Friday, February 28, 2025
Thursday, February 27, 2025
I Capture the Castle ~ a book review
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
May I Make a Recommendation?
Last Thursday, I learned from reading a few blogs that February 20 is known as National Cherry Pie Day. Who knew? I'm assuming that is a tribute to President George Washington since we now combine his birthday and Abraham Lincoln's birthday for President's Day.
We had actually planned to go out for a meal on that day, but due to ❄❅❆ falling from the sky, we thought better of it. Especially since the restaurant we had in mind was in a neighboring county in MD where my friend Karen lives. It's at a higher elevation and they always have even more snow that we do here.
I digress.
The plan was that Strong Heart was going to have a piece of cherry pie there to celebrate National Cherry Pie Day. We seldom have sweet treats around here these days, and I wouldn't be having the pie anyway, since the restaurant does not do Gluten-Free desserts.
Since we weren't able to go out, and we really didn't need to have an entire cherry pie around here (I do know how to make gluten-free pie crust 😀), I came up with an alternative idea. Why not make brownies and use the 1/3 bag of frozen cherries I had left over from when I made cherry jam and make a cherry sauce for on top of the brownie?
This is where my recommendation comes in...
I served the brownie with a spoonful of cherry sauce. I'm sorry that I didn't think to take a picture of one before serving it. So, I will share this picture from Pinterest with you to give you the idea.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
This is What Resilience Looks Like
"If"
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Men are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop to build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your nerve and heart and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more- you'll be a Man, my son!
This poem brings back so many memories from my high school days.
It was one that a close friend recited often in the years of our friendship before he left for Vietnam.
He was the one person who at least strived to live out these words of Kipling.
He was a wonderful example to me of the word Resilience.
For background information on the history behind this work of Kipling's,
click HERE
Monday, February 24, 2025
From My Journal
TODAY IS: 24 February 2025
AROUND ME: We are about to enjoy some warmer weather! Yipee!
I AM PONDERING: all of the laws and sacrifices in the Old Testament and how wonderful it is that Jesus became THE sacrifice that ended all of the other sacrifices. What a wonderful and glorious Redeemer we have when we carry His name.
AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS:
BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY ENJOYING: Favorite Poems Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Methinks I may have taken on a "project" with the second book, but the title listed by my friend Lisa among her favorite ten books in 2020 intrigued me. So, I have to give it a good try. It's a resilience thing, 'ya know?
I AM THANKFUL FOR: folks that God has put in my life that I know I can go to and ask them to pray about things on my heart and can rest assured that they do actually pray.
FROM THE KITCHEN:
SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOY:
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK:
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
Friday, February 21, 2025
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Chicken and Spaghetti
I thought I would share a recipe that my mother would make fairly often. We had it for supper last night and I had intended to take a picture of our plates before we started eating. I was halfway through mine when I realized that I'd forgotten to take a picture. 😀
Chicken and Spaghetti
1 cup chopped onion
2 T. bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 T. Butter
2 (15 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 small bottle of catsup
1 tsp. chili powder
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 chicken, boiled and deboned
1 box spaghetti, cooked and drained
Grated Parmesan cheese
Melt butter in a stock pot or Dutch oven. Add onion, pepper and celery and sauté until the veggies are tender. Add the tomato sauce, catsup and chili powder and mix well; add mushrooms. Remove meat from the bone and chop or cut into bite size pieces and add to the mixture, mixing well. Then add the cooked and drained pasta. Place in a greased casserole dish. Add some of the chicken broth if you feel everything looks too dry. Bake in 300-degree F oven for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.
A couple of side notes... the recipe calls for a whole chicken. I did not have a whole chicken in the freezer, so I used what I had...several chicken legs and about three chicken tenders.
The recipe just says 1 box of spaghetti, but didn't specify the size. Since I use gluten-free pasta, I used just one 8 oz. box of it. Actually, depending on how much pasta you prefer, it could have used more than 8 ounces. It worked fine for us, but I realize others may prefer more. We enjoy the flavor of the sauce.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
I've Been Trying Something New
It's activated by calcium, which has calcium powder in the box along with the pectin. You just dissolve the calcium powder in water, add the correct amount for your recipe, and put it in the pan with your crushed fruit. Then mix the pectin and honey together. Once the crushed fruit has come to a boil, you simply add the pectin/honey mixture to the pan, stir vigorously for one minute and jar up the jam.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
By Grace Alone - a book review
By Grace Alone by Sinclair Ferguson, with the subtitle, How The Grace of God Amazes Me was such a good read. It is the author's thoughts on a poem by the African pastor Emmanuel T. Sibomana, and both are backed up with Scripture time and time again.
The poem has seven verses, and Sinclair Ferguson takes each verse and highlights the beauty and richness of what Christ did for us on Calvary. The book is only seven chapters long, with the author's insight and wisdom that helps us grow in our relationship with Jesus.
Here is a link to the words of the poem and I do hope that you will take the time to read it because it will definitely create a desire in you to read the book.
Chapter One of the book, "My Chains Fell Off", deals with how Jesus breaks our bondage from sin and brings us into freedom by His grace.
Chapter Two, "Unconditional Love" (my favorite chapter) deals with the beautiful parables concerning lost things, with a great emphasis on the parable of the Prodigal Son. The author brings more than just the two sons into view, he presents the third Son...the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter Three, "At God's Expense" is a very sobering look at Jesus' suffering and crucifixion, focusing on how great His grace was to us.
Chapter Four, "A Great Exchange" goes into an explanation of "the basic problem, the exchange, the release, and the transformation" that brings us to salvation.
Chapter Five, "Guaranteed Security" deals with how Christ has become our shield and buckler as He protects us when Satan throws his darts at us.
Chapter Six, "Delivered from Evil" takes us into the company of Job and his "friends". This chapter was very helpful to me as it dealt with our thoughts and how we are equipped to deal with the fiery darts.
Chapter Seven, "True Freedom" reminds us of who we were in Adam and who we are now in Christ, if we are truly a Christian.
Would I recommend this book? Definitely! Sinclair Ferguson is such a gentle and kind personality, and it comes through in his writing. Reading these chapters in correlation with the poem by Pastor Emmanuel Sibomana was a blessing, to say the least.
Monday, February 17, 2025
From My Journal
TODAY IS: 17 February 2025
AROUND ME: We woke up Sunday morning to a temperature of 52 degrees F and rain. On our way home from church, the temperature had already begun to drop, and wind continued to bring the temperature down. Shortly after 1:30 it began to snow, and it has been a mixture of rain, ice and snow with LOTS of wind. This type of weather is to continue through midafternoon today.
I AM PONDERING: a book I read recently and the social issues that it dealt with.
AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS:
BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY ENJOYING: Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
I AM THANKFUL FOR: my husband, family, friends, Scripture, seasonal changes in the weather.
Friday, February 14, 2025
Thursday, February 13, 2025
My Day on Tuesday
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Jack's Life ~ a book review
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
The Very Positive Side of Resilience
I've been becoming acquainted with my One Word 2025 Resilience over the past six weeks.
I've been learning just how strongly it is connected to one of its synonyms, Perseverance.
I've also been learning what a positive thing each of them is, in their own right.
For the most part, I've always been one who loved to start projects (and often many of them at one time), but not being really very good at completing any of them.
I've been enjoying, of late, the beauty of Perseverance.
I recently cut back my time on social media...cut back in way of eliminating my Instagram account.
Then I began to wonder what I should do with the time that I had spent on social media. Here are just a couple of things that I've given my time to of late:
Reading again! It isn't that I really ever completely stopped reading, but I had cut back drastically because of using that time to be on Instagram. I'm so enjoying learning new things about different topics.
Crocheting again! I started a baby blanket in white well over a year ago. I've picked that back up again and have added quite a bit to it.
Staying motivated with my homemaking skills with a renewed spirit about it all.
There have been times when I have wanted to give in and re-enter the world of Instagram, but I haven't. I have Persevered.
There have been times when I really haven't felt like reading and want to give up on a book, but I haven't. I've Persevered
There have been times when I wonder why I'm crocheting this blanket because I don't even know anyone who is expecting a baby, but I haven't quit. I've Persevered.
There have been times when I've been doing a homemaking task and wanted to just quit and leave it undone, but I haven't. I've Persevered.
And in my Persevering do you know what I've learned?
I've learned Resilience!
And I've learned it in a positive way. Staying with a project is worth the effort because I love the feeling of accomplishment, of giving to others, and pleasing the Lord.
And I've been able to persevere because in my weakness, He has been Strength.
Monday, February 10, 2025
From My Journal
TODAY IS: 10 February 2025
AROUND ME: We are preparing for more winter storms. We are looking at 3-6 inches of snow from Tuesday through Wednesday. But I still believe that spring is not far off. We are already seeing so many signs of nature coming back to life to believe otherwise.
I AM PONDERING: the Providence of God. Our pastor had arranged for someone to come and preach yesterday morning so that he could hear the man preach in person. As it turned out, our pastor ended up getting the flu and God had already taken care of someone to fill the pulpit by the previous arrangements.
AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS: Wednesday evening we were under the threat of an ice-storm, so our pastor moved our Wednesday night prayer service to Thursday night. His lesson was on prayer and then we went on to individuals praying as they wanted. What a sweet, sweet time of prayer and fellowship as my brothers and sisters in Christ, shared the needs of their families and friends.
BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY ENJOYING: By Grace Alone by Sinclair Ferguson
I AM THANKFUL FOR: my hard-working husband who did a bit of a redo in our bathroom by replacing ceiling tiles, painting the ceiling, and taking up old floor tiles and installing new floor tiles. He also assembled a new cabinet...without any grumbling. I so appreciate him and all that he does to make our home comfortable.
Friday, February 7, 2025
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Of the Bygone Eras
Over the Christmas break, I watched so many Christmas movies and I came to the conclusion that for the most part they all had basically the same theme of boy meets girl, they fall in love, and marriage was sure to follow. I enjoy documentaries, biographical stories, and a PBS presentation of All Creatures Great and Small. I'm not a mystery story type of gal unless it's Murder She Wrote, and that's only because I really like Angela Lansbury. Things didn't seem as violent in those episodes as they do in today's mysteries.
Anyway, there is a point to all of this...truly. 😊
When January 2025 came around, I started thinking about some of the GEMS from when I was younger...some of them from when I was really younger. I thought it would be fun to start watching some of them again that were still available. I've really been enjoying some of the "oldies but goodies" and thought I would see how many of them my readers would remember...just for fun.
I think my favorite part was all of the fringe on the outfit.
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The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory by Tim Alberta is a book my son had mentioned to me, and it spiked my interest. The subtitle, ...
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March 5, 1972 to March 5, 2025 Since I wasn't able to blog last week, I missed documenting a very important date in our lives. Strongh...
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TODAY IS: 10 March 2025 AROUND ME: The temperatures this week sound amazing! That along with sunshine will make for some very cheerfu...