Down by the Riverside

A few weeks ago, I surprised the children with a trip to the creek. We all had so much fun! Bubbie was a little scared at first, and Sis carried him all around until he got used to the feel of the rushing water. What a great memory!

Got veggies?

Here are 2 easy recipes for your fresh garden tomatoes and cucumbers. Both are extremely easy, and you can do them even if you don't have lots of canning supplies. The first is for frozen pizza sauce, and the next is for canned garlic dill pickles. Good luck!

PIZZA SAUCE
Blanche* tomatoes for 30 seconds to peel them easily. Peel and core tomatoes. Place 2 large tomatoes (or 3 small), 1 garlic clove, 1/2 tsp. basil, and 3/4 tsp. salt in blender and blend until smooth and creamy. This makes about 1 1/2 - 2 c., which is a perfect portion for a large 18-in. pizza. Freeze in individual portions. (I use breastmilk storage bags...just the right size) I'll post some pizza recipes soon. This makes a delicious, healthy pizza sauce.

CANNED GARLIC DILL PICKLES
Yield: 7 pints (Pack jars first to measure how much liquid will be needed.)

About 4 lbs 4-inch cucumbers, sliced crosswise or lengthwise
(I personally like the spear-shaped for this recipe; they're crispier)
6 Tbsp. canning salt
4 1/2 c. water
4 c. white vinegar
14 heads fresh dill
3 1/2 tsp. mustard seed
21 peppercorns
7 garlic cloves

Wash cucumbers; drain and slice. Place 2 heads fresh dill**, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 tsp. mustard seed, 3 peppercorns into each hot jar, then pack with cucumbers. In large pot, combine water, vinegar, and canning salt; bring to a boil. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/4 in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and place lids. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.*** Allow to sit for 6 weeks before eating.


*Blanche means to place in boiling water, then ice cold water for even amounts of time.
**Freeze dried dill can be used (1/2 tsp. per jar), but it is "messier" inside the jar
***Boiling water canner means a large pot, with water brought to a rolling boil. Carefully place jars inside and make sure they are covered by 1 inch of water. Begin processing time when it returns to a rolling boil.

This is not a stock photo! (Really, I promise!)

If you want to commit "plant abuse", then just give it to me. Seriously! Just ask my mother-in-law. Her house looks like a memorial to the Garden of Eden. Mine is neat and clean (humor me, please...), but terribly plain. How lovely it would look with some pretty flowers or ferns hanging on my front porch. She has tried to help me many times. She'll bring a beautiful plant or flower and place it in just the right spot, and she'll say things like, "Now, I water mine every other day," with that hopeful look, but......they never make it. I don't know why I can't grow stuff. I know all the facts and research about them, but they just don't like me.

So that's why I'm so delighted with my African Violet that I got from the church on Mother's Day. Yes, Mother's Day. That was in May. This is the end of July. Hah!

I even re-potted it in my little strawberry dish to match my kitchen! Isn't it beautiful?

They say talking to plants makes them healthier. Maybe that's why I never have any luck! So this past May, when I was re-potting my little scared plant, I just looked at it and said, "Look, you want to live. I want a plant in my kitchen. Can't we work something out?" So far, so good, but next time you come to my house, maybe you could whisper a little word of encouragement to Violet. She'd appreciate it.

A Sweet Baby Checking out the Sweet Babies

Yippee!!

Seth lost his first tooth!

Little brother was maybe a little jealous, but wanted to get a picture to send to the Daily Planet.

A dollar bill from Dad!

Ah, what a fun stage! I've already warned Seth that for about the next year or two, I'll be taking hundreds of pictures of his "snaggletooth" face!

Michael Jackson's REAL Cause of Death

Lest my blog readers think otherwise, please know that I am NOT obsessed with Michael Jackson; although I do admit to being a little morbidly mesmerized with his freakish appearance and self-abuse with all those plastic surgeries, and his transformation from a masculine teenager to a sickeningly feminine adult male. I have never deliberately listened to his music, and I was always a little suspicious of friends and acquaintances during my younger years who had his picture on their walls.

Having cleared that up, please indulge me by watching the above video made by Ray Comfort of Way of the Master. Remnant Christians look at society, and we see how bad things are; but to actually hear one-on-one conversations from lost people shows us the desperate ignorance of the masses when it comes to our Creator. "I believe he's up in heaven having a dance battle with James Brown, as we speak!"?!

Oh, how we need Bible preaching! Not psycho-babble rantings from the hirelings of the emergent church business, but real Bible preaching! Pray for the real preachers you know. Pray that they will be faithful and steadfast to the end!

Psalm of Summer

PSALM OF SUMMER

Now it came to pass that spring turned to summer.

God's people raised their voices and said:

Recreation is my shepherd;

I shall not stay at home;

He maketh me to lie down in a sleeping bag.

He leadeth me down to the interstate each weekend.

He restoreth my suntan;

He leadeth me to state parks for comfort's sake.

Even though I stray on the Lord's Day,

I will fear no reprimand

For thou art with me, my rod and reel they comfort me.

I anointeth my skin with oil, my gas tank runneth dry;

Surely my trailer shall follow me all the weekends this summer

--Johnny the Baptist

Only a Mother

Only a Mother..............

Can listen to the same knock-knock joke 27 times without hollering "Nobody's Home."

Will be a Scrabble partner with a kid who thinks "cookie" begins with "k."

Will unwind 56 feet of toilet paper so her little darling can have the empty roll to make a horn.

Knows the location of every drive-through window and pay-at-the pump in town.

Can sing while she's changing a dirty diaper.

Knows the secret to happy grocery shopping with a toddler...visit the bakery aisle first and plug his lips with a big cream horn.

Can cherish the 1,000th bleating of "Mexican Hat Dance" from a budding musician.

Sees a Picasso in those scribbles decorating the fridge.

Knows all the verses to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".

Can find her last good pair of panty hose hitching a wagon to a tricycle.

Knows the sure-fire way to get three kids to eat carrots... buy two carrots.

Is limber enough to wrestle a fitted sheet onto the top bunk bed.

Can see across town and locate a missing shoe from her cell phone.

Can switch from cook to catcher in an instant.

Has a bathtub that's filled with little yellow duckies.

Seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.

--Anonymous

Sisters

There were never such devoted big sisters, nor such adoring little sisters.

Two Little Men

"It takes two men to make one brother."

~Israel Zangwill

Gettin' Stunk

"Mama, I have to eat my popsicle inside because every time I go outside, I GET STUNK!"

--Bubbie, Age 4
(after getting stunG 3 times this morning by yellow jackets)

The Gospel Perverts

The Gospel Perverts or Jesus

The above link will take you directly to an old recorded radio program by Bro. Lester Roloff. If you've never listened to preaching by Bro. Roloff, you're surely missing a blessing. I have dozens of his sermons on my iPod that I downloaded for free from various resources on the internet. Bro. Roloff was a preacher in Texas who died in a plane crash in 1982. He founded several homes for troubled teenagers. He fought a showdown with the state of Texas over whether or not those homes would be controlled by the atheist state or the churches which funded them. He never backed down, and preachers from all over America came and stood with him, literally forming a chain around the homes to protect the girls inside. Bro. Roloff went to jail 5 different times, not willing to compromise on what he knew to be the rightful freedom from state intervention that the founding fathers passed down to us, and especially not willing to compromise his allegience to King Jesus. He was a lone voice crying in the wilderness during the 70s and 80s, warning (almost prophetically) churches against registering with the government. If only they had listened!

In the message linked above, Bro. Roloff begins the program with his trademark song, "Stranger at Blue Galilee" that began every radio program. He doesn't get in a big way preaching on this program, but it is still very powerful. Also, keep in mind that it was being boldly broadcast all over the nation. If you listen to the very end, you will hear many topics covered, including communism, big government, public schools, psychologists, seminary preachers versus God-called preachers, career women, de-throned husbands, drugs, modern art/music, and hippies! (All on national radio!) Even with all the sins hurting America, Bro. Roloff's main theme in this message is,

"The worst pervert in America is the gospel pervert."

How true!

Standing Guard

Around here, if you wait to eat your cupcake until after your nap, it might be gone!

I've got my work cut out for me!

Every time you look at a child, you see a bundle of potential and hope, a future full of new experiences and adventures to be had....And for the homeschooling mother, you also see 12 more years of phonics, multiplication tables, sentence diagrams, timelines, and flashcards.

Unfortunately, my little Jared isn't a very inspired student, as you can see by his face below.

This is what greets me each morning at his homeschool desk. It starts out with, "No dink you, Mom. I really wouldn't like to do school today," in a ridiculously sweet tone of voice. Then, it's, "But I'm a little boy. I like being a little boy. I don't want to do man things." [Note to self: Lay off Peter Pan] It usually ends with a little "corporal" inspiration from the teacher, threatening to call the principal's cell phone (that is, Daddy at work). And we're only doing all the fun stuff now, the art and stories pre-school "work" that all my other children just loved!

Bubbie is perfectly content to play alone all day long without disturbing our lessons. He even volunteers to "watch" the baby while we do school! I am truly fighting the temptation to just let him play his days away, because obviously I do have plenty of other things I could be doing! But I'm teaching Proverbs in Sunday School now, and this Scripture keeps coming to my mind,

"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Proverbs 29:15

Dear Lord, please give me wisdom....and nerves of steel, for Bubbie's sake. Amen!

New Experiences

"Are you sure this is edible?"

"...but it's all squishy!"

"Alright, I'll give it a try..."

"Yeah, this end definitely tastes better!"

"Yay, I love oranges!"

Jackson Freak Show an Indictment of America

You MUST read this short article. Nobody says it like Ingrid.

Jackson Freak Show an Indictment of America

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Finally, someone with some common sense!

As I can't help but hear all the "R.I.P.s" and the glowing eulogies given Michael Jackson, and as I hear the reports that there are actually 1,000,000 people who have applied for tickets to his memorial in Los Angeles tomorrow....I can't help but feel a little like Elijah the prophet in Israel, who felt like he must be the only one left who hadn't bowed his knee to Baal. Just before I was going to throw up, I saw a glimmer of hope in today's news headlines. Thank you, Rep. King, for having the decency and the nerve to speak the truth!

R.I.P. Moby Dick

The biggest goldfish ever to live for nearly 3 years in a 2 1/2 gallon aquarium. He was too big to flush down the toilet.

I won't miss cleaning your tank, Moby, but I'll miss you. ("KK")

Independence Now and Forever

Independence Now And Forever
by Chuck Baldwin
The Covenant News ~ July 1, 2009
As we approach Independence Day, it behooves us to recall the principles of America's founding, especially in light of the ongoing attempt by today's political and commercial leaders to merge the United States into a hemispheric government. In fact, the clarion call for independence is just as fundamental, just as revolutionary as it was 233 years ago.Regarding the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams said, "[Independence Day] will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore."Adams went on to say, "You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not."Indeed, the signers of America's Declaration of Independence endured the sacrifice of both toil and blood. Pertaining to the lives of the signers, David Limbaugh writes, "Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his thirteen children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned." continue reading...

Morning Routine

She's got her passie, Doodle, cup, peep-eye, and her Cookie. Why the tears? Now all she needs is for Mama to put the camera down and snuggle with her while she drinks her milk. I just treasure morning times with my little ones. So sweet!

Our Founding Document

Many Americans think of the Constitution when we mention America' founding document; however, our original founding document was the Declaration of Independence. To read the Declaration of Independence today, 233 years later, it is sadly obvious that we are now once again living under "despotism". I love my country, and I hope and pray that this year, as everyone looks to the skies admiring the fireworks, that Americans will look beyond the fireworks and to the heavens, and remember the God that so generously inspired and blessed this great nation.

Enjoy this great reading of the Declaration of Independence:

Guest Blogger

The older children are required to read at least 2 books each month. (Anything beyond that earns them $5 per book!) To get their allowance, they must write a book report on one of the books that they read. Caleb has been working really hard on improving his book reports, and I thought he did a really good job on this one. I helped him proofread and fix a few spelling errors, and here is the finished project. (Just for the record, he will type the first paragraph, and I'll type the rest)

My Book Report

by Caleb J. Stringer

I have just read a very good book called Adam and His Kin: The Lost History of Their Lives and Times. The author is Ruth Beechick. This book covers the time period from the Creation to Abraham.

I really enjoyed reading about the Garden of Eden. It was perfect there, no sin, no sorrow, no death. When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden, He told them not to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil. One day when Eve was alone, a serpent came to her and tricked her into eating the fruit. Then, she gave it to Adam, and they saw that they were naked. For punishment, God threw them out of His garden, and told them that because they sinned, they would have to die. God cursed the earth.

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. One day when Cain and Abel were alone, Cain was jealous of Abel. He killed him, the world's first murder. God cursed Cain for what he did.

Sin continued to grow in God's young earth, so that there was more murder, and man was always thinking on evil. Sin became so bad, that God was sorry that He even created man; but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God told Noah to build a very big ark. 120 years later, two of every animal went into the ark, along with Noah and his family, and God shut the door. God sent the Flood, and everything was destroyed. Noah and his family survived.

Evolution teaches us that man evolved from a lower order. It was fascinating to read in Adam and His Kin about Creation, and that God created man as a highly intelligent being, hardly the grunting, ignorant cave man we often see portrayed. Furthermore, dinosaurs and man were both created on Day Six, not millions of years apart.

One of the most interesting parts of this book was about Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. Here, only 100 years after the Flood, idolatry and false religion were begun. To save mankind from his own wickedness, God scattered them and confused their language.

This glimpse into the life of early mankind is definitely worth your time!

Look out!

Summer Rose has officially taken off!

She's been walking for a couple of weeks now, so she is really gaining confidence and getting into everything that she couldn't reach before.

Here she is tending to her little baby. Looks at those sweet curls!

You can't tell, but she is dancing to the baby's lullaby here.

I know all too well how quickly this precious stage passes, and even though I can't sit down for more than 5 seconds at a time, I'm not complaining....I'm going to soak in and enjoy every minute of this!

Parentalrights.org -- Obama Administration Pushes CRC Ratification

Attention all Patriots! Please take time to explore the link below and take immediate action on this dire situation. If you have time, you can read one of my previous posts concerning the CRC. This, in my opinion, is THE MOST URGENT threat that we as free Americans face at this moment....and believe me, I've passed over dozens of other urgent issues to say that, but I sincerely believe it.


Parentalrights.org -- Obama Administration Pushes CRC Ratification

Praise God that the lines to the White House and the Ambassador's office are completely jammed. However, you can still e-mail the White House directly, and ask for a response. Here is the complete content of my email:

"I am deeply concerned at the possibility that this Administration is going to push for U.S. ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). America is a great and caring nation, and we know quite well how to raise our own children. I am unequivocally opposed to relinquishing our national sovereignty in any way to the United Nations. I wholeheartedly disagree with comments made by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, that it is a disgrace for the U.S. not to be a signer of this treaty. Rather, the disgrace would be for a great nation like the U.S. of America, to cave in to international pressure, and place our abundantly blessed children under the sovereignty and care of a foreign, cold, uncaring international beaurocracy that has no vested interest in them. Don't insult the loving, hardworking parents of America any further, and please immediately stop all efforts to ratify this treaty."

Citizens, act today!

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Happy Birthday to my Sweet Summer Rose

Has it possibly been a year since I gave birth to this precious baby?

Words cannot even express what Summer has meant to me....not just me as a mother, but to me as a person. Yes, she is the apple of everyone's eye in our house, but we've always loved our babies around here. We have no favorites. But, at the time the Lord sent Rosebud our way, I was about as low as I've ever been in my life. Disappointments, betrayals, failures, tears, pain. I had a very difficult and miserable pregnancy. I couldn't lie down. I would sit straight up all night, dozing occasionally, but mostly just crying and hurting, physically and emotionally. I can't explain what a comfort it was to me to feel my baby moving. I knew she was fresh from heaven, having just recently received the breath of life from the Creator Himself, and it gave me a peace that can only come from Above. I can tell you that I received a healing when she was born, but what that truly means is just something personal between me and my Savior. Since words are inadequate, all I can say is "Thank you, Jesus," and I hope you can find that kind of peace with the Lord in your life too.

Little Cindy Lou Who...

who was no more than two!

The Ushers

Our church is blessed with two fine young men who serve as the ushers. The one on the right just happens to be my son, and the other is his sweet friend, Trevor. For weeks I've been meaning to get a picture of them in their suits, and I finally remembered to do it last night! Of course I'm partial and happen to think they're a pretty handsome pair! But most importantly, they love the Lord, and they love their families and their church.

Here they are at age 7:

And here they are with their dads going coon hunting:

We are so blessed at BBC with our young people. We don't have youth groups or youth classes, or anything that encourages our children to think they are separate from the adults at church. They are vital to us, and we want them to know that. We don't have a regular piano player, but we have 5 piano students (as well as a guitar student and a mandolin student!), and between them, they pool their singing and playing talents and provide a much needed musical addition to each service. Last night, the older girls sang "Sweet Hour of Prayer" as Macey played, and it just gave me chills. I'm so proud of them, not just because of their talent, but because they know the Lord about Whom they are singing! Praise God!

Bonnie Blue Baby

Hitler's Cross Book Review

I just finished a very scary book. Hitler's Cross by Dr. Erwin Lutzer (senior pastor at Moody Church in Chicago) was first published in 1995, well before Barack Obama arrived upon the national scene. It was not written with Obama in mind; however, the parallels between Hitler's absolute rule over the Fatherland, and the messianic worship of Obama simply cannot be denied.

Hitler, early in his career, published Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). Obama, of course published the story of his "struggle", The Audacity of Hope.

Hitler had complete and absolute control of the news media. He had complete control of the thoughts and minds of the people. (Those who weren't zombies of the state were killed or persecuted. )Much reminiscent of Newspeak in Orwell's 1984, Hitler created his own self-serving state language, which replaced Jesus with Hitler as Savior, and declared certain groups of people "non-human". Today, we not only think of the Supreme Court declaring the pre-born child "non-human" , but we can clearly see cultural marxism (i.e., "political correctness") being shoved down our throats in the form of Hate Crimes legislation. Just as Hitler silenced any opposition in his day, so now Christians who dare to speak out against abortion, sodomites, or the tyranny of the Nanny State, are feeling the heat.

Just as Hitler re-wrote German history to remove its Jewish contributions, so our textbooks are filled with revisionism that removes all Christian influence from the founding of our nation.

Just as Hitler was a firm believer in evolution, so this baseless theory is presented as fact in every school district and science textbook in the United States.

Hitler had his own army of enforcers that answered only to him, the Brown Shirts. Now we see that Obama is cooking up his own plan to indoctrinate our young men and women and raise up a para-military (and might I say, para-Constitutional) civilian army that answers only to him.

And, as you can see in this eerie video below, all tyrants must have the hearts and minds of their youth:

Now, I am very interested in politics and history, as you can tell by my blog. But, even with those that I admire most (President Ronald Reagan, for example), I have never felt the need to sing about them, especially not to indoctrinate my kids into thinking that any one man can "change the world" and bring "happiness". This is just spooky!

One of the saddest realizations I got from reading Hitler's Cross, is that the problem of atheistic government and tyranny did not actually begin in the halls of legislators. It began in the church. Germany had long been a gathering place for liberal theologians who questioned the inerrancy of Scripture and cast doubt on the Word of God. By the time Hitler arrived on the scene, the "Christians" of Germany were just token church-goers, with no foundation upon which to stand. I fear for my country, when I consider how our churches today have forsaken the perfectly preserved inspired Word of God for perverted translations. This has opened the door for today's hip social gospel, the kind that would invite an unregenerate, pro-abortion, sodomite-loving politician to share the pulpit. God have mercy on America!