From My Journal

TODAY IS: September 29, 2024

AROUND ME: We have a fun little trip planned for today.  We are going to an Amish community about 45 minutes from us in PA to get some apple cider and our year's supply of Pure Maple Syrup.  Then it's home to make some bread for the freezer.

I AM PONDERING: this quote by J. C. Ryle..."Christian, receive your trials, crosses, and conflicts patiently; bear them quietly; look upward, forward, onward, and far behind them.  Fight your daily fight under a steadfast conviction that it is only for a little while, and that rest is not far off." 

AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS:  

This sweet mug for autumn!

 BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY READING:

  Refreshment for the Soul is a collection of Richard Sibbes thoughts on different topics and is compiled as a devotional.  So, it will be an ongoing reading throughout this year.

The Soul's Conflict by Richard Sibbes

A Place for Weakness by Michael S. Horton

I AM THANKFUL FOR:  Strongheart.  He can do most anything that needs attention around the house.  Last week he installed a tub surround in our bathroom.  Walking in there now feels like a totally different place!

.FROM THE KITCHEN:  

You may remember that we had our third bloom of our Shitake mushrooms last week.

Instead of freezing all of them like I did with the second bloom, 

I decided to use some to make some cream of mushroom soup.

Oh my!

If you have never done that, you really should.

As Strongheart said, "It's definitely better than Campbell's".

😀

SOMETHING I AM THANKFUL FOR:   We will be enjoying the company of our son and daughter-in-law from Maine starting on Saturday evening!  It will be a short visit because they will leave early on Thursday morning to make the trip back to Maine, but we are so thankful for any time that we get to spend with them...and that they are willing to make that long drive (14 hours).  He's doing it because we will celebrate my birthday while they are here. 

TO DO LIST FOR TODAY:  Making the trip to Springs PA for apple cider and syrup and making some bread for the freezer, in preparation for our family's visit.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 91:12

Be Encouraged

 

The Effects of Kindness

 Desiring to go a bit deeper on the effects of kindness, I spent some time doing a bit of research and found some interesting tidbits that I thought would be worth sharing here to document, not only for myself, but to share with any who stop by here.

One thing that I hadn't considered before is that kindness is often taught by parents to their children.  When I thought back over my childhood, I would have to agree with that idea.  My parents were some of the kindest people that I have ever met.  They both would have given anyone who needed it the shirt off their back, as the saying goes.  I observed that time and time again in the way they treated my grandparents and then with my mother as she worked as a lab manager in a research lab at WVU.  She was often buying items to help grad students get settled in their new home...especially those from different cultures, rejoicing with them over new babies in their families, etc.  My dad was the same way in opening up our home to others.

I also learned that studies show kindness interventions can help improve our well-being with comparable results as teaching gratitude.  That is such a powerful thought and when I think back over the times in my life when people have shown me kindness, regardless of how small the act was, it did instill thankfulness and gratitude in my heart.  I have always viewed such acts of kindness as "I love Yous" from Jesus.

In this day of fast paced living, kindness can be neglected.  However, when they aren't forgotten, and kindness is put into action, the actions give off positive effects in the brain, which in turn improves our mood and causes us to think of ways that we can pay it forward.

I did find also that, not only are these random acts of kindness spontaneous, but there are actually organizations and days set aside to put kindness into action.  As examples think "pay it forward", random acts of kindness that are non-premediated acts to cheer up others.  There's actually a Pay It Forward Day! There is a group known as Random Act of Kindness and there is also The Kindness Offensive North London group known for random acts of kindness for our friends who are part of the UK.

I must say that this year of discovering more about kindness has been a most fulfilling endeavor!

Apple, Pear, Walnut Crisp

 

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 Granny Smith apples (I used Empire and Golden Delicious)

3 Bartlett pears

1/2 cup walnuts

1 cup sugar (I used maple sugar, but you could use coconut or granulated sugar)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 stick butter

2 cups flour (I used King Arthur's 1 for 1 gluten free)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour and brown sugar.  Add 1 cup of butter and mix on low speed until crumbly.

In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together and set aside.

Peel, core, and slice apples and pears.  Put in a large bowl, add walnuts.

Mix in sugar mixture and stir until all fruit and walnuts are coated well.

Pour fruit mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Add the remaining 1/4 cup butter (sliced) and just place on top of the fruit mixture randomly.

Add the flour mixture on top of fruit and spread evenly.

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F. for 40-50 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

The End of Your Life Book Club ~ a book review

 

I learned about this book through one of my book-loving blogging friends.  I just can't remember which one.  If you are that person and are reading this blog post, I want to say thank you for the review you did.  Although I didn't put it on a list somewhere physically, it was always whirling around in my mind that at some point I wanted to make sure I read the book.

This is a non-fiction book about the life of Mary Anne Schwalbe, and her journey through pancreatic cancer.  The author, Will Schwalbe, was her son who shared his precious times with his mother during her chemo treatments, doctor appointments and helped us to know his mom on a personal level.

Mary Anne Schwalbe was a woman with a big heart...always looking for someone she could help.  She was at one time the Associate Dean of Admissions at Harvard University.  She was also the Founding Director for the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, which is now known as Women's Refugee Commission.  You can read more about her HERE, if you care to.

The Book Club referred to in the title is a book club of two...Will and Mary Anne.  They were both avid readers and would choose books that they would both read and then discuss during Mary Anne's chemo treatments.  Through their discussions of a variety of books, the reader learns more in depth of both their personalities and the causes that drove them.  

I enjoyed the book, not because I necessarily agreed with all of their views on different matters, but because it stretched my thinking a bit.  Normally, when someone is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, they only live a few short months.  Mary Anne lived for almost two years from the time of her diagnosis.  

The book develops one's sense of the Schwalbe family's core values and much of that is detected by some of the books that Mary Anne and Will read and discussed.  Even though the family was Jewish by birth, Mary Anne attended a Presbyterian church.  

Something that this book did for me was it brought back so many precious memories of times I was able to share with my dear mother before she died.  Even when she reached the point that she wasn't verbal, she still responded to the memories that I would share with her from my childhood.  My mother was an avid reader, as I am, but we didn't necessarily enjoy the same books, but it didn't keep us from sharing with one another the contents of the books we did enjoy.

I think I was hesitant about reading this book for so long because I knew in the end, Mary Anne was going to die.  But, if that would be something that might put you off about reading it, please, don't allow it to.  It's only in the last chapter, of 28 chapters, that her death is dealt with.  I think of all that I would have missed by not reading the other 27 chapters because I knew she was going to die.

From My Journal

 TODAY IS: September 23, 2024

AROUND ME: things are slowly getting back to normal around our house, now that I am beginning to do much better than the last couple of weeks.

I AM PONDERING: "God's grace is not a way of going around trials, but a way of going through them," James Montgomery Boice

AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS:  Visting blogging friends and finding things that make me know that they thought of me...such as this...

BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY READING:

  Refreshment for the Soul is a collection of Richard Sibbes thoughts on different topics and is compiled as a devotional.  So, it will be an ongoing reading throughout this year.

The Soul's Conflict by Richard Sibbes

Lenten Lands by Douglas Gresham

A Place for Weakness by Michael S. Horton

I AM THANKFUL FOR:  sweet memories that came from the hands of my sweet mom.

My dad wasn't in the best of health and spent several times in the hospital as I was growing up.  

Mother always had some sort of needlework in her bag so that she could go straight to the hospital directly from getting off work to spend the evening with Daddy.

This is one of her pieces of handiwork. 

 I can't even imagine making all of those French Knots on the Golden Rod.  

Something extra about this particular piece is that she had my uncle make the frame for it in his workshop.

The picture has hung in every home we have lived in from the time she gave it to me.

.FROM THE KITCHEN:  

My first loaf of gluten free bread that I made.

You can find the recipe HERE.

SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOY:   

Strongheart is in the process of harvesting our third bloom of Shitake mushrooms!

We haven't quite reached the number of mushrooms as are pictured here, 

but it won't be long!

TO DO LIST FOR TODAY:  Cleaning the living room and kitchen.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 91:12

Be Encouraged

 

Garlic Lime Chicken

 

Garlic Lime Chicken

(another recipe I used to make frequently, but just recently gave a try)

Mix together:

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. dried thyme and parsley

Sprinkle generously over 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

In a heavy skillet:

2 T. butter

1 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tsp. garlic powder

3 T. lime juice

Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.  Sauté chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side.  Sprinkle with 2 tsp. garlic powder and lime juice.  Cook 5 minutes; stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce.

From My Journal

 TODAY IS: September 16, 2024

AROUND ME: Our high for today is to be 75 degrees F with the chance of a light rain.  We will be thankful for whatever rain we get.  

I AM PONDERING: "Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace within difficulties." C.S. Lewis

AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS: 

 

Is there such a thing as too many books?

I think not.

BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY READING:

  Refreshment for the Soul is a collection of Richard Sibbes thoughts on different topics and is compiled as a devotional.  So, it will be an ongoing reading throughout this year.

The Soul's Conflict by Richard Sibbes

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

A Place for Weakness by Michael S. Horton

I AM THANKFUL FOR: My husband who lovingly assumes my responsibilities around the house when I am not able to.

I'm also thankful for our church and our pastor who preaches the truth of the Gospel.  Also thankful for our church family.

FROM THE KITCHEN:  

Apple, Pear and Walnut Crisp

SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOY: 

TO DO LIST FOR TODAY:  Continuing to heal from a hip problem.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 91:12

Be Encouraged

 

A Day in the Park

 I should warn you that this post is going to be mostly pictures from our day at our favorite state park...Cathedral State Park.  It's about an hour away from our home.  It is the home of one of the largest stands of virgin Hemlocks in West Virginia.  I love going to this park and just hiking one of the trails.  Walking into this forest truly melts away any stress.

Gone-All-Day-Stew

 When our children were younger there was a recipe that I made quite often.  I'd forgotten about it until just recently when I was going through my recipe box.  The original recipe came from Taste of Home magazine, I believe.  I made this on Saturday of last week for us to enjoy over the weekend.  It was just as good as ever, so thought I would share the recipe with you.

Gone-All-Day-Stew

1 can tomato soup, undiluted

1 cup water or red wine

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur's 1 for 1 gluten free flour and it worked fine)

2 pounds beef chuck, fat trimmed, cut in 1-inch to 2-inch cubes

3 medium carrots, cut in 1-inch diagonal slices

6 white boiling onions or yellow onions quartered

4 medium potatoes, cut in 1-1/2-inch chunks

1/2 cup 1-inch celery chunks

12 whole large fresh mushrooms

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 Tablespoon Italian her seasoning or 1 teaspoon each oregano, thyme, and rosemary

1 bay leaf

3 grinds fresh pepper

Mix together soup, water/wine, and flour until smooth; combine with remaining ingredients in covered roasting pan.  Bake at 275 degrees F for 4-5 hours.  

I would recommend that sometime around three hours you check to make sure that there is enough liquid still in the roaster to keep everything from sticking.  

Kindness ...

 is showing up everywhere...

in books..."I don't know what other people think-but I know what I think," my mother replied.  "I think everyone needs to be kind-especially doctors.  You can be a very great doctor and still be kind. That's partly why I like Dr. O'Reilly so much more than the first oncologist I saw-not because she's a woman but because she's kind."

"But you always taught us that sometimes people aren't nice because they aren't happy."

"Yes, but maybe those people shouldn't be looking after other people.  And I'm also talking about kindness, not just being nice.  You can be gruff or abrupt and still be kind.  Kindness has much more to do with what you do than how you do it.  And that's why I didn't have much sympathy for Hanna's mother in People of the Book.  She was a doctor and a mother, and she wasn't kind."  This was part of a conversation between a mother (who is undergoing chemo for her cancer treatment) and her adult son in the book The End of Your Life Book Club...page 110.  I enjoyed this so much because of this post that I did last week...it fit right in.  

And kindness is also showing up in other places...

I found this journal a few months ago when we were out shopping one day. 

It's one of those things that you know was placed there just for you.

It's now my place for keeping special quotes.

From My Journal

 TODAY IS: September 9, 2024

AROUND ME: The high for today is expected to be 76 degrees with hazy sunshine.  We've been enjoying those beautiful early foggy mornings.  I just love those kinds of beginnings to a day!

I AM PONDERING: "When your dreams are vague, it's easy to rationalize exceptions all day long and never get around to the specific things you need to do to succeed." James Clear

AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS:  

BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY ENJOYING:  

  Refreshment for the Soul is a collection of Richard Sibbes thoughts on different topics and is compiled as a devotional.  So, it will be an ongoing reading throughout this year.

The Soul's Conflict by Richard Sibbes

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

I AM THANKFUL FOR: Our grandchildren who call us and stay in touch even though they are all grown up.  Our "baby" of the lot started college last month!  But she still calls "just to check to see how you and Pop Pop are doing, Grandma".  Our grandson called yesterday afternoon on his way home after church and doing some shopping.  

I'm also thankful for our church and our pastor who preaches the truth of the Gospel.  Also thankful for our church family.

FROM THE KITCHEN:  I don't have a picture, but we finished up the grape juice production this past week with four more quarts of juice, for a total of 20 quarts for the winter when the snow starts to fly!

SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOY: 

We took the day off on Friday and went to visit one of our favorite state parks.  This is from the trail that we hiked.  After our hike, we sat at one of the picnic tables and ate our picnic lunch. Such a lovely day.

TO DO LIST FOR TODAY:  Making red raspberry juice with the fruit steamer so I can have it for jelly making a bit later this autumn.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 91:12

Be Encouraged

 

Is Kindness Simply Being Nice?

 A comment on last week's post that I did on Kindness gave me food for thought.  I decided to explore the subject a bit more, as it is my One Word this year of 2024.

Barbara mentioned that as a Christian kindness should be a hallmark of our interactions.  While I totally agree with her it also caused me to wonder about something.

Is interacting with others with kindness merely something that we do or is it who we are as human beings? 

Could it be that kindness is simply being nice?  

While I know my friend Barbara well enough to know she was saying that as Christians kindness should be who we are, I wanted to compare the meaning of the words kindness and nice.  You know, just for the fun of it because I'm curious like that.

Webster's Dictionary defines kindness as, "the quality or state of being kind".  It also listed some synonyms for it as, "service, courtesy, indulgence", but it continued on with some other surprising synonyms such as, "grace, privilege, blessing, mercy, benevolence".  I enjoyed that because it definitely backs up the idea that as Christians these last five synonyms speak of God's lovingkindness to us that we might pass them on to others.  It really is the core of Barbara's statement that kindness should be the hallmark of our interactions with others!  

Finding that just spurred me on to see what Webster's had to say about nice.  This is what I found, "polite, kind, pleasing agreeable, appropriate, fitting".  Synonyms listed for nice included "polite, satisfactory, proper, acceptable, respectable, decent".  

In my way of viewing the two definitions, especially when looking at their synonyms, kindness (or kind) is the root of who we are as Christians, while being nice is what we do as a result of who we are. 

 It's the whole being versus doing scenario in a very good way.  They compliment each other ~ we do because of who we are.

What are YOUR thoughts?  Please leave them in the comments!  I'd love to hear!

Chewy Granola Bars with Coconut Oil

 

CHEWY GRANOLA BARS WITH COCONUT OIL

2/3 cup coconut oil

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup honey or maple syrup

2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies

1 1/2 cups mix-ins such as dried fruit and coconut

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Melt oil and 1 cup chocolate chips together, remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and honey or maple syrup.  

Mix together dry ingredients and then combine with liquid.

Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper.

Press into pan.  Top with mini chocolate chips and press down.

Refrigerate for 2+ hours.

Cut into bars and store in fridge.

SIDE NOTE:  After cutting these into bars, I wrapped each one individually before placing them in Ziplock bags and putting them in the fridge.  I had heard that these could be a little messy because of the chocolate but by wrapping them individually, we just used the "wrapper" to protect our fingers from the sticky.