdered sugar, heated in a double boiler. I played with it til I got it right, so I am not really sure what the exact amounts are (sorry).


After Heating it well, I tested it out to make sure that the proportions were correct, and the chocolate hardened on the outside of the cookies...well, close enough ;). They tasted awesome!

Family Fitness Thursday 11/15/07

I haven't posted too many of these in a while, because we have all had flu type things going on at our house...and I've had a seriously stuffy nose, which has made it hard to just work out as much as I had been. I am still moving a little bit, and still losing some weight. My sweat pants that I sleep in no longer stay up without really tugging at the draw string and seriously tying them.

In fact, I just went to the local thrift store a week and a half ago, because they had $1 bags of clothes---all you could stuff in for a buck, and I took that occasion not only to get my son some much needed dress slacks, but to get me two skirts with smaller waists. ;) woo hoo. My son, who is 12, is getting taller by the minute. He came down stairs for church the other Sunday, and I realized they were about 5 inches too short, so I was grateful for finding some nice courderoys and slacks.

One of the exercises we have enjoyed doing this fall is raking leaves. It doesn't look like it at all in our yard of course ;) but we have raked many piles and jumped in mountains of leaves. Lots of great outdoor exercises.

Higher Ground?

Cats are funny people ;)

I'm not sure why but my cats always seem to be headed for higher ground at whatever chance they get....lately, we've noticed that Ginger-kitty's favorite perch is one of the posts in the staircase, which has an approximate 1 floor drop below her (she is also often walking up and down the banister)!. Today I snapped this picture of her, just as she was getting up from an apparent nap:



As I trotted back to the dining room to help a frustrated fifth-grader with her math, I noticed that the momma cat (aka "Nefertiti") was likewise perched on a pedestal. This time, she was on a stack of Ninth Grade Textbooks, atop the dining table.

Musings from the Side of the Road

Breaking down in one's vehicle is more fun when you have a fully charged laptop with you, and it is also fun to have a cell phone. In that regard, I considered myself quite fortunate...I remember not too many years ago, having all five kids with me (including a newborn baby) and breaking down by the side of the highway, no cell phone (it was after that incident that we got them!), and no one stopped for over 4 hours to help us. At least now I can write a live action blog post and publish it when I get home.

It is an interesting study into human behavior when you are broke down by the side of the road. Most people just race past you. Some get angry if you were so rude as to have your car stop moving while hanging slightly into traffic (even with your hazards on, flares out, and so forth), and beep, honk, and make hand gestures. Because I'm a lady I can't just stop and help a stranger (too dangerous)when I see someone broke down by the side of the road, but I do at least call the police to send them some help, or AAA if they have the sticker in their window.

My van was finally "fixed" (in quotes) on Saturday, when my hubby and my mom's dh drained the trans fluid, and then replaced filters, and such, hoping that would solve the issues inexpensively. And, voila, it ran better than it had in months, so "mission accomplished' or so we thought. Martin thought I should drive it a bit, and so off I went today, since the no one told me we were out of dog food and garbage bags when I went grocery shopping (in our house, when you use the last or next to last of something, you have to write it on the chalkboard, but it doesn't always work that way), and we had some overdue library books that we thought were due this week but apparently were due last week.

Everything was going along swimmingly until Old Bessie here decided to shift from 60 down to 50, and from there, progressively shift down in 10MPH increments until she eventually refused to move. Thankfully I was able to pull over (mostly). In the past when the trans has acted up, putting it into reverse, and then back into drive helped, and so I tried that... the van ran perfectly in reverse. LOL which as you may imagine was not helpful to me. I am so bad at backing into driveways that I didn't get my drivers license on time as my dad made me back into the driveway, and all the way into the garage in our conversion van...and I took out large pieces of the garage on several occasions. With ditches next to the road, I was a little nervous, but I eventually backed up and into a business driveway several yards away.

I thanked God for my cell phone, and started to call. My dh is sick on the couch with the flu, so he was the last person I planned to call...but as it turned out, all of my people in my phone were not home or their phones were busy, so I wound up calling Dh anyway...He called a friend of his who was to meet us. The only other person I got ahold of was my friend Angela in Virginia. Her husband was all willing to come get me and help me out until he found out I was about 14 hours away in another state, but it was a nice thought :-)

Hubby got there first, and when I told him she only drives in reverse, he told me to back it up, across 5 lanes of highway, into the gas station across the street. I will admit to not cheerfully submitting to that request, but instead doing a sort of blank stare with a ~blink, blink, blink~ at him trying to figure out if he was kidding. (he wasn't). Instead, I drove the go cart (our name for dh's Saturn, which feels like a GC in comparison to the van), close behind him as he maneuvered the van across the road, and prayed the whole way for angels to protect us (they did). People really were honking then, but thankfully there wasn't as much traffic.

Martin and his friend towed it all the way home, and I finished the shopping trip in the Go Cart.

Now we are going to have to make some decisions about what to do with the van. J. keeps saying that it is in perfect shape apart from the trans issue, and that we should fix it even with all of those miles on it.

I was thinking as I sat here in this van, how God so miraculously provided so much for us...HE gave us THIS VAN just 3 Christmases ago...we prayed for it, and tried our best to save to a vehicle, but even though it looked impossible, we got this van as literally a Christmas present from Heaven....the laptop--God GAVE me that laptop under totally miraculous circumstances (it didn't drop from heaven; it came UPS but it still was totally God)....and so much more. I have no doubt He will provide a way.

Well, after we got home and had dinner...I read from a George Mueller biography to build my faith, and this time read it outloud to the whole family...someone called to tell us they found us a transmission for $100 and someone to put it in for under $200...which was really amazing since the quote we got back in October was more like $2000!!!...Of course right now that $300 might as well be $3K because we have no money...but wouldn't you know it, a web design job has come up that will be paying right around that.

The same God George Mueller served, is the one we still serve today.

Creative Beef Soup with homemade Spaetzel

I am digging in my freezer, getting ready to thaw and clean it before the holidays (A good practice to do with both fridge and freezer, to make room for goodies and leftovers), and I realized I never did use that package of beef back ribs from Angel Food Ministries. We tried Angel Food, and frankly I didn't find it helpful due to our family size and what we eat. For example, the wee little package of Beef Ribs would probably work if it were just my husband and I (though DH insists he could eat that by himself) but with 5 kids, that just isn't working for us.

Ribs, though, can only be prepared one way, or can they?

A good soup stock starts with some sort of bone-in meat (for beef, this is usually Oxtail, which I saw at Walmart for $3.68 a pound this week), and a mirepoix of aromatic vegetables (more on that later). So ,why couldn't the ribs replace the Oxtail? It basically looks to be of approximentally the same composition (though the ribs were fattier).

I began though with a Mirepoix, which is the key to an amazing soup or stew. Basically, you need to finely chop some aromatic vegetables, such as what I used: 1 carrot, 1 rib of celery, 1 medium onion, and 2 garlic cloves. This normally though can include other things you happen to have: cabbages, parsnips, turnips, broccoli stalks (save the florets for later), and so forth. I also for flavor tossed in the following:

• caraway seeds (awesome with Beef anything!)
• A few cloves
• Whole cumin seeds
• Some bay leaves (2-3)
• Whole coriander seeds

And thus I saulted my mirepoix until it was just starting to brown.


I should also say that I used a large pot so I could then throw in the ribs, and just ever so slightly braise them on the bottom of the pot, which develops flavor. Doing this with something as incoveniently shaped as ribs (as opposed to the oxtail which is made for this task!), is not easy and it will by no means be completely braised. I also sliced a bit of the fat off first, anything that was freely hanging there (the dogs enjoyed it). I manuvered the ribs around to try to get a few different sides ligthly browned, while keeping the veggies from scortching on the bottom.

Then, I added the water...about 4-6 quarts only because I needed to cover the ends of the ribs. One can always use extra beef stock.

I set it to simmer, covered it, and let is be for about 2-3 hours, or until the meat was literally falling off the bones. When you make a soup with oxtail, when there is nothing left in the round soup bone, it is done. I wasn't sure if a rib emptied out quite like that so I didn't hold it to that test. I waited until they were easily separated. :-) I pulled out the meat, and let it sit to cool for a little bit. One more addition to stock to give it more body is about 2-3T of red wine vinegar (really, any vinegar would work best, but I had some of this left over). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

After the ribs are cooled, pull off the meat, and put it into the stock.

I realized after cooking my stock that I had NO noodles, no rice, no barley, and not potatoes, which has to be a record in my house (i usually have a bucket full of each). I did however have flour, and my dear neighbor had some eggs. And, thankfully, I have a Spaetzel maker...though if I didn't, I would have just made homemade pasta, hand rolled and cut with a pizza cutter.

Spaetzel? What on earth?

Oh, only like MY FAVORITE sort of last minute soup addition!

I got my spaetzel maker when I lived in Austria. Actually, the woman I worked for gave me one as a wedding gift. However, I have seen them in some stores here in America, most notably in Lehman's Catalog, where they are just $6.95. Definately a bargain to be able to make last minute noodles!



The spaetzel recipe is simple enough:

• beat 4 eggs
• add to 2 cups of flour
• Stir in 1/2 c. of water
• add a dash of salt (optional)
• I also added about 1T of parsley as I think it looks pretty

this is going to be a really wet sort of dough (not like bread or normal pasta dough). Scoop it up, put it in the hopper of the spaetzel maker, or dribble it with a spoon or fork into the simmering stew. if you are using the spaetzel maker, move the hopper back and forth as if you are using a grater or mandoline slicer, over the stew, to make the dough fall into the simmering broth below. It's that easy (cleaning the thing is the hard part! LOL).



Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. You can taste test if you want...they should all rise to the top and look like little drops.

The Real Reality

Most people know the quote "we walk by faith and not by sight", and sometimes it even comes across as a little bit cliche.

So it is with the reality of WHO we are in Christ and WHAT we have. Did you know I am RICH? If you are a Christian, so are you? Of course, today as I sit here, I don't have two pennies in my purse to rub together, but nonetheless, I am rich. I am blessed. I am chosen, I am sealed with the holy Ghost. I am forgiven. God has accepted me in the beloved.

We are continuing our study in Ephesians 1 in Sunday school and this was primarily what the theme was about, and it went well with the Sunday morning message as well--which was on Psalm 108, and standing fixed or steadfast.

I'll be the first to admit, I fail more often than I wish I did in these areas. I am an analytical person. I know people always say women are more emotional and men are more analytical but I tend to not fit in that mold. I like things to make sense to me in black and white, on paper (or computer screen). I don't naturally walk by faith. I like to make out goals and plans, and have all of the contingencies covered. When things go wrong, sometimes, if I am in the Spirit, I react properly, thanking God anyway, and all that. If I am in the flesh, I have some degree of meltdown, temper-tantrum or hissy fit. I do NOT like my plans being messed with.

BUT, God has a plan for our lives too...and sometimes that plan conflicts with our plans. When we're looking at ME--my plans, what I want, etc. instead of looking at God...what God has done for us, what God is doing for us, what God has promised us, that God is involved in our lives working out His plans and purposes in just the right way...we can be miserable. When we look at God and what He is doing, it changes everything.

Someone in our church lost their baby in the middle of the pregnancy--but God is still faithful, and is working out His plans and purposes in their lives. So many health great health issues. One dear saint I know online lost her husband this week, and another wrote to an egroup about losing her dad---and yet God has a plan and purpose in all of it.

The real difference in how we handle the adversity we deal with based on whether or not we have our eyes on God or if we are "looking out for number 1" (ourselves). I've found that the God who declares the end from the beginning is much better at deciding what is best for me than I am, because I only see in the here and now, as do you.

Read Ephesians 1 today...and think about it.

Washer Repair for Keepers at Home 101: the Water Level Pressure Switch

The last thing one wants to see after spending the last money in her wallet on washer repair is this (that's sudsy water on the floor, not a decorative paint finish):

Thankfully, the repair was still under warranty, so they came out for free to look at it again, and discovered that the problem was with a faulty water level pressure switch. And the problem with that was that the repair guy had to order one, and then it would be quite a chunk of change to have it installed. So, I dared to ask the question:

"How hard would it be for me to do it myself?"

the answer: "Not very". After a brief tutorial on how to replace a pressure switch, he left, and I went online, where I found the cheapest water pressure switch was on Ebay. Who knew? And it was about 1/6th the price of what my friend the washer repair guy would have charged me. I took my washer apart and pulled the old one out, and the put it back in again just to make sure this was something I felt confident in doing (it was). And, I hit "Buy it Now" on Ebay, and now I'm waiting 3 days for my part to arrive.

Stay tuned.

cat in the box!

You've heard of a jack in the box? Well, here's a cat in the box.

boxes and bags are instant cat traps...no bait necessary. LOL

Cappichino, our 2 year old male tabby, loves shipping boxes.

Gingerbread Men (and women!)

One of our family's things that we like to do each year for Missions Conference is to make a plate of cookies for the missionary families that come to our church so they can have something good to munch on while traveling from our church's missions conference. My kids actually came up with that idea, and I thought it was a great idea. I think we've been doing it for like 5 years or so now. It is one way in which they can be a blessing to God's servants.

This year, we did gingerbread cookies. We have a great gingerbread recipe that we enjoy using, and most people say it's the best gingerbread they ever had. I don't know about that--I had some awesome gingerbread when I used to live in Austria, and this recipe is partly based on gingerbread I made as an Au Pair in Salzburg.

This one makes about 3-4 dozen large cookies, or 5-6 dozen smaller ones. I usually cut the recipe in half if I am making smaller cookies only, but it helps to have all of this extra dough when working with a large ginger bread boy and girl cookie cutter, or when making a gingerbread house.

Start off by beating :

• 2c brown sugar
• 2/3 c. butter or margarine
• 1 1/2c cold water
• 3 c. molasses
• 3t baking soda
• 1T ginger
• 1t allspice
• 2t cinnamon
• 1 t cloves
• pinch of salt

stir in:
14 c. of all purpose flour or soft wheat flour (pastry or graham).

it will be a thick dough.

Wrap it well, and chill for about 2 hours or overnight. I usually will make this one night, and chill it overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350, and roll out your dough on a floured board. You're going to need to work in small batches. the dough is going to be about 1/4 " thick. Cut them with a floured cutter. Try to do cookies of the same basic size at the same time so that they bake evenly. In other words, don't make a huge gingerbread boy, and then a small heart, as the smaller cookie will be done before the rest are.

Bake for about 12 minutes, and let it cool on a rack.

We then decorate our cookies with a cake decorator tool (you can use a pastry bag or the decorator gun like the one we have here from Wilton), and regular vanilla frosting. Esther (age 9) is here decorating the cookies. The nice thing about the decorator thing is that it is easy for kids to use.

You can also use this recipe to make a gingerbread house, which I'll write about another time!

Homemade Take-Out: Wonton Soup!

We love take out Chinese, but when you only spend $50-90 a week on groceries, it just doesn't fit into the ole budget. Slowly but surely, I've instead been mastering the art of frugally preparing our favorite take out dishes at home, and we are discovering we like them BETTER than take out. At our co-op, I'm going to do a demo for the teens called "Top 5 Better than Takeout" (the theme of the sampler class is "Life's Top Ten", and so different areas are explored, from career prep, to cooking!).

Wonton soup is easy and wonton noodles are very versatile to use in not just oriental cooking, but also italian cooking (ravioli!) and polish cooking (pierogis!). But, where on earth do you buy wonton noodles? Actually they are usually in the produce section of your grocery store, near the tofu and weird vegetables. I find ours at Walmart for about 50 noodles for $1.29. Fifty is enough for about 2 pots of soup. They are highly perisable, though, and so you do need to plan on using them up quickly, or freezing the prepared wontons (you can't just freeze the noodles alone because they would be come difficult to work with after thawing--I've tried). If you are making both wontons and raviolis in the same week, that works best.


I guess you could also make your own noodles too--just flour and eggs is what goes into pastas (in this case, rice flour). However, unless you have a cool little pasta roller, the chances of you getting it to the thickness and right size needed are not really good (too bulky doesn't work well with wontons), and it is time consuming, not to mention messy. They're so cheap, especially when on sale for $0.89 as they were this week, why bother? I've done it though. I'd rather make thick fettucini noodles for some AMAZING homemade chicken noodle soup, but that's another post.

Anyway, to start: get about 1lb. ground meat. This can be any sort of ground meat, but it must be thawed. I think that ground turkey works best, because it is somewhat "paste-y" and so easier to work with. Mix into your thawed ground meat:

• 1tsp. of sesame oil (this is found in your oriental foods section of the grocery store, and a little goes a long way.).


• 1T. of rice vinegar (ditto)


• pinch of salt and pepper


• pinch-to-generous pinch (I like ours spicy) of: onion powder, ground ginger, Chinese five spices (a spice blend found in most grocery stores--alt, you could use a touch of cinnamon, anise, cardomom, and cloves), and ground red pepper (which is optional but as I said, I like it spicy).


• 1T of corn starch


• 1T of water

mix well and set aside.

You can also get your soup ready, since we will drop our wontons into the soup:
saulte 1 finely minced onion, 1 c. finely minced cabbage (any kind works though I'd avoid red), 1 finely minced carrot, and 1 finely minced rib of celery in 1T of oil seasoned with a few drops of sesame oil. Pour in 2-3 quarts of either stock (I used my home canned chicken stock), or water with chicken or vegetable boullion. Bring to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer. Season with ginger, Chinese Five Spices, cilantro, and lemon grass (optional--if you find it).

In the mean while, you can start to prepare your wontons.

Get an area ready: have water in a small cup, a flat work surface, and somewhere to put your wontons when you have formed them. You will also need a small spoon or small melon baller.


Lay one wonton noodle down flat, so it looks like a diamond not a square. In the center, place about 1 t of the meat mixture. Using your finger or a brush (finger works better for me), spread water along the edges of the noodle, about a finger's width (1 cm or so), and then fold in half, corner to corner, forming a triangle. Seal those edges well by pressing them together. If you don't--you will have floating meat and floating loose wonton noodles.

Set them aside on a dry spot while you make the rest (you'll probably get about 30-35). When you are done, carefully drop each wonton into the soup, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Test one of the wontons to make sure they cooked throughly--meat should be done. If you want to freeze uncooked wontons, place them on a cookie sheet, not touching, and freeze, then store them in a freezer baggie. Drop then into the soup frozen, and let cook about 20 minutes.

Garnish the soup with green onions (Scallions). Enjoy!

If you are making raviolis, here is how you do it:

the meat mixture changes a little bit: 1/2-1 lb of ground meat, seasoned with basil (I use fresh but dried works too), oregano, rosemary, 1T of tomato paste (optional), garlic, onion powder, and parmesan cheese. You can then cook it in salted water, and serve with your choice of sauce. You can eitehr fold them in half as we did here, or you can put two wontons together to keep them square. I use 1/2 lb of meat when I have only about 15-20 left over after making wonton soup :-)

I've also made raviolis with different fillings, such as ham and ricotta cheese, or just ricotta cheese, and sometimes just mozzerella cheese (I cubed the cheese, and put cubes of mozzerella and some fresh spices into the wraps). I've also made them stuffed with spinach and feta cheese, or fresh basil and feta cheese, for a greek flavor.

Hey, you could even stuff them with leftover mashed potatoes, cheese, and onions to make pierogis! Those were always our evening snack food on Christmas eve growing up.

You can also pan fry the wontons/raviolis but I think they taste better cooked in water.

Totally Awesome post

A cute cartoon with a great message from Joshua Harris....featuring Jabba the Flesh ;)

View it here

Back Online! and...Pre-Advent Sale Update

Well, whatever the difficulty over at Christian Web Host, it seems like the issues were resolved, as my website (and email) is back up online, Praise God.

I want to remind everyone about my pre-advent sale...I decided to sweeten the deal because of the inconvenience of the downtime plus all of the various repairs we have had to do lately....now EVERYTHING in my catalog is 10% off until November 17th.

UPGRADES UPDATE

Hi Ladies,
I posted about a sale, and no sooner than I did that, than my web hosting company has been experiencing some extended downtime. Because all of my email is domain-related, I can't access email either. I would like to ask that you would all be in prayer that Lance and Pam (owners of Christian Web Host) would have some divine wisdom to resolve this issue quickly, and for the Lord to bless them for their kindness, servant spirit, and ministry (those of us who are paying customers enable them to provide free services to missionaries, orphanages, and others). Understandably, this is probably frustrating for all involved. I was supposed to update someone's website this weekend, and have been unable to do anything, as they are hosted on the same server.

The sale will be on as soon as the web hosting company is back on, which, Lord willing, should be soon. :-))

Again, if you need to get in touch with me, email me with my other email address: info@joyfulmommadesign.com, as my normal email doesn't work until the server is back up. I, uh, think that email is working (I hope, maybe, possibly) ;)

In other news, we have had a blessed weekend full of great preaching and awesome challenges for our church's annual missions conference. It is always a blessing to hear from missionaries going around the world to let others know of the hope we have as Christians, while being reminded of our responsibility right here in our own "Jerusalem". It's also a blessing to see my children make faith promise commitments for the year, and to see how God provides for those. I'm thankful for a church that encourages everyone of all ages to get involved, and rejoices in a child's 50 cent a month promise equally with an adult's $100 a month promise.

Pre-Advent Sale

Have you noticed Christmas carols on the radio already? It seems like the "buying season" of Christmas comes earlier and earlier, doesn't it?

I wrote my Advent Ebook Devotional to help families out during the holiday season. This ebook contains information about how we celebrate Advent (which is a Latin word meaning "coming or arrival"--ie, the first coming of our Lord Jesus), and it also has 4 weeks of devotions that focus on looking at Christ's first coming while looking toward His imminent return, and there are some printable Bible verse cards (they are formatted to be used with those business card sheets you can buy at any store).

This month, >the Advent devotional is on sale for 10% off the normal price of $6.50...until November 17th you can get it for just $5.85. It is available for immediate download.

I also put Momma's Guide to Quiet Times in Loud Households on sale for the same amount of time (both the book and the downloadable ebook version). For some reason it is showing as on sale for $0, but actually if you hit buy now, the correct price will show (it is a glitch with the shopping cart software because there is two prices for one product). This book is great for any new moms on your list, or even for anyone you know who struggles with having a devotional life.

Perspectives on Frugality

I had a bad week this week, and I am thankful for the prayers!! :-) They helped. Feeling much better.

I think we all need to get it in our minds that God promises to supply our NEEDS (not necessarily wants) and we're commanded in the Bible, (1 Tim 6:8 KJV) "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."--everything else is an extra! If we really grasp how He blesses us SO MUCH MORE beyond what He refers to as the necessities for contentment, and we grasp how blessed we are beyond what others on this planet today, in 2007 are, then we can begin to focus on How good He's been to us.

This week, my washing machine, dryer, sump pump, and furnace all decided to stop working, and my van is still on the fritz (we were trying to save up just to get that fixed). I was in what one could call a "foul mood" on Monday.

But then I got a letter from a friend of mine who lives in Central Europe (with a rent payment of twice my mortgage payment a month for an apartment the size of my living room), who wrote me via snail mail. None of this stuff had even happened at the time she mailed it! In her letter, full of birthday well wishes and updates on her family, she talked about riding the subway with the kids (She has no car), and about being at the laundromat the other day with two little kids, and her laundry, WITH NO CAR, and a rather humorous account in German about what that was like. It wasn't that she was whining...she was just feeling led to tell me how blessed I was (In addition to wishing me birthday wishes). I of course felt like a worm when I was done reading it....LOL...and was on my face before God almighty, Jehovah Jireh, my provider!

Perspectives like that are the foundation to frugal living successfully...because too often we can fall in the trap of pinching pennies while getting testy and martyr-like and feeling all "Woe is me!" while missing just how blessed we are. So lesson number one is to look at how much God has blessed you. It's foundational!! Attitude is everything.

The furnace is still only sometimes working....but I'm still blessed. The sump pump started working when I kicked it (sometimes those "old fashioned" repairs work best ;))...but I'm still blessed. The washer and dryer both had the repair guy look at them yesterday, and we paid him to fix them...but we're still blessed, and praise God it wasn't as much as originally quoted....still, I could just as well be packing everyone up on a subway today, with all of our laundry, to go to the laundromat and watch the clothes spin for a few hours. Thank You JESUS for washers and dryers in home.

Seriously, have you thanked Him for letting you have a washer? Are you thankful you don't use a scrub board (or as one friend suggested--using a clean plunger in the bathtub to wash clothes?)? Are you glad for running water, for that matter? These things are not your right---millions live without it each day, and billions more down through history have not been blessed with the miracle that is indoor plumbing. Even Mary, His dear Mother, went without indoor pluming, electricity, washers, dishwashers, hair dryers (LOL), hot water, and so forth! Can you imagine having to trudge through the snow on a cold night to go to an outhouse? Girl, you are SO blessed if you've never had to do that!

Contentment at Christmastime

A recent discussion was going on about contentment at Christmastime. Specifically, what do you do if you are tempted to overspend (using Credit Cards...are as they should be called, Debt Cards!) while out with a friend who shops til she drops? How do we walk in contentment when everyone around us is spending money?

Think of this if it helps: don't be jealous of someone who needs all
year to pay off Christmas. I have an article that should be at Ladies
Against Feminism soon called "Have a Merry January". This is the basic
premise of the article! It should be up in the next few weeks.

Another way to look at it: God equates debt with slavery and curses
over and over in His word...so why celebrate His birthday by doing
something that He refers to as a curse, and willfully entering into an
arrangement that He equates with slavery? It's one thing when an
emergency happens and you need to whip out the plastic, but quite
another to do it to keep up with the joneses.

Two: don't shop with people who spend money as if they have a
bottomless well full of it, or you will feel poor even if you aren't.

There are some people I just can't go out and shop with! Try to find
people who enjoy being frugal and shop with them :-)..Pr. 13:20 says
that if you walk with the wise men you become wise, but you will be
harmed by hanging around foolish people(not that spending money is
always foolish but overextending oneself is definitely foolish!) This
is a good verse to make your kids know backwards and forwards, by the way!

Some in my family have more money than they know what to do
with (though many of them whine about not having enough), and those that don't feel the pressure to
charge it up so that they can live as if they do. I recently
learned that someone I know has over 100,000 dollars in unsecured
debt!!. Yowsa--that's higher than my mortgage! I definitely struggle
with wishing I had a nice fancy house with all new features, and new this and new that, but
I also see how all of this money and/or debt affects people if they have not learned to be content with what they have. In short, they totally miss just how blessed they are!

We over at our house are much more content with what we have, and my kids
aren't transformed into the whiny brats I see others having, begging
for this or that new toy when Christmas comes around(with mom and dad running about to different stores to look for whatever is "in" this year). My kids are happy
with the little things in life, and I thank God for it (by the way
they are ages 8-14). I learned along time ago that I can't compete with my relatives and some of my friends....I may look "cheap" but I don't buy anyone Christmas presents except my own kids (and dh) unless I find something really great that is ideal for them and won't break my budget. As for my kids, most of the time, they only get one each, in addition to the small items they get in the Advent Calendar. I wrote an article about this stuff called "Scaled Down Christmas" that is at my website www.joyfulmomma.org/articlesandresources.html

Spending too much on Christmas, if you want my frank opinion ;), is
bad not only for your budget but bad for your kids. My kids have never
gotten much for Christmas from us, and at first I was concerned that
they would feel left out or bad about it, but we do go out of our way
to make Christmas season special in other ways, and to really spend
time together, enjoying one another, and focusing on what we are
supposed to be celebrating. I see in many families I know, that the kids become more and more discontent the more "stuff" they get for Christmas, and half the time they forget about their gifts within a week or two. God's word calls us, over and
over again, to contentment, and yet the modern "spirit of Christmas"
is quite the opposite. If we say we are observing Christ's birthday, we should be encouraging Christ's character while doing so.

If we can afford more, there is nothing wrong with gifts mind you, but
I guess it is more the attitude surrounding it (particularly the
attitude displayed in the receivers of the gifts)...and so I strongly
urge you to make it a matter of prayer together with your husband, while
the kids are still young, and see what the Lord would have you do
regarding number and amount of gifts. Many I know give only three
gifts as that is what Jesus received (the three gifts from the Magi),
and others have a spending limit for total gifts.

Cool Christmas Wreath with Candy

My friends over at www.LivingOnADime.com have put up another great instructional video on You Tube. This is so neat! I think this will be the Christmas presents for my mom and mother in law this year.....shhhhh don't tell ;)

warming up

Today, I spent lots of time on the phone finding various repair people and seeking advice from those who know how to fix the sundry things that are broken in our house. We are pretty sure the back hose in the washer had become loose (the dog hid there during the tornadoes that came through here a week and a half ago, despite us trying to pull her out--which probably caused it to loosen, and then eventually break), but when I tried to tighten it I only partly stopped the flow. Someone is coming to look at it, but he assures me he is quite sure he knows what the problem is and that it can be fixed quickly. Let's hope so--he's getting paid by the hour ;). I thought Maytags never need the services of repair people?!?

We managed to fix the furnace ourselves (praise God)...the ignitor burned out, and so we had to buy a new one and plug it back in. It felt so warm in the house after we did that, we had to open a window. LOL Now it's just right.

fixing things is a very unglamorous way to spend money, isn't it? LOL

point and counterpoint

it's rather ironic that I wrote about the goodness of God this morning.

Let me tell you what I did when I got up from the computer just after posting that:

Deciding that it sounded like the washing machine had been running too long, I went to the basement to check the situation out. what I found made my heart sink. My sump pump was no longer running. Water was up to my ankles in the basement. My washing machine was spitting water up everywhere while it ran into the washing machine and directly out of the top and the bottom of it. I looked inside and it wasn't even half way filled with clothes so I don't get that at all...after the last washer died, I have been diligent about not putting too much into the washer, and it was well within those parameters. The floor was covered in wet dryer lint (I keep the dryer lint in a box--it makes great fire starter for bon fires...well, not anymore...it only works if it doesn't take a swim first LOL). the dryer, which should have been running was not. In fact, the clothing in the dryer was just as wet as when I put it in the dryer, only a little warm on one side, so I turned it on only to have it do nothing.

I knew the washer was fairly new, so I looked up the warrenty information. the warrenty expired three days ago (of course it did--do they program that to happen?!?).

Oh, and the furnace isn't working. it broke last night when it hit about 30F in my house. Brrrrrrrrrr Thankfully we know how to fix that...we've had this happen before when we first moved in. the ignitor burned out.

My dh told me to call around to find the ignitor for the furnace, and when I did, it was in stock somewhere on my dh's drive home but apparently he wouldn't get there in time (it closed just as he was getting out of work), so he wound up coming home early because I didn't have any gas in the van and can't drive it too far anyway because I am on borrowed time with the van (everyone who knows anything about cars has told me not to drive it unless absolutely necessary until it is repaired). He hurried home all the more when he heard me crying my eyes out about the washer, dryer, sump pump, and the fact that I've been on the receiving end of many complaints today via email and telephone.

Whataday!

The Goodness of God

My dh took me out yesterday afternoon to celebrate my birthday...38 years old this week! Goodness, me!

We went to this cute little Chinese restaurant that my mom introduced us too--the New China Buffet in Imlay City--it's in the Kroger shopping plaza. They have an all you can eat buffet of Chinese food (obviously) with some really incredible soups too. Normally those buffet places aren't my favorite...but this one is especially good, and it is MSG free. Best of all, it's cheap. For the two of us we spent a little bit more than what one would spend at McDonald's...plus tip. We needed to go in that direction anyway, as we needed some more car parts for the van.

On the way there, we are reflecting on the goodness of God to us....we've had some hard times for a long time now, and it's been a frustration but yet God has at the same time really shown Himself strong on our behalf. He has never let us go without that which we truly need, and has taught us to discern the difference between wants and needs. It's been an eye opening experience.

As we drove towards Imlay (some 20 miles from home), we began to notice how many houses were up for sale...and businesses....and how many of them said "Reduced Price" on them. Lots of these homes for sale looked empty--maybe foreclosed? Someone was arguing with me recently that the whole talk of a recession is some Democrat plot to convince us of hard times so that we will vote for Hillary. LOL. Well, I am not sure there is ANYTHING on this planet that would make me vote for her...but if this is a conspiracy to make us all THINK we are in a recession, they are pretty convincing. I am sure these people are losing their homes out of more than just fear. Things are hard for families. Many families are trying desperately to tighten their belts. Some are finding that they are so overextended, especially with their mortgage, that they are going to lose everything and they can't do much about it.I know...I get lots of emails on this topic from desperate families asking about saving money.

On they way home, we started to count with tally marks how many houses actually were for sale...we counted 104 for sale signs, including 23 businesses, and 49 "price reduced" signs...and we are in a very rural area. It was something like 1 in 6 or 7 pieces of property up for sale that we passed.

We started to praise God that we never lost our house (the repo appraiser did come by once, but thankfully we were able to get out of that situation!). We were praising God for friends of ours who, while in a worse situation than us, didn't lose their house either (but it was close--the repo man came by a few times). We were thanking God for His provision. We were thanking God for showing us what it means to trust in Him as Jehovah Jireh. We were praying for all of the other families here in Michigan (and elsewhere) on the verge of losing everything.

Last night, our pastor spoke on seeing with the eyes of Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-18). So many times we look at these signs of despair around us, and we are like Elisha's servant--only seeing the Syrian armies around us. However, when we are walking in faith and looking through the eyes of faith, we see with the eyes of Elisha, and we realize that God has already sent His protecting angels in chariots of fire to surround us.

Afterwards, I shared with someone what God was showing Martin and I, and they cynically said that they didn't really think that it looked like we were being taken care of...after all, the Van still is in bad shape, and we have no money in savings, and in a few years our oldest will be ready for college but there is no college fund with which to pay for that education...and so on and so forth...

...but really, God is able to provide for us no matter what it looks like...if God wants her to go to college, He'll provide for that. We seek Him often about that topic!!! I know that the van will eventually be cared for ;) I would rather not go without it...but if I have to, I have to. It really isn't a "need"....as necessary as it feels. And, as much as God wants us to be good stewards of what He has provided, we don't get brownie points for how much we have in savings, but rather how we spend what He has given to us. Not that I don't get discouraged about stuff like this...I need those faith builders just as much as anyone else. I've had pity parties, and I have had crying fits over this stuff....but God...oh, but GOD is so faithful, and the peace that passes all understanding just pours over us and we realize it really is WELL with my soul!

Defending the Faith Sunday (Oct. 28th, 2007)

This week, I read an article (wish I had it now) about a scientist whose work is often quoted in creation science books and articles, who noted back in the 1960s about the unlikelihood of life just happening...the man is an evolutionist, incidentally. Well, last week there was an article about him recanting his whole paper that he wrote on that topic because of how disheartened he was about the creationists "misusing" his research. He basically said that his paper there was not very serious, and downplayed the importance of it.

When someone is confronted with the reality of God at work, and hears the gospel and/or sees miracles happen before his or her eyes, they have two choices--they can choose to believe or not. Sometimes when you take evangelism courses, much is covered about apologetics (the extra=biblical evidences for the Christian faith), but the truth is, if you have ever talked to someone who is hard hearted, some people don't really care if there is evidence or not. They will even get angry, start to cuss or even get violent...they don't want to be confused with facts.

Even someone like Darwin, who titled one of his chapters of Origin of Species, "The PROBLEM with the Fossil Record" (the chapter laments the fact that no proof exists---yet---to prove his insane claims, only the proof of natural selection within species), will reject truth if it doesn't line up with what they want to believe. He'd rather wish that some day we might find proof to back up his ideas, than believe in a Creator.

For the record, no proof has ever been found. A few times a "missing link" was found only to be later disproved. If however, life existed for billions of years, would we not expect the fossil record to be FULL of transitory creatures? No such creatures exist...but I don't have time to go into all of that now.

I read this quote this week which I think sums it up quite well: "Even if a miracle should be wrought in the open marketplace before a thousand sober witnesses, I would rather doubt my senses than admit a miracle" (Voltaire, French Philosopher).

And you thought science was about observing and classifying facts! Silly you! Not everyone who claims that they believe in infallible science and not so-called "blind faith" religion is being honest about that.

This sort of thing has been going on since the beginning of time...even on the day of Pentecost, 120 people get filled with the Holy Ghost and start speaking in other languages which the audience can understand as their own home dialects, and the skeptics immediately think they are drunk. Oh, sure, don'tcha know that when you get drunk you can always speak in foriegn lanaguages. LOL (as was pointed out during a recent Bible Institute class I was in)

Some people would rather you not confuse them with logic or facts.

Everything I ever wanted to know about car maintenence (but was afraid to ask)

Today was spent with my mother and her husband, who graciously helped my husband fix a few of the more minor things on the van. J. is an interesting guy. He builds antique cars from parts he has bought in junkyards and on Ebay...including a Model T and a beautiful VW. He knows more about cars and cart maintenence than I ever thought possible...

When I asked a simple question ("is it possible to fix struts and shocks on a van at home or is it best left to the pros?") I got a lengthy, informative lecture about the exact functions of the various parts of a van, how they all work together, what shocks and struts actually do and how they may break down over time (and the various things that may have gone wrong), and so on and so forth. I took about 4 pages of notes while I talked to him on the phone the other day, and finally asked him if he could just show us how to do it...and in exchange for finding out what was wrong with his computer, he agreed for us to come over, and do some auto shop in his garage.

As he looked at the old shock/strut from the van, he asked us when the last time we greased it. Uh.....never? Were we supposed to grease it? Why don't they tell us these things?!?! He said that it should be done at the time of each oil change....and that most places should do it, but you should ask anyway. From the looks of ours, it has not been greased in a very long time.

He looked at our transmission too (after giving me a very detailed description of the various parts and functions of the transmission, and how to maintain one, and of course all of the different things that might go wrong with a transmission, of course). Apparently, some cars have only certain kinds of Transmission Fluid that can be used with them (that would have been handy to know!). Then there's the fact that when the transmission fluid gets too hot, it gets thick and sludgy, causing things to malfunction or to not function optimally, and eventually causing you to be sitting by the side of the road watching traffic fly by you, waiting for a tow truck. Our next task is going to be to drain the transmission fluid and refill it with fresh, to see if that will help the situation. We were going to do that today, but it took 6 hours to do both shocks, and when we went to start on the trans, we realized they had given us the wrong sized filter at the auto parts store. Another day, I guess.

It was nice to drive home without bouncing down the road. ;) Thank God for some help!